Stats & Gearing
[top]Stats
Intellect:
Intellect provides spell power at a 1:1 ratio prior to bonuses and 0.00154% crit, as well as increases mana by 17.53 per point.
Hit Rating:
Hit increases the chance that a spell will land on its intended target. 102.45 hit rating gives 1% to hit with spells. Hit cap is 17% or 1742 Rating. Once the cap has been reached, hit’s value greatly diminishes.
In addition Shadow Priests (along with other healing hybrids) receive hit from spirit through talents (Twisted Faith). Same rules apply, once the hit cap has been reached, spirit becomes useless.
Haste Rating:
128.05 haste rating gives 1% spell haste. Haste rating scales multiplicatively with other sources of haste—and cannot reduce the duration of the global cool down below 1.0 second.
Critical Strike Rating:
179.28 crit rating gives 1% to crit.
Mastery Rating:
179.28 mastery rating adds 1 point to mastery which increases the damage of Shadow Orb Power by 1.45% which once consumed by a Mind Blast or Mind Spike provides the buff Empowered Shadow.
[top]Stat Priorities
When considering your own stat weights it is recommended that you download SimulationCraft or similar tools and base your decisions around your individual character. However, the below order should be somewhat correct in most situations.
Int >> Hit (to cap) > Haste ≥ Mastery > Crit
Please note that the latter three stats will be in constant flux as more and new gear becomes available.
[top]Reforging
How you reforge will be based on the following rules:
Are you hit capped?
Yes: Reforge any extra hit/spirit to haste where possible.
No: Reforge mastery/crit to hit/spirit.
Does it have haste on it?
Yes: Go to the next rule.
No: Reforge mastery/crit to haste, leave hit/spirit as is.
Reforge crit to mastery if the above has been

.
Additionally there are sites like AskMrRobot.com which offer automated suggestions based on stat weights derived from SimC.
[top]Gemming
Socket Gem
Meta: Burning Shadowspirit Diamond
Red: Brilliant Inferno Ruby
Yellow: Reckless Ember Topaz
Blue: Veiled Demonseye or Purified Demonseye
When to ignore the socket bonus:
Generally speaking, if a socket bonus is less than 20 Intellect (or 30 of any rating stat), then the consensus is that a Brilliant Inferno Ruby is far more beneficial than attempting to match a socket. However, it is highly recommended that you use SimulationCraft to determine your individual scale factors.
[top]Set Bonuses
Regalia of Dying Light Flame
2 pieces: Item - Priest T13 Shadow 2P Bonus
4 pieces: Item - Priest T13 Shadow 4P Bonus
[top]Enchanting
Slot Regular enchant Profession specific Tinker (Engineering*)
Head Arcanum of Hyjal - -
Shoulders Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone Felfire Inscription -
Back Enchant Cloak - Greater Intellect Lightweave Embroidery Flexweave Underlay
Chest Enchant Chest - Peerless Stats - -
Wrist Enchant Bracer - Mighty Intellect Draconic Embossment - Intellect / Socket Bracer -
Hands Enchant Gloves - Greater Mastery Socket Gloves Synapse Springs
Belt Ebonsteel Belt Buckle - Nitro Boost (utility slot, tinker variable)
Legs Powerful Ghostly Spellthread Sanctified Spellthread -
Boots Enchant Boots - Lavawalker - -
Finger - Enchant Ring - Intellect -
Weapon Enchant Weapon - Power Torrent - -
Off-Hand Enchant Off-Hand - Superior Intellect - -
* Note on Engineering: All tinkers now stack with standard enchants.
[top]Professions
Main profession Benefits
Alchemy: Mixology
Blacksmithing: Socket Bracer and Socket Gloves
Enchanting: Enchant Ring - Intellect x 2
Engineering: Synapse Springs
Herbalism: Lifeblood
Inscription: Felfire Inscription
Jewelcrafting: Brilliant Chimera's Eye x 3
Leatherworking: Draconic Embossment - Intellect
Mining: Toughness
Skinning: Master of Anatomy
Tailoring: Lightweave Embroidery
[top]Consumables
Flask: Flask of the Draconic Mind or Flask of Battle
Food: Severed Sagefish Head or Seafood Magnifique Feast
Potion: Volcanic Potion (Pre-pot and use during bloodlust/heroism)
[top]Spells & Rotation
[top]Spell Priority
Shadow Word: Pain
Mind Blast (if Orbs 3,2,1)
Vampiric Touch
Devouring Plague
Mind Blast (no Orbs)
Shadow Word: Death (target ≤ 25%)
Archangel
Shadowfiend
Mind Flay
As a Shadow Priest, your primary concern is managing the Empowered Shadow buff. That being said, how you manage that is for the most part up to you. Since, unlike other classes, Shadow Priests do not have to apply debuffs to function at their fullest potential, there really is no set rotation as it were.
While Shadow Word: Pain has a relitivly low DPET, since it is one of our main ways of continually spawning Shadow Orbs in conjunction with being refreshed via Mind Flay, it falls a bit higher on the priority list. Uptime for this spell should be as close to 100% as possible.
The key is getting your Empowered Shadow buff up as soon as possible through the generation of shadow orbs (via SW:P and MF). The amount of orbs generated prior to casting Mind Blast has no bearing on Empowered Shadow, so best case would be to cast a Mind Blast as soon as an orb is generated, reapply DoTs and continue with the rest of the spell priorities.
Since Mind Blast’s DPET increases with the number of shadow orbs available it is optimal to cast it when orbs are present, however, a Mind Blast with no shadow orbs still has a higher DPET than Mind Flay and should be used cool downs permitting.
While the Shadowfiend has a low DPET, it has the added benefit of returning mana to the caster thus enabling more damage throughput. It is wise to use it as often as possible (unless you find yourself struggling to manage your mana—mainly newer raiders whom may undergear certain content—then you would want to save it for times of need).
Shadow Word: Death is an interesting spell to consider in your DPS rotation. It functions in two ways; One, it is considered an execute phase spell—talented (Mind Melt)—when the target is <25% health (and with Glyph of Shadow Word: Death you can hit it twice); and two, it is a mana regeneration talent (Masochism) much in the same vein as a Warlocks Life Tap however SW:D has the added ability to cause damage while regenerating mana.
[top]Optimal Opener
For the most part there really isn’t a “set-in-stone” opener for Shadow Priests. With Empowered Shadow in mind, you will want to cast the spells that are likely to generate shadow orbs on your target as quickly as possible. For the most part a “safe” opening rotation would be to follow (loosely) the spell priorities listed above, such as:
Shadow Word: Pain ► Vampiric Touch ► Devouring Plague ► Mind Blast ► Mind Flay until Dark Evangelism.
Then continue to follow the priority above. You would be forsaking some uptime on Empowered Shadow for the piece-of-mind of having all your DoTs rolling.
Alternatively, you could opt to attempt to force an orb proc by opening with:
Shadow Word: Pain ► Mind Flay (until orbs) ► Mind Blast ► Vampiric Touch ► Devouring Plague ► Mind Flay
Then continue to follow the priority above. Here you are holding off on higher DPET spells in favor of getting that first Shadow Orb prior to Mind Blast so that your DoTs benefit from Empowered Shadow as soon as they're cast.
As well, depending on the situation, it is possible to pre-cast Vampiric Touch (along with consuming a Volcanic Potion) just as your tank pulls (provided you have some prior warning). This allows you to have one of your most effective DoTs on your target as soon as battle starts (similar to some fire mages who pre-cast Pyroblast). You will want to refresh this once Empowered Shadow is rolling.
By the time you run thought either initial sequence (unless you are pristinely unlucky) you should have generated your next orb by the time Mind Blast is off cool down and thus can keep your Empowered Shadow rolling.
[top]AoE & Multiple Targets
Shadow Priest AoE damage (in the form of Mind Sear) has had a rollercoaster ride of effectiveness for the past few patches. Mind Sear has gone from extremely powerful, to beating a mob with a wet noodle, to being fairly decent compared to most other classes. Aside from a buff to damage, one new feature to this lovely spell is that it can now be cast on friendly targets (such as a tank or other melee) to allow for you to channel without interruption.
Multi-target encounters provide the ability to apply several of your main DoTs (mana providing) to each target thus gaining a substantial increase to overall damage output.
[top]Advanced Topics
[top]Haste
Haste has become a far more interesting and advanced stat than it had once been prior to 4.0. It was redesigned to benefit damage- and healing-over-time spells by allowing them to tick faster and thus reducing the overall duration of those spells. This is important because with enough haste your DoTs will tick with enough frequency to allow for additional ticks to occur. Below are a few examples of those points where we can gain an additional tick:
Vampiric Touch
Without Dark Intent With Dark Intent
Ticks Rating Goblin Ticks Rating Goblin
+1 218 90 +1 0 0
+2 2589 2437 +2 2141 1993
+3 4951 4776 +3 4431 4264
+4 7326 7127 +4 6740 6546
+5 9698 9476 +5 9043 8827
Devouring Plague
Without Dark Intent With Dark Intent
Ticks Rating Goblin Ticks Rating Goblin
+1 0 0 +1 0 0
+2 1255 1115 +2 845 710
+3 2737 2583 +3 2284 2135
+4 4220 4051 +4 3724 3560
+5 5691 5508 +5 5152 4975
+6 7179 6981 +6 6597 6405
Shadow Word: Pain
Without Dark Intent With Dark Intent
Ticks Rating Goblin Ticks Rating Goblin
+1 21 0 +1 0 0
+2 1993 1846 +2 1562 1419
+3 3970 3804 +3 3482 3320
+4 5945 5759 +4 5399 5219
+5 7913 7913 +5 7310 7111