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A Guide to Holy Healing Spells
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Post by
DSitC
--- State of this doc: Patch 3.1.1
Hello everyone. Since I have read a lot of posts about how to heal as a priest, I will try to compose a short write-up about my take on healing as a holy priest.
My philisophy on healing:
As a healer, you can't rely on rotations or priority lists to keep stuff alive. You need to know what spells are available to you, how much damage your assignements will take, when they will suffer from it and how the encounter will play out.
This thread is here to cover the first part of what you need to know, the spells.
Healing single targets
Flash Heal
Greater Heal
Renew
Healing multiple targets
Circle of Healing
Divine Hymn
Holy Nova
Prayer of Healing
Prayer of Mending
Special healing spells
Binding Heal
Desperate Prayer
Guardian Spirit
Lightwell
Power Word: Shield
Post by
DSitC
Typical situations and apropriate spell selections
Generic
I'm grouped with an tank I do not know and he is about to pull a group of mobs I just can't recall right now...
Omg! A DPS just overaggroed the tank!
Post by
Elrael
Seems like something is great is coming here. ^^
One minor point. The link in the Flash Heal description at the end is confusing, I almost thought you wanted to talk about the useless
Heal
spell.
You also missed some strengths and weaknesses:
Lightwell can be used in various "busy" moments. Like while casting, or during a GCD and even some forms of CC.
Binding Heal is cheaper then casting two Flash Heals.
Prayer of Mending - The spell has charges and thats it's limit.
Holy Nova, the range and group restriction of the spell makes it a hard to use spell, more then the mana cost or healing done.
I got my hopes up for the second part.
Post by
Aldones
I would also comment on different glyphs that affect each spell. It can be very bennificial to know that CoH can hit a 6th target, PoH can give a 20% total heal HoT afterwards, FHeal can cost 10% less, Lightwell can heal 20% more, and Renew can be a 12s HoT over 15s and still heal for the same amount. There might be more, but I can't think of them off the top of my head.
Lightwell also survives the full 3 minutes (unless the charges are used up), whether or not the caster does.
Edit: If you want, you could also further explain how talents affect different healing spells. Sure GHeal is a 3s cast, but no holy priest in their right mind doesn't talent that down to 2.5s.
Furthermore, percentages of bonus healing per spell could help people understand the usefullness of each spell.
Post by
OscarDivine
Excellent breakdown. I agree with Aldones, there should be small addendums to make note of Glyphs or talents that affect the spell. Notably, the Renew spell with "
Improved renew
".
Again, great breakdown we can now polish. :-) Did you purposely leave out PW:S because it's a disciplines spell?
Post by
174266
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Post by
116056
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Elrael
Holy Nova - when glyphed - used to heal for more than COH pre 3.1 (only counting 5 vs a glyphed 6 for coh). Post 3.1, it heals for less, not hugely less, but less nonetheless. I use this spell for Maly out of vortex (then coh) and when I pvp -> keeps me alive. I'm not sure of it's usefulness in Ulduar yet because of the range - 10-12 yards. It's also a party heal within raids.
Holy Nova use No1: In my ten man Ulduar we got a double aoe pack pull and somewhere in the middle the other healers got killed and then the tanks died. So I decided let's spam Holy Nova! And it worked, only me and one dps survived, but the trash was dead.
So Holy Nova, great when you need damage and healing during a awful moment. =p
Post by
DSitC
Thanks for all the feedback! =)
I tried to include all that was mentioned.
Now working on talent & glyph choices. *slow & steady* ;-)
Post by
Caewyn
thanks a million for this guide, I have been doing some reading up on the many healing spells and had some idea, but this describes it really well. Thankyou! :)
Post by
DSitC
I'm currently having some issues with the board software. Seems like my posts are getting a bit bloated... working on it. ;-)
Post by
DSitC
Flash Heal
One of the bread-and-butter spells in your armory. It will heal for sizeable amounts of health and has a rather short casting time.
This is usable as a raid healing tool, as well as for tank healing. For tank healing, it might be more efficient to work with the more potent
Greater Heal
since it heals more health per mana used.
Use this spell if you need to stay rather mobile and can't afford long casting times.
Talents
Surge of Light
This talent will enable 50% of your spell criticals to grant an instant clearcasting proc for your next
Flash Heal
. It's useful but I dont' consider it mandatory. It's rather reliable, so you can usually expect a proc after casting a group heal, for example. If your crit chance is high enough, of course.
Holy Concentration
Don't leave home without it. Period. This spell will provide a huge chunk of your mana regeneration during encounters. Note that this talent is what converts crit chance to mana regeneration for holy priests. Use it and love it.
Empowered Healing
Your
Flash Heals
will hit for more. Since this spell is used very often, it's kind of mandatory to take this talent.
Serendipity
This is another very good talent. You are able to set up some kind of rotation here. Cast some
Flash Heals
and follow up with an accelerated
Greater Heal
or
Prayer of Healing
.
Other talents that somehow affect
Flash Heal
:
Healing Focus
,
Holy Specialization
,
Inspiration
,
Spiritual Guidance
,
Spiritual Healing
,
Blessed Resilience
(semi-pvp)
and
Test of Faith
Glyphs
Glyph of Flash Heal
A 10% mana reduction on one of your mostly used healing spell is nothing to pass by. Get it and keep it!
Post by
DSitC
Greater Heal
Another very common spell in your casting "rotations". It should be used for tank healing since it's cast time is on the lengthy side.
If you try to heal up raid members with this spell, chances are that they will get another heal before your cast is finished.
Talents
Divine Fury
Half a second cast time reduction is needed to make
Greater Heal
competetive for healing. I consider this talent mandatory for holy builds.
Improved Healing
A solid mana cost reduction will help you to conserve mana. If you are
flashing
a lot, you may not be in dire need for this talent, but you will need some points to get to the deeper holy talents, so consider this talent quite useful.
Holy Concentration
* see above (
Flash Heal
)
Empowered Healing
Your
Greater Heal
will hit for more. Consider this to be mandatory for deep holy.
Serendipity
This is another very good talent. You are able to set up some kind of rotation here. Cast some
Flash Heals
or
Binding Heals
and follow up with an accelerated
Greater Heal
.
Other talents that somehow affect
Greater Heal
:
Healing Focus
,
Holy Specialization
,
Inspiration
,
Spiritual Guidance
,
Spiritual Healing
,
Blessed Resilience
(semi-pvp)
and
Test of Faith
There are no glyphs for
Greater Heal
Post by
DSitC
Renew
This is your HoT. Try to keep it up on any of your assignements that will take predictable damage.
It may be used to heal up raid members that have taken a bit of damage but do not need their health topped instantly.
Talents
Improved Renew
You only have one HoT spell. Buffing it is a very good idea.
Empowered Renew
Another increase in healing throughput, this talent also enables your
Renew
spell to heal for a small portion upfront. While the initial heal may not be that huge, it is capable of critting, giving you yet another spell to trigger some
synergetic
effects
.
Twin Disciplines
(Discipline)
This is a mandatory talent for any deep holy priest. It will again increase the effectivity of your HoT spell and amplify your various other instant cast spells, too.
Mental Agility
(Discipline)
If you are skipping some deep holy talents, you may be able to pick up this talent. It's by no means mandatory, but may provides some noteable reduction in the cost of many frequently used spells.
Other talents that somehow affect
Renew
:
Holy Specialization
(
if talented
)
,
Spiritual Guidance
,
Surge of Light
(
if talented
)
,
Spiritual Healing
,
Holy Concentration
(
if talented
)
,
Blessed Resilience
(semi-pvp)
and
Test of Faith
Glyphs
Glyph of Renew
This glyph does not increase the overall healing of the spell, but it reduces the time needed to do so, increasing the spell's hps (health per second) value. While this is mostly a gain, there are some (rare) circumstances where you would benefit from a slower
Renew
. It's one of the better holy priest glyphs none the less.
Post by
DSitC
Circle of Healing
A talented spell only available to deep holy builds. This spell is an excellent raid healing tool.
It is instant and may be cast while moving, so try to sneak it in whenever you need to move and there is some raid- or group-healing to do. Of course you may also cast it while standing still, it's that good! Yep! ;-P
Talents
Holy Reach
This talent increases the radius by 20%, increasing it to 18 yards. It may be helpful in some situations, but you will find a lot more worthwile places for your precious talent points.
Divine Providence
An increase in healing done is generally a good idea and since this talent affects quite a lot of spells, taking it is recommended.
Twin Disciplines
(Discipline)
This is a mandatory talent for any deep holy priest. It will increase the healing done and amplify your various other instant cast spells, too.
Mental Agility
(Discipline)
If you are skipping some deep holy talents, you may be able to pick up this talent. It's by no means mandatory, but may provides some noteable reduction in the cost of many frequently used spells.
Other talents that somehow affect
Circle of Healing
:
Holy Specialization
,
Inspiration
,
Spiritual Guidance
,
Surge of Light
(excellent triggering spell)
,
Spiritual Healing
,
Blessed Resilience
(semi-pvp)
and
Test of Faith
Glyphs
Glyph of Circle of Healing
Excellent glyph to have. It makes this, already powerful, raid-healing spell even more potent and useful. Another target increases the effective crit chance and allows more for
more procs
, too.
Post by
DSitC
Divine Hymn
A super potent healing spell with a very long cooldown. This can be a life-saver under certain circumstances.
Use it whenever you need to put out some hefty healing to a few nearby assignements. Just remeber that it is channeled, you need to stand still and avoid damage during that time (if you have the time,
shield
yourself in advance).
Talents
Holy Reach
This talent increases the radius by 20%, increasing it to 48 yards (40 yards untalented). It may be helpful in some situations, but you will find a lot more worthwile places for your precious talent points.
Improved Healing
A solid mana cost reduction will help you to conserve mana. However, with a 10 minute cooldown on this spell, the mana reduction is hardly significant.
Divine Providence
An increase in healing done is generally a good idea and since this talent affects quite a lot of spells, taking it is recommended.
Other talents that somehow affect
Divine Hymn
:
Healing Focus
,
Holy Specialization
,
Spiritual Guidance
,
Surge of Light
,
Spiritual Healing
,
Blessed Resilience
(semi-pvp)
and
Test of Faith
Glyphs
Post by
DSitC
Holy Nova
Another instant group healing spell. This one comes without a cooldown, but at the cost of power. It does not heal for very much and is rather expensive at that.
It has it's uses under very special circumstances, but be aware that is has a very short range and only works for your own group.
Talents
Holy Reach
This talent increases the radius by 20%, increasing it to 12 yards. Not much, I know... ^^
Divine Providence
An increase in healing done is generally a good idea and since this talent affects quite a lot of spells, taking it is recommended.
Other talents that somehow affect
Holy Nova
:
Holy Specialization
,
Spiritual Guidance
,
Surge of Light
,
Spiritual Healing
,
Blessed Resilience
(semi-pvp)
and
Test of Faith
Glyphs
Glyph of Holy Nova
This glyph will greatly increase the healing done by this spell at the cost of the damage component. It may sound great, but in reality
Holy Nova
just isn't used often enough to varant the usage of this glyph. Besides, it will still heal for less than most other healing spells.
Post by
DSitC
Prayer of Healing
This is a very potent group healing spell that will provide a nice heal on anyone in the target's group that isn't too far away.
Note the long cast time however. But if you need to cover a lot of raid damage without moving yourself, this is a good choice.
Talents
Holy Reach
This talent increases the radius by 20%, increasing it to 36 yards. Mildly useful but not neccessary.
Healing Prayers
A mana cost reduction on this quite costly spell is a good idea. It's not mandatory, but if you find yourself using it a lot, take this talent.
Serendipity
This is another very good talent. You are able to set up some kind of rotation here. Cast some
Flash Heals
or
Binding Heals
and follow up with an accelerated
Prayer of Healing
.
Divine Providence
An increase in healing done is generally a good idea, and since this talent affects quite a lot of spells, taking it is recommended.
Other talents that somehow affect
Prayer of Healing
:
Healing Focus
,
Holy Specialization
,
Inspiration
,
Spiritual Guidance
,
Surge of Light
,
Spiritual Healing
,
Blessed Resilience
(semi-pvp)
and
Test of Faith
Glyphs
Glyph of Prayer of Healing
One of the better holy healing glyphs. This will increase the amount of health provided by a rather large amount. It's not considered one of the must-haves, however.
Post by
DSitC
Prayer of Mending
A very nice and funny tool. This spell will create a hopping buff on your target. Whenever the target takes damage, the spell will trigger, heal the target and fly over to someone else. The new target is determined by whoever in range has the lowest health percentage, I believe. Use this spell whenever there is any chance of damage on more than one person. Yep, that means nearly every time. ;-)
Note that this spell is limited by it's charges. Once it has provided it's fifth healing it will not jump again.
Talents
Healing Prayers
A mana cost reduction on this frequently used spell is a good idea. It's not mandatory, but saves you quite a bit of mana in the long run.
Divine Providence
An increase in healing done is generally a good idea, and since this talent affects quite a lot of spells, taking it is recommended. Note that this talent also reduces the cooldown of this spell, yet another good reason to pick it up.
Twin Disciplines
(Discipline)
This is a mandatory talent for any deep holy priest. It will increase the healing done and amplify your various other instant cast spells, too.
Mental Agility
(Discipline)
If you are skipping some deep holy talents, you may be able to pick up this talent. It's by no means mandatory, but may provides some noteable reduction in the cost of many frequently used spells.
Other talents that somehow affect
Prayer of Mending
:
Holy Specialization
,
Spiritual Guidance
,
Surge of Light
,
Spiritual Healing
,
Blessed Resilience
(semi-pvp)
and
Test of Faith
Glyphs
There are no glyphs for
Prayer of Mending
Post by
AldaranStormrage
I like your breakdown of the skills and the talents that glyphs that affect them. Good job over all. I personally am playing disc right now as we have 2 other holy priests but my heart lies with the holy I've been playing forever.
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