Hi there - as the other guide is now outdated and it doesn't look like Neyz is active anymore I decided to put this together. As neyz also said in his guide, I am by far not one of the best priests but a lot of changes have happened since 5.2 so I want to give a rough outline. I'll also be copying vanguard's format as it looks clean. So without further ado, let's begin.
Shadow Guide (5.4)
Important Changes for Shadow in 5.4
General:
Leap of Faith no longer has a positional/facing requirement.
Shadow Word Death does 15% more damage
Shadow Word Pain does 25% more damage
Feathers are now a 80% speed boost
Psyfiend now has 75% less health, and no longer benefits from haste
Shadow Specific:
Shadowform no longer reduces damage taken by 15%, but increases armor by 60%
VT now deals 20% more damage
Shadow Apps cannot be killed anymore
FDCL now has a additional 5% chance to proc for shadow
Dark Binding is now baseline
Reflective Shield now reflects 70% of the damage absorbed, up from 45%
I have highlighted the really important changes.
Talents
Tier 1
Clear winner here for me is psyfiend. Previously I chose void tendrils but as I faced more and more teams I found psyfiend is just better. I recommend using a shield macro for it, which I will cover in my macro section, and it is just as unkillable as last patch. Use psyfiend agressively vs non hunter teams, out of range of melee if needed, or defensively vs hunters as you can put your psyfiend just over a hunter trap and the psyfiend can 'eat' the trap. The only time I recommend void tendrils would be say vs a dk/rogue/priest that has no way out of roots OR if you are playing with a melee easily peeled like a dk and you want to train something, can be useful to root a resto shaman if you are playing Unholyplay for example. Otherwise it is not worth it. Likewise, never take mind control as shadow in 3s.
Tier 2
As before, I think there is a real dominant choice here. Since 5.4 feathers are now a 80% increase in speed, which makes you effectively immune to slows if you use it correctly. Feathers + guise is overpowered for getting fears on healers. Time your guise/feather with the end of a hamstring/chains of ice and sprint and you can cross the map ridiculously quickly. I would take phantasm vs mage teams that train you in conjunction with the fade glyph, when you don't have freedom on your team (i.e godcomp.)
Tier 3
This is arguably the tier where you have the most choice. As mentioned above, FDCL now has a 20% chance to proc every time your VT ticks. This means theoretically every 5 ticks of your VT you will be granted one spike proc! Although, sometimes dependent on comp I personally believe insanity is still 100% better. If I am playing either godcomp or Melee/Sp/Rshaman I play insanity as the small burst windows in stuns are very important. Dotcleaves and RNG Damage comps I prefer spikes though.
Tier 4
One real choice here, that is spectral guise. Not only is this very good for getting fears, if you time a shield/feather with this you can get away from most melee easily (read: not warriors). The other two are just not worth it as shadow as both are affected by battle fatigue.
Tier 5
It looks like there is a pattern here, isn't there. Once again, clear choice is DI. Power infusion can be spellstolen/the long cd doesn't work well with most of our partners. If you play with a mage, it could be semi viable if you turtle until you have 3 orbs and global in the first deep, but I personally do not see PI being viable.
Tier 6
Divine star. The amount of lockdown in the game and the long cd/mana cost of halo means getting VTs and the consequent mana returns means it is nearly impossible to stay high mana if you play halo. Also, considering the interrupts and the ability to cast divine star when locked out makes it a great 'ohshit' heal along with pom for around 70-80k if both crit.
Glyphs
Mandatory Glyphs:
Glyph of Prayer of Mending
Optional Glyphs:
Glyph of Reflective Shield
Glyph of Inner Fire
Glyph of Inner Sanctum
Glyph of Psychic Horror
Glyph of Fade
Glyph of Mass Dispel
Glyph of Mind Blast
When to which glyph:
Reflective Shield; use this versus teams that train you and you have no better option.
Inner Fire; always take this when there is a melee on the opposing team.
Inner Sanctum; always take if you are vs a double caster team or melee/caster with no better 3rd glyph.
Psychic Horror: Good vs double melee who train someone else on your team, if they train you take reflective shield.
Fade: Use vs mage teams that train you in conjunction with phantasm or vs melee teams that train you and you do not need a extra 3rd (Is often better than Inner Sanctum as game is very burst orientated right now though vs melee/caster).
Mass Dispel: Use vs mage/paladin teams that you do not need anything else.
Mind Blast: Very useful if your team has no slows and no better 3rd.
Enchants / Gems / Reforges
Enchants:
Shoulder: Greater Crane Wing Inscription
Back: Greater Intellect
Chest: Glorious Stats
Bracer: Super Intellect
Gloves: Greater Haste
Belt: Living Steel Belt Buckle
Legs: Greater Pearlescent Spellthread as anything except for human, if you are human (1% extra spirit) go for Greater Cerculean Spellthread
Boots: Pandaren's Step
MH: Jade Spirit/Spirit of Conquest
OH: Major Intellect
Gems:
Red: 180 Intellect
Yellow: 80 Intellect + 160 Haste x2 and 320 Haste x2
Blue: 80 Pvp Power + 80 Intellect
Meta: 665 Resi + 775 Power / 3% Crit and Intellect
Reforges:
6% Spell Hit (Spirit) > 25% Haste (This gets you a extra tick on Dots) > Crit > Mastery
Offpieces
Use the mooncloth gloves as they give haste instead of crit and get your 4 set via the other satin pieces.
Neck: of Alacrity
Back: of Cruelty
Bracers: of Prowess
Belt: of Meditation
Boots: of Alacrity
General Playstyle Tips
Stay in Inner Fire and Shadowform 100% of the time.
If your healer is getting trained, position yourself far away from him, say between two pillars so you can grip him out of trouble.
Prioritise casting mind blast over casting dots for most comps (prio dots for shadowplay/boomy sp though.)
Keep Prayer of Mending and Shield on cooldown on the other team's target.
Try and fear resto shamans early to get tremor out of the way!
If you are playing insanity and land a 3 orb, but get a mind blast proc at the same time, use it before you start channelling insanity, this provides more burst.
Do not mind blast into a immunity/deter or reflects. These do not grant shadow orbs. Same goes for Shadow Word: Death.
Macros
These are in no particular order and are just taken in the order they were in my /macros tab.
1) Healer Shield
#showtooltip
/cast [@HEALERNAME] Power Word: Shield
2) Dps Shield
#showtooltip
/cast [@DPSNAME] Power Word: Shield
3) Buff
#showtooltip
/cast power word: fortitude
/script SetRaidTarget("zehjune", 6)
/script SetRaidTarget("Jåime", 8)
/script SetRaidTarget("freshfreefly", 5)
/script SetRaidTarget("johnyblaze", 1)
/script SetRaidTarget("foxius", 2)
4) Shackle (This also shows the tooltip of your Tier 6 talent.)
#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover] Shackle Undead
/script n_vt=GetSpellInfo(121135); n_pf=GetSpellInfo(110744); n_dm=GetSpellInfo(120517)
/run SetMacroSpell("shackle", GetSpellInfo(n_vt) or GetSpellInfo(n_pf) or GetSpellInfo(n_dm))
5) Level 15/Psyfiend Macro (Note, the macro must be called '15 Talents' for this to work.)
#showtooltip
/cast Void Tendrils
/cast Psyfiend
/cast Dominate Mind
/script n_vt=GetSpellInfo(108920); n_pf=GetSpellInfo(108921); n_dm=GetSpellInfo(605)
/run SetMacroSpell("15 Talents", GetSpellInfo(n_vt) or GetSpellInfo(n_pf) or GetSpellInfo(n_dm))
6) Disperse
#showtooltip
/cast Dispersion
/use healthstone
/use tyrannical gladiator's emblem of tenacity
7) Healer Pom
#showtooltip
/cast [@HEALERNAME] Prayer of Mending
8) DPS Pom
#showtooltip
/cast [@DPSNAME] Prayer of Mending
9) Healer Grip
#showtooltip
/cast [@HEALERNAME] Leap of Faith
10) DPS Grip
#showtooltip
/cast [@DPSNAME] Leap of Faith
11) Focus Horror
#showtooltip Psychic Horror
/stopcasting
/stopcasting
/cast [@focus] Psychic Horror
12) Focus Silence
#showtooltip
/cast [@focus] Silence
13) Shield Self
#showtooltip fear ward
/cast [@jåime] power word: shield
14) Purge Focus
#showtooltip
/cast [@focus] Dispel Magic
15) Psyfiend Shield
#showtooltip Prayer of Mending
/targetexact Psyfiend
/cast [harm] Mind Blast
/cast [help] Power Word: Shield
Spriest Comps
I'll cover the tier 1 comps in detail, and list the tier 2 comps as I don't think they have many strengths right now
Tier 1
1. Monk - Spriest - Resto Shaman ) a very strong comp right now, and one of my personal favorites. Monks bring tons of peels and really strong pressure once they get stacks of tigerseye, which lines up nicely with 3 orbs. Spriests also complement monks by offheals as monks die very easily in stuns.
2. Warrior - Spriest - Resto Shaman ) Warriors are probably the best melee in the game right now, ridiculous burst and high mobility makes swapping as this comp very strong.
3. Boomkin - Spriest - Resto Shaman ) This is suprisingly very good - stupid offheals and random damage are the strengths of this comp. This also has a ton of cc, probably up there with fmp or godcomp cc wise. A beam>fear>2/3x clone>hex>silence is enough to get either lots of cc or a kill from the other team, every minute!
4. Mage - Spriest - Resto Shaman or Resto Druid ) two comps, but both are stupidly viable. Tons of cc, tons of burst. Can't go wrong.
5. Warlock - Spriest - Resto Shaman ) Same really as WPS. You have the best caster in your team, and you synergise well.
Tier 2
Feral - Spriest - RestoShaman
Rogue - Spriest - Resto Shaman
Warrior - Spriest - Non Shaman
Monk - Spriest - Non Shaman
Mage - Spriest - Monk
Warlock - Spriest - Non Shaman
Ret - Spriest - Resto shaman
