Unofficial fan site. Not affiliated with Blizzard.Unofficial fan website. Not affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment. Not an addon. Does not automate gameplay.

Shadow vs Discipline Priest

FreeBeta 1.60.1 data, 20 Sep

Two level 60 Priest builds side by side: 26 talents differ and 5 are the same.

The two builds

Build A: Shadow Priest

Our pick — opinionShadow leveling build

17/0/34

Level: 60
Points: 51 of 51

16-point milestones

Soul Warding
Vampiric Embrace

Build B: Discipline Priest

Our pick — opinionDiscipline leveling build

33/18/0

Level: 60
Points: 51 of 51

16-point milestones

Soul Warding

Open the full comparison Open A in the calculator Open B in the calculator

https://foreverguide.app/b/1i2lzr03ru7oi0000000001o991mre/vs/1i2vf7aohjhm9nbysh

Both builds are our leveling picks: opinion, not confirmed by Blizzard. Why we picked them: Priest leveling guide

Differences: 26 talents

Discipline8 differences · 17 points in A, 33 in B

Talent	Rank	Rank	What the extra ranks give
Power in Light. Only build B takes it.	Build A: not taken	Build B: 5/5	Build B, rank 5: Your Smite and Penance spells deal 10% increased damage to targets afflicted with your Holy Fire.
Twin Disciplines. Both take it, at different ranks.	Build A: 3/5	Build B: 5/5	Build A, rank 3: Increases the damage and healing of your instant cast spells by 3%. Build B, rank 5: Increases the damage and healing of your instant cast spells by 5%.
Holy Precision. Only build B takes it.	Build A: not taken	Build B: 3/3	Build B, rank 3: Increases your chance to hit with Holy spells by 18%.
Martyrdom. Only build A takes it.	Build A: 2/2	Build B: not taken	Build A, rank 2: Gives you a 100% chance to gain Focused Casting for 6 sec after being the victim of a melee or ranged critical strike. The Focused Casting effect prevents you from losing casting time when taking damage and increases your resistance to Interrupt effects by 20%.
Mental Agility. Both take it, at different ranks.	Build A: 1/3	Build B: 3/3	Build A, rank 1: Reduces the mana cost of your Smite, Holy Fire, and instant cast spells by 3%. Build B, rank 3: Reduces the mana cost of your Smite, Holy Fire, and instant cast spells by 9%.
Mental Strength. Both take it, at different ranks.	Build A: 1/5	Build B: 5/5	Build A, rank 1: Increases your total Intellect by 3%. Build B, rank 5: Increases your total Intellect by 15%.
Penance. Only build B takes it.	Build A: not taken	Build B: 1/1	Build B, rank 1: Launches a volley of holy light at the target, causing 93 Holy damage to an enemy, or 223 healing to an ally, instantly and every 1 sec for 2 sec.
Power Infusion. Only build B takes it.	Build A: not taken	Build B: 1/1	Build B, rank 1: Infuses the target with power, increasing their spell damage and healing done by 20% for 15 sec.

Holy6 differences · 0 points in A, 18 in B

Talent	Rank	Rank	What the extra ranks give
Twilight Focus. Only build B takes it.	Build A: not taken	Build B: 3/3	Build B, rank 3: Gives you a 70% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting any spell.
Improved Renew. Only build B takes it.	Build A: not taken	Build B: 2/3	Build B, rank 2: Increases the amount healed by your Renew spell by 10%.
Holy Specialization. Only build B takes it.	Build A: not taken	Build B: 5/5	Build B, rank 5: Increases the critical effect chance of your Holy spells by 5%.
Divine Fury. Only build B takes it.	Build A: not taken	Build B: 5/5	Build B, rank 5: Reduces the casting time of your Smite, Holy Fire, Heal, and Greater Heal spells by 0.5 sec.
Holy Reach. Only build B takes it.	Build A: not taken	Build B: 1/2	Build B, rank 1: Increases the range of your Smite and Holy Fire spells and the radius of your Prayer of Healing and Holy Nova spells by 10%.
Searing Light. Only build B takes it.	Build A: not taken	Build B: 2/2	Build B, rank 2: Increases your Holy damage done by 4%, and gives a 10% chance each time your Holy Fire spell deals periodic damage for your next Holy Nova to cost no Mana.

Shadow12 differences · 34 points in A, 0 in B

Talent	Rank	Rank	What the extra ranks give
Shadow Focus. Only build A takes it.	Build A: 5/5	Build B: not taken	Build A, rank 5: Increases your chance to hit with your Shadow spells by 5%.
Spirit Tap. Only build A takes it.	Build A: 5/5	Build B: not taken	Build A, rank 5: Gives you a 100% chance to gain a 100% bonus to your Spirit for 15 sec after killing a non-trivial target. For the duration, your Mana will regenerate at a 50% of normal rate while casting.
Improved Shadow Word: Pain. Only build A takes it.	Build A: 2/2	Build B: not taken	Build A, rank 2: Increases the duration of your Shadow Word: Pain spell by 6 sec.
Shadow Reach. Only build A takes it.	Build A: 2/2	Build B: not taken	Build A, rank 2: Increases the range of your offensive Shadow spells by 20%.
Improved Mind Blast. Only build A takes it.	Build A: 5/5	Build B: not taken	Build A, rank 5: Reduces the cooldown of your Mind Blast spell by 2.5 sec.
Mind Flay. Only build A takes it.	Build A: 1/1	Build B: not taken	Build A, rank 1: Assault the target's mind with Shadow energy, causing 119 Shadow damage over 3 sec and slowing their movement speed by 50%.
Improved Mind Flay. Only build A takes it.	Build A: 2/2	Build B: not taken	Build A, rank 2: Your Mind Flay now deals 20% more damage, gains 10 yards increased range, but slows the target's movement speed by 20%.
Vampiric Embrace16-point milestone. Only build A takes it.	Build A: 1/1	Build B: not taken	Build A, rank 1: Afflicts your target with Shadow energy that causes all party members to be healed for 20% of any Shadow spell damage you deal for 30 sec. Vampiric Embrace also grants a chance for your Spirit Tap talent to trigger when enemies afflicted by it die.
Shadow Weaving. Only build A takes it.	Build A: 3/3	Build B: not taken	Build A, rank 3: Your Shadow damage spells have a 100% chance to increase the Shadow damage you deal by 2% for 15 sec, stacking up to 5 times.
Devouring Contagion. Only build A takes it.	Build A: 2/2	Build B: not taken	Build A, rank 2: Reduces the mana cost of your Devouring Plague by 50%. Targets that die while Devouring Plague is active spreads it, jumping to a nearby enemy within 5 yards for the remaining duration.
Darkness. Only build A takes it.	Build A: 5/5	Build B: not taken	Build A, rank 5: Increases your Shadow damage done by 10%.
Shadowform. Only build A takes it.	Build A: 1/1	Build B: not taken	Build A, rank 1: Assume Shadowform, increasing your Shadow damage by 10%, reducing the Mana cost of all Shadow spells by 50%, increasing the critical strike damage bonus of your Shadow spells by 100%, and reducing Physical damage taken by you by 15%. However, you may not cast healing spells while in this form.