WoW: Priest talent review

Priests getting a boost in Patch 1.10? Find out why it's so great.

Depending on who you talk to, Priests are either the most underpowered, underplayed class or the downright dirtiest, overpowered class in Blizzard's MMO World of Warcraft.

You might find it surprising to hear that both points of view are correct. Priests aren't the ultimate healing class they should be - in fact, a properly geared and talent specced Paladin can heal for longer, and better, than a Priest. Shamans have a 1.5-second heal that is better than a Priest's, leaving our cloth-wearing holy men and women somewhat lacking.

However, a Priest talent-specced for damage via the Shadow tree is a competent damage dealer and makes up for a lack of variety in damage spells with sheer power. Shadow Word: Pain, the Priest's only damage-over-time spell, does a whopping ~900 damage over 24 seconds (final rank, with talents). Add the 10% damage bonus from talents, and 15% damage from Shadowform (the top tier talent for the Shadow tree) and you're looking at a substantial amount of damage for an instant cast spell. Combined with Mind Blast, Priests can outplay even the best damage casters and come out on top with a full health bar.

Patch 1.10, the next update to World of Warcraft scheduled to go live in a matter of weeks, will change this. Priests will finally be the healers they were meant to be. Unfortunately for non-Priests, they will still deal the crazy damage they always have, and in addition will heal superbly.

General changes
In addition to a talent tree revamp, Priests will also receive a few general class changes that affect all players regardless of their spec. These changes include:

Power Word: Shield will receive a 10% bonus to damage absorbed from +Damage/Healing and +Damage equipment

Although not a huge boost, it does mean the protective powers of PW:S will now scale with gear. This might need to be looked at however before the patch goes live - an epically-geared Priest will have around +800 to +1000 in damage and healing which means 80 to 100 extra damage absorbed, which isn't that much when most classes hit for twice this (and more) on average with a single hit.

Weakened Soul effect reduced to 15 seconds

Joy. No longer will Priests need to spec 7 points into the Discipline tree to receive this bonus. By default, all Priests will have a 15-second Weakened Soul effect, halving the time you have to wait before you can re-shield someone.

Inner Fire no longer gives a Attack Power bonus; armour bonus increased by 50%; mana cost increased; duration increased to 10 minutes and breaks after 20 successful hits against you

Inner Fire has undergone significant changes. Everything is good, including the removal of the Attack Power bonus (which was never used). The only thing that is questionable is the 'break on 20 hits' clause. The fact that it last 10 minutes means nothing if you go up against a rogue who will drain those 20 hits in a few seconds.

Basically, for PvE the new Inner Fire is fantastic. For PvP, it's very lacking, especially with the mana cost increase.

Holy Fire is now trainable

Yes, one of the worst damage spells in the history of World of Warcraft is now trainable. It's cast time has been reduced from 4 seconds to 3.5, and can be reduced to 3 with talents. While still situational and will only ever see use as an opener, you no longer have to spend precious talent points getting it.

Reduced the casting time of Heal and Greater Heal spells to 3 seconds (2.5 with talents), down from 4

Easily the most important Priest change. Priest heals are now faster and more efficient than any other 'big' heal in the game. This bodes well for Priests, but it does have Druids, WoW's other primary healing class, concerned that they will be less desirable in healing roles. While an important concern, it is balanced by the fact that the Druid population outnumbers that of Priests, and there will always be healing spots to fill.

Druid, Shaman and Priest big heals are also being made 9-10% more mana efficient.

Talent trees

Discipline

Discipline saw a few changes -- Improved PW:S now increases the amount of damage absorbed by 15%; Martyrdom provides a 20% bonus to resisting interrupts; Divine Spirit is now a 21 point talent and the new 31 point talent, Power Infusion, provides a 20% bonus to damage and healing spells for 15 seconds, is targetable and has a 3-minute cooldown. Good changes all round -- perhaps not enough to make you spec completely in it, but a great complement to a devoted Shadow or Holy build.

Holy

Wow. The changes to Holy are amazing.

A 2-point first tier talent that increases interruption avoidance when casting healing spells by 70%; 5-point Spell Warding talent that reduces incoming spell damage by 10%; Divine Fury, a 5-point talent that reduces the casting time of Smite, Heal, Greater Heal and Holy Fire by half a second; 11-point, instant cast Holy Nova - a spell like the Mage's Arcane Explosion except that it doesn't generate threat and it heals; Blessed Recovery, which allows you to regenerate health over six seconds after copping a critical hit; 15% mana cost reduction to all healing spells; 10% increase in damage for Holy-based damage spells; boost to damage and healing equivalent to 25% of your total Spirit; Spirit of Redemption turns you into an angel after death that can cast healing spells free for 10 seconds before perishing and the 31-point talent Lightwell.

Now, Lightwell is probably the least impressive of the new 31-point talents and will definitely see revision before it goes live. The ability creates a healing well that players can click on for a free bandage of 800-1600 HP depending on the spell's rank. The downside is that it costs a bucketload of mana, only has 5 charges, only last 2 minutes and has a 10 minute cooldown. It's far too situational an ability and needs to either have its cooldown reduced or the bandage-like effect turned into a renew-like effect so that it doesn't break on damage. Otherwise it's unlikely anyone will spec into it when Power Infusion and Shadowform are available.

Shadow

Shadow saw the least amount of changes - more that talents were rearranged. The notable changes are that Shadow Weaving is no longer a requirement for the 10% bonus to Shadow damage, instead, Vampiric Embrace is the new required talent. Vampiric Embrace also has an Improved version available through talents that increases the amount it heals by 10%. Shadowform is still the same as always.

The Verdict

Priests are already a powerful force in player-vs-player combat. These changes make them even more formidable and it's unlikely that a well-played Priest will ever fear any other class. Priests are now godly healers, the Shadow tree is still as strong as ever, and with 2.5 second big heals Priests will not only put out the damage but keep their team mates up as well.

There's no doubt that these new talents will be changed noticeably before they make it into the game proper. Expect Lightwell to be changed, the +Damage and Healing bonus to PW:S changed, and tweaks to the strength of Shadow damage.