Priest racial abilities and in WoW Classic, Season of Discovery, Hardcore, and Anniversary realms

Racial abilities have always been a part of World of Warcraft, adding a variety of flavor to complement your character’s race. But in WoW Classic, Priests also have their own unique racial abilities earned at levels 10 and 20, which makes playing them a little different than the other classes.

So, without further ado, let’s break down each of the Priest racial abilities and Runes in WoW Classic Season of Discovery, shall we? (Please note: While we’ll be discussing all of the available Priest Runes, we won’t be spoiling their locations. Happy discovering!)

Forsaken Priest abilities in WoW Classic

• Level 10: Touch of Weakness — The next melee attack on the caster will cause 64 Shadow damage and reduce the damage caused by the attacker by 20 for 2 min.
• Level 20: Devouring Plague — Afflicts the target with a disease that causes 904 Shadow damage over 24 sec.  Damage caused by the Devouring Plague heals the caster.

While Touch of Weakness isn’t all that great — since ideally things won’t be hitting you a ton — Devouring Plague at level 20 is a fantastic addition to a Shadow Priest’s DOT pool. Plus, the healing effect add a nice survival tool in addition to Vampiric Embrace. That said, Shadow is almost exclusively soloing/PVP spec — you probably won’t be running Shadow in raids.

Troll Priest abilities in WoW Classic

• Level 10: Hex of Weakness — Weakens the target enemy, reducing damage caused by 20 for 2 min.
• Level 20: Shadowguard — The caster is surrounded by shadows.  When a spell, melee or ranged attack hits the caster, the attacker will be struck for 116 Shadow damage.  Attackers can only be damaged once every few seconds.  This damage causes no threat.  3 charges.  Lasts 10 min.

Hex of Weakness is just a more controllable Touch of Weakness, minus the damage effect. Shadowguard, meanwhile, still requires the Priest to be attacked. It has its uses, but overall, I find Troll Priest abilities to not be as great as Forsaken’s.

Dwarf Priest abilities in WoW Classic

• Level 10: Desperate Prayer — Instantly heals the caster for 1324 to 1562.
• Level 20: Fear Ward — Wards the friendly target against Fear.  The next Fear effect used against the target will fail, using up the ward.  Lasts 10 min.

Honestly, if you’re playing an Alliance Priest in WoW Classic, you’d be missing out if you don’t go Dwarf. Yes, Dwarves miss out on anything that provides offensive boosts, but like I said — you probably won’t be DPSing in PVE content. Fear Ward is so incredibly powerful that it’s basically a requirement if you want to raid at max level.

Human Priest abilities in WoW Classic

• Level 10: Desperate Prayer — Instantly heals the caster for 1324 to 1562.
• Level 20: Feedback — The priest becomes surrounded with anti-magic energy.  Any successful spell cast against the priest will burn 105 of the attacker’s Mana, causing 1 Shadow damage for each point of Mana burned.  Lasts 15 sec.

Like Dwarves, Humans get Desperate Prayer at level 10. Unlike Dwarves, they get Feedback at level 20. Even in the off chance you get to DPS in PVE content, Feedback doesn’t have a whole lot of use in dungeons.

Night Elf Priest abilities in WoW Classic

• Level 10: Starshards — Rains starshards down on the enemy target’s head, causing 936 Arcane damage over 6 sec.
• Level 20: Elune’s Grace — Reduces ranged damage taken by 95 and increases chance to dodge by 10% for 15 sec.

Night Elf Priest racials are very strong in terms of damage and solo play. You may not get any healing usage out of them, but if you plan to do mostly solo content, you could do worse than these two. Plus, Starshards looks pretty cool.

Originally published July 2, 2019; updated December 2, 2024.

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