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Shadow Priest PvP Guide For 2v2

Priest class icon Shadow Priest specialization icon
Shadow Priest
The War Within Season 1
Based on 26 Characters
From 1801 to 2328 Rating

Welcome to Murlok.io's PvP guide for Shadow Priests in 2v2 Arenas. This guide covers the best stats, races, talents, gear, embellishments, enchantments, and gems for Patch 11.0, based on data from the top 50 Shadow Priests in The War Within Season 1 across the US, EU, KR, and TW regions. This includes Nayumix (Drakthul EU) , who is currently the highest-ranked with a rating of 2328.

Updated every 12 hours with the latest data from the Battle.net API , this guide also examines each character's recent playtime, specialization frequency, and equipment choices for greater accuracy.

Top Shadow Priests

Stat Priority

Stats are crucial attributes that influence a character's power in World of Warcraft. They determine the character's strength and overall playstyle. Stat bonuses can be found on various equipment pieces, consumables created by Alchemy, certain foods, some enchantments, and gems.

Each stat experiences diminishing returns once its equipped bonus reaches +20%. Optimizing a character's performance involves finding a balanced distribution. Here is the optimal way to balance Shadow Priest secondary and minor stats for 2v2:

Secondary Stats

+325
6% Critical Strike
+11813
18% Haste
+2051
5% Mastery
+12225
16% Versatility
  1. Versatility
  2. Haste
  3. Mastery
  4. Critical Strike

Minor Stats

+0
0% Avoidance
+312
0% Leech
+735
4% Speed
  1. Speed
  2. Leech
  3. Avoidance

Races

Each race in World of Warcraft has unique traits that enhance abilities or improve in-game quality of life. Although these racial traits offer minor advantages, they can provide a competitive edge in certain scenarios.

With Night Elf currently being the top race for Shadow Priests in 2v2, here are the other races that also stand out due to their advantageous traits:

  1. Night Elf icon
    Night Elf
    13
  2. Undead icon
    Undead
    4
  3. Void Elf icon
    Void Elf
    3
  4. Blood Elf icon
    Blood Elf
    2
  5. Gnome icon
    Gnome
    1

Class Talents

Talents are the main element defining a character's build, significantly influencing playstyle by adding, modifying, and enhancing abilities and behaviors. They are crucial in shaping how a character functions in battle.

Class talents represent a common tree shared across all Priest specializations. These talents provide foundational skills and enhancements essential to the Priest class. They offer a range of abilities that lay the groundwork for a Priest's overall capabilities. The following tree reproduces the in-game class talents disposition as a heatmap. Each color represents the usage frequency and general recommendation level of the talents:

  1. Most frequently used talents, highly recommended for optimal performance.
  2. Widely used talents offering flexibility for alternative choices or personal preference.
  3. Less commonly selected talents, typically chosen to fill necessary slots for advancing to the next tier.

Specialization Talents

Specialization talents provide Shadow Priests with unique abilities and enhancements tailored to their combat style. The following tree reproduces the in-game specialization talents disposition and shows the best talents as a heatmap:

  1. Most frequently used talents, highly recommended for optimal performance.
  2. Widely used talents offering flexibility for alternative choices or personal preference.
  3. Less commonly selected talents, typically chosen to fill necessary slots for advancing to the next tier.

Hero Talents

Hero talents allow deeper customization of the Shadow Priest class fantasy, enhancing character builds. The following trees show the Voidweaver and Archon hero talents as a heatmap, highlighting the most effective choices:

  1. Most frequently used talents, highly recommended for optimal performance.
  2. Widely used talents offering flexibility for alternative choices or personal preference.
  3. Less commonly selected talents, typically chosen to fill necessary slots for advancing to the next tier.

PvP Talents

PvP talents are tailored for player-versus-player combat scenarios. Activated in arenas, battlegrounds, and the open world with war mode enabled, these talents optimize a Shadow Priest's performance in PvP encounters. They provide specialized enhancements that give players an edge in combat against other players, reflecting the unique demands of PvP gameplay. The following shows the best PvP talents as a heatmap:

  1. Most frequently used talents, highly recommended for optimal performance.
  2. Widely used talents offering flexibility for alternative choices or personal preference.
  3. Less commonly selected talents, typically chosen to fill necessary slots for advancing to the next tier.

Best In Slot Gear

Gear consists of items that directly determine a character's power level. It can be acquired from various sources: dungeons, raids, world drops, crafted through professions, obtained from PvP vendors, or chosen as rewards from the Great Vault.

Each piece of gear significantly boosts a character's overall strength and capabilities. Here are the top items for Shadow Priests in 2v2, tailored for each equipment slot:

Embellishments

Embellishments are unique effects associated with crafted items, either as predefined elements in a recipe or added with an optional embellishment reagent, creating embellished gear. These enhancements diversify and amplify characters' capabilities.

Given that only a maximum of two embellished items can be equipped at a time, here are the best embellishments for Shadow Priests in 2v2:

  1. Algari Competitor's Signet icon
    Elemental Focusing Lens
    19
  2. Algari Competitor's Skewer icon
    Ascendance
    10
  3. Algari Competitor's Cloth Sash icon
    Writhing Armor Banding
    8
  4. Algari Competitor's Signet icon
    Energy Redistribution Beacon
    7

Enchantments

Enchantments provide minor yet valuable enhancements to various items, including Back, Chest, Wrist, Legs, Rings, Feet, Main Hand, and Off Hand.

Most enchantments are crafted via the Enchanting profession. However, Legs enhancements are crafted by Leatherworkers.

Enchantments are usually available at the auction house, making them accessible for upgrades. Here is a list of the top enchantments for Shadow Priests in 2v2, essential for optimizing combat effectiveness:

Gems

Gems are crafted stones from the Jewelcrafting profession, typically offering stat bonuses to enhance your gear and balance character stats as a final touch. These gems can be socketed into specific items such as Head, Neck, Wrist, Waist, and Rings.

Even though the presence of sockets on these items is usually random upon their drop, neck pieces can be uniquely modified to have up to three sockets by using three Tiered Medallion Setting . Additionally, a single socket can be added to other eligible items with an Eye of Awakening , which requires three Aspects' Tokens of Merit obtained from the Great Vault.

Available through both the auction house and the crafting order system, the following are the top gem choices for Shadow Priests in 2v2:

  1. Versatile Emerald icon
    Versatile Emerald
    38
  2. Cognitive Bloodstone icon
    Cognitive Bloodstone
    24
  3. Masterful Emerald icon
    Masterful Emerald
    5
  4. Masterful Emerald icon
    Masterful Emerald
    2
  5. Quick Onyx icon
    Quick Onyx
    1