The Priest talent tree in WoW Forever joins Discipline, Holy, and Shadow into one 54-node tree, the largest single tree in the beta data, and Gnomes can now train as Priests for the first time. This guide reads the beta tree as of build 1.60.1.69893 and lays out reasonable builds for leveling, group content, PvP, rotation, and race choice.
What changed for the class in Forever
The Priest now works from a single 54-node tree rather than three separate Discipline, Holy, and Shadow trees, which the beta data shows directly. Blizzard's panel recap ties the class pass to "new race and class combinations," and Gnome Priest is the concrete result here — a combination that did not exist before Forever. As of beta build 1.60.1.69893, Forever also lets periodic effects crit and unifies hit rating and critical strike rating from gear, which matters most for the Shadow side of this tree: talent #105821 (Shadow Weaving) and Shadow Word: Pain's damage-over-time component both scale with a stat that used to be gemmed separately from a caster's spell hit. Blizzard has not published exact numbers for the change, so treat it as directional.
Talent tree overview
As of beta build 1.60.1.69893, the tree spans 54 nodes across seven rows (the beta data also contains one duplicate Holy Specialization entry at an irregular coordinate, which looks like a leftover import artifact rather than a real second node). The left column is Holy, capped by talent #105836 (Power Infusion, 1 rank, requires Penance). The middle column is Discipline, running through talent #105846 (Improved Power Word: Shield, 3 ranks) and talent #105834 (Penance, 1 rank), capped by talent #105851 (Prayer of Mending, 1 rank, requires Spirit of Redemption). The right column is Shadow, running through talent #105821 (Shadow Weaving, 3 ranks) up to the capstone talent #105817 (Shadowform, 1 rank, requires Vampiric Embrace).
| Column | Identity | Row-6 gate | Capstone (row 7) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Left | Holy | Penance | Power Infusion |
| Middle | Discipline | Spirit of Redemption | Prayer of Mending |
| Right | Shadow | Vampiric Embrace | Shadowform |
Leveling build
A reasonable leveling build as of beta build 1.60.1.69893 leans Shadow, since a solo Priest without a group to heal benefits more from direct damage than from healing throughput. Shadow Focus (Shadow Focus, 5 ranks) improves hit chance with Shadow spells, Shadow Weaving (Shadow Weaving, 3 ranks) stacks a damage buff on your Shadow spells over the course of a fight, and Vampiric Embrace (Vampiric Embrace, 1 rank) heals your party — or just yourself while soloing — for a share of the Shadow damage you deal, which removes most of the downtime a caster otherwise spends drinking between pulls.
Dungeon and raid builds
A healing build for group content takes the Discipline and Holy columns together: talent #105846 (Improved Power Word: Shield, 3 ranks) for a bigger absorb, talent #105834 (Penance, 1 rank) for a strong direct-and-periodic heal, and talent #105835 (Renewed Hope, 5 ranks) for extra critical heal chance against a target with Weakened Soul active, finishing at talent #105851 (Prayer of Mending) for a heal that jumps between party members on its own.
A Shadow damage build for raids runs talent #105827 (Improved Mind Blast, 5 ranks) for a shorter cooldown on your hardest-hitting direct spell, talent #105821 (Shadow Weaving, 3 ranks) for the stacking damage buff, and talent #105818 (Darkness, 5 ranks) for flat Shadow damage, capped by talent #105817 (Shadowform) for the class's core Shadow damage stance. The beta data does not indicate whether Discipline or Holy heals better in current raid content, so that split is a role choice rather than a proven ranking.
PvP build
Martyrdom (Martyrdom, 2 ranks) grants uninterruptible casting after being hit by a crit, which directly counters melee interrupt pressure from players. Silence (Silence, 1 rank) shuts down an enemy caster's spellcasting entirely for its duration, one of the strongest anti-caster tools on the tree. Blackout (Blackout, 5 ranks) gives Shadow damage spells a chance to stun, useful for both offense and peeling melee off a healer, and Blessed Recovery (Blessed Recovery, 3 ranks) heals you back after eating a big burst hit, which matters far more against a player's burst combo than against scripted boss damage.
Rotation and priorities
Classic Priest play, carried over from Classic Era, differs sharply by spec: Holy and Discipline keep Renew or Power Word: Shield active on tanks and react to burst damage with Flash Heal or Penance, prioritizing efficient Mana use over a fixed cast order. Shadow opens with Shadow Word: Pain and Vampiric Touch-adjacent effects, then alternates Mind Blast on cooldown with Mind Flay as a filler, keeping its damage-over-time effects refreshed above all else.
What Forever changes: with periodic damage now able to crit, Shadow Word: Pain and Shadow Weaving (Shadow Weaving)'s stacking buff both benefit more from critical strike gear than the Classic Era priority suggested, since a Classic-era Priest could largely ignore crit on damage-over-time effects. Improved Mind Blast (Improved Mind Blast) becomes correspondingly more valuable as a way to weave in more crit-eligible direct casts between DoT refreshes.
Best races for the class
Gnome Priest is one of the six new race and class combinations Blizzard announced for Forever, and it is the headline change for this class: Gnomes had no Priest option before Forever. On the existing roster, Human and Night Elf remain strong Alliance options, and Undead and Troll remain the Horde options.
| Race | Faction | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Gnome | Alliance | New in Forever; first time Gnomes can be Priests |
| Human | Alliance | Original Priest race, carried over from Classic Era |
| Undead | Horde | Original Priest race, carried over from Classic Era; Will of the Forsaken resists Fear-based CC, useful for a Shadow build in PvP |
| Troll | Horde | Original Priest race, carried over from Classic Era; Berserking pairs with burst Shadow damage windows |
Blizzard has not yet detailed Gnome-specific racial adjustments for Priest, so as of beta build 1.60.1.69893 this is primarily a new identity and faction option rather than a confirmed mechanical edge.