Discipline Priest Healing Spell Summary — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.3

If you are new to Discipline, this is a great place to start to get an understanding of how the spec works. On this page we will discuss what abilities you have, what they are used for within the specialisation, how they interact with each other and also with important cooldowns. If you already have experience with Discipline and are comfortable with it in Legion, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

Mana is your only resource as a Discipline Priest. All of your healing abilities cost Mana, so managing it so that you do not run out over the course of each encounter is crucial to being able to heal competitively.

These are your core skills that are available regardless of talents, and form the core gameplay of the specialization.

Atonement is integral to the Discipline specialisation. This is a buff that certain spells (listed below) place on the target, lasting 15 seconds. During this time, a percentage (affected by your Mastery) of all damage you deal heals the target.

Shadow Word: Pain deals Shadow damage over time to the target. This is used in order to heal through Atonement and in order to proc Power of the Dark Side.

Penance is a channeled ability that deals Holy damage to the target, or that heals an ally. Due to the fact that Shadow Mend is more healing per cast time, Penance is rarely used defensively on allies outside niche situations.

Smite deals Holy damage to the target, and also absorbs some of the damage that the target will do. It is used primarily as a filler in your rotation, to deal damage that heals through Atonement.

Power Word: Shield places a damage absorption shield on the target, which lasts up to 15 seconds. It applies Atonement to the target. Due to Weakened Soul, you cannot apply Power Word: Shield to the same target within 7.5 seconds. This debuff is not global and will not affect multiple Discipline Priests.

Shadow Mend heals the target, but also debuffs them to take damage over time until they have taken 50% of the amount for which Shadow Mend healed (including any damage that they take from other sources than this debuff). Shadow Mend applies Atonement to the target.

Power Word: Radiance heals the target and their 4 nearest allies, and applies Atonement to the targets at 60% duration. The range of the jump from the initial target is only 30 yards compared to the 40 yard range of the spell itself, so be conscientious of who you are casting this spell on.

Fade removes your threat on all targets for 10 seconds, on a 30-second cooldown. This is extremely useful if you take aggro of newly-spawned mobs.

Leap of Faith pulls the targeted ally to your location. It can be useful for helping your tanks kite, or simply for saving careless allies from avoidable damage.

Desperate Prayer increases maximum health by 25% for 10 sec, and instantly heals you for that amount.

Rapture is an ability with a 1.5-minute cooldown that increases the absorbs of your Power Word: Shield by 200% for 10 seconds. It is used primarily to allow you to spam Power Word: Shield, and through that to spread Atonement. Be aware that after Rapture expires any new Power Word: Shield casts will replace the previous buff on the target. While Rapture is active, Power Word: Shield will ignore Weakened Soul.

Pain Suppression reduces the damage the target takes by 40% for 8 seconds, with a 3-minute cooldown. It is generally used on tanks before a damage spike, but you can also use it on other raid members you know will take high damage.

Power Word: Barrier places a barrier at the targeted location for 10 seconds, which reduces all damage taken by allies located inside it by 25%. It has a 3-minute cooldown, and you should primarily use it to mitigate intense AoE damage.

Shadowfiend is a healing cooldown (summoning a shadowy fiend that attacks your target for 15 seconds), with a 3-minute cooldown. The damage that the Shadowfiend deals results in Atonement healing, which is its primary purpose. This should be used at high Atonement counts, primarily in conjunction with Evangelism in raids and with Power Word: Radiance in dungeons. Note that, the damage this deals is not amplified by Schism and should therefore be cast before you use Schism. If you are talented into Mindbender, it works the same as Shadowfiend but on a shorter cooldown and for less damage per cast.