Dragonflight Shadow Priest DPS Guide

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Shadow Priest Overview

A ranged cloth specialization with a mix of spells that deal direct damage and damage over time is the Shadow Priest. The focus of the class is mostly on doing Shadow damage, and the majority of its defensive abilities are dependent on its ability to heal itself. Shadow is no different from other priests in that they move very slowly, so you'll need to prepare your movement for combat in advance and make the most of the limited kiting tools you have at your disposal. A DPS class focusing on dealing maximum damage in burst windows each minute with several stacked cooldowns, shadow priests can also increase their own damage as well as that of their allies.

 

Shadow Priest Talent Builds

For a more raid oriented talent build, you can use the following talent loadout.

You can import the Raid talent build with the following loadout code: BIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIk0CBAAAAAAAAAAAAQikkSkmU0iEJlESEkGJJJSjgEESTahkAA

For a more Mythic+ oriented talent build, you can use the following talent loadout.  

You can import the Mythic+ talent build with the following loadout code: BIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAESSLSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAoEpl0IJJJlkIRQakkDkINShEESRahkAA

 

Shadow Priest Stats

Intellect is your primary stat, found on cloth gear. Intellect increases your spell power and damage/healing done by abilities.

For secondary stats, the Shadow Priest has the following:

  • Intellect > Haste > Mastery > Critical Strike >= Versatility
    Critical Strike    : Chance for extra effectiveness on attacks and heals (double damage/healing).
  • Haste: Increases attack speed and spell casting speed. This also applies to pets.
  • Mastery: Increases the effectiveness of  Mastery: Shadow Weaving.
  • Versatility: Increases damage and healing, and reduces damage taken.

 

Best Shadow Priest Consumables

Best Shadow Priest Enchants

Below is a list of the recommended enchants to use on your Shadow Priest gear in Dragonflight.

Slot Best Enchant Cheaper Version
Weapon  Sophic Devotion  Sophic Writ
Cloak  Graceful Avoidance  Graceful Avoidance
Chest  Waking Stats  Waking Stats
Bracers  Devotion of Avoidance  Devotion of Avoidance
Legs  Frozen Spellthread  Vibrant Spellthread
Boots  Plainsrunner's Breeze  Plainsrunner's Breeze
Ring  Devotion of Haste  Devotion of Haste

 

Shadow Priest Phials

Overall the best phial for Shadow Priests is  Phial of Tepid Versatility as it is the least situational. However, you may find more success with  Phial of Glacial Fury in AoE and Mythic+ situations. Both  Phial of Charged Isolation and  Phial of Static Empowerment have the potential to be stronger raiding choices than versatility and decisions around phials should be done on a fight by fight basis.

Shadow Priest Combat Potions

There are a couple different potions that have different useful scenarios for Shadow Priests:

Shadow Priest Weapon Buff

For their weapons, Shadow Priests will always use  Howling Rune.

Best Shadow Priest Food

Best Shadow Priest Gems

You'll want to use  Fierce Illimited Diamond as your diamond gem, and  Keen Ysemerald in all other sockets.

 

Shadow Priest Rotation and Priority

Shadow Priest Opener

  1. Ensure you are in  Shadowform
  2. Cast  Shadow Crash before pull
  6. Use any active combat trinkets or potions, as well as  Power Infusion

Shadow Priest Single Target Rotation and Priority

  1. Make sure your target has both  Shadow Word: Pain and  Vampiric Touch active. Prioritise  Shadow Crash over  Vampiric Touch for this.
  2. Cast  Mindbender on cooldown.
  3. Cast  Dark Ascension on cooldown.
  4. Cast  Power Infusion if  Dark Ascension is active.
  5. Use offensive trinkets and potions.
  6. Cast  Mind Blast if you have two charges.
  7. Cast  Shadow Word: Death if  Mindbender is active.
  8. Cast  Devouring Plague if you're close to capping  Insanity or the debuff will expire.
  9. Cast  Vampiric Touch if you are within pandemic range to maintain uptime.
  10. Cast  Shadow Word: Death if the target is below 20% hp.
  13. Cast  Shadow Crash, even if your DoTs are not close to expiring.
  15. Cast  Mind Spike if you have a  Surge of Darkness proc.
  18. Cast  Shadow Word: Pain if you're moving and nothing else is available.

Shadow Priest Multi Target Rotation and Priority

  1. Make sure your target has both  Shadow Word: Pain and  Vampiric Touch active. Prioritise  Shadow Crash over  Vampiric Touch for this.
  2. Cast  Mindbender on cooldown.
  3. Cast  Dark Ascension or  Void Eruption on cooldown.
  5. Use offensive trinkets and potions.
  7. Cast  Mind Blast if you have two charges.
  8. Cast  Shadow Word: Death if  Mindbender is active.
  9. Cast  Mind Sear to avoid over capping  Insanity, consider holding it small amounts of time for mobs to group up. 3+ targets
  10. Cast  Vampiric Touch if you are within pandemic range to maintain uptime.
  11. Cast  Shadow Word: Death if the target is below 20% hp.
  14. Cast  Shadow Crash, even if your DoTs are not close to expiring.
  16. Cast  Halo.
  17. Cast  Mind Spike with  Surge of Darkness active
  20. Cast  Shadow Word: Pain if you're moving and nothing else is available.

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