[Disc] 5-man group dropping low. Having trouble healing. Pls advice

[Wild]

Dear experienced Discs out there

I am yet to be a 110 Disc priest. So far I am at Level 108 and I am having a blast leveling my Disc priest (mostly doing dungeons).
I love the play-style, I love the way I can do dmg and use different, strong CDs to save ppl from dying.

HOWEVER.. I have a Problem when the whole Group dropps to a value below 50% (or even 30%) to get them all back up to Keep them save and Sound.
I have read almost all the guides out there, however I would like to hear it personally from experienced Players.

I have been playing resto druid since vanilla as main and I have no Trouble whatsoever healing People back up (duh! it's restodru).
And is it true that playing Disc is just by fact harder to Play in 5man mythic+ than for example resto druid?

As I said, I love the Play style and the challange, dont tell me to Switch to holy! ;-)

[Deleted]

I have not been playing disc in a little while now so my advice may be outdated.
In general you should be able to keep atonements on the whole group in 5 man.
If you don’t have it up on everyone a single radiance should fix that.
After radiance is up you should be able to get the group up with penance and smite.
If that does not work you can use LW but since that is on a long CD you need to plan for when you use it.

What talents are you using? Have you read the guides on icy veins?

[Deleted]

Edit: Damn I was slow at writing but pretty much the same that previous guy wrote.

Disc is great. Stick with it. If you know that there is grp wide dmg incoming. You pre atonement everyone just like prehotting on druid. That makes topping ppl alot faster. When you are starting your career as disc, you can keep everyone Atonemented almost all time until you get more comfortable with things. If sudden aoe hits the grp, fastest way to atonement ppl is PW:R. If you are not conserned about your dps. You can just keep your penance off CD until party takes hit. It's great dmg and heal via Atonements with lowish CD. If you can't penance your options are to use Mindbender or Light's Wrath or if you know more dmg is coming use Rapture or Barrier and then start healing. Disc healing is about knowing when dmg occurs and preparing for it properly. I think when you get to lvl 110 and get all traits in to your weapon, it gets easier to heal.

[Redfullmoon]

when people are that low use your shadow mends to bring there health back up to where your comfortable with and then go back to your reg atonment healing atonement healing by it self isn't great at burst damage in dungeons also for 5 mans take grace that helps alot.

[xero5141]

Dear experienced Discs out there

I am yet to be a 110 Disc priest. So far I am at Level 108 and I am having a blast leveling my Disc priest (mostly doing dungeons).
I love the play-style, I love the way I can do dmg and use different, strong CDs to save ppl from dying.

HOWEVER.. I have a Problem when the whole Group dropps to a value below 50% (or even 30%) to get them all back up to Keep them save and Sound.
I have read almost all the guides out there, however I would like to hear it personally from experienced Players.

I have been playing resto druid since vanilla as main and I have no Trouble whatsoever healing People back up (duh! it's restodru).
And is it true that playing Disc is just by fact harder to Play in 5man mythic+ than for example resto druid?

As I said, I love the Play style and the challange, dont tell me to Switch to holy! ;-)

One of the intricacies of healing that really separates good from bad healers is knowing when damage is coming and dealing with it preemptively.

[Wild]

As I been playing all legion dungeons up and down all the way, i should know when dmg is incoming. However sometimes it's just not always that predictable.
Thanks for the help so far.

I been trying to keep atonement up with radiance and then using penance followed by smite. However i haven't been able to time the artifact ability right, in order to heal the group up. I think I just need some more practice.
My talents are: mindbender for the dmg, the absorb talent for smite, the increased absorb/heal with ppl with atonement and the one that pushes mobs away and slows them. edit: purge the wicked also
My healing is usually 50% atonement, smite absorb and then shield.
I barely use shadow mend.
Ty all so far

[Memento1]

Do not be afraid to use Shadow Mend when people drop low. There's a period while leveling and low geared where atonement seems to hit like a wet noodle. In that case use Shadowmend when individuals drop low. Some even recommend using Shadow Mend on anyone who drops below 75%. Not using Shadowmend is like not using Swiftmend and Healing Touch on a druid.

[Raiz]

You can't heal retards players. So if you're not willing to heal with some knowledgeable groups, expect using more of Shadowmend. Holy is simply better than disc for PuGs, no matter what the others says.

That being said, disc is really fun to play. Assuming you're not in a retarded group, or not in a dungeon that is either very low lvl, or too high.
It's no wonder you can't put the same healing as a resto druid or any other healer. Even if you know when to heal, there are many unavoidable damage that you simply can't predict.
I just gave up disc for the +15 and above because there were too many retarded players standing in fire and the healing output disc provides simply wasn't enough.

Just don't be too stuborn with the disc spec. Don't hesitate to try the other spec to see the pros and cons. I'm playing Disc only because it's really fun and different from the others healing class and when I know I can heal, otherwise it's a lost cause.

[Wild]

You can't heal retards players. So if you're not willing to heal with some knowledgeable groups, expect using more of Shadowmend. Holy is simply better than disc for PuGs, no matter what the others says.

That being said, disc is really fun to play. Assuming you're not in a retarded group, or not in a dungeon that is either very low lvl, or too high.
It's no wonder you can't put the same healing as a resto druid or any other healer. Even if you know when to heal, there are many unavoidable damage that you simply can't predict.
I just gave up disc for the +15 and above because there were too many retarded players standing in fire and the healing output disc provides simply wasn't enough.

Just don't be too stuborn with the disc spec. Don't hesitate to try the other spec to see the pros and cons. I'm playing Disc only because it's really fun and different from the others healing class and when I know I can heal, otherwise it's a lost cause.

yeah I also read that in the forums. i'm not going to play any high mythic+, its just an ez-gg-alt to chill with.

[Deleted]

Shadow Mend is actually one of the best spot healing spells in the game and have very high usage in dungeons. With or without ppl standing in shit.

I disagree that Holy is better but definately give it a try also. It's also fun to play on it's own style of gameplay. I think Shadow Mend easily beats Flash Heal but honestly not sure, last time I played Holy was months ago.

About getting artifact ability cast in time: it's long cast time but traits will reduce it. Also haste is best stat for disc. Everything gets easier when you manage to gather some haste gears. Thats kind of negative side of Disc that it feel so haste debendant especially while getting used to the spec.

Also Mindbender is mainly there as a extra healing CD imo. It's like druids Tranquility.


If you play +15s and ppl keep standing in fire, swapping to holy or even resto druid is not going to save you. Alot of things in 15s already can oneshot ppl.

[Raiz]

Shadow Mend is actually one of the best spot healing spells in the game and have very high usage in dungeons. With or without ppl standing in shit.

I disagree that Holy is better but definately give it a try also. It's also fun to play on it's own style of gameplay. I think Shadow Mend easily beats Flash Heal but honestly not sure, last time I played Holy was months ago.

About getting artifact ability cast in time: it's long cast time but traits will reduce it. Also haste is best stat for disc. Everything gets easier when you manage to gather some haste gears. Thats kind of negative side of Disc that it feel so haste debendant especially while getting used to the spec.

Also Mindbender is mainly there as a extra healing CD imo. It's like druids Tranquility.


If you play +15s and ppl keep standing in fire, swapping to holy or even resto druid is not going to save you. Alot of things in 15s already can oneshot ppl.

Indeed shadowmend is one of the best (if not the best) single healing spec in the game. Problem is you can cast it only one player at a time. Thank to atonement you can kind of keep the healing with penance as a follow up, but constant group damage ? I guarantee you that you'll be struggling.

Just try to compare Disc with Holy for example : Disc has only atonment + (small) PW:R, eventually rapture + PW:S when you know the big spike is coming. Holy ? They have plenty of different heals, Prayer of healing, HW:Sanctify, Divine Hymn and, to a lesser extent, Prayer of mending (if you have benediction talented) otherwise Circle of healing and Apotheosis are strong talents aswell.

Suffice to say, Holy has it way easier when it comes to healing groups. There's a lot more margin of error than Disc.
Oh and did I mention that holy can ressurect themselves thank to the legendary ? I don't have it, I have only Disc Legendaries. But I know I'd have really liked to have it. We all know how handy instants rez are in dungeons.

[Deleted]

Indeed shadowmend is one of the best (if not the best) single healing spec in the game. Problem is you can cast it only one player at a time. Thank to atonement you can kind of keep the healing with penance as a follow up, but constant group damage ? I guarantee you that you'll be struggling.

Just try to compare Disc with Holy for example : Disc has only atonment + (small) PW:R, eventually rapture + PW:S when you know the big spike is coming. Holy ? They have plenty of different heals, Prayer of healing, HW:Sanctify, Divine Hymn and, to a lesser extent, Prayer of mending (if you have benediction talented) otherwise Circle of healing and Apotheosis are strong talents aswell.

Suffice to say, Holy has it way easier when it comes to healing groups. There's a lot more margin of error than Disc.
Oh and did I mention that holy can ressurect themselves thank to the legendary ? I don't have it, I have only Disc Legendaries. But I know I'd have really liked to have it. We all know how handy instants rez are in dungeons.

You cant just compare part of the kit. While holy has easier time healing groups, they struggle with single target healing and they especially lack tools on necrotic weeks.

[Nurasu]

Dear experienced Discs out there

I am yet to be a 110 Disc priest. So far I am at Level 108 and I am having a blast leveling my Disc priest (mostly doing dungeons).
I love the play-style, I love the way I can do dmg and use different, strong CDs to save ppl from dying.

HOWEVER.. I have a Problem when the whole Group dropps to a value below 50% (or even 30%) to get them all back up to Keep them save and Sound.
I have read almost all the guides out there, however I would like to hear it personally from experienced Players.

I have been playing resto druid since vanilla as main and I have no Trouble whatsoever healing People back up (duh! it's restodru).
And is it true that playing Disc is just by fact harder to Play in 5man mythic+ than for example resto druid?

As I said, I love the Play style and the challange, dont tell me to Switch to holy! ;-)

Spam Shadowmend, weave Penance on CD, don't be afraid to use defensive Penance on a target lower than others, use Mindbender on larger trash packs or packs with aoe damage, Rapture for the same thing. On easier packs, Radiance if you need to get atonement on all 5, otherwise you should already have atonement up from shield and shadowmend and won't want the reduced duration.

It might feel like you're starting to fall behind with just SM, but when you start weaving in penance you catch up pretty quickly.

[Deleted]

don't get stuck in rutt of just applying atonement and using penance and smite and wondering why people are dying or struggling to lift the whole group up from sub 30% health.

barrier 25% damage reduction and and 100% additional healing for people in it
rapture (amazing for spam shielding people while mindbender is doing it's work)
with grace as a talent make sure ppl have atonement on them and spam shadow covenant - does loads of healing
use penance defensively with shadowmend
don't forget to use sheild on cd even in crunch moments as it can crit for massive sheilds buying you time to heal.
use fade to reduce your damage to concentrate on others.

and use all your cd's all the time, don't save them for that magic moment. big trash pull coming rapture that shit and make life easy with mindbender it's on 1 min cd so comes back before you know it.

[-aiko-]

Most of this has probably already been covered in the posts above but there is a lot you can do when the entire group is low. Primarily you will want to do a burst healing combo of which there are many. PW:R into Light's Wrath, PW:R with Mindbender, PW:R into Penance, PW: Shield spam with Rapture, any combination of the aforementioned, plus your defensive Barrier. For 5-mans I also tend to actually like PW: Solace as I love doing a Penance+Solace combo and mana really isn't an issue in 5-mans. Plus damage!

[Wild]

Thank you guys so much for the help.

I just turned 110 two days ago and I have gotten some items with haste. I does work A LOT better now, I feel that the casts are almost twice as fast now.
Timing the LW is a lot easier as well as a short SM heal every now and then.
Also the traits help a lot!

I will find out once I get into mytic+ ....

[Deleted]

Thank you guys so much for the help.

I just turned 110 two days ago and I have gotten some items with haste. I does work A LOT better now, I feel that the casts are almost twice as fast now.
Timing the LW is a lot easier as well as a short SM heal every now and then.
Also the traits help a lot!

I will find out once I get into mytic+ ....

This isn’t a plug keyboard warriors :-) just for you OP https://youtu.be/xHEAxtoeWOk
I’m alright in dungeons and have some bad habits but that should give you some ideas. It was a +16 in time with some mates my Ui is pretty clean so you should be able to see what I’m doing.

[Powell]

I see alot of people just mention PW:Radiance and Penance/Light's Wrath healing in this thread.
But it is very important to know that a Discipline Priest is NOT a reactive healer, but is a very effective preemptive healer.

That means being prepared for damage in advance.

Using Rapture effectively is super important. Most patterns of group damage are very predictable, so you can cover your group in shields or atonements before the damage hits, not after the group has taken damage. and if your tank is taking a significant amount of damage, don't hesitate to use Rapture just to keep shielding your Tank.

Additionally, using your DoTs effectively is also very important.
Tab target and DoT as many enemies as you can with SW:P or PtW while the damage is low/mediocre.
If you then apply Atonement to any member in your group, those DoTs essentially work as multiple HoTs. If you have 4-6 targets dotted up, it can become a significant amount of healing. Having all these DoTs rolling before heavy damage strikes your group will significantly cushion the amount of reactive healing you will have to do.

However, when you do have to spotheal your group, Shadow Covenant is an incredible talent for Mythic+
People undervalue Shadow Covenant for mythic+ extremely. That ability has saved my group more times than i can count, especially with Grace, following a Radiance -> Penance up with Shadow Covenant is a HUGE burst of AoE healing. I always use Shadow Covenant as a talent for M+.
Sanctuary is super underwhelming and if you choose Clarity of Will, you are essentially spamming that while you could just be dotting enemies and applying Atonements for more spread healing.

You should not be spamming Smite ever, and Shadow Mend is an emergency heal.
Even during low phases of damage, you should be supplementing your Smite/Dotting with applying Atonement to targets you expect to take damage, in advance. Again, it is very important that you think ahead as a Discipline Priest.

[Kylista6]

1. Mindbender is a great healing cooldown.
2. Shadow Covenant is a godsend of an aoe heal ability in dungeons, just make sure everyone has atonement before you use it. And it is a huge mana sink.
3. Always take Grace for 5man content
4. Dont be afraid of shadowmend.
5. PtW is great for sustained healing. toss it on lots of targets, and remember that Penance causes it to spread to another target.