[MOP] Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

[arcade99]

​Arcade's F2P Priest Guide! for patch 5.3

Hello Everyone! I've been lurking the forums for a while now, and I felt like it was about time I contributed to the forum in some way. I would gladly appreciate any tips or information I might have missed.

Table of Contents

1. - Role
2. -Race
3. -Spells
   
4. -Talents
5. -Specialization
6. -Gear
7. -Macros & Addons
8. -PvP Tips
   

Role:

Priests are masters of healing, restoring their wounded allies, shielding them in battle, and even resurrecting them from death. While they have a variety of protective and enhancement spells to support their allies, they can also unleash terrible vengeance on their enemies, using the grand powers of the Holy Light to smite and purge them, or the devastating powers of the shadow to wreck havoc over their enemies. The priest is a diverse and powerful class, highly desirable in any group, and capable of fulfilling multiple roles.


Choosing your Race

Horde:

Undead - Touch of the Grave Cannibalize Will of the Forsaken Shadow Resistance -good against Priest's,warlocks,mages

Troll - Beserking Da Voodoo Shuffle Regeneration Beast Slaying- has a decent haste racial that could be staked with haste set

Tauren- Cultivation Endurance Nature Resistance War Stomp-Stamina boost, good against druids, and has a very useful group CC

Goblin - Rocket Barrage Time is Money Rocket Jump - extra dps, 1% spell haste & rocket jump which is very useful if used at the right time

Blood Elf - Resistance Torrent Blood Elves are able to obtain Bloodthistle -good against mages, a great silence CC,




Alliance:

Human - Every Man for Himself The Human Spirit -Extra trinket slot +sprt

Dwarf - Frost Resistance Stone form -good against frost mage & Rogues

Night Elf - Nature Resistance Quickness Shadowmeld- good against druids, stealth +dodge

Gnome - Arcane Resistance Escape Artist Expansive Mind -good against arcane mages,rogues +int

Draenei - Gift of the Naaru Heroic Presence Shadow Resistance -weak HoT, good against warlocks, priests +hit

Worgen - Aberration Enable Worgen Altered Form Darkflight Viciousness Running Wild good against warlocks, movement speed increase, Crt chance +


Pandaren - Bouncy Epicuraen Quaking Palm -reduce fall damage, double stats from food buffs, Single target CC


Ultimately the race you choose should be one that you like and enjoy playing!

Spells:

There are 8 spells a priest receives regardless of spec. Hover mouse over spells for information
-Smite- Main damage spell. Spam when other spells are on cool down
-Flash Heal- Main healing spell, use it to recover friendly or self health points.
-Power Word: Shield- Protects friendly target from taking damage for a certain amount of points and until the duration of the shield ends. pop it on low health friendly target to make time to cast a healing spell.
-Shadow Word: Pain- Does Damage over time(DoT) ticks instantly, keep it up on rogues and druids to keep them from restealthing.
-Psychic Scream- Useful when being atacked by mobs, to keep enemies from capturing flag in AB, to peel from an FC in WSG, and to CC a target in arenas.
-Inner Fire- Self buff keep it active at all times
-Holy Fire-(shadow does not receive this) Use at the end of a spell rotation to maximize burst damage.
-Ressurection- Revives friendly targets, try to use in arenas

Talents:

Void Tendrils-Summons Shadowy tendrils out of the ground, rooting up to 5 enemy targets within 8 yards for 20 sec. Killing the tendril will cancel the effect.

Psyfiend-Summons a Psyfiend that stands in place for 10 sec. The Psyfiend casts a Psychic Terror on a nearby enemy within 20 yards every 1.5 sec, preferring anything attacking the Priest.

Dominate Mind-Controls a mind up to level 23(at Lvl 20) for 30 sec. Does not work versus Mechanical beings











Specialization

Discipline:

"Uses magic to shield allies from taking damage as well as heal their wounds."

Discipline is by far the best Healing and Damage spec out of all 3. When choosing this spec you obtain a
Passive: Rapture which removes the cool down on Power Word: Shield which makes protecting and healing a lot easier! Discipline also receives the Spell: Penance which can be used as an Instant Heal or to damage enemies. (Hit cap)


Holy:

A versatile healer who can reverse damage on individuals or groups and even heal from beyond the grave

Holy can be a good healing class if played very well, but personally the 6 second cool down on PW:S makes it very difficult to heal your teammates that are being bombarded by opposing twinks or Hunters. When Spec'ed into Holy you receive Holy Word: Chastise which is a great single target CC (Crowd Control). The damage is decent but sadly with out penance burst damage is not as good as discipline.(Hit cap)


Shadow:

"Uses sinister Shadow magic, especially damage-over-time spells, to eradicate enemies

Shadow is the least helpful of the specs since only mind flay, and Shadow Word: Pain are the only two shadow spells available at level 20. The Shadow Priest spec offers Mind Flay and Spiritual Precision in which Mind Flay can be used to slow down enemies such as an FC or a Hunter. Spiritual Precision allows easy hit cap Mana does Not regenerate as quickly in battles as in the other 2 specs, so yes you can and will run out of mana. (Not hit cap)

 

[arcade99]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

Gear Sets
Horde:

​

.

Bis Set

Stam Set

Easy Alternatives

Head	Lucky Fishing Hat	Lucky Fishing Hat	Flying Tiger Goggles
Neck	Brilliant Necklace	Thick Bronze Necklace	Thick Bronze Necklace
Shoulders	Tattered Dreadmist Mantle	Magician's Mantle	Feline Mantle
Back	Tumultuous Cloak of the Sorcerer	Tumultuous Cloak of Stamina	Sporid Cape
Chest	Tattered Dreadmist Robe	Tattered Dreadmist Robe ​	Je'neu's Robes
Bracers	Mindthrust Bracers	Mindthrust Bracers	Cuffs of Black Elements
Hands	Serpent Gloves	Serpent Gloves	Gold-Flecked Gloves
Waist	Enumerated Wrap of the Sorcerer	Enumerated Wrap of Stamina ​	Ghamoo-Ra's Bind
Legs	Silk-Threaded Trousers	Silk-Threaded Trousers	Silk-Threaded Trousers
Feet	Corpse Rompers	Corpse Rompers	Corpse Rompers
Ring	Garrosh's Pardon	Garrosh's Pardon	Advisor's Ring
Ring	Seal of Argas	Seal of Argas	Deep Fathom Ring
Trinket	Swift Hand of Justice ​	AGM or IMT ​	Rune of Perfection
Trinket	Inherited Insignia of the Horde	Inherited Insignia of the Horde	Inherited Insignia of the Horde

2-Hand		Dignified Headmaster's Charge	Advisor's Gnarled Staff
Main-Hand	Devout Aurastone Hammer
Off-Hand	Musty Tome of the Lost

Aliance:

​

.

Bis Set

Stam Set

Easy Alternatives

Head	Lucky Fishing Hat	Lucky Fishing Hat	Flying Tiger Goggles
Neck	Brilliant Necklace	Thick Bronze Necklace	Thick Bronze Necklace
Shoulders	Tattered Dreadmist Mantle	Magician's Mantle	Feline Mantle
Back	Tumultuous Cloak of the Sorcerer	Tumultuous Cloak of Stamina	Stitches' Stitchlings or Caretaker's Cape
Chest	Tattered Dreadmist Robe	Tattered Dreadmist Robe ​	Je'neu's Robes
Bracers	Mindthrust Bracers	Mindthrust Bracers	Cuffs of Black Elements
Hands	Serpent Gloves	Serpent Gloves	Gold-Flecked Gloves
Waist	Enumerated Wrap of the Sorcerer	Enumerated Wrap of Stamina ​	Ghamoo-Ra's Bind
Legs	Silk-Threaded Trousers	Silk-Threaded Trousers	Silk-Threaded Trousers
Feet	Corpse Rompers	Corpse Rompers	Corpse Rompers
Ring	Gloaming Band	Gloaming Band	Lorekeeper's Ring
Ring	Seal of Argas	Seal of Argas	Deep Fathom Ring
Trinket	Swift Hand of Justice ​	AGM or IMT ​	Rune of Perfection
Trinket	Inherited Insignia of the Alliance	Inherited Insignia of the Alliance	Inherited Insignia of the Alliance

2-Hand		Dignified Headmaster's Charge	Lorekeeper's Staff
Main-Hand	Devout Aurastone Hammer
Off-Hand	Musty Tome of the Lost

In case you are wondering why the Bis set is stacking haste.
According to Snowjob's Guide on Haste and Hashbrown's F2P Dev. Only 2 spells have Haste Break Points.

• Shadow Word Pain-Break Point = 8.3%
  
• Holy Fire-Break Point = 7.14%

Cast time for the rest of the spells are simply sped up.
Bis Set= 5.52% Haste (10.4% with Life Blood Active)

Armories:
H:
Veinte
Soaps
Izac
A:
Izec
Dancingroot


Bis Gear Enchants
Here's Pinochet's Comprehensive Profession Guidefor Great profession leveling Info, but here are the priests Bis Enchants-->

Chest: Medium Armor Kit​

Cloak: Minor Protection​

Bracers: Minor Stamina​

Hands: Medium Armor Kit​

Legs: Medium Armor Kit​

Feet: Medium Armor Kit​

Weapon: 2H Lesser Intellect ​

Macros & Addons​

• @Targettarget macros:

Useful macros when healing a target. These macros will cast the spell on a target and if the target is friendly, the target's target.

[SIZE=3]#showtooltip[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]/cast [harm] Smite; [@targettarget] Smite[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]#showtooltip[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]/cast [harm] Holy Fire; [@targettarget] Holy Fire[/SIZE]

• Mouse over macros:
  

Casts Power Word: Shield on any friendly target your mouse is hovering over.

[SIZE=3]#showtooltip Power Word: Shield[/SIZE] 
[SIZE=3]/cast [@mouseover, noharm, exists, nodead][] Power Word: Shield[/SIZE]

Casts Shadow Word: Pain on any harmful target your mouse is hovering over

#showtooltip Shadow Word: Pain 
/cast [@mouseover, harm, exists, nodead][] Shadow Word: Pain

• Chat macro:

​Generally most useful in pugs. Gets quick response from most tanks or dps.

/instance The healer is under attack! 
Help me!

• Talents macro:

Sets all your talents to one button.

#showtooltip
/cast Void Tendrils
/cast Psyfiend
/cast Dominate Mind
/script n_vt=GetSpellInfo(108920); n_pf=GetSpellInfo(108921); n_dm=GetSpellInfo(605)
/run SetMacroSpell("15 Talents", GetSpellInfo(n_vt) or GetSpellInfo(n_pf) or GetSpellInfo(n_dm))

Casts Power Word: Shield on your Psyfiend.

#showtooltip
/target psyfiend
/cast Power Word: Shield
/targetlasttarget

Cancels Dominate Mind when pressed again.

#showtooltip
/cancelaura Dominate Mind
/cast Dominate Mind

*F2P Addon* For those who do NOT know what this, check out Yasueh's thread about it--->F2P Addon Info<---

Healing addons
Be at the top of the healing chart in every battle ground with these very useful healing addons.

• Heal Bot
• VuhDo
• Can't Heal You

PvP addons

• BG Spy
  
• Arena Spy
• Interrupt Bar
• Say sapped

Key bind addons

• Dominos
  
• Bartender 4
  

Unit Frames

• ArenaPlates
• Tidy Plates

Misc

• Random Mount
• Sexy map
• Mogit
• Chinchilla Critter Emote

PvP Tips:

An important thing to note when going up against all classes (with a couple of exceptions) is to fear immediately. With the common use of PvP fear trinkets, making your opponent use their cooldown on the trinket ASAP is vital.

Burst rotation[SW, Smite x2, Penance, Holyfire] taken from Viente's & Yde Priest Intruduction
(SW)=Shadow Word Pain
(PW:S)=Power Word: Shield
(HW:C)=Holy Word: Chastise
DoT= Damage over Time spells ex(shadow word: pain)
LOS=Line of sight, is an unobstructed line drawn from your character to an enemy. Click here for more info on-->(LOS)<---
Kiting=The act of kiting, is a combat tactic of a player character keeping a mob or another player at a certain distance, usually out of melee distance but within ranged attack. Click here for more info on--->(Kiting)<---
Back Strafing=Here's a video on how to back strafe. Back strafing allows you to cast at the enemy while moving at full speed.

[video=youtube;t9O2MU0_QGk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9O2MU0_QGk&amp;feature=youtu.be[/video]


NOTICE: I excluded racials from these 1v1 tips. Yes some racials will help against different classes and situations, but this is the F2P community. Im positive all of you can put them to use better than I would be able to explain.

Rogues: When dueling rogues. the secret is simply staying alive. Keep n mind that rogues are capable of dealing ridiculous amounts of burst damage immediately after leaving stealth. Most rogues will start with sap. DO NOT Trinket This, as the rogue will just sap again right after.Keeping (PW:S) and inner fire up at all times should absorb some initial damage.Try to cast it early to beat the cool down in case you need to heal immediately after the initial attack, which is most likely to happen. Once your able to Phychic Scream it, the duel should be yours. Keep (SW) on the rogue to keep it from restealthing. Keep your back away from the rogue, you should Kite the rogue while BACK STRAFING! not back peddling.. Back STRAFING! As Disc use penance for extra damage. If you chose to go shadow use Mind Flay to slow it down. IF the rogue gets too close to you as holy just simply CC it with (HW:C).

Warrior: Use Phychic Scream as much as possible in a dueling environment, although it is difficult to keep a warrior at distance, those couple of seconds can get you a heal or two. Keep (SW) on the warrior and Holy fire as it can be cast while moving and acts like a short DoT. Keep (PW:S) up as it keeps the warrior from gaining rage. Strategies Vary on the talents one chose. When using Void Tendrils to root, make sure to pop a (PW:S) on it. this allows you for some extra healing or damage. With the Psyfiend talent you get those extra fears that once again allow you to do some damage or heal. You should find a place where you can Dominate Mind the warrior out of Line of Site(LoS) While the DoTs Tick or while you heal.Disc has the instant heal, penance which i would use for healing when Bubble is going down and use as damage when New bubble is up. Holy has Holy Word: Chastise stunning your target for 3 seconds plenty of time for a good burst rotation or some heals. A Shadow Priest will most likely lose a 1v1 against a warrior in this bracket but not far from possible. With well timed Phychic screams, and spells one could easily finish up on top.

Mage: Mages have Polymorph with a 1.7sec cast time and Counterspell:instant 6 sec silence, your Dominate Mind is 1.8sec cast it can be used to counter Polymorph if you see it coming. Learning to Fake cast will give you the uper hand against a mage. The battle should be easy as Disc, just keep(PW:S)up and use this burst rotation taken from Viente's & Yde's Priest Introduction (^Linked Above^)
(SW),Smitex2,Penance, Holyfire. Rinse and repeat. heal when needed. Shadow: Keep (SW) on the mage, spam smite, bubble and mind flay if trying to Los. Most players will get over enthusiastic when they see your health below half and will wait for the first sign of a cast and Counterspell it. This is when fake casting comes into play. by fake casting you will cause the mage to use its Counterspell(24s coldown) on nothing and freeing you to heal or do damage for the rest of the cooldown. another strategie would be to cast Dominate mind to get counter spelled, if it doesnt then you could move the mage out of line of site and cast some heals. Mind flay doesnt come too handy against a mage.. but it could be used as a finisher. Holy: same strategie but now you have (HW:C) to give you some Healing, damage time.

Hunters: NOt to hard to defeat as Disc just keep (PW:S)up. (Sw)hunter and pull pet towards hunter to attempt to Phychic Scream both of them, Cast burst rotation(smitex2, penance, holyfire) without Shadow word: Pain since you already have it up. That should do some decent damage if well geared.Now you still have your talents available. Use Void Tendrils to Root pet and hunter cast(PW:S) on the pets tendrils. re-bubble when needed and use burst rotation to take him out. I have not found a succesful strategie on hunters with the Shadow and Holy specs.

Protection Paladin:
Disc: keep SW up on the paladin. simple strategy: mana burn the protection paladin's mana, do damage always keep your health above 50% + PW:S as they have a 6 second stun on a 1 min Cd and very hard hitting 3 second silence.
Holy: SW same strategie.. out heal enemy dps. mana burn the enemy. and take down the enemy. use HW:C when in need of emergency heals. you also have Psychic Scream + Talent choice.
Shadow: Keep SW + PW:S up. The objective here is to get the pally to run out of mana before you do, so yes having some mana potions or food would be a good idea. I would only use smite after the pally uses avengers shield mainly because if one is casting and the pally silences you in the middle of it then that was some precious damage lost that mindflay would of done. Fear as much as possible. If the pally bubbles and runs /chicken is always appropriate.


I would appreciate any tips, comments, or missing information while i finish this guide up! Any feed back will be appreciated Thank you!

 

[Pooh]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

Nice guide...you should make one that helps with for Shaman...it will help mine a lot

 

[arcade99]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

[MENTION=20517]Pooh[/MENTION] Thank you. Here are some guides made by some of the other TI members Dashas guide and Holypowah's guide

 

[lolipopp]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

Good job mate, clearly a lot of effort put into it. Receive my like! ;D

 

[Crystalpall]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

Talked to you in game, and you told me about the guide.
Came, checked, and... WOW!
This must took a lot of effort! I don't like priests, so I don't have one, but overall guide looks nicely and tidy.
Just one thing, why do u advice +16 armor on chest, why not +15hp?

 

[arcade99]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

Talked to you in game, and you told me about the guide.
Came, checked, and... WOW!
This must took a lot of effort! I don't like priests, so I don't have one, but overall guide looks nicely and tidy.
Just one thing, why do u advice +16 armor on chest, why not +15hp?

oh thats right i talked to you in game the inner fire self buff increases armor by 10% i wouldnt go for the 15 hp but thats my personal opinion

 

[VCheetah]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

Thanks, will be referring to this a lot in the next few weeks. Using it to make my first horde char, and first priest as well. Thumbs up!

 

[Dax]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

I'm actually making a priest and I don't know what cloak should I take. I hesitate between the 3 Tumultuous cloaks : 4 haste vs 4 spirit vs the stam one, there's also the Battle Healer's Cloak for BGs and because I'm Alliance there is Stitches' Stitchings too...

I don't think haste is such a good deal. Is spirit so much important for priests ? Or should I must go for stam set like Veinte said in his guide ?

 

[arcade99]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

I'm actually making a priest and I don't know what cloak should I take. I hesitate between the 3 Tumultuous cloaks : 4 haste vs 4 spirit vs the stam one, there's also the Battle Healer's Cloak for BGs and because I'm Alliance there is Stitches' Stitchings too...

I don't think haste is such a good deal. Is spirit so much important for priests ? Or should I must go for stam set like Veinte said in his guide ?

I recommend you to leave out the Tumultuous cloak of the moon(4 haste, 4 spirit, 2 stam) I dont know why that cape even exists, only the stam scales by 1 in bg's and spirit is not needed unless you're shadow. I would go with either the Tumultuous cloaks of (Stam, Sorcerer). The battle healer cloak should be used as a temporarily stat booster while leveling or while farming satchels for the (stam, sorcerer) cloaks. Now if you asked which one out of the SS cloak and battle healers I would say SS and yes I do agree with going for the stam set i linked above.

Maybe Lil F2P Scaling Index can help you with some decisions.

 

[arcade99]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

Thanks, will be referring to this a lot in the next few weeks. Using it to make my first horde char, and first priest as well. Thumbs up!

Excellent! Its very enlightening to know it has helped some people. Im sure you will enjoy playing as a priest

 

[lifelover]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

Hey, do you have any ideas for a pure dps disc priest? Should I go for haste? Should I hit cap? Should I still prioritise Stamina over all? Should I copycat entirely a mage guide to make it work out?

 

[Aux]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

Chardev's not working, any alternative links?

 

[Goesid]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

Chardev's not working, any alternative links?

Dancingroot @ Spinebreaker - Community - World of Warcraft

 

[Itscamsgraphics]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

Love how you included second BiS other than looms

 

[Itscamsgraphics]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

Great guide btw

 

[arcade99]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

Hello, yes I personaly stack Int because im not much of a crit fan. I dont see why not creat all sorts of sets. Make a haste, crit, intelect set and see which one you like the best. I personally am a stam whore but thats just me. I would not copy a mage guide because you will probably end up with gear that has Hit and as a Disc Priest you are already Hit capped.

 

[arcade99]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

I apologize. I have not been around lately and I was not made aware that Chardev's is down! I have added some the Bis, stam and Easy alternative sets to the Guide. If you have any questions, ideas, or things that I have missed then feedback is much appreciated!

 

[arcade99]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

Dancingroot @ Spinebreaker - Community - World of Warcraft

Mind if I link the armory to the guide?

 

[Goesid]

Re: Arcade's F2P Priest Guide!

Mind if I link the armory to the guide?

I'm sure he won't mind.