Downranking
There are a few different cases for downranking spells but the pay off is always mana.
- Healing spells – as you gain bonus healing different ranks become more mana efficient.
- Utility spells – Spells that you can downrank depending on the situation at hand.
- Baiting out purges – Rank 1 buffs and debuffs to win mana trades against players dispeling/purging.
The mentality is about getting away with the lowest possible rank at the time to be as efficient with mana as possible as priest is a very mana intensive and dependant class in classic wow.
The more bonus healing you obtain, the more you can downrank heals, there are certain breakpoints where different ranks become more efficient
Healing Spells
Initially with 0 bonus healing, the highest rank of each heal/flash heal/greater heal is the most efficient. As you obtain more bonus healing, the more lower ranks become more efficient as they scale at an equal rate to higher ranks since the cast time doesn’t change.
When downranking healing spells, bear in mind that spells that you train below level 20 gain a lower portion of bonus healing.
Single target heal percentage from bonus healing = ((cast time before talents)/3.5)*100
Heal over Time heal percentage from bonus healing = (Duration/15)*100
AoE percentage from bonus healing = (Cast time/3.5)*(100/3)
Healing amounts listed below are averaged for the sake of simplicity. First we take a look at mana efficiency.
Heal
- Rank 1
Mana cost: 155
Healing: ~320
More efficient with 370 bonus healing or more. - Rank 2
Mana cost: 205
Healing: ~460
More efficient with 175 bonus healing or more. - Rank 4
Mana cost: 305
Healing: ~758
More efficient with less than 175 bonus healing.
Heal gains ~86% of your bonus healing regardless of rank
Greater Heal
- Rank 1
Mana cost: 370
Healing: ~956
More efficient with 320 bonus healing or more - Rank 4
Mana cost: 665
Healing: ~1902
More efficient with less than 320 bonus healing
Greater heal gains ~86% of your bonus healing regardless of rank
You can treat Greater heal as a natural progression to Heal.
Heal Rank 4 and Greater Heal Rank 1 are roughly equal in terms of efficiency with no bonus healing.
With around 300 bonus healing or more, the lowest rank you can get away with will be the most efficient.
Keep in mind that going for the most efficient spell will not always be optimal as at times the healing per second (HPS) provided by lower ranks will not be enough to deal with the damage intake of the group/raid. This is where your decision making comes into play in terms of what ranks to use depending on the situation, balancing mana efficiency and HPS.
Flash heal is an extreme of the above case, providing a higher HPS at the cost of lower efficiency, for use in relatively urgent situations.
Flash Heal
- Rank 1
Mana cost: 125
Healing: ~225
More efficient with 265 bonus healing or more - Rank 7
Mana cost: 380
Healing: ~925
More efficient with less than 265 bonus healing
Flash heal gains ~43% of bonus healing regardless of rank
Generally Flash Heal Rank 1 does not provide enough HPS in emergencies however so try to judge which lower rank provides enough healing to meet your current needs based on the current bonus healing provided by your gear.
Utility Spells
Psychic Scream
- Rank 1
Fears 2 targets for 90 mana
Use if you have 2 or fewer enemies to fear. - Rank 4
Fears 5 targets for 189 mana
Use if you have more than 2 enemies to fear.
Holy Nova
- Rank 1
Mana cost: 166
Healing: 32
Damage: 59
Mostly useful for getting rogues out of stealth or killing large numbers of low hp mobs.
- Rank 6
Mana cost: 166
Healing: 32
Damage: 59
Useful for helping out aoe large packs if you have extra mana or as a last resort.
Shackle Undead
- Rank 1
Mana cost: 90
Shackles an undead mob for 30 seconds, higher ranks increase the duration but 30 seconds is usually more than enough.
Baiting out Purges
Shadow word: Pain
- Rank 1
Mana cost: 22
Damage: 30
Useful to bait dispels if they are dispelling rank 8. - Rank 8
Mana cost: 423
Damage: 852
Useful if you actually want to do damage.
Renew
- Rank 1
Mana cost: 37
Healing: 45
Useful to bait dispels if they are dispelling rank 8. - Rank 8
Mana cost: 328
Healing: 810
Useful if you actually want to do heal, mostly on tanks for increase hps as it’s about as mana efficient as Flash Heal with no bonus healing.
Renew gains 100% of bonus healing