Shadow Priest Talents

Shadow Priest
Midnight Pre-Patch

Talents in World of Warcraft define your character's gameplay. They offer active abilities for offense and defense, major cooldowns, or passive enhancements to your stats and spells. Here are the current Shadow Priest talents for Midnight Pre-Patch.

Where to Find Talents

Talents can be found in the talent menu, which is accessible by pressing the N key (default) or by clicking the target icon in the micro menu:

Screenshot of the talents button in the micro menu

Class Talents

Class talents represent a common tree shared across all Priest specializations. These talents provide foundational skills and enhancements essential to the Priest class, offering a range of abilities that lay the groundwork for a Priest's overall capabilities.

Name	Cast	Effect
Improved Flash Heal	Passive	Increases healing done by Flash Heal by 15%.
Angelic Feather	Instant - 40 Yd Range	Places a feather at the target location, granting the first ally to walk through it 40% increased movement speed for 5 sec. Only 3 feathers can be placed at one time.
Mind Blast	1.5 Sec Cast - 40 Yd Range	Blast the target's mind for 300 Shadow damage. Costs a high amount of mana.
Holy Nova	Instant	An explosion of holy light around you deals up to 152 Holy damage to enemies and up to 122 healing to allies within 12 yds, reduced if there are more than 5 targets.
Dispel Magic	Instant - 30 Yd Range	Dispels Magic on the enemy target, removing 1 beneficial Magic effect.
Spiritual Guidance	Passive	Increases your Intellect by 3%.
Psychic Scream	Instant - 40 Sec Cooldown	Lets out a psychic scream, causing all enemies within 8 yards to flee, disorienting them for 8 sec. Damage may interrupt the effect.
Lightburst	Passive	Increases the damage of Holy Nova by 400%, its healing by 500%, and its cooldown by 30 sec.
Leap of Faith	Instant - 40 Yd Range - 1 Sec Cooldown	Pulls the spirit of a party or raid member, instantly moving them directly in front of you.
Purify Disease	Instant - 40 Yd Range - 8 Sec Cooldown	Removes all Disease effects from a friendly target.
Power Infusion	Instant - 40 Yd Range - 2 Min Cooldown	Infuses the target with power for 15 sec, increasing haste by 20%. Can only be cast on players.
Painful Invocation	Passive	Increases the damage of Shadow Word: Pain by 10%.
Sheer Terror	Passive	Increases the amount of damage required to break your Psychic Scream by 25%.
Petrifying Scream	Passive	Psychic Scream causes enemies to tremble in place instead of fleeing in fear.
Surge of Light	Passive	Your healing spells and Smite have a 8% chance to make your next Flash Heal instant and cost 50% less mana. Stacks to 2.
Body and Soul	Passive	Power Word: Shield and Leap of Faith increase your target's movement speed by 40% for 3 sec.
Mass Dispel	1.5 Sec Cast - 30 Yd Range - 2 Min Cooldown	Dispels magic in a 15 yard radius, removing all harmful Magic from 5 friendly targets and 1 beneficial Magic effect from 5 enemy targets. Potent enough to remove Magic that is normally undispellable.
Twins of the Sun Priestess	Passive	Power Infusion also grants you its effect at 100% value when used on an ally. If no ally is targeted, it will grant its effect at 100% value to a nearby ally, preferring damage dealers.
Strength of Soul	Passive	Increases your Stamina by 4%.
Mind Control	1.8 Sec Cast - 30 Yd Range	Controls a mind up to 1 level above yours for 30 sec. Does not work versus Demonic, Undead, or Mechanical beings. Shares diminishing returns with other disorienting effects.
Dominate Mind	1.8 Sec Cast - 30 Yd Range - 30 Sec Cooldown	Controls a mind up to 1 level above yours for 30 sec while still controlling your own mind. Does not work versus Demonic, Mechanical, or Undead beings or players. This spell shares diminishing returns with other disorienting effects.
Psychic Voice	Passive	Reduces the cooldown of Psychic Scream by 10 sec.
Void Tendrils	Passive - 1 Min Cooldown	Call shadowy tendrils to constrict enemies when Psychic Scream ends, rooting them in place for 4 sec.
Everlasting Light	Passive	Surge of Light occurs up to 50% more often based on your missing mana.
Move with Grace	Passive	Reduces the cooldown of Leap of Faith by 30 sec.
Mental Agility	Passive	Reduces the mana cost of Purify and Mass Dispel by 50% and Dispel Magic by 10%.
Twin Disciplines	Passive	Increases the damage and healing of your Holy and Shadow spells by 2%.
Dark Enlightenment	Passive	Increases your haste by 3%.
False Autonomy	Passive	Increases the duration of Mind Control and Dominate Mind against enemy creatures by 15 sec.
Shackle Undead	1.5 Sec Cast - 30 Yd Range	Shackles the target undead enemy for 50 sec, preventing all actions and movement. Damage will cancel the effect. Limit 1.
Inspiration	Passive	Reduces your target's physical damage taken by 5% for 15 sec after a critical heal with Flash Heal or Penance.
Binding Heals	Passive	20% of Flash Heal healing on other targets also heals you.
Shadow Word: Death	Instant - 40 Yd Range	A word of dark binding that inflicts 323 Shadow damage to your target. If your target is not killed by Shadow Word: Death, you take backlash damage equal to 5% of your maximum health. Damage increased by 150% to targets below 20% health.
Sanguine Teachings	Passive	Increases your Leech by 2%.
Desperate Prayer	Instant - 1.5 Min Cooldown	Increases maximum health by 25% for 10 sec, and instantly heals you for that amount.
Twist of Fate	Passive	After damaging or healing a target below 35% health, gain 10% increased damage and healing for 8 sec.
Tithe Evasion	Passive	Shadow Word: Death deals 50% less damage to you.
Fade	Instant - 30 Sec Cooldown	Fade out, removing all your threat and reducing enemies' detection range against you for 10 sec.
Angel's Mercy	Passive	Reduces the cooldown of Desperate Prayer by 20 sec.
Protective Light	Passive	Casting Flash Heal on yourself reduces all damage you take by 10% for 10 sec.
Mindpierce	Passive	Increases the damage of Smite by 15%.
Spectral Illusion	Passive	Fade creates an illusion of you for 4 sec, tricking enemies to attack it instead.
Improved Fade	Passive	Reduces the cooldown of Fade by 10 sec.
Light's Inspiration	Passive	Increases the maximum health gained from Desperate Prayer by 10%.
Unwavering Will	Passive	While above 75% health, the cast time of your Flash Heal, Prayer of Healing, and Smite are reduced by 10%.
Spell Warding	Passive	Reduces all magic damage taken by 4%.
Phantasm	Passive	Activating Fade removes all snare effects.
Angelic Bulwark	Passive	When an attack brings you below 30% health, you gain an absorption shield equal to 15% of your maximum health for 20 sec. Cannot occur more than once every 90 sec.
Benevolence	Passive	Increases the healing of your spells by 3%.
Focused Power	Passive	Increases the damage of your spells by 3%.
Phantom Reach	Passive	Increases the range of most spells by 15%.
Translucent Image	Passive	Fade reduces damage you take by 10%.

Specialization Talents

Specialization talents provide Shadow Priests with unique abilities and enhancements tailored to their combat style. These talents differentiate Shadow Priests from other Priest specializations, maximizing effectiveness in combat.

Name	Cast	Effect
Shadow Word: Madness	Instant - 40 Yd Range	A word of madness haunts the target's mind, dealing 665 Shadow damage instantly plus an additional 2,235 Shadow damage over 6 sec. Heals you for 30% of damage dealt. When reapplied to a target, all remaining damage is added to the new effect.
Psychic Link	Passive	Your direct damage spells inflict 40% of their damage on all other targets afflicted by your Vampiric Touch within 40 yards. Does not apply to damage from Shadowy Apparitions, Shadow Word: Pain, and Vampiric Touch.
Misery	Passive	Vampiric Touch also applies Shadow Word: Pain to the target. Shadow Word: Pain lasts an additional 5 sec.
Invoked Nightmare	Passive	Shadow Word: Pain deals 150% increased damage.
Intangibility	Passive	Dispersion heals you for an additional 25% of your maximum health over its duration and its cooldown is reduced by 30 sec.
Mental Fortitude	Passive	Healing from Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word: Madness when you are at maximum health will shield you for the same amount. The shield cannot exceed 10% of your maximum health.
Thought Harvester	Passive	Mind Blast gains an additional charge.
Tentacle Slam	Instant - 40 Yd Range	Summons a massive shadowy appendage to slam the ground, dealing 262 Shadow damage in front of you and 8 yds around your target. Applies Vampiric Touch to up to 6 enemies, prioritizing ones without Vampiric Touch. Generates 6 Insanity.
Shadowy Apparitions	Passive	Shadow Word: Madness conjures Shadowy Apparitions that float towards all targets afflicted by your Vampiric Touch for 237 Shadow damage.
Tormenting Whispers	Passive	Increases Shadow Word: Madness damage by 15%.
Descending Darkness	Passive	Increases Tentacle Slam damage by 300%.
Surge of Insanity	Passive	Mind Flay damage increased by 15% and Insanity generation increased by 30%.
Shadowy Insight	Passive	Shadow Word: Pain periodic damage has a chance to cause your next Mind Blast to be instant and ignore its cooldown.
Voidtouched	Passive	Increases your Shadow Word: Madness damage by 6% and increases your maximum Insanity by 50.
Voidform	1.5 Sec Cast - 40 Yd Range - 2 Min Cooldown	Bombards your target with a Void Volley and twists your Shadowform with void magic, increasing your spell damage by 10% for 20 sec. This spell is replaced with Void Volley while Voidform is active. Void Volley Releases a volley of pure void energy, firing 10 bolts at your target and 1 bolt at all enemies within 10 yards of your target for 402 Shadow damage. Generates 10 Insanity.
Haunting Shadows	Passive	Shadowy Apparition damage increased by 10%. When Shadowy Apparitions deal damage, they extend the duration of your Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch on the target by 1.0 sec.
Mental Decay	Passive	Increases the damage of Mind Flay by 25%.
Shadowfiend	Passive	Shadow Word: Death has a 40% chance to summon a Shadowfiend for 5 sec when damaging targets below 20% health. Shadowfiend Summons a Shadowfiend to attack your target for 5 sec. Generates 0.1% mana each time the Shadowfiend attacks.
Dark Thoughts	Passive	Increases the chance for Shadowy Insight to occur by 25%. When consuming Shadowy Insight, Mind Blast generates 1 additional Insanity.
Maddening Touch	Passive	Vampiric Touch deals 20% additional damage and has a chance to generate 1 Insanity each time it deals damage.
Improved Voidform	Passive	Voidform generates 60 Insanity and increases your spell damage by an additonal 5%.
Ancient Madness	Passive	Casting Shadow Word: Madness increases the duration of Voidform by 3.0 sec. Each time this occurs during Voidform, its effectiveness is reduced by 25%.
Phantom Menace	Passive	Increases the critical strike chance of Shadowy Apparitions by 10% and their critical strike damage by 40%.
Dark Evangelism	Passive	Increases your periodic spell damage by 6%.
Shattered Psyche	Passive	Mind Flay damage increases the critical strike chance of Mind Blast by 8%, stacking up to 12 times. Lasts 10 sec.
Subservient Shadows	Passive	Summoned minions last 20% longer and deal an additional 15% damage.
Mastermind	Passive	Increases the critical strike chance of Mind Blast, Mind Flay, and Shadow Word: Death by 8% and increases their critical strike damage by 40%.
Mind's Eye	Passive	Reduces the Insanity cost of Shadow Word: Madness by 5.
Distorted Reality	Passive	Increases the damage of Shadow Word: Madness by 20% and causes it to deal its damage over 12 sec, but increases its Insanity cost by 5.
Spectral Horrors	Passive	Shadow Apparitions deal 100% increased damage to targets affected by your Shadow Word: Madness.
Instilled Doubt	Passive	Increases the critical strike chance of Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word: Pain by 15% and their critical strike damage by 40%.
Mindbender	Passive - 40 Yd Range - 1 Min Cooldown	Casting Voidform summons a Mindbender for 10 sec. Mindbender Summons a shadowy fiend to attack your target. Generates 1 Insanity each time the Mindbender attacks.
Deathspeaker	Passive	Shadow Word: Death damage increased by 25%. Shadow Word: Death gains its damage and talent bonuses against targets below 35% health instead of 20%.
Death and Madness	Passive	If a target dies within 7 sec after being struck by Shadow Word: Death, generate 8 Insanity. When Shadow Word: Death fails to kill a target below 20% health, its cooldown is reset. Cannot occur more than once every 10 sec.
Mind Devourer	Passive	Mind Blast has a 8% chance to make your next Shadow Word: Madness cost no Insanity and deal 20% additional damage.
Auspicious Spirits	Passive	Your Shadowy Apparitions deal 15% increased damage and have a chance to generate 1 Insanity.
Maddening Tentacles	Passive	Tentacle Slam afflicts your target with Shadow Word: Madness at 25% effectiveness.
Inescapable Torment	Passive	Mind Blast and Shadow Word: Death cause your Shadowfiend, Mindbender, and Voidwraith to teleport behind your target, slashing up to 5 nearby enemies for 319 Shadow damage and extending their durations by 0.7 sec.
Madness Weaving	Passive	The damage bonus from your Mastery: Shadow Weaving gains 50% additional benefit from Shadow Word: Madness.
Death's Torment	Passive	Shadow Word: Death deals damage 2 additional times at 15% effectiveness.
Screams of the Void	Passive	Shadow Word: Madness causes your Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch to deal damage 80% faster on all targets for 3 sec.
Tormented Spirits	Passive	Your Shadow Word: Pain damage has a chance to create Shadowy Apparitions that float towards all targets afflicted by your Vampiric Touch. Critical strikes increase the chance by 100%.
Insidious Ire	Passive	While you have Shadow Word: Pain, Shadow Word: Madness, and Vampiric Touch active on the same target, your Mind Blast, Void Torrent, Mind Flay, and Void Volley deal 25% more damage.
Crushing Void	Passive	Tentacle Slam deals 50% increased damage and Void Volley deals 15% increased damage. When Voidform ends, you can cast Void Volley 1 additional time within 30 sec.
Idol of Y'Shaarj	Passive	While Shadowfiend, Mindbender, or Voidwraith are active, your haste is increased by 10%.
Idol of N'Zoth	Passive	You create Horrific Visions when casting harmful spells on enemies. At 50 stacks of Horrific Visions, your target sees a nightmare, dealing 532 Shadow damage and granting you 4 Insanity over 3 sec. At 100 stacks, your target witnesses a vision of N'Zoth, dealing 2,014 Shadow damage and granting you 12 Insanity over 3 sec.
Idol of Yogg-Saron	Passive	After conjuring Shadowy Apparitions, gain a stack of Idol of Yogg-Saron. At 20 stacks, you summon a Thing from Beyond that casts Void Spike at nearby enemies for 20 sec. Void Spike Hurls a bolt of dark magic, dealing 361 Shadow damage and 74 Shadow damage to all enemies within 10 yards of the target. Damage reduced beyond 5 targets.
Idol of C'Thun	Passive	Mind Flay has a chance to spawn a Void Tendril that channels Mind Flay or Void Lasher that channels Mind Sear at your target. Mind Flay Assaults the target's mind with Shadow energy, causing 1,238 Shadow damage over 10 sec and slowing their movement speed by 30%. Generates 5 Insanity over the duration. Mind Sear Corrosive shadow energy radiates from the target, dealing 660 Shadow damage over 10 sec to all enemies within 10 yards of the target. Damage reduced beyond 5 targets. Generates 5 Insanity over the duration.

Hero Talents

Hero talents allow for deeper customization of the Shadow Priest class fantasy, further enhancing its combat effectiveness.

Voidweaver

Name	Cast	Effect
Void Torrent	Channeled - 40 Yd Range - 30 Sec Cooldown	Channel a torrent of void energy into the target, dealing 3,803 Shadow damage over 3 sec and tearing open an Entropic Rift. Entropic Rift Mind Blast tears open an Entropic Rift that follows the enemy for 8 sec. Enemies caught in its path suffer 227 Shadow damage every 0.9 sec while within its reach. Generates 24 Insanity over the duration.
Entropic Rift		Mind Blast tears open an Entropic Rift that follows the enemy for 8 sec. Enemies caught in its path suffer 227 Shadow damage every 0.9 sec while within its reach.
No Escape	Passive	Entropic Rift slows enemies by up to 70%, increased the closer they are to its center.
Dark Energy	Passive	While Entropic Rift is active, you move 20% faster.
Void Blast	Passive	Entropic Rift upgrades Smite into Void Blast while it is active. Void Blast: Sends a blast of cosmic void energy at the enemy, causing 413 Shadow damage.
Inner Quietus	Passive	Power Word: Shield absorbs 20% additional damage.
Voidheart	Passive	While Entropic Rift is active, your Atonement healing is increased by 20%.
Devour Matter	Passive	Shadow Word: Death consumes absorb shields from your target, dealing 960 extra damage to them and granting you 1% mana if a shield was present.
Void Empowerment	Passive	Summoning an Entropic Rift extends the duration of your 5 shortest Atonements by 1 sec.
Darkening Horizon	Passive	Void Blast increases the duration of Entropic Rift by 1.0 sec, up to a maximum of 3 sec.
Voidwraith	Passive	When Entropic Rift ends, a Voidwraith is summoned from the collapsed rift for 5 sec. Voidwraith Summon a Voidwraith that casts Void Flay from afar. Void Flay deals bonus damage to high health enemies, up to a maximum of 50% if they are full health. Generates 0.5% Mana each time the Voidwraith attacks.
Touch of the Void	Passive	Voidheart now persists for 8 sec after Entropic Rift ends.
Quickened Pulse	Passive	Shadow Word: Pain and Entropic Rift deal damage 25% more often.
Void Infusion	Passive	While Entropic Rift is active, Atonement healing with Void Blast and Penance is 50% more effective.
Void Leech	Passive	Every 3 sec siphon an amount equal to 4% of your health from an ally within 40 yds if they are higher health than you.
Embrace the Shadow	Passive	You absorb 3% of all magic damage taken. Absorbing Shadow damage heals you for 100% of the amount absorbed.
Overwhelming Shadows	Passive	Mind Blast deals 50% increased damage.
Collapsing Void	Passive	Each time Penance damages or heals, Entropic Rift is empowered, increasing its damage and size by 10%. After Entropic Rift ends it collapses, dealing 1,672 Shadow damage split amongst enemy targets within 15 yds.

Archon

Name	Cast	Effect
Halo	1.5 Sec Cast - 40 Yd Range - 1 Min Cooldown	Creates a ring of Shadow energy around you that quickly expands to a 40 yd radius, healing allies for 623 and dealing 548 Shadow damage to enemies. Healing reduced beyond 6 targets.
Halo		Creates a ring of Holy energy around you that quickly expands to a 40 yd radius, healing allies for 624 and dealing 543 Holy damage to enemies. Healing reduced beyond 6 targets.
Perfected Form	Passive	Your damage dealt is increased by 5% while Voidform is active.
Power Surge	Passive	Casting Halo also causes you to create a Halo around you at 100% effectiveness every 5 sec for 10 sec.
Manifested Power	Passive	Creating a Halo grants Surge of Light. Surge of Light Your healing spells and Smite have a 8% chance to make your next Flash Heal instant and cost 50% less mana. Stacks to 2.
Focused Outburst	Passive	Void Volley damage increased by 15% and its cooldown is reduced by 4 sec.
Shock Pulse	Passive	Halo damage reduces enemy movement speed by 5% for 5 sec, stacking up to 5 times.
Incessant Screams	Passive	Psychic Scream creates an image of you at your location. After 4 sec, the image will let out a Psychic Scream.
Energy Conservation	Passive	Power Surge lasts an additional 5 sec.
Empowered Surges	Passive	Your spells affected by Surge of Light heal for 15% while Surge of Light is active.
Word of Supremacy	Passive	Power Word: Fortitude grants you an additional 5% stamina.
Heightened Alteration	Passive	Increases the duration of Dispersion by 2 sec.
Energy Compression	Passive	Halo damage and healing is increased by 30%.
Sustained Potency	Passive	Creating a Halo extends the duration of Dark Ascension by 1 sec. If Dark Ascension is not active, up to 6 seconds is stored. While out of combat or affected by a loss of control effect, the duration of Dark Ascension is paused for up to 20 sec.
Resonant Energy	Passive	Allies healed by your Halo receive 2% increased healing from you for 8 sec, stacking up to 5 times.
Energy Cycle	Passive	Casting Mind Flay: Insanity has a 100% chance to conjure Shadowy Apparitions.
Realized Potential	Passive	Shadow Word: Death damage increased by 25% and its cooldown is reduced by 3 sec.
Spiritwell	Passive	Increases Shadowy Apparition damage by 10%.
Divine Halo	Passive	Halo now centers around you and returns to you after it reaches its maximum distance, healing allies and damaging enemies each time it passes through them.

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.

Name	Cast	Effect
Driven to Madness		While Voidform is not active, being attacked will reduce the cooldown of Void Eruption by 3 sec.
Mind Trauma		Siphon haste from enemies, stealing 2% haste per stack of Mind Trauma, stacking up to 9 times. Fully channeled Mind Flays grant 1 stack of Mind Trauma and fully channeled Void Torrents grant 3 stacks of Mind Trauma. Lasts 15 sec. You can only gain 3 stacks of Mind Trauma from a single enemy.
Psyfiend		Summons a Psyfiend with 1,222 health for 12 sec beside you to attack the target at range with Psyflay. Psyflay Deals up to 1% of the target's total health in Shadow damage every 0.9 sec. Also slows their movement speed by 50% and reduces healing received by 50%.
Cascading Horrors		Void Eruption sends out slow-moving bolts of Shadow energy at random locations every 0.5 sec for 3 sec, dealing 292 Shadow damage to all targets within 8 yds, and causing them to flee in Horror for 2 sec.
Absolute Faith		Leap of Faith also pulls the spirit of the 3 furthest allies within 40 yards and shields you and the affected allies for 2,851.
Phase Shift		Step into the shadows when you cast Fade, avoiding all attacks and spells for 1 sec. Interrupt effects are not affected by Phase Shift.
Improved Mass Dispel		Reduces the cooldown of Mass Dispel by 60 sec.
Mindgames		Assault an enemy's mind, dealing 1,131 Shadow damage and briefly reversing their perception of reality. For 7 sec, the next 3,990 damage they deal will heal their target, and the next 3,990 healing they deal will damage their target.
Psychic Shroud		When your Psychic Scream affects 1 or more players, the next crowd control effect against you is prevented. Lasts 15 sec.