Cataclysm Talent Preview: Discipline priests
by Dawn Moore 
Jun 10th 2010 at 8:00PM
The preview confirms the full details on the long-awaited discipline ability, Power Word: Barrier. A new talent called Archangel was also unveiled. Hit the jump to check it out.
Since I'll be looking at everything talent-by-talent, you may want to look up the preview build I'm discussing. You can find the talents calculator from the preview at Wowhead.
Discipline Talent Tree
Tier 1 (Left to Right)
- Unbreakable Will (5 ranks available) Reduces the duration of stun, fear, and silence effects done to you by an additional 6/12/18/24/30%.
No changes here. (What better way is there than to start out a talent preview analysis than with a talent tier that has no changes?) - Twin Disciplines (5 ranks available) Increases the damage and healing done by your instant spells and the damage absorbed by your Power Word: Shield by 1/2/3/4/5%.
No change. (It was pointed out to me the tooltip for this ability changed to mention that PW:S benefits from the extra 5%. However, PW: S has always benefitted from the bonuses offered by Twin Disciplines before now, so the tooltip has simply been written to reflect that. Thanks!)
- Penitence (3 ranks) Increases the critical effect chance of your Smite and Penance spells by 5/10/15%.
When I wrote about the leaked talent trees previously, I wondered to myself where Holy Specialization had gone. This is one place that talent seems to have been divided. It will be a nice buff to Penance, though I am not sure it is needed. Even though a few crit talents are being moved around, you'd have to have terrible luck if most of your Penance ticks aren't already crits. Currently, I usually see two out of three ticks crit.
From the Smite side though, disc looks to be getting some of its old offensive capabilities back from TBC -- great for PvP, an unknown for PvE at the moment. You'll need these talents to move on to Evangelism in tier 4, assuming that's what you want. More on that further down. - Improved Inner Fire (3 ranks available) Increases the effect of your Inner Fire spell by 15/30/45%.
No change save for the removal of the charges, which we knew was coming. - Focused Power (2 ranks avaialble) Reduces the cast time of your Mind Control spell by 0.3/0.5 seconds, and your Mass Dispel cast time is reduced by 0.5/1 second.
Previously discussed. Currently, Focused Power sits in tier 6 of the discipline tree and grants throughput and reduced cast time on Mass Dispel. Now, the throughput has been replaced with utility and the talents moved to tier 2. This will allow greater accessibility to the utility for both holy and shadow priests. - Martyrdom (2 ranks available) Gives you a 50/100% chance to gain the Focused Casting effect that lasts for 6 seconds after being the victim of a melee or ranged critical strike. The Focused Casting effect reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting priest spells and decreases the duration of interrupt effects by 10/20%.
No change.
- Atonement (3 ranks) When you deal damage with Smite, you instantly heal a nearby low-health friendly target within 40 yards equal to 15/30/45% of the damage dealt.
Yay! Priests get a splash effect heal ... sort of. I'm not sure on the value on this talent yet. It seems like it will lend itself well to PvP or questing, as it should buy you some time before casting a heal on your party (or yourself) when you're trying to focus down an enemy target. Its utility will depend on how strong and fast your Smites are versus how strong and fast the incoming damage is. - Inner Focus (1 rank available) Instant - 1.5 min cooldown - When activated, reduces the mana cost of your next spell by 100% and increases its critical effect chance by 25% if it is capable of a critical effect.
The cooldown is being halved from 3 minutes to 1.5. This change is long overdue in my opinion, so I'm pleased to see Blizzard feels the same way. Currently you can usually only get one to two uses of Inner Focus per fight, meaning most of us are sitting on this ability to pair it with Divine Hymn. Now we'll be able to think of using it for mana efficiency and those "I need a crit heal now" moments. Add in disc's Aspiration and it's another savvy cooldown for our toolbox. - Improved Power Word: Shield (3 ranks available) Increase the damage absorbed by your Power Word: Shield by 5/10/15%.
No change.
- Evangelism (2 ranks available) When you cast Smite you gain Evangelism, increasing the damage done by your Smite, Holy Fire, Holy Nova and Penance spells by 2/4% and reducing the mana cost of those spells by 3/6% for 15 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times.
Cute name, given the nature of the talent. (Am I the only person who would call Evangelism cute?) Looks like a great talent for disc damage in PvP and solo content. Past that, we'll have to wait until we get into beta to find the PvE utility in upper-end content. Ghostcrawler (lead systems designer) has said already that we'll probably want to shy away from damage talents in our healing specs, but come on -- you know we're all going to be trying it. - Mental Agility (3 ranks available) Reduces the mana cost of your instant cast spells by 4/7/10%.
No change. - Improved Mana Burn (2 ranks available) Reduces the cast time of your Mana Burn spell by 0.5/1 seconds.
No change.
Tier 5 (Left to Right)
- Archangel (1 rank available) Consumes your Evangelism effects, instantly restoring 3% of your total mana and increasing your healing done by 3% for each stack. Also allows you to channel Penance while moving. Lasts 18 seconds.
This talent intrigues me. There was a hybrid class in Warhammer called the Disciple of Khaine, which I enjoyed playing quite a bit. The idea was that you had to do damage to heal -- brilliant concept, except it wasn't executed all that well. I still love the concept though, and while I doubt Blizzard is trying to go for that with disc (after all, unless there is a reason for disc to deal damage, how would you use this talent in PvE?), it makes me get rather starry-eyed at the thought. I really would love to be able to cast Penance on the go in a raid (the way shamans will be able to cast on the run on cooldown), but it seems unlikely that we'll have an opportunity to be stacking up Evangelism in PvE past solo questing. At the very least, this kind of talent will be an excellent choice for leveling. - Enlightenment (3 ranks available) Increases your total mana and total health by 2/4/6%.
In addition to moving up from tier 6, Enlightenment has lost its 2/4/6% increased spirit and haste and exchanged them for increased mana and health. Kind of boring, but I suppose we'll be wanting the extra mana in the new mana management model. - Power Word: Barrier (1 rank available) Requires 2 points in Improved Power Word: Shield - 13383 Mana - 40 yd range - 0.5 sec cast - 3 min cooldown - Summons a holy barrier on the target location that absorbs 293 damage done to party or raid members within it each time they take damage. While within the barrier, spellcasting will not be interrupted by damage. The barrier lasts for 15 seconds or until it absorbs 1955 damage.
Previously discussed. As I said before, the cooldown is questionable when compared to shaman's Healing Rain, but if it scales nicely into the higher levels, I'll be swayed. As it stands, the spell has huge tactical benefits with the elimination of pushback, and given the game that I have envisioned from the various talent previews in the last couple of months (that is, a game with more area and movement play), I think Power Word: Barrier will have its place in PvE (and of course PvP) in Cataclysm.
- Reflective Shield (2 ranks available) Causes 22/45%% of the damage you absorb with Power Word: Shield to reflect back at the attacker. This damage causes no threat.
No change. - Soul Warding (3 ranks available) Requires 1 point in Power Word: Barrier - Reduces the cooldown of your Power Word: Shield ability by 1/2/3 seconds, and reduces the mana cost or your Power Word: Shield by 5/10/15%.
So looks like I was wrong when I said that I thought the extra ranks added to Soul Warding were just filler. Oh well; this talent has been moved down from tier 5 and had its ranks increased from one to three. Curiously, the new incarnation of the talents only reduce the cooldown on Power Word: Shield by 3 seconds, as opposed to the current 4 seconds. This makes me wonder if Blizzard is going to lower the Power Word: Shield cooldown to 3 seconds, or if this is what they meant when they said disc priests were going to have to use more than PW: S in Cataclysm. If it's the former, then no worries. If it's the latter, I'd say that's a really lame fix -- and this is coming from me, the optimist. Here's why.
When I read we'd be using more than our bubbles, I kind of figured it would be because we'd want to use other spells to maximize throughput and efficiency, not because we were going to be forced to. I remind you, Blizzard, that you created the ability for us to shield spam by introducing Soul Warding, then propagated its usage with the encounter designs in ToC and ICC. We could shield spam in Ulduar, but we didn't because it wasn't effective to do so until the structured chaos that was Algalon. Cool idea for one boss; not so cool for the next two tiers. Please don't think any of us ever wanted to be stuck pushing the same button over and over again; I know you watch Lost.
You know raiders (tricky bastards that we are) are going to min-max our roles to the crumbs. So if you didn't want us to shield spam, don't design fights that can be approached with a single method of healing for six minutes. Create fights that are fun to design and fun to heal, and you won't need a one-second cooldown on Power Word: Shield.
Tier 7 (Left to Right)
- Divine Aegis (3 ranks available) Critical heals create a protective shield on the target, absorbing 10/20/30% of the amount healed. Lasts 12 seconds.
No change save for moving up from tier 9. - Power Infusion (1 rank available) Requires 2 points in Enlightenment - 3294 Mana - 30 yd range - Instant cast - 2 min cooldown - Infuses the target with power, increasing spell casting speed by 20% and reducing the mana cost of all spells by 20%. Lasts 15 seconds.
No significant changes have been made to Power Infusion, but instead of requiring the five points from Mental Strength to take this talent, the preview states it will now only require two points of the new Enlightenment. I'm not sure if the two is intentional, as opposed to three (which is the maximum rank of Enlightenment), but we'll see. - Improved Flash Heal (3 ranks available) Reduces the mana cost of your Flash Heal by 5/10/15% and increases the critical effect chance of your Flash Heal by 4/7/10% on friendly targets at or below 50% health.
No change.
- Renewed Hope (2 ranks available) Increases the critical effect chance of your Flash Heal, Greater Heal and Penance (Heal) spells by 2/4% on targets afflicted by the Weakened Soul effect, and you have a 50/100% chance to reduce all damage taken by 3% for 1 minute to all friendly party and raid targets when you cast Power Word: Shield. This effect has a 15-second cooldown.
No change. - Rapture (3 ranks available) When your Power Word: Shield is completely absorbed or dispelled, you are instantly energized with 1.5/2/2.5% of your total mana, and you have a 33/66/100% chance to energize your shielded target with 2% total mana, 8 rage, 16 energy or 32 runic power. This effect can only occur once every 12 seconds.
No change. - Aspiration (2 ranks available) Reduces the cooldown of your Inner Focus, Power Infusion, Pain Suppression and Penance spells by 10/20%.
No change.
- Focused Will (3 ranks available) After taking a critical hit you gain the Focused Will effect, reducing all damage taken by 2/3/4% and increasing healing effects on you by 3/4/5%. Stacks up to 3 times. Lasts 8 seconds.
Previously discussed. The extra spell crit on Focused Will was removed, making this talent much more clearly designated for PvP. - Pain Suppression (1 rank available) 1647 Mana - 40 yd range - Instant cast - 3 min cooldown -Instantly reduces a friendly target's threat by 5%, reduces all damage taken by 40% and increases resistance to Dispel mechanics by 65% for 8 seconds.
No change. - Grace (2 ranks available) Your Flash Heal, Greater Heal, and Penance spells bless the target with Grace, increasing all healing received from the Priest by 2/4%. This effect will stack up to 3 times. Effect lasts 15 seconds. Grace can only be active on one target at a time.
Gone are the days of taking one talent in Grace. Each rank of these talents no longer increases the chance to apply Grace, but instead increases the stacking healing effect buff. Previously the buff was a static 3% that stacked up to three times. With the new Grace, you'll be able to stack a total of 12% increased healing on your target.
- Borrowed Time (5 ranks available) Grants 5/10/15/20/25% spell haste for your next spell after casting Power Word: Shield, and increases the amount absorbed by your Power Word: Shield equal to 4/8/12/16/20% of your spell power.
The absorption bonus has gone down from 8/16/24/32/40%, but otherwise, Borrowed Time remains intact. I'm curious if the alteration has anything to do with the possible addition of a second shield (stronger or weaker) that Blizzard talked about in the class previews, or if the missing plus absorption is just going to be picked up by discipline's mastery bonus.
- Penance (1 rank available) Enemy: 30 yd range - Friendly: 40 yd range - 3294 Mana - Channeled - 12 sec cooldown - Launches a volley of holy light at the target, causing 394 to 439 Holy damage to an enemy, or 1201 to 1354 healing to an ally instantly and every 1 second for 2 seconds.
The base healing and damage numbers have changed on this talent, with the healing going down and the damage going up. I doubt this is a nerf, seeing as they're redesigning so much, but we won't know for sure until later.
Afterthoughts
At this moment, I feel like the trees still feel very weighed down with healing and damage buffs. Blizzard already addressed this, saying that trimming the fat is a matter of perspective. I see where they're coming from, but I think it's largely a case of being burdened by the rather cemented aspect of the game, where we receive one talent point per level starting at level 10. They can't really slim down the trees and funnel those buffs into mastery without changing that system. If they did, they'd have to design 70 talents per tree that "did something," and that isn't feasible given the amount of staff dedicated to WoW (not to mention balance issues and the clutter it would create for us as players). That said, Blizz, darlings, you may have over-hyped mastery a little. I forgive you, though.
At this moment, I feel like the trees still feel very weighed down with healing and damage buffs. Blizzard already addressed this, saying that trimming the fat is a matter of perspective. I see where they're coming from, but I think it's largely a case of being burdened by the rather cemented aspect of the game, where we receive one talent point per level starting at level 10. They can't really slim down the trees and funnel those buffs into mastery without changing that system. If they did, they'd have to design 70 talents per tree that "did something," and that isn't feasible given the amount of staff dedicated to WoW (not to mention balance issues and the clutter it would create for us as players). That said, Blizz, darlings, you may have over-hyped mastery a little. I forgive you, though.
For now, I can't make many more conclusions until more information is released. I'm curious if Archangel is going to affect discipline's gameplay as a healer? What about the usage of Power Word: Barrier in PvE? What will define discipline as it grows up past its adolescence as a PvE spec? Will all of these changes make players want to PvP more? Those are my thoughts for now; any more major conclusions may take a few days of stewing. Check back in with Spiritual Guidance on Sunday, where I may interject any loose ends I've missed here. Or I may talk about bunnies.
Next, check out the talent preview analysis for holy and Fox Van Allen's shadow analysis.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From goblins and worgens to mastery and guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.Filed under: Priest, Analysis / Opinion, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jewbanks Jun 10th 2010 10:21PM
Isnt a 1 second cooldown on a spell irrelevant. As far as Im aware casters will still have a minimum GCD of 1 second so itll be as if there is no CD.
BelfPriest Jun 11th 2010 3:30AM
I SAY WE GET HOLY DPS( kinda the same way feral has tank or dps)
evangelism looks great, and if there were more bridge specs in the holy tree the smite thing on chakra looks great too
-i always thought holy dps would be cool, but i guessed they would never do it. I'm even more excited about cata now!
Dawn Moore Jun 11th 2010 3:52AM
I'm of the belief that it will be an additional second after the GCD, but when we're on Beta I'll be happy to eat my words if I'm wrong =)
Amathir Jun 11th 2010 12:15PM
The purpose of the 1 second cooldown is to make it a GCD spell like it is now. The difference is that it's a 3 point talent now, not a 1 point talent.
When it was 1 point, you could simply remove the cooldown on PW:S by "lowering" the cooldown by the full 4 seconds. Boom... instant spell.
Lets assume they were to make this a 4 point talent. If what you were most after was getting PW:S to be spammed every GCD, you would only need 3 out of 4 points spent. That last point spent to bring the GCD down to 0 from 1 second is basically a waste because of GCD.
This was done specifically to void the "lol Blizz, why you put that there none ever take more than 3 points /fail" crap they'd get form forum trolls.
The math makes sense because it's now a multi-point talent.
-------------------------------------------
www.stackingstamina.com
Ikarus Jun 11th 2010 1:43PM
@ Belfpriest
This is the best I can come up with for a Disc/Holy DPS build:
http://cata.wowhead.com/talent#byI0uGhfohofbotfxt0cR0000000M
Unfortunately there's no clear cut path for only dps talents. You have to pick up a few unnecessary talents. Holy/Disc is even harder:
http://cata.wowhead.com/talent#bVIzuG0fohoZfxtu0GobzGg00Mb
Vodkamartini Jun 11th 2010 10:01PM
Decisions, decisions ... do I take 2 points into deliverance or just one point and put the other into Power Infusion, since us disc priests might be more of a "heals with dps option" than straight up tank healer.
And should we use the smite glyph instead of the flash heal one? Pennance and PW: Shield are locks for disc priests.
Crimpshrine Jun 10th 2010 10:25PM
Here's what I imagine happening with Archangel and Evangelism in PvE. Remember XT-002 and other boss fights that have phases where there is simply nothing for a healer to do other than stand there and contribute weakly to damaging the boss. Possibly we will see more encounters like that. Whereas on XT you didn't feel particularly helpful DOTing and spamming Smite, post-Cataclysm your Smites will have a stacking damage increase *and* mana cost reduction, and when the fight shifts back to the normal (healing required) phase, you'll pop the stacks of Evangelism, via Archangel, to get back most of the mana that you just spent on those Smites.
A further issue that could be read into this is maybe the developers didn't like the idea of raids bringing one less healer in order to beat an enrage timer, but then stressing out so much over the lower amount of healing done that everyone finished the raid angry. So in the future a Disc priest might be able to do half of a regular DPSer's damage rather than a fourth or less, during certain phases. That would definitely reduce the incentive to bring one less than a safe number of healers.
Cody Jun 10th 2010 11:05PM
I felt it was more like the way a holy paladin uses it's judgments. You cast to get the judgment effect on the target so the raid can benefit but you also get a sexy haste bonus. The difference being of course that this will take slightly longer to build up and gain a benefit from it. Still, I feel as if that was a thought they had when they designed this talent, that it somewhat enforces the ideal that maybe, lorewise, discipline priests eventually became paladins(both are tank healers and disc priests have talents to reduce damage).
I could be reading too much into that, of course. But I still feel that was the general thought behind this is that a disc priest can sort of handle like a paladin now. Not quite hybridization, of course, seeing as how the gaining of the benefits and the buff itself is different(disc gets mana restore and improved healing while paladin gets haste with a shorter ramp up time).
My two cents, ignore it or whatever.
Ragen Jun 10th 2010 11:47PM
@ Cody
No, I agree wholeheartedly. It's adding in something that helps out healing and creates meaningful (aka active) manipulation of your mana. In this case, it's giving you a great incentive to cast an offensive spell to increase your healing.
Puntable Jun 11th 2010 11:30AM
Atonement - Evangalism - Archangel.
Is this possibly a mana regen mechanic? I don't see where Archangel has a cooldown... Suppose you are out of mana. Cast 1 Smite (which also heals someone), which procs Evangalism, then cast Archangel to get 3% of your total mana. Repeat. That would be 3% mana every 4 seconds (minus the mana cost of casting Smite). Wouldn't that regen mana faster than doing nothing?
Ragen Jun 10th 2010 10:42PM
I believe some of these blogs are not being posted in the feed. I spotted it hiding in a frame. That might be an issue =P
Also, I was thinking about how exactly would the smite idea fit into a healing rotation.
As a disc priest, we have the notoriety of being single target healers, due to how Grace works as a mechanic. What if heal and smite are going to be part of a rotation of balanced healing and damage?
"Divine Accuracy (2 ranks available) Increases the chance to hit with your Smite, Holy Fire, Holy Nova and Penance spells by 10/20%."
This would mean from a healer standpoint, we would have our smite never miss (at least in early content). At the moment (with the 20% buff in ICC), I'm reaching 6k smites without much work.
Atonement (3 ranks) When you deal damage with Smite, you instantly heal a nearby low-health friendly target within 40 yards equal to 15/30/45% of the damage dealt.
If our Smite damage is increased, this could reasonably work as a switch between heal and Smite, while keeping the tank up. Then after we get five stacks of Evangelism, we can keep those up, increasing the Smite damage while lowering it's mana cost, and have a sneaky little mana regen ability that then allows you to move while casting Penance. It's what I would call actively managing your mana.
As an example of a rotation:
Tank: Penance, Smite/Heal, Smite/Heal, Smite/Heal, Penance. This could change depending on the situation.
Ragen Jun 10th 2010 10:48PM
As an afterthought (and apologies for double posting):
With the supposed slower pace plus the triage incoming to us with Cataclysm, would this simply be Blizzard's way of adding fun to heals?
Like Chakra's AoE activation and Resto's Shock mana regen, would the waste of mana be done on purpose to make us think more?
brian Jun 11th 2010 2:05AM
I'm not sure it would be a waste of mana, actually. With the core casted heals being redesigned, Flash Heal might be much more expensive to try and keep people up, and/or top people off. If someone needs a smaller heal, but isn't in immediate danger of dying, Smite might actually be more efficient than Flash Heal, depending on their costs.
However, Flash Heal has a static cost, while Evangelism makes Smite more efficient the more you cast it. A 5 stack of the buff gets you a 30% cheaper Smite, at 20% more damage (and thus ~10% more healing). Not to mention the fact that the stacks can be consumed by Archangel, a 5 stack of which gives back 15% *total* mana, and 15% more healing, while also letting you channel Penance on the move.
I'd say this is all at once Discipline's new "smart-heal," an active mana regen, and a unique spell for them to use. Though, even Holy can get it if it wants to, and in fact would have to take Unbreakable Will to avoid doing so if they want to get far enough into the tree to get barrier.
Xaklo Jun 10th 2010 10:45PM
I read in someone's comments when you (Wow.com) first released these new talents preview, "i think anybody with a "smite spec" in a serious pve environment will get laughed into oblivion." I completely disagree, It almost makes for 2 completely acceptable dps trees in the Priest class. As well as maintaining the same raid heals functionality of Vampiric Embrace without the glittering bodies. Moreso than in raids, I'm super excited to test this out in 5 man dungeons: Imagin, not casting a single "heal" spell throughout the instance, healing only with offensive spells and shields.
zdave Jun 11th 2010 11:06AM
yeah, you're right. i would love to heal without casting healing spells. i definitely rolled a healing class so that i could do weak damage (compared to an actual dps) instead of casting healing spells. and thank god i have to smite 5x to get the full benefit. any less and it would have been really annoying.
Xaklo Jun 14th 2010 7:07AM
Wow subtle sarcasm -_-... what I meant was mostly that we would be serving 2 rolls: *comparable* dps and at the same time healing. Not just a healer with offensive spells. With my current spec and gear I can do 3k+ on most fights in heroics, queued and proactively healing. What these new talents give me is that little edge to make that 4-5k dps (scaling up to whatever will be the norm dps in cata) on each fight, leveling the playing field. And in regards to spamming smite, is it really that different from spamming arcane blast, lightning bolt, wrath, shadow bolt, etc etc etc.?
duskhawk Jun 11th 2010 12:33AM
I saw all the Smite buffs in Disc and thought, "Woo! I can still solo with my hybrid spec on my priest!" Yeah, she'll lose out on some mastery, but I just don't care for Shadow. And of course she'll still have a full-on Disc spec for healing.
Romello Jun 11th 2010 2:46AM
After playing with the talent calculator it seems without sacrificing anything important Disc priests will now be able to get Spirit of Redemption =)
Dawn Moore Jun 11th 2010 3:57AM
Yes, I mentioned that in the Holy article - I should have mentioned it here. I'm very excited to see it and I hope that it will hold true. Penance + Spirit of Redemption! =D
I read this comment from GC after the fact though and thought "aww...":
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=25172125256&pageNo=1&sid=1
Basically he says that the trees aren't finished and where we can put talent points is subject to change.
Xaklo Jun 14th 2010 7:15AM
It also means Disc priest can finally grab Improved Healing, which has tempted discipline priests for so long with it's promise of 15% less mana on our penance, but is just out of reach for most disc builds.