19/52/00 Fire Mage

Become a Fire-Spewing Combat Monster!

When it comes to the Mage class in WoW these days, all I ever seem to see lately is a Pyroblast spec, or a non-Pyroblast spec.

How boring! I mean – I LOVE the spec, but when everyone is the Pyro, it becomes old.

I’m tired of seeing big chunky rocks of fire flying from Fire Mages in WoW, and I’m here to do something about it!

Introducing the “FireCane”, or “Dragon Breath” Mage.

If you’re cringing already at losing Pyroblast, you should probably leave now, because this build is as much about doing something different as it is making an effective Fire Mage spec.

And effective it is!

While you might lose Pyroblast and Blastwave, you also can now lose another 3 points from the Hotstreak talent.

Where do these missing 5 points go now that we’ve “lost” Pyroblast? Generally speaking – we’ve added utility, longevity, and flexibility where before we simply stretched for a few percent higher DPS.

Get the whole story of the build below, and the link to the build itself to the right.Before we discuss why we’re choosing particular talents, and where you can or should make changes to suit yourself, you might be asking, “Who will this build suit?

Primarily, this Fire spec is for someone who is into the later game, doing PvE to level – around 55 plus for the best Fire-breathing action, or lower for anyone who wants to be flexible enough to enjoy WoW without pigeon holing themselves into a “raider” a “PvPer”, and so on.

So lets begin!

How to Create a Well Rounded Fire Mage Build in WoW

Row 1 (Improved Fire Blast, Incineration, Improved Fireball)

Improved Fire Blast can be nice for PvP, any insta-cast spell is in my book, but unless you lean far into the PvP camp, leave it out, and take its two solid cousins — Inceneration (increased crit chance by +6%) and Improved Fireball for a half a second faster casting speed.

Row 2 (Ignite, Burning Determination, World in Flames)

Ignite is another nice critical strike bonus – when maxed you’re doing another 40% damage over 4 seconds, great in any Fire mage’s (burning) tree.

Burning Determination is a weird one. During PvP it can be handy, but as a cloth wearer you’ll know the first time you’re interrupted or silenced is usually the last time – in other words, you die very soon after. Drop BD and move on.

World in Flames is an easy choice – 3 points here nets you another 6% critical strike chance, which with Incineration makes 12% bonus crit strike chance.

Row 3 (Flame Throwing, Impact, Pyroblast, Burning soul)

Sink 2 points into Flame Throwing for a multi purpose boost to your fire spells – an extra 6 yards is handy in PvP, and lets you get another spell off before a mob hits you with melee attacks.

I can’t decide on Impact – the 10% chance to stun on hit for 2 seconds is handy, but I find I will usually look at Burning soul and other spells first. Speaking of Burning soul – 2 points there to help with push back from the inevitable casting you’ll be doing in CC.

Pyroblast!

The skill that set me in motion to write this Mage build — no doubt its a great skill, in fact I wrote a build centered around it not too long ago… Its high damage, efficient mana, and can be insta cast down the line, but we’re going to skip it and its supporting skills in favor of concentrating on Dragon’s Breath and other very handy abilities from the arcane tree.

Row 4 (Improved Scorch, Molten shields, Master of Elements)

This row is one of my favorites with Molten shields making an appearance – 2 points here makes your Fire and Frost ward spells very handy for reflecting damage. Either in PvP or PvE I commonly have a ward up (when I remember to cast it… !) and I think this talent is one of the most underrated in this spec.

Improved Scorch is great for the extra crit chance, and for grouping and raids is awesome for its ability to increase spell vulnerability on the target. 3 points here, and 3 in Master of Elements for some mana savings on crits.

Row 5 (Playing With Fire, Critical mass, Blast Wave)

Get more critical power in this row by maxing Critical Mass, otherwise leave the other two.

Obviously Blast wave is left out due to lack of its pre-req, Pyroblast.

Row 6 (Blazing Speed, Fire Power)

Another “maybe” PvP talent here is Blazing speed – I’m tempted to take it, but in practice the ability doesn’t fire often enough, and by the time it does, your cloth wearing ways means you die fast – pass again… and Blizzard, make this one an insta cast with a 3 second duration and you might get more takers.

Put 5 points into Fire Power which gives off a solid 10% bonus to all fire damage, another easy pick.

Row 7 (Pyromaniac, Combustion, Molten Fury)

Another awesome ability in this line is Combustion, and is required to progress on to Dragon Breath – so 1 point here. Since this insta cast ability is on a relatively short cooldown, be sure to use it often, and when you do, spam your insta cast fire spells and fireballs to get your critical chances flowing!

Row 8 (Fiery Payback, Empowered Fire)

Another Fire Mage talent I feel doesn’t do enough is Fiery Payback – again we’re so weak that once we’re down to 35% health (the point at which this talent procs) we’re about to die anyway. More useful for PvE than PvP, and of course, definately a taker if you’re making out Pyroblast, but for us, we’re passing on Payback.

Empowered fire is another taker for this build, 3/3 here for yet more increase in base fire and frostfire damage.

Row 9 (Fire Starter, Dragon’s Breath, Hot Streak)

One of my favorite talent lines for the Fire Mage gives us the Fire breathing talents. Dragon’s Breath and its helper talent, Fire Starter get maxed out here, and let us unleash a torrent of magical fire in a cone ahead of us for a whopping 35% base mana cost, and disorienting them for 5 seconds.

This talent is pure gold, great fun, and usable almost anywhere. Fire starter makes it even better when maxed – giving you an insta cast Flamestrike immediately after using Dragon’s Breath… lots of time to line up your target!

Row 10 (Burnout)

A lonely talent in row 10, Burnout is another no brainer, increase your spell crits damage bonus by 50% and pay 5% extra mana for those spells that do crit. I’ll pay that all day long, 5 points here.

Row 11 (Living Bomb)

Ahh Living Bomb! Great fun, great damage, a good way to finish up the Fire Tree. Obviously take the point and have fun learning how to use it well.

Summation and Arcane Talent Additions

That’s the basis of the build – I’ve taken nothing that didn’t keep our spells doing the most damage possible (that’s why we’re fire magi!) and left enough to add some very handy arcane talents which will help keep our mana costs down and damage out put up.

Take special note that I’ve chosen Magic Attunement – this talent and its accompanying spells, Amplify and Dampen magic, are very much underrated, and most Fire Mages could do with dampen magic running 100% of the time while solo and in PvP – there just isn’t enough healing being done to justify otherwise!

For the Arcane row, max out every row up to 3, but leave out Arcane Stability, Magic Absorption (though I was really on the fence on this one) and Focus Magic.

Thats it! Get out there and give this build a go – I know you’ll have fun, and above all, you’ll actually be different!

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Level 29 Elemental Shaman PvP Build

Low level Shaman’s can be great in PvP if you know what you’re doing.

The lack of massive burst damage can make them seem underpowered, and their staple spell in PvE, Lightning Bolt, just takes too long to cast for a lot of situations.

The other KEY problem at this level is the lack of Nature’s Swiftness which gives us an insta cast nature spell, and Elemental Mastery which gives us an insta cast Lightning, or Lava Burst spell, as well as a 15% increase crit chance for 15 seconds.

So what kind of build can make us competitve in PvP, and where does it shine?

Click the image to the right to go to WoW Europe’s Armory with the exact build, or read on to find the guide that goes with the spec.

Level 29 Elemental Shaman PvP Build

Before I go into this 20 point build, let me outline the key talents that go with the build.

Firstly, this build will work from level 26 to 29 – you need level 26 to access the main ability I use in this build (Imp Fire Nova Totem).

As explained earlier, since we don’t have the insta cast help from either Nature’s Swiftness or Elemental Mastery, your key goal with this build should be to provide support, then healing, and lastly secondary DPS.

The talents you need to be most of aware of are:

• Improved Fire Nova Totem (2/2 points),
• Call of Flame (3/3 points), and
• Elemental Fury (5/5 points)

Improved Fire Nova Totem is at the centre of this build thanks to its 2 second stun to all targets hit by its blast. Now outdated! Imp fire nova totem no longer stuns. Will update for cataclysm on release (thanks Kryz).

This is the centre of the build because you’re fairly squishy (easy to kill) at this level, and it allows you precious seconds to heal, or otherwise gain the upper hand in the fight.

The other good point about Fire Nova Totem comes from the other 2 talents I listed above, the 100% extra crit damage, and the extra 15% fire damage, so you’re dishing out some really useful blanket damage and stun here every time you lay your totem.

Here’s a big tip: be sure that when you’re using the Fire Nova Totem to do so wisely.

What I mean by that is, don’t drop the thing before you start fighting!

As soon as you do that, if your opponent is savvy, they’ll realize they’re about to be hit by a big wall of damage (or if they’re really savvy, they’ll know a stun is next) and they’ll whack your totem down.

If you drop it just after you’ve engaged, they’ll likely not notice it, or not be able to react fast enough without severely disrupting their attack on you.

Use the 2 seconds stun time to either cast a lesser healing wave on yourself, or get a lightning bolt off, followed by a fast frost shock, at which stage you can drop an earthbind totem, and run, ready to setup another 1-2 combo with lightning bolt and a shock.

This of course will vary depending on the opponent you face. Stay in a mage’s face and use your Earth Shock, while for Rangers and Warlocks just hit them with Frost to keep them squarely in close combat range. You get the idea.

The other way this build works well on the offence is just finding large packs of enemies and dropping the Fire Nova Totem. Its not very subtle, but in the heat of combat it gets the job done, and can stun a bunch of players in one hit, giving your side a big upper hand.

As you should know, the Shaman really is a class which excels in groups, so I highly recommend you hang out with big groups as often as possible and use those totems heavily.

One last option — while this isn’t a resto PvP spec, you can be a real pain in the ass by simply using your water shield, lesser healing wave, and stunning Fire Nova Totem to stay alive for long enough for friends arrive, or to tie up a player who just wants to steal your flag for an age.

Many times I’ve used this technique against a class like a Hunter and pet attacking me, and stayed alive long enough for even fights to go our way – not to mention stunning the other combatants numerous times while I soaked up a ton of DPS.

You’ll also find at this level you can be very valuable simply by helping to chase down opponents with the flag with Frost shock, or by stalling a pursuit by dropping your Earthbind totem.

So to wrap up – use your Shaman against large groups by dropping that Fire Nova totem, use him on the defence (when you’re not the only one around!) to slow and annoy flag stealers or attackers, and use that big repetoir of harrassing abilities to slow, stun, interrupt and help out your team!

If you’ve got any other tricky moves for low level Shaman builds in PvP, let me know below!

Want Some Tips From 2200 Rated PvP Gladiators?

Check out Ultimate WoW PvP Strategies, and find match up strategies, macro guides, mods, talent specs, and detailed class analysis that’ll help take your PvP game to the next level!

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The Marksmanship Hunter build, or “MM build” is one of the most popular, and hated, builds around.

11/53/7 Marksmanship Build

As you might have guessed, its loved by hunters for its huge burst damage and overall high DPS, and loathed by its enemies in PvP.

The first time I got my aimed shot out and was causing big chunks of burst damage in PvP, I was sold.

But PvP isn’t the only arena MM Hunters shine, they’re also great in raids with high DPS, high survivability, and a range of helpful talents like Improved Hunter’s Mark.

Today I’d like to show you a 3.1 ready Marksmanship build that will allow you a lot of flexibility, and lets you easily tailor it to your needs.

The Marksmanship Build Explained:

Row 1 (Improved Concussive Shot, Focused Aim, Lethal shots)

ICS is a good starter talent, an extra 2 seconds of daze is always handy and stays useful – 2/2 here.

Focused Aim is one I just don’t use, you might consider 1 point here, but if you’re managing your hunter well you shouldn’t need this talent often enough for it to matter.

Lethal Shots is an obvious take, 5/5 points here for 5% extra crit chance from ranged weapons — this is great for all uses but especially in PvP when you want to max out your chance to crit for huge burst damage.

Row 2 (Careful Aim, Improved Hunter’s Mark, Mortal Shots)

Is Careful Aim worth it? That’s a question I asked a lot when I began my hunter, and boy did I change my mind as I leveled. Once you hit 60 and upwards, a lot of good hunter gear you find will have +int stats, and even without a great gear load out, the increase in attack power will be hugely noticeable for you. All 3 points here, sooner or later.

Improved Hunter’s Mark is a great skill merely for the mana reduction by 100%, and the extra attack power stacked with the above mentioned Careful Aim is pure gold. 3/3 here too.

Mortal Strike is an easy one, an extra 30% damage from crits and the unlock of Aimed shot for the next row is a no brainer – 5 points.

Row 3 (Go for the Throat, Improved Arcane Shot, Aimed Shot, Rapid Killing)

You could almost max out this entire row, all the abilities here are decent – especially Improved Arcane shot which gives a solid +15% damage from Arcane Shot.

Aimed Shot is the highlight though — burst damage of 408 and reducing healing on that target for 10 seconds is awesome for any situation, but especially PvP!

Row 4 (Improved Stings, Efficiency)

An awesome mana boosting line, Improved Stings also adds a solid 30% extra damage to Serpent and Wyvern Sting. Max out this line.

Row 5 (Concussive Barrage, Readiness, Barrage)

Welcome to the multishot line, I max this one as well to gain a powerful 4 second daze ability from Concussive Barrage, a cooldown timer reset from Readiness, and more solid damage increases for Multishot, Aimed shot and Volley spells.

Row 6 (Combat Experience, Ranged Weapon Specialization)

Just when you thought I was going to have you max out every line in the tree, we only plant two points in this row. Combat experience is another “should I bother?” skill that is deceptively powerful. 4 extra intellect, stacking with gear, and our already high increases in attack power make this a must. Pass on Ranged Weapon Spec, 3% extra damage is ok, but better spent elsewhere. Feel free to argue with me!

Row 7 (Piercing Shots, Trueshot Aura, Improved Barrage)

3/3 for Piercing shots to get 30% bleed damage when you crit for 8 seconds is an easy choice, but even easier is Trueshot Aura, especially for anyone who does any kind of grouping, whether it be level 80 raiding or level 19 PvPing (is there any other level? ). Put 1/1 point here for a party wide attack power buff of 10% that lasts until cancelled!

Improved Barrage is a nice crit buff for your Multi and Aimed shot abilities and 3 points go here for everyone.

Row 8 (Master Marksman, Rapid Recuperation)

Another big crit buff follows on from our last choice with Master Marksman offering another handy 5% buff, plus a reduction in mana cost for steady shot which can come in handy. 5/5 here.

Rapid Recuperation is great for mana intensive fights and is another max out with 2/2 points being placed here.

Row 9 (Wild Quiver, Silencing Shot, Improved Steady Shot)

1 point only for Wild Quiver – while I’d like more here I need it elsewhere and can’t really find something I personally want to sacrifice for this flexi-build… if you like the chance to shoot another shot with Auto shot then feel free to get creative.

Silencing Shot on the other hand is an easy choice – 1 point here to get an anti-caster ability great for all kinds of situations.

Leave out Improved Steady shot, I just don’t see the benefit per talent point here.

Row 10 (Marked for Death)

Marked for Death, like ISS above just doesn’t add up as a worthwhile pick for me. I leave it completely for this build.

Row 11 (Chimera Shot)

Chimera Shot like most end tree skills is an easy choice. An instant cast, 16% base mana cost spell, CS deals 125% ranged weapon damage while refreshing the current Sting on the target with varying effects also applies based on the kind of sting present.

My favorite is Scorpid which attempts a disarm, but unfortunately this can’t occur more than once per minute.

Rounding off your MM Build:

This build will do you well for general leveling all the way up to 80, though I (and most of the people I speak with) will prefer a Beast Master build for leveling. Once you hit 70 or 80 you’ll likely want to to specialize a bit further depending on what you find yourself doing, but until that time, use this build as a baseline and you’ll do fine!

You’ll notice if you click through to WoW armory on the pic at the top that I’ve also got 5 points in BM for Improved Aspect of the Hawk. This is a great talent for MM Hunters, and can actually probably be taken very early, ala level 20 onwards.

I’ve also put 7 points in survival — 2 in Improved tracking (just to open up row 2), 3 points in Hawk Eye for a handy 6 yards extra range, and 2 points in row 2′s Survival Instincts for even more critical chance on Arcane, Steady and Explosive shot.

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How to Use The Beast Mastery Build to its Best – A Hunter’s Guide

Hunter Beast Mastery Build

The Hunter is one of the most popular classes in WoW, and not just because they’re easy to solo and level fast, but because of the huge array of pets that come with them.

My other half plays a Hunter, and she loves all the different options she has as she levels up, from cats and wolves to raptors and owls.

So what are the advantages to having a strong pet build?

To me, higher survivability and less deaths are big points, and rank up there if you’re trying to level quickly.

Great flexibility in pets is another big plus, and with the correct selection of pets (cats are great), a very high DPS.

Combine high DPS and excellent survivability and you have an awesome class.

And so with all this talk of cool pets, here’s a quick run down on how to maximize your Hunter’s killing power through making the most of their pets.

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Beast Mastery Hunter Build:

Row 1: (Improved Aspect of the Hawk, Endurance Training)

IAotH is passed over, but consider putting a few points in it AFTER you’ve maxed this tree out. I put 1 point here after I max the line.

Endurance training gets 5/5 points – this is important to take especially if you’re after a DPS pet (which I feel is a must if you go beast mastery), because DPS pets are pretty flimsy and easily killed if you’re not careful.

Row 2: (Focused Fire, Improved Aspect of the Monkey, Thick Hide, Improved Revive Pet)

2/2 if Focused fire for an extra 2% damage for you, and more importantly, your pet gets an extra TWENTY percent chance to score crits while Kill command is active.

Imp Aspect of the Monkey and Improved Revive Pet are passed over, too many points needed here for too little DPS. When choosing build, choose a theme, and ensure all your points overlap, leverage and back each other up until you have a big stack of bonuses all working together.

Take 3/3 Thick Hide, again giving your DPS pet more armor is pretty much mandatory to keep them in one piece in hairy situations, and if your pet dies, your pet heavy build is useless.

Row 3: (Pathfinding, Aspect Mastery, Unleashed Fury)

Max out every skill on this line, Pathfinding is “only” a utility skill, but given the beast mastery spec is a good choice for leveling, running speed is prioritized in this build. Aspect Mastery for only 1 point gives a raft of handy bonuses, so take that, and Unleashed Fury is a no brainer with 5/5 points giving your pet a monster 15% damage bonus.

Row 4: (Improved Mend Pet, Ferocity)

Leave Improved Mend Pet, with the DPS you’re doing and armor built in you should just be focusing on causing damage, and basic mend pet will serve you just fine. On the other hand, if you’re doing a lot of raiding mend pet CAN come in extremely useful for ridding your pet of some nasty debuffs which sharply decrease your dps… so keep this one in mind for later if you’re not already raiding.

Ferocity on the other hand is another core choice in this build, an amazing 10% improved critical strike chance for your pet equals win! Take this with cobra reflexes for another 30% increase to attack speed, and all those extra (but slightly lower damage hits) will mean a LOT more crits.

Row 5: (Spirit Bond, Intimidation, Bestial Discipline)

Another skill that helps the pair of you stay alive longer is Spirit Bond – for only 2 points you regenerate 2% of total health every 10 seconds and gives you a small bonus when someone else heals you.

Intimidation for 1 point gives your pet the ability to taunt your enemy and stun it for a lengthy 3 seconds, which is great to use as a panic button, or just as an every other fight bonus.

Bestial Discipline also gets 2/2 points to give your pet 100% faster focus regeneration to ensure you keep ticking along quickly with your mob killing. If you’ve ever sat around waiting for your pet’s focus bar to rise you’re wasting precious leveling time.

Row 6: (Animal Handler, Frenzy)

Animal Handler is a take it or leave it skill for me, put 2 points into it if you like, but it just doesn’t have enough benefit there for me. PvP’ers might find the ability to get out of snares handy though so if you’re in battlegrounds a lot, go for it.

Frenzy – dump 5 points into this, no question – who wouldn’t want a 100% chance to gain 30% attack speed increase for 8 seconds after dealing a critical strike? Combine this with the aforementioned cobra reflexes and you’ve got a mighty fast attacking DPS pet.

Row 7: (Ferocious Inspiration, Bestial Wrath, Catlike Reflexes)

This is a great row, max out all skills in it — Ferocious Inspiration is great for players in groups, or if not, the 9% Arcane shot bonus aint bad, Bestial Wrath is awesome for tough mobs giving a 50% additional damage bonus for 18 seconds, and only has a 2 minute cooldown. Catlike reflexes is another goody for keeping kitty alive with an extra pet dodge bonus of 9%.

Row 8: (Invigoration, Serpent’s Swiftness)

Give Invigoration a miss – 2% mana per crit doesn’t get me excited, as it just doesn’t regenerate our mana fast enough.

Serpent’s Swiftness however is another solid gold must have – 5 points here to get 20% increase in ranged attack speed for you, and 20% for melee on your pet.

Row 9: (Longevity, The Beast Within, Cobra Strikes)

Another maxed out line in row 9 – some great cooldown reductions here, mana saving when your pet is under the effects of Bestial Wrath, and a kick ass bonus of 2 critical strikes for your pet when you crit using Arcane shot, Steady shot, or Kill shot.

Row 10: (Kindred Spirits)

More DPS magic in row 10 comes from Kindred Spirits, put all 5 points here for 20% extra damage from your pet and 10% faster movement for you.

Row 11: (Beast Mastery)

Given Beast Skill points only come around every 4 levels, this is one talent every Beast Master specced Hunter looks forward to — gain 4 pet talent skill points immediately.

So what is this BM Hunter build best at?

While it will serve you well where ever you are, definitely solo leveling — your pet is in the line of fire most of the time (use that to your advantage and die less often), and your stock ranged fire and spells are awesome.

After making this build up to Row 11, I drop 5 points into the Marksmanship tree to get 5% bonus to critical strikes with ranged fire, and then another 7 points into Survival to get Hawk Eye (6 yards extra shooting range), Savage Strikes (massive crit chance in hand to hand), and Survival instincts to increase crit chance even further with ranged fire, and reduce all damage taken by 4%.

This build will also serve you well in pick up games for PvP, but if PvP is where you live, then you can definitely tweak this build to make your killing more efficient.

Beast Mastery is also a good raid spec – you put out a good consistent level of damage with average criticals that rival every class in the game.

So to sum up, if you’re an up and coming Beast Master, this spec will do well for you in any area of the game. If you ever decide to specialize your talent build in raiding, PvP or leveling, some minor tweaks of this build is all you’ll need! Good luck!

Look out for my accompanying cat talent build for an accompanying high DPS pet, any day now.

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Become Everyone’s Best Friend With Resto Spec

Resto Shaman Build

Secondary healers like Druids and Shamans are great fun – while you’re not being everyone’s best buddy by stopping them dying, you’re able to step in and do some DPS, and not to mention level at an “ok” rate when you’re out of grouping situations.

The other good thing about being the secondary healer is that everyone doesn’t expect you to hold everything together. If your main healer drops, and the rest of the group soon follows, it was his fault… right?

With all my professions of a resto Shammy being able to do other stuff while he’s not healing groups, let me be clear – the restoration Shaman is NOT going to handle solo PvE well, and is a bit of a slouch on leveling speeds.

Because of that fact, this build is fairly specialized and doesn’t offer much in the way of options to tweak for different play styles.

Either you use this build to heal groups in PvP or in instances, or you just love the Resto Shammy and don’t care that you’re leveling a little slow.

Key tip: Resto Shamans are the king of chain heals, which means the Shaman will be in charge of healing groups of players at a time, particularly larger raid groups being hit by AoE’s.

Your healing wave spells are great and all, but Druids and obviously Priests trounce your single target heals. Chain heals are also great for PvP in battlegrounds or larger arena fights, but obviously you lose your biggest draw card in 2v2.

This build will be a good general purpose healing build for PvP or instances of any size. If you’re a raiding junkie I’d investigate optimizing your chain heals by picking up the appropriate gear and making every talent point count.

The Restoration Shaman Build

Row 1 (Improved Healing Wave, Totemic Focus)

Nothing fancy here, IHW gets maxed with 5 points to reduce your cast time half a sec. Leave totemic focus alone.

Row 2 (Improved Reincarnation, Healing Grace, Tidal Focus)

We don’t need reincarnation for PvP, and it shouldn’t be your main focus in groups to rez, so leave it be, 0/2. Healing Grace, max it with 3/3 – great for managing your threat levels, especially when you start spamming chain heals. Tidal focus also gets 5/5, especially handy again in groups where you’re doing a lot of healing – you’ll save 5% mana per cast with this maxed.

Row 3 (Improved Water Shield, Healing Focus, Tidal Force, Ancestral Healing)

I leave IWS – I know some people think the pay off is worth the chance at gobbling a water shield orb, but I’m not convinced 3 points are worthwhile here – especially when chain heal isn’t on the menu.

Healing Focus – an easy one & doesn’t really need explaining, 3/3 reduces pushback suffered from damage by 70%.

Tidal Force is another no brainer – increase the crit chance of your core healing spells including chain heal by 60% for a limited time and great as part of an “oh sh*t” macro if and when things get a little crazy.

Ancestral Healing is part b to the “oh sh*t” button I referenced above – give your target an extra 25% armor for 15 seconds after a crit heal.

Row 4 (Restorative Totems, Tidal Mastery)

One of the most commonly used totems in a raid is the mana spring totem. Your priest loves it, the mage loves it… everyone loves it because the benefits help us all out at the end of the day. Max out 3 points to get an extra 20% mana out of your spring, or if you have your healing totem out, and extra 45% healing.

Tidal Mastery, max it out at 5% to get those lovely crit heal percentages up.

Row 5 (Healing Way, Nature’s Swiftness, Focused Mind)

Healing Way gets no love on this line, I’m just not big on the Shaman’s healing wave spells and think points are best kept for other uses.

Nature’s Swiftness is another great panic button to include on a macro. 1/1 gives you an insta cast healing spell.

Focused Mind is great for PvP and reduces Silence or Interrupt effects by 30% which can be the difference between saving your friend’s skin and not. Max it with 3 points.

Row 6 (Purification)

All on its lonesome is Purification — you can’t miss its 10% bonus to all heals. Nuff said -5/5.

Row 7 (Nature’s Guardian, Mana Tide Totem, Cleans Spirit)

Nature’s Guardian is a bit of an optional one for me. If you don’t find yourself in PvP very often I can see the wisdom in dropping it in favor of some other resto lines here. If you engage in PvP its a must, max it. If you don’t, it can still be handy in tough fights and makes you just a little bit more survivable.

Mana Tide Totem, a great pick for you raiders, it can add a huge mana regeneration boost in the thick of battle, drop a point in here for sure. If you never raid, drop it.

Cleanse Spririt is handy in all sorts of situations and takes down a poison, curse and disease effect at the same time with an insta cast. 1/1 here too.

Row 8 (Blessing of the Eternals, Improved Chain Heal, Nature’s Blessing)

More critical healing love comes from BotE — 2 points gives you a 4% boost, and gives you an 80% boost to the chance of Earthliving to apply on your target when they’re under 35% health. 2/2 here, please.

Improved Chain Heal, 2 points here gives your chain heals a 20% boost, need I say more?

Also max out Nature’s Blessing with 3 points, which with Ancestral Knowledge maxed out gives you an awesome boost to every heal you do (15% of intellect added to each heal).Row 9 ()

Row 10 (Ancestral Awakening, Earth Shield, Improved Earth Shield)

AA is left alone in this build — again I’m not keen on optimizing non chaining heals, and even with riptide getting this bonus I’m not keen on it. Leave it out.

Earth Shield is awesome with just 1 point and can be good to use on your primary healer or tank. Improved Earth sheild doesn’t convince me and I leave it out to give us some points in enhancement which make a real difference to our heals.

Row 11 (Tidal Waves)

Tidal Waves is a good talent to make your single target heals more useful. Giving your next two healing wave spells after Riptide or Chain Heal a 30% faster cast with a 20% healing bonus is definately worth the 5 points. Fill it up and move on to Riptide.

Row 12 (Riptide)

Finally at row 12 we Shaman’s get a good healing over time (HoT) spell! Riptide would be great alone, but with the bonus it gives your Chain Heals to the same target, its really an invaluable and kick ass addition to the resto line.

Round out your Resto with some Enhancement thusly:

Ancestral knowledge 5/5 – great for that extra mana and crit ability.

Thundering strikes 5/5 – ditto.

Improved Shields 2 or 3 points here out of 3. If you go 2 points, place your last point into Shamanistic Focus for the cheaper shock spells (good for you PvP’ers out there to conserve mana).

There you have it, a great Resto build for Shaman’s who love PvP and raiding – its easily tweaked if you’re a raiding fanatic, but what I have here is solid even if you are.

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Wield Nature’s Weapons With an Elemental Shaman

Elemental Shaman Build

Today I’m looking at an Elemental build for Shamans that has a monster crit strike bonus built in, and has some great utility spells to round it out.

This build is great for solo players, good for raiding shamans, and great for PvP play where you want to get off huge crits as often as possible.

These huge crits won’t hurt while you’re leveling, or while you’re grouping of course…!

This is another of my favorite Shaman builds – the Elemental Shaman to me is like fighting in bear form as a Druid, its what they were made for, you know?

But enough rambling – here’s the build. Its flexible, but definitely skewed to leveling or small groups where you can do secondary healing and secondary DPS duties.

Elemental Shaman Talent Build

Row 1 (Convection, Concussion)

Your Elemental shaman is going to be pumping out a ton of spell damage in his time with this build, so its important to make that casting efficient and effective. Max out Convection and Concussion to save 10% on mana and increase damage by 5% for Shock, Lighting Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Lava Burst.

Row 2 (Call of Flame, Elemental Warding, Elemental Devastation)

I’m not a big fan of any of this line, but we need points to unlock talents later on down the tree, so I put 3 points into Call of Flame, to get the Fire Totem and Lava Burst damage bonus, and 3/3 into Elemental Warding to reduce all damage we receive by 6%.

Row 3 (Reverberation, Elemental Focus, Elemental Fury)

While Reverberation is a potential choice, and one I’ve used a lot before, for this build I just want to focus on other more useful talents. Elemental Focus is a definite – 1/1 in there to get Clearcasting which reduces mana costs by 40% for your next two spells. Very handy to keep you casting longer. Elemental Fury is a keystone of this build, 5 points go here to up our crit damage by 100% for Searing, Magma, and Fire Totems, and Fire, Frost, and Nature spells.

Row 4 (Improved Fire Nova Totem, Eye of the Storm)

Leave IFNT alone, unless you’re looking at making your Shammy more PvP focused, in which case the 100% chance of stunning from a Fire Nova is gold. Put 3 points into Eye of the Storm to help you keep pumping out those spells even under constant attack – reduce pushback by 70% for Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Lava Burst and Hex spells.

Row 5 (Elemental Reach, Call of Thunder, Unrelenting Storm)

How can you NOT want to be an Elemental build with such awesome talent names as these? Unrelenting Storm, anyone? Yes please, many!

Ok so back to reality – Call of Thunder is another keystone for this build.. an extra 5% bonus chance to crit is HUGE, and you MUST take it for this build (and I’d be surprised if I didn’t see it in every enhancement build). Just keep in mind this is only for Lighting, Chain Lightning and Thunderstorm, which is where you’ll be doing most of your big damage crits.

Now for my favorite — Unrelenting Storm.  For this build, you really, really want to be covered in +int gear because of the big crit bonus you get to spells from high int… and since you’ll be working to increase your int, this talent will keep your mana ticking over really well every 5 seconds. Max it out at 3 points.

Finally, 2 points into Elemental Reach. The 6 yards more mean another cast, and another chance at hitting a crit. The extra radius on Thunderstorm is nice, too.

Row 6 (Elemental Precision, Lighting Mastery)

Whats a good crit chance without a high chance to hit in the first place? Max out Elemental Precision and make every cast count – you’ll also get 30% less threat from your Fire, Frost and Nature spells. Also max out Lightning Mastery and reduce your cast time for Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning and Lava Burst by half a second. More casts, again equals more crit chances, and more damage.

Row 7 (Elemental Mastery, Storm Earth and Fire)

Max out the whole line, Elemental Mastery is the most pivotal talent in this line. Get this up in PvP, or really any situation, and your next Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning or Lava Burst spell becomes and instant cast spell, and your Fire, Frost, and Nature damage spells get an EPIC 15% bonus to crit hit chance for 15 seconds.

Row 8 (Booming Echos, Elemental Oath, Lightning Overload)

I’m leaving BE & EO alone for this build, only Lightning Overload gets some love – max it out for a 33% chance to cast a second similar spell on the same target at no extra mana cost. In addition your spell won’t cause any extra threat which is great for groupers and raiders. You might consider taking Elemental oath if you’re doing a lot of grouping – its excellent for big groups – check it out, but for this build hold off.

Row 9 (Astral Shift, Totem of Wrath, Lava Flows)

While this line has some cool factor with Astral Shift, we’re going to avoid it unless you’re a heavy PvP player (in which case take it because rogues and pallys are our doom), and only put 1 point into Totem of Wrath which is yet another crit boosting tool in your arsenal. Get 3% extra crit chance while the totem is up, and increase party spell power by 100 for 5 minutes. Sold!

Leave Lava Flows, yawn worthy performance unless you’ve got the hots for your Fire based spells. Lightning is where this build is at.

Row 10 (Shamanism)

Getting to the end of the tree and things keep getting better — max out Shamism with 5 points and get another 10% damage bonus to your lightning attacks. By this stage I’m sure you’re stringing together how all your lightning based attacks are stacking, and with all the crit bonuses and high chance attacks, you’re going to be doing a lot of damage from a distance.

Row 11 (Thunderstorm)

The top of the tree is Thunderstorm, one of my favorite talents for obvious reasons… it looks really cool!

On top of its awesome effects, Thunderstorm kicks ass with a two pronged bonus, helping you, and damaging everyone else, throwing them back a massive 20 yards and restoring 8% of your mana back to you. Another great bonus is that you can use this while stunned, making it great for PvP and all manner of tight spots you need to get yourself out of. If this spell crits, which it has a decent chance to with this build, you can do some stunning damage to a large number of enemies.

For this particular build, where I want to continue to max out my crit chances and keep my mana costs low, I’ve gone a bit of an odd 3 tree build which includes:

5/5 Ancestral knowledge for the 10% increase in Intellect (go you critty thang).

5/5 Thundering Strikes for another 5% bonus to crit chance.

1/1 Shamanistic Focus to get 45% cheaper shock spells.

5/5 Totemic Focus to reduce totem mana costs 25%, and finally,

2/2 Improved Reincarnation to reduce your reincarnation cooldown by 20 minutes – just a bit of utility to round off a very crit heavy ranged spec.

Give this spec a go and I have no doubt your Elemental Shaman will enjoy blasting your foes with some killer critting lightning bolts and elemental fury!

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Enhancement/Elemental Shaman

Shaman’s are one of my favorite classes – they offer amazing flexibilty, and some really great tools that help you get by in your day to day leveling and adventuring.

One of those paths is the Enhancement Shaman. I’ve spent a lot of time putting together this Shaman spec to make it well suited for players who want some flexibility. One day you might be raiding, the next some PvP, and then maybe some solo and perhaps dailies when you level to that point.

With that in mind, the build below will serve well as a DPS focused build. This means you’ll be doing a lot of damage, and will be well suited for groups, PvP or solo work.

Solo is always better to do with a strong DPS build, and raids obviously will need an assortment of roles – DPS being one of them.

Row 1 (Enhancing Totems, Earth’s Grasp, Ancestral Knowledge)

The first row is totem heavy, with a nice intelligence buff.

Since this build includes a talent further down the tree that takes strength from high intelligence, max out 5 points in Ancestral Knowledge, and put 3 points into Enhancing Totems to give yourself another 15% Strength of the Earth effect, and 15% to Flametongue. Leave Earth’s grasp – we’re looking for damage per second, not extra tanking ability.

Row 2 (Guardian Totems, Thundering Strikes, Improved Ghost Wolf, Improved Shields)

Leave Guardian totems alone, it can be great for adding to a raid or party but not in this build. Put 5/5 into Thundering Strikes – the 5% extra chance to crit is too good to pass up on a DPS build. Leave Improved Ghost Wolf, but put another 3/3 points into Improved Shields for an extra 15% buff to your lightning, water and earth orbs.

Row 3 (Elemental Weapons, Shamanistic Focus, Anticipation)

This row includes one of the enhancement Shaman’s biggest draw cards – a buff to their impressive Windfury Weapon effect of 40% to damage. I recommend everyone use Windfury above any other weapon effect, its been proven by countless players as the highest DPS of them all. So 3/3 into Elemental Weapons is an easy one.

Put 1 point into Shamanistic Focus – reducing the mana cost of one of your best instant cast spell lines is another no brainer – 45% savings is awesome and welcome to any Shaman.

I leave Anticipation, the benefits just aren’t worth it, maybe PvP players will consider putting 3 points into it, otherwise leave it alone.

Row 4 (Flurry, Toughness)

Flurry is another killer Shaman talent you can’t afford to miss. 5/5 points here to get an increased attack speed of 25% for 3 swings after you crit – great to combine with your previously taken Thundering strikes. Toughness is another great talent, 5/5 gives your stamina a 10% boost, and reduces movement slowing effects. Being all geared for damage can make you a little fragile so take this talent.

Row 5 (Improved Windfury Totem, Spirit weapons, Mental Dexterity)

A great row, with some attack boosting effects and reduction of threat. Max out this entire line – Mental Dexterity gives you a big boost in attack power thanks to your row 1 selection of Ancestral Knowledge.

Row 6 (Unleashed Rage, Weapon Mastery, Frozen Power)

We begin this row by leaving Unleashed Rage — points can be better spent elsewhere to provide you a more balanced Shaman, but if you’re big into raids you might consider filling it. Weapon Mastery is up next letting you increase damage you deal with all weapons by 10% – A big, big boost and another no brainer for a DPS build… all 3 points go in here. Frozen Power gets 2 points for a 100% chance at an ice root effect, which is awesome for PvP or tight spots you and party need to flee from.

Row 7 (Dual Wield Specialization, Dual Wield, Stormstrike)

A great line of talents, being an Enhancement Shaman to me means going Windfury, Flurry, and Dual Wield to the max, which means this whole line gets filled up, DWSpecialization means you’ll hit more often, which is very important for our dual wielding DPS Shammy. Stormstrike, I’m on the fence about, but with a good selection of shocks after your Stormstrikes, a 20% damage increase can’t be passed up.

Row 8 (Static Shock, Lava Lash, Improved Stormstrike)

A sparse line for those wanting to keep their DPS ticking along strong. 0/3 for Static Shock – the lazy man’s shield solution, 1/1 in Lava Lash for an ok instant cast that can be combined with Flametongue, but which I really only took to open up the next line. Improved Stormstrike, again on the fence about this one, getting 40% mana back after a SS is awesome, but its robbing us of more important DPS generating effects right now. Come back & fill it after you max out the Enhancement tree, and I won’t scoff at you.

Row 9 (Mental Quickness, Shamanistic Rage, Earthen Power)

Max this line out – Mental Quickness benefits from our two intelligence talents earlier and piles on the benefits, Shamanistic Rage lets you shrug off 30% of damage with a 2 min cooldown, and Earthen Power can be great again for groups in tight spots of PvP with snaring opponents.

Row 10 (Maelstrom Weapon)

Hold out here, and go straight to Row 11. Insta cast spells are good and all, but as Shaman’s we’re already loaded with them, so I see these as five wasted points. Perhaps a good idea for builds that want to be able to deliver emergency heals.

Row 11 (Feral Spirit)

Feral Spirit, the end of the enhancement tree and a great DPS burst for big bosses, or for the occassional one of when the time is right in pretty much any other time in WoW.  The three min cooldown and 45 duration make this pair of wolves difficult to time well, but just hold off on the temptation to overuse them and you’ll be fine.

This build is great for people who want a Shaman that fights toe to toe with his foes. He’s great for any part of the game, but not super specialized. If you want to take a tertiary healing role while you dole out big damage, or you just want to help a single grouping buddy out better as you level up, go resto.

If you’re keen to raid or PvP, Elemental is the obvious choice.

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Shadow Spec With Some Holy

Are you ready to crack those DPS problems that keep you from joining raids or PvP events?

Over the past month I have been fiddling around with the shadow talent tree hoping to boost my stats. The problem I ran into was with every increase in this talent tree I lost something big in another area.

Back and forth I went trying to come up with the right combination until I finally settled on something that I feel is perfect for people who want a flexible shadow priest. A shadow priest who can handle the DPS requirements of raids, take out PvP opponents with burst damage, and of course level up quickly.

Keep in mind additional rows will open up after every 5 talent points used.

Row 1 (Spirit Tap, Improved ST, and Darkness)

The 1st row is built around increasing your spell damage and regenerating mana. Any Priest knows you need a substantial amount of mana when healing others, so this will be important. Make sure you use 3 talent points in the Spirit Tap. I recommend skipping over the Improved Spirit Tap and focus on filling the Darkness ability with all 5 points.

Row 2 (Shadow Affinity, Improved Shadow Word: Pain, and Shadow Focus)

Add all 3 points to the Shadow Affinity and gain a 25% decrease in threat from Shadow spells. Also, fill the Shadow Focus with all 3 pts. You want to decrease as much mana cost as possible and this removes 6%.

Row 3 (Improved Psychic Scream, Improved Mind Blast, and Mind Flay)

You will need to fill the IPS if want the Silence ability (which I recommend). Plus, putting the lone point in Mind Flay will allow you to slow opponents by 50%  – great for PvP priests.

Row 4 (Veiled Shadows, Shadow Reach, Shadow Weaving)

The two important abilities here are Shadow Reach and Weaving. Placing 2pts in Shadow Reach will give you an extra 20% range on Shadow Spells. Putting 3pts in Shadow Weaving will add a 100% chance to increase your Shadow damage by 2% for 15 seconds.

Row 5 (Silence, Vampiric Embrace, Improved Vampiric Embrace, Focused Mind)

Adding the 1pt needed for Silence allows you to keep an opponent from casting spells for 5 seconds, again great for PvP, especially against enemy spell casters.

Vampiric Embrace and Improved Vampiric Embrace should both be filled as well and will keep your health ticking along nicely during solo play or to top up after copping a few whacks in a tough dungeon. During a 5 minute period, any Shadow spell damage will revert 15% health to you and 3% to party members. The IVE allows a 67% health reimbursement. Then of course Focused Mind should be filled to reduce mana costs on all Mind spells by 15%.

Row 6 (Mind Melt, Improved Devouring Plague)

I’m not big on 4% critical strikes for Mind Melt, so unless you’re really heavy on PvP, I skip it. Fill up the Improved Devouring Plague talent… you will increase the total damage duration by 15% and deal a 15% instant strike of the total damage caused over time.

Row 7 (Shadowform, Shadow Power)

It’s very important to add the talent point needed for Shadowform. It adds 15% damage, decreases 15% damage to you, and reduces threat by 30%. However, the big boost is a 100% crit hit with Shadow Word: Pain, Devouring Plague, and Vampiric Touch. Fill the Shadow Power as well so you can increase your Mind Blast, Flay, and SW: Death spell crit damage by 100%.

Row 8 (Improved Shadowform, Misery)

You definitely want to add the 2pts needed for IS. It allows you to remove movement impairing effects 100% of the time you use the Fade ability. Good for PvP, and good for running away from monsters… not that you’ll be doing any of that with this build… right? Improved Shadowform is also great for PvP when you’re trying to get a cast off on a melee class like a rogue or enhancement shaman who hit you with a flurry of attacks, no more watching your casting bar stay still!

Row 9 (Psychic Horror, Vampiric Touch, Pain and Suffering)

You will have to fill each one of these abilities in order to hit the next row. You’ve got a good fear spell here, and then Vampiric Touch and the nasty Pain and Suffering both boost your shadow damage.

Pain and Suffering is especially nasty for Shadow Priests as it refreshes your Shadow Word Pain ticks for even more damage.

Row 10 (Twisted Faith)

Place 5pts. here so you can increase your spell power by 10% of your total Spirit. There is also additional help to your Mind Blast and Flay by 10%. Combining spirit heavy gear with this talent can result in some really nice boosts to spellpower, so consider giving that a go if your bank account is up to the challenge.

Row 11 (Dispersion)

There will be times that this can be extremely useful – its a real “get out of jail free card, and can be intensely annoying to PvP opponenets. Its also gotten me out of more certain deaths than I care to recall.

Add a point here to finish out the tree and reduce your damage taken by 90%, regenerate mana over 6 seconds at 6% of total per second and eliminate several movement impairing effects.

Specialize Your Shadow Priest From Here

What to do with the other 20 points?

When you’re finished here you can go back and add the extra 20 points to your Shadow tree, or give your Priest a nice boost in other areas. Since I’m not sure what you use a lot, this will be up to you. In the end though, having a Shadow talent pool like this will help you become one of the better DPS dealers in your guild, make you survivable in groups and very hard to kill in PvP.

My personal pick for the last 20 points is putting it all into holy healing talents to make me useful in small parties, but if you’re into PvP I think its pretty hard to go past putting the rest into the balance.

That’s all there is to it. If you’re really mad keen on leveling quicker check out my Horde Leveling Guide front page for info on some commercial guides… They’re not really necessary, but are admittedly a nice luxury to have.

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Holy Priests – How to Build the Ultimate Group and Raiding Spec

Holy and Discipline Priest Build

When it’s time to be in a large raid group, or quest with a group of friends, getting the most out of your Holy talent tree is important. It’s the only tree where you can maximize your health regen and at the same time increase places like spirit, mana, and movement speed in your favor.

And now that you can duel-spec with the patch 3.1 changes, it will be important to keep the Holy talent tree set up for specific runs.

I’ve played my priest a lot, and actually respecced the guy so many times I’m almost embarrassed – but in the process I’ve worked out what really works in a hard-core raid.

This is it.

Row 1 (Healing Focus, Improved Renew, and Holy Specialization)

As a healer you probably know how important it is to be able to heal without interruption. This is why you should place 2pts in Healing Focus and gain 70% reduced pushback during any healing. Right now, don’t worry about the Holy Specialization. Instead, fill the IR and increase the amount you heal by 15%.

Row 2 (Spell Warding, Divine Fury)

I played back and forth with these 2 forever. When it comes down to it, just add 5pts to each run and move on. You reduce the amount of damage you take from spells by 10% with SW, and reduce casting times for 4 different abilities by .5 seconds.

Row 3 (Desperate Prayer, Blessed Recovery, Inspiration)

Well, you definitely need to add 1pt to the DP because it gives the caster an instant 263 to 325pt heal. The other 2 abilities I just skip for now because they don’t give me immediate results.

Row 4 (Holy Reach, Improved Healing, Searing Light)

Even after only adding 2 points in the 3rd row, you should have opened up the 4th. Here it’s important to maximize Holy Reach out because you gain 20% extra range on 6 different healing spells. IH will need to be full as well so you can get the 15% reduction in mana cost for 5 different abilities. I skipped over Searing Light for now, but only because it increases damage from spells and isn’t a healing setup.

Row 5 (Healing Prayers, Spirit of Redemption, Spiritual Guidance)

Healing Prayers is another mana reduction, and when full it will take away 20% of the mana cost for Prayer of Healing and the Prayer of Mending. The Spirit of Redemption is a great weapon when you’re in a group or raid. It allows you to run out of health, but heal others for 15 seconds, and then die. You never know who will need more help. Obviously you need a little fight in you during your adventures and the SG will do this easily. Add all 5pts and receive a 25% increase of your Spirit to spell damage.

Row 6 (Surge of Light, Spiritual Healing)

Okay, you have two options here. I personally try to stay away from Smite and Flash Heal when I’m at the higher levels, but if you use them a lot you’ll want to fill Surge of Light. I say skip it for now and fill the Spiritual Healing. It increases the amount of health you heal by an additional 10%. Plus it opens the next level.

Row 7 (Holy Concentration, Lightwell, and Light Resilience)

One of my favorite abilities in the Holy talent pool is the Lightwell ability. It is kind of like the equivalent to a portal, and members of your group or raid can click on it to gain additional health. They will receive 801 health over a 6 second period. It’s a lot nicer then shuffling through each person. Plus, you can skip over the other two and still reach level 8.

Row 8 (Body and Soul, Empowered Healing, and Serendipity)

I like the body and soul ability, but it’s not needed right now. I pass on it when trying to keep some of the talent points, and only add 2pts to Empowered Healing. The idea here was to keep 5pts in the row, and filling up Serendipity with 3 did the trick.

Row 9 (Empowered Renew, Circle of Healing, Test of Faith)

This is probably one of the most important rows to fill up. The Circle of Healing is my 2nd favorite trick, because it can heal 5 party members at the same time. Keep in mind they have to be within a 15 yard radius of you though. Test of Faith gives you a 12% increase in healing abilities towards any friends that are below 50%. Then of course, the ER does pretty much what it says.

Row 10 (Divine Providence)

You will notice that you don’t need to fill this up with 5pts to reach row 11, like other trees. Just use 3pts. It will still give you a 6% increase on several healing abilities, but we don’t need the other 4% possible.

Row 11 (Guardian Spirit)

As a player this isn’t my favorite thing to use, unless I throw it up on a tank or something. Whoever you heal gets a 40% increase in HP. There’s a few other things as well, but if you haven’t paid attention to it before, I won’t spoil everything.

20 Points Away! Do you go Shadow, or Discipline?

Personally, when I’m healing raids I’ll use up the rest of my points on Discipline to up my survivability a tad. The last thing your group needs is their primary healer getting killed (don’t you HATE that feeling?), so I tend to err towards Discipline.

Will that in mind here’s a bonus Discipline suggestion for super dedicated raid healers who want to keep that whole dying thing to a minimum:

Unbreakable Will 5/5, Silent Resolve 3/3, Improved Power Word Fortitude 2/2, Martyrdom 2/2, Meditation 3/3, Improved Power Word Shield 3/3.

All of the effects under these talents will boost your survivability by either making you harder to kill, or by reducing threat. The combo of which should help you stay alive that extra 10 or 20 seconds you need.

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Discipline Build With Shadow

The discipline Priest is one of the least understood of all Priest builds. Is it good for PvP? Should I forget about discipline if I’m raiding or the primary healer? And what about solo – shadow is the clear choice right?

Those are the major questions being asked about discipline priests, and I’ll briefly answer them for you here…

Let me start with PvP.

PvP Discipline priest are an awesome sight to behold. One on one, discipline priests can be a really tough opponent to kill.

With reflective shield sending almost half the damage your receive back to your opponent (look out rogues), and then your basic healing skills backing you up, you can pretty much survive anything.

Your damage dealing isn’t quite as impressive, but if you play with a good team you can hold points until the cavalry arrives and punishes whoever thought it was a good idea to attack you.

So a big tick to discipline priests if you’re considering that route.

Grouping and Raiding.

Discipline priests can be a great build for raiding and grouping, but obviously won’t ever match a pure holy healer. What IS great about discipline priests is that in raids as a secondary healer they’ll be a bit like an anchor to the group. While your primary might die quickly when it takes aggro, you’ll be there till the finishing line unless you really mess things up, and you’ve got a real healing punch to back it up. And lets not forget that if you get attacked you’re reflecting some damage and adding to group DPS…

Solo.

Meh… while I love the discipline build for almost anything (its a great jack of all trades and has amusing abilities), solo simply won’t be as fast as a good shadow build. On the other hand, if you like to keep yourself flexible, able to solo, heal, or pvp, and you DON’T want to waste a ton of gold respeccing all the time, you won’t go wrong with discipline.

The following build is a good all-round discipline spec.

Here’s my Priest Discipline Talent Build:

Row 1 (Unbreakable Will, Twin Disciplines)

This interesting build starts with placing 3pts in the UW, and 2pts in Twin Disciplines. We only need 5 total, so mix it up and utilize a little bit of both. Neither one of them are going to be a massive help, which is why I don’t fill either one of them.

Row 2 (Silent Resolve, Improved Inner Fire, Improved Power Word: Fortitude, and Martyrdom)

Silent Resolve will be vital since it reduces Holy and Discipline threats by 20%. Plus there’s a 30% chance they won’t be dispelled. Just skip the Inner Fire for now, but if you use it more than I do, come back to it later. Fill the IPWF with 2pts so you get a 4% Stamina increase. Lastly, fill Martyrdom so you can continue casting through strings of PvP blows from those pesky melee classes, or when you need to get that last heal off before you die in a raid .

Row 3 (Meditation, Inner Focus, Improved Power Word: Shield)

I love the Meditation ability simply because it has a ridiculous 50% mana regen while you cast. So add 3pts there and placing a point in the Inner Focus gives you a mana reduction of 100% on your next cast. In fact, you should fill up the entire row. Your IPWS when full, will give you a 15% increase in damage absorbed.

Row 4 (Absolution, Mental Agility, Improved Mana Burn)

The first 2 reduce mana so it’s important to fill them both up. I skipped over the Improved Mana Burn simply because I never use it. If you do, come back to it later and cut your casting time down by 1 second.

Row 5 (Reflective Shield, Mental Strength, and Soul Warding)

I love the Reflective Shield because I don’t have to do anything and can still reflect 45% of the damage someone throws towards you, back to them. I skip over the Mental Strength because I can gain more intellect on armor and enchantments. However, adding a point to SW is important since it reduces your cooldown on PWS by 4 seconds.

Row 6 (Focused Power, Enlightenment)

I would usually just skip over these, but you will have to add 1 point to both areas, just to get your points up enough to open up the next level.

Row 7 (Focused Will, Improved Flash Heal)

You will notice that Power Infusion isn’t listed. This is because I didn’t place 5pts in Mental Strength. I do place 3 pts in the IFH, but only 2 in Focused Will.

Row 8 (Renewed Hope, Rapture, Aspiration)

Players will absolutely love you if they get a taste of the Rapture ability. Check it out on your tree and make sure you add all 3 pts. Aspiration needs to be filled so you cut down on the cooldown of Inner Focus, Power Infusion, Pain Suppression and Pennance abilities by 20%. Handy.

Row 9 (Devine Aegis, Pain Suppression, and Grace)

Okay, once you reach this level you need to make a decision. Either add a total of 5pts in the row, or move along and look at row 10. I’m not so keen on any of this row unless you want to lean towards being a healing discipline priest, and I went back to MS because I didn’t plan on building the Discipline talents to help others. Plus I could now get Power Infusion.

If you do choose to go and max out these talents, be sure to dump your remaining points (after you reach Penance) into Holy. Otherwise, its a total waste.

Row 10 (Borrowed Time)

Borrowed time is pure gold, and you’ll definitely want to max it out to gain the 25% spell haste and power word shield buff. Get it.

Row 11 (Penance)

You’ve reached the pinnacle of the discipline talent tree. Penance shoots a volley that will either cause damage or heal depending on the targets. You can’t go wrong with this one and it adds even more flexibility to your priest.

You probably noticed that I love this tree mostly for the reduction in mana usage and flexibility. In the end its one of those builds that you can be flexible with and still do well, but if you use it like I did, you’ll have more spells to cast, good mana replenishment, and the ability to be useful in many different parts of World of Warcraft.

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