EU+US The basic tango - A F2P Discipline Priest guide

handsomedgc

handsomedgc

Scum of the earth
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Welcome to my free-to-play 8.1.5 discipline priest guide. The Discipline specialisation relies on healing players through dealing damage but also has traditional heals and absorption spells.

The (discipline) priest has been a staple in twinking since classic. Sadly the popularity of discipline is dropping in BfA due to the restoration shamans insane toolkit and damage. However, the discipline priest is still a mobile force to be reckoned with if played right.

In this guide we will go over the basics of the priest. We’ll take a look at the spells we have available and how to utilize these to a maximum. This guide is focused for battlegrounds but most of the information will be applicable for arenas, duels and world-pvp. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the priest spells!

Some lingo I’ll be using in the guide:

· SW:p – Shadow Word: Pain
· PW:S – Power Word: Shield
· PS – Psychic Scream
· AM – Atonement
· CD – Cooldown
· DOT – Damage over time
· HOT – Heal over time
The priest has a total of 20 spells, these are:

https://www.wowhead.com/spell=585/smite
Basic filler spel to do damage when when sw:p and penance are not available. Smite doesn’t deal a huge amount of damage but over the course of a BG the damage still add up.

https://www.wowhead.com/spell=589/shadow-word-pain
Strong DoT-spell. It deals a small amount of damage when cast and a lot of damage over time. Sw:p will also be your HoT in combination with atonement. Put sw:p up on all targets available, focus classes that have a stealth ability. Sw:p can also be spammed on enemies who are low on HP to finish them of quickly.

https://www.wowhead.com/spell=2061/flash-heal
This is your main (and only) hardcast healing spell. With a base 1.5 cast time it’s really quick. Only cast this spell when penance is not available. The catch with this heal is that you need to be standing still while casting, so be sure youre positioning allows you to cast this.

https://www.wowhead.com/spell=17/power-word-shield
The bread and butter of the discipline priest. This spell has a insane amount of usage and is castable while moving. It will apply the ‘weakend soul’ debuff. This means a target cannot receive a pw:s for 7.5 seconds. Use this spell off-cd to prevent damage and apply the antoment buff.

Things to keep in mind with pw:s:

· This spell heals more than flash heal, about 15% more
· This spell prevents stealth being broken by DoTs, keep youre rogues and druids happy
· Use this spell on the move, a great way to both heal and reposition
· This spell is youre only way to apply attonement

https://www.wowhead.com/spell=47540/penance
The coolest spell available at this level, allowing you to either deal damage to a enemy or heal a ally. All while moving. This spell should mostly be used offensive, after you’ve spread attonements. This way you create pressure on the enemy team while healing your team. However, if a ally is in desperated need of healing be sure to cast this on them directly.

Penance also (almost) allows you to heal while line-of-sighting. You can do this by starting the channel and quickly duck behind a wall. This also applies for enemies running behind cover. Once penance is fired it can’t be dodged (pretty much).

https://www.wowhead.com/spell=2006/resurrection
A spell that brings a fallen ally back to life. Sometimes useful when a ally gets killed deep in enemy grouds like the flag room, roof and tunnel. Most enemies are to lazy to run back to pick up these corpses, allowing you for some cheeky plays.

https://www.wowhead.com/spell=8122/psychic-scream
You’re main CC. It uses are however limited in the current meta. The current meta favors ranged classes while this spell main purpose is to peel melee targets of yourself. Fear bombing people should be avoided, it forces you to be insaly out of position. Just use this spell to peel and to get stealthies out of stealth.

https://www.wowhead.com/spell=81749/atonement
YES. This is hands down the best healer passive in the entire 20-29 bracket. Atonement allows pw:s to put a buff on youre target. With this buff 55% of youre damage will heal the buffed targets. These turn your sw:p DoTs in great HoTs. Smites will turn in decent heals while youre target is buffed with antoment. Penance also becomes more insane.

This spell allows discipline priest to do both insane healing while pressuring/rotting the enemy team. Youre main rotation in battle will be applying sw:p to all enemies and then blanketing your team with pw:s. This allows you to double dip. You instantly shield a target (giving them ‘fake hp’) that blocks incoming damage and heal their (real hp) back to full. This is all possible while moving. Use penance offensively to pressure enemies even more.

Talents

https://www.wowhead.com/spell=193134/castigation
Pretty much the best talent. It allows you to deal more damage and heal more hp. It makes your best spell better.

https://www.wowhead.com/spell=265259/twist-of-fate
It’s okay, but your teammates should never dip below 50% health.

https://www.wowhead.com/spell=214621/schism
This talent is bait. It seems good, but you need to stand still while casting it. This removes your biggest strenght; mobility.
First off, play a race that you like to look-at. You won’t be the first one that gets a burn-out looking at a plain human priest!

I will be only noticing races that I consider worth playing. Most races are fine priest, but some have a little extra ‘oomf’. So in no particulair order:

Alliance

· Human – Cleansing stuns is really good in this bracket
· Worgen – The sprint ability increases your mobility even more, pretty dope
· Void Elf – The teleport allows for some ankle breaking movement

Horde

· Zandalari Troll – Embracing Bwomsandi works with atonement, very nutty
· Tauren – Extra stamina and a insane AoE stun, can’t go wrong with this class
· Goblin – We’ve all seen why this race is broken at lower levels. Goblins can do some insane tricks with their rocket jump ability, the 1% haste is meh.

Neutral

· Pandaren – Double food buff, less fall damage and a good incapacitate. However this CC ALWAYS gets broken by levelers
With all the recent changes to gearing it’s hard to say: Get this piece, this piece and this piece. However I’ve linked some armories you can follow. My advice is on stat priority is: intellect > Stamina > Versatility > Haste.

Head
H https://www.wowhead.com/item=57513/kromgar-generals-linen-cowl
A https://www.wowhead.com/item=57462/goldrinn-acolytes-cowl&bonus=3645
Neck
https://www.wowhead.com/item=151437/hook-charm-necklace&bonus=3998
Shoulder
https://www.wowhead.com/item=3748/feline-mantle?bonus=4049
Cloack
https://www.wowhead.com/item=5193/cape-of-the-brotherhood&bonus=4005
Chest
https://www.wowhead.com/item=6465/robe-of-the-moccasin?bonus=4068
Wrist
https://www.wowhead.com/item=82881/cuffs-of-black-elements&bonus=4032
Hands
https://www.wowhead.com/item=5195/gold-flecked-gloves&bonus=4005
Waist
https://www.wowhead.com/item=6908/ghamoo-ras-bind?bonus=3998
Legs
https://www.wowhead.com/item=6910/leech-pants&bonus=3998
Feet
https://www.wowhead.com/item=2168/corpse-rompers&bonus=4059
Ring 1
https://www.wowhead.com/item=6321/silverlaines-family-seal&bonus=4049
Ring 2
H https://www.wowhead.com/item=20426/advisors-ring
A https://www.wowhead.com/item=20431/lorekeepers-ring
Trinket 1
https://www.wowhead.com/item=21566/rune-of-perfection
Trinket 2
https://www.wowhead.com/item=42992/discerning-eye-of-the-beast
Weapon
https://www.wowhead.com/item=82888/heartboiler-staff?bonus=4032

If you have the time and patience try your luck at murlocs, they might give you a foamspittle staff.
Most discipline priests seem to think that they need to be in the thicc of battle. Big mistake. You should always be at max range while spreading sw:p and blanketing your team with pw:s. You also want to create a deadzone for the enemies that they need to cross.

The deathzone forces your enemies to walk through your teammates to get to you. This way your team should have enough time to kill approaching enemies, while peeling and keeping you save. If a rogue sneaks up on you be sure to use PS to send him straight into your team.

As a discipline priest you should always be weaving in and out of combat. Your toolkit allows you to do this safely.
These resources have helped me become a better priest.

https://xpoff.com/threads/healing-ui-set-up-and-playstyle-guide.77882/ - General healing guide

https://xpoff.com/threads/guide-to-30-min-heirlooms-dmf.66887/ - Quick heirlooms

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb3oxFjb6ovw6UMX95ZeF8g - A pretty cool channel that also explains the latest gear changes
01-6-2019 - Added a gear list, instead of linking armories.
 
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· This spell prevents stealth being broken by DoTs, keep your rogues and druids happy

I never realised this. Not quite sure what you mean. Do you mean if you bubble a dotted player, they can re-stealth?
 
Oldpunk said:
· This spell prevents stealth being broken by DoTs, keep your rogues and druids happy

I never realised this. Not quite sure what you mean. Do you mean if you bubble a dotted player, they can re-stealth?
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Yes, sometimes a stealth class can get a silly dot on them that prevents them from stealthing. When you pw:s these stealth classes the bubble absorbs the damage, thus preventing the damage from breaking stealth.
 
I would not dismiss Twist of Fates so quickly. That 20% buff is enormous, and can be much more beneficial than an extra tick of Penance with a 9 second cd.

Your teammates will inevitable reach below 35%. Just let noob levelers die, get the proc off of them and heal the twinks with it :)
 
I have not been on retail in a couple of years now. I know battlegrounds go based off of ilvl now but what do you mean by free to play? Like spending no gold on a character or the account is f2p? I wouldnt mind hoping on retail if I dont have to spend money to make a twink to play around with. But I am not really invested until Vanilla retail is released. Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this.
-long time silent reader of the forums
 
Ayden said:
I enjoy that the picture in the guide says F2P Priest guide and then only discusses the playable spec lol. Good stuff.
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True, however everywhere else it is stated that this guide is for discipline priest.

ohti said:
all 3 specs are good btw >.>
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Yes all 3 specs are completely viable. I just haven't put enough time in those specs.
 
ohti said:
damage isn't everything

shadow is good
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Its just a tad watered down at this level, I still play and enjoy it, but the control, dmg and healing are still lacking behind other classes. If we got mind sear or vampiric touch I'd never switch specs.
 
Sponsor said:
I would not dismiss Twist of Fates so quickly. That 20% buff is enormous, and can be much more beneficial than an extra tick of Penance with a 9 second cd.

Your teammates will inevitable reach below 35%. Just let noob levelers die, get the proc off of them and heal the twinks with it :)
Click to expand...
In my opinion the 20% is a huge overkill. Also ToF doesn't increase pw:s. The extra bolt of penance adds a extra flash heal in penance, hence why I recommend it.
[doublepost=1559383927,1559383768][/doublepost]Made a small change to the guide. I now added gear under the gear section, instead of lazy-pasting some armories there.
 
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