Are you ready to go through the devout and mysterious world of the Priest class in WoW with the latest Season of Discovery? There is about to be a godly intervention as there is an addition of New Runes system in your gameplay. This guide will take you from being a novice holy healer or shadowy spellcaster to become a master.

• Glove Runes
• Belt Runes
• Boot Runes
• Chest Runes
• Leg Runes

In contrast, Priest was divided between light and darkness on Vanilla WoW. They were unbeatable healers who had an array of powerful single-target heals and area-of-effect (AOE) heals at their disposal.

However, their debuff limit frequently restricted Shadow Priests from performing as expected; they struggled with damage output issues too, making them mana-intensive characters. Nowadays, though, what is different about The Season of Discovery gives hope both for healing skills prowess and viability among Shadow Priests.

Choosing Your Priestly Path

Each season has bring along racial abilities that come up with strategic aspects during development of one's priestly character. These racial buffs such as "Secrets of [Race Name]" and "Anointed by [Race Name]" imply that a player can customize his or her priest beyond traditional racial boundaries. This could unlock cool new synergies and even give second wind to unused spells like Starshards belonging to Night Elves.

↖ Glove Runes

Phase 1:

•  Penance: A versatile Wrath of the Lich King spell that can either heal allies or damage enemies. Its full potential may be limited due to the separation between healing stats found in vanilla but it remains a good choice for healers and PvPers alike.
•  Mind Sear: This spell allows Shadow Priests to channel through an enemy target and improve their AoE capabilities. Combined with Shared Pain, it turns Shadow Priests into great AoE characters.
•  Shadow Word: Death: A high risk and reward spell that can be cast without any regard for the health of an enemy but also deals damage back to the caster. In PvP it is a clever way of countering CC; in PVE, an additional tool in your damage dealing arsenal.
•  Circle of Healing: A party-wide heal that comes with a hefty mana cost and is instant-cast. The value of this ability will depend on how much group healing is needed as demanded by the fight.

↖ Belt Runes

Phase 2:

•  Empoweredd Renew: If your Renew heals one more time when applied and get a 15% boost from all your bonus healing then it’s like having an extra-credit obssessed cousin. 
•  Mind Spike: Are you interested in Shadow Frost damage? M Spike is new bestie. It hits your target and gives +30% crit chance to your next Mind Blast, stacking up to three times (giving you 90% chance for a Mind Blast critical hit).
•  Renewed Hope: Do you find yourself unable to use Weakened Soul debuff? Cast Flash Heal, Lesser Heal, Heal, Greater Heal or Penance to get +10% critical effect chances. Why not having shields as weapons?

↖ Boot Runes

Phase 2:

•  Pain Suppression: Got someone taking too many hits? Apply this rune on him/her so he/she takes reduced damage by 40% while being dispel resistant at 65%, for 8 seconds. Sounds like invisibility cloak for friends!
•  Dispersion: Achieve your dream of being a shadowy ninja. It absorbs 90% of the damage, restores some mana and releases us from stun, fear, silence, snare and movement impairing effects. May you be the annoying slippery one in PvP.
•  Spirit of the Redeemer: Every time you dodge or parry, your health is increased by 6%, up to five times. One may gain up to 30% more health just for being nimble enough. Who would have thought it can be advantageous to be elusive?

↖ Chest Runes

Phase 1:

•  Void Plague: A cryptic Rune that potentially bolsters Shadow Priests' DOT capabilities. In situations where they are out of mana these could be game changers as they work well both on single targets and groups.
•  Twisted Faith: This talent increases Mind Blast and Mind Flay damage by 20% against enemies with Shadow Word: Pain debuff. DPS is straightforward except for threat management in vanilla settings.
•  Serendipity: The Flash Heal spell will reduce the casting time of your next Prayer of Healing or next single target heal by 20%, but only if repeated three times at most. It may speed up your healing actions at risk of running out of mana.
• Strength of Soul: Each single-target heal cast with this rune reduces 'Weakened Soul' debuff duration by 4 sec; however, it should have more relevance in PvP rather than PvE due to how PW:S works with Vanilla's tanking.

↖ Leg Runes

Phase 1:

•  Prayer of Mending: A classic bouncing heal that moves between raid members or party people involved. It has a strong presence both in PvE and PvP since it helps abate incoming harm.
•  Shared Pain: Increasing shadow word pain effect lets the ability cover an additional number of targets making it ideal for AoE fights as its distribution among enemies might allow for a better cleave.
•  Power Word: Barrier: This spell, which offers party-wide damage reduction, has been taken from Cataclysm and may become a truly irreplaceable tool in both PvP and PvE. Its limitation by five players would require precise positioning and raid management.

Related: WoW Classic SoD Mage All Runes Overview.

Conclusion:

The healing Runes add more to already diverse healing toolkits for PvE content. Although Shadow Priests find these very useful when dealing with AoE situations, concerns of mana efficiency have not been fully resolved.

We will provide you with further updates regarding the Runes as pertains to your Priestly calling in our journey into this new season. As we continue our exploration through World of Warcraft’s Season of Discovery, keep watching this space for more updates and insights!