Shadow Priest Gear ListFollow

Edit: Switched the order of the previous posts around to make more sense. This first post is your ideal piece for each slot before heading in Karazhan or Heroics. The second post has the big list that includes this gear, but other options as well if you can't get your hands on the things from the first list.

Shadow Priest Gear – With 5/5 Shadow Focus you will need +76 hit rating on your gear to max out your chance to hit. This should be your first goal, followed by maxing your +dmg as much as possible.
If you are a tailor, have your full Frozen Shadoweave set made and gemmed/enchanted before entering Kara.


Head: Spellstrike Hood with 3x Runed Living Ruby and Glyph of Power
Neck: Brooch of Heightened Potential or Natasha’s Arcane Filament
Shoulder: Frozen Shadoweave Shoulders with #1 or #2 and 2x Runed Living Ruby or 1x Veiled Noble Topaz and 1x Glowing Nightseye if you need the +spell hit socket bonus
Back: Cloak of the Black Void
Chest: Frozen Shadoweave Robe with 2x Runed Living Ruby or 1x Veiled Noble Topaz and 1x Glowing Nightseye if you need the +spell hit socket bonus and Exceptional Stats or Restore Mana Prime
Wrist: Bracers of Havok with 1x Runed Living Ruby or 1x Veiled Noble Topaz and Spellpower
Hands: Tempest’s Touch with 2x Runed Living Ruby and Major Spellpower or Spell Strike OR if you need spell hit Gloves of Oblivion with Major Spellpower or Spell Strike
Waist: Girdle of Ruination with 2x Runed Living Ruby
Legs: Spellstrike Pants with 3x Runed Living Ruby and Mystic Spellthread or Runic Spellthread
Feet: Frozen Shadoweave Boots with with 2x Runed Living Ruby or 1x Veiled Noble Topaz and 1x Glowing Nightseye if you need the +spell hit socket bonus and Enchant: Fortitude
Rings: Seal of the Exorcist and Seer’s Signet or Khorium Band of Shadows both with Spellpower (enchanters only)
Trinkets: Darkmoon Card: Crusade and Glowing Crystal Insignia
Weapon: Gavel of Unearthed Secrets with Major Spellpower
Off-hand: Star-Heart Lamp
Wand: Flawless Wand of Shadow Wrath or Wand of the Netherwing


Edited, Aug 3rd 2007 12:44am by Khalane

Edited, Aug 10th 2007 12:44pm by Khalane

Ok, I went through the list and eliminated items that were clearly inferior, and tried to put them in order with the best choice at the top. Most of the best choices are the ones with spell hit, so if you reach +76 spell hit and you still are looking for upgrades you can grab one further down in the list that has +spell crit instead. :D The section for capes was also completely missing, so I added that in as well.

Head:
Spellstrike Hood
Hood of Oblivion
Evoker’s Helm of Second Sight
Mana Etched Crown
Hydromancer’s Headwrap
Crown of Endless Knowledge
Tourmaline Crown
*Options for engineers only*
Gnomish Power Goggles (engineer)
Foreman’s Enchanted Helmet (engineer)

Enchant: Glyph of Power

Neck:
Veteran’s Pendant of Dominance (pvp)
Brooch of Heightened Potential
Natasha’s Arcane Filament

Shoulder:
Frozen Shadoweave Shoulders
Spaulders of Oblivion
Mantle of Three Terrors
Mana Sphere Shoulderguards
Spaulder’s of the Torn Heart
Destroyer’s Mantle
Pauldrons of Arcane Rage

Enchant: Aldor #1 or #2
Scryer #1 or #2

Back:
Cloak of the Black Void
Sergeant’s Heavy Cape (pvp)
Sethekk Oracle Cloak (pvp)

Enchant: Spell Penetration
*Once the next patch comes out I will add a link to the Subtlety enchant with the new mats*

Chest:
Frozen Shadoweave Robe
Robes of Oblivion
Warp Infused Drape
Robe of the Crimson Order (if you need spell hit)
Vermillion Robes of the Dominant

Enchant: Exceptional Stats or Restore Mana Prime

Wrist:
Bracers of Havok
Crystalweave Bracers
Shattrath Wraps
Bands of Netherkurse

Enchant: Spellpower

Hands:
Tempest’s Touch
Jaedenfire Gloves of Annihilation
Gloves of Oblivion (if you need +hit)
Energis Armwraps

Enchant: Major Spellpower or Spell Strike

Waist:
Girdle of Ruination
Sash of Serpentra
Adal’s Gift

Legs:
Spellstrike Pants
Khadgar’s Kilt of Abjuration
Devil Stitched Leggings
Trousers of Oblivion (if you need +hit)

Enchant: Mystic Spellthread or Runic Spellthread

Feet:
Frozen Shadoweave Boots
Shattrath Jumpers
Sigil Laced Boots

Enchant: Fortitude or Vitality

Finger:
Ashyen’s Gift
Seal of the Exorcist
Khorium Band of Shadows
Seer’s Signet (Scryer only)
Veteran’s Band of Dominance

Enchant: Spellpower (enchanters only)

Trinket:
Darkmoon Card: Crusade
Scryer’s Bloodgem (Scryer only)
Mark of Defiance
Glowing Crystal Insignia
Occulus of the Hidden Eye
Starkiller’s Bauble

Weapon:
Gavel of Unearthed Secrets
Grand Marshal’s Spellblade (pvp)
Runesong Dagger
Warpstaff of Arcanum
Auchenai Staff (Aldor only)
Bloodfire Greatstaff

Enchant: Major Spellpower or Soulfrost if you will be keeping the weapon for quite awhile.

Offhand:
Crystal Orb of Elightenment
Star-Heart Lamp
Lamp of Peaceful Radiance
The Saga of Terokk

Wand:
Flawless Wand of Shadow Wrath
Wand of the Netherwing
Nether Core’s Control Rod
Wand of the Seer
Jeweled Rod
Cerulean Crystal Rod


Heroic/Kara Drops

Head:
*Note* Spellstrike is still the best choice at this point
Soul-Collar of the Incarnate
Uni-Mind Headdress
Wicked Witch’s Hat
Mana-Binder’s Cowl

Enchant: See pre-kara

Neck:
Ritssyn’s Lost Pendant
Brooch of Unquenchable Fury
Manasurge Pendant

Shoulders:
*Note* Frozen Shadoweave Shoulders are still the best option
Mantle of the Mind Flayer

Enchant: See pre-kara

Chest:
*Note* Frozen Shadoweave Robe is still the best option.
Robe of the Elder Scribes

Enchant: see pre-kara

Wrist:
Bands of Nefarious Deeds
Bands of Negation
Harbinger Bands
Bands of Rarified Magic

Enchant: see pre-kara

Hands:
Handwraps of Flowing Thought
Gloves of the Incarnate

Enchant: see pre-Kara

Waist:
*Note* Girdle of Ruination is still the best option
Belt of Depravity
Malefic Girdle
Nethershard Girdle
Glyph Lined Sash

Legs:
*Note* Spellstrike Pants are still the best option at this point unless you have enough +spell hit rating from other items
Trial-Fire Trousers
Kirin Tor Master’s Trousers
Breeches of the Occultist

Enchant: see pre-kara

Feet:
*Note* Frozen Shadoweave Boots are still the best option.
Ruby Slippers
Boots of Foretelling
Boots of Blasphemy
Boots of the Infernal Coven
Boots of Ethereal Manipulation

Enchant: see pre-kara

Rings:
Cobalt Band of Tyrigosa
Ring of Recurrence
Violet Signet of the Archmage
Spectral Band of Innervation
Ring of Cryptic Dreams

Enchant: see pre-Kara

Trinket:
Icon of the Silver Crescent
Quagmirran’s Eye

Weapon:
Nathrezim Mindblade
Staff of Infinite Mysteries
Terokk’s Shadowstaff

Enchant: see pre-kara

Off-Hand:
Orb of the Soul-Eater
Jewel of Infinite Possibilities
Talisman of Nightbane

Wand:
Tirisfal Wand of Ascendancy
The Black Stalk

Gems: Socket Bonuses are usually useless, just choose the highest +spell dmg gems you can get for the most part.
Red:
Runed Ornate Ruby
Runed Living Ruby
Purple:
Glowing Tanzanite
Infused Amethyst
Glowing Nightseye
Green:
Vivid Chrysoprase
Orange:
Infused Fire Opal
Mysterious Fire Opal
Shining Fire Opal
Unstable Topaz
Veiled Noble Topaz
Meta:
Mystical Skyfire Diamond
Swift Starfire Diamond
Imbued Unstable Diamond
Insightful Earthstorm Diamond


Edited, Aug 10th 2007 12:19pm by Khalane

The general consensus is Battlecast= pvp and Spellstrike = pve. They both have the same +dmg basically, but Battlecast has a lot more stamina and intellect. These stats are great for a pvp caster. The +hit on the Spellstrike set, and the fact that the set has 2 more sockets and thus, more +dmg, makes Spellstrike a lot better for pve. The set bonus for Spellstrike is better for your damage as well.

Oh, and I just use the options to turn of showing my head piece so I don't have to look at the ugliness :D

I was going to make something like this, but got wrapped up in raiding and real life. Here's what I have as my ideal Pre-Mag setup, just to reference/whatever.

Soul-Collar of the Incarnate
Ritssyn's Lost Pendant
Frozen Shadoweave Shoulders
Ruby Drape of the Mysticant OR Illidari Cloak of Shadow Wrath
Frozen Shadoweave Robe
Ravager Cuffs of Shadow Wrath
Handwraps of Flowing Thought
Belt of Divine Inspiration
Spellstrike Pants OR Leggings of the Seventh Circle
Frozen Shadoweave Boots
Icon of the Silver Crescent
Cobalt Band of Tyrigosa
Ring of Recurrence OR Khorium Band of Shadows
Darkmoon Card: Crusade
Merciless Gladiator's Spellblade
Orb of the Soul-Eater
Tirisfal Wand of Ascendancy OR Flawless Wand of Shadow Wrath
With all Runed Living Rubies, except one epic dmg/stam gem in order to activate Mystical Skyfire Diamond.

There are a couple "shadow wrath" items in there you didn't have on your list that I'd list as best. Also, Spellstrike is NOT better than a meta socket + Mystical Skyfire Diamond (half casting time on Mind Flay), especially since, as I understand it, it's currently bugged and Flay doesn't sue up the proc, often allowing at least 2 and sometimes 3 Flays to be cast at 1.5 seconds each. Even unbugged, the +dmg from Spellstrike doesn't surpass Mystical Skyfire in damage.
Also, you'll note that some of my gear choices go over the +76 to hit. It should be enough that you can actually free up a point from Shadow Focus, allowing you to put it into other places (most likely, Imp Mind Blast or Shadow Power).

After the listed pieces, your first upgrades will be Eye of Magtheridon, Cord of Screaming Terrors, Band of Al'ar, Band of Endless Coils, and (for the 2-piece socket bonus) Wings of the Avatar and Hood of the Avatar.

Edited, Jul 12th 2007 7:22pm by lsfreak

You are right, I don't have any "Shadow Wrath" pieces on the list. Mostly because I tend to forget about them since the AH on my server isn't always the greatest for finding that stuff. But, for the wand and perhaps bracers it is a good idea to look for them.

And, I must say I think I was either looking at the wrong Tier 4 helm (how I don't know) or, I just read it wrong. For some reason I thought it was much worse than what it is. I'll add that to the list. Now, if only it would drop for me. I must say though, I think you're the only person I've seen who says it's better than Spellstrike. Every post I've seen, on shadowpriest.com and the like, always say go for Spellstrike over Tier 4. I'll have to read up more on the meta gem.

Personally speaking I prefer the battlecast over the spellstrike set (for the head at least) there are a few fights in karazhan where shadow priests have excellent utility provided they have the stamina and mana pool to match. For example soaking on the curator and tanking the blue beam at netherspite.
Given that you don't need that much hit rating from gear as a shadow priest I'm happy to give up 16 hit and 9 damage for an additional 27 stamina and 16 int.

I stopped soaking in Arcane Resist at all. I was sitting just shy of 10k buffed in my soak gear, which means I was still out-healthed by most of the locks, any warriors, and a few of the PvP rogues and hunters. It's fairly easy to heal through, and the added damage, mana regen, and healing via VE helps a lot I've found. The only time I go ahead and throw on AR gear is if we have two new and/or ungeared healers.

i just use theorycrafter for loot lists nice that you can choise items per slot, or per instance

http://www.theorycrafter.com/sortable/priest-dps-loot/

Your mana pool is too high :P As a shadow priest, you mana scales a lot better with +dmg than with intellect. I'm sitting at almost exactly 8k health and 8.5k mana, fully raid buffed. I think my mana pool is actually going to drop more as I get better gear, and won't finally actually start rising again until I hit Hyjal (a loooong ways in the future). I'll take the extra damage *any* day :P

This should get cleaned up a bit and then either stickied or incorporated into the Shadow Priest FAQ. Nice work!

Bump, this should be stickied!

Thanks to Monseigneur RedPhoenixxx for linking this thread to his Shadow Priest sticky.

This will probably be my last shameless bump for this guide until I make any other edits.

First off i'd like to say great list and thanks to everyone who's contributed thus far.

I was wondering about how much Mana/HP unbuffed/buffed should I have once I have the gear I need? Also what's more valuable a vitality or fort enchant on my boots?(assuming i have the minimum hp for raiding)

Edited, Sep 7th 2007 12:28am by electricwizard