1.10 Priest Builds

[Bolty]

21 Disc/30 Holy is a nice looking split.  But skipping Inner Focus, Imp. Prayer of Healing, and Spirit of Redemption even though you have space for them?

I would really consider all three of those if you are that deep into each tree.  You can at least get Inner Focus by dropping a single point out of Silent Resolve.  Inner Focus is too good to pass up at that price in my opinion.[right][snapback]103784[/snapback][/right]

I'll second that, ima_nerd. vor_lord's spot on.

It's key to emphasize that which makes your class special. Priests, Druids, and Paladins can all single-target heal pretty well; in fact, Druids are superior single-target healers than Priests thanks to two stacking DoTs and Nature's Swiftness. What makes Priests shine are two things:

1) Group healing
2) "Oh crap" healing

Inner Focus, Improved Prayer of Healing, and Spirit of Redemption all emphasize those powers.

Inner Focus is, without a doubt, a game-changing ability. Blizzard's making it even better than before in 1.10, with a smaller cooldown. Inner Focus is more than just a free spellcast - it's a huge extra crit chance, and, even better, more time out of the 5-second rule. Shadow Priests are salivating at being able to get it without investing so much in Discipline anymore.

Even though you're not in Molten Core or BWL, there can be some *long* fights in ZG, fights where you'll get to use Inner Focus more than once per shot. Smart use of Inner Focus can play a huge part in success during these encounters. It obviously should be saved for Greater Heals or Prayers of Healing - Holy Nova, too! Where it's really sweet is when you can pop Inner Focus and queue Greater Heals on tanks. You'll spend a lot of time out of the 5-second rule regenerating mana, then, and if it turns out the tank doesn't need a Greater Heal right away, you get even more bonus time while you queue it up again. Since Inner Focus gives you such a high crit chance (with Cleoboltra's gear, around 50%), that's gonna be one BIG heal. Plus, inspiration! :)

Improved Prayer of Healing, again, is a talent that let's you emphasize what you're good at - group healing. You use PoH more in 5-mans and 20-mans than 40-mans, true, but a 20% mana reduction for using this spell is enormous.

Spirit of Redemption is no longer the Improved Dying talent. It's now the "oh yeah? f**k you!" talent. It's uses in PvP are obvious as a deterrent to getting assist trained. In 5-man groups it might not be all that useful, since if you're dead it usually means a wipe is coming anyhow, 10 seconds of extra healing not being enough to save them. In a raid environment, well, if I had it last night we might have beaten Chromaggus. Nuff said. I coulda used 10 seconds of free healing before popping my soulstone, since I was really out of mana toward the end...

Priests will be flat-out dominant healers of the game in 1.10, and these new powerful abilities are going to be what defines us. They're too good to pass up. The only catch is that we can't get them all. Can't have Inner Focus, Spirit of Redemption, Holy Nova, Lightwell, AND Power Infusion. Argh, choices!

-Bolty