Priests head the many faiths spread out through the disparate lands of the world of azeroth. In kalimdor, night elf priestesses venerate the moon goddess elune, while dwarven priests in khaz modan deliver the message of the light to their people. In the ruins of lordaeron, the undead priests of the forsaken, their faith twisted and tainted by their tortured existences, spread a dark representation of the holy light. Regardless of their faith, however, all priests share in their ability to manipulate the minds of those who turn to them for spiritual guidance.
The priest class is known for its many healing abilities. This includes instant-cast spells that heal over time, slow-casting spells that offer a large burst of healing, and area of effect spells that can heal many players at once.
In addition to their role as healers, priests have offensive spells. Most of their offensive spells cause shadow damage although some cause holy damage. Some of their racial spells instead cause arcane damage. Priests that focus on the 'shadow' talent tree can cause large amounts of shadow damage and are particularly effective in pvp. Shadow priests may also change into a shadowform, which increases shadow damage dealt as well as decreases physical damage taken by the priest, but limits casting to shadow and discipline schools.
Priests have several spells which affect the mind or otherwise control their opponents. They can shackle undead, preventing a single undead enemy from taking any action for a period of time or until damaged. Priests can cause several enemies around them to run away in fear. They can even control the actions of a single humanoid opponent for a period of time. In addition, priests can temporarily make themselves appear less threatening to opponents and which makes them less prone to attack.
The Priest class is the master of healing, crowd control, and hate control. Other classes such as the shaman, druid, and paladin can heal, but not as well as the priest. The priest can also resurrect dead players along with the shaman and paladin. The warlock also has the ability to resurrect, through the use of soul stones. The priest has some buffs that can help party members. The priest can even take control of humanoid monsters at higher character levels. All priests have the ability to buff allies by increasing their stamina. Discipline specialized priests can also increase the spirit of allies.
Priests, unlike other classes, get two special spells based on their race. For example, night elf priests have "starshards" and "elune's grace" and dwarves have "fear ward" and "desperate prayer" and draenei also have "fear ward" and "symbol of hope".
