Another day, another talent tree for Mists of Pandaria. Today is the priest tree. I’ve recently changed my Alliance main to a shadow priest, and am enjoying that class and spec a lot. I’ve also toyed with Holy and Disc somewhat, but this will be mostly from a Shadow Priest perspective.
Level 15:
Void Tendrils: Summons Shadowy tendrils out of the ground, rooting all targets within 10 yrds. for 20 seconds. Killing the tendril will cancel the effect. (4800 mana cost, Instant, 30 sec CD)
Initially, I can see PvE Shadows wanting to take this. Priests lack real CC, Mind Control causes you to lose sight of your own action bar spells and unable to keep your dots up, and shackle undead is only usable…..well……on undead. Don’t even mention Psychic Scream. For two reasons, the first being that, unglyphed,…..Psychic Scream is a complete /fail for CC. The second reason: read on farther.
The only problem with this one is that killing the tendril removes it. This makes it unlike Druid roots, which can’t be killed. In which case, that pretty much negates it for PvP, although, I suppose it’ll be marginally useful in that portion of the game.
The problem with this, for me, is the mana cost. At level 15, 4800 mana. Do level 15 priest even have 4800 mana??? Maybe heirloomed they do. I sure hope that’s not going to be the set in stone mana cost on that. Cripes, even with Dispersion that sucks.
Psyfiend: Summons a Psyfiend that stands in place. The Psyfiend casts a Psychic Scream on a nearby enemy within 40 yrds. every 2 seconds lasting for 10 seconds, preferring anything attacking the Priest or her friends. (4800 Mana cost, Instant, 1 Minute CD)
Purely PvP unless that Psychic Scream it casts doesn’t cause the mobs to scatter in all directions like unglyphed Psychic Scream does for a Priest, right now. Again, 4800 mana. Where on Earth are they getting these numbers?! It’s a lvl 15 spell, but we’re seeing mana numbers from lvl 50!
Psychic Scream: The caster lets out a psychic scream, causing 5 enemies within 8 yards to flee for 8 seconds. Damage caused may interrupt the effect. (4800 Mana cost, Instant, 30 Second CD)
This should have just been called the PvP tier, because nothing in here will benefit a PvEer, except possibly the Void Tendrils. They also should have labeled it, “the suck all the priest mana we can get” tier. 4800 mana is lol for these. It costs me 11k mana to cast the version of Psychic Scream we have, now. If the lvl 15 version of this one is going to be 4800 mana, wtf is it going to look like at lvl 90?! It had better not be too out of whack, that’s for sure.
As I just pointed out, we have Psychic Scream right now and this tells me we’re going to lose it and it will be talented only. Fine. If you don’t PvP, you don’t cast this as a general rule unless it’s glyphed. Because mobs that scatter, pick up yet more mobs to bring over and rip your face off. And, that’s shitty.
For me, I’d be choosing the Psychic Scream spell. I don’t do much PvE, but I’d choose tendrils for PvE.
Level 30:
Body and Soul: When you cast Power Word: Shield or Leap of Faith, you increase the target’s movement speed by 60% for 4 seconds.
Lots of PvP potential in this one. Especially, arenas! I have never once cast Leap of Faith though. I think that’s probably PvE, more, but again, I don’t arena yet. it might be pretty useful if PvE for movement boosts on shield.
Path of the Devout: Increases your movement speed while Levitating by 25%.
Ummmm…..lol? Why? When do people levitate other than for fun while waiting to pull Drek or when jumping off the cliff at the Lumbermill trying to get to the Blacksmith?? If you get hit, Levitate goes the way of the Dodo bird, so what’s the point? Fun, I guess. I can now move 25% faster when I jump off the cliff at the Lumbermill.
Phantasm: Anytime you fade, you remove all movement impairing effects from yourself and your movement speed will be unhindered for 3 seconds.
Okay, well, the first two increased movement speed. This one just says your speed will be “unhindered” for 3 seconds. WTF does that mean? What if Joe Hunter hits me with Concussion shot? Does it mean I’m immune??? But, that’s only when I Fade.
Currently, PvP specced Shadows, have a talent that gives us this, but doesn’t include the incredibly vague movement speed lingo.
Whatever the case, Phantasm is my choice, here.
Level 45:
From Darkness Comes Light:
Surge of Light: You have a 6% chance when you Smite, Heal, Flash Heal, Binding Heal or Greater Heal to case your next Flash Heal to be instant cast and have no mana cost.
Surge of Darkness (Shadowform): You have a 6% chance when you deal damage with Mind Flay to cause your next Mind Blast to be instant cast and have no Shadow Orb cost.
I can’t stand the name of this talent. Couldn’t think of anything else? It’s hella long. Not to mention, it’s really not all that great from a PvP standpoint. Most of the time, in PvP, I’m dotting……not Mind Flaying.
Divine Star: Fires a Divine Star in front of you, traveling 20 yrds doing damage to all enemies and healing all targets in it’s path.
After reaching it’s destination, it will return to you also dealing damage and healing all in it’s path. (Instant, 30 sec. CD)
Wow, really?! That sounds a little OP to me, but who am I to argue?? I’m sure it will be for some almost paltry amount, but sounds fun! Heh.
Archangel: Archangel (Caster form) – Consumes your Evangelism, increasing your healing done by 5% for each Evangelism consumed. 30 second cooldown
Dark Archangel (shadowform) – Consumes your Shadow Orbs, increasing the damage done by your Mind Flay, Mind Spike, Mind Blast, and Shadow Word: Death by 5% each Shadow Orb consumed. 90 second cooldown
Okay, why would the shadow form of this spell have a cooldown that is 3 times what the regular form of it is?! Who the hell thought that up?!
This means we’re losing Archangel as we currently have it, which is actually fine with me. Less buttons to click. I’ll probably choose Divine Star. The ability to heal people in PvP in shadowform is attractive.
Level 60:
Desperate Prayer: Instantly heals the caster for 30% of their total health. (Instant, 2 min CD)
Currently, a talent in the holy tree, this is the exact same thing, only available to all priests, now. Attractive, it’s an “oh shit” button. But…….it’s one more button and most of the time I forgot to cast this as a holy.
Angelic Bulwark: Increases the effectiveness of your own shield effects on yourself by 30%.
For Shadow, Meh. Has good PvP implications, marginal PvE implications, but is this the best we’re gonna get?? For Disc, this could be absolutely fantastic, though, think of the healing!
Final Prayer: Anytime a damaging attack brings you below 30% health, you gain an absorption shield equal to 20% of your total health lasting for 20 seconds.
This effect cannot occur more than once every 90 seconds.
Basically, an automatic “oh shit” button, every minute and a half. If I were a Disc priest in PvE, this is the talent I’d choose because of the fact I already have my own shields with healing on them. 30% better shields might be attractive, but this would be better on fights where I’m already busy and my own health reaches the breaking point.
As a Shadow, in PvP, again, this is the talent for me. One less button to remember to click, and I’m not worried about my own shields, really.
Level 75:
Twist of Fate: Increases damage and healing done to targets at or below 25%.
A completely different version of this talent than what we currently have, but I like this one better. I’d rather do 25% more damage to an already dying target in PvP or PvE. Or 25% more healing to my tanks who are going down fast.
Power Infusion: Infuses the target with power, increasing spell casting speed by 20%, and reducing the mana cost of all spells by 20%. Lasts 15 seconds.(5120 Mana cost, Instant, 2 minute CD)
Same as the talent we currently see in the Discipline tree. Looks great upon a cursory glance, and I suspect that most priests will take this. But, I intend to do a little bit of testing on a raid dummy. Because I want to know just how much of my rotation I can cast in 15 seconds, and how much mana that would cost me. Then I’m going to reduce that mana by the 20% from the tooltip above and see if it’s far more mana than the wallop they’re trying to give in the mana wallet with this one.
20% casting speed increase would probably be great on boss fights for PvE. Although……as a Shadow, I spend a good portion of my time watching cooldowns, dots and mind flaying. None of which would be affected by cast time. Plus, this is yet another button to slap on the already crowded bars. Purely PvE, no PvP aspects at all, I don’t think.
Serendipity: When you heal with Binding Heal or Flash Heal, the cast time of your next Greater Heal or Prayer of Healing spell is reduced by 20% and mana cost reduced by 10%. Stacks up to 2 times, lasts 10 secs.
Mindmelt (shadowform): When you deal damage with Mind Spike, the cast time of your next Mind blast is reduced by 50% lasting 6 seconds. Mind Melt can stack up to 2 times.
A holy talent and shadow talent all rolled up into one thing for everyone. However…….it’s pretty useless to me in PvP. Mind Blast is great, but as I mentioned before, my time is spent dotting, not casting most of the time. It makes Mind Blast a .75 cast time, which is great, but only marginally useful because the mana cost is still unaffected. It would be a fabulous way to go OOM fast. So, I don’t think I need any help in that department.
Twist of Fate wins out, here for me as a Shadow. Power Infusion for Disc/Holy.
Level 90:
Vow of Unity: You create a Vow of Unity with the friendly target. Whenever you heal the targets through spells and effects, you are also healed equal to 20% of that amount.
In addition, when the target is attacked, 50% of the damage is redirected to your over 6 seconds.
If your target is a victim of an attack greater than 30% of their total health, the Vow of Unity effect ends. (Instant, 3 minute CD)
For a Disc or a Holy, this is a no brainer. This thing is awesome for them. But, has zero for me as a shadow.
Void Shift: You swap health percentages with the current friendly target. After this effects ends, you are instantly healed for 25% of your total health. (Instant, 3 minute CD)
Interesting. Could be fun for 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5 arenas! PvE could also benefit from this. Swap percentages with a healer and save your raid! I can’t see me using this in battlegrounds. But, one never knows. 1/4 of my health isn’t all that much though.
Vampiric Dominance: When you deal damage or healing, 15% of the amount is healed on up to 3 low health nearby allies.
No button, no cooldown, and I can heal nearby allies for 15% of my damage output? O’rly?! Lots of potential for this in PvP…..and PvE frankly! I would go with Vampiric Dominance, here.