Discipline Priest Healing Easy Mode — Shadowlands 9.1

This page is intended for players who are new to the game or class, have no intentions of raiding Mythic difficulty, or simply want a more straightforward way to play their specialization without being overwhelmed by the numerous subtleties and active abilities that need to be taken into consideration for optimal play.

Discipline Priests rely on healing players through dealing damage (through Atonement), but also has traditional heals and absorption spells which are to be used in situations where Atonement is not sufficient. Healing through dealing damage allows them to contribute to the group's DPS, while still performing well as a healer. Discipline Priests provide some of the greatest burst healing in the game on a relatively short cooldown.

For a more in-depth description on the spells you have available to you as a Discipline Priest, take a look at our spell summary page.

These are currently the easier talent choices as a Discipline Priest for a newer player. Note that some of the suggestions sacrifice a bit of performance for ease of use, but overall the difference is not great. Consult the detailed talents page for the complete picture.

• Level 15: Twist of Fate
• Level 25: Angelic Feather
• Level 30: Power Word: Solace / Mindbender
• Level 35: Completely situational
• Level 40: Sins of the Many
• Level 45: Purge the Wicked
• Level 50: Lenience

• Level 15: Schism
• Level 25: Angelic Feather
• Level 30: Power Word: Solace
• Level 35: Completely situational
• Level 40: Sins of the Many
• Level 45: Purge the Wicked
• Level 50: Evangelism / Spirit Shell

Currently, you will want to prioritize secondary stats as follows for all content:

1. Haste
2. Critical Strike
3. Versatility
4. Mastery

While we provide stat preference lists, swapping gear to higher item level items — and their higher Intellect/total stats — should, usually, provide a larger upgrade than using lower item level items with better stats. The exception to this rule are items with important tertiary stats, Leech, which should still be used ahead of other items without them, unless the difference in item level is around 10 or above.

For more information on stats for Discipline, please take a look at our stats page below.

Discipline Priests rely on applying Atonement and then dealing damage in order to heal through Atonement.

Due to the way Discipline Priest heals in Raid content, it is nearly impossible to present a simplified version. If you are interested in Raid healing, we highly recommend for you to take a look at the full rotation guide found here:

Healing in a dungeon relies on Atonement when the damage amounts are low to medium. For higher amounts of damage, you will need to make use of additional spells.

• Low to medium damage: you should maintain Atonement on the target through using Shadow Mend and simply perform your DPS rotation. This should provide enough healing to keep the target alive.
• High damage: Atonement healing will no longer suffice on its own. In addition to utilizing Atonement, you may have to spam Shadow Mend. In case of group-wide damage, you should use Power Word: Radiance to quickly apply 5 Atonements at 60% duration and use Schism, Power Word: Solace and Penance offensively to heal up your group. Shadowfiend can supplement your healing quite well in a pinch, so it is recommended to save the cooldown as best you can for packs or bosses that require the extra healing. Rapture and Power Word: Barrier are extremely powerful cooldowns that Discipline has available. Make sure to not fall into the trap of holding cooldowns too long for perfect moment. Specifically, Rapture has a very short cooldown.

Power Word: Shield is best used in situations when you are on the move and the target will not benefit from the direct healing of Shadow Mend. On the other hand, Shadow Mend can be a great way to spot heal and apply Atonement in situations where you have the time to stop moving in order to cast it. Power Word: Radiance provides a quick method of applying 5 Atonements at 60% of normal duration. Keep in mind that Power Word: Radiance is our most Mana-efficient and GCD-efficient applicator.

• Evangelism is a Discipline Priest's primary raid cooldown. Utilizing this properly is key to performing well with the specialization. Always aim to have at least 15 Atonements out before using this cooldown. Evangelism should always be used after a double Power Word: Radiance cast. See the raid healing section above for a detailed cast sequence involving Evangelism for a better idea of how to use this well.
• Spirit Shell is an alternative to Evangelism. Utilized in a similar manner to Evangelism, by trading some overall throughput as well as losing Rapture you gain the ability to turn all your healing in your major burst window into a giant absorb instead. See the raid healing section above for a detailed cast sequence involving Spirit Shell for a better idea of how to use this well.
• Schism, despite its tooltip only mentions dealing increased damage, is a significant part of our healing potential. It is one of the few damage amplification sources in the game that does increase our Atonement healing. This should be used in conjunction with as many Power Word: Radiance charges as possible as well as with every Evangelism cast.
• Pain Suppression should be used on a tank, before a damage spike. Alternatively, it can be used on a raid member who is targeted by a very damaging ability.
• Power Word: Barrier should be used to mitigate intense AoE damage; it requires the raid to be stacked in one place.
• Shadowfiend should be used for additional DPS (and therefore Atonement healing) when this is needed at high atonement counts.
• Rapture should be used when you anticipate a large amount of AoE damage. This allows you to provide a large absorb shield about 9 targets, which also serves to set up Atonement on them for subsequent healing. Used in dungeons it is extremely powerful at only a 1.5-minute cooldown. Because of it being on a short cooldown, it is recommended to be used as frequently as possible. Uses include: heavy tank damage, pre-shielding, and healing major damage over time abilities. Be aware that after Rapture expires any new Power Word: Shield casts will replace the previous buff on the target.
• Desperate Prayer provides increased health for its duration, but also provides a heal for the amount that it increased. This provides you with a quick heal when you drop low and added survivability.
• Power Infusion provides a Haste steroid that can be used either on yourself, during a ramp up or a high intensity moment in dungeons, or used on an ally DPS during their cooldowns for more group/raid damage output.

For a simpler version of Discipline Priest, we recommend choosing the Venthyr Covenant.

Note: This is different from the recommended Covenant in the rest of the guide and is chosen strictly due to its ease of use.

If you are looking to be optimal in both Raid and Mythic Plus content, the recommendation is Kyrian. If you go Kyrian, please reference the guide's Covenant page for linked below further recommendations.

Theotar the Mad Duke provides you will solid bonuses from both Soothing Shade and Token of Appreciation with little interaction on your part required.

1. Shattered Perceptions
2. Exaltation (For Raiding)
3. Shining Radiance
4. Rabid Shadows (This is a Shadow Conduit that works for Discipline)

1. Condensed Anima Sphere
2. Translucent Image
3. Charitable Soul

You will likely never be taking more than one Finesse slot in a Soulbind Tree at a time. When you do find yourself with a Finesse slot available, we recommend using Clear Mind.

You can read more about the Covenant System and our full recommendations on the Covenant page of this guide:

In the table below, the recommended slot for each item is bolded.

Focus	Legendary	Slots	Source	Stats
Raiding	Clarity of Mind	Chest or Finger	Castle Nathria (Sludgefist)
Mythic+ (When not Kyrian)	Twins of the Sun Priestess	Head or Shoulders or Neck	Castle Nathria (Stone Legion Generals)

You can read more about Legendaries and our complete recommendation including for other Covenants on your Legendaries page.