On this page, we explain what the best statistics are for ShadowPriests in World of Warcraft MoP 5.4, how the class benefits fromeach of them, andwhat your reforging strategy should be. We also detail what the various capsare (if any) and why they should be attained.

The statistics priority is important as itinfluences reforging strategies as well as itemisation choices(gear, enchants, and gems).

Make sure to check our GearOptimisation Guide, which serves as a support guide for thisarticle.

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

1. Basics↑top

The stat priority for a Shadow Priest is:

1. Intellect;
2. Hit Rating or Spirit (until 15%);
3. Haste Rating (until reaching the soft cap);
4. Critical Strike Rating and Mastery Rating;
5. Haste Rating (past the soft cap).

Point #4 refers to the fact that once you have reached the hit cap and thehaste soft cap, you should get equal amounts of Critical Strike Rating andMastery Rating. This assumes that you have the 2-Part Tier 16 Set Bonus. If youdo not, then Critical Strike Rating is better than Mastery Rating.

2. Getting a Better Understanding↑top

2.1. Statistics Explanations

Intellect is your primary stat. You should look for this stat in allof your upgrades. It provides you with Spell Power, which increases the damageof your spells, and increases your critical strike chance.

Hit Rating (or Spirit) decreases the chance that your spells will misstheir target (15% against a raid boss). Therefore, your goal is to reach the15% hit cap (see section below), which will ensure that your attacks nevermiss.

As a Shadow Priest, any Spirit found on your gear will alsoprovide you its full amount as Hit Rating (thanks to Spiritual Precision), allowingyou to easily maintain an equipment set for a healing off-spec.

Haste Rating influences the cast speed of your spells and increasesthe number of ticks from your DoTs.

Critical Strike Rating increases your chance to critically hit withall spells and abilities.

Mastery Rating, thanks to Mastery: Shadowy Recall, gives yourperiodic shadow damage spells (including Mind Flay and Mind Sear,which work like DoTs) a chance to deal their damage twice.

2.2. Hit Cap

At level 90, most races require 5,100 Hit Rating to reachthe spell hit cap. Some races, in some cases, only need 4,760 HitRating, thanks to passive racial skills:

• Draenei because of Heroic Presence;
• Dwarves when using a Mace ( Mace Specialization);
• Gnomes when using a Dagger ( Shortblade Specialization);
• Humans when using a Mace ( Mace Specialization).

Note that, in Mists of Pandaria, 1% expertise counts as 1% hit towards the spell hit cap.

Finally, Humans have the The Human Spirit racial ability, which increasestheir Spirit by 3%. The implication of this is that if two items are identical but onehas Spirit and the other one has Hit Rating, then the item with Spirit is better forHuman Shadow Priests.

2.3. Soft Haste Cap

At 18,215 Haste Rating (or 17,614 for Goblins), you reach the globalcooldown cap of 1 second, meaning that additional Haste Rating will no longerlower your global cooldown, therefore vastly reducing the value of thestat.

3. Changelog↑top

• 10 Sep. 2013: Patch 5.4 update: updated the stat priority, andadded a mention of the GCD haste cap.
• 02 Aug. 2013: Added mention that Mastery also affects Mind Flay and Mind Sear (which work like DoTs).
• 20 May 2013: Patch 5.3 update: nothing to change.
• 08 May 2013: Added dwarves to the list of races that have a Hit Cap advantageunder certain conditions. Added a tip for Human Shadow Priests who should take The Human Spirit into account when choosing their gear.
• 26 Apr. 2013: Added a mention of the change in stat prioritywhen obtaining the Unerring Vision of Lei-Shen trinket or the Sinister Primal Diamond meta-gem.
• 26 Mar. 2013: Updated the statistic priority to show that HasteRating is the desired stat in basically all situations. Removed the soft hastecaps since they are no longer relevant.

Buffs, Debuffs, and Useful Abilities

Gems, Enchants, and Professions