• 1.0 - Introduction
• 1.5 - Tradeskills to compliment your Priest
• 2.0 - Shadow Priest Talents
• 3.0 - PvP
• 4.0 - Raiding Gear Guide
• 5.0 - Leveling from 1-80

This guide is simply intended to provide a general overview of the Shadow Priest. For a far more in-depth resource on this class, from leveling to raiding to PvP, check out the Killer Guide's Priest guide.

1.0 - The Shadow Priest

Shadow priests are the immensely popular dark side variant of the priest class, growing so far apart in time as to be established as nigh alternate classes beyond level 40, each side – priest and shadow – gaining distinctive abilities setting them apart from one-another.

The talent build of shadow was originally laughable, back in the days of a level 60 cap when raiding reigned supreme and shadow was just too weak. But now the tides have turned.  Shadow priests can now be said to be at least as valuable, if not more so within certain situations, than a normal holy/disc priest could ever hope to be.

We bring not only a potent level of damage to any fight, but additionally possess the ability to replenish the life and mana of our entire team, becoming something of the caster-class equivalent of an energizer bunny, except we apply it not only to ourselves, but all those around us.

This utility has become invaluable enough that it no-longer goes ignored by the dedicated raiding guilds, each now holding at least one if not more shadow priests in reserved slots for each fight. The good times have arrived for the Sith as they at last triumph over the Jedi.

However that’s not all that we’re good at: look no further than the Arena and Battlegrounds to gain a good example of where shadow priests may also trump others.  Although I must admit that with the significant increase of anti-fear our abilities have somewhat lessened in PvP.

Stuff

Since you're Damage and not healing you can put together a reply macro stating as much. Make your macro and put this in it:

• /r Sorry, I'm not a healer, but I can DPS

Also, see our Priest Guide (an overview of the Priest) and our Priest Leveling Guide for more info.

Tradeskills

Shadow priests practically require tailoring to become viable at 70+, the profession providing both us, as well as mages and warlocks, with gear sets surpassing several pieces of dungeon gear and going perhaps even further into raiding.

As a complementing skill I’d suggest picking up Enchanting, it works well in synergy with tailoring to disenchant crafted items and sell, making back some if not all of the crafting cost while simultaneously raising your tailoring skill.

Check out our Tailoring & Enchanting profession guides for more information on leveling those skills.

• Consider Cooking for the buffing foods .
• First Aid is useful for those times when you just don't want to spend the mana to heal.
• If you don't take Tailoring and/or Enchanting then take any two of the gathering skills: mining, skinning, and herbalism. They'll keep you in gold as you level up.

2.0 Shadow Priest Talents

This raiding talent build, below, is intended to maximize both our DPS and efficiency as much as possible. This explains the passing on a few shadow talents for more in the discipline tree, meditation providing quite a nice amount of mana regen.

Your primary role will be to deal as much damage as possible, also a good thing for leveling, while keeping vampiric touch/vampiric embrace applied at all times. This role is fairly easy to complete as it only requires you to keep note of both debuffs while utilizing the most efficient shadow DPS spell rotation.

All of this is, of course, not the only, nor perfect, build for raiding, only what I was able to come up with. If you think you’ve found a better choice of talent points feel free to invest them as you see fit, use this build instead as more of a guideline to your own choices.

2.1 Shadow Priest Talents - significant differences are in red.

Psychic Scream isn't really a good idea for raiding and Silence is more useful in PvP. Otherwise the only difference between these two builds is the order of the talents, which is more interesting for leveling anyway.

If you don't want to tweak back and forth, just go with one build, each has good to strong utility for leveling, raiding, and PvP. Of course, always feel free to tweak it for your own gear, team, and playstyle.

3.0 - PvP

Note: Most arena priests these days are using some form of deep Discipline build.

17/0/54 Shadowpriest PvP build

Similar to the above builds, with the following talents added:

• Unbreakable Will provides a needed stun resistance
• Silent Resolve makes your spells stickier.
• Shadow Affinity gives back mana when spells are dispelled
• Improved Devouring Plague greatly improves an important DoT.
• Psychic Horror - A useful disarm

Here's one of the rare Shadowpriest Arena Builds, 14/0/57, from a 2400+ player

If it looks familiar it because it's pretty much exactly the same as the raiding build above, just with the swapping out of Focused Mind to take Improved Devouring Plague.

PvP Tips

• Never be alone. Obvious, I know, but think of how many players ignore that.
• Have Power Word: Shield up before you fight.
• Instant Cast spells are your friend. Learn them, love them.
• Macros can be amazingly useful. Here are a bunch of PvP macros from ArenaJunkies.com
• Learn about the specific strategies various classes use and figure out how to counter them.
• Learn from your fights, improve your skills, and take your lumps until you can get the good gear. Then work on getting revenge with your kickass skills and kickass gear.
• If you're really serious about PvP think about investing in a full blown PvP guide, which will show you all the tricks.

4.0 Gear

Some Level 80 pre-raid gear.

This is stuff you can get before you enter a 10+ raid. This list is from ShadowPriest.com (and they have a more extensive list.).

Here's a table that lists how much value each stat has for the Shadow gear, giving you a way to comapre pieces not on this list. The higher the number the more value a particular stat has. This is very useful for comparing items. PP = PseudoPower.

• 1 hit = 1.12 PP (when not hit-capped)
• 1 spellpower = 1 PP
• 1 crit rating = 0.61 PP
• 1 haste = 0.56 PP
• 1 spirit = 0.21 PP
• 1 int = 0.19 PP

For example:

• Item A has +34 Spirit, +22 Int, +36 Crit
• Item B has +15 Hit, +22 Spell Power.

Which is better?

• A has (34 x .21) + (22 x .19) + (36 x .61) = 33.28 PP
• B has (15 x 1.12) + (22 x 1) = 38.8 PP - This one is the winner, unless you're Hit capped.

The Gear: The last number is the PP value.

Head

1. Visage Liquification Googles – Crafted, Engineering - 199.51
2. Crown of Unbridled Magic – Cache of Eregos, Hero Occulus - 158.51
3. Forgotten Shadow Hood – Salramm the Fleshcrafter, Hero Culling of Strat - 158.51
4. Flamebringer's Crown – Quest, Storm Peaks - 132
5. Enchant: Arcanum of Burning Mysteries – Revered, The Kirin Tor - 42.2

Neck

1. Titanium Spellshock Necklace – Crafted, Jewelcrafting BoE - 100
2. Lattice Chocker of Light – 25 BoH - 87
3. Amulet of the Spell Flinger – Amanitar, Hero Old Kingdom - 82
4. Encircling Burnished Gold Chains – 25 BoH - 73 (101)
5. Enchant: none

Shoulders

1. Dark Runic Mantle – Trash drop, Hero Halls of Stone - 115
2. Runecaster's Mantle – Trash drop, Hero Utgarde Keep - 105
3. Mantle of the Tribunal – Tribunal Chest, Hero Halls of Stone - 103
4. Duskweave Shoulders – Crafted, Tailoring BoE - 98
5. Enchant: Greater Inscription of the Storm – Exalted, The sons of Hodir - 33.15
6. Enchant: Master's Inscription of the Storm - Crafted, Inscription - 70.15

Back

1. Deathchill Cloak – Crafted, Tailoring BoE - 114
2. Ancient Dragon Spirit Cape – Cache of Eregos, Hero Oculus - 80
3. Reanimator's Cloak – Trash Drop, Hero Drak'Tharon Keep - 73
4. Shroud of Dedicated Research – Honored, Kirin Tor - 73
5. Enchant: Haste – Enchanting - 12.88

Chest

1. Spellweave Robe – Crafted, Tailoring, BoE - 177
2. Drakewing Raiments – Drakos the Interrogator, Hero Oculus - 158
3. Egg Sac Robes – Hadronox, Hero Azjol-Nerub - 158
4. Heroe's Raiments of Faith – 80 BoH - 148 (196.16)
5. Enchant: Powerful Stats – Enchanting - 4.06

Wrist

1. Azure Cloth Bindings – Cyanigosa, Hero Violet Hold - 97
2. Cuffs of Winged Levitation – Cache of Eregos, Hero Oculus - 91
3. Savage Wound Wrap – King Dred, Hero Drak'Tharon Keep - 81
4. Ancestral Sinew Wristguards – Revered, Wymrest Accord - 81
5. Enchant: Superior Spellpower – Enchanting - 30

Hands

1. Heroes' Handwraps of Faith – 60 BoH - 146
2. Spellweave Gloves – Crafted, Tailoring BoE - 130
3. Gloves of Glistening Runes – Keristrasza, Hero Nexus - 128
4. Silken Bridge Handwraps – Amanitar, Hero Old Kingdom - 114
5. Enchant: Exceptional Spellpower – Enchanting - 28

Waist

1. Sash of the Servant – Anub'arak, Hero Azjol-Nerub - 125
2. Plush Sash of Guzbah – 40 BoH - 121 (157.96)
3. Belt of Dark Mending – Exalted, Knights of the Ebon Blade - 118
4. Living Mojo Belt – Drakkari Elemental, Hero Gundrak - 114
5. Enchant: Eternal Belt Buckle – Blacksmithing - 19

Legs

1. Woven Bracae Leggins – Loken, Hero Halls of Lightning - 173
2. Sorrowgrave's Breeches – Svala Sorrowgrave – Hero Utgarde Pinnacle -151
3. Trousers of the Arakkoa – Erekem, Violet Hold - 138
4. Breeches of the Caller – Ingvar the Plunderer, Hero Utgarde Keep - 136
5. Enchant: Brilliant Spellthread – Tailoring - 54.06

Feet

1. Sandals of Crimson Fury – Exalted, The Wyrmrest Accord - 135
2. Cleric's Linen Shoes – Trash Drop, Hero Nexus - 119
3. Stone-Worn Footwraps – Krik'thir the Gatewatcher, Hero Azjol-Nerub - 113
4. Slithering Slippers – Slad'ran, Hero Gundrak - 112
5. Enchant: Icewalker - Enchanting - 21.2

Finger

1. Signet of the Kirin Tor – 8500g, Daralan - 103
2. Titanium Spellshock Ring – Crafted, Jewelcrafting BoE - 100
3. Band of Guile – Dark Runed Chest, Hero Culling of Strat - 94
4. Annhylde's Ring – Ingvar the Plunderer, Hero Utgarde Keep - 93
5. Signet of Hopeful Light – Exalted, Argent Crusade - 88
6. Ring of Temerity – Quest Reward, Oculus - 84
7. Ring of the Traitor King – Anub'arak, Hero Violet Hold - 84
8. Globule Signet – Ichoron, Hero Violet Hold - 83
9. Enchant: Greater Spellpower - 19

Main Hand *

1. Titansteel Guardian – Crafted, Blacksmithing BoE - 594
2. War Mace of Unrequited Love – Keristrasza, Hero Nexus - 505
3. Staff of Draconic Combat – Cache of Eregos, Hero Oculus - 489
4. Gavel of the Brewing Storm – Revered, Wyrmrest Accord - 476
5. * Two-handers are compared to one-handers grouped with Handbook of Obscure Remedies (see below, and substract 87 for the actual value of the weapon)
6. Enchant: Mighty Spellpower – Enchanting - 63

Off-Hand

1. Handbook of Obscure Remedies – 25 BoH - 87
2. Ward of the Violet Citadel – 25 BoH - 81 (123.56)
3. Temple Crystal Fragment – Novos the Summoner, Hero Drak'Tharon Keep - 81
4. Tome of Salramm – Salramm the Fleshcrafter, Culling of Strat - 77
5. Enchant: none

Wands

1. Rod of the Fallen Monarch – Anub'arak, Hero Azjol-Nerub - 53
2. Wand of Ahnkahet – Herald Volazj, Hero Old Kingdom - 42
3. Enchanted Crimson Wand – Crafted, Enchanting BoP - 41
4. Wand of the San'layn – Prince Keleseth, Hero Utgarde Keep - 40 (55.68)
5. Enchant: none

Trinkets- The value of the procs is guestimated here and added to the total.

1. Sundial of the Exiled – 40 EoH - 182 =51+131
2. Forge Ember – Sjonnir The Ironshaper, Hero Halls of Stone - 159 =45+114
3. Pendulum of Telluric Currents – Mage-Lord Urom, Hero Oculus - 121 =44+77 (Proc benefits from Shadowform, Crit Chance and CoE, but not included in Calculations, so the value of this trinket is higher than listed here)
4. Darkmoon Card: Illusion – Darkmoon Faire - 100
5. Cannoneer's Fuselighter – Quest Reward, Icecrown - 79
6. Darkmoon Card: Death – Darkmoon Faire - 65= 50+15 (Proc benefits from Shadowform, Crit Chance and CoE, but not included in Calculations, so the value of this trinket is higher than listed here)

Level 70, pre-raid Gear

This selection of level 70 gear should provide well enough to bring you up to karazhan/gruul raiding level or even further. It's kept here for those of you who don't have Wrath of the Lich King, for whatever reason. Although this list is not exhaustive and will not contain all possibilities, it is for the most part a solid pre-raid list, allowing for almost anyone to pick it up via normal groups.

Helm:

• Spellstrike Hood - Crafted
• Mag'hari Ritualist's Horns - Quest Reward(Horde Only)
• Mage-Collar of the Firestorm - Drop(Blood Furnace - Heroic Only)
• Evoker's Helmet of Second Sight - Quest Reward

Neck:

• Brooch of Heightened Potential - Drop(Shadow Laybrinth)
• Warp Engineer's Prismatic Chain - Drop(Mechanar)

Back:

• Shawl of Shifting Probabilities -Vendor(25 Heroic Badges)
• Baba's Cloak of Arcanistry - Drop(Mechanar)
• Cloak of Woven Energy - Quest Reward

Shoulders:

• Mantle of Three Terrors - Drop(Black Morass)
• Mindrage Pauldrons - Drop(Mana Tombs - Heroic Only)
• Spaulders of the Torn-heart - Quest Reward

Chest:

• Bloodfyre Robes of Annihilation - Drop(Mechanar)
• Robe of the Crimson Order - BoE World Drop
• Kirin Tor Apprentice's Robes - Quest Reward

Wrist:

• Bands of Rarefied Magic - Drop(Shattered Halls - Heroic Only)
• Arcanium Signet Bands - Drop(Underbog - Heroic Only)
• Energized Wristwraps - Quest Reward

Hands:

• Energis Armwraps - Drop(Botanica)
• Gloves of the High Magus - Quest Reward
• Gloves of Pandemonium - BoE World Drop

Belt:

• Sash of Arcane Visions - Drop(Auchenai Crypts - Heroic Only)
• Sash of Sealed Fate - BoE World Drop
• A'dal's Gift- Quest Reward

Legs:

• Spellstrike Pants - Crafted
• Leggings of Concentrated Darkness - BoE World Drop
• Khadgar's Kilt of Abjuration - Drop(Black Morass)

Boots:

• Abyss Walker's Boots - BoE World Drop
• Silent Slippers of Meditation - Drop(Shadow Laybrinth)

Rings:

• Seer's Signet - Reputation Reward(Scryers Exalted)
• Cobalt Band of Tyrigosa- Drop(Mana Tombs - Heroic Only)
• Ring of Cryptic Dreams - Vendor(25 Heroic Badges)
• Ryngo's Band of Ingenuity - Drop(Arcatraz)
• Scintillating Coral Band - Drop(Steamvault)

Trinkets:

• Arcanist's Stone - Drop(Old Hillsbrad - Heroic Only)
• Shiffar's Nexus-Horn - Drop(Arcatraz)
• Scryer's Bloodgem - Reputation Reward(Scryers Revered)
• Oculus of the Hidden Eye - Drop(Auchenai Crypts - Normal Only)

Weapons:

• Runesong Dagger - Drop(Shattered Halls)
• Gavel of Unearthed Secrets - Reputation Reward(Lower City Exalted)
• Sky Breaker - Drop(Auchenai Crypts - Heroic Only)

Off-Hand:

• Khadgar's Knapsack - Vendor(25 Heroic Badges)
• Aegis of the Sunbird - Drop(Mechanar)
• Lamp of Peaceful Radiance - Drop(Arcatraz)

Two-Hand:

• Terokk's Shadowstaff - Drop(Sethekk Halls - Heroic Only)
• Bloodfire Greatstaff - Drop(Black Morass)
• Warpstaff of Arcanum - Drop(Botanica)

Wand:

• Nesingwary Safari Stick - Quest Reward
• Rod of Dire Shadows - Quest Reward

5.0 - Shadow Priest 1-80 Leveling

The fastest way to blast your Priest to level 80 would be with a service that did all the work for you. Well, since that will get you banned the next best thing would be to have an expert looking over your shoulder, helping you out every step of the way.

Zygor's leveling guide comes pretty close to doing just that. Enter an area, and the guide will show you which quests to grab and give you all the info you need to do them. You willnever wonder where to do or what to do. Almost fully automated, Zygor's will let you do you Vader thing without ever having to look up anything, set waypoints, or much other than run and slay the opposition.

Snag your copy of Zygor's Leveling Guide and get leveled fast, or check out our review first.