Priest Class Overview

Priest is a ranged oriented class, using Mana, similar to most other classes. While most other classes have a "fire and forget" mentality regarding their Mana, Priests need to focus on their Mana regeneration often. Both Discipline and Shadow have unique talents and spells that allow them to maintain their Mana naturally, while Holy is one of the most Mana intensive specs in the game. The more gear and experience you have, the easier of a time you will have mastering your Mana usage and increasing your combat prowess.

The Priest centers around unwavering faith, spiritual devotion, and mastery over Light and Shadow. Priests are powerful spellcasters who draw their strength from the divine or the void, choosing between healing the wounded or unleashing devastating psychic power.

Priest is able to fulfill either the damage dealing role, or the healing role depending on your specialization. Having the option to heal when needed will greatly improve your chances of finding groups, as healing is always needed. Priest is able to choose from three specializations: Discipline, Holy, and .

• Discipline — A master of balance, weaving light and shadow into a unique form of protective magic. Unlike traditional healers, they specialize in Atonement, mending wounds by dealing damage—channeling divine retribution through spells, both punishing the wicked and healing the faithful.
• Holy — A devout servant of the Light, embodying unwavering faith and compassion. They stand as beacons of hope on the battlefield, using sacred spells to mend wounds, cleanse ailments, and restore vitality to their allies. With unwavering faith and compassion, Holy Priests bring miraculous healing and blessings, embodying the grace and mercy of the Light even in the darkest moments.
• Shadow— A mysterious wielder of the Void, mastering dark powers to manipulate minds and drain the life force of their enemies. Cloaked in shadows and whispers, they blur the line between sanity and madness, twisting pain into weaponized despair. With eldritch spells and psychic torment, they weaken foes while empowering themselves, embracing the darkness not as corruption, but as a source of forbidden strength and insight.

Each specialization available to Priest is unique and has its' own playstyle. Ultimately the spec that you find the most enjoyable to play will come down to your own personal playstyle; we recommend trying out each spec on your own to get a feel for them and see how much you enjoy them.

Both Discipline and Holy focus on healing and will use most of the same spells when doing so. The main difference between these two specs is that Discipline will be focusing on single target heals, while Holy will be primarily doing AoE healing for the group. Shadow is different from both previous specs, focusing on dealing very high damage to enemies rather than healing allies.

Discipline brings some of the most utility to a raid, having multiple defensive cooldowns such as Pain Suppression and Power Word: Barrier. Discipline focuses on quickly healing up single targets at a time, and attempting to prevent damage taken by using Power Word: Shield on targets right before they are attacked. While being on the lower end of AoE healing, the raw utility offered by this spec and the ability to prevent damage to multiple players at a time, make Discipline one of the most desired healers in raiding content.

While Holy does not bring as much utility as Discipline does, it makes up for it in sheer healing output. Holy has a wide arsenal of AoE healing spells, putting out some of the best AoE healing available in the entire game. On fights with heavy raid-wide damage, this spec will shine above the rest with its ability to keep everyone alive nearly entirely on its own.

Shadow focuses on dealing damage instead of healing. Your main priority when playing Shadow is to maintain your several damage-over-time debuffs on your target, wearing down their health gradually. Where this spec excels above most others is when facing multiple, high health targets at once. Here you can spread these DoTS to multiple enemies at once, ramping your damage beyond what most other classes are capable of.

Priests are extremely viable in Mists of Pandaria; you will rarely see a raid without at least two Priests in it, and most will usually have more. Discipline is arguably the best healer in Mists of Pandaria as it offers a ton of shielding and raid utility with all of its available cooldowns. While Holy is not the more popular spec, the incredible AoE healing this spec can do is unquestionable. In raid encounters with high AoE raid-wide damage, groups will want a Holy Priest on their side. Shadow is not as strong as it was in Cataclysm, but it still remains a very decent option. In addition to bringing solid DPS, Shadow offers a wide amount of utility and brings much more to the raid than some pure-damage classes can.

Priests can play as most of the races in the game, giving you a wide selection of racials to choose from. For alliance, Worgen make a great choice for both Discipline and Shadow thanks to the crit from Viciousness; while we suggest Human for those playing Holy.

For Horde players, we suggest Goblin for all specs giving you Rocket Barrage, a much needed mobility skill, as well as Time is Money, a 1% spell haste increase. Pandaren are a close secondary option if you don't like the way Goblins look!

Below you can find the racial benefits of every race available for Priests, just in-case you are unsure which to pick!

• Pandaren:
  • Bouncy — You take half falling damage.
  • Epicurean — Your love of food allows you to receive double the stats from Well Fed effects.
  • Gourmand — Your Cooking skill is increased by 15.
  • Inner Peace — You earn twice as much rested experience.
  • Quaking Palm — Strikes the target with lightning speed, incapacitating them for 4 sec.

• Draenei:
  • Gemcutting — Jewelcrafting skill increased by 10.
  • Gift of the Naaru — Heals the target for 20% of the caster's total health over 15 sec.
  • Heroic Presence — Increases your chance to hit with all spells and attacks by 1%.
  • Shadow Resistance — Reduces Shadow damage taken by 1%.
• Dwarf:
  • Explorer — You find additional fragments when looting archaeological finds and you can survey faster than normal archaeologists.
  • Frost Resistance — Reduces Frost damage taken by 1%.
  • Crack Shot — Expertise with ranged weapons increased by 1%.
  • Mace Specialization — Expertise with Maces and Two-Handed Maces increased by 1%.
  • Stoneform — Removes all poison, disease and bleed effects and reduces all damage taken by 10% for 8 sec.
• Gnome:
  • Arcane Resistance — Reduces Arcane damage taken by 1%.
  • Engineering Specialization — Engineering skill increased by 15.
  • Escape Artist — Escape the effects of any immobilization or movement speed reduction effect.
  • Expansive Mind — Mana pool increased by 5%.
  • Shortblade Specialization — Expertise with Daggers and One-Handed Swords increased by 1%.
• Human:
  • Diplomacy — Reputation gains increased by 10%.
  • Will to Survive — Removes all movement impairing effects and effects which cause loss of control of your character.
  • Mace Specialization — Expertise with Maces and Two-Handed Maces increased by 1%.
  • Sword Specialization — Expertise with Swords and Two-Handed Swords increased by 1%.
  • The Human Spirit — Spirit increased by 3%.
• Night Elf:
  • Nature Resistance — Reduces Nature damage taken by 1%.
  • Quickness — Increased your chance to dodge melee and ranged attacks by 2%.
  • Shadowmeld — Activate to slip into the shadows, reducing the chance for enemies to detect your presence.
  • Wisp Spirit — Transform into a wisp upon death, increasing speed by 75%.
• Worgen:
  • Aberration — Reduces Shadow and Nature damage taken by 1%.
  • Darkflight — Activates your true form, increasing current movement speed by an additional 40% for 10 sec.
  • Flayer — Skinning skill increased by 15 and allows you to skin faster.
  • Viciousness — Increases critical strike chance by 1%.

• Blood Elf:
  • Arcane Affinity — Enchanting skill increased by 10.
  • Arcane Resistance — Reduces Arcane damage taken by 1%.
  • Arcane Torrent — Silences all enemies within 8 yards for 2 sec and increase your power.
• Goblin:
  • Best Deals Anywhere — Always receive the best possible gold discount, regardless of faction.
  • Better Living Through Chemistry — Alchemy skill increased by 15.
  • Pack Hobgoblin — Calls in your friend, Gobber, allowing you bank access for 1 min.
  • Rocket Barrage — Launches your belt rockets at an enemy, dealing Fire damage.
  • Rocket Jump — Activates your rocket belt to jump forward.
  • Time is Money — Cash in on a 1% increase to attack speed and spell haste.
• Tauren:
  • Cultivation — Herbalism skill increased by 15 and you gather herbs faster than normal herbalists.
  • Endurance — Base Health increased by 5%.
  • Nature Resistance — Reduces Nature damage taken by 1%.
  • War Stomp — Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yds for 2 sec.
• Troll:
  • Beast Slaying — Damage dealt versus Beasts increased by 5%.
  • Berserking — Increases your melee, ranged, and spell haste by 20% for 10 sec.
  • Dead Eye — Expertise with guns, bows, and crossbows increased by 1%.
  • Da Voodoo Shuffle — Reduces the duration of all movement impairing effects by 15%.
  • Regeneration — Health regeneration rate increased by 10%. 10% of total Health regeneration may continue during combat.
• Undead:
  • Cannibalize — Eat a nearby Humanoid or Undead corpse to restore health and mana.
  • Shadow Resistance — Reduces Shadow damage taken by 1%.
  • Touch of the Grave — Your attacks have a chance to drain the target, dealing Shadow damage and healing you for the same amount.
  • Will of the Forsaken — Removes any Charm, Fear, and Sleep effects.

Priest can only wear Cloth armor with stats focused on the spec you are playing. Unlike other classes that require you to wear all of a single type of armor to unlock your Armor Specialization, Priest automatically gains Mysticism as you can only equip Cloth armor.

Priest is able to equip Daggers, one-handed Maces, Staves, Wands, and off-hand weapons. Typically you will be using either a Mace or Dagger along with an off-hand weapon, as this generally gives you the highest possible stats, but you can find Staves that have more stats than both of these combined.

These are the stats priority for Discipline Priests. Holy follows almost exactly the same stats priority, but instead places Spirit above Critical Strike Rating. This allows you to mostly use the same gear between the two specs.

1. Intellect;
2. Critical Strike Rating;
3. Spirit;
4. Mastery Rating;
5. Haste Rating.

Shadow will want to focus on damage dealing stats exclusively, capping out their Hit rating first so none of their spells ever miss. After that you will want to get as much Haste rating as possible. The stat priority for Shadow Priest is as follows:

1. Intellect;
2. Hit Rating / Expertise / Spirit (15%);
3. Haste Rating;
4. Critical Strike Rating;
5. Mastery.

Addons and Macros can greatly improve your quality of life during Mists of Pandaria. Listed below are some of our recommendations on Addons and Macros to help get the most out of your time playing the game.