[Stolen] Disc priest Mega FAQ

**gezus** · 05-11-2009

I play a Shadow/Disc priest, and I get asked TONS of quesitons constantly. I always refer people to Discpriest.com, and Elietist Jerks.com. But still I get asked. and it seems that the general public is un aware. so I am going to share all the "Stolen" Information I use to be an Epic Disc priest.

Ready ........ Go .....

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Stolen from Sharlin at www.Discpriest.com

Discipline Priest PVE Healing F.A.Q

Disclaimer: At present this FAQ only addresses RAIDING discipline priests, with some information applying to heroics.

I am very interested in the subject of PVE discipline healing, and I'm personally involved with it as a discipline priest - but I've noticed that there are tons of posts every day with basic questions about discipline, and that the EJ thread on the subject, while very well maintained and written, is not really directed at discipline priests.

I have also noticed that there is a lot of confusion among the general public about the usefulness of discipline, what discipline priests strengths and weaknesses are, and how to properly utilize a discipline priest in raids.

So I'm writing this FAQ to try and address these sorts of issues, and I'm hoping that everyone will bear with me, because this is my first attempt to write a public post like this. If there is anything i am missing, anything you feel should be included or added, or any thoughts or comments you have feel free to reply, and i may alter portions of the post to reflect peoples thoughts.

General FAQ for Raid Leaders/Curious People

Q. What does discipline bring to the table?

A. Discipline priests have highly efficient, but powerful single target (tank) healing with supplementary mitigation buffs on a tank. They also have some useful buffs for the raid, high mana regen, and excellent single target healing and mobility due to increased haste, and instant 'ohcrap' abilities on a low cooldown.

Many people believe that holy is a superior single target spec because of spiritual healing, spiritual guidance, enlightenment, guardian spirit, and to a lesser extent, serendipity, which generally provide more sustained HPS. Holy is viable for single target direct healing, and is certainly more versatile - however in the realm of single target healing, discipline is undoubtedly also a powerful option.

Things that your discipline priest can provide :

* -3% damage taken on players that the discipline priest is healing. The damage mitigation portion of this buff currently does not stack with Blessing of Sanctuary.

* Inspiration will have excellent up time from a properly geared disc priest, which is + 25% armor on the tank. A properly geared priest will gain approximately +1%~ increased critical strike rating from Mental Strength - more as gear level increases - and +4% increased critical strike rating from Renewed Hope. Thus a disicpline priest has about a 5% better chance to apply inspiration, a portion of that scaling with gear and buffs.

* Fast Mass Dispels for group cleansing.

* Discipline priests have higher intellect than holy priests, which at level 80 translates DIRECTLY into higher mana regeneration. They also have a regeneration mechanic based off of max mana pool and effective healing. The replenishment buff from shadow priests, ret paladins, and enhancement shaman is also based off of max mana pool, meaning that a discipline priest gains more benefits from it than a holy priest. The main reason discipline has 'better' mana regeneration, is that addition to having obviously better character sheet mana regen from the constant int boost through mental strength, their mechanics are based on effective healing and maximum mana pool, rather than the holy style of getting a chance to proc holy concentration or surge of light to escape the FSR, and returns based on overhealing a target via serendipity.

* + 80 Spirit to members of the raid. If you do not have a shaman in the group providing flametongue totem, then a discipline priest can also provide + 80 additional spellpower to members of the raid.

Increased DPS for your highest DPS casters via power infusion ( -20% mana cost to spells, + 20% haste). This can also be used on a healer, or on the priest himself. With aspiration, this has a 1 minute uptime on a 5 minute fight, assuming you cast it immediately.

Pain Suppression, aka second shieldwall - useable 3 times in a 5 minute fight assuming you cast it immediately. The 5% threat drop applies to threat generated only during the actual buff duration. The 'missing' threat does not return.

Things that your discipline priest will not be so great at :

* Group healing/Cross-group healing. If you want a discipline priest to do group healing it is best to put them in a group that they will be within 30 yards range of to cast prayer of healing, which is still inefficient at best for group healing.

General FAQ for Discipline Priests

Q. So i want to spec discipline. What talent points make or break the spec?

A.

Talents that stand alone :

Twin Disciplines
Meditation
Mental Agility
Divine Spirit (Not Improved Divine Spirit)
Mental Strength
Enlightenment
Rapture
Divine Aegis
Grace
Pennance
Holy Specialization
Inspiration
Focused Power
Improved PWF
Improved Inner Fire

Talents that support Core Discipline abilities :

Improved PWS
Aspiration
Borrowed Time
Renewed Hope

Supplementary Utility options include Pain Suppression and Power Infusion.

Talents that you shouldn't take :

Silent Resolve
Martyrdom
Improved Mana Burn
Focused Will
Reflective Shield

Talents that are currently under heavy debate :

Holy Focus
Improved Healing
Improved Renew

Example Specs:

(Please note, these are EXAMPLES, i am not saying that this is the only way to spec. If you have variations you would like me to add to this list, just post them, and i may or may not add them. )

Example build - no holy focus - If you want to use greater heal - no holy focus.

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

Example build -with holy focus- If you want to use flash heal/renew

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

Example build for raiding without a shaman :

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

Q. Healing Focus - Is it useless?

A. This talent is currently under heavy scrutiny - It's definitely fine to heal without it in PVE as discipline ( I do so ). Some people somehow end up losing ticks of Penance, a phenomenon i have yet to encounter, but if you ARE experiencing this then it may be in your best interest to pick it up. See above for example builds that do, and do not include healing focus.

Q. Improved DS - What's the deal?

A. Improved DS does not stack with the shaman Flametongue totem buff, which provides more spellpower than Improved DS does. It is not worth taking in a raid setting where shamans are present. The standard DS talent is still worthwhile as many classes utilize the extra spirit now for damage conversions.

Q. What Glyphs Should i use?

A. Glyph of PWS - This is essentially the best glyph in a discipline priests lineup. It adds 20% of your absorption effect on PWS as a heal, which is instant. Thus it essentially adds that amount of healing to your already powerful shields, and additionally makes your shields just that much more efficient.

Glyph of Flash Heal - This glyph is essential if you intend to use Flash Heal at all. It brings the mana efficiency of Flash Heal ALMOST to the level of Greater Heal, and is one of the better glyphs available to us as priests.

Glyph of Shadowfiend - This minor glyph that i would consider fairly major (pun intended). We all know that shadowfiend may sometimes die when we would prefer it not to. This glyph will return 5% of your maximum mana when your shadowfiend dies from damage. This is obviously good for us since our maximum mana pools are typically large, due to our focus on intellect. This can actually be beneficial in another way, as you can wait until your shadowfiend duration is almost over ANYWAYS, and then attempt to position it where it will die from something. This tactic can be extremely rewarding if you can manage to pull it off correctly.

Q. What should i be casting?

A. The bread and butter spells of a discipline priest are PWS & Pennance. Prayer of mending is an excellent option due to the fact that it can now crit, which will proc Divine Aegis, and that it bounces between group members which again will supplement your poor group healing abilities in situations where it's necessary.

You have to cast something when your cooldowns are down usually, and there are two schools of thought on this. Many people believe that when you've glyphed Flash Heal, you can cast Flash Heal when your bread and butter abilities are on cooldown, and that it's superior to casting greater heal. Still other people believe that you should be casting Greater Heal.

The debate on the matter is centralized on the following :

Pro Flash Heal

1. While greater heal is slightly more mana efficient than a glyphed flash heal, Flash Heal has a smaller chance to over heal, maximizing returns from rapture.
2. In a similar window of time to casting one greater heal, you can cast 2 flash heals and have more of a chance to critically strike, proccing Divine Aegis.

Pro Greater Heal

1. Greater heal is more efficient assuming you time it well and it does not overheal. Some players find this to be a fairly easy task.
2. It takes slightly longer to achieve the same amount of healing with Flash Heal, and since Divine Aegis currently overwrites itself, a second critical strike with Flash Heal may be wasted anyways. Additionally any Divine Aegis proc from Flash Heal will yield a smaller shield than a Divine Aegis proc from a Greater Heal.

You do not HAVE to spec divine fury to be discipline, as Flash Heal can be a fine stand-in, however you really should get inspiration as a discipline priest, so you will have to choose between a few questionable early holy talents.

You could also only put 3 points in Divine Fury, or take improved renew/healing focus, or questionably spell warding instead if you really don't think you will ever use greater heal.

Q. Why don't discipline priests place alot of value in renew?

A. You *can* cast renew. It is not BAD to cast renew, it's more a question of 'when'. As far as spell priority, many things fall ahead of renew simply because they benefit from our talents, where renew does not.

Renew :

* Cannot crit. Will not proc DA, nor will it proc inspiration
* Will not add a stack of Grace
* Does not return mana from Rapture

Essentially, casting renew is not wrong, but it's better for our spec to cast PWS, Pennance, Prayer of Mending, or in some situations, even Flash Heal FIRST, except in situations where you are adding a hot simply to pad the tank.

It isn't really worth blowing 3 points in improved renew UNLESS you prefer flash heal to greater heal and you choose to take improved renew. See above for benefits/comparison of the two casting styles.

It certainly isn't worth glyphing for renew over PWS or Flash Heal glyph, PARTICULARLY if you're a person who chose flash heal spam as a casting style.

It is a tossup between glyphing for Renew Vs. another glyph such as holy nova or prayer of heailng to supplement your group healing. You can choose whatever you'd like in this department.

Concerns about Shielding the Tanks

In most cases, PWS no longer significantly affects rage generation. However, if you are having problems with people pulling aggro off the tank, it will usually be at the start of a fight, and avoiding pre-shielding the tank may be a helpful fix. During raid bosses, this really shouldn't be an issue, as no one should be DPSing a boss until it is in position and held by the tank. During heroics, normal instances, and specifically pugs though, you may see issues with this, so make sure to avoid pre-shielding.

Group Healing as a Disc Priest

* Usually, i find that people taking extra damage is from them 'zerging' the encounter instead of executing the fight properly. This kind of damage can usually be cured by telling people not to stand in shiny stuff, run out during whirlwinds, etc. This isn't reasonable damage to even have to be healing.

* Keep a prayer of mending bouncing if you do encounter group damage.

* If you do need to use a 'big' group heal, try speccing borrowed time. Cast a PWS on the tank, get 25% haste, cast Prayer of Healing, proft. If you need to group heal again, cast PWS on someone else (maybe yourself), cast Prayer of Healing, profit again. If this isn't enough to heal heroic damage, then someone is doing something VERY wrong.

* You can also use PI with borrowed time and inner focus to get a free, probably-going-to-crit and proc aegis, quick as all heck Prayer of Healing.

Q. What stats should i be trying to get?

A. Short Answer : Int, Spellpower, Critical Strike, MP5, Haste, Spirit, Stamina.

Long Answer

Int - Intellect raises your critical strike rating to proc Divine Aegis & Inspiration. It also increases the mana regeneration you will receive from Rapture (Also Replenishment in a raid setting). Additionally, it increases your mana regen by augmenting any spirit you currently have.

Spellpower - Your spellpower basically dictates how much you heal for. In the case of a discipline priest, the amount of an effective heal (Not overheal) will also dictate how large of a shield Divine Aegis procs. If you have borrowed time, then we will also gain more benefit to our PWS spell from Spellpower then a priest without the borrowed time talent.

Critical Strike - Critical strike rating is valuable because of the Divine Aegis talent. It translates directly into increased damage mitigation. Damage absorbed by Divine Aegis will also proc Rapture.

MP5 - Generally MP5 is going to be more valuable for your mana regen then spirit will be. It is on many peices of gear in bulk, and particularly with rings/neck/trinket/weapon type slots you will find it accompanying critical strike, spellpower, and intellect.

Spirit - Spirit can still be a valuable stat for a discipline priest. It is a form of regen, you just have to compare it to MP5 to decide which item is better. 5 spirit = 2mp5 is the standard 'accepted' conversion ratio for a Discipline Priest, but currently at 1094 unbuffed intellect and 350 unbuffed spirit, i gain 1mp5 per approximately ~4 spirit. There is an excellent tool available to you, authored by Planeshaper. I hope he will not mind me linking it here, but i think it will help people gain clarity on this whole issue.

Mana Regen Tool (v 0.3.2 alpha)

Stamina - I think it is probably in a priests best interest to keep their unbuffed HP around 13k or better minimum right now. Discipline priests will gain more out of stamina due to Enlightenment, so this will be an easier task for us.

Q. What stats should i aim for for entering Naxxramas?

A. I was aiming for 1,400 spellpower, 15% holy critical strike rating, and 300 mp5 not casting before i raided, and i was able to hit that fairly easily by getting new gear from about a week of farming heroics. You will very likely to be able to do Naxxramas with a good group with far less stats than that.

Q. What should i be gemming?

A.

Yellow Slots :

Brilliant Autumn's Glow (+ 16 int), Luminous Monarch Topaz (+8 int, + 9 spellpower)

Blue Slots : Dazzling Forest Emerald (+ 8 int, 3MP5)

Red Slots : Luminous Monarch Topaz (+ 8 int, +9 spellpower)

Meta : Insightful Earthsiege Diamond ( + 21 int, chance to restore 600 mana on spellcast)

General notes about discipline priest mechanics and bugs :

Prayer of Mending is supposed to attribute threat from the healing done to the priest. Currently PoM procs seem to attribute threat to no one.

Pain suppression currently reduces threat generated WHILE it is active (Not total threat) by 5%. This threat does not return after the buff fades, so it does not work like Fade.

Divine Aegis and Rapture Q & A

Q. Does Divine Aegis stack with itself?

A. No. If you get two critical strikes in a row, the second critical strike will overwrite the first Divine Aegis, regardless of size.

Q. Does Divine Aegis stack with PWS?

A. Yes. If Divine Aegis and PWS are on a target, Divine Aegis is absorbed first, and then PWS absorption will begin. There is no gap between the time the first absorption ability is removed, and the second one starts. This means that YES, they do stack, contrary to popular belief - just in a linear fashion, which is actually better than simultaneous absorption - which would probably cause waste of potential absorption.

Q. Does Divine Aegis work with overhealing?

A. Yes it does. Another common myth is that you critically strike and it is overheal, it does not apply to Divine Aegis absorption. This is untrue. Divine Aegis absorbs damage based on the ENTIRETY of a critical strike, regardless of whether or not none, any, or all of it is overhealing.

Q. Can you clarify what is going on with Rapture?

A.
Rapture does NOT count overhealing. If you completely overheal with greater heal for example, you will get no mana refund from rapture. Only effective healing will return mana from Rapture.

If you're curious as to why you're not getting 2.5% of your mana pool back when you cast a spell, it is because it is UP TO 2.5% of your maximum mana, based on the amount of healing you have actually done. It's essentially a sliding scale, UP TO that 2.5% value. The more you effectively heal, the more mana returns you will see up to that point. There is actually a point gearwise right now where casting Penance for example will actually return more mana than it consumes.

The formula for Rapture is as follows :

Max(0.01035*max mana/base mana*amount healed, 0.025 * Max Mana)

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Stolen from "The Doctor" of Elietist Jerks.

Discipline Healing Compendium

More additions to come...

This compendium will work hand-in-hand with Constantius's thread general priest items will remain there primarily. Disc specific items, additions… etc will be here. This is a compilation of data contributed on threads such as the "WotLK Healing Compendium v3.0..." and the previous Discipline Priest compendium thread. For specific information about Shadow specs please refer to there latest threads for the most current information.

Disclaimer: This thread and this post will evolve with current theorycraft. While the data presented here should be accurate it is advisable that you use it with some discretion. Errors, omissions, and significant additions should be PM'd to me to ensure I update the main body of this post. Remember Discipline has only been a viable PvE healing spec for a short time and doesn't have a long theorycraft history from which to draw.

Terminology
A short list of terms that will be used in this thread and in the dicussion following.

BT - Borrowed Time
DA - Divine Aegis
WS - Weakened Soul
oo5sr - Out of 5 second rule
i5sr - Inside of 5 second rule
PoM - Prayer of Mending
PoH - Prayer of Healing
HpM - Healing per Mana, a measurement of efficiency
HpS - Healing per Second, a measurement of throughput
MpS - Mitigation per Second, a measurement of throughput

I. Spec's & Talents
A. Disc Specs
There are currently two baseline methods for talent spec as a Discipline priest. There have been several more exotic multi-tree spec’s proposed though as of yet the viability of them has not been demonstrated well enough to be included. The primary difference between the two base spec’s is the Holy talent Improved Healing. Based on the depth into the Holy tree to acquire it (IH) some items in the Disc tree have to be sacrificed.

In either of the following specs the focus is single target healing through the use of both mitigation and direct healing. Raid healing support can be accomplished through PW:S, BT’d PoH, PoM, and quick reactive heals.

57/13/0, this spec has all of the Discipline tools available. The remaining point is discretionary.

53/18/0. This spec trades 4 points in Disc for Improved Healing. In Disc I would sacrifice and go with 1/2 Grace, 1/3 Improved Flash Heal, and without Power Infusion. The 2 points in Spell Warding can be spent at your discretion.

B. Talents
Q: What are the most important talents for Discipline?
A: The majority of the PvE talents in the Discipline tree are necessary to reach full potential. The most important talents are Penance, Divine Aegis, Focused Power, and Aspiration. There are quite a few other good talents though I would not sacrifice these from any build.

Q: How valuable is Improved Healing?
A: This is an efficiency talent and only has value so far as your difficulty with mana management.

Penance is 618 x 15% = 92.7 mana saved if used on CD. It is worth…
~72.42 mp5 (w/Glyph)
~57.94 mp5 (w/out Glyph)

Divine Hymn is 2434 x 15% = 365 mana saved. Because of the long CD on this ability it isn’t a significant amount over the duration of the fight, the longer the fight the less mp5 contribution.

Greater Heal is 1236 x 15% = 185.4 mana saved per cast. This is a decent savings and you can calculate the equivalent mp5 you would receive based on the number of casts of your play style. You can approximate it at 15 mp5 for each cast of GH over a one minute period.

Q: Is 1/2 Grace superior to 2/2 Grace?
A: It provides the chance that if you FH/GH off your primary healing assignment that the Grace stack does not transition with a single heal. If you Penance off target there is a 1/8 chance it doesn’t transition. For this reason some people consider taking 1/2 superior though this would be the incorrect reason for it to be superior.

Re-stacking Grace on the primary target comes as a cost. Rember Penance counts as 3 heals… This section has been reworked to better display the cost of going down to 1/2 Grace.

1/2 Grace – It will take 6 direct heals to ensure a triple stack of Grace at greater than 98%. The average cost to Healing/Mitigation provided during this time is 6.5% and it could cost as much as 8.3%. If there is some bad RNG it could take longer than 6 heals which will increase the average over a 7% loss.

2/2 Grace – It will take 3 direct heals to re-stack Grace. The total loss of healing on the target is the equivalent of 4.7% of the total Healing/Mitigation during the process of restacking when compared to 1/2.

While maintaining Grace on the primary target is great, the cost that is incurred if it does move with 1/2 Grace is quite a bit higher than if you have 2/2 Grace. If you don’t off heal it is a viable option because it will not take long to stack it and is not likely to fall off. Though it is not better because it give the possibility of the stack not moving and the point shouldn’t be dropped for this reason. It is actually overall better to keep the second point if you will off-heal because the penalty is less. You could drop the point in the process of pickup Improved Healing if you plan to not off-heal and risk the stack to often.

II. Mana Regeneration
A. Base Regen
As a traditionally "spirit based" mana regeneration class. The level 80 version of the mana regeneration from Int and Spi now follow the following formula's:

oo5sr = 0.016725 * Spirit * SqRt(Intellect)
i5sr = oo5sr * .17/.33/.50 (Based on the points in meditation. 3/3 Meditation is standard in all specs.)

This portion of the mana regeneration model is the only reason for Discipline to utilize Spirit at all.

B. Rapture
Rapture had a major overhaul with the 3.1 release. It was quite imbalanced in its previous incarnation, though the current mechanic has some issues. Rapture provides 1.5/2.0/2.5% of total mana when a PW:S is completely consumed or dispelled and can only occur once per 12 seconds.

The maximum regeneration from Rapture is:
(Mana Pool) x Return% / 12 * 5 = X mp5

The maximal return is unrealistic and should instead be evaluated based on the amount per proc and the proc rate received. Instead you find that:
(Mana Pool) x Return% / 12 = X mp5 per proc, where the proc rate is from 0-5 proc’s/min.

Example:
21568 x 2.5% / 12 = 44.93 mp5/proc... The PTR proc rate data I was running was ~3.4 proc/min. So this would indicate ~152.8 mp5.

There needs to be more data collected and theorycraft analysis on the proc rate. The proc rate depends on multitude of factors. For a single target the proc rate is maximally 4/min based on the WS debuff. How close to this can be achieved is based on damage income and pattern, target avoidance, target mitigation..etc calculating an average “time to consumption”… Optimally a time to consumption of less than 3 seconds yields 4 proc/min.

1 Int = ~0.1538 mp5, maximally
1 Int = ~0.1045 mp5, 3.4proc/min

The mechanic behind Rapture indicates that PW:S should be used with regularity on any target that will benefit from being shielded and provides the potential or guarantee of the shield being completely consumed.

C. Replenishment
Replenishment is a talent available to a multitude of class/specs... The buff provides a 15 second buff on up to 10 people that restores 0.25% of total mana every second for the duration of the buff. Mental Strength couples well with Replenishment in a raid/group environment for Discipline.

1199 Int provides 17705 mana. That 17705 mana at 0.25% is 44.2625 mana per second or ~221 mp5. Based on the 221 mp5 @ 1199 Int you find that -

1 Int = ~0.18458 mp5 (not accounting Blessing of Kings or Mental Strength)

D. Mana Pool
The larger the mana pool the better the longevity over the course of the fight. This equates to mana regen based on the fight duration.

Mana Pool / Duration * 5 = X mp5, working with a 5 min fight duration at the previously demonstrated Int amount it works out too.

17705 / 300 * 5 = ~295.08 mp5

1 Int = ~0.2461 mp5 (not accounting Blessing of Kings or Mental Strength)

E. Spirit vs. mp5
The more Int the more valuable Spi becomes, though without a secondary benefit of having Spi it is a fairly weak stat for Disc. It takes approximately 3 Spi to equal 1 mp5.

Giving the opportunity Disc should choose quality mp5 gear over spirit.

III. Raiding as Discipline
Discipline can be used very dynamically in a raid environment much like Holy was in BC and before 3.1 released. While all healers should be less concerned with meters and more about keeping people alive, as Disc you need to be even less reliant on current meters. The majority of Disc contribution is not visible on most meters (see Add-On section).

A. Tank Healing
The primary tools as a tank healer are Penance, Flash Heal, PW:S, PoM, and occasionally Greater Heal.

Q: Should PW:S be saved for “burst” healing on the tank?
A: In most cases it is far and away more important to maintain the Weakened Soul debuff on the tank to ensure the highest crit rate possible. There are occasions where it may be necessary to line-up the application of PW:S with large strikes on the tank. Even at these times the cast shouldn’t be delayed unless absolutely required for tank survival, instead the order of casting should align such that the PW:S lands prior to the big strike as often as possible. Penance alone is significant “burst” and provides enough for most encounters.

B. Raid Healing Support
The new talent Soul Warding and the change to PoH group targeting provide significant improvement to Disc raid healing. The large amount of predictable raid damage in Ulduar provides ample opportunity for Disc to pre-shield to help create time for the other raid healers. Shielding of raid members provides additional BT casts on either the tank or for reactive raid healing and works well with the new Rapture mechanic.

Disc is NOT an optimal choice for raid healing. It is however the only choice for raid mitigation so switching specs isn't optimal. Weaving PW:S onto raid members, well timed PoH, and PoM are more than enough to allow Disc to fill a niche in any raid. All this can be done while healing the MT if necessary.

C. Specific Fight Information
This section will be updated with some best practices or helpful play style information that applies to specific fights, damage patterns …etc. <Still In-Progress>

IV. Healer Interaction
Q: Disc and Holy Priests working together reducing PoM performance due to PW:S?
A: Discipline and Holy priests complete each other very well in a raid situation. Shielded targets will delay the bouncing of PoM though it is not enough to greatly reduce the healing of the Holy priests stronger PoM. The goal is to keep the raid alive not to “win the meters”. The use of PW:S provides a great amount of survivability and even if it slows a PoM bounces.

V. Maximizing
A. Stat Weighting
The stat ratings presented are generated from the Disc Spreadsheet that will be attached in a later section.

Thoughput stats...
Intelligence - 0.16
Spell Power - 1.0
Crit Rating - 0.48
Haste Rating - 0.59

Discipline through use of BT and with Enlightenment has a lower need for gearing to haste. It is valuable for total output at the above stat weighting up to the point you reach the "soft cap" of a total haste of 50%. At that point the GCD is 1 second and more haste impacts less of the Disc arsenal of tools. This point varies based on the buffs available and should be individually calculated.

Longevity stats...
1 Intelligence = 0.74 mp5
1 Spirit - 0.33 mp5

For those that utilize a combined stat weighting you can use the following. Though I usually work with them seperately in order to better balance my gear selection. The longevity stats are important to balance mana burn and mana gain for your playstyle, mana beyond that point is unnecessary.

Combined stats... Using a 60/40 split for throughput vs. longevity.
Intelligence - 0.65
Spirit - 0.22
Haste Rating - 0.59
Crit Ratng - 0.48
Spell Power - 1.0
Mp5 - 0.67

B. Gearing
When gearing you need to consider what stats you are short on at the current time. This means looking at do you need more mana regen or greater throughput? Be sure to consider which gems and enchants will couple with the piece.

Discipline priests should always consider gear with Mp5 in place of Spirit. For regen Intellect is ultimately the best stat because it has dual value through conversion to crit at a rate of 132:1. Once you consider Blessing of Kings and Mental Strength 1 Int very nearly compares to 1 Mp5.

*The following post will present the current BiS "known" options.

C. Gemming
The most valuable gems are... There are more obviously, though these are the ones to consider for Discipline gearing. If gearing for Holy/Disc combined refer to the WotLK Healing Compendium to get help select the best overal gem.
Red
[Runed Scarlet Ruby]
Yellow
[Brilliant Autumn's Glow]
[Smooth Autumn's Glow]
Purple
[Royal Twilight Opal]
Green
[Dazzling Forest Emerald]
Orange
[Reckless Monarch Topaz]
[Potent Monarch Topaz]
[Luminous Monarch Topaz]

Metagems
Primary choices... Selection based on whether you need more regen or more throughput.
[Insightful Earthsiege Diamond] - The highest regen meta available until extreme levels of Int. A 45-second ICD proc that restores 600 mana and 21 intellect.
[Ember Skyflare Diamond] - A good choice for mixed throughput and longevity.

After additionally theorycrafting it is possible this could be a contender for the best throughput meta.
[Revitalizing Skyflare Diamond] - Possible contender with ESD for output.

D. Enchants
Currently the enchanting of either Disc or Holy is fairly similar. Reference the WotLK Healing Compendium v3.1 for specific enchants. Discipline can generally focus on the higher throughput enchants as regeneration is less of an issue generally. In some cases such as Boots taking a Spirit enchant may be the best option even though it wouldn't be the optimal choice with different options available.

E. Trinkets
<Still In-Progress>

F. Glyphs
Major Slots
Required:
Glyph of Penance

Viable Options:
Glyph of Power Word: Shield
Glyph of Flash Heal
Glyph of Prayer of Healing

Of the options for the remaining 2 Major glyphs dropping FH is an option if you don't need additional efficiency in order to keep glyphs that improve throughput. If efficiency of FH is something you need then it would probably be PoH that would be on the chopping block.

Minor Slots
There are a few decent minor glyphs you can choose between.

Glyph of Fading - Good savings on mana.
Glyph of Levitate - Saves from purchasing or farming spell casting materials. Kind of handy.
Glyph of Shadowfiend - With improved Shadow Fiend survivability this glyph may be outdated.
Glyph of Shadow Protection - Not necessary but could be the replacement for Shadowfiend Glyph.

V. Add-On
The RecountGuessedAbsorb addition to Recount made available by Elisa, is proving to be a viable current option for giving general information for mitigation/absorption provided. This can be used by raid leaders and healers looking for more real-time informaiton about the contribution of Disc priests to the larger raid healing environment.

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Happy Disc'ing.

**Strichnine** · 05-11-2009

So you took this from another site? Have you written it or did you just copy/paste?

**gezus** · 05-11-2009

It's just copy and paste .. 95% of the rest of the community ..

Also .. I never claimed to write it .. I also gave credit where credit was due, I also CLEARLY labeled it as STOLEN.

I am just taking 2 great guides, and cramming them into 1 post to help out newb priests. Not to mention the other 4 fail priest guides on this forum, I figured it was time to post so truth.

just sharing is all.