1. #1

    Looking for a good holy priest build

    Been doin heroics and a bit of raiding for a while now with a build I just made on the fly when I hit 80. Seems to me that holy spec is pretty cut and dry for the most part but I would like to see some other people's specs, mainly raiding specs.

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  2. #2

    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

    Holy Build
    Disc Build

    Some choices come down to who your raiding with, what kind of content your doing, and what the raid needs. There are also a few personal prefferences, such as having Desperate Prayer or Pain Suppression (oh s%$t buttons) and such. It also comes down to personal play style. My guild leader runs with a wierd disc/holy hybrid build, but it works for him, and he can keep my tankadin ass alive.

  3. #3

    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

    This is the build I currently use for my priest:

    http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=bVIbuh0zbZbxxcf0qihVhs

    It works for me and I suppose that's what counts. Will be interested to see how it'll change once the Spirit buff is given to all priests.

  4. #4

    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

    Talent specs depend on gear and what you want to do. A highly optimized raiding specc may not be the best fit for a fresh priest. It really depends a lot on gear and healing style.

    Here's mine.

    http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=bVcbzhZcxtcfMqiu0Ist

    All priests need (at least) 14 pts in discipline. As already mentioned, these are pretty much set in stone. I tend to tweak the build by picking one talent in Silent Resolve. This usually means I'm not the primary target when a lose mob runs wild, but that's a pretty egoistical thing to do .

    As for the holy tree, it's not really a question of what to get, it's a question of what not to get.

    * The PVP talents (Blessed Recovery, Blessed Resilience) are a no brainer, no PVE specc has them.
    * Searing Light is nice when farming, but this one is usually the first to go in a PVE healing specc.
    * Spell warding is actually quite useful in PVE, but most priests with good enough gear survives without it anyway. If you have trouble surviving, put some points here, otherwise don't.
    * Healing Focus is completely useless in current content. I wouldn't recommend picking it at all.
    * Desperate Prayer is a bad-on-paper talent, but saves my arse every day. I wouldn't drop it for anything, but if you don't use it, it's not for you.
    * Holy Reach is not overly useful, but it does allow you to stay a bit further back. I personally like it a lot. The AoE range is pointless.
    * Healing Prayers is useful if you use PoH a lot. You will in 3.1, but until then it's argaubly wasteful.
    * Lightwell is a excellent-in-paper talent, but is in practice only really useful on Sapphiron. We'll have to see if it's useful in Ulduar, really. I pick it anyway, in a vain hope of training my guild to use it.
    * Empowered Healing is mostly redundant. Without it, your GHeal is stupidly overpowered, and your FHeal is more than adequate. With it, your GHeal is even more stupidly overpowered, and FHeal is borderline overpowered as well. I believe that Holy doesn't really need a lot more throughput, but if you disagree, this talent is your friend. I dropped it.
    * Test of Faith is also arguably droppable as it's not really that great. It tends to save lives when you really need it though, so i'm keeping it personally.
    * Divine Providence is not really rocking, but it's good for boosting the throughput of PoH and the cooldown of ProM. The latter alone is probably worth 10 talent points.
    * Guardian Spirit rocks, if you have jedi reflexes and it doesn't bug. You don't have jedi reflexes, and it bugs way too often for it to be reliable. But hey, it's still not bad.

    Everything else is utterly required in any holy specc, so pick them with gusto!
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  5. #5

    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

    maybe at a higher gear level you could drop empowered healing - but i wouldn't recomend it till getting at least 10 man naxx geared.

    I ran with the same spec as priestgirl until i got to a gear level that allowed me to fiddle round with the spec. I then went close to the spec danner gave - but i took a point out of serendipity and a point from Imp renew and left them in Emp heal. Not sure that point in SoR is too relevant these days either...

  6. #6

    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

    thanks alot everyone, alot of great input, really appreciated.

    Artwork Credit: Rayde of MMO Champion.

  7. #7

    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

    I just want to add up something more to what already has been said.

    Talent trees are not fixed, they depend on various things. One thing that still amazes me is ppl that use the same talent tree from fresh level 80 5man till 25 213~226 full epic.

    When i started doing wotlk 5man hc with ppl from my guild, all with t6/blue 80 gear, i had to spec to grab every little mana regen i could since it was extremely hard to finish some boss fights without going oom, even after using pet/mana pot. The reason for that was the fact the tank wasn't defcapped and the dps sucked (like everyone when u hit 80 and start doing hc's, who says otherwise is full of it).

    Now full 213~226 i have mana/regen to heal through saph 10 times without going oom and without even looking at my pet/mana pot. Which means my talent tree now is focused on healing power, since mana regen is not a prob.

    So using inner focus or healing prayers for example with full 213~216 (or even less) is ridiculous in my opinion ofc.

  8. #8

    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

    Quote Originally Posted by Pl@tinum
    I just want to add up something more to what already has been said.

    Talent trees are not fixed, they depend on various things. One thing that still amazes me is ppl that use the same talent tree from fresh level 80 5man till 25 213~226 full epic.

    When i started doing wotlk 5man hc with ppl from my guild, all with t6/blue 80 gear, i had to spec to grab every little mana regen i could since it was extremely hard to finish some boss fights without going oom, even after using pet/mana pot. The reason for that was the fact the tank wasn't defcapped and the dps sucked (like everyone when u hit 80 and start doing hc's, who says otherwise is full of it).

    Now full 213~226 i have mana/regen to heal through saph 10 times without going oom and without even looking at my pet/mana pot. Which means my talent tree now is focused on healing power, since mana regen is not a prob.

    So using inner focus or healing prayers for example with full 213~216 (or even less) is ridiculous in my opinion ofc.
    Tell me inner focus is bad when your free spells go to "mana rebate" instead.
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  9. #9

    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

    Quote Originally Posted by Kelesti
    Tell me inner focus is bad when your free spells go to "mana rebate" instead.
    Wait, i'm not saying inner focus is a bad talent, far from it, i'm saying that after u have the gear for the current content it's useless, like some others.

    This comes along with blizz regen nerf i guess. When u are non stop healing in saph or sarth3d for example, and u end up with 90% mana without popping any pots or using your pet, it's obvious something is wrong.

  10. #10

    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

    lightwell is leet sauce. get it, use it, love it.


  11. #11
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    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

    I'm curious. Did you guys all just ignore that "Blessed Resilience" was changed?

    It now also increases the effectiveness of all healing spells by 3% in addition to it's current effect (For 3 Pts that is). I will glady take this over Test of Faith, since ToF is pretty weak now and won't be that much better after the patch.

    It still requires your target to be at or below 50% health to take effect. In most cases someone else already topped that person above the threshold of ToF.

    Sooo...i will choose 3% more heal *permanently* over 12% when i finally heal a target which didn't already receive a heal. Do the math, in a regular boss fight you will profit more from BR than from ToF.
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  12. #12

    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

    I was under the impression that the extra healing only lasted while having the blessed resillience buff, but reading that one again makes me realise that was a mistake.

    Blessed resilience looks like it will have a spot in a PVE healing build from now on indeed.

    --

    Side note:
    Test of Faith pre 3.1 is a very crappy talent on paper, as it marginally increase the effective healing done. But it happens to save lives quite a lot since that extra crit chance actually helps a lot when it actually occurs. Especially when you do a CoH on a low-health raid. It's usually a hardly notable spell, but if it crits it will save lives.

    I'm not so much convinced of the new version, to be honest. +12% extra healing done from CoH is hardly notable (even after the CoH buff), arguably worse than the old version, and a PoH/FHeal will save the targets you heal, extra boost or not.

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  13. #13

    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

    Quote Originally Posted by Venara
    I'm curious. Did you guys all just ignore that "Blessed Resilience" was changed?

    It now also increases the effectiveness of all healing spells by 3% in addition to it's current effect (For 3 Pts that is). I will glady take this over Test of Faith, since ToF is pretty weak now and won't be that much better after the patch.

    It still requires your target to be at or below 50% health to take effect. In most cases someone else already topped that person above the threshold of ToF.

    Sooo...i will choose 3% more heal *permanently* over 12% when i finally heal a target which didn't already receive a heal. Do the math, in a regular boss fight you will profit more from BR than from ToF.
    Well i think that the decision will require some testing... they're extending pve utility to pvp talents, that's quite strange.

    this is my "main build"
    http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?prie...0&version=9614

    I think i will put initially those 3 points in healing prayers and holy reach, because i think that our main problem will be that little blue bar below our life decreasing too fast. When i'm getting some better equip (those tailoring boots and waist are totally frightening!) i will choose between test of faith or Bresilience

  14. #14
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    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

    Quote Originally Posted by Venara
    I'm curious. Did you guys all just ignore that "Blessed Resilience" was changed?

    It now also increases the effectiveness of all healing spells by 3% in addition to it's current effect (For 3 Pts that is). I will glady take this over Test of Faith, since ToF is pretty weak now and won't be that much better after the patch.

    It still requires your target to be at or below 50% health to take effect. In most cases someone else already topped that person above the threshold of ToF.

    Sooo...i will choose 3% more heal *permanently* over 12% when i finally heal a target which didn't already receive a heal. Do the math, in a regular boss fight you will profit more from BR than from ToF.
    I did NOT see those changes. Aren't in the undocumented patch notes either I think.
    That is really sweet:

    Blessed Resilience (3/3)
    Increases the effectiveness of your healing spells by 3%, and critical hits made against you have a 60% chance to prevent you from being critically hit again for 6 seconds.

    They also changed Focused Will accordingly:

    Focused Will (3/3)
    Increases you spell critical strike chance by 3%, and [bla bla what the talent does now].
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  15. #15

    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

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  16. #16

    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

    Hmm, I think I like Test of Faith (even though I think it's a boring mechanic at the same time). You could argue that Blessed Resilience is better provided that the people you heal are above 50% health more than 25% of the time, which is probably true, but then you have to consider that Test of Faith gives a boost when it matters, and that boost won't be overhealing. If I was mostly on tank-healing I'd consider getting both those talents and perhaps skip some Divine Providence, but if I could only afford one it would be Test of Faith.

  17. #17

    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

    Here's the build I am currently using on the PTR:

    Holy - 14/57/0

    I'll do a quick rundown on some of the debatable talent choices and why I have chosen them.

    Discipline
    =======
    Same ol' talents as always. They're required and widely accepted as such.

    Holy
    =======
    Desperate Prayer
    I don't use this often, but it has prevented my death on a few occasions. I typically macro this with a Health Stone.

    Healing Prayers
    I'm stoked about the group targeted Prayer of Healing and mana regeneration is of great concern with the changes currently on the PTR. Can skip this in favor of more consistent healing throughput if not planning on using Prayer of Healing much at all.

    Lightwell
    This talent sucks in guilds that don't know how to use it. Despite its usefulness for our guild, I still feel this ability is terribly designed. With that being said, I regularly drop this next to the tank during raid boss encounters. It's clutch on Maexxna in Naxx as it is usable while the raid is web wrapped. It has prevented tank death on a few occasions during her enrage. It's also very handy during Sapphiron for ranged healers as they huddle around it to self heal and focus healing the rest of the raid.

    Serendipity
    Lets face is - when you pull the veil away, this talent is mainly here to add some combo heal moves to Holy Priests. I like the combo mechanic provided for us so I've chosen to take it, but in the grand scheme of things - it's usefulness is quite limited. To maximize its effectiveness and response time, you need to concentrate on the duration remaining on the Serendipity buff as to not let it fade. If you do let it fade, when you actually need it for a Greater Heal or Prayer of Healing, you won't have time to build up the charges before the raid or tank is healed by the other healers. This is typically true even if you were casting the non-hasted version of these spells. With 15% haste from equipment, as a solo player, this will bring your Greater Heal cast time to 0.8s with 3 stacks and Prayer of Healing is 1s with 3 stacks. A good element of skill will be built here in managing the duration remaining on the buff to ensure it's being used properly.

    Empowered Renew
    I'm still not sold on this talent. I'll toy around with it a bit more, but as it stands - Renew is still heavily wasted mana in a raid setting as. It sounds interesting, but I'm thinking the points would be better spent in Test of Faith or Blessed Resilience as our combo weaving mechanic is based around Flash Heal / Binding Heal casts. The addition of Renew into the mix would definitely up its usefulness.







  18. #18

    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

    13/58/0

    That's what my first Guess would look like. (Of course need to try it out actually)

    I'll explain a few of my talent choices:

    Inner Focus:
    To be honest I haven't specced it for a while now. The last time I had it was when I actually needed to perform the 5FSR Dance to have enough Mana. This has not been the case for a long time (Sarth +3adds 10 man without replenishment being the only exception, but there I do not find time to stop healing, so my only chance to get out of the 5FSR would indeed be Inner Focus + Surge of Light Proc + HC Proc, which will as such not be possible anymore because of the way HC works now.) What do I get from it now? One probably crit and free heal every 3 mins. I prefer to put this point elsewhere, for example into Lightwell!

    Improved Renew/Empowered Renew:
    Hell yes! I have been one of the few Holy Priests who have all the time found use for Renew. I do not only find myself in the position of a raidhealer. Changing from fight to fight I might Either Tank Heal or Raid Heal. If I heal a tank, I always try to keep Renew up. Raidbuffed my Renew (glyphed) ticks for 2k. In a moment where the tank is low, this is an amazing aid in getting the tank full again.
    Even while raid healing I find it very useful. I pop CoH, PoM and then SoL Proc. Then Maybe I have to move, or I have time to top of the raid because the next raid damage isn't right there yet. It is an instant cast after all. and 2k per tick is not at all bad. Now, with Empowered renew, it will tick for even more AND it will heal Initially. If this is not a great talent I don't know what is!

    Improved Healing:
    For me, this talent only effects Greater Heal, as I don't use divine Hymne....ever. Since I do use greater Heal quite frequently when healing tanks and since 3.1 will probably be more mana trouble, I have not yet decided on dropping this talent. However 2 points into Holy reach are not a bad choice compared. Ulduar will tell what will be more important.

    Surge of Light:
    I saw a few Holy Priests leaving out this talent, hell no! Don't do it! This procs like extremely often and it's a free Flashheal. It's great! with raid buffed 25% crit I have it proccing almost every CoH and PoM procs it too and in future Renew will also. I can only recommand it, for Mana, for fast healing. It's amazing.

    Blessed Resilence/Test of Faith:
    I for one loved the crit on Test of Faith, I really did have the impression to crit often when the tank was low, although the plus crit was not that much more in the end. However, 12 % more healing in low targets or 3% more healing overall. I do think, that when the targets aren't low they won't need the 3% more healing I can offer through Blesser resilence. It'll be easy to top them off and there won't be any danger (probably, of course there are exceptions). When the raid is low however, I am happy about ANY aid I can find helping me filling the bars up again. That is why, for me personally, Test of Faith wins.

    Serendipity:

    I will miss the old one, but this is also great. Why? Because when I raidheal, I just gained a new utility: Prayer of Healing. THe bad thing about it is, it takes ages to cast. In the meantime it's well possible that another CoH Priest popped CoH and one Shamy pulled a chainheal and my Prayer of Healing lands very uneffectively in the end. If I managed to get my Serendipity buff up before though, I will be ably to use it very effectively. As for the worry of it not having up in the situation you need it, sure that might be a problem. But then again, the buff lasts 20 Seconds, SoL Procs do activate it, I believe it will be up quite a lot.


    The only thing that I worry about in this spec is Mana. Healing Prayers might be nicely if you use Prayer of Healing often, but for now I will try to see if this is really necessary. My ingame regen will be almost the same as before, my shadow fiend will make more mana, one class more is able to bring replenishment, Serendipity is missing however. On the other hand, I barely found myself in situation where I had to pop all my cooldowns to conserve enough mana (trinkets, arcane torrent for bloodelfs, Mana Potion)
    And IF things really hit the fan, I can always ask one of our 2 resto druids or the oomkin to throw me an innervate.

  19. #19

    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

    I was actually wondering if the glyph of Prayer of Healing worth using now? I am not sure if the change to glyph of Holy Light was updates so it makes Holy Light no longer crit, but if so I imagine a lot of paladins will be changing this if it went through.
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  20. #20
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    Re: Looking for a good holy priest build

    Quote Originally Posted by Abandon
    I was actually wondering if the glyph of Prayer of Healing worth using now? I am not sure if the change to glyph of Holy Light was updates so it makes Holy Light no longer crit, but if so I imagine a lot of paladins will be changing this if it went through.
    I'll go for CoH, Renew and GS glyphs. PoH is an option, yes, but i think the GS glyph will improve the spell enormously. This shouldn't be a glyph tbh, it should be how the spell works by default...
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