Cata Holy Priest Guide (4.0.3)

[Grutman]

Right now the whole PoH vs. Renew Chakra thing is a big debate, often times I find myself swapping multiple times per fight. Thankfully, they're rolling them both into one, which will make everything a LOT easier.

I'm still gemming pure int, but that's because I play Disc quite often as well and I'm too lazy to regem and reforge everything every time I need to switch (I have a handful of pieces I swap out, that's really it). If I were pure 100% Holy, I would gem to the haste softcap.

Can you please link a blue post that they merging the chakra state into one. I think that is great news especially for cata, were casting PoH is going to be a mana drain to keep chakra up.

[Liliyah]

Can you please link a blue post that they merging the chakra state into one. I think that is great news especially for cata, were casting PoH is going to be a mana drain to keep chakra up.

It's in the current beta build.

"Chakra no longer works with Renew. No longer costs mana. Sanctuary (Prayer of Healing, Prayer of Mending) now increases healing done by your AoE spells and Renew by 15%. (Old - Only increased AoE spells by 10%)"

[tlor]

Great content update, Aliena, as always.

One note: you state that

Veiled Shadows decreases the duration of your Shadowfiend by 2 minutes

This may have recently changed, but currently, at 2/2, Veiled Shadows decreases the duration by 60 seconds.

Regards!

[Lyeck]

Lyeck, there is no such thing as stat cap for healing really except for haste. You might want to read the first page again regarding stat priorities. I hope I answered your question.

I was wondering what other play styles as a holy priest are currently for 4.0.1. A lot of people are looking at Chakra to simply renew spam, which has been dominantly used by most holy priests. My question is, if I am capable of renew spamming in Chakra state which is basically endless because of the capability to refresh the duration. Wouldn't it be wise to gem pure intellect instead of haste to fix the mana issues some priests are having?

I myself still gem/reforge haste to reach the cap. My play style involves using the PoH chakra instead for HW:S. This allows me to be more dynamic because I can still renew spam, reduce coh cd and have the capability to use HW:S. My overall throughput has increased through my raiding experience. Mana of course becomes a really huge issue after 3-4 mins of healing, but most fights dont last more than 4-5 mins even in ICC 25 heroic content except for LK.

Yes.. It does help me. This is my first healing class and i'm a total noob at it. I'm good at healing 5 mans but i want to get all my facts straight before i through my self into raid healing.

[slowreflex]

Circle of Healing is a very potent smart AoE healing spell that affects 5 or up to 6 targets if glyphed, with average gear heals each target for about 2500 non-crit and 4000-5000 on crit and has a 6 second cooldown timer.

Thanks for the excellent guide Aliena. I did pick up on one error though, underlined above.

-slowreflex

[morale30]

Awesome guide, Aliena!! Very helpful! I just stumbled upon it and it's really helped me to get that much better at the priest heals. I just have a question for you and anyone else who's got extensive experience with Holy heals...Do I perform up to par?

I just started priest healing and have been holy since the start of 80 raid healing. I heal for my 10man casual raiding guild and I'm the only priest we have, currently. Our last priest (someone's alt) wasn't viewed as very good by the guild in general as his hps weren't impressive, but he was also Disc which I perceive as more a damage mitigation spec then a hps spec. Compared to him, I put up much better numbers and my guild is happy with my performance, but I was curious if I'm actually performing to a respectable level given my gear? My character is in the US region, Eldre'Thalas server, Horde, Deadnluvinit. I've managed to get mostly 245 and higher gear (no T10 bonus) and I can put out 3-5k hps depending on how I'm having to heal the raid. Is that good (at this point I get the Hellscream buff which distorts my true numbers)?

Also, I seem to plow through my mana pretty quick when I actually throw out heal after heal. If I don't stop to let some mana come back, I can burn through it all in about 2mins. My combat regen with NO buffs is 685...is that low/avg/high for being a holy priest with my gear?

Sorry for the long post, but I'm usually good at being a fast learner of any class and although I've mastered Mage, Lock, DK, and Pally, the new experience of Priest healing is still a bit of a mystery to me as to why I plow through mana. Any advice from anyone would be appreciated!!

[Erectus]

I am not sure if there is a forum already regarding this..if there is please redirect me.

I followed this guide through out WOTLK and it has been doing pretty well, I loved it.

But as soon, Cataclysm launched with the leveling through 80-85. The mana cost on a

majority of spells has been ridiculously increased. I cannot even rotate PWS on the tank

without having to go OOM. "Heal" ofcourse is my primary healing spell now and I barely use

Flash and Greater. But there is just so much "Heal" can do. It is a 2 sec cast even with

all my haste, it only heals around 10-12k average, and my mana pool is around 60k, that

just not seem to be good enough. What should I do? Chakra<Heal<renew?

I was just wondering what everyone else is doing to survive through this patch.

[jrot24]

"Heal" ofcourse is my primary healing spell now and I barely use

Flash and Greater. But there is just so much "Heal" can do. It is a 2 sec cast even with

all my haste, it only heals around 10-12k average, and my mana pool is around 60k, that

just not seem to be good enough. What should I do? Chakra<Heal<renew?

I was just wondering what everyone else is doing to survive through this patch.

A lot of us are feeling the pressure at 85. It feels like we have a shrunken mana pool, and our spells haven't increased in throughput to compensate. It's not just priests, either. This is a feeling felt by all healers that I'm aware of, so you're not alone. It's just a new model of healing that takes the emphasis away from rotating cooldowns and blowing "big" spells, to being more reactive and selective with your healing. We as healers just have to adapt to this new model, and it presents a fun and new type of challenge.

That said, keeping up the tank should look something like this: Chakra -> Heal -> Renew -> PoM

Then you just continue to cast heal on the target, renewing allies taking slight damage, and giving them a quick heal on the side if they need it. If your tank is taking massive spike damage, you can either choose to use your Holy Word: Serenity (instant cast, mana-efficient heal) on a dps that's took some damage, or on the tank itself to provide you with a chance to heal the DPS.

Prayer of Healing should be used very infrequently. I only use it when the entire party is taking damage that, if not healed through, would wipe us. I haven't really found another way to efficiently heal the party. CoH doesn't appear to be as potent as it used to be, healing for only a fraction of the group's health and having a 10-second out of chakra cooldown (8 second in).

Any other tips might be appeciated, or if I'm dead wrong... I'd like to hear about it.

[Erectus]

Thanks dude, that is exactly what i was doing lol. I figured my only option would be to increase my mana up to 100k, since healers are having not much problem healing when they have a godly mana pool.

[jrot24]

Also, don't forget to try to snag gear that aids in your regen. That'll help you out significantly.

[Aliena]

Updated.

[Sebadoh]

I just read over your new guide, and while most of it is spot-on, I have to disagree with several choices.

Some of your choices are great for people who are well into the raiding content. Most of us haven't gotten there yet. I would highly recommend that while working your way through heroics and just starting to get into raiding, Holy Priests do the following:

- Glyph for Renew. The 30 second reduced cooldown on Guardian Spirit will not make as big of a difference in 5-man content or the first few raid bosses as another 10% on Renew, in my opinion.

- Max out both Mental Agility and Veiled Shadows. I've been using this spec, tweak it as you like but I believe that it's a good baseline for starting out.

Later when you are no longer scraping for every last bit of mana you can possibly find, change your spec and glyph setup a bit.

Also, please for the love of all that is Holy (see what I did there?), use consumables and enchants, even if they're green-quality or even WotLK ones. Whitecrest Gumbo and Ghost Elixirs are pretty cheap. Many of the enchants can be found for 1/4 the price of mats on the AH, simply because so many people make scrolls while leveling enchanting. If you don't have the rep for your Cata helm/shoulder enchants, use WotLK ones. Use green quality gems, etc etc.

I never heal anything without at least a 60 spirit food buff, simply because it is so cheap. Elixirs and Flasks, I wouldn't waste on a 5-man unless you're made of money, but raiding anything without a flask or elixir is pure failure when you can get 225 extra spirit for the mere cost of 2 Cinderbloom per wipe. At the very least, go grab a Pure Mojo for a few gold.

[Aliena]

I have a spec with mental agility and veiled shadows in the guide as well as mentioned that Renew can be a decent glyph choice. I still do not recommend Renew glyph in raiding for most priests, and this is a raiding basics guide.

[Sebadoh]

All I'm saying is, you could have elaborated a little bit to make this more relevant to people gearing up in heroics, which is the majority of, well, everyone at this point.

Don't get me wrong. I've done four raid bosses (five if you count the dude in Tol Baraaaahwhydon'tweeverwin), and even with that limited experience, I can see where you're coming from on most of this even if I don't agree 100%.

[VettraXarn]

Wow.. What a great job once again. I can always count on tankspot to have the answer to whatever question I have. This healing guide is awesome. With all the new changes, I feel like a n00b again. I was having so much trouble keeping my mana pool but I think I have a better understanding now after reading this.

Thanks and keep the info/tips coming.

[frantichealer]

Haha, I always wondered why I was running out of mana in dungeons. Being the narcassistic person I was, I believed that Flash Heal was still low on mana cost...
After reading this guide, I have redone my talents and action bars and find healing dungeons to be less of a nightmare, I tip my hat to you Aliena for creating another impressive guide to priest healing. Now, if only my groups would understand that lightwell is amazing and worth using...

[Skiderion]

I actually snooped a few players on WoL before checking this guide because I felt like I was doing something wrong after my first few raid bosses. I was comparing myself to our resto druid and shaman and was coming well behind them. Another key marker for me was that lightwell renew was showing up as my #1 heal occasionally. In the end what I discovered is that the holy priest has really turned in to a PoH spambot. I am not saying I don't throw other spells and I am certainly proud of my shiny cereal bowl of life (which is still high on the meter) but in the end PoH is our life right now. I force myself in to the AOE chakra constantly if it falls off by tossing PoM and then get ready to start chucking PoH. I understand that things have changed but I guess I could have never imagined that PoH would be so incredibly vital. The Combination of the Chakra state, glyph, and mastery makes PoH casts the #1 priority.

My experience thus far has been:

1. drop lightwell before pull and pop chakra
2. PoM the Tank that is starting the pull
3. Wait for at least three people to get nailed in the same group and start casting PoH.

If it takes a bit of time for that initial damage to come just toss in some heals and a renew on a tank but watch the chakra state and be careful not to pop into heal chakra on accident.

As soon as lightwell comes off CD recast. Blowing SF early is actually not a bad idea (70% ish) because you should get him back at the tail end of fights when you really really need him.

I am still struggling with mana on fights such as Omnitron or Halfus but others such as Magmaw or Valiona and Theralion seem to be easier.

I think this guide is definitly on target and while it doesnt apply as much to heroics which seem to require heal chakra, I can appreciate the time and effort put in to it. Plus like she said, it's a raid guide.

[Mav]

A lot of us are feeling the pressure at 85. It feels like we have a shrunken mana pool, and our spells haven't increased in throughput to compensate. It's not just priests, either. This is a feeling felt by all healers that I'm aware of, so you're not alone. It's just a new model of healing that takes the emphasis away from rotating cooldowns and blowing "big" spells, to being more reactive and selective with your healing. We as healers just have to adapt to this new model, and it presents a fun and new type of challenge.

That said, keeping up the tank should look something like this: Chakra -> Heal -> Renew -> PoM

Then you just continue to cast heal on the target, renewing allies taking slight damage, and giving them a quick heal on the side if they need it. If your tank is taking massive spike damage, you can either choose to use your Holy Word: Serenity (instant cast, mana-efficient heal) on a dps that's took some damage, or on the tank itself to provide you with a chance to heal the DPS.

Prayer of Healing should be used very infrequently. I only use it when the entire party is taking damage that, if not healed through, would wipe us. I haven't really found another way to efficiently heal the party. CoH doesn't appear to be as potent as it used to be, healing for only a fraction of the group's health and having a 10-second out of chakra cooldown (8 second in).

Any other tips might be appeciated, or if I'm dead wrong... I'd like to hear about it.

Before pull for tank should be PoM->Renew->Chakra->Heal (spam till pull) that way, the CD on your PoM started long time ago and you would have built up a significant stacks of Echo of light on the tank. Yes, a renew on dps and "heal" to refresh it if needed. If Tank drops suddenly, a quick FH then serenity then GH(if needed) should bring them back up.

You underestimate CoH a bit, It tends to crit a lot and it's Echo of light can keep a steady stream of heals going into everyone.

[Aliena]

I actually snooped a few players on WoL before checking this guide because I felt like I was doing something wrong after my first few raid bosses. I was comparing myself to our resto druid and shaman and was coming well behind them. Another key marker for me was that lightwell renew was showing up as my #1 heal occasionally. In the end what I discovered is that the holy priest has really turned in to a PoH spambot. I am not saying I don't throw other spells and I am certainly proud of my shiny cereal bowl of life (which is still high on the meter) but in the end PoH is our life right now. I force myself in to the AOE chakra constantly if it falls off by tossing PoM and then get ready to start chucking PoH. I understand that things have changed but I guess I could have never imagined that PoH would be so incredibly vital. The Combination of the Chakra state, glyph, and mastery makes PoH casts the #1 priority.

My experience thus far has been:

1. drop lightwell before pull and pop chakra
2. PoM the Tank that is starting the pull
3. Wait for at least three people to get nailed in the same group and start casting PoH.

If it takes a bit of time for that initial damage to come just toss in some heals and a renew on a tank but watch the chakra state and be careful not to pop into heal chakra on accident.

As soon as lightwell comes off CD recast. Blowing SF early is actually not a bad idea (70% ish) because you should get him back at the tail end of fights when you really really need him.

I am still struggling with mana on fights such as Omnitron or Halfus but others such as Magmaw or Valiona and Theralion seem to be easier.

I think this guide is definitly on target and while it doesnt apply as much to heroics which seem to require heal chakra, I can appreciate the time and effort put in to it. Plus like she said, it's a raid guide.

Omnitron is actually a perfect opportunity to switch chakras a lot. When Magmatron is out, be in Sanctuary Chakra and use PoM/PoH/CoH, but any other time be in Heal Chakra and use Heal/Gheal. Conserves mana and positively owns the meters.

[Shazbott]

I have not run any math on this idea but am curious to know if possibly taking the 2 points out of Veiled Shadows and only going 2/3 in Mental Agility, and picking up 2/2 Evangelism and 1/1 Archangel would be a smarter choice. While you would have to smite to gain the buff you would gain a 15% increase to heals for 18secs and also restore 5% mana, with a CD of 30seconds. Seems over time in some of the longer encounters this could be more mana efficient and healing efficient than the 1 minute CD off of Shadowfiend dropping it to 4 minutes. Like I said I have not run the math on the numbers for this but was wandering what your thoughts on it are.

Thanks