Shadow priest PvP basics for classic WoW: the toolkit, in plain words
Shadow priest is one of the most rewarding PvP specs in classic World of Warcraft: strong pressure over time, a fear, a silence and enough survivability to win long fights. This is the toolkit in plain words.
Shadowform
Shadowform, the final shadow talent, boosts your shadow damage and lets you take less physical damage. The trade-off: you can’t cast Holy spells while in it, so healing means leaving form.
Damage over time first
- Shadow Word: Pain on every target you can reach. It is cheap and keeps pressure on healers and runners.
- Mind Blast on cooldown for burst.
- Mind Flay to finish and to slow melee chasing you, so you can keep your distance.
- Devouring Plague, an undead priest spell, adds damage over time and heals you for some of it.
Control
- Psychic Scream fears enemies around you. Save it for when melee is on you or to break up a healer and their team.
- Silence (a shadow talent) stops a caster or healer mid-cast.
- Mana Burn drains a healer’s or caster’s mana and damages them with it.
- Dispel Magic strips enemy buffs and frees your team from harmful magic.
Staying alive
- Power Word: Shield before you engage, not after you are already low.
- Will of the Forsaken, the undead racial, breaks fear, charm and sleep: your answer to warlocks and other priests.
- Vampiric Embrace (a shadow talent) turns your damage into healing for your group.
- Line of sight: pillars, trees and corners stop casters and hunters. Use them.
Watch it played
The best way to learn the timing is to watch it. Diplo plays undead shadow priest PvP live on Twitch, and chat is the place to ask why he did what he did.