PvE Discipline Priest Best Professions

Discipline Priests in Mists of Pandaria will benefit the most from professions that increase their primary stat, which is Intellect. Some professions can also provide easy access to gear and consumables that may otherwise be difficult or expensive to obtain.

PvE Discipline Priest

Gems, Enchants & Consumables

Stat Priority & Reforging

Best Professions

Pre-Raid Gear

Rotation & Cooldowns

Talents, Builds & Glyphs

Best in Slot (BiS)

Addons & Macros

Best Professions

All crafting professions in Mists of Pandaria offer very similar stat bonuses equal to about 320 Intellect for Discipline Priests. These bonuses are a bit stronger than the ones that you will gain from gathering professions, so having two crafting professions will be the most optimal choice for min-maxing as a Disc Priest.

Enchanting and Tailoring are always a popular combination for Priests since both are useful, neither requires a gathering profession, and they have a good synergy together. Your choice of professions may also depend upon what professions you have access to through your alts, friends, or guild.

Alchemy

• Mixology: You’ll get an extra 320 Intellect from your flasks, and they’ll last twice as long.
• Alchemist’s Flask: A nice little reusable consumable item for farm and solo content where you won’t otherwise be able to benefit from your Mixology perk.
• Crafted Items: You can make all of your own potions and elixirs. You’ll also be able to transmute gems and ore. You can make a Zen Alchemist Stone trinket which increases the effect of health and mana potions by 40% along with its flat 809 Mastery and an Intellect proc, but you will quickly replace it with something better.

Enchanting

• Enchant Rings – Greater Intellect: You can enchant your rings for 160 Intellect each, 320 total.
• Crafted Items: You’ll be able to enchant your own gear, and disenchant Bind-on-Pickup items that you acquire for valuable enchanting materials.

Engineering

• Synapse Springs: You’ll be able to apply these to your gloves, giving you a 1920 Intellect buff that lasts for 10 seconds on a 1 minute cooldown. This averages out over the course of its effect and cooldown period to be about 320 Intellect, but only if you remember to use it and only if you use it whenever it’s available. For some players that’s a huge downside while others will like having the extra oomph when they need it most.
• Lightweight Retinal Armor: A powerful piece of early equipment for your head, which you can socket with special Cogwheel Gems. Loses its relevance eventually when you get better gear from raids.
• Crafted Items: You can make your own bombs and lots of Engineer-exclusive gadgets that don’t necessarily help you in dungeons and raids, but which can be useful in the open world.

Inscription

• Secret Crane Wing Inscription: You’ll get this inscription for your shoulders, which gives 320 Intellect more than the next best shoulder enchantment.
• Crafted Items: Scribes can make their own glyphs. They can also craft Darkmoon Cards that can be combined to make a solid early expansion trinket, Relic of Chi-Ji, but you don’t need to have Inscription to get or use this item. You’ll also be able to make some upgradeable staves and offhands, including Inscribed Crane Staff and Inscribed Red Fan, and these items are Bind-on-Account and can be shared with your alts.

Jewelcrafting

• Brilliant Serpent’s Eye: You’ll be able to cut these special gems, which give you double the Intellect of the next best option. You can use two of these gems at a time, amounting to 320 bonus Intellect total.
• Crafted Items: Jewelcrafters can cut their own gems. They can also craft some pre-raid rings and amulets, but those are BoE and don’t require Jewelcrafting to use.

Tailoring

• Darkweave Embroidery & Lightweave Embrodery: Tailors can apply these special enchantments to their cloaks. Lightweave gives 2000 Intellect for 15 seconds every 1 minute, averaging to 320 Intellect above the next best cloak enchant. Darkglow gives 3000 Spirit instead, averaging to 480 Spirit.
• Crafted Items: You’ll be able to craft all sorts of cloth gear, which you can actually use, although none of it requires you to have Tailoring to equip it. You can also make your own bags as well as spellthreads for your pants.

Useful Professions

Although these two professions offer competitive stat bonuses, they don’t give you anything else that could be useful to you as a Priest. You’ll be better off with one of the options above.

Blacksmithing

• Socket Bracer & Socket Gloves: You’ll be able to add gem sockets to your bracers and gloves, which will allow you to slot in 2 additional Intellect gems for 320 Intellect total.
• Crafted Items: Most of what you can craft as a Blacksmith will not be useful to you as a Priest, including plate and mail armor, weapon chains, and shield spikes. You’ll be able to make your own belt buckles as well as an early weapon, but that’s about it.

Leatherworking

• Fur Lining – Intellect: You’ll be able to apply this special enchantment to your bracers, which gives 320 more Intellect than the next best bracer enchantment.
• Crafted Items: Leatherworkers can make leather and mail equipment as well as armor kits, none of which are useful to you as a Priest.

Sub-Par Professions

The bonuses from gathering professions aren’t quite as strong as those from crafting professions. If you take a gathering profession, you’ll be losing out on an Intellect bonus from one of the crafting professions. Herbalism’s bonus is much more competitive than Mining or Skinning, but you will still be missing out on potential Intellect.

Herbalism

• Lifeblood: You’ll gain this cooldown that gives a small heal and also grants 2880 Haste for 20 seconds.
• Gathering: In addition to herbs that can be used in Alchemy and Inscription, you’ll be able to collect Life Spirit and Water Spirit from herb nodes, but these share a cooldown with health and mana potions respectively, which makes them much less useful than they could be.

Skinning

• Master of Anatomy: Maxing out your Skinning nets you a passive 480 Critical Strike buff, which isn’t as good for you as the Intellect buffs offered by crafting professions.
• Gathering: You’ll be able to skin mobs for leather, hide, and scales to be used in Leatherworking.

Mining

• Toughness: For maxing out your Mining skill you get a passive 480 Stamina buff, which isn’t that useful to you as a healer.
• Gathering: You’ll be able to collect and smelt ore for use in Blacksmithing or Engineering, and gems for use in Jewelcrafting.

Cooking Specializations

In Mists of Pandaria, the Cooking profession offers some benefits to endgame characters through the new specializations that are available. Characters with the appropriate specialization will receive additional stats when they eat from a Banquet of that specialization. You’ll also be able to make your own food, with the best food options only being craftable by cooks of the appropriate specialization.

Discipline Priests will want to prioritize The Way of the Steamer for Spirit food or The Way of the Pot for Intellect food.