Disc healing without soul warding?

[highlandr]

So I heal using this Spec I find that for the most part maintaining more than two shields at a time is pointless. I seem to get a fairly good amount of proc's off of sol in fact I notice that it seems to proc more if I chain a instance cast spell after a casted spell. (kind of wierd rng I have.) Anyway I was wondering if others ppl was using something similar with any good results.

Also for the most part I tank heal. If I am raid healing I switch to holy. Seems to work better that way. I also wish blizz would make Train of Thought also refresh renew on the target of penance as some times I think that extra GCD could be used more effectively

[Adinora]

If you're mostly tank healing that's probably fine. Shields are so good though, from a raid healing perspective. Even if I'm tank healing I throw out a few shields if my mana can take it. BT is nice, plus the increased chance to crit on targets with weakened soul.

To each their own.

[[-Spiritus-]]

The SW <-> SoL trade off is a personal choice. For me, when tank healing, I still like to be able to throw down a second or third consecutive shield, because I can point to various times when not having that ability would have resulted in a death. I wouldn't recommend SoL over SW, but I'm not going to say its a downright silly choice either.

[Deleted]

I have SW so I don't have to watch the pws cooldown timer. I've tried without it or even with 1/2, but I couldn't get use to the delay. There are so many situations where being able to do back to back pws is crucial.

[Zka]

There are so many situations where being able to do back to back pws is crucial.

This. Disc really, really needs 2/2 soul warding.

[Callypso]

Let's put it like this.

- How many times has an instant cast proc from SoL saved raidmembers from death?
- How many times has back-to-back shield spam saved raidmembers from death?

Whichever question has the largest number in the answer should be your pick, as this is the only relevant difference between the two talents. At least i'm hoping you don't rely on SoL as a mana conserving talent.


In my opinion the benefit of being able to cast extra shield(s) in 'oh shit' situations greatly outweighs a random free instant heal.

- SoL gives you, randomly, a single free 20-30k heal that you might or might not need at that moment.
- SW gives you access to a 25-35k 'heal' that you use whenever you want, how often you want.



This argument fails if you tunnelvision on your tank healing duties (which I assume is what you do the most, because SW is pretty much mandatory for disc raidhealing). However if you tunnelvision on your tank while healing, you have bigger issues to adress than optimizing your talent spec.

[Deleted]

Just checking here but isn't PWS virtually our best heal / shield per mana spell? If you are just tank healing would you not take str of soul so you can get more PWS's on the tank? If you are group healing / shielding then SW gives quicker / better group settings?

[[-Spiritus-]]

Just checking here but isn't PWS virtually our best heal / shield per mana spell? If you are just tank healing would you not take str of soul so you can get more PWS's on the tank? If you are group healing / shielding then SW gives quicker / better group settings?

Yes, but for tank healing you can have both SoS & SW. They aren't mutually exclusive. The argument here is SW v. SoL when tank healing.

[zombiesnakes]

I haven't used SW at all since I started raiding. I haven't been in any scenarios either where a second shield 2 seconds earlier would have made a big difference either. I only tank heal when playing disc, and am actually dual specced disc/holy with two different gear sets, because I either fill a tank healing spot or a raid healing spot. Anyways though, I've definitely gotten more use out of SoL in raids than I have SW.

[Kelesti]

This is currently my non-soul warding Build. And yes, it is bad.

It tries to do everything, because I do a fair bit of everything, when I'm Discipline. I flow from 0-60 in 2.8 se--... tank healing to raid healing in really the blink of a global cooldown. I miss Soul Warding, I just don't know where to take the points from, that still lets me keep Archangel.

One build that tries to do everything ends up lacking in more places than it succeeds. But this has been what I've been up to, lately.

[highlandr]

This is currently my non-soul warding Build. And yes, it is bad.

It tries to do everything, because I do a fair bit of everything, when I'm Discipline. I flow from 0-60 in 2.8 se--... tank healing to raid healing in really the blink of a global cooldown. I miss Soul Warding, I just don't know where to take the points from, that still lets me keep Archangel.

One build that tries to do everything ends up lacking in more places than it succeeds. But this has been what I've been up to, lately.

Why not split the points between them both get a second off your PW:S cooldown and still get your rapture proc's after 1 or 2 heals.

[Kelesti]

Why not split the points between them both get a second off your PW:S cooldown and still get your rapture proc's after 1 or 2 heals.

Because I shield more than Rapture's cooldown? Both with raid and tank healing.

If anything, I'm going to try out a build this week with only 1/3 Mental Agility

[hikamiro]

Because I shield more than Rapture's cooldown? Both with raid and tank healing.

If anything, I'm going to try out a build this week with only 1/3 Mental Agility

Archangel i assume? if not, it's really not worth dropping Mental Agility for Inner Sanctum, especially when Focused Will is more damage reduction for less points.

[Docta]

focused will may be more damage reduction but it requires you to take the damage before its active, alot of the time when focused will is up the damage spike has ended and it isnt doing a whole lot.

[Deleted]

This is currently my non-soul warding Build. And yes, it is bad.

It tries to do everything, because I do a fair bit of everything, when I'm Discipline. I flow from 0-60 in 2.8 se--... tank healing to raid healing in really the blink of a global cooldown. I miss Soul Warding, I just don't know where to take the points from, that still lets me keep Archangel.

One build that tries to do everything ends up lacking in more places than it succeeds. But this has been what I've been up to, lately.

Looks similar to my build, but I dropped SoS for soul warding - I don't find the ws reduction a big deal really, especially since a lot of my healing is from penance and atonement.

[Kelesti]

Archangel i assume? if not, it's really not worth dropping Mental Agility for Inner Sanctum, especially when Focused Will is more damage reduction for less points.

Archangel, Train of Thought, Strength of Soul, and Inspiration.

My "Do everything" build.

Lower Mental Agility just means I have a higher spirit cap. That's okay, though.

---------- Post added 2011-05-04 at 04:10 PM ----------

Looks similar to my build, but I dropped SoS for soul warding - I don't find the ws reduction a big deal really, especially since a lot of my healing is from penance and atonement.

I assist on tank healing, but I'm not our full-time Discipline Priest. So I help push not just my shields out faster, but his too (especially when we're stealing eachother's Rapture. )

Strength of Soul gives me more Borrowed Times, a more reliable rapture, and helps me tag-team a lot better between myself and my full-time counterpart. Atonement isn't meant to be a big part of my healing. It's just there, for me, to make Archangel suck less (with a couple exceptions, like Maloriak).

[Deleted]

I'm the only disc priest so it's a bit different for me then - I never have to compete for weakened soul.