DPS Rotation & Cooldowns
This rotation offers a general priority list for Shadow Priest abilities, along with key cooldowns at the bottom. It's based on a standard build and is here to help while we work on a smarter, build-aware system. If you are very new to the game or this class, we added info on the new assisted rotation features at the bottom of this guide. Updated for the latest patch in World of Warcraft: The War Within (11.1.7).
Single Target
Ensure Shadowform and Power Word Fortitude are active before combat.
Maintain Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word Pain, spend Insanity on Devouring Plague, and use Void Eruption or Dark Ascension for burst. Fill with Mind Spike Insanity or Mind Flay as needed.
AoE
Ensure Shadowform and Power Word Fortitude are active before combat.
Use Shadow Crash to apply DoTs, spend Insanity on Devouring Plague, and use Void Eruption or Dark Ascension for AoE burst. Fill with Mind Flay as needed.
Cooldowns
Use Void Eruption or Dark Ascension for burst phases, Power Infusion for Haste, and Void Torrent for Insanity generation. Sync Shadowfiend with major cooldowns.
New to Class? Try Assisted Rotation
Patch 11.1.7 introduced new features that make it eaiser to pick and play new characters. These new settings can be enabled from settings » gameplay enhancements:
- Single-Button Assistant
- Assisted Highlight
- Cooldown Manager
If you are new to World of Warcraft or a certain class, enabling Assisted Highlight and Cooldown Manager can help you learn which abilities to prioritize and use.
While the Single-Button Assistant can be a much easier and more accessible way to play the game, it does come with a slight performance hit due to a small GCD penalty, as you will have to wait 25% longer in between spells and abilities.
To see which specs are best with the Single-Button Assistant feature, you can check out our DPS Rankings which uses SimC to sim every class using this feature.