Shadow Priest DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0)

While optimizing talents on a contextual basis is the highly recommended method of setting up your build, the Talent builds listed below work great for specific purposes.

Note that these builds are generic recommendations for various content. For more specific recommendations for the Raid and Mythic+ in Pre-Patch, check out the dedicated pages below.

As a Shadow Priest in the Midnight Pre-Patch we will prefer running Voidweaver in all forms of content.

To see fully specialized builds in full detail for both Archon and Voidweaver use the tool below to toggle recommendations based on your desired Hero Talent Tree. Note that whichever you pick will affect the entire page and information will be tailored to that selection.

3.

War Within Shadow Priest Talent Builds

Use the boxes below to navigate builds

Archon
Single-Target Archon
Raid Cleave Archon
Mythic+ Voidweaver
Single-Target Voidweaver
Raid Cleave Voidweaver
Mythic+

4.

Archon Single Target Build

Archon Shadow Priests revolve around casting Halo to empower Voidform.

This build drops Psychic Link to maximize Single Target damage. If you are ever in a situation with adds you should swap to the Raid Cleave build which drops Descending Darkness for Psychic Link.

This build is roughly 3% behind Voidweaver in pure Single Target.

Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!

Single Target - Archon Show Copy

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4.

Archon Raid Cleave Build

Archon Shadow Priests revolve around casting Halo to empower Voidform.

This build is a small variant off of the Single Target build to pickup Psychic Link to handle any amount of Cleave or Adds that spawn in the encounter. This will be the most common build used in Raiding situations.

This build is roughly 3% behind Voidweaver in pure Single Target.

Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!

Cleave - Archon Show Copy

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4.

Archon Mythic+ Build

Archon thrives when you need large sustained damage in AoE. If you are just starting out in your Mythic+ journey, or are just pugging keys in uncoordinated groups it might feel a bit sluggish to start and you should consider trying out Voidweaver instead.

I would suggest defaulting to Misery for most situations, but with enough setup and good gameplay you can make Invoked Nightmare work in Mythic+ as well.

Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!

Misery Mythic+ - Archon Show Copy

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Invoked Nightmare Mythic+ - Archon Show Copy

CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMjZGAAAAAAAAAAAgxDYxMGLzMMz2MDzw2MGzMzAyMYmGgZAmZxMMbGAyYsAgZGwYmZGz2YGAMDA

Check out the dedicated Mythic+ page for more talent build information and tips for every dungeon.

Shadow Priest Mythic+ Page

4.

Voidweaver Single Target Build

Voidweaver Shadow Priests revolve around casting Void Torrent to create an Entropic Rift and cast as many Void Blast as possible.

This build drops Psychic Link to maximize Single Target damage. If you are ever in a situation with adds you should swap to the Raid Cleave build which drops Descending Darkness for Psychic Link.

This build is roughly 3% ahead of Archon in pure Single Target.

FAQWhy does this build not use Thought Harvester?

Right now Mind Blast and even Void Blast are fairly weak in comparison to other spells. On top of this Thought Harvester is in a tough spot to pickup as our top section of the talent tree is very crowded, especially when it is gated behind Psychic Link. In addition, Mind Blast itself no longer generates a Shadowy Apparitions, which severely hurst the value of the spell. Luckily Shadowy Insight helps make up for this loss.

Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!

Single Target - Voidweaver Show Copy

CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMjZMGAAAAAAAAAAAADLzMGLzMY2mZGzw2MGzMzAyMYmGgZmZAgAMbzGwsxAMGDGzMzY2GzAGMDA

By default the builds chosen use Void Leech to help mitigate Physical damage taken. If you are in an environment where you are playing solo or are specifically trying to mitigate Magic damage taken (particularly Shadow school damage) you should use Embrace the Shadow instead.

4.

Voidweaver Raid Cleave Build

Voidweaver Shadow Priests revolve around casting Void Torrent to create an Entropic Rift and cast as many Void Blast as possible.

This build is a small variant off of the Single Target build to pickup Psychic Link to handle any amount of Cleave or Adds that spawn in the encounter. This will be the most common build used in Raiding situations.

This build is roughly 3% ahead of Archon in pure Single Target.

FAQWhy does this build not use Thought Harvester?

Right now Mind Blast and even Void Blast are fairly weak in comparison to other spells. On top of this Thought Harvester is in a tough spot to pickup as our top section of the talent tree is very crowded, especially when it is gated behind Psychic Link. In addition, Mind Blast itself no longer generates a Shadowy Apparitions, which severely hurst the value of the spell. Luckily Shadowy Insight helps make up for this loss.

Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!

Cleave - Voidweaver Show Copy

CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMjZMGAAAAAAAAAAAADLzMGLzMMz2MDzw2MGzMzAyMYmGgZmZAgAMbzGwsxAMGDGzMzY2GzAGMDA

4.

Voidweaver Mythic+ Build

This build is your starting point for your journey into Mythic+ dungeons, or other AoE scenarios. While doing great AoE damage, these builds also deal great priority target damage during AoE while also having decent single target.

I would suggest defaulting to Misery for most situations, but with enough setup and good gameplay you can make Invoked Nightmare work in Mythic+ as well.

FAQWhy does this build not use Thought Harvester?

Right now Mind Blast and even Void Blast are fairly weak in comparison to other spells. On top of this Thought Harvester is in a tough spot to pickup as our top section of the talent tree is very crowded, especially when it is gated behind Psychic Link. In addition, Mind Blast itself no longer generates a Shadowy Apparitions, which severely hurst the value of the spell. Luckily Shadowy Insight helps make up for this loss.

Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!

Misery Mythic+ - Voidweaver Show Copy

CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMjZMGAAAAAAAAAAAADLzMGLzMMzyMDzw2MGzMzAyMYmGgZmZAgAMbzGwsxAMGDGzMzY2GzAGMDA

Invoked Nightmare Mythic+ - Voidweaver Show Copy

CIQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMjZMGAAAAAAAAAAAADLzMGLzMMz2MDzw2MGzMzAyMYmGgZmZAgAMbzGwsxAMGDGzMzY2GzAGMDA

Check out the dedicated Mythic+ page for more talent build information and tips for every dungeon.

Shadow Priest Mythic+ Page

Several of our talents actively change your rotation, specifically your priority in given situations. You can find out more about it in the rotation section below.

Starting at level 71 you gain access to brand new Hero Talents. This is where you get to pick between Archon or Voidweaver.

Archon Shadow Priest gameplay revolves around using Halo to empower your Voidform and to cast extremely powerful Mind Flay: Insanity spells.

Utility wise Archon gives you Word of Supremacy for 5% more stamina. This only applies to yourself as the Priest. For Mythic+ Archon also brings important utility for your group in the form of Incessant Screams for an extra stop.

Voidweaver Shadow Priests get access to Void Torrent to create a heavy hitting Entropic Rift that pulses AoE damage to enemies in its radius. This then gives you access to an upgraded Mind Blast in the form of Void Blast while the Rift is active. Voidweaver gets even better during raid encounters where you can take advantage of Devour Matter.

Utility of Voidweaver is much better compared to Archon for Raiding as it not only has great self-defensive options with Void Leech or Embrace the Shadow but also grants cast while moving to Void Torrent with Dark Energy.

This section is intended to give more context on the various choice nodes we have in the Shadow Priest spec tree and when each choice might make sense.

This is one of the most impactful and playstyle defining choice nodes in the Shadow Priest tree. Invoked Nightmare and Misery fundamentally change how damage is ramped and applied, making this decision highly dependent on encounter structure and target longevity.

Invoked Nightmare is best suited for low target count situations where enemies live long enough to justify manually applying Shadow Word: Pain. When these conditions are met, it offers a significant damage gain and rewards deliberate, methodical gameplay. While it can function in certain AoE scenarios, its effectiveness drops sharply if targets die too quickly, as the ramp time becomes a liability.

Misery is the preferred option for most dungeon and burst oriented environments. By automatically applying Shadow Word: Pain through Vampiric Touch, it removes a major setup cost and allows Shadow Priest to enter its damage profile much faster. This makes Misery the more practical and consistent choice in Mythic+ and any encounter where rapid target swapping or short-lived enemies are common.

This choice node directly augments Voidform and is almost always taken for both power and pathing reasons, as it leads into key talents like Mind's Eye or Distorted Reality. While both talents modify the same cooldown, they cater to very different damage profiles and hero talent synergies.

Improved Voidform is the default and most commonly selected option, as it adds a direct damage modifier to Voidform. Without this talent, Voidform simply replaces Shadowform and does not inherently increase damage. This makes Improved Voidform the stronger burst-oriented choice and particularly well-suited for Voidweaver builds, which gain little value from extending Voidform duration and instead benefit from front-loaded damage.

Ancient Madness represents the classic Voidform extension playstyle, increasing the base value of the cooldown and synergizing well with Archon. Due to the decay mechanic, this talent typically results in an additional 10 - 12 seconds of Voidform uptime when played correctly. While powerful in sustained scenarios, its value diminishes in encounters that favor short cooldown cycles or rapid target turnover.

Modifying the way we spend Insanity can have large implications when it comes to playstyle and damage output, which is what makes Mind's Eye and Distorted Reality often a big choice to make in your build.

Builds that prefer Mind's Eye will typically already have a good amount of Insanity generation so that you can keep up high uptime of Shadow Word: Madness and also play off of interactions that reward more casts of Shadow Word: Madness, such as generating Shadowy Apparitions or more Screams of the Void uptime.

On the other hand, builds that prefer Distorted Reality will typically like this choice when you are looking to maximize uptime on Shadow Word: Madness (especially at lower gear levels). Distorted Reality builds also can make more use of spreading Shadow Word: Madness in AoE situations to take advantage of effects like Spectral Horrors if you are okay giving up some priority target damage.

This choice node is currently one of the weakest points in the Shadow Priest tree due to the undertuned state of Shadow Word: Death. As a result, most builds will avoid both options unless forced by pathing or encounter specific add patterns. While Deathspeaker and Death and Madness historically synergized well together, being mutually exclusive causes their value propositions to clash, limiting the effectiveness of either choice in practical play.

Between the two, Deathspeaker is generally the superior option when a point must be spent, largely because it enhances execute phase value and synergizes better with Shadowfiend starting at 35% health. This provides more consistent value in longer boss encounters where execute damage matters. Death and Madness, by contrast, is highly situational and primarily useful for encounters with frequent, predictable low health add spawns that can be reliably sniped.

While the builds above have sane defaults for Class Talents, this section will go in-depth about the various choices we have with class talents depending on the situation you are in.

The following is a list of class talents I would always use as a Shadow Priest. These are useful in just about every situation in PvE and will be the core talents for any build.

• Mind Blast - Baseline
• Psychic Scream - Baseline
• Angelic Feather and/or Body and Soul - Movement talents, typically I would suggest having both.
• Dispel Magic and Leap of Faith - Useful for pathing and great utility.
• Power Infusion and Twins of the Sun Priestess - Damage cooldown and massive group throughput utility.
• Spiritual Guidance, Painful Invocation, Strength of Soul, Twin Disciplines, Mindpierce, Focused Power, and Dark Enlightenment all provide minor offensive or defensive benefits we always take.
• Shadow Word: Death is typically taken, in some cases you can skip this but you then need to take Sanguine Teachings.
• Twist of Fate - Execute damage that unlocks nodes in the bottom section.
• Fade - One of our most powerful utility and defensive spells.
• Binding Heals into Desperate Prayer for another defensive.
• Phantom Reach gives us a large increase in the range of our spells.
• Translucent Image turns Fade into a key defensive.

Now that you have an idea of the baseline suggested class talents, you can finish off your build based on the content that you are doing. Depending on the specific raid boss or dungeon environment you should tweak these choices based on what you need. In some situations, you might need more utility, and for others, if you do not need that utility, you can instead pick up more defensive choices.

The following talents are the utility choices we have as a Priest. You should only take these if you need them; otherwise, fill out points elsewhere.

• Psychic Voice - Gives a reduction in the cooldown of Psychic Scream, which can be useful to get more AoE CC available.
• Phantasm - Transforms Fade to also break snare effects. Note that this is different from root effects.
• Shackle Undead - Hard CC ability that works on Undead or Aberration enemies.
• Void Tendrils - AoE root ability for enemies after Psychic Scream ends.
• Dominate Mind - Turns your Mind Control spell into one that instead makes the enemy a pet. This can be particularly useful in some Mythic+ Dungeons. This node is also required for certain pathing decisions and is often taken for just that reason.
• Mass Dispel - Powerful dispel tool.
• Spectral Illusion can be useful while leveling.

Once you get all the utility points you need for the content you are doing, you can then add the defensive points you need. This part is tricky as depending on the content, this can vary wildly, but here are your options roughly ranked in terms of strength.

1. Spell Warding - 4% magic damage reduction
2. Improved Fade - Allows you to press Fade more often for the defensive value.
3. Protective Light
4. Angel's Mercy - Can be useful depending on timings of a mechanic you are trying to counter, but pathing into it can be cumbersome.
5. Light's Inspiration - Makes Desperate Prayer stronger but usually, this increase does not actually change what would be considered lethal.
6. Angelic Bulwark - Inconsistent cheat death-like shield that usually does not proc when you actually need it.

In the open world, you can go into "War Mode." Enabling War Mode provides the following benefits:

• PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world.
• 10%+ increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level.
• 10%+ more experience gained while leveling.
• Earn Conquest Points, which can reward gear every week.

With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended enabling the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at maximum level. However, you will make yourself available for open-world PvP, and the possibility of being "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests exists.

In this section, we will rank the PvP talents best for leveling and doing solo / small group PvE content. Below is a ranking of Shadow Priest-specific PvE talents.

• Driven to Madness gives you your cooldown back faster for better uptime.
• Mind Trauma is great for Archon builds as Mind Flay: Insanity stacks this up.
• The final choice is typically Cascading Horrors for more overall damage, although Mindgames or Psyfiend can also be considerations for more single target.