Shadow Priest DPS Mythic+ Tips — 12.0.5

If you are still starting in your Mythic+ journey on the Shadow Priest, I would suggest taking Voidweaver for a spin. This build excels at doing one pack at a time which is what most PUG groups end up doing, and still has a great damage pattern to scale as the key level goes up.

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• Facing off with smaller pulls, more of them instead of chain-pulling packs together.
• Good damage options every 30 seconds with Entropic Rift.
• Devour Matter turns this build into a power house during Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound weeks or certain dungeons with shields.

• Facing packs that constantly move around while Entropic Rift is active.

• Misery is the default choice, however if you prefer a more DoT heavy playstyle you can use Invoked Nightmare instead for more damage on low target count pulls, or more sustained damage.
• If you are in a dungeon with lots of deadly Magic damage you can consider using Embrace the Shadow over Void Leech.
• If you are looking for more mob control, you can experiment with using No Escape instead of Dark Energy. This might make the tanks job harder in some cases, so be sure to coordinate with your group on what is best for that key.

If you are looking for a build that relies more on Mind Flay and Halo, I would try out the Archon Mythic+ build.

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• More single target than the Voidweaver builds.

• Requires more coordinated pulls around your cooldowns.
• Only has damage windows every 60 seconds.

• Misery is the default choice, however if you prefer a more DoT heavy playstyle you can use Invoked Nightmare instead for more damage on low target count pulls, or more sustained damage.
• You can adjust your Hero Talent choice node depending on the key:
  • Energy Compression - Generic AoE damage, current default option
  • Sustained Potency - Does better for longer fights and activates the Voidform duration pause outside of combat or while stunned. This pause can be very helpful for lower key levels.

Silence is your interrupt ability as a Shadow Priest, which can also prevent a mob from casting for a few seconds after, depending on the type of mob.

To make kicking a target easier, it is highly suggested that you use a Focus Kick macro for Silence. This allows you to attack a particular high-priority mob but keep your Focus on the mob you might want to kick. This macro will prefer to cast on your Focus if it exists, then on your Mouseover target, and lastly, your current target.

To quickly set a focus target in hectic scenarios, we also recommend a Focus Mouseover macro. This will set your Focus to whatever your current mouseover target is.

Make sure that your UI shows your Focus Target's casts clearly so that you are always able to kick it on cooldown or in coordination with the rest of your group.

Psychic Scream is your primary AoE stop ability. The fear aspect is not that important in PvE, but it does act as a pseudo AoE interrupt (otherwise known as a stop) for all enemies within 8 yards. As Archon, you can take Incessant Screams to get an additional stop out of this. Depending on how much damage is going out, you can also consider using Petrifying Scream. However, if you can make good use of it, consider using Psychic Voice to get more overall stops in the key.

Shackle Horror allows you to crowd-control a single Undead or Aberration enemy at a time. This has rare use cases in Season 1 and will not be used often.

Dominate Mind can also be used as a single target stop to a certain degree. While this is a bit more involved, it can be used to lock down a mob for up to 30 seconds. You can always cancel this early with a /petdismiss macro. Several dungeons also have mobs that still cast useful abilities when Mind Controlled.

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.

While we do not bring a battle resurrection to Mythic+ you can purchase Emergency Soul Link to support your group. You do not need to be an Engineer to use this item.

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 out of certain snare effects.

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 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. You can also use this to spot dispel Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant.

Purify Disease dispels all Disease effects from friendly targets. This is fairly niche but still situationally extremely useful. The biggest use case this season will be dispelling off Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour.

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 Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour as well.

Vampiric Embrace heals allies based on the single-target damage you do on a 2-minute cooldown. It can be potent depending on the situation. Note that the damage of our DoTs also gets converted to healing.

Leap of Faith pulls a friendly party member towards you. It could be more useful generally, but it can sometimes save someone.

Void Tendrils offers an AoE root.

For a quick guide of which talents to use, check the dungeon and affixes in the table below and see the list of suggested utility talents you should make sure you work into your build. You can also use the Mythic Plus Utility Addon to remind you to swap to various talents.

Dungeons	Affixes
Algeth'ar Academy	Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant
Magister's Terrace	Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound
Maisara Caverns	Xal'atath's Bargain: Pulsar
Nexus-Point Xenas	Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour
Pit of Saron
Seat of the Triumvirate
Skyreach
Windrunner Spire

Based on the selections above, you should run the following class talents:

• Purify Disease
• Mass Dispel
• Shackle Horror
• Phantasm
• Voidweaver for access to Devour Matter
• Void Tendrils
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• Dispel Magic or Mass Dispel can be used to get rid of Hastening Ward.

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• Dispel Magic or Mass Dispel can be used to get rid of Power Word: Shield cast by Lightward Healer.
• Dispel Magic or Mass Dispel can be used to get rid of Arcane Blade cast by Sunblade Enforcer.

• Use Purify Disease to get rid of Infected Pinions.

• Shackle Horror or Psychic Scream with Void Tendrils can be used to prevent Unstable Phantom from reaching players or other adds.

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• Dispel Magic or Mass Dispel can be used to get rid of Grim Ward on Grim Skirmisher.

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• Dispel Magic or Mass Dispel can get rid of Holy Echo buff on Flarebat.
• Fade with Phantasm can get rid of the Suppression Field debuff cast by Flux Engineer.
• Psychic Scream can be used as an extra interrupt for Arcane Explosion cast by Corewright Arcanist.
• Psychic Scream can be used as an extra interrupt for Fixate cast by Radiant Swarm.
• Psychic Scream can be used as an extra interrupt for Leech Veil cast by Hollowsoul Scrounger.
• Psychic Scream with Void Tendrils can be used to delay Smudge reaching Nascent Dreadflail.

• Cast Fade to get rid of the Cryoshards debuff with Phantasm.

• Cast Fade to get rid of the Shadowbind debuff with Phantasm.

• Use Purify Disease to get rid of Rotting Strikes.

• Fade can be used to remove Permeating Cold inflicted by Rimebone Coldwraith when talented into Phantasm.
• Dispel Magic or Mass Dispel can be used to get rid of Necromantic Infusion cast by Deathwhisper Necrolyte.

• With Void Tendrils talented you can help root Coalesced Void adds with Psychic Scream.

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• Psychic Scream can be used as an AoE interrupt for the Umbral Tentacle Mind Flay casts.

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• Psychic Scream can be used as an extra interrupt for Shadowmend cast by Ruthless Riftstalker.
• You can use Fade with Phantasm talented to get rid of Chains of Subjugation that are applied by Merciless Subjugator.
• Dispel Magic or Mass Dispel can be used to get rid of Arcane Blade on Dire Voidbender.

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• Psychic Scream can root enemies during the encounter with Void Tendrils.

• Psychic Scream can be used on the Solar Zealot.

• Can use Psychic Scream to temporarily root Bloodcrazed Suntalon adds with Void Tendrils.
• Psychic Scream can interrupt Mark of Death cast by Suntalon Tamer.
• Dispel Magic or Mass Dispel can be used to get rid of Solar Barrier cast by Blinding Sun Priestess.
• Dispel Magic or Mass Dispel can be used to get rid of Rushing Winds cast by Arakkoa Outcast Warrior.

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• Use Dispel Magic or Mass Dispel to get rid of Bolstering Flames on Territorial Dragonhawk.
• Psychic Scream can be used to itnerrupt Ferocious Pounce by Apex Lynx.

Periodically, orbs of cosmic energy will spawn near your group. As a Shadow Priest, you can use the following spells to get rid of these orbs:

• Psychic Scream
• Mass Dispel - Capped at 5 targets
• Silence - Usually best to save this for something else
• Psychic Horror
• Dispel Magic

When the Voidbound affix spawns, you should immediately swap targets to focus this down. If you are a Voidweaver, be sure to prioritize casts of Shadow Word: Death for the increase from Devour Matter.

The important thing to realize is the extra damage from Devour Matter will contribute to Psychic Link damage, so prioritizing Shadow Word: Death casts into this mob is a large boost in damage for us.

As a Shadow Priest there is no specific advice for handling the Pulsar affix.

When Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour is present that week, you should always be prepared to use Mass Dispel or Purify Disease to dispel Void Rift as often as you can on your party. You can also remove this with Fade with Phantasm talented or racials such as Stoneform.

If you are out of tools to dispel off the debuff, you can also use Desperate Prayer, Power Word: Life, or Flash Heal to help get the debuff off.