Hey guys I was here wanting to see what you guys think is the most thematic shadow priests horde side and why? Wanting to make a new priest but im a bit torn on what to do partially because lore wise i almost never see anything about priest lol
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Forsaken are probably the most thematic. They’re already closely tied to death, darkness, and the shadowy side of the Light, so Shadow feels like a natural fit.
After that, I’d say Blood Elves (Void research and the Ren’dorei connection), Trolls (Loa and darker spiritual traditions), and even Goblins if you enjoy the “power at any cost” vibe… because for traditional Goblins, everything eventually circles back to profit. 
Nightborne are another fun pick. We even fight a raid boss centered around astronomy and cosmic horror, so the whole “light of the stars meets the Void” aesthetic fits surprisingly well. It’s less about faith and more of an academic approach to priesthood, but I think that works in their favor.
Honestly, Shadow Priest is one of those specs where the race fantasy carries the fantasy far more than the actual lore, simply because Blizzard has rarely put priests in the spotlight.
And with Northrend on the horizon… I’d love to see Blizzard finally expand the Forsaken fantasy. They have so much untapped potential and could easily become one of Warcraft’s richest dark-fantasy races.
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The the fact that you unironically put blood elves in front of trolls on Shadow Priest in any context blows my mind.
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Haha, I wasn’t ranking them. 
I just listed a few races that fit the theme off the top of my head.
Believe me, if I were actually making a ranking, it’d be several pages long, full of lore references, and everyone would be equally unhappy with it. 
God, I love the Story Forums… such passion and fire! It feeds me my powaah!! (insert Emperor Palpatine meme here)
It’s the forsaken. They literally have a shadow magic religion.
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Forsaken, but Darkspear Troll works good as well. Back in Classic with Priest racial spells they both had Shadow related ones.
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Forsaken, Darkspear Trolls, Mag’har Orcs (Shadowmoon Clans connection to AU K’ara, aka the Dark Star)
Could even do a twist on Tauren Seers. As the light of the sun casts a dark shadow, so too should the seers embrace the void to bring further balance to An’she’s radiance.
Man thinking on that, imagine if Warmaster Blackhorn was a sunwalker who did believe in that philosophy, only to be manipulated by N’zoth into becoming a member of the Twilights Hammer.
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If I had to rank it, it would be this.
- Forsaken
- Darkspear Trolls
- Mag’har Orcs
- Blood Elves
- Everyone else.
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As much as I love playing a Blood Elf Shadow Priest on EU, the Forsaken and Mag’har Orcs probably make up the best versions of what it means to be a Horde Shadow Priest
Why I chose Blood Elf was because I wanted to be like "Annatar” from the Shadows of Mordor Game…so pale elf, with long blonde hair, but carries an evil, inner darkness. Using the Voidstorm PvP Set (Purple and Gold) as the transmog, also looks amazing on him and really captures how I envision Annatar to look, when he’s going around scheming and causing trouble
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Forsaken for Shadow Priests because they founded the Cult of Shadows or Mag’har Orcs as Shadowmoon Priests are literal Shadow Priests
I’d say Forsaken, Maghar Orc, and Darkspear Troll like most folks, for the Horde anyway.
My Priest is a Void Elf though. It really seems to fit well.
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I’d actually suggest Nightborne as a less obvious option.
They don’t have a major racial Shadow Priest tradition, but Suramar is full of highly disciplined magical scholars who spent millennia mastering dangerous sources of power.
A Nightborne who began studying the Void as a forbidden branch of cosmic magic, confident that their intellect and discipline could keep the whispers under control, feels very fitting to me.
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