Fresh 100 MW looking for advice

[solinari6]

Hey guys, I just hit 100, and am trying my hand at healing normals (ilevel around 606). I'm having real problems though, I can't for the life of me stop from going OOM.

I did make it through Silver proving grounds, just barely. I was completely OOM at the end, and by some luck, the guys didn't die. But once I got into a real instance it was just horrible. Having to sit and drink after almost every fight.

I think part of the problem is that it's really tough for me to find spirit gear. I did end up with some decent rings, but never once found a single healing trinket (every caster trinket I found had something to do with casting damage), and I never found a spirit neck (had to buy a lame green one off the AH) OR a cloak (still just using the legendary).

So what did you guys do to get over this hump of trying to heal with little healing gear and mana regen? Looks like I just have to grind normals for the gear, but the thought of that in this state makes me cringe.

[Entropy]

Hey guys, I just hit 100, and am trying my hand at healing normals (ilevel around 606). I'm having real problems though, I can't for the life of me stop from going OOM.

I did make it through Silver proving grounds, just barely. I was completely OOM at the end, and by some luck, the guys didn't die. But once I got into a real instance it was just horrible. Having to sit and drink after almost every fight.

I think part of the problem is that it's really tough for me to find spirit gear. I did end up with some decent rings, but never once found a single healing trinket (every caster trinket I found had something to do with casting damage), and I never found a spirit neck (had to buy a lame green one off the AH) OR a cloak (still just using the legendary).

So what did you guys do to get over this hump of trying to heal with little healing gear and mana regen? Looks like I just have to grind normals for the gear, but the thought of that in this state makes me cringe.

link your char please

[solinari6]

link your char please

oops, sorry: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...urobrau/simple

[Druich]

Yeah not much we can do without seeing gear/talents. One thing that you can do that might not be so obvious is to use your 60 talent when you're behind on healing. Also interrupting goes a long way, a lot of people in normals/heroics don't even know they can interrupt trash casts. Final thing is to make sure you're abusing Chi Brew/Thunder Focus Tea whenever you're behind on healing as they offer some pretty good burst healing on the tank.

Just saw your armory, get rid of Rushing Jade Wind. The talent is great when you're decked in mana regen gear but one is unable to support the mana cost of it, especially at your item level. Xuen is the best for five man dungeons as he offers some extra dps and good eminence healing (Make your you always have your statue down near you). Ring of Peace is meh and Leg Sweep or Charging Ox Wave will have more consistent usage, especially in dungeons. Expel Harm glyph is somewhat solid but won't be the difference maker in whether you oom or not.

[Entropy]

Your spirit is not really that low. Only about 200-300 away from most people. Cloak is fine. Gear looks fine for the most point though, Maybe go get the 616 trinket from mr pinchy over the horridon one. Other then that I was in about the same gear as you when I did heroics. You can go 2 ashran do the 4 bonuses objectives and get 620 gear.

As for your spec. Don't use RJW for 5mans, dont even cast sck really. I am not going to go deep into how to healing because you can find a good guide here
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...vE-Healing-6-0


One other thing to take note of is if ur healing a shitty group/tank healing is going to be so much more harder then it needs to be, and sense we are prob the worst 5 man healer it makes tough.

[arisoh]

Go to WOWHEAD and research all the gear that drops from quests/rares that will aid your gearing process. Ones from Spires and Nagrand are especially helpful.

also, look into getting some PVP items if stuff doesnt drop for you. My luck's been terrible and I was never a healer, so I don't have Jina-kang and am now using a 620 pvp cloak.

[CloudedInSanity]

I see your iLVL being 590, not 606. What matters is your equipped iLVL. With 590 you should be alright in normals. A lot of it depends on what the group stands in, and how much you end up CCing. As far as never using RJW, I wouldn't say that. It can have it's uses in certain situations, however I use it very minimally. I suggest finding a guide or downloading a mod that shows all of the rares in Nagrand and Spires. As well as 100%ing both of the zones as far as quests go. This will bring your iLVL up drastically. Rares are easy to kill and can give up to 630ilvl gear if you get lucky.

[solinari6]

I see your iLVL being 590, not 606.

that's mainly due to me using trinkets from pandaria still. Every single spellpower trinket I've found was triggered off damage. It's like they didn't put any healing trinkets in as quest rewards at all. Should I be using those anyway, assuming they will trigger off chi wave? None of them had any spirit on them regardless, so I'm not sure how that'd help.

[CloudedInSanity]

The raw stats are going to be a huge increase over your 500 ilvl trinkets. Also, some of them do proc from sources of healing. For example, I believe my hourglass says "Your attacks have a chance to trigger..." Yet it still procs off of heals.

Regardless, the raw stats will be better. But test the procs to see if they do work off of heals. Some will, some won't.

[PaintOnASign]

Being a fresh Monk myself, and having just started doing Normal and Heroic dungeons last night, I can tell you what really helped me when it comes to mana management.

Use your Chi! Use Renewing Mist/Expel Harm on cooldown, and use Chi Explosion or Uplift so you don't waste waste any Chi generation, but more importantly, to build stacks of Mana Tea. Do this between pulls, or in low healing-intensive fights (such as trash packs). You'll overheal, obviously, but the Mana Tea stacks will help you when you actually need them during a boss fight. Remember that Mana Tea stacks last 2 minutes, and the timer refreshes every time you build a new stack (use 4 Chi). Also, Mana Tea stacks seem to persist through death - or at least, it did for me (the one time I noticed). Not sure if its intended that way or if it bugged out for me.

I'm not sure if this is just the way Monk is supposed to be played (like I said, I'm brand new, I was a career Resto/Ele Shaman in the past), but its really helped me maintain mana while gearing up. I only just hit 610 ilvl.

[CloudedInSanity]

Don't use Chi Explosion. Ever. Chi Explosion @ 4 Chi does ~ as much as Enveloping. It will do a little more, however the bonus healing you get from Soothing Mist makes Enveloping always > Chi Explosion. It also does really, really bad AoE healing. I don't recommend using Expel Harm on CD. It does less healing then Surging Mist, and costs about the same. I would recommend always using Renewing Mists to keep it on the tanks, and cast it more times for spread healing when it is necessary. Pool of Mists helps this a lot. The talent is a godsend.

You're going to have to drink between every pull until your gear level gets up. This is normal, and trust me every healer has to do it. Once you start getting more gear I don't even have to drink between pulls. I just drink my Mana Tea to top me off if I need it, otherwise I am perfectly fine.

[solinari6]

Well, I just found http://www.wowdb.com/items/118879-ev...horny-hibiscus on the AH, hoping that will help with my mana issues as well

[Cover25]

Being a fresh Monk myself, and having just started doing Normal and Heroic dungeons last night, I can tell you what really helped me when it comes to mana management.

Use your Chi! Use Renewing Mist/Expel Harm on cooldown, and use Chi Explosion or Uplift so you don't waste waste any Chi generation, but more importantly, to build stacks of Mana Tea. Do this between pulls, or in low healing-intensive fights (such as trash packs). You'll overheal, obviously, but the Mana Tea stacks will help you when you actually need them during a boss fight. Remember that Mana Tea stacks last 2 minutes, and the timer refreshes every time you build a new stack (use 4 Chi). Also, Mana Tea stacks seem to persist through death - or at least, it did for me (the one time I noticed). Not sure if its intended that way or if it bugged out for me.

I'm not sure if this is just the way Monk is supposed to be played (like I said, I'm brand new, I was a career Resto/Ele Shaman in the past), but its really helped me maintain mana while gearing up. I only just hit 610 ilvl.

Do not use chi explosion.

1. Terrible, terrible talent.
2. Pick up Pools of Mist and use that.
3. Make sure that atleast 3/5 (Prefer all) of the members have ReM on them, and keep env up on the tank when needed.
4. Uplift is a touchy spell in 5 mans. it has limited uses but main should be used for low damage phases.
5. Make sure you're statue is always, always, always down. 100% of the time.
6. TFT>Surging is good for topping people close to dying.
7. Use your T3 on CD (depending). Chi Wave>CD \ Chi Burst> Clumped \ Zen Sphere>Get a new talent.
8. When you're more geared, bursting at the start with your 5 man group is very good. I do around 1m~ damage and eminence keeps the tank topped (along with LC). This does not work with all tanks however, and it's best to communicate with them about this.

[PaintOnASign]

Do not use chi explosion.

1. Terrible, terrible talent.
2. Pick up Pools of Mist and use that.
3. Make sure that atleast 3/5 (Prefer all) of the members have ReM on them, and keep env up on the tank when needed.
4. Uplift is a touchy spell in 5 mans. it has limited uses but main should be used for low damage phases.
5. Make sure you're statue is always, always, always down. 100% of the time.
6. TFT>Surging is good for topping people close to dying.
7. Use your T3 on CD (depending). Chi Wave>CD \ Chi Burst> Clumped \ Zen Sphere>Get a new talent.
8. When you're more geared, bursting at the start with your 5 man group is very good. I do around 1m~ damage and eminence keeps the tank topped (along with LC). This does not work with all tanks however, and it's best to communicate with them about this.

Interesting. I'll try out Pool of Mists tonight. I was simply following the advice in the stickied guide to using BotS/CEx in 5-man groups.

For the record, I almost never used Chi Explosion for actual healing, it was really just to dump Chi to build Mana Tea stacks between pulls, or to dump Chi when the tank didn't really need a heal. But Enveloping Mists is probably the better solution.

Also, how exactly do you burst as MW? Using Xuen? Chi Brew before fight to get your buffs up quickly?

Sorry, total newbie at MW here.

[Silentkill0687]

Interesting. I'll try out Pool of Mists tonight. I was simply following the advice in the stickied guide to using BotS/CEx in 5-man groups.

For the record, I almost never used Chi Explosion for actual healing, it was really just to dump Chi to build Mana Tea stacks between pulls, or to dump Chi when the tank didn't really need a heal. But Enveloping Mists is probably the better solution.

Also, how exactly do you burst as MW? Using Xuen? Chi Brew before fight to get your buffs up quickly?

Sorry, total newbie at MW here.

He means going Crane Stance and Fistweaving for the first bit of a fight.

On a seperate note, i actually like Chi Explosion for 5 mans. It's not hard at all to keep RnM on everyone with just the one charge. When you switch into raiding, then yes Pool of Mists is more beneficial so you can blanket the whole raid in RnM. With everyone's GCD being 1.5 seconds I would heavily suggest Power Strikes and the Expel Harm Glyph that lets you use it on someone else. You can get a ton of burst healing out and do tons of AoE healing faster that way.

Example: Tank (Or melee dps) is getting low. Throw RnM at them (1 Chi), Cast Surging Mist at them (3 Chi), Expel Harm (4 Chi), Chi Burst, Chi Explosion, Detonate Chi. That's a really quick way or topping the melee dps and catching the tank at the same time.

Another note is use your Mana Tea stacks. If you have a moment where everyone is good, hit it. Bring yourself back up around 85-92% mana and go back to healing. This expansion isn't like MoP where your tank will be full forever, and that's alright. Make a concious effort to use your tea stacks especially if you're banking upwards of 15. Another quick tip is look at taking Leg Sweep. If you're comfortable running in for a moment you have an AoE stun that can allow you to catch back up if your tank is holding several mobs.

Below is my armory link for you to check, and feel free to add me on RealID if you wanna talk more. R1NZL3R#1764. I'm the healing officer for my guild so I'm more than willing to help out an up-and-coming healer.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...%c3%ada/simple

[PaintOnASign]

He means going Crane Stance and Fistweaving for the first bit of a fight.

On a seperate note, i actually like Chi Explosion for 5 mans. It's not hard at all to keep RnM on everyone with just the one charge. When you switch into raiding, then yes Pool of Mists is more beneficial so you can blanket the whole raid in RnM. With everyone's GCD being 1.5 seconds I would heavily suggest Power Strikes and the Expel Harm Glyph that lets you use it on someone else. You can get a ton of burst healing out and do tons of AoE healing faster that way.

Example: Tank (Or melee dps) is getting low. Throw RnM at them (1 Chi), Cast Surging Mist at them (3 Chi), Expel Harm (4 Chi), Chi Burst, Chi Explosion, Detonate Chi. That's a really quick way or topping the melee dps and catching the tank at the same time.

Another note is use your Mana Tea stacks. If you have a moment where everyone is good, hit it. Bring yourself back up around 85-92% mana and go back to healing. This expansion isn't like MoP where your tank will be full forever, and that's alright. Make a concious effort to use your tea stacks especially if you're banking upwards of 15. Another quick tip is look at taking Leg Sweep. If you're comfortable running in for a moment you have an AoE stun that can allow you to catch back up if your tank is holding several mobs.

Below is my armory link for you to check, and feel free to add me on RealID if you wanna talk more. R1NZL3R#1764. I'm the healing officer for my guild so I'm more than willing to help out an up-and-coming healer.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...%c3%ada/simple

Thanks. I knew he meant Fistweaving, but I'm trying to figure out how a Fistweaver can "burst". I was under the impression that we have no cooldown that would help us push out DPS+heals quickly, since you need to get Tiger Palm and Rising Sun Kick up first. So I figured he meant going in with 4 Chi and using Xuen?

Also, with the nerf on RSK dropping to 15%, does that mean our Fistweaving took a hit too? Doesn't the healing depend on the damage we do?

[solinari6]

I see there's a rare in the horde starting area called Hoarfrost who drops a 620 spirit ring: Frosted Icequartz Ring Mastery though, so eh. Dunno what his respawn rate is, I sat around for 10 mins and he never showed up.

I'll keep combing the database, I'm sure there's a spirit necklace in there somewhere.

[Silentkill0687]

Thanks. I knew he meant Fistweaving, but I'm trying to figure out how a Fistweaver can "burst". I was under the impression that we have no cooldown that would help us push out DPS+heals quickly, since you need to get Tiger Palm and Rising Sun Kick up first. So I figured he meant going in with 4 Chi and using Xuen?

Also, with the nerf on RSK dropping to 15%, does that mean our Fistweaving took a hit too? Doesn't the healing depend on the damage we do?

It does mean Fistweaving took a bit of a hit, but it's also been ompletely unusable so far because of our GCD being 1.5 seconds. In a raid during times of low damage yes you can use it. But in 5-mans and/or Heroics there's no chance you'll be able to Fistweave for any extended amount of time. The most I've ever used Crane Stance in a heroic would be Skyreach where I use it on the final boss to kill the adds dragging someone off the platform so dps can keep mowing away at her.

There's a good possibility Fistweaving will be usable later in the expansion when we start getting tier / raid gear but we'll also have to stack haste like crazy to bring our GCD down to 1 second.

I'm on my work pc so I can't reliably check this thread very often. RealID me if you wanna chat at length. I should be home by 10:30 EST.

[Cover25]

Thanks. I knew he meant Fistweaving, but I'm trying to figure out how a Fistweaver can "burst". I was under the impression that we have no cooldown that would help us push out DPS+heals quickly, since you need to get Tiger Palm and Rising Sun Kick up first. So I figured he meant going in with 4 Chi and using Xuen?

Also, with the nerf on RSK dropping to 15%, does that mean our Fistweaving took a hit too? Doesn't the healing depend on the damage we do?

That RSK nerf hit our burst abilties by 5%.

We (Pretty much) do 5% less damage now, which is disappointing. However you can still burst, but just not as long as you could prepatch.

See my post on another topic about how to burst as a mw.

Opener for bursting:

Spam surging until full chi pre pull.

Tp>BoK>Chi Brew/Jab (Same chi gen)>RSK>Chi Brew/Jab>RSK>Rinse repeat.

Edit: FW will never be viable during progression mythic raids. Period.

[Deleted]

It does mean Fistweaving took a bit of a hit, but it's also been ompletely unusable so far because of our GCD being 1.5 seconds. In a raid during times of low damage yes you can use it. But in 5-mans and/or Heroics there's no chance you'll be able to Fistweave for any extended amount of time. The most I've ever used Crane Stance in a heroic would be Skyreach where I use it on the final boss to kill the adds dragging someone off the platform so dps can keep mowing away at her.

There's a good possibility Fistweaving will be usable later in the expansion when we start getting tier / raid gear but we'll also have to stack haste like crazy to bring our GCD down to 1 second.

I can easily Fistweave through entire boss fights like Sol and Xeri'tac in Everbloom.
624 ilvl