Varathus
Grandfathered
Shadow Priest PvE Guide for Starter Accounts
1. Introduction
You should take into consideration that this guide is only viable with level 20 questing, dungeons and hard PvE encounters in the open world. It’s also very important to mention that this guide is for Pure F2P accounts and not veteran accounts. In this guide I will mainly focus on optimizing your Insanity generation and how to correctly manage your Insanity as a Shadow Priest. Insanity is the purple bar below your Mana bar. This guide will be constantly updated.
2. Rotation
1. Always remain in Void Form.
2. There is a spell called Void Eruption. When you have the chance to cast it, cast it!
3. After this casting Void Bolt is a priority in order to stack insanity. Shadow Word: Void should be casted when Void Bolt is on a cooldown.
4. It’s a common mistake that Shadow Word: Pain is used on hard-to-kill bosses. Shadow Word: Pain should only be used when the tank has pulled a lot of mobs. You should spread Shadow Word: Pain to large groups of enemies. This is of course a priority when facing weak targets. When facing an elite or high level this step should be avoided.
5. Use Mind Flay as a filler.
6. If not collected powerful enough gear yet, cast Flash Heal to compensate the health drain.
3. Talents
When you reach level 15 you should choose Shadow Word: Void. Shadow Word: Void replaces Mind Blast and has two charges, at the cost of a slightly higher cooldown but generating more Insanity and doing more damage.
When reaching level 20 you should go with Gladiator’s Medallion. Gladiator's Medallion is an on-use ability that removes all movement impairing effects and all loss of control effects.
4. Stats
Intellect > Critical Strike > Haste > Versatility > Mastery
As to Stamina. You should have more stamina compared to intellect. A ratio of 7/8 is desirable.
5. Gear
This section is a work in progress.
Before getting BiS (Best in Slot) you should go questing in Stonetalon Mountains. Stonetalon Mountains has easy to access gear for a cloth-wearer. As to weapons you should use a wand and an off-hand as the stats are ideal for spell-casting.
6. Enchanting
Before enchanting you should pick up tailoring. After crafting some white items you can craft green items. These green items can be turned into Strange Dust, Lesser Magic Essence and Greater Magic Essence. These are crafting reagents used for making enchants.
Enchant your chest with Lesser Health and NOT Lesser Mana. Running out of Mana is incredibly rare.
Enchant your cloak with Minor Protection.
Enchant your wand with Minor Striking.
Enchant your bracers with Minor Health.
1. Introduction
You should take into consideration that this guide is only viable with level 20 questing, dungeons and hard PvE encounters in the open world. It’s also very important to mention that this guide is for Pure F2P accounts and not veteran accounts. In this guide I will mainly focus on optimizing your Insanity generation and how to correctly manage your Insanity as a Shadow Priest. Insanity is the purple bar below your Mana bar. This guide will be constantly updated.
2. Rotation
1. Always remain in Void Form.
2. There is a spell called Void Eruption. When you have the chance to cast it, cast it!
3. After this casting Void Bolt is a priority in order to stack insanity. Shadow Word: Void should be casted when Void Bolt is on a cooldown.
4. It’s a common mistake that Shadow Word: Pain is used on hard-to-kill bosses. Shadow Word: Pain should only be used when the tank has pulled a lot of mobs. You should spread Shadow Word: Pain to large groups of enemies. This is of course a priority when facing weak targets. When facing an elite or high level this step should be avoided.
5. Use Mind Flay as a filler.
6. If not collected powerful enough gear yet, cast Flash Heal to compensate the health drain.
3. Talents
When you reach level 15 you should choose Shadow Word: Void. Shadow Word: Void replaces Mind Blast and has two charges, at the cost of a slightly higher cooldown but generating more Insanity and doing more damage.
When reaching level 20 you should go with Gladiator’s Medallion. Gladiator's Medallion is an on-use ability that removes all movement impairing effects and all loss of control effects.
4. Stats
Intellect > Critical Strike > Haste > Versatility > Mastery
As to Stamina. You should have more stamina compared to intellect. A ratio of 7/8 is desirable.
5. Gear
This section is a work in progress.
Before getting BiS (Best in Slot) you should go questing in Stonetalon Mountains. Stonetalon Mountains has easy to access gear for a cloth-wearer. As to weapons you should use a wand and an off-hand as the stats are ideal for spell-casting.
6. Enchanting
Before enchanting you should pick up tailoring. After crafting some white items you can craft green items. These green items can be turned into Strange Dust, Lesser Magic Essence and Greater Magic Essence. These are crafting reagents used for making enchants.
Enchant your chest with Lesser Health and NOT Lesser Mana. Running out of Mana is incredibly rare.
Enchant your cloak with Minor Protection.
Enchant your wand with Minor Striking.
Enchant your bracers with Minor Health.
Last edited:
