1.10 Priest Builds

[nobbie]

With patch 1.10 and the Priest changes right around the corner, what are now the "best" (or good) Priest talent builds for

1.) Solo play (a.k.a. Shadow oder Holy Priest)
2.) Instance play (a.k.a. Healing Priest) ?

Examples:

V1.10 Shadow Priest

V1.10 Healing Priest

[Bolty]

Cleoboltra's initial build.

This is a talent spec designed for raid healing. If I were more into PvP, it would of course be completely different.

OMG, why no Improved Renew or Spiritual Healing? Well, any Priest who's been raiding for a while as a pure healer can tell you why: the points are better spent elsewhere. The reason for this is because these talents don't stack with +healing. While +damage talents will stack up with +damage gear, +healing talents don't stack with +healing gear.

So if I have +500 healing (not hard to get for a raiding healer), and my Renew heals for 1000, it will heal for 1500 without talent points. It will heal for 1650 with talent points - NOT 1725. As you get more and more +heal gear, the total percentage improvement of the +heal talents becomes less and less. This isn't to say that I wouldn't want the +heal talents, I would, but not at the cost of some of the more useful stuff out there: talents that change the core functionality and power of the Priest, not just supply a little more +heal. Game-changing talents.

Crits are huge. It's not just the coolness that is Inspiration. People think about crits the wrong way, really. Sometimes it's overhealing, but if you're especially raining down heals on tanks (think BWL), it's often not. Crits are really "free" 50% extra healing. If there were a talent that said "chance of healing your target for 50% more for free," I think more healers would consider it seriously. That's what a crit is - it's free healing. Tack Inspiration on top of it and you've got a big bonus.

A newly minted 60 Priest would get a lot more bang out of Improved Renew and Spiritual Guidance than a decked-out raiding Priest with +600 healing gear. I'd rather have the extra mana from Mental Strength, though - which, btw, stacks with gear and buffs; multiplicative effects for the win.

I'm also just not impressed by Lightwell at all (on paper); nor does Power Infusion excite me (sorry Mages). If I were PvP spec'ed, maybe...

Anyhow, it's been a longstanding complaint of Priests that talents for +healing don't factor in +healing gear. Many Priests with lots of +heal gear spec OUT of Improved Renew, and then have to suffer seeing "A more powerful spell is already active" because Blizzard's game code considers a 200-hp-per-tick Renew of a newly minted 60 Priest with Improved Renew more powerful than a 300-hp-per-tick Renew of a powerful decked-out raiding Priest without Improved Renew but a crapstorm of +heal gear. That's just stupid.

-Bolty

[Yurup]

I'm just wondering why you chose to add Holy Nova over other options.

[Bolty]

I'm just wondering why you chose to add Holy Nova over other options.[right][snapback]103776[/snapback][/right]

Well,

1) It's only one talent point to gain a whole new ability.
2) It's a very situational use, yes, but it's also the ultimate "oh crap" button. Prayer of Healing is a 3-second cast, but Holy Nova's instant.

However, I've never had Holy Nova. I know its mana efficiency is complete garbage, so it should only be used if things are really going to hell. If it's powerful enough of a heal to save wipes, I want it. Saving wipes is my job. I'll have to play with it some to see if it's worth it. This is why I called it my "initial build." I should get on the test realms and try it out if I have a chance...

-Bolty

[Yurup]

*nods*

[ima_nerd]

This is the build a Priest in my guild and I worked out for Strat, UBRS and the like and just beginning into AQ20 and ZG. We went for as much "free" plus healing as possible to help out with the lack of purplez. As gear scales up, he will probably switch to something very similar to Bolty's build.

[vor_lord]

Ok here are my current plans (always subject to change). Keep in mind that this is what I'll be doing:

Lots of 5 mans (working on new Dungeon 2 set)
UBRS
Occasional Zul'Gurub every couple of weeks or so

I am adding a lot more damage talents to my spec than what I currently have (which is 29 disc/22 holy). In a 5 man my healing capacity is very rarely taxed, so more damage is better. Cheap damage (wand + DoT) are buffed here with Mental Agility and Wand Spec. I also have +9% crit on offensive spells for "expensive" damage. As my only 60 on the server, my current build is a terrible farming character and I'd like some solo power.

It's a waste in a good five man to not be contributing damage most of the time. I haven't really taken some of the better PvP talents as I've not enjoyed PvP with the priest, but I might try it a bit more with this build than before. Might consider picking up martyrdom and improved inner fire.

Here is my tentative spec:Power Infusion/Holy Damage Build

Big things I'll miss out on:

Improved PoH is one of my favorite talents. If I decide not to go for Power Infusion the main reason will be this talent. Spirit of Redemption also looks very nice in ZG or a five man.

Reasons for some of my less obvious choices:

PW:S over Silent Resolve: I have never been impressed with threat reduction talent as a priest -- I have good warriors and disciplined groups, and Fade goes a long way. Also, in ZG keeping mages alive during AoE is a big part of my job, and one that I do better than a druid. Extra shield strength then > threat reduction.

Holy Nova: Oh how I want to have an AoE!

No Inspiration: I currently have Inspiration. When it's on the tank, he gets an extra 5% damage mitigation, which is pretty good. Problem is that it never seems to happen enough in even a 20 person raid.

But I keep changing my mind -- I wish I could get on the test realm to try it out.

[castille]

Genkar's Most Likely PvE/PvP build

Spirit tap will make grinding a lot more easily done, and I get a lot of killing blows in PvP, so having a larger mana pool would be nice. .

Improved VE will also just give us a nice little boost in healing ;) Avoiding improved shield because it just doesn't give that much of a boost

[Treesh]

No Inspiration:  I currently have Inspiration.  When it's on the tank, he gets an extra 5% damage mitigation, which is pretty good.  Problem is that it never seems to happen enough in even a 20 person raid.
[right][snapback]103780[/snapback][/right]

With Mogo still being restoration with her version of inspiration (and, for whatever reason, having heals crit more for her than for Necrali) I don't think it's going to hurt us really. Of course this might mean some snipe healing on my part to keep it up on him, but honestly, even without me snipe-healing him, I don't think it's going to cause any problems if Necrali doesn't get Inspiration.

I need to get both Mogo and Aleri on the test realms soon and see how holy nova has changed for Aleri and well, to see what life would be like for Mogo as an elemental shaman without spending anything. :)

Edit: reworded something.

[vor_lord]

This is the build a Priest in my guild and I worked out for Strat, UBRS and the like and just beginning into AQ20 and ZG. We went for as much "free" plus healing as possible to help  out with the lack of purplez. As gear scales up, he will probably switch to something very similar to Bolty's build.
[right][snapback]103779[/snapback][/right]

21 Disc/30 Holy is a nice looking split. But skipping Inner Focus, Imp. Prayer of Healing, and Spirit of Redemption even though you have space for them?

I would really consider all three of those if you are that deep into each tree. You can at least get Inner Focus by dropping a single point out of Silent Resolve. Inner Focus is too good to pass up at that price in my opinion.

[castille]

PW:S over Silent Resolve:  I have never been impressed with threat reduction talent as a priest -- I have good warriors and disciplined groups, and Fade goes a long way.  Also, in ZG keeping mages alive during AoE is a big part of my job, and one that I do better than a druid.  Extra shield strength then > threat reduction.
[right][snapback]103780[/snapback][/right]

The gains from Imp. PW:S is pretty minimal, and, in my estimation, threat reduction is not really about beating the tank, but wipe prevention in the case the tank goes down. If you're just after the tank, and he lives, then everything's fine.. but if you're just after the tank, and he goes down, and you go down.. well.. you just took out two pieces of a very important 5-man, where a rogue with healing might've been able to keep up for that last bit of whatever took you out. That's just been my thinking on it. Plus, silent resolve has made it so that it combines damage -and- healing aggro under one banner, very handy.

[Concillian]

This is what I was planning

21 disc / 30 holy

It's much more heal-centric than vor_lord's build, but kinda similar. Not sure, though, maybe I should get some extra damage in there since I can.

[Bolty]

21 Disc/30 Holy is a nice looking split.  But skipping Inner Focus, Imp. Prayer of Healing, and Spirit of Redemption even though you have space for them?

I would really consider all three of those if you are that deep into each tree.  You can at least get Inner Focus by dropping a single point out of Silent Resolve.  Inner Focus is too good to pass up at that price in my opinion.[right][snapback]103784[/snapback][/right]

I'll second that, ima_nerd. vor_lord's spot on.

It's key to emphasize that which makes your class special. Priests, Druids, and Paladins can all single-target heal pretty well; in fact, Druids are superior single-target healers than Priests thanks to two stacking DoTs and Nature's Swiftness. What makes Priests shine are two things:

1) Group healing
2) "Oh crap" healing

Inner Focus, Improved Prayer of Healing, and Spirit of Redemption all emphasize those powers.

Inner Focus is, without a doubt, a game-changing ability. Blizzard's making it even better than before in 1.10, with a smaller cooldown. Inner Focus is more than just a free spellcast - it's a huge extra crit chance, and, even better, more time out of the 5-second rule. Shadow Priests are salivating at being able to get it without investing so much in Discipline anymore.

Even though you're not in Molten Core or BWL, there can be some *long* fights in ZG, fights where you'll get to use Inner Focus more than once per shot. Smart use of Inner Focus can play a huge part in success during these encounters. It obviously should be saved for Greater Heals or Prayers of Healing - Holy Nova, too! Where it's really sweet is when you can pop Inner Focus and queue Greater Heals on tanks. You'll spend a lot of time out of the 5-second rule regenerating mana, then, and if it turns out the tank doesn't need a Greater Heal right away, you get even more bonus time while you queue it up again. Since Inner Focus gives you such a high crit chance (with Cleoboltra's gear, around 50%), that's gonna be one BIG heal. Plus, inspiration! :)

Improved Prayer of Healing, again, is a talent that let's you emphasize what you're good at - group healing. You use PoH more in 5-mans and 20-mans than 40-mans, true, but a 20% mana reduction for using this spell is enormous.

Spirit of Redemption is no longer the Improved Dying talent. It's now the "oh yeah? f**k you!" talent. It's uses in PvP are obvious as a deterrent to getting assist trained. In 5-man groups it might not be all that useful, since if you're dead it usually means a wipe is coming anyhow, 10 seconds of extra healing not being enough to save them. In a raid environment, well, if I had it last night we might have beaten Chromaggus. Nuff said. I coulda used 10 seconds of free healing before popping my soulstone, since I was really out of mana toward the end...

Priests will be flat-out dominant healers of the game in 1.10, and these new powerful abilities are going to be what defines us. They're too good to pass up. The only catch is that we can't get them all. Can't have Inner Focus, Spirit of Redemption, Holy Nova, Lightwell, AND Power Infusion. Argh, choices!

-Bolty

[castille]

Priests will be flat-out dominant healers of the game in 1.10, and these new powerful abilities are going to be what defines us.  They're too good to pass up.  The only catch is that we can't get them all.  Can't have Inner Focus, Spirit of Redemption, Holy Nova, Lightwell, AND Power Infusion.  Argh, choices!

-Bolty
[right][snapback]103793[/snapback][/right]

You can, however, get Inner Focus, SoR, Holy Nova, Divine Spirit...

4/6 special thingees ain't bad!

HOLY DPS j0!

[vor_lord]

The gains from Imp. PW:S is pretty minimal, and, in my estimation, threat reduction is not really about beating the tank, but wipe prevention in the case the tank goes down. If you're just after the tank, and he lives, then everything's fine.. but if you're just after the tank, and he goes down, and you go down.. well.. you just took out two pieces of a very important 5-man, where a rogue with healing might've been able to keep up for that last bit of whatever took you out. That's just been my thinking on it. Plus, silent resolve has made it so that it combines damage -and- healing aggro under one banner, very handy.
[right][snapback]103790[/snapback][/right]

Good point and something for me to think about. Do we know if the 15% on shield is applied after the 10% of your +heal?

Let's say I have +200 to healing... is it:

(942 + .1 * 200) * 1.15 = 1106
or
(942 * 1.15)+ .1 * 200 = 1103

Hehe it appears the answer is "who cares" with only 200 healing gear.

[ima_nerd]

I'll second that, ima_nerd.  vor_lord's spot on.
-snip-
-Bolty
[right][snapback]103793[/snapback][/right]

That was actually a mistake by me putting in the points on the Inner Focus :) It was meant to be 4/5 Silent Resolve. As to PoH ... it really isn't going to be useful for us. As it stands now, we have 2 Priests (one at 60 and one only at 40), 1 Druid and plenty of Shaman. I would rather have the Shaman spot healing while the Priests concentrate on the tank (namely me :)). PoH can be useful in 5-man but I don't see 5-man as challenging enough to warrant 2-4 points just to make it even easier. Spirit of Redemption could very well be worth it, I suppose I should re-evaluate its value. 4/5 Spiritual Guidance 1/1 Spirit of Redemption would probably be a good idea. Thanks for the ideas, I'll pass 'em along to my Priest :lol:

Edit:

Hehe it appears the answer is "who cares" with only 200 healing gear.

Haha, it would appear so. On a related note, why is it that Blizzard will apply 10% more mana last but 10% more healing first? It seems to be rather illogical to me.

[Gurnsey]

I'm also looking in to builds and having a tough time.

What I'm looking for:
1) PVE primarily.
2) UBRS and below (no raids).
3) Healing and damage.
4) PVP-ability (battle-healer/holy damage etc for BG's).

I can't seem to get a good holy damage/healing build going - too many choices! I think I'd rather go for Spiritual Guidance than Power Infusion since SG works all the time. However, if I go far enough in Holy to get SG, where should my priorities be in Disc? It seems logical to go for Divine Spirit if you get SG; should I also try for Mental Agility, or Mental Strength? Should I ignore SG altogether and go for something else in Disc? Is Improved Mana Burn worth it in PVP, and if so does it ever help in PVE? I think I should grab Spirit of Redemption too for both instance runs and battlegrounds; how do I fit that in?

Blah, still working on it. Suggestions welcome!

Edit: two quick builds.
1) Holy to Searing Light/Spirit of Redemption, Disc to Force of Will including MA/MS
2) Spiritual Guidance/Divine Spirit build.

Critiques? Suggestions?

[Concillian]

Is Improved Mana Burn worth it in PVP, and if so does it ever help in PVE?  I think I should grab Spirit of Redemption too for both instance runs and battlegrounds; how do I fit that in?
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Improved mana burn is something my priest has now. I is useful in PvP, but it's usage is somewhat limited. It's not one of those skills you will use all the time. It is the most powerful mana reduction skill in the game, but the cast time is still horrendously long for PvP and it eats your own mana too.

Because it eats your mana, and you are a healer, it's not terribly useful in PvE. A warlock makes a better mana drainer simply because he can USE the mana he drains to perform his function. Rare are the encounters that you can both spare a healer to mana-burn and mana is worth burning.

I think imp. mana burn is something that can be passed up in most builds.

[TheLuminaire]

This is my new planned PvP/PvE build. With a little gear, and some good Int, it won't be hard to hit 15% spell crit for Smite and Holy Fire, with nearing 10% on MB.

Add in Power Infusion, Inner Focus, and Spell Warding for good PvP output. Trinket priest ftw. :ph34r:

Then I added Holy Nova, and Divine Spirit, plus full threat reduction for a rounded out build that I can DPS on solidly, while still having some useful stuff for raiding.

I can't wait!

[TheDragoon]

For 1.10 I was thinking about going for a Holy DPS/Healing build for my priest, Silverflail. I'm not entirely sure of the exact layout (specifically the 3 points in the increased mana talent in the Discipline tree), but I'll figure it out eventually. At least respecs for Silverflail are still pretty cheap versus the 45g respec I'd have to burn on Skybreak if she ever changes specs.