Mindbender

Mindbender is a level 45 Discipline and level 90 Shadow priest talent that replaces Shadowfiend.

Shadowfiend comparison
Described as an "improved version of Shadowfiend that is substantially more effective at dealing damage and generating mana or Insanity", the Mindbender relies on its 12/15-second duration and short 1-minute cooldown to outperform the Shadowfiend.


 * Deals 88% as much damage as the Shadowfiend.
 * Generates mana or Insanity per hit (Shadowfiend generates no mana, and half the Insanity Mindbender generates).
 * Available every 1 minute instead of every 3 minutes.
 * Has a potential uptime of 300%/375% that of the Shadowfiend, and generates a moderate amount of mana or Insanity per summon.

The Mindbender therefore has the potential to outperform the Shadowfiend considerably. However, this relies on the priest to make the most of its short cooldown. Additionally, it requires the priest to spend a global once per minute summoning the Mindbender (rather than once every three minutes) which is potentially a downside. One other advantage is having the pet active more often, which can help to distract or confuse enemies, and reduces the impact of having your pet CCed, since its time is less precious.