WoW Classic Priest Leveling Guide 1-60

This guide will aim to provide you with a clear skill and gear path to max level in WoW Classic. While detailing every single quest and the optimal leveling routes is beyond its scope, you can find detailed talent builds for all tastes, their rotations and which skills to buy, as well as guides for class quests and weapons below.

Priests have three talent trees: Discipline, Holy, and Shadow.

Shadow is the generally recommended solo leveling build from around level 40 and beyond, due to its consistency and Mana efficiency, as well as superior single target damage. Up until level 40 any of the three talent trees can be utilised. Beyond level 40 the Discipline and Holy specializations start to drop off with their solo damage, and are not recommended unless you plan on leveling through a significant number of dungeons. Regardless of your chosen spec initially you will want to respec at least once at around 40-42 into Shadowform if you plan on leveling as shadow to 60.

Holy is also viable to level with, as long as you can handle doing less than optimal damage. If you are going to be leveling in a group or dungeons regularly, then a hybrid Holy build will give you the best of both worlds.

Finally, Discipline is generally slower than the other two specs for solo questing. If you are going to be leveling in a group or dungeons regularly, then a hybrid Discipline build will give you the best of both worlds. It also provides added benefits in later levels if you are leveling with another spell caster through the talent ability Power Infusion.

If speed is what you care about, the best way to proceed in WoW Classic as a solo Priest is to use our Shadow talent build which starts with Discipline and Holy talents early then at 40-42 respec fully into Shadow.

The reason for this is that Discipline and Holy talents offer more damage and mana sustainability early on, with an emphasis on damage from your wand. By the time you hit Level 40-42, Shadow has increased power through Shadowform and Mind Flay. Played properly you should have almost no downtime regenerating mana all the way to 60.

Leveling with a premade group in dungeons has become popular in WoW Classic. While leveling this way will not be for everyone, as it requires a group of people of certain classes for maximum efficiency. Priest is an ideal healer for both Melee and Spell cleave groups, due to our ability to sustain mana and heal through dangerous situations.

It should be noted that most dungeons in WoW Classic can be done with more than 5 people. While this will ruin your experience gain, it is an option if you are struggling to get through.

In order to get to 60 as a Priest you will also want to know which professions / gear / stats to pursue and how to complete your class quests. In the following sections we will be discussing each of these at length.

Learning professions early on is very useful, as you can naturally level them as you go, avoiding extra work at max level. This is especially true for gathering professions, but crafting professions compensate your efforts by giving you extra tools to level with.

Skinning, Herbalism, and Mining are great primary professions for a leveling Priest, allowing you to make extra gold, or accumulate materials that you can use to level crafting professions later.

Keep in mind there is a tradeoff with leveling professions while you level. Keeping professions relevant to the level of content you are doing can slow your leveling speed down. You can use our relevant profession guides to make sure you leave a zone after you are done leveling up your professions (which is particularly relevant for gathering professions). Otherwise, you might have to go back at a later time for your professions and waste time. The upside to these professions is crafting or selling their associated goods is a great way to earn some extra money on the side as you level up!

While leveling, regardless of your spec you will want to focus on having the best wand possible. While questing and even in dungeons, a significant amount of your damage will come from your wand so having the highest dps wand available to you is important.

When leveling as Shadow you will want to focus on Spell Damage, Mana per 5 seconds, Intellect, and Spirit to not only put out as much damage as possible, but maintain a healthy mana pool and reduce the amount of time you need to spend regenerating mana.

For the other specialization options, Holy and Discipline, gear is less important but try to aim for Intellect, Spirit, and Mana per 5 seconds first and foremost, as it will allow you to kill more enemies or cast more heals before having to wait for your mana to regenerate.

Every class in WoW Classic has important class-specific quests that allow them to learn new active abilities, which are often critical to the class. For Priest this involves various spells specific to your particular race, we detail every single step of the way for you in our full guide for quests below.

By the time you hit maximum level, it will be very helpful to read the rest of our guides. Pick Healing Priest if you intend to heal at maximum level, which is the preferred specialization for a Priest looking for a raid group, but Shadow Priest are also great supports, and do well in dungeons and PvP.

You are also welcome to catch up on what to do in PvP combat with our PvP Priest Guide, and to start you epic mount grind with the help of the Goldmaking Guide for Priests!