WoW Forever Priest Leveling Guide & Talents

Introduction

Welcome to our Priest Leveling Guide for World of Warcraft Forever. This guide will cover everything you need to know to level a Priest in WoW Forever, including an overview of Priest Strengths and Weaknesses, a Leveling Talents Build for Priest, and the best Professions for a Priest.

Guide Contents:

• Strengths & Weaknesses
• Recommended Leveling Talents
• Playstyle and Core Abilities
• Key Leveling Gear For Priests
• Key Spells & Levelling Milestones
• Maximising Your Rested XP Buff
• Best / Suggested Professions
• Other Priest Leveling Info

Strengths & Weaknesses of Leveling A Priest in WoW Forever

Recommended Leveling Talents for Priest

Level 1-39

This is the Talent build I recommend for getting to Level 39. You're very mana efficient and tanky with this build. Your damage will start to fall off as you get into the mid to late 30s though.

Theorycrafting: Please note that all suggested builds beyond this point will be subject to updates as things change and more information becomes available.

Level 40

At Level 40 we can now grab Shadowform, so I recommend re-speccing to Shadow with the following build.

Level 41-60

This is my suggested Talent Build for getting from 40-60.

Priest Playstyle and Core Abilities

Level 1-3

Smite until the mob is low or you run out of mana, then melee to finish the mob. Try to move as much as possible during swing timer to maximize efficiency.

Level 4-9

At level 4 you'll unlock Shadow Word: Pain.

Pre cast Smite > Shadow Word: Pain > Smite > melee. Try to preserve mana and maximize your Shadow Word: Pain damage by meleeing. Also worth noting that in WoW: Forever, dots are instant tagging mobs, unlike in previous iterations of classic. If you're competing for tags, start with Shadow Word: Pain to secure the tag instead of Smite.

At level 6 you'll unlock Power Word: Shield and Smite rank 2. Keeping a shield up before combat increases your dps by reducing the casting or wanding pushback you receive from enemies. As mana allows, try to keep a pre-shield up.

Level 10-39

At this point (in a launch scenario) you'd ideally have crafted your Lesser Magic Wand. Outside of launch scenarios, just buy one on the auction house as soon as you can use and afford it.

At level 10 you'll unlock Mind Blast. Mind Blast replaces Smite whenever it is off cooldown.

Pre cast Power Word: Shield > Pre cast Mind Blast > Shadow Word: Pain > wand (Smite or Mind Blast if no wand) > melee (if no wand and out of mana).

Against tankier mobs, refresh Shadow Word: Pain and Power Word: Shield as necessary.

This playstyle lasts basically until you reach level 40 and respec into Shadowform. During this time it is important to be consistently upgrading your wand through crafting, quest rewards or dungeon drops.

Level 40-60

At level 40, we can respec and go shadow. This will give us access to Mind Flay and Shadowform. We will also be able to train Shadow Word: Death.

Shadow will be ideal for solo leveling and you'll still be able to heal dungeons without respeccing, albeit with slightly worse mana efficiency than a full healing spec.

Pre cast Power Word: Shield > pre cast Mind Blast > Shadow Word: Pain > Shadow Word: Death on cooldown > Mind Blast on cooldown > Mind Flay to fill. Refresh Power Word: Shield and Shadow Word: Pain as needed against tankier mobs.

Key Leveling Gear For Priests

The most important slot to upgrade for priest (until level 40) is your Wand. Here are some of the better choices to carry your wand progression until Shadowform. There are also many BoE options, but they may be expensive.

Key Spells & Leveling Milestones for Priest

Below, I list out the key Spells and Spell Rank upgrades to look out for while you are leveling. One way to ensure you'll have your mount at level 40 on a fresh server is to not level every single spell at every opportunity. That being said, even if the spell isn't listed and is one you commonly use you can look to upgrade it when it's convenient. For example, spells such as Inner Fire and Power Word: Fortitude are very important if you're primarily playing solo.

Maximising Rested XP: Campfire & Cozy Sleeping Bag

Making the most out of your Rested XP as you level can help to speed up the overall leveling journey. There's a couple of things that you can do to maximise this.

Camping & Campsite Buffs

Most campfire buffs don't do a whole lot to speed up our leveling. However, the Camp Tent buff grants 5% rested xp at all levels. This only becomes more and more valuable as you level up.

Additionally, if you are regularly doing campfire buffs, the new Pouch of Violet Dust toy will double the duration of your buffs when used on a campfire. Check out our Pouch of Violet Dust Guide to learn about what it does and how to get it. It's worth nothing that this unfortunately does not increase the rested xp granted from the Camp Tent.

Cozy Sleeping Bag

I also want to mention the Cozy Sleeping Bag. This is a quest reward from a chain that will take you all over the world. The item allows you to create a rested xp zone anywhere and also grants a 3% increased experience gained buff.

For people leveling more casually, this could be worth your time as you'll end up storing more rested xp over your leveling process. However, if speed to level 60 is your only goal and you aren't going to be logging out too much, this isn't worth your time.

Best / Suggested Professions for Priest

If your primary goal is to level quickly, crafting professions are not worth the time investment, with one exception. If you are playing at launch and going fast, you might have to craft your own Lesser Magic Wand as there will be none on the auction house for you to buy. Outside of this one scenario, you can maybe level some gathering professions while you level but crafting professions are not worth it.

Profession 1: Enchanting

For leveling we'll be using enchanting to craft wands and disenchant. We only need 10 skill to craft Lesser Magic Wand, which we will get by disenchanting and crafting our Runed Copper Rod. For skill ups, you can also spam Enchant Bracer - Inferior Stamina while at the vendor as it only costs the vendor material Mote Of Magic.

Profession 2: Tailoring

For leveling we'll only be using tailoring to craft Heavy Linen Gloves, a green item that we can disenchant for the materials and skill-ups required to craft Lesser Magic Wand.

Secondary Professions

Once you have crafted your wand, you can use your cloth to level first aid while you have downtime. In general, priest values first aid while leveling less than classes that cannot heal themselves so don't worry too much about this.

In a launch scenario where you are not expecting to be able to buy Lesser Magic Wand from the auction house around level 7, you'll want to go tailoring and enchanting in order to self craft one.

Otherwise, gathering professions while leveling can yield some extra silver to help pay for spell ranks and water. Skinning and herbalism are the least intrusive in this category. Crafting professions, other than to make wands, take too much time away from actual leveling and are not worth it for the time invested.

Other Priest Specific Leveling Info

Don't be afraid to heal dungeons as a shadow specced priest, all the way until level 60. Make sure you're stocked on level relevant water before going into dungeons.

We hope our Priest Leveling guide for WoW Forever was useful to help you know where to spend your talent points and how to get the most out of the class whilst leveling.