Shadow Priest DPS Gear and Best in Slot — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1.5

1. General Gearing Strategy

With Titanforging existing, it is extremely difficult to provide one specific list of gear that will not change in any situation. Instead, it is more valuable to explain how you may want to choose what pieces of gear to wear.

Item level is rather important in Battle for Azeroth, mainly due to the relative value increase of primary stats. In the case of Shadow, this means we want to prioritize Intellect first over any other stat; in other words, item level of gear will generally be the most important factor when looking at replacing something. Secondary stats are still important as well, however, and currently Shadow wants to focus on acquiring as much Critical Strike and Haste as it can. Mastery and Versatility are both low in value and there is not really a way to have too much of Haste or Critical Strike. If it is not an obvious choice, sim your own character to find out. For a more detailed explanation, you can read the Simulations page.

2. Azerite

For a comprehensive overview of what Azerite traits are best as well as looking at what items have what traits, you can take a look at the Shadow Azerite page.

3. Mythic+

Mythic+ rewards gear based upon the keystone level you complete:

1. 2-3: 375
2. 4: 380
3. 5-6: 385
4. 7: 390
5. 8-9: 395
6. 10: 400

In addition, if you have completed a Mythic+ keystone in a week, you will be able to open a chest every week which contains loot based on the highest key you have completed (up to a maximum of 10). It is worth noting that you do not need to make the timer on the key to be eligible for getting loot from the chest. The rewards are structured as follows:

4. World Quests

World Quests can give you a bunch of different rewards, including valuable Azerite gear, weapons, or trinkets. While the gear possibilities are too great to list here, always try to do the World Quests that reward gear, as you might get lucky with Titanforging or Warforging. Do bear in mind that Azerite gear has no chance of getting upgraded in any way, either through Warforging, Titanforging, or getting a socket. Weapons are not able to Titanforge either, but they can Warforge up to 10 extra item levels.

5. Gearing Spreadsheet

For a more comprehensive overview of the gear that drops in Battle for Azeroth, I recommend taking a look at this sheet made by Imoral. This spreadsheet singles out items with Critical Strike and Haste and shows which Azerite gear has which traits.

6. Crafting Gear

There are two professions that give you the opportunity to craft gear as a Shadow Priest: Engineering and Tailoring. Below, you can find the pieces of gear that you can obtain through crafting.

6.1. Tailoring

Tailoring offers you two pieces of gear to craft that are Bind on Pickup when you make them. This means that you can not sell these to other players, nor can you buy them from other players.

Enhanced Deep Sea Gloves are item level 385 Hands, the Pattern for which you can buy from Pin'jin the Patient, as Horde, or Daniel Brineweaver, as Alliance. Once you have learned this Pattern, crafting it allows you to discover how to make the item level 400 version of these Hands: Fortified Deep Sea Gloves. Finally, crafting Fortified Deep Sea Gloves allows you to discover how to make Tempered Deep Sea Gloves, the final upgrade which has an item level of 415.

Enhanced Deep Sea Breeches are item level 385 Legs, the Pattern for which you can buy from Pin'jin the Patient, as Horde, or Daniel Brineweaver, as Alliance. Once you have learned this Pattern, crafting it allow you to discover how to make the item level 400 version of these Legs: Fortified Deep Sea Breeches. Finally, crafting Fortified Deep Sea Breeches gives you a chance to discover how to make Tempered Deep Sea Breeches, the final upgrade which has an item level of 415.

6.2. Engineering

AZ3-R1-T3 Synthetic Specs is a craftable Head that also has several unique Azerite traits to pick from that are exclusive to players with Zandalari, or Kul Tiran, Engineering, depending on your faction. This Head has an item level of 340 and can not be upgraded any further. These are the Azerite traits you can pick from:

There is an Azerite Head available to Engineers for every armor type, which starts at Item Level 370. This recipe can be learned from Shuga Blastcaps as Horde, and Layla Evenkeel as Alliance. Crafting the Item Level 370 version allows you to discover the Item Level 385 version, crafting the Item Level 385 version allows you to discover the Item Level 400 version, and finally crafting the Item Level 400 version allows you to discover the Item Level 415 version.

6.3. Outer Ring Traits

• Barrage Of Many Bombs gives you a chance to fire a clusterbomb at your current target. When the bomb gets close, it explodes into smaller bombs which do AoE damage when they hit the ground.
• Relational Normalization Gizmo causes your spells to have a chance to grant you a primary stat and maximum health buff or Haste and 50% movement speed for 10 seconds. This trait is only obtainable through crafting Engineering goggles.
• Ricocheting Inflatable Pyrosaw causes your spells to have a chance to heal up to 4 allies for a large amount. This trait is only obtainable through crafting Engineering goggles.
• Synaptic Spark Capacitor gives your abilities a chance to put a debuff on your target. This debuff will deal damage to enemies within 8 yards of the target with the debuff, and causes them to do 5% less damage to you. This trait is only obtainable through crafting Engineering goggles.

6.4. Inner Ring Traits

• Auto-Self-Cauterizer grants you a chance, when taking damage, to self-heal for a large amount and remove most bleed effects as well as slowing nearby enemies by 30% for 5 seconds. This trait is only obtainable through crafting Engineering goggles.
• Personal Absorb-o-Tron grants you a chance, when taking damage, to gain a large absorb shield for up to 1 minute. This trait is only obtainable through crafting Engineering goggles.

7. Trinket Rankings

Below you will find a ranking of the trinkets in Battle for Azeroth, provided by Bloodmallet.

7.1. Trinket Rankings for Single-Target

7.2. Trinket Rankings for AoE

8. Best in Slot Gear from Battle of Dazar'alor

The list below shows the best piece of gear for each individual slot that drops in the Battle of Dazar'alor raid. It does not take into account any items from other sources. Furthermore, the below pieces are considered ideal for raiding, and not necessarily for doing dungeons or other types of content. This is mainly relevant in regards to your Azerite choices. For a more in depth explanation of what Azerite builds are viable in what situations we recommend looking at the Azerite page.

Slot	Item	Source
Helm	Crown of the Seducer	Opulence in Battle of Dazar'alor
Shoulder	Bristling Fur-Lined Amice	Grong in Battle of Dazar'alor
Cloak	Loa Exultant's Shroud	Conclave of the Chosen in Battle of Dazar'alor
Chest	Divine Fury Raiment	Champion of the Light in Battle of Dazar'alor
Wrists	Bracers of Zealous Calling	Champion of the Light in Battle of Dazar'alor
Gloves	Manceroy's Flamefists	Jadefire Masters in Battle of Dazar'alor
Belt	Waistcord of Flowing Silk	Opulence in Battle of Dazar'alor
Legs	Wavecaller Leggings	Stormwall Blockade in Battle of Dazar'alor
Boots	Lightfeather Footpads	Conclave of the Chosen in Battle of Dazar'alor
Ring #1	Lord Admiral's Signet	Lady Jaina Proudmoore in Battle of Dazar'alor
Ring #2	Seal of the Zandalari Empire	King Rastakhan in Battle of Dazar'alor
Staff	Deathspeaker Spire	King Rastakhan in Battle of Dazar'alor
One-Hand	Goblet of Glittering Favor	Opulence in Battle of Dazar'alor
Off-Hand	Cursed Monkey Palm	Grong in Battle of Dazar'alor

9. Gear From Crucible of Storms

Considering that there are only two bosses in Crucible of Storms, the loot tables are not very large. As such, there are only two items from this raid that you will have to care about as Shadow: Malformed Herald's Legwraps and Harbinger's Inscrutable Will.

Malformed Herald's Legwraps are about the same strength as standard legs of the same item level with Critical Strike and Haste would be. This makes them good and worth taking, provided that you can properly utilize the use effect throughout a fight. Harbinger's Inscrutable Will is about on-par with an Incandescent Sliver, which makes it really powerful, but this assumes you play around the trinket and never get silenced by it. The silence does not seem like it is very hard to avoid the majority of the time.

10. Changelog