Disc Healers - A tanks perspectiveFollow

Hello,

Just ran with a disc healer. My first ever.

We ran Azjol-Nerub with 3 72-3s and 2 70s. The 70 being a mage and the healer. I was tank had a DK and a shammy.

Was able to chain pull. Didn't notice she was disc till the end when I looked. I was rarely shielded and if I was didn't notice a lack of rage.. She was high mana unless we did 3+ pulls at once. Was awesome had Grace on me like the whole time. She said Penance was 'da shiznit'.

Afterward we messed up a bunch of horde. Until they doubled our numbers or more.

So, my question to the priest community is what are your impressions of disc healing? If asked I would say she was around T5 geared just as a reference point.

Tanks



wanted to armory her but the armory didn't look right when I checked she was 51/10/0

Edited, Nov 22nd 2008 6:12am by Horsemouth

I have both tanked with disc and healed as disc. I healed at level 70 instances during 3.0 (havent leveled since then) and on my druid I have tanked at 80 with a disc healer

When healing my tanks never had any issues with aggro (though this was at 70), and while tanking I was never rage starved (had the same amount as when other healers healed me)

Its not an issue and only uninformed people who are stuck in BC will tell you otherwise. if anything tanks should -want- disc healers just because of how awesome grace is (double points for also having inspiration)

The Grace buff is pure damage reduction for me. I had it on me like the whole time and didn't realize what is was till we had a potty break and I inspected the healer. It was a near permanent 3% damage reduction for me.

What tank doesn't want more damage reduction?

As long as the healer can keep them alive, the tank doesn't really have to care if his healer reduces the damage taken. That's really the area of the priest to be glad for - healing is easier for them, but staying alive remains the same for the tank as long as your healer can keep you up, which one assumes Holy is compensated for properly.

what bism said.

But i guess it's sorta like how i raid bal but group feral i love seening eclipse on boomkins in groups even thought not on me.
wich is sorta like mozared said. As long as we get heals who cares. Sorta like dps would think who ever can hold the mobs off me who cares what type of tank i have? Dk, Warrior, Pally, Druid as long as i dont get hit i dont care.

I'm going to withhold judgement on this spec. It does have some really nice bonuses, but there is still a lot of AoE damage, especially in heroic dungeons where I'd be happier having CoH as an option to be honest.

Ok, I've used this spec now. We were short on healing in Naxx25 last night so I went and respecced to this:
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?priest=053320003050510250102503025123205003030000000000000000000000000000000000000000000&glyph=000000000000
I managed to keep up a hateful strike tank on Patchwerk on my own (with druid hot support). It is an INCREDIBLE tank healing tree and I didn't have any issues with it at all. Penance is just awesome by the way, and especially good for fights like patch and gluth where the tank takes a large burst and needs immediate healing. Also, you should note I haven't replaced much of my healing gear yet so I'm largely in T6 gear with some blues from my shadow gear that were better than my original set. It was surprisingly easy too, just shield, greater heal, renew and penance all the way.

I'd thoroughly recommend everyone try it out, however as I said before it isn't the group healing tree that holy is, and as such I think it is not as suitable for 5 and 10 mans. If however you want a really viable tank healing option, this is great.

Wouldn't a Disc build generally be better for a leveling healer? Now that Outland has been deserted, you seem to be lucky if you get to do anything but maybe Ramparts for all the fresh Death Knights, so until getting to Northrend you're apparently stuck with crafted gear and quest rewards. My priest is 62 now, and I am somewhat worried about the gear that will be available to me from now until 68-70. There just won't be any picking anymore.

At the same time, a DK tank doesn't depend on Rage, so plenty of shielding simply can't be a problem.

Don't know. People here used to say that pre-heroics you could heal every instance as a shadow priest, so I just don't see why that shouldn't be possible with a disc build as well. I'll find out, I guess.

Yes, disc > holy for a leveling healer.

I've found that holy really turned into a heroic/raiding spec as it is now. You get stuck with tons of nice new abilities and talents you basically don't need in normal 5-mans. Guardian Spirit is really nice, but you don't really need it pre-heroic. Same goes for Surge of Light, Lightwell, Circle of Healing, Serenidipity, (imp) Holy Concentration and Divine Providence. None of these talents really see play in ordinary 5-mans or solo questing.

Whereas speccing disc-healer gives you Imp Power Word: Shield, Mental Agility, Mental Strength, (Imp) Divine Spirit, possibly Focused Power, Power Infusion, Reflective Shield, Rapture, Borrowed Time ánd Penance. ALL those talents significantly impact your solo play and thoroughly improve your healing in 5-mans as well. And I haven't even mentioned Pain Supression, Grace and Divine Aegis.


Basically... Shadow = more pewpew, Disc = more mana+shield, and Holy = more healing. Logically, that makes Disc a better levelling spec than Holy since you don't need that much healing when soloing.. It used to be this way pre-patch, but the effect between disc and holy wasn't really noticable enough. As a little add though, holy is more effective than disc (and probably shadow as well) for AOE grinding. Yes, you read that right. I was killing groups of 6 level 71 mobs with ease at 70; Just DOT them all up and spam Holy Nova.



Edit:

Alright, after carefully re-reading my post I feel I have to mention that's not entirely true. Surge of Light does see use in solo questing. Doubtless though, almost anything you can get in it's place in the disc tree is better.

Edited, Nov 28th 2008 4:27pm by Mozared

I intend going this spec (my own random spec lol no idea if anyone else does this)

http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?priest=053320003050510250102503025123205003030000000000000000000000000000000000000000000&glyph=000000000000#

At the moment all disc points in in place except level 2 focused power and the higher holy ones.

I know by going into disc as well I loose some of the higher heals BUT look at what I gain from my Disc...

Extra Damage & Healing from instant casts ie renew which I use a LOT as well as POM
Less threat which is always good for a healer
Improved PWF benefits everyone
Improved shield, keeps me alive longer if I hit trouble
More mana regeneration while casting obviously always good as no mana = dead lol
Inner focus to also help with mana conservation
Reduced cost instant cast ie renew and POM
Extra Mana (bring it on!)
More extra damage and healing
More extra spell power and spirit for me and all party members

Especially with a pala tank, the buffs are awesome and yet I still have enough extra healing power to handle most things AND I get COH. It works for me

As disc you have so many talents that can help you as a healer as well, especially now we have spell power. I would think a disc priest would manage to heal no probs in most circumstances.



Edited, Dec 1st 2008 10:45am by ysabellstohelit

That would be true, but for your avarage 5-man disc is at the moment better. Holy massively improves your AOE - which you barely need in non-heroics. It's 51-pointer is a life saver - which you also barely need in non-heroics. Whereas disc simply makes sure you don't run oom so you can keep using your disc 51-pointer Penance, which kind of replaces Greater Heal.

heres my input, since i like both disc and holy for healing

disc = GREAT for single targeting healing, penance is a half-cost gheal, and glyphed holy nova works pretty good for aoe healing if you need to

divine aegis though is the hidden star of the tree

you crit a gheal for 8k lets say

if your 3/3 divine aegis, that 8k is not only 8k straight up healing, but also a 2.4k damage shield

combine with inspiration for profit all run long

inner focus+prayer of healing usually makes 3+ members of your 5 man party get some serious shielding too

it cranks up the value of crit to some serious new levels, which has some serious synergy with the tree


holy = we all know holy, we all know its strength is in its versatility

but a few things in particular make the tree for me

coh hitting the whole raid, not just your party like nova or POH, gives it bonus points for raids obviously (smart healing ftw)

the new lightwell is something EVERY holy pri should consider if you run any amount of instances (and pvp too, but smart people kill it)

why? simple

boss fight, drop a lightwell by yourself.... you took damage? click it and keep healing everyone! saving even 1 cast you didnt hafta do on yourself is worth dropping it

nevermind its GROSS healing (i got it like 1.5k per second atm) or the fact anyone can use whenever they need a heal, you just get a lot more on-tank healing done if people drop their stigma about the 'well

(side note for tricky tanks, if you get the pri to put it by you, you can drop whatever shield move you have and use lightwell, it heals until you take 30% damage of your hp.... if your blocking via a move, or on a defensive cd, it should last a few ticks.... give your pri some time to heal the group, or just to gen mana.... works wonders in all melee groups since if its by you, all the melee can use too)

(opinion here) and i honestly like pvp more as holy, when resil kicks by in full force.... 20k hp + blessed resil + imp renew + blessed recovery feels pretty durable.... its a viable option, and well timed guardian spirits are stellar ;)


personally, i like both trees a ton

id be disc for 5 mans, heroic or regular, raid tank healing, and for bigger sized arena teams

id be holy for raids if you dont always have a set role, or for small size arena teams/bg's

but i love both trees, and i cant understand anyone not happy with priest healing

sure, expansion didnt give us a ton of moves.... but we dont need them at all