42/19/0 vs 46/2/13 reflective shield build

Post by eidra

Hi all, my priest is sitting in the low 50s right now running 41/2/0 and having some fun with pain suppression. When this toon hits 70, it will be specifically used for 2v2 arenas and pretty much nothing else. With the 2.4 changes to reflective shield, I've decided to implement it into the standard cookie cutter disc build.

My 2s partner will be a rogue, currently undecided if he will stick with ShS or go mutilate (49/0/12).

The builds:

42/19/0
http://wowhead.com/?talent=bx0GuhgtMcqzfVxoc

This is your standard disc/holy arena build that trades silent resolve for reflective shield. I can justify this due to the real lack of offensive dispels in the 2s scene and with the popularity of druid/x combos. With the presence of pillars, it shouldn't be too hard to LoS dodge a purge happy shaman/warrior combo once in a while. I also take 1/3 blessed recovery over 1/1 holy nova to compensate for the lack of dispel resistance, but that one remaining talent point can be interchanged easily.

46/2/13
http://wowhead.com/?talent=bxLGuhgtMcqzbZVMGz

I first saw this build being used in this video here, and was really impressed with the utility and aggressive play style that it offered combined with a rogue partner. The true beauty of this build lies within the use of mind flay. Max rank combined with a MB to SW:D combo can offer substantial burst while occasionally catching a blackout proc. Rank 1 flay can be used effectively to "peel" opponents off your partner with the 50% movement debuff if he or she needs to recover. For a cost of 45 mana per 3 seconds, it can split up double dps opponents who focus your partner and turn the tide of the fight. Conversely, it can also be used to keep opponents from peeling away from your rogue.

Realistically the largest difference between these two builds is the use of gheal. In 42/19, you have a very usable 2.5s gheal which can be dropped to 2.1s with PI. In 46/2/13, it is not worth using due to the cast time. Even if you throw a PI up, the cast time will only be reduced to 2.5s.

My question, then, to you seasoned arena priests would be whether or not gheal is crucial in your 2s play. If not, then is it worth sacrificing to pick up a 26s psychic scream and the cc/burst offered by Mind Flay?

Sorry for the long winded post and thanks in advance for any responses.

Post by dtothen

I'd love to give you a more concise reply, but I'm about to go out. All I can say is that 5 points in reflective shield will cause about 1000 damage to your attacker (and that's if the shield isn't dispelled/purged anyway) assuming around ~1000 +healing. I'm sure you could place 5 points elsewhere. After all, you're probably not going to be in the arena for damage purposes.

By the way, I don't recall reading about changes to this spell in 2.4... What are they?

Post by 131637

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by 140518

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by 106951

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by eidra

Thanks everyone for their replies.

After all, you're probably not going to be in the arena for damage purposes.

On TTR with about 1500 healing and 3/3 Imp PW:S, the shield will absorb about 1600-1800 damage and reflect back approx 800-900. SW:P ticks for about 260, and the MB to SW:D combo hits for a combined 1850 non crit. This damage is not to be underestimated. Often times I'll finish 2v2 matches dealing over 20,000 damage. I certainly don't feel like a true healing class when I play these builds. My partner and I play very aggressively and I find myself assisting on dps and harrassing the opponent's healer more often than actually casting a heal myself (save for the ProM and renew spam).

In your Disc/Shadow build, I would advise taking the points out of imp mana burn and putting them into imp DS.

Its been a long time since I've actually had the luxury of time to mana burn someone down unless it was in the BGs and with 2.4 changes, is sucks more.

Imp DS gives more +dam wihch is always helpful.

While I see your point wrt the 2.4 changes, I myself feel that mana burn is still crucial to the disc playstyle, especially in the mirror match. By virtue of not having 2/2 imp mana burn, you force yourself into staying out of LoS while the other priest has free reign over the playing field. You will also never never be able to put sufficient pressure on outlast teams / drain teams.

Imp DS really is just a PVE talent and has no role in PVP. None of the arena gear provide this stat and I'm stacking about 250 spirit with 2 pve items and Divine Spirit. That works out to an additional +25 spell damage, which IMHO is not worth sacrificing the utility that Imp Mana Burn brings.

Also beware of using PI when your partner needs healing since it's going to add a minimum of 1 second in gcd before your partner gets his heal.
Edit: PI does not trigger the GCD. I have a macro that pops trinket + PI + inner focus into a gheal cast and it does not require more than 1 keypress.

Post by 124900

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by Gnostik

I can't offer an answer to the original question about GHeal because I don't have a 70 Priest yet.

But I did want to comment on the "build issues" people are posting about. I don't see any conflicts personally, this is the build I would use:

46/2/13

Seems like you get it all here, minus a small amount of mana efficiency (i.e. Mental Agility and Absolution.) But oh well; it's not like all your spells are instant-cast anyway.

As for the "you're not in the arena to do damage" argument, it's very narrow. Let's assume for a moment that the fight won't last so long that you get to the bottom of your mana bar in desperation. Consider the beginning of the fight where serious healing isn't needed. Which team will do better, the one whose Priest stands around waiting to heal, or the one who lays on a little damage to support his partner?

Finally, the idea that you would leave out Imp Mana Burn for arenas is a very bad one. From the perspective of the two classes I do play at 70, which are both casters, I can tell you mana burn is one of the best PvP spells, period. It's incredibly powerful, incredibly frustrating for the opposing side. It essentially forces the enemy caster to do something about you or stay off the playing field, because the fact is if you stand there getting mana burned you will lose.

Post by Zequel

I personally never use gheal in 2v2 or even 3v3. Flash heal or binding heal is my best bet if instant heal can't keep one up. Of cuz I won't last long due to mana efficiency if i spam fheal/bheal, then again prevent it being an outlast game.

I think the use of gheal is governed by your partner and opposing team tbh. If you're partnered with a low resilience dpser, fheal is the way to go. If you're going against a druid team and your teammate has good survivability, you're better off waiting, trying to get out of the FSR and casting an occassional gheal so you can play the outlast game. I also find gheal to be somewhat effective against MS warriors (when your teammate is taking the hits) and your teammate has the weakened soul debuff. The only problem with gheal is you're leaving yourself open for a lockout but not so much a problem with druid/x teams where you're not getting focused.

Post by Burakkura

GHealer is amazing in 2s if you can get it off, which tends to be difficult against decent teams. The one place you really want to watch GHeal is against teams with a mage...that 10 seconds counter spell can be devastating. But I find with my partner, a SL/SL warlock, Gheal hits for a huge amount with their 20% more healing and can easily keep him up in most situations. It also tends to be enough, as Zequel said, to get out of the FSR once in awhile as well...although if you got that much free time I usually spend it on a mana burn :P.

42/19/0 vs 46/2/13 reflective shield build

Post Reply