Shadow Priest

The priority

1. Voidform — when it is ready, with your damage over time up
2. Tentacle Slam — when vampiric touch is missing
3. Vampiric Touch — when vampiric touch is missing
4. Shadow Word: Madness — when it is ending, or near the insanity cap
5. Void Torrent — with your damage over time up
6. Shadow Word: Pain — when it is missing or ending
7. Mind Blast — when it is ready
8. Vampiric Touch — when it is ending
9. Shadow Word: Death — below 20% health
10. Mind Flay — as a filler

Common mistakes

• Capping Insanity instead of spending it.
• Using Voidform before your damage over time is up.
• Letting Vampiric Touch fall off.

What’s simplified

• Each turn is one decision (about one global cooldown). Cooldowns and buff durations are converted to turns, so timing is approximate.
• Priority order follows SimulationCraft’s default priority list for this build, simplified to the abilities modeled here. Costs, cooldowns and effects come from Blizzard’s spell data. Rule wording is our own.
• Insanity caps at 100. Shadow Word: Madness costs 50 (spell data); the Insanity each spell gives is approximated: Mind Blast 8, Tentacle Slam and Vampiric Touch 4, Mind Flay 3, Void Torrent 24.
• Durations in turns: Vampiric Touch 14, Shadow Word: Pain 11, Shadow Word: Madness 4, Voidform 13.
• Cooldowns in turns: Voidform 40, Void Torrent 30, Tentacle Slam 2 charges every 10, Mind Blast 6, Shadow Word: Death 6 (execute only).
• Void Volley, Void Blast, Mind Flay: Insanity, Halo and Power Infusion are not modeled.

Sources

• SimulationCraft: Default action priority list (Oct 20, 2026)
• SimulationCraft: Spell data dump, build 12.1.5.70391 (Oct 16, 2026)
• Blizzard Entertainment: Spell tooltips and Game Data API (spells) (Oct 13, 2026)
• Warcraft Secrets: Patch 12.1.5 content update notes (class changes) (Oct 13, 2026)

SimulationCraft’s default Shadow priority with Voidform and Tentacle Slam. Hero talent effects are not modeled. Reviewed Oct 20, 2026. A training aid, not a damage simulator.