Shadow Priest DPS Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible Raid Guide — The War Within 11.0.0
On this page, you will find tips, tricks, and strategies tailored to your Shadow Priest for each boss of the following raid: Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible. All our content is updated for World of Warcraft — The War Within 11.0.0.
Introduction
Below, you can find class and spec-specific advice for every fight in Aberrus. If you are looking for a general overview of the Raid that is not spec-specific, check out our dedicated Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible guides.
On this page, you will find Shadow Priest specific information to deal with each boss in the Aberrus raid. These are not complete encounter guides but specific tips for doing the bosses as a Shadow Priest.
This page assumes that you already understand most of the mechanics of each encounter. These can be found on the full raid guide, so what is contained here are details specifically tailored toward Shadow Priest and how you can deal with each fight as best as possible.
All recommendations are progression-based tips and will not necessarily be the best for an overall DPS ranking.
Dragonflight Raid Talent Builds for Shadow Priest
Single Target Void Eruption Build for Shadow Priest
This build is the default single target build for Shadow, performing
ahead of Dark Ascension, particularly whenever there is any movement
involved.
- Kazzara
- Amalgamation Chamber
- Forgotten Experiments (LFR/Normal/Heroic)
- Rashok
- Zskarn
- Magmorax
If you are able to fully turret during the fight you might prefer
the below version with Dark Ascension.
- CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmxMDAAAAAAAAAAAAwwsBzMzys9AmZmZMzMLwswMzMjZjBGjhZxsN1MDWgZAAEAQAA
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the build directly into your game!
Single Target with Shadow Crash Build for Shadow Priest
This build is nearly identical to the single target build but picks up Shadow Crash
and
Whispering Shadows to give you the ability for easy DoTing of many adds without
compromising your single target damage much (less than 3%).
- Assault of the Zaqali (if you want more ST)
- Forgotten Experiments (Mythic)
- Echo of Neltharion
- Sarkareth
If you prefer to run Void Eruption here is the top build with
Shadow Crash:
- CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgBzMDAAAAAAAAAAAAwwsMYmZ2mNmZmZ2GzsAzCzMzMmNGYMGmFz2UzMYBzAAQAABA
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the build directly into your game!
Multi-Target AoE Build for Shadow Priest
This build is an option to run on Assault of the Zaqali if you want more AoE. This will likely be the preferred build for this fight, especially on progression.
Suggested Encounters:- Assault of the Zaqali
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the build directly into your game!
General Defensive Usage Notes
Shadow Priest has several defensives that you should plan to use and rotate
throughout mechanics. You should opt to use the smaller cooldown spells often
as needed with incoming mechanics and save bigger cooldowns like Dispersion
for large incoming damage.
Flash Heal with
Protective Light talented.
Power Word: Shield for a small absorb.
Fade with
Translucent Image talented.
Desperate Prayer
Dispersion
General Cooldown Usage Notes
As a Shadow Priest, you want to generally sync up your cooldown together. The typical sequence for cooldowns is the following:
- Use
Nymue's Unraveling Spindle if equipped.
Shadowfiend or
Mindbender
- Use damage-only trinkets like
Belor'relos, the Suncaller if equipped.
Void Eruption or
Dark Ascension
Power Infusion
- Other on-use trinkets like
Spoils of Neltharus
Note that with Shadowfiend, it does not sync nicely
with certain cooldowns, but you should still plan to use this on cooldown.
For more information, check out the rotation page.
In addition to the general rotation, you want to keep in mind that your goal is to use your cooldowns as often as possible during an encounter. With that in mind, your secondary goal is to use them at the correct time.
I highly suggest using some Addon or WeakAura to track the estimated time to
die of your target/boss target.
Method
Raid Tools has this as an option if you are already using this addon.
By tracking time to die, if you know that you can only fit one more cycle of
your cooldowns in before the boss dies, you can choose to hold these cooldowns
to better line up with Twist of Fate,
Bloodlust, or any other
mechanic that would make burning cooldowns better.
Kazzara, the Hellforged
Talents/Build
- For this boss, we suggest the single target build.
- CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgBmZAAAAAAAAAAAAAGmFPAzMz2sNmZmZMmZBegNmZmZMbMwYMjZxsN1MDWwMAAEAQAA
Defensive Usage
- Use your smaller defensives for
Wings of Extinction.
- Plan for smaller defensives for
Hellsteel Carnage at 80%, 60%, and 40% health.
Cooldown Timings
- No specific timings to mention.
Mechanical Tips
- Make sure you carefully plan your movement ahead of time. You should plan to get future mechanics before they happen so you are prepared.
Top Trinkets
Neltharion's Call to Suffering
Ominous Chromatic Essence (All Allies)
Spoils of Neltharus
Umbrelskul's Fractured Heart
Whispering Incarnate Icon (At least a Healer or Tank)
For more information, please refer to our Kazzara guide.
The Amalgamation Chamber
Talents/Build
You must be 50 yards away from the second boss to avoid double-stacking
the debuff. Our AoE from Psychic Link has a 40-yard
range, so realistically, you will not treat this fight as a two-target encounter
on progression.
In addition, once the boss transitions, it is pure single target, so your
build here will be similar to a traditional single target boss.
You can play this in the middle, but likely not worth doing on progression due
to the large amount of damage taken. If you plan on doing this, you can simply
swap out Dark Evangelism for the one point in
Screams of the Void,
or you can also play the
Void Eruption version if you prefer that.
Both of these builds will be great for maximizing overall damage.
- Full Single Target: CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgBmZAAAAAAAAAAAAAGmFPAzMzysNmZmZMmZBmFmZmZMbMwYMMLmtpmZwCmBAgAACA
- More 2 Target in Phase One (
Dark Ascension): CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmxMDAAAAAAAAAAAAwws5BYmZWmNmZmZMzMLwswMzMjZjBGjhZxsN1MDWgZAAEAQAA
- More 2 Target in Phase One (
Void Eruption): CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgBmZAAAAAAAAAAAAAGmNPAzMz2sNmZmZMmZBmFmZmZMbMwYMMLmtpmZwCmBAgAACA
This is a very small difference between builds, the main change is if you can stand in the middle or not during Phase One. The difference in builds is roughly .33% increase swapping from the Full Single Target variant to one of the other choices.
Defensive Usage
- Use at least one small defensive or even
Dispersion if you get targeted with
Umbral Detonation. Dispersion has an extra benefit giving you movement speed to run out further.
- Use a small defensive when soaking
Gloom Conflagration.
- Pop a defensive if you are not topped before
Blistering Twilight goes off on you if targeted.
Cooldown Timings
- On progression you will typically save
Bloodlust for the start of phase two. If this is the strategy you are doing, you will likely hold your second use of your cooldowns to make sure you have them all back for Bloodlust.
Mechanical Tips
- If the tanks are swapping the bosses for the raid, try to re-dot just as it goes out of range for a bit more overall damage.
Top Trinkets
Neltharion's Call to Suffering
Ominous Chromatic Essence (All Allies)
Spoils of Neltharus
Whispering Incarnate Icon (At least a Healer or Tank)
Pip's Emerald Friendship Badge
For more information, please refer to our Amalgamation Chamber guide.
The Forgotten Experiments
Talents/Build
For LFR, Normal, and Heroic, this boss is mostly a single target, with some adds
that will spawn in a single phase. Once you get into Mythic, roughly half of the
fight will become 2 target sustained cleave. On top of that, there is a common
strategy where you Mass Dispel the debuffs and spawn several adds.
Because of this, I would strongly suggest using
Shadow Crash.
- LFR/Normal/Heroic - CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmZmZAAAAAAAAAAAAAGsBzMzysxMzMz2MzsAzCzMzMmNGYMGmFz2UzMYBmBAQAABA
- Mythic - CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmZmZAAAAAAAAAAAAAGsBzMzysxMzMz2MzsAzCzMzMmNGYMGmFz2UzMYBmBAQAABA
Defensive Usage
- Use a small defensive when targeted with
Rending Charge as you move out.
- Save a small defensive for casts of
Violent Eruption. Consider using
Vampiric Embrace for this as well.
Cooldown Timings
- Typically, you will use
Bloodlust at the start of the second boss. Depending on when this is happening, you should save offensive cooldowns to have them at the start of Bloodlust. For most groups, this will be roughly a minute into the encounter, so you should save your cooldowns for this.
- Save cooldowns if the target will be dying soon; there is downtime between bosses depending on the difficulty, which can waste cooldowns if used at the wrong time.
- Make sure you save
Shadow Crash when you dispel the stacks of the buff on allies. This will spawn adds that you want to quickly take down.
Mechanical Tips
- The remnant adds that spawn typically will just need
Vampiric Touch applied, and then you go back to tunneling in on the boss. If they duplicate, it will live long enough for
Devouring Plague to tick; You can fully swap if needed.
- Coordinate with your healers and raid on when to use
Mass Dispel to get rid of
Unstable Essence.
Top Trinkets
Neltharion's Call to Suffering
Ominous Chromatic Essence (All Allies)
Spoils of Neltharus
Whispering Incarnate Icon (At least a Healer or Tank)
Tome of Unstable Power (if this procs on the adds congrats on your parse)
For more information, please refer to our Forgotten Experiments guide.
Assault of the Zaqali
Talents/Build
For this fight, you can decide whether you want more add or more boss damage. Both builds will perform well regardless; you are just choosing where to add a bit more.
- Single Target with
Shadow Crash - CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmZmZAAAAAAAAAAAAAGsBzMzysxMzMz2MzsAzCzMzMmNGYMGmFz2UzMYBmBAAAAAA
- More Add Damage - CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMYMDAAAAAAAAAAAAwwsZYmZ2mNmZmZ2GzsAzGzMzMmNGYMGmFz2UzMYBzAAQAABA
Defensive Usage
- Use a defensive when soaking
Catastrophic Slam.
Cooldown Timings
- No special considerations.
Mechanical Tips
Shadow Crash should be enough to handle DoTing for this encounter, but be sure to manually DoT adds that do not get hit with
Vampiric Touch.
- Make sure to swap to Magma Mystic when it spawns fully and cleave off
of this mob. Outside of this, I would suggest spreading
Devouring Plague when using
Distorted Reality.
- To perform our AoE rotation optimally, you ideally want to funnel your damage into the highest-priority adds. If they are all even, pick the mob with the highest health. Rough priority for most strategies is Magma Mystic > Obsidian Guard = Flamebound Huntsman > Boss > Zaqali Wallclimbers.
- Ideally, you should stand more than 25 yards away from Obsidian Guard adds
to avoid getting hit by
Scorching Roar.
Top Trinkets
Tome of Unstable Power
Neltharion's Call to Suffering
Ominous Chromatic Essence (All Allies)
Whispering Incarnate Icon (At least a Healer or Tank)
Pip's Emerald Friendship Badge
For more information, please refer to our Assault of the Zaqali guide.
Rashok, the Elder
Talents/Build
- For this boss, we suggest the single target build.
- CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgBmZAAAAAAAAAAAAAGmFPAzMz2sNmZmZMmZBegNmZmZMbMwYMjZxsN1MDWwMAAEAQAA
Defensive Usage
- I would suggest using
Dispersion when targeted with
Searing Slam. This will make it easier to move out while also reducing damage taken.
- Use a small defensive when soaking
Doom Flames. You only need one player per circle.
- If you are soaking
Charged Smash, you should use a small defensive if you are not topped on health.
Cooldown Timings
- Try to save
Vampiric Embrace for
Elder's Conduit intermission.
- Depending on your kill time, you should consider delaying your 4-minute cooldown set to line up with the potion reset at 5 minutes. So you will use 2-minute cooldowns at 0/2/5 minutes. The fight hard enrages around 6:30, but most groups will kill it before you will get full value out of that last set of cooldowns.
Mechanical Tips
- No special considerations.
Top Trinkets
Neltharion's Call to Suffering
Ominous Chromatic Essence (All Allies)
Spoils of Neltharus
Umbrelskul's Fractured Heart
Whispering Incarnate Icon (At least a Healer or Tank)
For more information, please refer to our Rashok the Elder guide.
The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn
Talents/Build
Generally speaking, you should try to manually DoT the adds as they spawn,
but if you can group than quickly, you might get more value out of taking
Shadow Crash and
Whispering Shadows. However, grouping them is
much more difficult on Mythic, so I would not suggest taking those talents
on that difficulty.
- For this boss, we suggest the single target build.
- CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgBmZAAAAAAAAAAAAAGmFPAzMz2sNmZmZMmZBegNmZmZMbMwYMjZxsN1MDWwMAAEAQAA
Defensive Usage
- You will need to pop a small defensive for
Blast Wave if you are not topped on health.
- Use a small defensive when targeted with
Unstable Embers.
Cooldown Timings
- Consider saving
Dark Ascension for each set of adds to push those down faster.
Mechanical Tips
- Make sure to track and pay attention to add spawn times. These are a top priority to kill ASAP, and the faster you can DoT, these targets , the better.
- Adds should spawn shortly after you pull, so likely worth saving your damage until after these have been dotted.
Top Trinkets
Umbrelskul's Fractured Heart
Neltharion's Call to Suffering
Ominous Chromatic Essence (All Allies)
Spoils of Neltharus
Whispering Incarnate Icon (At least a Healer or Tank)
For more information, please refer to our Zskarn guide.
Magmorax
Talents/Build
- For this boss, we suggest the single target build.
- CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgBmZAAAAAAAAAAAAAGmFPAzMz2sNmZmZMmZBegNmZmZMbMwYMjZxsN1MDWwMAAEAQAA
Defensive Usage
- Use a defensive for
Molten Spittle, consider using
Dispersion if you need to run far away to drop the puddle as it expires.
- You want to use at least one defensive for every cast of
Igniting Roar and
Overpowering Stomp.
- When soaking
Magma Puddle, you might need a defensive or even a quick
Flash Heal to get a combo heal + defensive.
Cooldown Timings
- Depending on your kill time on progression, you might find it better to delay cooldowns to line up with your second potion. As you get more gear, this will become less relevant on future clears.
Mechanical Tips
- For
Igniting Roar, you might want to ask a local friendly Evoker to help Rescue you to maintain more DPS uptime.
Top Trinkets
Neltharion's Call to Suffering
Ominous Chromatic Essence (All Allies)
Spoils of Neltharus
Umbrelskul's Fractured Heart
Whispering Incarnate Icon (At least a Healer or Tank)
For more information, please refer to our Magmorax guide.
Echo of Neltharion
Talents/Build
- To handle fighting the small Aberration adds in the later part
of the fight; I suggest running
Shadow Crash and
Whispering Shadows. This will be a small hit to single target damage, but you are useless on these adds without this.
- CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmZmZAAAAAAAAAAAAAGsBzMzysxMzMz2MzsAzCzMzMmNGYMGmFz2UzMYBmBAQAABA
Defensive Usage
- Get a defensive running for each
Umbral Annihilation. Try to save the bigger defensive abilities for the later casts, as the damage will ramp.
- Pop a small defensive right before you go into a
Sundered Reality before a cast of
Ebon Destruction.
Cooldown Timings
- Typically, you will pause damage in phase 1 as you transition into phase 2. Because of this, you will want to hold your second use of 2-minute cooldowns for immediately after the stop damage part ends. If you react quickly enough, you should be able to use on cooldown for the rest of the fight and still have everything for lust around 6:15.
Mechanical Tips
- If possible, tunnel your damage onto the adds when available over the boss. When the boss hits 35% with the adds active, he reduces the damage he takes by 99%.
- When allies go hostile, be sure to avoid casting spells like
Shadow Crash on them as to not friendly fire.
Top Trinkets
Umbrelskul's Fractured Heart
Neltharion's Call to Suffering
Ominous Chromatic Essence (All Allies)
Spoils of Neltharus
Whispering Incarnate Icon (At least a Healer or Tank)
For more information, please refer to our Neltharion guide.
Scalecommander Sarkareth
Talents/Build
- To easily DoT the adds on this boss, I would suggest running the Single Target +
Shadow Crash setup.
- CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmZmZAAAAAAAAAAAAAGsBzMzysxMzMz2MzsAzCzMzMmNGYMGmFz2UzMYBmBAQAABA
Defensive Usage
- Use a defensive before soaking
Mass Disintegrate or
Searing Breath to remove
Oppressing Howl.
- During
Glittering Surge, you will likely need a defensive if you are not topped on health.
Cooldown Timings
- You should plan to come up out of the
Emptiness Between Stars phase as you are ready to pop your cooldowns. This haste will go perfectly with our cooldowns. Get 10 stacks of
Astral Flares and then come up ideally soon after your cooldown becomes available.
Mechanical Tips
- Ideally, you should not remain at high stacks of
Oblivion. Consider going down to the Void phase if you do.
- Use
Mass Dispel to coordinate dispels of
Infinite Duress to knock back the raid.
Top Trinkets
Umbrelskul's Fractured Heart
Neltharion's Call to Suffering
Ominous Chromatic Essence (All Allies)
Spoils of Neltharus
Whispering Incarnate Icon (At least a Healer or Tank)
For more information, please refer to our Scalecommander Sarkareth guide.
Changelog
- 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within pre-patch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Update builds for Season 4 and add top trinkets per boss.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7.
- 08 Aug. 2023: Fix issue where Dark Ascension Single Target build was not using Distorted Reality.
- 07 Aug. 2023: Update builds from recent hotfix nerfs and adjust some boss tips.
- 23 Jul. 2023: Reviewed from the recent hotfixes and added more options for the DA build.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Update talent strings for 10.1.5.
- 28 Jun. 2023: Swap out Malediction for Deathspeaker in the Dark Ascension build.
- 27 Jun. 2023: Add notes about using Dark Ascension on certain fights.
- 20 Jun. 2023: Update build and cooldown timings for Rashok.
- 30 May 2023: Suggest using the Single Target with Shadow Crash build for Forgotten Experiments Mythic.
- 15 May 2023: Updates after first week of raid.
- 05 May 2023: Correct a few titles.
- 27 Apr. 2023: Page added.
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This guide has been written by Publik, Shadow Priest theorycrafter and SimC dev at Warcraft Priests. He currently raids in The Exiled on Arthas-US.
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