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Intro
Priest tanking is not officially recognized, this means a high amount of effort is needed to succeed. But succeeding means you rose above the challenges and any feat carries more weight and feeling of accomplishment. When experienced players priest tank and put in the effort, it shines tenfold. If you don’t feel up to the task, don’t bother. This guide primarily focuses at succeeding as a priest tank in a dungeon environment.
As the new kid on the block, sharing priest tank information with others is a great way for priests to flourish more into this role, I suggest joining the
Priest Tank Discord: https://discord.gg/h4EqPjCg54
This guide primarily focuses on improving a priest tank’s defensive potential, however, small remarks about improving threat can still be found. If some of the following actions in this guide can’t be done, don’t be sad. For some, only certain actions are feasible, proceed accordingly. I hope you like the guide, if you have any feedback or questions, feel free to let me know down below in the comment section.
Race
The Horde faction is moderately above the Alliance faction because of the basic shaman ability Tranquil Air Totem along side the shaman rune Spirit of the Alpha, which we’ll explore later on. If you plan to raid tank however, Horde is MASSIVELY superior than Alliance but this is a dungeon guide. I will be releasing a Priest Raid Tank Guide at a later date
Professions
Engineering helps with AoE threat: through “The Big One”, which in addition to its damage can sometimes also allow for extra casts of Mind Sear during it’s stun effect.
Engineering can redirect lost aggro through “Masterwork Target Dummy”, so if aggro is ever lost and the situation seems grim use Target Dummy and it will AoE force all the mobs to attack it.
Loosing aggro to the point of it being severely detrimental to the group will rarely happen but if it does you’ll be prepared.
The other profession to get is Enchanting because of Enchanted Sigil: Living Dreams. But honestly because of how influential Oil of Immolation is, getting a profession that helps you make a lot of gold that you personally like to do is just as good.
Talents/Runes
The dungeon talent setup (00/10/31): https://www.wowhead.com/classic/talent-calc/priest/-2035-5002405003501051_116rn56vg66y676jt86vn96y9a6rp . If you want to put your best foot forward you can switch between Power Word Barrier and Shared Pain when Barrier is on CD, this is good if you’re still gearing up. Healing Focus is picked and used on emergencies, if need be.
Gear/Enchants
Shortly after reaching level 50, gear with the suffix “of the Eagle” is great to tide you over until better gear is gained. The absolute best gear is mainly from PvP, more specifically, rank PvP gear. Use the “Starter Gear” set as a baseline and progressively see what gear can be more oriented for threat.
Starter Gear: https://www.wowhead.com/classic/gear-set/191842
Threat
Threat is the quantifiable amount of aggression gathered towards a mob, if you have the most threat, you now have the mob’s full attention and therefore it will attack you, this is called Aggro. Everyone in the group can deal threat, damage dealers through damage, healers through healing, You’ll be glad to hear that even before we move into the specifics ranged classes at or higher than 30yards from the mob have to produce 130% more threat in order to steal aggro. So bottom line one of your jobs to have the highest amount of threat.
In order to swiftly blast through a dungeon it’s advised to do large pulls involving pulling many mobs, therefore we’re looking to solidify our area of effect threat as much as possible, also it is our weakest threat aspect, since we don’t any any threat dealing ability modifiers tied to AoE, unlike Mind Blast which has a threat modifier and very much solidifies our single target threat situations.
Our staple threat generating dungeon spells are: Mind Sear, Shadow Word Pain alongside the Shared Pain rune and Power Word Shield because it allows us more casts of Mind Sear. Knowing the layout of the dungeon and moving faster/ahead of the group and or properly marking mobs to establish a kill order all leads to an increased chance of maintaining aggro.
If you want to absolutely speedrun through dungeons and dont mind the extra effort, use Oil of immolation and or Power Word Barrier on really big pulls. And lastly the crowing jewel to absolutely trivialize dungeons, the shaman rune, Spirit of the Alpha. If you’re alliance don’t get discouraged because paladins with their Blessing of Salvation is nearly as good. Just in general having certain classes in the group can improve our threat, we’ll explore this later on.
Basic Rotation
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PrePull: Always move faster and be ahead of the group. Be sure Power Word Shield and Inner Fire are active.
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While running and pulling: Cast Shadow Word Pain on intended mobs with the Shared Pain rune, if possible Line of Sight mobs behind a wall or structure so they group up in front of you, cast Void Zone on really big pulls.
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Melee Range: As they enter your vicinity cast Mind Sear, constantly cast Mind Sear.
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Situational: If a decent threat lead is established, cast Inner Fire to prepare for the next fight while spamming Mind Sear.
Group Composition
Group composition can be out of your control but sometimes waiting a few seconds for a different class or choosing between a selection of classes with different runes will have an impact on your performance. I’d especially advise this if you’re still gearing up or just generally still getting the hang of things.
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For Healer on the horde a Shaman with the rune Earth Shield and or Spirit of the Alpha, otherwise both faction want a healing Priest with the Divine Aegis rune.
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- For Alliance: A Holy Paladin is the second best healer and lastly for both faction, a Resto Druid.
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For Alliance DPS, a Retribution Paladin for Blessing of Salvation which is casted on others, be sure to mention it at the start and keep it at that.
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- For Horde DPS , if the Alpha rune is still not present, an Enhancement DPS Shaman or DPS Elemental Shaman w/Spirit of the Alpha. Preferably an elemental shaman.
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Balance or Feral Druid for Thorns and Mark of the Wild.
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Warlock w/Imp which is ideal, be sure to mention it at the start once.
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DPS Warrior for Commanding Shout.
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Lastly, Mage for Arcane Intellect.
Macros
Stops all casting and begins Mind Sear, helps utilize every second possible chance to Mind Sear.
/stopcasting /cast Mind Sear
Below is a simple macro saying what a certain class/spec COULD use to help you, said once a dungeon start, don’t fret over it too much. See “Group Composition” for suggestions.
Example macro:
/s Warlock Imp pet with Blood Pact/Fire Shield appreciated.
Addons
- Details: Shows the amount of threat done by you and allies.
- WeakAura addon and WA extension Classic AutoMarker:
https://wago.io/-4-XO5Mst