Welcome to Skill-Capped’s Shadow Priest PvP Guide for Cataclysm
All sections for Shadow Priest PvP have been divided into corresponding sections for the most optimal race, talents, glyphs, gear, professions and macros. This will help you have a good understanding on Shadow Priest in PvP for Cataclysm, the strengths and weaknesses associated with this specialization, and help you conquer the arena. This section will give a brief overview of Shadow Priest in PvP for Cataclysm Season 9.
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Why Shadow Priest?
Shadow Priest is an extremely powerful caster specialization throughout the Cataclysm expansion. Its unique design in Cataclysm PvP seemed to be at its peak compared to other Shadow Priest designs due to its valuable toolkit of team utility, burst, and control.
Starting with Shadow Priest’s team utility, Cataclysm has introduced the spell, Leap of Faith, which can be used in crucial moments to save teammates during kill opportunities or to connect to an opponent. Mass Dispel, when paired with with Glyph of Mass Dispel, makes Shadow Priests’ casts very quick and difficult to land interrupts on when dispelling immunities, such as Ice Block and Divine Shield. Having an additional purge ability on a team, Dispel Magic, provides more value to Shadow Priest for additional purge effects, especially on damage modifier buffs.
Next, it is important to consider the coordinated burst Shadow Priests offer, which involves using Shadow Orbs, Mind Spike, Mind Blast, and Mind Melt. Shadow Priest’s periodic DoTs has a chance to grant Shadow Orbs, stacking up to 3 orbs at a time. Mind Spike and Mind Blast damage is increased from each Shadow Orb, which consumes all stacks. After consuming stacks with Mind Spike, a Critical Strike modifier is applied on the next Mind Blast casted, which synergizes with Mind Melt. This talent gives Mind Blast a cast time reduction, and will be instant cast once two Mind Spikes have been casted.
Burst windows Shadow Priest offer seems more strategical and unique compared to other specializations, but can be extremely deadly when properly executed. Shadow Priests have the option to consume all 3 Shadow Orbs at once with Mind Spike or Mind Blast. Using Mind Spike will provide the most coordinated burst Shadow Priest has to offer, but removes all DoTs on targets. Mind Blast does a bit less damage than Mind Spike, but will keep DoTs applied to the target. After consuming Shadow Orbs, make sure DoTs are reapplied as they will be snapshotted by Empowered Shadow.
This specialization has multiple sources of Crowd Control, which include Silence, Psychic Scream, and Psychic Horror. All three spells synergize well with each other, and can be used together without being impacted by Diminishing Returns. Shadow Priest has multiple classes that work well with them in Cataclysm, making them somewhat versatile when selecting team composition. The best specializations to play with are Affiction Warlocks and Subtlety Rogues, and with Restoration Shamans and Holy Paladins as the preferred healers.
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