Post by Sabriela on Jun 19, 2010 17:45:36 GMT -5
Note: The information below is not my own work. I have never played a preist before. This is pretty much a copy and paste of information found on the Preist class forum on Worldofwarcraft.com. This and all posts made by me are copy and pastes, just to make it easier on the Priests to find information on their class without having to scour the internet. =)
The following information was written and complied by Nightshroud and a direct link to the info can be found here forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=86706393&sid=1
Lux et Umbra
a PvE Priest handbook
by Nightshroud
Table of Contents
I. Frequently Asked Questions
II. Stats
III. Talent & Glyph Notes
IV. Healing Tips
V. User Interface
VI. Links
I. Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why choose Priest as a healing class?
A: Priests are the only class with two talent trees devoted to healing. This is not intended to make Priests better healers than anyone else, but it does mean Priests have the greatest versatility within this role. The tradeoff is having only one alternate role: magical DPS provided by the Shadow tree.
Also, cloth looks good.
Q: Why choose Priest as a damage class?
A: Shadow Priests are designed for high raw damage output, plus a considerable amount of group utility: Replenishment, stamina buff, spirit buff, shadow resistance buff, magical debuff curing, disease curing, offensive magical dispel, and passive healing through Vampiric Embrace. And of course the option to heal.
Q: Are Priests good at PvP?
A: I hear some are.
Q: I'm starting a new Priest. What is the best talent spec for leveling?
A: Pick up 3/3 Spirit Tap then head over to Holy. Between Divine Fury and Searing Light, Holy provides the largest boost to solo damage at low level. Shadow passes it only after Shadowform becomes available. For more information:
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... 1829537044
Q: Which race should I be?
A: For a long-term character, experience has shown that picking based on appearance, animations, and voice is wise. Racials are subject to change. Here is a list of all racials:
www.wowhead.com/?spells=-4#0+7+1+2
Q: I recently hit level 80. Am I ready to heal heroics?
A: Remove all buffs except Inner Fire. Are you at around 1200 spell power? Then you're fine with a good group who understands you're a fresh 80. If you want to be a little more prepared, it is easy to get up to around 1500 spell power from regular dungeon quests, outdoor group quests, and maybe some faction rewards.
Q: I recently hit level 80. Am I ready to DPS in heroics?
A: Yes. No one expects DPS to be good.
Q: What's the difference between Holy and Discipline?
A: Holy is great for multi-healing and good for tank healing. Discipline is aimed more at tank healing and not running out of mana.
Q: Is there a notification addon for all these Holy procs?
A: PowerAuras or ThankGod.
Q: What gear is for healers vs. DPS?
A: If it has Hit, then healers should give priority to DPS. Nothing is automatically healer priority. Too bad.
Q: Are there any ranked lists of gear?
A: Unfortunately all such rankings must make certain assumptions which don't always hold true, but these should get you started:
www.shadowpriest.com/viewforum.php?f=62
dwarfpriest.com/2008/12/02/the-b ... ling-gear/
Q: How do gear and talents affect my spells, in general?
A: Your total Spellpower is first multiplied by the 'coefficient' percentage specific to each spell. This number is added to the untalented damage or healing range of the spell. Finally, multipliers from talents and effects are applied in any order.
SpellRange = ( UntalentedRange + TotalSpellpower*Coefficient ) * Multipliers
Q: What are the Spellpower coefficients?
A: Here you go. Borrowed Time, Empowered Healing, and Misery talents are the only way to adjust coefficients. Other talents and glyphs either change Spellpower or act as a multiplier.
Healing
Desperate Prayer 80.7%
Divine Hymn 37.7%
Flash Heal 80.7%
Greater Heal 161%
Holy Nova (per target) 30.4%
Penance 161%
Prayer of Healing (per target) 80.7%
Prayer of Mending (per charge) 80.7%
PW: Shield 80.7%
Renew 188%
Damage
Devouring Plague 148%
Holy Fire 57.1% or 57.2%
Holy Fire DoT 17.0%
Holy Nova (per target) 16.0% or 16.1%
Lightwell (per charge) 188%
Mana Burn 0%
Mind Blast 42.9%
Mind Flay 77.1%
Mind Sear (per target) 143%
Penance 68.7%
SW:Death 42.9%
SW:Pain 110%
Smite 71.4%
Vampiric Touch 192%
Q: Is there a method behind those crazy coefficient values?
A: Most of the time, yes. The original reason for coefficients was to keep 1.5 sec spells from gaining twice as much from gear over time as 3.0 sec spells. Instants are considered 1.5 sec spells because that is the base Global Cooldown time. Multi target spells usually have a lower coefficient per target, with the expectation of using them on at least three targets.
Basic expected damage coefficient = CastTime / 3.5
Basic expected heal coefficient = (CastTime / 3.5) * 1.88
Q: How much Hit Rating do I need to stop missing with spells?
A: Here are the Hit Rating values for level 80 Priests. If you have a Draenei in the party, use the second number in [brackets] instead. (You can always calculate special cases by hand; just remember it takes 26.24 Hit Rating to equal 1% Hit at level 80.)
PvP
Base - 105 [79]
Misery or Imp. Faerie Fire on target - 27 [0]
Just Shadow Focus - 27 [0]
Debuff on target + Shadow Focus - 0
Raid Bosses
Base - 447 [420]
Misery or Imp. Faerie Fire on target - 368 [342]
Debuff on target + Shadow Focus - 289 [263]
(Death Knight Understudies will require 158 [132] Hit Rating for reliable Shackles.)
Q: What is 'base mana'?
A: Base mana is what you have at a particular level before Intellect or any other modifiers. Spells cost a percent of base mana.
Base Mana for all level 80 Priests is 3,863.
Q: What is this 'Five Second Rule' or 'FSR' people talk about?
A: Health regeneration is turned off in combat and turned back on when out of combat. Mana regeneration, by contrast, never takes combat status into consideration. It uses the Five Second Rule.
Hover your mouse over 'Mana Regen' on your character sheet. The first value listed -- 'while not casting' -- is the part of your mana regeneration which turns off and on according to the Five Second Rule. The second value listed -- 'while casting' -- is permanently switched on.
Here's the five second rule: For five seconds after each time you spend mana, your 'while not casting' mana is disabled.
The above definition is precise. Zero-cost spell will not invoke the Five Second Rule, nor will a regular cast-time spell which you interrupt at the last moment. There is one addition: channeled spells will not allow your regen to resume until you stop channeling. This only comes into play for long channels like Mind Control.
Q: What is Threat?
A: Threat is something you generate towards mobs through damage or healing. Mobs use threat to decide whose face they'd like to chew. For details see:
elitistjerks.com/f47/t26148-threat_mechanics/
Q: How does spell pushback work?
A: Beyond any actual spell interrupt abilities like Kick, spells with a cast time are pushed back by taking damage. Shield-absorbed damage does not count.
There is a two-hit limit to pushback. Regular spells -- like Smite -- lose 0.5 sec of progress per hit to a maximum result of 1 sec added to cast time. Channeled spells -- like Mind Flay -- lose 25% of total time per hit. Depending on how late the second hit occurs, the spell might still last longer than half time. Mind Flay is guaranteed one tick but may still tick twice when hit twice.
Q: How am I able to cast PW:Shield in Shadowform? I thought Holy spells were off limit.
A: There are two definitions of 'Holy spells.'
* Holy(tab): Any spell on the Holy tab of your spellbook. Shadowform blocks these.
* Holy(school): Any spell in the Holy school, no matter which tab it is on. Shadowform does NOT necessarily block these, but having any of these spells Counterspelled will lock them all out.
Everything on Holy(tab) is Holy(school). Everything on Discipline(tab) is Holy(school), except Mana Burn which is Shadow(school). Everything on Shadow(tab) is Shadow(school), except Prayer of Shadow Protection which is Holy(school).
The Draenei racial Gift of the Naaru is Holy(school), on the General tab, but can't be cast in Shadowform.
Q: Why doesn't Mind Sear damage my target?
A: If your target were to die, your whole spell would be cut short. Use Mind Sear's uniqueness to your advantage: target a Polymorphed mob and AoE the rest of the pack.
Q: I'm having trouble with Mind Control. Why does it keep breaking?
A: Mind Control will break very quickly if your true self is hit by any damage. Try to stand off to the side from any kind of AoE or cleaves. It will also break if you move your target very far away from yourself. Don't move around for a second or two at the start of a Mind Control because sometimes lag will cause the movement to be applied to your Priest which breaks the spell. Finally, use Hit stat to lower or eliminate the chance of an early break.
Q: I'm having trouble with Shackle Undead. Why does it keep breaking?
A: If reliable Shackles are important, max out your Hit stat. This helps with both the initial cast and periodic checks.
Q: How does Shadowfiend work?
A: Mechanics have changed recently. So far we know it restores 4% of your total mana per hit, no matter how hard it hits.
Q: What can Mass Dispel remove that normal Dispel cannot?
A: Divine Shield, Ice Block, and Banish. Mass Dispel now will remove any of these kinds of immunity effects first, where previously it tried random ones. It can help against AoE effects like Frost Nova but might not select it on any particular target if there are other magical debuffs to remove.
Q: I have an idea! Can we have Holyform?
A: forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... ageNo=2#22
II. Stats
SURVIVABILITY STATS
Stamina is the primary survivability stat. Works on all damage types! Each point of Stamina is worth 10 more hitpoints.
Magical Resistances are secondary survivability stats. They're only worthwhile in certain encounters, so don't bothering wearing resistance until required.
For those interested in mechanics details, two separate rolls are involved when a spell is cast at a target and both rolls again for any periodic checks.
<Hit roll>
The first roll is based on relative level between caster and target. Casting at a higher level target is much more likely to miss than casting at a lower level target. The attacking caster can stack Hit to reduce her chance of missing the initial cast or experiencing an early break. Resistance stats on the defender do not counter the attacker's Hit stat. See the section on Hit stat below.
<Resistance roll>
The second roll is based on the attacker's level versus the target's adjusted resistance stat for that school of magic. The maximum effect of resistance gear is to reduce incoming damage by an average of 75%. This cap occurs when resistance is five times higher than the attacker's level: 400 resistance against level 80 casters and 415 against level 83 casters, including raid bosses.
AveragePercentResisted = 0.75 * AdjustedResist / (AttackerLevel*5)
where
AdjustedResist = TargetResist - AttackerSpellPenetration
Average percent can be anything from 0% to 75%. Most spells are 'binary': they either fully fail or fully hit, so average is frequency of failure. Other spells are 'direct damage' and can fully fail or partially resist at multiples of 10%. Resistance is still useful in any amount because the probability of those 10% multiples adjusts for every point.
Note: there's no such thing as Holy Resistance. Higher level mobs do have a school-agnostic resist mechanic which can't be countered by Spell Penetration. If you see a Smite resist, that's why.
Resilience is a PvP-oriented mitigation stat with several effects: reduces your chance to be crit (1% per 81.97 Resilience at level 80) and overall damage taken from successful crits and DoTs (1% per 40.98 Resilience at level 80).
Fortunately, Resilience does not lower the effectiveness of on-crit procs like Blessed Recovery. You gain an independent chance of each proc on normal hits to match what you would lose by not being crit.
MANA STATS
Intellect does three things.
* Increases maximum mana by 15 mana per additional 1 Intellect.
* Increases the effectiveness of Spirit-based regen. See the Spirit section for details.
* Increases spell crit chance by 1% per 130 Intellect at level 80.
Note: The first 20 Intellect on your character only grants 20 mana total.
MP5, 'restores X mana per 5 sec', is an always-on source of mana regeneration. It adds directly to the 'every 5 seconds while casting' number shown by hovering your mouse over 'Mana Regen' on the Character sheet.
Spirit increases the portion of mana regeneration subject to the Five Second Rule, i.e. 'every 5 seconds while not casting'. See the FAQ entry on the Five Second Rule for a detailed explanation. At level 80:
SpiritRegen = sqrt(Intellect) * Spirit * 0.02787
This is the number seen when you hover your mouse over Spirit on the Character sheet. Meditation allows 30% of it to work while in the Five Second Rule. So, in total:
RegenOutsideFSR = SpiritRegen + MP5
RegenInsideFSR = SpiritRegen*0.30 + MP5
THROUGHPUT AND EFFICIENCY STATS
Spell power increases spell damage or healing per cast. Every spell has its own 'spellpower coefficient' which is the percent of spell power added to the base damage or healing. Flash Heal has an 80.7% coefficient. If you have 100 spell power, Flash Heal will restore 81 more Health than at 0 spell power. See the FAQ entry for a list of coefficients.
Healing spells use Bonus Healing as total Spellpower. Damage spells will use Bonus Damage, unless school-specific spell power is higher. Hover your mouse over 'Bonus Damage' on the Character sheet to see total bonus damage for Shadow spells, etc.
Critical strike increases the chance of a crit, but not the damage done when you do crit. Gear comes with 'critical strike rating' which translates into additional crit percentage based on your current level. This is to prevent a 3% crit item at level 60 from still being a 3% crit item at level 80. At level 80, every 45.90 critical strike rating grants 1% crit chance.
Hit decreases the chance of a spell miss. Oddly enough, Hit still matters on periodic checks such as those made by Mind Control and Shackle Undead.
Chance to miss goes up according to your target's level advantage. To stop missing, simply stack enough Hit to match:
4% Hit against same level
5% Hit against +1
6% Hit against +2
13% Hit against +3 players
17% Hit against +3 mobs (raid bosses go here)
Hit comes as 'hit rating' on gear. At level 80, every 26.24 hit rating grants 1% hit. Add any Hit from talents and effects to the gear total showing on the Character sheet.
Spell Penetration effectively removes an equal amount of magical resistances from your targets. Since Holy Resistance does not exist, Priests only need to worry about canceling out Shadow Resistance. Very few mobs have Shadow Resistance; don't wear spell penetration in PvE unless you are dealing with a known exception.
See the Magical Resistances section above for mechanics.
Haste reduces cast time. Haste does not affect HoT/DoT durations, but does help channeled spells such as Mind Flay and Penance. Gear comes with 'haste rating.' At level 80, every 32.80 haste rating grants 1% Haste.
Different sources of haste are multiplied together, however everything from 'haste rating' counts as a single source. Total Haste from 200 haste rating (6.10% Haste), 5% Haste from Enlightenment, and 30% Haste from Heroism would be:
1.0610 * 1.05 * 1.30 = 1.448 or a 44.8% Haste bonus
Greater Heal is usually 2.5 sec before Haste for Discipline Priests. After all of the above it would be:
2.5 / 1.448 = 1.73 sec cast time
Haste effects can reduce the 1.5 sec global cooldown to a minimum of 1.0 sec. Finally, note that every additional one-percent Haste will add the same healing or damage per second to the unhasted spell as previous one-percents, which means that it scales linearly.
III. Talent & Glyph Notes
See the Links section at the end for talent calculators and a Glyph reference.
DISCIPLINE NOTES
Twin Disciplines - Multiplier for total healing or damage. Also helps Mind Flay, PW:Shield and Penance.
Silent Resolve - Stacks multiplicatively with any other sources of threat reduction. Silent Resolve (80% of base) with Vigilance (90% of base) is 72% of base.
Improved Power Word: Fortitude - Adds 25 Stamina at level 80.
Improved Power Word: Shield - Multiplier for total absorption.
Martyrdom - Effectiveness not reduced by Resilience. You will simply gain a chance for Martyrdom procs on non-crits to match.
Improved Inner Fire - At level 80, raises the armor bonus by 1098 and spell power by 54.
Inner Focus - Does not trip the global cooldown, so it can be put in a macro with another spell. The next spell will not invoke the Five Second Rule.
Meditation - Without Meditation, Spirit does not help mana regeneration inside the Five Second Rule.
Improved Divine Spirit - Spell power increase.
Focused Power - Multiplier for total healing or damage.
Enlightenment - An independent source of Haste. Does not adjust haste rating.
Focused Will - Effectiveness not reduced by Resilience. You will simply gain a chance for Focused Will procs on non-crits to match.
Power Infusion - An independent source of Haste. Does not adjust haste rating.
Reflective Shield - Also works with Divine Aegis.
Renewed Hope - 'Weakened Soul' being the PW:Shield debuff.
Rapture - Mana return at level 80 is: MaxMana * EffectiveHealed * 0.0000021824. Works from effective healing (not overhealing), but does work from the entire hit that removes PW:Shield or Divine Aegis even when it is only partially absorbed.
Divine Aegis - Overhealing does not diminish the shield effect.
Grace - Damage reduction effect does not stack with Blessing of Sanctuary's 3% reduction effect.
Borrowed Time - Coefficient increase from 80.7% to 120.7%.
Penance - Three pulses per cast. The first pulse is immediate and the third finishes two seconds later.
HOLY NOTES
Improved Renew - Multiplier for total healing.
Holy Specialization - Does affect Penance.
Divine Fury - Does not lower spell power coefficients.
Spiritual Guidance - Spell power increase.
Spiritual Healing - Multiplier for total healing.
Lightwell - You must lose at least 30% of total Health in a single blow to end the effect. Absorbed damage does not count towards this.
Blessed Resilience - Effectiveness not reduced by Resilience. You will simply gain a chance for Blessed Resilience procs on non-crits to match.
Empowered Healing - Coefficient increase.
Serendipity - Uses the base cost of spells.
Holy Concentration - Notice that the percent chance of proc is the chance per crit, not cast. This plus Improved Holy Concentration maxes out at 45% chance to proc per crit.
Improved Holy Concentration - An independent source of Haste. Does not adjust haste rating.
Test of Faith - Multiplier for total healing.
Divine Providence - Multiplier for total healing.
Guardian Spirit - Multiplier for total healing. Target does not actually die; the buff is consumed and healing applied.
SHADOW NOTES
Spirit Tap - Any non-gray mob or player kill works. The numbers roughly work out to you getting the full Spirit Tap bonus whether in the Five Second Rule or not.
Improved Spirit Tap - Think of it as raising Meditation from 30% to 50% for the duration.
Blackout - One chance per DoT application. Mind Sear and Mind Flay get a chance per tick.
Shadow Affinity - Stacks multiplicatively with any other sources of threat reduction. Shadow Affinity (75% of base) with Vigilance (90% of base) is 67.5% of base.
Shadow Focus - Spell Hit from this talent does not appear on your character sheet, so add the 3% yourself.
Improved Mind Blast - Does not lower spell power coefficients.
Shadow Reach - Does not affect Psychic Scream, Silence, or Mana Burn.
Shadow Weaving - Multiplier for total damage. Follows the same rules as Blackout. Does not upgrade DoTs already cast.
Improved Vampiric Embrace - The 67% boost is to the healing received (like it says). This means, in total, 25% of damage done will turn into self healing and 5% of damage done will heal others.
Darkness - Multiplier for total damage. Currently not working for Mind Flay.
Shadowform - Multiplier for total damage. See FAQ section for details on spell restrictions.
Shadow Power - Crits will do twice the damage of non-crits, instead of 1.5 times non-crits.
Improved Shadowform - Fade not required for cast time loss reduction.
Misery - Provides 3% spell hit for anyone attacking targets afflicted by Misery; does not stack with Improved Faerie Fire. The second effect of Misery is an always-active personal coefficient increase.
Vampiric Touch - Each time you cast Mind Blast on a target afflicted by your Vampiric Touch, a Replenish buff is applied -- or reapplied -- to the 10 raid members with lowest mana at that moment. Retribution Paladins and Survival Hunters can also trigger Replenish. Only one instance of Replenish can be active on a given player.
Twisted Faith - First effect is similar to Spiritual Guidance. Mind Blast and Mind Flay effect is a multiplier for total damage.
GLYPH NOTES
Glyph of Renew - Renew will tick 4 times instead of 5 times, but will heal about the same amount overall.
V. Healing Tips
* Tweak the user interface to your liking and make sure you can select targets and cast heals with ease and speed.
* Be familiar with the Five Second Rule as explained in the FAQ section. It is better to cluster heals than steadily cast every few seconds, when possible. Instants like Renew and Prayer of Mending work best the moment a heal with a cast time completes.
* Learn to cast-cancel. If a Greater Heal is not yet needed, canceling it before it finishes will help keep you out of the Five Second Rule. Either move, jump, or hit Escape. You can also put /stopcasting in a macro with Greater Heal and just tap it to restart the cast. On boss fights which both strain mana and cause uneven damage to the tank, cast-cancelling can keep a big heal ready in less than the usual cast time.
* PW:Shield, Binding Heal, and Holy Nova are options to produce less threat than usual per hitpoint healed. Otherwise, threat will always be the same for repairing a given amount of Health; you can only delay such threat by not yet healing. Overhealing never counts as threat.
* Binding Heal has two chances to crit and therefore twice the chance to cause crit-based procs.
* On pulls, it can be a good idea to wait then cast Greater Heal to let the tank establish aggro. Depends on the tank and whether any Hunters or Rogues are misdirecting threat. PW: Shield cast before combat is threat-free, but see the FAQ about absorption and tanks.
* Greater Heal should be your primary direct heal; it is big and mana efficient. Flash Heal is less efficient but finishes one second earlier. Penance starts healing immediately -- combining the strengths of both -- but is on a cooldown. Binding Heal is like two simultaneous Flash Heals for less mana.
* Keep Renew on tanks to smooth out incoming damage. Use it to patch up other players who aren't in immediate danger.
* Prayer of Mending is very efficient when multiple charges are used. It will keep selecting the lowest Health target in range. If Mending bounces back to you, SW: Death will send it on its way.
* Set boss mobs to Focus, then watch the Focus Target frame to keep track of their current target. Alternatively, target the boss mob and use mouseover macros or click-casting. This is important for bosses with secondary targeting and for any tank switching scenario.
* Turn on 'Show Friendly Name Plates' (Shift-V by default) to see health bars over nearby friendly targets; the bars themselves can be clicked. Tab through enemies, then heal their targets. Both are especially useful in PvP.
V. User Interface
Being comfortable and quick when selecting spells and targets is essential to good play. Even without third party add-ons, you can gain a lot through keybinds and macros. Add-ons are great for customizing visual appeal and some advanced features like click-casting.
Keybinds
Click a target, click Flash Heal, click another target, click Renew. How tedious! Frequently used spells like these should be on easy to reach keys. Use your mouse to select targets and your other hand to tap the key for spell casting. Start small with spells you use constantly. I use Q for Flash Heal, Z for Greater Heal, E for PW:Shield, and C for Renew.
Without addons you will have to drag spells out to action bars, then bind the right slots to keys. If this seems messy, try an addon like BindPad. Now you can bind anything in your spellbook or macros to directly to keys. Any action bar replacement addon like Trinity or Bongos will include this functionality.
Macros
Macros can do all kinds of useful things like:
* Automatically pick a flying mount when allowed, ground mount otherwise.
* Cast a Mind Blast if you are targeting a hostile unit, Flash Heal otherwise.
* Cast spells like Inner Focus or Guardian Spirit which are off the global cooldown at the same time as another spell.
* Cast Fortitude if you click an icon with the left mouse button, Prayer of Fortitude if you click with the right mouse button.
* Cast Dispel Magic on the health bar you are mousing over, without having to actually select that target.
* Cast a heal on yourself if you are holding down Alt.
* Cast Shackle Undead on your Focus target.
* Annoy people with a witty saying every time you cast Resurrect.
The best way to learn what macros can -- and can't -- do is Cogwheel's guide:
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... 3881820910
Troodi has collected many Priest specific macros:
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... =106575248
And WoWWiki has a nice selection:
www.wowwiki.com/Useful_macros_for_priests
I personally use this kind of macro the most:
/cast [modifier:alt,target=player] Renew; [harm] Shadow Word: Death; Renew
I have this bound to C. If I press C while targeting an enemy I will cast Death; otherwise I will Renew. No matter what I'm targeting, if I also hold down Alt I will Renew myself.
Unit Frame Addons
Unit Frames are those rectangles (usually) showing the health of party members, your current target, etc. Addons will allow you to customize layout, information shown, highlighting debuffed players you can fix, tracking your Renew and Prayer of Healing, and even reversing health bars so bigger means more hurt.
PitBull, X-Perl, PerfectRaid, BunchOfBars, and Grid are all popular unit frame addons. Grid especially so in 25 player raiding because it displays all 25 raid members in a 5x5, well, grid.
Clique allows you to attach spells to the action of clicking a unit frame with a particular mouse button. For example, right-clicking a friendly unit while in combat might be configured to cast a Greater Heal on it. Clique is used in combination with unit frame addons.
Action Bar Addons
Tired of the big ol' action bar, bags, and dragon art interface along the bottom of your screen? These addons will let you arrange those buttons more to your liking. They also provide the direct spell book to binding functionality mentioned earlier.
Bongos, Bartender, and Trinity Bars are popular action bar addons. Trinity is a bit more of a hassle when it comes to basics but allows more extreme customization.
Other Addons
Quartz is especially important for any DPS caster. Ever notice how you can start running shortly before your mount 'cast' is complete? It works because your movement command takes some time to reach the server; by then you are mounted. Same applies for DPS spell rotations. Quartz marks an estimate on your cast bar for when you can start on the next spell.
Chronometer, DotDotDot, DoTimer, and Natur Enemy Cast Bar keep track of your HoT and DoT durations. Practically required for Shadow Priests.
PowerAuras and ThankGod provide clear notifications for procs like Surge of Light.
Omen shows a threat chart, vital for knowing when to ease off and when to push the pedal. Works best when everyone has Omen installed.
Finding and Installing Addons
See Cairenn's guide:
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... 42927843#2
You will also do well searching Google for something like 'chronometer addon warcraft.' If you are concerned about computer security, make sure any addon is just a zipped up folder which you unzip and drop into your AddOns folder. Anything you have to run as a program might be harmful.
Sample Keybinds and UIs
Select threads about Priest keybinds:
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... 1296425268
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... 8994659449
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... 2856200396
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... =712444402
Select threads about Priest UIs:
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... =106736031
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... d=11471168
VI. Links
All face melting all the time
www.shadowpriest.com
Forum for all healing classes
www.plusheal.com
Not just for Dwarves
dwarfpriest.com
Constantius' Healing Guide
elitistjerks.com/f77/t35208-wotl ... specs_etc/
List of Priest Glyphs
wotlk.wowhead.com/?items=16.5
Talent Calculators
www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/cla ... lents.html
wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=b
Original Priest Talents
wowvault.ign.com/View.php?catego ... lents.View
IRC Channel
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... 4910581704
The following information was written and complied by Nightshroud and a direct link to the info can be found here forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=86706393&sid=1
Lux et Umbra
a PvE Priest handbook
by Nightshroud
Table of Contents
I. Frequently Asked Questions
II. Stats
III. Talent & Glyph Notes
IV. Healing Tips
V. User Interface
VI. Links
I. Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why choose Priest as a healing class?
A: Priests are the only class with two talent trees devoted to healing. This is not intended to make Priests better healers than anyone else, but it does mean Priests have the greatest versatility within this role. The tradeoff is having only one alternate role: magical DPS provided by the Shadow tree.
Also, cloth looks good.
Q: Why choose Priest as a damage class?
A: Shadow Priests are designed for high raw damage output, plus a considerable amount of group utility: Replenishment, stamina buff, spirit buff, shadow resistance buff, magical debuff curing, disease curing, offensive magical dispel, and passive healing through Vampiric Embrace. And of course the option to heal.
Q: Are Priests good at PvP?
A: I hear some are.
Q: I'm starting a new Priest. What is the best talent spec for leveling?
A: Pick up 3/3 Spirit Tap then head over to Holy. Between Divine Fury and Searing Light, Holy provides the largest boost to solo damage at low level. Shadow passes it only after Shadowform becomes available. For more information:
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... 1829537044
Q: Which race should I be?
A: For a long-term character, experience has shown that picking based on appearance, animations, and voice is wise. Racials are subject to change. Here is a list of all racials:
www.wowhead.com/?spells=-4#0+7+1+2
Q: I recently hit level 80. Am I ready to heal heroics?
A: Remove all buffs except Inner Fire. Are you at around 1200 spell power? Then you're fine with a good group who understands you're a fresh 80. If you want to be a little more prepared, it is easy to get up to around 1500 spell power from regular dungeon quests, outdoor group quests, and maybe some faction rewards.
Q: I recently hit level 80. Am I ready to DPS in heroics?
A: Yes. No one expects DPS to be good.
Q: What's the difference between Holy and Discipline?
A: Holy is great for multi-healing and good for tank healing. Discipline is aimed more at tank healing and not running out of mana.
Q: Is there a notification addon for all these Holy procs?
A: PowerAuras or ThankGod.
Q: What gear is for healers vs. DPS?
A: If it has Hit, then healers should give priority to DPS. Nothing is automatically healer priority. Too bad.
Q: Are there any ranked lists of gear?
A: Unfortunately all such rankings must make certain assumptions which don't always hold true, but these should get you started:
www.shadowpriest.com/viewforum.php?f=62
dwarfpriest.com/2008/12/02/the-b ... ling-gear/
Q: How do gear and talents affect my spells, in general?
A: Your total Spellpower is first multiplied by the 'coefficient' percentage specific to each spell. This number is added to the untalented damage or healing range of the spell. Finally, multipliers from talents and effects are applied in any order.
SpellRange = ( UntalentedRange + TotalSpellpower*Coefficient ) * Multipliers
Q: What are the Spellpower coefficients?
A: Here you go. Borrowed Time, Empowered Healing, and Misery talents are the only way to adjust coefficients. Other talents and glyphs either change Spellpower or act as a multiplier.
Healing
Desperate Prayer 80.7%
Divine Hymn 37.7%
Flash Heal 80.7%
Greater Heal 161%
Holy Nova (per target) 30.4%
Penance 161%
Prayer of Healing (per target) 80.7%
Prayer of Mending (per charge) 80.7%
PW: Shield 80.7%
Renew 188%
Damage
Devouring Plague 148%
Holy Fire 57.1% or 57.2%
Holy Fire DoT 17.0%
Holy Nova (per target) 16.0% or 16.1%
Lightwell (per charge) 188%
Mana Burn 0%
Mind Blast 42.9%
Mind Flay 77.1%
Mind Sear (per target) 143%
Penance 68.7%
SW:Death 42.9%
SW:Pain 110%
Smite 71.4%
Vampiric Touch 192%
Q: Is there a method behind those crazy coefficient values?
A: Most of the time, yes. The original reason for coefficients was to keep 1.5 sec spells from gaining twice as much from gear over time as 3.0 sec spells. Instants are considered 1.5 sec spells because that is the base Global Cooldown time. Multi target spells usually have a lower coefficient per target, with the expectation of using them on at least three targets.
Basic expected damage coefficient = CastTime / 3.5
Basic expected heal coefficient = (CastTime / 3.5) * 1.88
Q: How much Hit Rating do I need to stop missing with spells?
A: Here are the Hit Rating values for level 80 Priests. If you have a Draenei in the party, use the second number in [brackets] instead. (You can always calculate special cases by hand; just remember it takes 26.24 Hit Rating to equal 1% Hit at level 80.)
PvP
Base - 105 [79]
Misery or Imp. Faerie Fire on target - 27 [0]
Just Shadow Focus - 27 [0]
Debuff on target + Shadow Focus - 0
Raid Bosses
Base - 447 [420]
Misery or Imp. Faerie Fire on target - 368 [342]
Debuff on target + Shadow Focus - 289 [263]
(Death Knight Understudies will require 158 [132] Hit Rating for reliable Shackles.)
Q: What is 'base mana'?
A: Base mana is what you have at a particular level before Intellect or any other modifiers. Spells cost a percent of base mana.
Base Mana for all level 80 Priests is 3,863.
Q: What is this 'Five Second Rule' or 'FSR' people talk about?
A: Health regeneration is turned off in combat and turned back on when out of combat. Mana regeneration, by contrast, never takes combat status into consideration. It uses the Five Second Rule.
Hover your mouse over 'Mana Regen' on your character sheet. The first value listed -- 'while not casting' -- is the part of your mana regeneration which turns off and on according to the Five Second Rule. The second value listed -- 'while casting' -- is permanently switched on.
Here's the five second rule: For five seconds after each time you spend mana, your 'while not casting' mana is disabled.
The above definition is precise. Zero-cost spell will not invoke the Five Second Rule, nor will a regular cast-time spell which you interrupt at the last moment. There is one addition: channeled spells will not allow your regen to resume until you stop channeling. This only comes into play for long channels like Mind Control.
Q: What is Threat?
A: Threat is something you generate towards mobs through damage or healing. Mobs use threat to decide whose face they'd like to chew. For details see:
elitistjerks.com/f47/t26148-threat_mechanics/
Q: How does spell pushback work?
A: Beyond any actual spell interrupt abilities like Kick, spells with a cast time are pushed back by taking damage. Shield-absorbed damage does not count.
There is a two-hit limit to pushback. Regular spells -- like Smite -- lose 0.5 sec of progress per hit to a maximum result of 1 sec added to cast time. Channeled spells -- like Mind Flay -- lose 25% of total time per hit. Depending on how late the second hit occurs, the spell might still last longer than half time. Mind Flay is guaranteed one tick but may still tick twice when hit twice.
Q: How am I able to cast PW:Shield in Shadowform? I thought Holy spells were off limit.
A: There are two definitions of 'Holy spells.'
* Holy(tab): Any spell on the Holy tab of your spellbook. Shadowform blocks these.
* Holy(school): Any spell in the Holy school, no matter which tab it is on. Shadowform does NOT necessarily block these, but having any of these spells Counterspelled will lock them all out.
Everything on Holy(tab) is Holy(school). Everything on Discipline(tab) is Holy(school), except Mana Burn which is Shadow(school). Everything on Shadow(tab) is Shadow(school), except Prayer of Shadow Protection which is Holy(school).
The Draenei racial Gift of the Naaru is Holy(school), on the General tab, but can't be cast in Shadowform.
Q: Why doesn't Mind Sear damage my target?
A: If your target were to die, your whole spell would be cut short. Use Mind Sear's uniqueness to your advantage: target a Polymorphed mob and AoE the rest of the pack.
Q: I'm having trouble with Mind Control. Why does it keep breaking?
A: Mind Control will break very quickly if your true self is hit by any damage. Try to stand off to the side from any kind of AoE or cleaves. It will also break if you move your target very far away from yourself. Don't move around for a second or two at the start of a Mind Control because sometimes lag will cause the movement to be applied to your Priest which breaks the spell. Finally, use Hit stat to lower or eliminate the chance of an early break.
Q: I'm having trouble with Shackle Undead. Why does it keep breaking?
A: If reliable Shackles are important, max out your Hit stat. This helps with both the initial cast and periodic checks.
Q: How does Shadowfiend work?
A: Mechanics have changed recently. So far we know it restores 4% of your total mana per hit, no matter how hard it hits.
Q: What can Mass Dispel remove that normal Dispel cannot?
A: Divine Shield, Ice Block, and Banish. Mass Dispel now will remove any of these kinds of immunity effects first, where previously it tried random ones. It can help against AoE effects like Frost Nova but might not select it on any particular target if there are other magical debuffs to remove.
Q: I have an idea! Can we have Holyform?
A: forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... ageNo=2#22
II. Stats
SURVIVABILITY STATS
Stamina is the primary survivability stat. Works on all damage types! Each point of Stamina is worth 10 more hitpoints.
Magical Resistances are secondary survivability stats. They're only worthwhile in certain encounters, so don't bothering wearing resistance until required.
For those interested in mechanics details, two separate rolls are involved when a spell is cast at a target and both rolls again for any periodic checks.
<Hit roll>
The first roll is based on relative level between caster and target. Casting at a higher level target is much more likely to miss than casting at a lower level target. The attacking caster can stack Hit to reduce her chance of missing the initial cast or experiencing an early break. Resistance stats on the defender do not counter the attacker's Hit stat. See the section on Hit stat below.
<Resistance roll>
The second roll is based on the attacker's level versus the target's adjusted resistance stat for that school of magic. The maximum effect of resistance gear is to reduce incoming damage by an average of 75%. This cap occurs when resistance is five times higher than the attacker's level: 400 resistance against level 80 casters and 415 against level 83 casters, including raid bosses.
AveragePercentResisted = 0.75 * AdjustedResist / (AttackerLevel*5)
where
AdjustedResist = TargetResist - AttackerSpellPenetration
Average percent can be anything from 0% to 75%. Most spells are 'binary': they either fully fail or fully hit, so average is frequency of failure. Other spells are 'direct damage' and can fully fail or partially resist at multiples of 10%. Resistance is still useful in any amount because the probability of those 10% multiples adjusts for every point.
Note: there's no such thing as Holy Resistance. Higher level mobs do have a school-agnostic resist mechanic which can't be countered by Spell Penetration. If you see a Smite resist, that's why.
Resilience is a PvP-oriented mitigation stat with several effects: reduces your chance to be crit (1% per 81.97 Resilience at level 80) and overall damage taken from successful crits and DoTs (1% per 40.98 Resilience at level 80).
Fortunately, Resilience does not lower the effectiveness of on-crit procs like Blessed Recovery. You gain an independent chance of each proc on normal hits to match what you would lose by not being crit.
MANA STATS
Intellect does three things.
* Increases maximum mana by 15 mana per additional 1 Intellect.
* Increases the effectiveness of Spirit-based regen. See the Spirit section for details.
* Increases spell crit chance by 1% per 130 Intellect at level 80.
Note: The first 20 Intellect on your character only grants 20 mana total.
MP5, 'restores X mana per 5 sec', is an always-on source of mana regeneration. It adds directly to the 'every 5 seconds while casting' number shown by hovering your mouse over 'Mana Regen' on the Character sheet.
Spirit increases the portion of mana regeneration subject to the Five Second Rule, i.e. 'every 5 seconds while not casting'. See the FAQ entry on the Five Second Rule for a detailed explanation. At level 80:
SpiritRegen = sqrt(Intellect) * Spirit * 0.02787
This is the number seen when you hover your mouse over Spirit on the Character sheet. Meditation allows 30% of it to work while in the Five Second Rule. So, in total:
RegenOutsideFSR = SpiritRegen + MP5
RegenInsideFSR = SpiritRegen*0.30 + MP5
THROUGHPUT AND EFFICIENCY STATS
Spell power increases spell damage or healing per cast. Every spell has its own 'spellpower coefficient' which is the percent of spell power added to the base damage or healing. Flash Heal has an 80.7% coefficient. If you have 100 spell power, Flash Heal will restore 81 more Health than at 0 spell power. See the FAQ entry for a list of coefficients.
Healing spells use Bonus Healing as total Spellpower. Damage spells will use Bonus Damage, unless school-specific spell power is higher. Hover your mouse over 'Bonus Damage' on the Character sheet to see total bonus damage for Shadow spells, etc.
Critical strike increases the chance of a crit, but not the damage done when you do crit. Gear comes with 'critical strike rating' which translates into additional crit percentage based on your current level. This is to prevent a 3% crit item at level 60 from still being a 3% crit item at level 80. At level 80, every 45.90 critical strike rating grants 1% crit chance.
Hit decreases the chance of a spell miss. Oddly enough, Hit still matters on periodic checks such as those made by Mind Control and Shackle Undead.
Chance to miss goes up according to your target's level advantage. To stop missing, simply stack enough Hit to match:
4% Hit against same level
5% Hit against +1
6% Hit against +2
13% Hit against +3 players
17% Hit against +3 mobs (raid bosses go here)
Hit comes as 'hit rating' on gear. At level 80, every 26.24 hit rating grants 1% hit. Add any Hit from talents and effects to the gear total showing on the Character sheet.
Spell Penetration effectively removes an equal amount of magical resistances from your targets. Since Holy Resistance does not exist, Priests only need to worry about canceling out Shadow Resistance. Very few mobs have Shadow Resistance; don't wear spell penetration in PvE unless you are dealing with a known exception.
See the Magical Resistances section above for mechanics.
Haste reduces cast time. Haste does not affect HoT/DoT durations, but does help channeled spells such as Mind Flay and Penance. Gear comes with 'haste rating.' At level 80, every 32.80 haste rating grants 1% Haste.
Different sources of haste are multiplied together, however everything from 'haste rating' counts as a single source. Total Haste from 200 haste rating (6.10% Haste), 5% Haste from Enlightenment, and 30% Haste from Heroism would be:
1.0610 * 1.05 * 1.30 = 1.448 or a 44.8% Haste bonus
Greater Heal is usually 2.5 sec before Haste for Discipline Priests. After all of the above it would be:
2.5 / 1.448 = 1.73 sec cast time
Haste effects can reduce the 1.5 sec global cooldown to a minimum of 1.0 sec. Finally, note that every additional one-percent Haste will add the same healing or damage per second to the unhasted spell as previous one-percents, which means that it scales linearly.
III. Talent & Glyph Notes
See the Links section at the end for talent calculators and a Glyph reference.
DISCIPLINE NOTES
Twin Disciplines - Multiplier for total healing or damage. Also helps Mind Flay, PW:Shield and Penance.
Silent Resolve - Stacks multiplicatively with any other sources of threat reduction. Silent Resolve (80% of base) with Vigilance (90% of base) is 72% of base.
Improved Power Word: Fortitude - Adds 25 Stamina at level 80.
Improved Power Word: Shield - Multiplier for total absorption.
Martyrdom - Effectiveness not reduced by Resilience. You will simply gain a chance for Martyrdom procs on non-crits to match.
Improved Inner Fire - At level 80, raises the armor bonus by 1098 and spell power by 54.
Inner Focus - Does not trip the global cooldown, so it can be put in a macro with another spell. The next spell will not invoke the Five Second Rule.
Meditation - Without Meditation, Spirit does not help mana regeneration inside the Five Second Rule.
Improved Divine Spirit - Spell power increase.
Focused Power - Multiplier for total healing or damage.
Enlightenment - An independent source of Haste. Does not adjust haste rating.
Focused Will - Effectiveness not reduced by Resilience. You will simply gain a chance for Focused Will procs on non-crits to match.
Power Infusion - An independent source of Haste. Does not adjust haste rating.
Reflective Shield - Also works with Divine Aegis.
Renewed Hope - 'Weakened Soul' being the PW:Shield debuff.
Rapture - Mana return at level 80 is: MaxMana * EffectiveHealed * 0.0000021824. Works from effective healing (not overhealing), but does work from the entire hit that removes PW:Shield or Divine Aegis even when it is only partially absorbed.
Divine Aegis - Overhealing does not diminish the shield effect.
Grace - Damage reduction effect does not stack with Blessing of Sanctuary's 3% reduction effect.
Borrowed Time - Coefficient increase from 80.7% to 120.7%.
Penance - Three pulses per cast. The first pulse is immediate and the third finishes two seconds later.
HOLY NOTES
Improved Renew - Multiplier for total healing.
Holy Specialization - Does affect Penance.
Divine Fury - Does not lower spell power coefficients.
Spiritual Guidance - Spell power increase.
Spiritual Healing - Multiplier for total healing.
Lightwell - You must lose at least 30% of total Health in a single blow to end the effect. Absorbed damage does not count towards this.
Blessed Resilience - Effectiveness not reduced by Resilience. You will simply gain a chance for Blessed Resilience procs on non-crits to match.
Empowered Healing - Coefficient increase.
Serendipity - Uses the base cost of spells.
Holy Concentration - Notice that the percent chance of proc is the chance per crit, not cast. This plus Improved Holy Concentration maxes out at 45% chance to proc per crit.
Improved Holy Concentration - An independent source of Haste. Does not adjust haste rating.
Test of Faith - Multiplier for total healing.
Divine Providence - Multiplier for total healing.
Guardian Spirit - Multiplier for total healing. Target does not actually die; the buff is consumed and healing applied.
SHADOW NOTES
Spirit Tap - Any non-gray mob or player kill works. The numbers roughly work out to you getting the full Spirit Tap bonus whether in the Five Second Rule or not.
Improved Spirit Tap - Think of it as raising Meditation from 30% to 50% for the duration.
Blackout - One chance per DoT application. Mind Sear and Mind Flay get a chance per tick.
Shadow Affinity - Stacks multiplicatively with any other sources of threat reduction. Shadow Affinity (75% of base) with Vigilance (90% of base) is 67.5% of base.
Shadow Focus - Spell Hit from this talent does not appear on your character sheet, so add the 3% yourself.
Improved Mind Blast - Does not lower spell power coefficients.
Shadow Reach - Does not affect Psychic Scream, Silence, or Mana Burn.
Shadow Weaving - Multiplier for total damage. Follows the same rules as Blackout. Does not upgrade DoTs already cast.
Improved Vampiric Embrace - The 67% boost is to the healing received (like it says). This means, in total, 25% of damage done will turn into self healing and 5% of damage done will heal others.
Darkness - Multiplier for total damage. Currently not working for Mind Flay.
Shadowform - Multiplier for total damage. See FAQ section for details on spell restrictions.
Shadow Power - Crits will do twice the damage of non-crits, instead of 1.5 times non-crits.
Improved Shadowform - Fade not required for cast time loss reduction.
Misery - Provides 3% spell hit for anyone attacking targets afflicted by Misery; does not stack with Improved Faerie Fire. The second effect of Misery is an always-active personal coefficient increase.
Vampiric Touch - Each time you cast Mind Blast on a target afflicted by your Vampiric Touch, a Replenish buff is applied -- or reapplied -- to the 10 raid members with lowest mana at that moment. Retribution Paladins and Survival Hunters can also trigger Replenish. Only one instance of Replenish can be active on a given player.
Twisted Faith - First effect is similar to Spiritual Guidance. Mind Blast and Mind Flay effect is a multiplier for total damage.
GLYPH NOTES
Glyph of Renew - Renew will tick 4 times instead of 5 times, but will heal about the same amount overall.
V. Healing Tips
* Tweak the user interface to your liking and make sure you can select targets and cast heals with ease and speed.
* Be familiar with the Five Second Rule as explained in the FAQ section. It is better to cluster heals than steadily cast every few seconds, when possible. Instants like Renew and Prayer of Mending work best the moment a heal with a cast time completes.
* Learn to cast-cancel. If a Greater Heal is not yet needed, canceling it before it finishes will help keep you out of the Five Second Rule. Either move, jump, or hit Escape. You can also put /stopcasting in a macro with Greater Heal and just tap it to restart the cast. On boss fights which both strain mana and cause uneven damage to the tank, cast-cancelling can keep a big heal ready in less than the usual cast time.
* PW:Shield, Binding Heal, and Holy Nova are options to produce less threat than usual per hitpoint healed. Otherwise, threat will always be the same for repairing a given amount of Health; you can only delay such threat by not yet healing. Overhealing never counts as threat.
* Binding Heal has two chances to crit and therefore twice the chance to cause crit-based procs.
* On pulls, it can be a good idea to wait then cast Greater Heal to let the tank establish aggro. Depends on the tank and whether any Hunters or Rogues are misdirecting threat. PW: Shield cast before combat is threat-free, but see the FAQ about absorption and tanks.
* Greater Heal should be your primary direct heal; it is big and mana efficient. Flash Heal is less efficient but finishes one second earlier. Penance starts healing immediately -- combining the strengths of both -- but is on a cooldown. Binding Heal is like two simultaneous Flash Heals for less mana.
* Keep Renew on tanks to smooth out incoming damage. Use it to patch up other players who aren't in immediate danger.
* Prayer of Mending is very efficient when multiple charges are used. It will keep selecting the lowest Health target in range. If Mending bounces back to you, SW: Death will send it on its way.
* Set boss mobs to Focus, then watch the Focus Target frame to keep track of their current target. Alternatively, target the boss mob and use mouseover macros or click-casting. This is important for bosses with secondary targeting and for any tank switching scenario.
* Turn on 'Show Friendly Name Plates' (Shift-V by default) to see health bars over nearby friendly targets; the bars themselves can be clicked. Tab through enemies, then heal their targets. Both are especially useful in PvP.
V. User Interface
Being comfortable and quick when selecting spells and targets is essential to good play. Even without third party add-ons, you can gain a lot through keybinds and macros. Add-ons are great for customizing visual appeal and some advanced features like click-casting.
Keybinds
Click a target, click Flash Heal, click another target, click Renew. How tedious! Frequently used spells like these should be on easy to reach keys. Use your mouse to select targets and your other hand to tap the key for spell casting. Start small with spells you use constantly. I use Q for Flash Heal, Z for Greater Heal, E for PW:Shield, and C for Renew.
Without addons you will have to drag spells out to action bars, then bind the right slots to keys. If this seems messy, try an addon like BindPad. Now you can bind anything in your spellbook or macros to directly to keys. Any action bar replacement addon like Trinity or Bongos will include this functionality.
Macros
Macros can do all kinds of useful things like:
* Automatically pick a flying mount when allowed, ground mount otherwise.
* Cast a Mind Blast if you are targeting a hostile unit, Flash Heal otherwise.
* Cast spells like Inner Focus or Guardian Spirit which are off the global cooldown at the same time as another spell.
* Cast Fortitude if you click an icon with the left mouse button, Prayer of Fortitude if you click with the right mouse button.
* Cast Dispel Magic on the health bar you are mousing over, without having to actually select that target.
* Cast a heal on yourself if you are holding down Alt.
* Cast Shackle Undead on your Focus target.
* Annoy people with a witty saying every time you cast Resurrect.
The best way to learn what macros can -- and can't -- do is Cogwheel's guide:
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... 3881820910
Troodi has collected many Priest specific macros:
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... =106575248
And WoWWiki has a nice selection:
www.wowwiki.com/Useful_macros_for_priests
I personally use this kind of macro the most:
/cast [modifier:alt,target=player] Renew; [harm] Shadow Word: Death; Renew
I have this bound to C. If I press C while targeting an enemy I will cast Death; otherwise I will Renew. No matter what I'm targeting, if I also hold down Alt I will Renew myself.
Unit Frame Addons
Unit Frames are those rectangles (usually) showing the health of party members, your current target, etc. Addons will allow you to customize layout, information shown, highlighting debuffed players you can fix, tracking your Renew and Prayer of Healing, and even reversing health bars so bigger means more hurt.
PitBull, X-Perl, PerfectRaid, BunchOfBars, and Grid are all popular unit frame addons. Grid especially so in 25 player raiding because it displays all 25 raid members in a 5x5, well, grid.
Clique allows you to attach spells to the action of clicking a unit frame with a particular mouse button. For example, right-clicking a friendly unit while in combat might be configured to cast a Greater Heal on it. Clique is used in combination with unit frame addons.
Action Bar Addons
Tired of the big ol' action bar, bags, and dragon art interface along the bottom of your screen? These addons will let you arrange those buttons more to your liking. They also provide the direct spell book to binding functionality mentioned earlier.
Bongos, Bartender, and Trinity Bars are popular action bar addons. Trinity is a bit more of a hassle when it comes to basics but allows more extreme customization.
Other Addons
Quartz is especially important for any DPS caster. Ever notice how you can start running shortly before your mount 'cast' is complete? It works because your movement command takes some time to reach the server; by then you are mounted. Same applies for DPS spell rotations. Quartz marks an estimate on your cast bar for when you can start on the next spell.
Chronometer, DotDotDot, DoTimer, and Natur Enemy Cast Bar keep track of your HoT and DoT durations. Practically required for Shadow Priests.
PowerAuras and ThankGod provide clear notifications for procs like Surge of Light.
Omen shows a threat chart, vital for knowing when to ease off and when to push the pedal. Works best when everyone has Omen installed.
Finding and Installing Addons
See Cairenn's guide:
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... 42927843#2
You will also do well searching Google for something like 'chronometer addon warcraft.' If you are concerned about computer security, make sure any addon is just a zipped up folder which you unzip and drop into your AddOns folder. Anything you have to run as a program might be harmful.
Sample Keybinds and UIs
Select threads about Priest keybinds:
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... 1296425268
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... 8994659449
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... 2856200396
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... =712444402
Select threads about Priest UIs:
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... =106736031
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... d=11471168
VI. Links
All face melting all the time
www.shadowpriest.com
Forum for all healing classes
www.plusheal.com
Not just for Dwarves
dwarfpriest.com
Constantius' Healing Guide
elitistjerks.com/f77/t35208-wotl ... specs_etc/
List of Priest Glyphs
wotlk.wowhead.com/?items=16.5
Talent Calculators
www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/cla ... lents.html
wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=b
Original Priest Talents
wowvault.ign.com/View.php?catego ... lents.View
IRC Channel
forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... 4910581704