Priest Basics

Basics:

Priests are the prime healing class in the game. They can have the most efficient/biggest heals in game and have other buffs to make them wanted in any group. Outside of this WoWs healing class stands out from other games healing class in the sense that we have an added damage dealing capability that priests are allowed to even spec further in to make them rather good damage dealers with an added healing ability.

Healing/buffs:

This is the prime ability priests are known for. At our disposal we have Large heals, Quick heals, Heals over time, and AoE heals. If you intend to group get used to using these abilities. We also have a buff which will boost the health of your group by a large amount, a shield which will stop a certain amount of damage and block casting disruptions.

Renew:
This is your heal over time spell, this is the first thing you should throw on your tank when taking on anything that will do substantial damage to him. This is also the last thing you should cast on casters in your group, and that will be detailed further. Renew is one of your most efficient heals, not only because it is instant cast(which means you regain more mana due to less time under the 5 second rule) but also because it costs less mana and heals for more than your flash heal. All these things said do not think that this will make a difference. It slows down the damage process but in long hard fights this will not keep the health up of the tank.

Flash heal:
A lot of priests prefer to spam this during fights rather than use the longer heals. This is an opinion base and I can only give you mine. If you spec anything into holy flash heal will normaly not be your most efficient means of healing, simply because later talents in holy tree reduce casting, mana cost, and amount healed by your larger heals. The main uses for this spell are ussually under situations in which a caster in your group takes damage(they have less hp, and thus this quick, light heal will normaly heal them to a very healthy amount) and when the tank takes a huge crit which in the process of getting a larger heal off you might not catch him before death. In pvp this is going to be your greatest asset, simply because you arent dealing with the same circumstances as PvE. With talents this spell becomes 70% uninteruptable, which means that even if you are getting beat on you can heal to full. Remember, this is only my opinion, other people will prefer to spam flash.

Lesser heal, Heal, Greater heal:
These are your big heals. You may scare your tank by allowing his health to drop so low when using it but it is worth it if used right. Normaly in fights that this will be used in it is a good idea to use different levels of this heal depending on how much damage is being done. If your tank is slowly having his health fall but the fight is going to last to the point he is taking a good amount of damage you should start casting the most current rank or one rank lower on him to bring him back to full or there abouts, this again depends on the tank and how much damage is being done. With harder hitting mobs you are going to want to go full out with the highest rank and begin healing anywhere from at 60%-40%. Using this will keep your mana alive as well as your tank.

Prayer of Healing:
This is the least used healing spell. For the most part you will have a main tank that is holding the agro of all the mobs. Now, it is not that rare that a mob will stray and smack up another member of the party, but that is the time you either use PW:Shield or flash heal. I also advise against the talent associated with this spell.

PW:Shield:
Some people swear by this in groups, others, like me, say it should not be used as a way to absorb damage. The main uses for this wonderfull ability is: A)When a caster is taking damage(you a lot of the time), to avoid casting interuptions. B)When a tank goes into critical and you need that extra time to pull off a huge heal. C) in PvP to piss people off and to have free damage negation(this is pure pvp because it is an entirely different matter in pve with hate issues and trying to conserver every ounce of mana).

PW:Fortitude:
Stamina buff, gets upgraded every 10 or so levels. This is a no brainer, buff before fight, this gives everyone in your party added hp which will save a lot of lives.

Inner Fire:
Keep this on you at all times, its an armor buff, with a low mana cost, nuff said.

Dispel:
Removes magic, if someone has a magic affect on them use this. In PvP this is more tactical, going against a mage or a warlock this can remove a large source of their armor, and their mana buffs.

Damage Dealing

Whats this? a healer....that can do DAMAGE?!, thats right, you heard it. Our shadow abilities add a huge amount of soloability and diversability to our class. If you intend on being the best damage dealer though, by all means do not pick priest as your class. You will notice i talk alot about soloing with these abilities, and that is because thats where they will be used most.

Mind Blast:
This is our main damage ability. It has a 1.5 cast time, which means its fast, and does a great amount of damage. This however, has drawbacks. The first would be it has an 8 second cooldown. This was gained through beta after it the ability was deemed too powerful as an insta cast..which they double nerfed it with a cast time also. Secondly this produces more agro than any of your other damage skills. this should be used all the time while soloing and rarely while grouped, but the hate generation isnt that large, where you can ussually use it to finish a mob off.

Mind Flay:
Shadow speced priests get a niftly new spell at 11 points, which is mind flay. It is a channeled spell which does a great amount of damage over 3 seconds, slows to 50% of move speed, and is the most mana efficient spell you will ever see. this will be a great source of damage soloing, but in groups I find myself using it less and less. Just be weary when using it solo to throw your shield on before using it or else you will only get 1 tick of damage out of it when hit, rarely 2 if pulled off at the right time.

Smite:
Every caster gets a default damage ability, and this is ours. Smite does good damage is is ok on the mana, but it has a 2.5 cast time, which is huge when your getting beat on. It has its uses like when shielded and you are able to get off 2-3. Shadow specs will rarely use this, if ever.

SW:Pain
This is a great damager. In groups this will be used the most out of any of your damage capabilities, simply because its instant cast, developes low hate amounts, and amounts to huge amounts of damage. In PvP you should always have this cast on your enemy, without it you are missing out on a large chunk of dps.

Mana Drain:
Ah yes, one of the big things that gets overlooked by a lot of people. This spell is huge when taking on casters. If a caster doesnt have mana hes a dead duck. not only does this spell take out a large amount of mana from the enemy while damageing them for half of it, it also has a small mana cost, which means you can take out all of the enemies mana, while doing damage, while keeping your mana pool alive.

Holy Fire:
Bleh..talents better spent elsewhere.

Holy Nova:
If you really want to missout on other worthwhile talents you can take this, which is good for priests who cant control agro. This however, is not used as a damage technique.

Hate Control

For some this is basic, for others this is a little hard to grasp. Moderation is key. Renew pretty much only generates enough hate to take a mob off your tank when the tank hasnt hit a mob that has agroed him. When you gain hate off of a heal simply fade, if that isnt enough shield up and wait for the mob to return to the tank. If you are constantly having hate problems A) talk to your tank, if they suck your hate generation is going to be that much more harsh. B) Try a different style, If your spamming flash heal, try using the larger heals, if your using the large heals try spamming flash. C)invest in subletly talent if you must.

Weapons

These are not used for damage but for the stat bonuses given. It is purely situational. Make sure to buy all skills. Early on the crescent staff for horde is absolutely brilliant, but later on SM not only gives you a great offhand, but it also gives you the great hypnotic blade, so be prepared to live with what comes along.

PvP

I touched up on this a little bit in different spells. I will Now go on a little more detailed.

Melee:
This includes Warriors, Pallies, and rogues. These guys absolutely destroy us upclose. Know what that means? exactly, keep them as far away as you can. This is what psychic scream is for. You should try and start the fight at the farthest range so you can get enough spells off before they reach you to put a decent dent in their health. Once they reach you, it would be wise to shield, and continue your assault for as long as shield lasts. From there when shield drops fear them away, this gives you the ability to continue to damage them for 8+ second while they run away and back to you. If they are still not dead get a mind blast out while your under attack, and if you need to shield and heal. After that you should still be in your bubble, and free to assualt them with a smite or any other spell you deem worthy. For pallies....well.....if you insist on fighting them be prepaired to waste a lot of time kiting..other than that....well...theyre pallies.

Range:
Includes hunters. Hunters are majorly annoying if they catch you at range, but instead of running, simply rush at them and force them to melee. from there continue to do what you did with melees except for making sure that when you fear them to stay in melee range.

Casters:
Priests, mages, and warlocks. Mana drain is your friend, throw out your a SW:P at the beginning and a MB, from there shield and mana drain away, if your health gets low fear and flash up. From there continue to mana drain/mb/SW:P. You should have now done a significant amount of damage to them and a significant amount of damage to their mana.

Shamans:
Seeing as im horde, cant say crap.

Talents

There are two basic talent builds:

Shadow/disc:
This is the damage dealer priest. These guys are largely liked for their use in solo pvp/pve. They are disliked in groups over a holy/disc priest simply because they are going to be forced to use an ability that they arent specced for. I am not saying that they cant heal, but they dont do it as well. These guys are ussually used for leveling untill higher level, in which case they switch off to holy/disc for raids, but they do have their uses in pvp.

Holy/disc:
Master of healing. They are no wimps in solo PvP or PvE, but they are nothing compaired to shadow. This is why they are used for grouping, and are damn good at it.