TBC Classic Shadow Priest Pre-Raid Gear

In this guide we will go over the different gear available for Shadow Priests before entering raids. We will offer multiple different pieces as some can be rather expensive or very rare to find. Some slots have multiple "best" items that can change depending on your current gear and Hit Rating needs.

For the most part we will exclude PvP gear choices. While PvP gear can be a very powerful option for some slots, the gear will require many hours of battlegrounds or weeks of arena point farming to obtain while not being a "best" choice. We recommend only investing time into farming a couple of these pieces at most as the lack of fully PvE focused stats can leave you lacking in certain aspects (such as spell hit rating or haste rating).

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Spellstrike Hood	3 x Runed Living Ruby	Spellstrike Hood — Tailoring
Option	Hood of Oblivion	1 x Swift Starfire Diamond, 1 x Glowing Nightseye	Harbinger Skyriss — (H)Arcatraz
Option	Mana-Etched Crown	1 x Swift Starfire Diamond, 1 x Runed Living Ruby	Aeonus — Black Morass
Easy	Evoker's Helmet of Second Sight	3 x Runed Living Ruby	Teron Gorefiend, I am... / Teron Gorefiend, I am...

Spellstrike Hood is your best helm, lasting you through the entirety of phase one. Mana-Etched Crown is a great option if you can activate the 2 set, and Evoker's Helmet of Second Sight is a decent choice that is fairly easy to obtain.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Pendant of Dominance	1 x Runed Living Ruby	15,300 Honor Points — 10 x Eye of the Storm Mark of Honor
Best	Charlotte's Ivy		BoE World Drop
Option	Hydra-fang Necklace		Ghaz'an — (H)Underbog
Easy	Natasha's Arcane Filament		The Hound-Master
Easy	Brooch of Heightened Potential		Blackheart the Inciter — Shadow Labyrinth

Shadow Priests have quite a few neck options available. Pendant of Dominance is a very strong piece that can be farmed through PvP. Charlotte's Ivy is also a great option, if you can obtain both the neck and ring for the 2 set bonus it makes this the better choice.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Frozen Shadoweave Shoulders	2 x Runed Living Ruby	Frozen Shadoweave Shoulders — Tailoring
Option	Spaulders of Oblivion	2 x Runed Living Ruby	Murmur — Shadow Labyrinth
Option	Mana-Etched Spaulders	2 x Runed Living Ruby	Quagmirran — (H)Slave Pens
Easy	Spaulders of the Torn-heart		The Cipher of Damnation - The Third Fragment Recovered

Frozen Shadoweave Shoulders is another great tailoring piece that remains your best in slot for the entire phase. Mana-Etched Spaulders is a good option if you can use it to activate the 2 set bonus; while Spaulders of the Torn-heart is an easy to obtain, acceptable piece.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Illidari Cloak		Chief Engineer Lorthander BoE
Option	Ambusher's Cloak		BoE World Drop
Easy	Cloak of the Black Void		Cloak of the Black Void — Tailoring
Easy	Cloak of Entropy		BoE World Drop

Your best in slot pre-raid cloak will be a BoE drop with "of Shadow Wrath" suffix enchant. These cloaks are rare, but boaster very high shadow damage, your main stat. Cloak of the Black Void and Cloak of Entropy are good options that are easily obtainable if you can't find one of the others.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Frozen Shadoweave Robe	2 x Runed Living Ruby	Frozen Shadoweave Robe — Tailoring
Option	Robe of Oblivion	3 x Runed Living Ruby	Murmur — Shadow Labyrinth
Option	Mana-Etched Vestments	3 x Runed Living Ruby	Epoch Hunter — (H) Old Hillsbrad Foothills
Option	Warp Infused Drape	3 x Runed Living Ruby	Warp Splinter — Botanica
Easy	Robe of the Crimson Order		BoE World Drop

Frozen Shadoweave Robe is yet another tailoring piece of gear that remains your best in slot for phase one. Mana-Etched Vestments is a good alternative if you can activate the 2 set.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Elementalist Bracelets		BoE World Drop
Easy	Bracers of Havok		Bracers of Havok — Tailoring
Option	Crimson Bracers of Gloom		Omor the Unscarred — (H)Hellfire Ramparts

Your best in slot pre-raid wrist will be a BoE drop with "of Shadow Wrath" suffix enchant. If you can't find a pair of those, Bracers of Havok are a great alternative and easily obtainable.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Tempest's Touch	2 x Runed Living Ruby	Return to Andormu
Best	Mana-Etched Gloves	2 x Runed Living Ruby	Omor the Unscarred — (H)Hellfire Ramparts
Option	Gloves of Oblivion		Warchief Kargath Bladefist — Shattered Halls

Tempest's Touch are a good pair of gloves that are also very easy to obtain. Mana-Etched Gloves are the preferred gloves if you can activate the 2 set for the massive spell hit gain.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Girdle of Ruination	2 x Runed Living Ruby	Girdle of Ruination — Tailoring
Option	Glyph-Lined Sash	2 x Runed Living Ruby	Nexus-Prince Shaffar — (H)Mana Tombs
Option	Belt of Depravity		Harbinger Skyriss — (H)Arcatraz
Easy	A'dal's Gift		How to Break Into the Arcatraz

Girdle of Ruination is your best in slot, but may be expensive to craft early on. Glyph-Lined Sash is a great alternative if you're looking to save some gold; while A'dal's Gift can be worn in the meantime.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Spellstrike Pants	3 x Runed Living Ruby	Spellstrike Pants — Tailoring
Option	Breeches of the Occultist	3 x Runed Living Ruby	Aeonus — (H)Black Morass
Option	Kirin Tor Master's Trousers	3 x Runed Living Ruby	Murmur — (H)Shadow Labyrinth
Option	Khadgar's Kilt of Abjuration	3 x Runed Living Ruby	Temporus — Black Morass

Spellstrike Pants are your best leg option, offering high spell damage and spell hit. If you don't have them yet, aim to get one of the other options.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Frozen Shadoweave Boots	2 x Runed Living Ruby	Frozen Shadoweave Boots — Tailoring
Easy	Shattrath Jumpers	2 x Runed Living Ruby	Into the Heart of the Labyrinth

Frozen Shadoweave Boots are a massive gear piece, remaining your best in slot for the majority of the expansion. Shattrath Jumpers are an easy to get option to use in the meantime.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Ashyen's Gift		Cenarion Expedition — Exalted
Best	Seal of the Exorcist		Terokkar Forest PvP Vendor
Best	Lola's Eve		BoE World Drop
Option	Cobalt Band of Tyrigosa		Nexus-Prince Shaffar — (H)Mana Tombs
Option	Seer's Signet		The Scryers - Exalted
Option	Sparking Arcanite Ring		Epoch Hunter — (H) Old Hillsbrad Foothills

Rings in Phase 1 are typically used to help with hit rating. Ashyen's Gift and Seal of the Exorcist are fairly easy to obtain and help greatly with your hit rating. Lola's Eve is great if you can use the 2 set.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Icon of the Silver Crescent		41 x Badge of Justice
Best	Quagmirran's Eye		Quagmirran — (H)Slave Pens
Option	Scryer's Bloodgem		The Scryers — Revered
Option	Arcanist's Stone		Epoch Hunter — (H) Old Hillsbrad Foothills

Icon of the Silver Crescent and Quagmirran's Eye will be your ideal trinkets for their great passive spell power and use/proc effects. Scryer's Bloodgem and Arcanist's Stone are great options to fill in any missing hit rating.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Gladiator's Spellblade		PvP Arena
Best	Eternium Runed Blade		Eternium Runed Blade - Blacksmithing
Option	Gavel of Unearthed Secrets		Lower City - Exalted
Option	Starlight Dagger		Quagmirran — (H)Slave Pens
Easy	The Bringer of Death		BoE World Drop

If you have the 1,850 rating requirement, you can get either Gladiator's Spellblade or Gladiator's Gavel and use that as your best in slot for PvE as well. Look to grab whichever option available to you if you are not actively PvPing in arenas.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Orb of the Soul-Eater		25 x Badge of Justice

Orb of the Soul-Eater is a very strong Shadow Priest off-hand, and extremely easy to obtain, making it easily your best option.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Flawless Wand		BoE World Drop
Option	Nether Core's Control Rod		Dalliah the Doomsayer — Arcatraz
Option	The Black Stalk		The Black Stalker — (H)Underbog

Flawless Wand with the suffix "of Shadow Wrath" is your best in slot for pre-raid gear, but can be very hard to find. Nether Core's Control Rod is a great alternative, offering some base stats and spell hit rating.

For a list of recommended enchants, check out our Shadow Priest Enchants guide.