Best Shadow Priest Builds – Shadow Talent Priest Spec Patch 3.3
Posted on January 28th, 2010 by Lawbringer under Blood Elf, Build, Dranei, Dwarf, Heroics, Horde, Human, Instances, Night Elf, PVE, Priest, Raiding, Spec, Undead, World of Warcraft, WotLKNot Just A Raid Buff For 25’s Any More – Shadow Holds Its Own In 3.3
Another class that gets the short end of the PvE stick because of how OP they can be in PvP is the priest. One little change to keep these guys from melting every face in arenas and they get a little worthless for PvE – again. But the interesting thing about 3.3 is that there doesn’t really seem to be any class that is just completely on the bottom of the pile. Almost every class has at least one spec in the 10k range, and the priset is now no exception.
Gear
Shadow Priest Example Gear Setup
Talent Build
Glyphs
Major
Minor
(As per usual; the minor glyphs are quite a matter of personal preference since they have little or nothing to do with DPS in most cases).
Priorities
- Flask = Frost Wyrm
- Food = Fish Feast
- Fortitude
- Divine Spirit
- Inner Fire
- Shadow Form
- Vampiric Embrace
- Potion of Speed
- Shadow Fiend
- Shadow Word: Pain
- Vampiric Touch
- Devouring Plague
- Mind Blast
- Mind Flay
- Shadow Word: Death (if moving)
- Dispersion
Damage Sources
Remember to run your own numbers to get your Pawn scales for your current toon. Plus, re-run your scales in the engine every time you get a new piece of gear so that you are always completely up-to-date when it comes to making gear choices. We show you how to do that in the Article Making Gear Choices For Your Character. It’s been so freakin’ long since Law did shadow (think leveling with Sherpaman before WotLK as in this article: The Solo Priest; You Can Do It! and The Lawbringer Rules ) that I won’t even attempt to give you insight into the priorities here, you’ll have to get that from the thread below.
But at least at this point the shadow priest is more than just a decent addition to a 25 man raid, they can actually be a big contributor on an individual basis in the form of some seriously massive, and quite Dominating, DPS of their own.
Mind Sear isn’t on the list? I dont play a shadow priest, but in my instance groups, mind sear is about 80% of shadow priests damage(hell, even my healing priests can do 1k dps using it). Im sure its viability is lower in raiding, but id think it would be worth a mention.
Mind Sear is only good for mobs of 3+ for single target focus you wouldn’t use mind sear at all
Mind sear is aoe.
MInd sear, while good for AoE, is wasted in single target battles, which is what measuring DPS is all about. Its not good damage/per mana, or DPS for single target fights
Mind Sear only for groups of 3 or more. Otherwise tab-VTing (MB if you have to proc Replenishment) and then MS/MF are acceptable. For minor glyph, Shadowfiend > Fading as you’re guaranteed a 5% return per SFiend use. And the gear set used could use more haste. Generally speaking haste and spellpower are equivalent (until a certain haste amount where managing DoTs with MB/MF gets hard) and thus haste is valued more than crit.
This is a pretty good article however, I would take those 2 points from Imp Shadowform and put them in either Shadow Affinity or Imp Vamp Embrace, you really wont see any benefit from it as far as a raid is concerned. I also wanted to point out that the rotation is VT > MB >DP > MF3 > SW:P
Stat priority is basically hit capped, spell power, haste, crit, etc. It is important to note that the haste cap is 800
The spec is fine but the example gearing is outdated. We use reckless ametrines now instead of potents.
I would think that for raiding purposes one would want to the points into shadow affinity to reduce threat so you don’t pull aggro constantly. Perhaps take the points from meditation.
Just an FYI
288.55 hit rating needed without dranei in group
262.32 hit raiting needed with dranei in group
Numbers assume you have 3ranks of both Shadow Focus and Misery. (why wouldn’t you?)
my lvl 30 shadow priest burns thru mana very quickly most ofthen before the fight is over any suggestions?
You have to keep the points for Meditation to keep your mana up. As for pulling agro, your tank should be able to hold agro just fine, and in the event you pull, your heals should back you up. Just fade out of agro or Disperse it. I don’t used Veiled Shadows, it doesn’t do anything for the group. I prefer to use those 2 points in Improved VE. That little extra, can, and will save raids. Other than that change, I use the same build.