1.

Choosing Azerite Gear as a Shadow Priest

Most of the time, you will want to wear the piece of Azerite gear that has the
highest item level for you. If you have two pieces of Azerite gear that have the
same item level, then it is important to look at what Outer Ring traits they have.
As a rule of thumb, the extra Intellect from the higher item level gear will make
up for the difference between the traits.

Most of the generic Outer Ring traits are pretty good for Shadow, but some of our
spec-specific Outer Ring traits are situational or flat out bad. In the case that
you are comparing a mediocre trait to a really good one, the decision of what piece
of Azerite gear to wear can go beyond just the item level of the gear and in that
situation it can be hard to figure out which is better without simulating your
character using Raidbots.

It is worth noting that if the difference between the traits is very small, then
the higher item level pick will be more desirable. Azerite pieces have a high
amount of Stamina, increasing your maximum health. This can make a noticeable
difference in your survivability overall.

2. Choosing Azerite Traits as a Shadow Priest

The following sections will talk about the strength of our best traits and also the
use cases for more situational traits. Note that we have below to help you compare
all the relevant traits.

2.1. Patch 9.0.1 Shadowlands Pre-Patch Traits

With the Shadowlands pre-patch, you will have a few weeks where you will be able to
use Azerite traits for all the BfA content, but once you get to Shadowlands this
gear stops working. Sims for these are not a priority, but might be published as we
get more testing with traits. With the Voidform rework the way that some of our
traits work are very different now, so results may vary.

2.2. Outer Ring

These are the most powerful traits on your Azerite gear and will be the primary way
to decide what piece of Azerite you should wear when they have the same item level.

Spiteful Apparitions Icon Spiteful Apparitions is our best spec-specific trait and
it also does well in almost any situation, outside of situations where targets live
for a really short amount of time. With the change to how Shadowy Apparitions are
created this trait is incredibly powerful, you'll want to run as many of these as
possible.

Whispers of the Damned Icon Whispers of the Damned is our second best spec-specific
trait and certainly merits being used at least for one of our Azerite Traits. The
additional insanity generation is great, and just the raw damage increase is
strong. Depending on your gear setups running more than one of these for pre-patch
will probably net you good results.

Heart of Darkness Icon Heart of Darkness after the change in pre-patch to this not
requiring corruption this remains a strong trait to use, especially considering we
have it on most of the pieces we were already using or targeting. This is a great
addition to any build going into pre-patch.

Death Throes Icon Death Throes and Searing Dialogue Icon Searing Dialogue are both
traits that perform very well in dungeons, or any time there is AoE. Death Throes
provides value beyond just AoE, as you will use Shadow Word: Pain Icon Shadow Word:
Pain in any situation. Searing Dialogue is an extremely strong AoE trait and also
causes your Mind Sear to slow all targets hit by 30%, which is useful utility for
dungeons situationally.
Thought Harvester Icon Thought Harvester will situationally be good for dungeon
content, as the proc that increases Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear damage can provide you
with some burst AoE damage if it procs at the right time. When combined with
Searing Dialogue Icon Searing Dialogue, this combo gives Shadow some of the best
AoE in the game.

Chorus of Insanity Icon Chorus of Insanity is basically useless with the Voidform
rework and doesn't really do anything. As of now, there is no reason to ever use
this trait as a Shadow Priest.

2.3. Middle Ring

Middle Ring traits have a lesser impact on your DPS and they are all fairly close
to one another. They are therefore not that likely to impact your decision of what
piece of Azerite gear to wear.

Overwhelming Power Icon Overwhelming Power has the highest damage potential of all
the Middle Ring traits, but has the downside of losing a stack whenever you take
damage. This trait is extremely desirable, and often worth targeting for all types
of content on your Shadow Priest.

Heed My Call Icon Heed My Call is a pretty good single-target trait which has an
AoE component to it as well (albeit with a small range).

Elemental Whirl Icon Elemental Whirl / Earthlink Icon Earthlink / Unstable Flames
Icon Unstable Flames all affect your stats and therefore do well in all situations.

Gutripper Icon Gutripper does pretty good damage all-around, and interestingly
procs more often against targets below 30% Health. This can make it valuable for
fights where execute damage is important.

2.4. Inner Ring

Inner Ring traits are mostly focused on defense and utility.

Sanctum Icon Sanctum is pretty useful for fights where a lot of magic damage goes
out. It turns Fade Icon Fade into a mini-defensive cooldown and it should be used
as such if you have this trait.

Twist Magic Icon Twist Magic provides a decent amount of healing when you get to
make use of it often. This is mostly in PvP situations, but it is also a good trait
for dungeons that require a lot of offensive dispels.

Longstrider Icon Longstrider is a strong option for mobility, which is one of the
biggest weaknesses Shadow has.

Resounding Protection Icon Resounding Protection is a generic defensive trait and

one of the best at that, as it will always provide you with defense and there is no
way to waste it.

Vampiric Speed Icon Vampiric Speed can do a lot of healing whenever targets around
you die frequently. The speed is a nice bonus too.

3. Viable Azerite Builds

Right now, Shadow has basically just has one main build, with some flexibility
depending on what items you have access to.

3.1. Spiteful Apparitions/Whispers of the Damned or Heart of Darkness

The following is currently perceived to be the best combo for most content. There
are some variants you can use, but the important part is having 3 Spiteful
Apparitions Icon Spiteful Apparitions and 1 Whispers of the Damned Icon Whispers of
the Damned. Use the last 2 traits as mostly filler.

3x Spiteful Apparitions Icon Spiteful Apparitions

2x Heart of Darkness Icon Heart of Darkness
1x Whispers of the Damned Icon Whispers of the Damned
If you are struggling to find 2 Heart of Darkness Icon Heart of Darkness, feel free
to substitute one or two of these in favor of Whispers of the Damned Icon Whispers
of the Damned instead.

In addition, the sustained damage from this build is also incredibly strong for
dungeon content if you constantly chain packs together. In a dungeon, you will
typically use Death Throes Icon Death Throes swapped in for Heart of Darkness Icon
Heart of Darkness.

AD
3.2. Thought Harvester/Searing Dialogue
Thought Harvester Icon Thought Harvester and Searing Dialogue Icon Searing Dialogue
have great synergy with one another, as the additional damage Searing Dialogue adds
to Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear scales with the proc of Thought Harvester. This is a
common build for dungeons, providing you with great trash damage, though at the
cost of some boss damage. If you decide to run this combo, then you will want to
use one Thought Harvester Icon Thought Harvester trait and three Searing Dialogue
Icon Searing Dialogue traits. The other two traits do not matter nearly as much and
you are pretty free in choosing what you would like to use.

3.2.1. Rotation Changes and Details when Using Thought Harvester/Searing Dialogue
When using the Thought Harvester Icon Thought Harvester and Searing Dialogue Icon
Searing Dialogue combo, your rotation changes fairly significantly. The below
always assumes that you only use one Thought Harvester trait, as the most important
part of the trait (the proc that increases your Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear damage by
150%) does not scale with having multiple Thought Harvester traits. Below we will
explain how the rotation is affected, both in single-target and multi-target
situations, depending on the amount of Searing Dialogue Icon Searing Dialogue you
are using.

3.3. Rotation Change in Single-Target Situations

When you have one or two Searing Dialogue Icon Searing Dialogue traits, in single-
target situations, you only use Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear instead of Mind Flay Icon
Mind Flay during a Thought Harvester Icon Thought Harvester proc.

3.4. Rotation Change in Multi-Target Situations

As a general note, Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear becomes a much more prominent part of
your multi-target rotation when you make use of this trait combo. This means that
you want to focus less on multi-dotting and more on Mind Searing. A lot of this
depends largely on how long targets will live, and also on the amount of Searing
Dialogue Icon Searing Dialogue traits you have, so it is hard to say with complete
accuracy just how differently you should play.

When you have one or two Searing Dialogue Icon Searing Dialogue traits, you want to
drop Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast from your rotation in favour of Mind Sear Icon Mind
Sear at 3 or more targets. You will still want to use Mind Blast/Shadow Word: Void
occasionally for its Insanity generation, but there is no strict rule regarding
this.
When you have three Searing Dialogue Icon Searing Dialogue traits, you want to drop
Mind Blast Icon Mind Blast from your rotation in favour of Mind Sear Icon Mind Sear
at 2 or more targets. You will still want to use Mind Blast/Shadow Word: Void
occasionally for its Insanity generation, but there is no strict rule regarding
this.
4. Current Strength of Individual DPS Traits for Shadow Priest
Below, you will find charts that show the strength of Azerite traits currently
available within the game. The value of the traits is shown depending on whether
you have one, two, or three of them. This is because for certain traits, their
value gets better or worse depending on how many you have.

5. Single Target Azerite Trait Simulations

5.1. Outer Ring Trait Simulations for Single Target