Warlords of Draenor Priest Changes

By Wowhead Updated: 2016/07/17

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Last update: October 23(Note: This guide is intended to be an overview of changes between Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor. Due to its popularity, we have included Patch Note updates for 6.1, but its main purpose is to compare the two expansions.) Highlights

Priest changes focused on reining in Discipline's damage absorption shields, improving quality of life for Disc and Holy, and improving single-target damage issues for Shadow.

Priest ability pruning focused on removing redundant off-role abilities, trimming cooldowns, and removing niche abilities.

Discipline's absorbs were too strong interacting with level 90 talents in raids because the uncapped AoE led to large overhealing, which caused huge Divine Aegis absorbs. These level 90 talents now follow standard AoE capping rules.

is no longer available via a Major Glyph, and is instead a Discipline specialization spell. Its mana cost has been lowered and its healing increased. It is intended as the efficient area-of-effect (AoE) healing spell for Discipline Priests.

Chakras for Holy Priests received some updates as they are intended to be the defining abilities for Holy Priests but were short of their potential. As a result, their effectiveness has moved from their raw throughput buff into their bonus affects and their Holy Word spells. Priest healing spells have been adjusted to account for the loss of throughput from Chakra.

Renew has been returned to a normal 1.5 GCD so that blanketing is still possible but not ideal without Haste.

Shadow Mastery has been replaced with a new mastery, Mastery: Madness. Increases the damage of , , , and by 20%. This provides a large increase to single-target damage.

Shadow can now store up to 5 orbs, thanks to a Draenor Perk:

Level 60 and 15 talents have swapped places so players access core Priest themed abilities earlier while leveling.

Several CCs have had their DR changed, as part of the overall CC disarmament.

Void Tendrils had their health reduced and now take damge when you damage the target trapped in the Void Tendrils.

Psyfiend has now been removed, and Psychic Scream has been made a talent, replacing Psyfiend in the CC tier.

Several talents got split into different versions by specialization, such as and

The mana generation from Shadowfiend is removed in order to simplify it to a burst-damage cooldown.

Intellect no longer provides an increased chance to critically strike with spells.

Weapon Damage values on all weapons have been reduced by 20%.

The base chance to critically strike is now 5% for all classes. There are no longer different chances to critically strike with melee, ranged, and spells.

Attack Power, Spell Power, or Weapon Damage now affect the entire healing or damage throughput of player spells.

Patch 6.1 Updates

Blizzard

General

Power Word: Shield now absorbs 10% less damage.

Talents

Auspicious Spirits (Shadow) no longer cause Shadowy Apparitions to not deal damage. Instead, it now increases Shadowy Apparition damage by 100% in addition to still granting 1 .
Cascade may now hit the same target twice. This results in an increase to total healing, so its healing has been reduced by 35% to compensate (the total healing in a 20-player raid will be slightly higher than before).
's (Holy) healing has increased by 20%.
Divine Star (Shadow) damage increased by 20%.
Halo now displays an indicator on the ground to make it easier for the casting Priest see where the ability is most effective. Additionally, Halo's visual effect has been synchronized so a character will receive the effect when the nova intersects with them.
(Shadow) now also affects .
Mindbender lasts for 20 seconds (up from 15 seconds).
Psychic Scream (Shadow) now has a 30-second cooldown (up from 45 seconds).
's (Discipline, Holy) healing has increased by 50%, but now reduces future healing dealt by 15% (up from 10%). Additionally, the talent is now instant-cast, but its effectiveness is reduced while in PvP combat.
now has a 12% chance to trigger (up from 10%).
(Shadow) damage increased by 80%.
' health has increased by 30%.

3D Armor ModelsWarlords of Draenor Transmog Guide

New Spell EffectsLightwellClarity of WillSet Bonuses

Item - Priest T17 Discipline 2P Bonus: Penance channels for 1 additional second and generates 2 stacks of Evangelism.

Item - Priest T17 Discipline 4P Bonus: When you active Archangel, the mana cost of Prayer of Healing is reduced by 50% for 6 sec.

Item - Priest T17 Holy 2P Bonus: Prayer of Mending jumps to 4 additional targets.

Item - Priest T17 Holy 4P Bonus: When Prayer of Mending heals a target, you have a 20% chance to gain a stack of Serendipity.

Item - Priest T17 Shadow 2P Bonus: Consuming Shadow Orbs reduces the cooldown of Mind Blast by 0.5 sec per Shadow Orb consumed.

Item - Priest T17 Shadow 4P Bonus: Each time Devouring Plague deals damage over time, your haste increases by 1% for 4 sec, stacking up to 12 times.

Item - Priest WoD PvP Discipline 2P Bonus: Penance now increases the movement speed of a friendly target you heal by 30%, and decreases the movement speed of an enemy target you damage by 50%.

Item - Priest WoD PvP Discipline 4P Bonus: Reduces the cooldown of Pain Suppression by 60 sec.

Item - Priest WoD PvP Holy 2P Bonus: When Prayer of Mending heals a target, you and the target gain 130 Versatility for 10 sec. Stacks up to 5 times.

Item - Priest WoD PvP Holy4P Bonus: Reduces the cooldown of Guardian Spirit by 60 sec.

Item - Priest WoD PvP Shadow 2P Bonus: When Dispersion ends, you gain 1950 Versatility for 10 sec.

Item - Priest WoD PvP Shadow 4P Bonus: Shadow Orbs spent on Psychic Horror are refunded at a rate of 1 Shadow Orb per 3 sec.

TalentsClick here

: Heals a friendly target for (630% of Spell power). Reduces your absorbs and healing done by 10% for 8 sec, stacking up to 10 times.

Clarity of Will: Shields the target with a protective ward, absorbing (Spell power * 6.00 * 1.1) damage within 20 sec.

: Heals an ally for (492.4%100% of Spell power), increased by up to 100%, based on how injured the target is. Also heals up to 5 injured allies within 10 yards of the target for the same amount. Replaces Prayer of Healing.

Auspicious Spirits: Your Shadowy Apparitions grant you 1 Shadow Orb instead of dealing damage.

: Your Mind Spike, Mind Sear, and Shadow Word: Death deal 40% additional damage to targets not affected by your Shadow Word: Pain or Vampiric Touch. Also reduces the cooldown on Mind Blast by 3 sec and makes it instant cast.

: Consumes up to 3 Shadow Orbs to deal (+750% of Spell power) Shadow damage for 1 min. Devouring Plague will refresh this effect to its full 1 min duration.

Angelic Bulwark: When an attack brings you below 30% health, you gain an absorption shield equal to 20%15% maximum health for 20 sec. This effect cannot occur more than once every 90 sec.

Angelic Feather:
Place a feather at the target location, granting the first ally to walk through it 80%60% increased movement speed for 6 sec. Max 3 charges. Only 3 feathers can be placed at one time.

Desperate Prayer: Instantly heals the caster for 30%22% of their maximum health.

Mindbender: Creates a Mindbender to attack the target. Caster receives 1.75%0.75% mana when the Mindbender attacks. Lasts 15 sec. Replaces Shadowfiend.

Power Infusion: Increases haste by 25%, not just spell haste now. No longer increases damage.

Psychic Scream: Now 45 sec cooldown, up from 30 sec. No longer a class ability.

Twist of Fate: After damaging or healing a target below 35% health, you deal 15% increased damage and healing for 10 sec.

Level 15 and Level 60 priest talents have switched positions--Mind Control, , and Psychic Scream are 60, Desperate Prayer, Spectral Guise, and Angelic Bulwark are 15.

Mind Control: 0.5% of base mana, down from 2.0%

: 1.0% of base mana, down from 4.0%

Cascade: Now 2.4% of base mana, down from 9.0%. 1.5 sec cast up from Instant. Launch a Holy bolt that grows in power with distance, healing an ally for up to (122.5%83.05% of Spell power) or damage to an enemy , and then bouncing to additional allies 4 times. Each time it bounces, it splits into 2 bolts, never healing the same target twice.

Divine Star: Now 2.0% of base mana, down from 4.5%. Instant Cast. Fire a Divine Star forward 24 yds, causing 3559 to 5931 (+ 45.5% of Spell power) Divine damage to all enemies and 5932 to 9885 (+ 75.8%56.6695% healing allies in its path for (56.6695% of Spell power). After reaching its destination, the Divine Star returns to you, healing allies in its path again. This spell can be cast while moving.

Halo: Now 3.6% of base mana, down from 13.5%. 1.5 sec cast up from Instant. Creates a ring of Holy energy around you that quickly expands and grows in power, up to 30 yds away. Deals up to 15254 to 25422 (+ 195%Heals allies for up to 0 (+ 287.4% of Spell power) Holy damage to enemies, and up to 25423 to 42370 (+ 325% of Spell power) healing to allies), with the greatest effect at 25 yds.

: Now a Holy only Talent, while Spirit Shell is the new level 75 talent.

: Mind Flay deals 33% additional damage to your Devouring Plague victimsConsuming Shadow Orbs transforms your Mind Flay into Insanity for 2 sec per Shadow Orb spent on the Devouring Plague.consumed. Insanity deals 100% additional damage.

Surge of Light: Your healing spells and Smite have a 15%8% chance to make your next Flash Heal instant and cost no mana. Can accumulate up to 2 charges.

: Your Shadow Word: Pain and damage from your Mind Spike has a 5% chance to reset the cooldown on Mind Blast and make your next Mind Blast instant.

Divine Star: Fires a Divine Star in front of you, traveling 24 yds, causing (68.3%45.5356% of Spell power) Shadow damage to all enemies within 4 yds of its path.After reaching its destination it will return to you, also dealing damage and healing to all targets in its path. This spell can be cast while moving.

: Your Vampiric Touch and Devouring Plague damage has a 20%10% chance to cause your next Mind Spike not to consume your damage over time effects, be instant, and deal 50% additional damage. Can accumulate up to 23 charges.

Cascade, Halo, and Divine Star versions for Shadow are now Instant and only deal damage.

GlyphsClick here

: Dispersion lasts 3 sec longer, but when it has 2 sec remaining, its damage reduction reduces by 30% per sec.

: While Dispersion is active, you move 30% faster.

: Guardian Spirit increases healing on the target by an additional 200%, but no longer prevents the target's death.

: The first time you damage an enemy with Mind Blast, you gain 2 additional Orbs but the cooldown on Mind Blast is increased by 6 sec.

: Reduces the mana cost of Mass Dispel by 50%.

: Leap of Faith pulls you to your target instead of pulling your target to you.

: Your Holy Fire deals 25% additional initial damage, but 20% of that damage is also dealt back to you.

: All your healing is increased by 50% while Spirit of Redemption is active.

: Purify now has a maximum of 2 charges, but its cooldown is increased by 4 sec.

: For 5 sec after activating Fade, you are immune to Silence and Interrupt effects, but the cooldown of Fade is increased by 60 sec.

: Reduces the cooldown on your Silence spell by 25 sec, but also reduces its duration by 2 sec.

: Now only for Holy.

: Teaches you the ability Holy Nova. Causes an explosion of holy light around the caster, causing 14.3%42.9% of Spell power) Holy damage to all enemy targets within 1012 yards and healing up to 5 targets within 1012 yards for 489 to 567 (+ 5% 138.6%112.5% of Spell power). Healing is divided among the number of targets healed. These effects cause no threat.

Glyph of Inspired Hymns: Now Holy only.
Petrifying Scream: Targets of your Psychic Scream and your Psyfiend's Psychic Terror now tremble in place instead of fleeing in fear.

: Now Holy only. Your Renew heals for 33%25% more each time it heals, but its duration is reduced by 3 sec.

: Now Shadow only.

: Your Vampiric Embrace converts an additional 50%10% of the damage you deal into healing, but the duration is reduced by 5 sec.

: Your Smite spell inflicts an additional 20% damage against targets afflicted by Holy$?s129250Power Word: Solace] Fire], but that additional damage does not get transferred by Atonement.

Dispersion: , , and

Leap of Faith: and

Spirit of Redemption: and

Fade: and

SpecializationsClick here

: Increases the critical effect chance of Prayer of Healing by 10%, and causes you to gain 5% more of the Critical Strike stat from all sources.

: Increases healing and absorption done by 10%.

: Increases the cooldown recovery rate by 0% on your Shadowfiend, Pain Suppression, Inner Focus, Hymn of Hope, Power Word: Barrier, and Void Shift abilities (0% cooldown reduction). Affected spells are not yet final and reflect 5.4 spells instead of 6.0 changes. Readiness has been removed.

: You gain 5% more of the Multistrike stat from all sources. Also increases the damage, healing, and absorption of your multistrikes by 25%.

: Increases the cooldown recovery rate by 0% on your Shadowfiend, Divine Hymn, Hymn of Hope, Guardian Spirit, Holy Word: Sanctuary, and Void Shift abilities (0% cooldown reduction). Affected spells are not yet final and reflect 5.4 spells instead of 6.0 changes. Readiness has been removed.

Mastery: Madness: Increases the damage of Mind Blast, Mind Spike, and Mind Flay by 20%.

: Your mana regeneration is increased by 300%.

: You gain 5% more of the Haste stat from all sources.

: Increases the cooldown recovery rate by 0% on your Vampiric Embrace, Mind Blast, Shadowfiend, Dispersion, Hymn of Hope, and Void Shift abilities (0% cooldown reduction). Affected spells are not yet final and reflect 5.4 spells instead of 6.0 changes. Readiness has been removed.

Atonement: When you deal damage with Smite, Holy Fire, Penance, or Power Word: Solace or their multistrikes you instantly heal a nearby low healthinjured friendly target for 90%100% of the damage dealt.If the Priest is healed through Atonement, the effect is reduced by 50%.

: After casting Power Word: Shield, you gain Borrowed Time, reducing the cast time or channel time of your next Priest spell within 6 sec by 15%.causing you to gain 40% more of the Haste stat from all sources for 6 sec.

Divine Aegis: Critical heals and their multistrikes create a protective shield on the target, absorbing 100% of the amount healed, instead of healing for twice as much. Lasts 15 sec.Additionally, Power Word: Shield has a chance equal to your critical effect chance to absorb twice as much.

: Now Discipline Only. When you deal direct damage with Smite, or Holy Fire you gain Evangelism. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts for 20 sec. Increases the damage done by your Smite, or Holy Fire spells by 4% and reduces the mana cost of those spells by 6%.sec. Consumed by the Archangel spell to increase healing done.

Focused Will: Whenever you are victim of any damage greater than 5% of your total health or critically hit by any non-periodic attacktake any damage you gain Focused Will reducing all damage taken by 15% lasting for 8 sec. Stacks up to 2 times.

: Your Flash Heal, Greater Heal, Heal and Penance spells bless the target with Grace, increasing all healing received from the Priest by 10%. This effect will stack up to 3 times. Effect lasts 15 sec.Increases all healing and absorption done by 30%.

Heal: Now 2.0% of base mana, down from 3.9%. A slow casting spell that heals a single target for 0 (+ 308.016%332.64% of Spell power). This ID was formerly used for Greater Heal.

Holy Fire: Now 1.0% of base mana, down from 1.8% Consumes the enemy in Holy flames that cause 1008 to 1279 (+ 111%137.61% of Spell power) Holy damage and an additional 399 (+ 21.84%0 (+ 23.205% of Spell power) Holy damage over 79 sec.

Holy Nova: Now 1.6% of base mana, up from 1.0%. Causes an explosion of holy light around the caster, causing (14.3%42.9% of Spell power) Holy damage to all nearby enemy targets within 1012 yards and healing up to 5 nearby targets within 1012 yards for (46.1988% 138.6%112.5% of Spell power).

Pain Suppression: Instantly reduces a friendly target's threat by 5%, and Reduces all damage they taketaken by a friendly target by 40% for 8 sec. Castable while stunned.

Penance: Now 1.2% of base mana, down from 3.1%. Launches a volley of holy light at the target, causing 1021 to 1153100.8% of Spell power * 3) Holy damage to an enemy, or 8237 to 9306 (+ 83.8%(+ 220% of Spell power) healing to an ally for 2 sec. instantly and every 1 sec for 2 sec. Each time Penance deals damage, the Priest will regain 1.2% of maximum mana.

Prayer of Healing: Now 7.1% of base mana, up from 4.5%. A powerful prayer heals the friendly target's party members within 30 yards for 8501 to 8980 (+ 83.8%221.664% of Spell power)

Rapture: Removes the cooldown on Power Word: Shield.and reduces its mana cost by 25%.In addition, when your Power Word: Shield is completely absorbed or dispelled you are instantly refunded 100% of its mana cost. This effect can only occur once every 12 sec.

: Increases the healing done by Flash Heal, Binding Heal, Renew, Heal and Prayer of Mending by 25%.

Binding Heal: Now 2.2% of base mana, down from 5.4%. Heals a friendly target and the caster for 8770 to 11274 (+ 89.9%132.996% of Spell power).

: Increases the healing done by your area of effect healing spells and Prayer of Mending by 25%, reduces the Each heal cast while this Chakra is active reduces the remaining cooldown of your Circle of Healing spell by 2 sec 0.1 sec Transforms your Holy Word: Chastise spell into Holy Word: Sanctuary.
Holy Word: Sanctuary - Blesses the ground with Divine light, healing all within it for 463 to 550 (+ 5.83%8.45775% every 2 sec for 30 sec. Only one Sanctuary can be active at any one time. 40 sec cooldown.

: Increases the healing done by 25%Causes your single-target healing spells to refresh the duration of your Renew on the target. Transforms your Holy Word: Chastise spell into Holy Word: Serenity.
Holy Word: Serenity - Instantly heals the target for 12441 to 14604 (+ 130%415.294% of Spell power), and increases the critical effect chance of your healing spells on the target by 25% for 6 sec. 15 sec cooldown.

Holy Word: Sanctify: Now 3.6% of base mana, up from 2.6%. 12 sec cooldown up from 10. Heals up to 5 friendlyinjured party or raid members within 30 yards of the target for 4627 to 5113 (+ 46.7%221.666% of Spell power). Prioritizes healing the most injured party members.

Divine Hymn: Now 4.4% of base mana, down from 6.3%. Heals 5 (12 in 25 player instances) nearby lowest health friendlyall party or raid members within 40 yards for 8035 (+ 154.2%140% of Spell power *4) over 8 sec, and increases healing done to them by 10% for 8 sec. The Priest must channel to maintain the spell.

Guardian Spirit: Heals the target for 40% of their maximum health, down from 50%.

Heal: Now 2.3% of base mana, down from 3.9%. A slow casting spell that heals a single target for 0 (+ 308.016%332.64% of Spell power).

Holy Word: Chastise: Chastises the target for 630 to 706 (+ 61.4%0 (+ 63.6% of Spell power) Holy damage, and disorients them for 3 sec.

Lightwell: Now 3.7% of base mana, down from 5.4%. Creates a Holy Lightwell. Every 1 sec the Lightwell will attempt to heal party and raid members lower than 50% health for 5769 (+ 55.3%109.89% of Spell power) every 2 for 6 sec. Attacks done to the target equal to 30% of your total health will cancel the effect. Lightwell lasts for 3 min or until 15 heals are expended.

Mastery: Echo of Light: Your direct healing spells and their multistrikes heal for an additional 10% over 6 sec.

Prayer of Healing: Now 4.4% of base mana, down from 4.5%. A powerful prayer heals the friendly target's party members within 30 yards for 8501 to 8980 (+ 83.8%110.832% of Spell power)

: Your Renew heals for an additional 15% and instantly heals the target for (22% of Spell power). 15% of the total periodic effect and has a 0.5 sec reduced global cooldown.

Renew: Now 1.5% of base mana, down from 2.6%. Heals the target for 2165 (+ 20.7%176% of Spell power) over 12 sec.

Base mana regeneration rate for Shadow Priest has been increased by 200%

: Consumes all of the caster's 3 Shadow Orbs to deal 1653 (+ 78.6% of Spell power) Shadow damage and an additional 276 (+ 13.1% of Spell power) Shadow damage every 1 sec for then up to an additional (300% of Spell power) of the initial damage 6 sec. Heals the caster for up to 2.50% of their maximum health when it deals periodic damage. Damage and healing increased based on the number of Shadow Orbs consumed.100% of damage done.

Dispersion: You disperse into pure Shadow energy, reducing all damage taken by 90%, but you are unable to attack or cast spells. but you regenerate 6% mana every 1 sec Lasts 6 sec. Dispersion can be cast while stunned, feared or silenced. Clears all snare and movement impairing effects when cast, and makes you immune to them while dispersed.

Mind Blast: Now 9 sec cooldown, up from 8 sec. Now 0.3% of base mana, down from 3.0% Blasts the target for 0 (+ 192.9%180% of Spell power) Shadow damage and generates 1 Shadow Orb. Additional 10% increase applied via hotfix - not in tooltip

Corrupted Apparitions: Now 0.1% of base mana, down from 1.0% Blasts the target for 1312 to 1384 (+ 130.4%0 (+ 97.5% of Spell power) Shadowfrost damage, but extinguishes your damage over time effects on the target. Additional 10% increase applied via hotfix - not in tooltip

Psychic Horror: Consumes allup to 3 Shadow Orbs to terrify the target, incapacitating them for 1 sec plus 1 sec per Shadow Orb consumed.and to drop their weapons and shield for 8 sec.

: When you deal critical damage over time with your Shadow Word: Pain, you also create a shadowy version of yourself that floats towards the target and deals 396 (+ 37.5%0 (+ 45% of Spell power) Shadow damage.

: Now increases haste, not just spell haste, by 5%. No longer allows any healing spells to be cast but also no longer has a restriction on casting other Holy spells. now also grants 5% Multistrike.

Shadow Word: Death: Now Shadow only. 0.5% of base mana, down from 2.6% A word of dark binding that inflicts (215.7%161.775% of Spell power) Shadow damage to the target. Only usable on enemies that have less than 20% health.

Vampiric Embrace: Fills you with the embrace of Shadow energy, causing you and your allies to be healed for 50%10% of any single-target Shadow spell damage you deal. This healing is no longer split between targets.

Vampiric Touch: Now 0.4% of base mana, down from 3.0%. Causes (271.875%326.25% of Spell power) Shadow damage over 15 sec. Each time Vampiric Touch deals damage the caster gains 2% of maximum mana. If Vampiric Touch is dispelled, the dispeller flees in Horror for 3 sec.

Mind Flay: 0.3% of base mana, down from 1.0% Assault the target's mind with Shadow energy, causing (87%90% of Spell power) Shadow damage over 3 sec and slowing their movement speed by 50%. Additional 10% increase applied via hotfix - not in tooltip

Borrowed Time: After casting Power Word: Shield, you gain Borrowed Time, reducing the cast time or channel time of your next Priest spell within 6 sec by 15%.

Inner Focus, Discipline: Reduces the mana cost of your next Flash Heal, Greater Heal or Prayer of Healing by 25% and increases its critical effect chance by 100%. Additionally, you become immune to Silence, Interrupt, and Dispel effects for 5 sec.

Mastery: Shadowy Recall, Shadow: Gives your periodic shadow damage spells a 14% chance to deal damage twice, each time they deal damage.

Spirit Shell, Discipline: For the next 10 sec, your Heal, Flash Heal, Greater Heal, and Prayer of Healing no longer heal but instead create absorption shields that last 15 sec.

Spiritual Precision, Shadow: Grants hit equal to any Spirit gained from items or effects.

Strength of Soul, Discipline: When you heal a target with your Heal, Greater Heal or Flash Heal spell, the duration of the Weakened Soul debuff on the target is reduced by 2 sec.

Train of Thought, Discipline: When you heal with Greater Heal, the cooldown of your Inner Focus is reduced by 5 sec. When you Smite, the cooldown of your Penance is reduced by 0.5 sec.

Void Shift Shadow, Discipline, Holy: You and the currently targeted party or raid member swap health percentages. Increases the lower health percentage of the two to 25% if below that amount.

Class AbilitiesClick here

Flash Heal: Now 4.1% of base mana, down from 5.9%. Heals a friendly target for 12694 to 14752 (+ 131.4%332.657% of Spell power).

: 0.8% of base mana, down from 3.0% Causes an explosion of shadow magic around the target, dealing (30%22.5% of Spell power ) * 5]) Shadow damage every 1 sec for 5 sec to all enemies within 10 yards around the target.

Power Word: Shield: Now 2.4% of base mana, down from 6.1%. Formula changed, see tooltip for details.

Prayer of Mending: Now 2.4% of base mana, down from 3.5%. Formula also changed, see tooltip for new version. The one-target restriction is now removed too.

Shadow Word: Pain: Now 0.3% of base mana, down from 4.4% A word of darkness that causes 0 (+ 37.8%47.5% of Spell power) Shadow damage instantly, and an additional 226.8%285% of Spell power) - 0 ( + 37.8%47.5% of Spell power)] Shadow damage over 18 sec.

: When you deal critical periodic damage with your Shadow Word: Pain, you also create a shadowy version of yourself that floats towards the target and deals 0 (+ 37.4%60% of Spell power) Shadow damage.

Shadowfiend: Creates a shadowy fiend to attack the target. Caster receives 3% mana when the Shadowfiend attacks. Lasts 12 sec.

Smite: Now 1.5% of base mana, down from 2.7%. Smite an enemy for (85.6%92.448% of Spell power) Holy damage.

Vampiric Touch: Causes 0 (+ 201.5%292.5% of Spell power) Shadow damage over 15 sec. Each time Vampiric Touch deals damage the caster gains 2% of maximum mana.

Divine Focus: Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting any Priest spell by 70%.

Hymn of Hope: Restores 2% mana to 3 nearby low mana friendly party or raid targets every 2 sec for 8 sec, and increases their total maximum mana by 15% for 8 sec. Maximum of 12 mana restores. The Priest must channel to maintain the spell.

Inner Fire: A burst of Holy energy fills the caster, increasing the armor value from items by 60% and spell power by 10%.

Inner Will: A burst of Holy energy fills the caster, reducing the mana cost of instant cast spells by 15% and increasing your movement speed by 10%. You can only have Inner Will or Inner Fire active at a time.

Void Shift: You and the currently targeted party or raid member swap health percentages. Increases the lower health percentage of the two to 25% if below that amount.

MoP Abilities Changed to WoD Specialization/Talents

Binding Heal: now Holy

Psychic Scream: now a talent

Renew: now Holy

Shadow Word: Death: now Shadow

Draenor PerksClick here

: Reduces the duration of Weakened Soul caused by your Power Word: Shield by 3 sec.

: Each application of Focused Will also increases your damage dealt by 5%.

: The next Prayer of Healing or Flash Heal you cast after activating Archangel has 100% increased critical strike chance.

: Your Leap of Faith also increases your next non-periodic heal cast on that target by 50% for 10 sec.

: Increases the duration of your Renew by 3 sec

: Your Leap of Faith also increases your next non-periodic heal cast on that target by 50% for 10 sec.

: Each application of Focused Will also increases your damage dealt by 5%.

: Reduces the cooldown on your Chakras by 20 sec.

: You may have a maximum of 5 Shadow Orbs. No spell or ability will consume more than 3 orbs.

: Shadow Word: Death now always generates a Shadow Orb, regardless of cooldown reset.

: Your Mind Flay deals damage 33.3333% faster.

: Reduces the duration of Weakened Soul caused by your Power Word: Shield by 5 sec.

Changed Crowd Control

Mind Control now shares Diminishing Returns with all other Mesmerize effects.

Holy Word: Chastise now shares Diminishing Returns with all other Mesmerize effects.

Psyfiend has been removed.

Psychic Horror now shares Diminishing Returns with all other Mesmerize effects.

Psychic Scream is now a level-15 talent, replacing Psyfiend, and has a 45-second cooldown (up from 30 seconds).

Rapture no longer has any effect beyond removing the cooldown of Power Word: Shield.

' Root effect now has a chance to break if the target takes sufficient damage.

Blue Tweetsactive on TwitterBlue Tweet TrackerPatch NotesWarlords of Draenor Beta patch notes

Latest Patch Notes

Priests received several significant changes, mainly focused on reining in Discipline's damage absorption shields, improving quality of life for Discipline and Holy specializations, and solving single-target damage issues for Shadow.

Ability Pruning

See the Ability Pruning section above for discussion of why we're pruning class abilities. For Priests, pruning focused on removing redundant off-role abilities, trimming cooldowns, and removing niche abilities.

Binding Heal is now only available to Holy Priests.
is now available only to Discipline Priests.
Hymn of Hope has been removed.
Heal has been removed.
Inner Fire has been removed.
Inner Focus has been removed.
Inner Will has been removed.
Rapture has been removed.
Renew is now available only to Holy Priests.
Shadow Word: Death is now available only to Shadow Priests.

Discipline and Holy Priests can add a self-damaging utility to Holy Fire through a new Major Glyph.

Spirit Shell is now a level-75 talent, replacing for Discipline Priests.
Strength of Soul has been removed.
Train of Thought has been removed.
Void Shift has been removed.

Ability Consolidation and Refinement

Priests had quite a few bits of complication strewn throughout their spells which we polished out.

Greater Heal has been renamed to Heal.
's effects have been merged into baseline Power Word: Shield for Discipline Priests.
has been redesigned. It now increases the Priest's stat gains to Haste from all sources by 40% for 6 seconds.

now always costs 3 , and how heals the Priest for 100% of all damage it deals, instead of healing per tick.
Holy Fire now lasts 9 seconds (up from 7 seconds).
no longer allows any healing spells to be cast but also no longer has a restriction on casting other Holy spells.
Vampiric Embrace now heals all party and raid members for 10% of damage done, and this healing is no longer split between targets (up from 75% of damage done, split between targets).
Lightwell's healing effect is no longer canceled if the target takes enough damage.
Pain Suppression no longer reduces the target's threat by 5%.
now restores 2% mana (up from 1%).
Dispersion and Vampiric Touch no longer restores mana.

Base mana regeneration rate for Shadow Priest has been increased by 200%, Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch mana costs have been reduced by 50% to compensate.

no longer affects the damage or mana cost of spells. Damage of affected spells have been adjusted to compensate.
Shadow Word: Pain's initial damage is now considered direct damage, not periodic damage.

and are no longer able to trigger from this initial direct damage.

Divine Hymn now heals all party or raid members instead of a variable number depending on raid size. Its healing has been adjusted to compensate.
Focused Will now triggers from any damage taken instead of being limited to being the victim of any damage above 5% of total health or being critically hit by non-periodic attacks.

Level-90 Talents and Atonement

Atonement was the original damage-to-healing conversion ability, but grew out of control during Mists of Pandaria. We decided to reduce its effectiveness, to bring it more in line with our goal of it being an option to trade significant healing for significant damage (ending up somewhere between a full healer and a full damage dealer). Another place where Discipline's absorbs were too strong was in their interaction with the level-90 Talents, especially in large Raids. Near the end of Mists of Pandaria, we uncapped the AoE healing of that Talent row; that has proven to be a mistake in Discipline's case, not just because it caused the level-90 Talents themselves to heal for too much, but rather because the gigantic overhealing that that produced translated into gigantic Divine Aegis absorbs.

Atonement now heals for 25% less than before.
Cascade Mana cost has been reduced by 67%.

Discipline and Holy: Cascade now has a 1.5-second cast time (up from instant cast, see also: Instant Cast Heals), heals for 50% less, and no longer damages enemies.
Shadow: Cascade no longer heals allies.

Divine Star Mana cost has been reduced by 67%, and now follows standard AoE capping rules.

Discipline and Holy: Divine Star now heals for 50% less, and no longer damages enemies.
Shadow: Divine Star no longer heals allies.

Halo’s Mana cost has been reduced by 67%, and now follows standard AoE capping rules.

Discipline and Holy: Halo now has a 1.5-second cast time (up from instant cast, see also: Instant Cast Heals), heals for 50% less, and no longer damages enemies.
Shadow: Halo no longer heals allies.

Holy Changes

For Holy Priests, our biggest concern is with the s. We think that s are the defining abilities of Holy Priests, but that they haven't lived up to their potential. We decided to move more of their effectiveness from their raw throughput buff (which felt like a penalty for being in the wrong chakra, rather than a bonus for being in the right ) into their bonus effects, and the Holy Word spells that they grant. Please note that all Priest healing spells have been retuned to account for the loss of throughput increases from s. We also returned Renew to a normal 1.5-second global cooldown (GCD), so that Renew blanketing is still possible, but less ideal without Haste. Finally, the ability for Power Word: Shield to critically strike or Multistrike is now baseline for all Priest specializations instead of just Discipline so that it continues to be a viable choice for Holy at higher gear levels.

is a new passive ability for Holy Priests.

increases the amount of the Multistrike stat gains from all sources by 5%, and increases the damage and healing of Multistrikes by 20%.

Cascade no longer refreshes the duration of Renew for .
Holy Word: Sanctify's cooldown is now 12 seconds (up from 10 seconds).
no longer grants a chance for Smite to reset Holy Word: Chastise's cooldown.
no longer increases healing of area-of-effect spells. It now causes healing spell casts to reduce the remaining cooldown on Holy Word: Sanctify by 1 second instead of always reducing the cooldown by 2 seconds.
no longer increases healing of single-target spells.
Power Word: Shield may now critically strike or Multistrike.

Divine Aegis no longer grants Power Word: Shield a chance to critically strike.

has been removed. (See also: Hit and Expertise Removal.)
now heals for 60% more than before.
now heals for 40% more than before.
Power Word: Shield now has a chance for a critical effect based on critical strike chance and can Multistrike based on Multistrike chance for all specializations.
Purify, Halo, Cascade, and Divine Star can now be cast while in Spirit of Redemption form.
no longer reduces the global cooldown of Renew.

Shadow Changes

Shadow Priests had one large problem toward the end of Mists of Pandaria: single-target damage. Their AoE and multi-DoT damage was some of the best around, so they still ended up competitive on most fights. But, in any fight that was mostly single-target, they felt lacking. Additionally, one of the new stats we're adding in Warlords of Draenor, Multistrike, is almost exactly what their current Mastery, Shadowy Recall, does for DoTs. So, we took these two problems and came up with a change that we think will solve both of them. The result is a new Mastery, which primarily increases single-target damage. Shadow Priests who want to focus on single-target damage can aim for Mastery in their gearing; or, when multi-dotting is more valuable, prefer other secondary stats over Mastery.

Shadow Priest's Mastery (Shadowy Recall) has been replaced with a new Mastery: Mental Anguish.

Mastery: Mental Anguish: Increases the damage of Mind Blast, Corrupted Apparitions, Mind Flay, and by 20%.

now always costs 3 .
Spiritual Precision has been removed. (See also: Hit and Expertise Removal.)

The cooldown of Mind Blast has also been adjusted to make Haste more valuable for Shadow, and removes Haste breakpoints.

Mind Blast's cooldown is now reduced by haste, but its base cooldown is now 9 seconds (up from 8 seconds).

Talent Revisions

Several talents were split into different versions by specialization. We revised the effectiveness of some of these talents to better balance talent choices on their row. We also swapped the Level-15 and Level-60 talent rows so players are presented with core Priest themed abilities earlier in the leveling process.

To get back to a balanced place, we've reapplied the AoE caps to the level-90 Talents, making them consistent with all other AoE heals, and reduced their effectiveness across the board. We've compensated for this in the tuning of Priest baseline heals.

Level-15 and Level-60 talent rows have swapped places.
's effects have been split based on specialization.

Discipline: The effect is now based on Spirit Shell.
Shadow: This effect is now named .

From Darkness, Comes Light has been split into two abilities depending on the Priest's specialization.

(Shadow) now has a maximum of 3 charges (up from 2) and can now also trigger its effect from , but its chance to trigger has been reduced to 10% (down from 20%) to compensate.
Surge of Light (Discipline, Holy) activation chance has been reduced to 8% (down from 15%).

Power Infusion now grants 25% Haste (up from 20%), but no longer increases damage (down from 5%).
and has been split into for Discipline and Holy, and Insanity for Shadow.

has been changed to cause consuming to transform Mind Flay into for 2 seconds per consumed.

Twist of Fate now only triggers from healing for Discipline and Holy Priests, and only triggers from damage for Shadow Priests.

Miscellaneous Changes

First, there are a couple of quality-of-life changes for Prayer of Mending and Angelic Feathers. Next is a fix for a problem with , where it lasts its full duration against creatures that had no way to attack it, such as in certain Raid encounters (note that the health reduction is to keep it where it was in health, compared to player health doubling). We also removed the Mana generation from Shadowfiend, in order to simplify it to being a burst-damage-cooldown. And last but certainly not least, we're making Holy Nova an efficient AoE healing spell for Discipline Priests.

Angelic Feathers now increases movement speed by 60% (down from 80%). If cast on players, will always prefer the casting Priest over others, then pick the player closest to the targeted location. If there are no players where it is targeted, it will still create a feather that can be picked up, as before. Additionally, when collecting multiple feathers, the duration will be extended instead of replaced; up to a maximum of 130% of base duration.
Enlightenment is a new passive ability for Discipline Priests.
Enlightenment increases the critical healing chance of Prayer of Mending by 10%, and increases stat gains to Critical Strike from all sources by 5%.

Holy Nova is no longer available through a Major Glyph, and is instead a Discipline specialization spell. Its mana cost has been lowered and its healing increased. It is intended as the efficient area-of-effect (AoE) healing spell for Discipline Priests.
Prayer of Mending from multiple Priests can now be on the same target, and can be on multiple targets from the same Priest, but the ability has a 1.5-second cast time(up from instant cast). (See also: Instant Cast Heals)
Shadowfiend no longer restores mana.

Mindbender now restores 0.75% mana per hit (down from 1.75% mana).

now have 10% of the Priest's health (down from 20%), and damage dealt to the rooted target is now also dealt to the Void Tendril itself.

Blue Posts on Class Changes

Hi Disc Priests! I'm running out of time tonight, but wanted to stop by at least one healer spec before I go, and Discipline is arguably in most need of discussion at this point. Disc has seen a fair bit of change, especially surrounding Atonement, so some frustration is expected. Lets have some constructive discussion, shall we?

Disc was quite overpowered by the end of Mists for a few reasons. The first of which was that they had a couple spells (Divine Star in particular) that bypassed the AoE cap. That was a huge mistake, and has been solved. I think that's pretty clear to everyone.

The second is that they did most of their effective healing through absorbs, and absorbs were extremely powerful in general. Things have changed in Warlords to make this not the case: Damage has become much more 'high sustained' and much less 'high burst', meaning that no longer does everyone sit at full health and absorbs snipe all the effective healing. And on top of that, we've toned down how much of Disc's throughput comes from absorbs in general. They're still by far the heaviest on absorbs (that's their specialty, after all), but it's not *so* skewed in that direction.

And finally, Atonement. It was tuned strong enough that it wasn't much of a healing throughput loss to use, while being an easy and significant DPS gain. And the fact that it smart-healed made it very effective healing. I think we still have some tuning work to go through to reach this, but our goal is that Atonement is like splitting your attention between damage and healing, something like 60/40. It's something you do during lulls in healing need, or when you've got more healers than you need (which may be or not be the case on a phase by phase basis, in raid encounters). This phase easy on healing? Switch to Atonement for a while, contributing about 40% of a damage dealer's DPS, at a loss of about 40% of your healing. And when you do go back to full healing, you have Archangel to help smooth your transition back into healing. You can also weave Atonement+Archangel into shorter lulls in healing requirements, to min/max. As I said, I believe the tuning is off from that vision, currently, but we'll get there.

Also, why is holy nova still doing damage? You removed all those from level 90 talents, I understand for finding rogues in pvp it's useful, or prevent flag cap but that could be a glyph. I know for a fact after playing my monk that getting aggro from spamming your aoe heal isn't really fun. (Rushing Jade Wind killed me a few times)

1) No baseline CC: I miss psychic scream so much that I would never take another level 60 talent (even if the root worked) . Every other healer has some kind of baseline cc, some have multiple baseline ccs and talents and interrupts.

2) Holy Fire: Don't get me wrong, I like this spell in concept. What I don't like is that too much is tied to it now. With a talent it's mana. With a glyph it's a cc break. Regardless it's how you build up evanglism stacks and have a pseudo hot. Oh but it has a cooldown so if you build evangelism you can't break a poly. Oh and if you get locked out of holy you can't defend yourself from one either.

3) Archangel: So much of our healing is tied to a short cooldown that has to be charged through atonement. Only atonement healing is now intended to be a real trade off. With a 30 second cd, archangel requires smite or offensive penance and you can't keep it up with just holy fire on cooldown.

4) Fade: Similar to Holy Fire, fade now does too much. It is the threat drop, the glyphed cooldown, and potentially the talented cooldown. That's too much baked into one button and makes it a non-fun button. That said, unless something changes I don't think I'll ever take phantasm.

5) Saving Grace: This ability is too good, and I don't think a numbers pass will ever get it to a realistic point. A stacking MS is not a real tradeoff for a no cooldown NS. It only lasts 10 seconds you spam it till full and then kite for 10 seconds.

6) Spectral Guise: Also too good. It is also on the healing tier when it is clearly not a heal. I guess it's not so much a too good, as a "this talent is clearly better in a lot of instances." It works too well with fear, and with saving grace. The only other talent I'd consider is bulwark but a tuning pass might make desperate prayer worth using again.

7) Holy Nova: Numbers aside: Visuals aside. Having this be the spell you spam when kiting looks bad visually. This is more a factor of it being a 0 cooldown instant, than that it is the aoe heal. I am not a fan of it as an aoe heal either, given that it gets rid of aoe healing during the all important losely spread out mechanic fights. We already have a talent that pushes us to clump the raid in barrier. This just feels too much.

8) Too many mandatory glyphs: If you want mass dispel, inner focus, and death you have eaten up your three glyph slots. Tough luck if you wanted anything else fun. What makes me dislike this even more is that at the start of last expansion this would have meant 0 glyphs and I could take some fun option things like glyph of smite.

9) Too many interrupts: Mobility and instants were taken away from casters. I get this, it had gotten ridiculous. The only issue I have is that those interrupts that got scattered didn't go away. As a disc priest, I open up my primary school with penance. This means that if I want to take advantage of that new perk to snare an enemy with it, I have to be prepared to be locked out. Everything I would ever want to snare has an interrupt. Interrupts are so common now that every dps, every tank, and half the healers have access to one now.

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