Post by Patty
To start things off, Discipline is certainly a viable healing specialisation in PvE content, and it has been for a significant amount of time, over a year now (since
Patch 3.0.2). It has become a more widely recognised healing specialisation, but some people still do not believe in its viability.
Contents:
- Role of a Discipline Priest.
- Abbreviations.
- Talent builds and glyphs.
- A break down of the commonly used healing spells.
- Gearing priorities.
- Gems & Enchants advice.
- General tips and links.
- Discipline FAQ.
The role of a Discipline Priest:Discipline is designed around mitigation and prevention of damage, not big heals. Their
potent absorption effects give not only powerful tank damage mitigation, but also some raid healing capabilities. However, do not be fooled - They
carry many more tools at their disposal for some healing figures once the shields are beaten down.
Because of their numerous buffs, Discipline priests are ideal for group support. Their healing style supports this argument.
Abbreviations:Spec - Talent specialisation
FH -
Flash HealGH -
Greater HealPS -
Pain SuppressionPI -
Power InfusionDH -
Divine HymnHoH -
Hymn of HopePW:S -
Power Word: ShieldDA -
Divine AegisPoM -
Prayer of MendingPoH -
Prayer of HealingBH -
Binding HealDP -
Desperate PrayerIF -
Inner FocusBT -
Borrowed TimeProc -
Clicky.HN -
Holy Nova
Post by Patty
Talent builds and glyphs:This is generally considered the "cookie cutter" For Discipline.
However, I have seen some alterations including (but not limited to);
This. However, sometimes improved renew is picked up and two points are placed in divine fury instead, leading to
this instead. Another option is putting the points from Divine Fury/Improved renew into spell warding
. There is also a Greater-heal heavy
build which some people choose to use.
These are not the only alterations I have seen from the "cookie cutter", but they are the only ones which are very good. The 57 points in Discipline is everything a PvE Discipline priest will need, and the other 14 points are interchangable, except for holy specialisation and inspiration, which I view as quite crucial.
Glyphs:You may have noticed that in every spec I have linked so far, the glyphs have remained constant. This is because they are generally seen as "the best" for a PvE discipline priest. I consider Penance, PW:S and FH to have the most significant major glyphs.
Major:Glyph of Penance - I would say this is the most important glyph you can get. A 2 seconds reduction of the cooldown of our quickest, most efficient and powerful single target heal? Yes please.
Glyph of Power Word: Shield - 20% healing on our only controllable shield? Yes please. It also offers estimates of absorption of your PW:S, if you multiply the healed amount by 5 you can roughly work out how much each PW:S is absorbing.
Glyph of Flash Heal - After Penance, this is one of our most useful spells. Generally, it is spammed like there is no tomorrow when penance is off cooldown and a quick heal is needed. Mana conservation on maybe the most spammed heal we have? Again, yes please. There may be a point when your regen is more than enough to afford the removal of a 10% reduction on Flash Heal's mana cost.
Glyph of Pain Suppression. - Very limited use in PvE, very useful in PvP. You should really avoid this glyph for PvE.
Glyph of Prayer of Healing - This may look good, but a lot of the time this will be overhealing. Maybe it is worth it, if you use PoH liberally and want to drop Glyph of FH.
Glyph of Holy Nova - Good if you use it often enough to justify using a major glyph slot, but generally wasted.
Glyph of Renew - If you use renew very often, then pick this up. However, it is not as strong as some other glyphs.
Glyph of Inner Fire - The effect does not apply to the spell power bonus from Inner Fire, and this glyph is primarily for PvP purposes.
Glyph of Dispel Magic - Very lacklustre, even for PvP purposes.
Glyph of Mass Dispel - Limited PvE use, it is a waste of a major slot to be blunt.
Minor:Glyph of Shadowfiend - Probably the most important minor glyph. 5% mana if your pet dies from damage? In some fights, the pet is likely to die and the 5% more maximum mana can really come in handy in some situations.
Glyph of Levitate - Helpful, but by no means mandatory. Levitate is scarcely used, but this glyph gives the option of using it very liberally. For example, people moving across the green slime, in the construct quarter near Patchwerk in Naxxramas.
Glyph of Fading - A small help, but nothing major. Useful situationally, because hopefully your tanks can hold enough aggro.
Glyph of Shackle Undead - Situationally handy, but generally quite useless as Crowd Control is rarely required, and 30 yards is far enough.
Glyph of Shadow Protection - Good if you want to save your candles. However, it doesn't really make much of a significant difference.
Glyph of Fortitude - Has its uses, but most of the time you won't be casting Fortitude in combat.
Post by Paolo
I rike. Short but to the point, and we're due for a fresh FAQ.
Few comments though:
You should include the GH tank-healing build, either
54/17 or 53/18 (with one point moved from Grace to Imp Healing).
Glyphs: only the first 3 glyphs in your list are (PvE) viable at this point. Glyphs of Renew, H.Nova, PoH are situationally useful at best; in a guide like this, they should be almost marked deprecated. Only an expert would know when/how to use them in PvE.
Also, H.Nova would like to know why it wasn't mentioned in your list of healing spells. Bad priest!
Lastly: if you're going to have a "role" section, you should dedicate some space to the 3 viable roles for a disc priest (tank healer, raid healer, support healer), and how gemming/gearing/playstyle differs.
Double-lastly: You should certainly include mention of the dreaded term HPS, how disc priests appear on meters, and the GuessedAbsorbs module for Recount. A year after our "birth," the question "why does a disc priest appear so low on my meters?" still comes up more than once a week, both here and on other forums. Bizarre but true.