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Discipline Priest Healing Frequently Asked Questions in Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.0.1

Last updated on Jul 28, 2018 at 14:12 by Mend 26 comments

Table of Contents

General Information

On this page, we list all of the frequently asked questions for a Discipline Priest in World of Warcraft Battle for Azeroth 8.0.1.

The other pages of our Discipline Priest guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Author

This guide is written and maintained by Mend, admin and editor at Focused Will (join them on Discord or read their Blog for healing Priests) and is reviewed by the staff at Focused Will. You can follow Mend on Twitter or Twitch.

1. Battle for Azeroth Discipline Changes

This section will go over several of the most frequently asked questions regarding Discipline Priests in Battle for Azeroth.

1.1. What Changed for Discipline Priest in BfA?

A summary of all changes can be found here.

1.2. How Does the New Mastery: Grace Work?

Mastery: Grace Icon Mastery: Grace increases all healing done to targets that have Atonement Icon Atonement active, which includes Atonement healing itself. Technically, it is like having the old Mastery plus Grace (Legion talent). It does not increase healing of a spell that initially applies Atonement, however.

1.3. No More Power Word: Shield Cooldown; Back to Spamming?

No, the change to the Power Word: Shield Icon Power Word: Shield cooldown does not affect how we apply single Atonement Icon Atonements other than that it replaces Plea, which was removed. Power Word: Shield is too weak and expensive to replace Atonement as our main source of healing.

1.4. When Am I Going to Use Contrition?

Contrition Icon Contrition suits two different purposes. One is the ability to yield Atonement Icon Atonement healing without an offensive target available. The other is to increase the power of defensively cast Penance Icon Penances. Defensive Penances are much stronger than they used to in Legion, and Contrition improves this further.

1.5. Is Schism Any Good Now?

The cost reduction, spell power buff, and duration increase of Schism Icon Schism finally makes it a very powerful tool. With the loss of Sins of the Many (Legtion Artifact trait) and Light's Wrath (Legion Artifact), this is now what we are looking to talent into in order to empower our burst windows. Note that it does not buff Mindbender Icon Mindbender or Shadowfiend Icon Shadowfiend.

1.6. Luminous Barrier Seems Pretty Good; Is It?

Evangelism Icon Evangelism will likely keep its spot as a frequently available and very strong cooldown, and the combination of Lenience Icon Lenience + Power Word: Barrier Icon Power Word: Barrier is potentially more damage reduction than Luminous Barrier can provide. However, Luminous Barrier suits its purpose very well in large raids, spread-out fights, or dungeons and is generally the most convenient tool in the row.

2. Talent Builds

2.1. What Talents Do I Use in Dungeons?

We generally recommend two different (baseline) Talent builds. Schism Icon Schism + Power Word: Solace Icon Power Word: Solace + Sins of the Many Icon Sins of the Many and Twist of Fate Icon Twist of Fate + Mindbender Icon Mindbender + Contrition Icon Contrition. These builds are not exclusive and we recommend reading our upcoming in-depth discussion on dungeon talents (this will be published on the Focused Will Website once it is available). Additionally, there are situational choices to be made between Lenience Icon Lenience and Luminous Barrier Icon Luminous Barrier and whether Halo Icon Halo can be used or not.

2.2. What Talents Do I Use in Raids?

It is yet to be announced, but will be in time for Uldir release. For the pre-patch, play as you used to or try the Schism Icon Schism + Power Word: Solace Icon Power Word: Solace build. It is a lot of fun (and strong)!

3. Trinkets and Azerite

3.1. Should I Equip DPS trinkets in BfA?

As you might have noticed, DPS trinkets disappeared from the Discipline loot table. This is because damage procs and similar effects do not yield Atonement Icon Atonement healing anymore. However, the damage penalty is gone as well (formerly was a 90% damage reduction on DPS trinkets for Discipline only). Equally to all other healers, you can just use them now for additional DPS.

3.2. What Trinkets Am I Looking to Get for Raiding in BfA?

Stat-sticks (trinkets that provide flat secondary stats) are still a solid choice. A list of good Battle for Azeroth dungeon trinkets will be released soon (this will be published on the Focused Will Website once it is available).

4. Gear and Stats

4.1. My Stats are X/Y/Z. Are These Any Good?

Nothing really changed in the stats department other than item level becoming even more important than it used to be. While you still want to try to sustain a higher level of Haste, neglecting item level on anything but jewelry is generally not a good idea. All other stats are relatively equal in value as we can tell right now. We will elaborate on this further with the release of a new stat weight spreadsheet for Battle for Azeroth in the upcoming weeks (this will be published on the Focused Will Website once it is available).

5. Gameplay

5.1. How Does the New Mastery: Grace Affect my Gameplay?

It does not. It does not change what you do in raids. And since Grace (Legion talent) was always an ideal talent to select in dungeons, it has no impact there either.

5.2. How Do I Use Rapture Now?

Rapture Icon Rapture will only rarely be used in order to ramp up for burst healing. It should now rather be considered a tool for very strong spot healing to fewer targets. Be careful to not overwrite Rapture-buffed shields with non-buffed shields once Rapture expires.

5.3. Should I Use Halo or Divine Star over Purge the Wicked Now?

Both Halo Icon Halo and Divine Star Icon Divine Star were buffed compared to Purge the Wicked Icon Purge the Wicked. Due to its area limitation, Divine Star is still very situational, but Halo should be considered your baseline talent now, while Purge the Wicked is still strong but situational.

5.4. I See We Still Have Shadow Covenant; Should I Use It?

Shadow Covenant Icon Shadow Covenant was changed to having a cooldown and having its Mana cost halved. Even with these changes, it still suits the same purpose it did before: a quick and bursty heal for an entire group, that should not be used in and encounter with constant damage. Like the other talents on that row, it is only a very minor healing increase and should be considered situational. Do not let yourself get fooled by the healing from it on your healing meters; it still puts a healing absorb on targets which is negative healing.

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