Shadow Priest PVE Guide (4.3 Updated)
 

Regarding this thread:
Welcome to the Shadow Priest PVE Guild for 4.3! Please note this is a work in progress, as time permits I will update this thread with all relevant information as it comes to light.

 

Contents

1 Introduction 2 General 2.1Frequently Asked Questions 2.2Abbreviations 3Talents 3.1Current Spec 3.2Talent Overview 3.3Glyphs 4Stats & Gearing 4.1Stats 4.2Stat Priorities 4.3Reforging 4.4Gemming 4.5Set Bonuses 4.6Enchanting 4.7Professions 4.8Consumables 5Spells & Rotation 5.1Spell Priority 5.2Optimal Opener 5.3AoE & Multiple Targets 6Advanced Topics 6.1Haste 6.2DoT Refreshing 6.3Mana Management 7Other 7.1Macros 7.2Tools & Addons 7.3Upcoming Patch Information 7.4Credits 7.5To Do 7.6Change Log

[top] Introduction

The information in this thread is relevant to Shadow Priest DPS in a PVE environment, specifically at end-game raiding levels. The information contained here is a compilation of contributions gleaned from various sources such as Elitist Jerks, Wowhead, and Shadowpriest.com as well as personal experience. All data presented will attempt to be empirical.

That said, I would like to take a moment to thank those who have helped compile this information by contributing experiences, data, and other invaluable resources through the various locations where Shadow Priests gather. I will attempt to be as concise as possible in my outline of the current discussion and theory-crafting surrounding the Shadow tree of the Priest class.

[top] General

[top]Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is there a haste cap/plateau/threshold/etc?
A: Short answer, no. Shadow does not have any achievable haste caps at this time. More information about haste below.

Q: Should I reach the hit cap?
A: Simulations demonstrate that hit rating is a DPS increase until cap, however actually achieving the cap is a matter of preference. It is important to note that while hit is important, it is highly not recommended to actually gem or enchant for it.

Q: Should I use the Shadow Fiend on cool down?
A: Yes. Ultimately it is a DPS increase two fold, one by actually doing damage itself and two, by returning mana to the caster to allow for continued damage output.

Q: When do I refresh my DoTs?
A: The simplest answer is whenever they are about to expire or, if you happen to gain a buff (bloodlust, trinket proc, etc.) prior to them needing to be refreshed. Please see the DoT Refreshing section for further information.

Q: I changed my spec, and on a training dummy my new spec gives me more DPS!
A: What you do on a training dummy is irrelevant, not only is your sample data far too small to rule out RNG, you're also missing lots of buffs/target debuffs that will change the way certain talents perform.

[top]Abbreviations

Abbreviation	Meaning
Spriest	Shadow Priest
VE	Vampiric Embrace
VT	Vampiric Touch
DP	Devouring Plague
SW:P	Shadow Word: Pain
SW:D	Shadow Word: Death
MF	Mind Flay
MB	Mind Blast
iMB	Improved Mind Blast
AA/DAA	Archangel/ Dark Archangel
AoE	Area of Effect
DPET	Damage per execute time
ICD	Internal Cooldown
GCD	Global Cooldown
BiS	Best in Slot
RNG	Random Number Generator
DoT	Damage over time

[top]Talents

[top]Current Spec

Base Talent Spec: (8/0/31)+2

[top]Talent Overview

Shadow

Tier	Talent	Notes	Recommendation
1	Darkness	3% increase to Spell haste.	Required.
1	Improved Shadow Word: Pain	Increase to SW: P.	Required.
1	Veiled Shadows	Reduced CD on Fade and Shadowfiend.	Highly Recommended.
2	Improved Mind Blast	Reduced CD and healing debuff.	Highly Recommended.
2	Improved Devouring Plague	Instant 30% of total damage.	Required.
2	Twisted Faith	Increase to spell damage and spirit to hit conversion.	Required.
3	Shadowform	Increased shadow damage, reduction to damage taken and 5% spell haste.	Required.
3	Harnessed Shadows	Increased Shadow Orb generation.	Required.
4	Vampiric Embrace	Healing Aura based on single target damage.	Required.
4	Masochism	Mana return from damage taken including SW: D.	Highly Recommended.
4	Mind Melt	Increase SW:D damage on targets <25%, causes MS to reduce cast time of MB by 50% stacks x2.	Highly Recommended.
5	Pain and Suffering	Refreshes SW:P and reduces SW: D backlash damage.	Required.
5	Vampiric Touch	Damage dealing spell, adds replenishment on MB casts.	Required.
6	Sin and Punishment	Dispell protection for VT and Shadowfiend CD reduction.	Highly Recommended.
6	Shadowy Apparition	Shadow damage proc.	Recommended.
7	Dispersion	Mana regeneration CD, also 90% damage reduction.	Required.

Discipline

Tier	Talent	Notes	Recommendation
1	Twin Disciplines	Increase spell damage.	Required.
1	Mental Agility	Mana reduction for instant cast spells. (2/3)	Highly Recommended.
2	Evangelism	Increase shadow periodic spell damage.	Required.
2	Archangel	Consumes Evangelism stacks, returns mana, increases damage to MF, SW: D, MS and MB.	Required.

This leaves 2 points free to be used elsewhere. It is recommended to either finish out Mental Agility or pick up Inner Sanctum. Points could also be used to pick up some more utility spells such as Psychic Horror but these points are merely preference.

[top]Glyphs

Prime:

• Glyph of Mind Flay
• Glyph of Shadow Word: Pain
• Glyph of Shadow Word: Death

Major:

• Glyph of Spirit Tap (Recommended)
• Individual’s Choice
• Individual’s Choice

Minor:

• Individual’s Choice
• Individual’s Choice
• Individual’s Choice

[top]Stats & Gearing

[top]Stats

Intellect:
Intellect provides spell power at a 1:1 ratio prior to bonuses and 0.00154% crit, as well as increases mana by 17.53 per point.

Hit Rating:
Hit increases the chance that a spell will land on its intended target. 102.45 hit rating gives 1% to hit with spells. Hit cap is 17% or 1742 Rating. Once the cap has been reached, hit’s value greatly diminishes.

In addition Shadow Priests (along with other healing hybrids) receive hit from spirit through talents (Twisted Faith). Same rules apply, once the hit cap has been reached, spirit becomes useless.

Haste Rating:
128.05 haste rating gives 1% spell haste. Haste rating scales multiplicatively with other sources of haste—and cannot reduce the duration of the global cool down below 1.0 second.

Critical Strike Rating:
179.28 crit rating gives 1% to crit.

Mastery Rating:
179.28 mastery rating adds 1 point to mastery which increases the damage of Shadow Orb Power by 1.45% which once consumed by a Mind Blast or Mind Spike provides the buff Empowered Shadow.

[top]Stat Priorities

When considering your own stat weights it is recommended that you download SimulationCraft or similar tools and base your decisions around your individual character. However, the below order should be somewhat correct in most situations.

Int

>>

Hit (to cap)

>

Haste

≥

Mastery

>

Crit

Please note that the latter three stats will be in constant flux as more and new gear becomes available.

[top]Reforging

How you reforge will be based on the following rules:

1. Are you hit capped?
   Yes: Reforge any extra hit/spirit to haste where possible.
   No: Reforge mastery/crit to hit/spirit.
2. Does it have haste on it?
   Yes: Go to the next rule.
   No: Reforge mastery/crit to haste, leave hit/spirit as is.
3. Reforge crit to mastery if the above has been done.

Additionally there are sites like AskMrRobot.com which offer automated suggestions based on stat weights derived from SimC.

[top]Gemming

Socket	Gem
Meta:	Burning Shadowspirit Diamond
Red:	Brilliant Inferno Ruby
Yellow:	Reckless Ember Topaz
Blue:	Veiled Demonseye or Purified Demonseye

When to ignore the socket bonus:
Generally speaking, if a socket bonus is less than 20 Intellect (or 30 of any rating stat), then the consensus is that a Brilliant Inferno Ruby is far more beneficial than attempting to match a socket. However, it is highly recommended that you use SimulationCraft to determine your individual scale factors.

[top]Set Bonuses

Regalia of Dying Light Flame

• 2 pieces: Item - Priest T13 Shadow 2P Bonus
• 4 pieces: Item - Priest T13 Shadow 4P Bonus

[top]Enchanting

Slot	Regular enchant	Profession specific	Tinker (Engineering*)
Head	Arcanum of Hyjal	-	-
Shoulders	Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone	Felfire Inscription	-
Back	Enchant Cloak - Greater Intellect	Lightweave Embroidery	Flexweave Underlay
Chest	Enchant Chest - Peerless Stats	-	-
Wrist	Enchant Bracer - Mighty Intellect	Draconic Embossment - Intellect / Socket Bracer	-
Hands	Enchant Gloves - Greater Mastery	Socket Gloves	Synapse Springs
Belt	Ebonsteel Belt Buckle	-	Nitro Boost (utility slot, tinker variable)
Legs	Powerful Ghostly Spellthread	Sanctified Spellthread	-
Boots	Enchant Boots - Lavawalker	-	-
Finger	-	Enchant Ring - Intellect	-
Weapon	Enchant Weapon - Power Torrent	-	-
Off-Hand	Enchant Off-Hand - Superior Intellect	-	-

* Note on Engineering: All tinkers now stack with standard enchants.

[top]Professions

Main profession	Benefits
Alchemy:	Mixology
Blacksmithing:	Socket Bracer and Socket Gloves
Enchanting:	Enchant Ring - Intellect x 2
Engineering:	Synapse Springs
Herbalism:	Lifeblood
Inscription:	Felfire Inscription
Jewelcrafting:	Brilliant Chimera's Eye x 3
Leatherworking:	Draconic Embossment - Intellect
Mining:	Toughness
Skinning:	Master of Anatomy
Tailoring:	Lightweave Embroidery

[top]Consumables

Flask:	Flask of the Draconic Mind or Flask of Battle
Food:	Severed Sagefish Head or Seafood Magnifique Feast
Potion:	Volcanic Potion (Pre-pot and use during bloodlust/heroism)

[top]Spells & Rotation

[top]Spell Priority

• Shadow Word: Pain
• Mind Blast (if Orbs 3,2,1)
• Vampiric Touch
• Devouring Plague
• Mind Blast (no Orbs)
• Shadow Word: Death (target ≤ 25%)
• Archangel
• Shadowfiend
• Mind Flay

As a Shadow Priest, your primary concern is managing the Empowered Shadow buff. That being said, how you manage that is for the most part up to you. Since, unlike other classes, Shadow Priests do not have to apply debuffs to function at their fullest potential, there really is no set rotation as it were.

While Shadow Word: Pain has a relitivly low DPET, since it is one of our main ways of continually spawning Shadow Orbs in conjunction with being refreshed via Mind Flay, it falls a bit higher on the priority list. Uptime for this spell should be as close to 100% as possible.

The key is getting your Empowered Shadow buff up as soon as possible through the generation of shadow orbs (via SW:P and MF). The amount of orbs generated prior to casting Mind Blast has no bearing on Empowered Shadow, so best case would be to cast a Mind Blast as soon as an orb is generated, reapply DoTs and continue with the rest of the spell priorities.

Since Mind Blast’s DPET increases with the number of shadow orbs available it is optimal to cast it when orbs are present, however, a Mind Blast with no shadow orbs still has a higher DPET than Mind Flay and should be used cool downs permitting.

While the Shadowfiend has a low DPET, it has the added benefit of returning mana to the caster thus enabling more damage throughput. It is wise to use it as often as possible (unless you find yourself struggling to manage your mana—mainly newer raiders whom may undergear certain content—then you would want to save it for times of need).

Shadow Word: Death is an interesting spell to consider in your DPS rotation. It functions in two ways; One, it is considered an execute phase spell—talented (Mind Melt)—when the target is <25% health (and with Glyph of Shadow Word: Death you can hit it twice); and two, it is a mana regeneration talent (Masochism) much in the same vein as a Warlocks Life Tap however SW:D has the added ability to cause damage while regenerating mana.

[top]Optimal Opener

For the most part there really isn’t a “set-in-stone” opener for Shadow Priests. With Empowered Shadow in mind, you will want to cast the spells that are likely to generate shadow orbs on your target as quickly as possible. For the most part a “safe” opening rotation would be to follow (loosely) the spell priorities listed above, such as:

Shadow Word: Pain

►

Vampiric Touch

►

Devouring Plague

►

Mind Blast

►

Mind Flay until Dark Evangelism.

Then continue to follow the priority above. You would be forsaking some uptime on Empowered Shadow for the peace of mind of having all your DoTs rolling.

Alternatively, you could opt to attempt to force an orb proc by opening with:

Shadow Word: Pain

►

Mind Flay (until orbs)

►

Mind Blast

►

Vampiric Touch

►

Devouring Plague

►

Mind Flay

Then continue to follow the priority above. Here you are holding off on higher DPET spells in favor of getting that first Shadow Orb prior to Mind Blast so that your DoTs benefit from Empowered Shadow as soon as they're cast.

As well, depending on the situation, it is possible to pre-cast Vampiric Touch (along with consuming a Volcanic Potion) just as your tank pulls (provided you have some prior warning). This allows you to have one of your most effective DoTs on your target as soon as battle starts (similar to some fire mages who pre-cast Pyroblast). You will want to refresh this once Empowered Shadow is rolling.

By the time you run thought either initial sequence (unless you are pristinely unlucky) you should have generated your next orb by the time Mind Blast is off cool down and thus can keep your Empowered Shadow rolling.

[top]AoE & Multiple Targets

Shadow Priest AoE damage (in the form of Mind Sear) has had a rollercoaster ride of effectiveness for the past few patches. Mind Sear has gone from extremely powerful, to beating a mob with a wet noodle, to being fairly decent compared to most other classes. Aside from a buff to damage, one new feature to this lovely spell is that it can now be cast on friendly targets (such as a tank or other melee) to allow for you to channel without interruption.

Multi-target encounters provide the ability to apply several of your main DoTs (mana providing) to each target thus gaining a substantial increase to overall damage output.

[top]Advanced Topics

[top]Haste

Haste has become a far more interesting and advanced stat than it had once been prior to 4.0. It was redesigned to benefit damage- and healing-over-time spells by allowing them to tick faster and thus reducing the overall duration of those spells. This is important because with enough haste your DoTs will tick with enough frequency to allow for additional ticks to occur. Below are a few examples of those points where we can gain an additional tick:

Vampiric Touch

Without Dark Intent			With Dark Intent
Ticks	Rating	Goblin	Ticks	Rating	Goblin
+1	218	90	+1	0	0
+2	2589	2437	+2	2141	1993
+3	4951	4776	+3	4431	4264
+4	7326	7127	+4	6740	6546
+5	9698	9476	+5	9043	8827

Devouring Plague

Without Dark Intent			With Dark Intent
Ticks	Rating	Goblin	Ticks	Rating	Goblin
+1	0	0	+1	0	0
+2	1255	1115	+2	845	710
+3	2737	2583	+3	2284	2135
+4	4220	4051	+4	3724	3560
+5	5691	5508	+5	5152	4975
+6	7179	6981	+6	6597	6405

Shadow Word: Pain

Without Dark Intent			With Dark Intent
Ticks	Rating	Goblin	Ticks	Rating	Goblin
+1	21	0	+1	0	0
+2	1993	1846	+2	1562	1419
+3	3970	3804	+3	3482	3320
+4	5945	5759	+4	5399	5219
+5	7913	7913	+5	7310	7111

A very interesting thing happens when you reach one of these extra tick points: the duration of your damage- or healing-over-time spells increases from its hastened duration back to its natural duration. This is important to note because while the ticks are still ticking at roughly the same frequency as they were prior to hitting one of these points, and thus doing roughly the same DPS, they are now doing it for a slightly longer time. That extra time allows for you to insert other damage-dealing abilites such as Mind Flay (which aside from being our nuke is also behaves as a DoT benefiting from haste).

There are several formulas which are important to note, one calculates cast speed and another calculates the haste rating required for additional ticks.

To calculate the hastened cast time of a spell, use the following formula:

New_Cast_Time = Normal_Cast_Time / ((1 + (Haste_Rating / 12805)) * Shadow_Form * Darkness)
Where Shadow_Form = 1.05 and Darkness = 1.03

Example, if we take Mind Blast with a 1.5 second Normal_Cast_Time and a 950 Haste_Rating, we will get the following:
New_Cast_Time = 1.5 / ((1 + (950 / 12805)) * 1.05 * 1.03) = 1.291 sec

To calculate the haste required for additional DoT ticks, use the following formula:

Tick_Speed_Required = (Base_Frequency * Base_Tick_Speed) / (No_of_Ticks - 0.5)
Where No_Of_Ticks is the number of ticks you would like to achieve.

Example, if we wanted to apply this to Vampiric Touch (5 second Base Frequency, 3 second Base Tick Speed), wanting to achieve 2 additional tick (7), we would do the following:

Tick_Speed_Required = (5 * 3) / (7 - 0.5) = 2.307 seconds

Now to calculate the percentage of haste required to achieve this tick speed, using the following formula:

Haste_Percent = (Base_Tick_Speed / (Tick_Speed_Required + 0.00049999)) - 1
Haste_Percent = (3 / (2.307 + 0.00049999)) - 1 = 0.300108 = 30.0%

[top]DoT Refreshing

Since 4.0 the basic rules for DoT behavior has changed. The basic rule of thumb to follow is:

Buffs to you

►

DoTs

►

Debuffs to boss

So what does this mean? Basically, dots benefit by your buffs on a per cast basis; while benefiting from debuffs on your target on a per tick basis. This is true for all DoT classes.

So looking at the dots we cast—Shadow Word: Pain, Vampiric Touch, and Devouring Plague—there are several things to keep in mind. Vampiric Touch and Devouring Plague function in virtually the same fashion. They benefit from buffs for their entire duration (unless refreshed); while Shadow Word: Pain is a little trickier. Since Shadow Word: Pain is continually refreshed by Mind Flay you will have points where it is not buffed and for the most part that's okay, you should never have to recast that spell.

So it is appropriate to recast both Vampiric Touch and Devouring Plague once a buff is present—trinkets, enchants, bloodlust, etc. That said, our main concern is the Empowered Shadow buff. It should be present prior to dot casts at all times. If, however, you are unlucky and your Empowered Shadows falls off and you need to cast your dots, simply recast them once the buff is present again.

[top]Mana Management

Shadow Priests have several tools at their disposal. The most common one is Shadowfiend, on a 4 minute cooldown if you have 2/2 Veiled Shadows. The talent Sin and Punishment reduces the cooldown of your Shadowfiend by 10 seconds each time Mind Flay crits, so in reality your cooldown may end being 3 minutes or even lower. Naturally in later tiers this will get even better as we crit more on Mind Flay, and the 2 piece T11 bonus is nice for this as well, increasing Mind Flay's crit chance by 5%.

The second obvious tool is Dark Archangel. Getting 25% of your total mana back instantly is a nice ability, and you can use this every 90 seconds.

The third obvious tool is Dispersion. This is 36% more of your total mana back over 6 seconds. The drawback is not being able to DPS during this time, but some fights have phase changes where you can use this, and other fights have mechanics that you can use Dispersion to almost completely nullify. Generally speaking however this should be lowest on the list when it comes to a mana cooldown due to the DPS hit you take.

The final tool, which isn't always obvious to the beginner, is Shadow Word: Death and how the new talent Masochism applies to it. In essence, this our version of Life Tap, except we even get to do DPS while casting it. If you're having mana issues on a fight, make sure you're casting SWD on cooldown. This gets even better sub 25% on a boss with the glyph of SW:D.

In addition, the Glyph of Spirit Tap can allow you to regen mana on fights with adds, if you can successfully snipe killing blows with SW:D.

[top]Other

[top]Macros

Several macros for multi-target situations:
The following macros allow you to cast each spell on your target or your focus target. Shift is used as the modifier here, but can be changed depending on preferences.

[top]Tools & Addons

SimulationCraft
One of the best tools currently at our disposal is SimulationCraft:
As such there are two sites associated with this tool. One is the actual project home found here. The site includes the client download (for both Mac and WIndows) as well as a basic "how to."

In addition to that site there is also SimulationCraft.org which offers sample analysis generated by SimulationCraft. Basically giving easy access to simulation results of all classes and specs at various gear levels (and patches).

World of Logs
Another excelent tool for any raider is World of Logs (WoL).
There is a learning curve to effectively utilize this tool, however the rewards are fairly apparent (especially if you are a raid leader or class leader for your guild) as you can get a far more detailed and accurate accounting of nearly every aspect of any encounter you have uploaded. And for those who swear by the DPS meter, this is a far more accurate gauge of performance.

There is a very brief "help" section (found here) on the site that will give you the basics of how to go from setting up your account to uploading your log and analyzing the data. As well as a forum available to ask any questions that may arise.

[top]Upcoming Patch Information

No current information.

[top]Credits

• Jmickey: of the Warlock forum for style and formatting cues.
• Keldion: for the use of his DOT haste calculations spreadsheet.
• Snowy: for information gathered from the previous Shadow Priest guide.

[top]To Do

• Addons

[top]Change Log

• Tuesday, July 11, 2011 - Post created
• Friday, July 22, 2011 - Added DOT haste information; Started "Credits" list
• Sunday, September 11, 2011 - Added DoT Refreshing section
• Tuesday, November 29, 2011 - Updated for 4.3

[reserved]

This is a dps loss macro. Better "clip" MF, because it cant clip now =)

From a progression raiding standpoint, it would be much better to recommend using the free points to pick up Inner Sanctum. Out of our DPS spells, Mental Agility only affects Devouring Plague, SW:P and SW:D.

Good point, that recommendation was in the previous guide so I left it. So I'll put both in.

I wouldn't quite agree with it, I think it's better to leave hit gear for warlocks and mages for two reasons:

1. There is way more spirit gear than it is hit gear, while the specs count that want hit gear is same as spirit (if you count shadowpriests as spirit users).
2. In most of our BiS setups we use spirit gear, not hit one.

For numbers on spirit gear vs hit gear count:
T11:
Spirit - 51 (Armor - Items - World of Warcraft)
Hit - 12 (Armor - Items - World of Warcraft)
T12:
Spirit - 26 (Armor - Items - World of Warcraft)
Hit - 10 (Armor - Items - World of Warcraft)

I don't agree with you.
There is in fact no spirit cloth gear in Firelands, and your difference in numbers stems from the fact that you have 14 T12 set pieces with spirit for priests.

There are some spirit neck / rings / offhands / etc., but there will be on high priority for healers, because they are the only pieces that a disc/holy priest can hope to get directly from raids with spirit, and healers will want spirit on most pieces if they can. I don't know how high priority mages and warlocks will put on hit pieces, given that they can regorge it and (likely) reach the cap with a few native pieces and this reforging.

Thing is, there are more mages/warlocks than priest healers, and if you count without tier sets, there's around equal amount of hit and spirit gear. AFAIK, there'll be more desire for hit gear (more people will want it), and I think that the logic 'healers gear up first' is outdated.

But healers want more spirit than dps want hit. I know that with my (main) healing gear set, I'm hit over-capped by a large margin.

And don't forget that rings / back / necks are shared by all armor types. The competition is then between all healers and all magical dps: both numbers are close I would guess (3 healers in 10, with 5 dps, including likely two melees / hunts, and 6-7 healers in 25, for 15-16 dps, including about half magical).

While this is all very noble of you to leave gear for healers and other dps based on what OTHER people want, the fact remains, that spirit>hit for Spriests, Why have a stat that does one thing only, when you could have a stat that does the exact same thing AND regens your mana. OF course the benefit of the raid come into play when you are actually working a progression boss, but for the purpose of theory, spirit instead of hit rating. The only exception I could think of would be if a hit rating piece had more haste than a spirit piece.

Spirit is identical to hit unless you're a human, and then the margin is extremely small. When in-combat, unless you're a heal spec, spirit does not contribute to mana regen. And there are no raid encounters in which you drop combat for any duration.

Whether or not you pass spirit items to healers or hit items to non-spirit using classes is up to you and them, but for the purposes of min/maxing and gearing in raids, spirit = hit (unless you're a human and then it's 1:1.03) end of discussion.

Personally I prefer spirit items so I can use them to heal when needed, but generally I use whatever item is better.

This is probably the best solution.

simulate it not as patchwerk style. Hit more important then haste.

Right that is just one small situation, most fights are more similar to patchwerk than a 'helter-skelter' fight.

I agreed that Helter Skelter is extremly absurd
http://elitistjerks.com/f77/t123944-...clysm_edition/ that topic explains how add little or heavy movement in simcraft.