WoW: Priests in Dragonflight – Level guide at level 70

On the Dragon Islands, as a priest, you have to climb ten levels again in order to be able to compete in Dragonflight’s endgame adventures at the new maximum level of 70. Of course you go back into battle as a shadow priest. Experience has shown that the DoT way of playing is a bit slow, but new goodies via the talent tree make the level phase of the DoT slingshot much more pleasant than it was in other expansions with some direct magic. In the level guide for the shadow priest in WoW: Dragonflight, we show you everything you need to know about talent distribution and rotation for the level phase.

Your build during the level phase

Maximum, fast direct damage to single targets – that’s what your build is designed for during the level phase. With these talents, the DoT style of play, which sometimes takes some time to ramp up, becomes significantly more bursty.

Source: buffed

Shadow level stage talents to copy/import:

Leveling as a shadow was sometimes a horror in the past expansions, which even made healer playstyles an option. With the build (see below), however, you get some goodies that you don’t just have to dot and mind-splam with. In fact, Mind Flay flies out of your rotation and is replaced by Mind Spike.
The ability known from WoD no longer consumes DoTs and is therefore used as a filling spell. The ability is strengthened by the Dark Ascension cooldown (increases the damage of direct spells by 25 percent for 20 seconds). In the shadow tree, we’re also skilling a mind spike proc that increases the damage of the spell by 200 percent in stacks and reduces the cast time of mind spike with each effect.

Theoretically, you could only spam Mind Blast and Mind Spike, but your mastery, which increases your damage done per DoT on the target, makes the additional dot worthwhile. Misery helps for the quick application of both DoTs. Additionally, we’re skilling Spreading Darkness (vampire touch occasionally becomes instant) and Blame (apply all three DoTs to the target instantly every 30 seconds). This makes the constant dotting during the level phase more bearable.
Distribute more talent points

On the way to level 70 you will receive more talent points. You have selected all the important talents in the class tree and it no longer makes any difference for the level phase where you distribute your points here. You already have all damage-increasing talents. For more defense you can upgrade Fade in the right part and put a point in Angelic Bulwark, which gives you protection against heavy hits every now and then.
In the shadow tree, the choice is also difficult.

You have many talents to choose from that are designed for AoE situations or longer fights – both rather impractical in the level phase. Putting the extra talent points into Insidious Rage and Mind Eater makes the most sense. This gives you an additional boost in Mind Blast when all three DoTs are on the target and occasionally gives you a proc that doesn’t make Devouring Plague cost Insanity.

Of course, if you level in war mode, you risk being killed by other players during the level phase, which dampens the level fun and is not very effective. However, if you take the risk, you get 10-15 percent more experience depending on the faction you belong to and you can choose from three additional talents that speed up the level phase.
For the Shadow Priest, these are Out of the Void, Driven Insane, and Eternal Rest. Out of the Void makes Dark Ascension instant, Driven Insane provides more Insanity buildup when attacked, and Eternal Tranquility reduces the cooldown of Shadow Word: Death by 12 seconds.

Your style of play when leveling

1. vampire touch
2. Devouring Plague
3. mind games
4. goad of thought 2x
5. mind blow
6. Shadow word: death (from 20 percent)

Apply DoTs, cast Mind Spike twice, cast the next Mind Blast with no cast time, and finish off the opponent with a Shadow Word: Death. This is what most battles look like during the level phase. Keep in mind that Mind Spike can proc through DoTs or become a more powerful instant cast, and that you have powerful cooldowns like Mind Games, Power Soul, Dark Ascension, Mindbender, and Blame that will spice up the rotation. Don’t save these for a rainy day, but keep rotating these skills. The motto here is to use it more than once rather than not at all. Mind Blast and Divine Star are available for AoE damage.

Void form is history. Our new best friend is now Dark Ascension. Well, at least during the leveling phase of Dragonflight.

Source: buffed

AoE is rarely asked for when leveling, but we have included the two options via the talent tree for you so that if you ever need to cause AoE damage, you don’t have to just multidot everything manually. If you want a little more AoE damage, you can use the additional talent points Idol of N’Zoth or Inescapable Torment to skill up. The latter acts like the Shadowlands Legendary Effect Shadowflame Prism.

Fast foot across the Dragon Isles

Once you’ve learned how to ride a dragon, you’ll move swiftly across the Dragon Islands. In closed rooms, however, this mount does not hear your calls either. For these situations or the short distances from opponent to opponent, you use your angel feathers for a quick sprint, which you take with you in the class talent tree. The following macro makes handling the springs easier.

#showtooltip angel feather
/cast [@Player] angel feather

With the macro you automatically place angel feathers under your character (no extra press needed to place). By the way, if you type @target instead of @player, your angel feather will work directly on the targeted player.
We also skill the body and mind to not only absorb some damage via Power Word: Shield, but also to run 40 percent faster for three seconds. This movement-increasing effect is useful whenever Angel Feather’s three charges are on cooldown. However, keep in mind that Power Word: Shield now has a 7.5 second cooldown.

Dungeons Excursions as a Healer

If you want to play up your priest as a second character, you can of course also do so as a healer via dungeons. We’re emphasizing the twink role specifically, as the Dragon Riding bonuses and the new version of Threads of Fate will require your first character to complete the leveling zones.

If you want to plunge into the dungeons of Dragonflight as a priest, you can see directly whether you like the new way of playing the discipline priest.

Source: buffed

Discipline talents for the level phase to copy/import:

All Dragon Riding goodies will then be cross-account, so your first character should definitely take the normal leveling route. It doesn’t make much difference whether you fight your way through the dungeons as a disci or a holy. Neither style of play currently stands out. It makes sense to look at the new way of playing Discis to test directly while leveling whether the way of playing could also be good for you in the endgame of Dragonflight. The Disci now distributes Atonement primarily with Renewal and Flash Heal, which is a new habit for experienced Discis. In Dragonflight, the discipline priest plays a little more traditionally because you get some holy spells back in your repertoire and shadow healing has been removed.

While Smiten is still a big part of your playstyle, you’ll get some new goodies through the talent tree like Power Word: Life, which – used correctly – acts as an emergency button every ten seconds, or your old artifact weapon ability, Light’s Wrath. In the picture above we have put together a talent distribution for the Discipline Priest for you to try out. Invest your extra talent points in mind games in the class tree and spend your points up to Aegis of Wrath in the discipline tree (on the left side of the talent tree).

If you already prepared for the level phase during the Dragonflight pre-patch, you probably already have a tidy inventory with plenty of room for new junk.