Surviving as a Priest - Page 34

Xtoforas · 12/19/08, 1:14 PM

Originally Posted by dbresq

On another note, which comps are other priests looking at running in S5?

I've never seriously done arena in the past just throwing together some 2v2 and 3v3 teams and meddling around the 1700 bracket however I am excited for this season. So far I've done a few 2v2 games with an enh shaman (with me as shadow) and we've seen mixed results.

We basically got stomped by DK teams (DK/Rogue, DK/Retadin) but I think this composition has some promise with heroism + psychic scream + hex for CC. My partner and I are still getting used to each other.

Something I'm hoping to try this week is popping heroism at the start, getting a fear off, with DP, SWP, VE on the kill target while the enh shaman gets a hex off on the offtarget. The kill target will probably go for me after trinketing the fear and that's when I'm hoping to PWS and Dispersion while the Enh shaman finishes him off. This should leave us in a pretty good 2v1 state but this is all dependent on the burst damage of the target not exceeding my 17k health pool.

armitageiii · 12/19/08, 1:45 PM

Originally Posted by Mearis

That's only because priests have to gem / gear for pure resilience while paladins can get away with a lot more PvE gear than us - our scaling with int is pretty amazing as disc.

It's still not as strong as other classes. I just chardeved the best healing gear possible in the game with all int/mana talent buffers and only got to 19k. Most games I have gone in, paladins have had 19K++ and thats in standard gear.

Our int compared to other classes on pvp gear scales just as bad also.

Our deadly set gives us 224, Our offset + cloak and jewelry gives us 214, and weps give us 79. Include that with our base int and we have 689 and that gives us 792 with mental agi. Which is quite a bit of mana. It's still lower then other classes though in the best pvp gear.

• Darklost · 12/27/08, 5:38 AM

What are you priests going to pick up as far as the Neck/Bracer/Belt/Cloak pieces? The Mp5 or the Haste? I was strongly considering grabbing the haste pieces when I start getting games done. Although with the mana issues we face in Arenas I'm not sure that would be the wisest choice, but it seems like it's kind of a lose-lose situation deciding between them. Pick up some haste gear and be able to sneak off flash heals or an additional GH while the rogue/warrior/DKs interrupts are on cooldown -or- go for mp5 for a bit more sustainment. I haven't had the chance to spec disc as I recently created this character (Dec 2nd) as my new main and have a lot of dungeon crawling to do in order to get my pve gear where it needs to be, but I do plan on jumping in on the arena game within a month or so.

Vladdy · 12/27/08, 6:06 AM

'ello thar. I'm at basically a loss.

Firstly, I PvP in two specs. My current one (in armory) and this.

I sorta have some mismatched gear/etc, but I'm working on that.

When I PvP as disc i'm fine. I generally am paired with a ret pally, and we got up to 1675. However, as shadow (the spec i'd actually LIKE to PvP in) we tank a ton of rating. I don't really know what to do. Should I be gemming for resil, +sta, spell power, what?

When fighting double melee DPS teams, what should I do? I either get blinded > sapped or FF and die. Either way i'm taken out of the fight nearly instantaneously. Is this my problem? Is there any particular partner that you guys have met success with?

Thanks in advance

EDIT: Removed silly things.

Towbar · 12/27/08, 10:56 AM

So far on my priest I have been gemming all stamina to survive the initial onslaught from rogues etc and it seems to be working well. Also bring alot of PvP water with you and always make sure you have PWS renew and POM on yourself. Drink some when you use a few thousand mana. If a double dps team is going for me at the start I often trinket the Cheap Shot and just use pain suppression to survive the nuke against double melee. It is important to do this as fast as you can when full hp to get maximum effect from the pain suppression. When diminishing returns start to kick in then you should still have a large amount of your HP left. While the dps are nuking you you can PWS & renew your partner so that if they switch to your partner and you get blinded they are not left entirely to their own devices. Often your POM has bounced to him anyway so that is 3 healing effects to help them survive. Even with a rogue and another dps opening on me I often still have 15k or 16k hp left out of my 22k hp self buffed and the pain suppression also makes any dispels / purges waste some mana of the opposing team.

With regards to haste / regen items I will most certainly be getting the regen as I am at the point now where I usually survive until I am out of mana. At current gear levels I don't think it is worth going for crit or any talents related. I have even switched to using my PvE Neck just for the considerable regen that 56 spirit provides while kiting.

With regards to CC etc You have to get in combat asap to try and avoid getting sapped. I will often use a mass dispel to try dispel someone behind a pillar to do this. It may cost alot of mana but it is worth it not to get sapped imo.

Zaq · 12/27/08, 3:19 PM

Does the resilence difference between these two sets strike anyone else as a mistake? [Savage Gladiator's Satin Mantle][Hateful Gladiator's Satin Mantle]

Edit: Gm Email "The issue reported above is not considered to be "broken" and should be functioning normally."

Tzeni · 12/29/08, 11:13 AM

Originally Posted by Zaq

Does the resilence difference between these two sets strike anyone else as a mistake? [Savage Gladiator's Satin Mantle][Hateful Gladiator's Satin Mantle]

Edit: Gm Email "The issue reported above is not considered to be "broken" and should be functioning normally."

Adding onto that, they both have the same iLevel (200). Compared to the Deadly mantle, which has iLevel 213.

Disposition · 12/29/08, 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by Vladdy

When I PvP as disc i'm fine. I generally am paired with a ret pally, and we got up to 1675. However, as shadow (the spec i'd actually LIKE to PvP in) we tank a ton of rating. I don't really know what to do. Should I be gemming for resil, +sta, spell power, what?

EDIT: Removed silly things.

2s is currently a terrible bracket for many reasons, and being a priest,let alone a shadow priest, will put the bulls eye on you for sure. With so many other rets, dks, and dagger rogues running around I have very little fun in 2s even as disc. I just don't think shadow is viable in 2s in the current gib fest.

Have you tried running with a dagger rogue? That may help but you are going to spend most of your time running for your life and healing anyway you might as well stay disc.

Also, you might want to try moving up to the 3s bracket and adding some more cc to your team, a good mage may go a long way in helping your survivability for peeling that annoying dps off of you. Either way I feel your pain for struggling to stay above 1500 as a shadow priest.

Vladdy · 12/29/08, 6:09 PM

Originally Posted by Disposition

2s is currently a terrible bracket for many reasons, and being a priest,let alone a shadow priest, will put the bulls eye on you for sure. With so many other rets, dks, and dagger rogues running around I have very little fun in 2s even as disc. I just don't think shadow is viable in 2s in the current gib fest.

Have you tried running with a dagger rogue? That may help but you are going to spend most of your time running for your life and healing anyway you might as well stay disc.

Also, you might want to try moving up to the 3s bracket and adding some more cc to your team, a good mage may go a long way in helping your survivability for peeling that annoying dps off of you. Either way I feel your pain for struggling to stay above 1500 as a shadow priest.

yeah. Currently, I'm going with a UA lock as shadow, trying to get dispel protection. He's horribly geared, so our w/l ratio is rather bad, but i'm hoping it will get better. Any team with a healer gets shut down (double silence + all dots = GG), and double DPS is 50/50, depending on how mana dependent they are. However, any class that operates without mana/spells will generally rape us.

I'll be trying a dagger rogue once my friend hits 80/gets geared. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for the tip about 3s. I think I might try resto + UA lock + spriest in 3s. No mage, but hex and EB are nice.

jzi · 12/29/08, 6:32 PM

Disc/Holy Priest for 2s just need to find a ret pala/rogue/dk/aff lock to play. Since priest survivability is an issue, stacking stamina on all your pieces is a must (or sta/resilience, if the slot is yellow). If you roll with a DK, you'll find yourself beating all DK/pala combos (both holy and ret pala). If you with a ret pala, you'll find yourself being a lot of combos out there, very few things beat ret pala + disc priest. If you roll with a rogue, and if you're both geared and skilled, you're on a free ride to 1700+ for the 2nd week.

Holy is better for self survival and utilities after death (light well and spirit angel), it's probably the better spec partnered with DK/ret pala. Disc is better for healing other people, and it's definitely the superior spec for 3s and 5s.

Edit - My build: WorldofWarcraft.com -> Info -> Classes -> Priest -> Talent Calculator

Edit2 - Vlad: No, it's not your vault you die instantly. If you can't live through cheapshot, then it's definately your fault. Burst DPS atm is extremely high, assuming if your partner is no help, you need to trinket the 2nd stun (first stun if yo'ure up against mage/rogue if your partner really can't help you). The trick here is to really trinket and pop all ur CDs, desprate prayer after pain supression/divine guardian ASAP, followed by shield pom and keep renew up. Fake heal is a must, an interrupt could mean death. Here are how ur partner could help you -

DK - mark of blood is good. I hear it's bugged so that rogues can't CLoS it. DK should pull rogue off of you to buy you a second

Ret pala - blessing of protection, blessing of blood, are all good. sacred shield is also amazing.

Rogue, gotta stunlock that rogue that jumps on you. If he gets a sap off on rogue you win.

Lock - Lotsa fear helps a lot, but otherwise it's no help.

Remember to preshield before ppl jump you, pw:shield, renew, pom, must all be up when you engage. fear every CD is key.

Hopefully this helps

Mearis · 12/29/08, 8:43 PM

how does priest/dk beat paladin/dk? Could you share your strategy?

Disposition · 12/30/08, 1:10 AM

I don't see how disc ever outlasts a holy paladin.

Mearis did you ride that holy spec to your current rating? That is very impressive for a heavy holy build. I was thinking on going the hybrid spec since I am dead meat versus any rogue or mage team. Improved counter spell is almost always game over for me.

jzi · 12/30/08, 5:38 PM

This is my experience, so it might not be true for you.

I'm trying out a various comps atm, I switch teams a lot so my rating isn't very high. But, priest + dk or rogue against pala/dk, priest needs to LOS a lot. Pala/DK doesn't have any non-magical snare. If you're running w/ a DK, u get the 15% run speed buff. Theoretically, if you can outskill/keep up them w/ the pillar, they can't catch you. This is harder in the undercity arena, and impossible on ring of valor. If they catch you, ur fear is probably 5s from being up, and they don't have any fear defense. Dispel glyth is good, you dispell chain of nice and seal of 100% snare.

Ret pala/DK is the easier matchup. Ret's chasing after you, you can get double fear off pretty easily. Have DK be on the ret pala. Ret pala dies from taking damage, while trying to do damage to you. If this go hairy have ur DK pop mark of blood on the other dk. You also have painsupression and stuff. I also found it extremely helpful to have DK time the mark of blood exactly to the divine shield. THen I can tank stuff while pulling the mass dispell. The trick against this is to not take much damage, and it's doable in 3/5 arenas.

Holy pala + dk is the harder one. DKs will be chasing healers, and being pulled by the other dk. Two strats really. First is to kill quickly. You can fear, pala can't. You can heal while moving, pala can't. Charge in w/ ur DK and go w/ the quick kill. MD ASAP on shield is key. Pala can't take too many hits from DK if they can't get away. Help ur dk out by dispelling chain of ice next gcd, and dispell pala's sacred shield and other stuff. mana burn isn't the right thing to do here, the thign to do is kill, while kiting the other dk.

2nd strat w/ the holy pala + dk is to outlast. This could go on for 10+ min. Killing pet is good, then u can drink. Bascially kite dk and have ur dk on the holy pala. Ur DK will ahve issues, since he'll be pulled to the other DK and snared w/ chain of ice. Your DK needs to snare the other DK if he can't catch the pala right away. This matchup can become super bad super fast, as if both DK's pets are dead, DKs snare each other, healers can mount and lolrun and drink till full. DKs dont' really do damage to eachother, but with pala/priest can both esaily getaway from DKs w/ the other DK helping, it becomes a stalemate.

I always go for the fast kill against dk/holy pala, then if that fails, draw it out

.

jzi · 12/30/08, 5:48 PM

My turn!

If anyone have any tips and tricks against silly rogues/hunters they can share, it'd be great. They're the anti-priests, but it'd be great to not lose every game against them. Rogue just does too much damage, too many CDs, and drops me too fast. Even w/ 20k base HP, I can't stay up long enough to make any meaninginful difference (my partenr cant kill one by the time i die). Viper sting and double beast is just vicious, I'm either OOM or dead : (. I tried kiling the pet and drinking, but the hunter summons it back so fast, not sure what else to try... It'd be nice to not lose to every rogue/hunter team...

My survival casting is the the following, it only buys me 40s against 1 dps and 25s against 2 dps...

0) Preheal, pw:shield, renew, pom whne the rogue jumps
1) shield again
2) if i'm < 40%, trinket if in stun, i pop my ps and desperate prayer back to back
3) keeping pom, renew, and pw:s up as much as I can.
4) fear every cd, but rogue gets back so fast, esp undead.

Anything I'm missing?

riveri · 12/30/08, 10:17 PM

Im playing with hunter in 2vs2s so its a bit different for me, but my normal surviving method is close to same as yours. It helps that Im a dwarf and I can use stoneform to remove poisons after first stun so i can sometimes save my PI for later and just stoneform -> shield and desperated prayer if needed. This also gives me some range due to the frost trap under me. Of course when its double dps Im using my cooldowns much faster and even trinketing the first stun sometimes. Hunter also uses 30% damage reduction pet skill what scorpid pets have on me.

Not sure if its good idea, but im hardly ever trying to cast anything if they are targeting me and Im against some class who can kick/counterspell my heal. I rather just spam holynova ( glyphed ) until I get my shield/renew/pom/fear back. What comes to hybrid specs with the basic idea to die and spam heals in angelform, i dont really like it. It's much easier to keep pet/hunter alive with penance/shield/hasted heals when the opponent decides to go after them instead of me.

Disposition · 12/31/08, 11:11 AM

Originally Posted by jzi

Anything I'm missing?

You are missing the poisons, all three of them, that the rogue has on you. Also spamming holy nova helps cause you can't get off a 3 second flash heal.

I think it is finally time to suck it up and go blessed resil. Too many cold blood dagger rogues running around and it seems SoR is the only way to do some serious healing in Arenas.

jzi · 01/02/09, 12:36 PM

I got 1720 with my rogue this week. I found that playing with my rogue "fixes" my rogue issues, rogues are good at snaring/stunning each other.

I'm beginning to think rogue/priest beats more comps than priest/DK for 2v2. I can't think of a comp DK/priest can beat but rogue/priest can't. But, rogue/priest, rogue/mage, rogue/pala, rogue/shaman matchups gets significantly easier if you do rogue/priest.

Still can't beat hunter teams though, even priest hunters : |.

Airrr · 01/05/09, 10:53 AM

I am playing with a hunter.I have 725 resilence tried 2 kind of specs.First one is for guardian spirit which helps me alot again 2 dps combo, the other one is hibrid spec for lightwell + blessed resilence + focused will.The second one is working good again 1 dps.The pain and most powerfull setup atm for 2vs2 is hunter + holy pala.We have huge problem vs holy pala and warrior,cuz my partner can`t drop so fast the pala till warrior is killing me,and i can`t play offensive cuz this warrior is making my healt bar looks like mixer

Just saw some blue post on blizzard forums last day that they will turn a eye over the healing into arena and survive ability of the healers cuz even with full pvp gear(for example i have all pvp items 3 hatefull and 2 blue + all items boots,neck,belt,bracer,trinquet,2nd trinquet and 1 ring) and i still have problems with surviving ....

Harion · 01/05/09, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by Mearis

how does priest/dk beat paladin/dk? Could you share your strategy?

As a priest? Try to focus paladin, dispel his shields/freedoms, ask your DK to help you running away from the dk
You "simply" have to find a right combination like:
Mind Freeze on a HolyLight/Flash of Light when he's below 70%
Ghoul's Stun
Strangulate
Fear
If it's back->Mind Freeze

meanwhile, when he's stunned, try to be more offensive and manaburn him down (Obviously the combo should be done when the garg is on)

Mearis · 01/05/09, 11:31 AM

Originally Posted by Harion

As a priest? You can't

I know this, but that poster suggested he had a strategy and I was curious to see him try to articulate it.

Harion · 01/05/09, 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by Mearis

I know this, but that poster suggested he had a strategy and I was curious to see him try to articulate it.

I tried to argumentate more, I was actually playing both Pala/DK and Priest/War (which is quite the same, despite the fact that a fury warrior kicks asses, if there isn't a fairly good rogue or mage).
Tell me if you already tried it

jzi · 01/08/09, 2:19 PM

I think one thing we can all agree on - 3.0.8 patch is gonna be awesome.

MissnL1nK · 01/08/09, 4:29 PM

Originally Posted by jzi

I think one thing we can all agree on - 3.0.8 patch is gonna be awesome.

I just want Blizzard to give you guys a poison dispel of some type. That would make my life in 2's so much easier.

Althor · 01/08/09, 9:41 PM

Originally Posted by Disposition

Too many cold blood dagger rogues running around and it seems SoR is the only way to do some serious healing in Arenas.

From mmo-champion.com:

Glyph of Spirit Redemption - Increases the duration of Spirit of Redemption by 6 seconds. (Old - All heals cast while Spirit of Redemption is active have a 20% chance to increase the remaining duration of Spirit of Redemption by 4sec.

Chirality · 01/09/09, 4:44 AM

Originally Posted by MissnL1nK

I just want Blizzard to give you guys a poison dispel of some type. That would make my life in 2's so much easier.

I at least want a self-poison cure...That would make me satisfied. I'm so tired of losing to hunters simply because of Viper Sting. This has been a huge issue for 5 seasons now.

Mages as well need a talent or ability to mitigate mana burns.