Healer Advice

[Martyn 470]

So Guys, ive always been a ret / prot paladin but i considered a change and respecced holy, ive got decent gear ( a few holy items which i needed offspec when someone didnt need in heroics)

and i have to say, healing is pretty hard, even in normals, that or i suck

i joined a random normal and got grim batol, we were up to the first boss already and it went ok i suppose


by the end of the instance, i checked recount and i was doung 7.1k HPS, but everyone kept taking so much splash damage a few people died because i was focus healing the tank and the dps got ninja killed

apparently, my top healing ability is

1.Beacon of light
2. Holy Light
3. Holy shock
4. Divine Light
5. Word of Glory

i didnt do much overhealing, mainly from Beacon of light, Protector of the innocent and Holy Radience

does this look ok for the average heals?

i dont really use divine light unless the tanks taking a shit load of damage and the dps are getting hit also


i just feel as if i dont have enough control over heals, if people get put low, i cant get them back up quick enough without the tank taking a shed load of damage

the only thing i know i need to do is judge mobs to get the haste buff


so do you guys think im doing it right? if not, advice would be well appreciated.

[Xerif]

Are you beaconing the tank? If so, you could just heal the dps and tank at the same time.

Armory link would be nice also.

[Impregnator]

What works really good for me is a pretty simple tactic. Use beacon on the tank and use judgement on a random mob to gain the haste buff. Start healing with holy shock to gain holy power and heal with holy light when holy shock is on CD. Use word of glory whenever you've got 3 holy power and then repeat the rotation above.

I might be wrong on this, but I rarely use divine light. As a panic heal, I use flash of light just because it's faster. I use it when someone is really low on Hp to quicky get them up. The reason why I don't use divine light is because it is so slow, I can't use it when someone is low and if there is no immeadiate healing required, I just use my regular rotation. It costs nearly no mana, and if the group takes only small amounts of dammage I use judgement whenever it's off CD. This way I'm allways on full mana, and the party is on full HP.

This is how I've healed HC's since I started doing them and it works really good.

Please correct me if you find any mistakes in my healing strategy.

[Paladin885]

you cant really go by HPS anymore. You try to rack that up high you'll OOM in a heartbeat. You GB, you heals looks right in order. **wow typo's and maybe bad engrish right there /fail@me...**

if a dps is low then throw a FoL/DL on them and directly after the cast do HS. Or DL dps, HS them, then FoL the tank followed by a WoG. Thats what I do, is I save the instant casts for after I cast and just attach them behind my heal. Generally it flashes on my screen as if I healed twice

[Liagala]

If you're on a melee-heavy group, LoD and Holy Radiance are helpful for AoE stuff. If you have a beacon on the tank, 50% of all the LoD heals are funneled onto them (as well as the direct LoD hit itself). The heals themselves are small, but when you add them all up and transfer with beacon, it's a fair amount. I wouldn't bother if there's only one melee, but 2+ is pretty good. On fights with heavy and unavoidable AoE damage, getting everyone clumped up and dropping a holy radiance can also be a HUGE boost. It's usually enough for me to be able to ignore the dps for a few seconds and bring the tank back up with some DL/WoG big heals, then go back and fix everyone else.

[Quotidian]

I keep beacon on my tank at all times. Then alternate flash and holy light while dropping in Judgments and shocks whenever the cooldown is up, this way I'm usually always good on mana and holy power. WoG is there when needed and is handy if a cloth caster gets smacked by something and needs a quick heal. When the damage gets heavy I'll use Radiance or GoAK (if I'm desperate...it doesn't always work properly for me though) and continue healing as I usually do. The extra heals usually keep me from losing anybody. Light of Dawn is useful with melee heavy groups since they all normally stand together.

[ZeroWashu]

Since HL no longer procs holy power on the beacon are all shocks going to the beacon to generate holy power? I am running up a new pally and in lower content (outlands) its just as easy to judge/cs/hs etc to get hps but was curious what the requirements at 80+ were. I am doing a from the ground up holy pally just to learn healing in their setup... my main is a pally tank with an non viable ret off.

[AetherMcLoud]

Since HL no longer procs holy power on the beacon are all shocks going to the beacon to generate holy power? I am running up a new pally and in lower content (outlands) its just as easy to judge/cs/hs etc to get hps but was curious what the requirements at 80+ were. I am doing a from the ground up holy pally just to learn healing in their setup... my main is a pally tank with an non viable ret off.

Um, holy shock always gives holy power no matter what target you cast it on. It has nothing to do with beacon healing. You only gain holy power if you directly heal a beaconed target with divine light or flash of light. You don't gain 2 holy power for shocking a beaconed target either.

[Rynor]

What works for me is I Beacon my tank, judge on every cooldown, I try to HS on every cd for holypower, then alternate with holy light and divine light pending on peoples HP. I also either use WoG or Lod pending on what I need. Also every cd I use hand of Sacrifice weather it's a boss pull or non cc'd trash pull. I also keep lay on hands ready as on oh shit heal, plus witht he mana back from it you can't go wrong.

[Drekor]

Unless your being retarded and spamming FoL your mana pool shows how well your tank and DPS are playing. If it's empty they suck. If it's full they're doing well.

[ZeroWashu]

What works for me is I Beacon my tank, judge on every cooldown, I try to HS on every cd for holypower, then alternate with holy light and divine light pending on peoples HP. I also either use WoG or Lod pending on what I need. Also every cd I use hand of Sacrifice weather it's a boss pull or non cc'd trash pull. I also keep lay on hands ready as on oh shit heal, plus witht he mana back from it you can't go wrong.

OK, the bit about hand of sacrifice was a trick I didn't know (I may not have it at my level, I will check). I am running up this new pally to get a handle on healing as one as we are short healers now and I have a near max pally whose off spec I do not know. Would not want to just add holy without experience in playing it. I didn't realize HS was adding power while hitting other targets other than beacon, mostly because at my level we can still melee with impunity and develop holy power through cs too.

[barnard2007]

OK, the bit about hand of sacrifice was a trick I didn't know (I may not have it at my level, I will check). I am running up this new pally to get a handle on healing as one as we are short healers now and I have a near max pally whose off spec I do not know.

I am also extremely new to post-4.0/cata pally healing, but luckily I have collected a set of 346 OS healing gear while tanking plenty of heroics. I haven't tested it yet, but Hand of Sacrifice sounds like a great idea since we have so much self healing. Casting both HoS on your tank and DP/DS is a great way to save your tank from having to pop a cooldown.

[Rynor]

and if your worried about the dmg you'll take from HoS you can always use divine protection to reduce it's dmg and as DP's cd is up quicker then HoS you can always use them together. Also it's good to remember that LoH's still goes to your beacon'd target if cast on another player and with beacon healing from anywhere from 125k-220k(from what i've seen) half of that is more then enough to top up two people.

[bunnyhat]

Unless it's a large pull and tank is taking a pounding, you should be able to almost ignore the tank and heal the DPS instead. Beacon can do a great job keeping the tank alive.

Remember this, it's not that important to keep the tank or dps at 100% health now. In fact you will fail very often if you are trying to keep tank at 100% while ignoring the DPS.

On some bosses I was down to just trying to keep everyone above 10% and by the end would have everyone alive, if not really hurt.

I got better but be prepared and don't panic when you see that happening.

Also remember to use you're cooldowns even during trash pulls. Divine favor and AW are only on a 2-3minute cooldown so use them often.

[Sparkymisslecat]

apparently, my top healing ability is

1.Beacon of light
2. Holy Light
3. Holy shock
4. Divine Light
5. Word of Glory

That looks very good. If Flash of Light had made it onto the list, I would be worried and you would have probably wiped a few times due to lack of mana. I think ideally Divine Light should be lower on the list, but GB isn't an easy instance, and if your dps was constantly taking splash damage that they shouldn't be, you don't have much choice to catch up in the healing. It may just have been a sloppy group. Don't forget your big AoE heal is on a 30 second timer and is wonderful buffer, albeit not terribly efficient.

Some thoughts:
1. When both the tank and dps are taking damage, try and get into the habit of putting your heals on the dps. This is counter-intuitive to many healers (including myself) who naturally want to heal the tank. It takes a little getting used to, but practice. Since 50% of those heals go to the tank (if they are your beacon) then you are getting free heals.

2. Get into the habit of refreshing your beacon every two or three pulls. It is easy to forget and let it fall off, and your tank will suffer.

3. Before the pull, I typically Holy Shock the tank a few times to build up 2 or 3 HP in reserve, so its ready to go right from the start.

4. Yes, Judging the mobs will do wonders for your mana, allowing you to be more carefree with your heals and use a couple of big ones now and then without guilt. I set up a focus macro to help me do this, and its helped me ALOT. You set the tank as your focus at the beginning of the run, then use something like this:

#showtooltip
/cast [harm, @focustarget] Judgement

This will always judge the tanks target, and is easier (for me at least) then fumbling around trying to click-target a nearby mob. Right after I judge, I often Crusader Strike too for an extra free HP, but thats optional, then switch back to a heal target. (Note that returning from a drake run in GB will clear your focus so you have to reset it!)

5. I have been told, and it appears to be true, that once you get above 2500 mp/5 in combat regen, healing gets easier and mana is less of a restraint.

6. I think my personal rule is: Holy Shock and Judge on cooldown, Word of Glory every 3 HP. If you aren't doing any of those 3 things, then Holy Light -or- Divine Light if damage is heavy. Use big Aoe heal (cant remember name) when everyone is taking it hard. Try not to use Flash of Light, unless you really have to.

Don't forget that with the right talent points, casting FoL or DL on your beacon grants you HP, so if you are going to use those in-efficient spells, best to use them on the tank and get something out of it.

If you feel like you need to use Lay on Hands, best to use it on the dps since it is a HUGE heal and the tank gets healed too.

As you get more comfortable healing, try to weave in some Crusader Strikes after each Judge for extra HP.

[Rynor]

If your using grid or anything like that then you should'nt need to focus anything just have a mob targeted for judging, just be careful when judging mobs low on health, as I've tried judging a couple of times and have missed timed and ended up pulling extra packs due to my judge range and whatnot. Also don't be afraid to BoP people, though i'm sure I don't need to mention it.

[y02mustang]

Still leveling my pally (she's still 80 and not my main), but I did some healing and tanking during the Elemental Invasions instances and regular WotLK, so I realize I don't have any Heroic experience, but my main is a resto druid who does have that experience. I've seen a lot about pally healers using Crusader Strike to build up HP, and I have a question about that.

I realize pallies wear plate, but it always worries me to see a healer in melee range (minus mechanics where all need to stack close, etc) as then they become vulnerable to melee stuns/aoes/etc and chance taking more damage themselves or being unable to heal for a short period, susceptibilities which ranged healing doesn't have nearly as much. Is CS really a requirement for building HP? One of the holy pallies from my guild would always be in melee range for CS in Halion (Ruby Sanctum) and I felt like it was strange and probably limited the use of LoD, etc. My main concern is that mana and GCDs which could be used for healing are instead used for melee to damage a mob.

Granted, my experience was limited, but when I was pally healing, Holy Shock and other spells always left me with enough HP to use WoG whenever I wished, and I built up 3 HP pretty quickly. I'm wondering if I should change my resto-druid mindset as I level my pally and get her closer into melee range.

[Eldoncloud]

Since you recently switched to holy, did you remember to change your glyphs? I've done that a few times