#0 - Aug. 26, 2006, 5:27 p.m.
a PvE Priest handbook
by Nightshroud of Alleria
NOTE: This is an old version which will no longer be updated. Refer to the current sticky:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=86706393
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Frequently Asked Questions
III. Stats
IV. Talent Specs
V. Discipline Talents
VI. Holy Talents
VII. Shadow Talents
VIII. Racials
IX. How to Heal
X. User Interface
XI. Macros
XII. Links
I. Introduction
Armed with words of pain and prayers of healing, the Priests of Azeroth stand alone as pure casters capable of portioning out both life and death. These acolytes of the primal gods support their nations during crisis. And these are dire times.
Priests are famously recognized as masters of healing, especially group healing. Other classes can rival Priests in focused areas, but Priests thrive on variety of tools to meet the situation. Priests may also fill a primarily damage-dealing role. The side effects of a Shadow focused role include group healing, group mana regen, and whole raid magic amplification on the Priest's target.
Beyond these basics, a Priest can strip enemies of magic buffs or remove harmful magical and disease effects from allies. Humanoid foes can be soothed into not noticing a passing Priest or bodily possessed to carry out the will of the Priest. Most foes can be instantly Feared and Shadow focused Priests can immediately Silence spellcasting. Increased Stamina, Shadow resistance, and often increased Spirit further benefit the allies of a Priest.
II. Frequently Asked Questions
Q: I'm interested in healing. Would a Priest be the best class for me?
A: No doubt it would be a good class for you, but since there are several other very viable healing classes -- when properly spec'd and geared -- it's worthwhile to read a Paladin/Shaman/Druid guide or two and discuss this with experienced healers of those classes. Often the best fit for you won't be determined by the healing itself, but by which class 'extras' you prefer.
Q: I'm interested in dealing damage. Would a Priest be the best class for me?
A: Maybe. PvP-wise, my personal advice is that if you can stand to play a class without healing, most people are better off doing so. That said, there certainly are some impressive face melting and smiting videos out there. Just be prepared to put up with a lot of complaining from your own faction for not sticking to healing. PvE-wise, a good Shadow spec Priest is often the very best use of a damage-class slot. Your raw damage can rival 'pure DPS' classes while providing benefit from Vampiric Embrance, Vampiric Touch, Misery, and Shadow Weaving. Social pressure against PvE Shadow Priests still exists, but only because of the general healer shortage and it's easier to bully a class that can respec healing than one that would have to reroll.
Q: Which race should I be?
A: All races have unique value, but the differences are large enough it's like having 11 talent points permanently spec'd a certain way in a fourth tree. Our blessing and curse is that we're the only class with both normal "base racials" but also two "class racial" spells per race. Short version is that Undead and Dwarf are usually considered the best PvP races; Blood Elf and Draenei the same for PvE. This is oversimplified, so read about the racials yourself later in this guide and make your own choice.
Q: How should I spec to level up?
A: Short version: get Wand Specialization, Spirit Tap, and Imp. SW:Pain in that order. Check the Auction House or an Enchanter friend to keep your wand up to date. Fill in whatever other talents you want. At level 40, respec to get Shadowform. While it's possible to level with another tree, all you really get are brownie points in your own mind. Healing on the way to the level cap is not significantly hurt by being Shadow spec. For more information, see Covello's sticky on this forum.
Q: Can I spec Shadow and still heal well?
A: For most of the game, talent spec won't make or break you in the healing department. Gear, consumables, and sheer player ability are more significant. But particularly after the expansion talents arrived, minoring or majoring in Holy will make you a noticeably better healer than without.
Q: What is this 'Five Second Rule'?
A: In World of Warcraft, health regeneration is turned off in combat and turned back on when out of combat. Mana regen, however, doesn't care whether you're in combat or not. Mana regen turns off for five seconds every time you finish casting a spell. So if you cast a single, instant spell your mana will stop regenerating for five seconds as soon as you cast. If you cast a single 1.5 sec spell, regeneration will continue for the 1.5 seconds until you actually finish. Canceling a spell before it finishes allows your regeneration to continue right along. One way to minimize time spent in the Five Second Rule is to overlap spell finishes. If you cast a Greater Heal and then an instant Shield immediately after the Greater Heal finishes, your time in the FSR will be almost the same as if you had only cast the Greater Heal.
Q: How does [some talent] work?
A: Check the talent tree sections of this guide. I'll cover the three most commonly asked about here...
Q: How does Improved Shadow Word: Pain work?
A: Pain usually has six damage ticks. The talent adds two more 'free' damage ticks the same strength as untalented ticks. There is absolutely no downside.
Q: How does Spirit Tap work? Should I finish off mobs with my wand to get full benefit from Spirit Tap?
A: The wording on Spirit Tap's tooltip is admittedly a little confusing. The intent is to give you a particular amount of extra mana back every time you personally land the killing blow on a mob or player. The more Spirit you have, the better this bonus is. The really cool part is that you get this bonus whether or not you are in the Five Second Rule. Counterintuitively, most Priests actually get a little more from Spirit Tap than the usual bonus by being inside the Five Second Rule because Meditation gets to double dip. So to answer the second question: wanding has other benefits, but getting the most from Spirit Tap is not one of them.
This answer is controversial. If you wish to discuss it, please use this separate thread to do so:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=77578812
Q: I have Improved Power Word: Fortitude, but when I mouseover the buff it still shows the lower value. Is it working?
A: Anyone you buff gets the extra Stamina, but talent-improved buffs don't update their tooltips for several classes. This is a long standing display error.
Q: How do gear and talents affect my spells, in general?
A: "Damage and healing", "healing", and "shadow damage" from gear -- as applicable -- is multiplied by the coefficient for the particular spell. The result is added to the maximum and minimum healing (or damage) done by the spell. Personal amplification talents like Spiritual Healing or Darkness are then applied. Finally, the target-debuff talents of Misery and Shadow Weaving are applied. See 'Spellpower' in the Stats section for more detail.
Q: What are the Spellpower coefficients?
A: Here you go. Keep in mind that lower rank spells may be subject to one or both coefficient penalties as described under 'Spellpower' in the Stats section of this guide.
42.9% Binding Heal (per target)
14.3% Circle of Healing (per target)
42.9% Flash Heal
85.7% Greater Heal
28.6% Prayer of Healing (per target)
42.9% Prayer of Mending (per charge)
20.0% PW:Shield
100% Renew
75.0% Holy Fire direct damage
25.0% Holy Fire dot
0.00% Mana Burn
42.9% Mind Blast
57.2% Mind Flay
110% Pain
65.0% Shadowfiend
42.9% Shadow Word: Death
71.4% Smite
100% Vampiric Touch
42.9% Desperate Prayer
100%Devouring Plague
0.00% Feedback
100% Shadowguard
171.4% Starshards
10.0% Touch of Weakness
Q: The healing or damage range on my spellbook spells don't match up with the numbers on database websites. What's going on?
A: Certain talents like Spiritual Healing, Force of Will, and Darkness that are "always-on" can affect spell tooltips. This can be misleading because accurate theorycrafting requires factoring out those talents from the base descriptions, applying the Spellpower bonus, then factoring such talents back in. (Mana reduction talents generally show up in the spellbook and can be taken at face value.) Also, many damage and healing spells actually scale up slightly as you level until the next rank is trainable.
For reference, here is the list of non-racial spells which do not train a final rank at level 70 and scale up naturally:
1053-1350 Binding Heal
1116-1295 Flash Heal
2414-2803 Greater Heal
1251-1322 Prayer of Healing
528 Mind Flay
711-752 Mind Blast
549-616 Smite
426-537 and 165 Holy Fire
244-283 and 386-448 Holy Nova
