When it comes to the priest class, I know they have shadow, which is DPS and holy that is healing. Discipline used to be listed as DPS but now is marked as holy, so is it strictly a holy spec?
Disc was never considered a DPS spec. It’s its own healing spec that heals by doing damage and keeping atonement on players. That is not the same as being a DPS class.
With Atonement, you can passively heal by doing damage.
I just with atonement lasted a lot longer. having to recast it over and over is tedious
Holy and Discipline are still two different specs, but they’re both healing specs.
The DPS out of Disc should be higher than Holy in theory, since Disc uses damage to heal through Atonement, but I get more damage out of my Holy spec than I can for Disc ever since Legion. Haven’t bothered with Disc since Prismatic Shell was nerfed into the ground–just too busy; not enough HPS/DPS gain relative to Holy, given the extra effort to keep Atonement up, and a dearth of powerful direct heals for emergencies.
Neither Disc nor Holy will come close to the damage of Shadow, which is a true DPS spec.