Holy/Disc, Disc/holy, or Shadow/Disc and the leveling priest

[Guest]

I just want to know since I have a new priest which of these would be best for leveling as a priest I kinda like haveing the 30% continued regen from Disc but I also want the DPS output of Shadow, but basicly what I want to know is while leveling is it best to be a Disc/holy or Holy/disc healer or to be a Shadow Damage machine.

Any imput?

[Logros]

Shadow. Just has much less downtime than Holy. VE (when you get it), Mind Blast, Mind Flay. A good cycle for dps, without blowing all your mana. SW is decent damage, but very mana inefficient, so only use it on longer fights.

[Guest]

I feel this is a matter of preference. My usual leveling talent path with a priest (and yes, I have several, gods help me >.<) usually goes something like this:

2/2 Healing Focus (Holy)
5/5 Spirit Tap (Shadow)
5/5 Wand Specialization (Disc)
5/5 Holy Specialization (Holy)
5/5 Divine Fury (Holy)
3/3 Improved Renew (Holy)
2/2 Searing Light (Holy)
2/2 Improved Power Word: Fortitude
(4 points of your choices in Disc - I usually took Martyrdom and 2 point of Silent Resolve or 4 points in Silent Resolve if I was grouping more than soloing)
1/1 Inner Focus (Disc)
3/3 Meditation (Disc)
5/5 Mental Agility (Disc)
1/1 Divine Spirit (Disc)
2/2 Improved Divine Spirit (Disc)

...and so forth.

That is my preference, and I found it worked better than Shadow for me and for a couple others I know (ask Vanea about his shadow experiences some time :>), also allowing you to heal with a bit more ease than you would have as full Shadow (although if you know what you're doing [and it's not hard, I promise ] and keep some healing gear, you can heal near anything short of Heroics and raid encounters as Shadow).

Mixing in a moderate amount of Spirit or "Owl" gear is very helpful no matter which path you take, because Spirit Tap = ah-may-zing (but especially so when paired with Meditation, imo).

If you decide to go Shadow, I would encourage you to spec Discipine until level 40, and then switch to full Shadow for Shadowform. Having played around with both a fair bit, I have always heard and found from personal experience that Disc is much more efficient (and better for staying alive) before 40th.

[Guest]

honestly, from lurking in the priest forums and my own experience, shadow is the easier way to go. Healing won't be an issue pre-40, and depending on your healing skill up to 55-60. It wasn't until I hit TBC instances that I began to felt the ding of being shadow. up until then, I was a healing AND soloing machine.

The idea of spending 70 levels lolspamsmiting it makes me want to faint
copy/paste of the lvling build I used from wowhealers.com. site hasn't been updated in a while from what I can see, and some stuff is out of date (no TBC stuffs), but I will admit that the lvling build wasn't too bad.

1. Spirit Tap – 5/5 Put your first 5 points here, this is vital for speedy soloing
2. Improved Shadow Word: Pain 2/2 put your next two points here. It will increase your leveling by doing more damage for the same mana cost.
3. Shadow Focus 3/5 These three points will help with resists some, but mostly it is to fulfill the prerequisite for Mind Flay
4. Mind flay 1/1 this is your 11th point and a vital one. Mind flay will be your most mana efficient damage spell.
5. Unbreakable Will 5/5 The affects of this talent are ok, but you are using this as a prerequisite mostly.
6. Improved Power Word: Shield 3/3 This is important, until lvl40 when you can re-spec to full Shadow, you will want to be able to refresh your shield mid fight for some tougher mobs.
7. Improved Power Word: Fortitude 2/2 Extra hit points never hearts, you should always have this buff active.
8. Mental Agility 5/5 This is your final Discipline talent, you will be casting many instant spells and this will help reduce downtime greatly.
9. Improved Mind Blast 4/5 Mind blast is going to be your primary nuke, you want to be able to recast it as fast as possible
At this point you will be level 39. When you reach level 40 it is time to re-spec your character. This should only cost you 1 gold, and it is well worth it because at level 40 you will truly be a Shadow Priest. Here is how you will re-spec at 40:
· Spirit Tap – 5/5
· Improved Shadow Word: Pain – 2/2
· Shadow focus - 3/5
· Mind Flay – 1/1
· Improved Mind Blast – 5/5
· Improved Fade - 2/2
· Shadow Reach - 2/3
· Shadow Weaving 5/5
· Darkness - 5/5
· Shadowform 1/1
As you level up from level 40 you should want reinvest in Discipline as follows:
1. Unbreakable Will – 5/5
2. Improved Power Word: Shield – 3/3
3. Improved Power Word: Fortitude – 2/2
4. Mental Agility - 5/5
At this point you have developed a build that will see you through to 60, you can add extra points where ever you choose, and they will not significantly affect your leveling speed.

[Eruadan]

It doesnt really matter....the only necessity would be Spirit Tap...max that out to start and it doesnt matter if you smite or mind flay...I leveled holy with Spirit Tap and it went like a breeze.