Shadow Priest DPS Nerub-ar Palace Raid Guide — The War Within (11.0.5)

As a Shadow Priest you are free to play Archon or Voidweaver for any raid boss. Both of these can be viable options for progression encounters depending on your preferred playstyle.

Ultimately each Hero Talent spec will have its own strengths and weaknesses based on damage patterns and playstyle that will shine more on some bosses versus others. With this in mind each boss section below will give a suggestion based on these factors, but you should feel free to try either choice to see what works best for you.

• Ulgrax the Devourer (More Boss Damage)
• Sikran
• Nexus Princess Ky'veza

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This build is nearly identical to the single target build but picks up Shadow Crash and Whispering Shadows to give you the ability for easy DoTing of many adds without compromising your single target damage much (less than 2%). I would start with Voidweaver as it is about 2% ahead of Archon variants.

Note that due to fixed boss positioning you might find that Bloodbound Horror and Rasha'nan fights preferring to run Archon over Voidweaver due to the adds not being able to be stacked onto the boss where your Entropic Rift is located. This is less relevant if you are just trying to optimize for boss damage.

• Ulgrax the Devourer (More Add Damage)
• Bloodbound Horror
• Rasha'nan
• Broodtwister Ovi'nax
• The Silken Court
• Queen Ansurek

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• Consider using a defensive for Venomous Lash.
• If an add hits you during the intermission, you might need a defensive if your stacks of Disembowel get too high. You can also use things like Stoneform to get rid of this bleed.

• When the boss hits 0 energy as he will phase out of the encounter, and you will just be dealing with adds. Do your best to keep all the adds debuffed with Vampiric Touch and focus your damage on ones with larger health pools. If you decide to talent into Shadow Crash it will be helpful in this phase only.
• You will get your 2-minute cooldowns back during intermission. You want to hold these cooldowns for after the phase ends once the boss becomes vulnerable to damage again (after his immunity falls off). If you reach the second intermission you might want to pop them on the adds if the boss will not have much health after it ends, but only do this when you know the immunity will get broken quickly.
• Depending on your kill time if you know you will get your 3rd set of cooldowns at ~4 minutes you can save your Shadowfiend cast to line up with that set. If you are taking Mindbender continue to send on cooldown or hold if you are casting Void Eruption or Dark Ascension soon.

• If you are rooted by Stalker's Netting, you can use Dispersion to get out of it, but this does waste a costly defensive, so avoid these at all costs. You can also use this root to avoid being pulled into the boss during Carnivorous Contest.
• During the intermission phase you can use Dispersion, Power Word: Shield, and Angelic Feathers to help speed you up when carrying Chunky Viscera to the boss.

Suggested Hero Talent Spec: Voidweaver or Archon

By default I suggest using the Single Target build. The add spawns are pretty chaotic and they do not live very long until you get to Mythic. If you want more add damage feel free to use the Shadow Crash build.

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• Keep track of Crimson Rain and use Desperate Prayer to help heal this off if needed.

This fight will break your group up into two groups. This denotes which set of adds you will be killing and, therefore, your cooldown timings. You have some buffer with your in-between casts of Halo or Void Torrent depending on your choice of Hero Talent. Try to sync casts of Halo with damage taken events like Crimson Rain for more raid healing.

Note that these are roughly estimated timings but will be slightly off, based on the cooldown of Halo gradually de-syncing with the rest of your cooldowns.

If you can, try to get assigned to Group 1 as this lines up with our cooldowns much more naturally.

The below lists just mention Full Cooldowns and One Minute cooldowns to make this interchangeable with Archon or Voidweaver. As Archon this includes Halo and Mindbender and as Voidweaver this includes Dark Ascension and Void Torrent. As a Voidweaver you will also have additional casts of Void Torrent as you cast this on cooldown.

Being a member of Group 1 you can cast your cooldowns on pull and still have them rolling for part of the first wave of adds. Delaying for the actual add spawn is usually not needed.

• 0:00 - Full Cooldowns
• 0:20 - Gruesome Disgorge #1
• 1:00 - One Minute Cooldowns
• 2:15 - Full Cooldowns (Can pop slightly early but delaying a bit helps sync with add group)
• 2:30 - Gruesome Disgorge #2
• 3:15 - One Minute Cooldowns
• 4:20 - Full Cooldowns
• 4:35 - Gruesome Disgorge #3
• 5:32 - One Minute Cooldowns

If you are assigned to Group 2, you are at risk of losing your last use of major cooldowns if the fight ends before you finish your 3rd set of cooldowns around 5:30. If you know the fight will end up being shorter, you can try swapping the order and following group 1 cooldowns, but this means you will only have One Minute Cooldowns for the add sets.

• 0:00 - One Minute Cooldowns
• 1:15 - Gruesome Disgorge #1
• 1:15 - Full Cooldowns
• 2:11 - One Minute Cooldowns
• 3:25 - Gruesome Disgorge #2
• 3:25 - Full Cooldowns
• 4:25 - One Minute Cooldowns
• 5:30 - Gruesome Disgorge #3
• 5:30 - Full Cooldowns

• Make sure to position yourself so that when you soak Gruesome Disgorge, you are in a good position to hit as many adds as possible.
• While you are in The Unseeming, be sure to be within range of all adds and that Vampiric Touch is active on each one. If you are out of range, Psychic Link will not work.
• The boss is still targetable while you are in the downstairs phase. Even though you should be prioritizing adds in this phase, you can still get good Psychic Link damage onto the boss. Be sure to refresh Vampiric Touch right before you go down into the add phase.

Suggested Hero Talent Spec: Archon

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• Be prepared to use a defensive when targeted by Decimate.
• Cosmic Shards will likely start ticking quite hard, so you should always use at least Fade for each cast.
• If you are targeted with Phase Blades you can use Dispersion to quickly get into position and help mitigate the damage, even standing in a pool if needed.

• No specific guidance, use your cooldowns on cooldown.

• Positioning on this fight will be key; you want to move as little as possible. The best way to accomplish this is to position yourself close enough to where you might need to move for mechanics like Decimate or Phase Blades so you shorten the required distance.
• If you are playing Archon try to get longer casts like Void Torrent on cooldown before Rain of Arrows starts.
• Try to time casts with Rain of Arrows such that you start your cast right after a set of arrows spawn to ensure you can finish your cast off in case the next set spawns on top of you. If you can try to stand away from allies to not have to move more often.

Suggested Hero Talent Spec: Archon

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• Depending on your strategy, if you are breaking multiple Sticky Web debuffs, you should press a defensive. If you are targeted by this, you can use Dispersion to break this quickly.
• During Erosive Spray, you will gain a stacking DoT that deals heavy damage. Be sure to use a defensive for this mechanic.

• Make sure you have Shadow Crash ready for Infested Spawn. This will not DoT every single add but will at least get you some extra funnel onto the boss. Do not bother manually casting Vampiric Touch on any adds; they will not live long enough for this to have been worth it. If all of the original adds die and there are still some active, you can apply Shadow Word: Pain to them to continue to refresh your Twist of Fate buff if the boss is still above 35% health.
• If you know that Infested Spawn are coming soon you can choose to hold casts of Halo ( Archon) or Void Torrent ( Voidweaver) just be careful not to de-sync this too much so that you do not lose any overall casts during the encounter.

The below list only mentions Full Cooldowns and One Minute cooldowns to make this interchangeable with Archon or Voidweaver. As Archon this includes Halo and Mindbender and as Voidweaver this includes Dark Ascension and Void Torrent. Voidweaver also has additional casts of Void Torrent which you cast on cooldown.

The following is rough timings you can use for the encounter:

• 0:00 - Full Cooldowns
• 1:00 - 1 minute cooldowns
• 1:01 - Infested Spawn Adds #1
• 2:10 - Full Cooldowns
• 2:25 - Infested Spawn Adds #2
• 3:10 - 1 minute cooldowns
• 3:35 - Infested Spawn Adds #3
• 4:10 - Full Cooldowns
• 4:15 - Infested Spawn Adds #4
• 4:35 - Infested Spawn Adds #5

• Positioning for Halo as Archon is very important as the return Halo has a dead zone that is about 0-10 yards from your player, so be sure to not be right next to the adds or the boss when using this ability.
• Pay attention to timers for when the boss is about to transition to the next section and where he might go. You want to do your best to leave slightly early (ideally popping Fade at least before you go) so that you get there as early as possible.

Suggested Hero Talent Spec: Voidweaver or Archon

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• Every time you go to break an egg you should consider using Desperate Prayer if you still have a healing absorb active or you are not topped going into the actual break. This fight has multiple healing absorbs so you might have Ingest Black Blood active on you that you want to clear.
• You ideally use Fade with Phantasm to clear your Sticky Web debuff which can go out every 30 seconds. This means you do not want to use this as a defensive unless it happens to line up with the cast of Sticky Web so that you have it for the next cast.

• Keep track of when adds will spawn so that you have Shadow Crash ready. On heroic difficulty you typically want to use Shadow Crash on the Blood Parasite clump (see image below). In Mythic difficulty I would suggest aiming it such that you will hit as many Voracious Worm adds as possible.
• Once adds spawn you will typically want to get Vampiric Touch active on all Voracious Worm adds since these are typically the priority target (especially in Mythic). Depending on spawns you can also consider manually DoTing the Colossal Spider adds as well, although in lower difficulties these might not live long enough for this to make sense for you. On Mythic difficulty I like to refresh Vampiric Touch as needed right before adds spawn and then aim Shadow Crash to hit at least one Voracious Worm add and then manually DoT with Vampiric Touch the other Worms and Spiders. Go back to focusing damage on the boss if there is not a current priority target the raid needs focused.
• If you are using Spymaster's Web you should consider your usages of the trinket based around Bloodlust timings. Most groups on progression will lust the add set around 6:20-6:30. With these timings you have about 20-30 seconds of leeway to delay your pull, 2 minute, and 4 minute cooldowns to line up with adds and Spymaster's Web stacks. Since the trinket takes 4 minutes to stack up you want to send it with 20 stacks (half) for your 2 minute cooldowns, and then again with Bloodlust at 6:20.

Be sure to pay attention to the egg that looks like this, when this is broken the AoE adds will spawn directly on top of where the egg was. You can use this to aim your Shadow Crash to land right as the add spawns (about 1 second before timer ends on your boss mod).

• When talented into Phantasm you can use Fade to break Sticky Web. When you break this it will apply to anyone around you so be sure to pre-position before this goes out or run out before dispelling. Be sure to keep talent points into Improved Fade since this can cast as fast as every 30 seconds.

Suggested Hero Talent Spec: Archon

This is not a great fight for Shadow Priests when it comes to overall damage. This is due to the sheer number of targets active, particularly for how long they are active for. This is particularly noticeable on Mythic difficulty. The way that Shadow Priests excel on this fight is by providing constant boss damage while also being able to deal good priority target damage to Voracious Worm adds.

Shadow Priests can add more raw AoE damage, typically one of the Mythic+ builds, but this is typically not where the group needs your damage as a Shadow Priest. There are other specs that are good at killing Blood Parasite adds and losing single target or Worm damage to add Parasite damage is usually not worth it for most groups.

This build uses the standard Archon Single Target + Shadow Crash build but picks up Phantasm in the class tree and Shock Pulse in the Hero tree to help slow the Blood Parasite adds. If your group is desperate for more Blood Parasite damage you can use one of the optional AoE builds but for progression I would advise against this for most groups.

The AoE builds below still take Sustained Potency to make sure you keep the most important talents for dealing boss damage. Energy Compression is more mass AoE but Sustained Potency is not very far behind if played well and gives you much more single target damage.

This fight does have uses for Silence but because this is either a DPS loss (dropping 1 point in Mind Devourer) or a Defensive loss (dropping Mental Fortitude) it is not suggested by default and is best covered by other members of your raid. This is roughly a 2% DPS loss to drop 1 talent point (28k DPS in full BiS).

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• Use at least a small defensive for Queensbane. If you get multiple stacks, you might need something stronger.

• No specific guidance.

• Like most bosses, your positioning here is crucial. In particular, you want to keep an eye out for the position of each Nether Rift and place your character equidistant between all of them to minimize how much you get pulled in.

Suggested Hero Talent Spec: Voidweaver or Archon

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• The fight will progressively get more and more mechanics, so as it goes on you will need to be more liberal with defensive usage.

• Keep track of Call of the Swarm so that you have Shadow Crash ready. These adds will fixate on the closest player on spawn, so be sure to leave this to more mobile ranged specs.
• You should save cooldowns if they are within 10-20 seconds of Reckless Charge. Right before this goes off you should refresh your Vampiric Touch on both bosses and be ready to focus damage into Anub'arash. You can bank up some Insanity for this phase as well if its within a few seconds.
• You will typically want to save cooldowns for Shatter Existence and Spike Storm phases so that you can quickly break this shield.

• You might be asked to use Mass Dispel to help move Stinging Swarm around. Be sure to ask ahead of time and be prepared to use this on the raid.

Suggested Hero Talent Spec: Voidweaver (Intermission Damage) or Archon (Prog/Overall)

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• You should track how many stacks of Frothy Toxin are incoming, if this is more than 2 stacks you absolutely need to use a defensive. The more stacks above 2 the bigger of a defensive you need to use.
• If you are one of the assigned players to soak Reactive Froth you can consider using Dispersion to quickly move out of the group before you explode.

You are very pressed for time to get your cooldowns off without losing casts, particularly in the first phase. Do your best to use your cooldowns ASAP. You should use all cooldowns on pull. You can consider using One Minute cooldowns earlier than usual to line up better for the first Silken Tomb set but this typically does not actually matter in terms of overall damage. You need to get this sequence done quickly so that you do not need to interrupt Void Torrent when Liquefy is cast when playing Archon or without Dark Energy.

Queen Ansurek casts Silken Tomb 3 times in Phase 1 at 1:00, 1:50, and 2:05 roughly. Use the below to help indicate what spells you should be using for these line ups. Note that for the first one it is highly likely that Halo as Archon will not come up until after the Tombs spawn. If this happens be sure to at least have Shadow Crash land when they trigger and cast Halo as soon as you can to get it on cooldown. Shadow Priest is one of the worst classes at killing these adds, we are only interested in tagging them for Twist of Fate uptime and you should focus on boss damage.

1. 1:00 - One Minute Cooldowns and Shadow Crash.
2. 1:50 - Shadow Crash
3. 2:05 - You should plan to use your Full Cooldowns here, however Shadow Crash will not be up yet.

As a Voidweaver I would not plan on holding your Void Torrent to align with the second set of adds to make sure you can cast it for your 2 minute cooldown set and not lose a use of the cooldown.

If you are phasing at optimal timings you will be able to use your second set of 2 minute cooldowns as soon as they are available before you phase into the first Intermission. This should last for the first part of the intermission but also give you strong boss damage before you phase. As a Shadow Priest saving your full 2 minute cooldowns for the Intermission is likely overkill and you will end up wasting some of this as the shield should phase quickly.

• Try to save 1-2 instant casts before you trigger the jump for Reactive Froth so you have meaningful spells to press while you are mid-air. After landing it can look chaotic but as long as you are on the boss the other raid members that triggered Reactive Froth should move out of the raid group so you do not need to move.
• Do your best to be clumped with the group near the boss for every cast of Silken Tomb. The faster you get broken out the faster you can pre-position for upcoming mechanics. Note that Phantasm does NOT work for this mechanic.

Intermission starts when the boss moves to the center of the platform and gains Predation.

• Be sure to use a defensive as you transition into the Intermission as there is quite a lot of up-front damage when this is phasing. You can then use a small one for each cast of Wrest.

Ideally you use your cooldowns before the Intermission and have them carry into the first part of the phase. This will give you the most optimal timings for the rest of the encounter. As a Voidweaver be sure to use Shadow Word: Death as your highest priority spell while the shield is active for the Devour Matter bonus.

• During the intermission you should still be able to deal almost full damage even while being pulled in. Every single instant cast spell you press should be coupled with movement and pre-positioning so that you do not need to interrupt your rotation to dodge waves.

Phase 2 starts after you finish off Ansurek's shield and move onto the add platforms. The faster you can dispatch the adds the fewer mechanics your group as to deal with that could cause issues.

• Keep an eye out for Gloom Touch debuffs as once dispelled they will deal raid wide damage. It is a good idea to know when these will be dispelled so you can use a smaller defensive beforehand like Fade.

If you are using your second set of cooldowns ASAP at 2 minutes you will most likely be able to use them again around 4 minutes during the add phase. Depending on your timing you will get your 4th set of cooldowns back in time shortly after phasing into the final phase of the fight when the boss is active. If you decide to cooldown the first Intermission you will not be able to fit this in.

• As you land onto the first add platform in Phase 2 use Shadow Crash to DoT both adds as you are landing. As a Ranged player you should then focus your damage onto Chamber Expeller since the melee have a harder time getting full uptime on this add. After the adds die you need to click the two pedestals on either side of the staircase to spawn it in, clicking this quickly allows you to skip any in-progress mechanics.
• During the add platforms in Phase 2 you will periodically be gripped in by Wrest. Similarly to the Intermission you want to ensure that you spend your instant cast spells moving towards the edge of the platform, even before it actually starts pulling you in. Be extra careful and aware of where the beam is being cast so that you are not gripped into that.
• As you transition platforms Spiders will spawn on the bridge. It is typically a good idea to wait for these to be grouped up before casting Shadow Crash for the Twist of Fate uptime similar to Phase 1. If you are confident with landing this accurately I would encourage also pressing Fade to ensure you do not pull threat.

Phase 3 begins once you transition to the final platform of the encounter.

• Use a small defensive before Royal Condemnation is cast. This does falloff damage the further you are away. If you are one of the players that has the debuff and you are stacking this next to the other player you should plan to use Dispersion.

Most kill times will be around 8-9 minutes. For the last phase of the fight you will need to pay attention to the estimated time to kill timer to see if you can fit in 2 sets of cooldowns or just one during this phase. If you can fit in 2 you will need to use this on cooldown more than likely, but if you are working at a fast pace you should hold your only set of cooldowns in this phase to line up with the Summoned Acolyte adds.

Pay attention to casts of Infest on your tank, they will spawn Spider adds as soon as the cast completes and you want to time your Shadow Crash to land as soon as they spawn. This is the only cast you should actually hit on the adds the rest of your damage should be focused onto Queen Ansurek and let Psychic Link do the add damage.

When Royal Condemnation is cast there will be two webs you need to DPS down to break. Unfortunately this happens too soon after the spiders spawn for you to have Shadow Crash available so I would suggest just manually casting Vampiric Touch on these to get damage into them. Depending on your raids damage you might need to change your target to each one, otherwise for most groups just cleaving off the boss with Psychic Link should be enough.

Later into the fight Queen Ansurek will cast Queen's Summons which will spawn 3 Summoned Acolyte adds in the center of the room. Before this is cast consider refreshing Vampiric Touch on the boss to make sure this does not fall off while you are focusing adds. As a Shadow Priest you should cast Vampiric Touch on these adds to get full Psychic Link cleave onto them. If you can get the positioning right you can use Shadow Crash to target two of these and only have to manually DoT the one far one. Most groups dedicate their ranged to focusing the one furthest away from the boss since it is usually not attackable by melee. You should plan on focusing this one down instead of the Boss during this phase. Voidweaver Shadow Priests should pay attention to which adds have shields active for Devour Matter damage since this will Psychic Link to other targets.

• After you phase pay attention to the way the boss is facing (you can use the target circle reticle under the boss and line up with the way the arrow is pointing). You should position yourself to not lose damage once the boss drops down.

Suggested Hero Talent Spec: Voidweaver

By default I would suggest playing Voidweaver for Queen Ansurek. There are some absorb shield mechanics on this fight that having Devour Matter for can be extremely helpful for on progression. Archon can definitely still work on this boss if you prefer to play that build.

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