WotLK Classic Shadow Priest Spec, Builds, Talents, and Glyphs

Priest has a very restricted spec, not having many talent points that can be changed around. Fortunately, you are able to get almost everything you could possibly want with this spec, not leaving anything out.

This spec essentially covers everything you want and need, leaving very few options for alternative talents. The only real change you can make is exchanging the 2 talent points in Focused Mind for Improved Vampiric Embrace to increase your sustain and party healing, although this is rarely needed.

In this section we will go over some of the key talents you will use when you are playing a Priest. Be sure to understand your most important talents as they are vital to play the build to its fullest strength.

• Improved Spirit Tap

The increased Spirit results in more Spell Power when combined with Twisted Faith. In addition, Glyph of Shadow has a very similar requirement to activate, meaning you will likely have both this glyph and Improved Spirit Tap active at the same time, converting 50% of your Spirit to Spell Power.

• Shadow Weaving

This is mostly a passive talent that you will always have active. Make sure to get 5 stacks of Shadow Weaving before casting Shadow Word: Pain as it will snapshot the increased Shadow damage for the entire duration. Never cast Shadow Word: Pain before you have 5 stacks.

• Improved Devouring Plague

The main reason this talent is worth mentioning is the second half; casting Devouring Plague will deal 30% of the total damage-over-time instantly. This makes casting Devouring Plague while moving a viable option for fights and mechanics that have you constantly moving and unable to cast.

• Shadowform

This talent is the entire definition of a Priest. Completely overloaded, this 1 talent point gives you: 15% increased Shadow damage, 15% reduced damage taken, 30% less threat generated, all of your damage-over-time spells can now Crit for double damage, and your Devouring Plague and Vampiric Touch now benefit from Haste. Sadly, Shadow Word: Pain does not benefit from this Haste bonus that the other DoTs get, but nonetheless this talent takes Priest to a completely new level.

• Improved Shadowform

While this is not a game-altering talent, it is still worth mentioning. This grants 70% reduced pushback while casting Shadow spells, and gives your Fade the ability to remove all slows from you.

• Misery

Misery is one of the most desired debuffs, as it increases the chance that spells will land on the target by 3%, benefiting the entire raid. In addition to that already powerful debuff, you also gain increased Spell Power scaling on Mind Blast, Mind Flay, and Mind Sear.

• Vampiric Touch

This spell is your main priority as a Priest as it grants the powerful Replenishment buff to your raid. Be sure to keep this debuff up at all times to continually restore Mana to your raid.

• Pain and Suffering

Your Mind Flay will refresh the duration of your Shadow Word: Pain, meaning you will only need to cast Shadow Word: Pain once per fight usually.

• Dispersion

The 51 point talent at the bottom of the Shadow tree, this can act as either a defensive ability or be used to restore some Mana. Typically you will use this ability when you are dealing with a raid mechanic, often times being able to solo a raid mechanic that would normally require multiple people to handle.

Glyphs are a new consumable of sorts introduced in Wrath of the Lich King. Glyphs greatly improve certain spells when you learn them, supporting and even enabling some builds. Glyphs are not permanently learned, so you will want to carry multiple glyphs on you so you can change them quickly depending on the raid or boss encounter you are in. Certain glyphs perform better in different scenarios, so be sure to swap them around appropriately.

1. Glyph of Mind Flay — Your Shadow Word: Pain will have 100% uptime on your target thanks to the talent Pain and Suffering, making this glyph a free 10% damage to one of your most-used abilities.
2. Glyph of Shadow — Gives you a nice boost to your Spirit whenever you Crit with a non-DoT spell while you are in Shadowform. With Twisted Faith giving you additional Spell Power based on your Spirit, this glyph is a decent stat boost with moderate uptime.
3. Glyph of Shadow Word: Death — While Shadow Word: Death is not an amazing spell in WotLK, this is the only other glyph that increases your damage output. Remember that this glyph only works when the target is below 35% health.
4. Glyph of Dispersion — You will want to keep some of these glyphs on you when you need to use your Dispersion to soak raid mechanics. The 45-second reduced cooldown nearly cuts it in half, letting you use this spell much more frequently. Be sure to coordinate this with your raid team if you are using this glyph to soak mechanics more frequently.
5. Glyph of Mind Sear — This is a very minimally-impactful glyph that is only really useful on trash. This will slightly increase the AoE damage you deal with Mind Sear as you will get a few more hits off with the extra range hitting mobs that are still moving in or casters that are still on the outskirts of the AoE pack. Make sure to swap this back out after you are done with trash.

1. Glyph of Fortitude — This helps save Mana through an entire raid night, and especially if you need to rebuff someone who died in combat.
2. Glyph of Shadow Protection — Is pretty minor, but will save you a bit of Mana throughout an entire raid night.
3. Glyph of Levitate — Is simply a quality of life feature, saving you some reagents.