Summary

Discipline Priest Changes in War Within Pre-Patch

Discipline Priests experience minimal alterations in the War Within Pre-Patch. Talents centered around Mindgames—a talent rarely chosen—have been replaced by range-enhancing talents like Phantom Reach, which may find niche use in PvE scenarios.

How Discipline Priest Feels in War Within Pre-Patch

Assuming the S4 tier sets remain active in the pre-patch, the spec feels largely unchanged from Season 4. The focus is heavily on using Smite to generate significant cooldown reduction for your pet Mindbender/Shadowfiend, thereby boosting Shadow Covenant uptime, which in turn amplifies both damage and healing.

Discipline Priest Gameplay in War Within Pre-Patch

Gameplay for Discipline Priests in the War Within Pre-Patch is fast-paced and bursty. Activating Shadowfiend/Mindbender triggers Shadow Covenant, significantly increasing your damage output, which through Atonement, enhances your healing. During Shadow Covenant uptime, the S4 tier set causes Smite to strike twice, further reducing the cooldown of your pet and increasing Shadow Covenant uptime.

Discipline Priest Viability in War Within Pre-Patch

Discipline Priests excel in progression raid environments characterized by predictable and bursty damage patterns, common in many Awakened Raid encounters. While there is a substantial setup required to maximize Discipline's value in raids, the payoff is immense, allowing you to rapidly reverse raid damage. However, Discipline may face challenges in highly mobile encounters with knockbacks or draw-ins, such as Dathea in Vault of the Incarnates. Despite these challenges, the spec remains strong across the three Awakened Raids.

The Priest Discipline 10.2 Class Set 2pc provides a noticeable damage boost to Penance and Smite, with the latter extending the duration of one Atonement per Smite hit. While the extension affects only one ally per hit, the damage bonus synergizes well with the 4pc set. The Priest Discipline 10.2 Class Set 4pc triggers an additional hit of Smite, enhancing cooldown reduction synergies with talents like Void Summoner or Train of Thought, granting faster access to high-damage abilities.

This set allows for versatile talent choices across Awakened Raids, enabling Discipline Priests to choose between Mindbender or Shadowfiend based on encounter needs. In fights with rapid burst damage, like Smolderon or Rashok, Mindbender excels, whereas in encounters with longer intervals between bursts, like Razageth or Fyrakk, Shadowfiend offers a robust alternative.

In dungeons, Discipline Priests benefit from the Awakened tier set, which enhances Smite and provides additional cooldown reduction for Shadowfiend/Mindbender. Discipline performs well in healer damage in Season 4 dungeons and synergizes effectively with specs that gain substantial benefits from Power Infusion, making it a valuable choice in the meta.

Discipline Priest Rotation Guide

Refreshing DoTs and Buffs

• Refresh Purge the Wicked.

Initial Setup

1. Cast Rapture using a mouseover macro to target the first ally you wish to shield.
2. Apply 8-10 Atonements via Power Word: Shield until the Rapture duration ends.

Setting Up Atonements

1. Cast both Power Word: Radiance charges. It's optimal to cast one on melee allies and one on ranged allies.
2. Extend active Atonements with Evangelism.

Cooldowns and Damage Abilities

1. Cast Shadowfiend (or Mindbender).
2. Cast Mind Blast.
3. Cast Penance.
4. Cast Shadow Word: Death (even if not in execute range, for Inescapable Torment).
5. Cast Halo.
6. Cast Smite to reduce the cooldown of Penance.
7. Cast Penance again.