PvE Discipline Priest

Discipline Priests in Mists of Pandaria are well-rounded, flexible healers who remain strong in raids and also excel in the new Challenge Mode dungeons. Their variety of absorbs, heals, and utility spells make them a challenging but rewarding specialization to play. This guide will cover every facet of building, gearing, and playing your Disc Priest so you can take on everything the PvE endgame throws at you and come out on top.

Changes in Mists of Pandaria

Talent trees have been trimmed down and Prime Glyphs are gone. Some abilities have been made baseline and others have been removed or reworked. Most of these changes are “under the hood,” however. The Discipline Priest plays very similarly to how it did in Cataclysm, with few changes to your rotation. The Atonement mechanic still allows you to heal your teammates through low damage while also contributing some DPS, and now it has a much more generous 40-yard range. For heavier damage, you still have the broadest selection of healing spells and absorbs of any healer.

Blanketing the raid in absorbs has gotten easier with the new Spirit Shell cooldown. You also have access to your choice of three new AoE heals: Cascade, Divine Star, or Halo.

One of the Priest’s weaknesses in Cataclysm was their lack of mobility options. This has been solved in Mists of Pandaria with your choice of talents: Body and Soul, which was previously only available deep in the Holy tree, or Angelic Feather, a new talent. You also have some glyphs that can allow you to cast Penance while moving or add a movement speed bonus to Levitate.

It’s worth remembering that WoW Classic expansions launch with class tuning that reflects the final patch of the original expansion. So even in Phase 1 of MoP Classic, the Discipline Priest’s talents and abilities will be the in the same state they were in for Patch 5.4.8. One example of this is that Holy Fire is an instant cast.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths

• Powerful Absorbs
  Absorption effects are more efficient than healing because they prevent the damage from ever happening and tend not to overheal as much. A strong Discipline Priest can leave other healers feeling like they have nothing to do. This is more true than ever in Mists of Pandaria with the addition of Spirit Shell on top of your already-powerful Power Word: Shield and Divine Aegis absorbs.

• Strong Cooldowns
  Discipline Priests have an incredible number of cooldowns they can rotate through for periods of heavy damage. Archangel, Pain Suppression, Spirit Shell, and Power Word: Barrier are all unique to Disc, and they can all be equally useful for heavy tank damage as for heavy raid damage. You also have access to Power Infusion and Void Shift.

• Heal While Dealing Damage
  The Discipline Priest is one of the most effective healers at dealing damage, and they can do so while still contributing steady healing. Atonement and Evangelism are no longer brand-new mechanics in Mists of Pandaria, and many of the rough edges have been smoothed out. Groups will benefit greatly from having a Discipline Priest any time a fight has a high DPS requirement, or if the content is on farm. You can always be doing something to contribute to the group’s progress, even if there’s not much to heal. You’ll especially shine in Challenge Mode dungeons for this reason.

• Flexible Toolkit
  Every Disc Priest has quite a variety of spells at their disposal, from absorbs to AoE and single-target heals and even a HoT. They can tank heal or raid heal with equal effectiveness as well as dealing some damage when the fight calls for it. You won’t have a hard time finding a raid spot because every group will want what you bring to the table.

Weaknesses

• High Skill Cap
  The broad toolkit and flexibility that Discipline Priests have at their disposal has the downside of giving the build a lot of complexity that can be challenging to master. It takes experience to learn when you can lean into Atonement versus when you need to be casting direct heals. Playing Disc optimally also requires knowing the fights so you know when to stack absorbs ahead of damage and when to use your many cooldowns. The build relies heavily on absorbs and mitigation that must be set up in advance, and if you fail to get out ahead of damage it can be difficult to catch up.

• Modest Group Heals
  Although Discipline’s absorption effects are excellent for preventing incoming damage, the build lacks the tools that other healers have for filling up several health bars at once. You don’t have a healing circle that can be placed on the ground to tick steady heals on anyone who stands in it. You don’t even get Divine Hymn anymore – that’s now exclusive to Holy Priests. Prayer of Healing only heals a specific party while other healers’ AoE spells are smart heals that distribute their healing in a more useful and intelligent way. The new capstone talents (Cascade/Divine Star/Halo) are strong, but not spammable. Your Renew isn’t effective enough to be worth blanketing the raid in HoTs either.

• Doesn’t Stack Well
  While it’s possible to bring more than one Discipline Priest to a raid, it’s not ideal. Even though you’re not using Power Word: Shield as much, Weakened Soul is still a thing, and it feels bad when you go to bubble a player and the spell doesn’t work. Having two sets of Divine Aegis and Spirit Shell absorbs isn’t great either. In a lot of ways it just feels redundant to bring more than one Disc Priest to a raid, so if that spot is already filled you may be out of luck.

Best Races

In Mists of Pandaria, any race except Orc can be a Priest. Racial traits are less impactful in this expansion than they were in earlier versions of WoW, but they can still play a role in your build as a Discipline Priest.

Alliance

The best Alliance race for Discipline Priests is the Pandaren thanks to their Epicurean trait, which amounts to a significant Intellect or Spirit buff. Human offers The Human Spirit, which buffs your Spirit, and Gnome offers a larger mana pool through Expansive Mind.

• Draenei: Gemcutting, Gift of the Naaru, Heroic Presence, Shadow Resistance
• Dwarf: Crack Shot, Explorer, Frost Resistance, Mace Specialization, Stoneform
• Gnome: Arcane Resistance, Engineering Specialization, Escape Artist, Expansive Mind, Shortblade Specialization
• Human: Diplomacy, Mace Specialization, Sword Specialization, The Human Spirit, Will to Survive
• Night Elf: Nature Resistance, Quickness, Shadowmeld, Wisp Spirit
• Pandaren: Bouncy, Epicurean, Gourmand, Inner Peace, Quaking Palm
• Worgen: Aberration, Darkflight, Flayer, Running Wild, Viciousness

Horde

The best Horde race for Discipline Priests is the Pandaren thanks to their Epicurean trait, which amounts to a significant Intellect or Spirit buff. Goblin gets a Haste buff in their Time is Money trait. Troll gets Berserking, which gives you an extra throughput cooldown. Blood Elf is also a strong choice thanks to their mana restoration ability, Arcane Torrent.

• Blood Elf: Arcane Affinity, Arcane Resistance, Arcane Torrent
• Goblin: Best Deals Anywhere, Better Living Through Chemistry, Pack Hobgoblin, Rocket Barrage, Rocket Jump, Time is Money
• Pandaren: Bouncy, Epicurean, Gourmand, Inner Peace, Quaking Palm
• Tauren: Cultivation, Endurance, Nature Resistance, War Stomp
• Troll: Beast Slaying, Berserking, Da Voodoo Shuffle, Dead Eye, Regeneration
• Undead: Cannibalize, Shadow Resistance, Touch of the Grave, Will of the Forsaken