Overview
The rotation is a strict DoT-and-filler priority: keep everything ticking, hit-cap with Shadow Weaving/Misery in mind, and never clip your DoTs.
Strengths
- +Vampiric Touch fuels the caster group's mana (irreplaceable)
- +Misery adds spell hit/damage for the whole raid on the boss
- +Solid, steady personal DPS on top of the utility
Weaknesses
- −Brought for utility more than top personal parse
- −Punished by movement — dropped DoTs cost damage and mana return
Stat priority & caps (raid)
Stat caps (raid)
| Stat | Cap | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Spell Hit | 202 rating | 16% cap for a raid boss (+3 levels). Draenei Heroic Presence, Shadow Priest's Misery, and hit talents lower how much you need on gear. |
- Spell Hit: 16% cap for a raid boss (+3 levels). Draenei Heroic Presence, Shadow Priest's Misery, and hit talents lower how much you need on gear.
Full gear with usage %, gems and enchants is on the Shadow Priest PvE BiS list.
Recommended talent build
14/0/47 · RaidThe standard Shadow build: Vampiric Touch capstone, Misery for the caster group's hit, Silence taken via Improved Psychic Scream on the way down. Every point here is mandatory in raids — shadow has the least flex of any TBC caster tree.
Discipline
14Increases your chance to resist Stun, Fear, and Silence effects by an additional 3%.
Increases your damage with Wands by 5%.
Reduces the threat generated by your Holy and Discipline spells by 4% and reduces the chance your spells will be dispelled by 4%.
Increases the effect of your Power Word: Fortitude and Prayer of Fortitude spells by 15%.
Increases the damage absorbed by your Power Word: Shield by 5%.
Gives you a 50% chance to gain the Focused Casting effect that lasts for 6 sec after being the victim of a melee or ranged critical strike. The Focused Casting effect prevents you from losing casting time when taking damage while casting Priest spells and increases resistance to Interrupt effects by 10%. (Proc chance: 50%)
Reduces the mana cost of your Dispel Magic, Cure Disease, Abolish Disease and Mass Dispel spells by 5%.
When activated, reduces the mana cost of your next spell by 100% and increases its critical effect chance by 25% if it is capable of a critical effect.
Allows 10% of your mana regeneration to continue while casting.
Increases the armor bonus of your Inner Fire spell by 10%.
Reduces the mana cost of your instant cast spells by 2%.
Reduces the casting time of your Mana Burn spell by 0.5 sec.
Increases your maximum mana by 2%.
Holy power infuses the target, increasing their Spirit by 17 for 30 min.
Your Divine Spirit and Prayer of Spirit spells also increase the target's spell damage and healing by an amount equal to 5% of their total Spirit.
Your Smite, Mind Blast and Mass Dispel spells have an additional 2% chance to hit. In addition, your Mass Dispel cast time is reduced by 0.5 sec.
Increases your spell damage by 1% and the critical strike chance of your offensive spells by 1%.
After taking a critical hit you gain the Focused Will effect, reducing all damage taken by 2% and increasing healing effects on you by 4%. Stacks up to 3 times. Lasts 8 sec.
Infuses the target with power, increasing spell casting speed by 20% and reducing the mana cost of all spells by 20%. Lasts 15 sec.
Causes 10% of the damage absorbed by your Power Word: Shield to reflect back at the attacker. This damage causes no threat.
Increases your total Stamina, Intellect and Spirit by 1%.
Instantly reduces a friendly target's threat by 5%, reduces all damage taken by 40% and increases resistance to Dispel mechanics by 65% for 8 sec.
Holy
0Gives you a 35% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting any healing spell.
Increases the amount healed by your Renew spell by 5%.
Increases the critical effect chance of your Holy spells by 1%.
Reduces all spell damage taken by 2%.
Reduces the casting time of your Smite, Holy Fire, Heal and Greater Heal spells by 0.1 sec.
Causes an explosion of holy light around the caster, causing 29 to 34 Holy damage to all enemy targets within 10 yards and healing all party members within 10 yards for 54 to 63. These effects cause no threat.
After being struck by a melee or ranged critical hit, heal 8% of the damage taken over 6 sec.
Increases your target's armor by 8% for 15 sec after getting a critical effect from your Flash Heal, Heal, Greater Heal, Binding Heal, Prayer of Healing, or Circle of Healing spell.
Increases the range of your Smite and Holy Fire spells and the radius of your Prayer of Healing, Holy Nova and Circle of Healing spells by 10%.
Reduces the mana cost of your Lesser Heal, Heal, and Greater Heal spells by 5%.
Increases the damage of your Smite and Holy Fire spells by 5%.
Reduces the mana cost of your Prayer of Healing and Prayer of Mending spell by 10%.
Increases total Spirit by 5% and upon death, the priest becomes the Spirit of Redemption for 15 sec. The Spirit of Redemption cannot move, attack, be attacked or targeted by any spells or effects. While in this form the priest can cast any healing spell free of cost. When the effect ends, the priest dies.
Increases spell damage and healing by up to 5% of your total Spirit.
Your spell criticals have a 25% chance to cause your next Smite spell to be instant cast, cost no mana but be incapable of a critical hit. This effect lasts 10 sec. (Proc chance: 25%)
Increases the amount healed by your healing spells by 2%.
Gives you a 2% chance to enter a Clearcasting state after casting any Flash Heal, Binding Heal, or Greater Heal spell. The Clearcasting state reduces the mana cost of your next Flash Heal, Binding Heal, or Greater Heal spell by 100%. (Proc chance: 2%)
Creates a Holy Lightwell. Members of your raid or party can click the Lightwell to restore 801 health over 6 sec. Any damage taken will cancel the effect. Lightwell lasts for 3 min or 5 charges.
Critical hits made against you have a 20% chance to prevent you from being critically hit again for 6 sec. (Proc chance: 20%)
Your Greater Heal spell gains an additional 4% and your Flash Heal and Binding Heal gain an additional 2% of your bonus healing effects.
Heals friendly target and that target's party members within 15 yards of the target for 250 to 274.
Shadow
47Gives you a 20% chance to gain a 100% bonus to your Spirit after killing a target that yields experience or honor. For the duration, your mana will regenerate at a 50% rate while casting. Lasts 15 sec. (Proc chance: 20%)
Gives your Shadow damage spells a 2% chance to stun the target for 3 sec. (Proc chance: 2%)
Reduces the threat generated by your Shadow spells by 8%.
Increases the duration of your Shadow Word: Pain spell by 3 sec.
Reduces your target's chance to resist your Shadow spells by 2%.
Reduces the cooldown of your Psychic Scream spell by 2 sec.
Reduces the cooldown of your Mind Blast spell by 0.5 sec.
Assault the target's mind with Shadow energy, causing 75 Shadow damage over 3 sec and slowing their movement speed by 50%.
Decreases the cooldown of your Fade ability by 3 sec.
Increases the range of your offensive Shadow spells by 10%.
Your Shadow damage spells have a 20% chance to cause your target to be vulnerable to Shadow damage. This vulnerability increases the Shadow damage dealt to your target by 2% and lasts 15 sec. Stacks up to 5 times.
Silences the target, preventing them from casting spells for 5 sec.
Afflicts your target with Shadow energy that causes all party members to be healed for 15% of any Shadow spell damage you deal for 1 min.
Increases the percentage healed by Vampiric Embrace by an additional 5%.
Reduces the mana cost of your Mind Blast, Mind Control and Mind Flay spells by 5%.
Reduces the chance you'll be critically hit by all spells by 2%.
Increases your Shadow spell damage by 2%.
Assume a Shadowform, increasing your Shadow damage by 15% and reducing Physical damage done to you by 15%. However, you may not cast Holy spells while in this form.
Increases the critical strike chance of your Mind Blast and Shadow Word: Death spells by 3%.
Your Shadow Word: Pain, Mind Flay and Vampiric Touch spells also cause the target to take an additional 1% spell damage.
Causes 450 Shadow damage over 15 sec to your target and causes all party members to gain mana equal to 5% of any Shadow spell damage you deal.
Points are filled on each tree above — hover a talent for its tooltip; highlighted talents are the build's key picks.
DoT priority
- 1Open Vampiric Touch first (it powers group mana), then Shadow Word: Pain and Devouring Plague.
- 2Mind Blast on cooldown; Mind Flay as filler between DoT refreshes.
- 3Keep all three DoTs rolling without clipping; maintain Shadow Weaving stacks.
- 4Reach the spell hit cap (accounting for Misery/Shadow Focus and Draenei).
- 5Shadowfiend for personal mana; align trinkets/cooldowns with Bloodlust.
Discipline is everything: Vampiric Touch always up (group mana depends on it), all DoTs ticking, Mind Blast on cooldown, Mind Flay filling. Hit-cap first so your DoTs and Mind Blasts land. On movement fights, refresh DoTs before you have to move so uptime — and the raid's mana — doesn't dip.
Priest macros
Focus macros
Focus Mana Burn
Burn a focus healer's mana while keeping your target for offensive casts.
#showtooltip Mana Burn /cast [target=focus] Mana Burn
Focus Silence
Silence a focus caster to interrupt and lock them out.
#showtooltip Silence /cast [target=focus] Silence
Utility
Inner Focus + Greater Heal
Fire a free, guaranteed-crit Greater Heal by stacking Inner Focus in one press.
#showtooltip Greater Heal /cast Inner Focus /cast Greater Heal
PvE addons
Full list on the Priest addons page.
Best race (PvE)
Berserking haste boosts both healing throughput and Shadow DPS — the best Horde PvE priest racial.
Heroic Presence gives Shadow priests and the raid +1% hit, and Gift of the Naaru adds healing utility.
More on the best race for Priest page.
Best professions (PvE)
Common mistakes
- ✕Letting Vampiric Touch drop and starving the caster group of mana.
- ✕Clipping Mind Flay or refreshing DoTs too early.
- ✕Under the spell hit cap, causing missed DoTs and lost Shadow Weaving stacks.
FAQ
Why is Shadow Priest mandatory in caster groups?
Vampiric Touch replenishes the group's mana and Misery adds raid spell hit/damage — one Shadow Priest keeps a whole caster camp casting at full tilt.
What's the spell hit cap for Shadow?
16% base, reduced by Shadow Focus, Misery and the Draenei racial. See the stat caps below for the exact target with talents.