WoW Classic Season of Discovery: Best Runes and talents for Priests

The best Runes and talents for Priests in WoW Classic Season of Discovery probably won’t shock many players. While this class is still one of the best healers in the game, they have yet to gain access to some of their best talents. In particular, Priests who want to damage per second (DPS) won’t have Shadowform until later. That doesn’t mean they’re without damage. One of their new Runes, for example, is an absolute terror that allows them to maul quite a bit of content on their own.

That said, the best Runes and talents for Priests in WoW Classic Season of Discovery will no doubt change as the next phases add more content to the game. We’ll return to this and update it accordingly so players know what they need to keep an eye out for as the Classic-era servers develop across 2024.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's opinions.

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Best Runes and talents for Priests in WoW Classic Season of Discovery

1) Healing (Discipline)

The optimal healing build for Priests (Image via Wowhead)

While Priests are the top healers right now, the best Runes and talents for Priests in WoW Classic Season of Discovery are quite interesting. Since our level cap is 25, the Holy tree isn’t even worth considering, except for Healing Focus. It’s only beneficial if you’re being attacked since it reduces the chance your spells get interrupted via damage.

Wand Specialization might be the most important for soloing, as it gives you extra damage on your wand attacks. Improved Power Word: Shield and Improved Power Word: Fortitude enhance two of your most useful spells. Meditation allows you to keep regenerating mana while casting and Inner Focus is another given. It will make your next spell cost 0 mana and have a great chance of being a critical - if that is possible.

This makes Discipline the dominant build for the best Runes and talents for Priests in WoW Classic Season of Discovery. Truthfully, there isn’t much difference between the specs at this stage, anyway.

Since Priests don’t need to spam healing spells constantly and can let Power Word: Shield do a lot of the heavy lifting, they’re free to use some aggressive spells. That’s why Void Plague and Homunculi exist on the best Runes and talents for Priests in WoW Classic Season of Discovery.

Void Plague is a powerful Damage over time (DOT), and Homunculi creates small shadowy clones of you that help you fight. You also have one of the best heals in the entire game right now, Penance. It launches a volley of light at the target, healing if it’s an ally or dealing damage if it is an enemy.

Talents

• Wand Specialization: 5/5
• Improved Power Word Shield: 3/3
• Improved Power Word Fortitude: 2/2
• Meditation: 3/3
• Inner Focus: 1/1
• Healing Focus: 2/2

Runes

• Enchant Chest: Void Plague
• Enchant Hands: Penance
• Enchant Legs: Homunculi

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2) DPS (Shadow)

The optimal build for Shadow Priests (Image via Wowhead)

Unfortunately, Shadow Priests don’t have access to their most powerful ability for a significant amount of time in WoW Classic Season of Discovery. That means they’ll simply have to make do and figure out the best set of talents to give buffs to their damage without ignoring key abilities.

Spirit Tap is incredibly important, as 5 ranks give you a 100% chance to gain a 100% bonus to your Spirit after killing a target that grants experience. During that time, your Mana regenerates 50% while casting - this is for a total of 15s. Do not underestimate how great it is.

You’ll also buff the duration of Shadow Word: Pain and reduce your opponent’s chances to resist Shadow Spells (Shadow Focus). 1 point in Shadow Affinity also reduces some of the threats you’ll pull. Other talents will grant abilities (Mind Flay) or reduce the cooldown of an ability (Improved Mind Blast).

In addition, you use two of the same Runes on a Shadow Priest, making collecting important ones much easier. Added to Void Plague and Homunculi is Shadow Word: Death. A more modern ability, if this spell doesn’t defeat the enemy, the caster instead takes the damage that the foe received. It’s a powerful spell, but it has to be cast at the right time.

Talents

• Spirit Tap: 5/5
• Shadow Affinity: 1/3
• Improved Shadow Word Pain: 2/2
• Shadow Focus: 2/5
• Improved Mind Blast: 4/5
• Mind Flay: 1/1
• Shadow Weaving: 1/5

Runes

• Enchant Chest: Void Plague
• Enchant Hands: Shadow Word: Death
• Enchant Legs: Homunculi

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While Priest is one of the best healers in the game, you may wish to play a Paladin instead if you’re on the Alliance side of WoW Classic Season of Discovery. We’ve also covered the optimal build for Paladins if you want to wear heavier armor as a healer.