Shadow Priest DPS Mythic+ Tips — The War Within (11.0.5)

If you are still starting in your Mythic+ journey on the Shadow Priest, I would suggest taking Voidweaver for a spin. This build excels at doing one pack at a time which is what most groups end up doing, and still has a solid damage pattern to scale as the key level goes up.

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• Facing off with smaller pulls, more of them instead of chain-pulling packs together.
• Good damage options every 30 seconds with Entropic Rift.
• Best Single Target when compared against other Mythic+ specific builds.
• Devour Matter turns this build into a power house during Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound weeks.

• Struggles dealing mass AoE, comfort zone is less than 8 targets.
• Mobs constantly moving around while Entropic Rift is active.
• Pulls that last longer than 30 seconds.

• By default, this build assumes you are in keys where you need survivability from Mental Fortitude and also do not want to drop Silence. Strictly speaking, this is a DPS loss; if you want to drop one of those points, you can add back a point in Maddening Touch (AoE) or Unfurling Darkness (ST) back to the build.
• Depth of Shadows is the suggested choice here, as it can reward sniping low-health targets for more Insanity generation mid-pull. If you want more single target, you can use Voidwraith instead.
• If you are in a dungeon with lots of deadly Physical damage you can consider using Void Leech over Embrace the Shadow.
• If you are looking for more mob control, you can experiment with using No Escape instead of Dark Energy. This might make the tanks job harder in some cases, so be sure to coordinate with your group on what is best for that key.
• If you are looking for more Single Target damage you can drop Maddening Touch for Unfurling Darkness. This can be about a 2% damage gain in single target. This can also be nice on some weeks where you are able to proc this more as the pull is being gathered, but since it does not deal damage via Psychic Link it is devalued once the pack gets going.
• While Darkening Horizon can produce more sustained AoE damage when compared with Void Empowerment this has several drawbacks, particularly in lower keys and Single Target that make it not suggested as the default. Darkening Horizon can also be buggy at times and not give the proper extension amount.

If you are looking for a build with more AoE potential that Voidweaver that also does well against bosses, I would start with the Archon Hybrid build. Crucially this still takes Idol of N'Zoth for more AoE damage while still having strong single target.

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• Solid AoE damage.
• Good Boss Damage without sacrificing too much AoE.

• Single target is about 2% behind the Voidweaver build.
• Requires more coordinated pulls around your cooldowns.
• Has less tools for larger AoE than the Triple Idol build.

• By default, this build assumes you are in keys where you need survivability from Mental Fortitude and also do not want to drop Silence. Strictly speaking, this is a DPS loss; if you want to drop one of those points, you can add back a point in Mind Devourer or Maddening Touch to the build.
• This build can swap Mind Devourer (ST) for Maddening Touch (AoE) depending on what is more important to you.
• You can adjust your Hero Talent choice node depending on the key:
  • Energy Compression - Generic AoE damage
  • Sustained Potency - Does better for longer fights and activates the Voidform duration pause outside of combat or while stunned. For this reason it is the default suggestion.

This is the standard Triple Idol build for Archon in Mythic+. For maximizing AoE damage for dungeons, this is the build to start with. The way we do that is by pathing into Idol of Yogg-Saron into a classic Triple-Idol Build.

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This build can struggle at lower key levels or if you are just starting out. To know if the key level is high enough for your group, if you take Void Eruption and after a pack dies, you still have 10 or more seconds left on Voidform the key level is likely too low, and you should consider using either the Archon Hybrid build or the Voidweaver build. This is very dependent on composition and item level.

• Top AoE burst damage.
• Pushing high keys.
• Top Priority target damage inside of AoE packs.

• Single target is about 6% behind the Voidweaver Build and 4% behind the Archon Hybrid build.
• Requires more coordinated pulls around your cooldowns.

• By default, this build assumes you are in keys where you need survivability from Mental Fortitude and also do not want to drop Silence. Strictly speaking, this is a DPS loss; if you want to drop one of those points, you can add back a point in Maddening Touch or Mind Devourer to the build.
• This build can swap Mind Devourer (ST) for Maddening Touch (AoE) depending on what is more important to you.
• You can adjust your Hero Talent choice node depending on the key:
  • Energy Compression - Generic AoE damage
  • Sustained Potency - Does better for longer fights and activates the Voidform duration pause outside of combat or while stunned. For this reason it is the default suggestion.

This build is aimed at maximizing single-target damage while still having Shadow Crash. It does particularly well in dungeons where it is hard to chain-pull packs with deadly bosses.

In terms of single target damage both of these builds can produce identical results.

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• Top tier single target while still having Shadow Crash. This is roughly 3-9% better Single Target than other Mythic+ builds.

• AoE options are more limited but still decent with the base kit.

• By default, this build assumes you are in keys where you need survivability from Mental Fortitude and also do not want to drop Silence. Strictly speaking, this is a DPS loss; if you want to drop one of those points, you can add back a point in Mind Devourer back to the build.

Silence is your interrupt ability as a Shadow Priest, which can also prevent a mob from casting for a few seconds after, depending on the type of mob.

To make kicking a target easier, it is highly suggested that you use a Focus Kick macro for Silence. This allows you to attack a particular high-priority mob but keep your Focus on the mob you might want to kick. This macro will prefer to cast on your Focus if it exists, then on your Mouseover target, and lastly, your current target.

• #showtooltip
• /stopcasting
• /cast [@focus,exists,nodead][@mouseover,exists,nodead] [] Silence

To quickly set a focus target in hectic scenarios, we also recommend a Focus Mouseover macro. This will set your Focus to whatever your current mouseover target is.

• /focus [@mouseover]

Make sure that your UI shows your Focus Target's casts clearly so that you are always able to kick it on cooldown or in coordination with the rest of your group.

Psychic Scream is your primary AoE stop ability. The fear aspect is not that important in PvE, but it does act as a pseudo AoE interrupt (otherwise known as a stop) for all enemies within 8 yards. As Archon, you can take Incessant Screams to get an additional stop out of this. Depending on how much damage is going out, you can also consider using Petrifying Scream. However, if you can make good use of it, consider using Psychic Voice to get more overall stops in the key.

Psychic Horror is a single target stun talent that can serve a similar purpose as Silence in our kit to lock down a single enemy from casting. We recommend using this in the same way as your Silence, with the same macro (with Psychic Horror swapped in for Silence, of course). Typically, this talent is not worth the DPS or Defensive loss to take the talent, but it can be useful in certain cases.

Shackle Undead allows you to crowd-control a single undead enemy at a time. This has rare use cases in Season 1 and will not be used often.

Dominate Mind can also be used as a single target stop to a certain degree. While this is a bit more involved, it can be used to lock down a mob for up to 30 seconds. You can always cancel this early with a /petdismiss macro. Several dungeons also have mobs that still cast useful abilities when Mind Controlled. Check out the full list for the current season below.

• #showtooltip
• /petdismiss
• /cast [known:Mind Control] Mind Control; Dominate Mind

The following is a list of useful mobs you could consider using Dominate Mind on to gain access to certain abilities. When this is useful can depend on the key, though, so be sure to coordinate with your group on these casts.

See something cool that might be missing? Let me know on Discord: publik

• Jabbing Flyer - Bleeding Jab - Stacking bleed
• Trilling Attendant - Resonant Barrage - DO NOT MIND CONTROL will pull all mobs within 40 yards.

Due to the sheer amount of options the spec has in terms of utility, it is critical that you adjust class talents before every key you start to make sure you are optimizing utility when needed or taking more defensive options if you do not need the utility.

While we do not bring a battle resurrection to Mythic+ you can purchase Convincingly Realistic Jumper Cables to support your group. You do not need to be an Engineer to use this item.

Power Word: Fortitude gives everyone in your party an extra 5% Stamina, which provides a unique boost to help survive some of those hard-hitting abilities.

Mind Soothe provides an interesting alternative to Shroud of Concealment that might help your group skip past a more deadly Mythic+ pack, depending on the available space. This is changed to be an AoE cast ability that works on all mobs within the 10-yard radius on a short cooldown. Creative uses of this can make routing a key much easier.

Fade has a few good pieces of utility to call out, the most important being the aggro drop mechanic. If you find yourself getting aggro over the tank on the pull, you can use Fade to bypass this drop easily and continue with the key. With the Translucent Image class talent, this also turns Fade into a small defensive. With Phantasm this becomes an easy tool to break out of certain snare effects.

Twins of the Sun Priestess is by far the biggest piece of utility in the class tree, effectively giving your group an extra Power Infusion when used on an ally. While there is contentious debate on who the best specs are for this, I would generally prefer giving this out to Unholy Death Knights, Mages, Warlocks, Devastation Evoker, Enhancement Shamans or anyone that is on a 2-minute cooldown timer.

Dispel Magic allows you to dispel beneficial buffs from enemies. This is extremely useful in dungeons, as many mob packs in many of the dungeons tend to have some buff that they cast on themselves. While this is more important in some dungeons than others, it is still precious to be able to do it. You can also use this to spot dispel Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant.

Purify Disease dispels all Disease effects from friendly targets. This is fairly niche but still situationally extremely useful. The biggest use case this season will be dispelling off Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour.

Mass Dispel remains a beneficial ability to have in our arsenal. Dispelling is very important, and Mass Dispel allows for both offensive and defensive dispels. The fact that you can dispel multiple enemies or friendly targets with just one global is situationally powerful. However, Mass Dispel does have a fairly lengthy 2-minute cooldown. You can also Mass Dispel Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour as well.

Vampiric Embrace heals allies based on the single-target damage you do on a 2-minute cooldown (reduced by San'layn). It can be potent depending on the situation, especially when combined with San'layn. Note that the damage of our DoTs also gets converted to healing. Similarly, we also have access to Essence Devourer, which can be nice for any builds that use Mindbender for similar style healing.

Leap of Faith pulls a friendly party member towards you. It could be more useful generally, but it can sometimes save someone.

The class tree also offers several healing spells that you can combine to give off healing capability for the Priest. The main ones are Renew, Prayer of Mending, and Power Word: Life.

Void Tendrils offers an aoe root if you can afford to jump into melee to cast this.

Void Shift can be used to save your life or an ally's life if used at a good time. Generally speaking, this is not very useful.

For a quick guide of which talents to use, check the dungeon and affixes in the table below and see the list of suggested utility talents you should make sure you work into your build.

Dungeons	Affixes
Ara-Kara, City of Echoes	Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant
City of Threads	Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound
The Dawnbreaker	Xal'atath's Bargain: Oblivion
Grim Batol	Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour
Mists of Tirna Scithe
The Necrotic Wake
Siege of Boralus
The Stonevault

Based on the selections above, you should run the following class talents:

• Purify Disease
• Mass Dispel
• Shackle Undead
• Psychic Voice
• Phantasm
• Voidweaver for access to Devour Matter
• There are no specific talent suggestions for the Xal'atath's Bargain: Oblivion affix.
• There are no specific talent suggestions for Grim Batol.
• There are no specific talent suggestions for The Stonevault.

• Be prepared to use a defensive for Alerting Shrill and Gossamer Onslaught.
• Keep an eye on timers for Alerting Shrill to either Shadow Crash or Vampiric Touch the adds when they spawn. It is usually a good idea to refresh DoTs on the boss right before this.
• If an ally gets caught in Web Wrap, you can use Mass Dispel to get them out.

• Be prepared to use a defensive for Infestation if cast on you.
• When Bloodstained Webmage spawns, be sure to focus it down quickly.

• Be prepared to use a defensive for Cosmic Singularity
• Any attacks on Bloodworker will instantly kill them and give you Twist of Fate. You should try to keep as much uptime on this as possible.
• You can use Psychic Scream or Dispersion to break the root from Grasping Blood.

• No specific tips.

• Be sure to coordinate with the tank on which direction and where he will be moving the boss throughout the encounter so you can pre-plan your movement.
• You can Mass Dispel debuffs of Shadows of Doubt but be extra careful as this can be challenging for the group to dodge.
• Be prepared to use a defensive for Vociferous Indoctrination.

• Be prepared to use a defensive on casts of Duskbringer, Knife Throw, or Shadow Shunpo.
• You can use Mass Dispel to dispel Ice Sickles.

• Be prepared to use a defensive on Dark Pulse.

• Be prepared to use a defensive on Splice.
• A few seconds after Tremor Slam several adds will spawn. Make sure to time this so that you have Shadow Crash available. Consider holding crash and manually DoTing with Vampiric Touch if Umbral Weave is coming up.

• No specific tips.

• Be prepared to use a defensive if targeted by Shadow Shroud.
• You can use Mass Dispel to get rid of Burning Shadows.

• Always be conscious of positioning on this boss as if you were about to get targeted by Dark Orb. If you know the orb will impact a wall too soon, be sure to use a defensive.
• Be prepared to use a defensive during Shadowy Decay.
• Save your Shadow Crash for when the boss casts Animate Shadows.

• Try to keep yourself roughly in the middle of the boat and not too far away from the boss. There are a lot of mechanics that force positioning , and you do not want to be out in the middle of nowhere.
• Be prepared to use a defensive for casts of Erosive Spray.

• No specific tips.

• Be prepared to use a defensive for Commanding Roar.

• Be prepared to use a defensive for Forge Axe, Forge Swords, or Forge Mace.
• Do not stand in front of the tank during Fiery Cleave.

• Save your Shadow Crash for spawns of Invocation of Shadowflame. Be sure to focus this add down.
• Be prepared to use a defensive for Twilight Buffet.

• Be prepared to use a defensive for Void Surge and Abyssal Corruption.
• When the boss casts Void Infusion he spawns a wave of adds. Be sure to have Shadow Crash available for these.

• No specific tips.

• Coordinate with your group to not waste kicks on Spirit Bolt.
• Be aware of Droman's health getting to 20% to phase into Droman's Wrath. You want to balance the group's damage so that you get to that phase at a good pace and have good damage during that phase. For Shadow Priests, ideally, we just use Halo as Archon or Entropic Rift as Voidweaver in the off-cycle and then have our full cooldowns during the damage amp. Key level and group item level play a huge role in this, and if you can master timings, you can save a lot of time.
• While you should keep both bosses DoTed when available, be sure to primarily target Droman Oulfarran while active unless Ingra Maloch is close enough to dying.

• Use Shadow Crash to DoT the Illusionary Vulpin when it spawns, or coordinate with your group to CC it.
• During the Guessing Game phase, I like to go ahead and cast Shadow Crash and start manually DoTing 1 or 2 of the targets until my group decides which one is the real one to hit. This gives the group a little insurance if they were wrong, in addition to a very small funnel increase.
• Be prepared to use a defensive during Guessing Game as the damage ramps up the longer you are in that phase.
• Line up Dodge Ball during the intermission as these can damage the Illusionary Clone adds.

• Save Shadow Crash to quickly DoT add spawns.
• Position yourself so that you are still in range of group members and particularly the healer, as it can get easy to spread.

• Be sure to grab your Savory Statshroom before the first boss!
• Typically, you can use your cooldowns on the pull before the first boss and they should be back up for the bosses first damage amp.

• Be prepared to use a defensive if targeted by Heaving Retch.
• After the cast goes off, you can dispel Heaving Retch with Purify Disease.
• Save Shadow Crash for after the Heaving Retch f or the Carrion Worm adds that spawn.

• You can coordinate with your group to use Shackle Undead to control either the Reanimated Crossbowman or Reanimated Mage. If the add stays within Shackle the boss does not count it as alive for Final Harvest.
• Be prepared to use a defensive for Final Harvest. If you know an add will still be alive, you need to use Dispersion.
• Focus the adds when they spawn, particularly ones at range.
• Be aware of positioning so that you can easily dodge the bosses frontal, Necrotic Breath.
• Coordinate interrupts of Necrotic Bolt from the boss and especially Frostbolt Volley from the Reanimated Mage.

• Pay attention to timers so that you have Shadow Crash ready when a new Stitchflesh's Creation is spawned.
• Balance out damage so that you have enough to kill the add in a reasonable time, but make sure to save cooldowns for after the boss himself is Meat Hook down so that you can damage him.
• Keep your positioning in mind throughout the fight so that if you get targeted with Meat Hook, you always place it in a good spot to hook the boss.
• Be prepared to use a defensive for Stitchneedle.

• If you time it correctly, you can use Leap of Faith on the target of Dark Exile to keep them on the platform to DPS the boss. This will still cause the player to die after 50 seconds, but if the boss will die soon this could be a big time save. You can use this WeakAura to help time this.
• If you are playing Voidweaver make sure you prioritize Shadow Word: Death during Icebound Aegis.

• No specific tips.

• When the boss runs into the bombs, he will gain Heavy Ordnance. Be sure to save cooldowns for these events to take advantage of the damage amp window. It is a short window, so pre-cast your opener so that you have your damage ready.
• Make sure to position yourself so that if you are targeted by Iron Gaze, you know which bomb to run into.
• Watch for the add timers so that you have Shadow Crash available when they spawn. Make sure to keep these DoTs active but still focus the boss.
• Make sure you are not in line of the Heavy Smash frontal cast by Irontide Cleaver.

• Pay attention to the health of Dread Captain Lockwood. Once the boss reaches 66% or 33% health, she will start phase two. You will want Shadow Crash ready for the start of this phase.
• During the intermission, be sure to prioritize-target the Ashvane Cannoneer.
• Sometimes, as the boss is coming back from the intermission, she will cast Gut Shot at a random player instead of the tank. If this happens to you, be sure to use a large defensive. You can try to prevent this from happening by pressing Fade before you end the intermission.

• Be sure to not greed casts after Break Water spawns under you, move out immediately. Consider using a defensive for this cast as well. Ideally, as a Ranged player, you bait these away from the central pillar (they spawn under players).
• Keep track of the boss's energy. Once he reaches 100%, you want to ideally be closer to the middle of the room so that you can easily dodge Tidal Surge.

• Throughout the fight there will be several tentances active to hit. As a Shadow Priest, you want to have Vampiric Touch active on all tentacles. Be sure to keep your positioning in mind that you are always in range of all tentacles for Psychic Link damage.
• If the healer gets overwhelmed, you can use Mass Dispel to get rid of Putrid Waters. Just be sure to dispel them when they are ideally away from other players, as it knocks folks away.
• For the first two areas, focus damage onto Demolishing Terror tentacles before moving onto Gripping Terror tentacles. On the last platform, depending on how strong your damage is, you can instead focus the Gripping first.

• No specific tips.

• Consider using a defensive for casts of Refracting Beam as each Volatile Spike that is broken leaves a stacking DoT on the party.
• When Earth Shatterer goes out, you might need a larger defensive depending on how many Volatile Spike are left up.

• This fight will spawn several Crystal Shard adds that will eventually need to be killed. Each time one dies, the party gains a stacking debuff of Crystalline Eruption. This can be deadly if you DoT all of the adds, and they all die at the same time without significant healer throughput, so do this carefully. In higher key levels, you might want to DoT one at a time while focusing on the boss.
• Consider using a defensive for Unstable Crash.
• You can pick up Unstable Fragments to gain a damage increase to the boss during Fortified Shell. This is a large increase but also leaves a nasty DoT on yourself. If you pick up too many stacks you will need to use a defensive.
• During Fortified Shell, be sure to prioritize casts of Shadow Word: Death if you are a Voidweaver due to Devour Matter.

• Be sure to kill these bosses evenly; you want them to die as close together as possible. Since Speaker Brokk jumps away throughout the fight, this might be a preferred priority target if you have mostly melee in your group.
• When Speaker Brokk finishes Scrap Song be sure to interrupt the cast of Molten Metal at range.
• Consider using a defensive for Exhaust Vents or Blazing Crescendo.

• Throughout the fight, you will need to clear off Void Corruption by dropping them into the portals. You should position yourself so that you do not need to run across the room to do this.
• Use a defensive for casts of Entropic Reckoning.

• No specific tips.

Periodically, orbs of cosmic energy will spawn near your group. As a Shadow Priest, you can use the following spells to get rid of these orbs:

• Psychic Scream
• Mass Dispel - Capped at 5 targets
• Silence - Usually best to save this for something else
• Psychic Horror
• Dispel Magic

When the Voidbound affix spawns, you should immediately swap targets to focus this down. If you are a Voidweaver, be sure to prioritize casts of Shadow Word: Death for the increase from Devour Matter.

The important thing to realize is the extra damage from Devour Matter will contribute to Psychic Link damage, so prioritizing Shadow Word: Death casts into this mob is a large boost in damage for us.

Be sure to pay attention to these orbs and intercept them before they reach mobs.

When Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour is present that week, you should always be prepared to use Mass Dispel or Purify Disease to dispel Void Rift as often as you can on your party. You can also remove this with racials such as Stoneform.

If you are out of tools to dispel off the debuff, you can also use Desperate Prayer, Power Word: Life, or Flash Heal to help get the debuff off.