Discipline Priest Raid Guide
Last Updated:August 26, 2024|Change Log|FAQ
Welcome to the Discipline Priest Raid guide for the World of Warcraft patch 11.0! This guide covers everything you need to know to understand your character! Are you starting out and leveling up from 70? Check out the leveling guide!
Overview
Hero Talents
- Voidweaver focuses primairly on your own benefits, as it increases your damage every mini ramp, while Oracle focuses on enhancing your big healing cooldowns and providing utility to the team.
- Every Mind Blast opens a Entropic Rift that does a lot of damage and gives you the following buffs and benefits:
- Smite is transformed into Void Blast and its Atonement healing is increased by an additional 100%.
- Voidheart
- Increases your Atonement healing massively.
- Dark Energy
- Increased Movement Speed.
- When Entropic Rift ends it collapses and does a lot of damage via Collapsing Void.
- Oracle grants you a new Ability that cycles through 4 different versions:
- Premonition of Insight
- Decreases the cooldown of the next 3 spells you cast by 7 seconds.
- Premonition of Piety
- Increases your healing done by a large amount and causes 70% of your overhealing to be redistributed.
- Premonition of Solace
- Your next Flash Heal or Renew apply a massive absorb and a 15% dr to your target.
- Premonition of Clairvoyance
- Gain the effects of all the other Premonitions.
- Premonition of Insight
Talents
When to use this Spec
This is the default loadout going into any boss unless specified otherwise. You have to adjust your class talent tree based on the utility needed for each encounter, or spec out of Mindbender if the boss timers are better suited for Shadowfiend. To make your life easier, boss-specific talent loadouts are available in the Raids section.
Gameplay Altering Talents
Discover all talents that significantly alter your gameplay within the Spec and Class Talent trees. This section gives a concise overview of these talents and their applications but for a more detailed look check out the Rotation and Deep Dive sections below.
Spec Tree
- Shadow Covenant
- The most powerful buff for a Priest as it activates synergies between talents by transforming Penance and Halo into shadow spells.
- Inescapable Torment
- This talent greatly increases your damage while your pet is active and extends its duration, strengthening your Atonement windows.
- Void Summoner
- This essential talent lets you summon your pet more often. Be warned, missing Smite, Mind Blast, and Penance casts may prevent your strongest healing cooldown from being ready for the next deadly damage event.
- Schism
- Mind Blast increases your target's damage taken from your spells by 10%, so always cast it first when starting your damage rotation.
- Train of Thought
- Picking this talent changes your ramp sequences as it allows you to cast Penance and Power Word: Shield more often.
- Indemnity
- Always start any ramp with Power Word: Shield for the longer duration Atonement.
- Protector of the Frail
- This talent grants an extra charge of Pain Suppression and reduces its cooldown with each cast of Power Word: Shield. This allows more frequent use of Pain Suppression, greatly easing difficult encounters.
Class Tree
- Phantom Reach
- Increases the range of your spells to 46 yards, which is a very powerful tool if used correctly. This allows you to reach allies even when the Raid is spread out, significantly increasing your ramp potential.
- Surge of Light
- The best recovery tool for Discipline Priests, because Flash Heal is your strongest direct heal outside of a friendly Penance. This talent helps significantly with mana management and mobility.
- Twins of the Sun Priestess
- When you cast Power Infusion on an ally, you also gain it.
- Rhapsody
- Allows you to frequently access a strong non-Atonement related group heal, useful if your Raid is stacking.
- Protective Light
- In combination with Binding Heal and Surge of Light, this talent provides a very easily accessible 10% damage reduction to yourself.
- Translucent Image
- Adds a new but weak defensive ability to the Priest class toolkit. However, when combined with Protective Light, it could save your life!
Hero Talent Tree
- Voidwraith
- Increases your cooldown strength due to it being a better version of your normal pet.
- Dark Energy
- A passive movement speed increase whenever your Entropic Rift is active.
Rotation
Tier Set
- 2-Set: Atonement healing increased by 5.0%.
- 4-Set: Smite and Penance increase the damage of your next Mind Blast by 25% or absorb amount of your next Power Word: Shield by 15%, up to 3 times.
Priority List
Only follow this list outside of any ramp sequences.
- Keep Purge the Wicked on your target.
- Cast Power Word: Shield on Cooldown.
- Cast Flash Heal on anyone in major trouble.
- KeepAtonement active on Tanks.
- Cast Mind Blast on Cooldown.
- Cast Penance on Cooldown.
- Cast Halo on Cooldown.
- Cast Smite.
Cooldowns
Showcases of all the different cooldown sequences used by Discipline Priests in Raids.
Evangelism
- Your default ramp which results in 19 Atonements at a time. Practice this sequence outside the Raid until it is fully ingrained in your muscle memory. Make sure not to cast Renew, Power Word: Shield, or Flash Heal on yourself, as you miss out on the free Atonement from Binding Heal.
Rapture
- This is a weaker version of the Evangelism ramp, which results in the same amount of Atonements. Always ensure to use the Evangelism ramp first.
Evangelism Rapture
- Use this sequence if you need more healing for a single moment rather than maximizing your total healing done.
Ultimate Penitence
- The newest addition to the Discipline Priest's arsenal of powerful cooldowns, you can combine this with Evangelism if you are not playing Overloaded with Light and do not have a pet for your ramp. However, generally, you want to use it as a cooldown when your Shadowfiend is on cooldown. Make sure to target an enemy when casting this!
No Cooldown
- A sequence that does low healing and is used to avoid overcapping on Power Word: Radiance.
Deep Dive
Min maxing Shadow Covenant
- Your top priority is extending the duration of Shadow Covenant as much as possible. You do not only benefit from the buff itself, but you also gain a lot of extra mana by having your pet auto-attack more frequently.
Optimize using Power Word: Radiance
- Unless you consider your Raid's positioning in spread fights, you can't consistently achieve your 18-20 Atonement count. A simple way to increase your chance of having a higher Atonement count for your Ramps is to cast a Power Word: Radiance on a ranged player and another on a melee player. It is inadvisable to cast Power Word: Radiance on classes like Mages or Hunters, as they tend to be away from their allies, causing your Power Word: Radiance to not spread to anyone, resulting in a single Atonement.
When to cast and not to cast Halo
- Halo is not included in any of the ramp sequences in the Rotation section. Incorporate Halo into a ramp sequence if the cooldown reduction from Void Summoner is not needed. Otherwise, cast it as a healing spell outside of Atonement windows whenever the raid is taking moderate damage, or simply cast it on cooldown as it also deals great damage.
Min maxing Power Infusion
- While Power Infusion is your spell, the optimal usage is to disregard yourself and instead fully focus on your teammates. To achieve that you need to see your party members' offensive cooldown uptime. It is recommended that you use either addons or WeakAuras like those discussed in the Addon section to do this, or simply communicate with them and ask for them to request at the exact time they want it!
Understanding Mechanics
Rotational min-maxing is just one aspect of mastering a specialization, but there are numerous other key mechanics that influence your performance. Use the following guides to improve them.
Nerub-Ar Palace
The following tips are mainly applicable to Heroic Bosses. Mythic tips will be released after our progression finishes.
← Scroll for more Bosses →
How To Use Your Healing Cooldowns
- These cooldowns were assigned with the primary goal of defeating the boss, rather than maximizing raw HPS. They were planned based on the Beta version of the game, so if the boss timers change when the raid goes live, it also changes the cooldown assignments.
Boss Tips
- Defensives
- Ensure to have Protective Light and Fade active when soaking Carnivorous Contest.
- Externals
- Use Pain Suppression as a personal defensive.
- Paradox
- Other healers make better use of Spatial Paradox.
- General
- Avoid getting hit by Juggernaut Charge at ALL cost.
- Save a raid member with Leap of Faith if they get consumed during Carnivorous Contest.
How To Use Your Healing Cooldowns
- These cooldowns were assigned with the primary goal of defeating the boss, rather than maximizing raw HPS. They were planned based on the Beta version of the game, so if the boss timers change when the raid goes live, it also changes the cooldown assignments.
Boss Tips
- Defensives
- Ensure to have Protective Light and Fade active when soaking Gruesome Disgorge.
- Externals
- Use Pain Suppression as a personal defensive.
- Paradox
- Other healers make better use of it in this encounter.
- General
- When soaking Gruesome Disgorge use Leap of Faith on a teammate that is late for their assigned soak.
How To Use Your Healing Cooldowns
- These cooldowns were assigned with the primary goal of defeating the boss, rather than maximizing raw HPS. They were planned based on the Beta version of the game, so if the boss timers change when the raid goes live, it also changes the cooldown assignments.
Boss Tips
- Defensives
- Ensure to have Protective Light and Fade active when targeted by Decimate.
- Externals
- Use Pain Suppression as a personal defensive.
- Paradox
- Other healers make better use of it in this boss encounter.
How To Use Your Healing Cooldowns
These cooldowns were assigned with the primary goal of defeating the boss, rather than maximizing raw HPS. They were planned based on the Beta version of the game, so if the boss timers change when the raid goes live, it also changes the cooldown assignments.
Boss Tips
- Defensives
- Rotate your defensives when targeted by multiple Infested Spawn.
- Externals
- Use your Pain Suppression on people targeted by multiple Infested Spawn without their own defensive cooldown.
- Paradox
- Other healers make better use of it in this boss encounter.
- General
- When Rasha'nan repositions ask for a Rescue to then Leap of Faith the other slower classes towards the boss.
How To Use Your Healing Cooldowns
These cooldowns were assigned with the primary goal of defeating the boss, rather than maximizing raw HPS. They were planned based on the Beta version of the game, so if the boss timers change when the raid goes live, it also changes the cooldown assignments.
Boss Tips
- Defensives
- Ensure to have Protective Light and Fade active when targeted with Experimental Dosage.
- Externals
- Use your Pain Suppression on people targeted with Experimental Dosage.
- Paradox
- Use it for your ramps while the boss has Ingest Black Blood active to dodge the constant swirlies and maximize output.
- General
- Always keep Atonement on the tank targeted by Volatile Concoction to reduce raid damage.
How To Use Your Healing Cooldowns
These cooldowns were assigned with the primary goal of defeating the boss, rather than maximizing raw HPS. They were planned based on the Beta version of the game, so if the boss timers change when the raid goes live, it also changes the cooldown assignments.
Boss Tips
- Defensives
- Rotate through your defensive arsenal when affected by Queensbane and ensure to have Protective Light and Fade active.
- Externals
- If an ally does not have any defensive cooldown left while affected by Queensbane use Pain Suppression on them, otherwise keep it as a personal defensive.
- Paradox
- Ask for it when the Nether Rift drag is happening and you are assigned to Evangelism.
- General
- Angle your camera so you can see the people with Shadows of Doubt to be able to dodge their orbs easily when removed.
How To Use Your Healing Cooldowns
- These cooldowns were assigned with the primary goal of defeating the boss, rather than maximizing raw HPS. They were planned based on the Beta version of the game, so if the boss timers change when the raid goes live, it also changes the cooldown assignments.
Boss Tips
Phase 1
- Defensives
- Ensure to have Protective Light and Fade active and use Desperate Prayer when Reckless Eruption and Venomous Rain overlap.
- Externals
- Use your Pain Suppression on Binding Webs targets without strong defensive cooldowns as those are the people most likely to die.
- Paradox
- Combine it with your Evangelism as often as possible.
- General
- The people in danger in this phase are the ones playing Binding Webs. Ensure you keep them healthy so they can fully focus on the mechanic without having to worry about other things.
Phase 2
- Defensives
- Ensure to have Protective Light and Fade active when Web Vortex happens.
- Externals
- Use your Pain Suppression on targets who accidentally received multiple stacks of Stinging Swarm.
- Paradox
- If you are assigned to Evangelism when Web Vortex you should request it for that ramp.
- General
- In phase 2, failing the dispel mechanic Stinging Swarm is the most common wipe reason. Always keep these people healthy so they don't have to worry about anything but playing the mechanic.
- Dispel your tank as often as possible whenever he has multiple stacks of Void Bolt, as this mechanic will easily kill your tank if ignored.
Intermission 2
- General
- Whenever a raid member gets Impaled, ensure you spot heal them until they are freed.
Phase 3
- Defensives
- Ensure to have Protective Light and Fade active when Web Vortex happens.
- Externals
- Use your Pain Suppression on Binding Webs targets without strong defensive cooldowns as those are the people most likely to die.
- Paradox
- If you are assigned to Evangelism when Web Vortex you should request it for that ramp.
- General
- The People in danger in this phase are the people playing Binding Webs. Keep them healthy so they can fully focus on the mechanic without having to worry about other things.
- Dispel your tank as often as possible whenever he has multiple stacks of Void Bolt as this mechanic will easily kill your tank if ignored.
Stat Priority
Understand your secondary stat priority and the tertiary stats needed for optimal performance during Raid boss fights as a Discipline Priest. For more detailed information, visit the Stats and Attributes guide.
The Conclusion here is that you want to equip the highest item level generally.
- All secondary stats are affected by diminishing returns. Click here to learn more!
Tertiary
- Avoidance - Reduces damage taken from AoE effects.
- Leech - Returns a portion of your damage and healing done as healing to you. (Excludes self healing)
- Speed - increases movement speed. (Does stack with other movement speed abilities)
The only time you should think about picking a lower item level is if it has Leech or Avoidance. Speed is nice to have, but you shouldn't consider this stat when choosing between two items.
- Here is a showcase of how powerful Leech is for a Healer: Breakdown of Mythic Fyrakk
Gear
Due to the way stat weights work for Discipline Priests, there isn't a strict best-in-slot list. Although it is theoretically possible to obtain items with all the correct Tertiaries, doing so requires extraordinary luck or several human lifespans because of the weekly reset system in World of Warcraft.
| Slot | Item | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Living Luster's Semblance | Tier/Catalyst |
| Neck | Sureki Zealot's Insignia | Sikran |
| Shoulder | Living Luster's Dominion | Tier/Catalyst |
| Cloak | Wings of Shattered Sorrow | Rasha'nan |
| Chest | Living Luster's Raiment | Tier/Catalyst |
| Wrist | Consecrated Cuffs | Crafting |
| Gloves | Tricksprite Gloves | Mists of Tirna Scithe |
| Belt | Burrower's Cinch | Ara-Kara |
| Legs | Living Luster's Trousers | Tier/Catalyst |
| Boots | Consecrated Slippers | Crafting |
| Ring 1 | Devout Zealot's Ring | Dawn Breaker |
| Ring 2 | Key to the Unseeming | Bloodbound Horror |
| Trinket 1 | Gale of Shadows | Grim Batol |
| Trinket 2 | Unbound Changeling | Mists of Tirna Scithe |
| Weapon | Takazj's Entropic Edict | Silken Court |
Authors Note:
This list shows the best items for healing in Raids from all sources. Keep in mind that getting different tier pieces with Leech / Avoidance changes which off-piece is best for you. Likewise, any other non-trinket item with Leech / Avoidance replaces the one suggested here.
Below you are presented with a good list of farmable alternatives that are obtainable outside of WoW’s weekly lockout system. While replaced in time as you progress, these offer immediate character power.
| Slot | Item | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Crown of Enfeebled Bodies | Grim Batol |
| Neck | "Emergency Stop" Keychain | The Stone Vault |
| Shoulder | Reanimator's Mantle | Necrotic Wake |
| Cloak | Anvilhide Cape | The Stone Vault |
| Chest | Arachnofrost Vest | City of Threads |
| Wrist | Vitriolic Veinwoven Wraps | City of Threads |
| Gloves | Tricksprite Gloves | Mists of Tirna Scithe |
| Belt | Burrower's Cinch | Ara-Kara |
| Legs | Archaic Venomancer's Footwraps | Ara-Kara |
| Boots | Tainted Earthshard Walkers | The Stonevault |
| Ring 1 | Stitchflesh's Misplaced Signet | Necrotic Wake |
| Ring 2 | Devout Zealot's Ring | Dawnbreaker |
| Trinket 1 | Gale of Shadows | Grim Batol |
| Trinket 2 | Unbound Changeling | Mists of Tirna Scithe |
| Two-Hand Weapon | Melodious Iron Songspire | The Stone Vault |
| One-Hand Weapon | Unceremonious Bloodletter | City of Echoes |
| Off-Hand | Pail of Preserved Obscurity | City of Threads |
Trinkets
Below you can find active and passive alternatives to our recommended trinkets. Do note that some trinkets are better than others depending on the scenario.
Active Trinket alternatives
- Spymaster's Web
- A strong On-Use Trinket that rewards precise planning. It takes 4 minutes to reach max stacks, so make sure to tie it to the important damage events instead of just using it on cooldown!
Passive Trinket alternatives
- Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj
- A very strong stat stick, granting you a huge random secondary stat proc.
- Ovi'nax's Mercurial Egg
- Very interesting Trinket, that gives you a mix of main stat and your highest secondary. Use it when a big raid movement is happening to keep a good distribution.
- Ara-Kara Sacbrood
- Another very good stat stick that also deals a very minor amount of damage.
Embellishments
It's recommended to hold your Spark of Omens craft and wait for further tuning.
- Dawnthread Lining 2x
- Increases your critical strike by a small amount, while above 80% HP
Remaining Sparks
- Crafted items are 636 item level and regular items are 639 on max item level, therefore, it's not beneficial to equip crafted items outside of your 2x embellishments unless you don't have access to other high item level gear on that slot.
Consumables
- Phials
- Flask of Tempered Swiftness
- Food
- Feast of the Divine Day
- Combat Potion
- Algari Mana Potion -- Recommended
- Potion Bomb of Recovery
- Health Potion
- Algari Healing Potion
- Weapon Oil
- Algari Mana Oil
- Augment Rune
- Crystallized Augment Rune
- Sockets
- Deadly Emerald
- Culminating Blasphemite -- Unique, use one of each gem colour to enhance your Blasphemite.
- Quick Ruby
- Quick Sapphire
- Quick Onyx
Enchantments
| Helm | Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Neck | Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Cloak | Enchant Cloak - Chant of Leeching Fangs |
| Chest | Enchant Chest - Council's Intellect |
| Wrist | Enchant Bracer - Whisper of Armored Leech Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Belt | Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Legs | Daybreak Spellthread |
| Boots | Enchant Boots - Scout's March |
| Ring 1 | Enchant Ring - Radiant Haste Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Ring 2 | Enchant Ring - Radiant Haste Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Weapon | Enchant Weapon - Authority of Fiery Resolve |
You buy Nerubian Gemweaver from the Great Vault Vendor to add sockets to your Helm, Wrists and Belt.
Races
For min-maxing a Discipline Priest in Mythic Raiding, different racial traits can provide a tremendous benefit to your characters. If this is not your top goal, picking a race that fits your style works just as well.
- Rocket Jump -- Goblin
- Jump forward, can be cast while falling or being knocked.
- Spatial Rift -- Void elf
- Spawn a shadow traveling into your facing direction, activate again to teleport to it.
- Maximum range of 100 yards.
Recommendation:
It is highly recommended to play a Goblin! Priests can be pretty slow-moving, and the Goblin's extra mobility really helps in those sticky situations.
Macros
Discover recommended macros for Discipline Priest during Raid encounters and watch a quick video guide on creating simple macros for your character.
Mouseover Macros
All spells in this Discipline Priest Raid Guide are available as mouseover macros for your convenience!
Penance
/cast [@mouseover, help] Penance; PenancePower Word: Shield
/cast [@mouseover, help] Power Word: Shield; Power Word: ShieldPower Word: Radiance
/cast [@mouseover, help] Power Word: Radiance; Power Word: RadianceRenew
/cast [@mouseover, help] Renew; RenewFlash Heal
/cast [@mouseover, help] Flash Heal; Flash HealRapture
/cast [@mouseover, help] Rapture; RapturePower Infusion
/cast [@mouseover,exists] Power Infusion; Power InfusionLeap of Faith
/cast [@mouseover, help] Leap of Faith; Leap of FaithPain Suppression
/cast [@mouseover, help] Pain Suppression; Pain SuppressionRecommended Macros
Addons
Below, you see a screenshot of the author's User Interface for their Discipline Priest, outlining which addons are used and how they are utilized in Raids to make your life easier.
Addons
WeakAuras
Changes this Patch
Patch 11.0.1
Patch 11.0.2
FAQ
Q: Why do I keep dying?
Q: Why do I keep running out of mana?
Credits
Written By: Rycn
Reviewed By: Velo