[PROT] Am I doing it wrong?

[Thaylen]

First, link to the toon: us,battle,net/wow/en/character/Whisperwind/Thaylen/advanced (change commas for periods)

My question is pretty simple and around the use of Holy Power. I've always dumped my holy power into SOTR and only use EF when I need some extra healing (at which point BoG is always at 5 stacks). Is the better alternative to always pop EF with 3-5 stacks to keep the HoT running as others have posted in here?

My mindset (which may be wrong) is that if I'm not losing health much, I don't need a HoT running and I might as well use that resource to dump into some dps/physical mitigation. (though admittedly it might help the healers have a little extra mana

[Belloc]

If you have your 4pc bonus, it's always worth it to cast EF when you reach 5 stacks (UNLESS your last 5 stack EF still has a decent remaining duration AND had a HUGE vengeance/Avenging Wrath boost.

If you don't have your 4pc, usage becomes largely a matter of personal preference/survival. If your healers are having zero issues keeping you alive, then there's really no need for it and SotR becomes the best use. If, however, your healers are having trouble or you are working on a progression fight, then, yes, you want to ensure that you have a 5 stack EF up whenever possible. Even if you're clearing, say, heroic farm bosses, EF is still pretty important.

Personally, I don't have my 4pc and I don't often worry about having maximum uptime on EF. If I see that my EF has expired, I'll refresh it at my nearest convenience unless I know it's going to be really helpful on a certain part of a certain fight. On Malkorok, for instance, I go for 100% uptime when I'm actively tanking (since the shield makes overheal a non-issue). On Fallen Protectors, I make sure I have an EF well in advance of Rook's stun/heavy damage ability. Etc. It pretty much just depends on what fight you're doing and whether it's normal or heroic.

Realistically, you'll have to be able to make the decision on your own. Big melee hit coming? Save that HP for a SotR. A lot of raid AOE coming? Might want to have an EF up so your healers can focus a little more on the raid. Have healers that don't care about ranking in the slightest? Might as well make their job easier and go for high uptime.


edit: It appears you've either not yet started on heroics or have just started. In your case, I would try for maximum EF uptime on any heroic progression. Be prepared to prioritize SotR for certain abilities (like the Rook example I gave above, or the regular high melee hit on Norushen), but try not to let EF fall off if you can avoid it.

[Thaylen]

Thanks Belloc. I had meant to mention that I only have a 2pc atm. It was the thought of getting my 4pc which actually spurred the question inside of me.

As far as progression, you are correct in your assessment. We are working on the Garrosh normal guild kill. I've killed Garrosh on normal on this Pally however in a PuG group and we've made a few (half-hearted) swings at heroic Immerseus and Norushen as we were going through our normal farm to get back to Garrosh. The pally tank is actually a secondary toon for me, my main is a warlock (though for some reason my pally always seems to get much more gear each tier).

Keeping me up isn't much of an issue atm, I'm usually the last standing. I'll look to focus more on EF when I get the 4pc.

[Cheekun]

First, link to the toon: us,battle,net/wow/en/character/Whisperwind/Thaylen/advanced (change commas for periods)

My question is pretty simple and around the use of Holy Power. I've always dumped my holy power into SOTR and only use EF when I need some extra healing (at which point BoG is always at 5 stacks). Is the better alternative to always pop EF with 3-5 stacks to keep the HoT running as others have posted in here?

My mindset (which may be wrong) is that if I'm not losing health much, I don't need a HoT running and I might as well use that resource to dump into some dps/physical mitigation. (though admittedly it might help the healers have a little extra mana

Basically exactly what the poster above me said. It largely depends on the fight and the needs of your healers. For instance my guild is doing heroic progression and on the more difficult fights (anything past sha of pride really) I keep full uptime of Ef. However make sure you tell your healers if you are keeping Efs huge upfront in your back pocket so that way they don't waste their large heals over healing you. Maximum ef uptime on heroic fights helps a ton and you actually do an impressive amount of hps.