Season of Discovery Shadow Priest DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities

In Season of Discovery Shadow Priest will finally be able to fully utilize their potential with the removal of the debuff cap and the addition of some incredible new abilities thanks to the Rune Engraving system.

While it is not required, Engineering is a great tool to have as a Priest. Not only does it offer access to many toys and gizmos associated with it, but bombs such as Solid Dynamite are essentially free damage and help with the lack of consistent AoE damage Priest deals with, outside of Mind Sear usage. Bombs are typically best used on the pull as soon as your tank has established aggro so you can get multiple uses in an encounter. If you know a fight will have multiple targets, try to keep the cooldown ready for when there are multiple targets to hit.

Shadow operates much more on a list of priorities as opposed to a set DPS rotation. Listed below is an idea of how you should optimally be using your abilities to maximize your DPS.

• Make sure you are currently in Shadowform
• If an enemy will survive longer than a minute, apply Vampiric Embrace
• Use Homunculi to apply debuffs to the boss.
• Use Void Plague and maintain it on the boss.
• Use Vampiric Touch and maintain it on the boss.
• Use Shadow Word: Pain and maintain it on the boss.
• Use Shadowfiend on your main target.
• Use Mind Blast on cool down.
• Use Shadow Word: Death on cool down.
• Use Mind Spike as a filler when the conditions above are met and to maintain your damage over time effects thanks to Pain and Suffering.
• Use Shoot if you are out of Mana.

As a Shadow Priest in Season of Discovery you have limited, but powerful, options when it comes to multi-target situations. Mind Sear is an incredibly useful tool when fighting four or more enemies and only gets stronger the more mobs there are. If you are not runed into Mind Sear, your best bet would be applying Shadow Word: Pain to as many of the targets as possible. This is made much more viable by the reduced cost of Shadow abilities while in Shadowform and the addition of Shadowfiend.

As a Shadow Priest your spells cost a lot of Mana. While we have received many great changes in Season of Discovery such as the addition of Shadowfiend, Dispersion and the Mana cost reduction while in Shadowform to combat this issue, it is still something to be aware of. Always have Mana Potions ready should you find yourself without one of these many tools.

Homunculi deal a small amount of damage. Applies debuffs for your raid; Sunder, Demoralize and Thunder Clap.

Eye of the Void deals a small amount of damage, but applies incredibly strong curses to the enemy, reducing their outgoing damage and making them more vulnerable to incoming damage types.

Shadowfiend creates a shadowy fiend that attacks your target, returning 5% of your Mana each time it successfully attacks. This is an incredible tool for returning Mana as well as doing some additional damage. Use it early into an encounter if the duration of the fight may allow for multiple uses.

Psychic Scream Fears three enemies within 8 yards of the caster, sending them running in all directions. As a Priest you are incredibly vulnerable against melee attackers. This makes Psychic Scream the perfect option when needing to protect yourself. It is important to be aware of your surroundings when using this, as you can easily fear your target into additional enemies and the situation can quickly get out of control.

Mind Vision allows you to see from the perspective of your target. This can be used to scout dangerous locations, but is especially useful in PvP situations.

Fear Ward wards a friendly target against a Fear effect. 30 seconds cooldown. This ability can be used to preemptively avoid Fear effects not only on the Priest, but also on an ally. This is especially strong when used on tanks to avoid the chaos of a mob being relocated, or even the possibility of your tank being hit from behind, lessening their ability to mitigate damage.

Mind Control controls a humanoid mind, but increases their time between attacks by 25%. This is an incredibly useful ability that allows you to control a normally hostile humanoid and sometimes even use their own abilities against them, most often used to give otherwise unobtainable buffs. It can also be used to relocate the enemy to a more advantageous position for when you decide to end the effect.

Cure Disease removes one disease from a friendly target.

Abolish Disease attempts to cure one disease effect from a friendly target every 5 seconds for 20 seconds.

Dispel Magic dispels magic on the target, removing two harmful effects from a friendly target and two beneficial effects from an enemy. Dispel Magic is a powerful ability that will allow you to remove some of the most dangerous debuffs in the game from your allies while also removing powerful buffs from your enemies. Being aware of what you can and cannot dispel is important, as the general logic is if you can dispel it, you probably should.

Levitate allows the caster to levitate, floating a few feet from the ground. This can be used to slow your falling and avoid otherwise dangerous situations. It can also be used to walk across water. Make sure to keep some Light Feathers on you at all times.

Power Word: Shield provides a powerful shield to a friendly target, absorbing incoming damage. This is a great way to lessen burst damage or avoid spell push back. It also applies the Weakened Soul debuff that will stop you from casting Power Word: Shield on the same target again for 15 seconds.

Mind Soothe soothes the target, reducing the radius in which it will attack you by 10 yards. Only effects Humanoids.

Power Word: Fortitude increases the Stamina of a friendly target for 30 minutes. (60 if you have learned the Scroll of Increased Fortitude)

Shadow Protection increases the targets resistance to Shadow spells for 10 minutes.