Discipline Priest

Hardcore viability

Priest is the most durable caster class is Classic Era, and an overall A-tier pick for a Hardcore play through. What the Priest lacks in crowd control and mobility, it makes up in a flexible toolkit, large mana pool, and strong defensive capabilities.

Talent builds

Priests bring together light and shadow, mastering the ability to both give and take life. A Discipline Priest in many ways is defined by it’s chosen subspec, and can make excellent use of that duality to push the limits of the class.

Discipline (26 points)

Unbreakable Will (1/5)

This is a filler talent to access Mental Agility later in the talent tree.

Wand Specialization (5/5)

A Priest uses their wand like a melee class auto-attacks. While wand damage falls off sharply post-40, an extra 25% damage from wand attacks as early as level 14 will help you blast through early game. Always take this talent first.

Improved Power Word: Fortitude (2/2)

A helpful passive buff, but less important than Imp PWS in early game.

Improved Power Word: Shield (3/3)

A useful passive, being used at least once each time you enter combat.

Inner Focus (1/1)

Only take this talent if you’re unfamiliar with Priest or want to play aggressively with your mana pool. The primary benefit here is a reduction in mana cost of your next spell. Alternatively, place this point in Unbreakable Will.

Meditation (3/3)

This talent scales well because (1) it scales off Spirit and (2) you will use more mana per cast at higher levels.

Mental Agility (5/5)

A great mana conservation tool many of your spells are instant casts.

Mental Strength (5/5)

10% bonus mana can carry you through the last few levels after Wand progression falls off.

Divine Spirit (1/1)

Priests scale extremely well from Spirit, gaining 1 MP5 for every 4 Spirit. Divine Spirit on its own may give lackluster benefits, but can provide critical mana regeneration when combined with gear and other talents.

Rotation

Level 1-9

Cast smite. After training rank 2 (level 6), keep rank 1 on your bar to use when mana is low or to avoid overkill damage.

1. Smite
2. Smite
3. Smite

Level 10-19

Smite is marked optional due to it’s long cast time (2.5 seconds) and additional mana cost per encounter. Consider your current mana level before use. Be mindful that Spirit Tap has reduced effectiveness while casting.

1. Power Word: Shield
2. Smite
3. Mind Blast
4. Shoot wand

Level 20-43

Holy Fire is marked optional due to it’s long cast time (3.5 seconds, or 3 seconds with 5/5 Righteous Fury). Be mindful that Spirit Tap has reduced effectiveness while casting.

1. Power Word: Shield
2. Holy Fire
3. Mind Blast
4. Shadow Word: Pain
5. Shoot wand

Level 44-60

Shadow Subspec Multi-Pulls

After learning Psychic Scream at level 14, the Priest can reliably perform multi-pulls of up to a number of mobs equal to their Psychic Scream fear cap + 1, up to a maximum of 5 mobs at a time. At 14, Psychic Scream Rank 1’s fearing cap of 2 targets would allow the Priest to pull up to 3 mobs at once.

Before performing a multi-pull, the Priest should ensure (1) a clear exit strategy is available, (2) a sufficient area is cleared so fear targets will not unintentionally social aggro additional mobs into the pull, and (3) the Priest has sufficient mana, health, and/or consumables for the entire pull.

It is important to note that Psychic Scream will always fear the targets closes to the Priest. With this mechanic in mind, it is possible with clever use of Mind Flay to intentionally fear all targets except the first kill target.

Multi-Pull Rotation

For the purposes of this explanation, refers to the first target in the kill order, refers to the 2nd target in the kill order, refers to the 3rd target in the kill order, refers to the 4th target in the kill order, and refers to the 5th and final target in the kill order.

1. Power Word: Shield
2. Holy Fire
3. Mind Blast
4. Shadow Word: Pain
5. Strafe away
6. Shadow Word: Pain
7. Mind Flay
8. Psychic Scream (While strafing away)
9. Mind Blast
10. Mind Flay
11. Strafe away and repeat the following sequence, casting Psychic Scream as needed until all kill targets are dead.
12. Shadow Word: Pain (as needed)
13. Power Word: Shield
14. Mind Blast
15. Shoot wand

Professions

Generally, professions are not needed on a priest. The benefits offered are minimal relative to time investment. However, both Alchemy and Engineering can provide a Priest some quality of life and survivability benefits, and can make multi-pulls more efficient.

Notably, taking Tailoring and Enchanting as a means of acquiring an early wand is not included in this guide. The profession detour is not worth the time investment, and should only be opted for in tandem with a self-made or similarly restrictive challenge.

Alchemy

Mana potions, and specifically access to Superior Mana Potions, is the greatest benefit in Alchemy. The ability to use mana potions on cooldown can greatly improve leveling pace.

Nifty Stop Watch provides much needed mobility, taking up a trinket slot. This is a reward from a quest that requires Frost Oil to complete.

Elixir of Greater Intellect and Troll’s Blood Elixirs provide useful stat boosts to reduce downtime.

Free Action Potions can save your life, with foresight.

Engineering

Grenades provide much needed crowd control, along with an interrupt. Grenades also provide a consistent means with which to split pull.

A Target Dummy can take the place of mobility abilities to provide a safe getaway. Alternatively, they can be useful decoy targets in Mind Control multi-pulls against mobs with unique abilities only used when in combat with multiple targets.

Gnomish Rocket Boots are a useful mobility tool, as long as they’re equipped.

Wand progression

Levels listed below are suggested minimums at which to attempt content, and players should exercise judgement before completing specific quests.

This list doesn’t include wands that drop from dungeon bosses (most notably Cookie’s Stirring Rod and Noxious Shooter, nor wands from Dungeon Quests (most notably Gravestone Scepter).

Last, do not go after every available upgrade from the list below. Some dps upgrades may not be worth the time or gold.

Stat priority

Intellect > Spirit > MP5 > Stamina

Priests are the tank of caster classes, and more than any other class your mana pool is life. With a broad array of healing spells, you can convert Mana to Health at a up to a 1-to-3 ratio. Your toolkit extends beyond direct heals as well, offering one of the most diverse ranges of defensive abilities out of any class. Stat choices should always center the creation and maintenance of a healthy mana pool.

Other stat considerations

Spell Power and Healing Power are not worth prioritizing due to low spell power coefficients. As background, a spell power coefficient represents the conversion rate of spell or healing power to effective increases in spell performance.

If you plan to multi-pull often, consider placing a higher value on Stamina.

Advanced tips

Cloth armor doesn’t give much damage mitigation, especially at low level. Consider selling all gray and white armor pieces as you level for extra water & ability funds.

Wand attacks use the global cooldown. Additionally, attacks made against you can cause pushback on your wand attacks.

The “5 Second Rule” inhibits mana regeneration from Spirit until 5 seconds following your most recent spell cast has been completed. Consider this rule while in combat, and to make the most of your Spirit Tap talent between kills.

Consider overkill damage and overhealing when casting spells. Mana efficiency is very important to the Priest.

Use the full extent of your toolkit. Spells like Mind Soothe, Levitate, Mana Burn, Dispel Magic, Mind Vision, and Mind Control are useful tools that often go underutilized.

Downrank your heals and Psychic Scream when appropriate. Keep a several ranks of your heals (not Renew) and all ranks of Psychic Scream on your bars for ease of access.

Hardcore Priest Leveling Guide

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