Discipline Priest Arena Strategy
This post was a question I received via email, I thought I’d just cross post it here so anyone with similar concerns might be able to get something out of this as well.
Priest Arena Questions…
Hey zuggy, I’m a disc priest who runs currently with a shadow step rogue. I have trouble keeping up with all my dispels and strats as the matches progress. I don’t have any addons currently except Proximo. Could you give me some advice on what addons to use?Thanks so much
Things i would like:
Low health warnings for my rogue partner.. sometimes i miss it when his health gets low.. an alert of some kind would be nice.
CD tracking. I would like to know when my fear is ready I would like to maybe know when my inner fire is not up on my toon alerting me i need to re-apply. Please tell me if you think this is a good idea.
Also mass dispel for pally bubble or mage iceblock? How should i configure the spell sometimes it seems it takes too long to get it fired off. Also along the same lines… Heroism! I need to get this dispelled quickly .. how do you typically handle this?
My team seems to shoot up to 1600 or 1650 then go on losing streaks. We’ve beat teams with rating around 1700 and lost to teams with ratings much lower than ours I just can’t seem to always figure out what to do.
ON the map with he coffin in the middle i struggle with positioning of my priest. I generally move around the coffin trying to LOS but i definitely struggle on this map. Sometimes I don’t know if i should mana burn or heal myself.. so i have so many questions. I’ve read your dis priest rogue guide and it was very helpful but I need more help!
Priest Arena Strategy Answers…
As far as addons are concerned, I’m more of a minimalist. So I wouldn’t concern yourself too much with trying to pound your screen with additional buttons and flashing warnings.
In my opinion keeping a clean UI allows you to much better manage targeting and awareness, as you can see everything much easier.
As far as low health warnings go, I’d just suggest looking at getting a unit frame mod. My preference is AG unit frames, but there are lots of others out there. Check out this article I recently did on best unit frame mods if you’d like to check out more.
For cooldown tracking I keep it simple. I use SCT and OmniCC. Configure your SCT to bring up cooldown warnings, and in addition omniCC will overlay textual cooldown counters on all of your abilities.
Dispel Macros
As far as managing your dispels goes, I’d just create a few macros to better deal with it. Here’s a few that I use.
/target (name of your rogue)
/cast Dispel Magic
/assist (name of your rogue)
/cast Dispel Magic
/cast [target=focus] Dispel Magic
You may not want to use them all, but at least having an assist dispel is absolutely crucial in my opinion. Check out Dispel Macros discussion for additional help.
Arena Positioning
As far as positioning is concerned, all I can say is keep moving and keep using your globals. Too often I see players just panic when they are under fire. You need to maintain focus and stick to your game plan.
Conclusions
Keep the hots up, heal before you “have” to heal. Don’t let yourself red line before trying to los and heal. If you’re comfortable playing the offensive mana burn game this is a great way to put the opposing team into a defensive position.
Here are some additional resources you might find helpful:
Priest / Rogue 2v2 Arena Strategy
Addons..
Quartz Casting Bar
Hope this helped answer some of your questions, as always feel free to shoot me any additional questions if you have further concerns.
- Shadow Priest / Rogue vs. Warrior / Priest 2v2 Arena Strategy
- Rogue / Priest 2v2 Arena Guide (Compiled)
- Shadow Priest / Rogue vs. Paladin / Warlock 2v2 Arena Strategy
- Shadow Priest / Rogue 2v2 Arena Strategy
- Shadow Priest / Rogue vs. Priest / Rogue 2v2 Arena Strategy
Definitely use mana burn. I would also make a few macros that make it easier for you (if you’re a clicker like me :D). Alot of the 2v2 arena matches from what I’m experienced has been that you can never ever stil still. The only times you should be is when you’re mana burning a caster (specifically the healer) or when you’re greater healing/flash healing your DPS. ~ I would reccomend if you go down far enough in the Disc tree (which you should as a Disc priest anyways. =p) to get Pain Suppression and make a macro:
/target (your name)
/cast Pain Supression
I use it as a keybind and it works wonders and since I use Clique to heal so I never have to actually target my partner.. I merely click on his name and depending on the button of the mouse, it gives which ever heal I assigned it to.
– Definitely stick with renews and Prayer of Mendings. They’re cheap and you’re able to run around, keeping LOS of the DPS and still keep your partner up.
– I blow fear on a constant basis. JIM’s Cooldown Pulse on curse.com is a nice addon that flashes the icon in the middle of your screen and it makes a heartbeat noise in your headphones or speakers to announce its cooldown as well. This helps me especially when I’m looking at the screen rather then my cooldowns and I don’t like bars. So that’s what works best for me.
– Decursive is an amazing tool that lights up a little box (each box representing your partner) and you just click on the box and the magic is dispelled on the target. It’s works for me. :)
– Proximo is a MUST for arena. It allows you to target your enemies without fighting to find them within the cloud of fighting and constant motion. This way for quick mana burning, you’re able to target and do you thing while being able to keep your partner up.
I’m still learning new things here and there about arena, but use LOS Pillars to your advantage and if you can sit and drink, sit and drink. Otherwise, use instant heals as to not run out of mana fast. If I learn anymore tricks, I’ll let you know. :) Sorry. I write books. -.-;
~Nyami of Sisters of Elune.
Blood Elf Discipline Priest – 41/20.
Hello,
I am a disc priest and I just wanted to know if it was possible for you to give me a complete description of which mods to use?
i have been reading alot of articles on this website (which has helped me ALOT!!) but you offer so many mods that i’m not sure on which one(s) to use.
Could you simply give me a complete list of the mods i should use? (imagine me having no mods at all)
Thx alot for your help!
Chuck (EU server)
First things first, you need to get custom unit frames. I use AG unit frames because it’s simple, easy to setup, and highly customizable. In addition I’d suggest you pick up Quartz (it’s a casting bar), once again…very simple, takes up very little memory and looks sleek.
OmniiCC, it provides your cooldowns in textual formats overlaid on your action bars.
Proximo, essential if you’re serious about playing arena. Scrolling combat text and SCT Options.
and finally…grid, typically it’s more used for PvE raid environements, but it’s excellent to have for battlegrounds.
Tried to keep this compilation for you somewhat simplified so you don’t get overwhelmed. This group of mods should give you a lot of extra functionality without cluttering up your UI too much.
Thanks Nyami for your post. Zuggy’s replies were based on my initial questions. I’ve improved quite a bit since I posted that but I still seem to struggle with certain matchups but its more strategy based now. Pulling the vanish/sap/blind combo etc. I move constantly and don’t run out of mana as much as I used to. I definitely struggle against the hunter/druid combo. I watched Zuggy’s video and i wish Engage would film one so I could really see what he’s doing as the healer. I may change my spec as currently i have mindflay and a few abilities like blackout that I absolutely love. I love mindflay because I can hold a person in place some times so my rogue can catch them. A lot of times a druid will be near to death and shift into travel form and run from my rogue. However I can mindflay (rank 1) just to slow him down. This can be very useful. I may try Zuggy’s recommended spec but blackout procs a lot and I know I’ll miss that and mindflay. However I don’t have blessed recovery and warriors really hurt me. That could help me vs. Warrior’s.
Faithdriven
Un-guilded ‘Loner’ Disc Arena Grrl of Doomhammer
Glad to hear things are looking better for you, Julian. As far as the spec goes I would at least give it a try…what’s the worst that can happen?
Lose a few games, respec and get right back in the game. But, you never know if you’ll take a better liking to the spec or not. I do see your point regarding the utility factor of having black out / mindflay. This certainly allows you to help your rogue more so than if you had a traditional discipline talent spec.