Priest Builds Guide

Level 10 - 69 Builds
Blackout vs. Spirit Tap

If your emphasis is on PvP, you should select Blackout instead of Spirit Tap whenever it is listed. Note that most lower level builds focus on leveling, not PvP.

Holy Damage Builds

Despite the improvements to the Holy tree, the Shadow tree is still considered the best route for leveling. See the Level 70 Builds section for templates you might want to use if you want to concentrate on the Holy and Discipline trees. With the 2.0.1 patch, holy is looking good, with the pseudo-Nightfall and the spell damage increase.

Level 10 - 20

Emphasis on Shadow talents. Taking down mobs fast and reducing downtime are the most important things. Your built-in healing abilities will be ample for any groups you are in. Your talents at level 20:
http://www.wowhead.com/talent/?rZZxMhz

* Spirit Tap: Faster mana regen between mobs.
* Shadow Focus: Allows you to concentrate on mobs of a higher level than yourself.
* Improved SW:P: As the harder battles last longer than 18 seconds.
* Mind Flay: The most useful talent in the Shadow tree. It has high DPS and high mana efficiency.

Level 21 - 30

Stick with improving damage dealing talents. You can still heal fine. Your talents at level 30:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=rZZxMxtM0o

* Improved Mind Blast: Reduces the cooldown of the highest DPS attack we have.
* Shadow Reach: Allows you to attack targets from farther away.
* Vampiric Embrace: Allows you to greatly reduce dependency on Power Word: Shield, in favor of taking and healing damage as you go.

Level 31 - 40

More Shadow Talents. Around this point your healing will become somewhat gimped, though still acceptable. Your talents at level 40:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=rZZxMxtMxo0p

* Shadow Weaving: Increases DPS by about 10% over all. Stacks with a Shadow damage wand.
* Darkness: Increases damage by 10%.
* Shadowform: Increases damage by 15% and reduces damage taken by 15% for a single talent point.

Level 21 - 39 Alternate Route: Fast level grind

This build minimizes downtime between fights. Start with the level 20 build from above: Level 20. Then, for each level add Wand Specialization and after that Improved Renew. At level 28 your build should look like this:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=dVZcZxMhz

After level 28, spend your points in the shadow tree like the shadow builds in this article. When you hit level 40, respec to get Shadowform.

How to use this build:

* At max range start with Power Word: Shield
* Pull with Holy Fire or Mind Blast, which ever does more dmg for your level.
* Start your Shadow Word: Pain DoT
* Do some more damage with Mind Flay, 1-2 applications should be good.
* (If you expect to take lots of damage, use Renew)
* Finally, use your wand until the mob is dead
* After five seconds of using your wand the spirit regen will start filling your mana.
* Spirit Tap will kick in when the mob is dead, which should return you to full mana by the time you reach the next mob

This way you can grind mobs and almost never stop for a mana break.
Level 41 - 50

Even More Shadow. Your talents at level 49:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=rZZEMgtMto0t

* Blackout: Reduces damage taken in PvE, and is invaluable in PvP.
* Silence: A very useful talent in PvP and PvE instances.

Level 50 - 59

Instance Healing
Concentrates on healing efficiency while retaining Shadow spec for grinding and PvP.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=rZf0xZxMgtMtRht

* Improved Renew: Improves mana efficiency and healing per second.
* Divine Fury: Allows you to use Greater Heal rather than Flash Heal, improving mana efficiency.

Fast Grinding
Maximizes damage output for PvE.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=bVMbZZxMGdMtRhtVo

* Vampiric Touch: An extra DoT that will restore your mana at the same time.
* Wand Specialization: Increases DPS.
* Improved Vampiric Embrace: Increases healing output from Vampiric Embrace.

PvP
Concentates mostly on maximizing damage, with some survivability.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=bx0MZbZVMGtMtRhtMo

* Vampiric Touch: An extra DoT.
* Unbreakable Will: Improves Survivability.
* Martyrdom: Allows constant damage against melee.
* Misery: Improves your and your party members' spell damage.

Level 60 - 69

PvE
Maximizes damage output in PvE.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=bVMhzoZbZxMgtMtRhtVo

Healer
This build is very popular among Priests looking to heal on raids. It aims to improve the power of your healing while stretching your mana pool out for a long as possible using Inner Focus, Improved Healing, Mental Strength and Meditation so you can keep healing through the long fights in MC and BWL. Very hard to level solo level with this build.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=bxRhzhxtZfhtcc0qVh

PvP
A heavy emphasis on the Shadow Tree gives you the maximum raw DPS. This build generates a lot of threat, and so is most suited for PvP. For tough instances try the Shadow Raider build below.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=rx0GzZbZVMGtMtRhtAo

Notes:

* Swap some points for Spirit Tap, this gives less DPS but longer killing in for example BGs before having to pause and drink again.
* Healing Focus. This is only 2 points and a huge 70% of a chance not to get casting interruption while healing, so vital to most Priests. The problem is that you can't heal while in Shadowform, so this talent isn't for those who don't like to shift out of face-melting mode occasionally. Furthermore, in many situations Martyrdom will allow casting without interruptions, anyway.

Holy Warrior
This build focuses on maximizing Holy damage. The DPS and DPM is not as good as the Shadow build, but healing is better. The basic build:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=bxrMzhxt0tZfxx0cbVb

* Force of Will and Searing Light beef up the DPS of your main damage spells: Smite and Holy Fire.
* Martyrdom and Healing Focus improve your survivability against Rogues and Warriors.

Level 70 Builds
PvP "Face Melter"

This build is a pure PvP build, and going right to the end of the shadow tree to get a second DoT. It includes only healing focus in the holy tree, and a few points in discipline for buffs. The build is hardly viable for raiding, but in the new arena system, as well as normal PvP, it will truly "melt faces."

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=bxMGzhMZbZVMGdMtRhtVo

Notes

* Misery over Shadow Power, since hoping for a Shadow Word: Death crit doesn't usually work.
* Healing Focus is powerful for healing against quick striking foes like rogues, warriors, druids, or hunter's pets. However, against mentioned classes, Martyrdom often is up all of the time, making Healing Focus useless.
* May substitute Improved Vampiric Embrace for Improved Mind Blast.
* Mana Burn is a powerful tool. Depending on whether you use it, the two talent points might be vital.
* Silent Resolve's dispel resistance no longer affects Shadow spells.

Shadow Raider

As of recent changes, this spec is often preferred by guilds, despite the general lack of priests, over holy/discipline. With the the new expansion having 40 debuff slots, there is room for a priests Shadow Weaving (increases shadow damage by up to 10% by just casting shadow spells).

This build has all the main elements of PvP, but with Shadow Affinity included. It also contains the new 41 point shadow talent, which is a second DoT that restores some mana to all party members when you deal damage.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=rxMhzhZbZVGgzMtRhtqo

Alternate Shadow Raider Build

This build is centered around the concept of mana efficiency of instants/dots. The idea is to use the non crit shadow spells to maximize damage per mana spent. Mental Agility, Inner Focus, and Focused Mind along with the mana regen from Vampiric Touch allow the shadow priest to be as efficient as possible. By avoiding talents that are not expressly for raiding, enough talents are freed up in shadow to go 20 points into disc to make this build possible.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=bxMhkhxZZxGxzMxRhtVo


Shadow Priests, however, should not be underestimated in their ability to dish out dps. With the proper talents, gear, and skill, they can very well out-perform equally, if not better geared classes with high damage output. Their gear should focus on +shadow damage/+damage and healing, with + to spell hit and then intellect being second priorities. Using DoTs extensively, mana conservation, and learning how to manage aggro, is crucial.

Holy Raider (Healer)

Unfortunately, the Holy tree is currently something of a disappointment for PvE raid healers. However, the majority of raid healer priests will still spec deeply into the Holy tree for the most impressive heals possible.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=bxG0khxzZfLxccMVVhV (suggested build only, see notes below)

Notes

* Avoid Holy tree abilities that require a critical hit on the priest to proc, such as Blessed Recovery and Blessed Resilience. These are generally PvP talents; being critically hit in a PvE raid usually results in a priest's death. Similarly, talents that improve a holy priest's offensive abilities but have no healing benefit are not advised, in particular Searing Light and Surge of Light.
* Critical heals are often a waste since they have a tendency to overheal, especially in raid situations with multiple healers. However, with Inspiration critical heals gain an important secondary effect. Depending on the fight and the raid makeup, it may be worth it to spam rank 1 Flash Heals on a tank to try to keep this effect in play as much as possible, and in this situation it can be helpful to have several points in Holy Specialization.
* A great deal of threat reduction is unnecessary, unless you have an incapable tank or a boss that wipes its threat list, but putting a few points in Silent Resolve is still helpful. Unfortunately, for fights that involve buffs being dispelled, the resistance to this is generally too low to make much difference (e.g. Epoch Hunter).
* Mental Agility gives a mana reduction on most of the spells affected by Absolution, but given the scarcity of useful low-tier talents in the Discipline tree, Absolution is a popular choice. Some priests choose to put extra points in Wand Specialization, but many guilds ask healing priests not to use their wands in a raid as doing so can delay healing at a critical moment.
* Lightwell has been changed to give a great deal more healing and Spirit of Redemption now lasts 15 seconds after death and increases spirit by 5%, so depending on your playstyle and the amount of Spirit you have these may be viable talents.
* Given that raid healing for a priest generally emphasizes Flash Heal over Greater Heal, moving 2 points from Empowered Healing into Improved Divine Spirit may be a wise choice, as Empowered Healing gives less benefit to Flash Heals than it does to Greater Heal and the improved damage and healing output Improved Divine Spirit gives to your fellow raiders can be very valuable.

Holy Warrior

Designed for maximizing holy damage, and while less powerful than a shadow build, it allows some effective healing when situation calls for it. Holy damage is not subject to resistances and as such provides consistent and reliable damage.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=bxMrzhxtbtZbxthbbVb http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/priest/talents.html?500222013050512051000205051302020052000000000000000000000000000

Notes:

* Divine Fury, Searing Light, Spiritual Guidance, and Surge of Light for maximum damage from holy tree.
* Divine Spirit, Force of Will, and Power Infusion for further increased spell damage.

Discipline

Most priests invest in the Discipline build to some degree, at least high enough to obtain Inner Focus. Discipline increases the power of buffs (Power Word: Shield, Fortitude, Divine Spirit, etc.), balances DPS and healing, and most importantly, conserves mana.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=dxgGuIMtMzgofVx

Notes

* Refer to the previous builds for a good investment in Discipline as a complementary tree.
* Martyrdom, Improved Inner Fire, Power Word: Shield, Reflective Shield, Force of Will, Focused Power (and sometimes Mana Burn) are mainly PvP skills, so invest in these appropriately.
* Talents past Focused Power are "too little too late" to be of much use. One would be better off investing their talents in one of the other trees.
* PvP healing-focused build concentrates on the survivability of a priest healing in PvP.

Support 40-Man Raid Healer

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=dxMhuhxtbzZfotcfdVb

This build should not be widely used. Its main focus is enabling the support healer (as opposed to the main healers) in the raid to efficiently assist in healing the raid while the main healers heal the tanks. Since not many raids actually need support healers this build is very specialized for 40-man raids. The build retains enough Holy talents to replace any main healer that was killed in case the need arises but sacrifices the really spectacular heals for the sake of numerous utility talents that improve the general raid's performance. The key benefits are:

* Healer Support Talents - Most main healers for 40-man raids will opt for getting Circle of Healing in the holy tree. This will give them a very tough choice of what to do with their remaining 10 points. A support healer with improved Power Word: Shield, Fortitude will allow them to spend much needed points on reducing the threat caused by spectacular healing.

* Emergency Heals - By using the Holy Specialization, Inspiration and Inner Focus talents combination these priests will be able to dish out those oft needed emergency heals to needy tanks. A good emergency heal can be the difference between a downed boss and a raid wipe. Holy Nova can be used to dish out quick heals to ranged raid members (specifically hunters, mages and warlocks) without generating any threat as they are usually grouped together away from the main healers' focus.

* Caster Boosting - Using both the Improved Divine Spirit and Power Infusion talents these priests can improve the performance of any caster in the raid dramatically. This combined boost of spell damage and healing can boost a raid's DPS or healing dynamically as required during raid engagements.

* Improved Decursing - Decreased mana cost of decursing spells, combined with a larger mana bank make these priests decursing machines. When facing one of those pesky raid bosses or even trash, who take a fancy to debuffing the entire raid or large portions of it, these priests prove to be a valuable asset indeed.