Priest Class Guide — Class Guides · WoW Burning Crusade
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
- 5
- Version
- WoW Burning Crusade
How the priest plays
Priests keep the largest healing toolkit and gain Prayer of Mending (a heal that jumps to the next player hurt), Binding Heal (heals you and a target), Mass Dispel and the Shadowfiend, which returns mana.
Shadow becomes a mana battery for the raid: Vampiric Touch returns mana to your party as you deal Shadow damage.
Discipline becomes a strong tank and arena healer with Pain Suppression, and Holy the best group healer with Circle of Healing.
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
- Prayer of Mending, Circle of Healing and Prayer of Healing: the best group healing in TBC.
- Shadow priests restore mana to their party.
- Mass Dispel removes magic from many targets, even Ice Block and Divine Shield.
- Fortitude, Fear Ward and Shadow Protection.
Weaknesses
- Cloth armour: fragile.
- Holy and Discipline have little damage for solo play.
- Shadow's personal damage is modest.
Specializations
The specs compared
Each spec rated from 1 to 5 at what it does in WoW Burning Crusade. 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 · 2 builds
Mana efficiency, stronger shields and buffs, and Power Infusion: healing that wastes little.
Top talent:
Discipline guide
Pain Suppression - Holy
Healer · 2 builds
Pure healing: stronger and cheaper heals and group healing.
Top talent:
Holy guide
Circle of Healing - Shadow
Damage · 1 build
Damage with Shadow spells, damage over time and Mind Flay, and Shadowform. The usual leveling tree.
Top talent:
Shadow guide
Vampiric Touch
Gear
- Cloth with +Healing, Spirit, Intellect and mana per 5 seconds for healing.
- Spell damage, hit and haste for Shadow; shadow damage gear counts.
- A wand for leveling.
Each spec guide ranks its stats and says what to look for on its gear.