Disc vs Holy: Pros and Cons?Follow

Holy

Pro

1 AOE healers - holy priests have a lot more power in raid healing/party healing with circle of healing and can speed up prayer of healing

2. Guardian Spirit - One of the best tanlets holy priests got if we need to pump out more healing use Guardian Spirit and all healing done is increased, will also gives it life up if the person hits 0 hp and gives him 50% hp back

3 Spirit of Redemption - A really nice tanlet which when you die you come back as a spirit healer and can heal your group for 15 secs has saved me a lot of times from a wipe to a close win

Con

1. Mana Regen - Holy priests seem to run out of mana faster then disc so you have to keep you spirit and int around the same levels to get a nice mana regen for long fights.

Disc

Pro

1. Penance - One of the best heals a priest can get will do 3 ticks of healing for about 2-3k each nice for tank healing.

2. Power Word: Shield - A good disc priest won't heal dmg they try to stop it with power word shield or at least slow it down on raid bosses also gets mana back for the shield when it breaks

3. Power Infusion - A nice spell which when casted gives the user 20% haste and 20% lower mana costs nice when you need to get heals out fast or make a mage pew pew more

Con

1. Not a lot aoe - The main draw back of disc is it has close to 0 raid healing spells.

not sure on anymore atm but thats what i think disc is great at tank healing holy can heal a lot of people fast


Edited, Dec 29th 2009 9:52pm by scottyjames

Most people will tell you the basic difference is that Disc is a tank/single-target spec and Holy is a raid/multi-target spec. This difference is mostly inconsequential for five-mans; either spec can heal any heroic just fine.

Beyond that though, there really is a big difference in how you think and play. I don't think it's really a pro-or-con thing as much as a what's-your-style thing. Holy is more traditional healing where you heal the damage as it comes in. You have lots of tools to do that with and reacting quickly under pressure with the right spell for the right job can be a fun challenge. Discipline is largely about mitigating damage before it gets to your target, with a bunch of talents to do that. You do have a very nice big heal as well, but I find it to be a much less reactive way to heal overall. People who care about meters should also be aware that since absorption is not well measured at the moment, Disc priests rarely come out on top.

Personally, I always loved Holy because I prefer raid healing and love AOE heals. But Disc is honestly a better fit for my style; it doesn't feel like such a pressure cooker and I feel like I have more time to think.

Long advice short, first decide whether you want to be a raid healer or a tank healer. Most raid groups will not let you tank heal if you're Holy or raid heal if you're Disc, so you do have a pigeon hole to deal with. If it doesn't matter to you or you don't plan on raiding, heal a few instances with each spec and decide which you enjoy the most.


Edited, Dec 29th 2009 10:15pm by teacake

With all the basic stuff (single target vs aoe heals) named, let me give you some more in-depth advice from [Mozared's Box of Tricks]. One of the main differences between holy and disc is that disc really is more of an 'in between' spec than holy.

Holy puts you pretty much on equal footing with resto-druids, healing wise. You more or less gain a rotation and turn into a walking Hp5 buff. The only real difference between holy priests and restoration druids is that restoration druids kick *** when countering a constant stream of AOE damage with a constant stream of AOE healing (Sapphiron, Val'kyr Twins) while holy priests are better at handling a constant stream of burst AOE with a spark of burst AOE healing (Hodir's Frozen Blows, Kologarn's Shockwave). Holy priests excel in any fights with a lot of raid-wide AOE damage. And note that when I say raid-wide, I mean RAID-wide - because most of our heals are group heals, we suck and get ********* of overhealing on fights like Marrowgar where raid damage means "constant spikes on three or four random people".

Disc, on the other hand, while often welcomed as "the single target healing spec", is more of an "addition to the raid". I've found that a disc priest isn't an effective raid healer, nor is he an effective tank healer. You are not going to keep your tank alive on Algalon because after Penance is used, you cannot counter continuous bursts on the tank anymore - leave it to the paladins. You are not an effective raid healer either, however. Have fun trying to shield everyone on the Val'kyr twins - you aren't going to be near as effective as a group-healing holy priest or resto druid. The disc priest shines in groups where full blown tank healers (paladins) and full blown raid healers (druids) are already present. He can help out on the tank when needed, or save his Penance for spiky single-target raid damage (quite literally, on Marrowgar). He can shield a group or two when AOE damage is incoming to make life a little easier. He can give buffs, oversee the situation, and even dish out some burst DPS when needed.

In the end though, you will notice none of this before you get into at least Ulduar with a proper healing crew alongside you. For (pre-)heroics, all you really need to know is that you will have an easier time healing them as disc. On the other hand, if you're certain about your abilities, it is also the best place to start experimenting with the other spec.

And on a sidenote; you *will* hate Pain Suppression for having a GCD and you *will* love Guardian Spirit for being able to use it constantly and for it being effective. Also, disc trades Body & Soul for Power Infusion. In the end, healing aside, both specs have their gimmicks.

guilty.


Great advice/info above from everyone :)

Wrote this for my guild forum, thought you might enjoy losing 10 minutes of your time.

I have spent some time going through the growing pains of healing as a disc priest. While simply using your three major heals can be enough to do the job, disc priests have many other tools that can benefit both the tanks and the rest of the raid group. Proper selection of the appropriate spell is key to successfully healing as a disc priest.

First off, PW:Shield is your best friend. The true strength of discipline healing is not recovering lost health, but reducing or absorbing damage. Tanks refer to this as mitigation. Tanks rely on parry, dodge and misses to nullify incoming damage, but sooner or later, the boss is going to land some shots. This damage is reduced by mitigation. While each type of tank has their own mitigation (armor being the common factor), there are some healing talents and abilities that add to or complement their mitigation.

PW:Shield and Divine Aegis: While PW:Shield is widely known for its immediate 5-9k bubble (proportional to your Spell Power). Divine Aegis is its lesser known counterpart. On a strict tank healing assignment, a disc priest can absorb more through DA than PW:S. While PW:S is available every 15 seconds, DA occurs on every heal that crits. 30% of the heal is turned into a mini-bubble that can stack up to 10k (cumulative with PW:S). This means that crits that would normally be wasted into overheal are now converted to absorption.

Inspiration: A holy talent that should be included in all priest healing builds. (Resto Shamans have a similar talent in Ancestral Healing). Its description is self-explanatory. Reduce physical damage by 10% when you crit. Note: Magical damage is not affected.

Renewed Hope: This is a pleasant side effect to casting PW:S. Not only does the target receive 3% reduction in damage, the whole raid group receives the buff. There is no time during an encounter when this buff should be allowed to fall off the raid. If you are not casting PW:S at least every 20 seconds, you're doing it wrong.

The last bit of mitigation that a disc priest brings to the table is Pain Suppression. It's relatively short cd (coupled with Aspiration) makes it available for multiple uses for the longer encounters. It can be used to supplement the tank's own cd's for high damage portions of fights. It also can be used for emergency situations when damage needs to be averted and a direct heal is not a real option. PS plus a 7k shield can be cast on the run and provides around 12k mitigation/absorption.

So why cast PW:S if you don't need to? Perhaps your direct heals are enough to counter any incoming damage. Well, in addition to Renewed Hope, the disc version of PW:S also includes another tasty effect called Rapture. Not only do you reclaim mana for your own pool, you give a little boost to the target's power source as well. It can happen only once every 12 seconds (except under a probably buggy situation where all shields are consumed simultaneously), and it isn't a major return, but over the course of a fight, it adds up for you and others. PW:S also produces Borrowed Time which greatly reduces the need of gearing for haste.

Penance, Flash Heal and Prayer of Mending: The bread and butter of a disc priests healing ******** each of these have their own particular niches.

Penance is the highly visible, single target heal that sets disc apart. It is a channeled spell that delivers the first of three heals almost instantaneously to the target. (While most people consider the first heal instant, it does have an air time component, much like offensive spells such as a mage's Arcane Missiles.) It benefits from but does not consume the haste buff from Borrowed Time.

Prayer of Mending is a reactive spell that heals after the target takes damage and then jumps to a nearby, lowest health target. It is a smart heal in that given 2 targets in range to jump to, it will always jump to the one with the lowest health percentage. It can heal five times before it is consumed. If it is fully consumed it is one of the most efficient heals in the game, both mana-wise and time-wise. It often is not fully consumed as it should be kept on cd as much as possible. Normally cast on the tank, it can alternatively be cast on other clumped up groups that are taking regular damage. As long as you hear it bouncing around, it is doing its job well.

Flash Heal is normally considered the filler heal for disc, to be used when other spells are on cd and the target has the Weakened Soul debuff (the 15 seconds after PW:S is cast on a target). One notable exception is when you have tanks at low health. Due to the talent Imp Flash Heal, a steady stream of Flash Heals at tanks during these periods results in more crits which leads to more DAs. Once the target stabilizes above 50% health, FHeal returns to its role as filler heal.

I haven't mentioned Renew. Normally Renew is not an ideal spell for disc. It is unable to crit and does not have the power that other disc heals have. Normally there is a better choice than Renew. Of course there are exceptions. When you come across them, you will know. Keeping Renew rolling on the tank is normally a good idea.

Disc does have its group heals. Prayer of Healing and Holy Nova provide less than stellar group-wide heals. Holy Nova is instant but is burdened with an incredibly small aoe (10 yds from caster). PoH has a larger radius (30 yds), can be targetted and has a decent healing amount, but it is long casting and quite mana intensive. It should be used with BT when possible and is a candidate for Inner Focus. Divine Hymn is the ultimate "Oh crap" button. Its massive mana cost and long cd make it less attractive, and many priests often overlook it or forget about it, but it is the single-most powerful heal in the game. It consists of channeling for 8 seconds (can be affected by haste), has a range of 40 yds, can affect up to 12 different targets, will crit and does produce DA bubbles. It is a smart heal and has the added benefit of granting 10% more healing to all who are healed by it for 8 additional seconds. This means that the other healers benefit from this as well. This spell should be used with Inner Focus, if possible, as the benefits are most fully felt with it.

Other disc utilities:
Power Infusion: Can be used on self, but normally cast on a dps caster to increase their output and efficiency.
Hymn of Hope: This (as well as Divine Hymn) is an ability that disc and holy share. It regenerates a moderate amount of mana to raid-wide targets. While it does work off a percentage of your mana pool, it gives you a 20% boost to your pool during the channel. If used in conjunction with other % based mana regen abilities concurrently (such as shadowfiend or mana tide totem), all the regen is boosted accordingly.

If you haven't noticed, crit plays a large role in a disc priest's gear. Normally healers play a balance game between crit and haste. Since PW:S is so attractive for a disc priest, many of their casts will be hasted by Borrowed Time. This lessens the budget for haste on disc priests' gear. At 11% haste with full raid buffs, a disc priest's Fheal is reduced to a 1 second cast with Borrowed Time in effect. More than 11% haste is not wasted on gear (you cannot expect to be able to squeeze a PW:S in between every heal), but it is considered a soft cap for haste in regards to a disc raiding spec.

Pfff. When Lich King first came out, I was doing Naxx with 12k as Holy. Eat for crit and you're set.

I'm not saying I was doing it well, mind you, but back then we were wiping on Grob before I ran out of mana anyway.

No no no, you've got it backwards. We were bragging about how little we can get by on. I'm such a superpriest, I could raid your content with, like, 15k and an Arcane Brilliance, bub.

I like to mix it up a bit now and then, so I've changed my shadow spec to Holy and I'm going to play that for a bit. Back when I first went disc, I was going for more available mana. I'll see how it feels to go back to my roots. I'm not sure it will last, but It's nice to have options.

This morning I set power auras to ding and put COH up on the screen each time it is available. I'll do the same with glyphed Guardian Spirit.

Edited, Jan 7th 2010 3:21pm by dadanox

As an older player, I need my interface to scream at me ("Run away little girl").

Edited, Jan 7th 2010 4:49pm by dadanox

Waited a good four seconds before I started wondering why the mouseover thing didn't pop up. Then I started wondering how an item had Mozared's name. Then I read your post.

So I went to holy on my off spec, and have most of my keybinds done. I ran several heroics and we didn't wipe. Hurray, I've still got it. I did notice my mana going down faster, so I did spec a few more points into disc for Mental Agility, and I'll adjust to be a bit more conservative.

edit:
Ok, so we did wipe in HoR. I feel so much more comfortable as disc.

Edited, Jan 9th 2010 7:34am by dadanox