8.0 Gladiator Discipline Priest Guide

[Nuba]

Hey guys, I am a 2700 rated Gladiator Discipline Priest and wanted to share some basic information on Discipline Priest for patch 8.0
Keep in mind that once patch 8.1 hits most of the information posted on this guide is going to become obsolete.
With no more delays, lets begin!

The stats priority:
Haste > Versatility > Crit = Mastery

Azerite Traits:
Enduring Luminescence(1-3).
Battlefield Focus/Precision(0-2).

BIS Azerite Gear:
PvP Chest, World Quest Shoulders and Head.
PvP Shoulders, Honorbound/7thLegion Heaadpiece

Protip: You can use battleborn Sigil to upgrade Gladiator items, including Azerite.

A Few Talent Builds:


Normal Talent Build: This is the talent build you'll be doing WQs with, and walking around in the world. This build is used simply because it gives you the most things to bind as well as the best performance(most damage) while walking around in the world.
Versus Heavy CC Comps: You use this build against Mage and Hunter Comps (RMX, Cupid, Jungle, Hunter/Warr, etc).
Versus Dampening Comps: : This is the most mana-efficient build, use this build against Shadow Priest comps and most DH Comps.
Standard Arena Build:: use this build when you're uncertain what to do.

Talent Explanation:

1st Row: Schism is often used when you're playing against hard odds to try and push in a win with sheer damage during small CC windows. Twist of Fate helps you pick back up from long CC chains and heavy burst damage, while Castigation is the part of the mana-efficient penance build that you run against dampening comps.
2nd Row: Always Feather.
3rd Row: Mindbender when you don't have extra globals (only against heavy CC comps and comps that train you down) to Solace more often. Solace is generally better because you get more mana, do more damage, apply more pressure, and Shadowfiend does more damage than Mindbender.
4th Row: Almost always Fear. Knock is ok in Blade's Edge to knock healers off after long CC chains but not required.
5th Row: Sins of the Many always unless you're playing the Penance build.
Last 2 Rows: Always Purge the Wicked and Lenience, no exceptions.

PvP Talents: Trinket always as RMP, or as any comp if you're not playing versus CC-heavy comps. As non-RMP you run relentless versus CC heavy comps.
Ultimate Radiance always.
Searing Light when you run the Penance build, but not that necessary.
Dome of Light against Rogues and CC-Heavy comps.
Dark Archangel whenever you have the free talent slot(Not recommended against Holy Paladins)
Premonition versus every Hunter, Mage and Holy Paladin team.
Purification can be taken against Spriest+Boomy.

Best Races:
Horde: Undead.
Alliance: Human(non-RMP), Gnome.
You don't want to be human when playing RMP because you can't take advantage of your racial as often, its good in Jungle and Cupid because you run Relentless a lot in these comps.

Viable Comps:
Tier 1: Jungle.
Tier 1,5: Cupid.
Tier 2: RMP.

[quite an expert in wow]

Cool post. However, I miss how to play information. Which seems essential for a guide. You just list some builds. It's not bad, but I think it could make your guide better.

Maybe add some videos too.

[Nuba]

Cool post. However, I miss how to play information. Which seems essential for a guide. You just list some builds. It's not bad, but I think it could make your guide better.

Maybe add some videos too.

hey, thanks for the tip! I was actually going to make a deeper video about it explaining and everything else - this is the script that I was making, but ended up cutting the idea simply because 8.1 is very close, which means that the info will be obsolete very soon(and I was going to waste time recording, editing and publishing the video, which means even less time for the info to be around), so I just decided to put what I had of the script here instead of deleting it from my notepad!
Maybe I'll make something once 8.1 hits.

[quite an expert in wow]

hey, thanks for the tip! I was actually going to make a deeper video about it explaining and everything else - this is the script that I was making, but ended up cutting the idea simply because 8.1 is very close, which means that the info will be obsolete very soon(and I was going to waste time recording, editing and publishing the video, which means even less time for the info to be around), so I just decided to put what I had of the script here instead of deleting it from my notepad!
Maybe I'll make something once 8.1 hits.

I will use this baseline regardless. Was already looking for it. Thanks a lot.

[krl]

You listed a few comps, why do you think they are strong currently ? Apparently a hunter is a disc best friend and RMP is still as good as ever. But why ?

So, 8.1 is "soonish" and Disc is getting nerfed in throughput and survivability against melee.

Do you think Disc is still a top choice for the comps you mentioned and why ?

[Nuba]

You listed a few comps, why do you think they are strong currently ? Apparently a hunter is a disc best friend and RMP is still as good as ever. But why ?

So, 8.1 is "soonish" and Disc is getting nerfed in throughput and survivability against melee.

Do you think Disc is still a top choice for the comps you mentioned and why ?

I'll repeat Hydramist's words in regards to 8.1: if patch hits as it is, Disc won't be viable anymore. Either they revert some of the nerfs or its bye-bye disc in anything tiers 1 or 2.

that said, for right now disc is not as good for RMP simply because of how RMP relies heavily on hard reset when playing with a disc (while it can just soft reset with holy paladin due to much stronger cooldowns) while not needing the disc damage as much due to sheer high damage that both rogue and mage currently have. In Hunter comps (cupid and jungle) you don't need to hard reset because ferals, rets and hunters have more/stronger defensive cooldowns.
Disc is a top-choice for those hunter comps simply because of how its "super-aggressiveness" can be balanced well with the DPS's offheals and CCs to make up for the class' weaknesses

[Exsaven]

I'm also 2700 (Exsaven-Argent Dawn EU (can't post links for w/e reason)) and I don't agree with pretty much anything you've written here. Also wouldn't really call it a guide, seeing how the only info it has is stat priority (which I don't agree with) and talent builds (which I don't agree with). You also only list 3 comps with no explanation behind why you rank them the way you do, and presumably you mean that other comps aren't viable for Disc.


I'll elaborate.
-------
Stat Priority:
First of all, it matters which bracket you play. For 2v2, I would agree with your priority. But you're not talking about 2v2.

In 3v3, haste really isn't that important. I have about 11% haste on my main Priest and it's enough. You could go for a bit more, like 15%, but anything above that is pure overkill. You don't need 20%+ haste to death sheeps. You just need to have good positioning and know when to hold your global.

The primary concern for Disc in 3v3 is healing people from a position where you're not able to deal damage (because that's where you'll start to fall behind if you can't top someone). When you can't do damage, haste is massively devalued because the boost to HPS is relatively small compared to if you'd stack Mastery (or Crit, if you're that kind of person) instead.

Because of this, I find that Mastery>Haste(up to 15% at MOST)>Vers>Crit>Haste

With this priority you'll be able to keep people alive through high pressure much more easily, and your damage really doesn't suffer all that much from dropping some haste, so you can still support your DPS on goes with empowered penance and solace. As mentioned, you'll be less effective in 2v2, but who cares.

You COULD also stack Crit instead of Mastery. It's a sort of in-between in terms of both damage and healing. I personally don't like the idea very much but it's worth mentioning.

-------
Traits

Yeah 1 radiance trait is pretty much the only guideline. Pick whatever you like for 2nd and 3rd trait. Personally I run double Focus on my main but I also have MoR+Focus on my alt as it's quite nice when you can't PS preemptively and need to use it as you exit CC. Double Radiance is fine as well but generally not needed.

-------
Talents:
Twist of Fate isn't good. I've never used it. Ever. Castigation or Schism.
I play Castigation 90% of my games. Schism is situational. Usually against something like SP/Moonkin/X is when you want to play Schism because you'll have the time to cast a lot of damage against them.

Don't always play Feather. It's useless against Turbo, for example. Masochism is way better when you expect teams to go for you a lot. USUALLY Feathers, yes. But not always.

I actually agree with the Mindbender vs Solace tier. Solace most of the time, Mindbender when you won't have globals to use on Solace (depends on the comp you play as well).

Shining Force is extremely good against meleecleaves. You don't really push for Fears often against those because you're forced to just stand still and heal, so taking a defensive cooldown over a shorter cd on fear is great. I always pick it when playing vs Turbo, for example. You knock them as you go around a corner and they won't be able to just get right back onto you.

Sins of the Many I only really play together with Schism. Contrition is my go-to pick for that reason.

Purge the Wicked and Lenience are the only choices as you've mentioned.

-------
PvP talents
I really just play Radiance/Dome of Light against pretty much everything and I swap the third one between Dark and Death based on what we're facing. I don't believe in other PvP talents for 3v3 except for maybe Archangel against Turbo and similar cleaves if your team doesn't need the extra burst from Dark.

-------
Comps:
You only list 3 comps as viable. It's quite jarring and really paints a bad picture of what Disc can do in the current meta. It's capable of much more than just Jungle, PHP, and RMP.

The comp I played for 2.7, for example, is Moonkin/Frost Mage/Disc. We play it without voice even, which is kind of funny. I'd say it's an extremely underrated comp.

Other comps Disc can play include, but aren't limited to:
-Thug (Rogue/Hunter/Priest)
-RetMP
-WMP
-Rogue/Moonkin/Disc
-Enha/Moonkin/Disc
-FMP
-Ele/Mage/Disc
-Ele/Moonkin/Disc

And more. your tier list doesn't make much sense to me either. RMP is clearly the best Priest comp for ladder. It's really good at exploiting mistakes and when people play ladder they make a lot of mistakes. It's not even a competition. Jungle is strong but definitely behind RMP. Its strength comes primarily from the damage it can push out paired with the easy to land CC chains, but it's very fragile which many comps are good at exploiting right now. PHP I don't think is comparable to the aforementioned two. They don't have the sustained damage of Jungle and they don't have the mobility, so they mostly just rely on their one-trick burst setups with Wings which is very telegraphed and too easy to lock down when played against properly.

I also don't believe in the doomsayers regarding 8.1
Disc is going to be worse, that's for sure. But right now it's extremely strong (and easy to play). When other healers are by far the strongest, there's mass outcry (Remember Resto Druids earlier this expansion?), but then Disc gets its turn to be nerfed (rightly so) and people say it's all over and Disc will be dead? No, I don't think so. Disc will be fine. Weaker, but fine.

[krl]

I also don't believe in the doomsayers regarding 8.1
Disc is going to be worse, that's for sure. But right now it's extremely strong (and easy to play). When other healers are by far the strongest, there's mass outcry (Remember Resto Druids earlier this expansion?), but then Disc gets its turn to be nerfed (rightly so) and people say it's all over and Disc will be dead? No, I don't think so. Disc will be fine. Weaker, but fine.

Well, I've been watching BlizzCon and the only priest I've been able to watch was EoI shadow. I want to believe though, a lot of disc are up there on the ladder.

[bradyopop]

I'm also 2700 (Exsaven-Argent Dawn EU (can't post links for w/e reason)) and I don't agree with pretty much anything you've written here. Also wouldn't really call it a guide, seeing how the only info it has is stat priority (which I don't agree with) and talent builds (which I don't agree with). You also only list 3 comps with no explanation behind why you rank them the way you do, and presumably you mean that other comps aren't viable for Disc.


I'll elaborate.
-------
Stat Priority:
First of all, it matters which bracket you play. For 2v2, I would agree with your priority. But you're not talking about 2v2.

In 3v3, haste really isn't that important. I have about 11% haste on my main Priest and it's enough. You could go for a bit more, like 15%, but anything above that is pure overkill. You don't need 20%+ haste to death sheeps. You just need to have good positioning and know when to hold your global.

The primary concern for Disc in 3v3 is healing people from a position where you're not able to deal damage (because that's where you'll start to fall behind if you can't top someone). When you can't do damage, haste is massively devalued because the boost to HPS is relatively small compared to if you'd stack Mastery (or Crit, if you're that kind of person) instead.

Because of this, I find that Mastery>Haste(up to 15% at MOST)>Vers>Crit>Haste

With this priority you'll be able to keep people alive through high pressure much more easily, and your damage really doesn't suffer all that much from dropping some haste, so you can still support your DPS on goes with empowered penance and solace. As mentioned, you'll be less effective in 2v2, but who cares.

You COULD also stack Crit instead of Mastery. It's a sort of in-between in terms of both damage and healing. I personally don't like the idea very much but it's worth mentioning.

-------
Traits

Yeah 1 radiance trait is pretty much the only guideline. Pick whatever you like for 2nd and 3rd trait. Personally I run double Focus on my main but I also have MoR+Focus on my alt as it's quite nice when you can't PS preemptively and need to use it as you exit CC. Double Radiance is fine as well but generally not needed.

-------
Talents:
Twist of Fate isn't good. I've never used it. Ever. Castigation or Schism.
I play Castigation 90% of my games. Schism is situational. Usually against something like SP/Moonkin/X is when you want to play Schism because you'll have the time to cast a lot of damage against them.

Don't always play Feather. It's useless against Turbo, for example. Masochism is way better when you expect teams to go for you a lot. USUALLY Feathers, yes. But not always.

I actually agree with the Mindbender vs Solace tier. Solace most of the time, Mindbender when you won't have globals to use on Solace (depends on the comp you play as well).

Shining Force is extremely good against meleecleaves. You don't really push for Fears often against those because you're forced to just stand still and heal, so taking a defensive cooldown over a shorter cd on fear is great. I always pick it when playing vs Turbo, for example. You knock them as you go around a corner and they won't be able to just get right back onto you.

Sins of the Many I only really play together with Schism. Contrition is my go-to pick for that reason.

Purge the Wicked and Lenience are the only choices as you've mentioned.

-------
PvP talents
I really just play Radiance/Dome of Light against pretty much everything and I swap the third one between Dark and Death based on what we're facing. I don't believe in other PvP talents for 3v3 except for maybe Archangel against Turbo and similar cleaves if your team doesn't need the extra burst from Dark.

-------
Comps:
You only list 3 comps as viable. It's quite jarring and really paints a bad picture of what Disc can do in the current meta. It's capable of much more than just Jungle, PHP, and RMP.

The comp I played for 2.7, for example, is Moonkin/Frost Mage/Disc. We play it without voice even, which is kind of funny. I'd say it's an extremely underrated comp.

Other comps Disc can play include, but aren't limited to:
-Thug (Rogue/Hunter/Priest)
-RetMP
-WMP
-Rogue/Moonkin/Disc
-Enha/Moonkin/Disc
-FMP
-Ele/Mage/Disc
-Ele/Moonkin/Disc

And more. your tier list doesn't make much sense to me either. RMP is clearly the best Priest comp for ladder. It's really good at exploiting mistakes and when people play ladder they make a lot of mistakes. It's not even a competition. Jungle is strong but definitely behind RMP. Its strength comes primarily from the damage it can push out paired with the easy to land CC chains, but it's very fragile which many comps are good at exploiting right now. PHP I don't think is comparable to the aforementioned two. They don't have the sustained damage of Jungle and they don't have the mobility, so they mostly just rely on their one-trick burst setups with Wings which is very telegraphed and too easy to lock down when played against properly.

I also don't believe in the doomsayers regarding 8.1
Disc is going to be worse, that's for sure. But right now it's extremely strong (and easy to play). When other healers are by far the strongest, there's mass outcry (Remember Resto Druids earlier this expansion?), but then Disc gets its turn to be nerfed (rightly so) and people say it's all over and Disc will be dead? No, I don't think so. Disc will be fine. Weaker, but fine.

That awkward moment when another guy comes in and writes a better guide than the original one. Only thing I would say is in 8.1 discs will basically be dead. They’re already regarded as the bottom of the healers. Then they’re getting more nerfs? How can you not say they won’t be dead lol. As for me, it’s time to reroll shadow

[Exsaven]

Only thing I would say is in 8.1 discs will basically be dead. They’re already regarded as the bottom of the healers. Then they’re getting more nerfs? How can you not say they won’t be dead lol. As for me, it’s time to reroll shadow

Rather than rolling Shadow, you could play Holy instead. Provided the changes they're getting stay the way they are on PTR, Holy is looking to be pretty strong in spellcleaves. Playing with double caster allows you to play a more defensive game which really benefits Holy Priest overall.

[Nuba]

considering rating inflation 2700 in EU is like 2200 in NA
I didnt mention any other comps because theyre just weaker variations of better comps (the ones I listed)
especially in EU you do can play anything you want because comp wont matter until youre past like 3k

Jungle is strong but definitely behind RMP.

this comment made me ask myself if we are even playing the same game

[mostvp71]

considering rating inflation 2700 in EU is like 2200 in NA
I didnt mention any other comps because theyre just weaker variations of better comps (the ones I listed)
especially in EU you do can play anything you want because comp wont matter until youre past 3k

Lol what? NA is more inflated than EU is, if anything it's the opposite.

[Nuba]

Lol what? NA is more inflated than EU is, if anything it's the opposite.

its not even close. there are pages of ppl above 3k in EU, 2 full pages and the 3rd is already on the way, in NA we dont even have first page above 3k yet.

[mostvp71]

its not even close. there are pages of ppl above 3k in EU, 2 full pages and the 3rd is already on the way, in NA we dont even have first page above 3k yet.

Unless Arenamate is wrong, it's the opposite.
https://www.arenamate.net/

[Nuba]

Unless Arenamate is wrong, it's the opposite.
https://www.arenamate.net/

dude its 2018, use the official website:
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/ga...aderboards/3v3 (3 pages of ppl above 3k in EU)
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/ga...aderboards/3v3 (not even first page is full of ppl above 3k)

its just a metric, but in EU you can be 2800 without ever facing good opponents, this won't happen in the US. I'm not saying EU doesnt have competition, it does have a lot, but its on a much higher rating due to inflation, which leads to stuff like the wall of missinformation posted by Exsaven

The info I posted in my guide is literally what every US Top Priest does, its realiable and not based on "feelings"
I hate it that some random that isn't even on a decent rating(for his region) comes and spit missinformation on a post I made to help people

[mostvp71]

dude its 2018, use the official website:
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/ga...aderboards/3v3 (3 pages of ppl above 3k in EU)
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/ga...aderboards/3v3 (not even first page is full of ppl above 3k)

its just a metric, but in EU you can be 2800 without ever facing good opponents, this won't happen in the US. I'm not saying EU doesnt have competition, it does have a lot, but its on a much higher rating due to inflation, which leads to stuff like the wall of missinformation posted by Exsaven

The info I posted in my guide is literally what every US Top Priest does, its realiable and not based on "feelings"
I hate it that some random that isn't even on a decent rating(for his region) comes and spit missinformation on a post I made to help people

When did I say people(including myself) didn't appreciate your guide? All I said was that you were incorrect about EU-NA inflation(which I admit arenamate doesn't account for EU for some reason so you're correct about EU inflation being worse than NA's).

However, don't play on EU and the "stab" at my CR is pretty low I also don't think 2200 NA = 2700 EU that just seems a bit over exaggerated.

[Nuba]

However, don't play on EU and the "stab" at my CR is pretty low.

I didn't mean to trashtalk the region, EU has pretty good players, but as I mentioned the competition starts much higher and before that you can play anything.

Cmon, lets look at Hydra, yes?
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/ch...land/Tinygoose
Haste > versa > crit=mastery there
also 2x radiance 1x battlefield focus too

[mostvp71]

I didn't mean to trashtalk the region, EU has pretty good players, but as I mentioned the competition starts much higher and before that you can play anything.

Cmon, lets look at Hydra, yes?
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/ch...land/Tinygoose
Haste > versa > crit=mastery there
also 2x radiance 1x battlefield focus too

Ahh my mistake I thought you were taking a stab at me when you said "some random that isn't even on a decent rating(for his region)", yeah I'd say Hydra is a pretty good indicator of what disc should be doing.

[Exsaven]

I didn't mean to trashtalk the region, EU has pretty good players, but as I mentioned the competition starts much higher and before that you can play anything.

Cmon, lets look at Hydra, yes?
worldofwarcraft(dot)com/en-gb/character/outland/Tinygoose
Haste > versa > crit=mastery there
also 2x radiance 1x battlefield focus too

Cmon, lets look at Chas, or Rip, or Efflux yes?
worldofwarcraft(dot)com/en-gb/character/alleria/Chasx
worldofwarcraft(dot)com/en-gb/character/kazzak/Riplal
worldofwarcraft(dot)com/en-gb/character/ravencrest/%C3%89ffl%C3%B9x

Damn, see how that works? Almost like the best Priests in the world plays exactly what I'm saying you should play.

Besides that, you actually provided no reasoning at all for why you disagree. I've posted my reasons for why you should play certain stats/traits/talents, you haven't.

And attempting to discredit purely by saying rating is inflated is a pretty scummy move. I've faced several of the rank 1 players on their alt teams to get my points. Where are your actual arguments? Your guide is bad and you should either delete it or fix it.

[krl]

Ahh my mistake I thought you were taking a stab at me when you said "some random that isn't even on a decent rating(for his region)", yeah I'd say Hydra is a pretty good indicator of what disc should be doing.

Hydra is currently rerolling to rsham for 8.1 because melee cleaves, which can already kill disc, get an additionnal 15% damage for free against you.
That's what disc should do.