ICC 10man, which healing spec?

[Kelesti]

You can certainly do it without a disc priest, however it is rather like voluntarily playing with one hand (ok maybe not that bad). A disc priest can nearly negate the whole Infest mechanic. Other posts have mentioned that without a disc priest, Infest accounts for 10-15% of the damage and with a disc priest <1%.

Again, not required, but certainly beneficial.

A well timed Prayer of Healing, followed through with an instant Circle of Healing can pretty much negate the whole Infest mechanic just as well on 10 people. Better, infact, because it takes less time (thus being able to manage other things). Infest may account for so much of the damage, but it doesn't mean it's uncontrolled unhealable damage. This is a typical case of over-valuing what absorbs actually bring to the table.

As for my ICC experience, I play solely as disc with either a resto druid or shaman. Both the druid and shaman are amazing players so that definitely has something to do with it, but I know both of them like what Disc brings to the table.

This, on the other hand, is exceptionally where Discipline shines. Alongside a Shaman or Druid, it meshes in quite nicely to fill gaps. To the same token, Druids and Paladins work nicely with Holy Priests. Yes, I said druids twice, but they're really stupid that way. :P

[harky]

That's primarily in normal, in regard to Holy's ability to compensate. In normal Holy can manage infest on non-tanks solo. Quite easily in fact. On hard, however, you can only manage one group effectively. Infest is double between normal/hard, so it becomes a very large issue. It is possible without a Disc Priest in hard, but you're essentially setting it to Hard+ by not using a Disc Priest. Most likely when the buff hits 15-20% it really won't matter what healers you have for LK. The combination of the higher health and higher healing will make Infest trivial.

[Kelesti]

Higher health sucks. It means I have to heal more before Infest goes away :-\ :P

[chupatwo]

If you're going to be mainly shadow, and a third healer for some fights, i would take holy.

[harky]

Higher health sucks. It means I have to heal more before Infest goes away :-\ :P

No, it means having to heal less before Infest goes away. If you have 25k max health and Infest hits you for 10k, then you must be healed for 7.5k for Infest to drop. If you have 30k health, Infest still hits you for 10k, but you now only need to be healed for 7k. The higher your health the less you need to be healed for when Infest hits. With 40k health (DK/Warrior come near this in DPS gear), a 10k Infest only requires 6k healing to drop off. Higher health is a benefit for the LK fight, not a disadvantage.

[Deleted]

hi there, just one short little question.

Normally we run our ICC10 group with me as holy and a holy paladin, but tonight we have to replace that paladin with a resto druid. i think i should go disc and focus on the tanks, but i'm not quite sure.

Your opinion would help me a lot

thanks

[ShockASU]

Too much debating - I'd say go disc

Disc = instant win.

[Deleted]

but i only have about 32% crit in disc specc, isnt this a little bit too low?

[Auraye]

thewax: To answer your question, yes disc is OK tank healing normal modes. However, you want to be sure that you and the druid are cross healing well. Help him out when raid person gets low by tossing shield to stop incoming damage to let his hots tick, and he should keep good hots rolling on tanks for you. Disc and druid are a pretty synergistic duo. On HM though, I'd leave tank healing up to a paladin.

32% unbuffed crit is plenty. After 30% crit is when you start seeing DR. If you're tank healing, haste will be an invaluable friend to you.

Grr for you resurrecting this god awful thread.