Content
- Introduction, The power of discipline healing, the absorbs
- Talents, glyphs
- Talents
- Glyphs
- Rotation, spells, buffs
- Rotation
- Mana management, Rapture, Shadowfiend, Hymn of Hope
- Power Infusion, the value of haste for each class
- Pain Suppression
- Prayer of Healing vs. Flash Heal
- Gear, enchants, stats, gems
- Gear and enchants
- Stats
- Gems
- Consumables
- Professions
- Races
- Raid healing
- Addons
1. Introduction, The power of discipline healing, the absorbs
Hello all, I am Nemmish, maining discipline priest for over a couple of years now on Warmane. Recently I have seen that some priests are lost in what and how to do as a discipline, so I decided to make this guide.
I do play shadow and holy too, so don't be surprised if you find me wearing a different gear on the armory :) and I am still on the way to be BiS, so look over the missing parts of my gear.
The value of a discipline doesn't lie in the amount of absorbs one does, because that can easily depend on the situation, on the value of other healers and on the incoming damage. The incoming damage can be mitigated by a lot of things, buffs, auras, what a discipline priest has no influence on. All in all, don't ask how much I absorb in a fight.
This is not an in-depth guide, but rather a quick starter for the ones in need. For more information about end-game and 0% buff raiding, do check out Iqui's guide.
I made the guide, to help others. Advice and criticism are welcomed, but please cause no drama over this.
Unlike other healers, discipline priests have to prevent damage most of the times. Reacting after the damage has been done is already too late so to say.
The way we can be the most effective is to be prepared for the incoming damage.
This means you must preshield the members, depending on the boss you are facing and that's it pretty much for the basics. If you do this, then we got an average discipline healer.
But what makes one a good discipline?
Topping the absorbs and heals on Skada is a common misconception. A bad discipline can be on top, just as a good one.
Being a good discipline is not only about spamming shields. That is the basic, the minimum what one should do. If you just think about, the discipline priest should be always in the top of the recount, since they can "cheat" with their absorbs and heals, because their shield will be consumed first by the incoming damage (Valanyr bubble checks-in. It varies from time to time, but do keep an eye on if the shield provided by Valanyr gets consumed first or your bubble.). Not even giving a chance for other healers to fill up the damage (because none was done).
To be a good discipline you have to know your role, your spells and buffs. How you can twist around your gameplay to get the best out of the raid setup.
You are a supporting class with such spells in your pocket what can make you the most unique of all the healers if you use them well.
Used terms
5SR - 5 Second Rule
BiS - Best in Slot
BT - Borrowed Time
CD - Cooldown
FH - Flash Heal
FP - Focused Power
GCD - Global Cooldown
HOT - Heal Over Time
I5SR - Inside 5 Second Rule
ICD - Internal Cooldown
ImpS - Improved Power Word: Shield
MP5 - Mana per 5 second
OO5SR - Outside Of 5 Second Rule
OOM - Out Of Mana
PI - Power Infusion
PoH - Prayer of Healing
PoM - Prayer of Mending
PS - Pain Suppression
PVE - Player versus Environment
PVP - Player versus Player
PW:S - Power Word Shield
SP - Spell Power
TD - Twin Disciplines
2. Talents, glyphs
a. TalentsSpoiler:Show
As you can see on the picture the discipline talents are bottom-heavy. Meaning, that the essentials of the spec is on the end of the talent tree.
Since there is no cookie cutter discipline talent, I will list all the talents below. Marking them depending on their importance.
I did not go into deeper into the holy tree and into the shadow tree, because those talent points are totally irrelevant for the discipline priests.
Meaning of the colours:
essentials: max out these
up to decision: up to your own playstyle and decision. You could max them and put only a few points into them.
useless: don't use these
Discipline treeUnbreakable Will - useless
The talent talks for itself; it is not really useful in PVE.
Twin Disciplines - essential
Boosts the instant heals done by you with 5%. Including the absorbs, meaning stronger PW:S and Divine Aegis.
Mandatory for any disc.
Silent Resolve - useless
You should not generate that much threat with your heals to pull aggro from a good tank. Maybe on lower levels, but even then you have Fade in your pocket :)
Improved Inner Fire - essential
Extra SP as a discipline? Who could say no to this!
Improved Power Word: Fortitude - essential
More Stamina for the raid, every priest should get it.
Martyrdom - useless
As a caster you will not get hit by any melee or ranged abilities, also the Focused Casting effect is not that useful for you.
Inner Focus - essential
Really handy for discipline. I usually use it macroed with Divine Hymn, since it burns a lot of mana. But could be useful whenever you need a huge crit.
Meditation - essential
This talent is super useful for a discipline priest, as you are constantly casting (spamming PW:S counts as casting). You shouldn't aim for getting mana back with the 5 second rule method, since it would drop your heals too much.
Improver Power Word: Shield - essential
15% more absorbs on your main spell. No need to explain. Also needed for to THE discipline talent, what lets you spam shields.
Absolution - up to decision
This is rather a filler talent. Comes handy when you are on lower gear and your mana bleeds a lot, and you have to do some dispels.
Mental Agility - essential
Reduces the cost of your most used spell, PW:S by 10% and all the other instant spells.
Mandatory for a discipline priest.
Improved Mana Burn - useless
Not useful in PVE, no need to burn the mana faster :D
Reflective shield - useless
This one would sound quite useful for the first read. But be aware it only affects the shields casted on yourself, not all your shields. Keep that in mind too, that in a non-competitive raid environment healers aren't supposed to deal damage.
Mental Strength - essential
More intellect = more mana + more crit. Also, this talent leads to Power Infusion, which is a pretty unique and mandatory buff provided by discipline priests.
Soul Warding - essential
The salt and pepper of discipline priest. The reason why you can spam shields. No-brainer talent.
Focused Power - essential
A pretty unique discipline talent. Gives 4% extra healing and decreases the casting time of Mass Dispel.
This one comes handy when you have to dispel debuffs on your raid/group or on the boss/adds. (Blood Queen: fear, TOC Champions: bloodlust on the enemy adds, fear, paladin bubble etc.)
Enlightenment - essential
6% spirit and 6% haste, making it easier to reach the GCD cap, thus mandatory for a disc.
Focused Will - up to decision
In PVE, people don't go for this talent for the increased healing effect, but rather for the 3% critical it gives.
This one is up to your personal preference.
Power Infusion - essential
One of the best haste boosts that you can cast on other players next to Heroism/Bloodlust (it doesn't stack). Could be used to boost dps and to help out the healers also.
More information on this below in the 3/c section.
Improved Flash Heal - up to decision
Reduces the mana cost of your Flash Heal and gives it a nice buff. Comes really handy when you have to save an ally from the death, and they have weakened soul on them.
Renewed Hope - essential
The 3% raid wide damage reduction will be up all the time, since you are spamming PW:S all the time. While this one doesn't stack with the paladin Greater Blessing of Sanctuary buff (as they have the same effect), the other part of the talent would make it essential just alone.
When your Weakened Soul is up, you will still be able to do useful heals with the increased critical chance, to save your allies from the death :)
Note that this doesn't affect other member's heals, only yours and only Flash Heal, Greater Heal and Penance.
Rapture - essential
Our most important mana regenerating tool, especially on the lower gears. You have to twist your gameplay around this talent if you go oom a lot.
Also, it gives back mana/rage/energy/runic power to the one affected by your shield.
Remember, that the effect has 12 sec cd.
Aspiration - essential
Sadly, I see a lot of discipline priests who skip this talent. While this is a really important one, since it decreases the CD on some of your most important spells. Including Penance and Pain Suppression.
Divine Aegis - essential
This talent can be procced by any of your critical heals.
Note that the heal from Glyph of PW:S can crit, so it activates the effect. Also, the absorb stacks up with your shields and itself. More bubbles! Meaning if multiple charges of Penance crit, all the absorb it provides stacks up, instead of overwriting the previous shield.
Pain Suppression - essential
Useful on high damage spikes such as: Sould Reaper for example. This talent can mean the difference in a successful boss kill and a wipe. Casting it in the right time can save your tank, messing it up can mean the opposite.
Make it sure to call it out or discuss with the tank when you are going to cast it, not to overlap their defensive CDs and waste them.
Grace - essential
At max stacks this gives 9% extra healing to your spells. I see a lot of priests going only 1/2 for this talent, which means their healings have 50% chance to proc it. But I want to rather be safe than sorry, so I like to max this talent.
While it affects all your heals, it gets applied by Flash Heal, Greater Heal and Penance. Since Penance has 3 charges, it can apply the full buff in a single cast (if you have put 2 points into it).
Borrowed Time - essential
This talent is the reason, why the haste cap is so low for disciplines.
The effect doesn't get consumed by channeled spells such as Penance, Divine Hymn.
But the channeled spells still get affected by the 25% haste buff, meaning you can combine a really nice burst heal with a Penance and a Flash Heal combo.
Penance - essential
One of the best, if not THE best burst heal in the game, especially combined with the buff from Grace.
Holy treeWhile the holy tree has some super nice talents, the point of speccing into it lies in Inspiration. The whole reason is to "reach" this talent. For this we will need to spend 10 points on the holy side.
Healing Focus - essential
In this expansion, there are many raid wide damage dealing bosses (Fester, Lich King, Lord Jaraxxus etc.), so you must get something to reduce the constant pushback.
While your shieldspam doesn't get affected by it, your other heals do (Penance loses charges if it gets interrupted for example), so try preventing the amount of the pushback to the maximum.
Improved Renew - up to decision
I don't see myself using this spell much, but you could put some points into this one as well if you find yourself spamming Renew a lot.
Holy Specialization - essential
The best talent that increases your heals, you can grab out of the early holy talents.
Spell Warding - essential
3.3.5a has a ton of raid wide magical damage (Sindagrosa Frost Aura), so this is the best you can get from the 2nd row.
You don't need to go 5/5 on this talent, the reason for being essential is because the other talents are not even close to the usefulness of this one.
Divine Fury - useless
You should not be using Greater Heal as a discipline priest much (or rather at all). You can get out just the same amount of heals with 2xFlash Heal than this one, also the chance to get a critical heal will be higher with 2 casts than one. Meaning you have a higher chance to proc Divine Aegis as well (more bubbles! :D).
If you really want to use Greater Heal though, then be it smh. My advice for that spell is to use it only combined with the 25% haste buff and preferably with Inner Focus to have a 100% critical heal and instantly proc Divine Aegis.
Desperate Prayer - up to decision
I found this spell to be useful on the lower gear, or when you learn how to position yourself as your personal "Oh ****" button. The spell is capable of a crit (Divine Aegis *winkwink*), but is quite useful by itself.
Later on I think you could swap it out for an other talent, which can affect your whole raid group as well.
Inspiration - essential
Here we are. The reason why a discipline specs into the holy tree.
The buff of this talent can mean the difference between a 2 and a 3 shotted tank, thus a boss kill and a wipe.
Your PW:S glyph heal does not apply it, but critical heals from POM, Penance and Flash Heal do.
This effect does not stack with the shaman buff, Ancestral Healing, as they provide the same buff. Make it sure that the tanks have the buff on them at all times. (If you make this your habit, it will come in handy at the buffless runs.)
Holy Reach - useless
This talent would sound pretty good, but for a discipline it affects only Prayer of Healing, Holy Nova and Divine Hymn, which are not your top prio heals, making this talent rather useless.
More explanation on the spell usage on the section (3/a) below.
Improved Healing - up to decision
This talent is rather used as a filler one, use it if you run out of mana a lot.
b. GlyphsSpoiler:Show Major Glyphs
These are the no brainer glyphs:
- Glyph of Power Word: Shield: Gives your PW:S a heal, what is capable of a crit, so it will proc Divine Aegis.
- Glyph of Penance: Reduces the CD on Penance by 2 seconds. This is your most used healing spell.
The 3rd one is usually up to your own decision and playstyle:
- Glyph of Flash Heal: 10% less mana cost of your 2nd most used heal. I prefer using this one myself.
- Glyph of Prayer of Healing: Really useful one in 10 mans, because of the concentrated damage. Rather useless in 25man raids, because usually it usually isn't worth to cast a PoH and the other raid healers have better group heals than you.
The ones that you shouldn't use:
- Glyph of Holy Nova: Holy Nova affects your group only, making this glyph pretty useless. The only environment, where I could imagine it being useful is inside Frostmourne. But even then, you are more useful with applying shields on your group than spamming this expensive heal.
- Glyph of Renew: Increases the healing done by Renew, but also decreasing the uptime. Since you shouldn't use Renew often enough to get this glyph, I wouldn't recommend it. The shorter uptime would also make your Renew less viable, since you should reapply it more often. Don't try to be a HOT healer as a discipline. Leave that to the Holy Priest and the Resto Druid.
Minor Glyphs
- http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=43374: in case your Shadowfiend dies from the raid damage.
- http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=43370: No need for reagents for http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=50195.
These were the most common ones, although there is no "must" in the minor glyphs for priests.
The 3rd one, that I recommend using is http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=43371 just in case you have to rebuff someone mid combat.
3. Rotation, spells, buffsIn this section, I will give you a quick explanation on some spells, that I have noticed people lack knowledge on, and an in depth look on the most important ones.
a. RotationSpoiler:Show bubble, bubble, bubble, penance, POM, bubble, bubble, bubble, bubble, penance ...
Apart from the pretty valid guide above, your most used spells should be the following ones:
25 man raids: http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48066 > http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=53007 > http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48113 > http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48071 > http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48068 > http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48120 > http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48072
10 man raids: http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48066 > http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=53007 > http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48113 > http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48072 > http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48071 > http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48068 > http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48120
Now the reason for this priority of the 25-man raid is the following:
- http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48066: You always spam PW:S, so no brainer it is the top. Any raid member, who takes damage and does not have http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=6788 on them (meaning you can apply PW:S to them) should be instantly shielded.
This is very important that you understand it. The most useful you can be with saving someone's butt from death is to instantly shield them.
Only the discipline priest can afford to instantly put up a shield, that will prevent the raid member from taking any more damage. To heal them up is an other preference, but you have all your healing mates to do that for you. But you are the only one, who can keep them away from the incoming damage.- http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=53007: Use penance off CD most of the times. Depending on the situation, you can hold this spell. For example, when you know someone will need a huge burst heal soon. Like LK is about to cast Soul Reaper, but some people have Infest ticking on them (and have Weakened Soul debuff), and are on moderately high health. Then you keep Penance for the incoming tank damage and heal the bleeders with http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48071.
Also keep in mind, that with this spell you can easily apply http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=15359 to the tanks. Make it sure to have this buff checked in your Raid Frames and reapply when needed.- http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48113: When there is a constant raid damage (http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=69195 for example) I like to use this spell off CD and let it jump around. This is a super useful priest spell and it is underestimated way too much.
Just think about the spell this way: you cast it once, what consumes a GCD, then you just let it "jump around" and you will not have to do literally anything to heal 4 other people.- http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48071: As a discipline priest this should be your most used raw heal when http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48066 is on CD. The Flash Heal of a discipline gets boosted by the basic talents of the spec. (http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=63506, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=57472, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=47517)
I have explained in the talents section why not to use http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48063, so I will not go deeper into this matter.- http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48068: I usually keep up on the tanks and use it on the other raid members depending on the situation. You will not be using this spell a lot in 25man raids.
- http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48120: Think about this spell as your own http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=53652. The spell is pretty straightforward. Use it when you and your raid both need healing. I like to use this spell when I know a constant high damage is incoming that I know I have to facetank (e.g. http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=73190, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=71902), this way I don't have to worry about my health.
Be aware though that this costs nearly double as much as http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48071, so do not be reckless with using this if you are not confident burning your mana.- http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48072: While this spell is quite handy in 10 man raids, it falls behind in 25 man ones. The reason for this is because you have dedicated healers, who are supposed to reach the bleeders in groups faster than as you could with your http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48072.
There are two reasonable situations to use this spell. One is on Sindagrosa when you have the http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=69762 debuff as casting this spell gaves you only one stack of the debuff. The second is to preheal damage, most likely http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=70541 on a group you couldn't shield up. But apart from these the players are usually too spread out to use the spell effectively and do not forget, your main job is to absorb the damage, not to heal it.
I will explain some of the spells and buffs below. The reason why I have chosen these three is because to my experience, they are the most misunderstood ones.
b. Mana management, Rapture, Shadowfiend, Hymn of Hope
Spoiler:Show This spell is the main mana regeneration tool of a discipline priest. If you learn how to use it properly, you will have to worry a lot less about your mana.
Now here is the trick: if multiple of your bubbles are broken (as in more or equal damage has been taken by the raid members as your shields' maximum capacity), then the effect stacks up and you get the 2,5% of base mana for all your shields, that has been broken at the same time.
How to use Rapture properly:
You basically have to play around the 12 ICD the ability has. This means that when one of your shield has been fully absorbed and you get the 2.5% mana back for it, then the effect cannot occur for the next 12 seconds.
This means that you have to do minor sacrifices or tweaks on your shielding gameplay, if you want to regenerate mana effectively. (You cannot be a shieldbot :D)
An example to get the best out of the Rapture mana regeneration, is try to shield the tanks only when the ability is on cooldown. You need to do this, because the tanks are taking constant damage, and if you proc your rapture on them, then you won't be able to generate mana from your other shields for the following 12 seconds.
This situation is really simplified, just to make you understand how to get the best out of the spell.
But Nemmish, how do I know that my Rapture has been procced?
A good question to be asked indeed, for this you can either look at your raidframes, and see when a bubble has been popped before it would wear off from your target. Or you can track the effect in your addons (there is Ingela's Rapture developed only for this case).
Also an other little trick to the usage, that after a certain amount of gear you might notice, that your shields are not being popped by the incoming damage, meaning Rapture will not proc from them. If you face this situation quite often and it makes your mana bleed by an enormous amount, then consider playing with downranked shields. This is going to decrease the absorbed amount per shield, but having more mana regeneration, you will be able to cast more heals on the long run.
When to ignore Rapture:
In competitive raiding environment, you should have boomies and resto druids taking care of the healers' mana, in order to make their heals more effective.
This means, when you have the luxury to not to care about mana issues, then feel free to shield up as many ppl as you can to prevent as many damage as you can.
Also never EVER risk a life in order to save up your Rapture. By this I mean, do toss out an extra shield to someone that is in danger and rather give up a huge soak of Rapture.
Screw mana regen. Save a life. BE A HERO
Most of the priests use these two spells combined with each other. This way you can regain nearly your full mana pool when you run OOM.
In my raiding experience, I sometimes had to use Hymn of Hope for my other healing partners, in situations when I wasn't that low on mana to effectively combine the spell with Shadowfiend. So what I am doing in order to fix this to cast Shadowfiend when I am around 60% of my mana pool to be able to cast it for a second time during the encounter (hopefully combined with Hymn).
The infamous 5 second rule
This rule is about your spirit-based mana regeneration. As you can see in your statistics (if you hover over it with your mouse), there is two data for your mana regeneration, one while casting and one while not casting.
The spirit-based regeneration itself is active except for the first 5s after completing a cast that used mana (casts using Inner Focus do not enter 5SR). Having http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=14777 specced lets you regenerate 50% of your mana regeneration while I5SR.
On lower gear levels, or when you really run out of mana, you can use the following trick: Stop casting for at least 5 seconds, this way your full mana regeneration will be active for that time, making you get double the amount of your spirit-based mana regeneration.
Note that, that this does not influence the regeneration you get from items with mp5. The amount of regeneration from mp5 is the same while casting and not. You can see that the same level items have about double the amount of spirit than mp5. But since spirit-based mana regeneration depends on the amount of your intellect too, on lower gear (below 264ilvl) mp5 outperforms spirit in terms of mana regeneration.
More information on how spirit affects your mana regeneration in the stats section.
c. Power Infusion, the value of haste for each classSpoiler:Show As I said in the Tanelts section, this is a really unique and powerful buff. Not only the haste, the mana decrease can make it viable for any caster class.
It doesn't stack with: http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=33555 / http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=32182
It does stack with: http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=26297, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=2895, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=53648, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48396
To use it properly, I will give you a short priority list depending on the situation.
Note that especially at the DPS section the skills can overwrite the priority. For example, even if a warlock would get more benefit from the buff as a balance druid, but he is a horrible player, while the druid is shining, then the later should receive the buff.
1. Boosting heals:
I think helping out the other healers are more important than to boost the DPS of the raid. And the buff not only gives you haste buff, but also decreases the mana cost of the spells used by 20%.
- Holy Paladin: Since the tanks are the top priority of the raid to be kept alive, their healers get the 1st place on the list.
Except if they are haste gemmed paladins, meaning their Holy Light is near to 1 sec casting time, making the 20% haste part of the buff useless. In this case, the priority jumps to the 2nd healer on the list.
If the tanks are going to take a huge damage (http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=69409, Halion breaths) feel free to toss it out to the Holy Paladin.- Restoration Shaman: If the raid is taking constant damage, the most you can help out is to give the shaman a boost, so that their http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=55459 spam gets more effective.
- Holy Priest: Not a bad choice either, but note that some prefer to play Renew spamming style, meaning haste will not do much for them.
- Restoration Druid: They get the least if any benefit from this spell. Try to avoid casting it on them.
I left the discipline priest out on purpose. As in a 25man raid, your main job is to spam shields, try not to be a selfish prick to cast it on yourself, when the raid is in need of raw heals. Your haste cap is really low, and the buff will not decrease the GCD timer from one second.
Of course, this is true to a situation, when all the other healers are still alive.
2. Boosting the raid damage:
- TTW Mage
- Affliction Warlock: when the boss is below 25% health
- Shadow Priest
- Balance drudis: only when http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48518 is active
- Demonology Warlock: when they are in http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=59673
- Arcane Mages: only outside of Icy Veins, since the two buffs doesn't stack
- Elemental Shamans
d. Pain Suppression
Spoiler:Show The spell itself is pretty straight up, 40% damage reduction from all sources. You shouldn't use it to reduce threat and dispel mechanics are not occurring in PVE environment. Think about this spell as an extra defensive CD.
Now what people fail to do about this spell is the usage :D It is essential that you learn how to support your raid with this spell.
If you know the tank is going to take a considerable amount of damage in an encounter (http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=69409, Halion breaths, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=71815 etc.), then you should talk to your tank before the encounter and discuss with him when you are going to cast PS on him. Otherwise you might overlap his defensive CDs, making one of the spells useless.
If the tanks are not going to need this spell, then you can save up the CD for anyone else who will need a lifesaver on an encounter.
e. Prayer of Healing vs. Flash HealSpoiler:Show In certain situations Prayer of Healing can outperform Flash heal. For example on Sindagrosa, when you have http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=69762 debuff PoH will give you only 1 stack of the debuff and can heal a full group.
Also if you can certainly time your PoH to preheal the damage, then it is a really powerful heal. For example you can shield up 20 ppl in the raid and PoH the last remaining group for infest.
The rule of thumb with PoH vs. FH is the following:
If 3 or more ppl are damaged in the same group, then PoH is better than FH. If less people, then FH should be good enough to heal them.
The reason for this is, that PoH's casting time is the exact double of FH's, and the mana cost is almost 3 times as high. If you have only 2 people damaged, you can easily heal them up with 2x FH, in case of more people in the same group, a PoH should do the trick.
4. Gear, enchants, stats, gems
a. Gear and enchantsSpoiler:Show In case you want to get a good chunk of mp5 and not losing a huge amount of spell power, use http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=47432 instead of http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50366.
The differences between the two build are the chest, gloves and rings. The rings can be switched from the two builds if you wish to grab a little more haste or mp5.
At the rings, I didn't pick the http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50400, because flat SP is a lot better to handle Rapture properly and to know your shields and absorbs.
Meanwhile the Spirit+Crit focused build has only 10 more spell power, it has about 100 more Spirit. See the value of Spirit below at the stats section.
I prefer the first build for the shield spam, since the value of haste only comes in handy if you have to hardcast without the Borrowed Time buff, which should not really happen as a discipline outside of competitive raid environment.
b. StatsSpoiler:Show Haste (till cap) > Spell power > Crit > Haste (above cap) > Int > Mp5/Spirit
Haste cap: without any raid buffs: 434
The haste cap is really easy to reach for a discipline priest, because you already have 6% and 25% from your talents (http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=34910, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=52800).
Without any raid buffs you will need 434 haste to be able to cast a shield in every second. Past this much haste, you would just lower the casting time of your other spells.
The other cap, that ppl like to mention is the one, when your Flash Heal has a 1 second cast time without the Borrowe Time buff. For that you need 1017 haste. Don't aim for this one though, and never pass it.
To see how many haste you would need with each raid buff, please see the below list (haste rating rounded up):
- 5%+3% haste buff: 154 (4.676%)
- 5% haste buff: 257 (7.817%)
- 3% haste buff: 325 (9.910%)
- No raid buff, only BT and 6%: 434 (13.208%)
As you can see all the haste cap levels are moderately easy to reach, meaning you don't need to focus on it as much as for example a resto shaman has to. Since it usually gets covered by your gear set.
For the curious minds see the calculus of haste:
Spoiler:Show T/(1+x)
T - the casting time of a spell, or the GCD in this case
X - haste%
The GCD is 1.5 sec, this will be our T. If you have 6% Enlightenment, 25% BT, 3% Swift Retribution/Improved Moonkin, 5% Wrath of Air, the formula goes as the following:
Meaning 154 haste rating is needed to get your GCD to 1 sec, while having the above buffs.Quote:
1.5/(1.06*1.25*1.03*1.05*(1+x)) = 1
1+x = 1.04676419
x = 4.67641902%
1% haste = 32.79 haste rating
4.676% haste = (153.3397797)≈154 haste rating
Depending on the available raid buffs, you can twist this formula around, or just use the numbers from the above list.
The value of Int/Mp5/Spirit:
In terms of mana regeneration, intellect outperforms both, so if your mana starts bleeding fast, gem some of it. Also on the lower gears, till around TOC raidings, intellect outperforms spell power. But only on the lower gears, when your mana management is not that smooth and you need to rely a lot more on Rapture.
Below you can read the reasoning from the ElitistJerks forums. As it is no longer available, I copied it here for the future players to read:
The SP priest will be able to do more throughput and/or mitigation, while the priest with the giant mana pool will be able to stay for 10 minutes straight and might be the last healer alive who still has mana left. If there's no mana spring totem or only 1 source of Replenishment (i.e. in a PuG or if one of your teammates has died), a larger mana pool would definitely be beneficial.
Contrary to common beliefs, MP5 is no longer clearly better than spirit for discipline priests. Since as your gear improves, so does the worth of your spirit, because spirit lets you regenerate a percentage of your mana pool. Meaning the more mana/intellect you have, the more useful spirit will be for you.
Summary: If you are at around ilvl 264, choose spirit over MP5, given the choice. At sub-264 levels, use MP5 if given the choice.
The calculation of spirit
According to Wowwiki this is the calculation for spirit-based mana regen:
Base_Regen at lvl80: 0.005575Quote:
Mana Regen = 5 * (0.001 + sqrt(Int) * Spirit * Base_Regen ) * 0.60
The formula means, that the more intellect you have, the more mana regeneration you will get from spirit. This regeneration is affected by the 5 second rule, meaning (if talented) will be decreased by 50% while casting.
Unlike mp5, what is not affected by the 5 sec rule (note that the items have about double the amount of spirit than mp5).
The calculation of the Total Absorb of your shield (as seen in the EJ priest guide)
The above formula is quite simple to understand, you the only thing that changes per character is the SP amount, the others are fixed amounts from your talents. If you want to know your absorb without the ICC buff, just simply remove the 1.15 multiplier from the end.Quote:
Total Absorb = (base absorb+(0.8068+BT)*SP)*(1+ImpS)*(1+FP+TD)*(1+ICC Aura)
Total Absorb = (2230+(0.8068+0.4)*4000)*(1.15)*(1.09)*(1.15)
If you get any further SP buff, then your shield will absorb more as well, those you should calculate into the SP amount.
c. GemsSpoiler:Show
- Meta: Insightful Earthsiege Diamond > Ember Skyflare Diamond > http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=41389
If needed, use to activate : http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40133 and http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40155 to activate (use them in a 7+ spell power socket bonus piece)
Note that if you are not running low on mana in any scenario, Ember outperforms Insightful. For the longevity of mana management, you should aim for Insightful, otherwise Ember would be your pick.- Red, blue, yellow sockets: http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40113
- In order to reach the haste cap use: http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40155
- If you are running low on mana, use some of the following: http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40151, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40133, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40134
5. ConsumablesSpoiler:Show
6. ProfessionsSpoiler:Show
- http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=51306: http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=55004 best movement increasing ability, as well as 27 spell power on the cape
- http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=51311: +48 spell power in gems
- http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=51309: +295 spell power on the cape (flat 73 spell power)
- http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=51313: +46 spell power on the rings
- http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=51302: +46 spell power on the bracers
- http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=45363: +46 spell power on the shoulders
- http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=51300: +46 spell power via the extra sockets on gloves and bracers
My best bet would be the following:
After discussing this matter with some experienced players (Gnimo, Zylas, Iqui), I have decided to include Tailoring into the list of professions with the following to be considered:
Profession no.1 Ptofession no.2 Effects 1. http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=51306 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=51311 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=55004 (best movement increasing ability) +27 spell power and +48 spell power 2. http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=51311 insert any +46 spell power profession here +48 and +46 spell power 3. http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=51311 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=51309 +48 and +73 (flat) spell power
- in end-game territory you should always consider picking up engineering for the sole reason of nitro boosts being an irreplaceable movement-increasing ability. Grabbing this as one of your professions, the best outcome in raw SP amount is picking up JC as your second profession. (you can do the math, but in the end you will lose 1.25 sp with engi+tailoring compared to engi+JC)
- when at or close to BiS gear outside of 0% LK encounters (for which you can rely on Iqui's guide), flat SP is still better than on-proc ones, because of *drums* shield and rapture management! In 30% environment there is still a chance that this huge chunk of SP (295 when active) can cause your shields not to break, resulting you with a mana-loss and a sad face. (you have to recast the shields for the next round of damage, and non-absorbed shield goes to waste self explanatory)
Know your own limits and PWS amounts!
7. RacesSpoiler:Show Horde:
Blood Elf: 6% of your base mana every 2 minutes
Troll: 20% haste increase every 3 minutes
Undead: ability to remove fear, sleep and charm effects
Alliance:
Human: Increased spirit
Dwarf: no useful passive for priests
Night elf: can reduce threat generated by heals
Draenei: ability to heal self or others
For the mana efficiency humans and blood elves are your best bet, but in the end it all comes down to your own preferences, what you like having more of. The passive can help you out in your gameplay, but you can be a good healer with any of these races.
8. Raid healingSpoiler:Show A short list of how to heal your allies when they take damage by ElitistJerks
- Player actively taking damage and already being low on HP (PWS+Penance to the rescue!)
- Player with full HP and predictable heavy damage incoming (PWS + overheal free)
- Player actively taking damage but still comfortable HP (prioritize higher if you don't see heals incoming on that target)
- Player low on HP and no predictable damage incoming (some heal from glyph + give HoTs time)
- Player with little HP loss and no predictable damage incoming (use that glyph)
- Player with full HP and no predictable damage incoming (are you sure PoM is on cd?)
My two cents for the healing: try to shield up as many raiders as you can, focusing on the ones who have predictable damage incoming (http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=73174, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=73023 etc.) and never be too selfish to save someone. Even if the raider is out of position, his life or death can mean the difference between a wipe and a successful kill. In these situations, do not ever think twice to "waste" your Rupture proc or whatever. You are a healer, your job is to keep the raiders alive, no matter what.
Yes they will mess up, yes their death will not be directly your fault, but if you could have healed them and you did not, because "it is not my job", then you certainly did your job bad.
9. AddonsSpoiler:Show Below I have summed up the addons I recommend using as a discipline priest.
- Raid-mechanic addons: DBM or BigWigs
- Unit Frames, as a healer, I prefer the click-to-heal method. You can achieve this with addons which have this feature built-in, with Clique and any other Raid Frames, and with macros as well.
- HealBot: really easy to set up, somewhat customizable, click-to-heal
- VuhDo: an other popular choice. Bear in mind, that this one takes a lot longer to set-up, but is highly customizable. This addon is click-to-heal as well.
- Any other raid addon you prefer, Grid and Xperl are popular options, but you can just look up the WOTLK UnitFrames addons
- An addon to track your cooldowns and buffs with:
- Mik Scrolling Battle Text
- WeakAuras
- NeedToKnow
- Ingela's Rapture: solely for Rapture tracking
- An addon to track your casting times, and latency. This one comes in handy, if you have spikes of high latency. A popular pick could be Quartz
- An addon to track your heals and absorbs with: Skada
And last but not least I want to thank a few ppl for helping and pressuring me to write the guide :)
Fluffybully, Selaya and all the disciplines I have been discussing with in the past few months.
Also ElitistJerks and Wowhead for some calculations and playstyle references.
Edits and fixes:
2016.12.29. Added Prayer of Healing vs. Flash Heal
2016.12.30. Fixed Races, and added more detail to the Power Infusion bulletpoint (haste paladins). Fixed enchants section.
2017.01.02. Updated meta gems, fixed the BiS set and the boss health for affliction warlocks.
2017.01.05. Added spirit calculating formula and the explanation of the 5 second rule.
2017.12.09. Fixed and polished the links, and some of the texts.
2018.03.31. Still fixing the appearance of the guide, also added some texts to the links in case they broke
2018.04.28. Changed some formatting, and updated the haste value of PI for the dps classes. Also added a more detailed haste cap part.
2018.11.20. Changed the BiS lists a little, and updated the titles of the two, since I found this two more fitting.
2019.01.31. Added a calculation for the Total Absorbs into the Stats section.
2020.07.21. Applied some cosmetics, and corrections in the wording and formatting. As well as added an addon section.
2020.09.08. Added some extra clarification to the meta gems and added some extra terms.
2020.09.24. Added Tailoring to the list of professions with extra comments.
2021.07.20. Added extra information on the calculation of haste.
