Priest build: choose a route that fits

Choose the route for your current character

These are conditional routes assembled from the original client’s talent descriptions. Check prerequisites and the points you have already spent in the game before following an endpoint. ^[1]

Route	Talents to inspect	What makes it work	Condition that changes the choice
Discipline	Divine Aegis → Rapture → Penance	Divine Aegis changes the start to Power Word: Shield and adds damage when a shield breaks. Rapture can immediately raise a broken shield again, with a 15-second limit. Penance adds free casts.	A shield-break effect requires the shield to break. It is not the same as damage gained while a shield stays intact.
Shadow	Shadow Word: Pain support → Shadowform	Shadowform lasts for the run; a death with Shadow Word: Pain creates an explosion and passes the pain to the nearest enemy.	The propagation requires a death with the effect present. It does not prove that an isolated boss will die quickly.

What to prioritise during the run

1. If repeated contact is ending runs, first check whether the shield-start milestone and reapplication talent are allocated.
2. Add damage that works while you move. A defensive setup still needs a spell capable of finishing enemies.
3. On Shadow, get Shadow Word: Pain functioning before taking choices whose value assumes its spread.
4. After the engine is working, use the actual failure point to choose health, recovery or damage; do not replace a shield problem with another conditional death explosion.

This is an editorial choice order, not a guaranteed card sequence. The offered upgrades and your current permanent investment still determine which step is available. ^[1]

When the intended build is not ready

Before the shield milestone is open, Smite remains the baseline start. Before Shadowform, treat Shadow Word: Pain as a DoT rather than guaranteed propagation. Do not spend future talent benefits in advance when deciding whether the present character can survive a harder zone.

Before changing the whole plan, identify the failure: no room to move, too little recovery, or too little damage on the target. Change the part that addresses that failure, then compare another run with similar talents and equipment.

Check the starter and trigger before copying a build

Baseline starter: Smite. Talents can replace it; use the route conditions above rather than treating this as the opening for every developed character. ^[1]

Siphon Life belongs to the Warlock route described elsewhere. Do not assume a Priest gets the same per-tick healing merely because both classes use damage over time.

Record the game version, zone, difficulty, selected capstone, permanent equipment and the card that changed the run. Comparing two different progression states cannot establish that a single spell was better. Use the meter carefully →

Holy: Smite criticals and Holy Nova

Chastise adds a Smite target and makes a critically striking Smite cast trigger a free Holy Nova. That is a different engine from Shield breaks or Shadow Word: Pain propagation.^[1]

1. Keep Smite working before expecting the capstone interaction.
2. With Chastise active, support the direct spell and relevant critical effects.
3. If recovery is the failure, take an available defensive choice rather than assuming this is the Discipline shield loop.

This is an editorial route decision from the preserved snapshot, not a complete legal point allocation or measured best build. Inspect prerequisites and gates →^[1]