Priest leveling builds Since the talent review in the 1 . 10 patch , most ( except for Improved Fade ) of the talents available to priests will find a use somewhere . You can use this page to give you ideas about Priest builds and the kinds of options that are available to you as a priest . Mix and match the talents that appeal to you and your style of play . You should read the Priest Talents page for more information about specific talents . Leveling a Priest to 70 . " What is the Best Leveling Spec ? " . While leveling a priest to 70 , it is recommended to specialize in the Shadow tree , as it has both efficient and effective damage spells and great survivability ( through passive healing and damage reduction ) . A shadow build allows you to level more fluidly and is less prone to mistakes . Furthermore , the shadow priest ' s healing capabilities are perfectly sufficient for any non end - game instance . However , once you get to around level 35 and talents such as Surge of Light and Spiritual Guidance become available , it is highly possible to level to 70 with the holy tree . The key to leveling as Holy are three stats - spirit , spell crit , and spell damage . The benefits of leveling as Holy are that there is no holy resistance school , and additionally you retain your full healing potential by not having to shift out of shadowform to gain access to your most powerful heals . It is recommended however , that you take spirit tap when leveling as holy in order to reduce downtime . Note that with the changes in patch 2 . 4 , the Discipline tree has also now become a viable leveling tree . Again , the player should most definitely have the Spirit Tap talent as their first talent . However , after obtaining 5 / 5 in Spirit Tap at level 14 , it is very much possible to level from that point on by utilizing the discipline tree . See below for such a leveling build . In any build , Spirit Tap greatly enhances leveling speed . " Should I use Blackout or Spirit Tap ? " . For leveling purposes and solo PvE in general , Spirit Tap is often regarded the better choice , as it considerably reduces downtime , especially against mobs of lower level . This talent is very useful in battlegrounds too , helping you to resist during long fights . If your emphasis is on PvP , Blackout normally is superior to Spirit Tap . Some players find the situational benefit of Blackout to be of greater value than the regeneration provided by Spirit Tap even for PvE or solo leveling . What will benefit you more will depend on your own play style . Note that Spirit Tap is activated only when you make the actual killing blow and therefore only really shines when you solo , while Blackout ( albeit much more random ) is valuable no matter if you solo or are in groups . Note that tanks will not thank you for putting points into Blackout . Bear form druids and warriors are not able to generate rage by suffering damage if their target is stunned ( and thus , not causing them any ) . Paladins generate a decent portion of their threat by being struck , an action that stunned targets do not tend to do . Stunned targets are also difficult to position . In short , you should never ever take Blackout in a raiding build , without a really good reason ( encounter - specific requirements , for example ) . Spending Priest talent points to 70 . As with any build for any class , the only " best " build is the one that you enjoy playing the most . However , many players who level a priest by doing solo quests will find something similar to the following to be very effective . This guide will focus primarily on talents that will help you level a Priest through PvE combat , but an alternative talent build that favors PvP combat will also be suggested . There are a large number of possible effective talent builds , however , so mix and match to your own preference . Levels 10 to 19 . Spend all the talent points you get on early Shadow talents . Reducing downtime between combat is the primary consideration , as most of your quests will be in the " Kill x of y " format and the less time you spend drinking the faster you will level . You will be able to heal any group you are in without taking holy talents . Your talents at level 19 : Levels 20 to 29 . Stick with improving your damage - dealing Shadow abilities . You can still be the healer for any group you will be in . ( See below for an alternative route from 21 to 39 that uses some Discipline and Holy Talents . ) Your talents at level 29 : Levels 30 to 39 . Continue to improve your damage output , and also start to heal yourself ( and your group ) as you dps . Group healing is still no problem for you , but be sure to run some instances so you can start practicing how to heal at later levels if you plan to go Holy down the road . Your talents at level 39 : Levels 40 to 49 . Similar to the 30 to 39 section , you are still improving your shadow damage output and remain a viable party healer . PvE ' ers will be picking up PvP road talents described above . Your talents at level 49 : Levels 50 to 59 . Beginning to branch out into the Discipline tree . Your talents at 59 : Levels 60 to 69 . At this point , there are a huge number of possibilities . Many priests will respec at 60 to put points into Holy in order to improve their ability to heal Outland instances while still keeping points in Shadow to effectively level , among many other possible paths . PvE Maximizes damage output in PvE . http : / / www . wowhead . com / ? talent = bVMhzoZbZxMgtMtRhtVo Healer This build is very popular among Priests looking to heal on raids . It aims to improve the power of your healing while stretching your mana pool out for a long as possible using Inner Focus , Improved Healing , Mental Strength and Meditation so you can keep healing through the long fights in MC and BWL . Very hard to solo level with this build . http : / / www . wowhead . com / ? talent = bxRhzhxtZfhtcc0qVh http : / / www . wowhead . com / ? talent = bxT0zhxzbZfbxcfzqVhc < = = = A better version of the build that has less threat per heal , better plus heal from improved divine spirit and empowered healing . It loses Mental Strength because 10 % extra mana isn ' t worth the talent points and Improved Shield is a waste on a talent that is only used in emergencies . Points can be removed from Empowered Healing to take Lightwell , which is handy for warlocks without Dark Pact . PvP A heavy emphasis on the Shadow Tree gives you the maximum raw DPS . This build generates a lot of threat , and so is most suited for PvP . For tough instances try the Shadow Raider build below . http : / / www . wowhead . com / ? talent = bx0GzZbZVMGtMtRhtAo Notes : Holy Warrior This build focuses on maximizing Holy damage . The DPS and DPM is not as good as the Shadow build , but healing is better . The basic build : http : / / www . wowhead . com / ? talent = bxrMzhxt0tZfxx0cbVb Alternate Route : Levels 21 to 39 . This build minimizes downtime between fights , but lengthens the fights themselves . Start with the level 19 PvE build from above and take Mind Flay . Then add Wand Specialization and after that Improved Renew . At level 28 your build should look like this : http : / / www . wowhead . com / ? talent = bVZcZxMhz After level 28 , spend your points in the shadow tree like the shadow builds in this article . When you hit level 40 , respec to get Shadowform . How to use this build : This way you can grind mobs and almost never stop for a mana break . Here is a talent tree http : / / www . wowhead . com / ? talent = bVMhZZEMztMxRGtEo PvE " Discipline " Leveling to 70 Alternative . With the changes incorporated into patch 2 . 4 , it is now possible to effectively grind using a Discipline build . The way that this build works is similar to that in which both the pure Shadow and the alternate Shadow builds above . Levels 10 to 20 . From level 10 to level 20 , your build is identical to that of a pure shadow build . Thus , during these levels you should have a build that looks like this : http : / / www . wowhead . com / ? talent = bZZG0f Levels 21 to 44 . From level 21 to level 44 , you will take Darkness ( priest ) and proceed to discipline talents . Do this by first talenting 5 / 5 in Twin Disciplines , followed by 2 / 2 in . Next , pick up Improved Inner Fire and if you are purely grinding and not planning on doing instance runs , you can pick up 3 / 3 . However , since these levels have good gear and quests for instances , going 3 / 3 in Silent Resolve will typically be preferred . Next , pick up Inner Focus and 3 / 3 Meditation . Finally this is followed by 5 / 5 in Mental Agility . The build looks like this at level 44 : http : / / www . wowhead . com / ? talent # bVcbuhhZZGxf ( patch 3 . 1 ) From level 44 to level 60 , you ' ll be heading down the holy tree to pick up talents that will support your smiting ability . Begin with 5 / 5 Holy Specialization followed by 5 / 5 Divine Fury and then Holy Nova at level 54 . The next four talents are pretty much personal choice as any of them will be useful but all are situationally dependent . For instances , 3 / 3 in Improved Renew and 1 / 3 in Inspiration is recommended . However , since we are building a grinding build , we are avoiding anything that will specifically only be useful for healing . Therefore , we will be picking up 4 / 5 in Spell Warding to mitigate spell damage that you will be receiving from caster mobs . We will follow this with 2 / 2 in Searing Light for a build that looks like this : http : / / www . wowhead . com / ? talent = bVT0zhxzbZ0vt00bZxMhz The build from level 61 to 70 continues down the holy path with 2 / 2 Holy Reach then the final point in Spell Warding for 5 / 5 in that talent . This opens up Tier 5 talents and from that range you will go a full 5 / 5 in Spiritual Guidance and end your build with 2 / 2 in Surge of Light . The final build looks like this : http : / / www . wowhead . com / ? talent = bVT0zhxzbZ0Et0bbVbZxMhz What this build does is basically works to obtain synergy between 3 / 3 Meditation and 5 / 5 Spirit Tap to make the grind to 70 very fast with almost no down time for drinking . Since the build doesn ' t rely on Shadowform , you can cast any spell needed ( healing or otherwise ) as the situation presents itself . Damage output in the early level 40 range gets a boost with an even larger output as the build continues from there . This is also a great supporting build for instances and can easily operate well in either a PvE or PvP environment . At level 70 , you can respec to http : / / www . wowhead . com / ? talent = bVT0zhxzbZ0EtcbbVih or use one of the builds below for heroics and raiding . " Holy " Leveling to 70 Alternative . Holy spec priests have somewhat different opportunities and challenges from Discipline or Shadow priests during the leveling process . While a discipline or shadow spec priest can both heal effectively at low levels , a holy spec build is ideally positioned for leveling as a healer . Healers are usually in high demand for 5 - man instances ( along with tanks ) and it is often easy for a holy spec priest to find groups where they can hone their healing skills and level their character at the same time . While shadow spec priests find that effective healing becomes significantly more difficult as leveling progresses into the 30s . Holy spec priests will continually build their healing abilities and become more effective as leveling progresses . The biggest challenge for holy spec priests is solo grinding . While Smite is the spell with the highest base DPS of any priest damage spell , it is not the most efficient in terms of damage per mana DPM ( see Spell Damage Comparison ) . Furthermore , pure holy spec priests don ' t get the survivability benefits of talents from the other trees like Shadowform or Improved Inner Fire . See Leveling a Holy Priest for some ideas about leveling progression for your holy spec priest .