Disc Priest low HPS...

[namja23 3]

Hey all,

 

My primary is Holy, but to help out our casual progression, I switched to Disc.

I plan on swapping specs for specific fights, but I ran normal using completely disc spec to get used to it.  I seem to be having some issues with HPS and Mana.

 

My gear is still primarily Holy, trying to get more mastery/crit gear.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/argent-dawn/Preistly/simple

 

After reviewing other Disc priests, they seem to be using a lot less shield and more Flash Heals and CoW. How are disc timing CoW with the long cast time?  Casting shield before it for the haste buff makes very minimal difference.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/index.php?app=forums&module=post&section=post&do=new_post&f=24

Edited April 28, 2015 by namja23

[Cylexan 3]

What's up dude!

 

Welcome to the land of disc priests, a land filled with bubbles and other healers claiming you are OP!

 

Before I begin, I don't claim to know everything about priests, I make tons of mistakes, and my rotation could use a ton of work.  With that being said, I'll continue.

 

To briefly explain my setup, I use Weak Auras to show Evangelism stacks and Words of Mending (WoM) stacks (I don't use CoW, more of a preference kinda thing), and grid for my raid frames (which are setup to show when others have the weakened soul debuff and a dispellable debuff).  I use mouse-over macros for 90% of my spells, 

 

 

 

After reviewing other Disc priests, they seem to be using a lot less shield and more Flash Heals and CoW. How are disc timing CoW with the long cast time?  Casting shield before it for the haste buff makes very minimal difference.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

I haven't reviewed other priests logs in a little bit, but honestly that seems quite strange.  I rarely cast Flash Heal unless I have the "Archangel (AA)" buff and only my tank or someone in the raid needs a very quick heal.  Flash Heals use quite a bit of mana...

 

Since you've been playing holy, I assume you still know the fights.  My rotation is to PW:Sh the raid until I have 8 WoM stacks, then when the 10 second DBM timer goes I cast "Prayer of Mending (PoM)" on one tank, PW:Sh him (which now your next cast gives you a free PoM due to WoM), and PW:Sh the other tank (who also now has a PoM on him as well).

 

After the fight begins I usually start by PW:Sh whoever, based on the fight, will be taking the next lump of damage, maybe 2-3 casts, followed by casting Penance on the MT.  I use Penance whenever it is off cooldown (the 2 piece is awesome, IMO, with getting Evangelism stacks) and have the boss targeted to cast PW:Solace whenever it is on cooldown.  I also have Weak Auras setup to make a sound to remind me that PW:So is ready to be cast.  Afterwards I'll cast Cascade, and run through the rotation listed above.

 

Depending on the timing of the fight, you need to know when to cast smite to get you that 5th Evangelism stack (which I think isn't necessary, as long as you can cast AA for the buff) so you can cast Prayer of Healing (PoH) when the raid is going to take grouped up raid damage.  I also cast Cascade whenever it is on cooldown, usually on the tank if most of the raid is far away and taking damage, or on a ranged if the melee/dps is taking damage.

 

So, to summarize my casts would go something like this (X = random raid member):

 

PRE-FIGHT - PW:S (X), PW:S (X), PW:S (X), PW:S (X), PW:S (X), PW:S (X), PW:S (X), PW:S (X) (YOU NOW HAVE 8 WoM stacks)

 

10-SECOND DBM - PoM (MT), PW:S (MT), PW:S OT)

 

FIGHT STARTS - PW:S (X), PW:S (X), PW:S (X), Penance (MT), PW:So (Boss), Cascade (MT/X), PW:S (X), PW:S (X), Smite (Boss), Penance (MT/OT/X), PW:So (Boss), AA (save for known AoE damage), PW:S (X), PoH (AA should have been cast before raid takes AoE damage so that PoH does more healing)...rinse and repeat...kinda

 

To give you an example, let's use Gruul.  You know that the raid is split into two groups, and will alternate taking grouped-up, raid damage.  So I pre-shield the entire group that will take the next slice (based on the above rotation) and get to 5 stacks of Evangelism.  I try to get 10 stacks of WoM (so my next cast is a PoM) so when I shield the tank (before he rotates to the group) he gets a PoM.  Then, before the cleave from Gruul hits, I pop AA and queue up a PoH on the group.  Right when the cleave hits the group, they take reduced damage from PW:Sh, and are healed to full from my PoH.  My other raid healers hate me.  I do this the entire fight.

 

I hope this helps!  I know it might sound confusing or more complex than you thought disc priests would be.  If you need more explanations, or want to watch what I do I'd be more than happy to help!

[namja23 3]

Thank you for the post.  So it seems you are using WoM instead of CoW.  I have been reading that WoM is stronger now, but there was a disc priest that destroyed me on the meters with lower ilevel using CoW so was trying to use that.

 

After another run last night, I think I am suffering with timing AA.  This has been a tougher transition than I imagined, muscle memory is still set to Holy mode.

 

 

[Cylexan 3]

I think it really depends on the fight for WoM vs CoW.  I think CoW requires MUCH less strategy to use efficiently, because you really just need to know when the MT/OT or raid member will take a big hit.  I think WoM requires more attention, but timing it so that your 11th cast is on a tank for a free PoM is pretty sweet.

 

I would really take a look at weak auras so that you can position them in a way to know when you have 5 stacks of Evangelism and 10 stacks of WoM.  You can even add nifty sound effects if you want!

 

I think it takes a bit of a rhythm to understand when to cast what for a disc priest.  Yeah, it's easy to just PW:Sh everyone and rub one off while doing moderate heals, but if you really want to be good its watching the entire raid, and watching DBM boss cast timers to know when you should be saving your AA versus using it.

 

I have some recent askmrrobot logs up that show the spells that I cast and stuff, if that's helpful.  I would recommend getting that addon and logging the next raid you do.  It will give you an idea of where you stack compared to other healers in your group.  My character name is Cylexan on Mannoroth.

 

Let me know if you need anything else!

Edited April 29, 2015 by Cylexan