Priest Class Guide — Class Guides · WoW Wrath of the Lich King

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 Wrath of the Lich King

How the priest plays

Priests in Wrath have three strong specs: Discipline absorbs damage before it lands, Holy heals groups, and Shadow deals damage while restoring the raid's mana through Replenishment.

New tools include Penance, Divine Hymn, Hymn of Hope, Guardian Spirit, Mind Sear and Dispersion.

Every priest brings Power Word: Fortitude, Shadow Protection, Fear Ward and Mass Dispel.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Three strong specs for raids and arenas.
Hymn of Hope and Divine Hymn for the raid.
Mass Dispel and Fear Ward.
Shadow brings Replenishment.

Weaknesses

Cloth armour: fragile.
Holy and Discipline have low damage for solo play.

Specializations

The specs compared

Each spec rated from 1 to 5 at what it does in WoW Wrath of the Lich King. 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:Penance
Discipline guide
Holy
Healer · 1 build
Pure healing: stronger and cheaper heals and group healing.
Top talent:Guardian Spirit
Holy guide
Shadow
Damage · 3 builds
Damage with Shadow spells, damage over time and Mind Flay, and Shadowform. The usual leveling tree.
Top talent:Dispersion
Shadow guide

Gear

Cloth with spell power, Intellect, Spirit and haste for healing.
Spell power, hit (17%, 446 rating), haste and crit for Shadow.
A wand for leveling.

Each spec guide ranks its stats and says what to look for on its gear.