What to drop to fit SoS into an Atonement build?

[Deleted]

I am levelling a discipline priest, currently level 42, and reading the various guides, advice on talents invariably recommends either going for a tank healing build without evangelism/archangel/atonement or an atonement build that lacks certain talents the guides say are mandatory for tank healing - notably strength of soul. I am wondering, if you wanted to fit SoS into an atonement build like this one:

http://wowtal.com/#k=veyE-2RL.ala.priest.qQW9_K

what 2 points would you cut to make room for SoS?

At the moment, I am only thinking about levelling and 5 mans - maybe heroics at 85; not sure I will use this alt to raid. I am thinking that Borrowed Time might be the points to cut. Or is SoS just not worth it with an atonement build?

[Maios]

Probably Mental Agility if you want to do it. The thing that makes SoS not worth it with atonement is that you will be using smite/holy fire as your filler instead of heal.

[Xorz]

You really don't need SoS for leveling or heroics at 85, but if you want it I would probably take points from Mental Agility.

[Lovestar]

If you're doing this for leveling dungeons, then you could heal them as Shadow in between multidotting and going AFK to get a sandwich and no one would notice.

But in the spirit of answering your question, in leveling dungeons you can drop anything (Mental Agility, Rapture, Borrowed Time, Soul Warding) and you won't know the difference. Unless your group is completely insane, demands on your mana aren't intense enough to make regen talents a big deal. Likewise, you're not doing anything that really needs Borrowed Time. Nor will you encounter a lot of situations where you need to be spamming PW:S faster than every 3 seconds, so the cooldown reduction will rarely go to any use.

Although, along the same lines of thought, you definitely don't need Strength of Soul in leveling dungeons. If stuff even manages to punch through your PW:S before it expires naturally, just Penance and go back to redtube.

You also can't take a max-level raid-oriented build or guidelines and apply it to leveling dungeons, it's complete overkill with very different needs. It also doesn't really translate the same way even to 5-man content at 85.

As you get higher level and content actually starts to sort-of matter (Northrend depending on your group's gear, Cata, level 85) you should pretty much be able to figure out for yourself what points are expendable based on your playstyle and practical needs. There's really no correct answer because each optional talent contributes to different healing styles. What one person can happily cut, might really bother someone else. Same with how well you manage your Mana: some people will feel much more adamant about keeping stuff like Mental Agility, while others can let it go without much issue.

Also, the difference between a "Tank healing" build and others is non-existent while leveling because a) there is no raid damage and b) you can keep the tank alive with any combination of talents, including ones picked while blindfolded and clicking your mouse at random.

[Deleted]

I take the point about healing in levelling dungeons being easy, although this is my first healing character and you should see what tanks do nowadays in levelling dungeons, they compensate by going at them like energiser bunnies (pulling the whole first room of Scholomance and wondering why the feared healer with no mana could not keep them up...).

I guess I was thinking ahead to being a fresh 85, healing 5 mans. I remember that when Cata came out, our guild healers were traumatised by the 5 mans. I'd like to build up good habits, even if not really required. It's one reason I tend to level as a tank on tank classes even if questing as dps os would be faster - so stuff becomes familiar and instinctive. Healing seems a lot more complicated and interesting than pre-Cata, when my OS paladin choice was reduced to big heal or small heal.

What I love about the atonement build is that it seems perfect for levelling 5 mans - you are effectively a dps who shields and heals; it seems a great way to adapt to the near redundancy of healers (the same could be said of tanks or dps, too). I was a little dismayed to see that the top 3 most popular disc priest builds (at 85) don't take atonement, but that's an issue for a later date.

Now I must get back to the real challenge of levelling dungeons - finding a tank in the queue (and who won't bail mid-run). :=)

[Deleted]

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#bfRorRsbfoMochMZb:cmVqad

Use that build