Disc rotation survival guide

[Deleted]

Hi

I gave up Disc in the start of this expansion. Mainly because it’s was impossible to get any mythic dungeons or PuG’s for Raids. However I’m now starting to raid for my guild now and then, and I will try it out.

I’m not an excellent, extraordinary player, so I just need to do as good as I now can.

I have a question about general spell rotation. I know it depends of the damage, raid content and so on. I’m more looking after general rotation and burst rotation.

I expect to take these talents, unless I’m doing a major mistake:
Tier 1 - Castigation
Tier 2 - Body and Soul
Tier 3 - Shining Force
Tier 4 - Shield Discipline
Tier 5 - Contrition
Tier 6 - Halo
Tier 7 - Purge the Wicked

Basic healing:

Plea:
I know there are a brake even if above 5 stack, between Plea and Power Word: Radiance. I calm situation, how do you maintain pleas. Do you put out 5 plea in row, and then DPS, DPS, DPS, DPS until it falls off, or is it more Plea, DPS, DPS, Plea, DPS DPS, Plea…. Any good rotation here?

I assume spell prioritization will be

• Penance
• Power Word: Shield
• Purge the Wicked
• Smite

Do you ever use Shadow Mend in raids?

Burst healing:
How many Plea are you aiming for. I assume if you are aiming for too many, the will drop off before you start to do DPS. What are the best way to build up for huge incoming damage, assuming you have already 5 plea up?

• Rapture + Power Word: Shield
• 3-4 x Power Word: Radiance
• Light's Wrath
• Penance
• Smite..Smite…Smite…Penance…Smite…..and so on

Macro:
Do you have a good mouse over DPS macro which prioritise “Targets, Target, Targets Target, Targets Target Target, Focus Target”

Best Regards

Phriestoz

[Musta Kyy]

This is just my playstyle:
Atonement on tanks, atonement on players that are going to take damage and shadow mend on people that suddenly take damage.
No applying atonement on someone "just to be safe", only if I know they are going to take damage (looking at timers for boss abilities) or if they have undispellable dot or something.
For spell priority penance and pw:s on CD, especially if you have shield disc talent.
On last row I prefer grace, it is pretty good for higher m+ and for tank healing.

[Zka]

We already have a very high quality disc guide here. Most talents are situational and both gearing and ability usage is quite different in raids and 5mans.

[Jimjam38]

Hi

I gave up Disc in the start of this expansion. Mainly because it’s was impossible to get any mythic dungeons or PuG’s for Raids. However I’m now starting to raid for my guild now and then, and I will try it out.

I’m not an excellent, extraordinary player, so I just need to do as good as I now can.

I have a question about general spell rotation. I know it depends of the damage, raid content and so on. I’m more looking after general rotation and burst rotation.

I expect to take these talents, unless I’m doing a major mistake:
Tier 1 - Castigation
Tier 2 - Body and Soul
Tier 3 - Shining Force
Tier 4 - Shield Discipline
Tier 5 - Contrition
Tier 6 - Halo
Tier 7 - Purge the Wicked

Yep those are correct for raid healing

Basic healing:

Plea:
I know there are a brake even if above 5 stack, between Plea and Power Word: Radiance. I calm situation, how do you maintain pleas. Do you put out 5 plea in row, and then DPS, DPS, DPS, DPS until it falls off, or is it more Plea, DPS, DPS, Plea, DPS DPS, Plea…. Any good rotation here?

I assume spell prioritization will be

• Penance
• Power Word: Shield
• Purge the Wicked
• Smite

Do you ever use Shadow Mend in raids?

Above 5 Atonements, don't use plea. Continue to PWS on cooldown and use PWR to push up to high atonements (12 to 15+) to prepare for big AoE burst healing. The main disc gameplay revolves around preparing for and then following up on these big bursts.
You should read Mend's TLDR guide in the priest stickies, or head over to HowtoPriest.com and read total's guide (mend's is there too). The priest discord also has pinned guides.
Shadow mend should be used very minimally, only if you absolutely need to do an emergency spot heal. Otherwise leave the spot healing to the Holy priests and Hpaladins, and focus on AoE healing. Same for tank healing, however always keep Atonement on the tanks with PWS (or plea at low atonements).

Burst healing:
How many Plea are you aiming for. I assume if you are aiming for too many, the will drop off before you start to do DPS. What are the best way to build up for huge incoming damage, assuming you have already 5 plea up?

• Rapture + Power Word: Shield
• 3-4 x Power Word: Radiance
• Light's Wrath
• Penance
• Smite..Smite…Smite…Penance…Smite…..and so on

So this is the main reason we stack haste, because it lets us push to a higher atonement max or lets us hit our target number faster, leaving more time to do atonement healing through dps before it starts to fall back off.
So what you've said is more or less correct. If you use Rapture, you can easily hit 10-14 Atonements from PWS spam (depending on haste, heroism, etc), so you'll only need 1-2 PWR after a rapture.
Without rapture, you get up to 5 from PWS/Plea and then PWR x3 or x4, still using PWS in between casts if it's off cooldown.
After you hit enough atonements (12+ is fine for a small burst, 15+ at least for a Light's Wrath), you follow up with Light's Wrath (if off cooldown) then Penance > into a few smites.
You should also always have your dot ticking on at least 1 enemy target, more if available.
For a more detailed explanation, check out Total's guide that I mentioned earlier.

Macro:
Do you have a good mouse over DPS macro which prioritise “Targets, Target, Targets Target, Targets Target Target, Focus Target”

Not really sure what you mean here sorry.

[Deleted]

Thanks for your feedback.

I have read the superb Disc guide at howtopriest already

I tried it out in Nighthold yesterday, but I need to practice a lot more. I just burned mana, and with ILVL870 i had like 80K HPS / 40K DPS. Without being exceptional, what can I expect of numbers?

I'll better keep my Holy as backup for PuG's or I'll get kicked right away

[Jaigar]

Well ive done 5 total raids as disc and 6 bosses normal nh was my 5th and i was pulling 200k-280k depending on the fight at 878 ilvl. Granted im a special snowflake so you got a lot of room to improve. Personally i like power infusion better than contrition. Im used to lower attonent counts and burn myself out of mana with contrition and plea

[Yunzi]

There's no one way to operate as Disc - fights can range from 3 minutes to 10 minutes. Tichondrius provides massive mana regen. Raid groups can range from 10 people (max 10 atonements) to 30 people. You have some combination of Blessing of Wisdom and Innervate on you or none at all. Healer compositions/skill levels can result in varying needs to spot and/or tank heal. You have specific and limited access to gear (such as mana regen trinkets).

There's no one-size-fits-all way to heal. You need to analyze your context and adjust your spell selection accordingly. Learn from the results of a pull and continue to adjust.

That being said, we can perceive a "standard", or "core" healing rotation for raids, which involves maintaining 6+ active atonements (plea to 5, PWS the 6th), Penancing usually on cooldown, PWSing on cooldown, and liberal use of Rapture since it's very mana efficient.

Both Smite and Power Word: Radiance are "extra" spells, or spells that we use to a degree that we have mana to afford them. PWR is used strictly at 6+ atonements when a big amount of raid damage is upcoming, usually followed up by Light's Wrath after the damage hits. Smite should be used in relation to how much healing it does since the damage is the same regardless of the number of atonements.