Priest Leveling Guide

[Damien 1,514]

This thread is for comments about our Priest leveling guide.

[Guest Daniel Evans]

I actually found that leveling as Discipline was more life saving due to the fact that there are vast amounts of trash mobs during quests.

(i.e. Packs of two to four monsters which are not necessary for your quest but are in the way of it.)

I tried Shadow and died numerous times.

[Guest Gorfuin]

I actually found that leveling as Discipline was more life saving due to the fact that there are vast amounts of trash mobs during quests.

(i.e. Packs of two to four monsters which are not necessary for your quest but are in the way of it.)

I tried Shadow and died numerous times.

As a shadow priest, I am not having any problem leveling in Pandaria but then I'm only at level 87. No death issues yet. Disclipine may indeed be an option at higher levels.

[Guest StRAX]

Agree with Daniel, its better to level as Discipline.

[Guest Reggie]

I'm going to agree with the leveling as discipline. You can often heal yourself for more than you are being hit for, and if not than your shields are more effective. I find things die and nearly equal speed, but with less damage to myself.

[Guest ushedert 964-2733]

so so usefullthankyou!

[Guest Some guy answering]

Tried both disc and shadow for leveling, shadow with level appropriate gear was much faster. Attempting to use low ilvl gear as shadow lead to numerous deaths and frustration. Discipline with low ilvl gear gear increased my survivability but overall slowed the level process.

[Guest RCDshadow]

i been leveling from day 1 till almost 88 as shadow and dead issen't an issue over here. you can still heal yourself i even killed one of the pandarie hero's that was alot stronger then me and had lik 2k health what was 10 times more then me. it's all in the rotation you learn your self.

0. i always end previous mob kill with shadow word: death for the orb.

1. Vampiric touch : best opener since in a fight it's harder to try get a long spell time if you could get stunned. "periodic damage"

2. Shadow word: pain instant spell perfect to go second. the mob is already attacking you now or on the way to you. "periodic damage"

3. Mind blast: adds me a second orb to increase damage in 5

4. Devouring Plague: instant spell and adds 66% damage to Mind Flay while giving a good damage itself (use of 2 orbs each orb add 33% damage to Mind Flay)

5. Mind Flay: giving good damage while you keep casting. increased with 66% from the Devouring Plague

6. Mind Flay 2: hit Mind Flay right before end of cast ing of first one and you still have a partial increase from last piece of Devouring Plague.

7a. if Shadow Word: Death is ready due to health of mob use it for orb and finish the mob off

7b. if Shadow Word: Death is not ready start repeat from 2 and take Shadow Word: Death as soon as it is ready

Now and then add your healing spells if you are taking to much damage.

This rotation came to me after lots of playing. and it works pretty good for me. plus by having steady rotation i was able to put each spell on the action bar 1 so that i just have to click 1-2-3-4-5-6 with the heling spells on action bar right above it. all i need in a small mouse movement away

ps: don't forget to click the shadowstance when you use healing spells that pull you out of shadow.

[Guest Soch]

I level as disc also. Atonement keeps you topped up and almost no down time.

1. Solace on CD

2. Penace on CD ("harm" macro works well here)

3. Smite as filler

against enemies that live longer pre sheild for haste buff and extra protection

 

at the end of fight arcangel flash heal if needed

[Guest Christina]

This is out of date. Glyph of Holy Nova is no longer available in the WoD expansion. It is a Discipline spell only now.

[Guest Butterfree]

How in the world is this a leveling guide? You kind of missed the whole 1-85 (the majority of the game) part. Quit focusing on end game content so much! Ever heard that life's a journey, not a destination? Try working on the journey aspect, especially for a leveling guide.

 

Wouldn't it make mores sense to start with the basics and build up to the more advanced spells, abilities, talents, glyphs, etc.? You should explain spec rotation and everything else that follows as the character levels up, not as they practically reach the level cap. It's just so ridiculous to have an 85-100 leveling guide when there are numerous things before then.

[Pandacho 286]

How in the world is this a leveling guide? You kind of missed the whole 1-85 (the majority of the game) part. Quit focusing on end game content so much! Ever heard that life's a journey, not a destination? Try working on the journey aspect, especially for a leveling guide.

 

Wouldn't it make mores sense to start with the basics and build up to the more advanced spells, abilities, talents, glyphs, etc.? You should explain spec rotation and everything else that follows as the character levels up, not as they practically reach the level cap. It's just so ridiculous to have an 85-100 leveling guide when there are numerous things before then.

There are two reasons mainly to start the leveling guides from these levels.

The first one - when you buy a game now and it includes WoD expansion, you receive a character boost to lvl 90 and most of people use it. So many players do start their game not from level 1.

The second reason is that the Blizzard did a very good job for those who still starts from lvl 1 - you can't be overflowed by spells and abilities: they are introduced one by one in slow pace with detailed explanations and training, so there is no reason to write in the guide things that are already explained in game. 

[Guest daadaadaaren]

This is out of date. Glyph of Holy Nova is no longer available in the WoD expansion. It is a Discipline spell only now.

and the other talents also seem to be questionable, why mindbender for example?

[Guest Comet]

 

How in the world is this a leveling guide? You kind of missed the whole 1-85 (the majority of the game) part. Quit focusing on end game content so much! Ever heard that life's a journey, not a destination? Try working on the journey aspect, especially for a leveling guide.

 

Wouldn't it make mores sense to start with the basics and build up to the more advanced spells, abilities, talents, glyphs, etc.? You should explain spec rotation and everything else that follows as the character levels up, not as they practically reach the level cap. It's just so ridiculous to have an 85-100 leveling guide when there are numerous things before then.

There are two reasons mainly to start the leveling guides from these levels.

The first one - when you buy a game now and it includes WoD expansion, you receive a character boost to lvl 90 and most of people use it. So many players do start their game not from level 1.

The second reason is that the Blizzard did a very good job for those who still starts from lvl 1 - you can't be overflowed by spells and abilities: they are introduced one by one in slow pace with detailed explanations and training, so there is no reason to write in the guide things that are already explained in game. 

 

There are two reasons mainly why people visit a fan site to read a leveling guide.

The first one - When you buy a game and want to excel at it you want to know how to maximize your character's abilities. You know how to "basically" play the character, but are curious how to perfect your play.

The second reason is that Blizzard can say a lot of things, but in these days communities provide the real answers. You want to know what is 'best practice'.

Honestly, this is the most disappointing guide I found on this otherwise excellent site. It reflects badly on the work of others. Do something about it!

[Guest Yodakin]

At what point does item level outwiegh the t18 set bonuses especially the 2pc for shadow.  That mindbender cooldown is insane op.

[Guest Isanchezter]

On 3/31/2015 at 9:39 PM, Guest Butterfree said:

How in the world is this a leveling guide? You kind of missed the whole 1-85 (the majority of the game) part. Quit focusing on end game content so much! Ever heard that life's a journey, not a destination? Try working on the journey aspect, especially for a leveling guide.

 

Wouldn't it make mores sense to start with the basics and build up to the more advanced spells, abilities, talents, glyphs, etc.? You should explain spec rotation and everything else that follows as the character levels up, not as they practically reach the level cap. It's just so ridiculous to have an 85-100 leveling guide when there are numerous things before then.

Most of our journeys begin at raiding.  For others, the journey may have already been completed on another character and we are just trying to level.  If you want to level at your own pace as that is your journey, use the in game quest board at your city and ignore online help.  Thanks!

[Guest OldGuy]

I find the guide useful, not so much the complaints or the complaints about the complainers.

Yes, I'd like a guide written just for me, someone who left the game 7 years ago after getting up to 85 and gearing up a couple characters, getting one boost to 90 on a free weekend but never playing my 90. There have been a lot of changes to the game in general and to how some a variety of classes/specs work. I'd love for someone to explain 7 years of stuff instead of having to read old blogs or pester friends who mostly started playing after I stopped. And someone else would like a 1-110 guide for beginners. This just isn't the place for either.

Early leveling is not rocket science. On a site geared toward raiding, with leveling guides as a nice bonus, this shadow priest guide seems helpful. Most people just want to be efficient after that first character and get to max level to raid. Most people reading about WoW now have probably got level-110 characters galore. I sort of want to experience the story I missed in 3 expansions, but even I only care about going through that content once, and I'd like to get through 25 levels of story efficiently. Most of the lore is just not that compelling as I kill 20 of these and 14 of those. Anyway, when my priest woke up from a 7-year nap last night at level 85 without talents, this guide told me what I needed to know to start leveling and catching up with friends. How do you complain about someone taking the time to write it?

Everyone above is right. I wouldn't mind a leveling guide for newbies, because I'm making new toons and finding some play significantly differently than they would have 7 years ago. I just didn't expect that here. I'm responding to old comments, but if this was an 85+ guide when people were getting free boosts to 90, now it's a 100+ guide when I can get a free boost to 110 if I just buy the new expansion. I may do that, and my priest may be the character I boost. But for now, this was a nice starting point, and I appreciate the resource.

[Valks 2,375]

On 2/9/2018 at 5:53 PM, Guest OldGuy said:

I find the guide useful, not so much the complaints or the complaints about the complainers.

The guides normally are released with a new expansion as a "new xpac leveling" sort of thing, as opposed to a general leveling guide, like the ones that you might find elsewhere. This guide will likely become a 110-120 guide with BfA's release.

[Guest angry bunny]

Is the guide correct for easy? It says for Shadow Priest, but SP doesn't have Twist of Fate as lvl 15 talent. Nor the other ones. TY.

[Valks 2,375]

On 7/31/2018 at 5:35 AM, Guest angry bunny said:

Is the guide correct for easy? It says for Shadow Priest, but SP doesn't have Twist of Fate as lvl 15 talent. Nor the other ones. TY.

This guide is out-of-date and will be updated for BfA launch.