Shadow Priest DPS Easy Mode — Shadowlands 9.2.5
On this page, we explain how to easily play Shadow Priest in World of Warcraft — Shadowlands 9.2.5, using the simplest rotation, talent tree, stat priority, gear setup, etc., without sacrificing performance.
Foreword
This section is intended for players who are new to the game or class, have no intentions of raiding Mythic difficulty, or simply want a more straightforward way to play their specialization without being overwhelmed by the numerous priorities and active abilities that need to be taken into consideration for optimal play.
The Basics of Shadow Priest
Shadow Priest has evolved into a more modern builder spender spec that specializes in damage over time (DoT) effects. At a high level the spec mostly revolves around keeping your DoT effects up on as many targets as possible while also building Insanity to spend on spells that cost Insanity. The rest of this page is dedicated in getting you to that goal in the easiest way possible to reduce the demands of the specialization at the top end of play without causing a large drop in numerical output.
If you are completely new to Shadow and need more information on the abilities available to you, you can check out our Spell Summary page. There were a lot of changes to Shadow Priest going into Shadowlands, so it might be helpful to read that page just to see what all is different!
If you are more of a visual learner, you can watch the video guide version of this guide instead. I would suggest reading this side-by-side during the video to absorb the information the best.
Talent Choice for Shadow Priest
These choices are optimized for ease of use. Although some talents might offer marginally higher gains when played perfectly, these same talents often result in damage losses when utilized by many players. The talents recommended here aim to present the best setup that has very little punishment for unfamiliarity or mistakes.
- Level 15:
Fortress of the Mind
- Level 25:
Body and Soul
- Level 30:
Misery
- Level 35:
Last Word
- Level 40:
Auspicious Spirits
- Level 45:
Mindbender
- Level 50:
Hungering Void
If you are looking for the absolute best talents for Shadow, which do not compromise on performance for ease of use, you can find a more in-depth analysis on our full talents page below.
Note that, in Dungeon content it is recommended that you swap
Misery for
Searing Nightmare, as
Searing Nightmare
excels in that environment for larger pulls in dungeons. For all other types of content
we suggest you use
Misery as you are starting out.
Stat Choice for Shadow Priest
Currently, you will want to prioritize stats as follows:
- Intellect;
- Haste = Mastery;
- Critical Strike;
- Versatility.
Typically, you will be looking for Haste/Mastery pieces, but because of the strength of Intellect, having Haste with anything at a high item level will be a good place to start.
While the stat priority for classes is normally the same for both the Easy Mode page and our full guide, subtle differences can still occur. If you want to see the full explanation of the stat priority, as well as the absolute top choices for the priority, head to our full stats page below.
Basic Rotation for Shadow Priest
Before you start combat make sure you have Shadowform active and
use
Mind Blast to start combat.
- Keep
Shadow Word: Pain and
Vampiric Touch applied on all targets. Note that with
Misery, you should always use
Vampiric Touch to refresh either of these DoTs, unless you are moving.
- Spend Insanity on
Devouring Plague.
- Cast
Mind Blast whenever available to generate Insanity, or use while channeling
Mind Flay if you have a
Dark Thoughts proc.
- Cast
Shadow Word: Death if the target is below 20% HP, or if you are on the move.
- Cast
Mind Flay to generate Insanity if there is only 1 target, or swap to
Mind Sear if there are 2 or more targets.
- Cast
Shadowfiend/
Mindbender right before entering
Voidform.
- Cast
Void Eruption to get into
Voidform with at least 35 insanity to begin your 15s of burst damage.
- When in
Voidform
- Activate
Power Infusion to gain a burst of Haste; generally speaking, you should use this on cooldown.
- Spend Insanity on
Devouring Plague. Your goal here is to make sure you do not waste Insanity by going over 100, so cast this often.
- Cast
Void Bolt whenever available.
- Cast
Mind Blast whenever available and when
Void Bolt is on cooldown.
- Cast
Mind Flay when there is nothing else to cast, cancelling it whenever there is a higher priority spell available.
- Activate
For a more in-depth priority list and all the edge cases for the rotation, check out the full guide to fully master the rotation.
Covenant Choice for Shadow Priest
As a Shadow Priest if you want to deal the most damage possible I would suggest
going with the Necrolord. The other Covenants are not terribly far behind
when you are starting out gearing, but once you get access to using two legendary
powers with the Memory of Unity power the gap becomes substantial. The full
Covenants page goes into the specific strengths and weaknesses of each Covenant
if you want more detail.
Necrolord for Shadow Priest
- Class Ability:
Unholy Nova
- Covenant Ability:
Fleshcraft
- Preferred Legendaries:
Pallid Command and
Shadowflame Prism
Necrolord Shadow Priests get access to Unholy Nova, an AoE
DoT spell that spreads to enemies around the location of your current target.
This also heals allies around that area for a burst of healing. Furthermore any
damage you or your allies does to an enemy affected by the DoT get some healing
back as well. Overall this is a very versatile ability that, paired with the
square root scaling of the DoT damage, makes it useful in almost any PvE
scenario.
Although certainly not as strong as Soulshape, the
Necrolord Covenant ability
Fleshcraft can be a great defensive
in case of emergencies or even as a pre-pull shield to help out the healers. The
other benefit is that while channeling this shield you get a 20% damage
reduction aura, meaning you can use this to mitigate a big mechanic if DPS is
not important.
Once you get access to Memory of Unity you can craft
Pallid Command
on any slot as a second equipped legendary. For Necrolord this means you'll pair this with
Shadowflame Prism. Note that until you get this new memory you should use
Shadowflame Prism as your primary legendary for PvE content.
Recommended Necrolord Soulbind
For most content you will want to run Plague Deviser Marileth due to his
versatile soulbind traits, but should swap to Bonesmith Heirmir for AoE
or Mythic+ content due to the strength of Heirmir's Arsenal: Marrowed Gemstone.
You can read more about all of the Covenants and their strengths and weaknesses on the dedicated Covenant page.
Conduit Choice for Shadow Priest
Conduits as a Shadow Priest are generally pretty straightforward, with the
main decision being on your 3rd Potency Conduit slot choice. Endurance and Finesse
conduits are fairly lackluster aside from Translucent Image so you
should feel free to use what you prefer.
Note that you should follow the Soulbind pathing described above, or the full paths in the dedicated guide for each Soulbind rather than just the rankings by themselves.
Best Potency Conduits for Shadow Priest
As mentioned in the list below, Haunting Apparitions and
Dissonant Echoes are the required conduits you want to use in all
situations specifically due to synergies with
Auspicious Spirits and
Haunting Apparitions, respectively. After that the third choice comes
down to your Legendary and Covenant choice. Anytime you use
Shadowflame Prism you should use
Rabid Shadows. The other cases
to be aware of are as Kyrian you should use
Courageous Ascension as your third choice, and all other cases will use
Mind Devourer.
Haunting Apparitions
Dissonant Echoes
Rabid Shadows with
Shadowflame Prism
Courageous Ascension as Kyrian
Mind Devourer otherwise
Best Endurance Conduits for Shadow Priest
For our Endurance or defensive conduits, you typically will only use one or two of
these depending on the suggested Soulbind pathing. Translucent Image is
the main one you want to aim for, turning
Fade into a small defensive.
After that feel free to use whichever you think you will get the most use out of.
Best Finesse Conduits for Shadow Priest
Finesse conduits as a Shadow Priest are fairly lackluster, and you should feel
free to select whichever of these you would like. Generally the only one you will get
much of any value will be Clear Mind anytime you actually go about dispelling
(typically mythic+).
For more detail on conduit slotting and where to put them in each Soulbind you can read the dedicated Covenant page.
Legendary Choice for Shadow Priest
In the below table the slot in bold indicates the preferred item
slot to craft that Legendary in. Each Legendary should be crafted with
Haste/Mastery secondary stats. The first table goes over the non-covenant/primary
legendary options. Use the second table for the stats/slot to use for
crafting your second covenant legendary when you get Memory of Unity.
Primary Legendary Crafting Guide
Focus | Legendary | Slots | Source |
---|---|---|---|
Raiding Single-Target — Kyrian | ![]() |
Legs or Waist | Torghast (The Upper Reaches, Layer 3+) |
Raiding Single-Target — Necrolord, Night Fae, or Venthyr | ![]() |
Head or Gloves | Mueh'zala in De Other Side |
Raiding Multi-Target | ![]() |
Head or Gloves | Mueh'zala in De Other Side |
Mythic+ | ![]() |
Head or Gloves | Mueh'zala in De Other Side |
Torghast and Open World | ![]() |
Head or Gloves | Mueh'zala in De Other Side |
Secondary Legendary Crafting Guide (Covenant specific power)
Note: when using the Cord of Unity to craft your covenant legendary you can put the power on any available slot. Generally I would suggest crafting this on your worst slot you have at the time, you can always swap this later if you really want. The below suggests slots based on BiS gear from Mythic+ and Raid gear available.
Kyrian | ![]() |
Waist, Feet, or Finger | Renown Level 48 |
Necrolord | ![]() |
Waist, Feet, or Finger | Renown Level 48 |
Night Fae | ![]() |
Waist, Feet, or Finger | Renown Level 48 |
Venthyr | ![]() |
Waist, Feet, or Finger | Renown Level 48 |
You can read more about all of the Legendaries and alternate recommendations for each style of content on the Legendaries page.
Changelog
- 31 May 2022: Page reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
- 19 Mar. 2022: Updated Unity slots.
- 22 Feb. 2022: Removed Night Fae as a competitive option. Added more info on legendary crafting for 9.2.
- 01 Nov. 2021: Changed default Covenant suggestion to Necrolord.
- 06 Jul. 2021: Added video link.
- 29 Jun. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.1; no changes are needed.
- 09 Mar. 2021: Page reviewed for 9.0.5 and no changes were needed.
- 10 Feb. 2021: Updated rotation to be more clear when selecting certain talents.
- 11 Jan. 2021: Updated stat priority.
- 23 Nov. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands Launch by removing Azerite/Essences, updating default Talents, and adding Power Infusion to the rotation.
- 12 Oct. 2020: Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
More Priest Guides
Guides from Other Classes
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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