Discipline Priest Healing Spec, Builds, and Talents (Legion 7.3)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.3 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2.5 Changes
  • 4. Patch 7.2 Changes
  • 5. Contents
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Playstyle
    • 4.1. Atonement Rotation (DPS Priority)
    • 4.2. Raid Healing
    • 4.3. Dungeon Healing
    • 4.4. Atonement Applicators
  • 5. Cooldown Usage
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Main Resource
  • 3. Basic Abilities
    • 3.1. Atonement
    • 3.2. Healing Spells
    • 3.3. Utility
  • 4. Cooldowns
  • 5. ChangeLog
• ×Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
  • 3. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents
  • 4. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents
  • 5. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 6. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 7. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 8. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
  • 9. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression
  • 2. Relic Choice
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Netherlight Crucible Relic Paths
  • 1. General Optimization Advice
  • 2. Tier 2 Upgrade Priority
  • 3. Tier 3 Upgrade Priority
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Rotation
    • 1.1. DPS Rotation / Atonement
    • 1.2. Raid Healing
    • 1.3. Dungeon Healing
    • 1.4. Atonement Applicators
  • 2. Cooldown Usage
  • 3. Optional Read: Mastering Your Discipline Priest
    • 3.1. Atonement
    • 3.2. Absorption Effects
    • 3.3. Penance
    • 3.4. More on Cooldowns
      • 3.4.1. Light's Wrath
      • 3.4.2. Tier 1 Talents
      • 3.4.3. Tier 4 Talents
      • 3.4.4. Tier 5 Talents
      • 3.4.5. Tier 6 Talents
      • 3.4.6. Tier 7 Talents
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems
  • 2. Enchants
  • 3. Consumables
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Macros
    • 1.1. Generic Macros for Priests
      • 1.1.1. Leap of Faith Mouseover Macro
    • 1.2. Specific Macros for Discipline Priests
      • 1.2.1. Shadow Word: Pain Macro
  • 2. Addons
    • 2.1. Generic Addons for Priests
      • 2.1.1. ElvUI
      • 2.1.2. Boss Mods: Deadly Boss Mods or Bigwigs
      • 2.1.3. GTFO
      • 2.1.4. Parrot or Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 2.1.5. Weak Auras
      • 2.1.6. Recount / Skada / Details!
    • 2.2. Specific Addons for Discipline Priests
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Best in Slot List
  • 2. Trinket Recommendations
  • 3. Tier 20 Set Bonuses
  • 4. Legendary Items
  • 5. Loot Competition
  • 6. ChangeLog

General Information

On this page, we present the viable talent choices for Discipline Priests in World of Warcraft Legion 7.3. We detail what each of the talents do and in which situations they should be taken.

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

About Our Reviewer

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Mend, admin and editor at Focused Will (Discord and Blog for healing Priests). You can also follow Mend on Twitter.

1. Talent Choices

Level	Choices
15	✔ Twist of Fate	? Castigation	✘ Schism
30	✔ Angelic Feather	✘ Body and Soul	? Masochism
45	? Shining Force	? Psychic Voice	? Dominant Mind
60	? Power Word: Solace	✔ Shield Discipline	✔ Mindbender
75	✔ Sanctuary	? Clarity of Will	? Shadow Covenant
90	✔ Purge the Wicked	✘ Divine Star	? Halo
100	? Power Infusion	? Grace	✔ Evangelism

Talents can be freely changed when out of combat and in a rested XP area (such as an inn or a capital city). Moreover, Tome of the Tranquil Mind and Codex of the Tranquil Mind can be used to temporarily allow players to change talents anywhere, as long as they are out of combat.

2. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents

✔ Twist of Fate

? Castigation

✘ Schism

• Twist of Fate grants you a 10-second buff each time you heal a target whose health is below 35%. The buff grants you 20% increased damage and 20% increased healing, and it does not stack.
• Castigation causes Penance to fire an extra bolt of holy light over its 2-second duration (thus increasing its damage).
• Schism is an active ability with a 6-second cooldown. It deals Shadow damage to the target, and causes your damage dealt to that target to be increased by 30% for the next 6 seconds.

We consider Twist of Fate to be the best choice for both raids and dungeons.

Castigation provides less healing in most situations, but you can consider taking it or Schism in dungeons where you are looking to do more damage and where healing is not your greatest concern. You can also consider using Castigation in raids if you have the legendary Soul of the High Priest ring.

3. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents

✔ Angelic Feather

✘ Body and Soul

? Masochism

• Angelic Feather is an active ability with 3 charges and a 20-second recharge time. It places a feather at the targeted location, which grants a 40% increase in movement speed for 5 seconds to the first ally who comes in contact with it. Only 3 feathers can be active at any given time.
• Body and Soul causes Power Word: Shield and Leap of Faith to increase the target's movement speed by 40% for 3 seconds.
• Masochism causes Shadow Mend's DoT to act as a HoT instead, when cast on yourself, and also causes you to take 10% reduced damage while it is active.

Angelic Feather is the recommended choice in this tier if you wish to provide movement speed increases. It is much more flexible and easy to use than Body and Soul, since the latter is tied to usage of Power Word: Shield (which has a 6-second cooldown and which you cannot realistically save in order to use for movement speed).

Masochism should only be taken if you have no need to provide movement speed buffs, or if you are assigned to some specific tasks during the encounter that put you in danger and therefore require that you heal yourself.

4. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents

? Shining Force

? Psychic Voice

? Dominant Mind

• Shining Force is an active ability with a 45-second cooldown. It knocks back all enemies located around your (friendly) target, slowing their movement speed by 70% for 3 seconds.
• Psychic Voice reduces the cooldown of Psychic Scream by 30 seconds.
• Dominant Mind changes Mind Control to allow you to also control your own character during this time (by turning the mind-controlled target into a pet). However, Mind Control can no longer be used against players, and it gains a 2-minute cooldown (up from not having a cooldown).

This tier is comprised entirely of situational talents, so you should choose based on the encounter requirements. If a talent becomes the default preferred choice, we will include it in this section.

That said, we find Shining Force to be very well suited for dungeon content (with Dominant Mind also being a somewhat viable dungeon choice in some situations).

5. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents

? Power Word: Solace

✔ Shield Discipline

✔ Mindbender

• Power Word: Solace is an active ability with a 12-second cooldown. It deals Holy damage to the target, and restores 1% of your maximum Mana.
• Shield Discipline causes you to gain 1% of your maximum Mana whenever one of your Power Word: Shields is completely consumed by damage.
• Mindbender replaces Shadowfiend. Mindbender has a 1-minute cooldown and 12-second duration (down from a 3-minute cooldown and 15-second duration for Shadowfiend), and it restores 0.5% of your maximum Mana with each of its attacks (whereas Shadowfiend does not restore any Mana).

For raiding, Shield Discipline is the best talent in most situations, mostly due to the high amount of Mana it returns. In case Mana regeneration is not too important in the encounter (for example, because the encounter itself provides Mana), then you can consider using Mindbender.

Mindbender is the best choice for 5-man dungeons.

Power Word: Solace can also be a decent choice for raids, if you find yourself casting Smite frequently, but overall it is not optimal.

6. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents

✔ Sanctuary

? Clarity of Will

? Shadow Covenant

• Sanctuary passively increases the absorption amount of Smite by 50%.
• Clarity of Will is an active ability with no cooldown and a 2-second cast time that places a damage absorption shield on the target, which lasts up to 20 seconds (or until it is fully consumed by damage).
• Shadow Covenant is an instant cast spell that heals up to 5 allies within 30 yards of the target, but also places a healing absorption effect on them that lasts for 6 seconds.

Currently, the best talent for progression raiding is Sanctuary.

For dungeon content, any of the 3 talents can be used, depending on the situation. Sanctuary is a good passive choice, Shadow Covenant is a good choice to deal with Grievous and Bursting affixes in Mythic+, while Clarity of Will can be taken if you need to provide additional absorbs on the tank to deal with a specific ability.

7. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents

✔ Purge the Wicked

✘ Divine Star

? Halo

• Purge the Wicked replaces Shadow Word: Pain. It deals Fire instead of Shadow damage, and it lasts 20 seconds (up from 18). While Purge the Wicked is active, using Penance on the target causes Purge the Wicked to be applied to another nearby enemy target.
• Divine Star is an active ability with a 15-second cooldown. It resembles a yo-yo, in the sense that a ball of energy travels in a path away from you (in front of you), and after reaching a certain point (24 yards away), it returns. Both on the first, as well as on the second trip, it heals allies and damages enemies in its path.
• Halo is an active ability with a 40-second cooldown and a 1.5-second cast time. It creates a ring around you that expands in radius (up to 30 yards). Allies who come in contact with it are healed, and enemies are damaged.

We believe Purge the Wicked to be an ideal choice for both raiding and dungeon content. You can consider taking Halo on certain encounters in raids, and potentially even in dungeons depending on how comfortable you are with it. Divine Star is currently not recommended in any situation.

8. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents

? Power Infusion

? Grace

✔ Evangelism

• Power Infusion is an active ability with a 2-minute cooldown. It grants you a 25% increase in haste and a 25% Mana cost reduction to all your spells for 20 seconds.
• Grace increases all your non- Atonement healing and absorption effects by 30% on targets with Atonement.
• Evangelism is an active ability with an 80-second cooldown that extends the duration of all your active Atonement buffs by 7 seconds.

We recommend Evangelism for raiding; this talent provides a major throughput increase. You can also consider Grace for raiding if spot healing is needed.

In dungeons, Grace is ideal, but Power Infusion can also be taken if you need to heal the entire group or want a damage cooldown.

9. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 28 Aug. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.3.
• 12 Jun. 2017: Updated the talent sections to account for the wide-ranging changes brought about by Patch 7.2.5.
• 17 Apr. 2017: Updated tier 5 and 6 talent discussions to favour Contrition and Halo respectively.
• 27 Mar. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 10 Jan. 2017: Updated talent descriptions to account for Patch 7.1.5, and also slightly modified the wording of some evaluations (though there are no major changes).
• 08 Dec. 2016: Fixed a mention of Shadow Word: Pain lasting 14 seconds, when it is in fact 18 seconds.
• 10 Nov. 2016: Updated the tier 4 talent evaluation.
• 31 Oct. 2016: Updated the tier 4 and 5 talent evaluations slightly (Power Word: Solace and Contrition are now more viable than before).
• 25 Oct. 2016: Updated Power Word: Solace, Mindbender, Clarity of Will, and Contrition descriptions to account for patch 7.1 changes.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 07 Aug. 2016: Revised most talent discussions and evaluations following Zolvolt's review.
• 19 Jul. 2016: Fixed the description of Purge the Wicked to correctly reflect how the talent works.
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.