Smite Build for leveling?Follow

I have a 44 priest that I'm leveling mostly in dungeons. I do some soloing, but probably less than 20% of my time on-line. I tend to go into dungeons a little lower than I should, due to the shortage of priests on our realm. Started running Mara at level 41, and I noticed that healing was becoming more difficult spec'd shadow, so I respec'd to holy. I grabbed searing light and surge of light along the way for the rare times that I do solo quest. So far leveling doesn't seem as horrible as I thought it would be, but I'm still not sure my rotations are correct. For the most part I bubble, Smite, SW:P, Smite, Smite, and wand down. I rarely use mind blast anymore, because the Mana cost doesn't seem worth it, especially when I have the Searing Light and Surge of Light talents.

I currently have 31 points in Holy. I'm thinking about picking up Spirit tap next, since it's so low in the Shadow tree, then finishing up in Discipline.

Hoping those of you who are holy priests can verify that my rotations are OK as far being as efficient as possible, and whether or not Spirit Tap is worth it with this type of build.



Edited, Feb 21st 2008 6:42pm by Eliff

I leveled holy as a smiter. It's pretty fun, and I would strongly suggest getting spirit tap.

When you pick up spirit tap, your rotation will change a little. More than likely, you will have holy spec (+5% crit to holy spells), and divine fury. What I would do is open with holy fire (slightly better mana efficiency than smite), then get off one smite and SW:P as the mob approaches. At that time, if the mob is a creature that does not pull adds, then you should scream instead of bubbling (better mana efficiency, roughly the same effect, you get a few moments to cast while not being hit). Now, depending on how much life is left on the mob, you'll want to give it one more smite, then wand it to death.

From my experience, I would say that you want SW:P to be close to finishing as the mob dies, and you want to be well out of the five second rule when the mob dies as well. That way you get the full benefit from spirit tap. With pretty good spirit gear, you'll be topped off in both health and mana to start the next fight. Also, if you're speccing smite, you'll probably have spiritual guidance for the 25% spirit to +spell dmg/healing.

You do not regenerate mana for five seconds after casting a spell that costs mana. If you were to kill a mob with smite, the first five seconds of spirit tap would be considered "casting" and you'd only get 1/2 of the max regen capability.

OK, does the final tick or two of SW:P count towards the 5 sec rule....or is it the initial casting of the spell that counts towards it?

The timer starts when you finish casting. Since SW:P is an instant, it's done casting as soon as you cast it.

Since Eliff spends less than 20% of his time soloing, is spirit tap worth the 5 points? I also levelled with a smite build and never bothered with spirit tap as I mostly healed dungeons and then played duo almost all the rest of the time. Mana regen is now much better than it was then. Though I started out mostly putting points in discipline rather than holy...

Presumably at the moment you'd have 5 points in spirit tap, 5 points in wand specialization and be 1 point off SoL in holy? Once you have SoR, spiritual guidance and SoL in holy I'd recommend to start filling up the discipline tree more. Spiritual healing doesn't seem great for levelling as it only affects heals not damage. Smite builds can go quite deep into discipline. Take in improved fortitude and meditation (perhaps with improved shield too for levelling) at very minimum before spiritual healing, these are good talents for soloing as well as healing.

Yes that build is pretty much a smite build, but has switched a few points around to give an extra boost to the healing. A more offensive smite build might switch some points into Holy reach, and skip the points in spiritual healing, holy concentration and empowered healing to go deeper into the discipline tree or to include points in spirit tap for solo levelling. Certainly for levelling points would be put into wand specialization instead of unbreakable will and perhaps switch points into improved pw:shield from silent resolve.

I think start out with the points in spirit tap (if you will solo alot) and wand specialization before starting to fill up the holy tree.

If you want to catch up with your friends at level 70 as fast as possible though, level mostly as shadow - it should be fine still to heal instances till you get to Outland (I think? Unsure as I levelled with a smite build!).

I honestly wouldnt, my priest is now 41 and am missing 5/5 wand spec. I'm actually thinking about respecing wand spec. and getting shadowform at level 45. And the in convience of dropping out of Sform to cast regen and back is highly mana inefficient. Just my opinion.