How are other disc priests using Spirit shell???

[scotty823j]

I tend to only use mine with PI/Inner Focus and Archangel.... Should i still be using Spirit shell every CD even if not with power infusion?....give me some ideas on how you use yours please

Thank You

[Krothar]

From what I've been reading, most people time it with damage spikes, which isn't always (But can be) timed with Power Infusion. Its currently too good of a CD to not use almost always on CD. Of course theres no point if there isn't a lot of raid damage coming in, but on a lot of current fights, there is usually some aggressive AoE damage on a regular basis to time it with.

[Deleted]

Just use it before raid wide dmg , you have to pop it ~14 sec. before to stack 3xPOH on 10man without PI, if other healers can keep up with tank dmg when you stack SS do it. Other use of SS is for tank dmg with GH, but to be fair its better to use it on raid.

[Markle]

Your CDs look like this

Archangel - 30 Second
Spirit Shell - 60 Seconds
Power Infusion - 120 seconds

Conveniently they all line up nicely, but while they have a lot of synergy, the important thing to note about disc is not to use abilities on CD but rather when they will negate certain encounter mechanics the most (i.e. resonance fields blowing up on empress). Some fights have a constant stream of raid damage and then using abilities on CD is worth while. Just research the fights and get a sense of when big damage is coming. That being said i almost always have AA up with SS and will ocasionally toss in IF if i need a big shield quickly. PI i tend to use with a little more discretion.

[Deleted]

Another convenient fact is that a lot dmg spikes in raiding seem to be on a 1 min cooldown ^^

I've got AA macro'd to SS, cause why not? PI is used separately though and i generally don't pop them together unless i'm late with the SS.

[Maleric]

I try to line Spirit Shell up with Archangel and either Power Infusion or Berserking whenever possible, and use the combination for damage spikes. The effects have synergy with each other, it makes sense to stack them up.

[blargh312]

If you're in a 10 man group, 15 seconds should be enough to build SS up to its maximum without needing PI. AA should always be used with SS though, in my opinion.

[Dorfie]

If you got lazy and forgot to spirit shell early enough for the AoE, you can get your spirit shell up to the cap with a single PoH cast by combining it with Inner Focus and Archangel. It's pretty broken.

[KaPe]

In 25s, I'm thinking about getting bit more Haste at the cost of Mastery. Sure, bigger bubbles are nice, but with 5 groups to cover, casting 1 more PoHs can be the difference between 500k worth of shields expiring before damage hits.

[Deleted]

Macro PoH to SS and continue chaincasting instead :P

PoH cast time is 2.5 sec, meaning you have time for 6 casts during a SS (15 sec). With raidbuffs etc you get SOME margin for error but not a lot.

You'd need A LOT more haste to get that 7th cast off. I'm not sure if it's even doable atm without popping cooldowns, at the very least it's not viable.

[Rorschachs]

If I can't use it before raid wide damage like on fights like tsulong I use it pretty much on CD. Even on stone guard where there is not a lot of aoe damage I use it on CD, it will not be my #1 heal on that fight but it will still heal for a lot.

[KaPe]

Macro PoH to SS and continue chaincasting instead :P

PoH cast time is 2.5 sec, meaning you have time for 6 casts during a SS (15 sec). With raidbuffs etc you get SOME margin for error but not a lot.

You'd need A LOT more haste to get that 7th cast off. I'm not sure if it's even doable atm without popping cooldowns, at the very least it's not viable.

It's mostly about having some margin of error. 7th cast would require a lot of haste, but sometimes even just getting 6 is cutting it pretty close. Especially if something unexpected happens and you have to delay cast for a split second. Nothing more annoying than failing to refresh first Shell by 0.2 second.

[femur68]

Here's what I've do on all the normal mode fights I've killed so far on my disc priest.

Stone Guard: Use it on CD throughout fight (as long as your tanks don't cause unnecessary overloads, there's never any big burst damage in this fight).

Feng: Phase 1: Right before Epicenter with Nullification barrier, Phase 2: Right before Draw Flame with no Nullification barrier., Phase 3: Right before Arcane Velocity with no Nullification barrier.

Gara'jal: I only use it when I'm outside healing on my own. Then I also make sure I have one for when the boss hits 20%.

Spirit Kings: Qiang: On CD, Subetai: On CD, Zian, On CD, Meng: Right before Maddening Shout (or any maddening shout throughout the fight even when Meng isn't the main king).

Elegon: When the Celestial Protectors spawn. Helps massively on the AoE they do. Otherwise in other phases use it on CD.

Will of the Emperor: Used on CD but I ensure I have one for Titan Gas every time. Helps massively with the tanks using Greater Heal.

Zor'lok: Before Force and Verve (Seriously you can get SS to ensure no one's hp bars even move during that part) and on CD otherwise.

Ta'yak: Right before Unseen Strike then right before the Phase 2 transition, then again when Ta'yak's around 13-15% hp

[Sunna]

You should be using your spirit shell as many times as you can if the damage pattern of the fight allows it. You should be able to get an archangel for every single spirit shell, even if it's not a full 5 stack. Power infusion conveniently lines up so that every other spirit shell has a PI. You really only want to delay casting a spirit shell if doing so allows you to time it with a boss' damaging ability.

Like others have mentioned. I also have archangel macro'd to my spirit shell. Most of my uses look the same as femur's list - I've done several of the fights on heroic and it doesn't change too much. While you should do your best to time things your first time through the fight, it's likely it will take you an attempt or two to see where the most useful times are. My healing is usually somewhat low the very first pull or two, but jumps up a ton when I get the rhythm.

[Syri277]

I'm having trouble to decide when to use it on Lei Shi, since one can't know when she's going to use a certain ability :S

[kouby]

Always use it whenever a damage spike is coming, that simple. If you can use PI and Archangel do so, but even without them spirit shell is still your best cooldown.
If you're using SS + PI + IF + Arch you're probably wasting the inner focus as just the archangel should guarantee you get close to the cap in one prayer of healing.

---------- Post added 2012-12-09 at 01:26 PM ----------

Here's what I've do on all the normal mode fights I've killed so far on my disc priest.

Stone Guard: Use it on CD throughout fight (as long as your tanks don't cause unnecessary overloads, there's never any big burst damage in this fight).

Feng: Phase 1: Right before Epicenter with Nullification barrier, Phase 2: Right before Draw Flame with no Nullification barrier., Phase 3: Right before Arcane Velocity with no Nullification barrier.

Gara'jal: I only use it when I'm outside healing on my own. Then I also make sure I have one for when the boss hits 20%.

Spirit Kings: Qiang: On CD, Subetai: On CD, Zian, On CD, Meng: Right before Maddening Shout (or any maddening shout throughout the fight even when Meng isn't the main king).

Elegon: When the Celestial Protectors spawn. Helps massively on the AoE they do. Otherwise in other phases use it on CD.

Will of the Emperor: Used on CD but I ensure I have one for Titan Gas every time. Helps massively with the tanks using Greater Heal.

Zor'lok: Before Force and Verve (Seriously you can get SS to ensure no one's hp bars even move during that part) and on CD otherwise.

Ta'yak: Right before Unseen Strike then right before the Phase 2 transition, then again when Ta'yak's around 13-15% hp

Garalon: before the crush

Windlord: before the rain of blades (you should be able to get every single rain of blades)

Un'sok: on CD as soon as one of the debuffs pop up

Emperess: before the first bubble explodes

Protectors: on CD

Tsulong: on CD

LEi Shi: before the Get Away

Sha: on CD when there are a few adds out

not really a lot of difference on hard modes except for garalon where it's easier to see the crush coming in heroic as it's on a timer.

[lizon]

Just use it before raid wide dmg , you have to pop it ~14 sec. before to stack 3xPOH on 10man without PI, if other healers can keep up with tank dmg when you stack SS do it. Other use of SS is for tank dmg with GH, but to be fair its better to use it on raid.

Actually in a 10m group you have a window of about 14-27 seconds max to make sure spirit shell gets used up. You can precast it pretty far ahead. In a 25m raid your window is much shorter at 14 seconds max and not a second longer to blanket the entire raid. Most people I know won't bother getting the entire raid, just about 3 groups total which would extend the window to 14-24 seconds tops.

[twistedmynd]

Complete with videos and logs, this is how I'm using it: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/6794980143

[CptEgo]

Man, I think Spirit Shell is in for a major nerf pretty soon, it's just too crazy. You can go from 15k to 80k HPS in a second if you time it right.

[Deleted]

Some quotes from interviews:

Discipline Priests and Monks will be buffed somewhat to bring them up to par. We should expect to see those changes on the Patch 5.2 PTR soon.

When asked about arena balance: Burst is too high, non burst damage is too low, there are some disparities between the different healers with Shaman / Paladin being good, Druids being okay, and Discipline Priests and Monks lagging a little bit, and the amount of offensive instant cast crowd control being used.

And of course, would love to hear how you feel healers compare for PvE and how Mistweavers have played out.
Pretty happy with healer balance overall. MW were too good in 5.0. Raiders discovering Disc now and we have to keep an eye on it.

I really like to know what you guys think about Holy and Disc priests perfomance in PvP. Not many people want them.
Most teams just want Resto shaman. We think we'll see more priests in 5.1.

MW nerfed in PvE while weak in arena. Disc buffed a few times in PvE but still weak in PvP. FW back. Nothing specific about SS.