For everyone that wants a WOW character that can deal out damage to an enemy before it reaches them and heal themselves at the same time, then choosing a Priest is for you. Although it takes a little bit of thought and planning to play a Priest effectively, it’s still a fun class to play and most end up loving it. Want to know more about becoming a shadow priest or having amazing healing skills? Keep reading the guide below!
The first step in leveling your priest is picking the race you would like to become. The best rule of thumb is this: No matter what anyone tells you, pick the race you would enjoy playing the most. Forget the fact that Blood Elves have Arcane Torrent or that Humans have Diplomacy as their racial abilities. If you don’t enjoy playing a certain race, simply don’t play it, regardless of what anyone says.
Here are the races that you can play as a Priest along with a few of the racial abilities that are beneficial to priests:
Alliance:
Draenei –Heroic Presence which gives a 1% chance to hit with spells and attacks to not only you but other party members as well within 30 yards. Shadow Resistance reduces the chance by 2% that you will be hit by shadow spells.
Dwarf – Mace specialization gives a 3% increase to your expertise in maces. Stone Form removes all disease, bleed and poison effects. It also increases your armor by 10% for 8 seconds.
Human – Mace Specialization gives a 3% increase to your expertise in maces. Every Man for Himself removes all movement impairing effects. Human Spirit increases your spirit by 3.
Night Elf – Quickness reduces the chance by 2% that melee or ranged attackers will hit you. Elusiveness reduces the chance that enemies will detect you while in Shadow or Stealth mode.
Horde:
Blood Elf – Arcane Torrent silences all enemies that are within an 8 yard range for 6 seconds and restores 6% of your mana. Magic Resistance reduces the chance by 2% that you will be hit by spells.
Troll – Berserking; for 10 seconds your attack speed is increased by 20%. Da Voodoo Shuffle reduces all and any movement impairing effects by 15% and Regeneration increases your health regeneration rate by 10%.
Undead – Cannibalize, when active, will regenerate 7% of your total health every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Will of the Forsaken removes any sleep, charm or fear effect on your character.
Now that you have chosen a race for your newly made priest, it’s now time to start leveling! As always, start leveling in your starting zone (for example Goldshire). Once you have completed all of the quests there, move on to your adjacent zone (example: Elwynn Forest). This will ensure that you get the highest rep and experience points and that you will be level 10 (or higher) once you are done. When you reach level 10, you also receive your first talent point.
When the time comes to choose your talent spec, you have 3 choices: Shadow, Discipline or Holy. If you want high amounts of DPS, choose Shadow. If you want to be a healer (and therefore never have to wait in the dungeon queue) choose Holy. If you would like to focus on a little healing and have strong buffs, Discipline is the way to go.
For the next 10 levels (10-20) you should still have available quests to complete in your adjacent zones (example: Elwynn forest and Westfall). Here’s a suggested list of where to place your first 10 talent points:
Shadow:
Shadow Tap, Improved Shadow Tap and Darkness
Holy:
Improved Renew and Holy Specialization
Discipline:
Twin Disciplines, Improved Inner Fire and Improved Power Word: Fortitude
Be sure that no matter where you decide to quest, that you do the Deadmines as your first dungeon (around level 15). You can also do Ragefire Chasm as well, but that instance isn’t known for having good items (also known as “drops”).
Now that you have reached level 20 and received your first mount, feel free to quest in a few places for levels 20-29. For the Alliance, you can quest in Redridge Mountains, Duskwood and the Wetlands. For the Horde, quest in the Barrens and Stonetalon Mountains.
For levels 20-30 here’s where you can place your talent points:
Shadow:
Improved Shadow Word: Pain, Shadow Focus and Improved Mind Blast
Holy:
Divine Fury (3 out of 5 points), Desperate Prayer, Inspiration and Improved Healing
Discipline:
Meditation, Inner Focus, Improved Power Word: Shield and Absolution
Now that you’re at level 30 you should be starting to notice the slight changes to your new priest. Here’s a list of places for potential questing for levels 30-39. If you prefer questing in the Eastern Kingdoms, head over to Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, the Badlands and Stranglethorn Vale (STV). Keep in mind though, that you will not be able to finish all the quests in these zones until you are level 40. It’s advisable to quest in Stranglethorn Vale (STV) last since leveling there can take you all the way to level 45.
However, if questing in Kalimdor is more for you, start at Thousand Needles, Desolace and save Dustwallow Marsh for last since just like STV, Dustwallow Marsh can take you all the way to level 45. Instances of note at this level are Blackfathom Deeps, Shadowfang Keep,Razorfen Kraul and Gnomeregan.
Once you reached the mid-level 30s (32, 33, etc.) be sure to do Razorfen Downs and the Scarlet Monastery as well.
Here are some places to put your talent points for levels 30-40:
Shadow:
Mind Flay, Veiled Shadows, Shadow Reach, Shadow Weaving and Vampiric Embrace
Holy:
Spiritual Healing and Spiritual Guidance
Discipline:
Mental Agility, Reflective Shield and Mental Strength.
Congratulations on reaching level 40 and receiving your epic mount! You’re now halfway there to an awesome level 80 priest! Now that you are at level 40, here are some places to quest for levels 40-49. If you would like to do most of your questing in the Eastern Kingdoms, finish questing in STV and the Badlands. Once you’ve finished there you can head over to the Hinterlands and the Searing Gorge. You can also start questing in the Blasted Lands, but just like STV it will take you (at least) to level 55 to finish. If questing in Kalimdor is more for you, finish questing in Dustwallow Marsh and then head over to Feralas and Tanaris.
Good instances at level 40 or so are Zul’Farrak, Maraudon and Uldaman. Although you can enter Uldaman at level 37, it is strongly suggested (especially if you’re in a Pick Up Group) that you wait until you’re at least at level 40 or 41.
For levels 40-50 here’s where you can place your next 10 talent points:
Shadow:
Shadow Form, Improved Vampiric Embrace, Focused Mind and Improved Devouring Plague.
Holy:
Spirit of Redemption, Holy Concentration and Blessed Resilience
Discipline:
Soul Warding, Focused Power, Enlightenment, Focused Will (1 point) and Power Infusion
Now that you’re at level 50, here are some places to quest and explore for levels 50-59. For those of you that love to quest in Kalimdor, Azshara, Felwood and the Un’goro Cratr are good places to start. They will take you to level 55. Finish up in Winterspring and Silithus. For all the Eastern Kingdom lovers, finish any quests you may have in the Blasted Lands and then begin the journey to the Burning Steppes, Western and Eastern Plaguelands.
For levels 50-60, here’s where you can place your talent points:
Shadow:
Mind Melt, Shadow Power, and Misery.
Holy:
Empowered Healing, Empowered Renew and Circle of Healing
Discipline:
Improved Flash Heal, Renewed Hope, Rapture and Aspiration
And now you’re at level 60 and on your way to Outland! Although questing in Outland may seem overwhelming at first, here’s the most popular order of zones to follow when questing here:
Hellfire Peninsula, Zangarmarsh, Terokkar Forest, Nagrand, Blade’s Edge Mountains, Netherstorm and Shadowmoon Valley. There are quite a few instances that are available for levels 50-60. However, if you only do one dungeon at this level pick Blackrock Depths. Blackrock Depths is known for the massive amounts of cloaks, cloth armor, trinkets and rings that are available for all cloth wearers, especially priests.
For levels 60-69 (or 70) here’s where to place the last of your talent points:
Shadow:
Vampiric Touch, Pain and Suffering, Twisted Faith and Dispersion
Holy:
Test of Faith, Divine Providence and Guardian Spirit
Discipline:
Divine Aegis, Pain Suppression, Grace, Borrowed Time and Penance
Way to go! Only 10 more levels and you’ll have a level 80 priest! Questing from level 70-80 takes place in Nothrend. Just like Outland, here’s the most popular order for questing in the icy zone. Start in the Borean Tundra then proceed to the Howling Fjord, Dragonblight, Grizzly Hills, Zul’Drak, Sholazar Basin, Crystalsong Forest, Storm Peaks, Icecrown and Wintergrasp.
Between the amount of raids and dungeons that you can do from levels 60-80 are simply mind blowing. Here’s just a small sample of some of the dungeons you can do:
For levels 60-70:
Hellfire Citadel, Coilfang Reservoir and Caverns of Time
For levels 70-80:
Auchindon, Magister’s Terace, Tempest Keep and Ulduar
You should have noticed by now that you have a few talent points left over. Here are some suggestions to where you can place these points to make your specc’ing even better.
For the Shadow talent spec, place you remaining points in the Discipline talent tree under Twin Disciplines, Improved Inner Fire, Improved Power Word: Fortitude and Meditation.
For the Holy talent spec, place your remaining points in the Discipline talent tree as well. But choose to place your remaing points in Twin Disciplines, Silent Resolve, Improved Power Word: Fortitude, Meditation and Improved Power Word: Sheild.
And last but not least, if you decided to spec in the Discipline talent tree, place the remaining points in the Holy talent tree. Good places to put the leftover points are Healing Focus, Improved Renew, Holy Specialization and Desperate Prayer.
