Best Priest Build in Azeroth Survivors

How it plays

Priest clear is a dot and a nova, then a long drop to single target. Shadow Word: Pain has 0 direct damage and 4 damage over time, three applications over 9 seconds, range 18, cooldown 3, clear score 36.0. Holy Nova is 11 damage at radius 9, cooldown 3.2, 8 targets, and it drains 10 percent of the hit. Clear score 28.9. Shadow Word: Pain and Holy Nova together total 64.9 of the 99.9. Everything else is a small add.

Smite is the starter, 14 damage out to 20 yards every 1.2 seconds, scoring 12.3. Holy Fire pairs 22 damage with 3 damage over time for 6 seconds at that same reach, on a 3.5 second cooldown, and lands at 11.7. Mind Blast throws 32 damage to 22 yards and still finishes at 9.6 because it waits 3.5 seconds and has no dot. The heavier blast loses to the spell you already start with.

Psychic Scream is in the six at 1.4. Radius 8, 2 damage, cooldown 12, fear for 3.5 seconds. You are spending the last slot on fear because Power Word: Shield scores 0.0. The shield is 30 damage absorbed for 10 seconds on a 14 second cooldown. It is the survival tool for 120 health. It is not a clear tool. Fade will not fix that either.

Early and late

Smite is the starting skill at range 20, clear score 12.3, on 120 health and speed 7.5. Shadow Word: Pain and Holy Nova are scored with no learned level attached. The dot scores 36.0 and it is the highest Priest number. Holy Nova wants enemies inside radius 9, and the body that has to stand there has 120 health. Priest has no ground spell.

Fade is learned at level 5. Fade stores amount 1.4 for 4 seconds, a 40 percent step over base, and the cooldown is 18. Howl of Terror waits 20 seconds, and that scatter is the longer F cooldown. Fade amount 1.4 is lower than Blessing of Freedom at 1.6, Aspect of the Cheetah at 1.7, and Dash at 1.8, and the kind stored for Fade is Vanish. Psychic Scream fears for 3.5 seconds of a 12 second cooldown. Fade is up for 4 seconds of its 18. Walk speed stays 7.5 outside those windows.

Holy Fire is the second dot, and the split is close. The direct portion is 6.6, the damage over time portion is 5.1, and together they are 11.7, just under Smite at 12.3. Mind Blast has the bigger printed hit, 32 damage, and no dot, so it finishes at 9.6. Power Word: Shield absorbs 30 and scores 0.0 on a 14 second cooldown. Keeping the 1.4 fear instead of the zero shield is a clear-score choice. The health underneath that choice is still 120.

Tradeoffs

Warlock has the same health and speed and a 254.2 clear score built from better dots plus Hellfire. Priest Shadow Word: Pain at 36.0 is a real dot and it is still about half of Curse of Agony. Priest does not have Hellfire, a radius 7 aura that scores 50.4. The fear is the thing Warlock does not put in the six. Howl of Terror is a scatter with a 20 second cooldown and it is not a damaging skill in the Warlock six.

Paladin also novas around the player and then plants a 52.3 ground spell under a 160 health body. Priest nova is 28.9 and the body is 120. Paladin wins the "stand in the pack" plan. Priest wins only if the fight is dots at range 18 and an occasional fear. Rogue, the other C class, clears 93.5 at 5.5 yards. Priest at least starts at range 20.

Recommended Priest build

Shadow Word: Pain, Holy Nova, Smite, Holy Fire, Mind Blast, and Psychic Scream add to 99.9. Tier power reaches 108 once the extras are counted. The scream is in because the alternative is a shield at 0.0. If you value the shield over 1.4 points of clear, you know exactly what you traded.

1. 1
   Shadow Word Pain

   • Dot
   • 3s cooldown
   • clear score 36.0
2. 2
   Holy Nova

   • Nova
   • 3.2s cooldown
   • clear score 28.9
3. 3
   Smite

   • Strike
   • 1.2s cooldown
   • clear score 12.3
4. 4
   Holy Fire

   • Strike
   • 3.5s cooldown
   • clear score 11.7
5. 5
   Mind Blast

   • Strike
   • 3.5s cooldown
   • clear score 9.6
6. 6
   Psychic Scream

   • Nova
   • 12s cooldown
   • clear score 1.4

Passives

A low clear score still likes haste. Arcane Intellect at level 5 is worth +66.6 to Priest, Blessing of Might is worth +49.9, and Blessing of Kings only reaches +14.0. Crit stays quiet because the lead skill is damage over time, and that term ignores crit. Level intellect, then might.

Mistakes

Filling the sixth slot with Power Word: Shield and calling it a build choice that keeps your score. The shield scores 0.0. Psychic Scream scores 1.4 and fears for 3.5 seconds. The shield can still be the right survival cast. It is the wrong clear cast.

Opening on Mind Blast because 32 damage beats Smite 14. Mind Blast scores 9.6. Smite scores 12.3. You already start on the better one.

Fade

Fade multiplies speed by 1.4 for 4 seconds and then sits down for 18 seconds. You learn it at level 5. Use it after a scream, when radius 9 nova range is the wrong place to be and the next fear is 12 seconds away. It is a short walk, not an escape across the map.

Skill numbers

Other classes

• S Warlock
• S Warrior
• A Mage
• A Druid
• A Hunter
• B Paladin
• B Shaman
• C Rogue

Same tier

• Rogue

FAQ