[WoD] Holy Paladin Guide 6.0

[Gyllz]

I have this holy paladin in my raid group that thinks that stacking mastery is better than crit. Can you tell me why it's better to have more crit than mastery?

[Dreamguard]

They may be slightly misguided, or they may just be pulling numbers from nowhere.

When we reach 25% crit unbuffed (2069 for non Blood Elf) and we're using Sanctified Wrath with the Glyph of Merciful Wrath, our Holy Shock is guaranteed to crit during Avenging Wrath. Once we reach that point, crit loses some of its value for us and mastery becomes our best secondary stat. This may be what they are thinking of and why they are stacking mastery. The problem is that mastery has a softcap of its own, it's just not a fixed softcap; it's relative to each individual Paladin's healing throughput.

Our mastery, Illuminated Healing, can only stack up to 33% of the casting Paladin's maximum health and with all the multipliers from Infusion of Light, the Archimonde Trinket, Selfless Healer (if they've chosen that talent), and the legendary ring, it's incredibly easy to cap the entire mastery shield in a single Flash of Light. There might be a small window where mastery is, in fact, better than crit, but that window is incredibly small and not worth gearing for.

No one is entirely sure where mastery stands as a stat weight once we reach the point where capping Illuminated Healing is much more common, but we are sure that crit is still better than multistrike, versatility, and haste, so you should stick to gearing for crit--even after the softcap.

[Grumit]

Hey dream, where can I find a reliable BiS list?

[Dreamguard]

Reliable Best-in-Slot lists don't really exist due to the ramping item level changes in HFC and Warforged/Socket rolls. The spreadsheet in my signature has a place where you can see if one piece of gear is better than the other, but it's hard to give a list of what's best because it depends on too many things.

Typically, taking something with higher item level is going to be better for you, but if they're really close in item level or the same item level, then gear for crit > mastery > multi > versatility > haste (assuming you already have the 4-piece for T18). Warforged is better than sockets on Weapons and trinkets, but sockets are better on everything else.

[Grumit]

Reliable Best-in-Slot lists don't really exist due to the ramping item level changes in HFC and Warforged/Socket rolls. The spreadsheet in my signature has a place where you can see if one piece of gear is better than the other, but it's hard to give a list of what's best because it depends on too many things.

Typically, taking something with higher item level is going to be better for you, but if they're really close in item level or the same item level, then gear for crit > mastery > multi > versatility > haste (assuming you already have the 4-piece for T18). Warforged is better than sockets on Weapons and trinkets, but sockets are better on everything else.

Didn't even notice you had the spreadsheet in your sig, thanks man, appreciate it.

[ryan11d7]

How much spirit do you guys feel comfortable with in Mythic HFC. I am also curious what major glyphs you are running, obviously Salv, Merci Wrath, and what is your third?

Lastly, do you guys use Eternal flame or the selfless healer setup?

[EzG]

How much spirit do you guys feel comfortable with in Mythic HFC. I am also curious what major glyphs you are running, obviously Salv, Merci Wrath, and what is your third?

Lastly, do you guys use Eternal flame or the selfless healer setup?

1. As low spirit as I can possibly get.
2. Merciless Wrath, Divinity, then whatever you want for the last one whether you want a better defensive or more utility.
3. Selfless healer all the way.

[ryan11d7]

So I am just a tad confused with the selfless healer rotation. I get the just of it and everything. But do you EVER cast LoD?

From what I gather its HS>J>FoL>FoL(Or Prism if off CD). When you cap out on Holy Power do ever cast Lod in place of the second flash if prism is on cd? Or do you basically just never use your holy power?

[EzG]

So I am just a tad confused with the selfless healer rotation. I get the just of it and everything. But do you EVER cast LoD?

From what I gather its HS>J>FoL>FoL(Or Prism if off CD). When you cap out on Holy Power do ever cast Lod in place of the second flash if prism is on cd? Or do you basically just never use your holy power?

To be honest not really. At a high level to max gear you will start to use it less and less and almost as just a filler for when nobody needs a snap heal FoL for half of their hp. It can however add up at the lower to mid ilvls and progression when you might need that little bid of extra aoe heals OR you need to conserve mana because you don't have the gear to keep spamming FoL which can easily sink your mana to nothing if you don't have the capability to handle that type of rotation. It can easy grab a couple million worth of healing throughout a fight in that sense.

[ryan11d7]

To be honest not really. At a high level to max gear you will start to use it less and less and almost as just a filler for when nobody needs a snap heal FoL for half of their hp. It can however add up at the lower to mid ilvls and progression when you might need that little bid of extra aoe heals OR you need to conserve mana because you don't have the gear to keep spamming FoL which can easily sink your mana to nothing if you don't have the capability to handle that type of rotation. It can easy grab a couple million worth of healing throughout a fight in that sense.

So you basically just sit at max holy power and not spending it most the fight?

[EzG]

So you basically just sit at max holy power and not spending it most the fight?

More or less. But how I heal at my point of progression is going to be different from someone still working on bosses. A 200k LoD that is mostly wasted on mostly full health people is going to be less worthwhile than a 400k FoL on someone who just got hit by something.

[Dreamguard]

So I am just a tad confused with the selfless healer rotation. I get the just of it and everything. But do you EVER cast LoD?

From what I gather its HS>J>FoL>FoL(Or Prism if off CD). When you cap out on Holy Power do ever cast Lod in place of the second flash if prism is on cd? Or do you basically just never use your holy power?

You still want to use Light of Dawn when you have 3+ Holy Power and Holy Prism is on cooldown. A 3+ HP LoD is going to heal more than a non-buffed Flash of Light.

The general rotation for SH is Holy Shock > Judgment > Flash of Light > X; where X has a priority of Holy Prism > 3+ HP Light of Dawn > Flash of Light. This changes a little bit when you have Avenging Wrath active, but you should still be using Light of Dawn.

You can look here for a more detailed guide.

[mob1lejunkie]

Is this thing getting updated? If not, it shouldn't be a sticky!?!?

[Viradiance]

This is entirely PVP but it amuses me enough that I wish to bring it up. Aura of Sacrifice causes durability damage on hit, even in PVP. I zoned into a battleground at 98% durabiliy and, with the Divine Vision PVP talent and Aura of Sacrifice together ended up losing 80% of my durability in a fairly short AV match. The good news is, I was impossible to CC.

[Spazter]

should i lvl holy or prot or ret?

[Malthanis]

Going to un-stick this, since we're very much not in WoD anymore. If anybody feels like being the new Holy guide writer, please feel free to PM me about it.