Holy priest... and me

At first I didn’t want to make a post like this because I play discipline 99% of my time but recently I had a discussion with a fellow priest and I ended a bit disappointed. I specced holy like 1 month ago because I noticed a bit (let’s say) raw healing on other holy priest but while compared to some top guild logs I wanted to check what I can do.

My experience as holy in Cataclism is really only one month old and it may be the reason to a lot of mistakes, so… if any of you do have something to add please do.

Another thing that should be mentioned is that there are not a lot up to date posts to read on except the theory craft on elitistjerks or mmochamp but people might find difficult to extract the best info from a 100+ opinions.

• 1. Holy priest spec +glyphs
• 2. Chakra

1. Holy priest spec

This is what I use at the moment and I find it to suit my play style/assignments. If you know you are a Renew user then for sure you need to pick up everything to improve it and you can drop Blessed Resilience and play around with one point from Desperate Prayer, Spirit of Redemption, Darkness.

I don’t suggest to drop anything from Mental Agility because renew style is mana consuming and you will find your self starving. From Darkness seems the most suitable because if you Renew a lot then your PoH won’t be that present, plus, you can always get a hasted PoH up.

You might ask your self why on earth I have 2 tp in Blessed Resilience… well, is quite easy. I had 2 talent points to spare! and if I am alive plus, I require less healing in a fight then is always a win. Is just a personal preference and feel free to use those talent points in something you consider more suitable for you.

Common mistakes regarding spec

• 90% of the priests I saw are having full Renew boost but barely use it, like maybe 1-7% (or even less) of healing done in a boss fight. That’s why most of the guilds are running logs so we can always check if those 3 talent points worth it. I do suggest to revamp a bit your spec and go for what is most effective.
• Another thing is having 2 points in State of Mind. I honestly don’t see the use of that. Saving 6 seconds from Chakra cd for 2 huge talent points while Chakra will last anyway 1 minute I find it useless. Off course opinions are shared and I don’t mind a counter point here. If you are in a 10 man guild then maybe I can see a slight PRO on this talent because you might need for a fast change to go help on tank, or the other way around. Even so, 6 seconds are not much at all and you can time it nicely to drop your current state for a new one if the fight requires.

Glyps

Easy pick here.

Prime:

• Guardian Spirit: Rarely you gonna use 2 times GS in same fight but sometimes helps. Off course if your guild is rotating cd’s and yours counts then you do want it with reduced cd.
• Lightwell
• Prayer of Healing
• Renew: if you are a Renew user then this is a must. You can drop GS glyph for this one.
• Flash Heal: if you will be most of the time on tank healing then you might as well pick up this one for emergency cases. But then again, if some one is getting so low then you might revise the healing assignments or w/e. (Chimaeron doesn’t count here)

Major:

• Circle of Healing
• Prayer of Mending
• Dispel Magic
• Mass Dispel
• Psychic Scream – changing last 3 depending on the fight.

Minor:

• Fading
• Fortitude
• Levitate
• Shadow Protection
• Shadowfiend

Pick something:P but if you want something to consider then Shadow protection is YES if there is not another priest in your raiding group having it and NO if he has it:). Shadowfiend is not a must also because in PVE they take reduced AoE damage.

2. Chakra

I won’t do an introduction to Chakra because every holy priest should know what it. My only issue is when I see priests not using a Chakra state according to assignments he is and/or boss fight.

a. Serenity (Heal, Flash Heal, Greater Heal, Binding Heal)
Increases the critical effect chance of your direct healing spells by 10%, and causes your direct heals to refresh the duration of your Renew on the target – it’s obvious… use it if you are on tank healing job or between big damage spikes if you know you can help out on tank healing or you need to keep an eye on 2-3 people that might get a debuff. Off course this requires for you to change it to an appropriate one when it’s necessary.

b. Sanctuary (Prayer of Healing, Prayer of Mending)
Increases the healing done by your area of effect spells and Renew by 15% and reduces the cooldown of your Circle of Healing by 2 sec – this is my favorite because 99% of the time when assignment are made a holy priest will be put on raid. What it does is quite obvious: will reduce your CoH cd, will increase by 15% healing done by PoH, CoH, Holy Nova, Renew, Hymn and, off course, you get Chastise (witch is expensive as a spell, doesn’t do much in current state but it will get changed). Is not much to add or discuss here… You do want it up or… you will lose 15% of your AoE healing (healing done with your AoE is like up to 50-70% from your total healing).

c. Chastise (Smite, Mind Spike)
Increases your total damage done by Shadow and Holy spells by 15%. – I won’t even discuss this because is rarely needed in a PVE environment.

Something to end up this post with

1. Don’t take this as a guide on how to holy priest because this is my play style and might not suit everyone but for raiding I do consider that are some valid points.

2. Teach your raid to use Lightwell! – there are still people out there that just ignores it so remind them.

3. Don’t forget Binding Heal:P

4. Waiting on some inputs from some PRO holy priests!

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