1. #1

    For Giggles-Holy DPS

    So like the title says, not saying me or anyone else should even try this spec, but I was wondering. I've heard of a few good Smite priests in the past, and I know that's not really an option any more but what if? What talents would you pick up?
    I managed to make a spec which would use Penance as a DPS cd much like Lava burst, where you use it whenever it's off cd. Of course, that's assuming Penance hits for more than Smite, if it doesn't I might as well move all those stretching points from Disc into Holy.
    http://www.wowarmory.com/talent-calc...00000000000000
    And in Holy there's that Surge of Light talent, though if it made it not possible for Smite to crit, I wonder if that would be much good.
    And then of course there's gearing, how much hit you'd need and all that. But I'm really just more interested in how the spec would work since it's obviously not meant to be bent that way. And has anyone done anything recently as a Smite priest? I'm very curious.

  2. #2

    Re: For Giggles-Holy DPS

    i leveled my priest as holy, but i havn't tried smite dps at level 80.
    you would need 17% hit rating (16% if you're ally) just like any other spell caster.
    as for gemming/enchanting i'd assume it'd be something like, spellpower > aim for soft haste cap with fastest spell (holy fire i think) > crit > spirit, something along those lines.
    one of the biggest problems with smite dps though is it doesnt bring much to the raid, ignoring the fact you'd bring fairly strong off heals, from a pure dps point of view, you bring nothing besides damage

  3. #3

    Re: For Giggles-Holy DPS

    Like I said, I'm not supporting this for raiding by any means, I just think it'd be fun to think about. Maybe some day Blizzard will have a dedicated "Holy" dpser (not the spec, I mean like a Light-filled individual) but until then it's interesting to try and bend the specs into something they weren't made to do.
    As for gear, I guess it'd pretty much be the same stuff any mage or spriest would take, of course with the spec I made I didn't manage to get any of the Spirit=spell power talents so scaling would probably be horrible or something.
    I don't know, think people!

  4. #4

    Re: For Giggles-Holy DPS

    Quote Originally Posted by Scunosi
    Maybe some day Blizzard will have a dedicated "Holy" dpser (not the spec, I mean like a Light-filled individual)]
    Like a Ret Paladin?
    If you are never willing to risk saying something dumb, you will never learn to say something smart.

  5. #5

    Re: For Giggles-Holy DPS

    I have actually tried a smite spec on my priest. I still hop to it if I have a well geared group for randoms. I manage 2k-2.5k dps, but that's with only healing gear. I don't bother to gear the spec. It's actually kinda fun.

    Only tip, keep SW:P, DP and HF DOTs up almost all the time. Then just penance whenever it's off CD and smite spam. Heal when necessary.

    Armory: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...an&n=Elmarissa (It's the Disc spec)

  6. #6

    Re: For Giggles-Holy DPS

    Quote Originally Posted by Shockadge
    Like a Ret Paladin?
    I meant other than Ret, I forgot to actually type it though. -_-

  7. #7

    Re: For Giggles-Holy DPS

    http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#bVcbu...bqbZ0xo:VaucV0

    PI Drop dots if the mob will live long enough and holy fire smite like a boss. Don't bother using MB just smite and holy fire. drop fiend at about 50% on boss because you will OOM very quick. Also holy nova trash AE so your healer afks.

  8. #8

    Re: For Giggles-Holy DPS

    It will obviously not be competitive to other dps, but I'm sure you'd have more than enough for a heroic (with the right gear) to mess around in. Just today with my standard disc spec, I hit 1200 dps on a boss with just my DoTs, HF and smite spam (first time I checked). I still spend some time healing, I didn't use any CDs like PI or trinkets, and my group had no buffs for me (prot pally, rogue, dk, hunter). You can also see from my sig, my gear isn't anything special. We did the less rabi achievement, and my friend asked me if everyone had good dps, which was the only reason I actually checked and noticed mine. Sounds like a fun way to heal heroics.

    Edit: If I have a good group tomorrow for my random I'll have to test out how hard penance hits to see if it's worth using on CD.

  9. #9

    Re: For Giggles-Holy DPS

    Penance dps is not that great, it cost more mana than Smite and without Surge of Light, it's not very sustainable.

    Here's some basic info if you want to do Holy DPS:

    Build: Anything with xx/27/xx

    Raid DPS: 37/27/7
    Solo, 5man, Farming: 41/27/3

    Raid Hit Cap: 446 hit rating, 368 w/ moonkin or shadow priest, 341 w/ moonkin or spriest & draenei

    Heroic 5 Man Hit Cap: 158 hit rating

    Haste: you need 3/3 in Enlightenment with an additional 214 haste rating minimum (more for latency) to get Smite casting time down to 1.75 sec. That's Smite x 4 per Holy Fire 7 sec DoT duration.

    Crit: 30% is great, 25% is the minimum to see some big numbers :']

    Rotation: DP -> SW:Pain -> Holy Fire -> Smite x 4 -> Gap while waiting for HF to come off cooldown.

    During the gap, refresh DP/SW:Pain if they run out. Otherwise, cast Mind Blast if mob is above 35% health. Cast SWeath if mob is below 35% health and you have Glyph of SW: Death.

    Glyphs: Glyph of Smite, Glyph of Holy Nova, Glyph of SW: Death, Glyph of SW: Pain are your options.

    Gems: 23 sp in red, 12 sp & 10 intel (if you need mana) OR 12 sp & 10 crit (if you need crit) in yellow, 12 sp & 10 spirit in blue. Meta should be 12 crit & 3% crit damage (chaotic skyflare diamond).

    I'm currently spec holy dps: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...ver&cn=Xelaeno

    My gear's ...very pitiful, because I don't play much due to school. But it's pretty fun. It's great for farming and 5 man runs. Healing in some places are too dull anyway, so you should not have any problems doing a little damage on the side if you queue as a healer.

    I pull 2100 ~ 2300 dps on target dummy self buffed, with 2000 spellpower.

    I don't go oOm in 5 man heroics with my gear, without Replenishment. Most people just see me as a sub-par mage, so they don't complain, while occasionally someone will verbal something like "dps's slow...", that's why I suggest you only play it with descent gear, so you don't burden the group. Some people are fascinated by it, and I think it gives a group buff of "increase damage output by 10% due to competent morale issues". I currently use it for farming. It's pretty hard to justify my spec in pug raids though...I use to raid with it in patch 3.1...but since I came back it's all been about gearscore so I haven't had the chance to play around with it yet. Obsidian Sanctum is still fun as Smite though.

    More details about Holy DPS in general can be found at my blog, see sig (yes shameless advertisement).

    GM/Raid Leader of <Air>, Sargeras-US, Alliance
    13/13M Mythic Morning/Day-Time Raiding Guild

    Now recruiting for Legion! Apply at air-guild.com

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