Priest Leveling Guide and Priest Leveling Spec

Priest has a somewhat undeserved reputation as a horrible class to level. Hopefully, though, this Priest leveling guide and its Priest leveling spec will make your experience less of a hassle than you are expecting.

Priest is an versatile class, and in the hands of a skilled player can easily outpace other, simpler classes. For the purposes of leveling, though, we’re going to stick with the DPS spec, Shadow, as its efficiency is hard to beat for grinding through mobs.

The basic Shadow Priest Leveling Spec is as follows:

You should put all your points into Shadow at first, until you get all the high level talents completed.

Spirit Tap – Rank 3/3

Darkness – Rank 5/5

Improved Shadow Word: Pain – Rank 2/2

Improved Mind Blast – Rank 5/5

Mind Flay – Rank 1/1

Veiled Shadows – Rank 2/2

Shadow Reach – Rank 2/2

Shadow Weaving – Rank 3/3

Vampiric Embrace – Rank 1/1

Improved Vampiric Embrace – Rank 2/2

Focused Mind – Rank 1/3

Improved Devouring Plague – Rank 3/3

Shadowform – Rank 1/1

Shadow Power – Rank 4/5

Improved Shadowform – Rank 2/2

Misery – Rank 3/3

Psychic Horror – Rank 1/1

Vampiric Touch – Rank 1/1

Pain and Suffering – Rank 3/3

Twisted Faith – Rank 5/5

Dispersion – Rank 1/1

Then, the rest goes into Discipline

Twin Disciplines – Rank 5/5

Improved Inner Fire – Rank 3/3

Improved Power Word: Fortitude – Rank 2/2

Meditation – Rank 3/3

Inner Focus – Rank 1/1

Improved Power Word: Shield – Rank 3/3

Mental Agility – Rank 3/3

So you’ve got your Priest leveling spec, now let’s get to the Priest leveling guide.

First, some general tips:

Use keybinds for skills, and your mouse for turning! Clicking skills and turning with your keys is slow and inefficient. It can be hard to get the hang of, but it’s a key skill for anyone looking to master WoW.

Sell everything that is white quality or better on the AH; use an Alt and mail stuff to him to save time. You’ll find you have all the gold you need for awesome gear from level one to level eighty.

Don’t waste your logged out time; always log at an inn so you can get Rest XP.

Use a good questing guide! I’ll link my review of the most popular ones at the end of the article.

Don’t forget to keep a good supply of Drink! Food isn’t as important, since you can heal, but it can help too.

And here are the Priest leveling guide specific tips:

Shadow Word Pain, Mind Flay, Dispersion, Inner Fire, and Power Word: Shield are all good Glyphs; which ones are best is up to your play-style, gear, and level, so experiment to find the best fit!

Keep your buffs up! Your Stamina, Spirit, and Armor buffs are all vital to your well being, so don’t forget them!

Learn to kite! If things go bad, being good at kiting can keep you alive long enough to finish your enemies off.

Only use Power Word: Shield in emergencies, when you need time to heal, as it’s otherwise a waste of mana.

Go for Hit Rating, Spell Power, Spirit, and Int over other stats! Stamina is okay but much less vital!

Now, how exactly do you play your Priest? It depends what level you are!

1-19: Smite and your mace are your only friends until level 5, when you can buy your first wand. Just tough it out. Use Mind Blast to open once you get it, then use Shadow Word Pain while running away, then start wanding til the enemy dies.

20-29:You get a lot of new abilities at 20. You’ll now want to open with Holy Fire, followed by Mind Blast, then Devouring Plague and SW:P while kiting, then finish with Mind Flay and wanding. You can drop DP if it is overkill, to conserve mana.

30-39: Same as before, but now you’ve got Vampiric Embrace, so be sure to keep that buff up along with your other buffs; the drain will turn you more or less invincible.

40-49:Finally, Shadowform! You’ll spend the rest of your time leveling in this form, which is fine because it looks cool. Drop Holy Fire from your rotation, as it removes you from Shadowform. You need to rely on your PW:S and drains for health, but this isn’t much of a problem. In real emergencies, you can still use other heals, just remember to get back into Shadowform after.

50+:You’ll get Vampiric Touch now. Use it first, but otherwise things should be the same. If you’ve lost track, things should go like this for the rest of your leveling:

VT, MB, DP,SW:P, Mind Flay til dead (maybe another Mind Blast, though not much should last this long)

So now you’ve got all the skills you need to make leveling to eighty as easy as possible. For maximum efficiency, though, I recommend checking out my review of top questing guides, and finding one to suit your tastes.

And once you reach level eighty, check out my Priest gold farming guide to get the most out of your character!