Alliance
Draenei
The draenei racials, to begin with, are rather enticing if you are looking to heal, or dps, as a priest. The most notable spell being Gift of the Naaru, which is an extra HOT that you can put on the tank, mana free; it even scales with your plus healing. All draenei also have the Inspiring/Heroic presence, which increases your party members' chance to hit with either spells (if you're a caster class, or an enhancement shaman), or melee/ranged physical abilities. They also have increased shadow resistance, which is very helpful in Black Temple, and increased gemcutting skill.
Priest racials for the draenei class include some interesting spells.
What used to be the main pull of rolling a Dwarf priest was the fact that they were the only race that had the spell Fear Ward. Now, however, all priests can train the ability, so the dwarfly allure is gone. However, they still have the unique Stoneform, which removes all bleed, poison, and disease effects, as well as making the Dwarf immune to these effects for 8 seconds. Also increases armor by 10%, on a 3 minute cooldown. Good for PvP, but I've yet to encounter a situation in a raid where it is necessary for a priest to utilize this specific ability. Especially since Paladins are usually in a tournament amongst themselves to see who can cleanse the fastest. Dwarves also have their frost resistance increased by 10. While not particularly useful in BC, icy Northrend seems a viable area to make use of this. They also have the ability to find treasure on the minimap. This is more of a vanity ability; not inclusively beneficial to priests.
The first to note if you plan to roll a human priest is the extra 10% bonus spirit. This, straight up, is a reason to roll the race as a priest. The benefit that priests receive from spirit has been increased exponentially as of patch 2.4. Granted, the 10% is being reduced to 5% in the expansion, but any bonus is key in my book. This 5% will stack with stat increases buffs/elixirs/flasks, making it even more beneficial. The second most important racial ability, in my book, is the Diplomacy factor. Humans receive 10% extra reputation in all situations that involve reputation gain. This may not seem important at lower levels, but when you're stuck in Zangarmarsh, repeating the same quests over and over, all for the love of a sporebat non-combat pet, you'll be glad you picked a human. Humans also receive increased mace and sword skill, but unless you plan on being a melee priest, this isn't important in the least. The last racial I'll mention is the Perception spell. As of right now, activating this spell will greatly increase your stealth detection for 20 seconds, on a 3 minute cooldown. This is an incredible PvP ability, however, come Wrath they are removing it, instead granting humans a passive increase in stealth detection.
Ah, the Night Elf priest. Often mocked for it's racials, it is the only priest race in the game that, according to lore, doesn't follow the path of the Light. Rather, Night Elven priests worship the moon goddess Elune, calling upon her blessings to aid themselves and allies. Yes, I'm a lore freak. And I had to justify myself for rolling a Night Elf priest by saying something other than, 'but they're pretty!'. Anyway, onto the racials! Night Elves receive an additional 1% chance to dodge. I know this seems silly, but I do oftentimes dodge attacks from major bosses, sometimes even enemy players, giving me an extra chance to get off a heal, or for a Paladin to be nice and DI me. The second is the ability to shadowmeld. While right now this ability is practically useless, in the expansion, it will enable the Night Elf to become invisible, even while in combat, reduces their threat. I have a feeling it will become very important for most dps classes that are Night Elves, and even healers in some situations. Upon death, Night Elves become a wisp spirit, able to travel 50% faster than their slowpoke allies running in their normal body. This is kind of useless, and, in my opinion, should be a widespread ability, but meh. It's still fun :B Night Elves also have 10 extra resistance to Nature damage. At this point, I can't really think of where this is useful... unless of course you're the nature resist tank for Hydross the Unstable.
The draenei racials, to begin with, are rather enticing if you are looking to heal, or dps, as a priest. The most notable spell being Gift of the Naaru, which is an extra HOT that you can put on the tank, mana free; it even scales with your plus healing. All draenei also have the Inspiring/Heroic presence, which increases your party members' chance to hit with either spells (if you're a caster class, or an enhancement shaman), or melee/ranged physical abilities. They also have increased shadow resistance, which is very helpful in Black Temple, and increased gemcutting skill.
Priest racials for the draenei class include some interesting spells.
- Symbol of Hope: Greatly increases the morale of your party members, restoring 33 mana every five seconds, for 15 seconds, on a 5 minute cooldown. At level 70, this effect scales to 333 mana every five seconds. This can be a life saving ability in some situations; definitely something to think about when rolling a priest.
- Chastise: Chastise the target, causing 47-53 holy damage, and incapacitates them for up to 2 seconds. Any damage will cause the effect to cease. It only works on Humanoids, and causes low threat. Eh, this is alright, but honestly, in a raid situation this is useless. Even in PvP, two seconds is not a very long time, and it can be trinketed out of.
What used to be the main pull of rolling a Dwarf priest was the fact that they were the only race that had the spell Fear Ward. Now, however, all priests can train the ability, so the dwarfly allure is gone. However, they still have the unique Stoneform, which removes all bleed, poison, and disease effects, as well as making the Dwarf immune to these effects for 8 seconds. Also increases armor by 10%, on a 3 minute cooldown. Good for PvP, but I've yet to encounter a situation in a raid where it is necessary for a priest to utilize this specific ability. Especially since Paladins are usually in a tournament amongst themselves to see who can cleanse the fastest. Dwarves also have their frost resistance increased by 10. While not particularly useful in BC, icy Northrend seems a viable area to make use of this. They also have the ability to find treasure on the minimap. This is more of a vanity ability; not inclusively beneficial to priests.
- Desperate Prayer: Instantly heals the priest for 134-170, on a 10 minute cooldown. At level 70, it scales to 1637-1924. While this may have been a worthwhile trait in a dwarf or human before, it is being added as a priest talent in Wrath. Therefore, I wouldn't use this as a basis for rolling a dwarf priest. Also being on a ten minute cooldown makes it a little tricksy. I myself know that in waiting for the right moment to hit this spell, I would probably miss it, and die.
- Chastise: Chastise the target, causing 47-53 holy damage, and incapacitates them for up to 2 seconds. Any damage will cause the effect to cease. It only works on Humanoids, and causes low threat. Exactly the same as the Draenei spell.
The first to note if you plan to roll a human priest is the extra 10% bonus spirit. This, straight up, is a reason to roll the race as a priest. The benefit that priests receive from spirit has been increased exponentially as of patch 2.4. Granted, the 10% is being reduced to 5% in the expansion, but any bonus is key in my book. This 5% will stack with stat increases buffs/elixirs/flasks, making it even more beneficial. The second most important racial ability, in my book, is the Diplomacy factor. Humans receive 10% extra reputation in all situations that involve reputation gain. This may not seem important at lower levels, but when you're stuck in Zangarmarsh, repeating the same quests over and over, all for the love of a sporebat non-combat pet, you'll be glad you picked a human. Humans also receive increased mace and sword skill, but unless you plan on being a melee priest, this isn't important in the least. The last racial I'll mention is the Perception spell. As of right now, activating this spell will greatly increase your stealth detection for 20 seconds, on a 3 minute cooldown. This is an incredible PvP ability, however, come Wrath they are removing it, instead granting humans a passive increase in stealth detection.
- Desperate Prayer: Instantly heals the priest for 134-170, on a 10 minute cooldown. At level 70, it scales to 1637-1924. Same as dwarves.
- Feedback: This spell surrounds the priest with anti-magic energy, causing any succesful spellcast against the priest to burn 18 of the attacker's mana, 165 at level 70, and cause 1 shadow damage per mana burned over 25 seconds. While this sounds like an exciting PvP ability, it is virtually useless in a PvE situation.
Ah, the Night Elf priest. Often mocked for it's racials, it is the only priest race in the game that, according to lore, doesn't follow the path of the Light. Rather, Night Elven priests worship the moon goddess Elune, calling upon her blessings to aid themselves and allies. Yes, I'm a lore freak. And I had to justify myself for rolling a Night Elf priest by saying something other than, 'but they're pretty!'. Anyway, onto the racials! Night Elves receive an additional 1% chance to dodge. I know this seems silly, but I do oftentimes dodge attacks from major bosses, sometimes even enemy players, giving me an extra chance to get off a heal, or for a Paladin to be nice and DI me. The second is the ability to shadowmeld. While right now this ability is practically useless, in the expansion, it will enable the Night Elf to become invisible, even while in combat, reduces their threat. I have a feeling it will become very important for most dps classes that are Night Elves, and even healers in some situations. Upon death, Night Elves become a wisp spirit, able to travel 50% faster than their slowpoke allies running in their normal body. This is kind of useless, and, in my opinion, should be a widespread ability, but meh. It's still fun :B Night Elves also have 10 extra resistance to Nature damage. At this point, I can't really think of where this is useful... unless of course you're the nature resist tank for Hydross the Unstable.
- Starshards: Rains starshards down on the enemy target's head, causing 60 (785 at 70) arcane damage over 15 seconds, on a 30 second cooldown. I have mixed feelings about starshards. On the upside, it costs absolutely zero mana. For a shadow priest, any extra damage is helpful, I'm sure, but as a holy priest, I rarely use this. Usually if I'm bored, or soloing, or both. Or in the second phase of Reliquary of Souls and everyone is OOM. I love the animation, too. So pretty. But really, not very useful in a raid situation. PvP it can be useful, but is easily dispelled and doesn't do much damage.
- Elune's Grace: Reduces the chance that you'll be hit by melee and ranged attacks by 20% for 15 seconds. This is a situational thing. In PvE, it is rarely useful, because honestly, if you're being directly attacked by a mob there is a very small chance that, as a priest, you will live through the first hit. I like to use it when targetted for the Fel Enrage on Gurtogg Bloodboil, as it works the same, only less effectively, as a rogue's evasion. In PvP I would imagine that if you remember to activate it, it could be quite useful.
Horde
Blood Elf
The Blood Elf racials, because their race is based around the use and consumption of mana, generally revolve around mana. Their first racial is called mana tap. When activated, the Blood Elf reduces their target's mana by (50, +level) and charge you with arcane energy for ten minutes, and stacks up to 3 times. This is one of the only racials that depends on another, separate racial ability to be fully operational. It's counterpart is called Arcane Torrent. This ability silences all of your enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds, and, depending on how many mana tap charges are currently affecting you, you gain mana back, on a 2 minute cooldown. While immensely useful in PvP (I can't tell you how many times I've been silenced mid-heal...), the only use that I can possibly think of in a PvE situation would be to load up a boss with three of the debuffs, and try to get some mana back throughout the fight. Blood Elves also have 10 extra enchanting skill points (often a profession chosen by priests), and all resistances increased by 5.
The first Undead racial is Will of the Forsaken. This is a very good overall racial. In PvP, if you're sheeped and a team mate is being obliterated, you can use this, and then trinket out of the next one. Plus, it's only on a two minute cooldown. In a PvE situation, it can be useful in the Archimonde fight, or even Nightbane in Karazhan. The second ability is Cannibalize. First off, ew >.<> Undead also have a 300% increase to their underwater breathing, which is kind of like the Night Elf wisp racial; situationally useful, but not really beneficial to any specific class.
Beserking is the first racial granted to trolls. When activated, it increases your attack speed/casting speed by 10%, or more if you are lower on health. It's on a 3 minute cooldown. This is a really cool racial, in my opinion, but for priests, more useful in PvP than PvE. The reason being that if you are on low health in a raid situation, you're probably not going to be able to pop this racial and heal up before you're facedown on the floor. This could be an incredibly racial for other classes, and even shadowpriests if timed correctly. Their second racial is Regeneration, allowing Trolls to regenerate 10% more health inside and outside of combat. This is a pretty good racial, depending on your class. I suppose it doesn't hurt, though. Trolls also cause 5% extra damage when fighting against beasts. As a holy priest, meh, but as any other class/spec this could be very nice, especially in the days of ZG and other animal based bosses. In addition to these, Trolls have extra critical chance when using a thrown weapon, or a bow. Useless for a priest, but nice for a warrior, rogue, or hunter.
A lot of things to think about, I know, but remember that priests are the only class that have specific racials! Exciting! If you are planning to play Alliance, my recommendation would be to roll a Human, even if they are getting the teensiest of nerfs in the expansion. The extra 5% spirit is too delicious to resist. The main reason I didn't roll a Human is because I play a Human... I mean... am... a Human in real life; I didn't want to play one in a game too. I was disappointed with my choice in a Night Elf after learning the other racials, but have come to love the lore aspects.
As for Horde, after really looking through the racials, I would say Forsaken as the first choice, then Blood Elf. Forsaken mostly because of the all-over racials. Even if they look a bit... off. And Blood Elves have the mana regen, sort of, ability, which could be fun.
Hope this has been helpful. Have fun with your priests! :D
The Blood Elf racials, because their race is based around the use and consumption of mana, generally revolve around mana. Their first racial is called mana tap. When activated, the Blood Elf reduces their target's mana by (50, +level) and charge you with arcane energy for ten minutes, and stacks up to 3 times. This is one of the only racials that depends on another, separate racial ability to be fully operational. It's counterpart is called Arcane Torrent. This ability silences all of your enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds, and, depending on how many mana tap charges are currently affecting you, you gain mana back, on a 2 minute cooldown. While immensely useful in PvP (I can't tell you how many times I've been silenced mid-heal...), the only use that I can possibly think of in a PvE situation would be to load up a boss with three of the debuffs, and try to get some mana back throughout the fight. Blood Elves also have 10 extra enchanting skill points (often a profession chosen by priests), and all resistances increased by 5.
- Touch of Weakness: The next melee attack against the caster will cause 8 (80) shadow damage and reduce damage done by the attacker by 2 (35) for 2 minutes. Um. Okay. I guess this can be kind of useful in PvP, but 35 really isn't a considerable number to reduce damage by. And if you're in a raid or heroic situation, you'll be dead on the first swing.
- Consume Magic: Dispels one beneficial Magic effect from themself and grants them 120 to 154 mana. The dispelled effect must be a priest spell. 2 minutes cooldown. This is an interesting spell. I suppose if you're extremely hard pressed for mana it can be useful, but in arena, if you're against another priest, or a lock or shaman, you rarely have any buffs left by the time you're out of mana. If you're in a raid situation this might be interesting, but you have to be careful; if you dispel fortitude, or shadow protection in certain situations, it could mean your death.
The first Undead racial is Will of the Forsaken. This is a very good overall racial. In PvP, if you're sheeped and a team mate is being obliterated, you can use this, and then trinket out of the next one. Plus, it's only on a two minute cooldown. In a PvE situation, it can be useful in the Archimonde fight, or even Nightbane in Karazhan. The second ability is Cannibalize. First off, ew >.<> Undead also have a 300% increase to their underwater breathing, which is kind of like the Night Elf wisp racial; situationally useful, but not really beneficial to any specific class.
- Touch of Weakness: The next melee attack against the caster will cause 8 (80) shadow damage and reduce damage done by the attacker by 2 (35) for 2 minutes. Same as Blood Elves.
- Devouring Plague: Afflicts the target with a disease that causes 152 (1216) Shadow damage over 24 seconds. Damage caused by the Devouring Plague heals the caster. This could be a very useful spell in both PvE and PvP situations. Especially if you're a shadow priest, and can't afford to shift out of Shadowform, but still need a heal.
Beserking is the first racial granted to trolls. When activated, it increases your attack speed/casting speed by 10%, or more if you are lower on health. It's on a 3 minute cooldown. This is a really cool racial, in my opinion, but for priests, more useful in PvP than PvE. The reason being that if you are on low health in a raid situation, you're probably not going to be able to pop this racial and heal up before you're facedown on the floor. This could be an incredibly racial for other classes, and even shadowpriests if timed correctly. Their second racial is Regeneration, allowing Trolls to regenerate 10% more health inside and outside of combat. This is a pretty good racial, depending on your class. I suppose it doesn't hurt, though. Trolls also cause 5% extra damage when fighting against beasts. As a holy priest, meh, but as any other class/spec this could be very nice, especially in the days of ZG and other animal based bosses. In addition to these, Trolls have extra critical chance when using a thrown weapon, or a bow. Useless for a priest, but nice for a warrior, rogue, or hunter.
- Hex of Weakness: Weakens the target enemy, reducing damage caused by 2 and reduces effectiveness of healing spells by 20% for 2 minutes. Really, really nice for PvP. Or so I would imagine. To be honest, I don't think I've ever encounted a Troll priest >.> But I would imagine this would be very useful. With a DPS warrior in a raid who is MS specced, I doubt this would be very useful in a raid, especially if you're spamming heals, but it could be interesting to play around with.
- Shadowguard: The caster is surrounded by shadows. When a spell, melee or ranged attack hits the caster, the attacker will be struck for 20 (130) Shadow damage. Attackers can only be damaged once every few seconds. This damage causes no threat. 3 charges. Lasts 10 min. This reminds me quite vividly of the shaman spell, Lightning Shield. It could be useful for soloing, maybe a little PvP, but it doesn't seem terribly important. Perhaps it's situational.
A lot of things to think about, I know, but remember that priests are the only class that have specific racials! Exciting! If you are planning to play Alliance, my recommendation would be to roll a Human, even if they are getting the teensiest of nerfs in the expansion. The extra 5% spirit is too delicious to resist. The main reason I didn't roll a Human is because I play a Human... I mean... am... a Human in real life; I didn't want to play one in a game too. I was disappointed with my choice in a Night Elf after learning the other racials, but have come to love the lore aspects.
As for Horde, after really looking through the racials, I would say Forsaken as the first choice, then Blood Elf. Forsaken mostly because of the all-over racials. Even if they look a bit... off. And Blood Elves have the mana regen, sort of, ability, which could be fun.
Hope this has been helpful. Have fun with your priests! :D
1 comment:
Excellent! If I ever level a priest (I'm so slow with alts as it is) this shall be soooo helpful.
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