Patch 9.0 Holy Priest Changes

Incomplete List

This is not a comprehensive list and may be missing some changes, for example undocumented hotfixes or uninteresting bug fixes.

Patch 9.0.1, the Shadowlands pre-patch, was released on October 13, 2020. It introduced a number of changes to Holy Priest.

Spell Changes

• Added Circle of Healing as a baseline ability (Was a talent).
• Added Prayer of Mending Rank 2, making Prayer of Mending instant-cast.
• Added Power Infusion to all priest specs at level 58.
• Added Power Word: Shield at level 4.
• Added Shadow Word: Pain at level 2.
  • Added Shadow Word: Pain Rank 2 at level 27.
• Added Shadow Word: Death at level 14.
  • Added Shadow Word: Death at level 46.
• Added Holy Nova Rank 2 at level 56, triggering Holy Nova a second time at 50% effectiveness if it damages 3 or more targets.
• Modified Holy Nova to have a 1.5-second GCD rather than 1-second.
• Modified Holy Fire to now have a cast time and hit significantly harder.
• Modified Prayer of Fortitude to increase health by 5%, from 10%.
• Modified Smite to now have a mana cost for some reason.
• Modified Renew to remove the instant portion (and mastery interaction) and instead integrate it to tick immediately.

The following changes were around for a short period on alpha & beta but were removed before Patch 9.0 launch:

• Added then removed [Mind Blast]. Mind Blast now becomes Holy Fire in Holy spec.
• Added then removed [Mind Sear]

Talent Changes

• Enduring Renewal (Direct healing spells refresh the duration of Renew) replaced with Renewed Faith.
• Perseverance (Reduced damage taken on the casting priest when Renew is present) replaced with Body and Soul for some weird reason.
• Circle of Healing (now baseline) replaced with Prayer Circle.
• Afterlife now provides increased range during Spirit of Redemption.

Shadowlands Systems

• The main expansion feature are Covenants.
  • Each covenant grants you a Signature ability, shared with all classes who join that covenant.
  • Each covenant grants you a Class ability, specific to your class.
• Craftable and upgradeable legendaries were added
  • 4 shared game-wide legendary powers
  • 4 shared Priest legendary powers
  • 4 Holy Priest specific legendary powers

Notable hotfixes

• Dec. 01, 2020: Fixed an issue where Flash Concentration (Legendary Effect) was not reducing Heal's cast time by 0.2 seconds per stack as indicated by the tooltip.
• Dec. 07, 2020: Mindgames (Venthyr ability) will now display on nameplates to the casting Priest.
• Dec. 15, 2020: Divine Image (Legendary Effect) will no longer cause other pets and guardians such as your Steward to attempt to cast spells.
• Dec. 18, 2020: Holy Priests will now have their deaths count against the dungeon timer.
• Jan. 13, 2021: Holy Priests wearing X’anshi, Return of Archbishop Benedictus (Legendary Effect) and using Forgeborne Reveries (Bonesmith Heirmir Soulbind) will no longer benefit from Spirit of Redemption during Archbishop Benedictus' Restitution.
• Jan. 14, 2021: Measured Contemplation (Legendary Effect) will now consistently grant stacks of its buff.
• Jan. 21, 2021: Benevolent Faerie (Night Fae Ability) will no longer reduce the cooldown of Shadowfiend while one of its cosmetic glyphs are active.
• Feb. 04, 2021: Fixed an issue where Mental Recovery’s (Conduit) slow effect was not being removed with slow immunities (e.g. Hand of Freedom).
• Feb. 08, 2021: Fixed an issue where the beneficial effect of the Prideful affix would not be applied to Priests in Spirit of Redemption form.