Shadow Priest DPS Mythic+ Tips — Dragonflight 10.2.6
In this guide, you will find tips and advice to tackle Mythic+ dungeons with your Shadow Priest in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.2.6.
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 through Psychic Link. The trick will be managing DoTs with Shadow Crash or supplementing that with your manual casts of Vampiric Touch. Without this, you deal substantially less Aoe damage.
The video version of this guide is also available if you would like to watch along as I talk about Shadow Priest.
Dungeon Pool
The dungeon pool for Dragonflight Season 3 includes the following dungeons:
- Atal'Dazar
- Black Rook Hold
- Dawn of the Infinite: Galakrond's Fall
- Dawn of the Infinite: Murozond's Rise
- Darkheart Thicket
- Everbloom
- Throne of the Tides
- Waycrest Manor
To learn more about what talents to pick to counter specific parts of the dungeon, check out the sections below.
To help out in gearing this season, be sure to check out the gear guide.
Below are the suggested talents for Mythic+. We recommend importing these strings directly into your in-game talent tree for easy swapping! These builds will be the baseline for every scenario in Season 3. Check out the section below to go into detail on which builds make the most sense for you.
Dragonflight Mythic+ Talent Builds for Shadow Priest
N'Zoth + C'Thun Build with Dark Ascension for Shadow Priest
General purpose build that will work for almost any key and affix combination. Consider using this version on standard dungeon pulls or ones where you cannot chain pull. It also does very well in pure single-target scenarios.
This build uses Idol of N'Zoth and Idol of C'Thun with Dark Ascension.
Class talents were selected as a safe default for most keys, but usually you can move points around from Purify Disease, Mass Dispel, Manipulation, or Shattered Perceptions based on the needs of that key. Check out the class talents section below for more info.
Strengths
- Great single target.
- Gives you a mini-burst of damage every 1 minute between your casts of Power Infusion.
- Great synergy with our new tier set for Season 3.
- Performs well in almost any key environment.
Weaknesses
- Less AoE potential when full cooldowns are up compared to Void Eruption versions.
Build Options
- By default this build assumes you are in keys where you need survivability from Mental Fortitude and also do not want to drop Silence. Strictly speaking, this is a DPS loss; if you want to drop one of those points, you can add back a flex point to the build.
- Distorted Reality and Mind's Eye are extremely close together; feel free to use whichever you prefer. I would suggest starting with Distorted Reality until you get more comfortable with the spec. When swapping between these, you typically move points out of Mind Devourer into Maddening Touch.
- Pathway into Idol of N'Zoth choice:
- More Single Target damage? Mastermind
- More AoE damage (3+ targets)? Screams of the Void
- If you prefer Mind Flay just drop Mind Spike and Mind Melt to pick up Voidtouched and the last point in Dark Evangelism. This choice is mostly preference , and both perform well.
- In heavy trash focused environments on Fortified you can also drop Mindbender and Inescapable Torment to get both Mastermind and Screams of the Void. This alteration is particularly valuable inside Black Rook Hold, Everbloom, Throne of the Tides, and Waycrest Manor during Fortified weeks. This gives you a boost in damage above 4 targets for a small loss below that.
- Check out the section below to see the various flex points in these builds.
Use the below import string for the version with Mind's Eye:
- BIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEIJBAAAAAAAAAAAAgkoERiUSjkEJJJFQhkkEpRKIiEpItQSQBSA
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the build directly into your game!
N'Zoth + C'Thun Build with Void Eruption for Shadow Priest
General purpose build that will work for almost any key and affix combination. Consider using this version on more heavy pull count dungeons or when you chain pull packs often with cooldowns. Should end up doing well in higher-key scenarios in coordinated groups when you pull around your cooldowns.
This build uses Idol of N'Zoth and Idol of C'Thun with Void Eruption.
Class talents were selected as a safe default for most keys, but usually you can move points around from Purify Disease, Mass Dispel, Manipulation, or Shattered Perceptions based on the needs of that key. Check out the class talents section below for more info.
Strengths
- Best AoE potential build if you can line up cooldowns with big pulls.
- Great for top-end key pushing, especially when doing larger-than-normal pulls.
- Dawn of the Infinite: Galakrond's Fall - Fortified
- Throne of the Tides - Fortified
- Everbloom - Fortified
Weaknesses
- Single target is about 3-5% behind the Dark Ascension version.
- Tyrannical weeks in general
- Requires more coordinated pulls around your cooldowns.
Build Options
- By default this build assumes you are in keys where you need survivability from Mental Fortitude and also do not want to drop Silence. Strictly speaking, this is a DPS loss; if you want to drop one of those points, you can add back a flex point to the build.
- Distorted Reality and Mind's Eye are extremely close together; feel free to use whichever you prefer. If you decide to run with Mind's Eye, I would strongly suggest swapping out Mind Devourer for Maddening Touch.
- Pathway into Idol of N'Zoth choice:
- More Single Target damage? Mastermind
- More AoE damage (3+ targets)? Screams of the Void
- In addition to normal flex points, this build can also choose to play without Ancient Madness. Ancient Madness is the same effect regardless of cooldown you pick, which makes it significantly weaker for Void Eruption builds, putting it in flex point range. I would run Ancient Madness anytime you know that you are always pulling big around your cooldowns, otherwise try one point in Phantasmal Pathogen.
- In heavy trash focused environments on Fortified you can also drop Mindbender and Inescapable Torment to get both Mastermind and Screams of the Void. This alteration is particularly valuable inside Black Rook Hold, Everbloom, Throne of the Tides, and Waycrest Manor during Fortified weeks. This gives you a boost in damage above 4 targets for a small loss below that.
- Check out the section below to see the various flex points in these builds.
Use the below import string for the version with Mind's Eye:
- BIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEQSAAAAAAAAAAAAAIJpERi0S7ASSkkkUAFSSSkGpgISki0CJBFIA
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the build directly into your game!
Single Target + Shadow Crash Build for Shadow Priest
This build is aimed at maximizing single-target damage while still having Shadow Crash. It does particularly well in dungeons where it is hard to chain-pull packs with deadly bosses, especially on Tyrannical weeks.
This build uses Idol of Y'Shaarj and Idol of C'Thun with Dark Ascension.
Class talents were selected as a safe default for most keys, but usually you can move points around from Purify Disease, Mass Dispel, Manipulation, or Shattered Perceptions based on the needs of that key. Check out the class talents section below for more info.
Strengths
- Top tier single target while still having Shadow Crash.
- Tyrannical weeks in general
- Dawn of the Infinite: Murozond's Rise - Tyrannical
Weaknesses
- AoE options are more limited, but still decent with the base kit.
- Black Rook Hold - Fortified
- Everbloom
- Dawn of the Infinite: Galakrond's Fall
- Throne of the Tides
- Waycrest Manor - Fortified
Build Options
- By default, this build assumes you are in keys where you need survivability from Mental Fortitude and also do not want to drop Silence. Strictly speaking this is a DPS loss, if you want to drop one of those points you can add back a flex point to the build.
- Max Single Target: Dark Evangelism x2 and Phantasmal Pathogen x2
- Average Overall: Maddening Touch x2, Dark Evangelism x1, and Mental Decay x1
Use the below import string for the version with Mind's Eye:
- BIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIJBAAAAAAAAAAAAgkoERiUSjkEJJJFQhkkEpRKIiEpItQSQBSA
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the build directly into your game!
Ghost Priority Build for Shadow Priest
This build specializes in maximizing damage with Shadowy Apparitions for more raw AoE and Priority-target damage by sacrificing single-target damage.
When using full Season 3 gear and the new set bonus, this build is, on average, a 3-4% damage loss when pulling normally. If you are going to use this build, you need to be pulling the dungeon around your cooldowns and pulling large groups of mobs together. This is to offset the loss in single target, roughly 6-9%. Looking at specifically AoE environments, you can start to see increases at 5+ targets over other builds, but the problem is this is typically not enough to offset the loss in single target.
In order to maximize priority target damage inside of AoE you should use Mind's Eye. This is, strictly speaking, a loss in overall damage but gives you a significant gain in priority target damage during AoE.
This build is only suggested for people that are confident with the Void Eruption playstyle in coordinated groups. Most players will see better results on average with the other builds.
This build uses Idol of N'Zoth and Idol of Yogg-Saron with Void Eruption.
Class talents were selected as a safe default for most keys, but usually you can move points around from Purify Disease, Mass Dispel, Manipulation, or Shattered Perceptions based on the needs of that key. Check out the class talents section below for more info.
Strengths
- Great AoE damage revolving more around Shadowy Apparitions that scales well with high target count environments.
- Black Rook Hold - Fortified
- Dawn of the Infinite: Galakrond's Fall - Fortified
- Top Priority target damage inside of AoE packs.
Weaknesses
- Single Target is significantly behind, especially without full cooldowns.
- Extremely anti-pug group friendly.
Build Options
- By default this build assumes you are in keys where you need survivability from Mental Fortitude and also do not want to drop Silence. Strictly speaking, this is a DPS loss; if you want to drop one of those points, you can add back a flex point to the build.
- If you are trying to push overall damage with this build, you should always use Distorted Reality and spread Devouring Plague. Mind's Eye is used as the default to maximize priority target damage in AoE, but is otherwise behind Distorted Reality.
- Mind Spike is preferred over Mind Flay when taking Mind's Eye. Mind Spike is roughly 5% ahead in mass AoE, 2% ahead in overall dungeon average, but about 1-2% behind on single target compared against the Mind Flay version.
- In addition to normal flex points, this build can also choose to play without Ancient Madness. Ancient Madness is the same effect regardless of cooldown you pick, which makes it significantly weaker for Void Eruption builds, putting it in flex point range. I would run Ancient Madness anytime you know that you are always pulling big around your cooldowns, otherwise put the point in another flex slot.
- Check out the section below to see the various flex points in these builds.
Use the below import string for the version with Mind's Eye and Mind Flay:
- BIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAECJEAAAAAAAAAAAAAJpkEh00IJJJRSBUIJJRakCiIRKSLkEUQC
Use the below import string for the version with Distorted Reality and Mind Flay:
- BIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAECJSAAAAAAAAAAAAAEplEh00IJJJRSBUIJJRakCiIRKSLkEUQC
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the build directly into your game!
These builds can generally pick between Mind's Eye or Distorted Reality depending on what you want to build for. Check out the dedicated section below to learn more.
There are a few options with these builds that I go over in detail in the sections below to further optimize your build.
Build Guide
Below is rough guidance; use the details below to see the full picture.
- Big/Chain Pulls and/or High Keys (28+): Idol of N'Zoth + Idol of C'Thun with Void Eruption or the Ghost Priority build
- Standard Pulls with more Single Target (i.e. Tyrannical): Idol of N'Zoth + Idol of C'Thun with Dark Ascension and Mastermind
- Standard Pulls with more AoE (i.e. Fortified): Idol of N'Zoth + Idol of C'Thun with Dark Ascension and Screams of the Void
Tyrannical Talent Suggestion
On Tyrannical weeks, I would suggest starting out with either of the Idol of N'Zoth + Idol of C'Thun builds.
If you find that you want to index more into a single target, then utilize the Single Target + Shadow Crash build. This setup will give you about 2% extra damage in single target (see the chart below) at the cost of AoE damage by dropping Idol of N'Zoth, depending on the key.
You should also prefer running Mastermind over Screams of the Void for most builds. This provides more single target while still being competitive with AoE.
Fortified Talent Suggestion
On Fortified weeks, I would strongly suggest using either of the Idol of N'Zoth + Idol of C'Thun builds, depending on the dungeon. This will give you the great overall damage for almost every key.
During Fortified weeks you can also consider swapping out Mastermind for Screams of the Void instead. This is typically a loss of about 4% in pure single target, and about 1-2% gain in AoE.
You also have the choice of considering either of the Void Eruption builds. These have relatively large losses in single target but are superior when it comes to blasting cooldowns on trash for AoE damage. Depending on your group, you can consider this trade-off, especially if you are pulling trash on top of bosses.
Flex Points
With our dungeon builds, you have a few filler points you can shift around in either of the base builds to tweak your build for what you are looking to specialize in. With any build, spend four of your talent points in any combination of the below options. Use this as a rough guide. Options at the top of the list will generally net you more DPS.
- Mind Devourer - Overall (pref. with Distorted Reality)
- Maddening Touch - AoE (pref. with Mind's Eye)
- Dark Evangelism - Overall
- Mental Decay - Single Target
- Phantasmal Pathogen - Single Target or Idol of Yogg-Saron builds
- Mental Fortitude - Defensive
- Silence - Utility (only in coordinated groups should you consider dropping this)
If you start pushing high-level keystones, I would highly suggest using Mental Fortitude for enhanced survivability. The damage loss to run this talent is typically worth the extra defensive power gain if you also need Silence.
If you need more utility or defensive talent points, I would suggest dropping the flex points in this rough order: Phantasmal Pathogen > Mental Decay > Dark Evangelism > Maddening Touch > Mind Devourer.
Mind Spike vs. Mind Flay
Most builds listed on this page can be run with either Mind Flay or Mind Spike. Generally speaking Mind Spike is the preferred choice, but worst-case scenario, is only about 1% ahead of Mind Flay variants.
Due to this small difference you can more or less consider this choice preference, although I would personally default to Mind Spike, especially with Dark Ascension.
When playing with the Ghost Priority damage build you should prefer to always run Mind Spike with that build.
Mind's Eye vs. Distorted Reality
Distorted Reality and Mind's Eye are both competitive options inside of Mythic+. Distorted Reality makes it worth to spread Devouring Plague in AoE for more spread-out damage, while Mind's Eye gives you more single-target priority damage during AoE encounters. Distorted Reality also has slightly more single-target damage compared to Mind's Eye, depending on the build.
This means that both choices are viable for any Mythic+ key, regardless of affixes. You have to make the choice about where you want to optimize your damage and how you want to play. These options are close enough together to be considered a purely preference choice. Many players will find Distorted Reality easier to play with on pure single target, but could find spreading Devouring Plague more difficult than funneling those casts with Mind's Eye in AoE.
Something to note when using Distorted Reality is that you will also get increased value when running Mind Devourer, which can allow you to spread out more Devouring Plague based on procs. This is not a required pairing, but something to note when deciding where to put your flex point talents. Typically, those points spent on Mind Devourer are moved to Maddening Touch with Mind's Eye builds.
DPS Breakdown
Use the following chart to understand the difference when taking Distorted Reality over Mind's Eye. These numbers are taken from the average of Dark Ascension Idol of N'Zoth + Idol of C'Thun setups.
- Single Target: ~1% increase over Mind's Eye
- Two Target: ~3% increase over Mind's Eye
- Three Target Council: ~4% increase over Mind's Eye
- DungeonRoute Overall Average: ~1% increase over Mind's Eye
Single Target Breakdown
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.
Cooldown | Build | DR vs. ME | MS vs. MF | Difference |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dark Ascension | Full Single Target | Distorted Reality | Mind Spike | 0.00% |
Dark Ascension | single Target + Shadow Crash | Distorted Reality | Mind Spike | -1.74% |
Dark Ascension | Idol of N'Zoth + Idol of C'Thun | Distorted Reality | Mind Spike | -3.61% |
Dark Ascension | Idol of N'Zoth + Idol of C'Thun | Distorted Reality | Mind Flay | -3.82% |
Dark Ascension | Idol of N'Zoth + Idol of C'Thun | Mind's Eye | Mind Flay | -4.91% |
Dark Ascension | Idol of N'Zoth + Idol of C'Thun | Mind's Eye | Mind Spike | -4.97% |
Void Eruption | Idol of N'Zoth + Idol of C'Thun | Distorted Reality | Mind Flay | -6.51% |
Void Eruption | Idol of N'Zoth + Idol of C'Thun | Mind's Eye | Mind Flay | -7.82% |
Void Eruption | Idol of N'Zoth + Idol of C'Thun | Distorted Reality | Mind Spike | -8.53% |
Void Eruption | Idol of N'Zoth + Idol of C'Thun | Mind's Eye | Mind Spike | -11.29% |
Void Eruption | Ghost Priority Build | Mind's Eye | Mind Spike | -11.59% |
Void Eruption | Ghost Priority Build | Distorted Reality | Mind Flay | -12.56% |
You should 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.
Note that the talents recommended above are specifically for Mythic+. Check our main page below for a general overview of Shadow talents.
Specific Dungeon Talent Choices
Dungeon Selector
Dungeons | Affixes |
---|---|
Atal'Dazar | Afflicted |
Black Rook Hold | Incorporeal |
Dawn of the Infinite: Galakrond's Fall | Entangling |
Dawn of the Infinite: Murozond's Rise | Sanguine |
Darkheart Thicket | Bursting |
Everbloom | Spiteful |
Throne of the Tides | |
Waycrest Manor |
Based on the selections above, you should run the following class talents:
- Purify Disease
Check out the full list below to see more specific suggestions.
Full List of Utility Talents
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.
-
Atal'Dazar
- Can take Shackle Undead to help control the patting undead mobs on the right side of the instance.
- Purify Disease can be useful for getting rid of Lingering Nausea on Vol'kaal.
-
Black Rook Hold
- Consider taking Shackle Undead to help as an extra stop or to control certain packs. Most mobs in this instance are undead.
- Mass Dispel
- Soul Venom off the tank cast by pulling the spider stairway.
- Soul Blade cast by Ghostly Retainers if pulling more than one at a time.
- Darkheart Thicket
- Purify Disease can remove Darksoul Drain cast by the Tainted Bloodseekers.
- Mass Dispel
- Despair cast on the tank by Dreadsoul Ruiners.
- Festering Rip cast by the Shade of Xavius.
-
Everbloom
- Dominate Mind has several good use cases here (see below).
- Mass Dispel can get allies out of Glacial Fusion but this should not be needed for groups familiar with the dungeon.
-
Dawn of the Infinite: Galakrond's Fall
- Mass Dispel
- Bloom cast by Timestream Anomaly.
- Sheared Lifespan cast by Chronikar.
- Mass Dispel
-
Dawn of the Infinite: Murozond's Rise
- Mass Dispel
- Corroding Volley cast by Infinite Twilight Magus.
- Can also be helpful to dispel off the second Spark of Tyr cast without waiting for the healer to get both. Just make sure the group is topped first
- Infinite Burn cast by Infinite Riftmages.
- Bloom cast by Timestream Anomaly.
- Chronal Burn cast by Infinite Keepers.
- Mass Dispel
- Throne of the Tides
- Mass Dispel can be used to dispel Lightning Surge cast from the Naz'jar Tempest Witches. You can also use this to dispel Flame Shock cast by Erunak Stonespeaker since it casts slightly more frequently than the cooldown of healer dispel.
- Purify Disease can be used to dispel all stacks of Wave of Corruption off of a single player.
- Holy Nova can be used to easily knock back the blobs on the second boss as they get close.
- Waycrest Manor
- Dominate Mind has several good use cases here (see below).
- Purify Disease can be used to dispel Infected Thorn cast by the Thistle Acolytes. In addition, you can use this to help dispel Virulent Pathogen during the Lady Waycrest encounter.
- Mass Dispel can be used to easily clear off a set of Spirited Defense buffs on enemies should you miss a kick.
Affix Talent Choices
The following talents are suggested to run for every key that you run with the corresponding affix.
-
Afflicted
- Purify Disease
- OPTION: Power Word: Life can do a large chunk of healing to help get rid of the mob, but typically not enough to fully break it.
-
Incorporeal
- Shackle Undead
- Dominate Mind also works, but since it has a cooldown would suggest still taking Shackle Undead
- OPTION: Psychic Horror
-
Entangling
- Phantasm
- Improved Fade
-
Sanguine
- Psychic Voice
- OPTION: Sheer Terror
-
Bursting
- Mass Dispel
- Improved Mass Dispel
-
Spiteful
- Psychic Voice
- Void Tendrils
- Dominate Mind
- OPTION: Psychic Horror
For Afflicted and Incorporeal, it might be useful to use a mouseover macro to make dealing with these mobs faster.
- #showtooltip
- /cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][] Purify Disease
- #showtooltip
- /cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Shackle Undead
For more information, check out the specific Affix section below.
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.
The below video should also be helpful going over examples with some common talent setups in AoE.
Opening on a Multi-Target pack in Mythic+
With all the ways our kit has to do damage, you might need clarification on 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 the starter, 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.
- 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. This includes Void Eruption/ Dark Ascension, Power Infusion, and Shadowfiend/ Mindbender.
- Use 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.
- At this point, your highest priority is maintaining DoTs. You should pick a main priority target to funnel in your Devouring Plague into. When talented into Distorted Reality, you can instead spread it around to targets that will live long enough as you get Insanity.
- Use spells to generate Insanity, like Void Bolt, Shadow Word: Death, and Mind Blast. Get these on cooldown quickly so you can blast with your bigger spells.
- Use spells like Void Torrent and Mindgames to do small burst damage.
- Before resorting to filler spells like Mind Spike, you should first make sure cooldown spells like Halo or Divine Star are used.
- Fill with Mind Flay or Mind Spike, depending on your build.
Example starting rotation for a mythic+ pack (anywhere between 3-8 mobs):
- Cast Vampiric Touch on any targets as the pack is being grouped up with Fade (see below).
- Cast Shadow Crash to put up DoTs on targets once everything is grouped.
- Cast Shadowfiend/ Mindbender.
- Cast Mind Blast to get the cooldown reset before going into Void Eruption. Skip this if the pack will not live long enough to get your full Voidform out or if you are using Dark Ascension.
- Cast Void Eruption or Dark Ascension and then Power Infusion when the cast finishes. Depending on if you want to save for the boss, you would also use your combat potion here as well.
- Continue with the rotation as normal.
Note if the pack has more than 8 targets or they are too spread for Shadow Crash You should do your best to pull with the tank by using Fade to not get aggro but still putting your DoTs up as the pack gets pulled.
If you are looking for a mere detailed setup with different talents, please check out the rotation page.
Creating Burst Damage as a Shadow Priest
Occasionally, in dungeons, it can be worth breaking from the standard rotation in order to facilitate bursting down a priority target. In this section, I will go over the options you have for these cases as a Shadow Priest.
In the standard talent build, your best spell for burst damage is Void Torrent. If there is ever a high-priority target, you want to make sure you have Void Torrent for every one. Typically, you will combo this together with something like this:
- Pool up max Insanity before the target spawns you need to burst.
- Cast Vampiric Touch as it spawns, or time Shadow Crash to land as it spawns, if possible.
- Dump all Insanity into Devouring Plague.
- Cast Void Torrent.
- Cast Mindgames.
Your burst will be even better if you are just performing your normal rotation inside of cooldowns (especially at the start of them with Ancient Madness), but the above sequence can be done outside of cooldowns if you prepare enough.
Additionally, you can consider selecting the Voidtouched talent in place of a Flex Point (see below). This allows you to bank up an extra 50 Insanity for more Devouring Plague casts. While this is usually not the talent to take if you want overall max damage, it can provide more burst if that is more important to you.
Finally, you can consider using on-use damage trinkets to get even more burst. Since Shadow Priest scales so well with secondaries, we typically do not like on-use damage trinkets, but there are a few to consider that might be worth it if you are looking for burst, specifically at the cost of overall damage.
- Belor'relos, the Suncaller (AoE)
- Nymue's Unraveling Spindle (Single Target)
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. We also have access to Mind Soothe and the only stamina group buff in the game with Power Word: Fortitude.
Due to the sheer amount of options the spec has in terms of utility, it is critical that you adjust class talents before every key you start to make sure you are optimizing utility when needed or taking more defensive options if you do not need the utility.
Baseline Utility Spells
- 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 provides an interesting alternative to 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. Creative uses of this can make routing a key much easier.
- 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 to bypass this drop easily and continue with the key. With the Translucent Image class talent, this also turns Fade into a small defensive. With Phantasm this becomes an easy tool to break Entangling.
- Psychic Scream fears all enemies close to you for 8 seconds, but damage can break this early. Psychic Scream is primarily used as an AoE interrupt in dungeons. Cooldown reduced by 15 seconds when talented into Psychic Voice.
Class Utility Talents
- 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 when used on an ally. While there is contentious debate on who the best specs are for this, I would generally prefer giving this out to Unholy Death Knights, Mages, Warlocks, Devastation Evoker, Enhancement Shamans or anyone else that is on a 2-minute cooldown timer.
- 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 dispels all Disease effects from friendly targets. This is fairly niche but still situationally extremely useful.
- 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 2-minute cooldown. You can also Mass Dispel Bursting as well.
- Vampiric Embrace heals allies based on the single-target damage you do on a 2-minute cooldown (reduced by San'layn). It can be potent depending on the situation, especially when combined with San'layn. Note that the damage of our DoTs also gets converted to healing. Similarly, we also have access to Essence Devourer, which can be nice for any builds that use Mindbender for similar style healing.
- Leap of Faith pulls a friendly party member towards you. It could be more useful generally, but it can sometimes save someone.
- Mind Control is good to deal with 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 if you want passive damage or to take the pet with you throughout the dungeon. See the section below for specific examples.
- Shackle Undead allows you to crowd-control undead enemies in a dungeon. This has rare use cases, notably, the Incorporeal mobs.
- 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, Prayer of Mending, and Power Word: Life.
- Flash Heal becomes a small defensive with Protective Light.
- Void Tendrils offers an aoe root if you can afford to jump into melee to cast this.
- Void Shift can be used to save your life or an ally's life if used at a good time. Generally speaking, this is not very useful.
- If you are in a dungeon where you do not need much utility else where I would strongly suggest taking Holy Nova to path into Spell Warding for the reduced magic damage taken.
Shadow Priest Utility Talents
- 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 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 as a talent.
- Mental Fortitude is an extra absorb shield that can be invaluable when pushing up in higher keys. This also has an extra benefit of giving more uptime of things like the Blue Silken Lining embellished effect if you are using that.
Useful Mind Control Enemies in Mythic+
The below list is not an extensive list but contains any notable mobs you could consider controlling.
Generic
- Spiteful Shades - You can control these to not deal with them as they naturally expire.
- Bolstering Mobs - You can control a mob before it gets bolstered if you are worried about it dying too fast or getting stacks.
Atal'Dazar
- Shadowblade Stalker - Venomfang Strike (Increases Nature Damage Taken)
- Zanchuli Witch Doctor - Unstable Hex (5-second polymorph)
- Dazar'ai Confessor - Bwonsamdi's Mantle (Group CC Immunity)
Dawn of the Infinite - Murozond's Rise
- Alliance Knight - Rallying Shout (+Damage Done and Health) and Sundering Slam (Sunder Armor effect)
- Paladin of the Silver Hand - Holy Light
- Horde Farseer - Healing Wave
- Horde Raider - Rallying Shout (+Damage Done and Health) and Sundering Slam (Sunder Armor effect)
Darkheart Thicket
- Consider taking over Frenzied Nightclaw to not face more than one at a time.
- Note that you can Mind Control the Bloodtainted Fury small small clones after the big ones die. If you do so, they will auto-cast transform and constantly spawn big versions that are hostile. The big versions they spawn are then controllable, but the spells are not particularly useful - Blood Assault and Blood Bomb.
Everbloom
Note for the below mobs, you NEED to kill the packs around the first boss before he will spawn.
- Everbloom Naturalist - Choking Vines (ST Stun)
- Everbloom Cultivator - Enraged Growth (Gives the targeted ally 15% increased damage and 50% attack speed)
- Everbloom Mender - Healing Waters (ST Heal)
Throne of the Tides
- Naz'jar Oracle - Hex (5 second polymorph) and Healing Wave
- Minion of Ghur'sha - DO NOT MIND CONTROL THIS MOB. It auto-casts an AoE that will hit everything within 60 yards even if you are not in combat with them.
Waycrest Manor
- Runic Disciple - Spellbind (ST Silence)
- Dreadwing Raven - Pallid Glare (ST Disorient)
- Maddened Survivalist - Note: While Mind Controlled the mob will still cast their traps, but they only affect PLAYERS. So this will completely troll your group if you MC them.
Defensive and Survivability Guide
As you get into higher keys or particularly challenging bosses, it can be hard to survive through mechanics if you are not properly prepared or if you do not react appropriately. In this section, I will list out all the tools we have in our kit to survive keys as a Shadow Priest.
Before starting a key, you should evaluate your talent choices to prepare for how intense that key will be. For any incoming mechanic, you should know if you need to use a Defensive to mitigate the hit to survive using the lists below.
Talent Choice
Before you start a key, you should evaluate how difficult the dungeon is for your group. If you are in a push key where it is relatively high for your group, you should strongly consider adding more defensive talents, even if they cost you some damage. This will need to be on a key-by-key basis, but here are your options.
If you find yourself wanting more defensive points but have run out of points, you can choose to sacrifice as many as 3 of the last few points in the Mindgames talents. Shattered Perceptions and Manipulation make up less than 1% of your overall damage even when factoring in the Psychic Link value. If having more defensive options is more valuable than that 1% damage, consider dropping those points but still leave the base Mindgames point.
Class Talents
- Spell Warding (path through Holy Nova to get this)
- Protective Light
- Translucent Image
- Angel's Mercy
- Light's Inspiration
- Angelic Bulwark
- Power Word: Life
- Essence Devourer/ Void Shift
Spec Talents
- Dispersion
- Mental Fortitude
Defensives
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
- Void Shift
To properly use this, I suggest getting a set of WeakAuras or Addons to help you know when an incoming mechanic is coming so that you can use the proper defensive to handle that incoming damage. Below is a short list of a few I would suggest.
If you are getting into Pushing Keys as a Shadow Priest, check this video out for help doing that in Season 3:
WeakAuras
- Causese's Dungeon Pack
- Affix Tracking
- Interrupt Tracker
- Spell Cooldowns on Nameplates
- Reroll Key Notification
- FD/Invis/Vanish/Shadowmeld
- Automarker
- M+ Timer
- Targeted Spells Tracking
Addons
Mythic+ Affixes
Tier One Affixes
- Fortified increases the Health pool of all non-boss enemies by 20% and damage dealt by 30%.
- Tyrannical increases the Health pool of boss enemies by 40% and their damage dealt by 15%.
Fortified and Tyrannical are the two affixes every player will see. Depending on the week, these affixes shift the focus of dungeons from boss to trash. Shadow Priests will excel during Fortified weeks as our multi-target damage has a short ramp-up time. Then, they 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.
Tier Two Affixes
- 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.
- Storming essentially is the tornado version of 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.
- Afflicted will periodically spawn enemies that must be healed to full or dispelled. Purify Disease will be a precious resource when this is active.
- Incorporeal spawns an enemy that needs to be single target CC'd for 20 seconds. As a Shadow Priest, we can use Shackle Undead, Dominate Mind, or Psychic Horror.
- Entangling will occasionally spawn roots under your character. You can either break this by running out or by pressing Fade if talented into Phantasm.
Tier Three Affixes
- Raging makes enemies immune to crowd control except for interrupts for 20 seconds after reaching 30% health.
- 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. You can use Psychic Scream or Mind Control or Dominate Mind (and dismiss right after) to try and get mobs out of the Sanguine faster if something goes wrong.
- 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 mobs that you do not want to get any Bolstering stacks on at all costs. Note that once a mob gets a stack of Bolstering it CANNOT be Mind Controlled.
- 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. Mass Dispel can easily get rid of your group's stacks and allow you to plan to kill many mobs at the same time.
- 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 CC this mob and wait for the Health to tick passively or try to kill it. This mob is not affected by 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 can be a great tool for controlling these mobs easier during this affix.
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.
Changelog
- 19 Mar. 2024: Add Holy Nova suggestion for Throne of the Tides.
- 19 Feb. 2024: Add Mind Flay Mind's Eye variant for the Ghost Priority build.
- 14 Feb. 2024: Fix name in widget for the Ghost build and add direct talent strings for Mind's Eye versions.
- 13 Feb. 2024: Update default class talents for all builds and update Shadowy Apparitions build to be the Ghost Priority Build version.
- 13 Feb. 2024: Remove mention of Stinger Mind Control in Everbloom.
- 09 Feb. 2024: Add note about Rockspine Stinger Mind Control.
- 08 Feb. 2024: Add aoe rotation video link.
- 28 Jan. 2024: Suggest Mass Dispel for all Afflicted keys.
- 21 Jan. 2024: Update Void Eruption Mythic+ build defaults from recent buffs.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Add video links and a few more WeakAuras.
- 23 Dec. 2023: Add build option for dropping Mindbender and Inescapable Torment.
- 18 Dec. 2023: Update Mythic+ builds from recent Psychic Link buffs.
- 13 Dec. 2023: Dropped Idol of Y'Shaarj to use Insidious Ire instead for key builds.
- 08 Dec. 2023: Suggest Mass Dispel by default in Throne of the Tides.
- 03 Dec. 2023: Update Dark Ascension Triple Idol build to default to Mind Flay.
- 01 Dec. 2023: Add more info about when to pick which build. Refactor Shadowy Apparitions build to work better with the Season 3 set bonus.
- 25 Nov. 2023: Add more Dispel suggestions to various dungeons.
- 24 Nov. 2023: Add Purify Disease to Atal'Dazar suggestions.
- 20 Nov. 2023: Change the name of the Season 2 build to the Shadowy Apparitions build and go over use cases.
- 17 Nov. 2023: Update Mythic+ builds for Season 3 to be more streamlined.
- 16 Nov. 2023: Add Season 2 tier set build to use while gearing up.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Reorder sections and update information for Season 3 and Patch 10.2.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7.
- 13 Aug. 2023: Update video link and clarify differences between triple idol setups.
- 09 Aug. 2023: Add more detail on when to pick which build as well as touching up several sections to make things clearer.
- 08 Aug. 2023: Add new section clarifying when to use each dungeon build.
- 07 Aug. 2023: Add new builds from recent hotfix nerfs to various spells.
- 31 Jul. 2023: Add a few missing entries for Mass Dispel use cases.
- 23 Jul. 2023: Reviewed from the recent hotfixes and mentioned new talent options.
- 17 Jul. 2023: Refactor to use new talent layout.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated talent strings for Patch 10.1.5.
- 27 Jun. 2023: Adjust builds to include Distorted Reality, Dark Ascension, and Mindbender options.
- 23 Jun. 2023: Update some figures for Distorted Reality.
- 22 Jun. 2023: Correct issue with Mind Flay vs. Mind Spike comparisons.
- 20 Jun. 2023: Clarify DR vs. ME and Mind Spike vs. Mind Flay DPS breakdowns.
- 16 Jun. 2023: Add more detail on why to use Mind Spike in keys.
- 07 Jun. 2023: Add section on burst damage.
- 30 May 2023: Add a few mouseover macros for handling Season 2 affixes.
- 28 May 2023: Remove Purify Disease and Mind Control suggestion for Halls of Infusion.
- 26 May 2023: Shuffle sections around and add more detail around defensive usage.
- 24 May 2023: Remove part of the sample opener in favor of the rotation page.
- 22 May 2023: More tips and details for Season 2.
- 21 May 2023: Add easy way to see utility choices by dungeon and affix.
- 19 May 2023: Add Mind Control section for interesting mobs to control.
- 06 May 2023: Suggest Mass Dispel for Halls of Infusion and add more detail on Mind Flay in Mythic+.
- 04 May 2023: Add Season 2 dungeon utility section.
- 01 May 2023: Updated talent builds and suggestions for 10.1.0.
- 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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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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