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10.1.7
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Shadow Priest Artifact Weapon: Xal'atath – Legion 7.3.5
By djriff
Last Updated:
2018/06/28
Changelog
Patch: 10.1.7
Table of Contents
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Guide Navigation
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This section of the Shadow Priest guide explains the best possible choices for the Netherlight Crucible, important traits and relic bonuses, and how to progress through your Shadow Priest artifact weapon Xal'atath. The author of this guide is
djriff
, Moderator on HowToPriest. If you want to learn more about me or my work with the shadow priest community, check out
H2P
. Updated for the latest patch.
Artifacts in Battle for Azeroth
As of June 26th, completing the quest
The Power in Our Hands
will further empower your Artifact Weapon, enabling all traits and at least
Concordance of the Legionfall
level 75, further increasing in power over time until the Battle for Azeroth pre-expansion patch.
Therefore, only the Netherlight Crucible recommendations are relevant on this guide page leading up to BFA, as you already receive all Artifact Traits by default. This makes content easier to complete, especially some
content going away
such as
Ahead of the Curve
and
Mage Tower Challenges
.
In the
BFA pre-patch
, your Artifact Traits will be removed, and relics will simply increase the item level of your artifact weapon. However, many artifact traits are returning as talents or azerite powers in Battle for Azeroth and we have a compiled a
full list you can read here
.
Moving forward in Battle for Azeroth, you will still be able to acquire the Artifact Weapon which will mainly interest transmog collectors for the appearances. Learn how to unlock all appearances in BFA with our
Artifact Appearance Guide
.
Artifact Weapon:
Xal'atath
Netherlight Crucible
The
Netherlight Crucible
is a new system added in Patch 7.3. The Crucible allows you further empower your Shadow Priest Artifact Weapon, by specializing and increasing the power from your relics. With it, each relic receives a small talent tree that you can select new traits from, depending how many traits your weapon have. Do not worry, however, because with the changes to
Artifact Knowledge
, unlocking the full power of the Crucible won't take long. Learn everything about this new system in our
Netherlight Crucible Guide
. With the opening of
Antorus, the Burning Throne
, it is now possible to obtain
Insignia of the Grand Army
, which increases the potency of your Tier 2 Crucible traits by 50%. It might be a really strong legendary if you are lucky with Netherlight Crucible rolls!
Tier 2 Traits
This trait is worth 6 ilvls
Torment the Weak
- Your damaging spells and abilities have a chance to deal 5000 Shadow damage over 15 seconds. This effect stacks up to 3 times.
These traits are worth 5 ilvls
Shadowbind
- Your spells have a chance to deal 200000 Shadow damage and heal you for the same amount.
Chaotic Darkness
- Your spells have a chance to deal 3000 to 15000 Shadow damage and heal you for the same amount.
These traits are worth 4 ilvls
Secure in the Light
- Your damaging spells and abilities have the chance to deal 135000 additional Holy damage. Your healing spells and abilities have a chance to grant Holy Bulwark, absorbing 135000 damage over 10 sec.
Infusion of Light
- Your damaging spells and abilities have the chance to deal 1000 additional Holy damage. Your healing spells and abilities have a chance to heal for 1000.
These traits are worth 3 ilvls
Master of Shadows
- Increases Mastery by 500 and Avoidance by 1000.
Shocklight
- Increases your Critical Strike rating by 1500 while
Concordance of the Legionfall
is active.
Light Speed
- Increases Haste and Movement Speed by 650.
Dark Sorrows
- Your damaging spells and abilities have a chance to apply Sorrow to the target, making it explode for 133100 damage to all enemies around it after 8 seconds.
Murderous Intent
- Increases Versatility by 1500 while
Concordance of the Legionfall
is active.
These traits are worth 0 ilvls
Refractive Shell
- Your spells and abilities have the chance to cause Refractive Shell, absorbing 200000 damage. Lasts 10 sec.
Light's Embrace
- Taking damage has a chance to grant you Light's Embrace, restoring 36000 health over 6 sec. Light's Embrace may stack up to 5 times.
To figure out what path is best to use, please use
this sheet
to calculate it. (It will save you a lot of hassle!)
Active Ability
Equipping Xal'atath, Blade of the Black Empire grants you the ability
Void Torrent
, which halts your descent from madness, stopping the drain of
Insanity
, dealing massive amount of damage to an enemy during a brief period of time. Usable only during
Voidform
.
Golden Traits
Sphere of Insanity
:
Sphere of Insanity
manifests for the duration of
Voidform
. Your
Void Bolt
,
Mind Blast
, and
Mind Flay
cause the sphere to duplicated 5% of their damage to all enemies affected by your
Shadow Word: Pain
. Doesn't really require any micromanagement. Ensure you have all
Shadow Word: Pain
up on all targets.
: Every 1sec,
Voidform
increases damage dealt by
Shadow Word: Pain
and
Vampiric Touch
by 2%, stacking until
Voidform
ends.
Call to the Void
:
Mind Flay
has a chance to spawn a Void Tentacle that channels
Mind Flay
at your target for 10 sec.
Darkening Whispers
: Increases shadow damage by 5%
Lash of Insanity
: Void Tendrils summoned by
Call to the Void
generate 3 Insanity for you when they deal damage with Mind Flay.
Normal Traits
Void Siphon
: Increases the damage dealt by
Mind Flay
by 20%
Void Corruption
: Increases damage done by
by 5%/10%/15%/20%
Mental Fortitude
: Healing From
Vampiric Touch
when you are at maximum health will shield you for the same amount. Shield can not exceed your total health x 0.04 damage absorbed
Thoughts of Insanity
: Increases healing done by
Shadow Mend
by 10%/20%/30%/40%
Touch of Darkness
: Increases damage done by
Vampiric Touch
by 5%/10%/15%/20%
Unleash the Shadows
:
Vampiric Touch
critical strikes have a 15%/30%/45%/60% chance to create a
Shadowy Apparition
To the Pain
: Increases damage dealt by
Shadow Word: Pain
by 6%/12%/18%/24%
Creeping Shadows
: Increases Shadow damage dealt by 1%/2%/3%/4%
Thrive in the Shadows
:
Dispersion
heals you for 50% of your maximum health over its duration
Death's Embrace
: Increases damage done by
Shadow Word: Death
by 3%/6%/10%/13%
From the Shadows
: Reduces the cooldown of
Dispersion
by 10/20/30/40 seconds
Mind Shattering
: Increases the damage dealt by
Mind Blast
by 5%/10%/15%/20%
Sinister Thoughts
: Increases the damage done by
Void Bolt
by 8%
Fiending Dark
Increases the duration of Mindbender by 1/2/3/4 sec and Shadowfiend by 4.5/9/13.5/18 sec.
Mind Quickening
Void Torrent grants 800 haste to you and 4 allies for 15 sec.
Final Trait
Concordance of the Legionfall
Your abilities have a chance to trigger Concordance of the Legionfall, increasing your Primary Stat by X for 10 sec.
Relics
Relic Comparison
Use
this
sheet to compare relics you have in your Shadow Priest Artifact. Be sure to save a copy so you can edit it!
Throughput Relics
Mind Shattering
(5%
Mind Blast
damage)
Unleash the Shadows
(15% chance of
from
Vampiric Touch
)
To the Pain
(6%
Shadow Word: Pain
damage)
Touch of Darkness
(5%
Vampiric Touch
damage)
Death's Embrace
(3%
Shadow Word: Death
damage)
Creeping Shadows
(1% Shadow damage)
Void Corruption
(5%
damage)
Non-Throughput Relics
From the Shadows
(-10sec
Dispersion
cooldown)
Thoughts of Insanity
(10%
Shadow Mend
healing)
Touch of Darkness
(5%
Vampiric Touch
damage)
Recommended Build Path
1.
Void Siphon
2.
Unleash the Shadows
3.
To the Pain
4.
Thrive in the Shadows
5.
From the Shadows
6.
Mind Shattering
7.
8.
Thoughts of Insanity
9.
Touch of Darkness
10.
Call to the Void
11.
Sinister Thoughts
12.
Creeping Shadows
13.
Sphere of Insanity
15.
Mental Fortitude
16.
Death's Embrace
17.
Darkening Whispers
Unlike other classes/specs, the only important Gold Trait to immediately go for is
. Currently our other two Gold Traits aren't worth getting in comparison to increasing the rest of our artifact traits.
Once you reach 35 traits, you'll have to empower your weapon to unlock the new traits. Once you've done that, you'll want to put them in this order:
1.
Darkness of the Conclave
2.
Touch of Darkness
3.
To the Pain
4.
Creeping Shadows
5.
Fiending Dark
6.
Mind Quickening
7.
Lash of Insanity
8.
Mind Shattering
9.
Unleash the Shadows
10.
Death's Embrace
11.
Void Corruption
12.
From the Shadows
13.
Thoughts of Insanity
14.
Concordance of the Legionfall
Share your comments about this guide in our Priest forum!
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