Priest racial abilities and Runes in WoW Classic Season of Discovery

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. And with Season of Discovery adding Runes to the equation, Priest customization in Classic has never been better. Depending on the type of player you are or the type of Priest you want to be, Priest racial abilities and Priest Runes in Season of Discovery may affect what you choose to play.

Want to know more about WoW Classic Season of Discovery? Check out our guide to everything you need to know about Classic’s newest season.

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.

Priest Runes in WoW Classic Season of Discovery

Runes in Season of Discovery must be, well, discovered out in the world and add a new variety of flavor to classes. Runes can be applied to the chest, glove, and leg slots, with unique Runes for each slot. Below are all of the Priest Runes in Season of Discovery, sorted by slot.

Priest Chest Runes

• Void Plague
  • Afflicts the target with a disease that causes Shadow damage over 18 sec.
• Serendipity
  • Healing with Flash Heal reduces the cast time of your next Lesser Heal, Heal, Greater Heal, or Prayer of Healing by 20% for 20 sec, stacking up to 3 times.
• Strength of Soul
  • Lesser Heal, Heal, Greater Heal, and Flash Heal reduce the remaining duration of Weakened Soul on targets they heal by 4 sec. In addition, targets of your Power Word: Shield will gain Rage from taking damage despite the damage being absorbed, and Righteous Fury will trigger from damage absorbed by your Power Word: Shield as if it were a heal.
• Twisted Faith
  • Mind Flay and Mind Blast deal 20% increased damage to targets afflicted with your Shadow Word: Pain.

Priest Glove Runes

• Penance
  • Launches a volley of holy light at the target, causing 64 Holy damage to an enemy, or 171 healing to an ally, instantly and every 1 sec for 2 sec.
• Circle of Healing
  • Heals all of target player’s party members within 40 yards of target player.
• Shared Word: Death
  • A word of dark binding that inflicts Shadow damage to the target. If the target is not killed by Shadow Word: Death, the caster takes damage equal to the damage inflicted upon the target.
• Mind Sear
  • Causes an explosion of shadow magic around the enemy target, causing Shadow damage every 1 sec for 5 sec to all enemies within 10 yards around the target.

Priest Leg Runes

• Power Word: Barrier
  • Summons a holy barrier to protect all party members at the target location for 10 sec, reducing all damage taken by 25% and preventing damage from delaying spellcasting.
• Prayer of Mending
  • Places a spell on the target that heals them for 150 the next time they take damage or receive healing. When the heal occurs, Prayer of Mending jumps to a party or raid member within 20 years. Jumps up to 5 times and lasts 30 sec after each jump. This spell can only be placed on one target at a time.
• Shared Pain
  • Your Shadow Word: Pain now also afflicts up to 2 additional nearby targets within 15 yards.
• Homunculi
  • Break off splinters of your soul to animate 3 miniature copies of yourself that attempt to attack your current target with a mace, sword, and axe reducing the attack speed, attack power, and armor respectively of any target they hit.

That covers us for all things Priest in Season of Discovery. What’s your favorite combination of racial abilities and Runes so far?

Originally published July 2, 2019; updated November 29, 2023

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