Category: Gear

What to Wear: The Shadow Priest’s Guide to The Emerald Nightmare

It’s been a very long while since I’ve put together a gear guide, but this seemed like a good time since my gnomies are about to start raiding.

Know Your Priorities

First things first, get to know your stat priority:

  • Haste
  • Critical Strike
  • Mastery
  • Intellect
  • Versatility

Note: If you take the Legacy of the Void or Mind Spike talents, you’ll swap #1 and #2 with each other, per Icy Veins.

Note that Noxxic has a different shadow priest stat priority (Intellect > Haste > Crit > Versatility > Mastery). I suggest you see what works best with your play style and gearing.

Gem Appropriately

Maximize Your Enchants

Shadow Priest Gear Priorities for The Emerald Nightmare

I’ve linked to the Wowhead page for the LFR version of each item; from there you can select your mode of choice to review the different stats. If you’re not sure which piece of gear to use, as you juggle ilevels and stats, consider using an addon such as Pawn to help you more easily determine which piece of gear is your best choice.

Cape

Chest

Feet

Hands

Helm

Legs

Neck

Relics

Rings

Shoulder

Trinkets

Waist

Wrist

What to Wear: A Shadow Priest’s Guide to the Siege of Orgrimmar

Maximize your loot rolls and token spend with this handy matrix of shadow priest gear options in the Siege of Orgrimmar raid.

WoWScrnShot_100713_184420

Now that I’ve been making some headway into the Siege of Orgrimmar raid, both in 10 regular and flex, I figured it was time to put together one of my perennial What to Wear Guides. But once I got started with it, I saw my usual simple guide format of days gone by just wasn’t going to cut it with this many bosses and so many gear options per slot. Thus, instead, I put together a handy matrix in Excel:
Siege-of-Orgrimmar-Shadow-Priest-Gear-Matrix
Download a printable PDF, or save a copy of the matrix in spreadsheet form from google drive.

Know your priorities

Per Icy Veins, stat priority changed up a little bit with Patch 5.4:

  1. Intellect
  2. 15% Hit Rating or Spirit
  3. Haste Rating (until reaching the soft cap)
  4. Critical Strike Rating and Mastery Rating (NOTE if you do not have the 2-pc tier 16 bonus, crit still better than mastery)
  5. Haste Rating (past the soft cap)

Gem Appropriately

If you do not have both a max raid buffed spellpower of 30k and ilvl 505, use these gems:

Once you have both a max raid buffed spellpower of 30k and ilvl 505, use these gems:

Maximize Your Enchants

It can be difficult to keep up with maximizing all the changes in stats as you gain new gear. I highly recommend using the Reforge Lite add-on or maximizing your gear via Ask Mr Robot.

Mists of Pandaria Factions to Grind for Shadow Priests

It takes hard work and perserverance to look this cute!

With the bazillions of dailies one could complete in support of raising your faction high enough with them in order to purchase something useful, there’s one thing for certain: You’ve GOT TO prioritize! If you try to grind out all the factions at once, you’ll quickly burn out and retreat to the safety of the pet battles. And collecting all the pets. Ahem.

As previously noted, I only ever really stick with and play my spellcasters. Hence this guide focusing on factions you’ll want your shadow priest to rep up with in order to improve your gear. Note that I am including both +hit and spirit caster pieces. However, many of the spirit pieces have mastery as a stat, which is your least desireable stat. Keep that in mind when choosing which piece you want. Of course, if you want to use items for a healing offspec in addition to shadow, the spirit gear would be the way to go.

As a reminder, your shadow priest stat priority is:

  1. Intellect
  2. 15% Spell Hit (obtained with Hit or Spirit) will enable your spells to not miss on bosses
  3. Haste (aiming for 19.03% to earn 2 extra ticks of Shadow Word: Pain and Devouring Plague)
  4. Crit
  5. Mastery

I’m leaving the Tillers and The Anglers for another post since their rewards are fun and benefit your cooking and fishing professions, but are not factions that reward gear for improving your gameplay. Ditto for the Lorewalkers and Order of the Cloud Serpent.

Golden Lotus

Revered status with the Golden Lotus faction will allow you to pick up quests pointing you to the daily quest hubs for Shaod-Pan and August Celestials.

Gear

Tailoring Patterns

Misc

 The August Celestials

To unlock the daily quests for this reputation, you must be Revered with Golden Lotus.

Gear

Enchanting Formulas

Misc

The Klaxxi

Per WoWhead, to grind rep with The Klaxxi, you’ll have to do a lengthy Dread Wastes quest chain that starts with Psycho Mantid. Once you reach honored, you may obtain ~6 quests from the Elders you freed.

Gear

Misc

The Shado-Pan

To unlock the daily quest hub in Townlong Steppes, you must be Revered with Golden Lotus. Until then you can gain rep with the Sdhado-Pan by questing throughout Townlong Steppes.

Gear

Enchanting Formulas

Misc

What to Wear: the Shadow Priest’s Guide to Mists of Pandaria Heroic Gear

Note: to jump in to the Heroic difficulty Mists of Pandaria max level
dungeons at level 90, you will need a minimum ilvl of 435. If you don't quite meet that minimum, check out my guide to pre-heroic gear.

Know your priorities

First things first, get to know your stat priority:

  1. Intellect
  2. 15% Spell Hit (obtained with Hit or Spirit) will enable your spells to not miss on bosses
  3. Haste (aiming for 19.03% to earn 2 extra ticks of Shadow Word: Pain and Devouring Plague)
  4. Crit
  5. Mastery

Gem Appropriately

Maximize Your Enchants

 Heroic Dungeon Gear

You may obtain ilvl 463 gear (and a few epic pieces) from the following max level Heroic dungeons:

Note that I am not leavng out items with mastery despite it being our least effective stat.  I've called out hit and spirit on pieces, and the few epics. Here's what you can take home from these dungeons if the RNG is in your favor:

What to Wear: the Shadow Priest’s Guide to Pre-Heroic Mists of Pandaria Dungeon Gear

To jump in to the Heroic difficulty Mists of Pandaria max level dungeons at level 90, you will need a minimum ilvl of 435. I've compiled your sources for getting the gear you need to beat or exceed that minimum.

Know your priorities

First things first, get to know your stat priority:

  1. Intellect
  2. 15% Spell Hit (obtained with Hit or Spirit) will enable your spells to not miss on bosses
  3. Haste (aiming for 19.03% to earn 2 extra ticks of Shadow Word: Pain and Devouring Plague)
  4. Crit
  5. Mastery

Gem Appropriately

Maximize Your Enchants

 And now, onto the Gear!

The following ilvl 450 gear can be obtained from the later leveling instances, Mogu'shan Palace (MP) and ilevel 435 gear from Shado-Pan Monastery (SPM) so be sure to queue up as you go!

 

 

Spirit: Still Not Just for Healers

elemental shaman can use spirit too mister pally pants!

I’ve been leveling my goblin shaman in large part through LFD groups. I’ve been enjoying the under 10 minute queues, and seeing the old instances in new level ranges. But what I haven’t been enjoying as much is the non-stop arguing about who gets the spirit gear.

While in Dire Maul, I rolled need on, and won, mail spirit gloves. Our healing paladin, who, in that same moment, won the shield off the King, immediately started berating me. The conversation went roughly like this:

PALADIN: ” Why did you roll need on those gloves, shaman???”

ME: “?”

PALADIN: “Don’t you know anything? You use AGI not spirit, dumbass.”

ME: “Actually, as an elemental shaman, with a resto offspec, I can use spirit in either spec. I have the talent that converts spirit into hit.”

PALADIN: “Obviously you don’t raid.”

ME: “Yes, I actually, I do. Your point?”

PALADIN: “If you raid then you should know main spec before off spec.”

ME: “As already noted I’m elemental and have the talent that uses spirit for hit. And you not only got plenty of other loot this run, you can wear plate so you didn’t have more right to win those gloves than I did.”

/ignores paladin

ME: “Next time, before you start berating a stranger in an instance over loot, be more informed about your topic.”

That’s right. The paladin and I both rolled on mail spirit gloves, in a run wherein they had won a ton of loot, and he threw a hissy fit about my winning them with a need roll. I am not making this up.

Back in October, when I first wrote about the changing face of spirit, I expected we would have some short term hiccups. I did not anticipate, however, that my hybrids (and I only really do instances with my SP/boomkin/ele shaman) would be the target of non-stop harangues from healers who felt that every item that dropped with spirit on it was their priority over mine.

Yes, I understand that healers really really need spirit. But hybrids also can use it. And especially when you are talking about the mail and leather gear, there isn’t a plethora of non spirit gear awaiting my picking it up. And it’s ridiculous to expect me, in PUG 5-mans no less, to pass on any item with spirit on it in case a healer wants it. That’d be a great way to be wearing level 20 quest gear up to 60.

Warlocks and Mages: Still Don’t Need Spirit

Probably one of the more vexing related issues that crops up just as often is warlocks and mages rolling on cloth spirit gear, or my worst case so far: melee DPS rolling on and winning a spirit trinket. I know that Blizzard spent an entire expansion trying to convince locks and mages that they should have a teeny bit of spirit in their gear, but those days are past.

Yes, as someone pointed out to me in their argument as to why I was wrong that they don’t use spirit at all, your rate of out of combat mana regen is dependent upon spirit. That would technically be considered “using spirit” but having a stat on your gear that you mostly reforge away because it only affects your out of combat mana regen does not really fit in with my definition of “using it” the same way that casters who convert it into hit (which you need whenever you are fighting something up to your hit cap.)

At this point, I’m going to have to make a macro to spam before the first boss drops his phat loots, that says something along the lines of: “Since it always comes up, please be advised that boomkin/elemental shaman/shadow priests actually use spirit as hit; I have it talented. It’s not just for healers. Cheers.” Not that it will do any good, but it will save my wery fingers from typing these worn out arguments at least…

What to Wear: a Shadow Priest’s Guide to Zul’aman and Zul’gurub Heroic Dungeon Gear

Patch 4.1 brings us 5-man heroic dungeon versions of a couple of classic raids: Zul'aman (ZA) and Zul'gurub (ZG), with an opportunity to deck yourself out in ilvl 353 epics, which should help ease more folks into being raid-ready from a geaer perspective.

Thankfully, the loot tables will additionally help fill in some gaps for some of the harder to source items (i.e. wands and bracers.) Personally, I can't wait for my new and improved Will of Arlokk. That was always my favorite staff…

Once the item databases provide more details, I'll subdivide the list by instance.

Note that there is also a trinket, usuable by everyone, that calls forth your own posse of voodoo gnomes: Miniature Voodoo Mask.

What to Wear: The Shadow Priest’s Guide to Cataclysm’s Justice and Valor Points-purchased Gear

consider this a prime example of what NOT to wear

Now that you’ve got some justice points stacking up in your currency tab, and a few vexing greens still on your 85s, you are probably ready to go shopping, yes? But first things first — how do you earn more of these points?

Justice Points

  • Cataclysm Heroic dungeon boss — 75 Justice Points
  • Cataclysm daily normal dungeon — 75 Justice Points

Valor Points

  • Cataclysm daily Heroic dungeon — 75 Valor Points
  • Cataclysm 10-player raid boss — 75 Valor Points
  • Cataclysm 25-player raid boss — 105 Valor Points

Now before you hit the comment button to tell me I forgot about WotLK raids and heroics, let me stop you. At 85 you will not be earning justice points from any “outgrown” content, regardless of if they previously dropped badges for you. And now, on to the good stuff.

Justice Points Gear (ilvl 346)

 Valor Points Gear (ilvl 359)

Next Steps

If you are looking to build a set that works well for healing in addition to shadow, you will want to grab pieces with spirit rather than with hit. The relative utility of the mastery bonus continues to be debated, but is widely considered to not be worth choosing over an item without it, so also bear that in mind if you plan only to play as shadow. Additionally, there are some crafted items, including epic pants and belt, that you may wish to have made rather than spending your points.

Now that you have your wish list in place, where do you make your purchases? Horde has Jamus’Vaz <Valorous Quartermaster> and Gunra <Justice Quartermaster> in Orgrimmar’s Valley of Strength. Alliance has Faldren Tillsdale <Valorous Quartermaster> and Magatha Silverton <Justice Quartermaster> in Stormwind in the Old Town area.

NOTE: It is a bummer that wands and bracers for shadow priests are not craftable, available through rep, or purchaseable from the point vendors at this point. Hopefully we shall see that rectified with a future patch. Until then, you can farm Grim Batol for the Wand of Untainted Power [spirit]. For bracers, your options are Lost City for Sand Silk Wristband bracers, the long quest chain that culminates in Doing it the Hard Way in Halls of Origination, or Crimsonborne Bracers in Grim Batol.

What to Wear: The Shadow Priest’s Guide to Cataclysm’s Crafted Gear

shadow priest fishing up volatiles to craft some new clothes

Note that I am not including rare quality tailoring gear here at this time since it is PvP oriented, or ilvl 333 and under. Also note that overall, until there’s data showing that mastery is worth it for shadow priests, I am leaning towards gear without it when there is a choice to be made.

ilvl 359 Tailoring Epics

ilvl 346 Blacksmithing Weapon

ilvl 346 Jewelcrafting Accessories

ilvl 346 Inscription Off Hands

What to Wear: a Shadow Priest’s Guide to 5-man Cataclysm Heroic Dungeon Gear

This is a companion piece to the 5-man Cataclysm Dungeon Gear guide. All items are ilvl 346 rare quality. What you will immediately notice is the item names are the same as their regular dungeon counterparts (with the exception of SFK and Deadmines which both have a number of uniquely named items), with a boost of stats from the regular version, and often the addition of one or more gem slots.

Please note: if you are wondering why I have included items with spirit in this list, please go read The Changing Face of Spirit. If you have taken the Twisted Faith talent, you will want to use spirit items to help reach your hit cap as needed.

Details after the jump.

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