[Meeks]

I have been working on this recently and I have the first half of the guide ready. This is the part that goes over gear/talents/buffs and while it still needs some tweaks it is ready enough for release. The second half of the guide will be dealing with your role in a raid. If there are errors point them out...expect this to get edited a lot as I get around to dealing with typos, run on sentences, and other errors. Also anything that you would like to see covered please let me know.

Here goes:

Talent Spec:
There are two main options out there for serious holy raiding builds and which one you go for depends on whether or not you are needed for kings. If there is a ret pally in your raid then they should be going kings as they can get it at 0 cost to their raid build. Holy has to give up some minor benefits to get kings so all else being equal leave it to the ret pally if possible but be prepared to pick it up if the moment calls for it.

Build with kings: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
Build without kings: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
Things worth mentioning about this build is that it picks up improved might as you are relying on a ret pally to buff kings so you pick up might. Also it has 2 free points to work with that have no real significance on your performance. I like to finish off improved lay on hands and spend the last point in pursuit of justice.


The name of the game right now for paladin healing is int int and more int. The end goal is to reach the point where you can spam holy light nonstop for an entire fight without going dry on mana. With the haste you get standard on your gear your should be able to get your holy light to be a sub 1.5 second cast without even trying which makes it fast enough to completely replace flash of light as your spamable heal. To be able to spam holy light you are going to need certain tools combined with incredible mana regeneration or you will quickly go oom.


Here are the main tools to achieve your goal:

1) Badge libram...reduces mana cost on holy light: Libram of Renewal - Item - World of Warcraft
2) Glyph of seal of wisdom: Glyph of Seal of Wisdom - Item - World of Warcraft
3) Four piece tier 7

It is important to note that while the 4-piece bonus certainly helps, a lot, you can reach your goal without. The libram and glyph are easily obtainable and if paired with good off-set items you will still reach your goal. My paladin currently only has 2 piece tier 7 but I have all epic off-set items and I am able to spam holy light fine and have been able to do for some time. If you are missing the four piece bonus it is going to take a higher level of gear to accomplish the goal but it is doable even without full nax 25 gear though heroic level gear will not be enough.

Now that you have reduced the base cost on holy light there is still a lot of work ahead buffing your mana pool to acceptable levels that you can sustain high levels of mana regeneration. You will want to stack int to up your mana pool which will in return increase your mana regen through Divine Plea - Spell - World of Warcraft and Replenishment - Spell - World of Warcraft which scale with your mana pool. This is accomplished mainly through gems.


Gems:
Meta: Insightful Earthsiege Diamond - Item - World of Warcraft
Yellow: Brilliant Autumn's Glow - Item - World of Warcraft
The yellow gem you will want to use in every yellow socket plus any item that you don’t care about socket bonus. Personally I go for socket bonuses because my mana pool is large enough that I can sacrifice a small part of it for some other stats. These are the gems I use to make socket bonuses:
Red: Luminous Monarch Topaz - Item - World of Warcraft
Blue: Dazzling Forest Emerald - Item - World of Warcraft


Gearing: Plate healing gear seems to come with int/stam/spellpower and then two of the following haste/crit/mp5. Whenever possible you will want to grab the crit/haste items. Then go for a crit/mp5 one. Avoid the mp5/haste items when possible though there are times when they unavoidable so grab them until you can get a better item. Also don’t be afraid to use mail gear or even cloth/leather in some rare situations. I am not recommending rolling against priests/druids/resto shamans but if an item is just going to be sharded or go to someone off spec step in and take the item if it is a legitimate stat upgrade. The armor the plate affords is not important in raiding so go with what provides the best healing output. There is a lot of beautifully itemized mail drops in nax that will hold you over untill you can get your hands on some plate.

Glyphs:
Major:
Glyph of Holy Light - Item - World of Warcraft
Glyph of Seal of Wisdom - Item - World of Warcraft
Glyph of Flash of Light - Item - World of Warcraft
Minor:
Glyph of the Wise - Item - World of Warcraft
Glyph of Lay on Hands - Item - World of Warcraft
Take your pick for the last spot.



Flasks/Food Buff:
Believe it or not the best flask for a paladin is one of the level 60 ones Flask of Distilled Wisdom - Item - World of Warcraft they are pretty cheap to make and provide the best benefits at the moment.
As for food I use one of the following depending on the situation: Very Burnt Worg - Item - World of Warcraft or Spiced Wyrm Burger - Spell - World of Warcraft
The worm meat is going to better in the most situations but occasionally I appreciate the haste. I will use the haste on a fight like saph/KT/Maly where getting a heal out faster can save lives.


Your role in a raid: Now that all the aspects of gearing and preparing yourself for a raid are set it is time to determine what you are going to be doing in a raid. Now what is required of you can change dramatically depending on raid composition. I will start with what you will be doing in a normal 25 raid and later cover how to deal with situations that can arise in an unbalanced 25man or more commonly in a 10 man.

To be continued.