Priest builds

Disclaimer


As with all examples of talent builds or point distributions, the optimum build depends largely on your playstyle (PvP, soloing, raiding, etc., or a specific combination of spells you like to use) as well as gear, party members, and other factors. The builds listed below are not for everyone, nor are they always the best. They are at worst, opinions, and are usually subjective.

If you're not sure why a specific talent was chosen, check the Priest talent analysis for pros and cons of each talent.

Leveling builds
If you intend to level your priest mainly through solo questing, a shadow build produces high damage along with good survivability through Shadowform and Vampiric Embrace. If you intend to level your priest through healing in instances and grouping, a holy or discipline healing build is the way to go and should result in shorter queue times. While some players have found healing as Shadow possible at lower levels, the healing capabilities are compromised with no talents to improve healing and limited mana regeneration, quickly making this impractical.

Holy and Discipline specs also have a handful of talents that work with Smite to make them viable soloing builds.

Shadow Leveling Spec

 * A recommendation for how the talents might be placed as you level up:
 * Level 29 (0/0/11)
 * Level 45 (0/0/19)
 * Level 59 (0/0/26)
 * Level 75 (3/0/31) [Current as of 4.0.6]

Improved Psychic Scream, Silence and Psychic Horror are taken for extra survivability and utility, and because there are few other options. They are especially useful to players who level with a mixture of PvP and PvE. Shadow Word: Death and Dispersion are used periodically to give mana.

Discipline (Smite) Leveling Spec

 * A recommendation for how the talents might be placed as you level up:
 * Level 29 (11/0/0)
 * Level 45 (19/0/0)
 * Level 59 (26/0/0) [Current as of 4.0.6]

This build is fully functional by level 19 with the addition of Evangelism (original). Holy Fire and Smite are the staple spells, and Glyph of Smite is recommended. Archangel should be used mainly as a mana restore; DPS is optimised by keeping Evangelism fully stacked (using Archangel only when the stacks are about to expire, such as between pulls) but priests may need to use it more often in order to maintain mana levels and minimise downtime. Power Word: Shield becomes more powerful after level 39 and should be kept up at all times during combat for the extra damage. Beyond level 49 a shadow build may be preferred, although this works well as a healing build for instances too due to the heals from Atonement.

[[File:Disc_Spec_RoundIcon.png]] Discipline builds
Discipline priests are healers and damage mitigators. They are not built to be adept as the main raid healer due to lack of AoE heal spells, but fantastic tank healers. A good Disc healer will never top the healing charts - because if they time their moves and mitigate damage correctly, they'll never need to.

Talents

 * Atonement DPS/Healing build (33/8/0) [Current as of 4.1.0]
 * Atonement allows for passive healing by dealing damage with Smite and Holy Fire. Smiting also reduces the cooldown of Penance, and gives stacks of Evangelism (original) which reduces the mana cost and increases the damage from smite (and therefore increase healing from Atonement), or can be consumed for a healing buff and mana restore. Glyph of Divine Accuracy is a necessity for this build.
 * Points from Empowered Healing, Strength of Soul (priest ability) or Archangel may be moved to Improved Renew, Desperate Prayer or Surge of Light (priest talent) to suit the players preference.


 * Discipline Pure Healing build (31/8/0)+2 [Current as of 4.1.0]
 * This 'pure' healing build takes all the talents that directly affect your heals and does not rely on Smite whatsoever. It will suit a more traditional healing style.
 * It has 2 points spare. Where they go is entirely down to personal preference. Options include Desperate Prayer, Improved Renew, Surge of Light (priest talent), Darkness (priest talent) or even Veiled Shadows.

Glyphs

 * Suggested Prime Glyphs:
 * OR OR
 * OR OR
 * OR OR


 * Suggested Major Glyphs:
 * (Atonement builds only)
 * (Atonement builds only)
 * (Atonement builds only)


 * Suggested Minor Glyphs:

[[File:PrHoly Spec RoundIcon.png]] Holy builds
Holy priests have strong AoE healing spells and high heal output, and make ideal raid healers as well as having talents for tank healing. Holy priests are the all-rounders of healing classes and can easily adapt to different situations.

Talents

 * Standard Holy Healing build (6/32/0)+3 [Current as of 4.3.0]
 * This is a standard healing build, and most holy builds will vary little from this mainframe. Note that there are 3 points free which the player may place as they choose, and some room for moving existing talents.
 * Darkness (priest talent) is recommended if it will bring you to 12.5% haste (with raid buffs), which is the amount required for an extra tick on Renew.
 * Veiled Shadows reduces the cooldown on Shadowfiend for more mana potential on long fights.
 * Lightwell is your most efficient heal. However, it involves players taking an active interest in their wellbeing, and often it goes unused. This point can be placed elsewhere if desired.
 * Blessed Resilience is valuable on fights where you will take unavoidable burst damage. Less time and mana spent healing yourself leaves more for the rest of the group.
 * Body and Soul is an excellent utility spell to keep people alive and out of danger, making Power Word: Shield a more useful spell for a holy priest.
 * Spirit of Redemption is a rather unusual talent, since it gives no benefit until you're dead. So you would only spend one talent point there if you die a lot - however, if you are trying new bosses and instances with your raid, dying a lot is actually not uncommon.

Glyphs

 * Suggested Prime Glyphs:
 * - Highly recommended


 * Suggested Major Glyphs:
 * - Highly recommended
 * - Only useful for groups of 6 or more


 * Suggested Minor Glyphs:
 * - Highly recommended

[[File:Shad Spec RoundIcon.png]] Shadow builds
Shadow Priests are the damage dealers of the priest class, and can take on a shadow form to improve their shadow damage even further at the sacrifice of holy (healing) spells. They have powerful DoTs but are also capable of burst damage.

Talents

 * Cookie-cutter Raiding Build (9/0/32) [Current as of 4.0.6]
 * This is the basis of most PvE shadow builds. Although Psychic Horror offers no DPS increase, it is a useful utility spell.


 * Dungeon Build with Silence (8/0/33) [Current as of 4.0.6]
 * Many heroic dungeons require silences and interrupts, so this build sacrifices reduced Shadowfiend cooldowns from Sin and Punishment in favor of Silence.

Glyphs

 * Suggested Prime Glyphs:
 * OR
 * OR
 * OR


 * Suggested Major and Minor Glyphs:
 * No Major and Minor glyphs offer any DPS boost, so pick for utility.

Talents

 * Basic Shadow PvP Build (8/0/33) [Current as of 4.0.3a]
 * This is a build which takes all the talents which improve your DoTs, and reduce the mana cost of them. All the essential PvP talents are present, though there is room for talents to be moved around depending on preference. You may wish to put more or less points into Twisted Faith depending on how much hit rating or spirit is on your gear.


 * Shadow Burst PvP Build (8/0/33) [Current as of 4.0.3a]
 * This is a build which focuses on burst damage with Mind Blast, Mind Spike, Mind Flay and Shadow Word: Death, rather than DoTs. All the essential PvP talents are present, though there is room for talents to be moved around depending on preference. You may wish to put more or less points into Twisted Faith depending on how much hit rating or spirit is on your gear.


 * Discipline Pure Healing PvP Build (33/8/0) [Current as of 4.0.3a]
 * An arena healing build, forgoing any Smite talents, since there is little opportunity to use them in arenas. There is a lot of freedom for talents to be moved around in favor of Darkness (priest talent), Desperate Prayer or Improved Renew.

Glyphs
You have a lot of choices on your glyphs in PvP depending on what suits your play style. Any of the following glyphs can be taken along with some of the suggested PvE glyphs.
 * Suggested Prime Glyphs:
 * (with Power Word: Barrier talent only)
 * (with Dispersion talent only)


 * Suggested Major Glyphs:
 * (with Pain Suppression or Guardian Spirit talent only)
 * (with Psychic Horror talent only)
 * (with Phantasm talent only)


 * Suggested Minor Glyphs:
 * (with Phantasm talent only)
 * (with Phantasm talent only)
 * (with Phantasm talent only)