WoW: Shadow Priest Guide (Patch 8.3)
Highlight current changes
The shadow priest also cuts a good figure in Battle for Azeroth and continues to enjoy battles in which he can achieve multiple long-term goals with his DoTs. In our guide to the shadow priest in patch 8.3 we show you what the strengths and weaknesses of the "shadow" are, how you get the most damage out of your rotation, talents, azerite perks and essences and what else about the DpS playing style of the priest to know.
Update 02/14/2020: We have updated all areas of the Shadow Priest Guide and added a category for the best corruption effects.
With this table of contents you can quickly and easily find the area of the guide to the shadow priest that you are looking for.
Changes in Battle for Azeroth
The biggest changes since Legion affect the area damage of 
empty eruption, further restructuring your championship and the return of 
Mind Sear, Instead of the AoE damage from empty eruption to only work on goals that are 
Shadow word: pain affected, all targets within a 10 meter radius around the targeted target are now damaged. Your mastery in BfA not only increases the damage of your DoTs and 
empty flash, but also the harm of empty eruption. 
Mind Flay and Mind Sear– basically all of the important skills in your rotation. If you played at the beginning of Legion and started fresh with BfA, you have to put up with the fact that the way of playing with 
Descent into madness is currently not playable. After several adjustments, Blizzard has not yet found a way to use the talent wisely.
That's how strong the shadow priest is in patch 8.3
The shadow play style is still seen by many players as a niche spec. The better our heroes' equipment gets, and the more speed and critical strike we can accumulate, the stronger the Shadow Priest will be. The "Shadow" is no longer the spec that can only convince in multi-DoT battles, but also does a lot of damage against individual targets, and is one of the best damage dealers in raids and dungeons. In order for damage to get around properly, however, you must first collect the right traits on your Azerite armor. As a shadow priest, you are very dependent on the traits 
Refrain of madness and 
Vicious apparitions, of which you need at least two each.
The shadow priest in dungeons
As soon as mob groups survive for more than 30 seconds, the shadow priest shows his strengths and is at the top of the damage caused. With the right Azerit traits, you can top even the best AoE damage classes against large mob groups, for example with the new seasonal Mythic Plus affix Schröpfend to be triggered. Your big weakness is – similar to the raid – your long start-up time until you cause damage. In addition, you lose damage if you move out early due to a lot of movement 
blank shape rausfallt. However, since you do not have important utility skills as a shadow like a resuscitation in combat or long group stunts, many random groups (who want to play very high keys) continue to shy away from inviting shadow priests.
In raids
There are several battles in the Battle of Dazar'alor, in which either long-lasting add-ons appear repeatedly or several boss opponents are active. It is precisely in these situations that the shadow priest can play his strengths almost perfectly and therefore cause a lot of damage through his damage-over-time spells. That's why the shadow is usually in first place in the damage statistics from the battle of Dazar'alor or at least in the top 5 damage dealers.
This is how you do in PvP
The skill cap for a shadow priest in the arena is slightly higher than for other magic classes. In order to be successful and make your life much easier, you need either a balance druid, who acts as a second healer, or melee like death knights or villains, who regularly annoy other classes with stun and slow effects. In normal and ranked battlefields, you do much better because you do a lot of damage to multiple targets with your DoTs.
About our authors
This guide was written by Sebastian "Cromatus" Glanzer. He plays WoW (buy now for € 19.99) active since Classic and has raided almost every raid in progress. He has played the priest actively since Wrath of the Lich King and predominantly as a shadow priest, while also playing his warrior.
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