Shadow Priest guide for WoW Forever

The Shadow Priest in WoW Forever deals Shadow damage with two damage over time spells, Mind Blast and Mind Flay, and heals the party at the same time through Vampiric Embrace. Mana is rarely a problem. Movement is: the Priest has almost no tools for it. This guide covers the build, rotation, Shadowform, mana, stats and gear.

Role	Ranged damage over time, with group healing from Vampiric Embrace
Build for level 60	14/3/34, with the talents of the beta build of 15 October
Key talents	Mind Flay, Improved Mind Flay, Vampiric Embrace, Shadow Weaving, Silence, Shadowform
Strength	Very good mana, group healing that never stops
Weakness	Almost no movement, a slow start, weak against more than four targets
Leveling	Priest leveling guide, Priest level build
Other specs	Holy Priest, Discipline Priest

What changes for Shadow

• Improved Mind Flay is new. Every tick of Mind Flay deals 20% more than the tick before at 2/2, so the last tick is the strongest.
• Vampiric Embrace lasts 30 seconds. It heals all party members for 20% of the Shadow damage you deal and can stay up for the whole fight.
• Shadowform does more. 10% more Shadow damage, 50% lower mana cost for Shadow spells, 100% more critical strike damage bonus for Shadow spells and 15% less physical damage taken.
• Silence also interrupts. 5 seconds of silence and a 3 second interrupt in one button.
• Devouring Contagion is new. Devouring Plague costs half the mana, and when a target dies with it, the plague jumps to 2 nearby enemies.
• Dark Inspiration is new. Mind Blast and a fully channeled Mind Flay give you and your party 15% more Spirit for 10 seconds.
• Early Demise is new. 30% more critical strike chance for Shadow Word: Death on targets below 20% health at 2/2.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths	Weaknesses
Very good mana thanks to Shadowform, Meditation and Mental Strength	Almost no way to move fast or get away
Vampiric Embrace heals the party all fight long	Damage needs time to ramp up with DoTs and Shadow Weaving
DoTs and burst spells fit together without a complicated rotation	Weak direct damage against more than four targets
Silence, Psychic Scream and Dispel Magic for utility	No healing spells in Shadowform

The level 60 build (14/3/34)

This build uses all 51 points of level 60. Fourteen go into Discipline for Twin Disciplines, Inner Focus and Meditation, three into Holy for Twilight Focus, and the rest into Shadow up to Shadowform. Open the build in the talent calculator.

Talent	Points
Twin Disciplines	5/5
Silent Resolve	3/3
Mental Strength	2/5
Inner Focus	1/1
Meditation	3/3
Twilight Focus	3/3
Shadow Focus	5/5
Improved Mind Blast	4/5
Improved Shadow Word: Pain	2/2
Shadow Reach	2/2
Mind Flay	1/1
Improved Mind Flay	2/2
Dark Inspiration	5/5
Vampiric Embrace	1/1
Shadow Weaving	3/3
Silence	1/1
Devouring Contagion	2/2
Darkness	5/5
Shadowform	1/1

Free points. A few points can move without much loss:

• Inner Focus does little for Shadow. Its point can go elsewhere.
• Devouring Contagion only helps when targets die with Devouring Plague on them. In a raid you rarely need the mana, so one or two points can go.
• More points in Early Demise or Mental Strength are small gains.
• Spirit Tap helps a lot in dungeons, where enemies die all the time, and little in raids.
• If your raid needs you to dispel enemies, one point in Holy Precision makes Dispel Magic miss less.

What the key talents do

Talent	What it does in Forever
Mind Flay	Your filler: Shadow damage over 3 seconds and a 50% slow
Improved Mind Flay	Each tick of Mind Flay 20% stronger than the one before. Never cut a Mind Flay short
Vampiric Embrace	20% of your Shadow damage heals the whole party for 30 seconds. The main reason a group brings you
Shadow Weaving	Each Shadow spell makes the target take 2% more Shadow damage from you, up to 10% at 5 stacks
Silence	Silences for 5 seconds and interrupts for 3. Whether raids need it is not known yet
Darkness	10% more Shadow damage at 5/5
Dark Inspiration	15% more Spirit for you and your party after Mind Blast or a full Mind Flay
Shadowform	More damage, half the mana cost, bigger critical strikes and less physical damage taken. The heart of the spec

Rotation

One enemy

1. Cast Fade before the pull to lower your threat.
2. Pre-cast Mind Blast so it lands as the fight starts.
3. Devouring Plague, then Shadow Word: Pain.
4. Shadow Word: Death and Mind Blast.
5. Vampiric Embrace.
6. Mind Flay, and let it finish.

After the opener you follow a priority: keep Devouring Plague and Shadow Word: Pain up, cast Mind Blast and Shadow Word: Death when they are ready, keep Vampiric Embrace up as close to 100% as you can, and fill every gap with Mind Flay.

Several enemies

1. The same opener on the main target, with Devouring Plague only there.
2. Shadow Word: Pain on every target. That is the biggest part of your damage against a pack.
3. Below four targets, keep using Shadow Word: Death and Mind Blast.
4. Vampiric Embrace on the target that takes most of your Shadow damage.
5. Fill with Mind Flay.

Shadow has no damage cooldowns of its own. Vampiric Embrace is the only buff you manage, and it should simply never drop.

Shadowform, DoTs and Mind Flay

Shadowform is what makes the spec, but it blocks every heal. To heal someone directly, you leave the form, cast the heal and go back in, which costs a global cooldown and mana. Leave healing to the healers and to Vampiric Embrace.

DoTs. Your damage stands or falls with the uptime of Shadow Word: Pain and Devouring Plague. Refresh them when they run out, not long before.

Mind Flay. With Improved Mind Flay the third tick deals most of the damage. Moving or casting something else before the end of the channel throws that tick away.

Devouring Contagion. When a target is about to die, a Devouring Plague on it spreads to two other enemies. Do not hold Devouring Plague back for it, but keep it in mind in dungeon packs.

Mana

Mana is one of the strengths of Shadow. Shadowform halves the mana cost of Shadow spells, Meditation keeps 50% of your mana regeneration going while you cast, and Mental Strength adds 10% Intellect at 5/5. Devouring Contagion halves the cost of Devouring Plague. In dungeons Spirit Tap adds a lot of regeneration after every kill.

Movement

Casters live by one rule: always be casting. The Priest has almost no tools to move quickly, so pick your spot before a fight and move as little as you can. Cast your instant spells, such as Shadow Word: Pain and Shadow Word: Death, while you have to walk.

Stats and gear

The order for a Shadow Priest:

1. Hit chance until the cap. A spell that misses deals nothing and lets the Shadow Weaving stacks run out.
2. Spell damage and Shadow spell damage. The biggest gain once you are hit capped. Shadow spell damage counts the same for you.
3. Critical strike chance. Shadowform doubles the critical strike damage bonus of your Shadow spells, so crits matter more than their place in this list suggests.
4. Intellect for a bigger mana pool and more critical strike chance with spells.
5. Spirit comes with your gear. Do not look for it.

Armor. Cloth with spell damage or Shadow spell damage is good for you. Cloth with Strength or Agility is not.

Wand. Gravestone Scepter from a Blackfathom Deeps quest is usable from level 18, more realistic around 24. It lasts until level 37 or later, so it is worth the effort.

Ring. Philanthropist’s Ring gives 10 spell damage and comes from handing in 20 books. The library books guide shows where they are.

Trinket. Cursed Murloc Eye drops from Gelihast in Blackfathom Deeps. Do not farm it, but take it if you see it during your quest run.

Races and professions

Faction	Race	Why
Alliance	Dwarf	Big Game Hunter: 5% more damage to Beasts. The best pick against Beast bosses, barely behind Human against the rest
Alliance	Human	Ruthless: 2% more critical strike chance. A real option in Forever
Horde	Troll	Beast Slaying: 5% more damage to Beasts. The best pick against Beast bosses
Horde	Undead	Touch of the Grave got stronger. Against non-Beast bosses as good as Troll, or better unless Shadowguard procs often

The differences between races are very small. Pick the race you enjoy more than the one that wins a fraction of a percent.

Professions. Tailoring suits every Priest: cloth gear with spell damage, and Forever adds new patterns, from gear for one school of magic to new belts at level 10 with spell damage. Enchanting gives you your own wands and enchants, and makes you the Enchanter of your guild. Engineering gets new schematics and new trinkets in Forever and is always a strong main profession.