This build is designed to play to the specific strengths of a Troll Priest … primarily for the racial spells/abilities (yes, even Regeneration!) when building for Shadowform but still wanting to provide healing in dungeon groups, via (Improved) Vampiric Embrace withoutripping aggro from the main tank.
Because this is the Vanilla era when you Can’t Have Everything YET … some compromises were necessary in order to make this build “work” the way it does, even though I’ve designed it for PvE (rather than PvP). So a few things that are typically considered “mandatory” for Shadow Priest talent builds will be noticeably absent (or seem to be outright misplaced) in this one. The {Off-Meta} tag in the title isn’t there just for show.
Wand Specialization - Rank 5/5
Increases your damage with Wands by 25%.
Silent Resolve - Rank 5/5
Reduces the threat generated by your spells by 20%.
Improved Power Word: Fortitude - Rank 2/2
Increases the effect of your Power Word: Fortitude and Prayer of Fortitude spells by 30%.
Martyrdom - Rank 2/2
Gives you a 100% chance to gain the Focused Casting effect that lasts for 6 sec after being the victim of a melee or ranged critical strike. The Focused Casting effect prevents you from losing casting time when taking damage and increases resistance to Interrupt effects by 20%.
Inner Focus - Rank 1/1
When activated, reduces the Mana cost of your next spell by 100% and increases its critical effect chance by 25% if it is capable of a critical effect.
Meditation - Rank 3/3
Allows 15% of your Mana regeneration to continue while casting.
Holy (0 points)
None
Shadow (33 points)
Spirit Tap - Rank 5/5
Gives you a 100% chance to gain a 100% bonus to your Spirit after killing a target that yields experience. For the duration, your Mana will regenerate at a 50% rate while casting. Lasts 15 sec.
Blackout - Rank 5/5
Gives your Shadow damage spells a 10% chance to stun the target for 3 sec.
Shadow Affinity - Rank 3/3
Reduces the threat generated by your Shadow spells by 25%.
Improved Shadow Word: Pain - Rank 2/2
Increases the duration of your Shadow Word: Pain spell by 6 sec.
Shadow Focus - Rank 5/5
Reduces your target’s chance to resist your Shadow spells by 10%.
Improved Psychic Scream - Rank 2/2
Reduces the cooldown of your Psychic Scream spell by 4 sec.
Mind Flay - Rank 1/1
Assault the target’s mind with Shadow energy, causing 75 Shadow damage over 3 sec and slowing their movement speed by 50%.
Shadow Weaving - Rank 5/5
Your Shadow damage spells have a 100% chance to cause your target to be vulnerable to Shadow damage. This vulnerability increases the Shadow damage dealt to your target by 3% and lasts 15 sec. Stacks up to 15001 times.
Silence - Rank 1/1
Silences the target, preventing them from casting spells for 5 sec.
Vampiric Embrace - Rank 1/1
Afflicts your target with Shadow energy that causes all party members to be healed for 20% of any Shadow spell damage you deal for 1 min.
Improved Vampiric Embrace - Rank 2/2
Increases the percentage healed by Vampiric Embrace by an additional 10%.
Shadowform - Rank 1/1
Assume a Shadowform, increasing your Shadow damage by 15% and reducing Physical damage done to you by 15%. However, you may not cast Holy spells while in this form.
Most astute readers will quickly notice that this build is doing (at least) TWO things that Shadow Priest builds rarely tend to do (in the modern era).
Threat Reduction talents (plural!)
Improved Vampiric Embrace
Another thing that this build does which is almost never seen on other Shadow Priest builds (that I’m aware of) is …
Skip Darkness entirely
… although an explanation for why that is so will have to come a little bit later, in due course.
The typical reason for not investing into Improved Vampiric Embrace is simply a matter of Threat management (and competition for scarce talent points) on builds that commonly eschew ANY effort at Threat reduction. The easiest way to explain this point is to do a simplified Analysis of Alternatives and let the Threat generation fall where it may.
For simplicity of math (and analysis) … let’s say that we’re dealing with Shadow spells that deal 100 (base) Shadow damage on hit.
The rate of Threat generation from damage is 1 Threat per 1 damage.
If you’ve got (base) Vampiric Embrace on the target, you’ll be getting 20% of the damage dealt back as healing. Each talent point spent into Improved Vampiric Embrace increases the amount of healing return from Shadow damage by +5% (so +10% @ 2/2).
The rate of Threat generation from healing is 1 Threat per 2 healed (overhealing does not count for this!).
What you wind up with is a relatively straightforward computation as a soloist (where Threat doesn’t matter, YET…).
Needless to say, at these rates of Threat generation, you’re going to be “competing” with your main tank for aggro … which in a 5-man context isn’t necessarily the best thing you could be doing (see: Cloth Tanking). Point being that Vampiric Embrace is quite the double edged sword when it comes to Threat generation and the management of it.
I get the sense that the Blizzard Developers expected Players to do what I’m doing in this build … reach for the Threat reduction talents to mitigate the “magnifier” effect of Vampiric Embrace … and then watched with bemused disappointment when those same Shadow Priest Players laid their aggro management woes at the feet of the “inadequate” tanks, rather than on their own choices. Why would that happen?
Well …
Remember kids … Personal Responsibility™ is only for OTHER PEOPLE … not YOU!
Vampiric Embrace is a pre-requisite requirement to get Shadowform … but the mitigation of the Threat that Vampiric Embrace can generate IS OPTIONAL … and since Threat Reduction generates ZERO DPS …
Besides, Threat has zero meaning in PvP … and Shadowform Priests MELTING FACES is about PvP … so, bye bye Threat Reduction in Shadow Priest talent builds!
Therefore, Threat Reduction talents are only “relevant” to PvE builds.
So what happens when you stack Threat Reduction talents together?
You wind up multiplying their reductions, rather than straight adding them.
So using that understanding, let’s circle back to our original Threat generation values for using Vampiric Embrace (assuming no overhealing, to keep things simpler).
Where this gets interesting is when you move from the Soloist context (where Threat doesn’t matter) into the 5-man group context (again, assume no overhealing for a “worst case scenario” dataset).
It also means that you can build for two (comparable) variations on the Shadowform theme when concerned with Threat generation:
NO Vampiric Embrace, NO Threat Reduction = 100 Threat per 100 Shadow damage (5-man)
30% Vampiric Embrace, 60% Threat Reduction = 105 Threat per 100 Shadow damage (overhealing will reduce the Threat generation below this amount)
So a “silent vampire” generates functionally equivalent Threat levels to those that a “loud non-vampire” Shadow Priest build will (the difference is in “rounding error” territory).
Then why would any Shadow Priests CHOOSE to be “loud” rather than “quiet” on their Threat generation?
Because choosing the “silent” option IS NOT FREE.
It actually requires allocating (up to) 10 talent points in places that you would rather NOT spend them into (if all you care about is “MAX DPS NAO!”).
Silent Resolve - Rank 5/5
Reduces the threat generated by your spells by 20%.
Shadow Affinity - Rank 3/3
Reduces the threat generated by your Shadow spells by 25%.
Improved Vampiric Embrace - Rank 2/2
Increases the percentage healed by Vampiric Embrace by an additional 10%.
Talent points “spent” there cannot be invested into Improved Mind Blast, Shadow Reach and/or … Darkness … all of which are “more obvious” choices for creating MAX DPS opportunities, so why self-gimp your way out of BIG NUMBERS? You became a Shadow Priest to MELT FACES in PvP, didn’t you?
Well … some people do … but not everyone …
There’s also a curious overlap going on here with the Drain Tank Warlock playstyle which opens up when reaching for the “silent vampire” option as a Shadowform Priest.
The idea with a Drain Tank Warlock build is a combination of “What’s mine is MINE, and what’s yours is MINE TOO!” thanks to (Shadow damage) DoTs and Drain/Siphon Life (with Dark Pact being optional) combined with Fear. You basically “juggle” mobs and use multi-DoTs to keep yourself flush with green+blue bar resources.
The thing is, while that strategy is quite viable … it’s also inherently selfish.
A Warlock can’t “share” the yield of their Drain/Siphon Life spells with others. Only the Warlock benefits (personally).
A “silent vampire” Shadowform Priest can achieve similar results to the Drain Tank Warlock … but do so in a more “group friendly” fashion against dungeon trash.
YOU get (Improved) Vampiric Embrace … and (Improved) Shadow Word: Pain!
YOU get (Improved) Vampiric Embrace … and (Improved) Shadow Word: Pain!
YOU get (Improved) Vampiric Embrace … and (Improved) Shadow Word: Pain!
YOU get (Improved) Vampiric Embrace … and (Improved) Shadow Word: Pain!
YOU get (Improved) Vampiric Embrace … and (Improved) Shadow Word: Pain!
EVERY MOB in the spawn group gets DAMAGE that HEALS the 5-man Party almost continuously!
It’s like you’re a Drain DPS Warlock Priest who “heals the whole party as a side effect of what you’re doing” … while the main tank has less to worry about and any Warlocks nearby will be Lifetapping hard enough to want your babies.
And if you’re a Troll Priest, you also get Hex of Weakness (ranks 1-6), a highly underrated debuff which can make mobs deal less damage AND reduce the effectiveness of any Healing they might receive. You’ll also get Shadowguard … which does Shadow damage any time a spell, melee or ranged attack hits you (which includes things like Detect Magic! ) and is among the most efficient ways for you to convert mana into Shadow damage.
Stack Intellect+Spirit gear on a Troll Priest and watch your Regeneration blend into the mix as additional mitigation for damage taken, reducing the need to drop Shadowform in order to heal yourself.
Need more mana? Get the killing blow on something (worth XP) for a Spirit Tap proc.
Now that I’ve gotten everyone’s attention on the notion that the “silent vampire” Shadowguard Shadowform might be a good idea … why does the talent build I’ve provided above omit the Darkness talent?
Isn’t +10% Shadow damage a good idea for 5 talent points?
Actually … like so many other talents of this type (for many classes), Darkness actually does LESS than you’d assume just from reading the tooltip.
Wait, what?
Why?
The way that Darkness works as a talent is NOT the way that a lot of people assume.
Darkness, like a lot of +Damage talents for spellcasters only modifies the damage output of the SPELL being cast. It has no effect on the +spellpower gear you might have equipped.
So let’s go back to our 100 Shadow damage spell example that I was using above for easy comparisons of alternatives.
So far, so ordinary. Right?
But what happens if you start adding some +spellpower gear into the mix?
Let’s say that you’re adding +50 spellpower (after coefficients, to keep the math simpler and easier to follow.
Here’s where it starts becoming more apparent what Darkness is ACTUALLY doing for you as a talent.
110 / 100 = +10% (+0 spellpower)
160 / 150 = +6.67% (+50 spellpower)
The more +spellpower you have the “smaller” the contribution from the Darkness talent seems to feel.
It’s “adding” the same amount, but the “proportional share of the total” contribution goes down.
Where things start going into reverse is when you need to start downranking your spellcasting in order to conserve mana. So let’s say I need to downrank from a 100 damage (base) spell to using a 50 damage (base) spell, but I’ve got +100 spellpower from gear to make up for it … basically swapping the “importance” of the native spell vs the gear I’m wearing, as a Priest.
I shouldn’t need to belabor the point, but I’ll do so anyway in case there are disbelievers reading this far down:
55 / 50 = +10% (+0 spellpower)
155 / 150 = +3.33% (+100 spellpower)
The point I’m wanting to make here is that spending 5 talent points on Darkness only “pays off” in terms of Return on Investment (relative to other options) when you’re casting max rank Shadow damage spells … and you’ve got minimal +spellpower on gear.
The problem with that assumption is that +spellpower for Shadow damage is relatively easy to obtain if you’re a Tailor. You can just craft (or buy) a set of Shadoweave cloth items to wear. All 6 items combined will yield +108 Shadow damage and the minimum level requirements to equip them are Levels 37-44 … so right around the time you’d be able to start investing into the Darkness talent (as a Priest) anyway, let alone pick up Shadowform at Level 40.
So to summarize, the reason why Darkness is NOT included in the talent build I’ve presented here is because of the way it is structured (game mechanically) under the hood. It’s a bonus to the BASE damage of shadow spells (only!), so it does nothing for +spellpower modifiers from gear. It’s “better than nothing” (granted) … but not by a whole lot.
Depending on the rank of the spell(s) you’re casting, you might get more (actual) damage out of a sharpening/weight stone buffing your melee weapon(!) than you would get from adding 5/5 Darkness to your shadow spells. Let THAT sink in.
But speaking of Shadowform … while it’s active you cannot cast Holy spells.
Which everyone knows already. Right?
However, what’s easy to forget is that aside from Holy Healing spells (and Smite/Holy Fire), there’s 3 more COMMONLY USED spells for Priests that also happen to be Holy school which will be a bit of a shock to not be able to use on demand.
As a Shadowform Priest, you have to drop form in order to cast these spells … and casting Shadowform IS NOT CHEAP.
Without your PW:S “bubble” you’re not only going to be taking damage … you’re going to be dealing with spell pushback, which is ruinous while channeling (see: Mind Flay).
This is where 2/2 Martyrdom enters the chat from the Discipline tree.
It’s also where 5/5 Blackout procs can earn their keep (even if they’re a random proc), since the 3s stun is enough time to channel Mind Flay (once) without risk of spell pushback (which causes the channel to end prematurely, reducing the quantity of damage ticks dealt per use of the spell, ruining the mana to damage conversion efficiency).
Additionally, without PW:S preventing you from taking damage when hit, Inner Fire charges (20) typically will not last very long once you get into melee. Dropping form to refresh Inner Fire and then resuming form … is a LOT of mana cost for a temporary return.
If you don’t mind waiting/drinking to recover mana after doing that (easy enough when soloing), it’s not that big a deal … but when in a group where you aren’t controlling the “speed” of movement, it can definitely be less than ideal.
PW:F isn’t that onerous to deal with, since it’s a “set and forget for half an hour” after every cast. But you will need to drop Shadowform in order to do it.
The thing about Shadowform though is that UNLIKE the Darkness talent, the form will boost ALL Shadow damage that you’re dealing (base spell + spellpower) and will even modify (by +15%) the throughput of Shadow damage Wands, if you have one. Furthermore, Shadow Wands will also proc Vampiric Embrace (because you’re dealing Shadow damage, go figure ) … so win, win, win if you’re up against something that can Kick/Counterspell/Silence you (stick to Instants and Wanding). Add 5/5 Wand Specialization for an additional +25% Wand damage and you’re going to be wanting to keep your Shadow damage Wand(s) until you find a newer/better one (after getting Shadowform @ Level 40). Before Vampiric Embrace @ Level 30, you can use any “flavor” of Wand that you prefer.
The last thing that I want to touch upon is something I explored (in depth) in my 21/25/5 Starshards Priest build is the notion that it’s possible … with clever “shaping” of the spellcasting rotation … to get out from under the 5 second Rule of Castingwhile in combat and actually get mana recovery ticks from Spirit while “continuously” casting. As a Shadow (spells only) Priest this is a bigger challenge, since it requires mobs to “cooperate” with you in order to do it … but it CAN BE DONE as a Shadowform Priest, regardless of your choice of race.
The key insight is that you need to “time” your use of mana in such a way as to cluster the mana costs as closely together in time (because the 5 second Rule of Casting hidden debuff overwrites/restarts every time you spend mana) and then DELAY using mana again for as long as possible … before starting the whole cycle over again.
With a (Night Elf) Starshards Priest, this is EASY to do.
Holy Fire Starshards . melee swing . Holy Fire Starshards . melee swing
TL;DR … there’s an almost ~10s delay between mana expenses.
When Starshards channeling ends (preferably after 6 seconds), mana recovery from Spirit can begin while casting Holy Fire. Depending on the timing synchronization between expense of mana and the recovery ticks from Spirit, either 2 or 3 ticks of mana recovery from Spirit can be achieved DURING COMBAT while casting (more or less) continuously.
Needless to say, this can EASILY outclass any amount of Mp5 gearing options that anyone might be tempted to reach for.
If you want to add in a PW:S refresh into the mix, do it like this:
Holy Fire ( PW:S) Starshards . melee swing
Basically, do the Instant cast in between the Cast Time and the Channeled spell.
Cast . Instant . Channel … repeat
However, Shadow Priests don’t get a 5-6s channel duration spell to work with, so they’re SoL for a repeatable spell rotation. Right?
Kind of … but not entirely.
The “secret sauce” in this case for being able to recover mana from Spirit(!) during combat while continuously casting is to find a combination of Cast+Channel that will exceed 5s (the more, the better!).
Mind Blast (1.5s) + Mind Flay (3s) = 4.5s
Mana Burn (3s) + Mind Flay (3s) = 6s
The downside here is that Mana Burn only “works” on mobs that have a mana bar … which isn’t “all of them” … but can often times be enough. Conversely, Mind Blast has an 8s cooldown … which can be 4/5 talented down to a 6s cooldown, but that option isn’t taken in this particular build.
With careful timing to start casting Mana Burn immediately after receiving a mana recovery tick from Spirit, you can “reliably” ensure that you receive 1 (full) mana recovery tick from Spirit per repeating cycle of cast+channel, greatly improving your net mana balance (loss vs gain) over the course of a fight and have better sustain/endurance into the bargain (less recovery time needed after fighting before the next fight).
Because of the way that Mana Burn works (under the hood, game mechanically), it attacks the (blue) mana bar of the target “directly” … rather than the (green) health bar … and Shadow damage is a second order knock on/side effect of that “deduction” FROM the mana bar. Because of this structural factor, Mana Burn receives ZERO bonus effect from equipped spellpower items (because it’s not dealing “damage” to a green bar first and foremost). This also means that Mana Burn cannot proc Blackout nor stack Shadow Weaving, nor can it critically hit and its damage is NOT buffed by the Darkness talent … but the Shadow damage caused by mana destruction is boosted by Shadowform (self-buff), Shadow Weaving and Curse of Shadow (debuffs) and CAN proc Vampiric Embrace healing.
So if an aggro magnet is “keeping the attention” of a mob with a mana bar, a Shadow Priest (any race) running this build I’ve provided could:
Vampiric Embrace Shadow Word: Pain … repeat until all attacking mobs are affected
Mana Burn (3s cast) Mind Flay (3s channel) … repeat until mob mana gets “drained away” (then switch to next target or start using Wand)
Using such a rotation would allow ~1 mana recovery tick from Spirit per rotation of Mana Burn+Mind Flay while the tank holds aggro. Meanwhile, “Shadow damage healing” keeps flowing in, mitigating any incoming on the party.
Other rotations are of course possible, such as:
(/stopcasting) Mind Blast (1.5s cast) Mind Flay (3s)
Wand (until Mind Blast cooldown is complete)
Goto step 1
With an 8 second (untalented) cooldown on Mind Blast, this rotation would be capable of claiming at least 3 mana recovery ticks from Spirit while in combat per rotation (or more if you use Wand attacks for longer before spending mana again). Also, this spell rotation does not require the mob to have a mana bar … so it’s an equal opportunity Choose The Form Of The Destructor™ move.
Will these options deal MAX DPS as fast as possible?
No. No they will not.
Will these options deal maximum damage output for minimal NET loss of mana over time while casting/channeling?
Yes. These rotations will be among the most efficient ways to convert your mana into damage.
Will this Shadowform Priest build tend to be more survivable than the (On-Meta) alternatives you could be playing?
Take a guess …
As with my Starshards Priest build, where the point and purpose was Mana Efficiency (first and foremost) when converting mana into damage … THIS Shadow Priest build is ALSO more concerned with a combination of Mana Efficiency, Shadow “force” multipliers, Vampiric Healing and even a modest sprinkling of “control” factors into the mix (focused casting, stun, silence) in order to avoid the One Trick Pony™ pitfall.
… primarily for the racial spells/abilities (yes, even Regeneration!) when building for Shadowform but still wanting to provide healing in dungeon groups, via (Improved) Vampiric Embrace without ripping aggro from the main tank. 
) and is among the most efficient ways for you to convert mana into Shadow damage. 
symbol represents when mana gets spent, it looks like this:
