The Priest: -Last Updated 4-10-2004

Available to: Human, Night Elf, Troll, Undead, Dwarf Best For: Night Elf, Undead Primary Attribute: Skills Require... Mana Allowable Armor: Cloth Allowable Weapons: Wands, Staff, Maces The Priest is a supporting caster, adept at boosting his allies to superhuman proportions. In terms of damage output, she is no match for that of the mage, and neither does she have a pet to soak up damage like that of the Warlock. While the priest really shines in parties, she is certainly not defenseless alone. Armed with a wide array a powerful defensive spells and offensive enchantments, she is arguably a better solo character than any other caster.

The Priest is the ideal class to play if you intend World of Warcraft to be a social experience. There is no other class as welcome in a party as the priest. Her wide arsenal of buffs and healing spells reduces the downtime of a party, and enhances their skills so that they're equivalent to warriors several levels higher.

While in conventional MMORPGs, priests only worked in parties, this is not the case in World of Warcraft. While the priest may not deal a huge amount of damage, all her protection and healing spells can be cast on herself. When used, the Priests lack of ability to wear armor and weak hitpoints becomes very much irrelevant. .

Spell Mechanics:

The spell system of the Priest works in a very similar fashion to that of the mage. Instead of allocating skill points to spells at each level, the Warlock purchases her spells from Priest Trainers. This ensures that a player is not penalized for casting a wide range of spells over specializing in a certain type.

In order to be successful, a priest should not specialize to one sort of magic. While Holy Magic provides most of the buffs useful in parties, Shadow Magic is very much necessary to deal the damage, and keep the priest alive.

Spell Types
The Priest has several schools of magic, with effects far ranged and varied. However, their spells basically boil down to the following categories:

Sorcery Spells:
Take time to cast, but have no cool down. They can be used as much as casting time allows. However, if the caster is struck while casting the spell, the casting time increases and the spell may be disrupted altogether. Thus casting sorceries while under attack is questionable. Any sorcery with over 2.5s casting time should not be used in melee unless protected by Holy Word: Shield. Eg: Heal

Instant Spells:
No casting time, but have a cooldown timer. They are great in mid combat as there's no chance they will be disrupted. In addition, you can cast them immediately after a sorcery, or even between two attacks! Their drawback is that you have to wait a while to use them again. Note that, different instant spells have separate cooldown timers, so you can cast two different instant spells one after the other for brutal damage. Eg: Mind Blast, Holy Word: Shield

The priest has a well balanced range of spells, and in fact has series of instant damage spells. Compared to either the Warlock or Mage, the Priest has a lot more instant spells, this coupled with her ability to wield a mace, makes her much more adept in melee combat than other spellcasters. Despite this, a Priest should stay avoid combat when allied with other players, given that her most powerful healing spells are easily disrupted.

Managing Threat
The ideal situation in a party is for a priest to heal and buff the party while they fight. Due to the fact that the Priest can heal a lot more efficiently per mana point that to damage, it is sometimes best if the Priest didn't aggravate any monsters at all. (Remember, experience is shared within parties)

Thus, Priest has spells that decrease the threat rating of monsters. These are extremely useful to get the monsters to attack someone else. Remember, you're not a warrior, and people in your party would much rather you stay alive and heal, than fight and not heal!

Holy Magic

Holy Magic is geared mostly towards defense, with spells that heal and buff your allies. For a priest to be useful, such spells are very much essential. In addition, it offers a limited direct damage spell, which should only used once you've run out of buffs to cast.

	Holy Word: Fortitude -Instant Duration: 30 min Target: Self or Ally This is an enchantment that you should always have activated. Its long duration means that casting cost is irrelevant. Remember that 1 Stamina roughly equates to 20 extra hitpoints, so a boost of 2 stamina at level 1 is 40hp. That's quite significant considering the Priests starts with just a little more than 50. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Cooldown Range Stamina Boost 1 1 10 65 0.5s 30 yrd 2 2 12 10 165 0.5s 30 yrd 4 3 24 50 430 0.5s 30 yrd 8 4 38 50 810 0.5s 30 yrd 14
	Holy Smite -Sorcery Cooldown: None Target: Enemy The Priests staple ranged attack deals less damage than both that of the Mage's fireball and the Warlock's shadow bolt, and also has a worse mana to hp ratio. Thus, many players may prefer to only use the spell from afar and switch to their mace when the enemy engages melee. After all, a Priests protection and healing spells are far more powerful, and far more mana efficient. That said, Holy Smite is quite powerful against Undead, and has a low casting time at higher levels, and hence remains ever useful, especially when soloing. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Casting Time Range Damage Damage/Mana 1 1 0 25 1.5s 30 yrd 13-17 0.60 2 8 3 50 35 2.0s 30 yrd 27-31 0.83 3 16 18 75 2.0s 30 yrd 64-74 0.83 4 24 50 120 2.0s 30 yrd 112-128 0.92 5 32 1 170 2.0s 30 yrd 173-196 1.09 6 40 2 220 2.0s 30 yrd 224-274 1.13
	Lesser Heal -Sorcery Cooldown: Instant Target: Self or Ally The first of a series of healing spells for the priest. Lesser heal spells have relatively short casting times and can be cast in battle. However. then don't heal nearly as much as higher level healing spells. Yet, often, an extra 100 life is quite enough, and thus Less Healing is a still viable spell for mid-battles and minor wounds even at high levels. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Casting Time Range HP Healed HP Healed/Mana 1 1 0 40 1.5s 40 yrd 43-53 1.20 2 6 1 60 2.0s 40 yrd 75-89 1.37 3 10 7 120 2.5s 40 yrd 172-202 1.56
	Holy Word: Shield -Instant Casting Time: Instant Duration: 1 Min Target: Self or Ally One of the most useful and essential Priest Spells in both parties and solo. Holy Word: Shield instant creates an barrier around the target, completely absorbing the first x hpof damage. It is an instant spell with extremely low cooldown and comparably low mana, and can thus be cast over and over again in the middle of battle. In fact, provided the Priest has mana, she is almost impossible to kill. What's even better is that absorbed attacks do not disrupt spell casting. Thus the spell provides an instant respite that allows the Priest to heal herself, or execute a powerful offensive spell with high casting time in the middle of combat. Allied Warlocks and Mages will love you for this spell, for it allows them to use their Channelling Spells under attack. Always use this spell before combat, and make sure you save enough mana to have this spell recast every time it runs out. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Cooldown Range Damage Absorbed HP Absorbed/Mana 1 6 80 25 2.0s 40 yrd 45 1.29 2 12 10 60 2.0s 40 yrd 83 1.38 3 18 25 95 2.0s 40 yrd 141 1.48 4 24 50 135 2.0s 40 yrd 215 1.59 5 30 80 180 2.0s 40 yrd 305 1.69 6 36 1 50 220 2.0s 40 yrd 395 1.79
	Renew -Sorcery Cooldown: 0 Target: Self or Ally While renew does not instant heal a target, but rather heals it over time, it still has a few advantages over heal spells. It costs very little mana, and can be used before a battle to effective increase the Max HP of the enchanted unit. The spell is also great for light healing after battles. During the fray, however, Heal is still a much more useful spell. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Casting Time Range HP Healed HP Absorbed/Mana 1 8 3 50 30 2.0s 40 yrd 50hp over 15s 1.67 2 14 11 50 2.0s 40 yrd 90hp over 15s 1.80 3 20 30 80 2.0s 40 yrd 150hp over 15s 1.88 4 26 60 115 2.0s 40 yrd 225hp over 15s 1.96 5 32 1 150 2.0s 40 yrd 310hp over 15s 2.07
	Resurrection -Sorcery Cooldown: 0 Target: Ally Brings a target ally back to life. This spell is quite mana intensive, and has a casting time that makes it almost impossible to cast in battle. However, many players will be thankful that they don't need to make another corpse run. Resurrection is as essential as it sounds, however, since resurrected players will suffer resurrection sickness of several minutes, where all their attributes are severely decreased. Consequently, some players may prefer to do a corpse run over being resurrected. Resurrected players return to life with a fraction of their life. The higher ranked the spell, the more life players begin with. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Casting Time Range Starting Life/Mana 1 10 3 50 150 10.0s 40 yrd 15% 2 40 2 250 10.0s 40 yrd 30%
	Inner Fire -Instant Casting Time: Instant Duration: 3 Min Target: Self While the Priest is only able to wear cloth armor, this spell serves to nullify that problem. When in effect, the Priests armor increases to a range acceptable for Rogue. In addition, it also boosts damage by a little. This, coupled with shield and healing, can make the Priest an able melee fighter. While the duration is the short, the Mana Cost is low, and casting time instant, thus the spell should be used in any battle that's not expected to be a pushover. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Cooldown Armor Boost Damage Boost 1 12 10 30 1.5s 60 2 2 20 30 45 1.5s 100 4 3 30 80 75 1.5s 140 6 4 40 2 125 1.5s 180 8
	Nullify Decease -Instant Casting Time: Instant Target: Self or Ally Certain monsters in the game can cause you to be diseased. Diseases are generally not lethal, but do lower your attributes by a significant amount, and can thus be quite an annoyance. Nullify Decease removes this problem by curing the target of all diseases. Though it also makes the target immune to deceases for a short period of time, it is usually used to dispel a decease after battle. Thus, you may not wish to spent the money on higher levels of this spell. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Cooldown Range Disease Immunity For 1 14 13 60 1.5s 30yd 15s 2 32 1 100 1.5s 30yd 20s
	Heal -Sorcery Cooldown: Instant Target: Self or Ally The second of a series of healing spells for the priest. Heal spells have longer casting times than lesser and are thus cumbersome to use in melee. However. when supported by party members or Holy Word shield, a Priest can almost always heal a allied player or herself back to near full health with one casting of the spell. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Casting Time Range HP Healed HP Healed/Mana 1 16 18 200 3.5s 40 yrd 305-351 1.64 2 22 40 305 4.0s 40 yrd 495-564 1.74 3 28 70 440 4.0s 40 yrd 755-847 1.82 4 34 1 20 560 4.0s 40 yrd 1014-1147 1.82
	Holy Protection -Instant Cooldown: 1.0s Duration: 30min Target: Self or Ally Increases the target's Holy Resistance. A situation specific spell that's very useful against enemy Priests. It costs a huge amount of many, but has a very long duration, and hence should be cast whenever you know you're in an area that as Holy Monsters. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Range Bonus Holy Resistance 1 30 80 500 30 yrd 30
	Prayer of Healing -Sorcery Cooldown: None Target: Entire Party Restores life to the entire party, an especially useful spell in a many vs many battle. It's best used after Brainwash, to ensure that the spell does not get disrupted. This spell is only mana efficient than heal when there are more than 3 members in the party. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Casting Time Radius of Effect HP Healed HP Healed/Mana 1 30 80 330 4.0s 30 yrd 221-235 0.69 2 40 80 460 4.0s 30 yrd 335-355 0.75
	Greater Heal -Sorcery Cooldown: None Target: Self or Ally The final of the healing sequence heals major health, but at the cost of major mana. Only Warrior classes will have this much health to heal, and thus Greater Heal should be reserved only for these occasions. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Casting Time Range HP Healed HP Healed/Mana 1 40 2 700 4.0s 40 yrd 1333-1501 2.02

Shadow Magic
Shadow magic provides the Priest with spells that curse them the enemy rather than buff oneself. They're exceptionally useful against bosses and mobs. In addition, Shadow Magic provides the priest with a range of spells that are designed specifically to counter enemy casters. When complimented with defensive Holy Magic, a Priest becomes lethal.

	Shadow Word: Pain -Instant Casting: Instant Duration: 1 Min Target: Enemy Deals continues damage to enemy. This is a great spell to cast to hasten a creatures death. Being instant, it is quick and easy to use. At lower lower levels, Pain + Shield should be enough to allow a Priest to take on the Monster in melee combat and still win with ease. The quick cooldown allows it to be used almost instantly against multiple opponents. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Cooldown Range Damage Damage/Mana 1 4 80 25 1.0s 30 yrd 30hp over 18s 1.20 2 12 7 50 50 1.0s 30 yrd 72hp over 18s 1.44 3 18 25 95 1.0s 30 yrd 138hp over 18s 1.45 4 26 60 160 1.0s 30 yrd 246hp over 18s 1.53 5 34 1 20 230 1.0s 30 yrd 366hp over 18s 1.59
	Sleep -Sorcery Cooldown: None Duration: 1 Min Target: Self or Ally Instantly takes one enemy out of battle by causing to to sleep. A sleeping opponent will wake up if attacked or disturbed in any way. This spell is very handy when fighting multiple opponents, allowing you to fight them one at time rather than both together. In battle, it can also provide a brief respite allowing you to heal yourself. Though, the fact that it isn't instant cast makes Holy Word: Shield more preferable in these situations. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Casting Time Range Duration 1 6 2 60 1.5s 30 yrd 15s 2 20 30 80 1.5s 30 yrd 30s 3 40 2 100 1.5s 30 yrd 45s
	Mind Blast -Instant Cooldown: None Target: Enemy Fulfills a similar role to Fire Blast for the Mage. Mind Blast is an instant direct damage spell designed for melee combat, where spells such as Holy Smite can be disrupted. The spell should only be used during solo, or for self defence, as it generates a huge amount of threat. That is, if you hit a creature with this spell, it will go after you. Of course, it doesn't matter if the spell will kill him outright, or if he's after you already! Rank Required Level Cost Mana Casting Time Range Damage Damage/Mana 1 10 7 50 45 8.0s 30 yrd 38-42 0.89 2 16 18 75 8.0s 30 yrd 74-80 0.89 3 16 40 105 8.0s 30 yrd 117-125 1.12 4 28 70 145 8.0s 30 yrd 174-186 1.24 5 34 1 20 160 8.0s 30 yrd 229-243 1.48 5 40 2 220 8.0s 30 yrd 293-312 1.38
	Psychic Scream -Instant Duration: 8s Target: X Enemies The caster lets out a scream, causing a certain number of monsters nearest to the caster to flee in fear. The number of creatures affected depends on the range of the spell. Unlike the Warlock's Fear, this spell is instant cast, and can be used in any dodgy situation. The downside is that it takes more mana, and has a very long cooldown. Thus, it can only be used once in battle, and should be saved for emergencies... ie: when health is getting low... giving the caster a chance to heal herself. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Cooldown Creatures Affected Duration 1 14 13 100 30s 2 8.0s 1 28 70 140 30s 3 8.0s
	Brain Wash -Sorcery Cooldown: None Target: Ally Reduces the level of threat from all enemies with respect to the target. That is, enemies are likely to be diverted to attack other allies over the the target. This spell is useful in Party situations, giving the Priest the space he needs to cast cumbersome healing spells. In addition, you can cast it on allied Mages and Warlocks, so that the monsters got hit the hardy Warrior instead. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Casting Time Threat Removed 1 20 30 50 1.5s 50% 2 32 1 70 1.5s 80%
	Pacify -Sorcery Cooldown: None Duration: 15s Target: Enemies Reduces the aggravation range of a target enemy be 10 yards, so that it won't attack you unless you move very close. This is very useful when you wish to sneak past a monster without fighting it, or for pacifying half of the monsters at a camp so you don't have to take them out all at once. Higher ranked versions of this spell affect higher levelled monsters. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Casting Time Affects 1 20 30 50 1.5s Level 1-39 Monsters 2 36 1 50 70 2.0s Level 1-59 Monsters
	Mind Vision -Instant Cooldown: None Target: Enemies Allows the Player to see through the Target's eyes. While this spell is designed for scouting, it is mostly used for novelty purposes and 'fun factor'. Simply put, being able to see through someone else's eyes is cool. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Casting Time Duration 1 22 40 65 1.5s 1 Min
	Mana Burn -Sorcery Cooldown: Instant Target: Enemy Drains X Amount of mana from the target unit, and deals half that much damage. Given the high dependency of mana of spellcasting monsters, and their relatively fragile hp, Mana Burn is a lethal spell. However, it does have a long casting time, and is thus useful only in a range vs range battle between priest and caster. Not including the debilitating effect of destroying the enemy's mana, the damage this spell deals in comparable to any direct damage spell. When against spell casters, Mana Burn should definitely be used instead of Holy Smite. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Casting Time Range Damage Mana Drained Damage/Mana 1 26 60 110 3.0s 30 yrd 225-241 113-121 1.06 2 36 1 50 110 3.0s 30 yrd 358-380 179-190 1.19
	Mind Control -Sorcery Cooldown: Instant Target: Enemy Humanoid Target Humanoid becomes under player control. However, it's attack is also slowed in the process and it has a chance to break free every few seconds. The chance as determined by his ability to resist shadow magic. Cast this spell on an enemy boss, use him to kill all his minions, they kill him, its much easier that way! This spell has a long casting time, and a short range. The priest will not be able to pull it off unless he has a party member for support, or Holy Word: Shield cast on himself. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Casting Time Range Attack Slowed By Duration May Break Free 1 30 80 350 3.0s 20 yrd 20% 1 min Every 5s
	Shadow Protection -Instant Cooldown: 1.0s Duration: 30min Target: Self or Ally Increases the target's Shadow Resistance. A situation specific spell that's very useful against enemy Priests. It costs a huge amount of many, but has a very long duration, and hence should be cast whenever you know you're in an area that features Monsters with Shadow attacks. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Range Bonus Shadow Resistance 1 30 80 500 30 yrd 30
	Mind Rot -Sorcery Cooldown: 1.0s Duration: 30s Target: Enemy The ultimate spell against enemy spellcasters, draining their mana at incredible speed. Even mana potions won't help them! This spell effectively stops a enemy caster from casting spells for its duration. Consequently, the spell does cost a lot of mana, but, hey, after the smoke clears, you'll be the only one who can cast spells. Rank Required Level Cost Mana Range Mana Drained 1 30 1 70 240 30 yrd 360mp/s for 30s

Talents:

The Priest, like all character classes, gain the basic talents that improves one of their attributes or increases the damage of of a chosen weapon type by 1. In addition, Priests are able to increase their Holy or Shadow Damage.

Due to the fact that the Shadow Word: Pain deals periodic damage at 1-2hp/s, damage boosts to this spell is extremely effective. It's advisable to get 'Beast Slayer', which effectively quadruples the amount of damage you do with this spell!

Priests should concentrate on using their talent points to boost their Intelligence and Mana. Nevermind Stamina or Health at all... with spells like Holy Word: Shield, their mana is basically their health!

Trade Skills:

A Priest is geared towards healing, therefore it is utterly redundant for a Priest to get any Trade Skills to do with healing. Unlike the Warlock and Mage, a Priest's method of healing is instantaneous, so they don't really need to know how to make potions either.

Useful trade skills include:

Tailoring: Make your own robes and cloth armor.
Enchant: Enchant your equipment, being cloth, they need it.
Engineering: A Priests weakness is her lack of ability to deal lots of damage, compensate this by building bombs..
Mining: So that you can collect the copper used for Engineering.
Herbalism: So that you can collect your own ingredients for Enchant.

In addition, avoid skills that create items you can't use, such as Leather Working or Smithing.

Basic Strategies:

Remember to buy all the spells available to you, and don't specialize to a particular school of magic. The Priest is most powerful when she can buff her party and curse the enemy. While the Priest is very good at soloing, her lack of ability to deal damage quickly may make battles drag on. Therefore, you'll get EXP a lot faster when in a party, and being a priest, everyone will welcome you.

Solo Combat
Always have Holy: Word shield on, this will ensure that you can get off all your spells even in melee. This, coupled with Shadow Word: Pain, should suffice in killing all monsters equal level to you. While Holy Smite can be used to speed up the battle, you should always conserve enough mana to keep yourself protected.

When soloing, start off erecting a shield and then cast Shadow Word: Pain. Barrage the enemy with Holy Smite till then reach you, then just smash them with your weapon. Pay attention to how much damage has being absorbed, so you can recast Shield before it runs out. If overwhelmed, use Psychic Scream or Sleep to escape.

Party Combat
Stay out of direct combat by avoiding the use of Direct Damage spells on the enemy during the beginning of battle. When you engage, you should Casting Shield on the person who initiates the attack. In what follows, just keep track of whoever's on low health and heal them. Make sure to shield friendly spellcasters, so they can get off their area of affect spells like Flamestrike. If an enemy is on low health, finish them off with Holy Smite followed by an Instant Mind Blast.

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