The Priest in WoW Forever is still the most versatile healer, and Blizzard gave every Priest tools that used to depend on race or talents. Fear Ward and Devouring Plague are now learned by all Priests at level 20, Divine Spirit is baseline at 30, and the new Shadow Word: Death arrives at 32. Each race still has two unique Priest spells, and Gnomes can now be Priests with their own pair.
The talent trees bring abilities from later expansions with Forever values. Discipline gets Penance and Divine Aegis, Holy gets Binding Heal and Prayer of Mending, and Shadow gets a reworked Shadowform that halves Shadow spell costs. The class is still fragile: cloth armor and few escapes mean Priests rely on their group for protection.
This guide sums up every Priest change, lists the spells you learn at each level, explains the racial Priest spells and Shadowform, compares Discipline, Holy and Shadow and helps you pick a race before the November 4 launch.
Blizzard's Priest updates widen access to key tools and add new talents for healing, utility and Shadow damage. The changes fall into three groups: new baseline spells, reworked group healing, and a full rethink of the racial Priest spells.
Several spells that used to be race-locked or cost talent points are now part of every Priest's kit:
| Spell | Level | What Changed |
|---|---|---|
| Fear Ward | 20 | Was a Dwarf and Human Priest spell; now available to every race |
| Devouring Plague | 20 | Was an Undead Priest spell; now available to every race |
| Divine Spirit | 30 | Was a Discipline talent; now baseline |
| Shadow Word: Death | 32 | New instant Shadow nuke; if it does not kill the target, you take 10% of your maximum health in damage |
The bonus of the old Improved Power Word: Fortitude talent is now baseline too.
Every Priest race still learns two unique spells, at level 10 and level 20, but Blizzard re-evaluated all of them. Gnome Priests get a brand new pair, Humans and Dwarves swap Fear Ward for new spells, and Night Elf Starshards hits much harder on a 30-second cooldown. The full list is in the racial spells section below.
The October 15 beta build reshuffled the Shadow tree: Dark Inspiration is new, Improved Mind Flay now makes each tick hit harder than the last, and Improved Fade and Shadow Infinity were removed. Devouring Plague now has a 24-second cooldown, Shadow Word: Death went up to 18 seconds, and Vampiric Embrace dropped to 30 seconds, so it can stay up almost all the time. Mental Strength was cut to 10% Intellect.
We compare every talent in all three trees with its Classic version in our WoW Forever Priest talents guide.
A Priest learns new spells from the class trainer every two levels. Priests wear cloth for their whole career, and talent points start at level 10, one per level, for 51 points at 60. Dual Specialization opens at level 40.
The table lists the level at which you learn the first rank of each spell, without the two racial Priest spells, which are covered in the next section. Heals, Power Word: Shield and Shadow spells get new ranks every few levels.
| Level | New Spells |
|---|---|
| 1 | Smite, Lesser Heal, Power Word: Fortitude |
| 4 | Shadow Word: Pain |
| 6 | Power Word: Shield |
| 8 | Renew, Fade |
| 10 | Mind Blast, Resurrection |
| 12 | Inner Fire |
| 14 | Psychic Scream, Cure Disease |
| 16 | Heal |
| 18 | Dispel Magic |
| 20 | Fear Ward, Devouring Plague, Flash Heal, Holy Fire, Mind Soothe, Shackle Undead |
| 22 | Mind Vision |
| 24 | Mana Burn |
| 30 | Divine Spirit, Prayer of Healing, Mind Control, Shadow Protection |
| 32 | Shadow Word: Death, Abolish Disease |
| 34 | Levitate |
| 40 | Greater Heal |
| 48 | Prayer of Fortitude |
| 56 | Prayer of Shadow Protection |
| 60 | Prayer of Spirit |
Talents add the rest of the toolkit. The key talented spells are Inner Focus, Penance and Power Infusion for Discipline, Holy Nova, Binding Heal and Prayer of Mending for Holy, and Mind Flay, Vampiric Embrace, Silence and Shadowform for Shadow.
Our WoW Forever Priest leveling guide shows which of these spells to use at each stage from 1 to 60.
Two things set the Priest apart from other classes: every race learns its own pair of Priest spells, and Shadow Priests fight in Shadowform. Both were reworked for Forever.
Each Priest race learns one unique spell at level 10 and another at level 20, on top of its normal racials. Blizzard re-evaluated all twelve and created a new pair for Gnome Priests.
| Race | Level 10 Spell | Level 20 Spell |
|---|---|---|
| Human | Divine Grace: instant heal on an ally below 50% health that also removes Weakened Soul | Feedback: unchanged |
| Dwarf | Desperate Prayer: unchanged self-heal | Chastise: damages and roots a Humanoid for 2 sec |
| Night Elf | Starshards: much more damage, 30-sec cooldown | Elune's Grace: melee and ranged attacks miss you 50% more often for 15 sec or 3 misses |
| Gnome | Confounding Flash: confuses up to 5 nearby enemies for 3 sec | Contingency Plan: ward that shields and heals an ally when they drop below 35% health |
| Troll | Hex of Weakness: unchanged | Shadowguard: unchanged |
| Undead | Touch of Weakness: unchanged | Dark Sacrifice: trades your health for mana over time, scaling with Spirit |
For healers, Contingency Plan and Divine Grace are the strongest emergency tools, and Dark Sacrifice helps with mana on long fights. Our WoW Forever Priest racials guide covers cooldowns and the best race for leveling, PvE and PvP.
Shadowform is still the 31-point Shadow talent, but it now does much more than add damage:
Healing spells still cannot be cast in Shadowform.
Priests have three talent trees, each with a new 16-point gold medal talent. Discipline and Holy both heal, Discipline with shields and Holy with direct and bouncing heals, while Shadow deals damage over time.
| Spec | Role | Key New Talents | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discipline | Healer, absorbs | Soul Warding, Penance, Divine Aegis | Shields that prevent damage, Power Infusion | Lower raw healing in early beta tests |
| Holy | Healer | Binding Heal, Litany of Light, Prayer of Mending | Strong raid healing, flexible toolkit | Mana-hungry if you spam one heal |
| Shadow | Caster DPS | Improved Mind Flay, Devouring Contagion, Early Demise | Cheap spells in Shadowform, party healing with Vampiric Embrace, fast leveling | Less utility than a Warlock |
Discipline leans into Power Word: Shield. Soul Warding cuts its cooldown and cost, Renewed Hope adds crit to heals on shielded targets and shortens Weakened Soul, and Divine Aegis turns crit heals into extra shields. The 21-point Penance channels over 2 seconds and can either heal an ally or damage an enemy, and Holy Precision and Twin Disciplines support damage-dealing builds. Power Infusion still caps the tree.
Holy gets two new heals. Binding Heal at 16 points heals you and your target at once and is tuned to be as good as Flash Heal even when you need no healing, and the 31-point Prayer of Mending bounces between up to 5 players as they take damage. Litany of Light refunds mana when you alternate heals, Searing Light can make Holy Nova free, and Spirit of Redemption now lasts 15 seconds. Lightwell is gone.
Shadow is the leveling spec and a strong raid caster. Shadow Weaving now boosts only your own damage, Improved Mind Flay rewards full channels, and Devouring Contagion spreads Devouring Plague to two nearby enemies when the target dies. Early Demise adds crit to Shadow Word: Death below 20% health, Vampiric Embrace became the 16-point talent, and Silence now also interrupts for 3 seconds.
Our WoW Forever Priest tier set guide lists the raid set bonuses along with the crafted pieces.
Six races can be Priests in Forever: Undead and Troll for the Horde, and Human, Dwarf, Night Elf and Gnome for the Alliance. Gnome Priest is new, and Skyborne cannot be Priests. Since Fear Ward is no longer race-locked, the choice comes down to the racial Priest spells above and the general racials below.
| Race | Faction | Key Racials for a Priest | Best Fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Undead | Horde | Will of the Forsaken: breaks Fear and Charm; Dark Sacrifice: mana from health | PvP and Shadow |
| Troll | Horde | Berserking: +10% casting speed; Shadowguard | Raid healing and Shadow |
| Human | Alliance | The Human Spirit: +5% Spirit; Divine Grace; Will to Survive | Healing and PvP |
| Dwarf | Alliance | Stoneform; Desperate Prayer; Chastise | PvP and leveling |
| Night Elf | Alliance | Shadowmeld; Starshards; Elune's Grace | Shadow and PvP |
| Gnome | Alliance | Escape Artist; Confounding Flash; Contingency Plan | Dungeon healing and PvP |
For healing, Troll on the Horde side and Human or Gnome on the Alliance side bring the most useful tools: Berserking for burst healing, Divine Grace and Contingency Plan for emergencies. For PvP, Undead and Dwarf shine thanks to Will of the Forsaken and Stoneform.
Our WoW Forever Priest racials guide compares every race in detail, and our WoW Forever race tier list ranks every race for every class.
These are the questions players ask most about the Priest before launch.
Yes. Priests remain the most versatile healers, with direct heals, heals over time and absorb shields, and Shadow gets a much cheaper Shadowform. The weakness is survival: cloth armor and few escapes.
Yes. Fear Ward is learned by every Priest at level 20, regardless of race, and so is Devouring Plague.
Yes. Gnome Priest is a new combination with its own racial spells: Confounding Flash at level 10 and Contingency Plan at 20.
Yes. Penance is the 21-point Discipline talent. It channels over 2 seconds on a 12-second cooldown and can heal an ally or damage an enemy.
Shadow. Mind Flay, Shadow Word: Pain and Spirit Tap keep you killing with little downtime, and Vampiric Embrace now has a 30-second cooldown for steady self-healing.
No. Healing spells still cannot be cast in Shadowform, but every other spell can, including dispels.
These guides take your Priest from the first level to the first raid:
