I'm trying new things as a priest to maximize my effectiveness, so I thought I'd run through my general strategy in a standard 5 man fight to see if there's anything else I should be considering and maybe even to help a few priests out there.

Start of fight.

Prior to the fight starting, I always cast Prayer of Mending (PoM) on the Tank. There are three good reasons for this.

1) The tank instantly is healed if he takes damage - and hopefully it'll jump a few times.
2) Any healing that takes place is generated by the tank thus increasing his threat.
3) I can spend time out of FSR regaining the mana cost - so it's pretty efficient healing.

If the tank is good at getting aggro I'll also cast Power Word: Shield (PWS) prior to battle, as it's a stamina buff without threat. This is as the tank's discretion - some like it, some don't.

If it's a realtively easy fight, during this time, I'll also cast Shadow Word:Pain (DOT) and do a bit of wanding to supplement DPS.

When it looks like the tank is taking a fair bit of damage, I'll usually stablise with a Renew (HOT), if damage is sufficient I'll cast a Greater Heal (GH).

I'll be looking around at this point to see if anyone else has taken damage. If they have and it's a small amount I'll cast another PoM on the tank and it should jump around, if it's considerably more, I'll user Inner Focus (IF) if it's not on cooldown and Prayer of Healing (PoH) If it's one person, I'll either GH or HOT them, depending on the amount.

Depending on the fight, I'm either comfortable now in which case more DOT and Wanding or I'm struggling in which case it's a few more GH's on the tank, maybe a PWS and a HOT to stabalise and a Fade if I've pulled aggro.

I'll also be looking to abolish disease and dispel magic throughout whilst trying to stay out of the FSR and keep mana.

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