TBC Priest Guide

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This TBC Priest guide covers all of the Addons, Stats, Gear, Enchants and Talents you will need to be the very best priest you can be!

A. Suggested AddOns

• SW Stats – Has some great features for tracking healing done, mana efficency, decursing, etc. (required for OLN)
• Item Rack – Addon to swap out gear sets. Very nice for switching out of DPS and healing sets.
• SmartBuff – This one keeps track of your buffs. When one expires it will splash a message on the screen and make an annoying noise, it will recast the buffs with a scroll of the mouse wheel. Healbot apparently does some similar stuff but I’ve never used it.

B. Stats

The stats important to a healpriest are as follows:

1. +Healing
2. MP5
3. Spirit
4. Intellect
5. Stamina

I consider them approximatley in that order of importance, but you need a balance of them all. The recomended minimum stats for going into Kara are as follows for priests, all unbuffed:

• +Healing – 1k absolute minimum, 1.2k recomended pre-Curator, 1.5k recomended post-Curator
• Mana – 7k pre-Curator, 8.5k post-Curator, can be on the lower side if MP5 is high
• Health – 6-7k HP, Attumens Charge can crit for upwards of 8k so it’s a good idea to be on the higher side if you can manage it
• MP5 – 85 absolute minimum, 120 recomended, some recomend 150 for post-Curator but I’m not sure that much is necessary.

It’s reasonably easy to achieve these stats with the Tailoring Epics. I put Solid Star of Elune’s in all my blue slots to help with the Stam, and healing gems in the other slots. The healing enchants listed below are also very important to get to that 1.5k +Heal.

C. Gear

The Primal Mooncloth and Whitemend sets are HIGHLY recommended for Priests. I wrote an article in my blog about why, but here’s the short version. The Tailoring gear is comparable to Tier 4 stuff. The +Heal on Tier 4 is about 60 less than the Tailoring, but the other stats are higher. Tailoring is also available at 70 (assuming your Tailoring is high enough, PMC is BoP) and you have to get all the way through Magtheridon to get all of Tier 4.

Here are some specific gear recomendations for each slot before entering Kara. These are by no means the only options and I’ve tried to include items from various sources (quests, instances, badge rewards, and heroic instances)

• Head – I definatley recommend Whitemend Hood, it is BOE crafted by Tailors; the mats are expensive but well worth the effort. Other than that my best recomendation would be Watcher’s Cowl which you can get from Cenarion Expedition at Revered
• Neck – The best option in my opinion is Necklace of Eternal Hope, available as a badge reward. Some other options are Necklace of Resplendent Hope, quest reward from The Hound-Master and Natasha’s Guardian Cord from Epoch Hunter in Heroic Old Hills.
• Shoulders – If you are a Tailor Primal Mooncloth Shoulders are the best. If not, Hallowed Pauldrons from Vorpil in Shadow Labs, and Pauldrons of Sufferance from Epoch Hunter in Old Hills are other choices.
• Back – Apexis Cloak is one of the best options, available at Revered with Ogril’la. Other options are Cloak of Scintillating Auras from Zereketh the Unbound in Arcatraz, Light-Touched Stole of Altruismfrom Exarch Maladar in Heroic Crypts, and Cloak of the Everliving from Watchkeeper Gargolmar in Heroic Ramparts.
• Chest – Again Primal Mooncloth Robe is your best option with Tailoring. Others are Hallowed Garments from Murmur in Shodow Labs or Raiments of Divine Authority from Keli’dan the Breaker in Blood Furnace.
• Wrist – As with most casters, items for this slot are few and far between. The best option if you have the time for the rep grind is Bindings of the Timewalker, available at Exalted with Keepers of Time. Goldenvine Wraps or Shattrath Wraps are both Quest rewards from Lost in Action and The Soul Devices respectivley.
• Hands – Hallowed Handwraps from Warchief Kargath in Shattered Halls or Prismatic Mittens of Mending from Commander Saranis in Botanica are both good options until you get T4
• Waist – Primal Mooncloth Belt is your best bet. Otherwise Cord of Sanctification from Epoch Hunter in Heroic Old Hills or Cord of BeliefMennu the Betrayer in Heroic Slave Pens.
• Legs – Whitemend Pants are BOE and the best option (again, expensive though). Pontifex Kilt Warlord Kalithresh in Heroic Steamvaults is an excellent alternative, Hallowed Trousers from Talon King Isis in Sethekk Halls , and Pontiff’s Pantaloons of Prophecy from Captian Scarloc in Heroic Old Hills are also options.
• Feet – I highly rocommend Boots of the Pious off of the Calculator in Heroic Mechanar. Tanks want The Sun Eater so groups are usually easy to find and it’s the easiest Heroic. Another option out of Shattered Halls is Jeweled Boots of Sanctification from Warbringer O’mrogg.
• Rings – Any two of the following options are good choices Band ofHalos a badge reward, Keeper’s Ring of Piety a quest reward from Hero of the Brood, Cosmic Lifeband from Septhrea in Mechanar, Band of the Crystalline Void from Yor in Mana Tombs, Ring of Fabled Hope From The Black Stalker in Mana Tombs, and Ring of Convalescence available at Revered with Honor Hold.
• Trinket – This is a slot where I like to itemize for mana regen. The best options for that are Talasite Owl if you are a Jewelcrafter, Bangle of Endless Blessings from Warp Splinter in Botanica, and Lower City Prayerbook available at Revered with Lower City. Scarab of the Infinite Cycle from Aeonus in Black Morass is also a good choice (I find it procs very often and the Spell Haste is nice). Also Essence of the Martyr is a good choice from Badges
• Weapons – In general terms, Staff’s will give better Sta and Int, while Mace/Off Hand will give better +Healing. Decide which is more important for you and choose accordingly.
  • Staff options: Serpentcrest Life-Staff from Mekgineer Steamrigger in SteamVaults and Epoch-Mender from Temporus in Black Morass.
  • Mace options: Shockwave Truncheon from Murmur in Heroic Shadow Labs, Hand of Eternity crafted by Blacksmiths, or Gavel of Pure Light available at Exalted with Shatar are all comparable and will give you the most +Heal. They are all also relativley dificult to obtain. Other options are Hammer of the Penitentfrom Mechano-Lord Capacitus in Mechanar or Lightsworn Hammer from Warcheif Kargath in Shattered Halls.
  • Off-Hand Options: Tears of Heaven a badge reward, Lamp of Peaceful Repose from Dalliah the Doom Sayer in Arcatraz, and Swamplight Lantern from Quagmirran in Slave Pens

F. Suggested Enchants for Healers

• Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Major Healing, Enchant Weapon – Major Intellect, or Enchant 2H Weapon – Major Intellect
• Head – Glyph of Renewal requires Revered with Honor Hold
• Shoulder – Greater Inscription of Faith or Inscription of Faith requires Exalted or Honored with Aldor
• Back – If you can find someone with the recipe get Enchant Cloak – Subtlety
• Chest – Enchant Chest – Restore Mana Prime, or Enchant Chest – Exceptional Mana
• Wrist – Enchant Bracer – Superior Healing, Enchant Bracer – Mana Regeneration, or Enchant Bracer – Major Intellect
• Hands – Enchant Gloves – Major Healing
• Legs – Golden Spellthread, or Silver Spellthread made by 375 Tailors with Exalted or Honored with Aldor
• Feet – Enchant Boots – Vitality or Enchant Boots – Fortitude

D. Talent Builds

Most raiding Holy Priests will have one of 2 talent builds.

Disc/Holy

or

A less common but still viable Disc build would be

A small disclaimer: these talent builds are samples. There are many changes you could make, and I highlight a few of them, that would still be viable raiding builds. Take everything with a grain (or three) of salt and do what works for you and your play-style.

Imp Divine Spirit Build

This build takes 23 points into Disc to get Imp Divine Spirit. If you are the only Priest in a raid I definatley think this is the way to go. Some of the points in the early Tiers of the Disc tree are interchangeable, but to me, the important ones are: 2/2 Imp PW:F, 1/1 Inner Focus, 3/3 Meditation, 5/5 Mental Agility, and 3/3 Divine Spirit. The other points can be spread around into Imp PW:S, Absolution, Silent Resolve, and Imp Inner Fire. In the Holy tree I think this is the best placement of points for raiding. Some don’t like Holy Concentration, but I find it procs often enough to make it worth the 3 points (if you follow it with an Inner Focus when it procs your sure to get a few good seconds outside the 5 sec rule). If you don’t take Holy Concentration, move points from Holy Specalization to Spell Warding since you won’t be getting as much advantage from the crits. The other place for variation is putting the points into Healing Prayers and taking them out of Spiritual Guidance.

Circle of Healing Build

This build will become much more viable with the buffs to CoH that are comming in Patch 2.3. The Holy talents are very similar to the previous build with the addition of CoH and the same comments from the earlier build apply to the Disc tree.

Disc Build

With a Disc build you won’t have the big #’s from your heals, but you’ll get huge boosts to your base stats making you more Pally-like, able to heal for smaller #’s for long periods of time. You’ll also get 20% boost to healing on a 3 min cooldown. In the Holy Tree, I’d definatley take Spell Warding over Holy Specalization since you won’t have Holy Concentration.