How to heal as holy ?

[Black_One]

Hey there guys!

I'm having a pain healing as holy. I can't even heal thru one pack without burning 95% of my mana and with one dead party member (and that's in 85 normals O.o). I used to be disc i wotlk, so holy is a new term to me. Can any1 help me ? How the hell do i heal with it ?

Cheers

/ashamed

[fianzo]

Tbh, either look at the mmo holy thread and elistest jerks threads on holy healing or tell us more about what your doing atm, i mean all your going to get posts repeating either of those threads.

[Snowkatt]

Quick response?

Pop Chakra, cast Heal on the Tank, let them pull, then hit em with PoM and Renew then alternate between Heal and Greater Heal as the situation demands. Remember, with the Serenity state of Chakra active, Heal refreshes the renew so you don't have to keep re-casting it. Try to keep Serenity up during the entire fight. Triage the DPS as needed, but you shouldn't have to keep them at 100%

[Magicochon]

That's because you do like most priest who spam flash heal

[Erto]

Post what you're doing at the moment and maybe an armoury link so we can try to see where you're going wrong, otherwise you might end up being told a lot of information you already know, making you less likely to notice the useful bits you don't know.

[Lixo]

That's because you do like most priest who spam flash heal

Like most priests DID, not do.

If party members other than the tank die in normal instances, that's their fault (or in rare cases, the tank's).

And just don't use Flash Heal unless the tank is about to die, spam Heal and keep Chakra on yourself and Renew on the tank up.

[Kaysha]

Quick response?

Pop Chakra, cast Heal on the Tank, let them pull, then hit em with PoM and Renew then alternate between Heal and Greater Heal as the situation demands. Remember, with the Serenity state of Chakra active, Heal refreshes the renew so you don't have to keep re-casting it. Try to keep Serenity up during the entire fight. Triage the DPS as needed, but you shouldn't have to keep them at 100%

I think many priests actually start off with PoM, then cast Chakra while the pull is made. Hit Renew and then chain Heal on the tank. Other than that, this is pretty much the way to go.

Be ready to switch to Chakra: Sanctuary, on (heavy) AoE phases of fights. Throw down a Sanctuary where most people are standing and most AoE damage is hitting, for passive healing while you're spamming CoH, PoH and PoM during that phase. Switch back to Chakra: Serenity when the AoE phase has passed.

[conceit2]

I think many priests actually start off with PoM, then cast Chakra while the pull is made. Hit Renew and then chain Heal on the tank. Other than that, this is pretty much the way to go.

Be ready to switch to Chakra: Sanctuary, on (heavy) AoE phases of fights. Throw down a Sanctuary where most people are standing and most AoE damage is hitting, for passive healing while you're spamming CoH, PoH and PoM during that phase. Switch back to Chakra: Serenity when the AoE phase has passed.

This.

But don't use PoM too much if you have mana problems. (Might reconsider that in 4.0.6 tough, if you take the new glyph)

[Skinner]

Be ready to switch to Chakra: Sanctuary, on (heavy) AoE phases of fights. Throw down a Sanctuary where most people are standing and most AoE damage is hitting, for passive healing while you're spamming CoH, PoH and PoM during that phase. Switch back to Chakra: Serenity when the AoE phase has passed.

Actually that's not the way to go..... Most 5mans don't have insane AoE dmg which makes healing intensive enough for you to need Chakra: Sanctuary... Renew, Heal and PoH should be more than enough in 5 mans. He's talking about not wanting to run oom...

[TourettesHeals]

That's because you do like most priest who spam flash heal

I've been a Disc priest since I started playing and I recently attempted Holy and this Chakra thing and it all went bad. I'm in the same boat as OP, but obviously I don't spam Flash Heal. Disc just suits my play style more personally.

OT: Why can I ask are you wanting to go Holy? It's not because every single other Healing Priest is Holy, is it?

[ssgrif]

Quick response?

Pop Chakra, cast Heal on the Tank, let them pull, then hit em with PoM and Renew then alternate between Heal and Greater Heal as the situation demands. Remember, with the Serenity state of Chakra active, Heal refreshes the renew so you don't have to keep re-casting it. Try to keep Serenity up during the entire fight. Triage the DPS as needed, but you shouldn't have to keep them at 100%

you have it more or less right here but have missed a vital element and thats Holy Word: Serenity. Its great that you mention the serentity chakra state but tbh for 5mans you should use HW:S whenever its off CD on the tank. You can spam Heals forever at pretty low mana regen levels so this makes it tthe perfect spec/spell priority for 5mans.

you should also only be using Flash Heals when surge of light procs, unless mana regen is no longer an issue for you.

@OP: post us an armory link so we can help further.

[reve]

When I was leveling my priest and people werent using CC at all (normal GB especially, HoO and LCoT too) it kinda sucked... Greater Heal spam with PoM and that Chakra single target heal on CD couldnt keep the tank up, others were obviously taking AoE damage aswell because not only people didnt CC but they didnt interrupt anything etc...

Try to take a look what others are doign aswell. Other than that, this is how priests play nowadays:

I think many priests actually start off with PoM, then cast Chakra while the pull is made. Hit Renew and then chain Heal on the tank. Other than that, this is pretty much the way to go.

Be ready to switch to Chakra: Sanctuary, on (heavy) AoE phases of fights. Throw down a Sanctuary where most people are standing and most AoE damage is hitting, for passive healing while you're spamming CoH, PoH and PoM during that phase. Switch back to Chakra: Serenity when the AoE phase has passed.

[Yilar]

For Heroics;
Use Serenity chakra, use heal alot, if heal isn't enough use greater heal and if that isn't enough use Flash heal into greater heal. Don't spam PoM on cd unless you can see it will actually jump. Use Lightwell on boss fights, even if the others don't click it, you can! Remember to Guardian Spirit if you think someone might die. Use HW:S on CD (doesn't have to be tank). Always keep that renew running on tank, remember that only greater heal, flash heal and heal refresh the renew. In heroics the chakra: sanctuary has very little use, so be certain that the chakra change will have an effect, else just stay in serenity forever I can only think of one fight where the sanctuary circle thingy might be usefull (first boss in SFK), so stay away from that, it costs a fortune in mana and heals for almost nothing and the fight designs are not really intended for you to stand around in the same spot for 20 seconds+.

[zenkai]

Holy is pretty simple and bland, Pretty much for normals heroics you can...

• Pop Renew on tank, spam him with Chakara Heal, use serenity if he's taking heavy dmg, rotate in a GH if heal doesn't suffice
• cleansing is usually important
• Only POM if more than one is going to be taking dmg, it's not worth it if its not going to bounce
• If everyone needs healing use POH
• If it's going to be heavy AE dmg (like DPS failing on the first couple of pulls in Stonecore) use Chakara POH
• Lightwell is really useful in most boss fight's even if you're the only one going to click it
• Try to never FH (without a SOL proc) if you have mana issues, I may rotate 1 in if I feel the need for the serendipity buff but usually I proc SOL enough to not need to do this.

On a side note someone needs to make an add-on that screams http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5513mXmQbw4

[Kaysha]

Actually that's not the way to go..... Most 5mans don't have insane AoE dmg which makes healing intensive enough for you to need Chakra: Sanctuary... Renew, Heal and PoH should be more than enough in 5 mans. He's talking about not wanting to run oom...

No, that's true - but I didn't say you have to use it all of the time . For instance, on Throngus during the Shield phase, or Siamat in phase 2, expect to burst your mana on grouphealing. But there are plenty of bosses that don't require group healing at all (assuming you throw down a lightwell and people use it), like Asaad or Commander Ulthok.

[LimeSudz]

No, that's true - but I didn't say you have to use it all of the time . For instance, on Throngus during the Shield phase, or Siamat in phase 2, expect to burst your mana on grouphealing. But there are plenty of bosses that don't require group healing at all (assuming you throw down a lightwell and people use it), like Asaad or Commander Ulthok.

From what I can tell, Sanctuary is only efficient if 6 or more are going to stand in it for it's full duration (which is fairly long). for heroics I rarely switch my chakra out of the heal one (the name eludes me atm). before a pull I usually pop chakra and throw a renew on the tank. precast the heal to time it when the tank has aggro so you don't pull but you still refresh the renew and get the all important chakra ability. keep serenity on cooldown because it's amazingly efficient. make sure you're using CC (often overlooked on regular runs).

the rest has been already said (never flash heal unless someone will die shortly) if you have a quality tank and you have good communication you might trust them to take the 50% health from guardian spirit (without them blowing all their CD's) if you have trinkets for mana regen or heartsong on your wep you should never not be casting something (usually heal)

for Aoe damage cast PoM, CoH and PoH (preferably glyphed) save your largest heals for last since you're party will gain the full effect from your mastery. On boss fights pop your shadowfiend early if the fight will last for around 5 mins so you'll be able to cast it again closer to the end of the fight. binding heal works great if you and the tank are both taking damage.

Holy priests have a ton of healing spells and it's all about learning which work the best in a given situation. once you figure that out you're golden.

[Kaysha]

From what I can tell, Sanctuary is only efficient if 6 or more are going to stand in it for it's full duration (which is fairly long).

For me, that's not the prime reason to cast it in the first place. For me, the prime reason is that once it's down and running, it's passive; in other words, I can use other heals (like PoH) and gain overall higher HPS than without Sanctuary. Furthermore, once the AoE banging has stopped, I have to focus less on bringing up the DPS'ers - since they didn't drop as low as without it.

for heroics I rarely switch my chakra out of the heal one (the name eludes me atm). before a pull I usually pop chakra and throw a renew on the tank. precast the heal to time it when the tank has aggro so you don't pull but you still refresh the renew and get the all important chakra ability.

This is actually bad, especially on pulls with multiple mobs; when the tank pulls right as you get a tick on your Renew, all mobs will immediately aggro on you. While most tanks have some form of AoE threat, it's a hassle for them to collect them all and get solid aggro, while the mobs are making a straight run for the healer.

Toss on a renew once the pull has been made, not before. You are seriously not going to miss a few seconds of renew at the start of the fight, or you better not attempt the fight at all, to be honest.

On boss fights pop your shadowfiend early if the fight will last for around 5 mins so you'll be able to cast it again closer to the end of the fight.

This is actually only valid in raids. During Heroics, most boss fights seem to last like 3-5 minutes, tops. This leaves only room to pop it once effectively. Popping it almost around the time of the pull means you lose out on its mana regain, since you're still topped. Popping it right as the boss dies is also pretty much a loss of mana regain, as you won't be using much of it, if at all.

During raids you will have to figure out how long a particular fight takes and pop it whenever you see fit. Most boss encounters seem to take between 5 to 10 minutes; either early on so you can use it later again, or somewhere midfight, when you are burning mana. This is mostly a gut-feeling, though, at least to my personal experience.

Holy priests have a ton of healing spells and it's all about learning which work the best in a given situation. once you figure that out you're golden.

This is absolutely true - and even then, there are multiple ways that lead to Rome .

[LimeSudz]

This is actually bad, especially on pulls with multiple mobs; when the tank pulls right as you get a tick on your Renew, all mobs will immediately aggro on you. While most tanks have some form of AoE threat, it's a hassle for them to collect them all and get solid aggro, while the mobs are making a straight run for the healer.

Toss on a renew once the pull has been made, not before. You are seriously not going to miss a few seconds of renew at the start of the fight, or you better not attempt the fight at all, to be honest.

I have yet to pull aggro from a renew tick, I agree that it is a major hassle for tanks to have to scramble to grab aggro if I were to pull it within the first few seconds of a pull. maybe I'm just getting lazy after doing so many heroics. I agree it's probably not the best idea for this kind of rotation but I rarely pull aggro (only when I have bad timing on my heal). maybe it's a bad habit or maybe I just know my tanks well enough, I'll give it a shot renewing after the pull for a while and see how it works for me.

This is actually only valid in raids. During Heroics, most boss fights seem to last like 3-5 minutes, tops. This leaves only room to pop it once effectively. Popping it almost around the time of the pull means you lose out on its mana regain, since you're still topped. Popping it right as the boss dies is also pretty much a loss of mana regain, as you won't be using much of it, if at all.

During raids you will have to figure out how long a particular fight takes and pop it whenever you see fit. Most boss encounters seem to take between 5 to 10 minutes; either early on so you can use it later again, or somewhere midfight, when you are burning mana. This is mostly a gut-feeling, though, at least to my personal experience.

true, I think I got caught up in explaining beyond what the original topic was about, theoretically as long as you're not overfilling your mana bar it shouldn't matter when you pop your shadowfiend during a heroic encounter (with some exceptions).

As for Sanctuary I still am not a huge fan but I have probably been neglecting it for too long. I'll experiment with it a little more and see how my healing improves on certain fights. honestly though it seems to me that for the most part DPS and tanks are fairly spread out around the boss so I'm skeptical of only casting it in an area where only 1-3 people will get the benefit.

I'm not claiming to be the end all be all of Holy Priests and I think anyone claiming so would be a fool. I appreciate the feedback because now I have a couple things to try out, whether they work for me or not.

[gherkin]

As someone with a couple tanks - renew won't pull aggro unless I screw up the initial pull. Chain Lightning spamming shamans will, you won't.