Shadow Priest Dragonflight Leveling Guide From 1 to 60 (Dragonflight 10.2.5)

Last updated Today at 10:16 by Publik 24 comments

On this page, we will go over everything you need to know to Level up your Shadow priest to get ready for Dragonflight leveling coming later this year.Make sure to use the slider to make the guide adapt to your level. If you are looking for more generic leveling guide you can refer to our Priest leveling guide.

1.

Gear Options

When it comes to gearing out your Shadow Priest, you should always take the piece with a higher Intellect value, typically referenced by the item level of that piece. Intellect is far and away our better stat and will make everything you do hit harder and kill mobs quicker.

2.

Level by Level Rotation and Talents

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

Level: 60
2.1.

Talents to Level Up as a Shadow Priest

Your first talent point unlocks at Level 10.

I suggest using the following talent build for leveling your Shadow Priest:

2.2.

Rotation to Level Up as a Shadow Priest

Starting at Level 1, you only have Smite Icon Smite, so just spam this for now.

  1. At level 6 you learn Power Word: Fortitude Icon Power Word: Fortitude; make sure you always keep this buff up on yourself and your allies.
  2. Shadowform Icon Shadowform is the most iconic Shadow Priest ability thematically; ensure this is always active for that free damage increase.
  3. Keep up Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain on as many targets as possible.
  4. Keep up Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch on as many targets as possible.
  5. Use Shadow Crash Icon Shadow Crash to do some AoE damage.
  6. Use Shadow Crash Icon Shadow Crash to quickly apply DoTs to targets and do some AoE damage.
  7. With Misery Icon Misery talented use Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch to refresh and apply both DoTs on as many targets as possible.
  8. Use Shadowfiend Icon Shadowfiend as a cooldown when fighting harder enemies.
  9. Use Mindbender Icon Mindbender as a cooldown when fighting harder enemies.
  10. Use Dark Ascension Icon Dark Ascension (or Void Eruption Icon Void Eruption if you prefer) as your main cooldown when fighting harder enemies.
  11. Use Power Infusion Icon Power Infusion as a cooldown when fighting harder enemies.
  12. Use Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague to spend Insanity for damaging a single target.
  13. Use Void Torrent Icon Void Torrent on cooldown.
  14. Use Shadow Word: Death Icon Shadow Word: Death on any target below 20% health.
  15. Use Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast on cooldown.
  16. Use Mindgames Icon Mindgames on cooldown.
  17. Use Divine Star Icon Divine Star or Halo Icon Halo on cooldown.
  18. Use Mind Flay Icon Mind Flay as your filler spell.
  19. Use Smite Icon Smite as a filler spell.

In addition to these active abilities, you will also gain some passive abilities that will impact how you play as you level up:

  • At level 10, you also gain our baseline Mastery ability, Mastery: Shadow Weaving Icon Mastery: Shadow Weaving. This does not change your playstyle much; just know that you will deal more damage to targets if they have your DoTs are active on them.
  • Shadowy Apparitions Icon Shadowy Apparitions spawns out a ghostly version of yourself every time you cast Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast, Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague, or Void Bolt Icon Void Bolt if that target has Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch active. This drastically increases the value of Vampiric Touch, so make sure you DoT up most mobs with it unless they will only live a few short seconds. Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear ticks also have a chance to spawn these ghosts, as well as Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain if you decide to talent into Tormented Spirits Icon Tormented Spirits.
  • Shadowy Insight Icon Shadowy Insight causes your main DoT spell to occasionally give you a free cast of Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast.
2.3.

Shadow Priest War Mode Talents for Leveling

In this section, we will go over each of the War Mode/PvP talents you should consider using while leveling up.

2.3.1.

Shadow Priest PvP Talents for Leveling

  1. Psyfiend Icon Psyfiend will do a sizable chunk of damage on a relatively low cooldown.
  2. For the first few levels, you can also use Mind Trauma Icon Mind Trauma and Strength of Soul Icon Strength of Soul, although I would suggest swapping these at Level 23.
  3. Driven to Madness Icon Driven to Madness is a great option for open-world.
  4. Catharsis Icon Catharsis is a great option for solo leveling.
3.

Congratulations!

Congratulations on reaching Level 70! Now that you have hit Level 70, we recommend looking at our Easy mode page and Talents section to learn how to play at max level.

4.

Changelog

  • 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2 with a new talent build.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7.
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.5 with new talent strings.
  • 03 May 2023: Fix Shadow Crash note before you have Whispering Shadows.
  • 01 May 2023: Update builds for Patch 10.1.0.
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
  • 17 Feb. 2023: Update leveling build from recent balance changes.
  • 25 Jan. 2023: Update tree for Patch 10.0.5.
  • 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
  • 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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