Spread Vampiric Touch, keep Shadow Word: Madness up, and use Voidform on cooldown.
Shadow builds Insanity with Mind Blast, Mind Flay and Tentacle Slam and spends it on Shadow Word: Madness, Midnight's replacement for Devouring Plague. Tentacle Slam spreads Vampiric Touch instantly, which is where Shadow's spread cleave comes from. Voidform is a two-minute window that grants Void Volley; Archon adds Halo as a one-minute cooldown.
Pick any button below to follow it through the guide: where it sits in the opener, which rung of the priority fires it, and every mistake it is part of.
Press order
Tentacle Slam0.0s
Fires because enemies near your target lack Vampiric Touch. Shadow's damage comes from spreading Vampiric Touch and cleaving off it.
One press per global at base haste (1.5s), longer for casts. Real pulls drift with haste and procs; the order is what matters.
Two minutes. 20% spell damage and Void Volley; use on cooldown.
Executed every time the actor is available.
active enemies>2From SimulationCraft's priest_shadow.simc, changed Sep 27, 2026. This is what the simulations behind most guides press; conditions are shown as SimC writes them.
Below are the opening rotations from a small sample of recent top Shadow Priest rankings for Altar of Fangs. You can use this to compare to your own opener and find potential points of improvement. Note that the opener for some specs may vary based on when certain buffs proc.
37 of the top 50 Mythic+ players run Archon (3895–4117 rating). Murlok.io
42,273 logs · 2026-11-05T12:00:00Z
Across 42,273 logs. A talent has to show up in at least 40% of them before it is part of the build.
Left to right — highest priority first. Sim your character when secondaries are close.
Based on data in the last 2 weeks, the stat priority for Shadow Priest looks to be Intellect > Mastery > Haste > Crit > Vers. However, there may be bias based on what gear is available to players.
Average secondary stats of the top 50 Mythic+ players (3895–4117 rating), from Murlok.io, updated 38 minutes ago.
Best in slot from Method.gg. Every slot is on the figure. Point at a piece to light it.
Wear 4 tier pieces. The 4-piece bonus is what this spec is tuned around.
2-piece: Tentacle Slam 's Cooldown is reduced by 3 sec and its damage is increased by 100%.
4-piece: Tentacle Slam has a 100% chance to grant a free use of Void Volley at 100% effectiveness.
Patch 12.1.5
Log meta from Archon · updated 2026-11-05T12:00:00Z
| Slot | Enchant | Popularity |
|---|---|---|
| Chest |  Mark of the Worldsoul | 83.1% |
| Legs |  Sunfire Silk Spellthread | 79.2% |
| Rings | Eyes of the Eagle | 69.1% |
| Feet | Lynx's Dexterity | 45.3% |
| Main-Hand |  Rite of the Hash'ey | 43.6% |
| Head | Empowered Rune of Avoidance | 42.6% |
| Shoulders | Amirdrassil's Grace | 35.8% |
| Socket | Gem | Popularity |
|---|---|---|
| Epic Gem |  Indecipherable Eversong Diamond | 74.4% |
| Gem |  Flawless Masterful Peridot | 33.7% |
Best-to-good single-target order from Liquid Armory (Oct 12, 2026). Filled marks = higher on the list. Your own gear can change the order — sim before you buy.
Players of the top 50 using each, from Murlok.io.
Shadow Word: Madness is the only spender now; letting it drop or capping Insanity loses damage.
Tentacle Slam applies Vampiric Touch to everything around the target instantly.
Mind Flay is filler; clip it as soon as Mind Blast or a proc is ready.
