Priest Class Changes for Shadowlands (Patch 9.0.2)
On this page, you will find a list of all Priest changes coming in Shadowlands.
In addition to the class changes listed here, Priest also gain access to class-specific Priest Covenant Abilities that can be used anywhere in the open world, Legendary Powers obtained through Runecarving, Soulbind Conduits, and Anima Powers that only work in Torghast.
1.
General Changes
- Fade now has an additional effect — Fade now reduces the range at which enemies will attack you.
- All Priests can now use the following abilities:
- Shadow Word: Pain — A word of darkness that causes Shadow damage instantly, an additional Shadow damage over 12 seconds. Shadow Priest generate 4 Insanity.
- Shadow Word: Death — A word of dark binding that inflicts Shadow damage to the target. If the target is not killed by Shadow Word: Death, the caster takes damage equal to the damage inflicted upon the target. Damage increased by 175% to targets below 20%.
- New PvP Talent: Thoughtsteal — Peer into the mind of an enemy, attempting to steal a known spell. If stolen, the victim cannot cast that spell for 20 seconds. Can only be used on Humanoids with mana. If you are unable to find a spell to steal, the cooldown of Thoughtsteal is reset.
- Power Word: Shield — Shields an ally for 15 seconds, absorbing damage. You cannot shield the same target again for 7.5 seconds. Instant-cast, costs 3.1% of Base Mana, 40-yard range.
2.
General Priest Abilities Learned Above Level 50
- Mind Soothe (Level 52) — Soothes the target, reducing the range at which it will attack you by 10 yards. Only affects Humanoid and Dragonkin targets. Does not cause threat. Lasts 20 seconds. Instant-cast, costs 100 Mana, 40-yard range.
- Mass Dispel (Level 54) — Mass Dispel is now potent enough to remove some Magic that is normally undispellable.
- Power Infusion (Level 58) — Infuses the target with power for 20 seconds, increasing Haste by 25%. 40-yard range, instant-cast, 2-minute cooldown.
3.
Discipline Priest
- New Ability: Holy Nova — If your Holy Nova deals damage to at least 3 enemies, a second Holy Nova will be cast a moment later at 50% effectiveness at the same location.
- New Ability: Mind Sear — Corrosive shadow energy radiates from the target, dealing Shadow damage over 4.5 seconds to all enemies within 10 yards of the target.
- New Ability: Mind Blast — Blasts the target's mind for Shadow damage and has an additional effect: Mind Blast prevents some of the next damage dealt by the enemy.
- Rapture now immediately casts Power Word: Shield on your friendly target when used, if no ally is targeted, Power Word: Shield will be cast on yourself, and its duration has been reduced to 8 seconds (from 10 seconds).
- Holy Nova now deals reduced damage if there are more than 5 targets.
- Power Word: Shield is no longer increased by 10% in PvP combat.
3.1.
Discipline Priest Talent Changes
- New Talent: Spirit Shell (replaces Luminous Barrier) — For 10 seconds, Penance, Power Word: Radiance, and Atonement create absorb shields instead of healing. Replaces Rapture when talented. Spirit Shell does not have a global cooldown.
- Schism now increases your spell damage to the target by 25% (was 40%).
- Shadow Covenant has been redesigned — Make a shadowy pact, healing the target and 4 other injured allies within 30 yards. For 9 seconds, your Shadow spells deal 25% increased damage and healing, but you cannot cast Holy spells. 30-second cooldown, costs 5% Base Mana.
3.2.
Discipline Priest Talent Tree
Below is the current talent tree for Discipline Priests.
- Level 15 Talents: Castigation / Twist of Fate / Schism;
- Level 25 Talents: Body and Soul / Masochism / Angelic Feather;
- Level 30 Talents: Shield Discipline / Mindbender / Power Word: Solace;
- Level 35 Talents: Psychic Voice / Dominant Mind / Shining Force;
- Level 40 Talents: Sins of the Many / Contrition / Shadow Covenant;
- Level 45 Talents: Purge the Wicked / Divine Star / Halo;
- Level 50 Talents: Lenience / Spirit Shell / Evangelism.
3.3.
Discipline Priest Shadowlands Guide
4.
Holy Priest
- New Ability: Holy Nova — If your Holy Nova deals damage to at least 3 enemies, a second Holy Nova will be cast a moment later at 50% effectiveness at the same location.
- Circle of Healing is no longer a Talent and learned by all Holy Priests at level 39.
- Holy Fire's instant damage has been increased by 300%, but now has a 1.5-second cast time.
- Holy Nova now deals reduced damage if there are more than 5 targets.
- Power Word: Shield is no longer increased by 10% in PvP combat.
- Prayer of Mending is now instant-cast.
- Smite now costs 0.2% of Base Mana.
4.1.
Holy Priest Talent Changes
- New Talent: Renewed Faith (replaces Enduring Renewal) — Your healing is increased by 10% on targets with your Renew.
- New Talent: Prayer Circle (replaces Circle of Healing) — Using Circle of Healing reduces the cast time of your Prayer of Healing by 25% for 8 seconds.
- Afterlife now also increases the range of your healing spells while in Spirit of Redemption by 30%.
- Apotheosis now resets the cooldowns of your Holy Words when activated.
- New PvP Talent: Cardinal Mending — Prayer of Mending now heals the target for 10% of their maximum health, ignoring any healing reduction effects.
- New PvP Talent: Divine Ascension — You ascend into the air out of harm's way. While floating, you are only able to cast Holy spells.
- Divine Attendant (PvP Talent) has been removed.
- Delivered from Evil no longer reduces Leap of Faith's cooldown by 45 seconds. Instead, it increases the healing of your next spell on the target by 100%.
- Miracle Worker now also reduces the cooldown of Holy Word: Serenity by 25%.
4.2.
Holy Priest Talent Tree
Below is the current talent tree for Holy Priests.
- Level 15 Talents: Enlightenment / Trail of Light / Renewed Faith;
- Level 25 Talents: Angel's Mercy / Body and Soul / Angelic Feather;
- Level 30 Talents: Cosmic Ripple / Guardian Angel / Afterlife;
- Level 35 Talents: Psychic Voice / Censure / Shining Force;
- Level 40 Talents: Surge of Light / Binding Heal / Prayer Circle;
- Level 45 Talents: Benediction / Divine Star / Halo;
- Level 50 Talents: Light of the Naaru / Apotheosis / Holy Word: Salvation.
4.3.
Holy Priest Shadowlands Guide
5.
Shadow Priest
- New Ability Silence (Level 54) — Increases the range of Silence by 10 yards.
- New Mastery: Mastery: Shadow Weaving — Your damage is increased by 4% for each of Shadow Word: Pain, Vampiric Touch, and Devouring Plague on the target. During Voidform, all targets receive the maximum effect.
- New Ability: Devouring Plague — Afflicts the target with a disease that instantly causes Shadow damage plus an additional 4 Shadow damage over 6 seconds. Heals you for 300% of damage dealt.
- New Ability: Dark Thoughts (Passive) — For each of your damage over time effects on the target, your Mind Flay and Mind Sear have a 2% chance to instantly add a charge of Mind Blast, causing it to be instantly cast, and allowing it to be cast while channeling Mind Flay or Mind Sear within 6 seconds.
- Voidform has been redesigned — Now has a 90-second cooldown and increased damage by 20% for 15 seconds. The ability no longer reduces the cooldown of Mind Blast, but now refreshes the cooldown of Mind Blast and you gain 2 charges while in Voidform. You no longer gain Haste every 0.5 seconds while in Voidform.
- Void Eruption cast time reduced by 40% and no longer requires 90 Insanity to cast.
- Shadowy Apparitions has been redesigned — When you use Mind Blast, Devouring Plague, or Void Bolt, you also create a shadowy version of yourself that floats towards all targets afflicted by your Vampiric Touch, dealing Shadow damage. Critical strikes will cause two Apparitions to be created.
- Shadow Word: Death no longer generates Insanity.
- Mind Blast's Insanity generation is now 8 (was 12).
- Vampiric Touch's Insanity generation is now 5 (was 6).
- Void Bolt's Insanity generation is now 15 (was 20).
- Mind Sear's Insanity generation is now 6 (was 8).
- Dark Thoughts duration has been increased to 10 seconds (was 6 seconds).
- Mind Flay damage has been reduced by 15%.
- Mind Sear damage has been reduced by 15%.
- Devouring Plague's initial damage has been reduced by 15% and its periodic damage has been reduced by 12%.
6.
Shadow Priest Abilities Learned Above Level 50
- Shadow Mend (Level 56) — When Shadow Mend is cast on yourself, increases all healing you do to yourself with your own spells by 15% for 15 seconds. Stacks up to 2 times.
6.1.
Shadow Priest Talent Changes
- New Talent: Death and Madness (replaces Shadowy Insight) — If a target dies within 6 seconds after being struck by your Shadow Word: Death, you gain 73 Insanity over 4 seconds and the cooldown of your Shadow Word: Death is reset.
- New Talent: Unfurling Darkness (replaces Shadow Word: Void) — After casting Vampiric Touch on a target, your next Vampiric Touch within 8 seconds is instant cast and deals Shadow damage immediately. This effect cannot occur more than once every 15 seconds.
- New Talent: Psychic Link (replaces Shadow Word: Death) — Mind Blast deals 50% of its damage to all targets afflicted by your Vampiric Touch within 40 yards.
- New Talent: Searing Nightmare (replaces Dark Void) — Instantly deals Shadow damage to enemies around the target and afflicts them with Shadow Word: Pain. If the enemy is already afflicted by your Shadow Word: Pain, Searing Nightmare's damage is increased by 185%. Only usable while channeling Mind Sear.
- New Talent: Damnation (replaces Lingering Insanity) — Instantly afflicts the target with Shadow Word: Pain, Vampiric Touch, and Devouring Plague free of cost.
- New Talent: Ancient Madness (replaces Dark Ascension) — Voidform increases your critical strike chance by 30% for 15 seconds, reducing by 2% every second.
- New Talent: Hungering Void (replaces Legacy of the Void) — Void Bolt causes the target to become vulnerable to the void, increasing damage taken from the Priest for 6 seconds. Void Bolt cast on vulnerable targets will also extend the duration of your Voidform by 1 second, 2 seconds if Void Bolt critically strikes. This effect can only be active on one target at any time.
- Shadow Crash has been redesigned — Hurl a bolt of slow-moving, far-reaching Shadow energy at the target destination, dealing Shadow damage to all targets within 8 yards. If Shadow Crash hits a lone target, they suffer 25% increased damage from your next Shadow crash within 15 seconds. Stacks up to 2 and generates 8 Insanity.
- Void Torrent no longer pauses your Insanity while used, but now applies Devouring Plague and refreshes the duration of all of your Shadow damage over time effects while channeling.
- Surrender to Madness no longer instantly generates 100 Insanity when used and has a 1.5-minute cooldown (was 3 minutes). Additionally, the ability now has a heartbeat sound effect that speeds up as you reach the end of the spells' duration.
- Searing Nightmare Insanity cost has been reduced to 30 (was 35).
- Auspicious Spirits now generates 2 Insanity (was 1) and its damage increase to Shadowy Apparitions has been reduced to 15% (was 30%).
- Shadow Crash no longer has 3 charges and no longer applies a Shadow Crash damage vulnerability debuff on the targets hit. Shadow Crash now deals 100% more damage and is on a 30-second cooldown (was 45 seconds).
- Void Torrent's duration is reduced to 3 seconds (was 4 seconds) and damage increased by 20%. Void Torrent now generates 60 Insanity over its duration (was 30), no longer refreshes your damage over time effects, and its cooldown has decreased to 30 seconds (was 45 seconds).
- New PvP Talent: Lasting Plague — Increases the duration of your Devouring Plague by 6 seconds.
- Driven to Madness (PvP Talent) has been redesigned — Now reduces the cooldown of your Void Eruption by 3 seconds when you take damage.
- Shadow Mania (PvP Talent) has been removed.
- Body and Soul (Replaces Perseverance) — Power Word: Shield and Leap of Faith increase your target's movement speed by 40% for 3 seconds.
6.2.
Shadow Priest Talent Tree
Below is the current talent tree for Shadow Priests.
- Level 15 Talents: Fortress of the Mind / Death and Madness / Unfurling Darkness;
- Level 25 Talents: Body and Soul / San'layn / Intangibility;
- Level 30 Talents: Twist of Fate / Misery / Searing Nightmare;
- Level 35 Talents: Last Word / Mind Bomb / Psychic Horror;
- Level 40 Talents: Auspicious Spirits / Psychic Link / Shadow Crash;
- Level 45 Talents: Damnation / Mindbender / Void Torrent;
- Level 50 Talents: Ancient Madness / Hungering Void / Surrender to Madness.
6.3.
Shadow Priest Shadowlands Guide
7.
More Patch 9.0.1 Class Changes
You can find other Patch 9.0.1 class changes linked below.
8.
Changelog
- 23 Nov. 2020: Silence Rank 2 added.
- 16 Nov. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands release.
- 12 Oct. 2020: Updated for the Shadowlands Pre-Patch.
- 06 Sep. 2020: Updated for Beta Build 35755.
- 08 Aug. 2020: Priest overhauled based on the latest Beta changes.
- 03 Aug. 2020: Power Word: Shield is available to all specializations in Shadowlands.
- 28 Jul. 2020: Priest's Fade now reduces the range at which enemies attack you.
- 18 Jul. 2020: Devouring Plague heals you for 50% of damage done, Power Word: Shield can now be cast in Spirit of Redemption.
- 15 Jul. 2020: Holy Words passive updated for Alpha Build 35078.
- 03 Jul. 2020: Devouring Plague is back for Shadow Priests. Holy gets the Body and Soul talent.
- 20 Jun. 2020: Shadow Word: Death deals increased damage to enemies below 20% health.
- 16 Jun. 2020: Power Infusion can only be cast on yourself.
- 09 Jun. 2020: Reviewed for Alpha Build 34615.
- 02 Jun. 2020: Updated intro with links to Anima Powers and Covenant Abilities.
- 25 May 2020: Reviewed for Alpha Build 34490.
- 15 May 2020: Reviewed for Alpha Build 34365.
- 08 May 2020: Shadow Word: Death now generates Insanity.
- 30 Apr. 2020: Reviewed for Alpha Build 34199.
- 28 Apr. 2020: Updated for Alpha Build 34137.
- 21 Apr. 2020: Page added.
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