Holy Priest

Holy Priest puts 31 points into Holy, 13 points into Discipline and 7 points into Shadow by level 60, with no respec on the way.

No talent ability is worth building around here: the points go to passive bonuses.

Prayer of Mending is left out on purpose: in our sim it does less for leveling than the same points spent elsewhere.

By our sim, this build gets you from 10 to 60 in about 22% less time than playing with no talents.

At level 40 most of your ability damage comes from Mind Blast (40%), Wand (39%) and Shadow Word: Pain (21%).

Each talent gets a tier for how much it helps this build level, by our sim: S best, A strong, B solid, C small, Filler needed to reach deeper talents.

1. 10-11
   

   Wand Specialization 1-2 A

   Discipline. A tier: a strong point for leveling.
2. 12-16
   

   Spirit Tap 1-5 B

   Shadow. B tier: a solid point for leveling.
3. 17-27
   First, filler points:

   • Twin Disciplines 1-5C
   • Power in Light 1-3

   

   Meditation 1-3 S

   Discipline, at level 25. S tier: one of this build's best points for leveling.
4. 28-29
   

   Improved Shadow Word: Pain 1-2 B

   Shadow. B tier: a solid point for leveling.
5. 30-32
   

   Twilight Focus 1-3 Filler

   Holy. Filler: little value on its own, but it moves you down the tree.
6. 33-37
   

   Holy Specialization 1-5 Filler

   Holy. Filler: little value on its own, but it moves you down the tree.
7. 38-40
   

   Improved Renew 1-3 Filler

   Holy. Filler: little value on its own, but it moves you down the tree.
8. 41-45
   

   Spell Warding 1-5 Filler

   Holy. Filler: little value on its own, but it moves you down the tree.

1. 
   Mind Blast

   on cooldown
2. 
   Wand

   filler
3. 
   Shadow Word: Pain

   once per mob

Share of your ability damage

• Mind Blast40%
• Wand39%
• Shadow Word: Pain21%

What our sim found levels best at this level with this build: DoTs once per mob, cooldowns on cooldown, and the rest on your best filler. Auto attacks are always on, so they are not listed.

MP5 > Spirit > Spell power > Intellect

• MP51.00
• Spirit0.76
• Spell power0.62
• Intellect0.53

1% hit is worth about 3 MP5. 1% crit is worth about 1 MP5.

Stat values like Pawn: point for point, your best stat is 1.00 and the rest are worth that share of it. MP5 is mana regen per 5 seconds, as item tooltips show it. Your own gear shifts these: the Character page works them out for you.

• Put Shadow Word: Pain on each mob once: most mobs die before it needs refreshing.
• Wand mobs down when you run low on mana: it beats drinking more often.
• At level 40, for the same item budget, Spirit helps most, then spell power. Look for gear with those first.
• Some points (Power in Light, Twilight Focus and Spell Warding and others) are filler to reach the next tier; they do little for leveling on their own.

How this is made: a typical character at each level (Classic-like stats, quest greens for gear) pulling same-level mobs one at a time, with downtime counted. It is an early version, refined as players’ combat logs measure what each talent really does.