Priest FAQ

Post by DSitC

I've seen FAQs topping some other class forums, and i like the idea of having a comprehensive list of common questions answered right at your fingertips. Let's try to assemble one for the priest community here.

Just post your question below and as soon as it will be answered, i will add it to this post.

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Wowhead Priest FAQ (Last updated 2007-12-21 15:28 GMT+1)

What is the five-second-rule?
The five-second-rule (abbr. 5SR, FSR) basically states: "For five seconds after spending mana on a spell, the normal spirit-based mana regeneration will be nulled."
This means you won't get mana regeneration based on your characters spirit for those 5 seconds. Items that grant you "Restores X mana per 5 sec." will work anyway, but the mana regeneration based on your spirit will not be applied during these 5 seconds. There are some talents and items (and one item set) that change the behavior of Spirit during the five-second-rule.
What do I need to start healing Karazhan?
It's rather hard to state some hard requirements, but you should aim for the at least 1.000 +heal, 100 MP5 while casting and 8.000 Mana.
What is Spirit?
Spirit is mana regeneration. Each Point of Spirit grants you 5/8 (0.625) Mana per 5 Seconds. The forumla to calculate how much mana you gain per tick (2 seconds) is Spirit/4 + 12.5.
The mana regeneration granted by a priests spirit is affected by the 5SR. This means it will be nulled (unless items or talents say otherwise) for 5 seconds after you have spent mana on casting a spell.
What does "Restores X mana per 5 sec." mean?
Exactly this. Every 5 seconds you will regenerate X mana. No matter what you do. Mana regenerated this way will not be influenced by the 5SR.
Spirit vs. "Restores X mana per 5 sec.". What is better?
This depends on your playstyle, your party/raid, the encounter you face and a lot more stuff i can't think of right now. Basically it comes down to this: The more time outside the 5SR you have, the more value your Spirit has. At some point this will mean, that you gain more mana from Spirit than from your MP5 (refering to the item-stat here). The treshold is determined by the %-amount of Mana you are able to regenerate from your Spirit while in the 5SR.
What is MP5
MP5 means "Mana per 5 Seconds" and is used as a term to refer to a characters overall mana regeneration and the item ability "Restores X mana per 5 sec.".
What is a "tick"?
A tick is a game term to describe a 2 second time interval that is most commonly used to apply regeneration effects to a character.

Post by DSitC

Wowhead Priest Spell FAQ (Last updated 2008-01-07 06:50 GMT+1)

What is Binding Heal?
Zequel: A lot of priest shy away from this spell but it's mana-efficient if you both need the heal, great for when threat is iffy (it's low threat, according to the tooltip) and it is excellent in arena when you and your target are being hurt. Use it a lot on the Aran fight. It is mana intensive but with good mana management and/or a shadow priest, it's not an issue.
What is Prayer of Mending?
Zequel: I once heard a comment from a fellow priest: "I don't use PrOM, It never bounces".
Well for one thing it's a *little* situational but great for when you have melee classes taking damage, AoE damage and PVP. It heals without you having to cast for one thing, great in silence situations. It also attributes the threat to the target so contributes to a tank's threat, use it before pulls. I could have an entire discussion about this one spell. It's also very mana efficient if it bounces at least once.
What is Prayer Of Healing?
Zequel: Situational but excellent. I use it with Inner Focus for a mana-free group heal and +25% chance to crit.
What is Flash Heal?
Zequel: Mana-inefficient but still excellent. Not to use as your main healing spell but for certain fights such as Illhoof (healing the character in bonds) when gheal is too long a cast. Also good for on-the-go healing due to its short cast time.
What is Renew?
Zequel: Excellent all-situational spell. Use it to heal raid targets who are taking damage slowly and on tanks for insurance. Great mana efficiency. Good for PVP and PVE.
What is Greater Heal?
Zequel: Main tank heal. For big heals, it's our main heal with good mana efficiency, can proc CC, even better with talents. I use Rank 4 to save mana when max rank would waste mana on overhealing.
When do I use my Shadowfiend?
Kelgrim: PvP: Depends on the situation, but it's best to use it when you still have around 30-40%. Also: try to use it on classes that can't shield themselves. (the shield will absorb dmg and as such give no mana to you)
PvE: On long boss fights: as early as possible (because then you might be able to use it twice. On other PvE moments I use it as a panic button. (Great way to safe yourself a mana pot ^^)
Zequel: PvP: Don't target rogues, they will kill them very quickly. Fiends are very resistant to shadow damage so a lock is a good target. Not sure about their other resistances. Good against caster classes without spell pushback talents since the fiend's damage will interrupt them. But don't target spriests, that's just impolite! :)
PvE: Watch out for boss fights where the boss disappears (Moroes) or AoEs, send them out right after these are over or they'll be just idling or dead. Curator's evocation is an excellent time.

Post by DSitC

Even more reserved space in case of overflow *duck*

Post by 98970

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

Post by DSitC

Hi I'm new with a priest and I would like to know what to choose..

Spirit vs Intelligence, which should I take for a priest? or a mix of both? if so, what's the right ratio?

Depends on what you do. While leveling a healthy mix of Spirit & Intelligence is best, maybe.

If you are running dungeons, you should take +heal into the mix, but Mana Regeneration does not need to be spot on, since fights don't last very long in the 5-man environment.

If you are going to raid, focus on +heal and Mana Regeneration (mix Spirit and MP5 if you are not determined to do it one way or another).

Post by 98970

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

Post by DSitC

Just a little *push* to encourage some more questions. ;-)

Happy new year! btw ^^

Post by Zequel

I'd go over each healing spell we have DSitc. I see so many priests ignoring their spell selection, which imo, is the strength of our class. If you're gonna be a gheal bot, roll pally. They're better single target healers imo. If you want to do the Q-A format, you could do 'When do I use X?'.

For instance..

Binding Heal - a lot of priest shy away from this spell but it's mana-efficient if you both need the heal, great for when threat is iffy (its low threat according to the tooltip) and excellent in arena when you and your target are being hurt. Use it a lot on the Aran fight. It is mana intensive but with good mana management and/or a spriest, it's not an issue.

Prayer Of Mending - I once heard a comment from a fellow priest - 'I don't use PrOM, It never bounces'. Well for one thing it's a *little* situational but great for when you have melee classes taking damage, aoe damage and PVP. It heals without you having to cast for one thing, great in silence situations. It also attributes the threat to the target so contributes to a tank's threat, use it before pulls. I could have an entire discussion about this one spell. It's also very mana efficient if it bounces at least once.

Prayer Of Healing - Situational but excellent. I use it with Inner Focus for a mana-free group heal and +25% chance to crit.

Flash Heal - Mana-inefficient but still excellent. Not to use as your main healing spell but for certain fights such as Illhoof (healing the character in bonds) when gheal is too long a cast. Also good for on-the-go healing due to its short cast time.

Renew - Excellent all-situational spell. Use it to heal raid targets who are taking damage slowly and on tanks for insurance. Great mana efficiency. Good for PVP and PVE.

Greater Heal - Main tank heal. For big heals, it's our main heal with good mana efficiency, can proc CC, even better with talents. I use Rank 4 to save mana when max rank would waste mana on overhealing.

Lightwell/Circle of Healing - I never specced for these. From what I've heard Lightwell can be good if the group/raid is 1) aware of it 2) takes the time to learn when/how to use it. Most priests have given up on it. CoH - I heard its excellent for some raid boss fights and arena but quite situational and impossible to reach with the IDS talent. Maybe we could hear from people with more experience with these.

Post by Zequel

One more suggestion:
When do I use my shadow fiend (in PVE and PVP)?

Post by 112101

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

Post by Zequel

One more suggestion:
When do I use my shadow fiend (in PVE and PVP)?
...the shield will absorb dmg and as such give no mana to you)

Didn't know that!
Here are my suggestions:
PVP
Don't target rogues, they will kill them very quickly.

Fiends are very resistant to shadow damage so a lock is a good target. Not sure about their other resistances. I should test that out sometime... Good against caster classes without spell pushback talents since the fiend's damage will interrupt them. But don't target spriests, that's just impolite! :)

For PVE: watch out for boss fights where the boss disappears (Moroes) or aoes, send them out right after these are over or they'll be just idling or dead. Curator's evocation is an excellent time.

Post by 113219

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

Post by DSitC

*updated & posts added*

I also added a Priest Spell FAQ for more specific Questions. :-)

Priest FAQ

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