#0 - Aug. 26, 2009, 4:05 p.m.
My guide will only involve games wherein you play as Discipline - since I consider myself not very experienced as Shadow - comparing to my knowledge about the Discipline specc.
Specific information about the classic RMP setup will not be included in this guide, as I've never played it and probably never will.
This guide is only for Discipline, I got little knowledge when it comes to Shadow, however some – but not enough to include it in my guide.
A few priestly pointers:
- Always remember that using Holy Nova Is great DPS. Versus a dual DPS team, It’s a very good addition and will cause the enemies to go down faster. You probably wont go OOM anyway, so don’t forget to use it. Especially if they got a mage. Remember counterspell. It’s mostly efficient when you are the target, then they will stay close to you.
- Always remember to DoT up versus dual DPS teams, if you have the chance. DoTs deal a very good set of extra damage.
- Always remember to support DPS when you have nothing else to do against dual DPS teams. Versus DPS+Healer teams you might want to save your mana at some occasions. Otherwise, you might want to use the Shadow School, to avoid your healing school getting counterspelled.
- You’re fragile to Counterspells, and die quickly in stuns. However stuns are pretty shortlived on a Priest.
- Shadowfiend is a great tool for extra burst aswell as mana. Use it together with Hymn of Hope to gain 20% more mana from the Shadowfiend, increasing total mana – or use it to burst. Mine can crit 2000 easily.
- If you use Platinum Discs of Swiftness (Read [i]Topic 1: Gearing), use it together with Power Infusion for extra casting speed.
The Guide will Contain:
*Topic 1: Gearing, Gemming and Enchanting for PvP*
- Gearing
- Gemming
- Spell Penetration and Hit Rating
- Enchanting
*Topic 2: The 2v2 Setups, Pros and Cons
- Discipline Priest + Feral Druid
- Discipline Priest + Enhancement Shaman
*Topic 3: Speccing
- Adjusting your specc to your gear
*Topic 4: A Few Macros (New)
- Penance Macro
- Shadowfiend Macro
- Focus Frames
- SW: Death Macro
^This guide might be edited in the future.
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Topic 1: Gearing, Gemming and Enchanting for PvP
Gearing
You should gear depending on what you think you need, according to personal referance. I use the classic Spirit (Mooncloth) gear, but as mentioned it eventually comes down to personal referance.
Spirit is better than Crit in the way that it lets you regenerate mana while playing. My honest opinion would be that spirit probably beats crit for 2v2, as you often really need your mana there - and spirit gives you the extra set of mana you need.
However, Crit might beat spirit in many 3v3 situations, aswell as in aggressive 2v2 situations - specificly in a Discipline Priest + Rogue combo.
In this combo, the Priest often plays very aggressively, and thus +Crit gear might be viable.
I've seen good priests use Crit, and good priests use Spirit, so It really doesn't matter too much.
Personally, I chose Spirit - however I've regret that afterwards. I'd say I really did benefit alot from it while playing with an Enhancement Shaman however.
Note: Even though crit increases your damage burst, you have to know that for example if Resilience reduces crit damage by 20% (about 900-1000 resilence), your 150% damage crit will only deal 120% damage, that's 20% extra damage. Many rogues in arena only use around 600 resilience, which increases the relative offensive damage bonus you gain from crit. Crit is also for burst healing however. +10% crit will effectively give you 5% extra healing, decluding abilities/talents such as Power Word: Shield and Divine Aegis.
A few pointers:
*You will "need" (personal preference) Titan-Forged Rune of Audacity -> http://thottbot.com/i46081 eventually, although a few Priests prefer the PvP one with Resilience, personally I prefer Spellpower as it helps you both heal yourself and others. Note that this is not a priority at first, as you will need alot of resilience and stamina at the start rather than spellpower. Spellpower is a later priority, but this item is very efficient. This item is gained from Wintergrasp, 25 Wintergrasp Marks
*You will "need" either Platinum Discs of Swiftness -> http://thottbot.com/i46088
or Battlemaster's Bravery -> http://thottbot.com/i42132
Platinum Discs of Swifteness is gained from Wintergrasp, 25 Wintergrasp Marks
Battlemaster's Bravery costs 62.000 honor.
Personally I prefer Platinum Discs of Swiftness, rather than Battlemaster's Bravery. Their pros and cons are listed below.
Platinum Discs of Swiftness
Pros
*You may use it together with Power Infusion to get a good speed burst. Result = Difficult to kick
*There's a smaller chance that Warriors successfully applies Unrelenting Assault while you have this active, especially when stacking with Power Infusion & BloodLust.
*This item will benefit both healing yourself, and others.
*Especially useful when you have a Shaman in your team (Disc+Enha 2v2 for instance), since when used with Bloodlust will practically stop any Enemy to have the time to interrupt you unless they know you're about to heal.
*This item will benefit your neutral instant cast spells (such as Dispel) in a positive way as you will cast them faster.
Cons
*You may not use this item while silenced.
*Many trolls think this item is less efficient for them. This is because It's unneccesary for them to use anything more than Berserking and Power Infusion, Platinum Discs of Swiftness is just unneccesary, additional haste which doesnt give too much (relatively) compared to what it gives to any other race.
*The item is very bad (personal preferance) on its own, and Power Infusion is mostly needed.
Battlemaster's Bravery
Pros
*You may use this item even when silenced, thus have it benefit you when regular healing cannot.
*Will benefit you during burst moments more than any other trinket can, as It's an instant heal.
*Unaffected by Mortal Strike (MS) effects such as Mortal Strike, Wound Poison, and Aimed Shot.
Cons
*The effect is timed, and when it expires you may go from 4000 hp to 250. A 3000 heal made when you have 1000 health will then only give you 249 efficient healing. This results in a small mana loss overall.
*This item will only benefit yourself, and not others at all (except in rare occasions where you might just use it for a panic heal on yourself while healing others. However Binding Heal will often do its job)
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*Always use PvP gear. Resilience is important to priests.
[i]*Please note that with the new season better items of similar powers may appear. Then you should obviously get those instead.
Gemming
Your gemming have to be adjusted to your gear. I wouldn't say that Priests require Spirit or Crit specificly, and thus those aren't really gemming alternatives.
You should gem for Spell Penetration a bit, more on that later, however gemming for hitrating is required.
You might want to gem for Spell Penetration right from the start, but you'll need alot without the right items to achieve the recommended number.
You need 130 spellpower to reach the required amount to beat even the toughest resistance mechanics - Shadow Resistance Aura and Shadow Protection.
Shadow Protection can be dispelled over.
Other buffs, like Mark of the Wild, give their amount of resistance aswell. Mages got 80 all resistances with their regular PvP specc.
At the start, you might want to stick to 55 Spell Penetration. For this, you will need the Cloak Enchant (35 Spell Penetration), and one gem which gives you 20 Spell Penetration.
More on Spell Penetration later.
When you feel you've gemmed enough Spell Penetration, you will want to gem Spell Power, but only when you have gear enough to survive without gemming Stamina or Resilience.
When you're not geared enough to achieve this, I'd recommend atleast 850-900 resilience before gemming Spell Power - you have to gem for Stamina or Resilience.
Stamina gives more "burst survivability" and Resilience makes surviving sustained DPS without losing too much mana easier. If Resilience causes you to receive 10% less damage, that alone saves you an average of 10% mana when healing. Resilience also has additional effects.
With almost full Furious, I now use my gems mainly for Spell Power. I have 960 resilience.
I have also gemmed slightly for Stamina & Resilience.
PLEASE NOTE: Gemming for Intelligence is rather successfull, but not recommended for 3v3 - but is rather a 2v2 tool if you feel you're going OOM often. If this is the case, Intelligence is more efficient for you than Spirit.
Spell Penetration and Hit Rating
You will want Spell Penetration and Hit Rating. A few priests play without it, but every good priest I've seen plays with it. The reason is;
1; It's easier to assist bursting if you've got Spell Penetration and Hit Rating.
2; Crucial Moves, such as Psychic Scream and in some cases Mind Control, gets resisted alot. With Spell Penetration and Hit Rating, they're alot more reliable.
3; You can trust alot more that when using a DoT, it will not only apply most of the times, It will also deal full damage.
------> Remember that Discipline Priests are very offensive healers in most cases, whether It's about Mana Burning or just dealing Plain Damage. They also have CD-Limited CrowdControl which is very important to them, and just one Resist or Miss can easily be gamebreaking.
It's not hard to get gear for Spell Penetration and Hit Rating.
