Discipline Priest 6.2

[Gwenymph 414]

Heya Thoy, and welcome! 

 

1) What does your Spirit Scale too in CM?  Mana issues should not be terribly bad unless you have some of these issues:

Tanks poor usage of CDs, bad DPS firestanders, excess PoH usage, pushing Gold timers causing minimal downtime.

 

2) All the L90 are capped for healing now.  We will know in a week the exact mana/heal comparison for stacked fights. 

 

3) AA is primarily used as an IF cooldown now.  You can keep it active w/ Holy Fire or Solace or just activate one stack of Evan to get a nice DA filled PoH off.  It does wonders as a extra healing CD that Disc thought they lost w/ the de-bloating of IF.

 

You will get more feedback to your questions by copy and pasting your post to a new thread in the Priest Forums.  Please do so and I look forward to seeing more from ya there!

[Guest Berdine of Arathor]

So I am actually wondering about the stat priority of Crit over mastery for WoD as a disc priest.  With the amount that we are spamming Power Word: Shield, I think that Mastery should be over Crit.  We are not really getting huge amounts of Divine Aegis, which is really what Crit is for, because we are not using atonement nearly as much as we did before 6.x dropped.  Your Shields are way way more important at the moment, so why not prioritize mastery?  is there a sim that shows crit being superior for WoD dungeons and raids?  just wondering the logic.

 

Thanks

 

Berdine of Arathor

[Guest Archangel-Anetheron]

Is spirit shell really that bad now? It seemed to be all the rage back in MoP, but now that I've incorporated it into my spell rotation, it's no longer good. What gives?

[Vlad 411]

Is spirit shell really that bad now? It seemed to be all the rage back in MoP, but now that I've incorporated it into my spell rotation, it's no longer good. What gives?

In my opinion, it was still pretty lackluster in MoP, but at least you had it without investing anything in it. Now, you need to give up Power Infusion for it, so it's totally not worth it.

[Gwenymph 414]

So I am actually wondering about the stat priority of Crit over mastery for WoD as a disc priest.  With the amount that we are spamming Power Word: Shield, I think that Mastery should be over Crit.  We are not really getting huge amounts of Divine Aegis, which is really what Crit is for, because we are not using atonement nearly as much as we did before 6.x dropped.  Your Shields are way way more important at the moment, so why not prioritize mastery?  is there a sim that shows crit being superior for WoD dungeons and raids?  just wondering the logic.

 

Thanks

 

Berdine of Arathor

 

Yes you are correct in that, at this low ilvl yes Mastery will be worth more due to the low amount of Crit we can get our hands on.  As you gear up in Highmaul it will eventually over take Mastery as you get your Crit above 40% or so.  If I find a solid number where someone who Sims says: "AT x% Crit it becomes the primary stat focus" I will repost it.

 

Again, with PWS being so strong right now and such a large portion of our GCD, Mastery is King.

[Guest Atonement - Guest]

So I am actually wondering about the stat priority of Crit over mastery for WoD as a disc priest.  With the amount that we are spamming Power Word: Shield, I think that Mastery should be over Crit.  We are not really getting huge amounts of Divine Aegis, which is really what Crit is for, because we are not using atonement nearly as much as we did before 6.x dropped.  Your Shields are way way more important at the moment, so why not prioritize mastery?  is there a sim that shows crit being superior for WoD dungeons and raids?  just wondering the logic.

 

Thanks

 

Berdine of Arathor

Atonement from MMO-Champion here. Some of our priest forum contributors did a lot of math around the stat weights for disc, and found that for Divine Aegis producing heals (ie, not PWS or CoW (spirit shell calculates as a DA heal)) its crit to 18% then mastery => crit > multi > versatility. Haste required a numerical analysis, but considering the extremely low value of versatility (the 'optimal' amount was calculated to be less than the amount recieved from raid buffs), haste was obviously worth more than versatility. They produced a table of 'balance points' for optimal stats, but needless to say this is far too detailed for the target audience for Icy Veins, but essentially you want to keep crit and mastery within 5% of each other, fully raid buffed.

However, obviously PWS and CoW are going to make up a much much larger portion of our healing than Divine Aegis producing heals. The stat priority for purely PWS and CoW was simply:

Mastery > Crit = Multi > haste > versatility

Combined this works out to be roughly 

Mastery > Crit => Multi > Haste > Versatility

 

[Guest Lilaeth]

So I am actually wondering about the stat priority of Crit over mastery for WoD as a disc priest.  With the amount that we are spamming Power Word: Shield, I think that Mastery should be over Crit.  We are not really getting huge amounts of Divine Aegis, which is really what Crit is for, because we are not using atonement nearly as much as we did before 6.x dropped.  Your Shields are way way more important at the moment, so why not prioritize mastery?  is there a sim that shows crit being superior for WoD dungeons and raids?  just wondering the logic.

 

Thanks

 

Berdine of Arathor

I agree 100%! 

I ran last night in heroic Highmaul as disc and prioritize Mastery.   Average 25-40k hps and my shields with clarity of will were OP giving all the healers a run or their money in my guild.   Crit is bonus for the glyph of PW:shield since the heal from it can crit.  We are masters of mitigation and not throughput this expac.  Indeed mastery is shining in a raid environment.

Lilaeth of Proudmoore.

[Guest Lilaeth]

Is spirit shell really that bad now? It seemed to be all the rage back in MoP, but now that I've incorporated it into my spell rotation, it's no longer good. What gives?

SS is fight specific at this time, I feel.   I use Power Infusion but fights the The Butcher, SS might be a better choice.  We already have hug absorb shielding with Clarity of Will and PW:S, and add a Divine Aegis proc and you have a triple bubble.

[Guest enissa]

I am finding that I'm heavily utilising Clarity with PWS and heal to keep the tank topped up.

This is 5 mans.

 

Haven't done too much wod raiding but the little I've done in Highmaul is basically similar, with a lot more PWS thrown in, and cascade whenever there is raid damage.

 

So the question is: Does crit still have top priority in your eyes since clarity and heal are both affected by haste?

 

[Guest Moshizzl3]

Yes you are correct in that, at this low ilvl yes Mastery will be worth more due to the low amount of Crit we can get our hands on.  As you gear up in Highmaul it will eventually over take Mastery as you get your Crit above 40% or so.  If I find a solid number where someone who Sims says: "AT x% Crit it becomes the primary stat focus" I will repost it.

 

Again, with PWS being so strong right now and such a large portion of our GCD, Mastery is King.

 

So crit is still prio over mastery or how should i understand this?

[Guest Homungus]

 

 

Haste generally has a low priority for Discipline Priests because so many Discipline Priest spells are instant cast and therefore do not really benefit from it.

 

Do you really think that is right? In WoD a Disc Priest only has two instant spells left: Power Word: Shield and Penance (but that has to be channeled). Everything else has a cast time, even Prayer of Mending. Doesn't that make Haste a more important stat?

[Nepiton 0]

MMO-champ has/had a great thread going about disc stat priorities (with lots of math involved, most of which is over my 6-years-removed-from-intro-level-college-calc math skills). Here's the link if there's any interest:

 

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1606602-Disc-stat-weights?p=29958059#post29958059

(sorry if posting links are looked down upon on the forums here)

 

it seems at current gear levels Mastery>Crit>=MS>Haste>Vers is the way to go. I'm sitting right under 1000 spirit and I am more than comfortable with mana. The only trouble I've had so far is last night on heroic Butcher 3 healing it with 15 people--speaking of which, does anyone have any suggestions as to how to maybe heal that fight... damn. I was sitting at around 40k HPS but unable to keep the raid alive after he lusts at 30% (sorry for the digression).

 

What I'm seeing right now on most of my healing breakdowns is anywhere from 60-80% of my healing done by PW:S (on heavy tank damage fights PW:S drops down toward 60% and penance shoots up into the high-teens). I'm essentially using atonement as a filler, PI as a mana CD/oh fuck PoH spam CD during times like sub-30% H-Butcher, and PoM the tanks on CD. With prioritizing mastery it seems to be working great as I rarely go OOM and am always competing with (and mostly) beating our Resto Druid who out gears me quite significantly.

Edited December 16, 2014 by Nepiton

[Gwenymph 414]

Not going to muli-quote here but wanted to answer some questions and make counter points to some suggested ideas that went up here in the last 48hrs.

 

1) Yes, Mastery>Crit=MS.  We don't use the other spells enough for Mastery not to be on top.  Yes math has supported Crit over Mastery since the last few rounds of Beta passes BUT that was at higher levels and a more evenly used toolkit.  Most everyone has experience by now that we do not have an even toolkit.  PWS = 50-70% of our casts.

 

2) PoH associated w/ SS is very cumbersome and expensive.  PI is the preferable choice here.  Yes, use PI for mana reduced spell casting... but that spell casting/mana is maximized by blanket PWS coverage after your EAAPoH.

 

3) WoM L100 is preferable to CoW in Highmaul.  There are exceptions to the rules based on your strat and your healing assignment (ex: Kargath and Brackenspore tanks) but as a general answer; go WoM.

 

4) Do not actively seek to cast PoM.  The cast time and return on your mana are lackluster.  Use it prepull then just profit off the WoM.

 

5) Do not glyph PWS for the heal, even for the crit.  The shield itself can MS and Crit. Glyph Weakened Soul instead.

 

6) EAA can be used on demand if you have an ohsh!t moment, don't wiat to stack Evan. to 5 if you are trying to prep/catch up on Butcher/Brack/etc.  ohsh!t>AA>EAA>PoH

[Vlad 411]

I agree with the Mastery over Critical Strike suggestions, and am updating the guide accordingly. Thank you for all the comments!

[Myroken 0]

This is probably common sense, and me just being a noob, but I had no idea that the absorb from Clarity of Will stacks. I was casing it and letting it fall off before casting it again. The difference between a 40k absorb and a 175k absorb it pretty huge, and I think, assuming I'm not the only one who's made this blunder, it's worth adding this to the guide.

[Guest DenMother]

For dps/heal on a single button, try this macro - sub the two spells you prefer.

 

/cast [target=mouseover,exists,help,nodead] Flash Heal; [target=mouseover,exists,harm,nodead] Smite; [help,nodead] Flash Heal; [harm,nodead] Smite; [target=player] Flash Heal

 

This will cast flash heal on a friendly target, Smite an unfriendly one, and self cast Flash Heal if you have no target or your target is dead.

 

I use Flash Heal/Smite, Holy Fire/PoM, and Dispel Magic/Purify this way and it saves a ton of real estate and speeds up my play.

[Guest DB_Guest]

I was just checking Jhazrun's profile, and it looks like he's stacking Multistrike. That does not seem to match the suggested stat priority.

 

Would this be because a lot of our playstyle/healing comes from PW:S? And would this mean that multistrike should be valued very high when mainly casting PW:S ?

[Guest Vanessa]

I was just checking Jhazrun's profile, and it looks like he's stacking Multistrike. That does not seem to match the suggested stat priority.

 

Would this be because a lot of our playstyle/healing comes from PW:S? And would this mean that multistrike should be valued very high when mainly casting PW:S ?

 

MS because he's most likely in holy spec, which is what he's been playing mainly since WoD hit.

[Guest Yaggya]

I was just checking Jhazrun's profile, and it looks like he's stacking Multistrike. That does not seem to match the suggested stat priority.

 

Would this be because a lot of our playstyle/healing comes from PW:S? And would this mean that multistrike should be valued very high when mainly casting PW:S ?

 

I was looking into this too.

After reading many threads about how to play my new discipline priest and how the stats weight actually really looks.

for me it actually looks like this: mastery>multi>crit>haste>vers plus spirit until you feel confortable of course.

 

I'm not a guy knowing the numbers... so what im saying could be wrong. I'm just saying what i think i may know

 

any help and correction of what i said are very welcome. Thanks for the great guides icy-veins!

[Guest siderofski]

im running crit-mastery=multi atm at 690 ilvl.u can never go wrong with crit its too good.and the synergy of crit with multi is amazing because your shields can multi but also your crits can multi.thats huge

[Guest woeplayer horde keli]

Its says saving grace is not a strong talent and shouldn't be used. In my opinion this wrong it can be used as a much stronger flash heal in dire situations. Where the other talent that shields dmg takes too long to cast saving grace is instant although there is a penalty in using it is only 6sec and doesn't syack the more you use it.

[Guest emprimaker]

The penalty for saving grace accumulates and after 10 uses you will not be healing. Even a first use means your shield will do 10% less healing for 6 sec.

[Guest Mojo]

Saving Grace is the step child's bastard brother. Give him a try, reall good if only used for 1-2 stacks. It's a shame Saving Grace was completely dismissed.

[Guest Tela aka Telapriest-]

Hi, 

After having a discussion with a guildie who's running a Priest mainly as Disc and giving her some advice I was curious what you guys say and I'm actually a bit surprised about your trinket suggestion.
I fully understand, that you need spirit, to be comfortable with your mana regeneration, but as far as I know, most disc priests don't really struggle with it. 

So, here is what I suggested my guildie: 

 

- No mana issues at all go for:

Goren Soul Repository and 
Darmac's Unstable Talisman

 

- Some mana issues, but not a lot go for: 

Goren Soul Repository and

Auto-Repairing Autoclave

 

- Serious mana issues, follow the BiS icy-veins advice. 

 

My thought is, as the stat priority according to you is int > mastery > crit > haste and there is no priest trink with a mastery proc, an int. trink with a crit proc should be more beneficial than a spirit trink with a haste proc. 

Also, if you have no problem with mana regen, you should probably favor an int. trink with a haste proc over a spirit trink with a haste proc. 

Last but not least, I think if you have mana issues, you rather have a static amount of spirit, than a spirit proc. that might or might not come in handy, that's why I gave the int. spirit proc trink the least priority. 

 

Please correct me if I have overseen something, I'm always keen to learn.

Cheers

Tela

[Brewmonksta 157]

For me it comes down to the fight and the heal role im trying to fill. With a heavy CoW on tank role then mana is not an issue so throughput trinkets are far better.

I find on an encounter like Mythic Gruul where i am constantly shielding then mana can be an issue so 2 spirit trinkets can be useful.