How to Improve the Shadow Priest DPS in "Cataclysm"

Shadow priests rely mainly on damage-over-time spells.

You can increase DPS as a shadow priest in "World of Warcraft: Cataclysm" by selecting the right talents, glyphs, gear and rotation. Shadow priests are a DoT class, or damage-over-time class, meaning that the shadow priest's effectiveness depends on precise DoT timing. Keep your DoTs on your target at all times, but don't "clip" DoTs by refreshing them before they drop off. Many players use add-ons to time DoTs more precisely.

Instructions

1. Choose as prime glyphs, "Mind Flay," "Shadow Word: Death" and "Shadow Word: Pain." No other glyphs actually increase DPS, although the minor "Levitate" is a must-have unless you want to spend a great deal of your game play farming feathers. "Fading," "Fade," "Mass Dispel" and "Psychic Scream" are situationally useful.

2. Select a 8/0/31 talent spec with 31 points in the "Shadow" tree and eight in "Discipline" one. Use "Twin Disciplines" and "Mental Agility" in the "Discipline" tree to get to "Evangelism" and "Archangel." In the "Shadow" tree, avoid PvP talents, which focus on crowd control, and pick up all DPS talents. The remaining two points can be used for a bit of extra mana regen or survivability.

3. Select "Intellect" as the major stat for your gear. Ignore "Stamina," "Agility" and "Strength." "Spirit" is useful because it converts to "Hit"; stacking "+Spirit" rather than "+Hit" to the 17 percent hit cap allows you to use the same gear for "Shadow" and "Healing" sets. Once you have reached the hit cap, stack "Haste" to 2141 with the "Dark Intent" talent or 2589 without "Dark Intent." "Mastery" and "Crit" are fairly weak stats. Make sure to fully gem and enchant your gear, giving priority to "Intellect," "Spirit" and "Haste."

4. Select spells in a rotation, which keeps your DoTs constantly on your target. Start by putting up "Vampiric Touch," "Devouring Plague" and "Shadow Word: Pain." Use "Shadowfiend" and "Dark Archangel" when they are off "cooldown" and "Shadow Word: Death" when your target is under 25 percent. When your DoTs are up, use "Mind Blast" and "Mind Flay" as fillers. "Mind Sear" is useful on large groups of trash mobs.

References

• ShadowPriest.com; Kilee's Shadow Priest Guide; Kilee; July 2011
• Gotwarcraft: Shadow Priest Guide for Cataclysm