Holy Priest Class Guide - MoP Classic

Welcome to our Mists of Pandaria Classic (MoP Classic) Holy Priest Class Guide for Phase 1, it focuses on getting you up to speed with the Spec for PvE content, Dungeons and Raiding. The guide includes key information for what has changed going into MoP, the best Talent builds, Major Glyphs, your Rotation, Gearing and Consumables for Holy Priest.

Table of Content:

• Changes from Cataclysm to MoP
• Talents
• Rotation & Abilities
• Gearing & Consumables

What’s New for Holy Priest in Mists of Pandaria Classic

With a lot of classes receiving huge changes, you could expect the same for Priest, but Blizzard seemed happy with the general direction they went in Cataclysm. Mists of Pandaria will just expand and improve on this design. Here are some changes you should expect for Holy Priests:

• Spirit Shell, a new absorb raid cooldown has been added.
• Barrier takes a slight nerf.
• Body and Soul is available to every spec.
• Purify, like all dispels, has been modified to cleanse more effects but now has a cooldown.
• Void shift is a new spell, swapping health with another player.
• Hymn of Hope is now baseline for every spec but Divine Hymn is Holy only.
• Power Infusion can only affect the priest.
• Lightwell is way easier to use.

Is Holy Priest Good?

The Holy Priest is sadly not in great shape in Mists of Pandaria. Its sibling, Discipline Priest, got all the attention for now 2 expansions in a row, and Mists of Pandaria isn’t going to change that. You could clear all the content while playing Holy Priest, it’s technically possible but why shoot yourself in the foot when one of the best healers of the game, if not the best, is just your other specialization? If you really, really want to play Holy Priest you shouldn’t stop, but you should expect some difficulties.

Best Talents & Glyphs for Holy Priest in MoP Classic

In the talent build section, you are going to find 2 builds for PvE activities: one for raid, one for dungeons. This distinction is for clarity purposes, but know that every talent can be swapped around depending on the fight you are doing.

Holy Priest Raiding Talent Build

This is a pretty standard Raid Talent Build for Holy Priests. You can change a lot of talents depending on your playstyle and the encounter:

• Void Tendrils, Psyfiend and Dominate Mind are pretty interchangeable. Dominate Mind can help cheese precise mechanics, or help you during your leveling process.
• Body and soul and Angelic Feather achieve the same goal. We tend to prefer Body and Soul in raids as it’s harder to focus a singular person with Angelic Feather in raid.
• From Darkness, Comes light and Mindbender are both great options. Mindbender is a bit more of a reliable way to get mana back, but From Darkness, Comes light synergizes pretty well with Serendipity even though we have to cast a lot of spells that don’t trigger the talent.
• Desperate Prayer is a great defensive cooldown, but you can take Angelic Bulwark if you prefer a passive option.
• Divine Insight is the best option on the level 75 row.
• Finally, the three options in the last row are viable. Cascade is the simplest to use, your raid doesn't have to be stacked to use it. Divine Star is better if everyone stays in a line, and Halo if everyone is on top of each other.

Best Holy Priest Raid Glyphs

Regarding Major Glyphs, you don’t have a lot of good options. Glyph of Fade is always good at helping with damage reduction, Glyph of Renew is great for small group content. If you don’t have too many mana problems, Glyph of Circle of Healing is great. You can take Glyph of Spirit of Redemption and Glyph of Deep Wells. Finally, depending on the type of damage dealt during an encounter, you can take either Glyph of Inner Fire or Glyph of Inner Sanctum.

There are no game changing Minor Glyphs, do as you please!

Holy Priest Dungeons & Challenge Mode Talent Build

The Dungeon Talent Build is pretty close to the Raid Build. We can change Void Tendrils for Dominate Mind. Angelic Feather is easier to use in dungeons, Divine Star is also way easier to use in dungeons.

Best Holy Priest Dungeon Glyphs

Regarding Major Glyphs, you don’t have a lot of good options. Glyph of Fade is always good at helping with damage reduction, Glyph of Renew is great for small group content. If you don’t have too many mana problems, Glyph of Circle of Healing is great. You can take Glyph of Spirit of Redemption and Glyph of Deep Wells. Finally, depending on the type of damage dealt during an encounter, you can take either Glyph of Inner Fire and Glyph of Inner Sanctum.

There are no game changing minor glyphs, do as you please!

Rotation for Holy Priest in MoP Classic

Talking about a Rotation for Healers is very strange, so this part of the guide will mostly talk about spell usages, what to do in dire situations and how to maximize healing for Holy Priest.

General Priority:

1. Maintain Inner Fire.
2. Maintain Renew on the Tank or targets taking light damage.
3. Cast Prayer of Mending on Cooldown and when Divine Insight procs.
4. Use Flash Heal when From Darkness, Comes Light procs.

For AoE Healing:

1. Use Chakra Sanctuary.
2. Use Holy Word: Sanctuary on Cooldown for big AoE heals.
3. Use Cascade on Cooldown.
4. Use Circle of Healing on Cooldown.
5. Use Prayer of Healing as an AoE filler.

For Single Target Healing:

1. Use Chakra: Serenity.
2. Use Holy Word: Serenity for a big single target heal.
3. Use Greater Heal on your target when damage is high.
4. Use Heal when damage is low.
5. If you are in an emergency, use Flash Heal.

Your important cooldowns are Divine Hymn for group heal, Guardian Spirit to save a single target or as an external for your tank or Void Shift if you are on high HP. Use Lightwell when there is constant damage dealt to your raid. Shadowfiend and Hymn of Hope are here to help you with mana.

Best Gear & Stats for Holy Priest in MoP Classic

Best in Slot (BiS Gear) aren’t as big in Mists of Pandaria Classic. Reforging is the new hype, so you can tailor your gear better than before.

Holy Priest Best in Slot (BiS) Gear in MoP Classic (Pre-Raid)

The best weapons you can find pre-raid in the first phase are:

• Inscribed Crane Staff, from Inscription.
• Je’lyu, Spirit of the Serpent, from Sha of Doubt, Temple of the Jade Serpent.
• Headmaster’s Will, Darkmaster Gandling, Scholomance.

The best off-hands you can find pre-raid in the first phase are:

• Inscribed Red Fan, from Inscription.
• Bottle of Potent Potables, from Hoptallus in Stormstout Brewery.
• Scroll of Whispered Secrets, a BoE.

The best pre-raid Holy Priest trinkets are:

• Relic of Chi-ji if you have Inscription.
• Vial of Ichorous Blood, from General Pa'valak, Scholomance.
• Ghost Iron Dragongling, From Engineering.

Holy Priest Best in Slot (BiS) Gear in MoP Classic (Tier 14)

Upgrading your character with the best gear is an important part of increasing your damage, healing and tanking.

Below is a BiS Gear List containing your theoretical Best in Slot (BiS) Gear for Holy Priest. This information is based on the MoP original release and PTR data, and so is subject to change. But this list should give you a good target for gearing.

There can be some key stat breakpoints and targets that you need to hit for maximum performance. You can find those in the Stats Section below, and use reforging to adjust your gear stats to achieve them.

MoP Classic Holy Priest Stat Priority

The best secondary stat you can get as a Holy Priest is Mastery. Echo of Light will be one of your highest sources of healing, and maximizing it should be one of your goals. After that, get Spirit so you don’t struggle anymore with mana, then Critical Strike and finally Haste.

Best Consumables, Enchants & Gems for Holy Priest in MoP Classic

The following tables outline the recommended Consumables, Enchants and Gems for Holy Priest in Raiding and Dungeon content.

Consumables

Enchants

Gems

We hope this guide helped you improve your Holy Priest Gameplay and better understand the spec. To check out all of our MoP Classic content, such as Class Guides, Tier Lists and more, you can browse our full library of MoP Classic Guides.