Gearing/preparing for CM as a healer

[Iflash]

I managed to do all the CM Gold back in MoP, and I'm thinking about getting the WoD ones done before 6.2, but I don't know how much has changed.

Should I look for gear with sockets again? I think I read they don't work in CMs now, right?

Is Disc still better for CMs? Given that atonement was nerfed I don't really know.

What are the best secondary stats for CMs? (As Disc, and/or Holy)

Does the Phantasm trick still work?

Any other stuff I should know?

Thanks

[CorpShephard]

I'm only 6/8 in my WoD CMs as a Discipline Priest but I'll offer what advice I can. I have no comparison points for Disc vs Holy.

Gems do not function in CMs. Sockets and Tertiary stats (Leech, Avoidance, Speed) are useless and are disabled. You can safely ignore them.

Atonement healing has become extremely weak and not viable in high damage situations (basically every CM fight). You will almost never use atonement during trash pulls as they prove the most challenging. However many bosses have low enough damage output that you can use atonement during some periods of those fights. Every bit counts. I only cleared Everbloom by two seconds which I almost certainly bought by doing damage during the bosses when I could!

I suggest focusing on Crit as Discipline for pure healing output. That's what I've done. My other secondary is Mastery. I suspect that Mastery is actually much weaker in CMs. I use a great deal more spot-healing with Flash Heal and you only have five people to cast Power Word: Shield on. During raiding a viable healing rotation can be just chain-casting PW:S 15 times in a row. That inflates Mastery's value quite a bit. Offense is important in CMs and mastery does not contribute to your damage either.

I've made it this far with Mastery/Crit though so it does work. Crit/Haste seems ideal for output and boss DPS but it will strain your mana.

I don't know if the Phantasm trick works. I never really used that in MoP and I have not needed it in WoD either. It actually sounds pretty valuable for getting potion timers though... I'll have to play around with it when I finish off my remaining two CMs.

Trinket considerations are important. Keep in mind that almost every 630 trinket is under-budgeted. Try to avoid Heroic Dungeon trinkets. Raid trinkets tend to be budgeted better.

There are overpowered trinkets that are over-budgeted out there. Munificent Trinkets from garrison missions are 615 items that exceed the power of 630 trinkets. If you want a regeneration trinket the healer one is decent. The caster DPS one with Versatility seems... iffy but might be better still. A Warforged version is very powerful as then it is as 621 item that is even stronger than a 630. OP healing trinkets from Blackrock Foundry are also valuable. Blackhand's Spirit Trinket, The Auto-Repairing Autoclave is over-budgeted for spirit. In a challenge mode it will provide over 400 spirit which is often more than you could get from two rings, a neck and your cloak combined. If you have that, or the Blast Furnace trinket, then consider dropping spirit in other places on your gear and letting your OP trinkets keep your mana afloat. This will maximize your power per item slot.

This can change your play-style a great deal. I have both BRF spirit trinkets and as such I can spam Flash Heal and Prayer of Healing more recklessly when I use both. I can also strip all other spirit gear away for more output. There's a fair amount of customization and gear planning that can go into CMs.

Your ability to carry people with DPS and Healing is limited this expansion so teamwork and team building is important. Everyone has to pull their weight! Cooldown coordination is more important than ever. Identify the most dangerous pulls in each CM and make sure you can chain your best cooldowns during those pulls. Pre-potting intelligence potions is very strong as you can go into a tough pull with super strong PW:S on every group member and then maintain it. It also lets you squeeze damage in a little safer.

Best of luck in there.

[Tygerlily177]

I definitely suggest doing them as Disc.

If you're simply aiming for golds, gear for crit/mastery, but if you're going for best times, gear for crit/haste. The reason that crit is preferred over mastery is that it will help you deal more damage during boss fights, while mastery will do absolutely nothing for your DPS. You will also spend a great deal of time spamming Flash Heal, and Divine Aegis procs will help when you're falling behind. I chose crit/mastery because I didn't care about server first times. It worked out well.

I used two int trinkets (the ones I'm still using now): Ironspike Chew Toy & Everburning Candle. I never ran out of mana, but I frequently told the tank to make sure I was sitting down and drinking before he pulled the next pack.

I suggest speccing into Mindbender over Solace. You don't have enough GCDs to cast Solace on cooldown.

Don't be discouraged if the tank is dying. Most of the time, it won't be your fault. DPS and tanks are supposed to stun/lock down a lot of trash packs. Cooldown management is also very important.

Finally, choose the right group composition. Make sure you have all buffs and that you have enough AoE DPS to meet the required times. In my experience, Monk & DK tanks were great. I didn't enjoy healing Paladins & Warriors. I have no experience running CMs with Druids.

[Well]

Both Holy & Discipline are completely able to do all CMs. If you have raid gear (even LFR), just jump in. Personal Skill & Awareness >>>>> Some stats. With that said, you need to know that one guy can't carry the others. Everyone must be pulling their weight for the thing to be done.

[Iflash]

Thank you all very much. This has been quite helpful. ^^

[Thirteen]

I'm 7/8 gold, sans Everbloom, and did most of them as holy, apart from UBRS which I did disc and Auchindoun which I did as shadow. It definitely felt easier as disc, but you shouldn't have a problem either way. For holy just take as much multistrike as you can, and the rest doesn't matter too much. You'll definitely want a lot of spirit though (I used Elementalist's Shielding Talisman + ARAC, with my weapon enchanted for spirit). Not sure what you mean by Phantasm trick. You might mean Spectral Guise, which people used to drop combat in MoP CMs. I'm 90% sure it still works, but it's really not necessary. Having pots up on cooldown for every pack probably won't hurt though. CMs mostly revolve around tank healing. Obviously on bosses (and on some trash packs) there'll be healing needed on the DPS, but throughout the whole thing you'll spend 90% of the time focusing on the tank.

[Deleted]

I'm 7/8 gold, sans Everbloom, and did most of them as holy, apart from UBRS which I did disc and Auchindoun which I did as shadow. It definitely felt easier as disc, but you shouldn't have a problem either way. For holy just take as much multistrike as you can, and the rest doesn't matter too much. You'll definitely want a lot of spirit though (I used Elementalist's Shielding Talisman + ARAC, with my weapon enchanted for spirit). Not sure what you mean by Phantasm trick. You might mean Spectral Guise, which people used to drop combat in MoP CMs. I'm 90% sure it still works, but it's really not necessary. Having pots up on cooldown for every pack probably won't hurt though. CMs mostly revolve around tank healing. Obviously on bosses (and on some trash packs) there'll be healing needed on the DPS, but throughout the whole thing you'll spend 90% of the time focusing on the tank.

Pretty much this for Holy. Felt like disc was far easier, if you use a Blood DK as your tank I feel that Holy will be much easier than healing other tanks like a Paladin or Warrior. Just try and get as little 'useless' stats as possible and you'll be fine.