Pre-level 30 shadowpriest healing?

[LonestarHero]

I just rolled on a new server and faction swapped to Alliance on a never before played class (priest). Presently I'm level 22 and specced Shadow to make questing easier. My priority is to enjoy the new content Blizzard put in rather than speed of leveling. I sprinkle in the occasional story-driven dungeon run between my questing, always queuing up as a healer or DPS.

Of course I always end up healing. Last night running Shadowfang Keep, I had great difficulty in keeping the tank alive. Apparently the shield and a renew are not enough. I'd spam heal, and go to flash heal when I really needed it. However I would either go out of mana, or the tank's health would be decimated before I could get a flash heal off. Luckily the tank deaths didn't result in wiping and we finished the dungeon.

Am I at the level where I can no longer get away with healing outside of a healing spec? Should I wait until level 30 when I get my dual spec to volunteer to heal dungeons?

[ciggy]

I'd say wait until 30, then again, pre 30 stuff is so easy. Do you have any boas at all?

[Panador]

In the time someone helped you, you problly be level 30 :P
but yeah u can heal fine for the time

[winterfox72]

It can work up to about 30 (healing in the wrong spec) Unless You run into other problems..Which You will..A wrong spec tank, A poorly geared tank, Crappy dps (which makes fights last longer)
There are so many variables..But I had the same problem. I would either que dps, repec heals or just quest till 30.

[Deleted]

Level as disc, its better than shadow even for questing until around lvl 65-70, thanks to better burst damage disc can do. Get atonemenent in your spec, and you can spend most of dungeons hitting mobs with holy fire+ smite, and tank gets healed automatically.

[LonestarHero]

I'd say wait until 30, then again, pre 30 stuff is so easy. Do you have any boas at all?

I'm not aware I can send BOA's cross-server and cross-faction.

However if I had them, I would level way too fast and not enjoy the new content.

[Ashalah]

Yea you'll be fine unless the tank is chain pulling like crazy (you have no regen in combat)
What I do is buy a couple of stacks of drinks, and drink for a few seconds after each pull. Even if it's 2-4 seconds of drinking, it works quite well.

[SunbakedDuck]

mate...i just did shadowfang keep on my HOLY priest and the only fight that we have trouble was the last boss ...If ur tank is geared then u can do it ...But if he has like 800 hp then ur screwed i went threw a few tanks when finally a guy in boas can in and we did the last boss 3 man... he had 1600 hp so it was easy!

[Kirsae]

Haven't ran a low level dungeon in quite some time, are they still pull everything aoe-fests? Even so, unless your tank was outfitted in cloth or trying to pull half the instance, you should be able to heal without issue as shadow spec. Additionally, you should be able to heal as that spec into your 50's.

Hell, you shouldn't even need a "real" tank for those instances. Any 4 random dps can work; they can be shaman tanked or even hunter pet tanked. Personally I've tanked them as a arms warrior, healed as a shadow priest, and solo'ed much of SM as a hunter all at the appropriate dungeon level, so I'd be curious to know what was going on in your dungeon run.


A minor point, but shield and flash heal are your most mana-inefficient spells so they should be emergency only.

[LonestarHero]

Haven't ran a low level dungeon in quite some time, are they still pull everything aoe-fests? Even so, unless your tank was outfitted in cloth or trying to pull half the instance, you should be able to heal without issue as shadow spec. Additionally, you should be able to heal as that spec into your 50's.

Hell, you shouldn't even need a "real" tank for those instances. Any 4 random dps can work; they can be shaman tanked or even hunter pet tanked. Personally I've tanked them as a arms warrior, healed as a shadow priest, and solo'ed much of SM as a hunter all at the appropriate dungeon level, so I'd be curious to know what was going on in your dungeon run.


A minor point, but shield and flash heal are your most mana-inefficient spells so they should be emergency only.

What should be my bread and butter spells? All that really leaves me with is Renew and Heal. Do those two really cut it?

I figured I was supposed to use the shield on the tank whenever it's available. I can easily see why I wouldn't want to spam Flash Heal.

[Kirsae]

Save that "shield the tank whenever it's available" thought for when/if you spec disc, because that's exactly what you'll be doing. As shadow (or even holy), not so much.

Your toolset is pretty limited at 22; heal and renew should be enough while throwing out the occasional flash and shield when things get rough. Not saying its exciting, just possible. You won't get gheal until 38, but when you've reached that point you've probably already dual specced at 30.

Depending upon what you want to do with your never before played class it may be better to try out all three specs in the roles they're intended and see which you like the best.