PVE WotLK Shadow Priest DPS Guide (Short)

Welcome to our PVE Shadow Priest guide for WoW WotLK. This guide will show you what you need to know to play the Priest class as Shadow. If you follow this build you should be at the top of the DPS chart in no time!

Talents

This first spec works well with any gear setup. Definitely the way to go if you just hit level 80.

This build requires the 4/5 T10 set bonus. Thanks to the set bonus we don’t take Improved Mind Blast and we get those points back. We can then use those points on Improved Vampiric Embrace to give the raid group better survivability and ourselves 16% less threat generation.

Glyphs

Major Glyphs

• Mind Flay
• Shadow
• Dispersion

Minor Glyphs

• Fortitude
• Levitate
• Shadowfiend

Gems

Gems can change based on your build, equipment and caps. You may need to adjust your gems to account for your gear.

• Meta: Chaotic Skyflare Diamond
• Red: Runed Cardinal Ruby
• Blue: Purified Dreadstone
• Yellow: Reckless Ametrine

Enchants

You may need to adjust your enchants based on your gear but these are the standard enchants.

• Head: Arcanum of Burning Mysteries
• Shoulder: Greater Inscription of the Storm
• Back: Greater Speed
• Chest: Powerful Stats
• Bracers: Superior Spellpower
• Gloves: Exceptional Spellpower
• Waist: Eternal Belt Buckle
• Legs: Brilliant Spellthread
• Boots: Icewalker
• Two-Handed Weapon: Enchant Staff – Greater Spellpower
• One-Handed Weapon: Mighty Spellpower

Stat Priority

1. Hit (11%) (10% if Draenei)
2. Spell Power
3. Haste (1269 Soft cap, 1400 hard cap)
4. Critical Strike
5. Spirit
6. Intellect

Rotation

Shadow priests have a variety of openers and then they follow a priority list. I’m going to break this down for each build.

Normal (1st) Spec

Opening

1. Vampiric Touch
2. Devouring Plague 
3. Mind Blast 
4. Mind Flay 
5. Shadow Word: Pain

After you stack Shadow Weaving use cast Shadow Word: Pain

Priority List

After the opening you want to keep Vampiric Touch, Devouring Plague, Mind Blast, Shadow Word: Pain on the target at all times and cast Mind Flay as a filler.

4/5 T10 Spec

Opening

Your opening with the 4/5 T10 Build should be:

1. Vampiric Touch 
2. Devouring Plague 
3. Mind Flay 
4. Shadow Word: Pain

Priority List

After the opening you want to keep Vampiric Touch,  Devouring Plague,  Shadow Word: Pain on the target at all times and cast Mind Flay as a filler.

You don’t need to use Mind Blast in this spec because Mind Flay does more damage at the same time and also we have dropped the Mind Blast Talents.