Holy Paladin... a "real" how to?

[KOUNTERPARTS]

When it comes to healing as a pally, it seems that I am given 2 poor choices to work with. You can either attempt at Holy Light plus Holy Shock spam rotation, but you really need a good mana pool for that. I really don't see how to make a constant use of Holy Light a rotation due to the fact of this. I have gemmed for intellect and raised my mana pool up but I seem to always go OOM at a steady rate. And fixes for this?

Is there any viable Flash of Light rotation, or do you just need to stack SP all the way? Just looking for some help, lol.

[hotshot237]

Stack Intellect, to the extreme. FoL isn't BAD, but it's not very good, especially for hard modes. In 10 man gear, and running heroics to get Conquest gear, you should be able to get around 27-28k mana unbuffed (Uld and ToC 10 man that is) so then HL spam shouldn't be much of an issue. Just don't completely spam it, find what heals you need to do, and do so accordingly (ex: if the entire raid takes 10k dmg, spam some holy lights, but if only two people take around 8k damage, holy shock one and flash the other) It's just all about timing the right spells at the right time, and don't be afraid to use divine plea. If you're 2 healing it use divine plea with avenging wrath, however if you're 3 healing it, the other healers can make up your slack while you regain mana. Also timing Divine Plea for when you're going to need to move a lot and not be able to heal much is good.

[gobtol]

Holy Paladins have really been spoiled with the unlimited mana they were given with WotlK. Part of the problem Akkshuun is that you're trying to heal with a rotation. Healing isn't like DPS, it's reactive and requires different spells depending on the situation. That being said, there are times where the tank is taking so much damage that you need to spam holy light to keep him up. If you don't have enough mana to do this there is another option. You can still spam Holy Light, but if the tank hasn't taken any damage by the end of the cast then cancel the cast. You can do this by jumping or moving or by using a stop-casting macro. It may take some practice to get the timing right but it is quite effective at conserving mana.

Also, get the seal of wisdom glyph if you don't already have it.

[nwo]

Paladin healing is easy as 1-2-3
1. Beacon the tank.
2. Sacred Shield the tank.
3. FoL on the tank (preferably till it crits unless you have to raid heal) for the HoT, then spam FoL on anyone else but the tank and Holy Light the tank or anyone else where/when needed.

Make sure you always keep SS and FoL HoT up on the MT.

For glyphs I would recommend:
Seal of Wisdom
Beacon of Light
Divinity or Holy Light

[Veno]

Glyph of HL is a must I might say.
As for me I roll
-Glyph of SoW
-Glyph of HL
-Glyph of Divinity

I had to choose between Divinity/BoL, but in the end 3900free mana per fight is too much to give up.
HL Glyph still heals for A LOT.


Oh and to the mana problems, basically with int stacking and a good DP management you should be good. Try switching to FoL during DP's duration (or don't heal at all if possible). Also remember to Judge as much as you can (extra mana).

ALWAYS melee the boss when possible. If you run with more then one pally decide who will be using SS on what tank. The FoL HoT is a priority but overall using BoL on the tank and healing the raid is more important. Early on in Ulduar I'd also find myself re-casting BoL/SS too early, try to re-cast these buffs near the end of their duration(Unless of course you know you won't be able to re-cast it for some reason and need to refresh the duration early).

DoTimer is incredible for duration tracking BoL/SS/FoL. Be sure to use your CDs, AW/DI/DF, as much as possible unless you're saving them for a specific situation.

[Whoopzz]

HL and seal of wisdom Glyphs are mandatory IMHO.


You know, I remember about 3 weeks ago when the majority of players were saying how stacking intellect and HL spam was for scrubs. Funny how people jump the band wagon so quickly.

[FiveDkp]

Paladins do not have infinite Mana. I like how some people comment on Holy Paladins have infinite mana. Healing is a proactive + reactive game. Being proactive is key to winning fights not being reactive. For example if Steelbreaker is on your tank, You are healing that tank. Spam HL just incase he gets back to back hits and spam HL just before a Fusion Punch
For Gemming for a Holy Paladin
HL - Everything Gemmed for Int, Insightful Earthstorm (restores more mana than skyflare 2% int one). Nightmare tear for meta requirements.
FoL - Everything gemmed for spell power - use Spell power + mp5 and spell power + int. Use insightful earthstorm.
Gearing
HL - Most int obviously, Go for MP5 over Crit (Yes mp5 regens more than Crit.) Int is your main regen, shoulder and head enchants should be mp5. Don't enchant int on weapons or others. 10 stats to chest should be ok.
FoL - Everything spell power pretty much. 10 stats to chest. haste on cape unless your tailoring (rare). MP5 trumps crit for FoL but you shouldnt need much for it.
Holy Rotation.
HL - Spam HL, beacon tank, SS, Judge
FoL - Spam Fol, Beacon tank, SS, Judge etc.
Not much difference.

[gobtol]

Paladins do not have infinite Mana. I like how some people comment on Holy Paladins have infinite mana.

I didn't say they have infinite mana. I said that they were given infinite mana with Wotlk. That doesn't mean it wasn't taken away. Before the nerfs to Illumination and Replenishment Holy Paladins could just socket everything with Int and spam HL on the tank until the boss died. This is an incredibly boring way to heal, but it was still quite effective.

[Kadas]

I think of our healing as three different phases or modes, instead of one set rotation.

Mode 1 (Light Damage): I beacon the MT and ss the OT if possible, then spam FoL on the OT and spot heal the raid. If you can get your FoL close to 1.0 seconds (681 haste i think - make sure you're keeping Judgments of the Pure 100% up) then you'll probably be doing enough to keep both tanks up by yourself considering the high FoL crit from ss (the t8 bonus helps a lot with this too). This "mode" of healing costs practically no mana.

Mode 2 (Heavy Tank damage or AoE Damage): I macro Divine Illumination, Divine Favor, and the Emblem of Triumph trinket to Holy Light: (Scale of Fates or any "use" trinket that offers haste or spellpower work also.)

#showtooltip Holy Light
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/use Talisman of Resurgence
/cast divine Illumination
/cast Divine Favor
/cast [target=mouseover] Holy Light
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1

So... when FoL just isn't cutting it I pop wings and start Blasting HL. With everything popped throughput is absolutely ridiculous and mana is a non issue for short bursts (15-20 Seconds). this "mode" of healing also costs almost nothing (50% form divine illumination plus 30% from lame ole regular illumination).

ps - do NOT pop wings during divine plea. I know it sounds smart but mathematically it's quite a rip-off.

Mode 3 (Heavy Damage and no CDs): Assuming you're always in one of the above two modes you'll never oom. Unfortunately that isn't always possible. Luckily you have a massive-ass mana pool for those times when everything is on cooldown and you need to just grit your teeth and HL spam through it. This is the third mode, and it sucks. Do whatever you can to get mana: hopefully you're managing divine plea correctly, but melee the boss, usu your mana pot, and be flasked for MP5 (gasp).

If you find yourself in this third mode frequently, then in all likelihood you're carrying the other healers, are undergeared, or doing something wrong. Call for innervates - they return tons of mana and are on a (newly) shortened cd. Any druid that knows what they're doing isn't going to need it (or is glyphed into it - even better), and above all - be opportunistic about mana regen. Pop Divine plea at the right time, melee the boss when you can, know when to use mode 1 vs. mode 2, etc.

NOTE: you may notice i didn't mention the FoL HoT, or holy shock. these abilities are inferior (to me anyway - take it as you will). I use the hell out of holy shock, but only when I'm moving - there is no reason to shock when FoL is at a 1 second caste time (mine is 1.1) unless you're repositioning. The HoT from FoL is not worth the GCD to maintain unless it's convenient (such as an Infusion of light proc while you were moving). after 4pc T9, that will almost certainly change, but I'm not their yet.

This is just my style. I have found it effective, though I'm not claiming it's the "correct" or "best" way to do things. It does feel very... heroic to save a raid when things go bad and you pop wings and activate bad-ass mode though Anyway, here is my armory if you want to see gems/enchants/spec or flame my gearing decisions, arena rating, etc.