I write to you 3 in hopes one of you can provide some insight on how I should play Disc/Survival this season. Was struggling really hard in 2s (hard stuck 1800).
As Disc - I get facerolled by every single melee (Esp WW). I know Disc/Surv prob not the best in 2s, but I enjoy playing with my friend and was hoping we can at least hit 2.2k in 2s.
Most of the time even if I manage to survive the burst, I eventually run out of mana.
So i am writing this in hopes that tips and tricks could be provide how we can manage to deal with these melee comps mainly.
Disc / Survival is actually very strong in 3s. You have guaranteed chain cc with Intimidation > Trap > Psychic Scream.
However, the meta right now vs Discipline is train the priest. Once our 3 major defensives (rapture, dome, PS) are gone we drop like flies.
If you’re having trouble with keeping yourself up, I recommend going Twist of Fate and Masochism talents, and Dome, Archangel, Instant Radiance(only vs double dps), and Trinity. If mana is your issue, you need to get used to cast as little shadowmends as possible. Hopefully you have a Depth of Shadows and Death Throes azerite traits to help with this. Also, Penance’s direct healing got buffed so you should be using it more for single target heal. Try out Castigation see how you feel with it.
As far as Essences: Majors I recommend Crucible and maybe Lucid if you are REALLY struggling with mana. Minor you should always have Conflict and Strife and maybe Ever Rising Tide / Well of Existence / Seeds of Eonar.
I haven’t tried the new essences on my disc yet.
Sadly the class keeps getting nerfed due to its performance on a few fights in a raid setting. The 8.3 nerfs were the hardest this expansion - dropping us to the lowest healers in m+ and not very good in arenas especially if you’re just getting into it. Priest is the most immobile healer in the game, very gear dependent(you want a lot of versatility), and no real cooldowns to boost healing throughput (all your CDs are just damage mitigation). Priests are the healers that get most punished for mis-managing their defensives.
I’ve been 2K before struggling but it was doable early BFA. I took a break and basically came back 2 weeks before 8.3 launched and felt like it was a disaster. I have no problems against double DPS comps.
But mostly against Warrior and WW - I lose to them 100% of the games I play against them
DH/Healer and DK/healer - I probably have a 20% win rate against them.
I just feel like I get trained so hard, its either I live until I have no mana or I die in a global.
90% of your encounters are a stress test between you surviving and/or your partner killing anything quick enough.
Against DKs - I swap out big dome pvp talent for Purified Resolve and dispel diseases as much as I can, that way they can’t just stack necrotic. Dome is pretty useless vs them, at high rating they’ll just grip you out of it. Rapture + Archangel is a strong combination for Abomination.
A similar thing can happen with a monk’s Ring of Peace, but I’d still go dome vs them. I haven’t stepped into arenas in 8.3 as I’ve been gearing other characters and WWs were still pretty strong in 2s in 8.2 - I can’t imagine how they are now.
Vs DH - You can try to go relentless for the stun > mana burns, but a good DH would never try to mana burn on a DR’d stun. Save fear for eyebeam if you can.
I believe the best part about trinity is the longer Atonement duration allowing you to dps more often. I take it vs resto druids since it helps with mana too.
All u gotta do is trade based on whatevers being used off ur omnibar, for example rapture is best used when cds are being popped and theres cleave pressure on ur teammates or if ur fighting cleaves that run at u youd use it in conjunction w big barrier u can possibly get away if ur teammates peel but against shxt like dh dk or Twd u need to react quickly and whether ur teammates peel you will determine whether u get away without having to pop both rap and barrier before stun goes off, Pain Suppression I like to use kinda like youd use sac as a hpal when u know ur gonna get cced. If u use cds before ur enemies pop theirs you’ll be at a huge disadvantage especially as disc it wouldnt be nearly as punishing as some of the other heals , also remember especially as disc its crucial u are able to use trinket as a way to get out without using anything so look at it as a big cd, make sure u are specing masochism always if u are the target of choice I cant stress that enough and dont forget to spec shining force against melee on blades edge bcuz they will 100% go you
I just want to thank everyone for providing their suggestions. I summon you all to advise once more.
I’ve been stuck around 1600-1700 and finally broke 1800 comfortably against all the comps mention above EXCEPT against WW/Healer.
Please advise on how I can counter these bimbos!
Problem I am having / scenario
They open with too much uptime and I get stuck for around 50% Hp for rest of the game and end up dying cause I cant keep myself up or OOM.
I fear them off their fury and trade CD’s accordingly with their ToDs. (most of the time their healer dispels the fear) but my hunter would stun, I somehow still take a LOT of dmg.
I’ve won once or twice against Hpal/WW but it was very close that we feel if it was higher rating we wouldn’t have been able to.
My hunter and I have been arguing back and forth who is the Go Target when against WW/Healer because I started to feel like it’s a race to kill healer, but he disagrees since he doesn’t have the burst to run them down like a WW can run me down
Well it’s early in the season so around 1.7-2k rating you’ll see more experienced players due to rating inflation.
Anyway, yes WW are insane right now especially vs priests. Knowing your partner could also help us tell you more. Fearing every Fists of Fury you can is a good start. If you find yourself at low hp a lot, go Twist of Fate and Masochism. Maybe go Vision of Perfection minor with Mindbender for the versatility bump.
Are you using MC often? HPals/Druids/MW cannot dispel it.
Hmm, I find myself conflicted using MC against a WW/healer comp - because if the WW is chasing after me, and my Surv Hunters kill target is the WW, I can’t really MC their healer.
Ive been running Flames as major for the extra burst DPS so we can get kills faster. I’m not sure if I want to play more defensive or more aggressive when going against WW since its like a risk-reward fight where I have to give up survivability to take them down faster so we can win
Never say this in 2v2. You’re already getting trained and permaslowed, your only CC (Psychic Scream) is getting insta dispelled you have to provide MC. You just have to know when to use it - either as a cyclone to stop heals on a low hp target or to mis-position them.
Not all the time - especially vs Resto Druid (which I know are hard to catch). If your hunter is always on the WW the healer is just freecasting because you can’t even fear them.
This doesn’t need to change: go Vitality Conduit / Lucid / Vision for minors.
If you feel you’re on the move a lot go Archangel / Trinity / Dark Arch pvp talents. If you can’t swap Archangel for Big Dome. Also remember being aggressive as a priest isn’t just raw damage. You need to be dispeling as much as possible. Dispeling hots vs druids is huge especially during swaps so you can swap back to the originial kill target quicker. Divine Favor/Blessings vs HPals.
My biggest issue on my disc is DH’s and RM. I usually pug DPS so it could be anything from DK, to rogue, to SV. I finally got triple depth of shadow and moment of repose x2 so it feels fine when I’m being trained once a match. I’ve only got 14% vers, I feel I need more.
I also feel that every match I’m the target to sit on so I’m almost obligated to take masochism and twist of fate to help with the healing. I’ve been running the new spirit of preservation trait to help with healing and it’s great for burst heals but it feels bad to lose out on crucible’s DPS for 2’s.
If I had to put a definition to it…
Mid-westerner word for surprise; a casual interrogative injection; and general all-purpose word during those small, awkward social interactions where other words don’t fit or an out-right conversation wouldn’t be necessary.
Ex:
After dropping something: “Ope, that one got away from me”
Bumping into someone in a store: “Ope, sorry, excuse me”
Gingerly sliding out of the way of someone in a rush: “Ope”
For an example if you are about to get sheeped your surv wants to start running away from the enemy team. This will reduce the damage he takes and will be easier to top their health off.