Shadow Priest Leveling Guide From 1 to 80 for WotLK Classic

Last updated on Jan 01, 2024 at 16:36 by Abide 3 comments

Welcome to our Wrath of the Lich King Shadow Priest leveling guide. Here we will help guide you through your Shadow Priest's leveling journey toward Level 80. Make sure to use the sliders shown down below to have the guide update as you level up.

1.

Shadow Priest Level-by-Level Rotation, Talents, and Trainer Skills

Move the slider below to make the guide update to your level!

Level: 1
2.

Shadow Priest Leveling Talents in Wrath of the Lich King

Your first talent unlocks at Level 10.

Spirit Tap IconSpirit Tap is great for Mana generation between fights. Shadow Focus IconShadow Focus is a great talent, giving you some much needed hit rating. Darkness IconDarkness is a great damage boost for all of your spells.

Mind Flay IconMind Flay is one of your main damage spells. Shadow Weaving IconShadow Weaving is a great stacking damage buff, be sure to keep it going between fights. Shadow Reach IconShadow Reach gives you additional range on your Shadow spells.

Vampiric Embrace IconVampiric Embrace with Improved Vampiric Embrace IconImproved Vampiric Embrace is great for keeping you healthy while getting attacked. Improved Devouring Plague IconImproved Devouring Plague and Mind Melt IconMind Melt are both great damage increases.

Shadowform IconShadowform is a massive boost to this spec, greatly increasing your damage output. Improved Spirit Tap IconImproved Spirit Tap gives you even more Mana regeneration and Spirit. Misery IconMisery increases the chance your spells hit and your damage done. Improved Shadowform IconImproved Shadowform reduces the amount of spell pushback you get while casting Shadow spells.

Vampiric Touch IconVampiric Touch is your most important damage spell, greatly increasing your damage. Pain and Suffering IconPain and Suffering refreshes your Shadow Word: Pain IconShadow Word: Pain whenever you use Mind Flay IconMind Flay. Psychic Horror IconPsychic Horror is useful for elites, powerful enemies, and PvP. Twisted Faith IconTwisted Faith even further increases your damage capabilities.

Dispersion IconDispersion is a good defensive cooldown if you are in a dangerous position; it also restores a lot of Mana and can be used to keep your Mana high. Twin Disciplines IconTwin Disciplines is a nice damage boost to all of your spells. Improved Inner Fire IconImproved Inner Fire and Improved Power Word: Fortitude IconImproved Power Word: Fortitude are great stat boosts.

Meditation IconMeditation is great Mana regeneration. Improved Psychic Scream IconImproved Psychic Scream and Silence IconSilence are not required, but are great tools if you find yourself in a bad situation or PvP. Shadow Power IconShadow Power is a decent damage boost for your final talent points.

3.

Shadow Priest Leveling Glyphs in Wrath of the Lich King

Your leveling glyphs will differ from your endgame glyphs. Glyphs can be a huge boost to your leveling speed as some greatly improve the baseline power of your key abilities. Be sure to check the price of these glyphs on your server to vastly improve your leveling experience.

3.1.

Major Glyphs

  1. Glyph of Mind Flay Icon Glyph of Mind Flay
  2. Glyph of Dispersion Icon Glyph of Dispersion
  3. Glyph of Shadow Icon Glyph of Shadow
3.2.

Minor Glyphs

  1. Glyph of Fortitude Icon Glyph of Fortitude
  2. Glyph of Levitate Icon Glyph of Levitate
  3. Glyph of Fading Icon Glyph of Fading
4.

Shadow Priest Leveling Rotation in Wrath of the Lich King

  1. Power Word: Fortitude IconPower Word: Fortitude keep this buff up before entering combat.
  2. Inner Fire IconInner Fire keep this buff up before entering combat.
  3. Divine Spirit IconDivine Spirit keep this buff up before entering combat.
  4. Vampiric Embrace IconVampiric Embrace keep this buff up before entering combat.
  5. Shadowform IconShadowform keep this buff up before entering combat.
  6. Smite IconSmite your target until it is dead.
  7. Smite IconSmite your target from max range.
  8. Shadow Word: Pain IconShadow Word: Pain your target after you enter combat. Run away from the target while doing this to keep your distance.
  9. Continue using Smite IconSmite on your target until it is dead.
  10. Mind Blast IconMind Blast on cooldown.
  11. Continue using Smite IconSmite on your target until it is dead.
  12. Holy Fire IconHoly Fire your target from max range.
  13. Mind Blast IconMind Blast your target from max range.
  14. Vampiric Touch IconVampiric Touch your target from max range.
  15. Devouring Plague IconDevouring Plague your target after you enter combat. Run away from the target while doing this to keep your distance.
  16. Shadow Word: Pain IconShadow Word: Pain your target. Run away from the target while doing this to keep your distance.
  17. Mind Blast IconMind Blast on cooldown.
  18. Mind Flay IconMind Flay as a filler until target is low.
  19. Shoot IconShoot your target with your wand if they are low enough to die from DoTs and wand damage.
  20. Shadow Word: Death IconShadow Word: Death if a target did not die from DoTs and would take too long to wand down. Ideally this would kill the target to prevent you from taking the backlash damage.

You have very few spells early on. At the start of a pull you will want to be at max range. This helps you get off more damage before the mob reaches you. Running away from the mob while casting instant cast spells like Shadow Word: Pain IconShadow Word: Pain help keep that distance from the mob, reducing your damage taken. Overall, this helps reduce how often you need to drink as you will need to heal yourself less.

Now your rotation starts to form itself as you get multiple new spells. Holy Fire IconHoly Fire will be the ideal spell to use on pull as it has a long cast time and deals high damage. Next you will want to cast Devouring Plague IconDevouring Plague and Shadow Word: Pain IconShadow Word: Pain on the target while running away from it if possible, allowing you to keep some distance on it. Mind Blast IconMind Blast on cooldown and use Mind Flay IconMind Flay as a filler spell until the target is low enough to die to DoTs and Shoot IconShoot. Be sure to use either Renew IconRenew or Power Word: Shield IconPower Word: Shield whenever you are taking high damage.

With Shadowform IconShadowform you can no longer cast Holy spells, changing your rotation a bit. Start with Mind Blast IconMind Blast from max range. Next you will want to cast Devouring Plague IconDevouring Plague and Shadow Word: Pain IconShadow Word: Pain on the target while running away from it if possible, allowing you to keep some distance on it. Then use a couple Mind Flay IconMind Flays until the target is low enough to die to DoTs and Shoot IconShooting, or use another Mind Blast IconMind Blast if the target is still high health.

Start with Vampiric Touch IconVampiric Touch from max range. Next you will want to cast Devouring Plague IconDevouring Plague and Shadow Word: Pain IconShadow Word: Pain on the target while running away from it if possible, allowing you to keep some distance on it. Use Mind Blast IconMind Blast, then cast a couple Mind Flay IconMind Flays until the target is low enough to die to DoTs and Shoot IconShooting, or use another Mind Blast IconMind Blast if the target is still high health when it is available.

5.

List of Shadow Priest Trainer Skills to Buy

Training spells can be rather expensive, especially if you try to learn every spell available to you. Here we will give you a list of your top-priority spells that you will want to train so you know which ones you can avoid and save some money.

  • Smite IconSmite — Do not train this past rank 3 as you will stop using it after that.
  • Holy Fire IconHoly Fire — Do not train this past rank 4 as you will stop using it after that.
  • Psychic Scream IconPsychic Scream — You can delay upgrading this if you are low on money, but eventually you will want to learn higher ranks.
  • Dispel Magic IconDispel Magic — You only really need 1 rank of this spell; train the second rank when you have the money to spare.
6.

Continue Improving at Level 80

Congratulations on hitting Level 80 in Wrath of the Lich King! Now that your leveling process is over, you can learn more about Level-80 Shadow Priest gameplay by reading our Shadow Priest guide, which covers everything you need to know to properly play your Shadow Priest.

7.

Changelog

  • 01 Jan. 2024: Updated for Phase 5.
  • 30 Sep. 2023: Added information about Glyph of Dispersion.
  • 05 Sep. 2022: Guide added.
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