Priest PvP Guide for Cataclysm Classic

Discipline Priest is a powerful healing option in Cataclysm PvP, having multiple powerful cooldowns as well as a very diverse toolkit that fits almost every situation.

Strengths

• Strong cooldowns that can be used defensively or offensively.
• Wide array of spells available, often having something useful in every situation.
• Both offensive and defensive magic dispels.
• Versatile playstyle that fits in well with almost any other class.

Weaknesses

• Considerably weaker when major spells are on cooldown.
• Limited crowd control abilities; can only really focus on healing.
• Very immobile; difficult to escape from enemies when they get on you.
• Weak to magical purges which can remove your shields.

• Glyph of Penance — Reduces the cooldown of Penance by 2 seconds, making this a mandatory glyph.
• Glyph of Power Word: Shield — Causes your Power Word: Shield to heal the target for 20% of the absorb amount. Since Power Word: Shield is the main ability of Discipline, this is a mandatory glyph.
• Glyph of Renew — Renew is a great spell in PvP, making this an ideal glyph.
• Glyph of Power Word: Barrier — Increase the healing targets receive while inside Power Word: Barrier by 10%. Great for surviving burst.

• Glyph of Desperation — Allows you to cast Pain Suppression while stunned.
• Glyph of Mass Dispel — Reduces the cast time of Mass Dispel by 1 second.
• Glyph of Prayer of Mending — Increases the healing of the first charge of Prayer of Mending by 100%.
• Glyph of Dispel Magic — Heals the target for 3% of their max health if you Dispel Magic a debuff off them.

• Glyph of Fortitude — Reduces the Mana cost of Power Word: Fortitude by 50%.
• Glyph of Shadowfiend — Grants 5% max Mana if your Shadowfiend dies early. Usually your Shadowfiend won't die, but you don't have many other options.
• Glyph of Levitate — Removes the reagent cost of Levitate, allowing you to cast it for free.

If you have not already, we recommend reading the Spells Summary page first. Knowing how each spell and ability works in detail will greatly increase your understanding of the topics discussed on this section. In PvP you will need to react and adapt to different situations, meaning you will not always follow the recommended rotation below.

1. Penance — Use on cooldown either to deal damage or heal.
2. Power Word: Shield — Use whenever the target does not have the Weakened Soul debuff.
3. Renew — Keep this up on targets that are being focused.
4. Prayer of Mending — Use on cooldown.
5. Binding Heal — Use in emergencies whenever you and the target are both low health.
6. Flash Heal — Use whenever your target is very low health and needs a quick heal.
7. Greater Heal — Whenever your target is taking high, sustained damage and you can get a long cast off.
8. You can help DPS when your healing isn't needed.
• Mind Blast — Deals high damage to the target after a short cast. This has a low cooldown and deals great damage.
• Mind Spike — One of the new spells you gain in Cataclysm. 1.5 second cast spell that deals split Shadowfrost damage to the target, but removes all of your damage-over-time debuffs from them.
• Shadow Word: Pain — Deals high damage-over-time.
• Devouring Plague — Deals great damage and heals you for 15% of the damage it deals. You can only have this debuff on one target at a time.
• Shadow Word: Death — Instantly deals moderate damage to the target, tripled against enemies below 25% health, and deals the same damage back to you.

Discipline Priest has a number of personal cooldowns, mostly focused on increasing your groups survivability. Knowing when and how to use these cooldowns will greatly improve your effectiveness as a healer and make you a great asset to any raid group.

• Power Word: Barrier — 3-minute cooldown. Great for surviving huge burst windows from your enemies.
• Pain Suppression — 3-minute cooldown. Use this when 1 target is getting focused down with major offensive cooldowns.
• Power Infusion — 2-minute cooldown. Use this on your partner if they are a caster, or on yourself if you can catch an enemy healer out in the open with multiple Mana Burns.
• Hymn of Hope — 6-minute cooldown. This restores 2% Mana to 3 nearby allies with the lowest Mana overall and increases their maximum Mana by 15% temporarily.
• Desperate Prayer — 2-minute cooldown. If you chose to take this talent, this is a personal emergency button. It instantly heals you for a very large amount, making this a great spell to use if you find yourself about to die.
• Shadowfiend — 5-minute cooldown. This one is a very simple Mana-restoration cooldown; use this whenever you are running low on Mana.

In addition to your main spells and cooldowns, you also have many utility spells that can be game-changing when used in the proper scenario. Make sure you understand each of the spells listed below to fully take advantage of your entire spellbook.

• Leap of Faith — One of the new spells you gain in Cataclysm. Pull the target ally towards your location. A great cooldown to save a group member who is in a bad position or help someone catch up if they are falling behind.
• Dispel Magic — Can remove 1 magical buff from an enemy or 2 magic debuffs from yourself or an ally. Use this whenever someone in your group is afflicted with a dangerous magical debuff, or an enemy has a beneficial buff that will hamper your group.
• Mass Dispel — An AoE version of Dispel Magic that removes 1 magical debuff from up to 10 friendly targets, and 1 magical buff from up to 10 enemy targets. Can also remove stronger magical buffs that cannot be dispelled in other ways, such as Ice Block and Divine Shield.
• Cure Disease — Removes 1 Disease from an ally.
• Fear Ward — Makes a friendly target immune to the first fear used against them.
• Levitate — You will often use this to give you additional dispel protection.
• Shackle Undead — Can be used against Death Knights when they use Lichborne.

If you are looking to maximize the potential of your Discipline Priest in Cataclysm PvP, these are the recommended professions:

1. Jewelcrafting — Gives you three powerful gems, Mystic Chimera's Eye or Brilliant Chimera's Eye, giving you a large stat boost.
3. Tailoring — is a great choice for the Lightweave Embroidery unique cloak enchant.

The list linked below includes the best possible gear setup for a Discipline Priest in PvP.

When it comes to evaluating Discipline Priest's place within the Arena, we have created a number of guides devoted to listing a variety of popular team compositions which you can find below.