A Dwarf Priest

 Last updated: 02/12/08, patch 2.3.3.

When facing off against other classes in PvP, it is important to understand how they can shut you down. Here are some tips for fighting against different classes as a priest.

These aren’t step-by-step strategies, just general tips and advice focused on a 1v1 setting.

Warriors

General Strategy:

• Keep Power Word: Shield, Inner Fire, Prayer of Mending, and Renew up at all times. Time your Psychic Screams for when the warrior’s anti-fear abilities are on cooldown. Draw out spell interruption from casting Mind Control or faking a heal in order to be able to get a real heal off on yourself. Limit the amount of time you spent stunned.

What to Watch for:

• Charge
  15 second cooldown
  Stuns you for 1 second, gives the warrior rage.
  Can only be used out of combat.

• Pummel
  10 second cooldown
  5 yard range
  Will interrupt spell casting, and prevent spells from that school for being cast for 4 seconds.

• Intercept
  20-30 second cooldown
  8-25 yard range
  Warrior charges at you, stuns you for 3 seconds.

• Intimidating Shout
  3 min cooldown
  10 yard range
  Fears enemies for 8 seconds.

• Execute
  5 yard range
  Does hefty damage to enemies under 20% health.

• Berserker Rage
  30 second cooldown
  Lasts 10 seconds
  Warrior becomes immune to fear effects.

• Death Wish
  3 min cooldown
  Lasts 30 seconds
  Warrior becomes immune to fear effects.
  Requires Arms talents.

• Mortal Strike
  5-6 second cooldown
  Lasts 10 seconds
  5 yard range
  Debuff that decreases healing done on you by 50%.
  Requires Arms talents.

Tips:

• Warriors need rage to do damage and special moves. They do not get rage their attacks are being absorbed by your Power Word: Shield.

• The damage prevented by Power Word: Shield is not lessened if you are under the effects of Mortal Strike. With Mortal Strike upon you, Power Word: Shield is effectively your most mana-efficient single-target “heal.”

• Use an instant cast offensive spell, like Shadow Word: Pain, to quickly put (and keep) warriors in combat to avoid being Charged (as Charge is a decent rage bump for them).

• If a warrior gets a Charge off on you, you can try to Psychic Scream right away. With some luck, you could catch him/her in Battle Stance (and with Death Wish on cooldown).

• Try to save Psychic Scream for when the warrior has all anti-fear abilities on cooldown (Death Wish, etc.).

• Control is key. Draw out a Pummel when you want it by faking a large heal or casting Mind Control first. If the warrior doesn’t interrupt Mind Control, use it to get some distance or cause mass confusion.

• Healing against a warrior can be a challenge. Keep Renew and Prayer of Mending up on you at all times for heals, and keep Power Word: Shield and Inner Fire up to prevent damage.

• Don’t spend a lot of effort running away from a warrior. Distance on a warrior only allows him/her to use Intercept for a free stun. If you see a warrior running the opposite direction, run the same way. S/he is likely just trying to get distance on you to Intercept.

• Trinket out of Intercept.

• If you have a Battlemaster’s trinket, use the health gain from it to stay out of Execute range (stay over 20% health).

• Stoneform (if you are a dwarf) after a warrior gets a large crit on you to avoid taking heavy damage from bleeds (if the warrior has the Deep Wounds talent; many do).

 

Rogues

General Strategy:

• Keep Power Word: Shield, Inner Fire, Prayer of Mending, and Renew up at all times. Draw out spell interruption from casting Mind Control or faking a heal in order to be able to get a real heal off on yourself. Adapt to the type of poison being used on you.

What to watch for:

• Kidney Shot
  20 second cooldown
  Lasts 2-6 seconds
  5 yard range
  Stuns the target.

• Cheap Shot
  Lasts 4 seconds
  5 yard range
  Stuns target. Must be used from stealth.

• Blind
  3 min cooldown
  10 yard range
  Lasts 10 seconds
  Disorients the target. Broken with damage.

• Gouge
  10 second cooldown
  Lasts 4-5.5 seconds
  Stuns target. Broken with damage.

• Sap
  Lasts 10 seconds
  5 yard range
  Incapacitates the target. Must be used from stealth. Broken with damage.

• Kick
  10 second cooldown
  5 yard range
  Interrupts spell casting and prevent any spells fromt hat school from being cast for 5 seconds (can also silence all magic for 2 seconds, with Combat talents).

• Sprint
  5 min cooldown
  Lasts 15 seconds
  Increases movement speed by 70% (at max rank).

• Cloak of Shadows
  1 min cooldown
  Lasts 5 seconds
  Removes harmful magic effects and makes 90% resistant to spells.

• Deadly Throw
  Lasts 6 seconds
  30 yard range
  Reduces movement speed by 50%.

• Wound Poison
  Can reduce the healing done to you by 10%-50%.

• Mind-Numbing Poison
  Can increase casting times by 60%.

• Crippling Poison
  Chance to reduce your movement speed by 70%.

• Vanish
  5 min cooldown
  Lets the rogue stealth mid-combat.

• Dirty Deeds
  Rogue causes up to 20% more damage against enemies under 35% health.
  Requires Subtlety talents.

Tips:

• Mind Vision a rogue if you know s/he is about to stealth as you will then be able to see him/her. Most rogues will not notice. The ones who do notice may waste Vanish on it.

• If you are looking for a stealthed rogue, use Holy Nova rank 1.

• If you are near a rogue that has activated spirit, Psychic Scream if you can to get some distance.

• Don’t use Psychic Scream with the rogue has Cloak of Shadows up.

• Cloak of Shadows will not reduce the damage done by your Shadowfiend.

• Keep your back away from the rogue if they’re carrying daggers,

• If you want to get a heal off, draw out a Kick by faking a large heal or casting Mind Control first. If the rogue doesn’t interrupt Mind Control, use it to get distance on the rogue so that you can heal.

• Try to adapt to the poisons being used on you. If you have Crippling Poison on you, focus more on DPS or healing than running around (and rely on Psychic Scream or Mind Control to get some distance). If you have Mind-Numbing Poison on you then be mobile and focus on instant cast heals and DPS. If you have Wound Poison on you, play defensively, keeping Power Word: Shield up.

• Keep Inner Fire and Power Word: Shield up for damage reduction.

• It can get real tough to get long casts off against rogues; be sure to keep Renew and Prayer of Mending up at all times.

• Don’t just trinket out of any stun and don’t waste it on an opener (Cheap Shot) when you are prebuffed with protective goodness. It is best to save your trinket for Kidney Shot when the rogue has 4-5 combo points on you.

• Use Psychic Scream immediately after using your trinket. Make a macro if you must:
  /use 13
  /cast Psychic Scream
  This will let you get some distance (and/or line of sight) on the rogue and be able to get some healing.

• In terms of stacking debuffs/DoTs on the rogue, try to save long cooldown spells like Devouring Plague (if Undead) for after s/he uses Cloak of Shadows.

• If you are a dwarf, save Stoneform for remove crippling effects (such as Wound Poison) after using your trinket in order to get some distance on the rogue to heal, etc.

• If you have a Battlemaster’s trinket, use the health gain from it to stay out of the Dirty Deeds range (stay over 35% health).

Hunters

General Strategy:

• Positioning is everything. Use Psychic Scream whenever you have the opportunity. Be offensive. Watch for traps. You’ll generally want to ignore the pet and just go straight for the hunter. Self dispel.

What to watch for:

• Freezing Trap
  30 second cooldown
  Lasts 10 seconds
  Freezes you in place, disallowing any action (will break on damage).

• Frost Trap
  30 second cooldown
  Lasts 10 seconds
  Will slow hostile players in a 10 yard radius by 60%.

• Snake Trap
  30 second cooldown
  Lasts 15 seconds
  6-8 snakes will attack nearby players, sometimes poisoning them.

• Viper Sting
  15 second cooldown
  Lasts 8 seconds
  Affects you with a poison that drains 1.4k mana from you (at max rank, more with the Improved Stings talent).

• Concussive Shot
  12 second cooldown
  Lasts 4 seconds
  Dazes you, reducing movement speed by 50%.

• Scatter Shot
  30 second cooldown
  Lasts 4 seconds
  Disorients you (unable to cast or take action).
  Requires Marksmanship talents.

• Silencing Shot
  20 second cooldown
  Lasts 3 seconds
  Silences you (unable to cast any spell).
  Requires Marksmanship talents.

• Bestial Wrath / Beast Within
  2 minute cooldown
  Lasts 18 seconds
  Pet / player immune to fear and deals extra damage.
  Requires Beast Mastery talents.

Tips:

• A hunter without mana can’t trap or do hefty damage. Mana Burn is very effective against them.

• Try to keep yourself positioned in a place where the hunter will have to stay in the open, within line of sight of you at all times. Do not let yourself get kited (if you can) and do not let the hunter pull a shoot-and-hide routine. This kind of duck-and-cover just lets Viper Sting tick down your health and mana while you cannot damage the hunter. Or, alternately, make a hunter chase you into an enclosed space making it easy to keep him/her in melee range.

• Rank 2 of Holy Nova is the perfect rank to kill snakes from a Snake Trap.

• Fade, being the buggy thing that it is, will sometimes cause a pet to stop attacking you.

• Tough to pull off, but if you can, use your Psychic Scream for when a hunter is casting Aimed Shot.

• Use whatever means you have to cure to the poison from Viper Sting (Stoneform, etc.).

• Stay on a hunter (melee range) to reduce damage done to you, but be careful of traps.

• Be watchful for traps. Look for the animation of a hunter placing the trap, and avoid that area. If a hunter seems tied to a spot and willing to let you just run up to him/her, then there is likely a trap nearby.

• Dispel Hunter’s Mark and Concussive Shot off of you.

• Some hunters, when at less than 75% health, will Feign Death to try to trick you into thinking that they are dead. Don’t be fooled.

• If a pet / player have turned bright red, it means that they are under the effects of Bestial Wrath / Beast Within. They cannot be feared, and deal extra damage. This can be used to break fear effects.

Mages

General Strategy:

• Frost Mages: Be offensive and force the mage to use cooldowns. Use burst damage to keep the pressure on. Dispel Frost Nova right away. Heal early. Be mindful of their Counterspell cooldown.

• Fire/Arcane Mages: If you can survive their burst, you have a good shot against them. Heal early and often. Be mindful of their Counterspell cooldown.

What to watch for:

• Counterspell
  24 second cooldown
  Lasts 8 seconds
  Interruptsspell casting, and stops you from casting spells from the interrupted school.

• Polymorph
  Lasts 10 seconds
  The mage changes you into a harmless critter, preventing you from taking any action. Heals any damage previously done to you. Breaks on damage.

• Evocation
  8 minute cooldown
  Lasts 8 seconds
  Mage gains mana back (60% if channeled the full duration). Breaks on damage.

• Spellsteal
  Lasts up to 2 minutes
  Steals a random buff from a target player.

• Presence of Mind
  3 minute cooldown
  Next spell cast with casting time less than 10 seconds will be instant cast.
  Requires Arcane talents.

• Shatter
  Increases spell damage done to targets frozen (by Frost Nova, Freezing Trap, etc.) by 10-50% (depends on talents).
  Requires Frost talents.

• Summon Water Elemental
  3 minute cooldown
  Lasts 45 seconds
  A Water Elemental combat pet is summoned to the aide of the mage.
  Requires Frost talents.

• Ice Block
  5 minute cooldown
  Lasts 10 seconds
  Protects the mage from all damage for 10 seconds, but the mage cannot take any action. This will also clear many debuffs and damage over time spells that were on the mage.
  Requires Frost talents.

• Cold Snap
  8 minute cooldown
  Ends the remaining cooldowns on all the mage’s recently cast spells.
  Requires Frost talents.

Tips:

• Against arcane/fire mages, spam Dispel Magic if you think they are about to try to burst you down. If you can manage to remove Presence of Mind, then you saved yourself from eating an instant-cast Pyroblast.

• Arcane/fire mages have nasty “burst” damage when popping all their cooldowns. Some will Polymorph you first to set up their burst. Trinket out of the Polymorph if you expect this is the case.

• When fighting frost mages, be sure to keep the debuffs dispelled off of you. Frost mages do a small amount of burst damage if you are snared with Frost Nova (this is called a “Shatter Combo”). If you keep everything dispelled off of you, you should have no trouble dispelling Frost Nova fast to avoid that burst.

• A frost mage will likely Iceblock if his/her health gets too low. Be ready will a Mass Dispel to strip the mage of it. Be aware that most frost mages will be able to Iceblock again 30 seconds later (due to Cold Snap).

• A Water Elemental can be annoying, and frost mages can use it to get you frozen for a Shatter combo. It is a caster pet, so it should be pretty easy to get out of its line of sight. It will follow you, but the AI on it makes it think before chasing you. It should be easy to get some distance on it. Alternately, if line of sight is not available to you, then if you can burn it down fast, go for it.

• Keep a mage clear of buffs, like Frost Armor.

• Watch the Counterspell cooldown, and when the mage can cast it rely on instant cast spells. You can bait its use with fake-casting to force the mage to waste it.

• If you see a Polymorph incoming, cast Shadow Word: Death a fraction of a second before the Polymorph lands. The backlash damage from Shadow Word: Death will knock you out of the Polymorph.

• Be wary of using certain self-buffs that a mage can Spellsteal (such as Shadow Protection, if you are a shadow priest).

Warlocks

General Strategy:

• Ignore the pet (unless it can be taken out with a DoT or two). Stay mobile. Save your interrupts for fear effects and Unstable Affliction. Offensively and defensively dispel.

What to watch for:

• Shadow Ward
  30 second cooldown
  Lasts 30 seconds
  Prevents 900+ shadow damage (at max rank).

• Curse of Tongues
  Lasts 30 seconds
  Increases your casting times by 50%-60%.

• Fear
  Lasts 10 seconds
  Casues you to flee in fear, unable to take any other action.

• Deathcoil
  Lasts 3 seconds
  Causes you to flee in horror, unable to take other action. Deals damage to you, and heals the warlock for that damage.

• Howl of Terror
  Lasts 8 seconds
  Causes up to 5 enemies to flee in fear, unable to take other action.

• Spell Lock
  24 second cooldown
  Silences you for 3 seconds (prevents all spell casting) and interrupts you, preventing any spell from being cast from that school for 6 seconds.
  Felhunter ability.

• Devour Magic
  8 second cooldown
  Removes a harmful debuff from a friend, or a helpful buff from an enemy. Heals the Felhunter.
  Felhunter ability.

• Seduction
  Lasts 10 seconds
  Prevents you from taking any action. Breaks on damage.
  Succubus ability.

• Unstable Affliction
  Lasts 18 seconds
  Deals damage over time. If dispelled, it will do 2k+ shadow damage to you and will silence you for 5 seconds.
  Requires Affliction talents.

• Soul Link
  Warlock shares damage taken with its pet (up to 20%).
  Requires Demonology talents.

Tips:

• When you see the Warlock casting Fear at you, buff yourself with Fear Ward right before their spell ends. (You don’t want to leave Fear Ward up on yourself as they warlock will likely have their Felhunter devour it before it can be used; only cast Fear Ward right before it is needed).

• Many affliction warlocks will open with casting Unstable Affliction against you. Interrupt Unstable Affliction every chance you get, and keep the warlock moving (and casting instant cast spells). A warlock’s DoTs are easily dispelled by you (without Unstable Affliction on you).

• If you see a warlock casting Shadow Ward, dispel it right away (if you rely on doing shadow damage).

• Fade will sometimes cause a pet to stop attacking you. It is also useful as dispel-fodder for a felhunter that may be munching on you (you can use rank 1).

• Psychic Scream, if it lasts the full time, can yield the opportunity to get 2-3 Mana Burns off. If you can wear a warlock’s mana down, s/he will likely have to Lifetap to get some back.

• Don’t use your trinket on Deathcoil. Save it for longer-lasting fears (Fear, Howl of Terror).

• Be very careful with dispels if you are up against an Affliction lock. If you cast Mass Dispel and it removes multiple instances of Unstable Affliction, you could easily blow yourself up. Even the silence effect from an accidental dispel of Unstable Affliction can mean your demise.

Druids

General Strategy:

• Balance: (mostly Moonkin form) Mana Burn. Dispel offensively. Be ready to interrupt a large heal if the druid changes form. Be quick to dispel Innervate. Heal early.

• Feral: (mostly Cat or Bear form) Save your interrupts and burst for when druid changes form to heal. Keep Power Word: Shield, Inner Fire, Renew, and Prayer of Mending up at all times.

• Resto: (mostly humanoid form) Be very careful with your mana use. Dispel Innervate right away. Interrupt large heals.

What to watch for:

• Travel Form
  Druid changes form; movement speed is increased by 40%. Only usable outdoors.

• Cyclone
  Lasts 6 seconds
  Banishes you. You take no damage, but can take no action. Has diminishing returns.
  Requires humanoid or Moonkin form.

• Entangling Roots
  Lasts 10 seconds
  Deals damage and holds you in place. Only works outdoors and breaks on damage. Also has diminishing returns.
  Requires humanoid or Moonkin form.

• Innervate
  6 minute cooldown
  Lasts 20 seconds
  Mana regeneration rate of druid is increased by 400%; 100% of mana regen continues while casting.
  Requires humanoid, Moonkin, or Tree form.

• Pounce
  Lasts 3-4 seconds.
  Stuns you and deals damage over time.
  Requires Cat form.

• Rip
  Lasts 12 seconds
  Finishing move that causes bleed damage over time.
  Requires Cat form.

• Maim
  Lasts 2-6 seconds.
  Finishing move that does damage and stuns you. Breaks on damage.
  Requires Cat form.

• Mangle
  Lasts 12 seconds
  Damages you and gives you a debuff that makes you take extra damage from bleeds.
  Requires Cat or Bear form.
  Requires Feral talents.

• Bash
  1 minute cooldown
  Lasts 4 seconds
  Stuns you, preventing you from taking any action. Also used as an interrupt for spell casting.
  Requires Bear form.

• Feral Charge
  15 second cooldown
  Lasts 4 seconds
  Requires 8-15 yard range
  Interrupts your spell casting for the duration.
  Requires Bear form.
  Requires Feral talents.

• Force of Nature
  3 minute cooldown
  Lasts 30 seconds
  Summons 3 treants to attack the druid’s enemies.
  Requires humanoid or Moonkin form.
  Requires Balance talents.

• Nature’s Swiftness
  3 minute cooldown
  Druid’s next nature spell cast is instant cast.
  Requires humanoid or Tree form.
  Requires Restoration talents.

Tips:

• Mind Vision druids if you know they are about to stealth as you will then be able to still see them when they do.

• If a druid drops to humanoid form (from cat / bear / moonkin), it is likely to heal. Keep Psychic Scream or, better yet, Silence, for this. The druid will likely try to Cyclone you first.

• You can Psychic Scream or Silence a druid if s/he is about to Cyclone. Cyclone is used to get distance and/or time for the druid to drink or heal (or escape altogether). Cyclone has diminishing returns (first time cast on you it lasts 6 seconds, the second time is 3 seconds, the third is 1.5 seconds, the fourth and subsequent times you are immune) which gets reset after 15 seconds.

• Proactively dispel heals and buffs the druid has on him/her. Quickly dispel Innervate and HoTs when cast. It is generally considered better to dispel Lifebloom than to leave it up, unless you are in a battle against a Resto druid.

• A mana burned druid cannot shapeshift, but the only times a druid isn’t immune to Mana Burn is in humanoid, Moonkin, and Tree forms.

• Mind Control will only work against a druid in humanoid form and Moonkin form. You can fake casting it against druids in one of these two forms to force them to shapechange (to avoid the effect). All that shapechanging kills their mana pool.

• When you are up against only a Feral druid, trinket out of the opening stun from Pounce.

• You can trinket out of Cyclone as well.

• If you see a druid in bear form running the opposite direction, run the same way. S/he is likely trying to get distance on you to Feral Charge.

• If you are a dwarf up against a feral druid, save Stoneform for the bleed damage from Rip (finishing move), not Pounce (opener). Rip does almost twice the bleed damage that Pounce does.

• Balance druids will usually save their summoned treants (from their Force of Nature spell) for when they are trying to burst you down. Save Psychic Scream for them.

• Be very stingy with you mana use against a Resto druid. Most can heal a lot longer than you can DPS.

Shaman

General Strategy:

• Elemental: Be sure to keep Silence or an interrupt handy for heals. Knock out Tremor Totem before you fear and Grounding Totem before going on offense. Mana Burn is a good way to shut them down, though be very careful with Earth Shock’s interrupt. Offensively dispel.

• Enhancement: Kite away from totems. Stay out of melee range as much as possible. Dispel Frost Shock’s snare right away. Have an interrupt handy for when the shaman tries to heal.

• Resto: Give yourself a buffer for dispels (with rank 1 Fade, etc.). Knock out mana gain totems right away. Keep shutting down healing spells with interrupts. Mana Burn is a good offensive spell against them, but be careful of Earth Shock’s interrupt.

What to watch for:

• Ghost Wolf
  Shaman changes form; increases movement speed by 40%. Only usable outdoors.

• Earth Shock
  5-6 second cooldown
  Lasts 2 seconds
  Interrupts your spell casting and prevents any spell from that interrupted school from being cast for the duration.

• Frost Shock
  5-6 second cooldown
  Lasts 8 seconds
  Deals damage and reduces your movement speed by 50% for the duration.

• Purge
  Removes 1-2 buffs from the shaman’s target enemy.

• Bloodlust / Heroism
  10 minute cooldown
  Lasts 40 seconds
  Increases melee, ranged, and casting speed by 30% for all the shaman’s party members.

• Grounding Totem
  15 second cooldown
  Lasts 45 seconds
  Will absorb one harmful damage spell directed at the shaman, destroying the totem.

• Mana Tide Totem
  5 minute cooldown
  Lasts 12 seconds
  Restores 6% of total mana every 3 seconds for every in shaman’s party.
  Requires Restoration talents.

• Mana Spring Totem
  Lasts 2 minutes
  Restores 20 mp5 to the shaman’s party members.

• Tremor Totem
  Lasts 2 minutes
  Removes fear, charm, and sleep effects from the shaman’s party members.

• Earthbind Totem
  15 second cooldown
  Lasts 45 seconds
  Slows the movement speed of enemies by 50%.

• Windfury Totem
  Lasts 2 minutes
  Each melee hit has a 20% chance of granting an extra attack with increased attack power.

• Healing Stream Totem
  Lasts 2 minutes
  Heals the shaman’s group member for a very small amount every 2 seconds.

• Searing Totem
  Lasts 1 minute
  Deals ranged fire damage to the shaman’s enemies.

• Fire Elemental Totem
  20 minute cooldown
  Lasts 2 minutes
  A Fire Elemental is called to aide the shaman, and will shoot fire at enemies. It can be destroyed by killing the totem; the totem has well over 1k health.

• Earth Elemental Totem
  20 minute cooldown
  Lasts 2 minutes
  A Earth Elemental is called to the aide of the shaman, and will melee enemies that come near it. It can be destroyed by killing the totem; the totem has well over 1k health.

Tips:

• Ghost Wolf form can be dispelled.

• Heroism/Bloodlust can also be dispelled.

• If a shaman is spamming Purge at you, you can use silly things like rank 1 of Fade and Touch of Weakness to give yourself some Purge protection.

• A fast wand it great for taking out totems.

• Quickly take out Tremor Totem and follow with Psychic Scream before the shaman has a chance to recast it.

• Kill the Grounding Totem before offensively casting.

• You can get 2-3 Mana Burns off if Psychic Scream lasts the full 8 seconds.

• If you are up against an Enhancement shaman, take out the Earthbind totems right away. If there are other enemy melee classes nearby, be sure to take out the shaman’s Windfury totem, too.

• A shaman’s healing spells all have cast times. Interrupt what you can (with Silence, Psychic Scream, Chastise, etc.).

• If a shaman is quick to recast totems, start kiting the shaman instead of trying to take the totems out. Most totems have a 20-30 yard range.

• Be careful with your use of spells with cast times. A shaman can keep shutting them down with rank 1 Earth Shock every few seconds. Be mindful of its cooldown. Also, you can bait Earth Shock by feign-casting healing spells or with Mind Control.

• A Searing Totem has a ranged fire attack (20 yards), and can cause a lot of annoying spell pushback for you unless you take it out.

• You can use rank 1 of Fade, etc. to see if the shaman will waste mana purging it from you. If the shaman uses Purge on it, then you can keep using rank 1 spells to force the shaman to waste mana purging.

Paladins

General Strategy:

• Keep the pressure on to force the paladin to cast Divine Shield, and be ready to Mass Dispel it right away. Save interrupts for Holy Light. Offensively and defensively dispel. Be careful with your mana use.

What to watch for:

• Blessing of Freedom
  25 second cooldown
  Lasts 10 seconds
  Grants immunity to movement impairing effects.

• Blessing of Protection
  5 minute cooldown
  Lasts 10 seconds
  Protects the paladin from physical attacks. Paladin cannot make any attacks during that time (but can heal, etc.).

• Divine Shield
  5 minute cooldown
  Lasts 12 seconds
  Protects the paladin from all attacks. Increases time between the paladin’s attacks by 100%.

• Divine Protection
  5 minute cooldown
  Lasts 8 seconds
  Protects the paladin from all attacks. Paladin cannot make any attacks during that time (but can heal, etc.).

• Avenging Wrath
  3 minute cooldown
  Lasts 20 seconds
  Increases damage done by 30%.

• Lay on Hands
  40 min – 1 hour cooldown
  Paladin heals a friendly target to an amount equal to the paladin’s maximum health. Changes how much mana the paladin has (typically depletes all but a little bit).

• Hammer of Justice
  45 second – 1 minute cooldown
  Lasts 6 seconds
  Stuns you.

• Hammer of Wrath
  6 second cooldown
  Ranged attack that deals a moderate amount of damage. Only usable on enemies under 20% health.

• Cleanse
  Removes 1 poison, 1 disease, and 1 magic effect from a friendly target.

Tips:

• When paladins get down to about 1/3 health, most will use Divine Shield followed by Holy Light (a large heal). Be ready with a Mass Dispel followed by a Silence (or Psychic Scream).

• Divine Shield cannot be dispelled with regular old Dispel Magic. Mass Dispel will let you remove immunities (like Divine Shield), so you have to use that instead.

• Psychic Scream, if it lasts the full time, can yield the opportunity to get 2-3 Mana Burns off.

• Save Silence (and Psychic Scream, Chastise) to be your interrupts of healing spells.

• The lack of ranged spells on a paladin means that you are at the advantage if you are at a distance from him/her.

• Dispel Blessings from the paladin.

• Dispel Judgement of Seals from you.

• You can use rank 1 of Shadow Word: Pain to see if the paladin will waste mana cleansing it and to test his/her Cleanse speed. If the paladin isn’t dispelling it, put up some higher rank DoTs. If he/she is, then you can keep using rank 1 spells to force Cleanses.

• When used, Blessing of Protection, Divine Shield, Divine Protection, and Avenging Wrath all cause the “Forbearance” effect, preventing the paladin from using any of those abilities for a minute. It is useful to track the cooldown on Forbearance. All those effects can be dispelled.

Priests

General Strategy:

• The first priest who runs out of mana loses; use Mana Burn liberally. Be quick with offensive dispelling.

What to watch for:

• Mass Dispel
  High mana cost spell that removes 1 magic debuff from up to 5 friendly targets and 1 magic buff from up to 5 enemies in a 15 yard radius. It select a random thing to dispel in each case, with the exception of targeting immunities (Blessing of Protection, Ice Block, etc.) first.

• Dispel Magic
  Removes up to 2 debuffs from a friendly target or up to 2 buffs from an enemy target.

• Mana Burn
  Drains a good chunk of mana from the target. Deals 0.5 points of shadow damage for each point of mana drained. Does not scale with gear, etc.

• Psychic Scream
  26-30 second cooldown
  Lasts 8 seconds
  Causes 2-5 enemies (depending on rank) within 8 yards to flee in fear for the duration.

• Power Word: Shield
  4 second cooldown
  Lasts 30 seconds
  Absorbs a moderate amount of damage. Prevents spell pushback until the damage absorption run out or the buff ends. Targets buffed with Power Word: Shield cannot be buffed by it again for 15 seconds.

• Shadowfiend
  5 minute cooldown
  Lasts 15 seconds
  Summons a shadow pet that will aide the priest. The priest gains mana equal to the damage the shadow pet does.

• Silence
  45 second cooldown
  Lasts 5 seconds
  Silences the target, preventing all spell casting from him / her.
  Requires Shadow talents.

• Blackout
  Shadow spells have a 10% chance of stunning the target for 3 seconds.
  Requires Shadow talents.

• Power Infusion
  3 minute cooldown
  Lasts 15 seconds
  Increases damage and healing of target by 20%.
  Requires Discipline talents.

• Pain Suppression
  2 minute cooldown
  Lasts 8 seconds
  Reduces all damage taken by target by 40%. Increases target’s resistance to being dispelled by 65%.
  Requires Discipline talents.

• Chastise
  30 second cooldown
  Lasts 2 seconds
  Stuns the target.
  Requires Dwarf and Draenei races.

• Devouring Plague
  3 minute cooldown
  Lasts 24 seconds
  Disease effect that deals a moderate amount of shadow damage and heals the caster for the same amount.
  Requires Undead race.

Tips:

• Much of a priest’s defenses are magically-based buffs (Power Word: Shield, Shadow Protection, Renew, Prayer of Mending, Blessed Resilience, etc.). Dispel Magic and Mass Dispel are key to shutting down their defenses.

• Fade will sometimes cause an opposing player’s shadowfiend to stop attacking you. It is also useful as dispel-fodder for when you are being spam-dispelled (use rank 1 of Fade).

• Use line of sight whenever you can to block Mana Burn.

• If a priest runs in close to you, it is likely to cast Psychic Scream. Try to beat him/her to the punch by spamming your hotkey for it when the other priest moves in towards you.

• Psychic Scream, if it lasts the full time, can yield the opportunity to get 2-3 Mana Burns off or to get some much needed healing.

• The best time to use your shadowfiend is in a Mana Burn race. The spell pushback that it causes can tip the scales in your favor.

• If another priest puts their shadowfiend on you, then shield yourself. It will prevent them from getting mana back and will help your avoid spell pushback.

• Don’t bother wasting the mana on Mass Dispel if the enemy has Pain Suppression up, as Pain Suppression will give your opponent an extra 65% chance to resist dispels. Use regular Dispel Magic instead (if you must); it’s cheaper.

• Remember that priests of other races will have have race-specific spells different than your own and you may need to be prepared for their use. For example, when facing an undead you are going to want to be ready to clear Devouring Plague off of you right away with an Abolish Disease, Stoneform, etc.

If you have any suggestions or additions to this list, let me know!

 

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