Hey guys,
i know this topic has been discussed a lot but i’ve been stuck in a rut lately because of my key binds. I’m trying to learn how to heal arena as a disc and how to optimize my dmg as best as possible. With my old key binds, I’ve hit 2.3k in 2’s and only dipped my feet in 3’s, getting to 1900 and that was by simply targeting every party member with mouse wheel up/down and then healing them.
My question is, should I key bind my heals and dispels to party 1 and party 2? That way I can continue having my kill target focused while still healing my group. I use a naga mouse with 12 buttons, so it’s not too difficult. Or should I simply target each party member to heal them and or dispel them and then target back to my enemy I’m trying to kill? I know that this might be a subjective topic but any insight would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!
there’s a few things you can try and see what works best for you.
things to consider:
- having keys bound for targeting. i personally wouldn’t suggest this for teammates, but it’s useful for targeting enemy players. i have a pretty intensive setup, but i have q, w, e set to focus arena 1, 2, 3, and shift q, w, and e set to target arena 1, 2, 3
- using modifiers to target your teammates. this is what i use.
#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift,@party1] [mod:ctrl,@party2] [@mouseover,help,nodead] [] Shadow Mend
This macro will cast Shadow Mend depending on the modifiers for arena, but also as mouseover for bgs. if you aren’t targeting anything, it will self cast, assuming you have self-cast activated. you can do this for all your helpful spells. This way, you can heal your teamates and yourself without having to drop enemy target.
For penance, you’ll probably want to use a help/harm macro so you can use modifiers to either cast on a party member or enemy player.
Keep in mind that modifiers won’t work if you already have them bound to something (ie the shadow mend macro won’t work above if you already have shift-1 bound to something. just check your keybinds and removed any shift/ctrl keys).
Alternatively, you can use focus macros for 2s and have your teammate as your focus. Some people use exclusively mouseover and set their raid frames as large as they can go, but you have to be quick with your cursor and have great space awareness to play like this.
Ideally, you’ll work out a way to be able to heal your teammates without dropping enemy targets or having to constantly switch between targets.
There are other ways to do this, just sharing what I like to use. Lots of modifier macros, basically.
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For me it just seemed simplest to have 6 mouse binds, target arena 1-2-3 and party 1-2-3., and toggle in between globals.
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wow, thank you for that shadow mend macro you posted! I actually played around with the idea you shared but my current shadow mend macro had a shift mod for self heal in it, instead of just hitting escape and then healing myself.
Ultimately what i’m getting at is, that being able to heal and preform spells on party members w/ out switching from enemy targets is quite important?
Also, thank you so much for taking the time to write that out and help me. Will definitely try out that set up, since it’ll save me a lot of key bind space on my mouse!
no worries bro i’m not even good at arena, i’m just good at macros hahaha. but yes, not having to fumble between targets will increase your reaction time dramatically. that’s why it’s best to be able to cast your helpful spells without taking the tiem to switch target and then back to an enemy.
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Do you mind elaborating, please?
He has a multi-button mouse and uses 6 buttons as targeting features (3 buttons for targeting party members, presumably including himself and the other 3 for arena 1, 2, 3)
speaking of multi-button gaming mouses, they’re a good investement for anyone wanting to improve in pvp
2 Likes
Yeah, i have a naga trinity and i’ve been playing around with it, to find what fits me best. Back to the other guy, i’m confused if he switches targets or not when healing?
Hi, i’m the other guy.
Yes, I switch targets when healing in between globals.
In mouse I have 1-2-3 to target me/party 1/party 2
And then enemy team is 4-5-6.
Is very easy to switch back and forth every 1.5 seconds, or to whoever new
Is good for mythic+, target self/party 1-4.
i’m 3.2 xp/4.5k io, it helps a lot
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As a disc priest another type of macro you could have would be an @target macro like this:
#showtooltip Penance
/cast [harm,nodead][@targettarget,harm] Penance
This way you always hit your targets target (if already targeting a friendly player), and will just hit the enemy if you’re already targeting them. Do note though that the macro i listed above will only hit enemys with penance, you’d need a separate macro for friendly penance.
Saves a little bit of target switching on things like pennance and smite.
You should definitely bind dispel 1/2/3. Most people use a modifier to their target binds, which in your case it would be like shift+mousewheel up/down.