1. Retrospective analysis on discipline role in 0% buff LK25H encounter

    Hello, my name is Alexandar, in-game mates know me as Iqui. After 11 years of WotLK experience and nearly 9 years of playing priest, I've decided to share some tips with you guys on how to "behave" properly in more challenging modes of ICC like the 0% buff raids, how to use your abilities correctly in order to excel and explain you what are specifics of discipline in this kind of healing environment. This guide is NOT a detailed theorycraft based discipline guide, it's just a practical explanation of what to do in each part of LoD encounter in this type of healing environment. All the critics are welcomed if they are argumented properly.

    One very common misconception about Discipline Priests in Lich King 0% duo or trio heal encounter is that it’s all about being a “Shield bot” – spam shields, nothing else. Following this misconception, many players who are already hitting years and years of discipline role in raids, have started with same logic and they were never able to see the full potential of discipline, and even if they saw it, they would never use it properly. As for that, an intelligent discipline priest will always be aware of his ability and role of damage preventing which is defined by many different mechanics, and not just “bubble” spamming. Following this statement, I will try to explain each of these specific mechanics a good discipline should use in this type of encounter.Now let's cut the theory and bring in some real, alive stuff.

    Content:


    1. Encounter prerequisites
    2. Gear comparison and item changes
    3. Talents and glyphs
    4. Discipline priest 0% LoD mechanics in irregular healing setup
    5. Quick tips for improvement
    6. Final words



    1. Encounter prerequisites

    In 3 heal (hpala, rsham, disco) and especially 2 heal (hpala, disco) 0% buff LoD encounter, discipline priest keeps doing his basic role – damage prevention but it also shares the healing role more than it does in regular buffed LoD encounter. A reason for this comes from the fact that the dmg received is much bigger than it is in regular LoD and the healing setup is smaller so basicly shieldspoping and using PoM’s occasionally is not gonna keep the raid alive for long enough.
    Following this statement, in this type of encounter, discipline will be more involved in group healing (shields break more easely than in 30% encounter) and significantly more in tank healing.
    Even though in regular 4 heal 30% buffed LoD raid setup we go for crit/spirit off-set parts over haste ones (because 95% of the time you will be casting shieds, meaning borrowed time buff is enough to decrease the casting time of your single/multi target healing spells when you need to use them), in this 0% setup when we have 2 or 3 healers we will be casting those heals more often and therefore we should always go for the haste off-set parts with few adjustments.


    2. Gear comparison and item changes




    Slot Spirit/Crit based gear (regular LoD) Haste based gear (2/3 heal 0% LoD) Enchant Socket
    Head http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=51261 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=51261 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50368 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=41401 + http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40133
    Neck http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50724 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50724 / http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40113
    Shoulders http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=51264 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=51264 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50338 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40113
    Back http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=54583 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=54583 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=63765 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40113
    Chest http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=51263 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=51259 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=44489 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40113 + http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40155
    Wrist http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=54582 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=54582 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=44498 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40113
    Gloves http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50722 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=51260 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=38979 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40113
    Waist http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50702 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50613 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=41611 3x http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40113
    Leggs http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=51262 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=51262 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=41602 2x http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40113
    Feet http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50699 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50699 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=55016 2x http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40113
    Ring 1 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=54585 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=54585 / http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40113
    Ring 2 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50644 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50664 / http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40113
    Trinket 1 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50366 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=47432 / /
    Trinket 2 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=54589 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=54589 / /
    Wand http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50631 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50684 / http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40113
    Main Hand http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50734 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50734 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=44487 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40113
    Off Hand http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50719 http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50719 / /

    3. Talents and glyphs

    The talent tree I posted here is commonly used for both regular and unbuffed LoD encounter. Talents that you can exchange without losing full potential are : http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/?spell=27904 ( 3 points ) - > http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/?spell=19236 (1 point) because in some situations if Infest is not covered good enough you might need to top yourself fast in order to proceed with shielding regulary. Also, my personal opinion is that we shouldn’t take Improved Renew because we won’t be using Renew so often in this encounter (only on transitions and chamber sometimes) and therefore adding points into this spell's improvement is a waste.


    Also about glyphs, the only glyph we should take into consideration about changing it is http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/?item=42409 to http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/?item=42400. From my practical experience, when I play discipline with Hpala + resto shaman (3 heal 0% LoD) I prefer to go with Glyph of Flash heal because I use it more and 10% less mana cost is a lot if you spam it often which you basicly do, and for hpala + disco combination (2 heal 0%) I prefer going with Prayer of Healing glyph because sometimes, mainly when warriors are cleaving in p1 of LoD , there is no point in shielding them in 0% LoD so you just precast PoH right on Infest and you top that melee group + you leave a HoT ticking which is really helpful because of the constant ghould damage on them.


    4. Discipline priest 0% LoD mechanics in irregular healing setup


    Before the encounter starts:

    Regular raid composition in 0% buff encounter should include at least 2 shadow priests, therefore make sure you assign each shadow priest when to use his http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=64901 and http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=64843. From my practical experience, I assigned 1 shadow priest to use http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=64901 on first transition and the other shadow priest should use it when remorseless winter ends and we start entering in p2. I keep mine to use it p3 as an emergency. If you mastered http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=47537 usage properly, you shouldn’t have mana issues till p3 because the shields will be breaking instantly on each Infest initial hit and you will be getting your mana back.
    Also in 3 heal 0% LoD setup, you should always combine 1 Hymn of Hope with mana tide totem. Hopefully on first transition.

    Also each shadow priest should know when to use his http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=64843, exactly in which situation. For example when one of the healers is grabbed or right when you start entering in p2 and p3 after remorseless ends in order to help healers to top the raid.


    Phase 1:


    Stack with the ranged group. Start preshielding at 18 secs till the fight starts ( shield everyone except the tank) and use http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48113 on the tank right after you finished shielding. At the last second start casting http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=53007 on the tank in order to place http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=15363 + http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=47515 proc on him so the initial hit by the LK will cause less damage (the first or second tick of Penance will apply Inspiration in 95% of the time and you will heal the tank with the last tick so nothing is wasted!) Right after fight started, shaman will use http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=33555 and Infest is about to hit in few seconds. When Infest hits, you start shielding again starting with the healers (yourself,hpala and rsham) and right after you group - prioritize ranged dps who will not cause huge burst on ghouls so your shield won't break on them the moment you applied it. Try following this order: Mages -> Warlock -> Hunters -> Boomies. When you finished shielding the ranged group, rogues, feral, dks and retris will already drop aggro from ghouls so you can shield them asap. When you finished shielding retris you will have 6-7 secs window to PoM/Penance the tank and start precasting http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48072 2 secs before Infest #2 hits on the melee group where fury warriors are! This is very important. During the entire p1 you don’t shield warriors before the Infest, only after the Infest hits when your http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=47537 is on cooldown. When Infest breaks your shields, you will have 12 secs cooldown until Rapture is refreshed and that’s the time when you can use your shield on the tank. And that is the only time until phase 3!

    After Infest #2 you cast shields in the same order and keep an eye on the tank damage and the http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=15363 buff on him (when it’s 3 heal comp, rsham will apply http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=16237 on the tank so you will not be so busy tracking Inspiration all the time). When the Infest #3 is about to hit, you pop your http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=54589 as the boss is now around 85% HP. Bloodlust is now off and you should use http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=10060 on the the mage with the highest dmg in that pull (track it through Skada/Recount). The http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=54589 will be ready for transition phase.

    Continue shielding and precasting http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48072 correctly. In the raid I did with my guild, LK was at 76% and when Infest #4 was about to hit, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/npc=39300 went into http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=8269 so I used http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=33206 on the tank so it doesn’t get smashed by physical and shadow damage in the same time. This is mostly dps based so in any other situation, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=33206 should be used when 2nd Shambling goes into Frenzy during transition so your PS will be ready for 4th or 5th http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=69409 in Phase 2.
    The entire fight in Phase 1, retri paladins should rotate Shadow http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=31821 on Infests so the initial damage is decreased. We didn’t use retris speced into http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=64205, you should preferably go for http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=20235 talent because of Phase 3 spirits damage.]


    1st Transition phase:


    http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48066 everyone as much as you can, and keep http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48113 bouncing around by targeting melees mostly. When the transiton started you wait at least 15 secs and then use http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=54589 because the dmg ticks from http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=72133 will be higher in the ending part of the transition so you need to keep the raid with as high hp as possible.At around 30 secs till the end of transition, you will have your http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=10060 ready. This is the perfect timing because now mage’s have their trinkets ready in the most of the times and you can apply it on the one with the most damage output. At around 25 secs till the end of transition you stop shielding and use http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48072 on critical groups and some http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48071 to top someone, and when its around 6-4 secs til the end of transiton you start shielding again. Reason for this is that if you start shielding earlier than those 6-4 secs, the shields will break cause of the massive remorseless winter damage and people will enter Phase 2 with http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=6788 debuff on them which leaves them without protection to the first Infest in Phase 2.


    Phase 2:


    Right when you enter the throne after transition, one of the shadow priests should start casting http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=64901 and you cast your http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=34433 to attack the LK (you will get the buff from Hymn + fiend will die from frost sphere’s dmg = izi mana) Now everyone should start stacking for the Val’kyr waves. As Discipline you shield as many players as possible and when its 2 secs till Infest hits you start precasting PoH on the group which is not covered with shields so you clear the infest instantly from them.

    Now we just play for Godly rng – none of the healers gets grabbed and we place perfect Defiles.
    The entire point of damage prevention in Phase 2 is to have perfectly timed Hand of Sacrefices on the tank and timed http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=64205 from Hpala/ProtPala and Aura masteries from retris on each Infest. On this type of encounter with less healers, we use http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=33206 not for the initial ticks of http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=69409 but for the melee haste and shadow damage that LK does after the reaper ended. So we use it here more like a backup.

    Before the 3rd Infest hits, you pop your http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=54589 and continue shielding, toping, and tracking Inspiration on the tank.
    Right before the 4th http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=69409 hits the tank use your http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=10060 on Holy Paladin to make him outheal the ticks faster and we can react to the Infest/Defile coming in the same time more effitiently.

    Use your PS on the 5th Reaper or after to suppress the shadow dmg/melee haste from LK. Depends on the raid cooldowns setup.


    2nd Transition phase:

    Repeat everything from 1st transition shield less, heal more, focus on tank and don’t use Scale! Save it for chamber in p3.

    Phase 3:


    When you start entering the throne in Phase 3 you shield as many as possible but not the tank. Reason for this is when LK starts casting http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=68980, the shields will pop on the 2nd tick of the harvest damage and http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=47537 will proc resulting with mana bomb for you.
    When you enter the chamber, pop your http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=54589 and start shielding/ casting http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=48113 on every cooldown and http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=53007 when really necessary. In this situation you should coordinate with your guldmates on raid cooldowns, timers left etc because aura masteries/sacrefices might be used in different order when you go out of the chamber because of valk grabs, deaths etc.

    When you go out of the chamber, the only thing left is to hard heal the tank. The ONLY tank( these mechanics are based arround solo tanking). Therefore position yourself behind the LK so you don’t get targeted by spirits, and even if you do, use http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=586 and continue healing. On every cooldown you use PI only on Holy Paladin because the damage on Reaper + Spirits is enormous and he needs every help possible to execute those Holy Lights.

    When you’re about to enter the chamber for the 2nd time, shield people randomly, and 4 secs before entering the chamber use your own Hymn of Hope -> huge portion of mana is back from Rapture and Hymn buff.
    Inside the chamber after 5 secs, Scale will be ready, make sure to pop it and heal/shield as much as possible and spam PoM on every cooldown. Use PoH on low hp groups.

    When you’re out of the chamber repeat everything you did after leaving the chamber for the first time.

    Harvest is about to hit, you shield as many as possible. get your mana. Inside heal, same story. Chamber 3 is over.

    When you go out of the chamber, wait for the defile, reposition again and keep healing/shielding the tank. Shaman will use bloodlust cause its ready. When spirits start to collapse, you use your PS on the tank, hit http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=14751 and start casting http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=64843 (if you didn’t use it earlier for emergency) and the LK should be at 11%.


    5. Quick tips for improvement


    1. Always keep an eye on Inspiration/Ancestral buff applied to your tank, it’s a must, and remember, you need a healing spell to crit in order to place it. Wheter you’re using Healbot or Grid for healing you should always have it enabled on your healing bars to show you the up time on your target or just enable it on your TellMeWhen so you can track it manually (less practical way).
    2. If you’re not using dbm, but some other bossfight timer’s, make sure you have enabled Soul Reaper as a debuff in your buff/debuff settings section so you can see it on your healing bars (This is important because some versions of DBM and LKannounce have their timers messed up so enabling it on Healbot for e.g. makes you track it more easely when its applied to someone (every second of it).
    3. Shadowfiend is your mana friend, I used it here only once in the entire fight even tho you can use it 2 times easely. I didn’t have mana issues so that’s why I used it with only once.
    4. Power Infusion should be used on mages only when their trinkets are up, if you didn’t setup an addon to track them for a specific player in your raid, make sure that guy will tell you when they’re up so you can time PI with his burst.
    5. I stongly recommend you to download Ingela’s Rapture addon in order to track Rapture easier.
    6. Chambers reset potions timers so use your mana injectors wisely.
    7. To see the proper values of your shield absorbs, separately from Val’anyr proc from other healers, use Skada and install Healing & Absorbs add-in.
    8. During any boss fights, especially on LK, I recommend you to have your raids holy paladin on focus so you can see if he’s casting holy light in time (e.g. Soul Reaper ticks) so you can react fast and prevent the damage that is about to happen.
    9. There will be probably a number of you guys who consider using mp5 off set gear instead of sprit one is better for discipline priest. This is just wrong. Mp5 is better than sprit on lower gear and it doesn’t scale with anything. Reason for this is 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. Overall: spirit >mp5 above ilvl 264 gear. The calucaltion and argumentation for this can be found in Nemmish’s guide on PVE Discipline priest here on Warmane Forum.
    10. For more detailed information on correlation between Infest and Shield absorption check the following link http://talesofapriest.com/lich-king-...t-bubble-spam/
    11. For more information on correlation between Power Infusion and external/internal haste buffs check the following link http://talesofapriest.com/re-revisit...sion-in-wrath/


    6. Final words

    In the end, just a few sentences from heart. This guide is not a scientific paper on how to play discipline priest, it’s a guide on how to use your abilities so you can use the full potential of discipline in overall. The point of this guide is to slightly break the misconception that discipline priests are only shield bots and that they do not participate in healing during raids. This is incorect and every good disco should think otherwise. From my practical experience, everything I wrote is everything I actually do as disco and that’s probably why people asked me to write something on this topic and I got into it. Even though this expansion is now 11 years old, some of us still enjoy playing it and we always find some new challenges to do in order to test our limits. I did this with Afterlight. Without good guildmates, this type of challenge is nearly impossible. Without good communication, coordination and class knowledge this wouldn’t be possible, and I drink to that! I accept criticism, and I will answer all of your questions regarding this post, but don’t bother me with numbers. I’ve proved many times theory isn’t defining the practice (in some situations) in WoW so just discuss practical things and not calculations etc. To argument my story, I leave you guys a video on how this "theory" is implemented in practice:



    For futher questions, if you wish to stay anonymous on the website, send me a dm in discord or ingame! Cheers! Discord ID: Iqui#5076
    Edited: November 26, 2019 Reason: Mistake in Title (fixed)

  2. This is my man! :) Nice guide bro. Keep it up :P


  3. the best guide for people who wanna try Priest heals 0% buff ICc. Keep it up :D

  4. Best discipline priest guide i ever saw in my life. If i meet Iqui irl i would choke his snake.

  5. After having given this guide a thorough read and a discussion with OP over on Discord, I will say that this is a very solid guide. I also feel that even if people aren't doing 0% LoD (which most aren't and likely never will), there is still something to learn here from this guide. Not defaulting to be a shieldbot is a good thing, I promise!

  6. Thanks for the review guys! Check out our video on 2 heal/ solo tank 0% LoD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekZo-KeVakk

  7. Really nice and special guide. Not only emphasizing on shield spam, but also talking about other kind of playstyle which make Discipline unique from other healers. Keep it up bro !

  8. Amazing effort Iqui bruda :) keep it up bro.I would definetely use and adapt those things to my gameplay.

  9. Amaizing! Very detailed and useful tips on discipline! Can't wait for your holy priest version of it! Keep it up!

  10. This is one of the best Disco Priest guides that i saw . Keep it up buddy i hope to see more of this stuff from you .

  11. Perfect, just listen this guy if you want to carry ur raid!

  12. amazing guide bro <3 keep it up

  13. May 29, 2020  
    Amaizing and detailed guide, finaly someone with good practical experience and arguments!

  14. June 1, 2020  
    Seems really helpful for anyone new to 0% buff encounters! Keep up the amazing work!

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