This guide will demonstrate how to play Shadow Priest in World of Warcraft Shadowlands 9.1 using the simplest rotations, talent trees as well as gear configuration, stat priorities and other methods without losing performance.

1. Foreword

This section is for new players to the game that don't plan to take on Mythic difficulty or just need to know how to play their specialization.

2. The Basics of Shadow Priest

Shadow Priest has changed into a more contemporary builder spender spec that specializes in damage over time (DoT) effects. The main goal of the spec is to maintain your DoT effects as high as possible on as many targets, while also building Insanity so that you can use Insanity for spells that require Insanity. The rest of this page will be devoted to helping you reach this goal in the most efficient way possible to reduce the burden of specificization at the top of the game without creating a drastic decrease in output.

Visit our Spell Summary page if you're new to Shadow or need to know more about the abilities you have. You might find it helpful to check out the Spell Summary page to learn about the changes to Shadow Priest as Shadowlands moved in.

3. Talent Selection for Shadow Priest

These options are designed for ease of use. Although some abilities may provide slight gains when utilized appropriately, they could cause damage losses when shared with multiple players. These abilities are designed to offer the most optimal setting with the least amount of punishment for mistakes or unfamiliarity.

Level 15: Fortress of the Mind

Level 25: Body and Soul

Level 30: Misery

Level 35: The Last Word

Level 40: Auspicious Spirits

Level 45: Mindbender

Level 50: Hungering Void

If you're looking for the best talent for Shadow that do not sacrifice performance in exchange for ease of use, read more about the analysis on our full talents page.

4. Stat Choice for Shadow Priest

You will be putting the top three priorities for stats on your list:

Intellect

Haste = Mastery;

Critical Strike;

Multitasking.

It is likely that you will be looking for items that have Haste or Mastery, but due to the strength of Intellect having Haste with any high-level item is a good option.

Although the stat priority of classes on the Easy Mode page is the same as the full guide, there may be slight differences. If you'd like to know the full explanation of stat priority and also the absolute top choices for the priority, head to our stats page below.

5. Basic Rotation of Shadow Priest

Before you start combat ensure that you have Shadowform Icon Shadowform active and utilize the Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast to initiate combat.

Make sure to keep the Shadow Word. Pain Icon Shadow. Pain and Vampiric touch Icon Vampiric touches are applied to all targets. It is not recommended to be moving if you've got Misery Icon Misery.

Spend the rest of your life embracing the plague icon

Mind Blast whenever you are capable of generating Insanity. Or use it when channeling Mind Flay Icon Mind Flay when you have an Dark Thoughts Icon Dark Thoughts.

Cast Shadow Word Shadow Word: Death Icon Shadow Word: Death if the target is below 20 percent HP, or when you're on the move.

Cast Mind Flay Icon Mind Flay when you have just one target, or switch to Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear to target 2 or more targets.

Cast Shadowfiend Icon Shadowfiend/Mindbender Icon Mindbender right before entering Voidform Icon Voidform.

Cast Void Eruption icon Void Eruption to enter Voidform Icon Voidform with at least 35 insanity before you start your 15 seconds of burst damage.

Voidform Icon Voidform

To increase the speed of Haste, activate Power Infusion Icon Power Infusion. This must be done during cooldown.

Spend Insanity on Devouring Plague Icon , Devouring Plague. Your goal here is to ensure you don't lose your the insanity of going over 100. Therefore, you should cast this often.

Cast Void Bolt Icon Voidbolt whenever available.

Cast Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast whenever it is available, and also when Void Bolt Icon Void Bolt has reached cooldown

Cast Mind Flay Icon Mind Flay when there is nothing else to cast, cancelling it when there is a better priority spell in play.

For a more in-depth priority list as well as all the edge cases for the rotation, take a look at the entire guide on how to learn the technique.

6. Covenant Option for Shadow Priest

You're given plenty of choice as the Shadow Priest when it comes to choosing your Covenant. The Covenant you choose can remove all content from the PvE viewpoint. As such, you can pick the Covenant that best suits your gameplay preferences for a start to the specifications. High-end players will prefer Night Fae due to its greater mobility and flexibility in cooldowns, as well as the Soulshape Icon Soulshape. If you want something that is still competitive in terms of damage, you could opt for Necrolord that is easier to play, but still does as well or better than Night Fae on certain fights. Kyrian and Venthyr are also good choices for PvE battles, though they are slightly less well-known. The complete Covenants page provides particular advantages and disadvantages of each Covenant for those who want more information.

6.1. Night Fae for Shadow Priest

Fae Guardians Icon Class Talent

Covenant Ability: Soulshape Icon Soulshape

Preferred Legendary: Shadowflame Prism Icon Shadowflame Prism

Night Fae Shadow Priests possess the unique ability to play jack-of-all trades, along with Fae Guardians Icon Fae Guardians. This allows you to reduce the duration of Void Eruption Icon Void Eruption and increase the generation of resources. Additionally, it aids in damage reduction. Each of these is controlled by a specific ability. Then, you can move the Faeries to an enemy or an ally. From a DPS perspective we primarily care about the cooldown reduction faerie to improve the flexibility of cooldowns.

The most impressive feature of the Night Fae Covenant is the ability to Soulshape Icon Soulshape. This incredible movement capability can be beneficial in a variety of situations, including PvE.

It is possible to see incredible results when you utilize the Shadowflame Prism Icon Shadowflame Prism as a Night Fae because of increased Voidform Icon Voidform downtime. This is a little more involved, but can be quite fun after you've mastered it.

6.1.1 6.1.1.

For the majority of PvE games, Niya is your recommended Soulbind. You may switch to Dreamweaver at higher levels of Renown However, be mindful about not moving too much during the cooldown phase.

6.2 Necrolord to Shadow Priest

Class Ability Class Ability: Unholy Nova Icon Unholy Nova

Covenant Ability Fleshcraft Icon Fleshcraft

Preferred Legendary: Pallid Command Icon Pallid Command is a single-target weapon and Shadowflame Prism Icon Shadowflame Prism for all combat kinds

Necrolord Shadow Priests gain access to the icon of Unholy Nova Unholy Nova is an AoE DoT spell that spreads to all enemies within the area of your current target. Allies in the area are also protected by this spell, resulting in immediate blast. Any damage done by you or your allies to an opponent who has been damaged by the DoT will be refunded with some healing. This power is extremely versatile and can be utilized in any scenario involving PvE.

While not as powerful as Soulshape Icon Soulshape the Necrolord Covenant capability Fleshcraft Icon Fleshcraft is a good defensive tool. It is also a good option to use as an initial protection that can be used to assist healers. The other benefit is that while channeling this shield, you will receive an increase of 20% in damage aura. This means that it can be used to mitigate a big mechanic when DPS isn't an issue.

The Necrolord Covenant got a powerful single-target Legendary in Patch 9.1. It's called Pallid Command icon Pallid Command. This Legendary doesn't require modifications to the playstyle, but simply does monstrous single-target damage in group settings. The more allies you have fighting those targets affected by the Unholy Nova Icon Unholy Nova debuff and the more stacks you add it summons gains. Shadowflame Prism Icon Shadowflame Prism can be used in normal fashion on any target that is greater than 1.

6.2.1 6.2.1.

Because of the numerous characteristics Bonesmith Heirmir is able to provide, as well as the synergy with Heirmir’s Arsenal Marrowed Gemstone Icon Heirmir's Arsenal: This Soulbind will default to Marrowed Gemstone using the Pallid Command Icon Palalid Command. Plague Deviser Marileth is also an option, dependent on the situation. Volatile Solvent Icon Volatile Solvent gives you a Mastery boost regardless of the presence of nearby corpses.

You can learn more about all of the Covenants, their weaknesses and strengths on the specific Covenant page.