Priest

How Forever changed the class

Blizzard's Priest and Warrior deep dive set out the baseline changes:

• Fear Ward and Devouring Plague are taught to every Priest at level 20. In Classic they were Dwarf and Undead spells.
• Divine Spirit is a trainer spell at 30 instead of a Discipline talent.
• Shadow Word: Death arrives at 32 for everyone. It hits instantly, but costs you 10% of your maximum health if the target survives.
• Fade drops twice as much threat.
• Prayer of Healing heals the target's party, not yours, which lets a raid healer cover another group.
• Several Priests can keep Renew on the same target.

The talent trees are new. Blizzard keeps one-point milestone talents at 11, 21 and 31 points and adds one at 16. In practice that puts Binding Heal at 25, Penance at 30 and Prayer of Mending at 40. Shadow's redesigned Shadowform needs level 40. Forever gives one talent point per level from 10, so you have 21 at level 30 and 51 at 60 (ForeverDB talents).

Spells start weaker but gain more from spell power. Smite rank 1 went from 0.123 to 0.429 of your spell damage, according to ForeverDB's levelling guide. Spell power on gear therefore matters early. The same guide notes, from Blizzard's 24 September notes, that wands no longer gain damage from spell power.

Race spells

These come from the trainer or a race quest. Wowhead's guides call them the main thing that sets Priests apart in Forever.

For race choice, Wowhead's three Priest guides and Icy Veins' Discipline guide favour Gnome for the Alliance and Undead for the Horde. Icy Veins' Shadow guide picks Night Elf for Elune's Light instead. WoWSims' Shadow preset defaults to Undead.

Late changes to watch for

Two builds changed the class after most guides were written. ForeverDB's comparison of the files lists them:

• 16 October (1.60.1.70425): Devouring Plague's cooldown dropped to 24 sec and Vampiric Embrace's to 30 sec. Shadow Word: Death went to an 18 sec cooldown. Shadow Affinity became Improved Mind Blast, and Improved Fade became Dark Inspiration. Mental Strength moved up to tier 2 (ForeverDB).
• 24 October (first live client): Holy Fire rank 1 hits a little less, and pushback talents were reworded (ForeverDB).

So a guide that still mentions Shadow Affinity, or a one-minute Devouring Plague, predates the final client.

Choosing a spec

• Discipline prevents damage with shields. Wowhead calls its absorbs the best in the game and its solo play very safe, but notes weaker group healing and close competition from Holy. Icy Veins calls it harder than Holy but rewarding.
• Holy has the broadest healing kit. Icy Veins calls it beginner-friendly but a little weaker than specialist healers. Wowhead points to Binding Heal and Prayer of Mending for split damage, and to its mana hunger.
• Shadow is the damage spec. Wowhead says its identity arrives late, with Mind Flay at 20 and Shadowform at 40, and its raid standing is unclear. Blizzard's own summary says Shadow does strong damage over time but lacks a Warlock's utility.

Levelling

All three guides agree the first levels feel the same whatever you plan to become. Shield yourself, open with spells, then finish with a wand to save mana. Wowhead and Icy Veins both lean on Enchanting for early wands: Lesser Magic Wand at 5 and Greater Magic Wand at 13.

• ForeverDB calls Shadow the simplest first Priest: Mind Flay slows melee enemies and Spirit Tap refills mana after kills. It suggests Discipline for players who hate drinking or want to heal dungeons, and Holy Smite for Smite fans.
• Wowhead calls Discipline an acceptable levelling spec once Penance arrives at 30.
• Both Wowhead and Icy Veins say you can heal or deal damage in early dungeons, but should favour healing as you near 30.

Tailoring and Enchanting is the profession pair every source suggests, including WoWSims' default.

Where the guides are unsure

Wowhead and Icy Veins describe a "five-second rule": spirit-based mana regeneration is reduced for five seconds after spending mana; talents such as Meditation allow part of it to continue. That is server behaviour, which ForeverDB says it can't check in the client. Nothing above level 30 has been played yet.

How the trees allow it

You get 21 talent points at level 30 and 51 at 60. Each row of a tree opens after five more points in that tree (ForeverDB). The Legacy perk Talented grants points up to five levels sooner, which Wowhead and Icy Veins both plan around. Blizzard's Class Highlights video mentions a Discipline dip for Meditation's in-combat mana regeneration. ForeverDB notes that Shadow builds into it for mana.

Levelling hybrids

Icy Veins calls Wand Specialization and Spirit Tap the core of every Priest levelling build, and treats Twilight Focus as optional for players who draw aggro. Wowhead's Holy guide warns that two Wand Specialization points leave a level 30 Holy Priest one point short of Spirit of Redemption. ForeverDB's own levelling builds keep all 21 points in one tree.

Endgame mixes (WoWSims, level 60)

The WoWSims presets are projections for level 60 and have not been played:

• Shadow (17/0/34): Meditation, Inner Focus, Twin Disciplines, Silent Resolve, Mental Strength and Martyrdom from Discipline.
• Discipline (32/19/0): Holy's Improved Renew, Holy Specialization, Inspiration, Improved Healing and Binding Heal.
• Holy (16/35/0): Discipline's Meditation, Improved Power Word: Shield, Inner Focus and Twin Disciplines.
• Smite (31/17/3): see below.

Smite: the Holy damage hybrid

WoWSims' "Smite" preset takes Discipline's Penance, Power in Light, Wand Specialization, Holy Precision, Mental Agility, Meditation and Power Infusion. It adds Holy's Twilight Focus, Holy Specialization, Divine Fury, Holy Nova and Searing Light, plus three points of Shadow Focus. Its default rotation:

1. Power Infusion just before the pull.
2. Keep Holy Fire burning, dropping to a lower rank when mana is under 20%.
3. Spend a free Holy Nova on three or more targets.
4. Keep Shadow Word: Pain up.
5. Penance on cooldown.
6. Smite as filler, again at a lower rank below 20% mana.
7. Wand below 10% mana.

Its stat weights rank mana per 5 highest (1.46), then spell power (1), Holy damage (0.81) and Intellect and Spirit (about 0.58). That shows how much mana limits the build.

For levelling, ForeverDB's Holy Smite builds use Divine Fury and Searing Light. Forever raised Smite's spell power scaling, so it grows with gear (ForeverDB). Icy Veins and Wowhead open with Holy Fire for the same Power in Light bonus.

The hybrid tax

On episode 2 of the WoW: Forever Podcast (1 October), the developers set out their position (ForeverDB's write-up):

• The target: hybrid damage specs should do about 5% less damage than Hunters, Mages, Rogues and Warlocks. Every class that can fill more than one role counts as a hybrid, Priests included.
• Healing counts: a damage spec that heals while it fights, such as Shadow with Vampiric Embrace, has that healing counted as part of its output.
• Not the old approach: one developer said they don't believe in the original-style hybrid tax. The aim is for every role to be competitive, with hybrids missing some tools rather than lagging far behind.
• An average: 5% is a target across fights, so a hybrid can still top some fights.
• Who it covers: ForeverDB reads it as covering Shadow and, by the same rule, damage-focused Smite builds. The developers didn't list specs one by one.

It is a design target, not a number in the client, and nobody can measure level 60 damage yet. ForeverDB summarises forum reaction: Shadow players worry groups will prefer Mages and Warlocks, and some Smite players asked for a talent that gives up healing to avoid the tax.

Healer and damage in one character

• Early dungeons: Wowhead says Discipline can fill a damage slot because its early talents resemble Shadow's. Its Shadow guide says Shadow can still heal dungeons at 30 with some healing gear. Icy Veins notes Shadow Priests often end up healing because healers are scarce.
• Shadowform: from level 40, Shadowform blocks healing spells, so a Shadow Priest's group healing then comes from Vampiric Embrace (Wowhead).
• Switching roles: respec at a class trainer in a major city. Dual Specialization at 40 lets you keep a healing build and a damage build.
• By design: the developers said on the podcast that they avoid giving hybrid damage specs strong healing, so groups still need a healer (ForeverDB).

General tips

• Wowhead and Kami Labs both suggest writing /cast Spell Name without a rank. The macro then uses the highest rank you know, so it stays current as you level.
• To pin a lower rank on purpose, write it exactly as the spellbook does, with no space before the bracket: Lesser Heal(Rank 2) (ForeverDB).
• Wowhead lists Shadowform and Spirit of Redemption as [stance:1] for Priests, for macros that check your form.

Healing

Heal on your mouseover, or Flash Heal while holding Shift (ForeverDB, level 20):

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift,@mouseover,help,nodead][mod:shift,help,nodead][mod:shift,@player] Flash Heal; [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Heal

Renew on your mouseover, your friendly target or yourself (ForeverDB, level 8):

#showtooltip Renew
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Renew

Power Word: Shield on your mouseover; hold Alt to shield yourself (Kami Labs, level 6):

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:alt,@player][@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Power Word: Shield

Inner Focus followed by a free Flash Heal on one press (ForeverDB, Discipline talent, level 20):

#showtooltip Inner Focus
/cast Inner Focus
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Flash Heal

Binding Heal on your mouseover, healing them and you together (Kami Labs, Holy talent, level 25):

#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Binding Heal

Prayer of Healing on the party of whoever you point at, since Forever's version heals the target's party (ForeverDB, level 30):

#showtooltip Prayer of Healing
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Prayer of Healing

Penance that heals a friend or hurts an enemy, depending on what is under your mouse (ForeverDB, Discipline talent, level 30):

#showtooltip Penance
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Penance

Prayer of Mending on your mouseover, usually the tank (Kami Labs, Holy talent, level 40):

#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Prayer of Mending

Dispels, buffs and resurrection

Dispel Magic that cleans a friend or strips an enemy, whichever is under your mouse (ForeverDB, level 18):

#showtooltip Dispel Magic
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][@mouseover,harm,nodead][help,nodead][harm,nodead][@player] Dispel Magic

Fear Ward on your mouseover, or on your focus if you set the tank as focus (ForeverDB, level 20):

#showtooltip Fear Ward
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][@focus,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Fear Ward

Fortitude on one key, with Divine Spirit on Shift and Shadow Protection on Ctrl (ForeverDB, full use at level 30):

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift,@mouseover,help,nodead][mod:shift,@player] Divine Spirit; [mod:ctrl,@mouseover,help,nodead][mod:ctrl,@player] Shadow Protection; [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Power Word: Fortitude

Resurrection that only fires on a dead friend, under your mouse or targeted (ForeverDB, level 10):

#showtooltip Resurrection
/cast [@mouseover,help,dead][help,dead] Resurrection

Damage and control

Shadow Word: Pain on the enemy under your mouse, to spread it without changing target (Kami Labs, level 4):

#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][harm,nodead] Shadow Word: Pain

Wand attack that a second press won't switch off (ForeverDB, level 1):

#showtooltip Shoot
/cast !Shoot

Shadow Word: Death that cancels your current cast to fire at once (Kami Labs, level 32):

#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cast [harm][@target] Shadow Word: Death

Psychic Scream that cancels your current cast first (ForeverDB, level 14):

#showtooltip Psychic Scream
/stopcasting
/cast Psychic Scream

Shackle Undead on your focus, then your mouseover, then your target, for re-shackling without a target swap (ForeverDB, level 20):

#showtooltip Shackle Undead
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Shackle Undead

Silence on your focus, cancelling your own cast first (ForeverDB, Shadow talent, level 30):

#showtooltip Silence
/stopcasting
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Silence

Race-only spells

Human: Divine Grace on your mouseover or friendly target. It can't target yourself (ForeverDB, level 10):

#showtooltip Divine Grace
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead] Divine Grace

Dwarf: Desperate Prayer, cancelling your current cast for an instant self-heal (ForeverDB, level 10):

#showtooltip Desperate Prayer
/stopcasting
/cast Desperate Prayer

Gnome: Contingency Plan on your mouseover, else your focus, else your target (ForeverDB, level 20):

#showtooltip Contingency Plan
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][@focus,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Contingency Plan

Cautions

• Kami Labs lists Desperate Prayer and Shadowguard with the other Priest macros. In Forever they belong to Dwarves and Trolls only (ForeverDB).
• ForeverDB notes that a macro can't read health bars. A mouseover heal goes to whoever you point at, not to the most injured player.
• Inner Focus has a 3 min cooldown and fires on every press of its macro, so don't use it as your everyday Flash Heal key (ForeverDB).