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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsSpiritual Guidance: Discipline priest 101, page 3
by Dawn Moore 
Dec 20th 2010 at 4:00PM
Gems
The following are recommended gems for priests.
- Brilliant Inferno Ruby intellect (red)
- Sparkling Ocean Sapphire spirit (blue)
- Purified Demonstone intellect/spirit (purple)
- Zen Dream Emerald spirit/mastery (green)
- Artful Ember Topaz intellect/mastery (orange)
- Potent Ember Topaz intellect/critical strike (orange)
- Reckless Ember Topaz intellect/haste (orange)
You may end up with a bit of a mishmash of different gem types on your gear trying to get your socket bonuses and the gems you like, but at the beginning of an expansion, this isn't a big deal since each of our desirable stats is lacking, anyway.
For meta gems, the following will be the most useful to a PvE discipline priest.
- Ember Shadowspirit Diamond For players who don't want to use a Wrath meta gem, this will probably be the meta of choice. This gem provides a nice buff to intellect as well as mana pool.
- Revitalizing Shadowspirit Diamond This gem provides throughput through additional crit effect (this is not the same as additional crit rating) and spirit. Definitely appealing to disc priests who find themselves high on crit and want to see a bit more out of their crit healing.
- Insightful Earthsiege Diamond This Wrath meta gem did not see an upgrade in Cataclysm, but with mana being in short supply, I expect to see many priests defaulting back to this dated gem. The proc chance is really low (5 percent on a 15-second internal cooldown), but it returns 600 mana when you do get lucky. Definitely appealing in Cataclysm.
Reforging
Reforging gear isn't too necessary on discipline priests because we currently use all our stats in some way. If you have an undesirable stat like hit, then definitely reforge that, but overall, you won't need to do too much reforging if you want to stay balanced. If you are having trouble in one area, though (mana, more than likely), then reforge whatever you can to spirit. For secondary stats, tend toward what you think you are lacking, as well as your role and playstyle.
Glyphs
With the new glyph system, you can stock up on all the glyphs you may potentially use and swap between them whenever you please. The glyphs below are glyphs you should learn as a discipline priest.
Prime
- Glyph of Penance Always keep this glyph inscribed, as it reduces the cooldown of one of our strongest heals. Probably the only truly mandatory glyph disc priests have.
- Glyph of Power Word: Barrier A must-have for raiding disc priests, this glyph increases all healing done underneath the barrier. That means the heals of other healers, as well. In 5-mans, this can be very beneficial, but since you're the only healer putting anything out, you can pass if you prefer something else. Mandatory for raiding, optional for 5-man.
- Glyph of Power Word: Shield The free heal from this glyph can and does add up. Not necessarily mandatory, but very close.
- Glyph of Flash Heal Using this glyph is going to be dependent on how often you use Flash Heal. Optional.
- Glyph of Prayer of Healing The new changes to Divine Aegis and Prayer of Healing gives incentive to cast Prayer of Healing, which means this glyph is great, especially in 5-mans where it serves as a strong alternative to Glyph of Power Word: Barrier. Optional.
- Glyph of Dispel Magic This is an incredibly strong glyph. You have to cast Dispel Magic anyway, so to toss in a decent-sized, free heal, you'll get a much more rewarding spell in your toolbox.
- Glyph of Divine Accuracy This glyph is mandatory if you want to use Evangelism and Archangel.
- Glyph of Holy Nova This is a circumstantial glyph because the mana efficiency of Holy Nova is so poor. If you have something you need to spam down or up with Holy Nova, then this is your choice.
- Glyph of Mass Dispel Dispelling is very important in the expansion, so if you find an encounter that needs it, this glyph is what you want to use. However, this Mass Dispel is quite costly and the Glyph of Dispel Magic heals individual targets. If you only need to dispel a few people, it's better to individually dispel them.
- Glyph of Psychic Scream This glyph is helpful but not mandatory. It makes using Psychic Scream much safer in a dungeon, but when do you use Psychic Scream in a dungeon? Circumstantially: either to counter a specific mechanic where an instant cast crowd control works best, or when there is an emergency and you want to go above and beyond to help out your group.
- Glyph of Fading Though you won't be using Fade very often, when you do this glyph will reduce the amount of mana it costs, which is quite handy in a mana strapped world.
- Glyph of Fortitude Similarly to the reasoning for taking the last glyph, Glyph of Fortitude will cut down the cost of buffing. This is really important if someone dies, is battle rezzed, and needs buffs. If you have a shadow priest in the raid, it's generally better to have him buff, but if you're all the group has you'll want this.
- Glyph of Levitate This glyph is now actually quite important as opposed to a novely. Cataclysm has added a vertical plane to combat, which means you can now jump or Levitate over certain mechanics. Mobs in Stonecore, for example, have an earthquake attack you can avoid by levitating your party. Also, in Throne of the Four Winds, you can use Levitate to quickly move over the blizzard patches in the fight against Al'Akir without taking damage.
- Glyph of Shackle Undead You can inscribe this glyph when you need it, and only when you need it. At level 85 I've used it a lot in Shadowfang Keep since there are lots of undead mobs there.
- Back Greater Intellect (for tailors: Lightweave Embroidery or Darkglow Embroidery)
- Chest Peerless Stats or Exceptional Spirit
- Feet Haste or Mastery
- Fingers Enchanters only: Intellect
- Hands Mastery or Haste
- Head Arcanum of Hyjal
- Legs Powerful Ghostly Spellthread
- Off-hand Superior Intellect
- Shoulders Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone (for scribes: Felfire Inscription)
- Waist Ebonsteel Belt Buckle
- Weapon Power Torrent or Heartsong (some players may also like Hurricane)
- Wrists Exceptional Spirit or Speed
That's it. I plan to periodically come back to this article and make small adjustments as needed. None of my conclusions are particularly concrete, just based on past experience, current observation, and a little foundation from our friends at Elitist Jerks. There are a lot of different directions priests can go from here, and they need to be explored and tested. There could be a far better way to do things than what I've laid out in portions of this guide, and as the discussion continues, I will try to adjust for that. If you have feedback, suggestions, or anything else to improve upon this guide, please leave them for me in the comments.
Want more tips for carrying out your priestly duties as a discipline priest? Spiritual Guidance: Discipline has you covered. Check out our beta roundup to find out what's new for priests in Cataclysm, and then review our article on working through levels 80 to 85 as a priest.
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 5)
Dawn Moore Dec 21st 2010 1:14PM
If you're using Strength of Soul, you're casting Heal, which means you still want haste and crit. Power Word: Shield does a lot for us, but you still cast and will need to cast other spells. If all you did as put up shields, then use mastery, but that's not what any of us is likely doing right now.
Luminarie Dec 20th 2010 6:13PM
Nice write up Dawn. I was a disc priest through Wrath and after hitting heroics I had to let my disc spec go. I was doing the Smite heal spec and 333 ilvl just wasn't cutting it for me. Admittedly, I haven't played Disc after the rapture buff or since attaining a 344 ilvl. It's on the to do list but I'm a little nervous. I can't wait for your holy guide next week. Finally going to raid something that's not VoA 2.0 this week =)
themightysven Dec 20th 2010 7:08PM
was going to ask about the relative value of taking Twisted Faith for Smite build, but 18% (from the glyph) is pretty win especially as there aren't many Major glyphs. so how about the value of Glyph of Smite with an inner focused Holy Fire.
Also, Smite build leveling FTW
Dawn Moore Dec 21st 2010 1:17PM
As a healer? Nah. Holy Fire isn't affected by the Precision glyph, so you'd likely miss with Holy Fire on raid bosses. On normal mobs though it's fine so in leveling and solo play it works.
Steph Dec 20th 2010 7:10PM
Thank You Dawn, I have been pulling my hair out with my Priest.
I have even come to the point where until I could find some info on what I needed for Disc I was not going to play my Priest.
The poor thing has been sitting in Org for about 4 days now because I feel like a complete failure as a Priest.
I guess now its time to put the Rogue away and start healing again.
Lampp Dec 20th 2010 8:28PM
My main spec is Shadow but I have been doing a lot of disc healing in heroics and also in our first run in black wing descent last night. What I need some help in is disc macros. Can anyone either point me to a good site or let me know how to do wome things?
A) Macro Inner Focus to Greater Heal to save time
B) whisper the target of Power Infusion they are having it cast on htem (for times when I can spare it)
If I am missing any other basics don't hesitate to let me know, gain, new at this healy thing...
TYVM in advance!
repsels Dec 20th 2010 8:39PM
Very nice article, thank you :)
I was just wondering about the HPM numbers. If you take the bonus from Train Of Thought in account - making every 7th Greater Heal free, if you always use Inner Focus for that - wouldn't that bring Greater Heal's efficiency up to ~4 as well?
Maybe I'm missing something vital, but I'm not using Heal at all (haven't raided though, that might change things:), so I haven't specced into Strength of Soul. Casting Greater Heal as main heal and using Inner Focus mostly on that seems to be doing the trick for me. Would like to know if this is flawed somehow though, since every guide includes using Heal/Strength of soul :)
Dawn Moore Dec 21st 2010 1:23PM
Healers aren't DPS, so we can't really expect to always be casting spells in a rotation. If the spell's HPM only goes up when you do a certain thing, the spell really isn't more efficient.
You can definitely use Greater Heal to replace Heal though, btw. Just so long as you're not subbing Heal with Flash Heal.
Botono Dec 21st 2010 2:02PM
"If the spell's HPM only goes up when you do a certain thing, the spell really isn't more efficient."
That's just not true. Over a period of time, the number of free casts you get will drop the overall cost of the spell, and it can eclipse the efficiency of other methods. That's like saying that using Heal to shorten the debuff time of Weakened Soul so you can cast more shields doesn't improve the HPS of PW:S.
Speccing into Train of Thought and using Greater Heal macro'd with Inner Focus as your primary tank heal is not only viable, but incredible effective. The HPS of Heal is just too low to be considered really effective. If the tank is taking so little damage that you can get away with chain casting Heal, you might as well just stand around or keep a Greater Heal in the pipe for when the tank actually needs some healing.
Sthenno at "What's Wrong With WoW" has dug pretty deeply into the details of all this and has a great analysis here:
http://whatswrongwithwow.blogspot.com/2010/12/train-of-thought.html
Dawn Moore Dec 21st 2010 2:31PM
But in the case of my little chart on page 1, I can't just start making those kinds of adjustments. Well this spell is THIS good when you do THIS. Renew is more efficient when you take Renew talents over inspiration and cast time talents too. This guide is very general. It's for 5-mans and raiding. Heal is a part of your spellbook. If you don't have time to use it, or you prefer to higher HPS spell, then you do. But you can use both, either, or some unbalanced mix of the two. I cannot calculate HPM for an introductory guide that says "the maximum HPM of this is X and you get it by doing this" for every spell. I'm not advocating for any one playstyle or spell. I'm just giving you guys some HPM numbers that Doc. Damage calculated a week and a half ago on my shitty geared priest. It gives players a general idea of efficiency.
I will NEVER recommend macroing inner focus to greater heal. Even if I only ever use Inner Focus with Greater Heal. Even if the macro maximizes Inner Focus usage ... More f inspiration and cast time talents too. This guide is very general. it's for 5-mans and raiding. Heal is a part of your spellbook. If you don't have time to use it, or you prefer to higher HPS spell, then you do. But you can use both, either, or some unbalanced mix of the two. I cannot calculate HPM for an introductory guide that says "the maximum HPM of this is X and you get it by doing this" for every spell. I'm not advocating for any one playstyle or spell. I'm just give you guys some HPM numbers that Doc. Damage calculated a week and a half ago on my shitty geared priest. It gives players a general idea of efficiency.
I will NEVER recommend macroing inner focus to greater heal. Even if I only ever use Inner Focus with Greater Heal. Even if the macro maximizes Inner Focus usage to seconds. I believe in having absolute control over when you use things and that precision is more important to me. Automating things is fine, but it's not how I play.
I haven't advocated against Train of Thought, or Greater Heal. I'm just saying that to tweak the HPM so that you're basically advocating one style of play is very deceptive. It pushes one style and there are MANY ways to play that work. Greater Heal, Heal, whatever you want. The HPS of Heal does work, I know because I use it in 5-mans and raids, and it keeps me very busy. It's fun and it works. I use Greater Heal a bunch too. As a priest you shouldn't short yourself by just cutting a spell out.
Botono Dec 21st 2010 5:18PM
My comment wasn't in regard to your chart, it was in regard to your comment that stated that spells that require a certain action to improve their HPM are not, in fact, more efficient spells. If anything, it is deceptive to say that a spell is not more mana efficient simply because you have to use it in a certain way, when the fact remains that the play style makes the spell more efficient. No one is tweaking the HPM of anything to make it look more attractive. If you take Train of Thought, use Greater Heal as your primary single-target heal and user Inner Focus on every cooldown, the HPM improves. That's not tweaking, that's just how it works.
And you are very much advocating for one kind of play style over another. If I followed the advice in this article, I would only use Renew on the tank, and only if they taking a lot of damage. I would use Heal as my primary spell. I would cast PW:Shield on the tank at every opportunity. I'm not making any judgements about these pieces of advice. I think the article is very sound. But don't shy away from saying you're giving advice about play style, because you most certainly are. :) And you should, because that's why people come to web sites like this.
For me, personally, I would ALWAYS recommend macroing Inner Focus to your big spells (Greater Heal, Prayer of Healing) because the only benefit of Inner Focus is a free spell with a bigger crit chance. If you're not using it at every opportunity, you're not using it effectively. If you save it to use in a more "precise" way, you are cheating yourself out of its benefits.
I originally felt the need to make my comments because I felt that the Train of Though/Greater Heal/Inner Focus play style of single-target healing was getting the brush off in your post and in your comments, and it is a very powerful play style. In current levels of gear, it approaches if not surpasses Heal's mana efficiency and blows Heal's throughput out of the water. It's one thing to say "there are a lot of play styles and you shouldn't advocate one over the others; play what makes you happy", but if someone were to tell you their main heal was Flash Heal, I think you'd have a few choice words for them. :)
For me, the HPS of Heal makes it a non-starter, especially when there is a better (read: more throughput, similar efficiency) and easily-accessible alternative in ToT + GH. I've found that, in heroics at least, if the DTPS is low enough to make Heal viable, it's low enough to not cast anything. And after an entire expansion of being required to cast something every GCD or fail, I'll gladly take a little breathing room to think about my next move. :)
Dawn Moore Dec 21st 2010 6:06PM
I should have been more specific on what I meant by advocating a playstyle. Train of Thought + Greater Heal, Heal + Strength of Soul, Smite + Atonement/Archangel, these are what I'd consider major playstyle choices for disc right now. Telling you guys that Renew is inefficient and probably should be saved for targets taking direct damage is not a style of disc that you can choose to take through your talents. There is no weaving that gets x effect from using or not using renew. But there are different results you get from using some of our abilities, and you kind of do have to pick one. Perhaps I need to find a better way of describing these different paths.
As for brushing Train of Thought off, that wasn't my intent. I'll have to cover it more in the future. This is still an introductory article, and it's massive, and it's pretty easy to miss things honestly. I ran my article by a priest friend before I published it and said "thinking about adding this this and this" and he said adding that was wandering out of 101 and into more complicated stuff. It's hard to know where to draw the line exactly. WoW Insider wanted us to write these guides at the highest priority but I don't think it's the best time to publish them myself. The best general purpose, cookie cutter specs and rotations haven't quite been established yet, and a lot of players who need this information might not even be 85 yet. 30% of my readers don't even raid, from my understanding.
Anyway, my reason for not giving it so much attention is that Train of Thought is unavoidable. If you skip Atonement/Archangel and get strength of soul, you still have to grab Train of Thought just to finish up the tree unless you start picking up PvP talents. So since I didn't really need to convince anyone to take it I just forgot to talk about it. I contemplated earlier in this guides outline talking about each spell one by one, rather than just list the HPM, but it got scrapped and pseudo-merged with the general healing tips. I sometimes wonder if I need to explain tool tips or not. If I had written that section though I'd probably have given GHeal the attention you'd like though. I like the spell just fine, and it has a good place in the game right now. Don't be so quick to brush off Heal though. Heal is very unsatisfying to use at times, I'll admit, but it's one of the mole-whacking hammers. The synergy with Strength of Soul really is more about HPS than Rapture (you'd get one heal off at most to assist with the WS CD) but I'm very mana minded right now so I'm writing in that style. Hey this does x and *distracted by mana* sorta thing. If you're not in a 5-man you should always have 2-3 targets to throw Power Word: Shield on and stagger your Rapture procs. It's not even really something you need to do intentionally. If you're focusing on getting a Rapture proc EVERY 12 seconds you're putting your mental focus in the wrong place. Mana is tight, but not that tight. Particularly with the latest buff.
As for precision and Inner Focus, I did the same thing with Divine Hymn. I have a Power aura for Inner Focus since it went to 45, so I know when it's up - it's not like it sits around for 30 seconds not getting used. It's just that there are times where in a fraction of a second - particularly in raiding - that heal you were going to cast is no longer needed and what you're going to do next. That Inner Focus will sit there until you need it but what if I'm under the effects of Power Infusion? I'd rather save my Inner Focus for when I'm paying full price for my spells. PI is the last time I want to use Inner Focus. What if I want to use it for the crit and tack it on a PoH so there is a chance to get some PoH crits? Making the choice is fun to me. The game isn't THAT hard for healers, in the long run. The more things we get to think about the better.
If there are typos in here I'm not checking them... I'm tired and it's nap time.
Olivier69weber Dec 20th 2010 10:03PM
Thanks for your excellent work, Dawn. I'm worried you dislike Renew so much though, it's such a crucial part of my toolbox. I like how it stabilises a target. Been following your advice and trying to use Heal ( but God it's slooooow). Finally, has anyone used Leap of Faith yet? I keep forgetting that I have that new spell
Dharmabhum Dec 20th 2010 11:17PM
Oh man, how can you NOT use Leap of Faith? Its one of the best spells in the game, hands down. You can pull a DPS who pulled aggro, you can save a tank in those low %HP situations where you just need a second to catch up, you can save a raid member across the room, and you can pull any number of pranks and WTF moments on party and raid members! Great animation too :D
Matrillik Dec 20th 2010 11:59PM
Oh man, Life Grip is without a doubt my favorite move in all of warcraft (well it may compete somewhat with mind vision and mind control, but still.) I have used Life Grip for all of the following and more:
1. Pulling a druid healer across a room who got separated from the group by a giant void zone
2. Saving my lock friend from an hour long stun lock against a rogue and feral druid in a BG
3. Annoying all my friends who think they can get back to the boss before me just because they can sprint or blink. (grip em after they pass you and they end up sprinting in the opposite direction and maybe blinking if you count the CD right)
4. Saving myself from certain death after a fail on a boss fight that left me and a dps or two running for the zone exit. (They had agro which would have dropped if they exited and I get one-shot.) Also: it's funny because you basically just killed your teammate.
5. Pulling back that retarded tank who didn't know a boss was about to spawn in front of him while party was afk.
6. pulling rogues out of fire/retardins out of cleaves
7. pvp with a prot warrior: charge in - intervene me out - intercept back in - life grip out - heroic leap back in. It's a sight to see.
The possibilities are endless.
Dawn Moore Dec 21st 2010 1:25PM
I don't dislike Renew. I explain my thoughts on it in this comment on page 1: http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/12/20/spiritual-guidance-discipline-priest-101-page-3/comments/32186654/
As for Lifegrip, when I get a good list of uses for it that aren't harassment based, I'll write an article about just Lifegrip and when to use it. It's fun, but I toy with it more than anything.
Puntable Dec 21st 2010 1:50PM
Mostly I use Leap on impatient Tanks when I'm still drinking. When you see the Tank running up to pull, snatch him back to you and continue drinking. I'm glad Expresso is cheap to make.
Pgood Dec 21st 2010 3:33PM
One use for Leap of Faith? Pulling Death Knight tanks away from Ozruk for Shatter during Heroic Stonecore, especially because, outside of dumping all their Runic Power and switching to Unholy (which is a horrible idea), they have the worst time getting away from the bastard. They still have a hard time getting BACK to him, but, slow moving tank is better than dead tank.
Also, don't know if anyone has tried this, and I've been afraid to drop the gcd instead of healing: can you Leap of Faith the tank out of Azil's Force Grip? Generally have a rogue that's amazing at interrupting her, but, I'd like to be able to save myself and the tank some misery, and us Disc priests have pretty much NO interrupts.
Desmentia Dec 20th 2010 10:44PM
"I still don't know the stat priority. I know spirit is important. What about the second stat? What weighs the most?"
I personally go for Crit/Mastery as secondaries, in that order. Haste has no effect on healing output in a mana limited world, so I've been avoiding it like the plague. I had at one point some math to back my decision up, but I've misplaced it. This gearing strategy has allowed me to successfully heal the Omnitron encounter as Discipline, however. Take that however you wish.
Matrillik Dec 20th 2010 11:59PM
Wow Dawn, I was wondering why you were MIA for the last week or so on the healing version of Spiritual Guidance, but I realize now it's because you were writing a novel!
Very insanely thorough analysis. Lots of info people don't even begin to think about. I wouldn't call this a 101, more like Priest 485 or some crazy crap.
Can't wait for the holy version! I thought for sure that holy healing would be much more complicated that discipline, but I really don't want to wait another month for an article and have to read a term paper for it haha.