Healing specs for each Highmaul fight?

[anon5123]

Have we come to any consensus on which specs work best for each Highmaul encounter? Or which ones that either spec works?

From my experience in pugs/guild groups so far:

Kargath - Holy definitely works well here. Renew spamming on those who get the DoT, and CoH'ing the random shadowstep things. I tried Disc, but PWS spam didn't seem as effective.

Butcher - Again, Holy seemed to do way better here. I tried as Disc, but ran out of mana very quickly. CoW spam doesn't seem to work very well when there are two tanks taking a beating at the same time. Unless you have two Discs spamming two tanks, I guess? I dunno. Both times I killed Butcher, Holy seemed to do way better overall.

Tectus - Disc prevailed here. Mostly CoW'd the tanks and spot-Penance'd anyone who took damage, spammed PWS for the big raid damage thing. Seemed to do much better than Holy.

Brackenspore - Disc again; CoW spamming the tanks and keeping the mushroom around 50-60% with shields, until we need to top it.

Twin Ogron - Disc once more. Holy did okay, but Disc's strong tank healing really helped out, and PWS spam on the fire phases was useful.

That's as far as I've gotten in pugs, so I can't comment on the last two bosses. This is just my experience too, don't take it as absolute fact.

[PosPosPos]

The "best" spec depends on your raid configuration and needs.

Both specs are situationally stronger than the other when circumstances change.

[Deleted]

Disc is fucking bonkers on butcher.
Shielding groups that take the cleave so that they don't die or require substantial healing is gravy.

[anon5123]

Disc is fucking bonkers on butcher.
Shielding groups that take the cleave so that they don't die or require substantial healing is gravy.

Yeah, I tried Disc on Butcher and OOM'd when the boss was still at 40%.

For some reason, shielding just didn't seem as strong as Renew+CoH, on that fight.

[Deleted]

Mh, the spek on Butcher is extremely linked with the other healing class and with the raid setupp. At this moment i'm playing disci in all Highmaul's fights cause i havent got any kind of multistrike. No multi, no holy imho and if you have another choice as "reful-healer" you can go disci in all (normal) fights in particular if you are raiding with other 10-15 people.

[Larynx]

Pretty sure Disc is better or equivalent to Holy is any fight except for Ko'ragh for Mythic.

[Lundmark]

I think Disc is just fine for Butcher(hc)... if you just see the knockback as your 10s mana break you'll do just fine where it matters. Only fight I even conciderd going Holy was Ko'ragh (norm/hc experienced) but then I struggled even more with mana with the same throughput... I'm no master of holy but I do know my Disc.

[Necessarily]

Yeah, I tried Disc on Butcher and OOM'd when the boss was still at 40%.

For some reason, shielding just didn't seem as strong as Renew+CoH, on that fight.

You mentioned in your earlier post that you were CoW spamming here, that would certainly explain why you might be having trouble as Disc. What you should be doing is blanketing soak groups with PW: Shields. If you do that, no other healer should be able to touch you except a holy paladin.

[appro]

Raid difficulty plays a large part in which is better, as does what others have mentioned with assigned role (tank healer) and various raid circumstances.

Killed mythic kargrath and twin orgron last night. Holy definitely has its place when there is substantial raid damage (extremely strong) or specific utility needed. Holy certainly has far higher throughput than disc, depending on how much you over gear the encounter will again play a large part in meter numbers between the two.

[Forian]

You should play Discipline for every single fight. There's no reason not to. It's the best tank healer in the game right now. You can pretty much solo heal 2 tanks for an entire fight.

[Eijnar]

You should pick a spec, and stick with it since the statweight for the two specs is quite different, and despite one being stronger on paper for a given fight you won't really notice a difference if all of your gear is aimed towards the other spec. Furthermore, as PosPosPos stated - There is a lot of factors to factor in, and you cannot really give too much weight in normals / heroics (I assume normal since you talked about pugging) since disc will by far look better since the amount inc. dmg is lower hence disc will look stronger.

I raid as holy, but we got a disc priest in the rooster as well, so we compliment each other quite nicely and arrange our tasks in accordance with the other healers. Furhtermore, I disagree with disc on Brackenspore holy is ridicules on that fight for healing the shrooms - Serenity + Glyphed Guardian Spirit (Not joking on Mythic a GS will make the AoE healing sufficient to keep the shroom alive during Infesting Spores). Disc is also quite strong there, and is so in general, but so is holy.

[Perseverance]

You should play the spec you are most comfortable with. Playing a spec because it might be better doesn't mean a person is able to play it to the skill level needed.

[Dracodraco]

You should pick a spec, and stick with it since the statweight for the two specs is quite different, and despite one being stronger on paper for a given fight you won't really notice a difference if all of your gear is aimed towards the other spec. Furthermore, as PosPosPos stated - There is a lot of factors to factor in, and you cannot really give too much weight in normals / heroics (I assume normal since you talked about pugging) since disc will by far look better since the amount inc. dmg is lower hence disc will look stronger.

I raid as holy, but we got a disc priest in the rooster as well, so we compliment each other quite nicely and arrange our tasks in accordance with the other healers. Furhtermore, I disagree with disc on Brackenspore holy is ridicules on that fight for healing the shrooms - Serenity + Glyphed Guardian Spirit (Not joking on Mythic a GS will make the AoE healing sufficient to keep the shroom alive during Infesting Spores). Disc is also quite strong there, and is so in general, but so is holy.

I haven't even bothered looking into holy, but isn't the priority for holy Mastery+multistrike? In which case, disc with heavy PW:S spam could benefit greatly from the same gear as holy (crit is no longer a neccessity when 80% of your output is absorbs regardless of crits).

[Larynx]

I haven't even bothered looking into holy, but isn't the priority for holy Mastery+multistrike? In which case, disc with heavy PW:S spam could benefit greatly from the same gear as holy (crit is no longer a neccessity when 80% of your output is absorbs regardless of crits).

Mastery is garbage for Holy. It's worse than multistrike and haste by exceptional amounts for anything but single target healing, and in it has a questionable value over crit as well. Mastery in a void does more raw HPS than any other stat, but the fact is that a lot of holy's healing just doesn't benefit from mastery, and that % is what kills it. If 30% of my healing doesn't benefit from a stat, then that stat is not gonna be very good.

Unfortunately disc and holy have nearly reversed priorities.

[laalipop]

Have we come to any consensus on which specs work best for each Highmaul encounter? Or which ones that either spec works?

From my experience in pugs/guild groups so far:

Kargath - Holy definitely works well here. Renew spamming on those who get the DoT, and CoH'ing the random shadowstep things. I tried Disc, but PWS spam didn't seem as effective.

Butcher - Again, Holy seemed to do way better here. I tried as Disc, but ran out of mana very quickly. CoW spam doesn't seem to work very well when there are two tanks taking a beating at the same time. Unless you have two Discs spamming two tanks, I guess? I dunno. Both times I killed Butcher, Holy seemed to do way better overall.

Tectus - Disc prevailed here. Mostly CoW'd the tanks and spot-Penance'd anyone who took damage, spammed PWS for the big raid damage thing. Seemed to do much better than Holy.

Brackenspore - Disc again; CoW spamming the tanks and keeping the mushroom around 50-60% with shields, until we need to top it.

Twin Ogron - Disc once more. Holy did okay, but Disc's strong tank healing really helped out, and PWS spam on the fire phases was useful.

That's as far as I've gotten in pugs, so I can't comment on the last two bosses. This is just my experience too, don't take it as absolute fact.

My anecdotes as disc who raids with a holy priest:

Kargath: Does your group not spread? Group spreads then most of the damage until late fight is on tanks and makes the damage pretty predictable.

Butcher: Disc is way better, here every single point of damage in this fight is predictable, our holy priest goes disc for this, I sit on tanks, he shield spams groups and we have no issues.

Tectus: Disc and I don't even think you need to raid bubble spam to feel good about yourself on that fight, at least I can't because my tanks borderline bend over and take it for the majority of the fight.

Brackenspore: I feel like disc is amazing for this fight unless you have a monk. Our MWer seems to have that mushroom down solid, and our tanks again like to bend over and take it so I don't get to heal the mushroom much.

Ogron: Disc is strong on this fight since a lot of the damage is predictable and that but that isn't (fire mostly) is easy to predict if you know your raiders. I had to babysit our tank eating whirlwind though on heroic.

Ko'ragh: I think disc has an interesting spot here given that absorbs aren't affected by the Shadow debuff, our group cooldowns through the debuff so I get to sit on tank and people with the shield. The way my group does it I think leans more towards Holy (tons more raid damage)

I only just got Imperator down last night on Normal, so I feel like I don't know enough about it to give any insight.

[anon5123]

Butcher: Disc is way better, here every single point of damage in this fight is predictable, our holy priest goes disc for this, I sit on tanks, he shield spams groups and we have no issues.

Not sure what I did wrong then, because I found Butcher to be way harder to heal as Disc, both times I tried with two different groups. Ran out of mana way faster as well.

[Dracodraco]

Mastery is garbage for Holy. It's worse than multistrike and haste by exceptional amounts for anything but single target healing, and in it has a questionable value over crit as well. Mastery in a void does more raw HPS than any other stat, but the fact is that a lot of holy's healing just doesn't benefit from mastery, and that % is what kills it. If 30% of my healing doesn't benefit from a stat, then that stat is not gonna be very good.

Unfortunately disc and holy have nearly reversed priorities.

Fair enough, then - in MoP mastery was above all, figured it'd staid the same. Guessing a lot of spells no longer procs echo (yes, that's how little I've bothered to keep up with holy, I don't have a clue which spells proc it), and that's why.
Although haste for a healer at this point seems... Odd? What does it benefit, apart from faster casting, which runs you dry faster?

[appro]

Fair enough, then - in MoP mastery was above all, figured it'd staid the same. Guessing a lot of spells no longer procs echo (yes, that's how little I've bothered to keep up with holy, I don't have a clue which spells proc it), and that's why.
Although haste for a healer at this point seems... Odd? What does it benefit, apart from faster casting, which runs you dry faster?

Mastery is still the most efficient throughput stat for holy but given mana and movement limitations its more effective to stack Multistrike > Haste > Mastery/Crit > Versatility and run around spamming instant spells (renew, CoH, holy word: Serenity and SoL procs if you take the talent (know when you should/shouldn't though).

Worth noting that mastery only works with the initial application of renew and not the entire duration, and the 5% multistrike passive is a large portion of why its so attractive. Haste obviously increases renew ticks (no soft caps because of partial ticks).

[Darkener]

Mastery is garbage for Holy. It's worse than multistrike and haste by exceptional amounts for anything but single target healing, and in it has a questionable value over crit as well. Mastery in a void does more raw HPS than any other stat, but the fact is that a lot of holy's healing just doesn't benefit from mastery, and that % is what kills it. If 30% of my healing doesn't benefit from a stat, then that stat is not gonna be very good.

Unfortunately disc and holy have nearly reversed priorities.

Mastery is not garbage for Holy.

[PosPosPos]

Mastery is not garbage for Holy.

If you don't use Renew, it's good.