Category:Priest

From OutcastWiki

Short Story

Priests can do everything short of tank, in whatever spec you choose. Before Burning Crusades, we were the healer supremes. These days we have been freed from those chains and other classes have been boosted into equal footing with us in the healing category. Whether you choose to go with the ways of the light or the dark, you will be more than sought after by your companions. As a healer, priests are by far the best all around. Other classes might claim the best at one individual job, but the priest can perform them all. Whether healing the main tank, burst damage, splash damage, multi-target, or soloing for a 5-man, you can do it all. If you choose the shadow path, you will not top the damage meters, but along with putting out a ton of damage, you will boost the capabilities of many of your companions. Vampiric Touch makes you a mana battery for your party, allowing your mana using teamates to poor on the damage over long periods of time, as well as providing your healing teamates with the mana they need to keep those heals going. Not only that, but you provide damage boosting debuffs to all spell casters and huge boosts to warlocks. Vampiric Embrace may also be used in certain situations to heal your party through aoe splash damage encounters.

Class Leader

Class Leader - Nooch(aka Flooches) - Holy Goodness

Asst. Class Leader - Gajavi - Shadow Love

Karazhan

Don't come all scrubbed out in greens!! Oh, and have a good shackle macro, you will be spamming it a lot. See the macro section for help setting one up. (More to come)

Rotation "System"

No rotation at this time. Sign up early and your chances of being in are near 100%.

Current Rotation

None

Gruul

Minimum requirements for Gruul's Lair are as follows. These are unbuffed numbers. DPS shadow priest: 850+dam Heals, priest: 1.5k+heal, 375 ooc mana regen

Macros

Crowd Control

This is the macro I use for my Shackle. It makes use of the Focus Target that became available in 2.0.

When you click it it will set your focus target to your current target and then Shackleit. With your focus target set your are now free to target anything.

If you need to RE-Polymorph, click the same macro button EXCEPT hold down the ALT key. This will cause your Shackleto be cast on your focus target, with no need find and target your CC assignment.

/clearfocus [nomodifier:alt] /focus [harm,nomodifier:alt] target /cast [target=focus,exists] Shackle Undead

Healing Macros

http://borkweb.com/story/wow-priest-macros

Face Melting Macros

http://shadowpriest.com/viewtopic.php?t=3936

Outcast Priests

FYI and a bit of how to

Required reading for raid healing: http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t23790-priest_holy_raiding_compendium_v2_wow-2_4_0_a/

(From WOW WIKI)

Player responsibilities

PvE Solo Tactics

A solo priest is somewhat vulnerable, but because of their combination of healing, DD, DOT and shielding spells, a well played priest can take up to about three mobs of the same level.

Against a single mob you should begin just at the edge of the range of your best DD spell, preferably a long-cast spell. Cast that, then lay on a Shadow Word: Pain to get some DOT going. You should then be able to get off another DD spell or two before the mob reaches you. Then you can either simply beat the mob into submission or use more DD spells until your shield runs down or you've used enough mana, and then wand or dagger-wand combo the mob.

Another technique is to Vampiric Embrace, SW:P, then Mind Blast, THEN PW:S, then Mind Flay, then wand them down, refreshing SW:P as needed.

Against a group of mobs, begin by casting PW:S. This is the most important step. Against multiple mobs, especially quick attacking ones, it is very difficult to get off very many spells. Then, attack a healer/caster/melee (in that order of preference) with your best DD spell. Then lay down Shadow Word: Pain on each of them to get DOT going on them all. Then concentrate on your original target until its dead. At this point (preferably not before) it may be necessary to use Psychic Scream to ward off the other attackers, as you will be in bad shape. Use this interval to heal/bandage if necessary, and to recast SW:P on all your targets again. If you're still battling more than one mob, reshield. Hopefully you have enough mana to cast another DD spell on the next mob, which should almost finish him off. From here on in you'll likely have to wand or dagger-wand it to death since your mana will be low, which shouldn't be too hard, then repeat on the final mob(s). I find this to be easiest against humanoids that run at around 15% health, as they do 15% less damage and interrupting when doing so. Be aware that against multiple mobs, your shield goes down quickly. If the situation goes wrong, or if you don't think you'll last, shield-renew-run/fear-run, or use an instant cast heal (Desperate Prayer on yourself if you're a human or a dwarf. Undead should use Devouring Plague on a mob that they don't intend to kill soon, so as to get the full benefit of the healing effect.

Remember the basics:

Relax Priests are casters. Don't let the fights turn into slugfests. Begin the fight at maximum range and with a long cast time spell. Keep DOT on all targets at all times. Know when to run. Remember that you have the ability to fear and heal.

PvE Group Tactics

You're a priest. You're almost always the healer. You have a strange, strange role in World of Warcraft; You are the glue that holds groups together. Adjust your conduct accordingly. Little else can ruin an otherwise good group as quickly or as sourly as a healer that isn't concentrating on the task at hand. By that, I mean you shouldn't just be what is affectionately referred to as 'heal-botting.' When you heal-bot, you function as little more than a script, pushing a button and following along. It's easy to get distracted.

There are three things you must do before starting any instance:

Get something to drink. Your mana will be going up and down like a roller-coaster. Make sure your armor is repaired. You need max intellect/spirit for dungeon crawls. Candles (for the end-game priest on the go). Not just for mood lighting anymore, if you want longer-duration group-castable buffs, you need candles. Additionally, once you get to the instance, there are things any priest learns to do instinctively:

Know the party's roles. It will help you prioritize healing. Know the party. No, not the touchy-feely kind of know the party. Know how long the average fight takes, and the intervals between them. Get inside the head of your puller and tank. Know how effective your healing spells are. Can't stress this enough. Even if you don't want to keep track of how much real HP is healed by your spells, you can gauge it all by the amount it fills that little green bar on the left side of the screen by their name. This is a qualitative, percentage-based business. You will find that the Druids' bear form takes flash heals like they aren't even there--they have a far higher maximum health, for example. Downranking things like your greater heal works for mana conservation. Look into it. Pre-heal. Your main tank might be fighting a boss that does big crits in quick succession. Starting a heal before the big hurt lands may be the difference. Additionally, a full health bar is a happy health bar. People are more confident when they know you're on top of things.

Remember that spells cast before the mobs are pulled do not count towards your threat tally. It is useful to cast a Renew on the main tank shortly before the pull to get a head start on healing. Be very careful about casting Power Word: Shield on a tank before the pull. Both Warriors and Druids depend on taking damage to generate Rage, and even Paladins regenerate mana from healing, not damage prevention or overhealing. Done at the pull, a tank can find himself alone, with mobs beating other players, and an empty Rage bar. Many good tanks will click off a shield before the pull for this reason. Talk to your warrior/druid before combat to see what they prefer. A mana-efficient alternative is to cast Renew on your main tank immediately before the fight. Power Word: Shield from a level 40 priest will protect a target from spell interruption and 381 damage at a cost of 250 mana with a 15 second cooldown. Renew from a level 40 priest will heal a target for 400 over 15 seconds, cost only 205 mana and has no cooldown. The 20% mana savings makes a significant difference in longer fights where the protected player doesn't need the benefit of the interruption protection of Power Word: Shield.

Do not feel it is necessary to assist in DPS.

The Assist button ('F' by default) is your friend. Click on your tank's character portrait and hit 'F' to target their target (or, better yet, if the group has a Main Assist, assist him instead). Lay a Shadow Word: Pain on it to help the tank kill the main mob as quickly as possible. And when you have the main mob targeted, use 'F' again to select its target, so you can pop a quick heal on the group member currently being attacked. You may have a useful racial you can use. For example, the Troll 'Hex of Weakness' is extremely useful for mobs that heal/get healed and ends up saving you mana in the long run by reducing the damage being dealt to the tank. However, unless you're Shadow-specced, your mana is more efficient at healing. Even the cooldown on wands can get in the way of an emergency heal, so your mileage may vary.

Prayer of Healing becomes a very nice spell to use when three or more people require a Flash Heal sized spell. Why three? The mana cost is equivalent to between two and three flash heals, so if you just need to heal two, then cast two Flash Heals. This can be useful when your group is being hit by AoE attacks. A good rule of thumb for when to use this spell is "do I have enough time to cast that many Flash Heals?" If you have enough time to do that, try it instead. A max-rank prayer costs in excess of a thousand mana.

Some priests use Fade as a kiting mechanism. In this scenario, heal the main tank from the maximum possible range. Eventually, a loose mob will break off and aggro on you. Wait until the mob is nearly at you, then pop Fade. Hopefully, the mob will travel back to the tank, buying you valuable seconds during which the mob wasn't hurting anyone. Downsides include the possibility that the Fade won't drop enough aggro to lose the mob, the chance that as you juggle it the mob aggros onto a third party, and the risk that if you are attacked then you're at risk of not just dying, but wiping the group. Most importantly, using Fade this way means that the power is on cooldown when you need it for normal survival. This tactic requires a group that is prepared for it and is short of less risky forms of crowd control.

Remember to keep your mana up. If the party pulls when you are OOM, then you will likely wipe. Be sure to say "drinking" or "oom" when you are out of mana, but also try to shape your healing style and gear to ensure that your downtime is minimized.

If you choose to remain shadow at level 70 and want to raid, select talents to reduce your threat. Never use mind blast unless you want aggro or are absolutely sure the tank will not lose aggro. Use Mind Flay instead. It is also easier on mana. Most importantly, get into a group with either rogues or warlocks. Your vampiric embrace will heal the rogues sufficiently and make the holy priest's lives easier. With warlocks, your shadow weaving will increase their DPS greatly.

If you choose to play more PVP than raiding, do not spend points on reducing threat. Instead select talents to increase chance to crit.

The Right Way To Heal

There are two most effective ways of healing that I have found: (1) Duration (2) Burst

(1) Duration: With this style, you are claiming that your most focused attribute is INTELLECT, and that your mana is meant to be used for the whole fight. If you are set up like this, use your mana wisely and make every point count. In short, the method of this is to expend your mana to do all you need to through one fight

(2) Burst: My personal favorite. With this style, you are claiming that your most focused attribute is SPIRIT and MANA REGEN (it may not be your highest attribute, but you still focus alot on it). If you lean toward this direction, you have to see how the fight is taking place and how the health depletes. When you feel it is a good moment, use all the neccesary mana that is required to heal the party, AS WELL AS, using spells to keep it at that (Fortify Shield, Renew, Lightwell, etc.). The method of this is that you use your mana in short bursts to give your mana time to recover in-between the healing.

Duration is effective because you know what you are always capable of and you know how your mana lasts. It is ineffective on the fact that when you DO run oom (out of mana), you're screwed on helping out anymore.

Burst is effective because when you can slip in the full mana regen charge (or just the mana while casting), you recover more, making your mana last longer then your full mana amount. It is ineffective on the fact that you can't always have that time in-between, so you don't get your mana regen charge.

PVE as Shadow Spec

Please see talent tips area for more info as well

As you are levelling your priest with shadow talents, your tactics will change during three phases. First, you have below level 40. You can not get Shadowform until level 40. Next is at level 40, where you should repec into Shadowform. Last is at level 70, where you must decide to spec as PvP, Holy Raiding, or Shadow Raiding. The final option was unpopular when the level cap was 60. The increased availability of suitable gear in Outlands has made this an increasingly popular choice.

For levelling all the way through level 40, you should begin each fight as follows: Power Word: Shield, Mind Blast/Smite, and Shadow Word: Pain. Always have your shield up before you begin the attack. There are two reasons for this. First, the shield will last for 30 seconds, but you will not be able to cast it again for 15 seconds. If you pull too many mobs, you will likely lose your shield in the middle of battle and not be able to recast it immediately. If you cast it before the fight begins, chances are it will be available to recast when you need it. This usually gives you enough time to take down one mob or run away. Second, casting after the fight begins lowers your DPS and allows more time for the enemy to attack you while you are not doing damage. Now that your shield is up, use your highest damage spell, which will eventually be Mind Blast. Since you have not yet initiated the battle, the casting time is basically free. Next, you want to throw the DoT Shadow Word: Pain because it is an instant cast and because it deals damage over time. The sooner you apply it the more damage it does.

Until you get Shadowform, your wand is your best friend. Put all the points in Wand Specialization as soon as you can. Buy the wands enchanters make from the auction house as they are cheap and have better DPS than wands at the same level. If you don't want to spend the money, consider making a run through Blackfathom Deeps for the Gravestone Scepter, a quest reward for a quest given by an NPC inside the instance. If you are fighting mobs the same level as you, you will be able to kill mobs quickly over time. Coupled with Spirit Tap, you will never need to stop for mana. You may not put down a single mob as quickly, but you will put down 20 mobs faster.

Once you reach level 40, respec to gain Shadowform. You will still use your wand, but much less now. Again, use the beginning three action strategy mentioned above. Shadowform fights will look like this: Power Word: Shield, Mind Blast, Shadow Word: Pain, Mind Flay, Mind Blast, Mind Flay, Mind Flay, Mind Blast. Keep repeating Mind Flay, Mind Flay, Mind Blast until either the enemy is dead or you need to conserve mana. If you need to conserve mana, use your wand once the enemy approaches about 30% health to finish it off. Make sure you're not wasting time getting Mind Flay interrupted when your shield goes down; if so, you will not channel for the entire time of the cast.

When you reach level 50, you will get Vampiric Touch. Let's take a second to analyze the spell, it's value is not that obvious. Rank 1 deals 450 raw damage; let's say you have 100 shadow spell damage, 5/5 Misery, 5/5 Darkness, and of course Shadow Form, which increases the damage to about 715. Vampiric Touch costs 325 mana, that's a not-so-great damage to mana ratio of 2.2. However, Vampiric Touch regenerates mana. Let's say a mob has about 4000 HP. If you manage to deal 4000 damage within the 15 seconds Vampiric Touch is up, you regain 5%*4000 = 200 mana. So in total, you only paid 125 mana for Vampiric Touch! This modifies the damage to mana ratio to a great 5.7, which makes it by far your best spell with regards to damage per mana. Mind Flay only comes in second with 3.3 damage/mana, given the same damage modifiers. Now let's say the mob dies earlier, and Vampiric Touch only ticks 3 times, lowering the damage to 715*3/5 = 429, and thus the damage/mana to 5.7*3/5 = 3.4. Even with only 3 of 5 ticks, it's still better than Mind Flay! Bottom line is: Always use Vampiric Touch; unless a mob has very little HP, it's worth it. To maximize the benefit you get, you should start every fight with it.

If you choose to stay shadow at level 70 for raiding, you will still be able to heal very well. Ideally however, you will be in a group with holy spec priest to do the main healing. In this case, ask to be in a group with either all warlocks or rogues. Your Vampiric Embrace will be enough usually to completely keep up the rogues. This will take pressure off the main healers and let them concentrate on the tanks. If you are grouped with warlocks, your Shadow Weaving will greatly improve their DPS. Mind Blast is no longer a high aggro spell, but this change is often overlooked. However Mind Flay is more mana efficient and it slows the enemy. Many raiders therefore use this almost exclusively. The improved Mind Blast talent is therefore unpopular. If you plan to raid, make sure you get Shadow Affinity. This will greatly reduce your aggro. Shadow Reach can also be very useful. Vampiric Touch gives significant mana to your party as you deal damage.

Raid Groups

In a raid group you need to understand your role. If you are doing something like MC / BWL / AQ / ZG, you will probably need a healing rotation. This requires a lot of communication with the people in your raid. Normally in a 40-man raid, there is at least one healer per group. In your group, there is usually a tank of some sort. Mana conservation tactics are explained in the Healing Tactics section of a great priest FAQ. (no longer available(9/1/07))

Note: With proper talents and gear, a shadow priest can provide good DPS in raid groups that provides 15% more shadow damage and nearly infinite mana (through the warlock's Lifetap and the priests Vampiric Embrace) for any warlock in their party. In addition, if placed in a tank group, the priest provides damage mitigation in the form of healing to the tank, effectively reducing the DPS of the mob being tanked by at least 85 (the average healing per second for a shadow priest with +150 shadow damage gear that uses Mind Flay and Shadow Word: Pain). If a raid chooses to go without a shadow priest, that raid effectively gimps it's warlock DPS. With the expansion release, there are 40 available debuff slots, which makes it a no-brainer for most guilds.

PvP Tactics

The priest plays a unique role in PvP. He/she is often the first target, but the priest has tools available to avoid being taken out as quickly as many classes.

There are a few things that have to be remembered when one is PvPing as a shadow priest, especially when you are in a group:

Vampiric embrace is your friend. With it, you can automatically heal your entire group as long as they are in range, which is a pretty powerful thing indeed. This is even more powerful if you consider that it will be buffed depending on how much +damage gear that the shadow priest has accrued. Watch your other party members at all times. Sometimes you may have to pop out of shadowform and toss a few heals/shield on another person, especially if it is a cloth-wearer or a rogue. Get as much +damage and +stamina gear as humanly possible. It's more or less all that you need. If you ever happen to run up to a warrior/priest group, take out the priest first, preferably using silence and just DPSing the hell out of him before the warrior even knows what is going on. Silence is one of the better things about being a shadow priest. Bind a rank 1 Shadow Word: Pain to your hotbar somewhere, and you can use that on people at the very beginning of the fight. Personally, I have it bound to Z. I just start spamming that at the beginning to get 4/5 Shadow Vulnerability, toss up a normal Shadow Word: Pain, and begin nuking to my heart's content. Mind flay is a near constant use spell (mana efficient and slows movement). Silence is also very good. Spirit Tap is non-useless, as with a limited battle group, you will be killing people and wanting mana back, but Blackout is probably more useful. A good guide for priest PvP (although aimed largely at shadow priests) can be found here.

http://www.shadowpriest.com

Battlegrounds

A warrior and a priest in tandem make a great [flag stealing] combo. The warrior makes the run, the priest stays right behind shielding, dispelling and healing, fearing enemies and generally making the most of the warriors HP. Most enemies will be so crazed and frantic to get the flag back they will ignore you, as there are not many players who manage to stay calm in certain situations.

Priest Talent Table

Hocbizz's PVE Tree

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/priest/talents.html?5000320130000000000000000000000000000000000053250110250123051551

There are variations of this tree but it is a basic Shadow PVE tree, note the improved PW fortitude for better buffs as well as the reduction in Shadow power (Reduced crit chance = less agro) and Mind Blast. The Inner Focus talent is key in raids and instances. Again this is an opinion and not necessarily shared by other players.