Priest Class Guide — Class Guides · WoW Classic
A cloth-wearing healer who also deals Shadow damage. Priests heal single targets and groups, shield allies with Power Word: Shield and fight with Shadow Word: Pain and Mind Blast.
- Roles
- Healer, Damage
- Specializations
- 3
- Popular builds
- 6
- Version
- WoW Classic
How the priest plays
Priests have the largest healing toolkit in Classic: Lesser Heal, Heal, Greater Heal and Flash Heal for single targets, Renew over time, Prayer of Healing for a whole group, and Power Word: Shield to stop damage before it lands. Picking the right heal and rank for each moment is the whole job.
Mana is the long game. Spirit regenerates mana, but only after five seconds without casting; Meditation and Inner Focus stretch your pool further. While leveling, a wand is your main damage and saves mana for heals.
Shadow turns the priest into a damage dealer that heals its group through Vampiric Embrace, and every priest has Psychic Scream, Fade, Mind Control and Dispel Magic.
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
- Strong group healing with Prayer of Healing, plus every kind of single-target heal.
- Power Word: Shield prevents damage: great for leveling and player-versus-player play.
- Fortitude, Divine Spirit and Shadow Protection for the raid; Dispel Magic and Cure Disease.
- A wand and Shadow make solo play smoother than other healers'.
Weaknesses
- Cloth armour: the easiest healer to kill.
- Mana-hungry: careless casting empties you fast.
- Raids usually take only one or two Shadow priests.
Specializations
The specs compared
Each spec rated from 1 to 5 at what it does in WoW Classic. Single and several targets mean damage for damage specs, healing for healers and threat for tanks; a spec's own guide names its ratings for its role.
| Rating |  Discipline |  Holy |  Shadow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single target | |||
| Several targets | |||
| Survivability | |||
| Utility | |||
| Solo and leveling | |||
| Ease of play |
- Discipline
Healer, Damage · 2 builds
Mana efficiency, stronger shields and buffs, and Power Infusion: healing that wastes little.
Top talent:
Discipline guide
Power Infusion - Holy
Healer · 1 build
Pure healing: stronger and cheaper heals and group healing.
Top talent:
Holy guide
Lightwell - Shadow
Damage · 3 builds
Damage with Shadow spells, damage over time and Mind Flay, and Shadowform. The usual leveling tree.
Top talent:
Shadow guide
Shadowform
Gear
- Cloth with +Healing, Intellect, Spirit and mana per 5 seconds for healing; spell damage, hit and Stamina for Shadow.
- A wand: the best damage while leveling and a mana-free finisher.
- A staff, or a one-handed mace or dagger with an off-hand.
Each spec guide ranks its stats and says what to look for on its gear.