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Discipline Priests in Shadowlands - Healer Strengths, Best Covenants, Soulbinds and Legendaries

posted 2020/11/16 at 6:50 PM by AutomaticJak

Spirit ShellIntroductionAtonementAtonementHow to Play Discipline Priest in Shadowlands Pre-PatchSpecial thanksSupsFocused Will Discord

This guide is written and maintained by Jak, Healer for Lazarus Imperative on US-Illidan, author of the Holy and Discipline Priest Guides.

He is also the Host of the official World of Warcraft Mythic Dungeon International events. You can catch Jak on Twitter, Youtube and streaming on Twitch if you want to check out more of his content!

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Check out all our Shadowlands Launch Opinion articles by our Class Writers and members of the community! Click on any of the colored specs below to see what articles we've released so far.
These guides were meant to give you a preview of what's to come in the expansion, but don't worry -- our full Shadowlands Class Guides will be updated soon!

Vengeance Demon Hunter

Demonology Warlock

Restoration Druid

What has changed for Discipline Priest?AtonementDepth of the ShadowsEnduring LuminescenceAtonementClarity of MindOvercharge ManaPower InfusionMindgamesPower InfusionAtonementClarity of MindRaptureTalentsRaidsRaptureEvangelismClarity of MindPurge the WickedHaloSpirit ShellMindbender Mythic+SchismShadowlands Leveling Perks
Mind Soothe (52) - Reduces the radius that enemies will aggro you allowing you to move around enemies that would otherwise be blocking your path. This only works on Humanoids and Dragonkin type targets. It is easy to spam on multiple enemies so if you are fast you can provide skips for yourself and the group in key dungeons.

Casting Mind Soothe on both enemies creates that Purple effect over their heads, reducing their aggro radius allowing you to slip by without drawing threat. Priest STEALTH......of sorts!Holy NovaHoly NovaMind SearHoly NovaPower InfusionAtonementPriest Covenant Abilities

Venthyr

Mindgames is the Venthyr covenant ability and leading choice for Discipline in a raiding environment. It does tremendous single target damage that converts into Atonement healing and is buffed by Schism. It also converts some damage the affected enemy deals into healing. As long as it converts some damage into healing it will also return some mana back to you. Overall it is an easy ability to utilize that has strong synergy with Evangelism and Rapture. Build up heavy Atonements, cast Schism, cast Mindgames.....profit!
Shattered Perceptions is the conduit that buffs Mindgames. Once again its a simple boost that doesn't ask much of the player to maximize and as a result is a solid option.
Door of Shadows is the covenant signature ability and probably my favorite of all of the signature abilities that covenants offer. It has a 1.5 second cast that can take you up to 35 yards away. Priest is generally immobile and can struggle to cross vast distances quickly. This shores up that weakness extremely well and can be utilized for some easy skips in dungeons as well!

Kyrian

Boon of the Ascended is the Kyrian Covenant Priest class ability. It features three parts. Your Boon of the Ascended ability after casting immediately turns into the spammable Ascended Nova, your Smite converts into Ascended Blast and each ability generates stacks, the former generates one stack per enemy hit and the latter generates 5 per cast. These stacks then explode at the end of their duration for Ascended Eruption. This burst converts into Atonement only off the first enemy hit, so for the most healing from the Eruption you would be best off only hitting one enemy. This ability is excellent in a dungeon environment as it is extremely flexible whether you need to deal more damage on large trash pulls or if you need assistance fighting the seasonal affix Prideful enemies. In raids, it is not as easy to incorporate into your ramps as the Venthyr covenant.
Courageous Ascension is the covenant conduit. It has solid value in a 5 man environment where you will lean on the covenant ability as a major throughput cooldown.
Summon Steward gives the Phial of Serenity which removes debuffs and is an additional heal. Its an excellent tool in dungeons where you are bouncing in between combat and frequently face certain debuffs that you cannot dispel as a Priest like Curses, Bleeds and Poisons.

Necrolord

Unholy Nova is the covenant ability for the Necrolords. Like Ascended Eruption, Unholy Nova will split damage depending on the number of enemies hit and convert into Atonement healing only off the first enemy hit. As a result, this ability can very rapidly deteriorate in value if you hit too many enemies and is one of the more mediocre covenant abilities for Discipline.
Festering Transfusion buffs Unholy Nova. This is a solid buff to the ability increasing damage and duration but it doesn't make the covenant ability strong enough to take over the alternatives.
Fleshcraft creates a shield equal to 20-50% of your max health depending on the type and quantity of the corpses you consume. Its a long channel which can be difficult to utilize in raiding, especially if heavy movement is involved. If there is sufficient downtime then you can create some strong shields to better mitigate heavy burst damage.

Night Fae

Fae Guardians is the Night Fae Priest covenant ability. It produces three fairies at once that can move to a new target depending on the spell cast. Shadow Mend moves the Fairy that reduces a major cooldown on the target, Power Word: Shield applies 10% damage reduction and Shadow Word: Pain applies the final fairy that will regen mana if you are actively attacking the enemy. The cooldown reduction that Discipline receives is toward Rapture which can have some value but can also have large downsides. If you are holding Rapture for specific events then this cooldown reduction could be irrelevant. In that case you could reduce the cooldown of a DPS.
Fae Fermata is the synergistic conduit for Fae Guardians allowing you to cycle the buff on multiple allies. This conduit encourages you to reduce cooldowns for many targets which can be very costly mana-wise and has a large trade off of not running another potency conduit or covenant that would increase your throughput.
Soulshape is the signature covenant ability and provides some strong movement speed which is generally a weak point for Priests. It can be utilized for quick bursts of movement but generally you won't be moving for so long that you get multiple blinks in, unless you're in a dungeon.

Choosing a CovenantVenthyrMindgamesHold Your GroundDoor of ShadowsShattered PerceptionsKyrianBoon of the AscendedBoon of the AscendedAscended BlastAtonementPriest Covenant abilityBest Discipline Priest SoulbindsHold Your GroundService In StoneSoothing ShadeLet Go of the PastCombat MeditationDiscipline Priest Conduits

Exaltation: Recently nerfed on November 11th, the absorb effect has been heavily nerfed to counter Spirit Shell's strength. While it maintains its duration buff to Rapture the heavy absorb nerf pushes this conduit down competitively.
Shining Radiance: Increases the healing that Power Word: Radiance produces. With how steady of damage patterns Castle Nathria holds, its likely that players will not be 100% HP when you are developing your ramps, so Power Word: Radiance should see this increase in healing value.
Swift Penitence: Produces a buff to your first bolt of Penance. Its a solid conduit but there are better alternatives for maximizing your healing.
Pain Transformation: Provides a meaty heal to Pain Suppression. But having a quick heal once every 3 minutes, does not a strong conduit make. Very low tier.
Shattered Perceptions: Is the covenant conduit for the Venthyr. It provides even more strength to your ramp, further increasing your effectiveness as a burst healer.
Courageous Ascension: Is the covenant conduit for the Kyrian. It provides a substantial buff to your damage during Boon which is excellent for increasing your healing output without having to resort to Shadow Mend spam. Extremely helpful for high prideful and challenging tyrannical boss fights.

Courageous Ascension / Shattered Perceptions

Swift Penitence

Translucent Image: Fade damage reduction returns! And on-demand damage reduction is particularly sweet.

Charitable Soul: Shields are cast frequently enough that you can often generate a solid chunk of extra self-healing with this conduit especially with how consistent damage patterns are in Castle Nathria.

Light's Inspiration: While buffing Desperate Prayer is alright, damage reduction and effective health increases via absorbs take a higher priority.

Priest Conduit GuideDiscipline Priest Legendaries

Measured Contemplation: Buffs the healing of your Shadow Mend like the azerite essence Devout Spirit from BfA. Problem with this legendary is that there is such a long duration between each buffed Shadow Mend that its nowhere near as consistent as the azerite trait it was made from.
Vault of Heavens: Causing Leap of Faith to have multiple charges and to be improving your mobility. Fun legendary to utilize but not strong enough to see competitive play.
Cauterizing Shadows: Steadily nerfed over Beta to now be too weak to see competitive play.
Twins of the Sun Priestess: Allows you to share Power Infusion without losing out on the buff yourself. Excellent in 5 mans to toss on to high powered DPS.

Kiss of Death: Allows Shadow Word: Death to convert into Atonement healing. Unfortunately after multiple Shadow Word: Death and nerfs to the legendary itself, it does not seem to be competitive enough at the moment to see competitive raid or M+ play.
Clarity of Mind: Has two functions depending on your talent selections. When talented into Spirit Shell, this ability extends active Atonements and decreases mana cost of damaging abilities. When NOT talented into Spirit Shell, this ability makes Power Word: Shields applied during Rapture to place longer lasting Atonements and cost less mana. Great legendary to take with Rapture because of the high efficiency it adds to the ability.
The Penitent One: When casting Power Word: Radiance you have a chance to empower your next Penance. You can hold two charges of this buff so there is no penalty to casting back to back Power Word: Radiance. This is a solid legendary thanks to the high proc chance, but you're not able to absolutely guarantee that you have the buff for every ramp, and if you generate two of the buffs then your 2nd Penance is frequently used well AFTER your ramp is completed, producing minimal extra healing.
Crystalline Reflection: Creates additional damage when Power Word: Shield is consumed. Low-usage in PvE environments, decent extra damage.

Picking a LegendaryClarity of MindRaptureAtonementThe Penitent OneTwins of the Sun PriestessSpirit ShellSpirit ShellSpirit ShellAncestral VigorAncestral Protection TotemHold Your GroundSpirit ShellPower Word: RadianceSpirit ShellShining RadianceClarity of MindSpirit ShellThe Penitent OneSpirit ShellEvangelismRaptureSpirit ShellSpirit ShellIn ConclusionDiscipline Priest is one of the most fortunate specializations at the moment in World of Warcraft.AtonementShadow MendMind SearMind BlastBoon of the AscendedPower InfusionMind Soothe

Comments

Comment by Monaro213Really not a happy camper with Spirit Shell returning, but Disc being in a good spot makes my life just that little bit easier, I suppose.Comment by RisutoaReally not a happy camper with Spirit Shell returning, but Disc being in a good spot makes my life just that little bit easier, I suppose.Comment by WasselinI hate the sound Power Word: Shield makes and how ugly Shadow Mend is.Comment by MyhvReally not a happy camper with Spirit Shell returning, but Disc being in a good spot makes my life just that little bit easier, I suppose.Comment by michelusThey removed Spirit Shell for a reason. Shields were way overpowered in raids during WoD. Nobody else could compete. The meta was in shambles. With this coming back along with Eclipse, it seems the dev team has a hard time learning from past mistakes.Comment by EkkaPriest's shielding was much different before and it has nothing to do with what it does now in comparison. They're bringing up part of that playstyle back, as much as they're bringing Monk's fistweaving back (finally). They needed this change in order to cut Evangelism's power. If we want stronger shielding, we need to give up Evangelism, which is part of the reason discipline is so good at mass healing. Furthermore, you're all forgetting Spirit Shell has 1 min cooldown. Paladin has been running up for half an expansion with free wings in almost each pull in M+, with a 60% uptime.

Discipline hasn't been a reliable option in high-end M+ whatsoever ever since they were created. It was either rdruid or hpaladin. Alas, hpaladin was one of the best healers for both M+ and raids in BfA. No class should be top tier in both raid and M+ environment, but let's thank that's not the case anymore for hpaladin.Comment by VespasianoI know that Blizz is going to nerf them to the ground after some random dude overperforms with it, they did the same during BfA when Disc priest started viable and fun in M+. Druids will be unreachable once more sooner or laterComment by CamarroWhat about Shadow Covenant talent? Mythic+ with Shadow Covenant talent + Mindgames looks pretty tasty.Comment by clozzerReally not a happy camper with Spirit Shell returning, but Disc being in a good spot makes my life just that little bit easier, I suppose.Comment by Rici1983So, it's always saying "Go Venthyr for raid and Kyrian for M+". What about if I want to play both on a high level?
I'd think that using Mindgames against the Prideful stacks could be as efficient as Boon?Comment by SunlonghornI really don't wanna join the Blue Humans & Vampires as a Covenant :( I want to join the Nightfae, would it really be that bad?Comment by Luna15When holy priest guide Will pop up? Or ir willbe forgotten even in pre-patch?Comment by LedxI hate the sound Power Word: Shield makes and how ugly Shadow Mend is.Comment by MikhailovEveryone in the Priest discord said Spirit Shell was dead on arrival when I was saying it was going to have huge value. Yet here we are.Comment by AutomaticJakWhen holy priest guide Will pop up? Or ir willbe forgotten even in pre-patch?Comment by HikeckI really don't wanna join the Blue Humans & Vampires as a Covenant :( I want to join the Nightfae, would it really be that bad?Comment by moonangel0910@AutomaticJak, your choice for covenant due to conduits in soulbinds has it changed now that the one conduit for Pelagos has been changed from Vers boost to reduce magic damage now?Comment by GaabI really don't wanna join the Blue Humans & Vampires as a Covenant :( I want to join the Nightfae, would it really be that bad?Comment by dardrisperAs someone that wants to raid, m+, AND pvp, Venthyr seems like the best overall/well-rounded pick.

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