Priest Leveling Guide

Re: Priest Leveling Guide

by Ana » Sun Feb 07, 2016 5:29 pm

For the record the prequest for Gravestone requires lvl 20ish if you're Alliance.

Wand choice is indeed straightforward up until level 30-35 when they start falling short and there aren't any easily obtainable / cheap alternatives available. The case with spirit tap regeneration is similar, actually - at level 20 spirit tap is just insane. At level 35 it's still very good but won't cover your mana if you do 2 or more mindblasts per mob.
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Re: Priest Leveling Guide

by Forcerius » Sun Feb 07, 2016 6:25 pm

Ana wrote:For the record the prequest for Gravestone requires lvl 20ish if you're Alliance.

Wand choice is indeed straightforward up until level 30-35 when they start falling short and there aren't any easily obtainable / cheap alternatives available. The case with spirit tap regeneration is similar, actually - at level 20 spirit tap is just insane. At level 35 it's still very good but won't cover your mana if you do 2 or more mindblasts per mob.


You sure? I read it was 18. I was able to get the first part of the quest where you have to find the guy (I think I was 20 though). Havn't had a chance to hit BFD yet though to check the second part. I also read it was bugged for Alliance. Otherwise I generally agree with the rest of what you said. Do you recommend imp wand? I'm still undecided.
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Re: Priest Leveling Guide

by Ana » Sun Feb 07, 2016 8:44 pm

Absolutely use imp wand if you're going to wand a lot :P

2nd part of the quest requires lvl 18 but first requires 20. Just a random quirk of the game.
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Re: Priest Leveling Guide

by Forcerius » Mon Feb 08, 2016 2:07 am

Ana wrote:Absolutely use imp wand if you're going to wand a lot :P

2nd part of the quest requires lvl 18 but first requires 20. Just a random quirk of the game.


Great, thanks.
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Re: Priest Leveling Guide

by Phyle » Mon Feb 08, 2016 5:35 am

At the moment I am level 35 and leveling is really exhausting and demotivating... Can you prove that it will be faster when I have my shadow form?

What is your personal experience with this changeing point by leveling a priest?
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Re: Priest Leveling Guide

by Fisher » Mon Feb 08, 2016 2:07 pm

Ana wrote:I actually butted in because I read through the OP's guide again and 2 things came to mind -

1. Which faction did you level in?
2. You list a bunch of wands best for specific levels. Half of them are BoE random drops. Do you honestly expect a leveling priest to spend dozens of gold pieces to get any of them at all? Because the general point about "good wand for your level for killing mobs fast" is kinda moot if you can't realistically afford most of them. 90% of leveling priests will be stuck with Gravestone Scepter until they get the green wand from STV, for instance (which isn't even good).


1. Horde, because I intend to PvP every now and then, and both Devouring Plague and Will of the Forsaken are great for that.
2. Those are the best-in-slot wands for each level. It doesn't matter if they're BoE wands or not. They are the best in slot because they are the best. No, I don't expect everyone to buy every BiS wand while leveling, but it's not hard to earn enough money to buy a decent wand every time a better one becomes available.

Ana wrote:As for wands, the early levels ones are certainly fine. But try affording, say, Starfaller AND Jaina's Firestarter AND a mount.


Read my gold management part of the guide if you need help with that. Every time I returned to a city to train, I would auction things off. The next day, I'd have anywhere from 30-100 more gold than I had before.

Forcerius wrote:
Ana wrote:(unless I mindblasted on cooldown, which isn't the best use for mana)


Oh, so you CAN kill stuff as fast as mages, thanks for proving my point. And the spirit regen will keep your mana high. So what are you arguing for again? And upgrading wands is irrelevant because the point is you can find a decent and affordable wand regardless of what lvl you are. The OP just pointed out how good the low level ones are and how easy you can get them at low levels.


Yes, you can do great DPS. DPS isn't what matters while leveling, though. Priests are able to level quickly by being able to kill mobs without ever stopping.

As for the wands, I was listing the best wand (the most DPS) each time a new one became available, because if you want to level quickly, that is the single most important slot to upgrade.

Forcerius wrote:Yeah i'm contradicting my own advice by arguing. And I use the same rotation as you, only because it doesn't seem worth the global to mind blast between wanding. How do you feel about 5/5 imp wands though? I've heard people say its necessary, and I leveled with it so far, but maybe those points could be used elsewhere.


It usually isn't worth Mind Blasting twice unless it's PvP, or the mob has enough health to survive 2x Mind Blasts, a full duration Shadow Word: Pain, and constant wanding. Mind Blasting on cooldown is a noticeable DPS increase, but a simultaneously noticeable mana cost increase.

5/5 Improved Wands is necessary because your wand will do ~60% of your DPS until you are level 40, then it does ~40% of your DPS. This is, of course, assuming you are using the "Mind Blast + Shadow Word: Pain + Wand" rotation. If you start throwing in Mind Flays, it might do less than that, but it's still free DPS, and not going oom is a greay way to improve efficiency.

I actually opted for taking Mind Blast out of my rotation and replacing it with 2x Mind Flays to do the same damage for much less mana. SW:P + 2x MF + Wand, usually.

Ana wrote:The OP...
- claims priests kill things fast if their wand is up to level
- lists wands that are up to level, half of which are BoE and thus expensive
- tells you then that you need to be careful spending gold so that you can afford a mount asap (very sensible)
- ... still claims priests kill things fast

If you can't see the logic fail in this, I really don't know how to make it more clear...


Guide says:

"A lot of the best wands available are Bind on Equip, which means relying on luck and RNG to drop the wand, or buying it. The best wands available are going to be expensive, which means the bank might have to be broken a few times to obtain them. However, if too much money is spent on wands, other equipment, and training, there won't be enough money left in the bank to buy a mount and riding training at level 40...

...That means managing money properly. The following tips should help fill those pockets with plenty of coin:..."

Perhaps I was unclear. That's fair. What I meant was "plenty of coin to buy wands and a mount."

Forcerius wrote:I just noticed you said this too "Btw fear is better than PWSing before pull. Cheaper." - That's a good idea I never thought about, thanks. Assuming you have the room to fear.


Go read the 18th post on the thread. Page 2, second to last post. Then read the 20st post. Page 3, first post.

Forcerius wrote:
Ana wrote:Absolutely use imp wand if you're going to wand a lot :P

2nd part of the quest requires lvl 18 but first requires 20. Just a random quirk of the game.


Great, thanks.


I will fix this right now. On Horde, there is no pre-quest. You can get the wand at level 18 as Horde. Thanks for pointing it out, Ana.

Phyle wrote:At the moment I am level 35 and leveling is really exhausting and demotivating... Can you prove that it will be faster when I have my shadow form?

What is your personal experience with this changeing point by leveling a priest?


No real need to prove anything. You can just look at Shadow Form and see what it does for you. Take your damage and multiply it by 1.15. If you're using a Shadow wand, then go ahead and multiply that as well. Then take all the physical damage you take and multiply it by .85. That's Shadow Form.

My personal experience was that mobs were stupidly easy to kill before level 30, and I purposely pulled 2-3 mobs at a time to keep myself entertained. Or I'd watch videos while I toggled my wand. Then, 30-40, I never got my Necrotic Wand, and had already used Starfaller on my 29 Warlock, so I was stuck using Gravestone Scepter until 37, when I finally got Jaina's Firestarter. It was a tough time, because 30-40 is usually spent in STV and other zones, but I wasn't earning enough experience, so I was fighting mobs 4-5 levels higher than me in STV with a wand nearly 20 levels behind.

Once I hit 40, I actually had to stop casting Mind Blast because mobs were dying too fast and it was wasting my mana. The only issue I had really had after that point was when I got my Wand of Biting Cold. Because it deals frost damage, mobs in Winterspring took a little longer to kill than normal, and I had already sold my old wand. Oops! I haven't done the math to see if it would be worth taking the next best thing, or just dealing with the fact that so much of the damage was resisted, but keep that in mind.
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Re: Priest Leveling Guide

by Ana » Mon Feb 08, 2016 2:39 pm

Phyle wrote:At the moment I am level 35 and leveling is really exhausting and demotivating... Can you prove that it will be faster when I have my shadow form?

What is your personal experience with this changeing point by leveling a priest?


Shadowform and Darkness damage bonuses are multiplicative which puts you on +26,5% shadow damage before you even apply Shadow Weaving to a target.

At level 42 you get SWP rank 6. 510 damage over 18 sec, that's 28 dps without talents, 35 dps with talents.
At level 44 you get Mind Flay rank 4. 261 damage over 3 sec, that's 87 dps without talents, 110 dps with talents.

This is at the beginning of each pull. As you put a few shadow spells on the targets your damage ramps up even more thanks to Weaving. So yeah, it gets slightly less tedious. Should this translate to actual faster leveling depends on whether you have forced breaks between mobs (in which case a wanding priest will sit on full mana for no purpose while you simply kill shit faster) or you chain pull like crazy (in which case a wanding priest will never get exhausted from his turtle pace while you will need to drink sometimes).



Btw a good idea of a balance between cheap-but-tricky fearing and PWS may be to use PWS but downrank it like crazy. You only need to make sure the mob doesn't hit you for most of the fight.


@Fisher
About factions. Well, I figured you were Horde when you said something along the lines of "if you need to heal in PvP, you're already dead" :D
I'm not sure if you're aware, but should you play Alliance, then 90% of the gankers are going to be immune to the only form of CC you have (for the first minute of the fight anyway). If you really think you can take a pounding from some dps class for a minute without healing, think again. If you think you can outdps them without healing... think again.

INB4 "this is a leveling guide yadda yadda": I noticed. I would like to point out that if you're on the PvP realm (like 90% of Nost population), then yes, world PvP considerations ARE relevant to leveling. Because, you know, people will attack you during leveling. You can bend down and take it in the rear every time some angsty UD rogue decides to have some fun but that isn't very efficient leveling tbh.
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Re: Priest Leveling Guide

by Fisher » Mon Feb 08, 2016 4:48 pm

Ana wrote:INB4 "this is a leveling guide yadda yadda": I noticed. I would like to point out that if you're on the PvP realm (like 90% of Nost population), then yes, world PvP considerations ARE relevant to leveling. Because, you know, people will attack you during leveling. You can bend down and take it in the rear every time some angsty UD rogue decides to have some fun but that isn't very efficient leveling tbh.


As a pre-post note, the reason I don't want to talk about PvP in this guide is not because PvP doesn't happen while leveling, but because things like general PvP strategy, when to use what, etc, are things that ONLY relate to PvP; And, for that reason, they are excluded from my guide. But, I'll go ahead and cover each subject in relation to PvE and PvP, since you seem so focused on it.

Ana wrote:...Should this translate to actual faster leveling depends on whether you have forced breaks between mobs (in which case a wanding priest will sit on full mana for no purpose while you simply kill shit faster) or you chain pull like crazy (in which case a wanding priest will never get exhausted from his turtle pace while you will need to drink sometimes).


Because you are casting spells like Shadow Word: Pain and Mind Flay, you'll never be at full mana. As long as you remain above 50%, and are hovering at around the same percentage of mana after each fight, it's fine. The point of not spamming spells is not to be full mana, but to not be losing mana, i.e., never having to drink. Having to stop to drink is downtime, and the idea is to balance doing more DPS without having to sacrifice time by drinking.

Also, since you're so worried about PvP, having more mana is always beneficial. Can't do DPS if you have no mana. Dispelling, using Power Word: Shield on cooldown, and spamming Mind Flay non-stop in between Mind Blasting on cooldown... that all costs mana. No way you'll be able to do it if you're at 20% mana because you wanted to do more DPS while leveling.

Finally, since you were bringing up the idea of not having money to buy wands and a mount, maybe you could save some money by not having to buy water. Unless you're sitting around in Orgrimmar asking a mage for some water every time you log in, you're going to spend a lot of money (and time) drinking every 2-3 mobs.

Ana wrote:Btw a good idea of a balance between cheap-but-tricky fearing and PWS may be to use PWS but downrank it like crazy. You only need to make sure the mob doesn't hit you for most of the fight.


This might actually be a good idea, as long as it doesn't break too soon. Reapplying Inner Fire costs mana, and taking damage means having to heal with Vampiric Embrace. If you only take enough damage for Spirit Tap to take care of, and don't have to reapply Inner Fire too often, it might be worth doing. However, I am still against the idea of using Psychic Scream as a form of damage reduction while leveling, and if making sure Power Word: Shield doesn't break by using Psychic Scream is the plan, then I'd rather just keep my Power Word: Shield at max rank and use that exclusively.

In regards to PvP, I'd imagine you'd be more open to the idea of saving Psychic Scream for when it's needed, e.g., when a player ganks you. Sure, most people can break it, but usually only once per fight, and a priest can either kill someone quick enough to not need it twice, or can survive long enough to use it more than once. While leveling, a rogue won't have the gear to do the insane burst you're likely imagining. Not because it's unlikely they'll have it, but because it's literally impossible to do that kind of damage without the gear (or spell ranks) only a level 60 can use. Even while leveling in Searing Gorge and Burning Steppes, level 60 rogues weren't able to kill me because they didn't do enough damage to even get through Power Word: Shield, unless they had Tier 2 or equivalent.

Maybe I fought bad rogues. Maybe I'm just really good. Maybe I was overgeared and they underestimated me, so I surprised them. Whatever the case, it happened consistently, and I wouldn't get very far if I didn't have my Psychic Scream ready.

Ana wrote:About factions. Well, I figured you were Horde when you said something along the lines of "if you need to heal in PvP, you're already dead" :D


That has nothing to do with my faction. I say that because most people will instantly break your Psychic Scream with a trinket, an ability, or their Undead racial. You shouldn't be casting healing spells while a player is hitting you, you should control them and heal without risking of being interrupted or knocked back; So when you Psychic Scream to heal, you're probably dead, because they'll break it, then interrupt you (if they can) and kill you; Or, you'll endlessly spend mana trying to heal the damage they deal instead of just killing them to stop the damage completely. Either way, you usually don't have time to be casting heals.

Power Word: Shield, although expensive, is very effective in PvP. Only against other priests and shamans does its usefulness fade, and even then, a global cooldown spent purging it from you is a global cooldown you get to spend killing them. At that point, it becomes a matter of whom is casting the right spells sooner.

Ana wrote:I'm not sure if you're aware, but should you play Alliance, then 90% of the gankers are going to be immune to the only form of CC you have (for the first minute of the fight anyway). If you really think you can take a pounding from some dps class for a minute without healing, think again. If you think you can outdps them without healing... think again.


Immune for a minute? If you're talking about Will of the Forsaken, its immunity only lasts 5 seconds, and no player is going to risk trying to pre-WotF a Psychic Scream. If you meant warriors using Berserker Rage, it only lasts 10 seconds, can only be used in Berserker Stance (enjoy doing more damage to them in exchange for their 3% crit chance), and no warrior is going to preemptively Berserker Rage a Psychic Scream. Any player dumb enough to use either of these abilities before you Psychic Scream will be a corpse by the end of the fight. If you meant warriors' Death Wish, it only lasts 30 seconds, and reduces their resistances by 20%, meaning more damage (I assume this goes into negative resistances, like Curse of Elements does). If you meant a shaman's Tremor Totem, just wand it before you Psychic Scream. If you meant a mage's Ice Block, they aren't doing any damage to you while blocked. If you meant the PvP trinket, it only breaks CC, and has a 5 minute cooldown in comparison to your Psychic Scream's 30 (or 26) second cooldown.

In addition, there is no way 90% of the Horde player base is Undead, and I doubt even all of the classes with some sort of fear break/immunity make up 90% of the Horde player base. If you meant that while playing Alliance, you get ganked by players with fear breaks/immunity 90% of the time, I think you have a bit of confirmation bias. If the number was an exaggeration, then the statement doesn't exactly hold a lot of merit, does it?

I don't want to go too into detail about how to counter each and every class, but my general philosophy is that the best form of crowd control is death. Shadow Word: Pain, Mind Blast, Mind Flay x2-3, Mind Blast, they're dead. They have heals? Silence them. They have heals over time, absorbs, or buffs? Dispel them. Are they hitting you? Power Word: Shield. They didn't break Psychic Scream instantly? Wand or swap out of Shadow Form and Renew or Greater Heal, depending on the class and damage you've taken. You're out of mana? Wand them down with that awesome BiS wand you should have.

From what I've experienced, the only time you'll get ganked is when they expect it to be impossible to win, i.e., when a mob (or several) is on you, they are in a group, or they are 6+ levels higher than you. Otherwise, everyone will run away from a 1v1. Anyone who doesn't will be shown the unexpected power of vanilla Shadow priests.
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Re: Priest Leveling Guide

by Ana » Mon Feb 08, 2016 5:48 pm

Damn that's too much to quote, I'll just pick up the essentials.

Fisher wrote:
Ana wrote:Btw a good idea of a balance between cheap-but-tricky fearing and PWS may be to use PWS but downrank it like crazy. You only need to make sure the mob doesn't hit you for most of the fight.


This might actually be a good idea, as long as it doesn't break too soon. (...) However, I am still against the idea of using Psychic Scream as a form of damage reduction while leveling, and if making sure Power Word: Shield doesn't break by using Psychic Scream is the plan, then I'd rather just keep my Power Word: Shield at max rank and use that exclusively.


No, the idea was to skip fearing but not have to deal with the fact that PWS is much more expensive by the way of, well, using the less expensive version.


Fisher wrote:You shouldn't be casting healing spells while a player is hitting you, you should control them


With what? Do you spend gold on engineering while leveling? Otherwise you have no CC save fear. And yes, they'll break your fear instantly.

Fisher wrote:Immune for a minute?


- any undead opens on you
- you fear
- WotF
- 30 seconds later: you fear
- trinket (majority of gankers are rogues and mages so their trinket removes fear)
- 30 seconds later: fear finally sticks
- meanwhile: you wanna dps them? get a kick / pummel / CS / whatever, enjoy sitting there watching the tide

As I see it the best thing that can happen is if they indeed interrupt your Shadow school, because you instantly drop Shadowform, heal up + Renew and destroy them once the interrupt cooldown is over. However you won't heal up because you don't have healing focus.

90% was of course an exaggeration but not by much. Iirc roughly 50-60% of Horde playerbase is undead, and we are talking about ganking here, most angsty neckbeards pick UD rogue or something similar for ganking because they want to feel mighty.


Two side notes:
1. I only noticed just now that you went for Silence instead of Shadow Reach. This does help a tremendous amount. Incidentally, it also explains your issues with MF breaking when doing my fear-on-mob strat. 24 yards of range makes the trick MUCH more reliable. Just to wrap up that thing.
2. PvP considerations make excessive use of MF in grinding favorable. That's because you're generally better off spending as little time as possible with a mob on you, should a ganker show up. You may have less mana to use on the enemy player but you don't have to worry as much about your shield getting eaten in 5 seconds, or pushback on flaying or whatever.
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Re: Priest Leveling Guide

by smilkovpetko » Mon Feb 08, 2016 6:16 pm

the most foolish ever i heard is to mindflay when you are questing :

1- mana inefficient due to shielding and fear
2- interrupted and wont do crap damage
3- good for pvp but sadly bugged with server lag
4- good for dungeon

for questing and leveling i have already pointed = spirit tap , mediation , wand spec, imp shield, impr 5/5 mb ,= gg

impossible to oom , you can multidot , your mana will regen like nerd , your shield will survive you long enough , you can time to time renew if you are too low hp after kill

spec for leveling/questing and pvp :

https://en.nostalrius.org/talents/pries ... 5100511251

start with spirit tap , then switch to discipline (except inner focus and mediation) , then switch to shadow again , at very end go get inner focus and mediation.

mindlfay use only against gankers and for dungeons , never for questing.

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