By Shannon

Priests are one of the hardest classes to play, especially if you want to play solo. The best thing you could remember when soloing with a priest is that priests are squishy. We like to kill things BEFORE they get to us. The second best thing you could remember is that a priest without mana is a dead priest. The third best thing for you to remember is that you cannot kill elites within 3 levels of you. It's best to find a group for those elite quests. Why, you say? Well let's put it this way. Elites generally have more health than you have mana. You will run out of mana before they run out of health. Fourth best thing for you to remeber is that wands are your best friend. You can do mighty good damage with them without using any mana. Priests do not have any quick way to regenerate mana so conserving it and using it wisely is always a good idea.

Talents

Holy Tree
IThis tree is not designed to be an easy leveling tree. It is designed to make people like having you in a group. Keep in mind that, as you level, you will be grouping a lot.

Discipline Tree
This tree is all about a big mana tank and awesome regen abilities. It's not designed as the best healing or the best soloing but it is one of the favored trees for the end game raiding because you can regen mana so quickly. Boss fights will tend to take a long time in large raids so it's important to be able to regen your mana. As you level be sure to find an excellent wand and take Wand Specialization.

Shadow Tree
This tree is designed for excellent solo and PvP capabilities. It doe not make you a bad healer but you won't be as good as a holy and/or disc priest. Leveling will be hard but won't require you to group up except on elite/dungeon quests.

Battle Tactics - Solo

When facing a mob look at your spells and decide how to proceed. You have or will have Smite, Mind Blast, Holy Fire and Shadow Word: Pain. If you are a shadow priest you might have Mind Flay as well. These are your primary offensive spells. Start off a fight by putting up your shield so the weakened soul timer will be finished if you need to cast another shield when the mob gets to you. Now attack the mob using the spell that will take the longest to cast or has the longest cooldown. As a shadow priest I suggest this attack pattern: Shield, Mind Blast, backup for 1 sec global cooldown, Shadow Word:Pain, Mindflay, Mindflay. The mob should be at you now, if he is not below half health hit Mind Blast again then wand to death. If he is below half health then just wand. Cast another shield as needed. If you are a holy/disc priest then I suggest this attack pattern: Shield, Holy Fire, Shadow Word:Pain, Smite, Smite. If the mob is half health or less, wand to death. If he's not half health hit Holy Fire once more then wand to death. Depending on the difficulty/level of the mobs you're fighting you can fight 2-4 mobs before you need to sit and drink to regen your mana.

Battle Tactics - Groups

As a priest you are expected to play the healer of the group. I don't care if you're holy or shadow. You heal, period. Healing draws a lot of aggro so you will have to keep in mind several things which are discussed below. Generally speaking, you will not be casting any offensive spells when with a group or in an instance. You must save all your mana for healing and healing alone. If you want to help fight, use your wand. Sometimes it is appropriate for you to help by casting offensive spells at the mobs but remember your first priority is to keep your party healed. Always stand towards the back of a group so you have a good view of the mobs but not so far that you get out of healing range. This helps you know when you've gained healing aggro because you can see the mobs coming. Also be sure that you don't get seperated from your party by line of site. This is sometimes a problem in large groups. The whole party can get killed because they're out of the line of sight of the healers. If you have to move closer to the mobs to heal around corners, do so.

Shielding someone before they charge into battle is generally a good idea. Shield causes major aggro though so make sure you shield BEFORE they take off, otherwise don't worry about it. Shield can also save someone's bacon if they're about to die and you can't heal them fast enough. Shield gives you the extra couple seconds you need to get that heal off.

Renew is a good spell to keep on your spellbar as well. Rather than trying to cast a quick flash heal on someone who's at 70% health but not under attack you can cast an instant renew that will regen their health over a short time while you concentrate on those who have aggro and need healing. It's also good to keep a renew on the tank during battles to help you out when your group gets in sticky situations. Sometimes, when the mob isn't a hard one, a renew spell will regen as much health as the mob is taking away so he never needs an acutal heal.

Flash Heal is one of those quick-hurry-and-heal-before-they-die! spells. It's not too terribly mana efficient and it's not as powerful as a Heal but it does have less aggro. Two flash heals are worth one Heal. Generally speaking, flash heal can heal a cloth/leather wearer from about half health to full health and plate/mail wearers from 75% to full. You will get to know the people you party with the most and will get the hang of deciding when a flash heal or a greater heal is the best to use.

Lesser Heal, Heal and Greater Heal all fit in the same 'heal' category. The only difference is your level and the level of the spell. I.E. When you're level 1 you have lesser heal...level 30ish you have Heal and 40+ you have Greater Heal. Always have the highest level heal you have on your spellbar when you're in a group. Heal generates a lot of aggro but is the most powerful spell healing spell you have. In lvl 50+ groups you should save all your greater heals for the main tank and off tanks and leave renew and flash heal for the others in your party.

Fade is your best friend in groups. It drastically reduces your aggro by making you 'fade out'. It has a 30second cooldown though so use it wisely. Fade is handy when you've caused too much healing aggro and the mobs are coming after you. Hit fade and they should go to the next highest aggro target. Fade does not always work though, sometimes a mob is quite stubborn. Trust your party to be keeping an eye on you but if they don't see the mob, be sure to yell out and walk the mob to the tank. Never run away from your party just because a mob is on you. They won't be able to catch up and get it off you.

Prayer of Healing is one of those spells that's a good idea on paper but not very good in practice. This AoE heal spell will heal your entire party with one spell and not too much increase in mana but it's the equivilent of casting 5 heals all at once with all the associated aggro. This spell should only be used as a last and desperate resort or to get the whole party back to full health before a battle, not during.

Holy Nova is a little spell that is an AoE heal friends and hurt enemies and causes no aggro but is a huge mana hog. Be careful how you use it because you can run out of mana before you know it and be in very big trouble. If your group is going to AoE mobs be sure to ask first if you join in and use it. Holy Nova can also be used in the place of Prayer of Healing to get your party back to full health before a battle. Except in certain appropriate situations you should not use Holy Nova during battle to heal your whole group. It sucks up too much mana to be very practical for that.

Quick Tips:

Other than the spells mentioned above you have many other spells in your spellbook that you can use during battles. If you are fighting multiple mobs, for example, you can Mind Control one and have him kill the other. Keep in mind that if you do this, you will not be able to loot the mob that you killed while MC was active. If you're in a group you also need to keep in mind that your group will have a very hard time getting aggro off you once the mind controlled mob is released.
Psychic Scream is also one of those spells that must be used carefully. Though useful to get mobs off you in a tight spot it tends to make them run around and aggro more of their friends on you. Take this OFF your spell bar in an instance or put it where you won't accidently push it. This fear spell is your best friend in PvP though. Nothing better than finding a group of the opposite faction standing too close together...BANZAI!!

Good luck and Good Hunting!
Feel free to contact me in game if you wanna talk priest stuff!
~Shannon