Shadow Priest PvP Best Races and Racials — The War Within (11.1.5)

1. Night Elf
2. Human
3. Dwarf

The Night Elf racial bonus ( Shadowmeld) is always a strong choice. This race has a high skill cap, but using it to avoid crowd control can be very powerful. For example, if a Mage is casting Polymorph on you, use Shadowmeld to avoid it. If you use Shadowmeld at the same time that a Priest uses their Psychic Scream, you will not be feared. You can also use it to leave combat in case you need an emergency drink to replenish your Mana. Being a Night Elf also provides you with two noteworthy passive abilities: Quickness, which grants you 2% extra movement speed and 2% dodge chance, and Touch of Elune that increases either your Haste or Critical Strike by 1% depending on whether it is night or day.

The Human racial bonus ( Will to Survive) is a great way to get out of stuns. If you think you will be the focus target versus teams with multiple stuns, this race allows you to play Relentless. This will help increase your overall survivability. It is also important to note that Humans also have The Human Spirit. This increases your secondary stats (Haste, Critical Strike, Mastery, Versatility). This is another beneficial reason to play Human.

The Dwarf racial bonus ( Stoneform) removes Poison, Disease, Magic, and bleed effects. In addition to this, it reduces all Physical damage taken by 10%. This racial can make a large impact versus teams that have multiple Bleed or Magical damage over time abilities. It is also important to note that this racial lines up with the cooldown from Maledict trinkets and can be used to remove the absorption that is placed on you from Maledict. Another example is removing bleeds versus Assassination Rogues or Feral Druids that are focusing you. This will significantly slow down the damage being dealt to you.

1. Undead
2. Orc
3. Goblin

The Undead racial bonus ( Will of the Forsaken) removes any Charm, Fear, or Sleep effect from you. This is a great racial versus specializations that are able to fear you constantly throughout an arena match. It is important to note that this does share a 30-second cooldown with Gladiator's Medallion, so it is advised to only use it when you do not want to waste Gladiators Medallion. Here are a few examples of spells that Will of the Forsaken will remove from you:

• Sleep Walk from Preservation Evoker/ Devastation Evoker/Augmentation Evoker
• Fear from Demonology Warlock/ Destruction Warlock/Affliction Warlock
• Intimidating Shout from Arms Warrior/ Fury Warrior
• Psychic Scream from Holy Priest/ Shadow Priest/Discipline Priest

Being an Undead also grants you the passive abilities Shadow Resistance, reducing Shadow damage taken by 1%, and Touch of the Grave, sometimes dealing a small amount of Shadow damage to your target and healing you for the same amount.

The Orc racial bonus ( Hardiness) is great for reducing the duration of stuns on you. This is absolutely the best Horde racial to have if you are primarily focusing on PvP. In addition to Hardiness, Orcs also have the Blood Fury racial. This is off the global cooldown and should be used when you are using your burst rotation.

The Goblin racial bonus ( Rocket Jump) is a very unique ability. When activated, you will jump forward a short distance. Although it does not seem useful, it has several uses.

• Gap closer. Nearly every specialization in the game has a slow, this racial can be used to close the gap between you and the target if you are trying to crowd control an enemy and you are being kited.
• Prevent knockbacks. In Battlegrounds and Rated Battlegrounds it is common to try to knock people off the edge of the map (Eye of the Storm and Lumber Mill in Arathi Basin). The jump forward from this racial is enough to help you get back to safety if you get knocked.

Rocket Barrage if another racial that deals a small amount of fire damage. This has little to no impact on an arena game. The main reason you will want to be Goblin is for Rocket Jump.