World of Warcraft: Forever · class guide
Shadow Priest
Ranged damage
DoTs, 
Mind Blast and 
Mind Flay, a wand until 40, then half-cost spells in Shadowform. The fastest Priest leveller; brought for damage, with Vampiric Embrace and Silence on top.
Shadow keeps Shadow Word: Pain up, uses Mind Blast on cooldown and fills with Mind Flay, which slows the target. Before 40 the wand is still a large part of your damage, and Spirit Tap after kills pays for your spells. Vampiric Embrace (from 25) heals your party for 20% of your Shadow damage for 30 seconds on a 30-second cooldown, Silence (30) is the only Priest interrupt, and Devouring Plague heals you too. Shadowform at 40 (42 with Wand Specialization) makes every Shadow spell cost half and doubles the extra damage of Shadow crits, but blocks all healing. Shadow Weaving now only raises your own damage, Dark Inspiration (15 Oct) gives you and your party Spirit after Mind Blast or a full Mind Flay, and Shadow gives no mana to the party: Blizzard brings Shadow for its damage first.
Strengths and weaknesses
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Fastest Priest leveller, using DoTs, Mind Blast, Mind Flay and a wand | Shadowform blocks all healing, so a cancel-and-heal macro is needed |
| Spirit Tap after kills pays for spells | Gives no mana to the party |
| Silence is the only Priest interrupt | Mind Blast causes a lot of threat, so the tank needs a head start |
| Vampiric Embrace heals the party for 20% of Shadow damage | Shadow Weaving raises only the Priest's own damage |
| Shadowform at 40 halves Shadow spell costs and doubles crit bonus damage | Shadow Word: Death costs 10% of health when it doesn't kill |
Stat priority
- Spell power (Shadow)
- Hit
- Critical strike
- Intellect
- Stamina
- Spirit
Spell Power > Hit > Intellect > Crit; while levelling, crit can rank above hit, and hit matters most at endgame. Shadow damage over time can crit and Shadowform doubles the crit bonus, so crit gains value at 40. At level 30 the list is Shadow damage, then Stamina, then Intellect. Shadow Focus gives 5% hit.
Do this
- Keep the wand going: before 40 it is a large share of your damage, and wand kills feed Spirit Tap.
- Vampiric Embrace kills also trigger Spirit Tap.
- DoTs tag a mob instantly in Forever, and their damage updates with your stats (no snapshotting).
Watch out for
- Shadow Weaving no longer raises a Warlock's or another Priest's damage.
- Shadowform blocks every heal from 40: keep the cancel-and-heal macro ready.
- Mind Blast causes a lot of threat; in groups let the tank build threat first.
- Shadow Word: Death costs 10% of your health when it doesn't kill.
- Shadowform doesn't raise crit chance; it raises the crit damage bonus.