Shadow Priest DPS Mythic+ Tips — Dragonflight 10.0.7

Last updated on Mar 20, 2023 at 14:16 by Publik 43 comments
General Information

In this guide, you will find tips and advice to tackle Mythic+ dungeons with your Shadow Priest in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.0.7.

1.

Shadow Priest in Mythic+

Shadow's playstyle in AoE is very similar to single target, relying on interactions from those single target abilities for cleave damage but then spending our Insanity on Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear instead of Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague.

The video version of this guide is also available if you would like to watch along as I talk about Shadow Priest.

1.1.

Shadow Priest Mythic+ Rotation

Both the single-target and multi-target rotations do not change in Mythic+ content. For more information about the Shadow Priest DPS rotation, refer back to the Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities page.

1.1.1.

Opening on a Multi-Target pack in Mythic+

With all the ways our kit has to do damage, you might need clarification as to what this looks like in a Mythic+ scenario. This section is not aimed at covering every scenario, but just the common ones with the suggested Mythic+ talents.

Before I show an example, here is the TLDR/easy version of the AoE priority in Mythic+, see the rotation guide for the full priority, but use this as a starting point if you feel overwhelmed.

  1. If the pack is big enough, you should strongly consider using your cooldowns. Getting as many casts of your cooldown without losing uses of it or not having it for a boss is the biggest point of improvement most players can make in dungeons.
  2. Use Shadow Crash Icon Shadow Crash to get your DoTs rolling. If this is on cooldown as you pull the pack; you need to do your best to DoT as many targets manually as possible while weaving in other spells.
  3. At this point, your highest priority is getting as many ticks of Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear off as possible. See the rotation guide in detail for how to optimize this.
  4. Use spells like Void Torrent Icon Void Torrent and Mindgames Icon Mindgames when talented into Psychic Link Icon Psychic Link.
  5. If using Inescapable Torment Icon Inescapable Torment, weave in Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast and Shadow Word: Death Icon Shadow Word: Death casts while Mindbender Icon Mindbender is active.
  6. Use spells to generate Insanity, with a higher priority on Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast if using Mind Devourer Icon Mind Devourer.
  7. Before resorting to filler spells like Mind Flay Icon Mind Flay, you should first make sure cooldown spells like Halo Icon Halo or Divine Star Icon Divine Star are used.
  8. Fill with Mind Flay Icon Mind Flay or Mind Spike Icon Mind Spike, depending on your build.

Use the following switches to help showcase how the example opener changes:

Example opening rotation for a mythic+ pack (anywhere between 3-8 mobs):

  1. Cast Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch on any targets as the pack is being grouped up with Fade Icon Fade (see below).
  2. Cast Shadow Crash Icon Shadow Crash to put up DoTs on targets once everything is grouped.
  3. Cast Shadowfiend Icon Shadowfiend.
  4. Cast Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast to get the cooldown reset before going into Void Eruption Icon Void Eruption. Skip this if the pack will not live long enough to get your full Voidform Icon Voidform out otherwise.
  5. Cast Void Eruption Icon Void Eruption with Power Infusion Icon Power Infusion. Depending on if you want to save for the boss, you would also use your combat potion here as well.
  6. Cast Void Bolt Icon Void Bolt.
  7. Dump any Insanity you have with Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear.
  8. Cast Void Torrent Icon Void Torrent.
  9. Dump any Insanity you have with Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear.
  10. Cast Void Bolt Icon Void Bolt.
  11. Cast Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast.
  12. Cast Mindgames Icon Mindgames.
  13. If you have enough Insanity or a Mind Devourer Icon Mind Devourer proc, use Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear.
  14. If you have enough Insanity use Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear.
  15. Cast Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast to fish for Mind Devourer Icon Mind Devourer procs.
  16. Cast Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast to fish for Mind Devourer Icon Mind Devourer procs or while Mindbender Icon Mindbender is active.
  17. Cast Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast while Mindbender Icon Mindbender is active.
  18. Cast Shadow Word: Death Icon Shadow Word: Death with Mindbender Icon Mindbender active.
  19. Cast Halo Icon Halo or Divine Star Icon Divine Star.
  20. Continue with the rotation as normal, using filler spells until you get enough Insanity to cast Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear.

Note if the pack has more than 8 targets or they are too spread for Shadow Crash Icon Shadow Crash you should do your best to pull with the tank by using Fade Icon Fade to not get aggro but still putting your DoTs up as the pack gets pulled.

1.2.

Shadow Priest Utility

Shadow Priest supports the party by providing extra healing, an AoE fear, offensive and defensive dispels, and a potential single-target stun if you pick it as a talent. Additionally, Shadow has a unique form of crowd control in the form of Mind Control Icon Mind Control. We also have access to Mind Soothe Icon Mind Soothe and the only stamina group buff in the game with Power Word: Fortitude Icon Power Word: Fortitude.

1.2.1.

Baseline Utility Spells

  • Power Word: Fortitude Icon Power Word: Fortitude gives everyone in your party an extra 5% Stamina, which provides a unique boost to help survive some of those hard-hitting abilities.
  • Mind Soothe Icon Mind Soothe provides an interesting alternative to Shroud of Concealment Icon Shroud of Concealment that might help your group skip past a more deadly Mythic+ pack depending on the available space. This is changed to be an AoE cast ability that works on all mobs within the 10-yard radius on a short cooldown.
  • Fade Icon Fade has a few good pieces of utility to call out, the most important being the aggro drop mechanic. If you find yourself getting aggro over the tank on the pull, you can use Fade Icon Fade to bypass this drop easily and continue with the key. With the Translucent Image Icon Translucent Image class talent, this also turns Fade into a small defensive.
  • Psychic Scream Icon Psychic Scream fears up to 5 enemies close to you for 8 seconds, but damage can break this early. Psychic Scream is primarily used as an AoE interrupt in dungeons.
1.2.2.

Class Utility Talents

  • Twins of the Sun Priestess Icon Twins of the Sun Priestess is by far the biggest piece of utility in the class tree, effectively giving your group an extra Power Infusion Icon Power Infusion when used as needed.
  • Dispel Magic Icon Dispel Magic allows you to dispel beneficial buffs from enemies. This is extremely useful in dungeons, as many mob packs in many of the dungeons tend to have some buff that they cast on themselves. While this is more important in some dungeons than others, it is still precious to be able to do it.
  • Purify Disease Icon Purify Disease dispels all Disease effects from friendly targets. This is fairly niche but still situationally extremely useful.
  • Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel remains a beneficial ability to have in our arsenal. Dispelling is very important, and Mass Dispel allows for both offensive and defensive dispels. The fact that you can dispel multiple enemies or friendly targets with just one global is situationally powerful. However, Mass Dispel does have a fairly lengthy 45-second cooldown without Improved Mass Dispel Icon Improved Mass Dispel. You can also Mass Dispel Bursting as well.
  • Vampiric Embrace Icon Vampiric Embrace heals allies based on 50% of the single-target damage you do on a 2-minute cooldown. It can be potent depending on the situation, especially when combined with San'layn Icon San'layn. Note that the damage of our DoTs also gets converted to healing.
  • Leap of Faith Icon Leap of Faith pulls a friendly party member towards you. It could be more useful generally, but it can sometimes save someone.
  • Mind Control Icon Mind Control is good to deal with Bolstering Icon Bolstering if you want to avoid a mob in the pack getting Bolstering stacks. While mobs are Mind Controlled, they can not get affected by Bolstering. You can also pick up Dominate Mind Icon Dominate Mind if you want some passive damage or to take the pet with you throughout the dungeon.
  • Shackle Undead Icon Shackle Undead allows you to crowd-control undead enemies in a dungeon. In Dragonflight Season 1, this has rare use cases; notably, the mini-boss adds in the last boss room of Halls of Valor.
  • The class tree also offers several healing spells that you can combine to give off healing capability for the priest. The main ones are Renew Icon Renew, Prayer of Mending Icon Prayer of Mending, and Power Word: Life Icon Power Word: Life.
  • Flash Heal Icon Flash Heal becomes a small defensive with Protective Light Icon Protective Light.
  • Void Tendrils Icon Void Tendrils offers a 5-target root if you can afford to jump into melee to cast this.
  • Void Shift Icon Void Shift can be used to save your life or the life of an ally if used at a good time.
1.2.3.

Shadow Priest Utility Talents

  • Psychic Horror Icon Psychic Horror stuns a single target for 4 seconds at a 45-second cooldown. It is handy for some dungeons to lock down dangerous targets.
  • Silence Icon Silence serves as both a silence effect as well as an interrupt. Though its baseline cooldown is longer than most interrupts in the game at 45 seconds, we do get the ability to reduce that cooldown by 15 seconds if we take Last Word Icon Last Word as a talent.
2.

Mythic+ Talents for Shadow Priests

Below are the suggested talents for Mythic+. We recommend importing these strings directly into your in-game talent tree for easy swapping!

Note that either Idol of N'Zoth Icon Idol of N'Zoth build still uses Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear as your primary spender starting at 3 targets (or 2 with a Mind Devourer Icon Mind Devourer proc).

While Idol of Yogg-Saron Icon Idol of Yogg-Saron is required for all dungeon builds, you can flex some points depending on the week's affixes. The C'Thun build is well-suited for every key and every affix combination. This gives you the most AoE damage while sacrificing very little single target. For Nokhud and Ruby Life Pool keys, you can experiment with the N'Zoth build, which should provide some more cleave damage with a bit of a loss on single target.

Note you can experiment using Dark Ascension Icon Dark Ascension in keys; you need to pick what makes sense based on how you pull the dungeon. This can be decent for pug keys or where you find yourself doing one pack at a time. As you get more comfortable or find yourself in groups consistently pulling around Void Eruption Icon Void Eruption, you can produce big results with cooldowns up. Even in high keys, using Dark Ascension can make sense to get that extra single-target damage, especially on Tyrannical. Either of the builds above can easily swap between these two cooldowns.

The following lists a rough breakdown of single target damage with our various builds. I have included this to help you make your decisions on what build to play, specifically on Tyrannical, where you want single-target damage.

  1. Dark Ascension Icon Dark Ascension full single target (0.0%)
  2. Void Eruption Icon Void Eruption full single target (-0.2%)
  3. Dark Ascension Icon Dark Ascension Idol of C'Thun Icon Idol of C'Thun M+ (-4.5%)
  4. Void Eruption Icon Void Eruption Idol of C'Thun Icon Idol of C'Thun M+ (-4.8%)
  5. Dark Ascension Icon Dark Ascension Idol of N'Zoth Icon Idol of N'Zoth Insidious Ire Icon Insidious Ire M+ (-8.0%)
  6. Void Eruption Icon Void Eruption Idol of N'Zoth Icon Idol of N'Zoth Insidious Ire Icon Insidious Ire M+ (-8.0%)
  7. Void Eruption Icon Void Eruption Idol of N'Zoth Icon Idol of N'Zoth Malediction Icon Malediction M+ (-8.7%)
  8. Dark Ascension Icon Dark Ascension Idol of N'Zoth Icon Idol of N'Zoth Malediction Icon Malediction M+ (-9.2%)

You can make many choices in our tree depending on your group's needs, the type of damage that works best for that key, and the actual key level and affixes. If you decide you want more utility, you can drop one point from Dark Evangelism Icon Dark Evangelism to pick up Psychic Horror Icon Psychic Horror or Mental Fortitude Icon Mental Fortitude.

Note that the talents recommended above are specifically for Mythic+. You can check our main page below for a general overview of Shadow talents.

2.1.

Mind Sear in Mythic+

You might have seen some Shadow Priests choosing to run builds without Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear inside of Mythic+. These builds are not recommended if your goal is doing more overall key damage.

With how easy Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear is to pick up, there is no reason not to have it for when you want to do even AoE damage on 3 or more targets. On certain keys or certain affixes, you might need some priority damage with Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague but typically not for every pull, so having Mind Sear available for when you want; it is why you should always have it.

Furthermore, builds are going around using that drop Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear and use Idol of Y'Shaarj Icon Idol of Y'Shaarj and Idol of N'Zoth Icon Idol of N'Zoth. This build is only suggested to use for some use cases. This build sacrifices considerable single-target damage by picking N'Zoth. It is harder to execute since it does not have Mental Decay Icon Mental Decay with Mind Sear to keep DoTs refreshed. Having to manually DoT mobs and losing single target is not something most players are looking for. I would consider these builds bait for that reason. My full thoughts on this can be found in the post below.

I broke down this in more detail on WarcraftPriests if you want to see my full thoughts on this question.

2.2.

Specific Dungeon Talent Choices

Our utility talents do not always need to be taken but have certain spots in dungeons where you will want them. The below should act as a list of utilities you should have for each dungeon.

  • Algeth'ar Academy
    • Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel can be used on any casts of Monotonous Lecture Icon Monotonous Lecture that you do not have a way to break or interrupt.
    • Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel can be used on Oversurge Icon Oversurge casts from Vexamus as players soak. Only needed if someone gets high stacks in most situations.
    • Leap of Faith Icon Leap of Faith for Crawth to help allies position better.
    • On the last boss, you can quickly dispel Energy Bomb Icon Energy Bomb on players to trigger any pool drops if someone has 2 stacks already. Typically a job the healer can manage, but it sometimes is helpful to have.
  • Ruby Life Pools
    • Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel will be helpful to have for the trash leading up to the first boss, in case you miss any kicks of Ice Shield Icon Ice Shield.
    • Blaze of Glory can be removed with either Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel or Dispel Magic Icon Dispel Magic.
    • Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel can trigger add explosions for all the tiny adds on the platform the last boss spawns at. These mobs are stationed throughout the room as well as spawned by the mini-boss.
  • The Azure Vault
  • The Nokhud Offensive
    • Dominate Mind Icon Dominate Mind can be used to stop adds going to disable the ballista on Granyth. Psychic Scream Icon Psychic Scream and Psychic Horror Icon Psychic Horror can also buy you some time here. If you time this correctly, you can do this for the last 3 adds in a row without anyone focusing them, as you go to the next add. The previous one will go and disable the PREVIOUS ballista, but since it goes in a cycle, it will not be used until the next set of casts.
    • Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel or Dispel Magic Icon Dispel Magic are both helpful for Stormshield Icon Stormshield buffs on the Primal Stormshield adds, as well as The Raging Tempest's Energy Surge Icon Energy Surge buff.
    • Having Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel for Swift Wind casts can allow your group to let that kick fall through and dispel it instead.
  • Court of Stars
    • Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel can be used to quickly get rid of the group's Hinder Icon Hinder stacks on the first boss and can easily clear the group's stacks of Arcane Lockdown Icon Arcane Lockdown. Timed well; you can cast the Mass with the boss and have it cleared instantly. You can also, use it to dispel Mana Fang Icon Mana Fang DoT from the Mana Sabers.
    • Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel can also be used on Impending Doom Icon Impending Doom debuffs from the mini-boss Baalgar the Watchful. Make sure the groups' members are lightly spread before dispelling as it does splash damage.
  • Halls of Valor
    • Shackle Undead Icon Shackle Undead for the adds spawned by the mini-boss adds in the last boss room.
  • Shadowmoon Burial Grounds
  • Temple of the Jade Serpent
    • For any pulls with Corrupt Living Water, you can Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel off the DoT from Tainted Ripple that you do not line of sight.
    • Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel can help your healer tremendously on the last boss, handling every other dispel set of Touch of Nothingness throughout the fight.

Note that for any weeks of Bursting Icon Bursting, you should always take Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel.

2.3.

Top Section

In our first section of talents, the build is relatively straightforward and gives easy access to everything we want for Mythic+.

2.4.

Middle Section

This is the section of talent we will put the majority of our points into to get to the bottom section as efficiently as possible.

  • Void Eruption Icon Void Eruption will typically be the cooldown of choice, as it has great AoE scaling with the Mastery activation. With this, we will grab Ancient Madness Icon Ancient Madness to give our cooldowns more burst. Can also pick Dark Ascension Icon Dark Ascension if you want more single target or if your group is doing fewer double/big pulls.
  • Mental Decay Icon Mental Decay and Shadow Crash Icon Shadow Crash give your DoTs better uptime without requiring manual casts.
  • Shadowy Insight Icon Shadowy Insight, Surge of Darkness Icon Surge of Darkness, Mind Melt Icon Mind Melt, Auspicious Spirits Icon Auspicious Spirits, and Psychic Link Icon Psychic Link all give you damage to your generators to help smooth out your damage between Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear casts.
  • There is some flexibility here if you want to grab some more single target with Mind Spike Icon Mind Spike talents instead, but otherwise, the above suggestion will be a good platform for your AoE damage.
  • Select the number of points you want in Dark Evangelism Icon Dark Evangelism. Most builds will put two points here, but you can drop one if you picked an extra utility point in the first section.
2.5.

Bottom Section

In this section, a substantial amount of power is inside of Mind Devourer Icon Mind Devourer in AoE, effectively giving you 100 insanity per proc when channeling a Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear. Because of this, you want to take this talent for every one of your Mythic+ builds. This means Idol of Yogg-Saron Icon Idol of Yogg-Saron will also be taken since it is such an easy pickup for the point investment you already made.

The following are the bases for the builds shown above:

3.

Mythic+ Affixes

There are three weekly affixes and one seasonal affix. The first affix is available instantly at levels two and three; the second affix starts at level four, the third affix is enabled at level seven, and the seasonal affix is at level ten.

Going into Dragonflight, the Necrotic and Inspiring affixes have both been removed, so you will no longer see these in the affix rotation.

3.1.

Tier One Affixes

  • Fortified Icon Fortified increases the Health pool of all non-boss enemies by 20% and damage dealt by 30%.
  • Tyrannical Icon Tyrannical increases the Health pool of boss enemies by 40% and their damage dealt by 15%.

Fortified Icon Fortified and Tyrannical Icon Tyrannical are the two affixes every player will see. These affixes shift the focus of dungeons from boss to trash, depending on the week. Shadow Priests will excel during Fortified weeks as our multi-target damage has a short ramp-up time and then will sustain at decent numbers without the use of cooldowns. During Tyrannical weeks, Shadow has plenty of talent options to shake up its damage allocation depending on where your group needs damage.

3.2.

Tier Two Affixes

  • Raging Icon Raging increases the damage dealt by enemies below 30% HP by 100% until they die.
  • Bolstering Icon Bolstering buffs remaining enemies' Health pools and damage dealt by 20% when an enemy dies nearby. To counter this affix, DPS all mobs down evenly and focus your casts into high Health mobs if there are any. As Shadow, you can also Mind Control Icon Mind Control mobs that you do not want to get any Bolstering stacks on at all costs.
  • Sanguine Icon Sanguine places a pool of blood on the ground when a mob is slain. This pool will heal remaining enemies who stay inside the zone and damage players.
  • Bursting Icon Bursting forces enemy mobs to detonate when slain, afflicting the group with a stacking debuff that causes players to suffer damage every four seconds. When handling the Bursting affix, ask how many stacks your healer can handle. Try to avoid mindlessly DPS'ing and exceeding your healer's stack limit.
  • Skittish Icon Spiteful brings back another effect from Battle for Azeroth, this time in the form of a Corruption effect where a mob would target and chase you down. These mobs spawn whenever any mob dies. You can either choose to CC this mob and wait for the Health to tick passively or try and kill it down. This mob is not affected by Shackle Undead Icon Shackle Undead, so you will have to run away; otherwise, you get hit by very hard-hitting melee swings. I would also suggest using this WeakAura to clearly see if the mobs are targeting you. Talenting into Void Tendrils Icon Void Tendrils can be a great tool for controlling these mobs easier during this affix.
3.3.

Tier Three Affixes

  • Volcanic Icon Volcanic spawns volcanic plumes underneath and around players when in combat with any enemy. When damaged by Volcanic, players suffer 50% of their maximum Health pool in damage and are knocked into the air. The more enemies you encounter, the more Volcanic that will spawn.
  • Grievous Icon Grievous afflicts players with a stacking DoT when they fall below 90%. Use Shadow Mend Icon Shadow Mend to help out your healer when outside of combat.
  • Quaking Icon Quaking will periodically attempt to interrupt casters by creating a negative zone around each player. About 3 seconds after the zone forms, it will deal 20% maximum Health in damage to each player caught in the zone and interrupt any hard casts being finished during the shockwave.
  • Explosive Icon Explosive will occasionally spawn Explosive Orbs that need to be targeted and burned down within a short period, or they will significantly damage the party. Explosive Orbs are not cleavable, and the number of orbs that spawn scales with the number of enemies pulled.
  • Skittish Icon Storming essentially is the tornado version of Volcanic Icon Volcanic. While in combat, you will see grey swirls on the ground, indicating a tornado is about to spawn in that location. Do your best to dodge these, as they are active for 10 seconds after spawning and will knock you back if you get hit.
3.4.

Seasonal Affix

Thundering Icon Thundering is the Dragonflight Mythic+ Season 1 seasonal affix. This is another kiss-curse affix that can reward you for optimizing the affix with a decent damage increase. To take the most advantage of this, I would strongly suggest having you and your group use this WeakAura.

The dungeon pool for Dragonflight Season 1 includes the following dungeons:

To help out in gearing this season, be sure to check out the gear guide.

4.

Trinket Considerations for Shadow Priest in Mythic+

With the number of trinkets to choose from in the game, you should try simming your character on Raidbots using Patchwerk and Light Movement to optimize for raids and single-target encounters and DungeonSlice for Mythic+ fight styles.

Check out the BiS and Gear page to learn more about good trinkets to use on your Shadow Priest.

5.

Changelog

  • 20 Mar. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.7.
  • 26 Feb. 2023: Correct error in Mindgames target cap.
  • 22 Feb. 2023: Add caveat for using Mind Sear in Mythic+.
  • 17 Feb. 2023: Add more detail to the example opener.
  • 04 Feb. 2023: Adjust single target differences for common builds.
  • 02 Feb. 2023: Add more uses for Dispel and Mass Dispel.
  • 24 Jan. 2023: Update talent builds and suggestions for 10.0.5.
  • 12 Jan. 2023: Add Void Tendrils suggestion for Spiteful affix.
  • 11 Jan. 2023: Add new talent builds from the recent buffs.
  • 23 Dec. 2022: Add more detail to picking between the two talent builds in Mythic+.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Add some start of season 1 tips.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
  • 05 Nov. 2022: Add a section on the Mythic+ opener and easy version of the priority list.
  • 31 Oct. 2022: Updated talent builds to no longer suggest Psychic Link and removed Idol-less build.
  • 26 Oct. 2022: Updated builds to pickup Translucent Image.
  • 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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