Shadow Priest DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities (Legion 7.2.5)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.2.5 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2 Changes
  • 4. Strengths
  • 5. Weaknesses
  • 6. Viability in the Current Patch
  • 7. Contents
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Rotation
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Main Resource
  • 3. Basic Abilities
  • 4. Cooldowns
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheets
    • 2.1. Raid Encounters
      • 2.1.1. Single Target & Light Cleave
      • 2.1.2. Surrender to Madness
      • 2.1.3. Mythic+
    • 2.2. For General Use
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression
  • 2. Relic Choice
  • 3. ChangeLog
• ×Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Preface
    • 1.1. Shadowform
  • 2. Single Target Priority
  • 3. Multiple Target Rotation
    • 3.1. Persistent Enemies
      • 3.1.1. Against 2-3 Targets
      • 3.1.2. Against 4 or More Targets
    • 3.2. Short Lasting Enemies
  • 4. Cooldowns
  • 5. Important Notes
    • 5.1. Insanity
      • 5.1.1. Generating Insanity
      • 5.1.2. Insanity Generation Modifiers
      • 5.1.3. Insanity Drain
    • 5.2. Voidform and Lingering Insanity
    • 5.3. Void Bolt
    • 5.4. Talent Synergies
      • 5.4.1. Lingering Insanity + Legacy of the Void
      • 5.4.2. Surrender to Madness + Reaper of Souls + Twist of Fate
    • 5.5. Void Eruption and DoTs
      • 5.5.1. Single Target
      • 5.5.2. Multiple Targets
    • 5.6. More on Cooldowns
      • 5.6.1. Shadowfiend
      • 5.6.2. Dispersion
      • 5.6.3. Void Torrent
    • 5.7. More on Talents
      • 5.7.1. Tier 6 Talents
      • 5.7.2. Tier 7 Talents
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
    • 2.1. Statistics Explanations
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Mastery vs Haste
  • 2. Gems
  • 3. Enchants
  • 4. Consumables
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Macros
    • 1.1. Generic Macros for Priests
    • 1.2. Specific Macros for Shadow Priests
      • 1.2.1. Dispersion Cancelaura Macro
      • 1.2.2. Mind Flay Camera Spin
  • 2. Addons
    • 2.1. Generic Addons for Priests
      • 2.1.1. ElvUI
      • 2.1.2. Boss Mods: Deadly Boss Mods or Bigwigs
      • 2.1.3. GTFO
      • 2.1.4. Parrot or Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 2.1.5. Weak Auras
      • 2.1.6. Recount / Skada / Details!
    • 2.2. Specific Addons for Shadow Priests
      • 2.2.1. WeakAuras Thread
      • 2.2.2. SPTimers
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Tier 20 Set Bonuses
  • 2. Legendary Items
    • 2.1. Explanations
      • 2.1.1. Anund's Seared Shackles (Wrist)
      • 2.1.2. Sephuz's Secret (Finger)
      • 2.1.3. Mangaza's Madness (Waist)
      • 2.1.4. Heart of the Void (Chest)
      • 2.1.5. Soul of the High Priest (Ring)
      • 2.1.6. Zek's Exterminatus (Back)
      • 2.1.7. The Twins' Painful Touch (Finger)
      • 2.1.8. Mother Shahraz's Seduction (Shoulder)
      • 2.1.9. Kil'jaeden's Burning Wish (Trinket)
      • 2.1.10. Zenk'aram, Iridi's Anadem (Head)
  • 3. Loot Competition
  • 4. ChangeLog

General Information

On this page, we list your Shadow Priest core abilities and how they should be used together (rotation) in World of Warcraft Legion 7.2.5. We also explain when to use your various cooldowns. Then, we go deeper and present all the subtleties that you will need to know if you want to excel at playing a Shadow Priest.

The other pages of our Shadow Priest guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Author and Reviewer

This guide has been written by Furty, who has an illustrious history in the World of Warcraft raiding scene and race for World First. He has been a member of guilds such as Serenity, Midwinter, and many more, and is currently raiding in Future. He plays most classes at the highest level. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him play on Twitch.

This guide has been reviewed by Atroxe, a Shadow Priest who plays in Encore, and by DjRiff, a theorycrafter at HowToPriest. You can watch Atroxe play on YouTube and Twitch, and you can watch DjRiff stream on Twitch.

1. Preface

The Shadow Priest rotation revolves around a build and spend/sustain style of play. You use abilities that generate Insanity until you reach the appropriate threshold (65 with the tier 7 talent Legacy of the Void, 100 otherwise) to cast Void Eruption and enter Voidform. Once in Voidform, you use a slightly different set of abilities to stay in Voidform for as long as possible. Once you reach 0 Insanity, you exit Voidform and the process repeats.

Void Bolt is the largest change to your playstyle when switching between Build and Spend/Maintain Phases (out of and in Voidform). When Void Bolt strikes a target (after a short travel time) it add 3 seconds to the duration of Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch, effectively meaning you should rarely have to manually refresh Shadow Word: Pain or Vampiric Touch on your main target.

1.1. Shadowform

Shadowform is an aura that increases your Shadow damage done and reduces your Physical damage taken by 10%. While in Shadowform, you cannot cast Holy spells. You should always have Shadowform active (you only need to activate it once, and it will remain active until you die; entering Voidform will temporarily deactivate it but then automatically reactivate it when you exit Voidform).

2. Single Target Priority

The single-target rotation relies on the following priority system of abilities, depending on which phase you are in.

• Build Phase (not in Voidform)
  1. Cast Void Eruption (to enter Voidform).
  2. Apply and maintain Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch.
  3. Cast Mind Blast.
  4. Cast Mind Flay as your filler spell.
• Spend/Maintain Phase (in Voidform)
  1. Apply and maintain Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch.
  2. Cast Void Torrent (if your DoTs will last 5+ seconds).
  3. Cast Void Bolt.
  4. Cast Mindbender (20-25 Voidform stacks without T20 4-piece bonus, 30 stacks with T20 4-piece bonus),
  5. Cast Power Infusion (20-25 Voidform stacks without T20 4-piece bonus, 30 stacks with T20 4-piece bonus).
  6. Cast Shadowfiend if available at 10+ Voidform stacks, and under the effect of high Haste buffs.
  7. Cast Shadow Word: Death.
     • Always cast Shadow Word: Death once when you have 2 stacks.
     • Do not cast Shadow Word: Death if you have 1 stack and are not in danger of falling out of Voidform AND if Mind Blast is off cooldown.
  8. Cast Mind Blast.
  9. Re-apply Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch if they fall off of your target.
  10. Cast Mind Flay as your filler spell.

This is the baseline rotation depending on its phase. Different talents grant it different nuances and result in slightly different rotations and priorities. We cover them all later on in the guide.

3. Multiple Target Rotation

3.1. Persistent Enemies

3.1.1. Against 2-3 Targets

Against a few targets, the Build and Spend/Maintain Phases are very similar to the single-target rotation.

• Build Phase (not in Voidform)
  1. Cast Void Eruption (to enter Voidform).
  2. Cast Mind Blast.
  3. Apply and maintain Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch on all targets.
  4. Cast Mind Flay
• Spend/Maintain Phase (in Voidform)
  1. Cast Void Torrent.
  2. Cast Void Bolt on the target with the lowest remaining Shadow Word: Pain or Vampiric Touch duration. If they are stacked it does not matter which target, as it will add 3 seconds to all targets within 8 yards.
  3. Cast Shadow Crash.
  4. Cast Mindbender (20-25 Voidform stacks without T20 4-piece bonus, 30 stacks with T20 4-piece bonus),
  5. Cast Power Infusion (20-25 Voidform stacks without T20 4-piece bonus, 30 stacks with T20 4-piece bonus).
  6. Cast Shadowfiend if available at 10+ Voidform stacks, and under the effect of high Haste buffs.
  7. Cast Shadow Word: Death
     • Always cast Shadow Word: Death once when you have 2 stacks.
     • Do not cast Shadow Word: Death if you have 1 stack and are not in danger of falling out of Voidform AND if Mind Blast is off cooldown.
  8. Cast Mind Blast.
  9. Re-apply Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch if they fall off of your targets.
  10. As a filler
      • Cast Mind Flay.

3.1.2. Against 4 or More Targets

• Build Phase (not in Voidform)
  1. Cast Void Eruption (to enter Voidform).
  2. Cast Mind Blast.
  3. Apply and maintain Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word: Pain on all targets.
  4. Cast Mind Flay as a filler.
• Spend/Maintain Phase (in Voidform)
  1. Cast Void Bolt on the target with the lowest remaining Vampiric Touch duration. If they are stacked it does not matter which target, as it will add 3 seconds to all targets within 8 yards.
  2. Cast Shadow Crash.
  3. Cast Mindbender (20-25 Voidform stacks without T20 4-piece bonus, 30 stacks with T20 4-piece bonus),
  4. Cast Power Infusion (20-25 Voidform stacks without T20 4-piece bonus, 30 stacks with T20 4-piece bonus).
  5. Cast Shadowfiend if available at 10+ Voidform stacks.
  6. Cast Shadow Word: Death
     • Always cast Shadow Word: Death once when you have 2 stacks.
     • Do not cast Shadow Word: Death if you have 1 stack and are not in danger of falling out of Voidform AND if Mind Blast is off cooldown.
  7. Cast Mind Blast.
  8. Re-apply Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word: Pain if it falls off of your targets.
  9. Cast Mind Flay as a filler.

3.2. Short Lasting Enemies

If you are facing a moderate number of targets that will be alive for 20-30+ seconds, the same priorities for which DoT to cast based on tier 5 talents discussed above apply. Apply Vampiric Touch (or simply Shadow Word: Pain, without Misery), and then simply use Mind Flay. Do not re-apply DoTs after they fall off.

If there are a large number of targets or they will be alive for a very short amount of time, cast Vampiric Touch (or simply Shadow Word: Pain, without Misery) on your main target and cast Shadow Crash and Mind Flay straight away.

If you end up with enough Insanity to cast Void Eruption and enter Voidform, try to apply a DoT to a few (3-5) of the targets before casting Void Eruption to gain extra AoE damage on them and higher Mind Flay and DoT damage from being in Voidform.

4. Cooldowns

As a Shadow Priest, you have few cooldowns.

• Shadowfiend (or Mindbender, if you have taken this talent) should, essentially, be used on cooldown when in Voidform, and never outside of it. You should aim to use this under the effect of high Haste buffs when possible, such as Power Infusion and Bloodlust. It should also be used with high Voidform stacks.
  • Cast Mindbender (20-25 Voidform stacks without T20 4-piece bonus, 30 stacks with T20 4-piece bonus),
  • Cast Shadowfiend if available at 10+ Voidform stacks.
• Dispersion should be used to allow you to survive dangerous mechanics or to extend the duration of Voidform. We explain it in greater depth in our section dedicated to Dispersion.
• Void Torrent is an ability granted by your Artifact, and does a large amount of damage. We explain it in greater depth in our dedicated Void Torrent section.
• Power Infusion, if talented, should be used for the increased Insanity generation while you are inside of Voidform. This will allow you to push higher Voidform stacks and stay in Voidform much longer, resulting in a large damage gain.
  • Cast Power Infusion (20-25 Voidform stacks without T20 4-piece bonus, 30 stacks with T20 4-piece bonus).

In addition to these cooldowns, you will have to understand when and how to best use a number of abilities that come from your talent choices. We elaborate on that below.

5. Important Notes

The Shadow specialisation revolves around a number of complex mechanics, all of which you need to understand very well in order to reach your maximum potential. In the sections that follow, we will go over all of these.

5.1. Insanity

During Voidform, your Insanity will be drained at an ever-increasing rate, and you will leave Voidform when your Insanity runs out.

Understanding how this resource works is key to playing your Shadow Priest at a high level.

5.1.1. Generating Insanity

The following is a list of abilities that generate Insanity, the baseline amount of Insanity generated, and when the Insanity is generated.

• Mind Blast, 15 Insanity on cast;
• Mind Flay, 3 Insanity per tick;
• Mind Flay splash, 1 Insanity per tick per target hit;
• Mindbender, 4 Insanity per swing;
• Shadow Crash, 15 Insanity on cast;
• Shadow Word: Death, 15 Insanity on cast, 30 Insanity if it kills the target OR Reaper of Souls is the chosen tier 4 talent;
• Shadow Word: Pain, 4 Insanity on cast;
• Shadow Word: Void, 25 Insanity on cast;
• Shadowy Apparitions, 3 Insanity upon striking target IF Auspicious Spirits is the chosen tier 5 talent, 0 Insanity otherwise;
• Vampiric Touch, 6 Insanity on cast;
• Void Bolt, 16 Insanity on cast.

5.1.2. Insanity Generation Modifiers

There are several talents which modify the amount of Insanity generated by some (or all) abilities. These effects can stack and are multiplicative in nature.

• Fortress of the Mind (tier 1 talent) increases the Insanity generation by 10% for the following abilities:
  • Mind Blast (from 15 to 18);
  • Mind Flay (from 3 to 3.6 per tick);
• Power Infusion increases all Insanity generation by 25%. Examples:
  • Mind Flay generation increased from 3 to 3.75 per tick;
  • Void Bolt generation increased from 16 to 20;
• Surrender to Madness increases all Insanity generation by 100%. Examples:
  • Shadow Word: Void generation increased from 25 -> 50;
  • Shadowy Apparitions generation increased from 3 to 6.

5.1.3. Insanity Drain

While in Voidform, Insanity drains at a constant rate that increases every 1 second. It starts at 9 Insanity/second and increases by 0.5 Insanity/second every second until you exit Voidform. The exact formula is as follows:

• drain = 6 + (2/3(n))
• n = number of drain stacks

For example, if we have been in Voidform for 20 seconds, we would have 20 drain stacks and would be losing: 6 + ((2/3)20) = 19.3 Insanity every second.

The drain is constant over each second-long timeframe, similar to Energy generation but in reverse.

Unlike Voidform itself, which caps at 100 stacks, the "drain stacks" have no cap. Insanity drain will continue growing forever until you fall out of Voidform for one reason or another (0 Insanity or death).

There is a way to pause both the drain and the increase in rate of drain of Insanity. While you are channeling Void Torrent, your Insanity will not drain at all and the rate at which your Insanity drains will not increase (but your stacks of Voidform will increase). Dispersion can be used to pause the Insanity drain rate, but you will not gain stacks while this is active. We go into more detail about this below.

If you are playing with Mother Shahraz's Seduction you will begin your Voidform with 3 stacks of Voidform but only 1 drain stack.

5.2. Voidform and Lingering Insanity

As explained earlier on, the Shadow specialisation has the Voidform mechanic (activated by using Void Eruption) at its core. The key to doing effective damage as a Shadow Priest is by maximising not only how often you can enter Voidform, but also how long you stay in each Voidform.

While in Voidform, you have a 10% damage increase, but that is not all. For every second spent in Voidform, you stack a buff on yourself that increases your Haste by 1%, multiplicatively. The result is that being in Voidform longer allows you to stack the buff higher, resulting in more Haste and therefore more spellcasts.

Voidform ends when you run out of Insanity (as explained above), or when you die.

If you are talented into Lingering Insanity, you will keep the Haste increase you had at the end of Voidform. This bonus will decay at a rate of 2% every second until it disappears entirely. Therefore, the higher your Voidform stacks and Haste bonus, the stronger your Lingering Insanity buff will be, and the sooner you will be able to re-enter Voidform (due to the increased number of spells you will be able to cast). The buff persists even once you re-enter Voidform, adding to the strength of this talent.

Voidform can stack to 100 (+100% Haste). The amount of drain stacks (explained above) has no cap. This is important to remember, especially when using the Surrender to Madness talent.

While in Voidform, you will be using Mind Blast, one of your strongest nukes, more frequently thanks to it having its base cooldown reduced by 3 seconds.

5.3. Void Bolt

Void Bolt is only available during Voidform, and at this time it is always your top priority spell.

It is a powerful nuke on an even shorter cooldown than Mind Blast, that has the added benefit of adding 3 seconds to your Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch on your target upon impact. In single-target situations, you should never have to manually re-apply Vampiric Touch or Shadow Word: Pain to your target during Voidform.

Against multiple targets, you will need to juggle what target you cast Void Bolt at to ensure that you keep both Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch ticking on as many targets as possible. You should always prioritise the casting of Void Bolt on a target that has both Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch ticking on it AND where both DoTs have enough time left to account for the travel time before Void Bolt reaches the target.

5.4. Talent Synergies

There are many talent combinations between different tiers that pair so well together that they are highly recommended to be taken together.

5.4.1. Lingering Insanity + Legacy of the Void

Legacy of the Void is a great talent, as it allows you to be in Voidform more often, taking advantage of the 10% increased damage. Using Lingering Insanity in combination with Legacy ensures you will always be Haste buffed whenever you fall out of Voidform, and it will help you get back to 65 Insanity as fast as possible.

5.4.2. Surrender to Madness + Reaper of Souls + Twist of Fate

If you want to get the highest stacks possible from Surrender to Madness, you are going to need high Insanity-generating abilities available as frequently as possible. With the increased Insanity generation from Surrender to Madness, Shadow Word: Death will generate 60 Insanity on every cast. With 2 charges available, this gives you a very powerful emergency Insanity generation button to plan the rest of your rotation around when you know there is a lull of Insanity generation coming that may force you out of Voidform (and kill you).

Twist of Fate is the other third of this combination, not only because of the reasons listed above, but also because at very high Insanity stacks you will be casting spells more frequently than at any other point in the encounter. This is the optimal time to have the constant damage boost applied via Twist of Fate.

5.5. Void Eruption and DoTs

Void Eruption fills multiple roles for Shadow. Most notably, it allows you to enter Voidform after a 2-second (lowered by Haste) cast time. This can be done without an active target.

The second role it plays is it does a moderate amount of AoE damage based on what targets have your Shadow Word: Pain or Vampiric Touch ticking on them. For each Shadow Word: Pain or Vampiric Touch that is on a target, a bolt of damage will fly towards that target. There is no cap to this effect meaning that in a multi-target situation it is best to have as many DoTs out on all available targets as possible before casting Void Eruption.

The challenge comes from Insanity management, not delaying your entry into Voidform, and casting Void Eruption quickly enough so that DoTs on targets do not have a chance to fall off.

5.5.1. Single Target

When facing a single target, you should make sure to refresh your Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch if they have less than ~5-7 seconds remaining (depending on your Haste level, both from gear and from buffs like Lingering Insanity) on them when you are ready to enter Voidform. You only need to re-apply a DoT that is lower than this threshold, not always both. This is because Void Bolt will not be available immediately upon entering Voidform, as it has a 2 global cooldown cost to start. That delay coupled with Void Bolt having a travel time before it can refresh DoTs, and Void Eruption having a 2-second (hasted) cast time means you need to allow a little bit of extra time remaining to ensure that you will not end up having to spend time in Voidform reapplying your DoTs.

5.5.2. Multiple Targets

At 4+ stacked targets, it is a DPS and Insanity gain to drop Mind Blast from your rotation.

You will have a difficult time keeping both Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch constantly up for more than 3 targets at any given time when trying to enter Voidform. You should apply Shadow Word: Pain to all targets, and then apply Vampiric Touch to any targets that will live for at least 10 seconds. If you are talented into Misery the maintenance of your DoTs is made much easier.

Vampiric Touch has a duration of 24 seconds, longer than Shadow Word: Pain's 18-second duration. For many targets (6+), to maximise the amount of damage that Void Eruption will do, you should begin casting Vampiric Touch on as many of them as possible starting around half Insanity (20/65 if you have Legacy of the Void, 50/100 otherwise), only replacing fillers like Mind Flay with Vampiric Touch.

5.6. More on Cooldowns

5.6.1. Shadowfiend

Your Shadowfiend (but not Mindbender), as a DPS cooldown, provides a small DPS boost.

The damage that the Shadowfiend deals is based on your current stats (most importantly, your Spell Power and Haste), so using it when you have important procs is beneficial.

It is ideal to cast Shadowfiend after Heroism/ Bloodlust/ Time Warp has been cast, while you are in Voidform. This way, the Shadowfiend will benefit from the increase in attack speed for its entire 12-second duration (further increased by Fiending Dark). If you cast Shadowfiend before Heroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp or outside of Voidform, there will be at least a few seconds of its duration (before Heroism/Bloodlust/TimeWarp is cast or Voidform is entered) during which the Shadowfiend will not have increased attack speed.

You should try and use Shadowfiend with Voidform stacks for the increased Haste. If you are playing without Surrender to Madness, you should aim for 10+ stacks. If you are playing with Surrender, the higher the stacks the better. It is ideal to time Shadowfiend for the last 30 seconds of Bloodlust.

When Heroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp has already been used in the fight, or it will not be used for some time still, you should simply use Shadowfiend on cooldown inside of Voidform.

5.6.2. Dispersion

Dispersion is an interesting ability on a 2-minute cooldown (80 seconds with full Artifact). It provides you with several benefits during its 6-second duration.

• All damage you take is reduced by 60%.
• It can be used while stunned, feared, or silenced, and it clears all snare and movement-impairing effects.
• You cannot be snared, and movement-impairing effects cannot be used on you while Dispersion is active.
• If you are in Voidform, your Insanity will not drain and the rate of drain will not increase while Dispersion is active.
• As a drawback, while Dispersion is active you cannot attack or cast any spells. Your DoTs will still deal damage, though.

Dispersion's primary use is to extend the duration of Voidform. This is especially important for Surrender to Madness, and will be discussed in the Surrender to Madness section below.

Dispersion's secondary use is to avoid dying, to minimise the damage you take, and sometimes to bypass various deadly encounter mechanics (such as clearing the Nightmare Brambles on Cenarius).

5.6.3. Void Torrent

Void Torrent is an ability granted to you by your Artifact, Xal'atath, Blade of the Black Empire. This ability has several properties worth explicitly noting.

• Void Torrent is a channeled spell lasting for 4 seconds on a 60-second cooldown.
• The number of ticks done by Void Torrent scales with Haste, meaning that the more Haste you have, the more ticks, and therefore total damage, it will do.
• Insanity will not drain and the rate of drain will not increase while Void Torrent is active.

Void Torrent's primary use is to extend the duration of Voidform. This is especially important for Surrender to Madness, and will be discussed in the Surrender to Madness section below, but is also valuable during other Voidforms. For these, you should use Void Torrent early on in Voidform as long as the following criteria are met:

• Your Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch have more than 6 seconds left on them.
• You will not be using Surrender to Madness during the next 60 seconds.

If you have large Haste buffs up, such as Power Infusion, Berserking, or Bloodlust, you can alter your timing on when you use Void Torrent in order to gain as many stacks as possible. For maximum effect, the entirety of Void Torrent must occur while the buff is still active, i.e., at least 4 seconds before they will fall off. When in doubt, use Void Torrent as early on in Voidform as possible.

From 0% Haste as a baseline, you will gain an extra tick of Void Torrent during the channel for each additional 25% Haste you have.

If you are using the Tier 20 4-piece bonus, you should aim to use Void Torrent and Mindbender on cooldown with Voidform.

5.7. More on Talents

5.7.1. Tier 6 Talents

Power Infusion should be used to extend Voidform duration, and not as a traditional cooldown. It should be used at 20-25 stacks (minimum) of Voidform and timed to expire as you are about to fall out of Voidform. Power Infusion should be used with at least 30 stacks of Voidform if you are using the Tier 20 4-piece bonus.

Misery should be used in situations where you are always casting fresh DoT effects. For example, very add heavy encounters such as Il'gynoth, or Mythic+ dungeons where you are moving from pack to pack.

Mindbender generates a large amount of Insanity over its uptime. It should be used on the pull if you are starting an encounter with little to no Insanity to help you reach your first Voidform quickly, as you will not have any stacks of Lingering Insanity at the start of a fight. After this first use, you should try to use Mindbender on cooldown if possible. If you are using Surrender to Madness, the usage of Mindbender will change slightly when the Surrender to Madness buff is active. This will be discussed more in our section outlining Surrender to Madness.

If you are using the Tier 20 4-piece bonus, you should aim to use Void Torrent and Mindbender on cooldown with Voidform.

5.7.2. Tier 7 Talents

With Legacy of the Void, you are able to enter Voidform at 65 Insanity rather than at 100 Insanity. While one distinct advantage this talent has is that you can quickly re-enter Voidform, this does not mean it is always best to enter Voidform right at 65 Insanity. This gives you a bit of a buffer so that a last-second Mind Blast cast, Shadowy Apparitions striking targets, or the need to re-apply Shadow Word: Pain or Vampiric Touch to targets before casting Void Eruption does not result in wasted Insanity.

Shadow Crash should be avoided, even for AoE, as it the tradeoff and loss of damage via Legacy of the Void is almost never worth it.

With Surrender to Madness, you will die. Horribly. Surrender to Madness allows you to reach high stacks of Voidform AND drain stacks. With good gear and being in execute range, it is possible for players to reach Voidform's stack cap of 100 and continue going with the drain stacks continuing to increase.

One important way to help counter this ever increasing Insanity depletion is by using Dispersion as an offensive cooldown, in addition to using Void Torrent as normal. Doing so will buy you extra time of DoTs ticking and damage being dealt before you exit Voidform and die. You can delay Dispersion by a few seconds if you know there is a period of low Insanity generation coming up (i.e., Shadow Word: Death, Void Bolt, Mind Blast, AND Void Torrent are all on cooldown and you are in danger of reaching 0 Insanity).

When you reach high stacks of Voidform, you will begin dipping dangerously low on Insanity near-constantly. During these valleys where Void Bolt and Mind Blast are both on cooldown and you have no other high Insanity generation abilities, you should use a single Shadow Word: Death as a filler to help top your Insanity off while waiting for other abilities to become available. Do NOT double tap Shadow Word: Death during Surrender to Madness, but keep at least 1 charge of it on cooldown at all times. This is your emergency Insanity generation button, and you need to treat it as such.

When your total Haste reaches about 122%, you will be unable to cast two different abilities between each Void Bolt. It is at this point that a 1 global cooldown rotation becomes mandatory.

1. Cast Void Bolt.
2. Cast Mind Blast.
3. Cast Void Bolt.
4. Cast a filler ability. This may include (in priority order):
   1. Shadow Word: Death
   2. Shadow Word: Void (if you have taken this talent)
   3. Mind Flay
5. Repeat from #1.

If you have selected Mindbender as your Tier 6 talent, you will want to use it twice during Surrender to Madness. The first time will be early on (below ~30 stacks). The second time will be about 20 seconds before you are expecting to fall out of Voidform. This second use will require a judgement call on your own and will come mostly from experience. As a general rule, when you are at high Voidform stacks (~90+) and feel as if you are having trouble keeping your head above water, so to speak, you should use Mindbender and know that this is your final push before Voidform will end and you will die. Horribly.

If you have selected Power Infusion as your Tier 6 talent, you will only use it once during Voidform. As with Mindbender above, when you are at high Voidform stacks (~80+) and feel as if you are having trouble keeping your head above water, so to speak, you should use Power Infusion and know that this is your final push before Voidform will end and you will die.

When playing with Surrender, this is how you should proceed:

1. Refresh DoTs.
2. Activate Surrender to Madness.
3. Enter Voidform.
4. Cast Void Torrent.
5. Cast Void Bolt.
6. Activate Dispersion.
7. Normal Voidform priority.
8. Cast Void Torrent when it comes off of cooldown.
9. Activate Power Infusion when you need it.
10. Activate Dispersion when you need it.

If you can get to Dispersion without using Power Infusion, this is ideal, however, it is difficult after the Surrender to Madness nerfs. It is safer to use Power Infusion when Dispersion has ~15 seconds left on its cooldown. Once Power Infusion ends, follow normal priority until you have used up your Shadow Word: Death charges, then Disperse.

6. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 14 Jun. 2017: Added a few notes about the T20 4-piece bonus. Ready for 7.2.5.
• 13 Jun. 2017: Page is not yet completely updated for 7.2.5. More changes to follow very soon.
• 17 May 2017: Fixed drain stacks example to match provided formula.
• 01 May 2017: Small update to Power Infusion description.
• 28 Mar. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 10 Jan. 2017: Full overhaul. Revised formatting, updated for 7.1.5, and added additional information.
• 31 Oct. 2016: Slightly improved the Shadowform mention at the start of the guide.
• 25 Oct. 2016: Added a mention of Shadowform (you should always have it active).
• 10 Oct. 2016: Made various updates and improvements to account for the repeated changes to Dispersion and Void Torrent.
• 25 Sep. 2016: Updated the page to account for the fact that you no longer gain Voidform stacks while Dispersion and Void Torrent are active.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 19 Jul. 2016: Corrected the duration of Vampiric Touch from 24 to 18 seconds, which was a change that came in a recent hotfix.
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.