Priesting 101: Becoming a Talented Discipline Priest

Hot on the heals (see what I did there?) of the Holy Priest 101, I bring to you the guide to being a Discipline priest, OK finally may have worked better I admit). Once again I shall guide you through the talents, tier by tier and by the end of it you will be armed with the knowledge to allow you to make an informed choice on which of the 2 healing methods suits your style of play best.

Once you get to level 10, choosing the Discipline Tree will see you gain Penance, an awesome spell for instant burst healing on friendly target or some nice damage on your enemies.

Tier 1 Talents: Improved Power Word: Shield, Twin Disciplines, Mental Agility.
When starting out as a Discipline healer your 1st three talent points should go into the Twin Disciplines talents as this boosts you woeful Damage spells as well as your healing and you'll need all the boost you can get. Adding the Improved Power Word: Shield at levels 15 and 17 give you the best talent choice for both solo questing and group play as it allows you to shield yourself or your buddies while you kill or heal. I have ignored the awesome Mental Agility, simply because the insane mana regen you have at low levels really makes it worthless, but I'll be back here later

Tier 2 Talents: Evangelism, Archangel, Inner Sanctum, Soul Warding.

With dungeon running now your best method of leveling as a Disc Priest your next 2 talents should be put into removing the cooldown on PW: Shield by spending them on Soul Warding giving you the option of using this as a fast instant "heal" on party members in quick succession. Follow this up with 1 point in Inner Sanctum to boost your spell power and 2 in Evangelism as a which are really filler points and if you're leveling by questing may be best delayed a few levels but at level 27 your tree should look like:

Tier 3 Talents: Renewed Hope, Power Infusion, Atonement, Inner Focus.

Continuing into tier 3 your first 2 points should be spent in Tier 2, with 2 more points in Inner Sanctum to give you 3 points before you finish off with 2 points in Atonement, This will allow you to heal yourself when smiting mobs and if in a group will heal the most needy group member while you add some DPS to the situation. At certain gear levels it is faster and more powerful than casting Heal, the major drawback is that you have no control on who gets healed!

Now is also the time to grab 1 point in Mental Agility as it will help your mana conservation, which may well be more of an issue for you now the low level buff has gone. If you opted to NOT spend the 2 points in Evangelism before level 27 you should do so now. While the Renewed Hope, Power Infusion and Inner Focus are key discipline talents their not as strong as other we want to hit further down the tree as soon as possible.

Tier 4 Talents: Rapture, Borrowed Time, Reflective Shield.

Having spent 15 points in the tree you open up access to one of Discipline's awesome talents, Borrowed Time, this is really useful when healing a tank taking a beating as you can shield him and then cast your big slow heal with some extra haste. Another good use is if the group are taking group wide damage you can shield the most needy member then cast Prayer of Healing (once you hit level 44 anyway). Finish off by spending 2 more points in Mental Agility and 1 in Rapture, which will both bost your mana regeneration. Reflective Shield iss a good PvP talent and also when questing but if you're leveling mainly through questing you really should be Shadow, which as you're now level 47 you should have spent the 10 gold and collect your dual talents, your Disc tree should look like:

Tier 5 Talents: Strength of Soul, Divine Aegis, Pain Suppression, Train of Thought.

On your way to level 53 you should spend all your talents on Divine Aegis, its free healing/damage prevention and is one of the awesome Disc defining talents. Strength of Soul and Train of Thought are OK talents but not really beneficial tou you at the content level you're dealing with. The same applies for Pain Suppression which is a major defensive cooldown but is a waste of an early talent point. Once you'e at level 55 go back to Tier 2 and grab Archangel which will provide a nice return of mana and a power up to your healing spells and hitting 57 should see you use your talent point on Inner Focus for a free spell cast with added critical strike chance.

Tier 6 Talents: Focused Will, Grace.

Closing in on the bottom of the tree now, your next point should be spent on Grace which increases your healing on the target blessed with Grace and the remaining 4 points spent on getting all points in Rapture and at level 65 getting Power Infusion (a mini heroism for you OR your target) and at 67 grab yourself Pain Suppression.

Tier 7 Talents: Power Word: Barrier.

Just before leaving Outlands (or just as you start Northrend) you should pick up Power Word: Barrier, a rather great defensive cooldown for your group.

This will take you to level 70 and your choices are to fill the gaps that we have left in the Discipline tree to get closer to a full on healing spec or give yourself more utility as you continue to level. if you decide to continue on full on healer you should add 2 points in Renewed Hope, 2 in Train of Thought and a 2nd point in Grace which should leave your tree looking like: 

Alternatively, you could respec now to remove all 3 points in Inner Sanctum which is now less valuable than it was at an earlier level giving you 3 points you can move into the Holy tree by using 3 points in Divine Fury and gain a half second reduction in the casting time of your main healing and DPS spells.The final 5 points should be spent on Empowered Healing and Inspiration, resulting in the following talent spec:

Next time on Priesting 101 is a look at glyphing.