Why You Should Play Discipline Priest in Dragonflight (And Why You Shouldn't)

Live Posted 2022/11/24 at 1:16 AM by AutomaticJak

Need help choosing a new Class in Dragonflight? Check out all the released articles in the 'Why You Should Play a Spec' series below:
Why You Should Play a Spec in Dragonflight (and Why You Shouldn't) Series

Blood DKFrost DK
Unholy DK
Havoc DH
Vengeance DH
Balance Druid
Feral Druid
Guardian DruidRestoration Druid
Devastation Evoker
Preservation Evoker
Beast Mastery Hunter
Marksmanship HunterSurvival HunterArcane MageFrost MageFire Mage

Brewmaster Monk
Mistweaver Monk
Windwalker MonkHoly Paladin

Protection PaladinRetribution Paladin
Discipline PriestHoly Priest
Shadow Priest
Assassination RogueOutlaw RogueSubtlety Rogue
Elemental ShamanEnhancement Shaman
Restoration Shaman
Affliction Warlock
Demonology Warlock
Destruction Warlock

Arms Warrior
Fury Warrior
Protection Warrior

This guide is written and maintained by Jak, Healer for Incarnate on US-Tichondrius, Author of the Holy and Discipline Priest Guides.

You can catch Jak on Twitter, Youtube and streaming on Twitch if you want to check out more of his content!

Watch live video from automaticjak on www.twitch.tv

Why You Should Play Discipline Priest in Dragonflight (and Why You Shouldn't)AtonementPower Word: ShieldWhy You Should Play Discipline Priest in DragonflightAtonementSins of the ManyAtonementPower Word: LifeAtonementShadow Word: DeathAtonementLight's WrathPower InfusionPower Word: LifeTwilight EquilibriumAtonementPower Word: ShieldAegis of WrathWeal and WoeLight's WrathAtonementInescapable TormentAtonementPower Word: BarrierRapturePain SuppressionPower Word: LifePower Word: ShieldPower InfusionTwins of the Sun PriestessPower InfusionPower Word: FortitudeDispel MagicMass DispelShackle UndeadVoid TendrilsSmitePenancePurge the WickedWhy You Shouldn't Play Discipline Priest in DragonflightHarsh DisciplineSmitePenanceAtonementInescapable TormentAtonementAtonementMind BlastExpiationPurge the Wicked38

Comment by BalbutoI've played priest since vanilla and I'd also weigh in and say in the "why you shouldnt play" part, that Disc is a very unforgiving spec if you mess up the ramp or dont time it right. A bad disc priest is imo worse than a good holy priest (unless you really really need barrier).
With that said though noone starts at the top, so by all means give it some time and you might just master it.Comment by Beelzeduup100% gonna try out disc this expansion. Looks great.Comment by PeacemoonThe main drawback of Discipline healing is very it can be very niche and unwieldly. It focuses too much on the gimmick of trying to heal through damage, whilst also focusing on shielding not healing.

For me when I try it, it feels like a lot of hard work to actually get the healing done. You are battling your own toolkit as much as the encounter just to keep people alive. I find it tends to work best in raids when you have another healer doing the heavy lifting, so you can focus on your thing, but even then, its probably just easier to have a regular healer instead.

It probably doesn't help that Discipline is always going to be juxtaposed to Holy, which is one of the most straightforward and powerful healers in the game.

I am going to try again with Discipline in DF and see if I can get it to work, but whenever I've tried it in the past, its doesn't do much that Holy can't, and the pain and hassle of trying to make it work is just too much. Something like being able to have an enhanced Atonement permanently on the tank (almost like a Beacon of Light), and loading it up with special interactions, would be a good start.Comment by IstrilGreat writeup on Disc's strengths and weaknesses. Super excited to be going Disc again in Dragonflight despite some of the difficulties. As far as the Mindbender talents, disappointing that it's currently a dead side of the tree, but that is something that can easily be fixed with tuning and/or changing the cap on Inescapable Torment.Comment by lovelywazSomething like being able to have an enhanced Atonement permanently on the tank (almost like a Beacon of Light), and loading it up with special interactions, would be a good start.Comment by hepatosAlways play with holy priest, and for DF I wanna start with Discipline priest. I know tha will be hard start with pre mitigation and use every button in the exact moment.
The mana is most hard of administ but I tempted use the shadow talents for m+. I hope that can use the correct way.Comment by lifegutterOne serious con that should be called out is for movement. While not exclusively a discipline spec issue, healing priests have neither a blink type ability nor an immunity and we are the only ones in the game with that problem. Priests were the butt of jokes in S1 relying on evoker rescues during mythic raz, and it isn't the first time its been a problem. The poor movement has folks like Jak also race changed to goblin which is so wrong. You shouldn't have to play a specific race as a fix for such a major deficiency. I'm really hoping it at least gets attention as they proceed with their plan to re-evaluate class survivability in S2... Great content as always Jak.