Level a Priest in World of Warcraft: Forever as Shadow: open with Shadow Word: Pain and Mind Blast, finish with Mind Flay or your wand, and let Vampiric Embrace (a 16-point talent at level 25) and Shadowform at 40 cut your downtime. Forever also makes Devouring Plague and Fear Ward baseline for every Priest at level 20 and adds Shadow Word: Death at 32, so a Shadow Priest has more damage on the way up than ever before.
Below is why Shadow wins for leveling, the talents to take first, the baseline spells and when they arrive, what each race’s Priest spells do, and how to keep a cloth-wearing class alive. It is checked against Blizzard’s Priest and Warrior class deep dive and its beta development notes up to the November 2 launch notes, as of November 7.
Which Spec to Level a Priest As
Blizzard calls Priests “the most versatile healer” in the game, but also “a very vulnerable class” with cloth armor and “few ways to escape enemies.” For solo leveling, the question is which spec kills fastest while spending the least Mana.
| Spec | How it levels | Why pick it | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shadow (our pick) | Damage over time, Mind Flay | Shadowform halves Shadow spell costs | Weak until the mid-20s |
| Discipline | Smite, shields, Penance | Penance both heals and deals damage | Relies on Holy damage, which costs more Mana |
| Holy | Healer | Best for dungeon groups | Very slow solo |
Shadow is our pick. Shadowform now lets you cast every non-healing spell in form, cuts the Mana cost of all Shadow spells by 50% and doubles their critical strike damage bonus. Vampiric Embrace, now the 16-point talent, lasts 30 seconds on a 30-second cooldown, and Improved Mind Flay makes each tick of Mind Flay hit harder than the one before.
Discipline is a real alternative for players who want to heal dungeons on the way up. Twin Disciplines and Power in Light sit in the first row and boost Smite and instant spells, and Penance, the 21-point talent, can damage an enemy or heal an ally. Our best healer guide compares the Priest with the other healers.
Priest Talents to Take First
Talents start at level 10, and the milestone talents open at 11, 16, 21 and 31 points, which is levels 20, 25, 30 and 40 if every point goes into Shadow. Our order, using talents Blizzard has confirmed in Forever’s Shadow tree:
- Levels 10 to 19: Shadow Focus, now in the first row, which raises your chance to hit with Shadow spells, then Shadow Reach (now 2 points, moved up to the second row) and Improved Mind Blast, also moved up to the second row.
- Levels 20 to 24: Mind Flay, the original game’s 11-point Shadow talent, and Improved Mind Flay, a new third-row talent that requires it.
- Level 25: Vampiric Embrace, the 16-point talent.
- Levels 26 to 34: Dark Inspiration, a new fourth-row talent that raises your party’s Spirit by up to 15% after Mind Blast or a full Mind Flay, plus Shadow Weaving and Silence. Shadow Weaving now only boosts your own damage.
- Levels 35 to 39: Devouring Contagion (fifth row), which makes Devouring Plague cheaper and spreads it to two new targets when the victim dies, and Early Demise (sixth row) for Shadow Word: Death crits on low-health targets.
- Level 40: Shadowform, the original game’s 31-point talent, which Blizzard reworked rather than moved.
If you change plans, our talent reset guide covers the trainer and the fee.
New Baseline Priest Spells by Level
| Level | What you get |
|---|---|
| 10 | Your first talent point and, for most races, your first race-specific Priest spell |
| 20 | Fear Ward and Devouring Plague for every Priest (Devouring Plague now has a 24-second cooldown), plus a second racial spell for most races |
| 30 | Divine Spirit, now baseline |
| 32 | Shadow Word: Death, now baseline |
| 40 | Dual Specialization, plus riding |
Be careful with Shadow Word: Death while leveling. It deals instant Shadow damage on an 18-second cooldown, but if the target survives, the launch notes have it cost you 30% of your maximum Health (it no longer hurts you when it misses). Save it for the killing blow.
Your Race’s Priest Spells
Each race’s Priest gets two spells of its own, and Blizzard reworked them all for Forever:
- Gnome (new): Confounding Flash at 10 confuses up to five nearby enemies for 3 seconds; Contingency Plan at 20 is a ward that shields and heals an ally who drops below 35% Health.
- Dwarf: Desperate Prayer (unchanged) and Chastise at 20, which damages and roots a Humanoid for 2 seconds.
- Human: Divine Grace at 10 instantly heals an ally below 50% Health; Feedback is unchanged.
- Night Elf: Starshards at 10 hits much harder but now has a 30-second cooldown; Elune’s Grace at 20 makes attacks miss you more for a short time.
- Troll: Hex of Weakness and Shadowguard, both unchanged.
- Undead: Touch of Weakness (unchanged) and Dark Sacrifice at 20, which turns your own Health into Mana.
Our best Priest race guide weighs these against each race’s general racials.
Where to Level a Priest
Priests can be Troll or Undead on the Horde, and Dwarf, Gnome, Human or Night Elf on the Alliance. From your starting zone, follow your faction’s route: Westfall, Loch Modan or Darkshore for the Alliance from level 10, The Barrens or Silverpine Forest for the Horde. A Priest is welcome in any dungeon group as a healer, which is a safe way through zones that feel too dangerous solo.
Priest Leveling Tips
- Wand everything to death. Discipline’s Wand Specialization now takes only 2 points. Wands need you to stand still for half a second and no longer scale with spell damage; our guide to where to get a wand has the options.
- Shield before you pull. Power Word: Shield soaks the first hits, so you keep casting instead of stopping to heal.
- Fade is stronger. Its threat reduction doubled, which helps in groups.
- Train every time. Blizzard’s launch notes put class training from 1 to 60 at about 206 to 207 gold for every class.
- Drag new spells onto your bars. Since launch, learning a spell no longer adds it to your action bars.
- Rest at a campfire for rested experience and buffs; our camping guide explains it.
Every WoW Forever guide we have is on our World of Warcraft hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Priest spec for leveling in WoW Forever? Shadow, in our view. Vampiric Embrace at level 25 and Shadowform at 40 cut your downtime, and Devouring Plague is now baseline at 20.
Is Shadow Priest good in WoW Forever? Yes. Shadowform now halves the Mana cost of Shadow spells and doubles their critical strike damage bonus, and you can cast any non-healing spell in form.
What level do Priests get Shadow Word: Death? Level 32, as a baseline ability for every Priest. If the target survives it, you take 30% of your maximum Health in damage.
Do all Priests get Fear Ward now? Yes. Fear Ward and Devouring Plague are available to every Priest at level 20, whatever the race.
Can you level a Priest as Discipline? Yes. Penance, the 21-point Discipline talent, both damages and heals, and Twin Disciplines and Power in Light boost Smite. It is slower than Shadow solo but suits dungeon healing.