Page 1 of 10
1
2
3
... LastLast
  1. #1

    Lightbulb Holy Priest Raiding Guide (5.4) -- UPDATED 12/9

    Table of Contents
    1. Introduction
    2. Disclaimers
    3. Talents
    1. Which talents do I take on which fights?
    4. Glyphs
    5. Stat Priorities

    1. What's all this nonsense about Haste vs. Mastery?
    2. Haste Thresholds
    3. How much Spirit is too much?
    4. How does Echo of Light really work? »
    6. Chakra: Discovered
    7. Healing in 25 mans: How To

    1. Raid Healing
    2. Triage Healing
    3. Assistant Tank Healing
    4. Managing and Using Cooldowns
    5. Managing Your Mana
    8. Healing in 10 mans: How To

    1. Raid Healing
    2. Triage Healing
    3. Assistant Tank Healing
    4. Managing and Using Cooldowns
    5. Managing Your Mana
    9. Useful Addons
    10. T15 BiS
    11. Changelog








    1. Introduction


    Let me give you a little background on who I am before you trust me with your guildmates' lives! My name is Tabitha and my Priest is known as Starulean. I have been playing a Holy Priest since the release of BWL in Vanilla content. In Vanilla I played a US 50 guild rank level, in TBC I played in a US 150 guild rank level, I played very little at the beginning and end of Wrath at a US 200 level, during Cata I raided in a few guilds and ended the last tier in Infallible at US 7 and T14 at US 14, T15 US 14. I have since taken a semi-casual-hardcore role in joining a 3 day guild, Refined, of which fluctuates around the US 25 range.

    I do consider myself an exceptional player by all standards, but I, like everyone, am not perfect! I have tried playing other classes, Resto Shaman, Resto/Balance Druid... but nothing sticks to me like a Priest, especially Holy. I hope that others reading this will see and feel the love I have for the spec and truly understand its potential.

    I stream my raids! So give me a follow: http://twitch.tv/suprst4r

    I also upload my kills to YouTube: http://youtube.com/suprst4r









    2. Disclaimers


    While I am an experienced and high end raiding Priest, what I suggest to you isn't the only way to do things. Take what you want from this guide and leave behind your opinions as well. I really want this to grow into a massive guide with many views on how different situations can be handled because my playstyle isn't the only playstyle that will work when it comes to raiding and I accept and embrace that. Even I am always looking for people to discuss the class with and discover new methods of handling situations and pushing our limits to be the best that we can be. I will gladly discuss with anyone the ins and outs of why I say what I say and also implement other people's viewpoints into my guide.

    I also am not a "mathy-theorycrafter" so please, if you have math to prove me wrong, or correct something incorrect in this guide do not be afraid to put it up here! I also would not object to anyone providing math proving theories I have mentioned.

    This guide is meant to give you some insight into high end raiding and little tips and tricks you can pick up to better your play. If you are a very beginner Priest then you will want to read Ynna's Priest PvE Holy Guide (For Beginners!) (this is from Cata though) before reading this one. While we cover some of the same concepts, Ynna goes more in depth on the very basic elements of being a Holy Priest, whereas I assume you know these things.

    Now, please, read on! I hope you enjoy reading it and learning from it as much as I have enjoyed learning what I have learned and sharing it with you!








    3. Talents

    15:
    You can take Void Tendrils or Psyfiend here.. they have their places. Psyfiend is really the only one used in raiding, but even then it's few and far between.

    30:
    You can go with Body & Soul or Angelic Feather and be fine. As a Holy Priest that always raids with a Disc Priest I would never take Body & Soul. I also feel as though it's very limited compared to Feathers, especially with the buff to duration with 5.2. Drop one of these suckers when you need to run out of a large area (see Lightning Whip on Lei Shen) and also help others! I try to set them up on the edges of our quadrant during intermission on Lei Shen to help people get to far spots when we need to stack/soak, for example.

    45:
    Mindbender is great for consistent mana regen. While PW: Solace does have a smart heal based on damage tied to it, it's not as strong for Holy as it is for Disc. If you can keep up with the cooldown, depending on the length of the fight, it could come out to be more mana than Mindbender. This is up to you. You are essentially losing HPS by casting it every 10 seconds, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have its place. It may be more beneficial for 10 man raiding than 25, but I only raid 25. FDCL has gotten a huge buff with 5.4 and now procs off of most of our spells. Use it for a fantastic HPS increase and, best of all, an increase to triage healing.

    60:
    You can't go wrong with Desperate Prayer or Angelic Bulwark. Personally, I like having the control and I almost always use DP, but AB is extremely powerful as well and I am seeing that it's even stronger in T15 than T14. If you pick DP, don't forget to use it!

    75:
    Divine Insight is absolutely incredible throughput for Holy. It does not put PoM on CD, so you can cast your DI PoM and then (wait for it to finish bouncing to avoid overwriting!) cast a regular PoM right after. It can be mana intensive and if you find that you aren't casting PoH enough to proc it, then you should go with PI.

    90:
    The big tier! I'm going to go a little more in depth with this... (all of these benefit from Chakra: Sanctuary!)

    Halo: This spell has evolved into a mini-cooldown. If you're going to use this spell then I recommend this addon: HaloPro. Halo no longer has diminishing returns and thus heals for a lot on everyone it hits (based on distance). Positioning is very key here. If there is a fight where you can stand out of the raid group and everyone is stacked it's really powerful. It's also great when everyone is spread out.

    Divine Star: Since it went through a few rounds of buffs DS has actually come out to be a really great spell for Holy. Positioning yourself for this reminds me of the mace from Deathwing. It adds enough positional gameplay without being completely overwhelming like Halo can be at times. Keep in mind that DS does not have to hit everyone, or even close to everyone, in order to be effective. DS no longer has diminishing returns so hit as many people as possible. Try to aim it towards melee or any pack of people, also it's always good to position yourself in the back of the raid (but not entirely out of melee range). It's also important to note that DS comes out to be the most mana efficient of the spells and you will probably notice a huge difference in your mana pool when swapping from Cascade.

    Cascade: I love me some Cascade. It has so much oomph. Cascade requires some thought as well, it's not always best to use it after the damage happens, rather preemptively. The reason being that Cascade has a lot of ramp up and travel time. Casting it a few seconds before the damage goes out is usually most effective. While this may cause the first heal, or even the second jump, to be overheal, it will be more effective overall because the large number of splits are hitting people that need healing instead of getting there too late. Cascade can, and will, overheal a lot. But that's okay, don't let that stray you from using the spell. Just keep in mind the mana cost of this spell and try to time it when it's actually needed and not think of it as a "use on cd" type of spell.

    1. What talents do I use on which fights?



    These are rather preliminary and discussions and me doing them more and more will help develop this section. They are also all based on 25 man raiding. Most are also geared towards heroic and currently only T15 & T16.

    T15 - Throne of Thunder

    Jin'rohk

    90: You could go with any of these really. Some people get Divine Star, which I understand. But for our raid, we barely took any damage outside of Lightning Storm so I went with Cascade since my primary goal and purpose of being Holy was the massive healing I could pump out during Lightning Storm. Halo would also be good here but we had the boss positioned far away from us and the melee were dpsing there so I wanted to be sure I hit them as well. I might try Halo next week and see how it performs.


    Horridon

    90: I played this as Disc, but I'm sure that Cascade and Halo would both function well here... perhaps even Divine Star if you guys stack well. Halo and DS will come out on top IMO due to the damage they also do.


    Council
    90: I use Cascade because of Sul.. I'm not sure about heroic yet.


    Tortos

    45: I actually considered using PW: Solace here due to the heavy mana requirements and potential downtime (heroic). I didn't have the time to figure out a keybinding for it (especially since I have to use SW: P for debuff getting). It's worth trying though!

    60:
    Angelic Bulwark is your friend here. It's going to save you during and after stomps.

    90: Halo is so good for this fight because the likelihood of hitting everyone by standing in the middle of the room is very high. On heroic is is extremely efficient for stacking up the debuff.


    Megaera

    60: Angelic Bulwark is good here on heroic due to the potential gibs that can happen from ice beams. Desperate Prayer could be used as well, but I like AB.

    90: Divine Star! It was my #1 heal for most attempts on heroic. You spend a lot of time stacked and on heroic it's good for helping with the adds. Use it when you first stack up for Rampage and then again when it's off CD. For normal mode Cascade might be better since you're often spread out for the poison bombs and it would be more viable here.


    Ji-Kun


    90: Cascade is better at healing through Quills, but Divine Star is great at helping kill eggs. Technically you can use Cascade on the eggs as well if you so please. Both are good here.


    Durumu

    90: I liked Divine Star on this fight, but Cascade would perform well too. It's a weird fight in that Divine Star will be better during the maze and Cascade better during beams. Use whichever your raid is having the most problem with.. also keep in mind that Divine Hymn will be up for most, if not all, beam phases, so you may not need the oomph that Cascade brings.


    Primordius


    60: Angelic Bulwark is good here, there are a lot of times where you can get gibbed, and this helps prevent that.

    90: Use Cascade. It has the nice burst healing for when you cannot use DH. Not to mention how spread out you are and how DS is bugged (if you're standing on the middle circle it goes behind you instead of in front).


    Dark Animus

    90: Cascade is awesome here due to everyone being so spread out.


    Iron Qon

    90: The most important part of the fight healing-wise is the end phase, in which everyone is stacked and Divine Star will do beast healing.


    Lei Shen

    90: Cascade is great during most of the fight, but DS is better on mana and good towards the end (depending how spread out you are). Play around with this one. If you are taking a lot of damage from Thunderstrucks then you'll probably want Cascade, if the healing is pretty trivial go with DS so you can help dps adds and it doesn't hurt your mana as much to use.




    T16 - Siege of Orgrimmar


    These are my base talents. If a tier isn't mentioned then this will be what I'm using.





    Immerseus

    90: Cascade - do this during puddles and then almost on cooldown (it should line up with the spread out add phase)


    Norushen

    90: Divine Star - you have enough time as well to swap to Serenity when you go down and swap back to Sanc when you're up



    Protectors

    90: Divine Star - you can almost use this on CD - track the cast bar for Calamity so you can use it right when it goes out



    Sha of Pride

    90: Halo - use it during the big bursty thing.. can't think of the name right now lol - I set BigWigs to emphasize it and then run into middle and halo 1 sec before it goes off



    Galkaras

    90: Divine Star - there isn't much healing at the start of the fight but it's good for the end



    Iron Juggernaut

    90: Cascade - I nearly use this on CD and it lines up with the shock waves (or whatever they are called)



    Dark Shaman

    90: Divine Star



    Naz'grim

    90: Cascade



    Malkorok

    90: Halo - has such good healing if you use it from the center of the room. make sure you're tracking the timer for the knock up though or else you risk knocking up the melee (too many babies that would be born from that :P) - again, I use BW emphasize to count down



    Spoils of Pandaria

    90: Divine Star



    Siegecrafter Blackfuse

    60: Spectral Guise - You can use this when you're targeted by Saw Blade to just despawn it. Helps a lot in overall raid damage/movement

    90: Divine Star - (and use Lightwell by the tube where the belt people go in, glyphed Lightwell)



    Thok

    75: Twist of Fate - You won't be casting enough PoH to make DI worth it and the ToF procs are well worth it. You will get them.

    90: Divine Star - use it on the first roar and then on CD (but after a roar goes out) thereafter



    Paragons of the Klaxxi

    60: Spectral Guise - You can use this when you're targeted by Mesmerize to just despawn it. Helps a lot in overall raid dps required and gets you out of it.

    90: Cascade - most of the fight you're really spread out and it lines up perfectly with Calculations



    Garrosh Hellscream

    75: Twist of Fate - You'll be able to proc this a ton off of adds and such. And the most important times of healing will be when people are low.

    90: Divine Star






    4. Glyphs


    I'm going to list the primary glyphs that I use, and then the ones that I interchange based on the fight.

    Lightwell: This glyph makes Lightwell 50% more powerful and clickable. You'll have to have good placement of the Lightwell to assure your raiders are able to easily find it and perhaps call out when it's the best time to use it.

    Circle of Healing: With 4pc T14 this glyph becomes even more powerful. I honestly always use it because of the bonus throughput on spell cast. It takes a little more mana management, but it's generally a great spell and has very little overheal. In a 10m environment this may not be as powerful, but I can't say for sure.

    Deep Wells: While this particular glyph doesn't offer a whole lot of throughput, unless your Lightwell charges are always being used, there isn't much better. It's a nice to have. Whenever I replace a glyph, it is always this one as apposed to the two listed above.

    Renew: If I know that I will have to provide a lot of support tank healing, or Serenity + Renew is a good way to heal for a portion of the fight I will pick up this glyph. It's also good on a fight like Durumu (but so is Lightwell) for the maze phase so that you are providing more throughput to get people topped up faster while moving.

    Binding Heal: This new glyph is incredibly situational, but can be incredibly powered. I suggest figuring out damage patterns and if the damage is scattered (maybe 5 people get hit in different groups) and you can use Binding Heal, try it out. Just be careful with the mana cost.

    Inner Sanctum: I'm finding this glyph to be incredibly useful and helpful on a handful of high damage fights (Iron Qon, Lei Shen) during this tier. Use this for survivability and in place of having a personal cooldown. It does require that you play in Inner Fire, so if you're afraid of mana concerns then don't use it.

    Fade: I use this if it is absolutely necessary to have a personal cooldown to survive. This could be used on a fight like Lei Shen for quadrant soaking, but I'm not sure that it's worth it there. I did use it on Empress last tier and it made a huge difference in survivability (even as Disc).







    5. Stat Priorities


    The age old question: what stats do I use?! Obviously any piece of gear you pick up is going to have Intellect on it. Intellect is your main focus for a few reasons:

    • Increases your spell power
    • Increases your spell critical hit


    After Intellect you want to make sure your gear, or at least most of it, as Spirit on it. These two stats are the bread and butter of being a Holy Priest. What does Spirit do for you?

    • Increases mana regen in combat
    • Increases mana regen out of combat


    "Why is Spirit so important?" - Priest


    Without it you'll run out of mana, of course! Your regen is also calculated on some weird math formula based on both Intellect and Spirit, so never completely ignore Spirit otherwise you're really hurting your regen!



    "Ok, so I have all of this Intellect, and all of my gear has Intellect on it, now what?!" - Priest


    Great question! The following is the basic stat breakdown that you can follow:


    Intellect -> Spirit -> Mastery -> Haste -> Critical Strike



    "But how can Haste equal Mastery?! How do they fit into the big picture? Why is Crit last?" - Priest


    Crititical Strike rating is the least valuable stat to a healer due to its unreliability. Crit heals heal for 200% of the normal value of the heal. While Crit is very useful at times, it is not worth picking up gear with it, reforging for it or gemming it for a few reasons: it is unreliable (it will often happen when you don't need it and not when you do), Crit rating is more expensive (it takes more Crit rating to reach 1% than Haste or Mastery) and we gain the Crit we need for tank healing via Chakra: Serenity. This does not mean Crit is terrible, but we do not want to strive for it.

    1. What's all this nonsense about Haste vs. Mastery


    Let's start out with what Haste does for you:

    • Increases your spell casting speed
    • Decreases your global cooldown (GCD)
    • Decreases the amount of time between ticks of hots and Holy Word: Sanctuary



    "But if I cast faster doesn't that mean I cast more spells and thus I will go out of mana faster?!" - Priest


    Yes and no. Haste is extremely beneficial in many, many situations. The #1 benefit of Haste is saving people's lives. Yes, 0.1 second can really mean the difference between life and death. I'm sure you've all been in that situation of "my heal was a fraction of a second from going off!" when discussing why a tank/player perished.


    Also, some raid damage comes in waves: burst -> lull -> burst. Therefore you are not spam casting non-stop (at least in most situations) and thus you are getting pure gain from being able to get your heals off faster and everyone stabilized before the next burst. Haste is considered to provide purely an HPS (heal per second) increase.



    Now let's shift our focus to what Mastery does for you:

    • Your direct healing spells heal for an additional percent over 6 sec. Each point of Mastery provides an additional 1.25% of healing over 6 sec.

    So what does this mean? It means that when you cast Prayer of Healing on a group and you are hitting all 5 players in the group you are healing them for: direct PoH heal, and then Echo of Light.


    Mastery proves to be useful in instances where the entire raid takes massive amounts of damage and your EoL will have the ability to fully tick 6 sec with little to no overheal. It's also very important to keep in mind that the more Mastery you have, the bigger each tick from EoL becomes. So even if you are consistently seeing 30% overheal on your EoL as your Mastery increases, this is okay. By each tick hitting for more you are essentially saving more lives because you are filling up that HP bar much faster. Mastery provides an increase in HPM (heal per mana) and HPS.


    "Okay I understand all of that but how does it apply to me? Which stat should I choose? Should I mix them together or just stack one?" - Priest

    Mastery has proven to be immensely powerful for Holy Priests in T14, T15, and will continue into T16. I do not feel that 100% stacking Mastery is the way to go, and you should pick up some Haste. How much haste should you have? Well, that's up to you really.


    2. Haste Thresholds


    My recommended method for handling a balance of Haste and Mastery would be using the following Haste "thresholds". These thresholds will bring you to reduced cast times on your default 2.5 sec. cast spells (Prayer of Healing, Greater Heal, etc). These thresholds should act more like guidelines... for instance: if you're at 1289 haste rating you're close enough to 2.1 seconds for it to be okay.

    Check out the haste breakpoints table for Holy (written by Derevka) as a starting point for what breakpoints you want to hit.

    Thanks TaKe for the new math for mop <3


    All values assume 5% Haste from raid buffs.

    To reach a cast time of 2.2 seconds:
    • Haste Percent: 8.23%
    • Haste Rating: 3496
    • GCD Becomes: 1.32 sec.
    • Haste Percent needed without buffs: 13.64%


    To reach a cast time of 2.1 seconds:
    • Haste Percent: 13.38%
    • Haste Rating: 5686
    • GCD Becomes: 1.26 sec.
    • Haste Percent needed without buffs: 19.05%


    To reach a cast time of 2.0 seconds:
    • Haste Percent: 19.05%
    • Haste Rating: 8095
    • GCD Becomes: 1.2 sec.
    • Haste Percent needed without buffs: 25%


    Formulas:
    • Cast Time = Base Cast / ((1 + haste%/100)*1.05)
    Flip this around:
    • Haste % = (Base Cast/ (Cast Time * 1.05) - 1)*100


    425 haste rating = 1% haste


    (2.2)
    Haste % = ((2.5 / (2.2*1.05) - 1)*100 = 8.23% = 3496 haste rating


    (2.1)
    Haste % = ((2.5 / (2.1*1.05) - 1)*100 = 13.38% = 5686 haste rating


    (2.0)
    Haste % = ((2.5 / (2.0*1.05) - 1)*100 = 19.05% = 8095 haste rating


    GCD = 1.5/(1+13.64/100) = 1.32 sec
    GCD = 1.5/(1+19.05/100) = 1.26 sec
    GCD = 1.5/(1+25/100) = 1.2 sec
    [/QUOTE]



    "So many numbers! What does this mean for me?" - Priest


    What I am recommending here is that you strive to reach whichever threshold you think will benefit you the most, and then stack Mastery. For example, if you want a cast time of 2.1 sec. on your PoH you will want to gain xx Haste Rating from gear/reforging/gems and no more. Once you reach this rating you will want to stack Mastery in gear/reforging/gems.



    3. How much Spirit is too much?


    Pretty much never. Holy Priests rely on Spirit so much more than other classes that we do have continue to gain it in every way possible. In some ways Spirit will increase your throughput because you'll be able to cast more expensive heals more often.



    "When should I stop looking for Spirit, if at all?" - Priest


    This really varies on a lot of things: your playstyle, your raid strategies, your healing team's playstyles, your raid DPS, etc. The ultimate goal is to complete each encounter and end it with very little to no mana. Any mana you end with is essentially wasted mana and this means that you have more regen than you need to keep your raid alive.


    Although some fights require more healing than others, therefore you want to focus more on maintaining regen for the more intense encounters rather the easier. To make up for the "easier" encounters you can use your less cost effective spells more often. Also, the more times your raid does an encounter the more likely you are to end with more mana due to the entire raid performing better and having more gear (in most cases).


    I would recommend picking up every piece of Spirit gear you can and if you wind up with excessive mana just reforge it out. I think that around 13k spirit is pretty comfortable, but you can always go more or less. I played through T14 with 9-10k and did great on HPS but it was a constant struggle for mana.


    Don't forget that you can have as much Spirit as you possibly want! As previously mentioned, the more Spirit you have the more you can increase your throughput by using those inefficient spells and producing more Serendipity for yourself. Which method you choose is really up to you!








    6. Chakra: Discovered


    Chakra is not what it once used to be. It has evolved from a sometimes buff, to a constant buff to maintain, to, now, a "stance" type buff with a swapping cooldown. I'm not going to go much in depth to what Chakra used to be, rather what it is now and what it means to you. Also, a big changed happened with 5.2! You can no longer "accidentally" put Chakra on cooldown by pressing the same Chakra you're already in! :)


    Chakra: The Cooldown
    When you activate Chakra you gain a buff that you will retain until you cast a spell that forces you into a "Chakra state" or "stance" as some call it. Your options for Chakra are the following:


    Chakra: Serenity
    The "yellow" Chakra! This can be considered your "single target healing" Chakra, as you gain 25% increased healing to direct healing spells and Renew and causes your direct heals to refresh the duration of your Renew on the target. Cascade counts as a single target heal, as does Binding Heal. When you are within this Chakra your Holy Word becomes Holy Word: Serenity - an instant cast heal that increases your chance to Critically Heal the target by 25% for 6 seconds.


    Chakra: Sanctuary
    The "blue" Chakra! This can be considered your "raid healing" Chakra, as you gain 25% increased healing to your AoE spells as well as reduces your cooldown of Circle of Healing by 2 sec. When you are within this Chakra your Holy Word becomes Holy Word: Sanctuary - 0.5 sec cast ground effect heal.








    7. Healing in 25 mans: How to


    The #1 tip anyone can ever give you when it comes to raid healing or even healing in general is being proactive. This means knowing each encounter you are going to face inside and out, the following is an example "checklist" you can think about and ask yourself when researching a boss fight before you attempt it to help improve your healing, awareness and overall raid success:

    ✔ When is damage going to come?
    ✔ How much does each boss ability hit for?
    ✔ How long is the fight?
    ✔ How do I need to manage my cooldowns? Ex. When is a good time to use Hymn of Hope or Divine Hymn?
    ✔ What spells are going to be best used to counter boss abilities?
    ✔ How can I utilize my Priest specific abilities best in this encounter? Ex. Leap of Faith, Divine Hymn
    ✔ When is the raid going to be stacked? Spread out?
    ✔ How often am I going to have to move?
    ✔ What kind of stuff am I going to have to move out of?

    1. Raid Healing



    As a raid healing Holy Priest your main niche is burst AoE healing through Prayer of Healing, Prayer of Mending, T90 Talent and Circle of Healing. Don't forget to drop your Lightwell! Utilizing Lightspring, now named Lightwell, as a raid cooldown is very beneficial. It's a fire and forget spell that can do triage healing and help out during very high burst situations. Generally always use this glyph unless you are the only Holy Priest and your raid is trained and prepared to use Lightwell when you call it (which is almost never). Imagine if you weren't the only Holy Priest and one was a Lightwell and one a Spring, then they wouldn't know which to click by default :P Don't forget that you can also use the Lightwell glyph to make it more powerful but require clicking.


    Let's look at a situation where there is going to be heavy, predictable damage coming out, what do you do? Is this damage going to hit multiple times, or just one big hit? If it's multiple, have PoM out on a tank or raid member. If it's one burst, this isn't as important. Then you want to know what your mana is like and whether or not you can afford, or even need, to cast Holy Word: Sanctuary.


    HW: S is incredibly weak in its current form. You should only be casting this if you are swimming with mana or it's absolutely necessary for the group to survive by having these constant ticks. It doesn't have to be on all 25 people, as it will heal around 10 people for a pretty high amount. HW: S is a great tool to drop before damage comes out, as it will be a pure HPS boost. The best time would be about 2-3 seconds before damage comes out so then you can begin queuing up a PoH on one of the groups about to take the heavy damage. This is a very important aspect of raid healing - knowing when damage is going to come and being able to prepare for it. Saving those 2 seconds of casting can make a difference between the life and death of a player.


    Casting Cascade on someone far from you 2-3 seconds before the damage hits is also highly beneficial. Get that sucker bouncing for the hard hits as soon as the damage comes out!


    Once you've got your queued PoH going prepare to CoH on someone, if your raid is not stacked be sure to find someone that is near other people, usually best placed on the melee in spread out scenarios, although CoH does heal people within 30 yards of the target and this is a solid distance so there's not too, too much to worry about here. Then continue to PoH a 2nd group, 3rd and so on until everyone is capped up, and use CoH again when it's off cooldown. Use PoM in between CoH cooldowns if there is staggered damage. Divine Insight proc? Cast that PoM on someone and watch it fly! If you have Divine Star, use it before a PoH and aim it at the most people possible. If you have Halo and the raid is spread then make sure you're at the optimum distance to get those big heals.


    When there is "pulsing damage" incoming you are going to want to make sure you have Prayer of Mending up on someone ready to bounce before the damage comes out. Prayer of Mending is an awesome smart heal that heals the person when they take damage and then jumps to someone else within 20 yards up to 5 times and lasts 30 sec on each jump. The tank is a great choice for your initial PoM.


    When the raid is mostly stable and only a few people are getting hit you should use CoH close to on cooldown whenever there are 2-3 or more people that could use the healing. It is also a good idea to use spells such as "Heal" during these low damage times to help top people off without hurting your mana, as Heal is considered a no-cost spell (meaning that your mana doesn't go down when you cast it due to the regen you gain while casting and the small mana cost of the spell).


    Another filler spell to use in these low damage situations is Renew. It is a great way to stabilize someone who is not in immediate danger but may or may not take more damage. It's also acceptable to pre-hot people with Renew before going into a damage phase, whether it be heavy damage or pulsing damage. Renew will shine the most in a pulsing damage situation, but should not be overrused. It is a powerful tool when used properly, but it is not a part of your main arsenal - keep that in mind!


    While Binding Heal and Flash Heal are not efficient spells, BH is far more efficient than FH. Whenever you've taken damage and another raid member could use the immediate heals don't forget about your awesome BH. Not only does it heal you and them, but it also applies 1 stack of Serendipity, decreasing the cast time and mana cost of your next Greater Heal or Prayer of Healing. You definitely want to take advantage of this buff through BH & FH. With the new FDCL proccing from most of our spells, it's a great triage tool and HPS increase. In high raid damage situations with high risk of death for members it is great to BH once or twice and then PoH for the increased speed. This is only necessary if you and the other person are near death, and not so much in a situation where everyone in the raid is at equal health because you are essentially spending more mana to get Serendipity and then even more time getting the cast up before you PoH on an entire group that needs heals. Generally don't cast to get Serendipity unless you have somewhat endless time and mana to do so.


    Try to use Divine Hymn often, or talk to your other healers about when they plan to pop theirs to counter big damage from an encounter. You no longer get extra ticks from haste, rather it decreases the amount of the channel and makes it tick faster and be done faster. It also adds EoL and the +10% healing buff to anyone it heals.



    2. Triage Healing


    Triage is defined as: the sorting of and allocation of treatment to patients and especially battle and disaster victims according to a system of priorities designed to maximize the number of survivors.


    "So, how does this apply to healing in raids?!" -Priest


    Triage healing is the base of any successful raid, and the healers that can truly handle it are the one's that are going to help the raid succeed the most. Flash Heal is going to be your #1 spell to save lives, followed by PW:S and Greater Heal. You're choice of which heal to use is just as important as which player you choose to heal. If you know that more damage could potentially hit a target at very low health you are going to want to Flash Heal or PW:S. If you know a target is safe from taking more damage but is very low health you are going to want to use your larger, but slower Greater Heal.


    Triage healing is also about deciding to take a personal hit on HPS by casting one of your triage heals instead of a PoH. This is something that is very difficult for most raid healers to understand and really train themselves on, but a priceless tool nonetheless. Remember, raiding is about accomplishing your goals as a team, not your personal output! Don't forget about Divine Hymn, which you can read in the Managing and Using Cooldowns section.




    3. Assistant Tank Healing


    It is true that Holy Priests really shine in the raid healing role but they are also expected to assist in the other duties of healing a raiding encounter, such as assistant tank healing.


    "But how am I supposed to help with tank healing when I'm supposed to be spamming those Prayers?!" -Priest


    Assistant tank healing is a simple, but very important. The simplest method of performing this task is keeping Renew up on your tank(s). Your Renew helps keep the tank stabilized alongside other healers.


    It is very important for you to watch the health of the tank(s) as well so that, if/when needed, you can throw out a Flash or Greater Heal to help stabilize the tank. These kinds of things can happen when bosses use fatal abilities, a healer dies and/or healer(s) have to move. Another reason to keep an eye on the tank's health is for our awesome tank cooldown: Guardian Spirit. GS can not only save a tank's life but it also provides them with 60% extra healing for its duration. There are 2 different ways to use this cooldown: having a quick reaction time and dropping it on the tank when he/she is low or using it when you know high damage is going to be going out on the tank and they can greatly benefit from the 60% extra healing. Which way you use it is going to depend on your raid and what cooldowns you have available to the tank in general and the abilities of the boss encounter.


    Sometimes your raid leader will instruct you when your GS is absolutely needed in an encounter, IE. after boss does X ability or the tank has Y stacks of a debuff. Please communicate with your other healers, tanks and raid leader about when your GS may be needed or if you are able to use it with your best judgement.


    You also now have Void Shift, which allows you to instantly swap health with a player. Don't be afraid to use this as a tank cooldown, but also don't get yourself killed with it if possible. It isn't the end of the world if you do wind up sacrificing yourself, as many people could die if the tank dies but you can easily be rezzed.



    4. Managing and Using Cooldowns

    Try to use Divine Hymn often, or talk to your other healers about when they plan to pop theirs to counter big damage from an encounter. You no longer get extra ticks from haste, rather it decreases the amount of the channel and makes it tick faster and be done faster. It also adds EoL and the +10% healing buff to anyone it heals.


    Lightspring should be cast before an encounter starts and then "nearly" on cooldown. Sometimes it's good to hold off and drop it when a big burst is going to come because charges can be eaten up by a single person or a tank very quickly when it's not really necessary.

    I'm going to leave my old Lightwell information below, in case you go this route:


    Lightwell is kind of a Holy Priest's "signature spell." The best method is to cast it before the encounter starts so that it is essentially mana free and then on cooldown thereafter. If you know that your raid group is going to be moving from the west side of the room to the east, don't cast it on the west, rather wait and cast it when you move or cast it as close to where you're going to be from where you are (assuming the raid will be in range to even use it from that location). Creating a macro for Lightwell alerting people that you have dropped it is also a great way to create awareness, such as:


    Code:
    #showtooltip
     /cast Lightwell
     /say >> Lightwell is down! <<

    Creating awareness of the amazing effects of Lightwell (it can be better than a healthstone) and keeping your positioning consistent throughout each encounter are great ways to get your raid members to use Lightwell more often. I have also found that a quick "Don't forget about Lightwell!" on vent when there is high damage coming or has come helps worlds as well.


    Leap of Faith can be a game changer, in both the sense of positively and negatively. Discuss with your raid when and where your LoF (also known as Lifegrip) can be useful within an encounter. Always make sure when you are going to grip someone that you are not gripping them into danger or causing them to hit an object between you and them that may wipe the raid (such as meteors in P3 of Ragnaros in Firelands). This is usually not a spell you are going to use on cooldown, but can really make the difference in an encounter.


    Assuming you take Desperate Prayer in your spec (which I highly recommend as it is a multi-use per encounter, better than healthstone cooldown) you will most likely want to use it whenever you find yourself below 50% HP. The best times to use it are when multiple people are low and other healers aren't likely to heal you at that moment, you cannot directly heal yourself, your entire raid is moving, there is more large damage incoming, there is the chance that you may get hit by more damage very soon or you are very, very close to death. Don't forget that if you also spec into Blessed Resilience you will gain even more healing from this spell, making the 2 work together very well.


    I've already discussed Guardian Spirit and Void Shift in the previous section, so for information on that please see Assistant Tank Healing.


    Hymn of Hope and Shadowfiend will be discussed in the next section: Managing Your Mana.


    4. Managing Your Mana


    Given the nature of 25 man raiding and the many different comps of healers you potentially could have there are a lot of variables in managing your mana. In this section I will ignore, for the most part, external regen components that you gain from other classes.


    As Holy Priests we have 2 spells that work together very, very well for a burst of mana regen: Hymn of Hope and Shadowfiend/Mindbender (further known as Shadowfiend). Since Shadowfiend returns mana based on your maximum mana, and HoH increases your maximum mana by 15%, it is silly to not use them together. The best way to handle these 2 together is to cast Shadowfiend and then immediately begin channeling HoH. To do this you need to fully understand fight mechanics and take some things into consideration.


    Is there damage that may be coming in very soon? If so, wait to use your combo until after the damage is healed up, unless you are absolutely out of mana. Are you going to have to move very soon? If so, wait until after you move or move ahead of the raid, barring any mechanics that may cause a wipe from your moving early. Are you about to receive any external mana from buffs such as Mana Tide or Innervate? If so, you might want to wait to use your combo and maybe next time use it earlier if the fight warrants it.


    If you feel that you not only need the 15% mana buff from HoH but also the 2% mana every 2 seconds then you should take into consideration other raiders' mana before you cast HoH. Only the 3 lowest mana users will gain that extra mana, so make sure you are very low before using HoH comparatively. This is not necessary every time you use your combo, as the Shadowfiend + HoH buff alone give you back most of your mana.


    A lot of encounters have very high damage last "burn" phases. It is very important for you to go into these phases with as much mana as possible because they will usually require you to pump out insane heals to keep everyone alive while you burn down that last bit of a bosses health. Make sure you use your channeled cooldowns and potions well before these phases so that you are not finding yourself having to channel a potion while people are dying because you didn't plan ahead.


    Spell choices are just as much a part of managing your mana as using your actual mana cooldowns. For instance, if there's only 2 people in a group that need very minimal healing and are in no danger of dying don't PoH them just to "pad" the meters as you're wasting mana that you could be using later on for a Flash Heal to save someone's life. Trust that your other healers are going to top them off, especially in situations where most people are standing in a Shaman's Healing Rain, etc.







    7. Healing in 10 mans: How to



    The following is written by ramennoodleking of <Tactical Disasater>. I did not feel equipped to write about raid healing in 10 mans so he kindly provided this part of the guide for you guys! There are many aspects of my healing 25 mans section that apply to overall healing, so be sure to read that section as well, even if you only raid in 10s!

    Once you have gained profficiency in being a holy priest through Dungeons, LFR, or scenarios, you might think to yourself, "Hey! I can totally do this raiding thing." Well, that's probably true, and for that we here at the Priest forums commend you! But before you decide to tackle raids, make sure you understand your toolkit fully. Try to think outside the box at times, and find a use, no matter how minute, for each spell at your disposal. Do you know how your spells work? How do they interact with each other? The cooldowns? Or why the fuck is holy nova still in the game? (seriously, if you figure this one out PM me)

    If you think you understand the spells you've been given, then now it's time to test your mettle in a raiding scenario. But knowing your toolkit is not enough. You can go to Home Depot and clear out the tool section, come home, and still not know how to remodel your house. So preparation is key! This handy little checklist is your ticket for raid preparation:

    ✔ When is damage going to come?
    ✔ How much does each boss ability hit for?
    ✔ How long is the fight?
    ✔ How do I need to manage my cooldowns? Ex. When is a good time to use Hymn of Hope or Divine Hymn?
    ✔ What spells are going to be best used to counter boss abilities?
    ✔ How can I utilize my Priest specific abilities best in this encounter? Ex. Leap of Faith, Divine Hymn
    ✔ When is the raid going to be stacked? Spread out?
    ✔ How often am I going to have to move?
    ✔ What kind of stuff am I going to have to move out of?

    Study the fights. Show up ready for work. Don't be like the hobo who forgets his cardboard sign in the alleyway.

    1. Raid Healing


    Alright, so now down to freaky naughty, nitty gritty information you are probably just salivating for right now. How the hell do I heal in a raid environment?

    Well, first off, make your talent choices for the fight. I generally steer clear on Halo except under rare circumstances, due to the nature of the spell and the limited number of targets. Besides, you may find yourself worrying too much about your positioning for maximum effect. Divine Star is great in relatively stacked scenarios, or if you have a good number of melee, and Cascade is just awesome for raid healing in general, on the move or in the groove.

    You'll probably want to take Divine Insight in most cases, but Power Infusion does have some merit if you are undergeared, strapped for mana, or have a boss mechanic that demands a ridiculous amount of quick healing. In some ways, Power Infusion can be like a second Divine Hymn, allowing you to pump out super fast PoH's.

    Desperate Prayer or Angelic Bulwark, either are fine. But I reccomend Desperate Prayer due to the controllable nature of the spell, and the potential to get more use out of it in a fight.

    And, finally, Mindbender. Don't even look at the other two talents.

    Alright, now to the boss fights. Well, you did your studying, right? Then that means you understand damage patterns! It may take many attempts to refine your approach to each individual encounter, but I can assure you there is a place in 10 mans for both Chakra: Serenity and Chakra: Sanctuary. That's your single target and AoE target healing stances, in case you already forgot. And if you forgot, smack yourself.

    Every scenario will be different, but I will give you the basics of each healing stance, and you will have to determine for yourself when and where you will use them.

    A.) Chakra: Sanctuary -- AoE Healing So Delicious You'll Want to Smack Your Momma

    If and when you find yourself in an AoE scenario, then you'll definitely want to hang out in this stance. AoE can be huge bursts that cripple the raid, steady raid-wide damage that never seems to end, or constant randomly targeted damage to multiple players.

    Prayer of Healing: This is your staple spell. Heals all five party members that are within 30 yards range of your targeted player. As a rule of thumb, cast when 3 or more players in a group have taken enough damage to allow for PoH. You'll want to make sure to have your raid leader arrange groups to where you can be nearly positive that in most situations, you will have a target that will allow your Prayer of Healing to hit the entire group. Once you've figured all that out, there are several different uses for PoH:

    -Precast it. If you know heavy raid damage is coming, you'll want to precast PoH to where it lands right as the damage goes out. This will get you a jump start on topping up the raid.

    -Constant cast. When there is constant, steady raid damage going out (and the raid is not getting topped off in between pulses), you will alternate PoH from group 1 to group 2. You will interupt this rotation only for Divine Insight procs, PoM coming off CD, CoH coming off CD, and Cascade/Divine Star.

    -Fishing for Divine Insight Procs. If there are people you can heal in a group (3 or more) but there's not necessarily alot of damage going out, you can fish for a DI proc, especially if you know raid damage is coming. This is more of a padding mechanism, but in some cases it does have merit. You can also fish with Greater Heal, so you'll have to decide for yourself.

    Circle of Healing: Awesome spell, short CD, instant cast, 6 targets when glyphed, smart heal. What more is there to say? You'll find yourself using this off cooldown more often than not, but if noone is taking damage, then, of course, it is silly to use this. Again, as a rule of thumb, if 3 or more people have taken damage, this spell is your ticket. It has a higher priority than PoH even if all 3+ are in the same group. During heavy AoE, I like to chain my spell from PoH > CoH, so you get a nice, fat burst. Use it early and often.

    Renew: Not as good as in the WotLK days, but still have some use. You'll find that if one or two people have taken damage, but are in no immediate need of help, a renew will be sufficient. It is also great to cast on the move, and when glyphed will put out those heals faster. I usually keep one on the tank as possible. You won't use this very much, as it is sort of niche these days, but when you need to heal and move, this is your staple spell. Durumu is a good fight to use this, especially during the maze, as well as during Horridon. Any fights with small pecks of damage not worth your full devotion are great for Renew.

    Prayer of Mending:Such a lovely spell. You cast it on a target, and when that target takes damage it bounces to the next target it chooses, 5 bounces, smart heals, 100% sexy. In general just keep this on cooldown, and usually start your cast on a tank. If you are taking constant raid damage, choose, instead, to cast it on the lowest health member. Precast before pulsing AoE. With the current mechanics in ToT, you'll see near constant uptime on practically all of the bosses. Divine Insight procs are lovely, because they instantly bounce all by their lonesome, but be careful not overwrite your DI proc with a regularly PoM cast. To give you some perspective, on Twin Consorts and Iron Quon, I have rank 1 parses on normal mode. Both fights have PoM as my top spell. It's pretty awesome because it overheals so little.

    Cascade: Love this spell, and its pretty and sparkly, too. Usually try and precast this before a burst of damage, as it has some ramp up time. I'll usually target myself or the nearest person who has taken damage. The reason for this is that it prefers the furthest targets, and its healing increases the length it has traveled. So basically the second bounce travels far, and the third comes right back to you/melee and hits pretty hard. You can also cast this during pulsing damage. I use this on most ToT fights.

    Divine Star: Direct it towards a stacked group, usually melee, and let it eat. Requires some situational awareness, but the spell can be incredibly poweful and useful in the right hands and on the right fights. I use this on Ji-Kun because I'm part of the flight team. It adds AoE dps and healing.

    Divine Hymn: Oh sweet baby Jesus, does this spell ever make me feel jovial and stupendous. If you gauge the fight correctly from a time standpoint, you can use it 3 times on many of the longer fights. Iron Quon comes to mind. Just make sure that if you choose to use it early that it is up for when you really need it. And for the greater good of the raid, if you are assigned to cast it as a raid cooldown, don't be selfish. Use it when asked, even if it sacrifices personal hps and epeen.

    Binding Heal (Glyphed): Heals three targets for nearly the same as Flash Heal. Heavy mana cost, but it does put out three extremely quick heals and Serendipities your next PoH. It is situational, and you'll want to test in different scenarios. I've used it sparingly, but as I learned the boss mechanics I may find myself using it more.

    Holy Word: Sanctuary: Don't ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever....

    ...use this spell. Unless you are absolutely swimming in mana and everyone is stacked up. This might change as heroic ToT gear starts coming out, but for now, just ignore it. It's simply not worth it at the moment.

    So as a recap: PoH is your everyday spell, CoH/PoM practically on cooldown (assuming there is damage to heal), Cascade before heavy damage or during pulses, Renew during movement, Divine Hymn as needed, Divine Star on stacked situations, and Holy Word: Sanctuary never.

    B.) Chakra: Serenity - Confusing Other Healers Since BWL

    If you have been paying attention, you know that Chakra: Serenity buffs your single target heals. Awesome! Now what?

    Well, contrary to popular belief, Holy Priests are outstanding tank healers...when in this stance. I'm dead serious. You'll rival any other healer with your single target capabilities, though many will brush it off as unnecessary, and say that other healers should be designated for that. Which might be true, but don't trivialize your own potential.

    I find myself in Serenity seldom due to my raid comp and necessity of fight mechanics. It gimps your PoH, CoH, and PoM, so the price you pay is generally not worth it. However, it does have it's merit. I would predict I use Serenity 10-20% of the time. One good example of its use is Dark Animus. In the begining, there is heavy tank damage, and damage in general. If you two heal the fight, then more than likely you will personally be responsible for your tank and those on your side. Cascade is unaffected by this stance, so that gives you some AoE oomph, and CoH/PoM are still quite useful.

    There is no real rotation. Serenity is usually a great choice when there are approximately 3 targets taking relatively constant damage, but there is no AoE to speak of. (Think the first half of Horridon). Pop renews on the tanks, PoMs, Shields (as necessary), and cycle Heal through your 3 targets to keep renew refreshed. If a player dips, cast Holy Word: Serenity on them and follow it up with a greater heal. Glyphed Binding Heal is good here too (if you are also taking damage), as it gives you a serendipity proc.

    Heal: I operate under the belief system that idle time is wasted time. Heal is practically mana neutral, so if there is no damage going out, I will keep this casted nearly nonstop while in Serenity. It's low healing, but its cheap, keeps your renew rolling, and provides additional Echo of Light. Don't expect to save lives with this, just to stabalize.

    Flash Heal: Rarely ever casted except under extreme emergencies (or cases like Tsulong--just after his breath, a Flash > GH > Flash > GH is a good chunck of healing). I actually prefer GS over Flash Heal if the situation is bad enough, and would follow GS with a Greater. But if you do need to cast a Flash Heal, never follow it up with another. Try to use your hasted GH (from serendipity) to get the target where it needs to be. If things are bad enough, you might actually have to cast two Flash Heals, but try your hardest not to. It's a giant mana drain. But hey, it's part of triage. Binding Heal takes imediate priority if you also have taken damage.

    Binding Heal: Takes priority over Flash when you've taken damage. Won't use often, but has it's place, especially if tank damage is spikey. Serendipity-ed GHs are very nice.

    Greater Heal: Your healing bomb. Slow cast, but huge heal. It's great to time these after using Holy Word: Serenity, as you have a very good chance for a monster crit and subsequential Echo of Light. In emergency scenarios, these heals are really big with GS active and can come out quick if used in a Serendipity rotation.

    Renew: If tank healing, you should really only have to cast it once on the tank and it should stay actively refreshed. Strive for high uptime, and use it on the other tank/player taking damage to keep a constant but small flow of healing.

    Prayer of Mending: On Cooldown on the tank. If you are doing a ton of tank healing you should invest in the glyph to increase the first charge by 60%. You'll lose out on the backend but the upside is pretty good for tank/single target healing.

    Power Word: Shield: I try to use it often. It creates additional effective health on the tank at a fairly high cost, but there have been many times where PW:S was the thing that kept my tank alive. Also good for healing while moving It's also great to pair with Body and Soul to speed boost the tank to adds or to a necessary location. Ideally, if you have mastered the other tenants of healing, Heavenly Feathers is more appealing for a speed boost, but you have to really get used to using it and time it perfectly.

    Guardian Spirit: Your emergency single target healing cooldown. This will literally save a person's life. I prefer this over Pain Suppression because it will actually work on its own to save a life. The purpose of GS is to provide a safety net for the player you are casting it on. The healing bonus it provides is incentive enough to try and top off the tank and not allow it to proc at all. However, I have at times purposefully casted GS, let the tank drop to death and be revived by GS for the sake of mana and to triage other players. Make good use of vent and call stuff out. GS is also good if you screw up to save your own hide, too.



    2. Triage Healing


    From the healing 25 mans section:
    Triage is defined as: the sorting of and allocation of treatment to patients and especially battle and disaster victims according to a system of priorities designed to maximize the number of survivors.


    "So, how does this apply to healing in raids?!" -Priest


    Triage healing is the base of any successful raid, and the healers that can truly handle it are the one's that are going to help the raid succeed the most. Flash Heal is going to be your #1 spell to save lives, followed by PW:S and Greater Heal. You're choice of which heal to use is just as important as which player you choose to heal. If you know that more damage could potentially hit a target at very low health you are going to want to Flash Heal or PW:S. If you know a target is safe from taking more damage but is very low health you are going to want to use your larger, but slower Greater Heal.


    Triage healing is also about deciding to take a personal hit on HPS by casting one of your triage heals instead of a PoH. This is something that is very difficult for most raid healers to understand and really train themselves on, but a priceless tool nonetheless. Remember, raiding is about accomplishing your goals as a team, not your personal output! Don't forget about Divine Hymn, which you can read in the Managing and Using Cooldowns section.


    And Ramen's take on it for 10 mans

    Triage, oh the lovely Cata philosophy of "triage." Really, triage has always existed as far as healing goes, but it was intended to make a significant comeback in Cata and to a lesser degree MoP.

    In simple English: triage is prioritizing who you are going to heal and with what spell you intend to do it. Triage is usually noticeable in 10 mans during moments where shit has hit the fan, splattered on your face, and there are no toillette wipeys to be found. It is during these moments that you will go to more direct-targetted heals, because death seems immenent.

    Triage is particularly important in 10 man due to fact that you only have 1 brez, unless you are raiding with 7 shamans. One death is extremely costly. We are so tightly tunes to our dps requirements that any downtime is bad.

    There will be moments where the entire raid is low, but a few are dangerously low, where you might find it a good idea to cast a glyphed Binding Heal over a PoH or CoH, followed by, perhaps, a Greater Heal. Other times you might have one person with an undispellable raid debuff. You have to shift focus to that person in order to save their life.

    Triage spells are generally costly, but a good execution can save mana and lives. And not all triage are created equally. Sometimes something as simple as a renew and a PoM will be enough on a target. Other times you will need to Flash > GH. Still others you might have to GS. Yet again, you may Lifegrip dps A, GS tank B, Void Shift healer C, Desperate Prayer yourself, then Binding Heal into Greaters or PoHs.

    I won't pretend to give you any sort of rotation, because its always different. However, one tenant remains true:

    It is your job to keep your friends alive, and choosing who to heal and with what may turn the tides of battle in your favor. Toss meters to the wind when it comes to triage. We will all respect you more if you save a life that would have otherwise died than to see you sitting at #1 of three people.



    3. Assistant Tank Healing


    Holy Priests aren’t the strongest tank healers, even in Chakra: Serenity. However, there is no reason why you should avoid healing the tank in your encounters.


    The mana reduction of Renew and the increased healing of it from Chakra: Sanctuary has made it viable to keep reapplying to a target. Make sure you keep Renew on your tank(s) as much as you can.


    Try to reserve your Flash Heals for your tanks as well if at all possible. Do not be afraid to cast Greater Heal or Heal while in Chakra: Sanctuary. You and your other healers work together as a team – help them and they will help you.



    4. Managing and Using Cooldowns


    Divine Hymn:
    First off, make sure of healing cooldown rotations. This was alot more prevalent in Cataclysm with the reign of the 3-minute raid CD. There are still several fights that have you planning one CD after another, so discuss this with your raid leader so that you can make sure Divine Hymn is up when your number is called.

    If there is no real need for allocating raid CDs, try to use DH early and often. The channeling time equates to regen, and the HPM/HPS of this spell is ridiculous. On Iron Quon, for instance, you can use it at least three times in the fight and still have it up in the end.

    Lightwell/Lightspring

    Generally, you'll probably be glyphing into Lightspring unless you otherwise decide with your raid that using Lightwell as a raid cooldown will be viable. Glyphed, it will act like a triage turret for targets under 50%. Most cases in ToT seem to be better for Lightspring, but if you find yourself in a scenario where one more raid cooldown might give you the kill, consider Lightwell as an alternative. To do this, you must place the Lightwell in a spot everyone can reach it, choose a time to use it, and call out over vent that everyone clicks the lightwell. This distributes 10 charges of Lightwell immediately as opposed to 1 per second with Lightspring, and is highly effective. It is hardly different than using Healthstones, with the caveat that it is a bit harder to click.

    As a rule of thumb, cast Lightwell before the fight and on cooldown thereafter.


    Leap of Faith:

    The wary healer will always be sure to use this when necessary. Keep track of dps that have problems with void zones and check for mechanics that might be Lifegrip friendly. This is the epitome of saving a life. Some mechanics simply cannot be healed through (think Durumu's Force of Will), and a well-timed Lifegrip might earn you a free snowcone after the raid.

    Guardian Spirit:

    Be careful with your use of GS. Once it's used, you're on your own for the next 3 minutes. When in doubt, however, cast GS, because its better to have to make up for it later than to lose someone now.

    Further, some fights call for rotating tank CDs. Be sure to discuss with your raid leader or tank about when he would like GS. Remember, it has a healing bonus baked right into the spell, so it is great in many different applications as you might already be aware with Tsulong.

    Void Shift:

    Absolutely LOVE this spell. It is a HUGE mana saver when you don't have GS. I like to use it when my target has reached sub 25%, and usually use it on a tank. This is why I take Desperate Prayer, as well, because I will do a Void Shift > Desperate Prayer chain to make damage seem like it never happened. You'll probably only use it once a fight, twice if you use it very early, so make it count.

    Another use for Void Shift is for personal healing. This falls into the triage model. If you are taking alot of damage from an undispellable debuff (or whatever) and you are in danger of dying--but another raid member is not--I have casted Void Shift on that target to top myself off and then let smart heals and hots top off the target I stole hp from. It's a little more selfish use this way, but it has saved my life many times.

    As a side note, use this and Lifegrip in LFR to kill annoying or elitist people that just won't shut the hell up.in.



    4. Managing Your Mana


    Mana management as a holy priest is highly important. We are extremely dependent on spirit for our regen. I current gem every socket with some form of spirit, keep spirit on every piece of gear, and never reforge out of it. This is, of course, the first step of mana management.

    The next step is spell usage. Sure, you could sit in AoE chakra the whole fight, but what if you learned to do a little stance dancing? Low damage phases might be well-suited to the mana efficient nature of Serenity chakra. And of course, time your usage to where you can get the most out of your AoE spells with Sanctuary chakra. Using your spells while managing overhealing is the ticket here.

    The third step are your own personal cooldowns. Put that mana trinket on cooldown as soon as possible! Cast Mindbender as soon as possible! (And if you cast it too early and are in danger of capping mana and losing some of Mindbender's return, bomb a few expensive heals to make sure none of it goes to waste). See if you can get two Hymn of Hopes off in a fight. Generally this will require high early damage and a long fight (7+ minutes), but it can be done. Of course, you will want to make sure every Hymn of Hope is tied to a Mindbender use. Mind Bender first, Hymn of Hope immediately after.

    Fourth step is mana pots. Always go with Potions of Focus. They keep you sitting tight for 10 seconds, which forces you to discipline yourself for 10 seconds without healing. This is a good thing, as you will also regen during this. The mana return is small, but worth it to squeeze out the last drop of healing.

    And finally, boss mechanics. Make sure to take advantage of any and everything the encounter offers. Every second you or a raid member go without a buff that somehow effects your healing output or regen is a second you have lost a potential extension of your healing.

    In an ideal scenario, you want to end every fight just as you run out of mana and have exhausted all sources of regen.








    9. Useful Addons


    Over the years many addons have been used and discarded and better ones come along and sometimes you just have to learn to live without them. The most important thing to remember when using addons to help your healing and gameplay is to never rely on them. If you use a cooldown tracker make sure you also have a "counter" inside of your head and get a feel for when your cooldowns are coming off cooldown so if the addon fails your healing won't fail along with it. These are recommendations on addons that can help you heal more efficiently, track cooldowns easier and provide information quicker.

    Vuhdo - One of the 2 most commonly used raid frame mods. Provides healing through keybinds and click combinations as well as almost everything provided through multiple Grid addons. I use Vuhdo.

    Grid - One of the 2 most commonly used raid frame mods. It requires some setup to get it how you want it but it is well worth the time and your options are really endless.

    • Priest AoE - This addon has had the biggest impact on Grid in my opinion. It shows you, via an icon, color or text that you place, who is the best target in your raid and each party to cast PoH and CoH on to gain a threshold of healing that you can set. This is absolutely amazing in settings where the raid is somewhat spread out and you, obviously, want to hit as many people in the party as possible, this will help make that happen.
    • Mana Bars - It's always a good idea to track the mana of your fellow healers so you can help them out, use Hymn of Hope at a prime time, etc. I suggest making this bar rather skinny so it is not too obtrusive in your quest to keep health bars from reaching 0.
    • Side Icons & Corner Icons - Track as many things as you can. PoM, Renew, PW:S, WS, PS, GS, Rejuv, Regrowth, Lifebloom, Riptide, Earth Shield - by tracking other healers' buffs and hots you will become more of a team player within a raid by not, inadvertently, sniping their hots. It is also useful to see, ok this tank has no hots I better prepare to heal him, etc.
    • Raid Debuff - This addon, usually, adds raid debuffs automatically to center icon so you are aware who has important debuffs.
    • Status Hots - Shows colors or timers via text for hots.
    • Heal Trace - Shows via icon, text or color who is being healed by your AoE spells. I have found this addon to be great with CoH and Divine Hymn tracking - I'd also suggest showing the Divine Hymn +10% healing buff as an icon, color or text to one of your available areas to best make use of DH. For CoH it's great to see how many people and who you are actually healing with it instead of just assuming it's doing a good job.


    Clique - A great tie in with Grid and other raid frames. This addon allows you to easily create mouseover and click cast combination heals. I highly recommend using at least mouseovers for all of your spells as it can greatly increase your healing throughput and ability to save lives. Yes, in the long run that 0.5 sec you are saving by using mouseovers/clicks adds up over clicking a person then hitting a keybind. Make sure your most commonly used spells such as PoH, CoH and PoM are very easy to hit as well as your important cooldowns such as Guardian Spirit.


    WeakAuras - Easily one of the most powerful raiding addons out there next to boss mods. You can use WA to track your spell cooldowns, buffs, buff timers, debuffs, debuff timers, etc. Below are some import code samples that you can use to start up your collection of Power Auras.




    ForteXorcist - Can be used for its cooldown tracking bar, buff/debuff tracking on self & target and more.


    Quartz - A highly customizable cast bar that provides latency tracking, spell name, target casting on, channeling ticks, and more.


    oRA3 - Track the cooldowns of your fellow raiders. What is the CD on Mana Tide? Who has a battle rez available? What are other Priest's CDs on Hymns?


    If you like my UI you can download it!







    10. Gear Options



    Slot
    Equipment
    Source
    Head
    Thok the Bloodthirsty
    Neck
    Sha of Pride
    Shoulders
    Siegecrafter Blackfuse
    Back
    Legendary
    Chest
    Malkorok
    Wrists
    The Fallen Protectors
    Hands
    General Nazgrim
    Waist
    Garrosh
    Legs
    Paragons of the Klaxxi
    Feet
    General Nazgrim
    Ring
    Immerseus
    Ring
    Iron Juggernaut
    Trinket
    Siegecrafter Blackfuse
    Trinket
    Thok the Bloodthirsty
    Main Hand
    Garrosh
    Off Hand
    The Fallen Protectors








    11. Changelog

    03/15:Posted! Please point out any lingering Cataclysm content or anything I missed :)
    03/17: Added Ramen's 10man update
    03/20: Added talent options for the first 4 bosses.
    03/21: Added talent options for Megaera and additional for Tortos. Added note about Chakra findings.
    04/23: Added talent options for the rest of the bosses!
    06/05: Added haste thresholds from TaKe
    09/12: Updated for 5.4. Added Gear list and other misc things throughout the guide in relation to Halo, DS, Cascade, and FDCL.
    09/12: Added in talent choices for bosses in T16
    Last edited by Mazi; 2013-12-09 at 10:19 PM.
    Pixl Returned! Holy Priest

  2. #2
    Thanks Mazi

    My lesser used alter ego appreciates it. The new twitch layout is cute!

  3. #3
    Nice guide Mazi! Much love to you for sticking with holy

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Irialx View Post
    Thanks Mazi

    My lesser used alter ego appreciates it. The new twitch layout is cute!
    Hahah, thanks!

    ---------- Post added 2013-03-15 at 07:55 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by HolyLathusDisc View Post
    Nice guide Mazi! Much love to you for sticking with holy
    Always will!
    Pixl Returned! Holy Priest

  5. #5
    Cant stop watching hamster...ever...

  6. #6
    Brewmaster ramennoodleking's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Louisiana, United States
    Posts
    1,395
    Excellent, and per usual I feel like you are living in my brain.

    It's hard to say no to Yoo-Hoo chocolate drinks...the name literally beckons.
    Tactical Disaster - Stormrage-US
    16/16 Heroic T14
    10/13 Heroic T15

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by ramennoodleking View Post
    Excellent, and per usual I feel like you are living in my brain.
    Little do you know....
    Pixl Returned! Holy Priest

  8. #8
    Brewmaster ramennoodleking's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Louisiana, United States
    Posts
    1,395
    Are you that itch on my head that no matter how much I scratch, the tingling never goes away?

    It's hard to say no to Yoo-Hoo chocolate drinks...the name literally beckons.
    Tactical Disaster - Stormrage-US
    16/16 Heroic T14
    10/13 Heroic T15

  9. #9
    Stood in the Fire PhillieB's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Sweden
    Posts
    472
    Very nice guide indeed, very all encompassing, can't really find much to disagree with. My only gripe would the lingering cata references in the 10-man part like the reference to glyph of prayer of healing. Reading it makes me miss 25-mans though...but at least come 2P no more disc, yay!
    Last edited by PhillieB; 2013-03-16 at 01:18 AM.

  10. #10
    Brewmaster ramennoodleking's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Louisiana, United States
    Posts
    1,395
    Holy is fine prior to 2 piece....but boy oh boy, with it? I got mine and it is freaking beautiful.

    It's hard to say no to Yoo-Hoo chocolate drinks...the name literally beckons.
    Tactical Disaster - Stormrage-US
    16/16 Heroic T14
    10/13 Heroic T15

  11. #11
    Mazi, I can't track it down. But you still have mention of Glyph of Prayer of Healing. Might want to remove that :P

  12. #12
    That is in the 10m portion of the guide that Ashley needs to update. Sorry :/
    Pixl Returned! Holy Priest

  13. #13
    :P I just figured it was a missed part just helping you out <3

  14. #14
    Well - Ashley doesn't raid 10m as Holy anymore. Looking for someone to update that section for 5.2 10m healing!
    Last edited by Mazi; 2013-03-16 at 04:25 AM.
    Pixl Returned! Holy Priest

  15. #15
    Stood in the Fire PhillieB's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Sweden
    Posts
    472
    Quote Originally Posted by ramennoodleking View Post
    Holy is fine prior to 2 piece....but boy oh boy, with it? I got mine and it is freaking beautiful.
    Yummie, yeah I know it's been more of a 0.5 dps thing so far.

  16. #16
    Brewmaster ramennoodleking's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Louisiana, United States
    Posts
    1,395
    I can update it for 10 man. Gimme time over the weekend?

    It's hard to say no to Yoo-Hoo chocolate drinks...the name literally beckons.
    Tactical Disaster - Stormrage-US
    16/16 Heroic T14
    10/13 Heroic T15

  17. #17
    Very nice guide thank you

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by ramennoodleking View Post
    I can update it for 10 man. Gimme time over the weekend?
    Sure thing! Thanks <3
    Pixl Returned! Holy Priest

  19. #19
    Brewmaster ramennoodleking's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Louisiana, United States
    Posts
    1,395
    10 Man Healing


    Once you have gained profficiency in being a holy priest through Dungeons, LFR, or scenarios, you might think to yourself, "Hey! I can totally do this raiding thing." Well, that's probably true, and for that we here at the Priest forums commend you! But before you decide to tackle raids, make sure you understand your toolkit fully. Try to think outside the box at times, and find a use, no matter how minute, for each spell at your disposal. Do you know how your spells work? How do they interact with each other? The cooldowns? Or why the fuck is holy nova still in the game? (seriously, if you figure this one out PM me)

    If you think you understand the spells you've been given, then now it's time to test your mettle in a raiding scenario. But knowing your toolkit is not enough. You can go to Home Depot and clear out the tool section, come home, and still not know how to remodel your house. So preparation is key! This handy little checklist is your ticket for raid preparation:

    ✔ When is damage going to come?
    ✔ How much does each boss ability hit for?
    ✔ How long is the fight?
    ✔ How do I need to manage my cooldowns? Ex. When is a good time to use Hymn of Hope or Divine Hymn?
    ✔ What spells are going to be best used to counter boss abilities?
    ✔ How can I utilize my Priest specific abilities best in this encounter? Ex. Leap of Faith, Divine Hymn
    ✔ When is the raid going to be stacked? Spread out?
    ✔ How often am I going to have to move?
    ✔ What kind of stuff am I going to have to move out of?

    Study the fights. Show up ready for work. Don't be like the hobo who forgets his cardboard sign in the alleyway.


    1. Raid Healing

    Alright, so now down to freaky naughty, nitty gritty information you are probably just salivating for right now. How the hell do I heal in a raid environment?

    Well, first off, make your talent choices for the fight. I generally steer clear on Halo except under rare circumstances, due to the nature of the spell and the limited number of targets. Besides, you may find yourself worrying too much about your positioning for maximum effect. Divine Star is great in relatively stacked scenarios, or if you have a good number of melee, and Cascade is just awesome for raid healing in general, on the move or in the groove.

    You'll probably want to take Divine Insight in most cases, but Power Infusion does have some merit if you are undergeared, strapped for mana, or have a boss mechanic that demands a ridiculous amount of quick healing. In some ways, Power Infusion can be like a second Divine Hymn, allowing you to pump out super fast PoH's.

    Desperate Prayer or Angelic Bulwark, either are fine. But I reccomend Desperate Prayer due to the controllable nature of the spell, and the potential to get more use out of it in a fight.

    And, finally, Mindbender. Don't even look at the other two talents.

    Alright, now to the boss fights. Well, you did your studying, right? Then that means you understand damage patterns! It may take many attempts to refine your approach to each individual encounter, but I can assure you there is a place in 10 mans for both Chakra: Serenity and Chakra: Sanctuary. That's your single target and AoE target healing stances, in case you already forgot. And if you forgot, smack yourself.

    Every scenario will be different, but I will give you the basics of each healing stance, and you will have to determine for yourself when and where you will use them.

    A.) Chakra: Sanctuary -- AoE Healing So Delicious You'll Want to Smack Your Momma

    If and when you find yourself in an AoE scenario, then you'll definitely want to hang out in this stance. AoE can be huge bursts that cripple the raid, steady raid-wide damage that never seems to end, or constant randomly targeted damage to multiple players.

    Prayer of Healing: This is your staple spell. Heals all five party members that are within 30 yards range of your targeted player. As a rule of thumb, cast when 3 or more players in a group have taken enough damage to allow for PoH. You'll want to make sure to have your raid leader arrange groups to where you can be nearly positive that in most situations, you will have a target that will allow your Prayer of Healing to hit the entire group. Once you've figured all that out, there are several different uses for PoH:

    -Precast it. If you know heavy raid damage is coming, you'll want to precast PoH to where it lands right as the damage goes out. This will get you a jump start on topping up the raid.

    -Constant cast. When there is constant, steady raid damage going out (and the raid is not getting topped off in between pulses), you will alternate PoH from group 1 to group 2. You will interupt this rotation only for Divine Insight procs, PoM coming off CD, CoH coming off CD, and Cascade/Divine Star.

    -Fishing for Divine Insight Procs. If there are people you can heal in a group (3 or more) but there's not necessarily alot of damage going out, you can fish for a DI proc, especially if you know raid damage is coming. This is more of a padding mechanism, but in some cases it does have merit. You can also fish with Greater Heal, so you'll have to decide for yourself.

    Circle of Healing: Awesome spell, short CD, instant cast, 6 targets when glyphed, smart heal. What more is there to say? You'll find yourself using this off cooldown more often than not, but if noone is taking damage, then, of course, it is silly to use this. Again, as a rule of thumb, if 3 or more people have taken damage, this spell is your ticket. It has a higher priority than PoH even if all 3+ are in the same group. During heavy AoE, I like to chain my spell from PoH > CoH, so you get a nice, fat burst. Use it early and often.

    Renew: Not as good as in the WotLK days, but still have some use. You'll find that if one or two people have taken damage, but are in no immediate need of help, a renew will be sufficient. It is also great to cast on the move, and when glyphed will put out those heals faster. I usually keep one on the tank as possible. You won't use this very much, as it is sort of niche these days, but when you need to heal and move, this is your staple spell. Durumu is a good fight to use this, especially during the maze, as well as during Horridon. Any fights with small pecks of damage not worth your full devotion are great for Renew.

    Prayer of Mending:Such a lovely spell. You cast it on a target, and when that target takes damage it bounces to the next target it chooses, 5 bounces, smart heals, 100% sexy. In general just keep this on cooldown, and usually start your cast on a tank. If you are taking constant raid damage, choose, instead, to cast it on the lowest health member. Precast before pulsing AoE. With the current mechanics in ToT, you'll see near constant uptime on practically all of the bosses. Divine Insight procs are lovely, because they instantly bounce all by their lonesome, but be careful not overwrite your DI proc with a regularly PoM cast. To give you some perspective, on Twin Consorts and Iron Quon, I have rank 1 parses on normal mode. Both fights have PoM as my top spell. It's pretty awesome because it overheals so little.

    Cascade: Love this spell, and its pretty and sparkly, too. Usually try and precast this before a burst of damage, as it has some ramp up time. I'll usually target myself or the nearest person who has taken damage. The reason for this is that it prefers the furthest targets, and its healing increases the length it has traveled. So basically the second bounce travels far, and the third comes right back to you/melee and hits pretty hard. You can also cast this during pulsing damage. I use this on most ToT fights.

    Divine Star: Direct it towards a stacked group, usually melee, and let it eat. Requires some situational awareness, but the spell can be incredibly poweful and useful in the right hands and on the right fights. I use this on Ji-Kun because I'm part of the flight team. It adds AoE dps and healing.

    Divine Hymn: Oh sweet baby Jesus, does this spell ever make me feel jovial and stupendous. If you gauge the fight correctly from a time standpoint, you can use it 3 times on many of the longer fights. Iron Quon comes to mind. Just make sure that if you choose to use it early that it is up for when you really need it. And for the greater good of the raid, if you are assigned to cast it as a raid cooldown, don't be selfish. Use it when asked, even if it sacrifices personal hps and epeen.

    Binding Heal (Glyphed): Heals three targets for nearly the same as Flash Heal. Heavy mana cost, but it does put out three extremely quick heals and Serendipities your next PoH. It is situational, and you'll want to test in different scenarios. I've used it sparingly, but as I learned the boss mechanics I may find myself using it more.

    Holy Word: Sanctuary: Don't ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever ever, ever, ever....

    ...use this spell. Unless you are absolutely swimming in mana and everyone is stacked up. This might change as heroic ToT gear starts coming out, but for now, just ignore it. It's simply not worth it at the moment.

    So as a recap: PoH is your everyday spell, CoH/PoM practically on cooldown (assuming there is damage to heal), Cascade before heavy damage or during pulses, Renew during movement, Divine Hymn as needed, Divine Star on stacked situations, and Holy Word: Sanctuary never.

    B.) Chakra: Serenity - Confusing Other Healers Since BWL

    If you have been paying attention, you know that Chakra: Serenity buffs your single target heals. Awesome! Now what?

    Well, contrary to popular belief, Holy Priests are outstanding tank healers...when in this stance. I'm dead serious. You'll rival any other healer with your single target capabilities, though many will brush it off as unnecessary, and say that other healers should be designated for that. Which might be true, but don't trivialize your own potential.

    I find myself in Serenity seldom due to my raid comp and necessity of fight mechanics. It gimps your PoH, CoH, and PoM, so the price you pay is generally not worth it. However, it does have it's merit. I would predict I use Serenity 10-20% of the time. One good example of its use is Dark Animus. In the begining, there is heavy tank damage, and damage in general. If you two heal the fight, then more than likely you will personally be responsible for your tank and those on your side. Cascade is unaffected by this stance, so that gives you some AoE oomph, and CoH/PoM are still quite useful.

    There is no real rotation. Serenity is usually a great choice when there are approximately 3 targets taking relatively constant damage, but there is no AoE to speak of. (Think the first half of Horridon). Pop renews on the tanks, PoMs, Shields (as necessary), and cycle Heal through your 3 targets to keep renew refreshed. If a player dips, cast Holy Word: Serenity on them and follow it up with a greater heal. Glyphed Binding Heal is good here too (if you are also taking damage), as it gives you a serendipity proc.

    Heal: I operate under the belief system that idle time is wasted time. Heal is practically mana neutral, so if there is no damage going out, I will keep this casted nearly nonstop while in Serenity. It's low healing, but its cheap, keeps your renew rolling, and provides additional Echo of Light. Don't expect to save lives with this, just to stabalize.

    Flash Heal: Rarely ever casted except under extreme emergencies (or cases like Tsulong--just after his breath, a Flash > GH > Flash > GH is a good chunck of healing). I actually prefer GS over Flash Heal if the situation is bad enough, and would follow GS with a Greater. But if you do need to cast a Flash Heal, never follow it up with another. Try to use your hasted GH (from serendipity) to get the target where it needs to be. If things are bad enough, you might actually have to cast two Flash Heals, but try your hardest not to. It's a giant mana drain. But hey, it's part of triage. Binding Heal takes imediate priority if you also have taken damage.

    Binding Heal: Takes priority over Flash when you've taken damage. Won't use often, but has it's place, especially if tank damage is spikey. Serendipity-ed GHs are very nice.

    Greater Heal: Your healing bomb. Slow cast, but huge heal. It's great to time these after using Holy Word: Serenity, as you have a very good chance for a monster crit and subsequential Echo of Light. In emergency scenarios, these heals are really big with GS active and can come out quick if used in a Serendipity rotation.

    Renew: If tank healing, you should really only have to cast it once on the tank and it should stay actively refreshed. Strive for high uptime, and use it on the other tank/player taking damage to keep a constant but small flow of healing.

    Prayer of Mending: On Cooldown on the tank. If you are doing a ton of tank healing you should invest in the glyph to increase the first charge by 60%. You'll lose out on the backend but the upside is pretty good for tank/single target healing.

    Power Word: Shield: I try to use it often. It creates additional effective health on the tank at a fairly high cost, but there have been many times where PW:S was the thing that kept my tank alive. Also good for healing while moving It's also great to pair with Body and Soul to speed boost the tank to adds or to a necessary location. Ideally, if you have mastered the other tenants of healing, Heavenly Feathers is more appealing for a speed boost, but you have to really get used to using it and time it perfectly.

    Guardian Spirit: Your emergency single target healing cooldown. This will literally save a person's life. I prefer this over Pain Suppression because it will actually work on its own to save a life. The purpose of GS is to provide a safety net for the player you are casting it on. The healing bonus it provides is incentive enough to try and top off the tank and not allow it to proc at all. However, I have at times purposefully casted GS, let the tank drop to death and be revived by GS for the sake of mana and to triage other players. Make good use of vent and call stuff out. GS is also good if you screw up to save your own hide, too.


    2. Triage Healing


    Triage, oh the lovely Cata philosophy of "triage." Really, triage has always existed as far as healing goes, but it was intended to make a significant comeback in Cata and to a lesser degree MoP.

    In simple English: triage is prioritizing who you are going to heal and with what spell you intend to do it. Triage is usually noticeable in 10 mans during moments where shit has hit the fan, splattered on your face, and there are no toillette wipeys to be found. It is during these moments that you will go to more direct-targetted heals, because death seems immenent.

    Triage is particularly important in 10 man due to fact that you only have 1 brez, unless you are raiding with 7 shamans. One death is extremely costly. We are so tightly tunes to our dps requirements that any downtime is bad.

    There will be moments where the entire raid is low, but a few are dangerously low, where you might find it a good idea to cast a glyphed Binding Heal over a PoH or CoH, followed by, perhaps, a Greater Heal. Other times you might have one person with an undispellable raid debuff. You have to shift focus to that person in order to save their life.

    Triage spells are generally costly, but a good execution can save mana and lives. And not all triage are created equally. Sometimes something as simple as a renew and a PoM will be enough on a target. Other times you will need to Flash > GH. Still others you might have to GS. Yet again, you may Lifegrip dps A, GS tank B, Void Shift healer C, Desperate Prayer yourself, then Binding Heal into Greaters or PoHs.

    I won't pretend to give you any sort of rotation, because its always different. However, one tenant remains true:

    It is your job to keep your friends alive, and choosing who to heal and with what may turn the tides of battle in your favor. Toss meters to the wind when it comes to triage. We will all respect you more if you save a life that would have otherwise died than to see you sitting at #1 of three people.




    3. Managing and Using Cooldowns

    Divine Hymn:
    First off, make sure of healing cooldown rotations. This was alot more prevalent in Cataclysm with the reign of the 3-minute raid CD. There are still several fights that have you planning one CD after another, so discuss this with your raid leader so that you can make sure Divine Hymn is up when your number is called.

    If there is no real need for allocating raid CDs, try to use DH early and often. The channeling time equates to regen, and the HPM/HPS of this spell is ridiculous. On Iron Quon, for instance, you can use it at least three times in the fight and still have it up in the end.

    Lightwell/Lightspring

    Generally, you'll probably be glyphing into Lightspring unless you otherwise decide with your raid that using Lightwell as a raid cooldown will be viable. Glyphed, it will act like a triage turret for targets under 50%. Most cases in ToT seem to be better for Lightspring, but if you find yourself in a scenario where one more raid cooldown might give you the kill, consider Lightwell as an alternative. To do this, you must place the Lightwell in a spot everyone can reach it, choose a time to use it, and call out over vent that everyone clicks the lightwell. This distributes 10 charges of Lightwell immediately as opposed to 1 per second with Lightspring, and is highly effective. It is hardly different than using Healthstones, with the caveat that it is a bit harder to click.

    As a rule of thumb, cast Lightwell before the fight and on cooldown thereafter.


    Leap of Faith:

    The wary healer will always be sure to use this when necessary. Keep track of dps that have problems with void zones and check for mechanics that might be Lifegrip friendly. This is the epitome of saving a life. Some mechanics simply cannot be healed through (think Durumu's Force of Will), and a well-timed Lifegrip might earn you a free snowcone after the raid.

    Guardian Spirit:

    Be careful with your use of GS. Once it's used, you're on your own for the next 3 minutes. When in doubt, however, cast GS, because its better to have to make up for it later than to lose someone now.

    Further, some fights call for rotating tank CDs. Be sure to discuss with your raid leader or tank about when he would like GS. Remember, it has a healing bonus baked right into the spell, so it is great in many different applications as you might already be aware with Tsulong.

    Void Shift:

    Absolutely LOVE this spell. It is a HUGE mana saver when you don't have GS. I like to use it when my target has reached sub 25%, and usually use it on a tank. This is why I take Desperate Prayer, as well, because I will do a Void Shift > Desperate Prayer chain to make damage seem like it never happened. You'll probably only use it once a fight, twice if you use it very early, so make it count.

    Another use for Void Shift is for personal healing. This falls into the triage model. If you are taking alot of damage from an undispellable debuff (or whatever) and you are in danger of dying--but another raid member is not--I have casted Void Shift on that target to top myself off and then let smart heals and hots top off the target I stole hp from. It's a little more selfish use this way, but it has saved my life many times.

    As a side note, use this and Lifegrip in LFR to kill annoying or elitist people that just won't shut the hell up.




    4. Managing Your Mana


    Mana management as a holy priest is highly important. We are extremely dependent on spirit for our regen. I current gem every socket with some form of spirit, keep spirit on every piece of gear, and never reforge out of it. This is, of course, the first step of mana management.

    The next step is spell usage. Sure, you could sit in AoE chakra the whole fight, but what if you learned to do a little stance dancing? Low damage phases might be well-suited to the mana efficient nature of Serenity chakra. And of course, time your usage to where you can get the most out of your AoE spells with Sanctuary chakra. Using your spells while managing overhealing is the ticket here.

    The third step are your own personal cooldowns. Put that mana trinket on cooldown as soon as possible! Cast Mindbender as soon as possible! (And if you cast it too early and are in danger of capping mana and losing some of Mindbender's return, bomb a few expensive heals to make sure none of it goes to waste). See if you can get two Hymn of Hopes off in a fight. Generally this will require high early damage and a long fight (7+ minutes), but it can be done. Of course, you will want to make sure every Hymn of Hope is tied to a Mindbender use. Mind Bender first, Hymn of Hope immediately after.

    Fourth step is mana pots. Always go with Potions of Focus. They keep you sitting tight for 10 seconds, which forces you to discipline yourself for 10 seconds without healing. This is a good thing, as you will also regen during this. The mana return is small, but worth it to squeeze out the last drop of healing.

    And finally, boss mechanics. Make sure to take advantage of any and everything the encounter offers. Every second you or a raid member go without a buff that somehow effects your healing output or regen is a second you have lost a potential extension of your healing.

    In an ideal scenario, you want to end every fight just as you run out of mana and have exhausted all sources of regen.

    ---------- Post added 2013-03-16 at 07:58 PM ----------

    You can pretty it up how you want, and I didn't proofread it yet. I'll add more later
    Last edited by ramennoodleking; 2013-03-16 at 06:52 PM.

    It's hard to say no to Yoo-Hoo chocolate drinks...the name literally beckons.
    Tactical Disaster - Stormrage-US
    16/16 Heroic T14
    10/13 Heroic T15

  20. #20
    Mazi? Mazi. I love you. I miss you. <3
    ~Former Priest/Guild Wars 2 Moderator~
    Now TESTING: ArcheAge (Alpha)
    Now PLAYING: MonoRed Burn (MtG Standard)
    Twitter: @KelestiMMO come say hi!
    ~When you speak, I hear silence. Every word a defiance~

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •