Holy Paladin, how to heal?

[xcitu]

It's been bugging me for quite some time. Originally I leveled my paladin(which is now my main) to be a healadin, but then I started tanking and just continued with it. I think tanking is fun now, in Cataclysm, but I also wanna test the thrill of healing insane damage. While tanking normals(I'm lvl 84) I keep watching the parties health and boss abilities and see how insane damage it does. So I want to heal.
My gear is mostly made up of Cata blue/greens and some Wotlk epics which haven't been replaced yet.

How should I heal? When do I use Holy Light? Do I even use Holy Light? What about Divine Light, spam it? Divine Plea, use on CD or use whenever possible?

I'm really confused about the healing so I'd like any information at all, please tell me of how you heal.

[Deleted]

Its very dependent on group damage which heals you use, and when you use divine plea. Use holy light/Holy shock/WoG/LoD as much as possible, and divine light when needed, use only FoL in emergencies (you shouldnt be using holy radiance at your lvl in 5 mans). Use your cooldowns when there is heavy damage and your divine plea (maybe coupled with avenging wrath, when there is low damage). Also use arcane torrent and judgement whenever off CD, and buy mana pots. In some cases you may want to melee the boss for mana. Also try not to overheal and dont heal the beacon directly unless really needed or no other member is taking damage, or you just throw a quick 0.7 sec holy light for a holy power. Healing has become very difficult with the new expansion, but people just need to get the hang of it. Im not having much problems healing heroics anymore as holy paladin, whereas yesterday it was horrible because hadnt gotten used to the new system yet.

[Alfirin]

I'm still playing around with a lot of different 'rotations' (not the best word due to possible damage spikes, cleansing, cooldowns, etc) and I find the most optimal way of doing things is like so:

- Beacon tank like usual
- Use Holy Shock every time the CD is up (you still gain Holy Power through it)
- Try to spend your Holy Power ASAP. Know what kind of damage is incoming whether it be AoE or Single-target so you can WoG or LoD accordingly. They're essentially free heals, allowing you to burn more mana on your bigger ones when needed, which is why it's so important to really build up that HP and spend it quickly (but efficiently)
- Don't waste Speed of Light procs, whether you choose to Holy Light or Divine Light with it. (Usually Divine Light is the better way to go, its just a bit more expensive than FoL but heals quite a bit more. But if theres not much damage going out, use it on Holy Light regardless. It's cheap and weak but it's better than a proc being wasted)
- Learn how much your heals will fill up a players Health Pool. This always allows you to eyeball a target and heal with the proper heal. For example if my tank has 3/4 life, I know a FoL or Divine Light will take care of it.
- Holy shock while you travel between packs of mobs. It builds up Holy Power while out of combat too.
- Use Divine Plea if you know theres a window of time where it will be safe. I don't remember the exact macro but set it so that you can simply press the hotkey again to turn it off if theres ever those moments you need the mana, but aren't sure.
- Mana pots (not always needed but good to have)
- Don't be afraid to pop CDs like wings or Divine Favor if you know it'll give you the little edge you need. These are Cata dungeons we're dealing with now

It's tough to suggest a 'way' to heal in Cata. Spamming one heal generally doesn't work since it'll either make you Oom, or you'll just overheal while also spending too much mana (again, Ooming). As I mentioned above, the best things you can do is learn your heals, learn how much they'll fill up the green bars, and use them on reaction. That's how I've been healing so far and it's working out well. If I remember any more tips I'll post em in, just kinda wrote whatever came to mind

Good luck and I hope this was somewhat useful!

[Drekor]

-Beacon is on tank(or on another that is taking consistent damage and MUST not die)
-Holy Light is your default heal when nothing else is necessary.
-Holy shock should be used nearly on CD(unless no damage is incoming)
-Word of Glory should be used every time you hit 3HP outside of AE situations
-Light of Dawn should be used at 3HP during AE situations
-Radiance should be used when LoD cannot keep up
-Divine Light should be used when you need high sustained HP/s still considering mana effeciency
-Flash of Light for when high sustained HP/s necessary with no concern to mana("OMG don't die" cases)
-Lay on Hands when even FoL can't save someone or if glyphed when OOM and other cooldowns except Divine Plea are down.
-Judge with SoI on cooldown
-Wings during heavy damage
-Divine Favor at the start and on cooldown mana intensive fights(bosses normally or double pulls)
-Divine Plea should be macro'd so you can turn it on and off with a single button and only have it running during "safe" periods where damage is very minimal
-Informing your teammates how to avoid some encounter mechanics can make your life MUCH easier as well.

[EndGame]

I personally try and "save" my HP for need. I HL all the time and if nothing is going on I try and keep myself at 3 HP by casting HL on the tank.

The reason I say I like to "save" it... it generally means I save myself an expensive heal. Yes I use it as often as possible... but if burst is incoming (3rd boss in SC) I save the 3 HP and just use HL and HS. If I can pop WoG and then HS... it generally heals for a good % of the damage done. I generally can regen the mana cost of a HL in a few seconds... so using it all the time doesn't hurt.

The whole point of the new healing is to avoid overheals... time your heals right and you can be a great healer as a paly. (I still enjoy priest more, however).

[Kelindor]

The others have given good advice.
one thing I do when i can is to melee the boss as normal but hit crusader strike in low periods. this will build hoy power as well, also it will regen mana. if you stand to the side of the boss then your aoe heal will hit tank and melee as well .
I dont do this with a boss that requires people to spread out for obvious reasons.
But it will mean that word of glory is available 20-50% more than just holy shock alone, and free heales are free after all
Kelindor

[xcitu]

Thanks alot for excellent replies Gonna give it a try and see how it goes ^^

[Cattleya]

I notice everyone's using WoG out of AoE situations, but personally I use LoD frequently outside of AoE situations. tops everyone off, and all the heals transfer to the beacon as well. Besides that, what the others said anyway.

Edited 'cause my post was one big mess :>

[Drekor]

I notice everyone's using WoG out of AoE situations, but personally I use it frequently even outside of AoE situations. tops everyone off, and all the heals transfer to the beacon as well. Besides that, what the others said anyway.

Not sure I really understand how does WoG top "everyone" off? It heals 1 target + 50% on beacon. LoD heals up to 5 people in your group and for each one 50% goes to beacon, it does a much better job of filling up HP bars under AE situations than WoG does.

[Huntingbear_grimbatol]

Only heal dps with aoe heals when there's aoe damage.
Only heal dps with holy shock/ word of glory/ holy light, they're mana efficient and DPS job is to deal as much damage, and take as little as possible.
Save your Divine light for your tank since they're really expencive and slow to cast, any dps pulling aggro in heroics is usually dead or nearly dead by the time your big slow heal goes off, speaking as a holypaladin with 16% haste (340 iLvL) and 83k mana buffed.

---------- Post added 2010-12-12 at 03:08 AM ----------

I notice everyone's using WoG out of AoE situations, but personally I use it frequently even outside of AoE situations. tops everyone off, and all the heals transfer to the beacon as well. Besides that, what the others said anyway.

you're wrong. Beacon of light only gets heals from Holy Light, Divine Light, Flash of Light, Word of Glory and Lay on Hands. No aoe or non direct (casting time) spells will transfer to beacon of light.

[Deleted]

you're wrong. Beacon of light only gets heals from Holy Light, Divine Light, Flash of Light, Word of Glory and Lay on Hands. No aoe or non direct (casting time) spells will transfer to beacon of light.

Actually Light of dawn does trigger beacon and heals the tank for every person it hits atm. I don't know if it's intended or not, but that's how it is atm. In many situations I have topped off the tank from ~70% with LoD, and I actually see several beacon hits on him. (using MSBT)

As for me, I tend to only use holy light unless really heavy healing is needed. I try to stay away from FoL completely. holy shock on cd basicly, and LoD with 3 hp, or if the tank is very low a WoG. I always try to position myself at the back with the dps in a line or grouped in front of me. I usually ask them to stand in front of me aswell.

This has been working quite fine for me, done all heroics, and alot of the achievements including some of the harder ones. (healing wise)

[Deleted]

Agreed with some of what is said.

I Use HL Magority of the time and HS when Cd is up and theres Damage, use LoD when there is Aoe and if it's Close Quarter Repeated AoE i Pop Radience and us HS and top of With HL.

Also Seen alot of Holy's Here not Juding. Your Judge isnt just to keep up the haste go check it out guys

Also Never Ever waste Mana DL aswell, that and FoL are my Emergy Spell's and Even then a well timed postioned party Rarely needs it to be spammed on them.

The only Real Mana Drainer for us atm is Cleansing, it's a Bitch even with Glyph.

Also Not Sure i Agree with the Whole "DP when low on mana or less damage", I PoP DP+Wings or Favour at Roughly 70% Mana and then again later on in the Fight, not sure if this goes with Normal runs but use that in HC's+Raids. You will overheal alot and alough our abilities are Nerfed but with CD Rotation and Good Timing you will over come the Drop in SP with the DP debuff.

And Don't get too down if someone dies, iv noticed recently alot of dps think that Blizz Gave them a 100k Hp pool so they can stand in the fire and finish of thier Arcane blast, this isnt the case and they will relize this soon but don't be afraid to let them know they have to be more aware of Avoidable damage because all it doing is giving you more work on them slacking.

Iv prob missed some stuff out mate but i Hope you enjoy the "Light Side" as much as we all do, Happy Healing bud

[Cattleya]

Not sure I really understand how does WoG top "everyone" off? It heals 1 target + 50% on beacon. LoD heals up to 5 people in your group and for each one 50% goes to beacon, it does a much better job of filling up HP bars under AE situations than WoG does.

Messed up my post, i'll edit that. Meant to say, people don't use LoD outside of AoE situations but I do because heals transfer to the beacon atm etc.

And @huntingbear_grimbatol: Yeah, Light of Dawn heals do transfer to the beacon right now. When I use LoD on my whole group, it heals the tank for more than a WoG would. As Proberly said though, I have no idea if it's intentionally working like that. But until it stops doing so, I'll be abusing it.

[Deleted]

- Use Divine Plea if you know theres a window of time where it will be safe. I don't remember the exact macro but set it so that you can simply press the hotkey again to turn it off if theres ever those moments you need the mana, but aren't sure.

#showtooltip
/cancelaura Divine Plea
/cast Divine Plea

[Huntingbear_grimbatol]

holy shock + holy light is all you SHOULD need to heal dps. keep stacking holy power. if dps takes alot of damage ignore them if they overaggro or take damage from mechanics they should avoid. me (holypaladin) and a friend went for some random heroics. we entered HoO with a elem shaman and a rogue (DK tank). im pretty good geared for heroics at 340ilevel and 83k mana 2.4k mp5 buffed and still i went oom after certain minibosses or trash pulls. So i checked recound for interrupts. my boomkin friend was on top with 3 counterspells from the moonlight aoe silence.
Needless to say i nerdraged and the shammy and rogue got kicked.

DPS has gone from a mindless task to a equally difficult task like tanking and healing. having a group without any CC in heroics now is almost certain to be a fail.

[archangelz]

holy shock + holy light is all you SHOULD need to heal dps. keep stacking holy power. if dps takes alot of damage ignore them if they overaggro or take damage from mechanics they should avoid. me (holypaladin) and a friend went for some random heroics. we entered HoO with a elem shaman and a rogue (DK tank). im pretty good geared for heroics at 340ilevel and 83k mana 2.4k mp5 buffed and still i went oom after certain minibosses or trash pulls. So i checked recound for interrupts. my boomkin friend was on top with 3 counterspells from the moonlight aoe silence.
Needless to say i nerdraged and the shammy and rogue got kicked.

DPS has gone from a mindless task to a equally difficult task like tanking and healing. having a group without any CC in heroics now is almost certain to be a fail.

I hate people like you. Act as if you know everything and nerd rage on people, presumably without asking them to do something you want them to do. If you think you don't use FoL or divine light on dps, you're terrible. There's always times where you use these heals, that's why you have them.

[Drekor]

I hate people like you. Act as if you know everything and nerd rage on people, presumably without asking them to do something you want them to do. If you think you don't use FoL or divine light on dps, you're terrible. There's always times where you use these heals, that's why you have them.

If you have no idea what your doing then you need to ask not just expect the group to carry you.

[Lluv]

NEVER use divine plea during a fight gimps too much healing and you use more mana tryna keep players up then it gives back, rather use it between pulls

[Deleted]

Actually Light of dawn does trigger beacon and heals the tank for every person it hits atm. I don't know if it's intended or not, but that's how it is atm. In many situations I have topped off the tank from ~70% with LoD, and I actually see several beacon hits on him. (using MSBT)

As for me, I tend to only use holy light unless really heavy healing is needed. I try to stay away from FoL completely. holy shock on cd basicly, and LoD with 3 hp, or if the tank is very low a WoG. I always try to position myself at the back with the dps in a line or grouped in front of me. I usually ask them to stand in front of me aswell.

This has been working quite fine for me, done all heroics, and alot of the achievements including some of the harder ones. (healing wise)

This, LoD is insane for both keeping the group up and and healing the tank (through beacon). Chaing spamming HL on beaconed target and using HS on non beacon targets and then unload LoD as soon as on 3 HP.

Extremely mana efficient, extremely effective.

Being so efficient it leaves lots of room for emergency flash heals and divine light as needed.

[Funkybunch]

thus far my guild has downed 9 raid bosses, and my healing method has been pretty much the same for every encounter, and it seems to work out extremely well. My basic philosophy goes as follows:

-Beacon on the main tank (obv)
-Use Holy Shock every single time it is up, can be used on either the main tank or a raid member, use your own judgement
-Holy Light your beacon target whenever Holy Shock isn't up. Holy Light is what I would call a 'filler' spell that we use whenever we don't have Holy Shock or 3 Holy Power. The reason I Holy Light the beacon target is purely for Holy Power generation, it is far more beneficial in the long run to generate as much holy power as you possibly can, far more beneficial then wasting that Holy Light on another target that won't give you holy power
-When you reach 3 Holy Power you have to make a judgement call. If the raid isn't taking damage you should just Word of Glory the tank or possibly a single raid member who needs a heal. However, if raid wide damage is going out, and you can hit 5 people with your Light of Dawn, you should use Light of Dawn. So far in my experience raiding far more often then not we are using LoD instead of WoG.
-Holy Radiance is a great spell and has fantastic situational uses in almost all current raid encounters. Basically if your raid is taking aoe damage, use Holy Radiance.
-In terms of cooldowns, currently I like to rotate my Divine Favor and Avenging Wrath spells with Holy Radiance to give it an extra boost, generally when the raid is taking significant damage you can pop DF or AW and then Holy Radiance, then start generating Holy Power w/ Holy Shock and Holy Light and spam Light of Dawn every time you have 3 Holy Power, this is EXTREMELY overpowered for healing a raid taking AOE damage
-I'll address Divine Light and Flash of Light in pretty simple terms. These spells are terrible, they honestly do not heal that much more than our other abilities and absolutely annihilate our mana pool. The only appropriate use of these spells would be during times that the tank is getting absolutely destroyed or perhaps gets dropped to low hp and you need a very fast heal (FoL), or maybe even a raid member who needs a heal to save their life or else they die.
-As far as Divine Plea, if you execute the healing model I have outlined here, our mana pool is a total joke. We have very little to no mana issues and are putting out close to 2 times as much healing as other classes, now thats not say we don't need a little mana regeneration sometimes, especially if there has just been a lot of damage and you had to use a FoL or two. Simply find a good spot and use Plea, I also like to tell the other healers I'm doing so, so that they can pick up the slack a little bit, beyond that I don't really find myself using Plea that often, but then again this is only normal mode encounters and not hard mode so perhaps that will change come next week.
-The one other thing, and perhaps the most important is your own personal positioning. You should always position yourself so that you have the maximum number of people possibly in your LoD cone, its not a very effective heal if you arent hitting the people that need it, so always make sure you are in great position to use it.