Inner Fire: PvPriest
WoW Blogs - Inner Fire Priest Blog
Before I start with my usual introductory paragraph of fun, I’d like to state that you too, can become a Shaman for a brief period of time with the wonders of Mind Control! In fact, you can be anything you want to be! Fly to the Moon, pursue your dream, L2useMindCtrl! Anyway…
Greetings, my Spiritual followers! Welcome to the 5th edition of Inner Fire, your very own WoW Priest Blog (Yes, it’s yours), right here on crusaderscoliseum.com! During the past few weeks, you’ve had to put up with my rambling on about the various Priest specs in all their glory. And this week it’s no different! You STILL have to put up with my rambling as I attempt to dive into the savage world of PvP.
Being an avid PvE player, I rarely get time to PvP. Although I still enjoy PvP, I never seem to do a lot of it. And I wish I did more of it. Partly, my machine holds me back during PvP, since it runs WoW at such a low quality, it’s hard to act quickly and smartly within a battleground.
However, PvP is a huge aspect of the game, and a great way to burn some time and can be extremely fun, appealing and challenging for players. Whilst Raid environments usually have fixed tactics and rules used to be triumphant, PvP throws all these rules out the window, and it’s all about carnage! Once you enter the realms of PvP expect no mercy whatsoever. Expect to get frustrated. Expect to burn hours upon hours just chasing down that Gnome that keeps edging you in battle every time you come face to face. But expect the adrenaline rush. Expect the sweet feeling of landing a killing blow on that cocky Troll. But most of all, expect the unexpected.
Disco PvP
Starting with Disco Priests in the Battlegrounds, they follow a similar role in PvP as they do in PvE. Shields, Shields, Shields. Your role is to keep your fellow members in tiptop condition by having all incoming damage straight out absorbed. Your spec will differ slightly from the average Disco Priest PvE spec, in the fact that the PvP Disco spec is 57/14/0. (http://www.wowhead.com/talent#bxcrhhGiRIoffotbezh)
With talents such as Martyrdom and Reflective Shield taken at the cost of Grace and Imp. Flash Heal, this makes for a much more durable Disco Priest in the realms of the furious. If played well, a Discipline Priest can not only be one of the hardest classes to kill in the World of Warcraft, but also one of the greatest support classes there is around. Discipline Priests have access to grant their shield to reflect damage back at the attacker, and with your shield up, depending on your Spell Power, a played will have to hack through up to 15,000 damage worth of absorption before the shield drops. Take into account the player’s resilience. The other player’s gear/skill. And the fact that you can still heal the shielded player if needed, and after the Weakened Soul debuff is gone, you can stick that shield up and watch your enemy try to hack through it all over again. Oh, and they’ll be taking a bit of damage from it. Sounds cool? Try it out if you want to feel like some sort of crazy Demigod-Archangel-Psuedolord-Gnomebasher (It’s a word, promise).
As with any spec, Glyphs are always important, and even more so in PvP. The right glyphs could prove to be a massive increase in performance within PvP, so what are the glyphs to go for as Disc?
Your Major glyphs are pretty straightforward
Glyph of Power Word: Shield – You should already be pretty familiar with this glyph, and having an extra healing element to your main spell, is a brilliant tool not only in PvE, but also in PvP.
Glyph of Penance – Again, you should know the power of this glyphs, and the more you can use your Penance spell, the better. Whether it’s to barrage that Draenei with Holy bolts of doom, or to heal your ally with… Holy Bolts of… Doom… it’s great to have more Holy Bolts of Doom for whatever purpose!
Your 3rd glyph is down to preference, depending on your playstyle and which you will find more situational, you can choose between either:
Glyph of Inner Fire – Increasing the Armor increase from your Inner Fire spell by 50%. Apart from improving the Spell which this article is named after (that already puts this glyph ahead), an extra 50% armor can bring your melee damage reduction to a sizeable amount, contributing for increased survivability and roflpwnlol at that stun locking Rogue who couldn’t get through your shield.
Glyph of Pain Suppression – Allowing you to cast PS while stunned, having an extra 40% damage reduction and increased resistances for a short period of time can prove to be a lifesaver if your Shield dropped off just before you were stunned to holy hell that you couldn’t cast another one.
Moving onto your gems and enchants, keeping it short and concise (As I don’t wish to bombard you with a stupidly long and needless 5-page list of each enchant and what it does and why it’s awesome and why you want it and how much it costs and how pretty it looks and how long it takes to cast and how rare it is and how many people have it and how useful it is in situations and…. *breathe* … Sorry about that… kinda… went off on one… ), you want to be smart with how you polish up your attire. If you feel you need more Resilience, gem Resilience. If you feel you need more Spell Power, ditto. Be smart with PvP enchants such as 35 Spell Pen. On the Cape, and Tuskarr’s Vitality on Boot’s, don’t be misled by stacking up Resilience at every point possible. And hey, I’m sure it’s not that hard to find a comprehensive list of enchants and gems for PvP on that crazy, wild, large, scary place they call /b/.
Anyways, that does it for Disco Priests. Moving onto…
Shadow PvP
Shadow Priests follow the whole ‘damage’ trait as they venture into the random Battlegrounds. Other player’s won’t die without being damaged. Shadow Priests are part of the huge family of damage dealers which are responsible for the array of corpses scattered around 100’s and 1000’s style whenever you spend more than a few minutes in any Battleground.
The typical Shadow Priest PvP spec is 17/0/54 (http://www.wowhead.com/talent#bxcrh0MZZ0xfiRfkbcqfkAo). With points taken into improved Mana Burn, Silence and Psychic Horror, Shadow Priests are a force to be reckoned with. With the power of multiple utility effects and DoT’s, Shadow Priests are able to deal out large amounts of damage to many players at once, while being able to survive for enough time until a heal is thrown your way. Not to mention the amount of fun they are. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t mutter a little something to myself everytime I was ganked by that fleet of Alliance but watching one of my DoT’s take out one of them after I’d perished. Feels good. And kinda funny, too.
Your Glyphs for Shadow PvP should be:
Glyph of Dispersion – Giving you access to use your prime survivability move much more often and allowing you to regain mana in a short period of time. All of this adds up to a happy, better, cleaner Shadow Priest.
Glyph of Power Word: Shield – As mentioned above, this is a great PvP glyph, even for Shadow Priests.
Glpyh of Inner Fire – As mentioned above, this glyph provides excellent damage reduction for Priests. Combined with the 15% damage reduction from Shadowform, Shadow Priests can reach up to 60% physical damage reduction from melee attacks, combine that with resilience, Dispersion, Healing effects, PW:S etc. And you’ll be a tough nut to crack.
You may of noticed I’ve also left out a video in this weeks article. Sorry to hit you head on with a wall of text, but most Priest PvP related videos are trash. I think you’ll find yourself having much more fun with your own first hand PvP experience, and even make a video from that! Please let me know if you decide to do so! You can contact me via the Kuurg Contact Page or e-mail me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Oh, and the most important rule in my opinion about PvP. As much fun as it is to feel really good about yourself running around killing/healing everything in sight, you can’t do it alone. The one thing everyone must take into account before they launch into PvP is, just like PvE, it’s all about Teamwork. And Communication. And respect for your fellow players. Follow and adhere to these unwritten rules, and you will find yourself having much more success and gaining a larger reputation for yourself amongst your Battlegroup.
Ah, you may of noticed Holy has been left out of the whole PvP extravaganza. Due to it being farily straightforward, it only takes common sense to choose glyphs, a relavent spec and playstyle within battlegrounds as Holy. AoE heal everything you can, and keep your comrades fighting fit! We hope to see you again!
But that does it for this weeks edition of Inner Fire! Might I remind the weekend draws very close indeed, Friday is tomorrow! Bask in all it’s glory, and use this weekend to do something a little different. Try some PvP.Last Updated on Friday, 10 September 2010 16:30 Written by Thaesha Thursday, 09 September 2010 22:16