10-17-2005, 09:21 PM
For quite some time I have been intrigued by the idea of utilizing the three aggro reduction talents available to a damage dealing priest: Improved Fade (Fade for 20 out of every 30 secs), Silent Resolve (20% Aggro Reduction), Shadow Affinity (25% Aggro Reduction). It should be noted that my priest has been 31Disc/15Holy/5Shadow (Spirit Tap for soloing) forever and that I am a Spirit build.
My guild has recently begun full-clearing (defined as through Domo, Rag is still some weeks to go) on Sunday's and contrary to most, we have an over abundance of healing. In the average raid we bring 6-7 Priests, 6-7 Shamans and 4-5 Druids, approximately 17 healers.
For bosses this is great, but for trash mobs, we clear slower than might be desirable. This prompted me to take advantage of the opportunity to experiment.
My current build is 34 Disc / 17 Shadow, key talents:
Shadow Affinity
Improved Shadow Word: Pain
Mind Flay
Improved Fade
...
Silent Resolve
Focused Casting
Inner Focus
Divine Spirit
***Force of Will***
It should be noted, that as sacrifices had to be made for this to work, I placed only one point in Improved Power Word: Fortitude. As we have enough priests (four with Divine Spirit for that matter), I didn't deem it necessary. Instead I am the primary Divine Spirit buffer and others cover PW:F.
With this new build I can basically DoT and spam Mind Blast every 8 secs and Mind Flay forever. Thanks to the aggro reduction talents, on an entire Molten Core run, where my *goal* was to try and draw aggro, I only succeeded once, and that was when I decided pull a Firelord myself as the hunter was still being ressed. Even in that case, Fade was enough to allow me to survive.
With Force of Will I can dish out damage at a rate faster than a mage, hunter or warlock because I never pause to wait for the tank to increase his aggro. I can start dps the moment the hunter pulls and act with impunity.
Even outside of MC, I don't miss Subtlety (Healing Aggro Reduction) as it is replaced by Improved Fade (which I use preemptively to any large heal). The reduction in Healing is not noticable in MC (where Renew is rarely used and healing is always overkill on bosses) but is noticable in instances. Fortunately the increased mana regen and the capacity to add significant dps to a fight makes up for it. The fact remains that an untalented priest is still a phenomenal healer.
In Battlegrounds I have dps only moderately lower than a full shadow priest, but with much higher mana regen and the crucial ability to heal mid-fight. The number of battles that have been won through prodigeous use of Focused Casting is staggering to say the least. Mind Flay was meant to use Focused Casting.
A *slight* variation on this build would be to swap Divine Spirit for the second point in Improved PW:F if your guild has this covered. Optionally the 1 point in PW:F could be tossed elsewhere entirely.
On another topic: A Holy Priest with points in Holy Specialization and Inspiration is used by our guild to spam lvl 1 Flash Heals (with CTRAs mana conservation turned *OFF*) on the Main Tank throughout the entire fight. At about 10% crit chance (easy with Holy Specialization) the Main Tank always has a 25% bonus to his armor. We are considering doing the same with a druid as it appears that Ancestral Knowledge stacks with Inspiration for a 50% bonus to armor. Even with just 25%, the additional armor is well worth the cost to the raid of one healer.
Thoughts? Comments? Questions?
-kershner
Dehmien | 60 Undead Priest | Stonemaul
My guild has recently begun full-clearing (defined as through Domo, Rag is still some weeks to go) on Sunday's and contrary to most, we have an over abundance of healing. In the average raid we bring 6-7 Priests, 6-7 Shamans and 4-5 Druids, approximately 17 healers.
For bosses this is great, but for trash mobs, we clear slower than might be desirable. This prompted me to take advantage of the opportunity to experiment.
My current build is 34 Disc / 17 Shadow, key talents:
Shadow Affinity
Improved Shadow Word: Pain
Mind Flay
Improved Fade
...
Silent Resolve
Focused Casting
Inner Focus
Divine Spirit
***Force of Will***
It should be noted, that as sacrifices had to be made for this to work, I placed only one point in Improved Power Word: Fortitude. As we have enough priests (four with Divine Spirit for that matter), I didn't deem it necessary. Instead I am the primary Divine Spirit buffer and others cover PW:F.
With this new build I can basically DoT and spam Mind Blast every 8 secs and Mind Flay forever. Thanks to the aggro reduction talents, on an entire Molten Core run, where my *goal* was to try and draw aggro, I only succeeded once, and that was when I decided pull a Firelord myself as the hunter was still being ressed. Even in that case, Fade was enough to allow me to survive.
With Force of Will I can dish out damage at a rate faster than a mage, hunter or warlock because I never pause to wait for the tank to increase his aggro. I can start dps the moment the hunter pulls and act with impunity.
Even outside of MC, I don't miss Subtlety (Healing Aggro Reduction) as it is replaced by Improved Fade (which I use preemptively to any large heal). The reduction in Healing is not noticable in MC (where Renew is rarely used and healing is always overkill on bosses) but is noticable in instances. Fortunately the increased mana regen and the capacity to add significant dps to a fight makes up for it. The fact remains that an untalented priest is still a phenomenal healer.
In Battlegrounds I have dps only moderately lower than a full shadow priest, but with much higher mana regen and the crucial ability to heal mid-fight. The number of battles that have been won through prodigeous use of Focused Casting is staggering to say the least. Mind Flay was meant to use Focused Casting.
A *slight* variation on this build would be to swap Divine Spirit for the second point in Improved PW:F if your guild has this covered. Optionally the 1 point in PW:F could be tossed elsewhere entirely.
On another topic: A Holy Priest with points in Holy Specialization and Inspiration is used by our guild to spam lvl 1 Flash Heals (with CTRAs mana conservation turned *OFF*) on the Main Tank throughout the entire fight. At about 10% crit chance (easy with Holy Specialization) the Main Tank always has a 25% bonus to his armor. We are considering doing the same with a druid as it appears that Ancestral Knowledge stacks with Inspiration for a 50% bonus to armor. Even with just 25%, the additional armor is well worth the cost to the raid of one healer.
Thoughts? Comments? Questions?
-kershner
Dehmien | 60 Undead Priest | Stonemaul