Hi, I’m new to classic and looking to play a shadow priest, mostly because it’s my favorite spec in retail… But I’m wondering, how viable are they in classic?
I don’t need to be top damage or the best 1v1 spec for PvP, but I’d like to be a little bit above a free kill
Can anyone give some insight? Maybe some shadow priest players?
Damage in PVE is honestly pretty good you are just very very mana inefficient. So unless the fights are very fast you will struggle. (also a very big bonus if you can multidot)
In PVP you are kind of a 1 trick 1v1 class. It’s pretty broken actually.
You’ve piqued my curiosity 
What is this 1 trick?
The ‘1 trick’ refers to just being an overpowered 1v1/dueling spec.
On the PvE side, you may find getting a raid spot as a shadow priest a little more challenging because a raid may be happy with 6 healing priests, but only want a single shadow priest. They’re viable within the expectations of them.
Can’t speak much for PvP, but I understood they do well in 1v1 and duels (mana burn, dispel magic, scream, etc.) and decent in BGs (mind flay slow, levitate for mobility across AB, shield for a quick defensive).
Strong in pvp yes, but very hard to gear and no raid ever wants you. Your gear is random junk that warlocks do not want. You play like warlock with no spells.
It’s a suck spec.
Oh and you drink after every pvp kill. Your mana empties super fast. One Viper sting and you won’t have mana to finish any fight.
I played this guy to 60 up to BWL. The problem with Shadow Priest is your damage is pretty much just above a Paladin or Moonkin, you fall behind everyone else, even Feral Druids.
You are very, very mana intensive. So you spend a long time buying Pots and Demon Runes for minor dmg which is… boring over time.
You need to be able to DoT to deal decent dmg, but the thing is your DoT falls off constantly because you need 40 people to work with you and not overwrite your DoT. This is also very annoying.
There is little to no gear available to you. You have no tier, the pieces you need are very rare. This makes raiding a very bland experience. You can almost be assured that you will get nothing out of most raids.
Its a very hard class to pub unless multiple Warlocks are in a group, and thus you need to join a guild. The problem is that many guilds may accept you initially, but will soon after ask you to play a more hybrid Disc/Shadow weaving spec, which is very, very, VERY boring. Not to mention most guilds will give the rare pieces of DPS gear to Mages and Warlocks before you, therefore your chances of getting gear go to about zero.
I also really loved Shadow Priest, but I promise you its a very difficult road to travel that in the end burned me out hard as there was no real progression being made.
For PVP, well, you are good in 1v1, which is very hard to come across. You run out of mana just as fast in BGs and are therefore okay to try to burst one guy, but in BGs people are getting healed and your slow DoT+Mindflay gets dispelled and HoT’d meaning you are quickly a guy who can just wand. It honestly felt really bad to me personally.
I appreciate the insight and honesty
My next choice was a warlock, but I thought I’d ask about priest to make sure I wasn’t missing out on my favorite spec. Also I really hate healing and would be very disappointed to be asked to heal because shadow sucks
Now that I think about it, when I first started playing I don’t remember seeing any shadow priests
Well I guess I’m a warlock then. I like them a lot as well, but I was sort of hoping shadow was a desirable and wanted spec so I could play that… Sad day
I felt the same as you man. I wanted it to work SO BAD. In the end… I really, really, wish I had made a Warlock. I think this is the best decision for this version of WoW. You will find end game more captivating with tons of items, you will be wanted and because there is a shortage of Warlocks compared to other pure DPS you can find pubs easily if you want a more chill experience where you aren’t expected to log on at X time everyday.
Warlocks are also hitting their power spike with the new content gear and are in a great place. You also have 2 specs to choose from as a Warlock and im even hearing about pure Destruction Warlocks picking up steam now that Fire Resist isnt a major factor. Im not entirely sure how widespread that is, but I know a few guys doing it and claiming its great. So… maybe even 3 specs.
In Raid you are a buff bot for the warlocks, but there is only ONE shadow priest in a raid, they are not bringing you for DPS, but because you can amp the DPS of the warlocks.
In PVP you are playing one of the easiest and most powerful 1v1 classes in game.
So yeah, its viable but that is dependent on your definition. If viable means competitive DPS with classes like Mages, Locks, rogues and warriors then you may as well pick one of those instead if the Epeen meter is what you are after.
Shadow priests have been performing really well in CDL.
Shadow melts faces in PVP. I’m not sure how optimal it is in a complete team setting but it can play well.
We use a shadow priest in PVE. I don’t believe it’s the most engaging or fulfilling spec but they seem to enjoy it just fine. You need to make sure your raid respects debuffs slots though or you gonna have a bad time.
The reason why why shadow priest dont work is because dev didt nerf the mana cost for priest shadow spell like they did for mage and lock.
Mage with half the mana pool will cast 3 x time more spell. Mage is busted btw
I think a big thing with shadow priest as well as the other points brought up is the situation with debuff slots. In any competitive raiding guild, especially now mages are fire, you’ll find raids will throw the one shadow priests debuff slots to the way side to make way for far more important and beneficial ones to the higher DPS, which does not include warlocks/spriest for the most half.
It’s an exceptionally fun spec, but the hybrid tax in classic isn’t very forgiving unless you want to put in over 9000% at being a god tier hybrid that a raid would want to bring you.
I’m not saying you wont find a raiding position, but just a few things to think about so you don’t get disappointed at 60 
What is my purpose?
You buff the locks.
Oh my God
Put in lots of min/max effort to do a fraction of the dps a warrior or rogue can. If you raid with enough locks, your overall contribution is better.
I find that pvp vs premades is frustrating as shadow. Paladins just remove your dots before they get more than 1 tick of damage. Solo/unorganized pvp can be a lot of fun.
It’s not, really. Most 40-man raids will run one, but unless you have proven yourself and/or are friends with the GM you will probably not fit in to 10 or even 20-man raids.
PvP is a different story…
You are a god 1v1.
In BGs, your job is to assist the other DPS and use your utilities (buffs, shield, dispel, help keep rogues DoTed, etc.). It’s not exactly glorious, but it’s fine.
Thanks so much for the insight guys!
One other question, how does shadow compare to a warlock for PvP?
I enjoy PvP and want to play on a PvP server, so I’m expecting 1v1s to happen quite a bit.
I’m still sort of torn between lock and priest, but leaning more towards a warlock since they can also raid
I like playing a Shadow Priest myself, but they are just a shadow (pun intended) of what they should be in Vanilla/Classic versus what they are starting in TBC, & the horrible gear itemization past the dungeon content level of Vanilla/Classic just compounds the problem (as it does with quite a few classes/specs).
they are you just wont get any good gear, you are just a bot to improve warlocks damage