Seeking Discipline Leveling Advice

[Gwynfor]

Having played as Shadow for the last year, I'm interested in giving Discipline or Holy a try. However, at the moment, I can't find any resources on leveling or solo play (dailies, DPS'ing scenarios, whatever) for either spec. Basically everything I've seen says "don't bother, Shadow's faster", so I don't even know the basics of Holy and Discipline combat at level 85-90. I've read the tooltips, but sometimes a spell looks good on paper while having no practical use. Do you just shield up, then Smite and Penance the mob to death?

[Woaden]

Holy Fire (glyphed) then Smite (glyphed) as Disc is best. Atonement should keep you healed.

You will find faster leveling as a DPS spec though. Priests probably have it easier as healers go, but still.

[Gwynfor]

You will find faster leveling as a DPS spec though.

I figured it would be, but one way or another, I'll need to spend some time figuring out my toolbars and keybinds, and learning when to use my cooldowns. I can do it now or I can do it at 90, but either way I'd rather test on myself or in low-risk situations before trying to heal a group of strangers.

[Ruubik]

I am 75 on my first Priest now and have been Disc all the way. I haven't stepped outside of dungeons though since I hit the minimum level.

Outside of dungeons I would probably get the 2 glyphs Woaden mentions, bubble up (With the 3rd glyph the 45% damage reflected one) and go to town with Holy Fire, Smite and Penance. Actually thinking about it these might be the 3 best no matter what.

I would do as many dungeons as you can though, because that is where you will learn your craft as a healer, and the queues are always short :)

[GreasedScotsman]

I've been holy for most of my WoW career but started messing around with Disc recently. You will have more than enough mana to do the following priority/rotation when leveling, questing, bumming around in dungeons (outside raids). I've found it to be fairly efficient, but again, I've only recently even spec'ed out of Shadow/Holy into Disc/Holy so I may be way off.

Shield up to proc Borrowed Time's spell haste buff. Instant casts and channeled spells will not consume this buff, so in your normal rotation, Smite is the only thing that will eat it since I'm assuming you have Holy Fire glyphed for instant cast.

I pull multiple mobs with SW:Pain. Fights outside of raids are short enough to warrant this mana dump.

Penance to get its CD running. If you're glyphed, you can Penance on the move. As the mob(s) close the gap, decide if you want to use void tendrils.

At the final channel tic of Penance, cast Holy Fire and begin Smiting. Smite will consume your Borrowed Time haste buff. However, Smite causes significantly more damage to targets affected by Holy Fire, so you always want to focus on spamming Smite while the DoT of Holy Fire is ticking away. Smite until Penance is nearly off CD.

Depending on how tightly you've executed this (pushback from mobs, number of mobs pulled, positioning, etc.), your Weakened Soul should be near expiration--if you've only pulled one mob, WS may still have a second or two since only one GCD was used for SW:Pain). If WS has expired, recast your PW:Shield to regain Borrowed Time. If not, gauge whether you have time to Smite one last time before Penance is off CD.

Cast Penance as soon as it is off CD. The final tic of Penance should correspond to your Holy Fire coming off cooldown. Holy Fire and Smite spam.

Rinse repeat.

Again, I'm not sure if this is the ideal way to Disc DPS... but the cooldowns at least feel right.

[Ruubik]

Smite is the only thing that will eat it since I'm assuming you have Holy Fire glyphed for instant cast.

I think that glyphed Holy Fire still counts as a cast time spell so does consume Borrowed Time (You don't get a new spell with the glyph, it just takes of 100% of the cast time so technically is a 0.00s cast rather than an 'instant' one).

[Gwynfor]

I tried Discipline for 85-87 with Glyphs of Smite, Holy Fire, and Reflective Shield. My basic rotation was Holy Fire-Smite-Smite-Smite-Penance*, which was usually enough to get the mobs down to 20% so I could cast SW:Death. For bosses and mushan, I'd throw in a SW:Pain, but otherwise repeat the above sequence. One on one, I killed things about as quickly as Shadow, but I didn't have nearly the multi-dotting power that Shadow does; against multiple mobs, all I could think to do was cast SW:Pain on everybody then peck them down one by one.

Leveling as Disc is slower than Shadow, but not terribly so, and the Atonement healing keeps me at full health under pretty much any circumstances. I haven't moved on to Kun Lai yet, but based on my experience with my fire mage, mobs take a lot longer to kill unless you really know what you're doing. I might switch to Shadow just for the sake of variety, but as a whole Disc leveling isn't too bad.

Ruubik: I think that glyphed Holy Fire still counts as a cast time spell so does consume Borrowed Time (You don't get a new spell with the glyph, it just takes of 100% of the cast time so technically is a 0.00s cast rather than an 'instant' one).

That's correct, Holy Fire consumes Borrowed Time. I was thinking maybe I could change the rotation to something like Holy Fire-Smite-Smite-Shield-Penance-Smite, but I wasn't sure how much it would matter on these relatively lightweight mobs.

* I could usually get three Smites off while the Holy Fire DOT was ticking and the 20% bonus damage was active. The Smites also reduce the cooldown on Penance, thanks to the passive ability Train of Thought.

[Ruubik]

That's correct, Holy Fire consumes Borrowed Time. I was thinking maybe I could change the rotation to something like Holy Fire-Smite-Smite-Shield-Penance-Smite, but I wasn't sure how much it would matter on these relatively lightweight mobs.

* I could usually get three Smites off while the Holy Fire DOT was ticking and the 20% bonus damage was active. The Smites also reduce the cooldown on Penance, thanks to the passive ability Train of Thought.

My rotation is generally PW:S for Borrowed Time > SW:P (Doesn't comsume BT) > Penance > Holy Fire > Smite spam. I am not sure if PW:S is worth it, but I lean towards yes because I find myself using more Smites if I don't have it (So the damage it reflects must help, but it is only a general feeling, I haven't actually tested).

I am also using Mindbender as a DPS cooldown as much as for mana, I tend to set it on one mob while I fight another and we finish more or less at the same time.

The thing that annoys me is that mobs tend to have some kind of annoying power (KB, interrupt, fear etc) so you can't just surround yourself with mobs and DPS away like you used to be able to. But I guess that is a good thing in general, I just wish I had an interrupt that doesn't make things run away (Or I wish I wasn't such a noob that I missed it if we have one lol).

[Gwynfor]

I just wish I had an interrupt that doesn't make things run away (Or I wish I wasn't such a noob that I missed it if we have one lol).

Not that I know of. You could get the Glyph of Psychic Scream, which would change both your own ability and your Psyfiend's to a "tremble in place" effect. That's a major glyph, though, so you'd have to give up something else in return. I'd probably keep it on hand for situations where I think I might get swarmed, like the Yaungol camps, but otherwise that's a significant DPS loss.

[Ruubik]

I just wish I had an interrupt that doesn't make things run away (Or I wish I wasn't such a noob that I missed it if we have one lol).

Not that I know of. You could get the Glyph of Psychic Scream, which would change both your own ability and your Psyfiend's to a "tremble in place" effect. That's a major glyph, though, so you'd have to give up something else in return. I'd probably keep it on hand for situations where I think I might get swarmed, like the Yaungol camps, but otherwise that's a significant DPS loss.

That is what I did when I first started looking for Glyphs but I quickly realised there isn't that much use for it so I dropped it. I guess if we had better AoE and I could safely gather a large group and kill them while feared it might help, but since it is usually best to single target stuff anyway it isn't worth it. I have not tried using it as an interrupt though, but with it being random I am not sure how good it will be.