Discipline Priest Quick Start Guide – Shadowlands

Welcome to WarcraftPriests Discipline Priest Guide. This guide is updated to patch 9.1 World of Warcraft Shadowlands.

The aim of this guide is to provide you with all the relevant information as a quick reference sheet.

Introduction

Ideal for those just getting back into the game or just starting on Discipline Priest. To view all changes made to us over the course of the Beta take a look at this post.

I highly encourage learning the spec to greater depths by going over our main Discipline Priest guide here.

If you want fast responses to questions you may have, pop into the WarcraftPriests Discord where we are always around to help out. If asking for gameplay help, giving us something to work with will allow for greater in-depth replies, so if possible always run logs of yourself.

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Gameplay

As many of you may already know, the core gameplay aspect of Discipline is Atonement. to put it simply, we apply Atonement then deal damage which causes a portion of healing from that damage. It's important to be aware of our Mastery: Grace, which increases all of our healing to targets with Atonement.

It's noteworthy that while we primarily heal through Atonement, you cannot rely on Atonement to heal everything. There will be times you need to fall back on stronger single target healing.

• PW:S - Used Sparingly
  • Maintain Atonement on Tanks.
  • Quick Atonement application if targets are full health or you are on the move.
• Smend - Used often
  • Strong single target healing that also applies Atonement.
• PW:R - Used often
  • Quick group-wide Atonement application.
• Penance - Used often
  • Can be used offensively or defensively, which is used depends on what you need more, AoE healing or single target healing respectively. If you know movement/healing is required soon, it can be worth holding onto Penance for a few seconds longer.
• Mind Blast - Used Sparingly
  • Strong healing whilst Atonements are active with a heavy mana cost.
• SW:P - Constantly maintained
  • Have at least one DoT ticking at all times for PotDS procs and constant healing over time.
• Smite - Used as a filler
  • Very mana efficient for the damage it deals.
• Mind Sear - Used for AoE damage
  • Only interacts with atonement on the first instance of damage, so not very good healing.
• Schism/Solace/Halo - Talented CD's used when needed
  • Schism gives us a large damage boost and subsequently, a healing boost that should be used as often as possible.
  • Solace is a mana free damage burst that returns mana which should be used on CD.
  • Halo used for healing/damage/atonement healing burst. Be wary of positioning when using.

Cooldowns

• ShadowFiend - Used as a healing CD for strong healing through Atonement.
• PW:B - Should be preemptively used to counter massive group-wide damage.
• Rapture - Is used to either, preemptively counter incoming damage or to buffer the group's health pools to give you time to heal them up.
• PS - Is used to either, preemptively prevent damage incoming to a single target or as a last resort to try to keep someone alive.
• Mass Dispel, Purify and Dispel Magic - All of these spells should be utilised where necessary for the enemy buffs/ally debuffs.
• Desperate Prayer - Is used to keep yourself alive in a tough situation.

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Talents

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Stats / Gear / Consumables

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Covenants

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Soulbinds

Each individual Soulbind tree does not offer anything substantial in terms of performance increases but some below are some recommendations for all of the available trees.

Due to the limitations of the calculator tool, currently, only images are supplied. This will be fixed soon. Keep in mind various selections are utility-based and you can choose either way depending on your preference.

Venthyr

It is recommended to utilise Nadjia the Mistblade early on. This is due to the earlier potency and more desirable traits. Once you have all slots available you have two main choices. Guidance here is mostly focused on raiding as within M+ there is much greater leniency for preference as there is not a large difference between each available tree.

• Theotar - this is currently the all-round best healing option to run with for raiding. This is due to double endurance availability, Soothing Shade proc chance for high swing Spirit Shell Bursts and the last trait behind the second potency Token of Appreciation being strong.
• Draven - originally expected to be the best performance tree. Unfortunately, the 4% healing increase from Hold your Ground does not increase Spirit Shell absorb healing. therefore a large portion of the tree's value is lost. That being said, if you arent using Spirit Shell, this bind still remains strong.

Nadjia the Mistblade

Theotar the Mad Duke

General Draven

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Necrolord

It is recommended to use Emeni earlier on then switch to Bonesmith Heirmir later on once he is unlocked. Potentially worthwhile switching to Plague Deviser Marileth for a short time when his second potency slot is available as it is earlier within the tree.

Plague Deviser Marileth

Emeni

Bonesmith Heirmir

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Night Fae

It is recommended to use Dreamweaver due to the earlier second potency and double endurance. Things like Podtender could also prove very useful.

Niya

Dreamweaver

Korayn

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Kyrian

Pelagos is the recommended pick due to the best overall traits and double endurance. It may be worth to switch to Kelia or Mikanikos during unlocking progression due to the earlier second potency slot.

Pelagos

Kleia

Forgelite Prime Mikanikos

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Conduits

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Legendaries

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