WoW Classic 2024 FRESH - Priest Leveling Guide (Deep Dive)

[@TheSortilege]

Imagine if every class had someone like this dude.

[@ebossnz6838]

You being serious? You got a good 5 years of content like this for classic.

[@TheSortilege]

@ You know what I mean.

[@ebossnz6838]

@@TheSortilege yeah 👌. I didn't feel this hyped even for sod.

[@snapkraklepaul]

Tips Out - he has a series of videos for every class where he interviews some of the top ranked players from each class and does a 2+ hr deep dive. He did this series for the original classic launch in 2019. I found him when looking for a priest deep dive video.

[@anthonyharding4380]

This guide is one of, if not THE most comprehensive I've seen for classic vanilla priest levelling. Having also levelled priest several times over the years, all the tips provided here are accurate. My personal favourite is levelling holy and maximising spirit gear mixed with shadow gear. Underwold band rings provide the best of both 😊. I have levelled both Holy/Disc for the Inner Focus spec which is awesome for prayer of healing for free, or Devouring Plague (undead) for free. Or I choose Holy/Shadow to pick up the Mind Flay talent to make things more interesting for 1v1 fights. Wand specialisation and Spirit Tap talents are obviously, essential....at least until the late 40's imo. Either way the builds allow you to do good dps, low risk of dying, no drinking required, and can heal in dungeons effortlessly all the way to 60. Having a few items of +healing gear is always recommended, such as trousers, belts, wands and off-hands. The other nice thing about levelling with Holy spec is spirit gear and +healing gear is often cheaper on the AH until the mid 50's.

[@Naughtypuritan]

Really great video. I’m looking forward to experiencing classic wow fresh. I’m a younger guy so I didn’t play WoW when I was growing up and didn’t play 2019 Classic WoW until Wrath. Really great video, very good for a newer player as well.

[@PowerWordHeal-cu4es]

0:00 Intro 1:25 Alliance Racials 7:45 Horde Racials 18:25 Disc Spec Level 1-40. Part 1 23:34 Shadow Word Pain 25:35 Questing vs Grinding 27:57 Mana Positive vs Mana Negative Grinding 30:58 5 Second Rule + Inner Focus 33:40 Disc Spec Level 1-40 Part 2 34:12 Disc Rotation 35:34 Holy vs Shadow Leveling 37:30 Coefficients 38:50 Holy Spec + Synergy 39:45 Snapshotting 41:00 Shadow Spec + Synergy 42:30 Which is better? 43:20 Building out Holy Spec 46:37 Holy Rotation 48:05 Building out Shadow Spec 53:17 Shadow Rotation 56:30 Holy Flexibility and Healing Dungeons 1:01:15 Finishing Leveling with Dungeons 1:03:45 Wands 1:07:10 Good Dungeons for Leveling 1:10:15 Spell Cleave Dungeon Group 1:14:25 Melee Cleave Dungeon Group 1:15:33 Average Dungeon Group 1:16:55 Pure Dungeon Spec 1:21:00 Damage in Dungeons

[@richardbrown8859]

This is a great video, I know I would personally find it helpful to have the different talent builds linked to show the progression ( this would help me as I have never leveled a priest on classic wow)

[@PowerWordHeal-cu4es]

I can do that!

[@richardbrown8859]

@@PowerWordHeal-cu4es perfect, your channel deserves to grow quickly, I hope it does with the relaunch of classic.

[@PowerWordHeal-cu4es]

I'll post them tomorrow. logging off for the night but I'll make a note of it.

[@TheSortilege]

Dual spec just got confirmed.

[@mufasafalldown8401]

Such a great guide. I really want to go priest again because I know it well by now... but something inside keeps telling me to play lock.

[@davok87]

Amazing guide, so happy to have found it. The 1-40 guide is also good for doing dungeons while levelling?

[@ebossnz6838]

Cheers for the video boss

[@Tommycoolish]

Heya, love the video. I was wondering what was your take on spell deranking? If we're talking about healing efficiency max rank is always better but in classic you hardly ever will get full use from a max rank heal. Do you have any specific spell deranks you will surely be doing while levelling? I'm really hyped and I just figured I plan this ahead of time, but its been 3 years since i played classic so I don't remember what i did back then

[@PowerWordHeal-cu4es]

Gonna make a Q and A video and answer this!

[@pawzom2564]

Troll priest gets Shadowguard that does shadow dmg with 3 charges which if you have blackout got a 10% chance to proc blackout per charge averaging 27% chance to proc blackout per cast. Rank 1 is 50mana per cast and rank 6 is 250 mana per cast and does 116 dmg with 100% spell coefficient meaning if you got 116 spell power its dmg(and healing if shadow specced) is doubled. The average dps of rank 6 in pvp if it constantly procs immediately when off its 3.5 internal cd is 11.04 while Devouring Plague has 37.66 dps while it is active during its 24sec uptime though Devouring Plague only have an average of 5.03 dps if we take its cooldown into account. With +116 spell power the dps of Shadowguard jumps from 11.04 to 22.08 while Devouring Plague jumps from 37.66/5.03 to 42.58/5.67. In the same duration of time required for Devouring Plague to have come off cd 17 full Shadowguard can be cast and fully procced averaging about 4-5 stuns which is about 12-15sec of crowd control. It is also 1972 dmg with no spell power while Devouring Plague would be 906 or 1812 dmg if used just as it comes off cd during which time there would be an additional 2 full Shadowguard casts totaling 2204 dmg and averaging 5-6 stuns. This dmg difference will only grow with spell power. Devouring Plague does have higher healing when you dont have spell power since it get base health returned from it but with spell power Shadowguard catches up. Shadowguard's dmg can also cause spell pushback once every 3.5sec if procced on internal cd. Shadowguard can be dispelled but then one can just cast a rank 1 version of it for cheap and if the opponent is not aware of this they will waste mana on an expensive dispel while the troll priest only spends 50mana or if they are aware of it they gotta decide whether or not to waste their mana like this. Devouring Plague can be dispelled by priest and paladin which is 2 of the 3 enemy support classes AND everyone else if they have a restorative potion which hurts due to its long cd. It is also amazing for lvling with 5 points in blackout and 5 in wand making 1-40 that much smoother. Will of the Forsaken only works vs warlock, priest and warrior(long cd) while Berserking works vs everyone when you are low and in need of healing. And then you did not even talk about the strongest priest racial trolls have. Hex of Weakness. It is a curse lasting for 2min with rank 1 costing 35 mana, reducing all healing received by 20% and reduces dmg they do by 2 while rank 6 costs 240 mana, reduces all healing received by 20% and reduces dmg they do by 20. The max rank is unnecessary against casters so can just use rank 1 but against auto attackers especially hunters it is op as hell as it will reduce the dmg of all their attacks by 20 doubling up for hunter since you can cast it on the pet also. Hex of Weakness can be dispelled by druids and everyone else if they have Restorative Potion but it is only 35mana so can just immediately recast it which does not hurt at all unlike dispelling Devouring Plague does and means they have now managed to waste the opponents potion cd on dispelling something that you can recast on them for basically free. Undead's counterpart to this is Touch of Weakness though it is not cast on target but is a buff cast on self that procs on melee only meaning it does not affect anyone else. It also do not have the 20% healing received reduced effect though it does shadow dmg so it can proc Blackout but only once per cast since it only have 1 charge. It is good vs rogues and hunter pets but thats it.

[@anthonyharding4380]

You may have just convinced me to roll a troll priest

[@PowerWordHeal-cu4es]

Very good points. To be honest, this is a bit of blind spot for me I'll admit. Thank you for dropping this in the comments.

[@Freaker40]

It sounds great on theory and everything, and most of it is true. But what are the chances you are getting trained for 2 or 3 minutes and surviving that in order to get all the procs ? Devouring Plague has to be used more stategically and it has its benefits for either bit more burst or sustain. Potions might help , yet they also might be on CD at the moment of using the devouring plague. During the first WoW Classic release i had an alt shadow priest for pvp and I can comfortably say that Devouring Plague was a big deal in a lot of fights I did in world pvp and battlegrounds. Troll is also good , by no means its as bad as some people think, but both races have their good and bad sides. The information you provided is very detailed and it might help some people choose between Undead and Troll. I just wanted to give me 2 cents as well :)

[@pawzom2564]

@@Freaker40 ​ @Freaker40 It is rarely going to turn out exactly as I explained it except against hunters/rogues with Shadowguard internal cd etc. I just wanted to highlight how little people understand the capabilities of troll priest since they all got removed before people started to really understand the game while Will of the Forsaken stayed due to being undead specific and not undead priest while Devouring Plague was made available to all shadow priests. Due to how useful Will of the Forsaken is in arena due to RMP(RogueMagePriest) and how many different comps have either priest, warlock or warrior in them most people think it is the only option in the same way they do with dwarf priest but the thing is it is only really that useful in arena. Elsewhere it lags behind significantly since it is only useful vs 3 classes of the 9 classes in the game but it has been overhyped due to how common those 3 are in arena where you pop in with cd's ready and gotta have something ready to deal with coordinated attacks. If that happens in the world or in battlegrounds rarely is the fights going to be fair in the first place so as a cd there it is quite lackluster compared to in arena. Devouring Plague is hard countered by everyone that is prepared with one of the best potions in the game that is not even expensive either so counting on it doing anything significant vs anyone of skill is going to disappoint. This would not be the case in arena as you cant pot there but world pvp and bg's are very different. The thing about troll priest racials is that all of them are gonna be useful always against all classes with only Berserking having a cd while the undead priest racials either only works vs 3 classes(WotF), against anyone that is not prepared with potion(Devouring Plague) or happens to be melee(Touch of Weakness). They are all conditional. They shine when the situation is right and do not get countered but do you want to pick a race/class combo that is this luck reliant and relies on people not being prepared to deal with something that is this common knowledge? Shadow Priest is quite durable and can last quite long in 1v1 and sometimes 1v2 giving the troll priest racials more chances to turn things around in a way undeads cant once the beginning of the fight is over since they will be on cd. But ultimately both are good. It comes down to peoples personal preferences. Personally I would never choose undead over troll unless I plan to only do arena and little else with that character and even then I would probably still go troll due to how universally useful those racials are.

[@unbr3akable688]

I was hesitating between a Troll or UD undead Shadow Priest for awhile. I looked up all this stuff on troll vs UD priest racials. In the end I chose Undead. Let me explain my position, as a lot of forbidden knowledge was uncovered : Trolls have 3 shadow orbs(no CD) that have a 3.5 second internal CD and deals dmg(100% spell coef) + proc shadow-weave + can proc blackout. UD have Touch of Weakness(no CD) which has no internal CD and deals dmg(50% spell coef) + proc shadow-weave + can proc blackout. ToW only has 1 charge tho so you have to keep refreshing it. You can spam ToW if a rogue is on you and get more dmg/shadow-weave/blackout procs than shadowguard as long as you are not CCed too long. ToW is also confirmed to proc on sap meaning it breaks rogues out of stealth if they sap you (almost confirmed same as troll shadow orbs) Trolls have: Berzerking (3min CD) giving +30% haste at =

[@CctvSecurityCamera-w3j]

Some of the best spriests have been nightelf...Also shadow meld can be really powerful especially in world pvp where as a spriest getting the drop on someone is important.

[@Otaconsps]

I'm going alliance priest for fresh and I'm waffling on the race choice. I noticed that you thoroughly covered dwarf (as does everyone hehe) but didn't say anything about human. I certainly see the value of stoneform and fear ward in pvp, and I do see that fear ward has value in pve. I just wonder to what extent fear ward is actually as valuable as everyone seems to think. Like what percentage of fights throughout all of vanilla actually have fear mechanics? Do those several pve fights actually outweigh the perpetual bonus to spirit you get as a human for all of your leveling, gearing, grinding, and raid healing. I'm not sure I'm actually convinced. Am I looking at this wrong? Even more so now that buff limits are removed and weakauras can track fears....it just seems like there are other ways to deal with a mechanic that happens at absolute best like 10 percent of the time or less.

[@PowerWordHeal-cu4es]

Gonna answer this in a Q and A coming out today!

[@bidu2331324]

Spirit is OP for leveling for almsot every class, even melee without mana bars.

[@dhoff82]

I’m so torn on going shadow, lock or mage on a pve realm will be mostly pvping though and maybe some raids every now and then. What would you recommend lol especially now that the debuff limit is gone

[@50josh50]

Would have been good if you touched on professions too.

[@PowerWordHeal-cu4es]

*IMPORTANT NOTE* Stats were NOT covered in this video, but are extremely simple. Questing + Grinding = Focus pure spirit as much as possible. Followed by Intellect then HP. Dungeons = You want an intelligence set. Focus primary int gear as well as Int/Spirit gear. You need a big enough mana pool to handle slight emergencies and long pulls!

[@GamingDualities]

and Stamina is pretty good in pvp

[@SwissCow85]

Are there differences in this guide for leveling on PVP servers ? This looks like its more for PVE Servers Players.

[@MrTomhartsig]

In my experience, spec/stats don't really matter in leveling wpvp. You either get ganked, or if it's that super rare fair fight, it's about experience and skill. So don't worry about it really

[@SwissCow85]

@@MrTomhartsig good point ! thanks

[@PowerWordHeal-cu4es]

I would say their can be minor differences, but it's mostly the same. I'm going to play on PvP server as well, but the issues are usually as follows: 1.) You don't want to sacrifice too much leveling efficiency for a bit more PvP prowess if you're trying to level quickly. 2.) The leveling spec, for the most part, does tend to get many of the more useful talents you'd want for PvP. For example, when we go Shadow we still make sure to take silence + lower fear CD. The main thing you'd want to keep on eye on in terms of leveling on a PvP server would be that the value of stamina can rise dramatically if you're running into a lot of PvP encounters. So while you'd almost completely ignore stamina on a PvE server, on a PvP server it has the potential to be a bit more useful.

[@Gonchie10]

Did you not mention trolls’ Hex of Weakness? Isn’t it supposed to be insane for PvP? Cast rank 1 on all enemies around / reduces healing to them by 20%

[@richardfeynman7491]

Cant you just unequip all your gear then reequip to drop health?

[@PowerWordHeal-cu4es]

This might actually work. Good point.

[@wowcherub]

Anyone know a mage equivalent of this video?

[@JackovdaBoro]

Just press frostbolt

[@ciprianhosu385]

And after you press frostbolt make sure you press frostbolt again. 😂

[@TheRealCHIMShady]

I am always toxic against non dwarf priest, there is no logical or illogical argument for not choosing the glory of Dun Morogh!

[@JT-qd5uj]

Meh, everyone plays warrior anyways, if they can't stance dance, that's on them, play any priest race you want. :P