The Dreaded Priest Re-spec

Kevanassa gave me a great Holy/Disc spec (18/43/0) that let Sloosh raid and PvP without spending 100g to switch every week. Healing was fully buffed allowing me to spam low rank flash heals for impressive numbers. Yet I had incredible survivability in BGs and the Arena. Kev even snuck in Holy Nova which is wonderful for catching stealthers or preventing flag/banner caps. Yet as Sloosh gained more Arena and Vindicator gear I've lamented the steady decline in +healing. It made me realize that the switch from Holy was inevitable.

Kev also provided me with a PvP Disc spec (46/11/0) that is slightly different from the “standard (41/20/0)” seen so often on Arena disc priests, even on the Priest builds at WoWWiki. He skips Silent Resolve, Absolution, Mental Agility, Improved Healing, Improved Renew, Divine Fury and Focused Will to pick up Enlightenment, Reflective Shield, and Improved Power Word: Shield. I won't try Kev's because I don't see PW:S as viable in PvP—especially without Silent Resolve. I also like to have renews extended when they're so efficient with Mental Agility.

I wasn't interested in the standard either because I don't fully trust the Improved Healing/Divine Fury combo. Kev is a firm believer in flash heals and I heartily agree. I also wanted to pick up Enlightenment for the stat boost. Was looking over Kev's current spec (18/43/0) and it makes no sense to me. Light on the Disc and really scattered around the Holy tree. Looked around Samarahh's spec (50/11/0) which had potential except that he fell into the same PW:S trap.

Came across a “Unorthodox Disc Priest Arena Build (43/5/13) on WoWWikki. It also has the damn PW:S combo without Silent Resolve. Got to thinking. Normally in the middle of stun lock I only get SW:P and SW:D off while trying to get instant health stuff off. Which means I'm just staying alive without really hurting my attacker, hoping for someone else to come by and save me. Having my shield damage as well would be handy. But the +healing is going down so the shield won't reflect that much. Reading some feedback in the forums does make me want to try it despite my misgivings.

The idea of working in some shadow was very compelling. Mind Flay's range is limited but the effect is handy. Blackout is also a wonderful wild card to have in the arsenal. They put too many points in Shadow Focus considering that it is not a Shadow spec. So I came up with this spec (45/5/11). Getting Divine Spirit back, trying out the reflective shield, bit of renew, and the dash of Shadow all on the heavy Disc base. See how it goes…