Shadow Priest PvP Build Guide patch 5.0.4

Edit: An update to this guide can be found HERE for patch 5.1.

As we get closer to roaming the lands of Pandaria, Blizzard has given us the chance to get familiar with the new talent system we'll be using when we get there. In this guide I'll share my thoughts on each of the talents and also show you what build I'm going to use until the launch of Mists of Pandaria. You can also check out a video I've put together about this. For those of you who don't want to sit and read all of this HERE IT IS. It's not as in depth as this but you'll get the point.

The new talent system is very unique and it forces you to make choices between some very nice abilities. I'm really a fan of the fact that the new talent trees are more ability based rather than passive stat boosts. The old system promoted cookie cutters while this new system promotes diversity. That's not to say that a cookie cutter wont emerge but I think it will honestly come down to personal style. Lets get into the first set of talents.

Void Tendril - Places a tendril on the ground that will root 5 enemies within 8yds for 20 seconds.

Psyfiend - You place a psyfiend at a target location, the fiend then fears targets withing 20yds every 1.5 seconds. Psyfiend lasts 10 seconds.

Dominate Mind - Control a mind up to level 93 for 30 seconds. (replacement for Mind Control)

In this row I had trouble deciding between Pysfiend and Void Tendril. I ended up going with Psyfiend for pvp. I have two main reasons for this. First, Void Tendrils is a bit buggy right now and doesn't work all the time. Second, the tendril seems to only be useful against melee classes. If you root a caster, they can keep casting. Psyfiend is useful against all classes, the only downside is that you can't make it fear who you want. The psyfiend will go after people attacking you first.

Dominate Mind wasn't in the discussion because it has a cast time and while removing an enemy from combat, it also removes you from combat. This is not an effective form of CC unless you're on a bridge or cliff.

 

Body and Soul - When you cast Power Word: Shield of Leap of Faith the targets movement speed is increased by 60% for 4 seconds.

Angelic Feather - You place feathers on the ground. When allies walk over them their movement speed is increased by 60% for 4 seconds.

Phantasm - When you use Fade, you remove all movement impairing effects, become untargetable by ranged attacks and cannot have your movement hindered for 3 seconds.

As a shadow priest, being able to escape when you're in trouble is very important. That is the sole purpose of this level of the tree. Personally I wouldn't use the Feathers because it seems more beneficial for allies than yourself. This would be good if you're discipline but we're talking shadow here. I went with Phantasm because it's similar to what we had in Cataclysm. You could use either Phantasm or Body and Soul equally well to escape so that is up to personal preference. However, Phantasm has a couple of hidden benefits.

First, you can pair it with the Glyph of Fade to gain 10% damage reduction every time you use Fade. That isn't massive but it's a noticeable reduction and you can use it a lot. The second and most important benefit to Phantasm is the fact that you are untargetable by ranged attacks. When fighting a ranged class, you can use Fade to break the enemies attacks. Similar to a Hunter using Feign Death. This is working as of now but I'm not sure if they'll patch that later or if it's working as intended. While we still have this effect, it only last for 3 seconds so make them count.

 

From Darkness, Comes Light - Damage from your Vampiric Touch has a 15% chance to cause your next Mind Spike to not consume your dots, become instant cast, cost no mana and do 50% more damage. Can stack twice. (you can cast 2 instant mind spikes)

Mindbender - Caster receives 1.3% of total mana back when Mindbender attacks. Replaces Shadowfiend.

Power Word: Solace - Consumes your Shadow Word: Pain to cause 27,000 damage instantly. Can only be cast when Shadow Word: Pain has less than 5 seconds remaining on the target.

This was another tricky choice for me. My style of play doesn't make good use of the Mindbender pet so I stayed away from that one. Blizzard says it does more damage and returns more mana than the Shadowfiend pet but I'd rather have something a bit more usable. Power Word: Solace does a massive amount of burst damage, but I found it difficult to use. I like to spread dots and the action bar would show the spell was ready to be used but then you have to find which target has the Shadow Word: Pain under 5 seconds. This would be great for 2v2 or 3v3 arena but not the battlegrounds. I ended up going with From Darkness, Comes Light. I've noticed that when spreading dots, this procs A LOT! Since it wont remove your dots, you can throw them at your target of choice, do 50% additional damage and not worry about anything. When paired with Glyph of Mind Spike, this will also give you instant Mind Blasts each time you use it, assuming the cool down is up.

Desperate Prayer - Instantly heals the caster for 30% of their total health.

Spectral Guise - You blur into darkness leaving your true form behind. As a shadow you are stealthed but remain in combat. Lasts 6 seconds or until your true form is hit 3 times.

Angelic Bulwark - When a damaging attack brings you below 30% health, you gain a protective shield equal to 20% of your total health, lasting 20 seconds. Cannot happen more than once every 90 seconds.

Desperate Prayer is a familiar ability to Discipline priests of Cataclysm. It wasn't changed here, but shadow priests can use it now. Angelic Bulwark is a passive ability that can proc every 90 seconds. While Desperate Prayer gives you 30% health, you have to pay attention and cast it or it's useless. With Angelic Bulwark you get 20% of your health in the form of a shield but you never have to worry about it. I'm a huge fan of passive abilities like this so I went with Angelic Bulwark.

As for Spectral Guise, I don't see it being useful in pvp. It's not an ability that prolongs your life like the others. It's an escape, and a poor one at that. How long does it take for a rouge or warrior to hit you 3 times? A lot less than 6 seconds, probably more like 1 second or less. As soon as that happens you come out of stealth and your getting hit again. You gain no life and only a short distance if you're lucky. Maybe even just enough distance for a warrior to charge you!

 

Twist of Fate - You gain 15% extra damage and healing for 10 seconds, after damaging or healing a target below 20% health.

Power Infusion - You cast 20% faster and the mana costs of your spells are 20% less for 20 seconds.

Divine Insight - Damage from Shadow Word: Pain has a 5% chance to reset the cool down on Mind Blast and make your next Mind Blast in 12 seconds be instant cast and cost no mana.

This is the most difficult level of the tree by far. All of these are designed to increase your damage output and all of them do their job very well. I've had battlegrounds that I was able to keep Twist of Fate up almost the entire time by constantly changing targets, hitting a low health target once and moving back to my primary target. It can be almost a permanent 15% damage increase in some situations. Power Infusion is a great ability if you're able to free cast. You can drop a lot of damage really quickly with this one and for a low mana cost. Divine Insight gives you free Mind Blasts but at a low proc rate. Free mind blasts are great but you have to have a lot of dots out in order for this to work well. 

This is the final tier of talents that we have access to at the moment and I'm still kind of bouncing between them all. I do have to say that I'm a big fan of the passive procs of Divine Insight and the haste of Power Infusion. Is there a right answer to which one is the most efficient, I'm sure there is. I don't have it right now and I'm not really interested. I like to play what fits my style and what I'm comfortable with. If I'm using an ability because it's more efficient but I'm not comfortable with how I have to use it, that kills all the efficiency. Go with your gut and pick what you enjoy.

I hope you found this guide helpful. If you did, look forward to more as we get into Mists of Pandaria. Talk to you guys again later.