Shadow Priest

From Divided Loyalties

After reading/researching/thinking about Shadow Priests and how we do damage and our roles in a raid, I believe this to be the priority in what we should shoot for in our stats. Update for WLK: I have done a little more research and here is a weight suggestion from shadowpriest.com:

1. SpellHit up to 17% (including talents, which should give us 6%: Shadow Focus and Misery) -- 2.04 or 100 (obviously this goes to 0 once you are at the 289 hit cap)
2. SpellPower -- 1.29 or 63
3. SpellCrit -- .99 or 49
4. Haste -- .91 or 45
5. Int -- .33 or 16
6. Spirit -- .3 or 15

This is pretty much the basis for alot (read "all") of the decisions I've made with my character. My thinking could be wrong and if so, feel free to let me know. I'm always trying to learn more and do a better job.

Contents 1 Spell hit rating 2 Spellpower 2.1 Spellpower coefficients 3 Crit rating 4 Gear 4.1 Head 4.2 Neck 4.3 Shoulders 4.4 Back 4.5 Chest 4.6 Wrists 4.7 Hands 4.8 Waist 4.9 Legs 4.10 Feet 4.11 Finger 4.12 Trinket 4.13 Wand 4.14 Staff 4.15 Main hand 4.16 Off hand 4.17 Gems 4.17.1 Red 4.17.2 Yellow 4.17.3 Blue 4.17.4 Orange 4.17.5 Green 4.17.6 Purple 5 Enchantments 5.1 Head 5.2 Shoulders 5.3 Back 5.4 Chest 5.5 Wrists 5.6 Hands 5.7 Legs 5.8 Feet 5.9 Weapon

Spell hit rating

In a recent patch, they made it so you can actually have a 0% chance to miss with a spell, so we should shoot for that. Here are the stats if you have 0 +SpellHit:

Level Difference	PvE	PvP
- 4	100%	100%
- 3	99%	99%
- 2	98%	98%
- 1	97%	97%
0	96%	96%
+ 1	95%	95%
+ 2	94%	94%
+ 3	83%	87%
+ 4	72%	80%
+ 5	61%	73%

So the SpellHit cap you should be shooting for is 289, assuming you have Shadow Focus and Misery maxed out.

1% hit = 12.6 hit rating at level 70. 1% hit = 26.232 hit rating at level 80.

Spellpower

Once we hit the Spell Hit cap, whis is the most important stat for a Shadow Priest, though others are creaping up because of the changes in 3.x.

Spellpower coefficients

• 42.9% Mind Blast
• 77% Mind Flay -- 26% per tick
• 110% Shadow Word: Pain -- 18% per tick. Suggestion was made to wait until Shadow Weaving is maxed out before applying this so you get the full +damage. That or you could reapply it once it's maxed.
• 42.9% Shadow Word: Death
• 200% Vampiric Touch (doubled it in 3.0.3) -- 40% per tick
• 147% Devouring Plague (recently in 3.0.3) -- 18% per tick

Crit rating

For casters, you have to hit before you can crit, so keep that in mind. Getting close to the hit cap is going to be priority.

80 int = 1% crit. ~22 crit rating = 1% crit. So... roughly every 4 int counts as 1 crit rating.

My bread-and-butter damage spells are SW: Pain, VT, Mind Flay, Devouring Plague, and Mind Blast. Of these, Mind Flay and Mind Blast are crittable. I work SW: Death into my spell rotatation, but I am careful about it and make sure it doesn't add strain to the healers. I view it similar to a "life tap" for locks, and view it as I am responsible for getting my health back (via Devouring Plague and VE).

Gear

[b]In the process of updating for WLK.[/b]

DOH! After working on this list, I found this BC Cloth DPS Equipment page. I'm still going to work on this page, though, and try to prioritize the gear based on what I think a Shadow Priest needs.

Alot of this depends on where you are currently. Assuming spell hit rating is high enough (I have more to research to do on that), I'm thinking +damage is going to be what you want as a Shadow Priest. There is really only one spell that you want to crit - Mind Blast. SW: Death can crit but you don't want it to because of the damage you'll take. The rest of your spells are not critable, so are only affected by +damage.

Head

Neck

• Encircling Burnished Gold Chains: 25 badges; 59 sp, 25 hit, 38 int, 34 spi

Shoulders

Back

• Deathchill Cloak: Tailor crafted; 59 sp, 53 haste, 43 crit
• Disguise of the Kumiho: 25 badges; 65sp, 41 haste, 37 spi
• Reanimator's Cloak: DTK; 41 sp, 38 spi, +red

Chest

Wrists

Hands

Waist

Legs

Feet

• Xintor's Expeditionary Boots -- 40 super badges -- 88 sp, 43 hit
• Footwraps of Teleportation -- Xevozz in Violet Hold (H) -- 59 sp, yellow gem

Finger

• Titanium Spellshock Ring -- JC crafted -- 49 sp, 42 crit, 33 int, red gem
• Ring of Northern Tears -- JC crafted -- 36 sp, 31 hit, 39 crit

Trinket

• Sundial of the Exiled -- 40 badges -- 84 crit; +590 sp proc

Wand

• Wand of Ahnkahet: Heral Volazj @ Old Kingdom; 33 sp, 27 spi

Staff

• Staff of Draconic Combat: Cache of Eregos @ Oculus; 408 sp, 88 haste, 69 spi
• Staff of Wayward Principles: Skadi the Ruthless @ UP; 355 sp, 78 haste, 56 spi
• Staff of Sinister Claws: Herald Volazj @ Old Kingdom; 355 sp, 78 haste, 51 spi

Main hand

• Torch of Holy Fire -- Kel'Thuzad -- 520 sp, 48 haste
• Titansteel Guardian: BS crafted; 490 sp, 29 crit
  • Materials List
    • (12) Saronite Ore
    • (36) Titanium Ore
    • ( 6 ) Eternal Fire
    • ( 6 ) Eternal Earth
    • ( 6 ) Eternal Shadow
    • ( 2 ) Frozen Orb (20 Emblems)
• Netherbreath Spellblade: Skadi the Ruthless @ UP; 355 sp, 34 crit, 26 spi

Off hand

• Ward of the Violet Citadel: 25 badges; 59 sp, 38 hit, 25 crit, 34 int
• Handbook of Obscure Remedies: 25 badges; 59 sp, 25 haste, 38 spi
• Faces of Doom: Inscription; 39 sp, 32 crit, 32 spi
• Tome of Salramm: Salramm the Fleshcrafter @ Culling; 46 sp, 38 crit, 19 spi
• Iron-bound Tome: Inscription; 62 sp, 16 crit

Gems

Red

• Runed Crimson Spinel +12 Spells
• Runed Ornate Ruby +12 Spells (PvP Honor)
• Runed Living Ruby +9 Spells
• Stark Blood Garnet +8 Spells (Thrallmar marks)

Yellow

• Brilliant Dawnstone +8 Int
• Great Dawnstone +8 SpellHit

Blue

• Lustrous Star of Elune +3 Mana/5

Orange

• Potent Ornate Topaz +6 Spells, +5 Crit - bought with honor
• Unstable Topaz +5 Spells, +4 Int

Green

Purple

• Infused Amethyst +6 Spells, +6 Stam (Nightbane quest)

Enchantments

Head

• Glyph of Power +22 spells, +14 hit - Sha'tar revered

Shoulders

• Greater Inscription of the Orb +12 spells, +15 crit - Scryers exalted
• Inscription of the Orb +13 crit - Scryers revered

Back

• Enchant Cloak - Subtlety -2% threat
• Enchant Cloak - Major Armor +120 armor
• Enchant Cloak - Spell Penetration +20 spellpen

Chest

• Enchant Chest - Restore Mana Prime +6 mana/5
• Enchant Chest - Major Spirit +15 spi

Wrists

• Enchant Bracer - Spellpower +15 spells

Hands

• Enchant Gloves - Major Spellpower +20 spells

Legs

• Mystic Spellthread +25 spells, +15 sta
• Runic Spellthread +35 spells, +20 sta

Feet

• Enchant Boots - Vitality 4 health/5 and 4 mana/5
• Enchant Boots - Fortitude +12 sta

Weapon

• Enchant Weapon - Soulfrost +54 Shadow/Frost (expensive! only put on a Purp!)
• Enchant Weapon - Major Spellpower +40 spells