Shadow Priest DPS PVE Guide – WotLK

Welcome to the PVE Shadow Priest DPS Guide for World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King!

This guide will teach you how to play an Shadow Priest in a raid. It covers talents, glyphs, gems, enchantments, rotation, and gameplay tips.

There are two talent build options for Shadow Priest, the first build will be a casual spec usable with every kind of gear. The second one will be for people with 4/5 T10 Set Bonus.

The advantage of the second build is that we don’t take Improved Mind Blast which saves us 5 talent points. We take Improved Vampiric Embrace instead which will give our raid extra survivability and lowers threat generated by 16%.

Major Glyphs

• Glyph of Dispersion
• Glyph of Mind Flay
• Glyph of Shadow

Minor Glyphs

• Glyph of Fortitude
• Glyph of Levitate
• Glyph of Shadowfiend

Gems are situational and depend on the build and equipment. They are used to reach the required stat caps.

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

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

• Maintain Vampiric Touch
• Maintain Devouring Plague
• Cast Mind Blast
• Cast Mind Flay
• Cast Shadow Word: Pain
• Use Mind Flay to fill and refresh Shadow Word: Pain
• Cast Shadow Word: Death when moving

For smaller packs or if they have large health pools rotate through targets:

• Maintain Vampiric Touch
• Maintain Devouring Plague
• Maintain Shadow Word: Pain

For large groups or they die quickly:

• Cast Mind Sear