Shadow Priest: Midnight Expansion Preview

Welcome to our Midnight expansion guide for Shadow Priest. Ahead of launch, this page will contain everything you need to know about the Shadow Priest spec in the forthcoming Midnight expansion, including changes and some light predictions on the state of the spec going into the expansion.

This page is a constantly evolving work in progress, with regular changes expected as updates hit the Midnight alpha. This is not meant to be a launch guide for Shadow Priest, but instead serves as a resource for you to keep up to date with how the spec is evolving on Alpha, and what you can expect from its playstyle and feel on launch.

Shadow Priest among most specs in the game saw a large amount of changes focused on reducing the amount of abilities you have to press in your core rotation and limit the amount of procs or things you might need addons to help track. To accomplish this we saw many changes to baseline spells, class talents, hero talents, and our spec talents.

In addition to specific talent updates we also got several abilities made baseline for Shadow Priests.

• Silence (was 45 second cooldown - now 30 second cooldown)
• Dispersion
• Vampiric Embrace

Our class tree received massive changes going into Midnight with lots of new talents and a reorganization of the tree in general. As you level up to level 90 you will get 3 new points to spend in this tree. Here are the biggest changes:

• Many nodes have changed positions within the tree.
• Mind Blast is now in the spec tree and Shadow Word: Death is no longer granted by default. Shadowfiend was also removed by default and instead added to the spec tree.
• Psychic Scream, Desperate Prayer, and Fade have been moved into the Class Tree (were baseline).

These are just a summary of the most impactful changes to the Class Tree, for the full list of relevant Shadow spells see below.

• Several talents have been Removed from the Class Tree.
  
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  • Apathy
  • Apathy
  • Cauterizing Shadows
  • Death and Madness (now in the Spec Tree)
  • Divine Star
  • Essence Devourer
  • Halo (now given with the Archon Hero Talent only)
  • Manipulation
  • Power Word: Life
  • San'layn
  • Shadowfiend (now in the Spec Tree)
  • Throes of Pain
  • Vampiric Embrace (now baseline)
  • Void Shield
  • Void Shift
• We also had several New Talents added into our Class Tree.
  
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  • Focused Power
  • Twin Disciplines
  • Painful Invocation
  • Mindpierce
  • Strength of Soul
  • Spiritual Guidance
  • Dark Enlightenment
  • False Autonomy
  • Spectral Illusion
  • Psychic Scream (was baseline) (now 40 second cooldown - was 45 seconds)
  • Desperate Prayer (was baseline)
  • Fade (was baseline)
• Several talents have been adjusted and reworked. Alongside these changes several talents have also changed positions in the talent tree.
  
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  • Void Tendrils - Instead of being its own active ability it now roots enemies when Psychic Scream debuff ends.
  • Sheer Terror - Now increases the damage required to break Psychic Scream by 25% (was 75%).
  • Psychic Voice - Now reduces the cooldown of Psychic Scream by 10 seconds (was 15 seconds).
  • Light's Inspiration - Now a 1-point talent that increases the maximum health granted by Desperate Prayer by 10%.

Going into Midnight the developers goal is to simplify the cooldown sequence of Shadow Priests as well as reduce the frequency of high priority procs. Several visuals have been updated alongside a few renamed spells to revolve around the Old God theme.

• Many nodes have changed positions within the tree.
• Dark Ascension has been removed and Void Eruption has been reworked into Voidform with access to Improved Voidform or a reworked Ancient Madness that lets you extend Voidform.
• Void Bolt is for all intents removed from the spec and Void Volley is the new active ability you get while Voidform is active. This is a 15 second cooldown ability reduced by Haste that procs a free Idol of C'Thun but does not refresh Damage Over time effects.
• Devouring Plague renamed to Shadow Word: Madness and the self-healing component has been removed.
• Shadow Crash - Reworked into Tentacle Slam. This summons a massive Tentacle that slams the ground and applies Vampiric Touch to up to 6 targets to all enemies between you and the target as well as 8 yards around your target. This ability has 2 charges on a 15 second cooldown.
• Mind Flay: Insanity procs are now exclusive to Archon and only proc from Halo.

These are just a summary of the most impactful changes to the Spec Tree, for the full list of relevant Shadow spells see below.

• Several talents have been Removed from the Spec Tree.
  
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  • Dark Ascension
  • Psychic Horror
  • Void Torrent
  • Void Bolt (simple version is in the Apex Talents below)
  • Silence (now baseline)
  • Dispersion (now baseline)
  • Last Word (now baseline)
• We also had several New Talents added into our Spec Tree.
  
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  • Improved Voidform
  • Shadowfiend (was a Class Talent)
  • Death and Madness (was a Class Talent) (Choice node with Deathspeaker)
  • Shadow Power
  • Mind Melt
• Several talents have been adjusted and reworked. Alongside these changes several talents have also changed positions in the talent tree.
  
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  • Talenting into Misery now replaces Shadow Word: Pain
  • Voidform - Reworked and renamed from Void Eruption. No longer resets the charges of Mind Blast. Extension of the buff moved into Ancient Madness talent. Still activates our Mastery at full power while the buff is active. Launches a Void Volley on cast.
  • Void Volley - Now the active ability that replaces Voidform while active instead of Void Bolt. This does not refresh Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word: Pain. This ability still generates Insanity and procs Idol of C'Thun and is on a 15 second cooldown reduced by haste. Only available to press while Voidform is active.
  • Devouring Plague - Reworked into Shadow Word: Madness and the self-healing component has been removed.
  • Shadow Crash - Reworked into Tentacle Slam. This summons a massive Tentacle that slams the ground and applies Vampiric Touch to up to 6 targets to all enemies between you and the target as well as 8 yards around your target. This ability has 2 charges on a 15 second cooldown.
  • Shadowy Insight now grants a temporary charge of Mind Blast that ignores its cooldown instead of granting a charge when triggered.
  • Surge of Insanity - Now completely passive spell that increases Mind Flay damage and Insanity generation. No longer generates procs of Mind Flay: Insanity.
  • Shadowy Apparitions - Damage increased by 100% but they are no longer triggered by Mind Blast.
  • Phantasmal Pathogen - Renamed to Spectral Horrors and is now a 1-point talent.
  • Maddening Touch - Now a 1-point talent.
  • Insidious Ire - Now also affects Mind Flay.

In addition to the spec talent changes we also get access to our new Apex Talents, Void Apparitions. These points exist separately on the Spec Tree and you can commit up to 4 points into them.

You must put these points in sequentially and the biggest value node is the final point.

1. When an effect from an Idol is activated, conjure Shadowy Apparitions.
2. Shadowy Apparitions have a 15% chance to spawn as Void Apparitions that release a Void Bolt at their target and deal increased damage. This Void Bolt does NOT refresh Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word: Pain, does not trigger Psychic Link, and does not add Idol of N'Zoth stacks.
3. Chance to spawn Void Apparitions increased to 30%.
4. Tentacle Slam has a 100% chance to activate an effect from one of your Idols. This does not require you to have the Idol talented to proc it.
   • Idol of Y'Shaarj - Call of the Void (procs Overburdened Mind afterwards)
   • Idol of N'Zoth - Can proc either a Horrific Vision or Vision of N'Zoth.
   • Idol of Yogg-Saron - Procs an entire Thing from Beyond.
   • Idol of C'Thun - Procs either a Void Tendril or Void Lasher.

Currently in Alpha the Hero Talent tree updates for Priest are still in development. Each tree still has nodes that are not yet implemented.

So far Archon has relatively minimal changes and the core playstyle is mostly intact. While Surge of Insanity no longer gives Mind Flay: Insanity you still proc these with casts of Halo with the Manifested Power talent.

• Halo is now the keystone node in the tree with a 40 yard range by default.
• Concentrated Infusion has been removed.
• New Talent: Spiritwell - Increases the damage of Shadowy Apparitions by 25%.
• Perfected Form now increases damage during Voidform by 5% (was 20%).
• All talents now have appropriately themed icons as Shadow.

Voidweaver now also grants Void Torrent when you spec into the tree as a Shadow Priest. The gameplay loop has remained unchanged with a few new spells in the tree being added.

• New Talent: Overwhelming Shadows - Void Torrent deals 50% increased damage.
• New Talent: Quickened Pulse - Shadow Word: Pain and Entropic Rift deal damage 25% more often.
• New Talent: Touch of the Void - Voidheart now persists for 8 seconds after Entropic Rift ends.
• Voidheart has changed positions in the hero talent tree.