I don't post very much but I've been really wanting to play Priest lately. Priest and Rogue are some of my favorite classes and I've played Shellfish Priest to about Plat 5 (granted I've been to Legend many many times over the years) but it seems that it is nearly impossible to climb any further with the deck and it is Priest's best deck at the moment. The sheer power of DH and Quest Hunter make it so unfavored I can't believe a class could be so oppressed. Even against Control Warrior it isn't a guaranteed win. I love the Xyrella, the Devout. Do I just accept the super low win rate or is there anything someone can do if they want to play Priest? It's really making for a very un-fun experience and I've rarely felt so unmotivated to play due to a given meta before. If any Priest mains can give their help, please reply and/or add me GamerPanda#11334.
Too many of priests spells/minions rely on synergies, and those synergies don't play well together. That and they don't have an effective cheap answer to 4 health minions. At the end of the day the class is a mess right now.
I wish they would stop trying to make silence priest a thing.
Priest is in such a bad spot. Warlock has better healing (not to mention Druid and warrior have better healing through armor), demon hunter has better lifesteal, hunter has better single target removal, paladin has better defensive minions… it just seems that all of priest’s identity has been parceled out to other classes leaving it in an awkward place. There isn’t good hard removal or aoe right now and that severely limits the class. Priest doesn’t even have a 2-damage aoe until holy nova, and the single target spells are very disappointing. There is good draw, maybe even the best draw in the game, but nothing to play once you draw it. Priest needs better defensive minions and board clears badly. Hysteria rotation really hurts, and the sets from last year were flat out weaker than other classes. Seek guidance is the worst questline by a mile and the hero card is the most expensive (tied with brukan and post-nerf scabbs). The colossal is way overpriced, laughably costing more than Nellie and having the same cost and effect as gigafin but worse because it only deals with one target and has no taunt. Mi’da of pure light needs taunt, otherwise it’s a liability.
tldr: priest no longer has an identity, it has the weakest legendaries from the high-power year of the gryphon, and it lost the removal tools needed to survive.
Just Play Boar Priest, much better than Shellfish and you still use Xyrella
Debatable at best. You use xyrella if you run out of charges on your sword. It’s a very different strategy than shellfish and probably has a similar winrate, which is sub 40%. This isn’t the savior that people are clamoring for, it’s a meme.
I've been playing some Boar Priest lately and the deck is legit. Definitely way better than Shellfish Priest. However it is a very difficult deck to play correctly, I think I threw quite a few games early on and I still make big misplays. Anyway Boar Priest has enough healing and board clear to do fine vs Demon Hunter (should be around 50-50) and it obliterates Control Warrior, meaning it at least is worth considering in the current meta
Exactly, it's the best deck for Priest at the moment, but difficult to pilot, as proven in last Vicious Syndicate meta report. It was a meme deck but it's definitely not one anymore.
Priest is in such a bad spot. Warlock has better healing (not to mention Druid and warrior have better healing through armor), demon hunter has better lifesteal, hunter has better single target removal, paladin has better defensive minions… it just seems that all of priest’s identity has been parceled out to other classes leaving it in an awkward place. There isn’t good hard removal or aoe right now and that severely limits the class. Priest doesn’t even have a 2-damage aoe until holy nova, and the single target spells are very disappointing. There is good draw, maybe even the best draw in the game, but nothing to play once you draw it. Priest needs better defensive minions and board clears badly. Hysteria rotation really hurts, and the sets from last year were flat out weaker than other classes. Seek guidance is the worst questline by a mile and the hero card is the most expensive (tied with brukan and post-nerf scabbs). The colossal is way overpriced, laughably costing more than Nellie and having the same cost and effect as gigafin but worse because it only deals with one target and has no taunt. Mi’da of pure light needs taunt, otherwise it’s a liability.
tldr: priest no longer has an identity, it has the weakest legendaries from the high-power year of the gryphon, and it lost the removal tools needed to survive.
Yes, no class identity is exactly the issue. Imploding piggies and swinging the Sword of a Thousand Truths hardly screams "Priest". Whoever is responsible for the current state of Priest is trash tier at their job and should be fired. Preferably out of a cannon.
the real identity is high hp , heal. notably key card Bless, maybe someone can make a viable Bless standard priest in this expansion , there are good high HP minions. too bad there are no more T1 1/4 drops
No, not anymore. He pretty much has only Drain Soul and Touch of the Nathrezim (both need minions as targets). Tamsin Roame can squeeze extra 3-6 life but that's about it. Blood Shard Bristleback doesn't work anymore, because Warlock lacks any draw besides his hero power and you can't even get another copy from Raise Dead, like before the rotation. Mo'arg Artificer is also gone from standard.
No, not anymore. He pretty much has only Drain Soul and Touch of the Nathrezim (both need minions as targets). Tamsin Roame can squeeze extra 3-6 life but that's about it. Blood Shard Bristleback doesn't work anymore, because Warlock lacks any draw besides his hero power and you can't even get another copy from Raise Dead, like before the rotation. Mo'arg Artificer is also gone from standard.
Don’t forget the pseudo neutral of Spice Bread Baker and the synergy with Brann. Also while a terrible deck, but we are talking about bad decks, curses with Za’qul work great with Brann and Zola. Priest either uses Brann as a combo or can’t afford the big hand commitment of baker.
When you look at healing spells for priest, they are too expensive or are global healing. Flash heal should be more than 5, desperate prayer shouldn’t be for both heroes, gift of the Naaru should be only your minions and hero. They have kept priest to a pretty fair healing cost when compared to cards like greater heal potion and circle of healing while allowing other class identities to power creep. Paladin is a fantastic example of this, why is holy maki roll not a priest card, and why does it directly discount their best buff? Because class identity of heal and buff gives them one of the best heal spells in the game and free best buffs in the game.
Don’t forget the pseudo neutral of Spice Bread Baker and the synergy with Brann.
Baker doesn't work anymore, because Warlock doesn't have draw besides his HP. On top of that, it's a neutral card, so Priest can use it as well.
Besides hero power, which is a a great source for card advantage and mortal coil, there is still dreadlich Tamsin which is a 6-cost mini-ultimate infestation. Warlock lost backfire, which hurt, but the real issue isn’t that warlock doesn’t have draw, it has bad cards to draw. Losing hysteria and flesh giant hurt. Also, priest isn’t going to run spice bread baker, it might as well be a warlock card instead of neutral. It directly offsets the downside of drawing cards paid with life.
Paladin is the new priest it has better removal win conditions and healing I’ve been playing dragon pally and I have like a 85% win rate it destroys demon hunter and any other aggro deck plus it has a positive win rate vs control warrior and priest with kasukan and multiple raid bosses pally is arguably the best class right now
Boar priest is the only viable deck atm, but requires some time to master. If played well, you can have the sword around turn 8.
I’m really skeptical about the “high skill ceiling” and mastering. I think a lot of this is covering up for too many moving parts. You need to draw and play both boars, they need to die, then you trade one amulet once, play it, kill the two boars, trade another amulet at least three times and have another minion in play to target devour with or trade the amulet four times and target another boar. I’ve won games with it, but it’s not 50%. It’s probably the same winrate as shellfish priest. There are decisions as to when to hold on to or play the cleric, xyrella, illuminate vs thrive, how to clear boards with pyromancer… it is a skill intensive deck. The games I lose though show it’s weaknesses. It is possible to get locked out of draw with 6 or 7 pieces in your hand and you can’t play them because you can’t draw the piece you need. It is susceptible to OTK. The worst part is it needs every second of the timer, so having to wait to log back in after fucking Nellie freezes the game has cost me a match more than once since it effectively delays your sword a turn. There is a lot of games I lost when I first started playing it because I didn’t get the intricacies, but it hides a lot of bad deck qualities behind “git gud high skillcap”. At it’s core, it is a combo that requires five or six cards played in sequence and one trade from one of those cards and at least three trades from another card, it’s got a lot going on. It’s probably tied with or edges out shellfish for being the best priest deck we have, but it’s still a bad deck.
Priest has a ton of draw (and targeted minion draw) so drawing both Boars is not that hard. It might also not be necessary if your deck runs Zola (I find that it adds a lot of consistency to my deck, plus it has other potential targets like Xyrella in some matchups). Amulet is an auto-keep in the mulligan so that you can trade it on t1 and effectively you start the game with one of the two amulets upgraded once. And unless you are looking for specific answers (healing, board clear), you generally look to pick Amulet off Thrive and Illuminate, so you get them 'ready' quite fast. Once you've played both board (and they have died which is not that hard) and upgraded one amulet once and the other twice (and not 3 times), usually you combo in 1 turn: Pyromancer, Amulet (now 4 boards have died so the 2nd amulet can revive 3), 2nd Amulet and you get the weapon. If the opponent is not giving you too much trouble (say they are Control Warrior) I find it quite easy and consistent to execute by turn 8. With DH you need to manage your resources a bit better (if you spend both pyromancers early you will need 2 spells to kill off all the boars at the end)
irony of this is when you face a silence priest and he silences the pigs :D lost ? or maybe you need to kill them on drop. looks a fun deck though, challenging and rewarding
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Hi HearthPwn,
I don't post very much but I've been really wanting to play Priest lately. Priest and Rogue are some of my favorite classes and I've played Shellfish Priest to about Plat 5 (granted I've been to Legend many many times over the years) but it seems that it is nearly impossible to climb any further with the deck and it is Priest's best deck at the moment. The sheer power of DH and Quest Hunter make it so unfavored I can't believe a class could be so oppressed. Even against Control Warrior it isn't a guaranteed win. I love the Xyrella, the Devout. Do I just accept the super low win rate or is there anything someone can do if they want to play Priest? It's really making for a very un-fun experience and I've rarely felt so unmotivated to play due to a given meta before. If any Priest mains can give their help, please reply and/or add me GamerPanda#11334.
Too many of priests spells/minions rely on synergies, and those synergies don't play well together. That and they don't have an effective cheap answer to 4 health minions. At the end of the day the class is a mess right now.
I wish they would stop trying to make silence priest a thing.
Priest is in such a bad spot. Warlock has better healing (not to mention Druid and warrior have better healing through armor), demon hunter has better lifesteal, hunter has better single target removal, paladin has better defensive minions… it just seems that all of priest’s identity has been parceled out to other classes leaving it in an awkward place. There isn’t good hard removal or aoe right now and that severely limits the class. Priest doesn’t even have a 2-damage aoe until holy nova, and the single target spells are very disappointing. There is good draw, maybe even the best draw in the game, but nothing to play once you draw it. Priest needs better defensive minions and board clears badly. Hysteria rotation really hurts, and the sets from last year were flat out weaker than other classes. Seek guidance is the worst questline by a mile and the hero card is the most expensive (tied with brukan and post-nerf scabbs). The colossal is way overpriced, laughably costing more than Nellie and having the same cost and effect as gigafin but worse because it only deals with one target and has no taunt. Mi’da of pure light needs taunt, otherwise it’s a liability.
tldr: priest no longer has an identity, it has the weakest legendaries from the high-power year of the gryphon, and it lost the removal tools needed to survive.
Just Play Boar Priest, much better than Shellfish and you still use Xyrella
Debatable at best. You use xyrella if you run out of charges on your sword. It’s a very different strategy than shellfish and probably has a similar winrate, which is sub 40%. This isn’t the savior that people are clamoring for, it’s a meme.
I've been playing some Boar Priest lately and the deck is legit. Definitely way better than Shellfish Priest. However it is a very difficult deck to play correctly, I think I threw quite a few games early on and I still make big misplays. Anyway Boar Priest has enough healing and board clear to do fine vs Demon Hunter (should be around 50-50) and it obliterates Control Warrior, meaning it at least is worth considering in the current meta
Exactly, it's the best deck for Priest at the moment, but difficult to pilot, as proven in last Vicious Syndicate meta report. It was a meme deck but it's definitely not one anymore.
https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1408284-tempo-naga-priest-the-queen-and-her-guard
try this ? currently crafting it
"Woow..."
Yes, no class identity is exactly the issue. Imploding piggies and swinging the Sword of a Thousand Truths hardly screams "Priest". Whoever is responsible for the current state of Priest is trash tier at their job and should be fired. Preferably out of a cannon.
the real identity is high hp , heal. notably key card Bless, maybe someone can make a viable Bless standard priest in this expansion , there are good high HP minions. too bad there are no more T1 1/4 drops
"Woow..."
No, not anymore. He pretty much has only Drain Soul and Touch of the Nathrezim (both need minions as targets). Tamsin Roame can squeeze extra 3-6 life but that's about it. Blood Shard Bristleback doesn't work anymore, because Warlock lacks any draw besides his hero power and you can't even get another copy from Raise Dead, like before the rotation. Mo'arg Artificer is also gone from standard.
Don’t forget the pseudo neutral of Spice Bread Baker and the synergy with Brann. Also while a terrible deck, but we are talking about bad decks, curses with Za’qul work great with Brann and Zola. Priest either uses Brann as a combo or can’t afford the big hand commitment of baker.
When you look at healing spells for priest, they are too expensive or are global healing. Flash heal should be more than 5, desperate prayer shouldn’t be for both heroes, gift of the Naaru should be only your minions and hero. They have kept priest to a pretty fair healing cost when compared to cards like greater heal potion and circle of healing while allowing other class identities to power creep. Paladin is a fantastic example of this, why is holy maki roll not a priest card, and why does it directly discount their best buff? Because class identity of heal and buff gives them one of the best heal spells in the game and free best buffs in the game.
Baker doesn't work anymore, because Warlock doesn't have draw besides his HP. On top of that, it's a neutral card, so Priest can use it as well.
Besides hero power, which is a a great source for card advantage and mortal coil, there is still dreadlich Tamsin which is a 6-cost mini-ultimate infestation. Warlock lost backfire, which hurt, but the real issue isn’t that warlock doesn’t have draw, it has bad cards to draw. Losing hysteria and flesh giant hurt. Also, priest isn’t going to run spice bread baker, it might as well be a warlock card instead of neutral. It directly offsets the downside of drawing cards paid with life.
Question about most broken and annoying class KEKW
Paladin is the new priest it has better removal win conditions and healing I’ve been playing dragon pally and I have like a 85% win rate it destroys demon hunter and any other aggro deck plus it has a positive win rate vs control warrior and priest with kasukan and multiple raid bosses pally is arguably the best class right now
Boar priest is the only viable deck atm, but requires some time to master. If played well, you can have the sword around turn 8.
I’m really skeptical about the “high skill ceiling” and mastering. I think a lot of this is covering up for too many moving parts. You need to draw and play both boars, they need to die, then you trade one amulet once, play it, kill the two boars, trade another amulet at least three times and have another minion in play to target devour with or trade the amulet four times and target another boar. I’ve won games with it, but it’s not 50%. It’s probably the same winrate as shellfish priest. There are decisions as to when to hold on to or play the cleric, xyrella, illuminate vs thrive, how to clear boards with pyromancer… it is a skill intensive deck. The games I lose though show it’s weaknesses. It is possible to get locked out of draw with 6 or 7 pieces in your hand and you can’t play them because you can’t draw the piece you need. It is susceptible to OTK. The worst part is it needs every second of the timer, so having to wait to log back in after fucking Nellie freezes the game has cost me a match more than once since it effectively delays your sword a turn. There is a lot of games I lost when I first started playing it because I didn’t get the intricacies, but it hides a lot of bad deck qualities behind “git gud high skillcap”. At it’s core, it is a combo that requires five or six cards played in sequence and one trade from one of those cards and at least three trades from another card, it’s got a lot going on. It’s probably tied with or edges out shellfish for being the best priest deck we have, but it’s still a bad deck.
Priest has a ton of draw (and targeted minion draw) so drawing both Boars is not that hard. It might also not be necessary if your deck runs Zola (I find that it adds a lot of consistency to my deck, plus it has other potential targets like Xyrella in some matchups). Amulet is an auto-keep in the mulligan so that you can trade it on t1 and effectively you start the game with one of the two amulets upgraded once. And unless you are looking for specific answers (healing, board clear), you generally look to pick Amulet off Thrive and Illuminate, so you get them 'ready' quite fast. Once you've played both board (and they have died which is not that hard) and upgraded one amulet once and the other twice (and not 3 times), usually you combo in 1 turn: Pyromancer, Amulet (now 4 boards have died so the 2nd amulet can revive 3), 2nd Amulet and you get the weapon. If the opponent is not giving you too much trouble (say they are Control Warrior) I find it quite easy and consistent to execute by turn 8. With DH you need to manage your resources a bit better (if you spend both pyromancers early you will need 2 spells to kill off all the boars at the end)
irony of this is when you face a silence priest and he silences the pigs :D lost ? or maybe you need to kill them on drop. looks a fun deck though, challenging and rewarding
"Woow..."