Shadow Priest DPS Spell List and Glossary — The War Within (Season 1)

Last updated on Oct 04, 2024 at 18:00 by Publik 61 comments
General Information

On this page, we present you with all spells and procs that you need to understand as a Shadow Priest in World of Warcraft — The War Within (Season 1).

If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Shadow Priest spells.

1.

The War Within Spell Glossary for Shadow Priest

If you are new to Shadow, this is a great place to start to get an understanding of how the spec works. On this page we will discuss what abilities you have, what they are used for within the specialization, how they interact with each other and also with important cooldowns. If you already have experience with Shadow and are comfortable with it in the current expansion, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

Note that this page merely lists the Talents and explains them. For information on the best talents to use for your Shadow Priest in The War Within, check out our Talents page below.

2.

Main Resource for Shadow Priest in The War Within

Insanity is your primary resource as a Shadow Priest. All of our offensive abilities generate Insanity. The goal is to generate Insanity and then spend it on Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague. It is crucial to use Devouring Plague before you cap on Insanity; otherwise, you will be wasting damage. It is okay to refresh Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague while it is already active; it adds the damage from the existing DoT to the new DoT whenever you refresh it!

Mana is your secondary resource as a Shadow Priest. Most of our utility spells cost Mana, though managing Mana attentively is generally not required.

3.

Unlocking Abilities

Note that this page simply lists all the abilities, assuming you are at max level. If you are leveling, check out our dedicated Priest Leveling page, which has detailed information on when you unlock all of these abilities.

For the abilities below, you might see an included acronym or commonly used short-hand name to refer to that spell. This guide will otherwise avoid using this terminology in most places. Still, you might find them used in the class discord or elsewhere.

4.

The War Within Abilities of Shadow Priest

These are your core skills that are available regardless of talents and form the core gameplay of the specialization.

Please read our rotation page for more information on using these abilities together in your rotation.

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Shadowform Icon Shadowform SF Default form that you will always want to have active as it is just a simple 10% damage buff. It is important to note that when in Voidform Icon Voidform, this goes away but will come back after you exit Voidform Icon Voidform. It is required to be in this form to cast certain spells like Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague.
Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain SWP One of your two main DoT spells. It deals Shadow damage to the target over time and generates Insanity on the application. Since Misery Icon Misery has to be taken in every build, you almost never cast this ability.
Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch VT Your other main DoT spell. It deals Shadow damage to the target, over time, heals you for 30% of the damage dealt and generates Insanity on application.
Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast MB Deals damage to a single target, which has a 9-second cooldown, affected by Haste, and generates a high amount of Insanity. It is generally one of your highest-priority spells. You also gain an extra charge of this ability when you have Thought Harvester Icon Thought Harvester talent selected.
Mind Flay Icon Mind Flay MF Channeled spell that deals Shadow damage to the target and slows their movement speed by 50%. It generates Insanity and has no cooldown, and is used as a filler throughout your rotation.
Mastery: Shadow Weaving Icon Mastery: Shadow Weaving - Our Mastery spell that emphasizes having DoTs up on as many targets as possible. Depending on your Mastery rating, you deal (4.0% + gear rating) increased damage to targets for each of your three DoTs active. So if you have a 0 mastery rating from gear, you will do a 4% increase in damage per DoT on the target, so all three DoTs would be a 12% increase to your damage. This is calculated per target, so spreading DoTs is very valuable, but only works with Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain, Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch, and Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague for the DoT increase check. Note that this does not always work for every part of our kit, specifically pet damage, where it is on a case-by-case basis. In your damage breakdown, you will see a small entry for Shadow Weaving, this is specifically for the mastery damage bonus for Shadowfiend Icon Shadowfiend melee hits.
Focused Will Icon Focused Will FW This is a passive ability that causes melee abilities and attacks to reduce all damage you take by 15% for 8 seconds. This gives you some passive defense, which is very welcome.
Power Word: Fortitude Icon Power Word: Fortitude PWF Group buff available to all Priests that gives everyone in your party 5% Stamina for 1 hour. This is an exclusive buffs just to Priests, there are no scrolls from Inscription to give you this buff, so this is a very strong piece of utility we bring to groups.
Mind Vision Icon Mind Vision - Simple spell with minimal use, but it can occasionally be helpful to see far ahead if you know the name of a mob you want to target.
Mind Soothe Icon Mind Soothe - This spell has been slightly updated in The War Within. It is a unique ability that applies a buff to enemies in a 10-yard range that makes their aggro range significantly reduced. This has a short cooldown but can be used to skip past mobs while leveling or even inside of dungeons.
Desperate Prayer Icon Desperate Prayer - Self-heal spell and defensive that provides a good chunk of on-demand healing on a 1.5-minute cooldown. Adding this to our defensive toolkit makes us one of the best defensive ranged DPS specs out there.
Fade Icon Fade - Powerful aggro-drop ability that can come in handy if you accidentally pull a threat on something, and it also gives you reduced aggro radius. When paired up with Mind Soothe Icon Mind Soothe in solo content, you can walk past almost any mob in the game without causing them to aggro you.
Psychic Scream Icon Psychic Scream - Fears all enemies within 8 yards for 8 seconds on a 1-minute cooldown. Primarily useful to get enemies off you when you are alone.
Flash Heal Icon Flash Heal FH This has replaced Shadow Mend for us in this expansion and is our main healing spell in our kit. This is castable in Shadowform Icon Shadowform, but generally is less effective than Shadow Mend was, but at a lower mana cost.
Power Word: Shield Icon Power Word: Shield PWS Allows you to shield a friendly target. This is primarily used on yourself when you need to mitigate damage, but it can also be used on other friendly targets.
Hallucinations Icon Hallucinations - Passive ability that grants you 4 Insanity on successful Dispel Magic Icon Dispel Magic, Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel, Purify Disease Icon Purify Disease, and Power Word: Shield Icon Power Word: Shield casts. This reduces the penalty of having to spend globals on utility spells, as you do not lose any Insanity generation in the process.
5.

Priest Class Tree Abilities in The War Within

The following abilities are granted by taking those specific nodes in our Class Talent tree.

5.1.

Class Tree Active Abilities

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Renew Icon Renew - Base heal over time spell for Priests. While this does have little few uses for Shadow. It is castable in Shadowform, so it is an option if you want more off healing.
Dispel Magic Icon Dispel Magic - Removes a beneficial Magic effect from an enemy each time you cast it. Handy tool next to Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel, particularly in dungeons.
Shadowfiend Icon Shadowfiend SF/Fiend 3-minute cooldown, which summons a shadowy fiend that attacks your target for 15 seconds. It is an offensive cooldown that is not particularly strong. Ideally, it should be paired with high Haste buffs or right before Voidform Icon Voidform, as getting more Haste means more melees, so more insanity gained.
Prayer of Mending Icon Prayer of Mending PoM Healing spell available to all Priests that can be more passive off-healing in your kit. Spells like this can come in handy during encounters that have downtime where you cannot DPS but where off healing your group is helpful.
Purify Disease Icon Purify Disease - Removes all Disease effects from friendly targets. This is generally niche in its use but sees use in dungeons from time to time which still makes it a valuable addition.
Shadow Word: Death Icon Shadow Word: Death SWD Baseline execute ability that deals a moderate amount of damage, and even more damage if used on a target with less than 20% health.
Holy Nova Icon Holy Nova - AoE skill available in our tree but does not scale or interact with our kit. It is just a spammable AoE ability that will likely not be used much as a Shadow Priest.
Angelic Feather Icon Angelic Feather AF Spell available to all Priests now and will compliment Body and Soul Icon Body and Soul as another movement skill as a Shadow Priest. While you still can get Body and Soul, Angelic Feather lasts longer and will likely be more commonly used when you do not need the shield.
Leap of Faith Icon Leap of Faith LoF Pulls a friendly party or raid member toward you. It has a 1.5-minute cooldown. This is a niche skill that can help get a group member out of an otherwise deadly situation.
Shackle Undead Icon Shackle Undead - Allows you to prevent an Undead target from taking any actions for 50 seconds. This effect breaks upon any damage.
Void Tendrils Icon Void Tendrils - Another AoE crowd control ability Priests get access to. These tendrils require you to be in melee range of your targets similarly to Psychic Scream Icon Psychic Scream, but instead, root enemies in place for 20 seconds or until enough damage is dealt to break the tendrils.
Mind Control Icon Mind Control MC allows you to take control of an enemy target for 30 seconds. This does not work on Demonic, Mechanical, or Undead targets. While channeling this you cannot control your character.
Dominate Mind Icon Dominate Mind - Alternative choice to Mind Control Icon Mind Control which is a Mind Control-like spell that instead makes the valid target a pet that is fully under your control for 30 seconds on a 30-second cooldown. That means if you are good By refreshing this, you can maintain the pet at a near full uptime.
Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel MD removes all harmful Magic effects on up to 5 allies and 1 beneficial Magic effect on up to 5 enemies on a 2-minute cooldown. This is situationally very useful, particularly in dungeons. It can also dispel certain types of Magic that are normally not dispellable.
Power Infusion Icon Power Infusion PI Haste-based cooldown spell that allows you to give an ally (or yourself) a 20% Haste buff for 15 seconds. While under normal circumstances you would cast this solely on yourself, with the talent directly below Twins of the Sun Priestess Icon Twins of the Sun Priestess we will almost always be casting Power Infusion on another ally every 2 minutes.
Vampiric Embrace Icon Vampiric Embrace VE Heals allies based on 50% of the single-target damage you do for 15 seconds on a 2-minute cooldown. This is particularly useful in solo or up to 5-man content, but can also be useful for raids when used at the right time.
Divine Star Icon Divine Star DStar Short ranged ability that gives the Priest a combo damage and healing spell. For optimal use, you want to be within 24 yards of your targets so that the star hits each target twice for optimal damage and healing. This spell generates 6 Insanity while in combat.
Halo Icon Halo - Similar spell compared to Divine Star Icon Divine Star that is a slightly larger range that has more use cases in raiding environments. Note that this spell ONLY hits targets that are actively in combat so that you do not ninja-pull anything in Mythic+. This spell generates 10 Insanity.
Power Word: Life Icon Power Word: Life PWL Powerful burst healing ability that is only usable if the target is below 20% health. This is a great piece of off-healing and something to consider if you want to provide more utility for your group.
Void Shift Icon Void Shift VS Returning PvP talent is now available in our class talent tree. This can be used to quickly save a life, whether it is yours or someone else in your group.
5.2.

Class Tree Passive Abilities

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Improved Flash Heal Icon Improved Flash Heal - Small healing increase to Flash Heal Icon Flash Heal
Psychic Voice Icon Psychic Voice - Small reduction in the cooldown of Psychic Scream Icon Psychic Scream
Petrifying Scream Icon Petrifying Scream - Changes Psychic Scream Icon Psychic Scream to tremble in place instead of fearing them away.
Focused Mending Icon Focused Mending - Buff to the initial healing of Prayer of Mending Icon Prayer of Mending. Since we do not cast this much, you are unlikely to invest points in this side of the tree.
Protective Light Icon Protective Light - Extra defensive talent that gives us a 10% reduction after casting Flash Heal Icon Flash Heal. With how easily cast, Flash Heal is this can be a compelling talent if you can afford to cast the spell before a damage event.
From Darkness Comes Light Icon From Darkness Comes Light - Choice against Protective Light Icon Protective Light and shines in any situation you would not want the defensive capability and instead, opt for the increased healing from occasional Flash Heal Icon Flash Heal casts.
Phantasm Icon Phantasm - Gives an extra effect to Fade Icon Fade letting it also remove snare effects. Paired with Improved Fade Icon Improved Fade, you could remove snares every 20 seconds!
Death and Madness Icon Death and Madness DaM Gives you a reset of Shadow Word: Death Icon Shadow Word: Death cooldown when you fail to kill a target below 20% health. This cannot occur more than once every 10 seconds. In addition, if you use Shadow Word: Death and the target dies within 7 seconds, you gain 8 Insanity. Practically speaking, this makes it feel as though Shadow Word: Death has an extra charge inside of execute range.
Spell Warding Icon Spell Warding - Simply reduces damage taken from magic abilities by 3%. This is pretty small but could be a useful thing to pick up in heavy Magic damage fights.
Blessed Recovery Icon Blessed Recovery - Talent that feels oriented to PvP gameplay and will likely not see much use in PvE. It requires you to be critically struck by an attack that does not often happen outside of PvP.
Rhapsody Icon Rhapsody - Gives a stacking damage buff to Holy Nova Icon Holy Nova. Pending tuning, this could become relevant but likely not something Shadow is interested in.
Sheer Terror Icon Sheer Terror - Reduces the amount of damage a target can take before Psychic Scream Icon Psychic Scream will break. Since this is only 75%, it will likely only be useful in solo encounters or PvP.
Words of the Pious Icon Words of the Pious - Another non-Shadow based talent that increases damage of Smite Icon Smite and damage and healing of Holy Nova Icon Holy Nova for a short time after pressing Power Word: Shield Icon Power Word: Shield.
Move with Grace Icon Move with Grace - Simply reduces the cooldown of Leap of Faith Icon Leap of Faith by 30 seconds to make it a flat 1-minute cooldown.
Sanguine Teachings Icon Sanguine Teachings - Gives you an extra 3% leech.
Tithe Evasion Icon Tithe Evasion - Reduces the damage taken from Shadow Word: Death Icon Shadow Word: Death by 50%. This is a great addition to Shadow's kit, especially when running talents like Inescapable Torment Icon Inescapable Torment or Deathspeaker Icon Deathspeaker which will have you casting Shadow Word: Death more than you would otherwise.
Inspiration Icon Inspiration - Relatively inconsequential talent for Shadow considering how little we will press Flash Heal Icon Flash Heal, and generally follows the trend of talents on the far left not making sense for Shadow.
Mental Agility Icon Mental Agility MA Reduces the mana cost of Purify Disease Icon Purify Disease and Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel by 50% and reduces the mana cost of Dispel Magic Icon Dispel Magic by 10%.
Body and Soul Icon Body and Soul BaS or BnS Our second movement ability in the tree gives you a small burst of movement speed after casting Power Word: Shield Icon Power Word: Shield. It also works on a target you cast this on with either Power Word: Shield or Leap of Faith Icon Leap of Faith.
Twins of the Sun Priestess Icon Twins of the Sun Priestess Twins Massive utility spell in our talent tree that can be a large DPS gain for your group. With this talent, you will want to always try and cast Power Infusion Icon Power Infusion on another friendly target whenever possible.
Void Shield Icon Void Shield VS Allows you to refill part of your active Power Word: Shield Icon Power Word: Shield with your damaging spells. Note that this does not refresh your Power Word: Shield, so it does not seem super useful.
San'layn Icon San'layn SL Buffs Vampiric Embrace Icon Vampiric Embrace by 25% and reduces its cooldown down to 75 seconds. Note that this is significantly worse in Dragonflight compared to live with Vampiric Embrace only being base 50% rather than 85%. This buffs Vampiric Embrace to 62% in The War Within. If you instead have Sanguine Teachings Icon Sanguine Teachings, this will add 2% leech for a total of 5%.
Apathy Icon Apathy - Gives your Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast critical strikes a 75% slow for 4 seconds, having good synergy with talents like Mind Melt Icon Mind Melt.
Unwavering Will Icon Unwavering Will - Reduces the cast time of Flash Heal Icon Flash Heal while above 75% health.
Twist of Fate Icon Twist of Fate ToF Has been slightly buffed in Dragonflight, now proccing from damage OR healing spells for Shadow. This means we can potentially have more uptime on this buff from healing spells like Halo Icon Halo. Currently gives you get a 10% damage buff when you proc this, making it one of our execute talents.
Throes of Pain Icon Throes of Pain - Adds in passive Insanity when targets die with your Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain in addition to buffing its damage. This lets you start each subsequent pack in Mythic+ with some Insanity and smooths transitions.
Angel's Mercy Icon Angel's Mercy - Gives you a 20-second cooldown reduction to Desperate Prayer Icon Desperate Prayer, giving you more chances to use Desperate Prayer Icon Desperate Prayer.
Binding Heals Icon Binding Heals - Decent talent choice for anyone who intends on doing a lot of Flash Heal Icon Flash Heal off healing, where those will also heal you for 20% of the amount when used on allies.
Translucent Image Icon Translucent Image - Makes Fade Icon Fade an instant cast 10% defensive button, making it one of the few in our kit.
Cauterizing Shadows Icon Cauterizing Shadows CS Whenever your Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain expires, it is refreshed with less than 5 seconds remaining, or a target with the DoT active dies, you will heal a nearby ally.
Surge of Light Icon Surge of Light SoL Gives your healing spells and Smite Icon Smite a small chance to give you a free instant cast Flash Heal Icon Flash Heal. Since we do not cast either of these spells often, you are not likely to get many of these procs as Shadow without actively healing.
Light's Inspiration Icon Light's Inspiration - Buffs Desperate Prayer Icon Desperate Prayer from 25% max health gain up to 40%, giving us a large chunk of health when used. Very good synergy with Angel's Mercy Icon Angel's Mercy.
Crystalline Reflection Icon Crystalline Reflection CR Adds a small instant heal to Power Word: Shield Icon Power Word: Shield and causes some of that damage to reflect to your attacker. This works with raid boss mechanics that are dealt with directly by those targets, so it could be nice to have in a fight with lots of raid damage.
Improved Fade Icon Improved Fade - Reduces the cooldown on Fade Icon Fade.
Manipulation Icon Manipulation - Causes you to take 2% less damage from enemies that currently have your Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain active. Note that this will not work for damage effects that do not specifically come from a target.
Benevolence Icon Benevolence - Your healing spells now heal for 3% more. This does not work with things like Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague, Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch, or Vampiric Embrace Icon Vampiric Embrace. But does work with spells such as Divine Star Icon Divine Star, Halo Icon Halo, and Essence Devourer Icon Essence Devourer.
Angelic Bulwark Icon Angelic Bulwark AB Cheat-death-like shield that procs when you fall below 30% HP. The shield is only 15% of your max health, though, so unsure how useful this will be.
Essence Devourer Icon Essence Devourer ED Gives your Shadowfiend Icon Shadowfiend or Mindbender Icon Mindbender melee swings an additional effect where it will also heal a single nearby injured ally.
Phantom Reach Icon Phantom Reach PR Gives most of your spells 15% more range. For a 40-yard spell, this ends up increasing the range to 46 yards. This does work with Psychic Link Icon Psychic Link however it does not work with the following spells: Idol of C'Thun Icon Idol of C'Thun, Idol of Yogg-Saron Icon Idol of Yogg-Saron, Psychic Scream Icon Psychic Scream, Void Tendrils Icon Void Tendrils, and Psychic Horror Icon Psychic Horror.
6.

Shadow Spec Tree Abilities in The War Within

6.1.

Active Abilities

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague DP Deals a considerable amount of damage and is our single target insanity spender. The entire spec basically revolves around building up Insanity and then spending it on Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague. Due to our Mastery, we want to make sure we keep this DoT up as long as possible, but we do not want to cap Insanity. Because of this problem, Blizzard has made the spell roll damage over. This means that if you cast Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague while you already have Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague ticking, it will carry the old damage over as a modifier to the new Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague's ticks so you do not lose damage. So you should play the same since nothing snapshots, but if you are overcapping insanity, make sure you keep casting Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague; you will not lose any damage doing so!
Dispersion Icon Dispersion Disp Your main defensive spell is Shadow, reducing all damage taken by 75% but also preventing you from casting any spells for. It also increases your movement speed by 50% and makes you immune to movement-impairing effects.
Silence Icon Silence - Allows you to prevent a target from casting for 4 seconds on a 45-second cooldown. If the target is immune to silence effects, it also works as a standard interrupt if you use it on a target while it is casting.
Psychic Horror Icon Psychic Horror PH 4-second single target stun on a 45-second cooldown.
Mind Spike Icon Mind Spike MS/Spike Filler spell that replaces Mind Flay Icon Mind Flay as a casted version depending on talents. Exact use cases for when to use this vs. Mind Flay is not very obvious, but it can be a playstyle choice.
Void Eruption Icon Void Eruption VoiEr/VF Causes you to enter Voidform Icon Voidform. Void Eruption also deals a big burst of damage to all enemies within 10 yards of your target and grants you an extra charge of Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast while also resetting its cooldown. This effect lasts a minimum of 15 seconds and is extended based on Insanity spent.
Void Bolt Icon Void Bolt VB Ability that replaces Void Eruption Icon Void Eruption while Voidform Icon Voidform is active. It is instant cast, and it deals damage to the target, adding 3 seconds to the existing durations of Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch to the target and all nearby targets, on top of also generating Insanity. This is generally one of the more important spells for Shadow when in Voidform Icon Voidform and is ideally cast on cooldown, but make sure you do not overcap on Insanity with this ability.
Dark Ascension Icon Dark Ascension DA The alternative cooldown option is on a brief 1-minute cooldown. Activating this gives you 30 insanity while also buffing the damage of non-periodic spells by 25%.
Shadow Crash Icon Shadow Crash SC Fixed 20-second cooldown uncapped AoE spell that applies Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch on up to 8 enemies that it hits when talented into Whispering Shadows Icon Whispering Shadows as well. This will prefer to apply these DoTs to targets that do not already have DoTs added, although this part can be a bit inconsistent. The damage of this spell is reduced when it hits more than 5 targets.
Shadow Crash Icon Shadow Crash VC Alternative version of Shadow Crash Icon Shadow Crash that is instead targeted at a specific enemy mob. This version will also follow that target should they move after you cast the ability. All other interactions are exactly the same. This spell is sometimes referred to as VC, which stands for Void Crash, which was the previous name of the ability while it was being developed.
Mindbender Icon Mindbender Bender Replaces Shadowfiend Icon Shadowfiend to be a 1 minute spawned pet instead. The actual damage and Insanity remain the same; you just get to press it more often.
Void Torrent Icon Void Torrent VoiT Large single target channel that generates 60 Insanity on a base 45-second cooldown (reduced by 15 seconds with Malediction Icon Malediction).
6.2.

Passive Abilities

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Shadowy Apparitions Icon Shadowy Apparitions SA Works directly with casts of Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast, Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague, or Void Bolt Icon Void Bolt to spawn a Shadowy Apparition that float towards any targets that have Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch currently ticking. If the base ability for this critically strikes the apparition will do double damage instead.
Intangibility Icon Intangibility - Makes your Dispersion Icon Dispersion heal for more and also reduce its cooldown by 30 seconds down to 90 seconds.
Mental Fortitude Icon Mental Fortitude - Lets your overhealing done by Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch or Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague, build up a shield on your character.
Misery Icon Misery - Causes your Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch to also apply Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain. In addition, it also makes Shadow Word: Pain last an extra 5 seconds, causing it to line up perfectly with Vampiric Touch.
Last Word Icon Last Word LW Reduces the cooldown of Silence Icon Silence by 15 seconds.
Thought Harvester Icon Thought Harvester TH Mind Blast is granted an additional charge.
Mental Decay Icon Mental Decay - Causes ticks of Mind Flay Icon Mind Flay to extend Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch by 1 second or 2 seconds with Mind Spike Icon Mind Spike. It also increases the damage of Mind Flay and Mind Spike by 10%.
Whispering Shadows Icon Whispering Shadows - Causes your Shadow Crash Icon Shadow Crash to apply Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch (and Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain if talented into Misery Icon Misery) to up to 8 targets. This prefers targets without the DoT already active.
Unfurling Darkness Icon Unfurling Darkness UD Causes your Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch casts to add a damage hit for your next cast of Vampiric Touch. This buff lasts 8 seconds, meaning you need to cast Vampiric Touch within 8 seconds of the first cast to get the damage. This effect has a 15-second cooldown.
Shadowy Insight Icon Shadowy Insight SI Gives Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain damage a chance to give you a Shadowy Insight proc. This proc gives you a free charge of Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast and makes your next cast instant. This proc does not scale with the number of ticks you get of Shadow Word: Pain, so more DoTs out do not give you more procs on average.
Ancient Madness Icon Ancient Madness AM Gives either Void Eruption Icon Void Eruption or Dark Ascension Icon Dark Ascension a decaying Critical Strike buff after activating the cooldown. Note that this only increases the Critical Strike chance of your Shadow Priest spells and does not show on your character's stat sheet.
Voidtouched Icon Voidtouched - Increases the damage of Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague and increases your maximum Insanity by 50 for a total of 150.
Mind Melt Icon Mind Melt MM Stacking buff that makes your Mind Spike Icon Mind Spike casts increase the critical strike chance of your next Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast by 20%. You can stack this up to four times.
Maddening Touch Icon Maddening Touch MT Gives your Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch damage a chance to give you 1 Insanity. This proc chance is lowered as you are fighting more targets.
Dark Evangelism Icon Dark Evangelism DE Makes your Mind Flay Icon Mind Flay, Mind Spike Icon Mind Spike, and Void Torrent Icon Void Torrent trigger a stacking buff that increases your periodic Shadow effects by 1%/2%, stacking up to 5 times.
Auspicious Spirits Icon Auspicious Spirits AS Causes your Shadowy Apparitions Icon Shadowy Apparitions to deal more damage and gives them a chance to generate Insanity. This Insanity proc scales down as you are fighting more targets.
Tormented Spirits Icon Tormented Spirits TS Gives your Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain damage a chance to spawn a Shadowy Apparitions Icon Shadowy Apparitions on all targets with your Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch. Critical strikes of pain have twice as much chance to spawn an apparition.
Psychic Link Icon Psychic Link PL Causes most single-target abilities to deal a percent of the damage done to all other targets within 40 yards afflicted by your Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch. All spells are included except for pet spells, Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain, Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch, and Shadowy Apparitions Icon Shadowy Apparitions. This does work with both the instant damage and tick damage of Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague.
Phantasmal Pathogen Icon Phantasmal Pathogen PP Increases the damage of Shadowy Apparitions Icon Shadowy Apparitions to targets afflicted with Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague.
Mind's Eye Icon Mind's Eye ME Reduces the Insanity cost of Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague by 5 for a new cost of 45.
Distorted Reality Icon Distorted Reality DR Increases the damage of Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague and causes it to deal its damages over twice the duration but increases the Insanity cost by 5 for a new total of 55.
Deathspeaker Icon Deathspeaker DS Gives your Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain a chance to reset the cooldown on Shadow Word: Death Icon Shadow Word: Death and make the next cast act as if the target was below 20% to deal more damage.
Surge of Insanity Icon Surge of Insanity MFI/MSI Causes every other cast of Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague to transform your Mind Flay Icon Mind Flay into Mind Flay: Insanity Icon Mind Flay: Insanity or Mind Spike Icon Mind Spike into Mind Spike: Insanity Icon Mind Spike: Insanity. Casting Mind Flay: Insanity consumes the buff and deals more damage, generates more Insanity, slows the target more, and channels faster compared to Mind Flay. In contrast Mind Spike: Insanity Icon Mind Spike: Insanity is only consumed as the cast completes and does more damage.
Inescapable Torment Icon Inescapable Torment IT/SFP Returning Shadowlands legendary Shadowflame Prism as a talent. This causes your Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast and Shadow Word: Death Icon Shadow Word: Death casts during Mindbender Icon Mindbender to make your pet teleport behind that current target and deal AoE damage to 5 targets and increase the duration of Mindbender.
Mastermind Icon Mastermind - Increases the critical strike chance of Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast, Mind Spike Icon Mind Spike, Mind Flay Icon Mind Flay, and Shadow Word: Death Icon Shadow Word: Death and increases their critical strike damage.
Screams of the Void Icon Screams of the Void SotV Causes Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague to trigger a buff that increases the tick rate of all your active Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch DoT effects.
Mind Devourer Icon Mind Devourer MD (shares with Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel) Causes your Mind Blast Icon Mind Blasts to have a chance to proc Mind Devourer. This causes your next Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague to cost no Insanity and deal additional damage.
Insidious Ire Icon Insidious Ire II/Talbs Buffs your Mind Blast Icon Mind Blastand Void Torrent Icon Void Torrent whenever you have Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain, Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch, and Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague all active on the same target. You get this benefit regardless if that is the target you have all your DoTs active on.
Malediction Icon Malediction Male Reduces the cooldown of Void Torrent Icon Void Torrent by 15 seconds for a new cooldown duration of 30 seconds.
Idol of Y'Shaarj Icon Idol of Y'Shaarj IoY/YShaarj Causes you to gain an extra effect when you summon your Mindbender Icon Mindbender.
  • If the target has more than 80% health: Devoured Pride Icon Devoured Pride - You and your pet gain 5% more damage
  • If the target is enraged: Devoured Anger Icon Devoured Anger - Dispel the effect and increases your Haste by 5%
  • If the target is stunned: Devoured Despair Icon Devoured Despair - You gain 5 Insanity per second
  • If the target is feared: Devoured Fear Icon Devoured Fear - You and your pet gain 5% more damage and do not break Fear effects
  • If none of the other conditions are met: Devoured Violence Icon Devoured Violence - Your Mindbender Icon Mindbender will last an additional 5 seconds.
Aside from the default case these effects are extended with Inescapable Torment Icon Inescapable Torment.
Idol of C'Thun Icon Idol of C'Thun IoC/Cthun Gives your Mind Flay Icon Mind Flay, Mind Spike Icon Mind Spike, and Void Torrent Icon Void Torrent have a chance to spawn either a Void Tendril or a Void Lasher. The Tendril deals single target damage, and once you are facing 3 or more targets, you will instead summon a Void Lasher that deals AoE damage. In addition, when you first cast a Void Torrent, you will automatically get a proc. These tendrils also generate Insanity over time as they deal damage.
Idol of Yogg-Saron Icon Idol of Yogg-Saron IoYS/Yogg Spawns a Thing From Beyond after conjuring 25 Shadowy Apparitions. When the pet spawns, it continually casts Void Spike to deal a large amount of single-target damage at your current target and small cleave to targets around that one.
Idol of N'Zoth Icon Idol of N'Zoth IoN/NZoth Gives Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain, Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch, and Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague a chance to apply a stack of Echoing Void on that target. Each time a stack is applied, you have another chance to collapse those stacks. When the stacks collapse, each stack explodes for AoE damage every 1 second until no more stacks remain. All stacks will explode should the target die with stacks are still active.
7.

Shadow Hero Talent Abilities in The War Within

7.1.

Archon

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Power Surge Icon Power Surge PS Effectively creates 2 extra Halo Icon Halo casts each 5 seconds apart from each other. Also brings the range up to 40 yards.
Perfected Form Icon Perfected Form PF Gives an extra modifier to Dark Ascension Icon Dark Ascension and Void Eruption Icon Void Eruption. Note that this extra damage scales everything in our kit, so the extra modifier given to Dark Ascension works for all spells.
Resonant Energy Icon Resonant Energy RE Applies a debuff to enemies that will get 2 stacks per cast of Halo Icon Halo assuming each hit connects with a target which is 6 in total when accounting for Power Surge Icon Power Surge and Divine Halo Icon Divine Halo.
Manifested Power Icon Manifested Power MP Adds more procs into the kit, giving you 3 total Surge of Insanity Icon Surge of Insanity procs per cast of Halo Icon Halo.
Shock Pulse Icon Shock Pulse - Applies a slow component to the Resonant Energy Icon Resonant Energy debuff that stacks in a similar way.
Incessant Screams Icon Incessant Screams IS Gives our kit an extra delayed stop after the normal cast of Psychic Scream Icon Psychic Scream. Note that this second cast is subject to the DR, so it is not a full-duration fear the second time. The second cast of fear is cast at the exact same location, so if the mob moves out of it the second cast will miss. Depending on the situation Petrifying Scream Icon Petrifying Scream might be useful with this.
Word of Supremacy Icon Word of Supremacy WoS Effectively gives your character an extra 5% stamina all the time. Keep in mind that this bonus only applies to yourself and not any group members.
Heightened Alteration Icon Heightened Alteration HA Adds 2 seconds to the duration of Dispersion Icon Dispersion, which also makes it get extra ticks of the healing component.
Empowered Surges Icon Empowered Surges ES Massively increases the damage of Mind Flay: Insanity Icon Mind Flay: Insanity and Mind Spike: Insanity Icon Mind Spike: Insanity baseline.
Energy Compression Icon Energy Compression EC Increases both the damage and healing of Halo Icon Halo.
Sustained Potency Icon Sustained Potency SP Gives you 3 seconds of Dark Ascension Icon Dark Ascension or Voidform Icon Voidform per cast of Halo Icon Halo. Note that the stored value is reset upon starting combat with a Raid boss.
Concentrated Infusion Icon Concentrated Infusion CI Gives you an extra 10% haste on the Power Infusion Icon Power Infusion applied to yourself. When using Twins of the Sun Priestess Icon Twins of the Sun Priestess, this means when casting Power Infusion on an ally only the buff applied to yourself gets this increase.
Energy Cycle Icon Energy Cycle - Gives another all-around benefit to Surge of Insanity Icon Surge of Insanity procs where completing these casts also triggers Shadowy Apparitions Icon Shadowy Apparitions.
Divine Halo Icon Divine Halo - Gives you the ability to have finer control over the positioning of Halo Icon Halo as well as getting extra hits of Halo itself.
7.2.

Voidweaver

Ability Abbreviation Description/Effect
Entropic Rift Icon Entropic Rift ER Causes you to tear open a rift towards your current target when you cast Void Torrent Icon Void Torrent. At the end of the Void Torrent cast, the duration is refreshed based on how many seconds you channeled Void Torrent for, meaning you are encouraged to always fully channel this cast.
No Escape Icon No Escape NE Turns your Entropic Rift Icon Entropic Rift into a very light black hole mechanic where enemies are slowed. This can be useful in certain cases but might also make positioning mobs more challenging.
Dark Energy Icon Dark Energy DE Allows Void Torrent Icon Void Torrent to be cast while moving.
Void Blast Icon Void Blast VBlast Grants access to an upgraded version of Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast, Void Blast Icon Void Blast, that is only available while Entropic Rift Icon Entropic Rift is active.
Inner Quietus Icon Inner Quietus IQ Increases the damage of Vampiric Touch Icon Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word: Pain.
Devour Matter Icon Devour Matter DM Causes Shadow Word: Death Icon Shadow Word: Death to deal extra damage when you cast it on an enemy with an active absorb shield. This also grants you an extra 5 Insanity for that cast.
Void Empowerment Icon Void Empowerment - Gives you a free proc of Mind Devourer Icon Mind Devourer when you summon Entropic Rift Icon Entropic Rift. This proc does not require that you are talented into Mind Devourer to get the proc.
Darkening Horizon Icon Darkening Horizon DH Gives you an extension mechanic to Entropic Rift Icon Entropic Rift where each cast of Void Blast Icon Void Blast will extend the duration up to 3 seconds.
Depth of Shadows Icon Depth of Shadows DoS When you cast Shadow Word: Death Icon Shadow Word: Death on a target with less than 20% health or when you consume Deathspeaker Icon Deathspeaker you have a very high chance (~90%+) to summon a Shadowfiend Icon Shadowfiend or Mindbender Icon Mindbender for 5 seconds.
Voidwraith Icon Voidwraith VW This transforms your Shadowfiend Icon Shadowfiend (2-minute version) or Mindbender Icon Mindbender (1-minute version) into a Voidwraith Icon Voidwraith. Voidwraith works with all spells that the other pets do, including Inescapable Torment Icon Inescapable Torment in addition to dealing increased damage to targets the higher their health percentage.
Voidheart Icon Voidheart VH Gives you a massive 10% modifier to Shadow spell damage while Entropic Rift Icon Entropic Rift is active. This does notably work for other items that deal Shadow damage in addition to most spells in our kit.
Void Infusion Icon Void Infusion VI Doubles the Insanity generated by Void Blast Icon Void Blast.
Void Leech Icon Void Leech VL Causes you to leech health from a nearby ally if they have more health than you do. While this can provide a lot of healing, it might not necessarily make your group more defensive depending on how much overhealing is happening.
Embrace the Shadow Icon Embrace the Shadow EtS Provides an effective 3% reduction towards magic damage taken in addition to healing back that same amount if it was Shadow damage. This utility can be very powerful on high Shadow damage encounters.
Collapsing Void Icon Collapsing Void CV This adds to gameplay elements to Entropic Rift Icon Entropic Rift. The first causes each cast of Devouring Plague Icon Devouring Plague to increase the damage of ticks of Entropic Rift and eventually the damage of Collapsing Void Icon Collapsing Void itself. The second details the Rift itself collapsing at the end of the duration to all enemies within 15 yards from the center of the Rift. This means the Rift size does not change the size of Collapsing Void.

For more information on how to use these abilities together in your rotation, please read our rotation page.

8.

Changelog

  • 09 Sep. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within Season 1.
  • 21 Aug. 2024: Added entries for Hero Talents.
  • 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within pre-patch.
  • 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
  • 22 Apr. 2024: Updated for Season 4.
  • 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
  • 03 Dec. 2023: Add more detail about Idol of Y'Shaarj.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Update spells from changes in Patch 10.2.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Update description of Angel's Mercy from the change in 10.1.7.
  • 23 Jul. 2023: Reviewed from the recent hotfixes.
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Add in references to Benevolence and Essence Devourer talents for Patch 10.1.5.
  • 01 Jun. 2023: Add a bit more detail to Shadow Crash.
  • 01 May 2023: Updated for new spells in 10.1.0.
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
  • 24 Jan. 2023: Add new talents for 10.0.5.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
  • 03 Nov. 2022: Included acronyms and commonly used references to spells.
  • 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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