Hardcore Priest Class Overview

If you are curious about more general Hardcore tips that apply to not just Priest checkout our Hardcore Classic Overview that includes tips and tricks that will greatly increase your chances of surviving.

Strengths

• Extremely strong self healing.
• Minimal downtime due to emphasis on Wand usage.
• Highly sought after for groups/duos.

Weaknesses

• Below average kill speeds.
• Extremely Mana dependent.
• Kill speed is tied almost entirely to your weapon.

In Classic World of Warcraft there is a large variety of races that can be Priest, and even though some are certainly stronger than others, each has its own unique strengths.

• Human — Human is a great choice for Priest due to their Desperate Prayer ability which will act as a major emergency cooldown, something that Priest lacks.
• Dwarf — is typically the safest race to choose while leveling in Hardcore. Dwarf provides the unique racial Stoneform, which causes immunity to Bleeds, Disease and Poison effects, while also granting 10% additional Armor. This is a powerful defensive cooldown and can certainly help remove some of the peskier debuffs you will encounter in Classic. Dwarf also gets the Desperate Prayer ability that can act as an emergency button should you find yourself in a dangerous situation. Dwarf also provides Fear Ward, which is extremely powerful in end game content.
• Night Elf — Night Elf has the greatest chance to avoid damage due to their Elusiveness racial and the ability to stealth out of combat with Shadowmeld. There's not much else in the way of combat benefits this race offers outside of Dodge rating.

• Troll — Troll offers the strongest throughput DPS in all of Classic in the form of Berserking and has its own strong set of complimentary racials to their main DPS cooldown. Regeneration allows you to continue to regenerate 10% of your total Health while in combat.
• Undead — Undead does not provide a ton of in the form of combat benefits other than some added Shadow Resistance and the added Fear/Charm break ability, Will of the Forsaken.

The Stat priority that you will be following for Classic Hardcore is very similar to original Classic, but with a larger emphasis on Stamina and Intellect. The additional Health and Mana can, at times, be the difference between surviving an encounter with an enemy or not, and is typically more reliable than gearing towards just damage. Even in a best case scenario gear wise, you still have a significant chance of missing, and leveling in Hardcore is all about removing variability.

For a more in-depth explanation of what stats you should be prioritizing and their benefits to your leveling experience checkout our Priest leveling guide listed below, specifically the Priest Gear section.

While it may be tempting to consider leveling as Shadow, as it is the most damage of the three possible specs, Discipline is the perfect mix of kill speed and durability, and the recommended spec. Discipline allows you to deal a considerable amount of damage while maintaining most of the healing benefits as well as being extremely mana efficient comparatively to Shadow.

For a detailed route on how to spend each of your talent points while leveling check out our Discipline Priest talent build guide specifically for leveling. This page also includes an Discipline specifically priority list of how to deal maximum damage while leveling.

Professions are a huge part of Hardcore leveling as they can provide you with consumables that give considerable stat increases, items that can be used in case of emergencies or the ability to craft gear that will last you for countless levels. Below I will go in depth about the various professions combinations available in WoW Classic and their benefits specifically in a Hardcore context for Priest.

Herbalism and Alchemy is a great pairing of professions as it will allow you to make consumable potions that not only give you a burst of health in an emergency situation but also offer considerable stat increases and the occasionally solution to a niche situation. Priest specifically will benefit greatly from the Free Action Potion as it removes and makes you immune to all stunning/slowing effects for 30 seconds, slows being one of the Priests greatest weaknesses. There are also countless potions that will offer buffs to give temporary stat increases that will smooth out the leveling process by making you much stronger than you otherwise would be. The only downside to this profession being the time you must invest to harvest your own materials via Herbalism.

Engineering and Mining is a strong combo and while it offers less static increases than Alchemy and Herbalism it is still something you should consider as it offers quite a few extra buttons to get you out of a sticky situation. Target Dummy is a usable item that will instantly redirect threat to it, causing mobs to stop attacking you for either 15 seconds or until it dies. You will also have access to bombs that both deal AoE damage and incapacitate/stun whatever you are fighting which can sometimes be the difference in surviving an encounter.

Tailoring and Enchanting is a strong pair that will allow you to not only craft your own gear to fill any possible holes you may have in your equipment but also allow you to imbue it with powerful enchants that give you considerable stat increases. Enchanting can be tough to keep up with while leveling so you may have to plan around how you intend to get the needed materials to level this profession. Tailoring can have some hefty item requirements to craft some pieces so it is typically a better idea to plan around this or just use the profession as you can to fill any gaps in your gear that may have fallen behind level wise.

If you are curious about the most efficient way to level your professions, or would like a list of many of the useful items you can craft, make sure to check out our Classic Profession guides listed below.

Priest is one of the least gear reliant classes in the game, except for their Wand. This allows you to put a larger emphasis on maximizing your Health/Mana via Stamina and Intellect, the largest inhibitor of speed while leveling a priest is the availability of your resources.

Your ward attack does incur the global cooldown so always keep this in mind when fighting in a situation you may need to cast either another instant or start to cast a spell.

Priest benefits greatly from the use of macros. Due to the nature of buffs like Inner Fire and Shadow Ward (If you choose troll) refreshing them them so adding some quality of life macros can help make this less of a chore. Listed below is a guide on some of the most useful Macros that will greatly simplify using your classes abilities to their fullest extent.

Many people are enjoying Classic Hardcore by duo leveling. Priest is a class that shines when paired with another class that can deal large amounts of damage and safely pull multiple mobs. Priest is one of the strongest single target healers in the game and will benefit greatly from playing with a low down-time damage dealer.