Updated for World of Warcraft 2.3 patch.
Created this Shadow Priest Raid Tactics guide for our WOW guild (Semper Fi on the EU Hellfire realm) forum, but it’s not accessible to non-guild members so posting it here as well for other Shadow Priests.
My Shadow Priest: Trelp on the EU Hellfire Realm, is my first and only level 70 WOW character and so I learnt near enough everything I know about the World of Warcraft whilst playing Trelp. I knew nothing about shadow priests when I created my priest (planned to be a healer) and wasn’t until level 45 (5 talent points in wand and I didn’t want to re spec :-)) the shadow priests shadowy world opened to me.
When I reached level 70 I had a mixture of healing and DPS gear, my first steps into Karazan (days after reaching level 70, raiding shadow priests are in short supply) was in gear with ~500 bonus healing and ~350 bonus damage (laughable now)! I didn’t have a clue what I was doing since 99.99% of groups I’d leveled in I’d healed (which in hindsight does not make a lot of sense). Fortunately I’d kept a lot of DPS gear in the bank and so within a week or two of Kara runs (couple of lucky drops from early bosses) was up to around 700 bonus damage.
I learn quickly and soon found my feet as a raiding shadow priest and a couple of months later with around 800-900 bonus shadow damage found my way to Semper Fi a serious raiding guild who was badly in need of raiding shadow priests (at the time had one regular raiding shadow priest).
Over night went from a guild that could barely attempt Gruul to one that had Gruul on farm and was at the early stages of Serpentshrine Cavern (SSC, taken down Hydross the Unstable and The Lurker Below once if I recall correctly, perfect time to join). As I type this introduction we have cleared Serpentshrine Cavern and on the last boss of The Eye Kael (not had our first try yet, Christmas break) and expect to be in MH early next year (can’t wait).
Below you’ll find a selection of tactics (in no particular order) I use whilst raiding, enjoy.
Shadow Priest Macros
Saving Mana (and causing more DPS) by not interrupting your Mind Flay channeling.
Put Mind Flay on a macro to avoid wasting a LOT of mana in over eager clicking (I was over clicking Mind Flay until level 60+!).
#showtooltip Mind Flay
/cast [nochanneling:Mind Flay] Mind Flay ;
I use similar macros for others spells including-
Mind Blast Macro-
#showtooltip Mind Blast
/cast [nochanneling] Mind Blast ;
Vampiric Touch (use same format as above)
ShadowWord:Pain (use same format as above)
Vampiric Embrace (use same format as above)
ShadowWord: Death (use same format as above)
(I also have a second button for ShadowWord: Death not on a macro for when I want to interrupt a Mind Flay to finish a kill quickly - think PVP).
This way I’ll never waste mana interrupting Mind Flay except by choice when I want to do a quick ShadowWord: Death.
The above is applicable to any channeled spell, click a new spell too soon and waste a lot of mana. Yes you can time your clicks, but with the above macro you don’t have to (one less thing to think about).
Shadow Priest Shackle Macro
You’ll want a shackle macro that focuses a target and then shackles, very helpful in Karazan.
#Showtooltip Shackle Undead
/clearfocus [modifier:shift]
/stopmacro [modifier:shift]
/focus [target=focus, noexists]
/cast [target=focus] Shackle Undead
I tend to forget to push shift to remove focus, so have a second macro to clear focus if I need to shackle a different target.
#Showtooltip Clear Focus
/clearfocus
I just find it easier to have a second button, one to set focus/shackle and one to clear focus, so not an absolute need.
I also use the shackle macro as a focus macro since it’s not limited to the undead it will focus anything you select (just won’t shackle anything that’s not undead). Don’t use it to focus Shade of Aran while stood still though, he’s undead and I caused a wipe by aggroing the boss early! If in doubt move while you focus 
Macros to Attack Multiple Adds or Bosses
You have two main jobs as a raiding shadow priest, DPS and creating mana (creating health is low priority since most will be over healing) for the members of your group (normally healers and DPS classes like Mages that go through mana like it’s going out of fashion!). When there are multiple ads or bosses with a lot of health it can be a great opportunity to excel at both. Dot up the main target and select a secondary target that’s being tanked and dot that up as well, switch back to the first target and attack it all out until the ShadowWord: Pain of the second target has faded and switch. By doing this you create extra mana and health (if you use Vampiric Embrace on both) for your group, but at the expense of your mana (you’ll burn your mana pool much faster this way).
I have a set of macros primarily for Arena, but I can also use it for raiding. Basically you focus one of the targets and have a second set of buttons that attack the focused target.
For example:
#showtooltip Mind Flay
/cast [target=focus] Mind Flay
Basically create a macro like the one above for each of your main spells (Vampiric Touch, Vampiric Embrace, ShadowWord: Pain, Mind Flay) and you can attack two mobs at once without switching targets. Takes a while to get used to fighting this way, but creates more mana for your group mainly due to the Vampiric Touch and ShadowWord: Pain on the extra mob.
I use an addon called FocusFrame which gives you a movable portrait (identical to a standard main target portrait) that shows your dots, it’s health etc… Useful for when your using this technique (and for shackling).
Shadow Priest Talents
This is my current build http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/priest/talents.html?5002120030000000000000000000000000000000000053242110241123051551
It’s 90% raid 10% Arena/PVP.
The 10% Arena/PVP includes-
Shadow Tree
2/2 imp Psychic Scream
1/1 silence
Though occasionally this comes in handy for stopping the odd cast, but on a 45 second cool down it’s not essential to a raid build. Psychic Scream is rarely used in a raid situation.
Discipline Tree
2/2 Martyrdom (helps a lot in Arena).
So I could use those 5 points for a more pure Shadow Priest raid build like-
http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/priest/talents.html?5002300130000000000000000000000000000000000053250110250123051551
They both increase crit by 15% making Mind Blast and ShadowWord: Death more effective, but with increased crit your ShadowWord: Death is going to crit more often which will make you less willing to use it in aggro sensitive fights. If ShadowWord: Death crits and Mind Blast crits that’s 6-7K dmg (a 1/16 chance for my gear, up from 1/10) in about 3 seconds, my aggro, my aggro! Even with one criting it’s still an aggro risk not to mention if ShadowWord: Death crits you could loose around 3K health!
Still nice to have available for an enraged boss and for when your not near the top on aggro (easy to achieve by casting Vampiric Embrace first).
Spirit Tap
I’ve experimented with spirit tap, 0/5, 3/5 and 5/5 and it can play a role in raiding (have a lot of fun with it in Kara trying to take the killing blow). If your good at timing your ShadowWord: Death you can easily apply the killing blow even in a 25 man raid on adds giving you a mana boost. The problem is there aren’t many boss fights where it’s useful and with WOW 2.3 update we have 30% mana regen from 3/3 meditation so I wouldn’t recommend it.
I have found I run low and even out of mana on long boss fights, but that is more to do with using mind blast and shadowword: death (more damage, but uses mana faster) as much as possible than anything else. If my guilds DPS players wasn’t so good (bosses tend to fall quickly) I might consider spirit tap, so if your in a guild with weak DPS and find your taking the full 10 mins for most boss fights and run out of mana on a regular basis give it a try.
I used this build for a while to aid soloing http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/priest/talents.html?5002300130000000000000000000000000000000000323250110250123051551
60% chance is pretty good and means little need to drink.
Black Out
I’ve experimented with and without black out and though it’s only 10% chance it can make life a little easier while killing adds (and soloing) and great for PVP. I strongly recommend 5/5 in this talent.
Shadow Affinity
3/3 or don’t go raiding!!
Shadow Focus
5/5 unless your hit is above 76.
Whatever else you do in your talents/gear DO NOT under estimate the importance of hit.
Basically we need hit to total 16% so our spells are not resisted more than 1% (can not remove that 1%) of the time when fighting a boss (anything with a skull is considered level 73 and for those max hit is essential). With various hit from gear you can drop talent points in shadow Focus-
76 hit is the cap with 5/5 Shadow Focus
101 hit need 4/5 Shadow Focus
126 hit need 3/5 Shadow Focus
152 hit need 2/5 Shadow Focus
177 hit need 1/5 Shadow Focus
202 hit need 0/5 Shadow Focus
When your hit is at 202 (99%), your spells will be resisted only 1% of the time and this will have a significant impact to your damage on long boss fights. I’ve seen shadow priests and other classes (Mages, Warlocks) stack damage over hit (I made the same mistake at first) and when they do this they will do great on trash mobs (level 70s) since you don’t need 202 hit to get 99% of your spells landing. With level 70s you only need around 34 hit.
A person stacking damage over hit will do really well on trash mobs, but suck on bosses, so if you want to check how well you are doing against a fellow Shadow Priest raid member (to see how your hit compares to theirs) check your damage against theirs on boss fights only.
Shadow Reach
2/2 you need it (otherwise 20yd Mind Flay, try that on Leotheras the Blind!!!!)
Shadow Weaving
5/5 because this helps you and any other shadow dmg classes (locks) do more dmg. This stacks with other SPs weaving (so max 5 stacks between them), so if there’s always 2 SPs raiding in theory between them they could drop a cpl of points here. 4/5 wouldn’t result in a big loss if you was trying to find an extra point for something (currently using 4/5).
Imp Vampiric Embrace
For Semper Fi I go with 2/2 because the tanks are great at keeping aggro. Other guilds I’ve raided Karazan with I found imp Vampiric Embrace caused too much aggro (= reduced dmg) and so I tried 0/2. When I raided with Semper Fi I immediately noticed the improved aggro retention and respeccd to 2/2. I now always apply Vampiric Embrace to everything I can without problems.
Also very helpful if you use ShadowWord: Death and essential if you plan to sit in the scalding water while fighting The Lurker Below.
Also allows you to take a full blue beam phase during the Netherspite boss if you get a little help from the healers near the end.
Focused Mind
3/3 obvious why
Darkness
5/5 obvious
Shadow Power
5/5 or 0/5 see crit info below
Misery
5/5 a must have, 5% extra spell dmg for everyone in the raid!
Rest in the shadow tree is obvious (you want shadow form and Vampiric Touch) or down to how you play (solo/arena/PVP).
Discipline Tree
Unbreakable Will
5/5 various adds have fear etc… this can save you from this type of effect.
Wand Spec
0/5 great while leveling, but during a raid you shouldn’t be wanding very often, so a waste of points.
Imp Power Word Fortitude
2/2 must have for max HP of the raid.
Meditation
3/3 helps with mana regen, you need 10pts in this tree to use it. As of 2.3 the regeneration from this has doubled, so well worth trying to get.
Inner Focus
0/1 not essential, but can be useful when used with a Mind Blast for it’s 25% +crit chance. I used to use it to cast the stamina buff (4K mana), but Blizzard was nice enough to reduce the costs in 2.3 so have dropped it.
The rest is up to you (well it all is really).
More on +Hit Rating
According to various forums a Shadow Priest should aim for 76 hit rating if they have 5 talent points in Shadow Focus (10% +hit). As your hit goes above this level you can drop some points in Shadow Focus (see above).
It’s hard at first to gain +hit on gear without resorting to +hit gems, but as better gear drops (especially T4 and T5) it gets much easier. If your +hit is below 76 concentrate on more +hit before any other stat (inc dmg) it is really important.
+Crit
Since crit only helps your Mind Blast and Shadow Word: Death most info I’ve read says don’t go out of your way to stack +crit. If you play a SP like I do you’ll use Mind Blast and ShadowWord: Death far less than Vampiric Touch, ShadowWord: Pain and Mind Flay and Mind Flay and Mind Flay….. and so the majority of your dmg won’t benefit from +crit.
That said if your looking to increase damage and can afford the mana (hint 3/3 meditation) a combination of ShadowWord: Death and Mind Blast can make a big difference. For me ShadowWord: Death crits for over 3K and Mind Blast 3.5K, in raid conditions can go another 0.5K higher, 2 seconds to cause up to 7K dmg if both crit, worst case scenario ~4.5K dmg with no crit.
If you do decide to use Mind Blast and ShadowWord: Death as often as possible and stack some crit you’ll want imp Vampiric Embrace and 5/5 Shadow Power (+15 crit on shadow spells). Conversely if you live for mind flay and you don’t even have shadowword: death as a button (I didn’t at first, thought what a stupid spell) you could go 0/5 shadow power. If you do get to 25% crit and want to take full advantage you’ll want the imp Vampiric Embrace to regain your lost health from using ShadowWord: Death (I tried without imp Vampiric Embrace and you don’t get enough health returned) and the 15% +crit to increase those spells dmg (should make them crit around 25% of the time).
Be aware when using ShadowWord: Death in raids the healers will heal you despite not really needing it badly (in their nature I guess) and so using this technique at the wrong time could unduly stress the healers. I’ve moved away a little from this technique for this reason, though do still use ShadowWord: Death followed by a Mind Blast to regain health quickly (I nearly always get a heal or five as well).
If you aren’t stacking +crit and you use the Mind Flay macros above you really don’t need many talent points in imp Mind Blast. Because our spells aren’t in a strict rotation (Vampiric Touch is highest priority) realistically to use ShadowWord: Death/Mind Blast as much as possible (meaning every single time available) your going to have to interrupt your Mind Flay channeling and that wastes mana and not cast Vampiric Touch and ShadowWord: Pain when they run out. So if you don’t want to waste mana/create mana inefficiently for an extra ShadowWord: Death/Mind Blast or two just wait for the Mind Flay to finish, cast Vampiric Touch and ShadowWord: Pain as they run out and cast ShadowWord: Death/Mind Blast when available (and safe to do so).
The forums suggest 1/5 or 4/5 in imp Mind Blast depending on lag etc… Currently using 1/5 which means 2 Mind Flays then a Mind Blast with no delays, you may find you need more than 1/5 (or 0/5) depending on lag.
Mind Blast isn’t as efficient as Mind Flay so in long fights using Mind Blast might not be good for your mana either, Mind Flay is an efficient spell.
Power Word Shield and Fade
In general don’t use your shield unless you have to.
It costs 600 mana and so in a 10 minute fight you could waste 6000 mana with no gain if your not attacked!
If you pull aggro pop Fade ASAP and be ready to shield if it wasn’t enough to reduce aggro (fade usually works except when the tank is dead and then your screwed anyway). Some bosses/mobs hit for way more than the 1.5K or so dmg the shield absorbs so Fade is far more effective at avoiding max dmg. Sooner you hit it sooner the mob should return to the tank (I have it below my Mind Flay button for easy access).
Shield and ShadowWord: Death
If you’ve shielded up and not taken any hits that mana was wasted. When the Weakened Soul debuff fades (15 seconds) use ShadowWord: Death. Your shield will absorb the vast majority of the dmg caused to you from the ShadowWord: Death. Even with a crit the worst case scenario is 1.5-2K dmg which is easily regained with Vampiric Embrace (imp Vampiric Embrace is useful here) and a few Mind Flays.
Same technique can be used when you have Prayer of Mending on you. It can absorb well over 1K of the ShadowWord: Death dmg and passes the Prayer of Mending to another raid member.
When I do arena I use Prayer of Mending, shield myself, go shadow form and mount up during the countdown phase (time it so mounted just as the arena starts). Run into the arena and hit a target with ShadowWord: Death for no dmg to me (got to use ShadowWord: Death within 10-15 seconds though otherwise the shield has gone).
Shadow Priests Dealing with Aggro
To allow a tank to gain aggro start with VE, Vampiric Touch and ShadowWord: Pain (if still moving VE, ShadowWord: Pain then stop to do Vampiric Touch). This will keep you low on the aggro list with little reduction in dmg. Better to do less dmg per second and survive the entire fight creating mana and health for your group than pull aggro early and die just to be high on a dmg meter.
If you see a non tank gain aggro stop casting immediately and wait for the tank to regain aggro. Since the tank isn’t hitting the mob, if you continue to do so you could easily pass the tanks fading aggro and die a few seconds later. If you see the mob go to a second caster hit fade because you might be next. DO NOT cast a spell until the tank is back in control (unless it’s a DPS race to finish Leotheras the Blind for example during enrage at 1% ). Amazes me how many people continue to DPS when a tank looses aggro!
If you do manage to grab the aggro and fade fails do not run away, if your not sure where the tank is stay still, shield up and hope the tank regains aggro in time. If your sure where the tank is run to him/her. Worst thing you can do is run away, makes it harder for the tank to regain the mob.
The Lurker Below
If you have imp Vampiric Embrace you can spend the entire boss phases of this fight in the scalding water. Put your Vampiric Touch, ShadowWord: Pain and Vampiric Embrace on the boss at all times and Mind Flay the crap out of it. Since you aren’t running around like a headless chicken trying to avoid the spout etc… you tend to do more dmg this way (I topped the healing meter first time I did this as well ). No need to shield when doing this, imp Vampiric Embrace is enough to keep the scalding water dmg to a minimum, I even do the odd Shadowword:Death as well. Being in the water also makes it easier to stay away from other raid members reducing your chances of being thrown half way across the instance by The Lurker Below knock back attack.
When the boss dives get out the water ASAP since you no longer gain health from Vampiric Embrace. Believe it or not I explained this technique to an ex-guild member and he stayed in the water after The Lurker Below had dived and died due to the scalding water damage!
If you are low on mana and we are killing one of the sheep-able mobs (Guardians I think) send your shadow fiend at it (do it as soon as you can to get max mana back). Try to send it at the back of the add so it doesn’t get cleaved. If you can hold on until the next The Lurker Below phase Wait for The Lurker Below to cast spout and send your Shadow Fiend then. Pets are immune to spout so there’s no risk of it dieing early. You don’t even have to get out of the water to send your Shadow Fiend in, the water doesn’t damage it.
If a sheep breaks and you get aggro bash the fade key and hope for the best, one hit and your dead!
If you die from a spout you’ve either screwed up or been really unlucky when The Lurker Below resurfaces and immediately casts a spout. Got caught once when I stayed a little too long killing a Guardian and as I jumped in the water got hit with an emerging spout (was lucky and survived!).
The knock back and spout seems to be worse if you hit a rock formation behind you (think splat) so try not to stand with one behind you.
Hydross the Unstable
You can all but nuke the crap out of Hydross the Unstable through the majority of the fight by using fade at the right times. When the tanks are switching and aggro resets you hit fade, basically when you see Hydross the Unstable following the tank to the other side hit fade and as a back up run to the other side as well. If fade should fail (never has for me, closest is when I’ve hit fade a little late and got aggro for a second) and you get Hydross the Unstable aggro worst case scenario is you die, but since you aren’t on the other side you don’t get 4 extra mobs spawning that will wipe the raid (you dead is better than 8 adds to deal with!).
When I’ve repositioned myself I reapply any dots that have run out and select an add to DPS. Adding those new dots means more dmg to Hydross the Unstable and gives the tanks time to gain aggro on the 4 adds so for us shadow priests we never have to sit twiddling our thumbs waiting for tanks to gain aggro during this fight. The threat we build up by dotting early is quickly passed by the tank on Hydross the Unstable before the fade period passes and since you are now nuking down an ad you aren’t adding to it. If you find your tanks aren’t as good at generating aggro as Semper Fi’s (they are really good) consider holding off on those extra dots.
Try to stay away from others to avoid the watery tombs, even if it means running around looking for a safe place to stand you should. I find standing in the same place every time we kill Hydross the Unstable (had him on farm for ages) helps since other guild members learn where you are likely to be and won’t stand too close. I guess my guild members they have the same idea since I tend to see the same people a little too close each week (small readjustments rather than moving to a new location solves the problem).
If you do pull aggro and fade isn’t enough DO NOT run away, you could cause 4 new adds to spawn causing a wipe. Stand still or head for the tank and put your shield up and hope for the best). If your on the same side the tank is tanking you won’t cause a wipe this way. If your caught on the wrong side run to Hydross the Unstable and die heroicly
I’m very careful with using ShadowWord: Death, but I do use it.
It’s a relatively easy fight for a shadow priest.
Leotheras the Blind
This is an interesting one for us, I pity affliction locks on this fight if they use their dots wrong
Human Form - Put all your dots up at maximum Mind Flay range (24yds!!) and mind flay until he starts to whirlwind (WW). At this point if you feel you have time try to finish your spell cast then run away while using ShadowWord: Death. His aggro doesn’t reset until the end of the WW so you theoretically have time to cast a Mind Blast at max distance (run a away 6 yds, cast a Mind Blast if he hasn’t run out of range, then run some more (40yds sounds about right)). If while trying to squeeze an extra mind blast during his whirl wind phase he gets close enough to cast mind flay run away, he’s too close! I use my mind flay button as a way to quickly tell if he’s too close during the whirlwind and would be mad to try to cast something when that close.
During WW any one he selects is random so don’t waste your fade here save for when aggro resets. If your tanks do their job correctly you should never pull aggro.
If you’ve run away as the WW phase is underway you should be out of casting range, (I try to get behind tents as he tends not to go there during WW) so if he selects you as his WW target he won’t reach you before selecting another random target (only lasts a second or two). If he happens to WW close enough to you to use Mind Blast or put a dot on that’s faded do so (remember to keep an eye on your mind flay button, you don’t want to be that close during his ww phase), but time it wrong (especially Mind Blast) and you might hit him right as aggro resets (that’s why we have fade).
If you get aggro right after the WW stops hit fade and shield up just in case (if you don’t get hit use ShadowWord: Death later so less wasted mana). When you know the tanks have him get close enough to reapply dots and Mind Flay as much as possible.
Since we have fade it’s better that we pull aggro after the WW phase than a lock (soul shatter can resist), so though I could hit fade early (just before WW ends and take no aggro 99% of the time) as long as he is out of range I wait for him to come to attack me. As soon as I see him select me (and I get a audible warning from a mod) I hit fade and prepare to hit shield. My thinking on this is it gives the tanks more time to increase threat before Leotheras the Blind hits someone who doesn’t have a fade like ability. That’s the theory anyway.
Rinse and repeat
If you get hit during his WW phase the dmg caused is enough to kill you in a few ticks (think it’s around 12.5K in total). If there’s plenty of healers still alive you’ll probably be healed, I’d recommend using a health stone and prepare to drop out of shadow to heal. I apply a shield, but not sure if it helps (not been hit for a while). If you don’t get a heal quickly drop out of shadow and heal until the dmg stops. It’s a BIG mana drain, but it’s better you are still alive and almost OOM than dead doing nothing. Use a mana pot or send your SF in to regain mana as soon as you can and continue the fight. If you have a little mana use Vampiric Touch and Mind Flay to regain max return (VE is 52 mana, so well worth reapplying). Worst case scenario use your wand while you wait for cool downs/mana regen.
Demon Phase
Wait for the lock tank to gain aggro and reapply dots and try to do as much dmg as possible during this phase.
If you pass the tank locks aggro and pull his demon form hit fade, you should only receive one of his aoe hits if your fast which is easy to survive.
Make sure your Inner Fire (why do some priests not use this all the time?) is on and any racial abilities that cause dmg when attacked are applied (IE Troll Shadow thingy (forgot the name )) ready for if you get an inner demon. BTW your inner demon causes shadow dmg so all groups need Shadow Protection.
Your Inner Demon
When I got my first few Inner Demons I failed either dieing or being mind controlled. My mistakes including shielding only when I knew I had a demon, using Vampiric Touch and Vampiric Embrace and trying to Mind Blast when the demon wasn’t feared (interrupts!) and using too many ShadowWord: Death with no heals (the early tries, I get heals now
I no longer do this, but if new to Leotheras the Blind it’s a good technique to use: As soon as you see Leotheras the Blind’s demon form casting the inner demons (you get plenty of time) shield up just in case you get one. If you get an inner demon select it and cast ShadowWord: Pain, ShadowWord: Death. Psychic Scream, Mind Blast, Mind Flay, Mind Flay….. until down to ~1.5k then ShadowWord: Death. If you are getting heals use ShadowWord: Death as it becomes available, if no heals you can’t afford the health as they hit hard (which is why you want the armour from inner fire, reduces dmg by 11% I believe).
Using the above technique I’ve killed my inner demon every time (makes your heart race every time because of how important it is and how embarrassing it is if you fail ).
If you didn’t get your inner demon use ShadowWord: Death on Leotheras the Blind to take advantage of the shield. Also consider shielding a raid member who has a inner demon (especially the healers) to make it easier on them.
I tend to run low on mana on this fight (all the shielding) so use mana pots early. I try to send my SF during the demon phase to avoid the WW.
Since I’m more confident with this fight I no longer cast a shield prior to inner demons are cast. If I get a demon I don’t shield at all, just DPS it down as above.
I wouldn’t call Leotheras the Blind an easy fight, but I no longer see it as difficult.
Trelp
Popularity: 5%
January 17th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
What KeyBindidngs do you use with those macros?