Classes Priest. Keep in mind the paladin can refill all their health with Lay on Hands on a 20 minutes cd, which also restores some mana. Well-played restoration druids are very hard for a shadowpriest to kill. Versatility is the strongest secondary stat at all times because it increases your overall damage dealt and reduces damage you take. Get to Shadowform ASAP. Talents This first spec works well with any gear setup. "Assault the target's mind with Shadow energy, causing 588 Shadow damage over 3 sec and slowing their movement speed by 50%." At some point, if you manage to do enough damage, the druid might shift out and heal. The key is to survive the ret pally's burst, as it's better than a Shadow priest's. You will want to get pvp hit and spell penetration capped also. "A word of darkness that causes 768 Shadow damage over 18 sec." A 21-point Shadow Talent, also a prerequisite of Shadowform. This is available at level 66. Always dispel Innervate and Nature's Swiftness (Nature's Swiftness is usually macroed, so you probably won't catch this) whenever you see them. Earthbind isn't really dangerous, but can hinder you when approaching for a fear. This entire guide is written from a raiding perspective and I'll try keeping everything as simple as possible. Resilience (goal in season 5: about 900 resilience rating). Just be thankful that you're Shadow, not Holy. You must be 5 yards or closer to get in melee range, where they will do less damage. Definitely the way to go if you just hit level 80. Since WotLK, Paladin's endurance mana-wise has increased, and Mana Burn has become a% burn, which makes it very effective on holy specs, and much less effective on ret specs. Stay out of melee range, except perhaps when fearing, to avoid getting Typhooned. Ideally it should be cast just before the Fear effect is used, to reduce the risk that it will simply be dispelled or devoured, but this isn't always easy to predict. Melee classes may cause a problem by running around/through you, thus making it hard to hit them with Mind Blast. You will also want to use this as a polymorph removing spell if polymorph is casted on yourselve, instead of wasting your silence on it (or even worse trinket). In short, just buy the available PvP gear aimed at Shadow priests. Shadow Priest DPS PvP and Arena - Wrath of the Lich King Classic By Passionate Last Updated: 2022/10/21 Changelog Patch: 3.4.1 Table of Contents Rating: Guide Navigation Rating: Get Wowhead Premium $2 A Month Enjoy an ad-free experience, unlock premium features, & support the site! Don't forget to dispel Divine Plea WHENEVER it appears, to negate a holy paladin's longevity. Other abilities to note are Kick (interrupts spellcasting, and locks the school you were casting for 5 sec, very deadly), Gouge (instant incapacitate, can only be used if you're facing the rogue), and Sap, which can only be used OOC. As a Priest (as well as any class), to be a good player in PvP, you must be able to change your strategy depending on what your enemy is doing, as well as a whole bunch of other variables, such as terrain (you can't run up a cliff), mobs around where you're fighting, and their build/gear. While the shield holds, spellcasting will not be interrupted by damage. Use your fear to keep the pet controlled, and if you need to remove the iceblock you can use Mass Dispel. Again, dispel Innervate. DO NOT trinket sap, gouge, or blind (maybe blind, but only if it's going to give you a huge 1-up), since the rogue has other, more potent, CC waiting for you, like kidney shot. Earth shield can be dispelled for about the same amount of mana as it costs, which is probably less than advantageous for your smaller mana pool. Try to time your burst accordingly. Shadow priest PvP in WotLK. Also, shamans have Purge, and offensive dispel which is quite cheap, and Cure Toxins, which will remove your devouring plague. This, or when Summon Gargoyle (unholy), or Dancing Rune Weapon (blood) are active would be a good time to use Dispersion. Drop all other stats (including +spellpower) for these 2 as they are key to survival. Both tactics work about the same. The gear list below is following the stat priority of Hit Cap (4%) > Spell Penetration (75 soft cap, 130 hard cap) > Resilience > Spell Power > Spirit and will include items available exclusively from Wrath Dungeons / Raids, Professions, PvP, and Reputation rewards. Which one is better overall and which one is better with mostly PvP gear? Use Psychic Scream as soon as possible. "A burst of Holy energy fills the caster, increasing armor by 1800 and spell power by 95. When talented, this spell is refreshed by casting Mind Flay on the afflicted target. Finally, if a paladin uses Hand of Protection, indicated by giant golden wings, they are immune to physical damage, but NOT spell damage. "Draws on the soul of the party member to shield them, absorbing 763 damage. "Creates a shadowy fiend to attack the target. You'll be death gripped back into melee range when the fear ends, and probably Chains of Iceed. It is also capable of a critical strike and it silences you for 5 seconds. Refer to the pages on priest talent builds for more detailed information. Caster receives mana when the Shadowfiend deals damage. The two main Alliance options are Human and Dwarf. Mind Flay: 9% base mana - 20 yards - channeled. To survive, use PW:S as often as possible, dispel Judgements from yourself if you can spare the GCD, use your CC as often as possible, and get out of melee range. Good idea to always throw this up if you have mana and expect to take damage. This is the most important totem to watch for, and is on a 15 sec cd. You will have to apply a large amount of pressure (lots of CC, which you don't really have, and avoiding being CCed yourself) and a high amount of dps to win. Destruction has a talent called Nether Protection, which occasionally (3/10 spells) reduces damage by 30% from that spell school. If they don't have the talents, try to throw up an instant (VE, SW:P) to put them in combat first. Disclaimer: This strategy is largely for 1 vs. 1, to familiarize a Shadow priest with another class' abilities. This is usually your fight to win, if you play it right. In this fight, go all out dps, without bothering to self-dispel. This is a good time to shield/mana burn (mana burn quite effective against warlocks if you can cast it safely). If you have to look at your button bars to see where your Fear is, or use the mouse to click Shadow Word: Death, you're not going to be as effective. Take care if trinketing a polymorph, as it is spammable; you might want to Silence after trinketing. Don't forget your trinket, and Fade to remove snares/daze. This can be dispelled (Glyph of Dispel Magic ftw), or faded. You can also use it to keep track of your completed quests, recipes, mounts, companion pets, and titles! Dot them up, but beware of casting Vampiric Touch in melee range due to Mind Freeze (interrupt and lockout for 4 secs, similar to a warrior's pummel) being on a 10 sec cd. They have two methods of CC, Hammer of Justice, and Repentance. A Priest becomes a Shadow priest at level 40, when Shadowform becomes available, which increases damage output by 15%, decreases all damage taken by 15%, and grants your Dots the ability to crit; later talents improve shadowform even more. They also have the ability to summon to summon to Spirit Wolves for 45 sec every 3 min, which can increase their movement speed, and heal based on the wolves' attacks. Mind Control: 12% base mana - 20 yards - 3 sec cast. Each melee or ranged damage hit against the priest will remove one charge. Such spells include Arcane Intellect, Power Word: Fortitude, Mark of the Wild, potion effects, Blessings, Shadow Protection and many more. Warriors are one of the classes that Shadow priests can consistently do decently against. Keep all DoTs on the Rogue, along with VE, and they will be unable to Vanish until the 1 min timer is up for CloS. Somewhat susceptible to pushback/interrupt, with some important spells having a cast time. Counterspell can completely lock out a spell school for 10 seconds if they cast it while you're casting, which would be absolutely devastating. This will give you a couple of seconds to do some damage and shield up again. Do NOT bother attacking the rogue while cloak of shadows is active (looks kind of like shadowform) as it reduces spell hit chance by 90%. Look at +Stamina/+resilience, +X to spellpower, with intellect as a distant third. Mind Blast: 17% base mana - 30 yards - 1.5 sec cast - 8 sec cd. Other useful tips are using shift space for Fear/PvP trinket. Contribute Shaman have a form of CC called Hex, which has a 1.5 sec cast on a 45 second cd. This spell calls for a silence/breaking LoS/running through the warlock. Enhancement shaman are trouble for a Shadow priest. Please replace the old information with up to date information. Use this time to cast mana burn/shield/dispel, then use the remaining 2-3 seconds to cast a shadow spell with a cast time. Instead, wait for when the shaman applies riptide, then dispel them both at the same time. Once the rogue vanishes, bandage + shield up, because the fight starts all over again. You know what CC capabilities your class has. Warlocks deep in demonology have access to Metamorphosis, which just means you should stay right on them or 25+ yards from them, as they gain Demon Charge, a 3 second stun. This is a basic spell priority to help you navigate Shadow's rotational spells in PvP combat. Against a DK (and a warlock) don't forget to use the mostly ignored spell Shackle Undead on minions/pets. This works like Shadowstep, except that it stuns for 3 sec. Ensure all keys are bound (including trinkets, pots, etc), and don't forget to use shift/alt/ctrl to consolidate your bindings close to your left hand (i,e, you can have "1" bound to Shadow Word: Pain and "Shift + 1" bound to Devouring Plague). They also have Healing Wave, but it's a long cast, so they won't likely use it very much in PvP. Absorbs one Fear effect on the caster. For arena/BG PvP, stamina and resilience are a must. If you can stay alive, the second fear will at least send the pet running for a while, giving you an advantage over the hunter (who will trinket the fear). Don't forget that you have Silence, which is deadly against any healer. Preventing those strongly limits their survivability. This can even be used on the 51-point Unholy DK's Gargoyle. Shaman come in three flavors: Elemental (caster), Enhancement (melee), and Resto (healer). This is like Escape Artist on crack. Destruction is a lot more DD type spells. Feral druids should be treated much like a rogue, only with perhaps a little less CC. The caps to watch out for -. Trinketing here is a good option. Use whenever possible. Casting this at the right time, especially in an arena match, is the most important thing a shadowpriest can do. Forget spirit or regen for pvp. Tremor totem pulses every 3 seconds and removes any charm/fear/sleep effects on the shaman's party within 30 yards. Even Shadow Protection helps against fear, as well as mana burn, and any other Shadow effects. If you catch a priest without his shields up, the fight is already yours. There are so many different specs, that it's hard to give a basic guide on how to fight them. The Shadow priest's lack of potent burst damage gives druids an advantage. "Blasts the target for 992 to 1048 Shadow damage." They'll likely just run up to you first, saving Death Grip (25/35 sec cd) for after fear. Very situational in PvP, but can be useful and fun. Also, a holy paladin's only CC will be a 1 minute cd HoJ, since they likely won't have it talented, which means you should try to stay close to them for fearing purposes. This spell can also crit, so a Shadow priest must watch his own health bar as well, and does increased crit damage through talents.