Best Priest Leveling Spec

In the best Priest leveling spec guide, I will be putting out the best spec to use, level by level, for leveling up a Priest in the fastest time possible. Note that I am using Cataclysm talents, so some of the abilities may seem unfamiliar.

When it comes to leveling up a Priest, the real only option to use is Shadow. Shadow Priests kill enemies much faster than a Holy Priest. At higher levels, you can always purchase Dual Spec and swap quickly between Holy and Shadow if you want to heal in instances.

Note that in Cataclysm, you must reach the 31 point talent before you can begin putting points in other trees. As a result, we will start by moving through Shadow before moving any points into other trees.

Additionally, note that the spec below is the best Priest leveling spec. We are going to focus on damage and survivability rather than any particular PvP talents or Raiding talents. With that said, on with the guide!

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Overview of the Best Priest Leveling Spec

Here is the overview of the talent build - see the extended best Priest leveling spec section below for details on which level to get the talents and why I recommend certain talents over others.

Shadow:

2/2 Improved Shadow Word: Pain
3/3 Darkness
2/2 Veiled Shadows
2/2 Improved Psychic Scream
2/2 Twisted Faith
3/3 Improved Mind Blast
2/2 Improved Devouring Plague
1/1 Shadowform
1/2 Phantasm
2/2 Harnessed Shadows
2/2 Mind Melt
1/1 Vampiric Embrace
1/1 Silence
1/1 Vampiric Touch
1/2 Pain and Suffering
1/1 Psychic Horror
3/3 Shadowy Apparition
1/1 Dispersion
2/2 Improved Power Word: Shield

Discipline:

3/3 Twin Disciplines
2/2 Evangelism
1/1 Archangel
2/3 Soul Warding

Level by Level Best Priest Leveling Spec

Levels 10-19

2/2 Improved Shadow Word: Pain
3/3 Darkness
1/2 Twisted Faith

The first 5 talent points are obvious - the Veiled Shadows ability is worthless when leveling up since Shadowfiend is a level 66 ability.

Spell hit is very important to a leveling Shadow Priest, so that is our first talent choice in the second tier. Most newbie players overlook this talent, but it is included in the best Priest leveling spec for a reason. Having an enemy resist a Psychic Scream often results in death!

Levels 20-29

2/2 Twisted Faith (1 point from last level)
3/3 Improved Mind Blast
1/1 Shadowform

Mind Blast is a key spell for Shadow Priests, so lowering the cooldown increases damage. The healing debuff also helps when taking out groups of mobs that heal.

Shadowform is obvious, and from this point, leveling up your Priest becomes much easier. Shadow is the best Priest leveling spec because Shadowform makes the Priest quite durable and increases its damage significantly.

Levels 30-39

2/2 Improved Devouring Plague
2/2 Improved Psychic Scream
1/1 Vampiric Embrace

Improved Devouring Plague increases Priest damage, and Improved Psychic Scream is also a solid talent because fearing a group of mobs, placing your DoTs (damage over time spells) on everything is standard procedure for Shadow Priests.

Vampiric Embrace is great and results in a lot of self-healing for the Shadow Priest.

Phantasm is a good PvP ability but has little use leveling up, so we will skip that one. If you are involved in low level PvP a lot, consider picking it up. Harnessed Shadows has no use until level 75, so ignore this for now.

Levels 40-49

1/1 Silence
2/2 Mind Melt
1/2 Veiled Shadows
1/1 Vampiric Touch

Silence is a great talent for killing spellcasting mobs and players. Mind Melt will boost damage, and Veiled Shadows is just a filler point (for now until we get Shadowfiend) to unlock the next tier.

Vampiric Touch deals some decent damage and is great for mana regen.

Levels 50-59

1/2 Pain and Suffering
2/2 Harnessed Shadows
2/2 Veiled Shadows (1 point from last time)
1/1 Psychic Horror

Veiled Shadows and Harnessed Shadows are just filler points for now, but they will become useful very shortly. Psychic Horror helps when beating elites and other players.

Pain and Suffering is more of a raiding talent and I do not see it being all that useful (most targets will be dead before Shadow Word: Pain wears off).

Also, Paralysis is fairly worthless because when leveling up, Mind Blast crit rate is fairly low. Once you get better gear, this talent becomes more useful. Still, it is more of a PvP talent, which is why I do not include it in the best Priest leveling spec.

Levels 60-69

3/3 Shadowy Apparition
1/2 Phantasm
1/1 Dispersion

Shadowy Apparition is a solid talent and will increase damage done. Phantasm is more of a filler point and you can put it in whatever you like. Dispersion is great for mana regen and getting out of tough situations, as DoTs continue to tick on your target while you are dispersed.

Levels 70-79

3/3 Twin Disciplines
2/2 Improved Power Word: Shield

Given the name, Twin Disciplines was meant for Shadow Priests. This is a nice damage boost for all your instant cast spells. Along with Improved Power Word: Shield, your shield will start absorbing quite a bit of damage.

Levels 80-85

2/2 Evangelism
1/1 Archangel
2/3 Soul Warding

Evangelism and Archangel are two very cool talents that will significantly improve Shadow Priest damage. Soul Warding is not a necessary talent; you could head back over to Shadow at this point and pick up Sin and Punishment or max out Phantasm and Pain and Suffering.

It really depends on what your playstyle is! Since you will be at the level cap, you can spec whatever you like now and no longer need to follow the guidelines for the best Priest leveling spec!

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