Shadow priests, arguably, have at times been one of the more powerful PvP characters overall. Priest specced to Shadow can do impressive amounts of damage in a short period of time, but have some survivability problems.

They have the DoTs, some limited healing/mitigation through Vampiric Embrace and Power Word: Shield, CC techniques, great buffs, two or more powerful blasts, and more.The Shadowform increases damage, reduces incoming damage, and increases team spell haste. Not bad.

This guide is oriented towards level 85 Priests. Leveling your priest to 85 can take some time. If you want to get there faster then grab this leveling guide.

Shadow Priest PvP Build

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Top – Build – Stats – Gems – Enchants – Notes

Shadow (33 Points)

1. Darkness – Rank 3/3 – Spell haste increased by 3%.
2. Veiled Shadows – Rank 2/2 – Decreases the cooldown of your Fade ability by 6 sec, and reduces the cooldown of your Shadowfiend ability by 60 sec.
3. Improved Psychic Scream – Rank 2/2 – Reduces the cooldown of your Psychic Scream spell by 4 sec.
4. Improved Devouring Plague – Rank 2/2 – Your Devouring Plague instantly deals damage equal to 30% of its total periodic effect.
5. Twisted Faith – Rank 1/2 – Increases your Shadow spell damage by 1%, and grants you spell hit rating equal to 50% of any Spirit gained from items or effects.
6. Shadowform – Rank 1/1 – Assume a Shadowform, increasing your Shadow damage by 15%, reducing all damage done to you by 15%, and increasing all party and raid members spell haste by 5%. However, you may not cast Holy spells while in this form.
7. Phantasm – Rank 2/2 – Your Fade ability now has a 100% chance to remove all movement impairing effects.
8. Harnessed Shadows – Rank 2/2 – Increases the chance for you to gain a Shadow Orb when dealing damage with your Mind Flay and Shadow Word: Pain by 8%, and you have a 100% chance to gain a Shadow Orb when critically hit by any attack.
9. Silence – Rank 1/1 – Silences the target, preventing them from casting spells for 5 sec. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec.
10. Vampiric Embrace – Rank 1/1 – Fills you with the embrace of Shadow energy, causing you to be healed for 6% and other party members to be healed for 3% of any single-target Shadow spell damage you deal.
11. Masochism – Rank 2/2 – When you take a damaging attack equal to or greater than 10% of your total health or damage yourself with your Shadow Word: Death, you instantly gain 10% of your total mana.
12. Mind Melt – Rank 2/2 – Increases the damage done with your Shadow Word: Death by 30% on targets at or below 25% health, and when you deal damage with Mind Spike, the cast time of your next Mind Blast is reduced by 50% lasting 6 sec. Mind Melt can stack up to 2 times.
13. Pain and Suffering – Rank 2/2 – Your Mind Flay has a 60% chance to refresh the duration of your Shadow Word: Pain on the target, and reduces the damage you take from your own Shadow Word: Death by 40%.
14. Vampiric Touch – Rank 1/1 – Causes 475 Shadow damage over 15 sec, and when you deal damage with Mind Blast to an affected target you cause up to 10 party or raid members to gain 1% of their maximum mana per 10 sec.
15. Paralysis – Rank 2/2 – When you critically hit with your Mind Blast, you cause the target to be unable to move for 4 sec.
16. Psychic Horror – Rank 1/1 – You terrify the target, causing them to tremble in horror for 3 sec and drop their main hand and ranged weapons for 10 sec.
17. Sin and Punishment – Rank 2/2 – When your Vampiric Touch is dispelled, the dispeller and all nearby enemy targets within 6 yards have a 100% chance to be instantly feared in horror for 3 sec. When your Mind Flay critically hits, the cooldown of your Shadowfiend is reduced by 10 sec.
18. Shadowy Apparition – Rank 3/3 – When you deal periodic damage with your Shadow Word: Pain, you have a 12% chance to summon a shadow version of yourself which will slowly move towards a target which is afflicted by your Shadow Word: Pain. Once reaching the target, it will instantly deal 485 shadow damage. While moving, the chance to summon the shadowy apparation is increased to 60%. You can have up to 4 Shadowy Apparitions active at a time.
19. Dispersion – Rank 1/1 -
    You disperse into pure Shadow energy, reducing all damage taken by 90%. You are unable to attack or cast spells, but you regenerate 6% mana every 1 sec for 6 sec.
    Dispersion can be cast while stunned, feared or silenced. Clears all snare and movement impairing effects when cast, and makes you immune to them while dispersed.

Discipline (8 Points)

1. Improved Power Word: Shield – Rank 2/2 – Increases the damage absorbed by your Power Word: Shield by 20%.
2. Twin Disciplines – Rank 3/3 – Increases your Shadow and Holy spell damage and healing by 6%.
3. Evangelism- Rank 2/2 – When you cast Smite, Holy Fire or Mind Flay you gain Evangelism. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts for 20 sec.
   • Increases the damage done by your Smite, Holy Fire, and Penance spells by 4% and reduces the mana cost of those spells by 6%.
   • Increases the damage done by your Periodic Shadow spells by 2%.
4. Archangel- Rank 1/1 – Consumes your Evangelism effects, causing an effect depending on what type of Evangelism effect is consumed:
   • Instantly restores 1% of your total mana and increases your healing done by 3% for each stack. Lasts for 18 sec. 30 sec cooldown.
   • Instantly restores 5% of your total mana and increases the damage done by your Mind Flay, Mind Spike, Mind Blast and Shadow Word: Death by 4% for each stack. Lasts for 18 sec. 90 sec cooldown.

Holy (0 Points)

1. None

Glyphs

1. Prime
   1. Glyph of Dispersion – Reduces the cooldown on Dispersion by 45 sec.
   2. Glyph of Shadow Word: Pain – Increases the periodic damage of your Shadow Word: Pain by 10%.
   3. Glyph of Shadow Word: Death  – If your Shadow Word: Death fails to kill the target at or below 25% health, your Shadow Word: Death’s cooldown is instantly reset. This effect cannot occur more often than once every 6 sec.
2. Major
   
   1. Glyph of Fade  – Reduces the cooldown of your Fade spell by 9 sec.
   2. Glyph of Psychic Scream  – Targets of your Psychic Scream spell now tremble in place instead of fleeing in fear, but the cooldown of Psychic Scream is increased by 3 sec.
   3. Glyph of Mass Dispel – Reduces the cast time of Mass Dispel by 1 sec.
3. Minor
   1. Glyph of Levitate  – Your Levitate spell no longer requires a reagent.
   2. Glyph of Shadowfiend  – Receive 5% of your maximum mana if your Shadowfiend dies from damage.
   3. Glyph of Shadow Protection  – Increases the duration of your Shadow Protection spell by 10 min.

Top – Build – Stats – Gems – Enchants – Notes

Shadow Stats

Int > Resilience > 195 Spell Penetration > 4% Spell Hit > Haste > Mastery > Crit

• Get more resilience. You’ll be a #1 target often enough.
• Int is all powers and is easily your best stat.
• You should be able to get enough Hit from your gear.
• Reforge Crit to better stats.
• It might look like this with top gear and epic gems.

Gemming Shadow

Unless a socket bonus offers intellect, it’s more effective to gem for pure intellect and ignore the bonus.

• Red:
  • Brilliant Chimera’s Eye: +67 Int, requires Jewelcrafting 500
  • Brilliant Queen’s Garnet: +50 Int
  • Brilliant Inferno Ruby: +40 Int
• Yellow:
  • Mystic Cogwheel: +208 Resilience, requires Engineering 525 and Engineering helm
  • Mystic Chimera’s Eye: +50 Resilience
  • Mystic Lightstone: +40 Resilience
• Blue:
• Stormy Deepholm Iolite: +63 Spell Penetration
• Stormy Ocean Sapphire: +50 Spell Penetration
• Veiled Demonseye: +20 Int & +20 Hit
• Orange:
• Willful Lava Coral: +25 Int & Res.
• Willful Ember Topaz: +20 Int and Res.
• Meta:
• Burning Shadowspirit Diamond: +54 Int & +3% Crit damage. Requires 3 red gems
• Ember Shadowspirit Diamond: +54 Int and +2& max. mana. This requires two yellow gems (see above.)

ShadowPriest Enchantments

• Main Hand/Two-Handed:
  • Power Torrent: Sometimes increase Int by 500 for 12 seconds
  • Enchant Weapon – Hurricane: Sometimes increase Haste by 540 for 12 seconds
• Off-Hand:
  • Superior Intellect: +40 Int
  • Pyrium Weapon Chain: +40 Hit and reduces disarm duration
• Helm:
  • Arcanum of Vicious Intellect: +60 Int and 35 resilience
  • Arcanum of Hyjal
• Shoulders:
  • Greater Inscription of Vicious Intellect: +50 Int and 25 Resilience
  • Greater Inscription of Charged lodestone: +50 Int and 25 Haste
• Cloak:
  • Enchant Cloak – Greater Intellect: +50 Int
  • Enchant Cloak – Greater Spell Piercing: +50 Spell Penetration – Keep in mind that high-end gear has SP.
• Chest:
  • Enchant Chest – Peerless Stats: +20 to all stats
  • Enchant Chest – Mighty Stats: +15 to all stats
  • Enchant Chest – Exceptional Resilience: +40 Resilience
  • Enchant Chest – Exceptional Spirit: +40 Spirit
• Bracers:
  • Enchant Bracer – Mighty Intellect: +50 Int
  • Enchant Bracer – Exceptional Spirit: +50 Spirit
• Gloves:
  • Enchant Gloves – Haste: +50 Haste
• Belt:
  • Ebonsteel Belt Buckle: Gem slot for +50 or +40 Int gem
• Leggings:
  • Powerful Ghostly Spellthread: +95 Int & 55 Spirit
• Boots:
  • Enchant Boots – Haste: +50 Haste
  • Enchant Boots – Lavawalker: +35 Mastery, Slight run speed increase.
• Rings:
  • Enchant Ring – Intellect: +40 Int, requires Enchanting 475

Notes

• Blacksmithing allows two additional, self-only, gems slots for +100 total Int boost (if you use the epic gems.)
• Inscription has a pretty nice shoulder enchant.
• Engineering has Synapse Springs and various useful gadgets. SS is particularly nice since it’s on use.
• Tailoring will allow you to make nice gear as you level and your starter PvP set. Lightweave Embroidery sometimes adds 500 Int for a few seconds.

Top – Build – Stats – Gems – Enchants – Notes