Shadow Priest (PvE) - A Shadowy Descent

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Starting work on this one because EJ ads can have viruses and i don;t want to get one at work.

Shadow Priests - 5.2

Firstly, I'll start off by saying that most of this guide is just based off other people's theory crafting that I've read around the internet.

Table Of Contents

1. Links to More Comprehensive Guides
2. Gearing, Stat Priority, and Haste Breakpoints
3. Ability Priorities and Cooldowns
----3.1 Single Target
----3.2 Multiple Targets
4. Gems and Enchants
5. Builds, Talents, and Glyphs
----5.1 Mogu'shan Vaults
----5.2 Heart of Fear
----5.3 Terrace of the Endless Spring
----5.4 Throne of Thunder

1. Links To More Comprehensive Guides
Icy veins is a good site to use.

http://www.icy-veins.com/shadow-priest-wow-pve-dps-guide

2. Gearing, Stat Priority and Haste Breakpoints
Int > Hit/Spirit/Expertise to 15% > Haste > Crit > Mastery

Haste and haste breakpoints are a crucial part of maximizing your dps as a shadow priest. You may not notice much on multi-target fights, but not having enough haste becomes increasingly obvious when it comes down to the single target fights.

3. Ability Priorities and Cooldowns
3.1 Single Target
This is what I was using:
1. Mind Flay: Insanity
2. Devouring Plague with 3 orbs
3. Mind Blast
4. Shadow Word: Death
5. Shadow Word: Pain up on boss
6. Vampiric Touch up on boss
7. Instant Cast Mind spikes if you have FDCL
8. Mind Flay

Also popped Halo whenever it was up.

Trying out this new rotation suggested on icy-veins:
1. Devouring Plague with 3 orbs
2. Mind Blast
3. First cast of Shadow Word: Death
4. Mind Flay: Insanity
5. Shadow Word: pain on boss
6. Vampiric Touch on boss
7. Instant Cast Mind Spike if you have FDCL
8. Mind Flay
9. 2nd cast of Shadow Word: Death if you have to move

3.2 Multiple Target
2-4 targets
Keep Shadow Word: Pain on all targets.
Perform your single target rotation on 1 mob.

More than 4 targets
Just use mind sear on one add or on a tank/melee that are in range of all the adds.
Also pop Halo when it is up but avoid hitting other nearby enemies that you are not in combat with. A good way to tell is if you have health bars displayed and can see an enemies health bar, they will probably get hit.

4. Gems and Enchants
There are 3 different gear brackets at the moment and you should gem and potentially enchant differently in each of them.

Below ~504 ilvl:

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5. Builds, Talents, and Glyphs

I don't know of any other class currently that has their dps so heavily based off what talents you have. To be the best shadow priest you can be you will need to change 2-3 tiers of your talents for every boss.

Tier 3:
Options are mindbender, from darkness comes light (FDCL), and Solace and Insanity.
They each have their strengths and weaknesses.
Mindbender:
Pros: Gives lots of mana back and does a decent amount of damage.
Cons: Falls behind Solace and Insanity on single target and behind FDCL on multi-target. With the release of 5.2 this talent is rarely chosen unless you are really running low on mana.

FDCL:
Pros: Great if there are alot of mobs to multi-dot. Also because the mind spikes are instant cast it allows you to have more mobility.
Cons: There has to be a lot of adds, or a lot of movement for this talent to pull ahead of the newly reworked Solace and Insanity in terms of dps.

Solace and Insanity:
Pros: Biggest dps boost if you can stay stationary for the time Devouring Plague is on the target and just cast mind flay.
Cons: Have to be able to remain stationary for the majority of Devouring Plague's duration so that you can fully benefit from the talent.

Tier 5:
Twist of Fate:
Pros: Good dps if there are lots of adds that are below 20% health.
Cons: If there is only 1 target this talent will be okay but not that great because it will just give you more damage at the end of the fight.

Power Infusion:
Pros: Strongest single target talent. Works great when combined with a Mind Flay: Insanity from Solace and Insanity.
Cons: Falls behind Twist of Fate and Divine Insight when there are lots of adds. Also not the best talent mobility wise because it does not give any added mobility and you would want to stand still to get the best benefit from it.

Divine Insight:
Pros: Good when there are not a crazy amount of adds and you can just dot them all. This will give you instant cast mind blasts as well so it is the best talent in this tier for mobility. Also good for mana because the instant cast mind blasts are free.
Cons: Falls behind power infusion on single target fights, Also if adds are dying quickly this talent won't really shine as much as Twist of fate would.

Tier 6:
Cascade:
Good if the enemies are rather spread out.

Divine Star:
Good if enemies are stacked, preferably in a line. (This doesn't happen very often)

Halo:
Good if the enemies are loosely stacked and you can be ~25 yards away from them.


Recommended Talents(Post if you have something you think works better)
5.1 Mogu'shan Vaults

Stone Guardians
FDCL or PW: Insanity
Divine Insight
Halo

Feng the Accursed
PW: Insanity
Power Infusion
Halo

Gara'jal the Spiritbinder
Power Word Insanity
Twist of Fate because of all the adds in the spirit realm
Cascade

Spirit Kings
PW: Insanity
Power Infusion
Halo

Elegon
PW: Insanity probably beats FDCL on this fight
Twist of Fate
Cascade

Will of the Emperor
FDCL
Divine Insight or Twist of Fate
Halo for more boss damage, Cascade for more add damage

5.2 Heart of Fear
Imperial Vizier Zor'lok
PW: Insanity although Mindbender might be viable.
Power Infusion
Halo or Cascade

Blade Lord Ta'yak
PW: Insanity
Power Infusion
Cascade or Halo both help to heal

Garalon
FDCL for movement/multi-dotting
Twist of Fate
Halo

Wind Lord Mel'jarak
PW: Insanity or FDCL
Twist of Fate
Halo

Amber Shaper Un'sok
PW: Insanity and Power Infusion if you are on boss most of the time.
FDCL and Divine Insight if there are constantly adds alive to kill.
Halo

Grand Empress Shek'zeer
PW: Insanity
Power Infusion
Halo

5.3 Terrace of the Endless Spring
Protectors of the Endless
PW: Insanity
Power Infusion
Halo

Tsulong
PW: Insanity
Power Infusion
Halo

Lei Shi
PW: Insanity
Power Infusion
Halo

Sha of Fear
PW: Insanity
Power Infusion
Halo

5.4 Throne of Thunder

Jin'rokh the Breaker
PW: Insanity
Power Infusion
Halo

Horridon
FDCL
Divine Insight
Halo

Council of Elders
PW: Insanity
Power Infusion
Halo

Tortos
FDCL
Divine Insight
Halo

Megaera
PW: Insanity
Power Infusion
Halo

Ji-Kun
Platform:
PW:Insanity
Power Infusion
Halo

Nests:
FDCL
Divine Insight or Twist of Fate
Cascade

Durumu the Forgotten
PW: Insanity
Power Infusion if you are good at moving for maze. Divine Insight if not.
Halo or Cascade

Primordius
PW: Insanity
Power Infusion
Halo or Cascade

Dark Animus
Unknown for real fight but for LFR I'd recommend:
PW: Insanity
Power Infusion, maybe Twist of Fate instead
Halo

Iron Qon
PW: Insanity
Power Infusion
Halo

Twin Consorts
PW: Insanity
Power Infusion
Halo

Lei Shen
PW: Insanity
Twist of Fate
Halo if group doesn't stack well, Cascade/Divine star might be better if good stack because you will have to be stacked too.

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