Discipline Priest Talents

I really was going to go to bed, but meh, it's the weekend! Who needs sleep?

Discipline Talents: Why they rock!

This is pretty much the basics and I am sure that it has all been typed on the internet before, but I am going to blog about it anyway. I have been Discipline (57/14/0) pretty much since the major content patch for WotLK came out and here is why.

It all starts with Penance at the bottom of the Discipline tree (or top depending on how you think about it - just think needs lots of talent points - k!). This lovely (yes I just used the word lovely... oh there it is again) talent launches a volley of holy light at the target - the animation is really cool too - causing 288 Holy damage to an enemy, or 1484 to 1676 healing to an ally every 1 sec for 2 sec. Now, that whole damage thing it does is nice, don't get me wrong. But it's the healing bit that is really cool. Penance will hit a target 3 times. It is a chanelled spell so don't go using it when you are taking damage. Bye bye spell and seeya later mana, since we all know that chanelled spells use mana up at the beginning... as soon as your finger hits that hot key.

So what makes penance so great? well it is all those other talents in the tree. Starting with Grace (2/2). This procs every time you use flash/greater heal or penance and stacks up to 3 times. Reducing the damage done to the target by 1% and increases all healing received from the Priest by 2%. This effect will stack up to 3 times and lasts 8 seconds. The 8 seconds is the important bit. If you put 2/2 points into Aspiration it will (among other things) reduce your penance cooldown by 20% meaning you can use it every 8 seconds. Making it possible for the tank to have the Grace buff on them ALL the time just from using penance alone.

Essentially, put these 3 above talents together and time it right and you have a tank who always has Grace on them. Reducing damage done by 1% and healing received from me (the priest) by 2%

Next on the Discipline list of awesome is... Your Shields!

Apart from Power Word: Shield (PwS) which every priests knows well. Disc priests get another shield - Divine Aegis. This one procs when you crit, creating a protective shield on the target absorbing 30% of the amount healed.

So you have 3/3 points in Divine Aegis and you have put 3/3 points in to get Improved PwS... what then? Well then you use them... and sit back and watch the mana and crits come to you.

First we throw in Rapture: which causes you to gain up to 2.5% of your maximum mana each time you heal with Greater Heal, Flash Heal or Penance, or damage is absorbed by your Power Word: Shield or Divine Aegis.

Then we throw in Renewed Hope (2/2): Increases the critical effect chance of your Flash Heal, Greater Heal and Penance spells by 4% on targets afflicted by the Weakened Soul effect.

What it boils down to, apart from healing gives you back mana is...

PwS = Weakened Soul
Weakened Soul = Increased Crit Chance
Crit Heal = Devine Aegis
Devine Ageis/PwS = Mana back

Can you say yay for mana and crit? I sure can!

What's Next? Well if you haven't figured it out by now - with all that shield talk - Discipline healing is all about damage mitigation.

Borrowed Time (5/5): Grants 25% spell haste for your next spell after casting Power Word: Shield, and increases the amount absorbed by your Power Word: Shield equal to 40% of your spell power. So the more SP you have the more damage your PwS absorbs.

Okay, it is time for me to sleep now, it being 3am and all (apologies for crappy spelling and/or grammar. I is SPLEEEEPY). My next post is going to be about Stats. /Dance.