How Powerful Are Priests? - World of Warcraft Lore

How powerful are priests in the lore? Covering their strengths, weaknesses and abilities in World of Warcraft.
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- In this video I cover the priests, going through the specs and their abilities, finishing it off by comparing them to other classes available in World of Warcraft.
All of the footage used in the video is copyrighted by Blizzard Entertainment unless stated otherwise. - I am not the owner of any of the art shown in the videos. All artworks belong to their rightful owners. Due to images being shared across various sites it is quite difficult to find who the original artists are. If I used your work I'd be more than happy to give you full credit, just contact me at [e-mail]

[@weserphillip]

Remember that the light can't touch the dark. So discipline priests can't touch themselves. That's why I think they are called discipline priests.

[@aggressivesetwas1419]

Phillip Weser xd

[@aggressivesetwas1419]

Phillip Weser xd

[@MrDoze14]

Lol

[@briancooley8777]

Lmao

[@supramusic9667]

Thats why im a holy priest

[@Polomance862]

In my opinion, in the type of power that priests wield: Priests are the strongest healers. They are notorious for turning the most grevious of wounds around. Paladins are the soldiers of the light, while the priests are the emissaries of said light. they will always favor the least brutal path and follow their faith to a more intellectual way than paladins who have nothing but unyielding faith. A holy priest is the common faith. Its the practitioner and default faith. They are paramount of the healers and often hold much influence even in death. They are the main missionaries and heads of faith. They do know offensive spells and can even purge a target in holy flames. their magic is meant to restore and protect. Not to kill or destroy. Holy magic can physically rupture the earth. (Blood elf priest in the Burning Crusade Cinematic.) but isn't made to restore it. Their domain is the spirit and faith. (Refer to Velen, Naaru) A discipline priest is the middle ground of both Holy and Shadow. They practice the Balance of Light and Shadow. You cannot have one without the other. They utilize both shadow and light and often serve as the battle priests or warders of faith. They focus on banishing the wicked and protecting those from harm through holy wards and barriers. While in the past, Discipline priests focused on healing, they have adopted more talents and abilities to damaging their targets. They will both use words of shadow, and words of power that use both schools to ward their allies. Even learning how to mend allies through the wounds of their enemies. Their spheres include Protection and Penance (refer to Anduin, Benedictus) Shadow Priests are the participants of dark arts. Often turning their eyes away from the light in the seeking of power, knowledge, or the taboo unknown. They will often risk their own sanity and lives for this power. They often use their arts to damage others and heal themselves and allies. Often vampiric in nature, their spells target their enemies' minds. Rupturing, manifesting their fears, and even leeching their very life essence to replenish themselves. A shadow priest knows how to manipulate the mind, or directly rip the fabrics of sanity of their allies. A powerful shadow priest can even speak a word of death, and instantly kill a target of their choosing. Their spheres include Power and Manipulation (Refer to Benedictus, Forgotten Shadow, Natalie Seline)

[@eduardoribeiroucv9630]

Nice description

[@TheGordonFryman]

Very old comment, but I really enjoyed your description. Thanks for taking the time to write it!

[@vorios6731]

Well lore wise Discipline priest are different than holy priests . Holy priests are completely focused on the light and they consider void an "evil" force while discipline believe in balance between the two forces (also they use both light and shadow magic) and really they are not on neither lights or voids side

[@alkehol8]

what I know, everyone who used shadow, was subsequently abandoned by light

[@ramgami-7122]

Panagiotis Amanatidis So Anduins a discipline priest then.

[@riiio-grande]

KoaFid CZ Makes me wonder why Spriests still have Shield. Would be cool to have a void shield similar to mage shields.

[@albertmas3752]

+iBrokeit No. At 1st it looked he was going to be a priest as he spent most of his life among priests. But we knew what was going to happen when we saw the cinematic where he recovers Varian's sword. Varian was a warrior but Anduin's closeness to priests just could mean one thing. And Battle for Azeroth's cinematic confirms it: Anduin is a paladin.

[@alkehol8]

he used holy nova/some mass heal spell + on wowwiki he's priest, just some kind of heavy priest with sword and armor... :D

[@bear576]

You should do series on how powerful each of the races are.

[@HDTutorialMann]

Eggloo lore wise orcs and tauren would crush humans dwarfs gnomes elves and goblins

[@antoniocoppola3185]

That would be racist

[@MyViolador]

I dont know about dwarves, muradin with single stormbolt destroyed the head of a jormungar when he had amnesia.

[@partydean17]

Pretty sure orcs. Especially green skin orcs are lorewise the strongest. Even magic wise guldan and his warlocks are on a world ending level. They corrupted their planet to nothing and have been capable of mass summoning of demons

[@garethowen-crumpton2151]

You're looking at the entire troll empire as a whole, you have think of the average troll and where they would rank in strength.

[@Nethrezar]

Priests may lack the physical power of warriors and paladins, and they may not possess the flashy spellwork of mages and warlocks, but priests have something the other classes do not have: control of people's hearts and minds. To be able to command an entire population with your sermons and motivate them into great acts of good/evil on your words alone, is a power that no other class in Warcraft has.

[@fesco8276]

Cracked Dagger At least until we get a bard class.

[@pierrealexander8183]

Shame that the healing part wasnt touched on as much, when you see Anduin raise everyone in the BfA cinematic, that looks pretty fucking powerful to me.

[@vexial97]

He’s a Paladin now not a priest

[@StephenLydiate]

@@vexial97 Not true, he as trying to be a paladin with the sword and armour, but him throwing down the sword and using the light directly from the sky, was to signify him realizing that he is far more powerful focusing on being a priest not a paladin, hense why he was loosing the battle badly when he was pretending to be a paladin, but soon as he went back to priest he turned the battle around in an instant.

[@josefvalenta4341]

7:03 me, with priest main: excuse me... what did you say?

[@XPK15]

pepa valenta that's true (lorewise) since paladins are holy priests meant to fight in the battlefield

[@martinalcala4823]

@@XPK15 Disc priests literally need to fight in order to heal

[@dominicrama4127]

I think now that shadow priests get void form they easily take the top spot in terms of power. Directly becoming a vessel of a old god. No mage or warlock could defend against that.

[@Kunori]

There are some inversions to the holy-support and shadow-offensive stereotype in the lore. On the Light side we obviously have the paladins themselves and some groups like the scarlet crusade, using the Light to burn and purge and purify, but on the Shadow side we also rarely see beneficial uses like the arakkoa using shadow for protection and shelter.

[@OotsutsukiShibai]

And now we have Void Elves that support Alliance and helping save the world.

[@austinjacques6913]

I disagree that demon hunters would be mentally powerful enough to resist a shadow priest. In the illidan book and in game demon hunters are constantly fighting there inner demon and have been known to succumb to it. I think it would be very easy for a shadow priest to manipulate an already mentally unstable individual with only the strongest demon hunters being able to resist them.

[@crowwelldodger3938]

austin jacques you do realise that void energy that shadow priests use is far greater power than demom hunters have trained for basically let me summarise light and void are the most powerful from there branch out arcane and fel one is order tha other is chaos and elementan and nature magic is on the bottom so demons can counter fel but not the void the ony thing that can counter (not defeat the void ) is light

[@robinburt5735]

I thought you might compare the strongest lore characters that are priests compared to others, like is The Prophet Velen stronger than say Gul'dan (warlock obviously)

[@Kalimdori]

You forgot to mention Prohpen Vellen, you sayd that Holy/Light Priest can't be a offensive class, but what about when Vellen when he fights Kill'Jaden when we are in the Twisting Nether fighting our way on the top of the ship and Vellen and Kill'Jaden's spells clash... and Vellen is able to resist Kill'Jaden's super mega Fel power with his Holy light. And again with melle classes, why you always mix the Monk together with Rogue, Warriors and Hunters, you froget that they have Chi ? that is also a Power like the Paladin, Death Knight and Demon Hunter, especially that that power comes from they'r inner selves.

[@XPK15]

Kalimdori , "these holy champions are also capable of smiting foes and carrying out sacred justice." - Legion Class Preview (Holy Priest)

[@aggressivesetwas1419]

Velven is arkane mage

[@niicklasclips378]

great video as always Doron! keep it up ^^

[@Doronsmovies]

Thanks. :)

[@whushaw]

Hello guys this is Doronsmovies and TODAIIIII....

[@HDTutorialMann]

whushaw who was that lore guy again? Noble?? No the serbian version. DoronsMovies? Ahh yes

[@Tallidais]

Yellow guys

[@Wellshem]

Great video as always

[@heavymetal_warrior]

Yes this series is back!

[@christianakashaggy891]

7:03 TRIGGERED

[@Emzeus]

So happy u uploaded

[@Kingandhorse]

I would just like to debunk your Forsaken light priest explenation, the light dosent hurt them, it has been explained, the light just fills their body and it makes them feel alive, which in theory can be extremely uncomfortable given how they naturally feel as undead and the fact that they feel something once more that they can never have. So it dosent hurt them, but it brings them quite alot of discomfort when used.

[@xynthar4432]

Wow, I know this is late but that is a really cool and interesting fact

[@votedada]

Well then they just keep pushing and use more light magic and will pass that discomfort zone and become alive someday 😂

[@grandmarshalsniffles3505]

I'm just starting Priest today. This will be interesting

Amazing illustration. Where did you get that cutscene? Did you record it all by yourself?

[@lichslayer0045]

Nice videos there (: can you make one for the new class the Evokers please.

[@jonatansvahn4210]

Hey, can you make an video containing " top x biggest dragons" in World Of Warcraft? Would be cool

[@ardonvleeswaren3239]

You should do top 10 most powerful orcs that would be awesome!

[@cultureherogeek]

Very good and interesting video about priest.

[@OAKE178]

FINALLY NEW VIDEO

[@Doronsmovies]

Yeah, it's been a while. Will be back on a regular schedule now.

[@Krogzaxants]

The light right now is becoming more and more powerful vs the old lore. The light can bring destruction when you see what they can do in revendreth.

[@kroneexe]

In game the first ability you get is smite. If you can do that with the light, who is to say you can't do more powerful damaging spells.

[@skirdus367]

"priests are weaker versions of paladins" *_fucking fight me_*

[@zorwi9471]

Shadow is stronger than fel. But if casual warlock vs sp , warlock will win. Void energy is so strong creatures in Azeroth can deal with it right, Voidlord can... Warlocks can have a deal with demons:Gul Dan is example and took other souls for their power. Shadow can't , ya they can be slaves of elder gods but this is like sell ur soul to devil u have ur power until u have something good for elder gods then , u will die or turned in another void creature.

[@infernalcris5347]

How powerful are rogues in the lore?

[@XPK15]

Infernal Cris They're just thieves that are able to defeat other classes just for gameplay purposes (lmao)

[@dannywhite2489]

Not really, If you look into SI:7 lore you can get the idea of how skilled Rogues are, and there are many types of rogues for recovery/stealing, reconnaissance, assassination, and special assignments. They also are not limited to the weapons they use in game using different poisons, and weaponry (there was even a rogue that used a sniper rifle agent Kearnen was her name) and even hinted that highly skilled rogues use shadow magic ( void and shadow magic are two different things) some rogues resemble more of a ninja philosophy while others can be polar opposite, some are swashbucklers and scoundrels while some can be highly respected scouts and special agents.

[@XPK15]

Danny White wow i didn't know that

[@onoe6007]

How powerful are Shadowhunters, mon?

[@LunaStarFire]

To be fair I'd imagine shadow priests being really strong against death knights since theyre controlled via the lich king through shadow magic so I'd imagine a full shadow priest would easily be able to control the mind of a death knight.

[@votedada]

Priest even got the shackle undead skill. I see no reason to use that against Dks in lore wise.

[@Corlwow]

Honestly feel the way the story is going. Priests will be the overall most powerful class lore wise.

[@Skrubus]

Unlike fel magic,there is no bargaining with the void. The energies that come from there as ancient as the universe itself. Shadow magic is very capable of doing physical destruction,and extremely versatile. There is this one shadow priest follower who has hidden in the void version of Azeroth to escape her pursuers,literally killing herself and storing her spirit only to come back to her body years after.

[@lethos8811]

Alexandru Popa who was that priests?

[@eduardoribeiroucv9630]

+Alain Dulon plot twist.. HE WAS THE PRIEST!

[@antonbuushansen7816]

Will you ever be streaming again?

[@lucacristian3640]

Please do "Who would win" with Ner'Zhul vs Gul'Dan

[@DemonMaluMintus]

I sypose such lore wasn't known back then but light can be utilized to damage too..Holy bolts, beams--And many more.

[@docdat3468]

If there is a cliff the priest wins ^^

[@Ourspark34]

That thumbnail actually looks sick

[@Bigotdweller]

lorewise Shadow priests are the strongest class in wow

[@TopazZeus]

You should do rogue next

[@gabemercer6971]

So a Void Elf Shadow Priest would be way too powerful in the lore!

[@plommon6556]

You should do lor themar vs sylvanas

[@mikhailvasiliev6275]

It's funny to me that you did the Paladin video before this one.

[@whatster8753]

Disc is kinda a combo of holy and shadow

[@alkehol8]

When someone used the shadow, the light abandoned him, so how can u have both of them? (Aleera)

[@lethos8811]

Lorewise priests are not weaker than palis, they are just not so war oriented and thus tend to go unnoticed in azeroth's constant conflicts. Actually three of the most powerful characters are priests: tyrande, anduin and velen. The most powerful paladin of azeroth would have a tough time fighting one of them and I don't think he/she could even win at all. Strenght is not only wearing plates and be basically a siege machine.

[@wladimiroff7841]

1:42 It`s a Blood Elf. Great Vid tho :)

[@Biouke]

Lorewise, holy magic is super effective against demons and undead, so I wouldn't give DHs and DKs as much credit as you do against a powerful priest. Also, while on Azeroth humans are the most prominent faithful to the holy light, the high elves and particularly the dwarves were quick adopters of this faith. Also in Vanilla the lore was taken into a account a bit with the unique racial spells for priests (which have been streamlined since then). Troll priests venerate the Loa and are akin to witch doctors, but there's still a distinction between the two. If it has to be an in game class, it would borrow from restoration shamans, shadow priest and druid. For priestesses of Elune, it would be a mix between balance druid, precision hunter and holy priest. And Tauren priests would be half holy paladin half balance druid, with totems. Gameplay wise we can see that Blizzard has decided to borrow here and there from the RTS and lore capacities to make streamlined classes; see how warlocks had some WC3 demon hunter and death knight skills in their arsenal, how warrior borrows from mountain king, blademaster and chieftain, etc.

[@doomgoblin7645]

You didnt mention goblin priests

[@doomgoblin7645]

still it would be nice to mention them, he mentioned all other races

[@eduardoribeiroucv9630]

Goblin priests are like preachers who say you have to give to the church your money, or you will burn in hell forever. The most famous goblin priest in real life is know as "Pastor Silas Malafaia"

[@Wellshem]

o̶m̶a̶e̶w̶a̶m̶o̶ ̶s̶h̶i̶n̶d̶e̶i̶r̶u̶ Shadow Word: Death!

[@kylev6063]

Priests have a mastery of the light and shadow untapped by any other class. Paladins are a hybrid thus I believe to be less powerful because they still need to rely on armor and weapons while priests can summon healing and protection at will. Although they play a support roll don’t forget the original wielder of benediction single handedly repelled an onslaught of undead before eventually being overcame.

[@sithguy1704]

Idk why people need subtitles to understand you sounds normal to me lol

[@Skollshorties]

Airborne Goblin Priests! Yeyeah!

[@windchaser12]

I knew the DK's and the DH's were extremely hard to beat!

[@vorios6731]

Well actually death knights were already strong fighters that got resurrected as undead and with much greater power while Demon hunters were the best of the best of their class and even then they got greatly empowered by fel rituals and the demon they consumed . But even then most of them died during the training so imagine how strong are the remaining ones while also being the elite force of illidan himself on the crusade to end one of the biggest threats on the universe. So i would say yeah , other classes cant compete with those two

[@luniers4629]

I wish there was a bigger difference between shadow priests and void priests. We clearly saw draenei shadow priests tending to the souls of their deceased brethren.

[@christianweibrecht6555]

WoW sould give races distinct lore friendly classes in future patches,

[@weaszle2440]

When priest is your least played class in hearthstone and you pack memedictus and 1 day lager get a golden raza

[@Deadly_fox512]

Imagine a shadow paladin. Lol that would be cool. and no, a death knight would not be a shadow paladin.

[@votedada]

I guess you could say tyrande in shadowlands with her glaives, technically is shadow paladin class

[@djordjedangubic7270]

Finally

[@AT-xw4vm]

One thing you forgot - no matter how powerful another class is, never chase a Holy Priest to a cliff or ledge. You’re gonna die, lol.

[@BrotherKevinHunter]

I mean I guess. It seems in this video, strong is equal to DPS. Kind of one track minded...

[@emu2905]

Goblin Disc Priests are people too!

[@TheMMObro]

Humans used to be the de facto light users but draenei always get shoe horned in as the first of everything.. sigh

[@capitalistamalvadao4278]

The best are Undead Shadow Priests, since uses light causes to them feel pain, the void and the shadows is an adaptation for those who not can wield the light .-.

[@Prottype]

I look at these old shadow priest forms and I cry. They actually look like shadows, the new ones look like purple play dough..

[@lamaahruloma4270]

Could there be Void Paladins?

[@klapacjuszanimomon8501]

I think the Strongest class is 1 Warlock 2.Druids Druids and warlock are pretty much same lvl of power but worlocks is a bit more destructive Than 3.shadowpriests 4.mages 5.Shamans 6.Dk/dh 7.Paladins 8.Light priests And other classes depends purely on thier skill in fight

[@votedada]

Wrong

[@volkanpalut1993]

warlock mage and shadowpriest maybe

[@o_o5813]

The Humans are the main race on Azeroth...we want to know more about there race and about the vrykul.

[@crowwelldodger3938]

The fact that one of the most so called powerful classes like ( dk dh and locks) are the ones that have great mental strenght to subdue there inner demons. Imagine a shadow priest using their mind attacks on them they will break instantly because their sanity is in jeopardy all the time. And when someone comes to poke and push their buttons they will be the first to either commit suicide or give in to their darkness. Dhs will just give into the demon with in completely so they lose their sanity locks will do the same. And dks well dks are the defenition of brain washed soldiers. A strong shadow priest can either make them commit suicide or they could make them tear of their limbs so the priest can burry all the limbs seperatly from each other. The dk will be alive and burried alive suffering eternaly in his grave not being able to do anything and he will.go insane in a matter of days.

[@jonathank4278]

I saw a Shadow Priest Kill it self so I took my Holly Priest to being it Back to life.

[@sunnymonty69]

doronsmovie ... how powerfull c'thun ?? ... killjaden vs c'thun ???

[@Sansho42069]

Priests are necromancers in disguise

[@leliondesiles5155]

heretic !! Void priest is stronger than others classes !! VOID IS MORE POWERFULL THAN DEMONIC MAGIC

[@Meodoc]

Well, is the Fel that Warlocks use that much different from the void?

[@Meodoc]

In which way?

[@cihannesvat4261]

fel is demon magic, shadow is void which is far more powerful but you cant just use it right away

[@Meodoc]

Ah ok, so then Shadow Priests basically are more powerful like Warlocks.

[@DrumsandOther]

Well, on pure charakter combat, a Shadow Priest could be the strongest Class. Because Void and Light are basicly the strongest forces in the universe. But with the Void Energy you can't deal environmental destruction. You can't do a cataklysm or make a fire Rain, like the Warlocks. The Void is basicly a mind force and Fel ist pure destruction. But afflicion and some Demo spells are also Void spells. They Just don't look like "normal" Void spells. But I think in the next Expansion we will See much more Void Energy. Then we will see, who ist the strongest. :D

[@davidhagberg6118]

I dont understand is he saying shadow priest is stronger than mage and warlock on avarage?

[@LBFOREVERLB]

warden hero class pls

[@jackbanks7075]

This video doesn't seem to be based on lore or in game play. I have no idea where you came up with these comparisons.

[@o_o5813]

We want to know the origin of the vrykul...and how did they turned into humans

[@ogikay7056]

Baron of Haste Titan keepers created them, and then old gods spread the curse of flesh. In result some female vrykuls began to give “smaller” “weaker” babies.Vrykul leader/s commanded families to kill the babies but they couldnt do it so they raised them somewhere else.Thats how humans came to be

[@o_o5813]

Some of us prefer to watch a video about the vrykuls...that would be more interesting.

[@daveyblueberry8927]

I think it all depends on what kind of power we are talking about. In my opinion holy priests have the potential to be the most powerful healers of any class.

[@SkallKiller]

You forgot to mention that DKs are creatures of the darkness as well, meaning SPriest spells would be weaker against them

[@crowwelldodger3938]

Sindri Myr they arent darkness lol they use death magic.and death magic is no where close.to void or.light dont be stupid dude priests are the strongest class there is they wiled the 2 fundamental most powerful forces light and void everything else is beneath them

[@rtrt0789]

I think there is a core concept that you explain wrong in your lore videos, is that you associate "Light" with Good and "Void" with Evil, and that's not correct lorewise They are both neutral cosmic forces Light could be corruptive (look at the Naaru and Illidan) and shadow could be beneficial (look at mages of the arcane, are they evil? Because the Arcane is a part of the Shadow cosmic forces) Is like saying physics is Good and chemistry is Evil, it doesn't make any sense

[@jonathank4278]

I learned that the Hard way.

[@johnbaca80]

Quick question, If Humans created the Paladins based on Priests, why didn't the Paladins gain powers from The Void? Or did I miss understand how Paladins came about, haha.

[@johnbaca80]

+Noah Z Ahh, that makes sense, haha. I like your first explanation better, even though, like you said, both are probably just as likely to be true, haha.

[@ryanchrism3432]

7:37 Questionable background scene >_>... TL;DR: Not Very

[@TheMMObro]

Brah.. we wield the powers that sargeras went batshit crazy trying to stop :) I'm a shadow priest, don't fuck with me! Gonna watch this, hope I'll be happy!

[@TxRxAxP]

Don't fuck with me. I have the power of void and anime on MY side!

[@lordsathen]

Wait! Death knight is dead but not devoid of mind. I guess

[@radomirt6001]

Mage can't go mad if he uses his power too much ... he can die but after the fight tho.... not just go mad

[@Frapper]

Where the fck are the goblins ? No mention on the strongest Shadow priests. FeelsBadMan

[@akos574]

i think you should not mention "depends on the power of tje individuals", you are talking of average occasions so lets just mention equal power levels, obviously an op one can destroy a regular other. still loved the video

[@stonecoldgamer5222]

What about Pandora prist.

[@dalaransagent8243]

Priests never meant to be a combat class,there is nothing to compare... They were made to debuff,buff and heal.

[@Eroll-dw8ex]

At the start of the video I can allready tell he will say that the priest can't win a fight against Demon Hunters

[@martinalcala4823]

Disc priests are really different from holy

[@lahnhedberg3403]

An undead priest that use the light is most often far stronger then other priest. Couse there devotion and belief in the light is so high. Seriusly do you think most priest would harm themself over and over when they help someone?

[@febz9837]

Mr. Crab Even if their devotion is strong, the Light automatically damages undeath and only the most disciplined and faithful can control it, but still hurts them.

[@lahnhedberg3403]

Yea I alredy basicly said (except the little bit of controll) that couse context to the info to the video and "Seriusly do you think most priest would harm themself over and over when they help someone?" is meant as this happen to nobody else.

[@Wudang3]

Still waiting Anduin to fight in shadowform...

[@kroneexe]

hopefully not

[@zarrakas6955]

I think light used by paladins can hurt enemy so holy priests are not so weak

[@davidoneil9469]

Priest, 11/10 powerful.

[@alkehol8]

I think holy priests are low powered, because they are not fighter's, shaman can still throw a rock on your pretty face, priest can maximally bubble you out of the planet :D

[@MyKoolaidz]

Yeah but how powerful is a blood elf priest that uses the light not serves it

[@kalbelloz153]

Powerful enough in WC3 they're healing cost 5 mana