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Holy Cataclysm! - Beginners guide to healing PvE as a holy priest
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Post by
DraconisAerius
It's not the topic to discuss guild preferences. But I'll answer: If guild want something from me which I don't want for myself - guild could want it to the end of eternity.
Not much of a team player I see. Definitely not someone who is going to be in a serious progression guild then.
Post by
donnymurph
Yeah ok. Enough about your guilds, your bag slots, and your disc and shadow specs hey. If it's not a question, comment or constructive criticism about the guide, put it somewhere else. The thread was made to help give people a headstart on playing a holy priest, let's keep it that way.
Post by
TheReal
Thank you, donnymurph. Excellent write-up. My priest is just now 51 and I'm starting to get to where I have a lot of spells to pick and choose from. This guide is immensely helpful and is now my top bookmark under my Wowhead category.
I would only add a how-to on mouseover macros, some more useful macros in general, and a basic rundown of some useful healer add-ons. The standard add-ons seem to be Vuhdo or Grid + Clique, but I'm sure some other useful ones have evaded me thus far. My contributions follow:
Basic mouseover macro:
#showtooltip
/cast Heal
/cast Smite
Replace "Heal" and "Smite" with spells of choice. Bind this macro to something like Q (if you use standard or near-standard bindings) and it will heal a friendly mouseover, your focus if you don't have a mouseover, or will cast Smite on an enemy target if you have one.
Combo Rez/Cure Disease Clique macro:
/cast Resurrection
/cast Cure Disease
Bind it to something like Shift + Left Click through the Clique interface.
Combo Buff/Dispel Clique macro:
/cast Power Word: Fortitude
/cast Dispel Magic
Casts PW:F out of combat and Dispel Magic while in combat. I use Shift + Right Click for this one.
Post by
323257
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
218246
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
donnymurph
This will be updated soon for 4.0.6 when I get the time. I will also include Cannibalism in there seeing you guys seem to like it so much.
Post by
donnymurph
Using this post to compare the HPCT of Circle of Healing compared to Prayer of Healing, assuming
6/31/4
, 6500 spellpower and 16 mastery (20% HoT).
Circle of Healing:
base heal: 2430 (average)
co-efficient: 26%
modifiers: spiritual healing (15%), twin disciplines (6%), chakra:sanctuary (15%)
cast time: instant (triggers GCD)
targets: 6
(2430 + ) *1.15 *1.06 *1.15 = 5775.6 per target.
5775.6 *6 = 34653
+ mastery bonus
34653*1.2
=
41583
healing per GCD
Prayer of Healing:
base heal: 3174 (average)
co-efficient: 33.9%
modifiers: spiritual healing (15%), twin discpilines (6%), chakra:sanctuary (15%), glyph (20%)
cast time:
1.67
*GCD @ 0 Serendipity,
1.33
*GCD @ 1 Serendipity, GCD @ 2 Serendipity
targets: 5
(3174 + ) *1.15 *1.06 *1.15 *1.2 = 9046.1 per target.
9046.1 *5 = 45230
of which 83.33% or 37692 is affected by mastery.
37692*0.2 = 7538
45230+7538=52678
52678/1.67=
31660
healing per GCD @ 0 serendipity
52678/1.33=
39508
healing per GCD @ 1 serendipity
52678
healing per GCD @ 2 serendipity
So the only time that Prayer of Healing has better HPCT than Circle of Healing is at 2 stacks of Serendipity, meaning that yes, even when not moving, Circle of Healing should always be cast on cooldown in max-HPS situations.
Post by
Meggie
A single point in twisted faith gets you hit capped on players and probably even on raid bosses.
This is very handy when you are to dispel, cc or fear hostile targets.
Post by
donnymurph
Fear doesn't require hit.
I would strongly advise against this if you are using dispel magic, however for mass-dispelling it might be viable to have this in a fight-specific spec.
You need to drop 2 points from the disc tree to pick it up which causes a problem.
Post by
653466
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
donnymurph
I'm working through some updates at the moment. I'll put that in for sure. Thanks! :)
Post by
donnymurph
Updated. Tweaked a few things I'd glossed over for 4.0.6. Also re-formatted (again), with the newer links, makes it all a bit easier on the eye IMO.
Professions section was re-written to make it feel like less of an afterthought.
Plans for the future:
section comparing the HPCT and HPM of the 4 main raid-healing spells (Circle, Mending, Healing and Renew)
possibly re-shuffle the posts a little bit now that I'm premium and can have longer posts
re-write some stuff to make it a little more conversational and less annoying to read
keep adjusting it to stay up-to-date with content
drink a beer
conquer the world
Post by
karlusdavius
You might wanna note that the glyph of PoH works like a HoT. If you cast a PoH, it will refresh up to the last tick. Therefore if your PoH hits with one second left on the glyph from the previous PoH, it will refresh it for 7 seconds.
Post by
donnymurph
Done. Thanks :)
Post by
pelf
This is incomplete, but I'm posting it here so I don't lose it all for some reason...more is coming.
EDIT: I'm exhausted. Paused at stats. Will resume later.
You didn't ask me to do this, so I'd like to preface this with an assertion that I mean this only as a compliment. This is a very well-constructed and dense guide. I can't contribute to the theorycraft or by pointing out any additional stuff relating to Priest mechanics either because you already covered it or I don't know it; but, I can do something else I'm good at. Proofing and formatting
:)
.
So, first I have a suggestion for a construction change for the ToC and the deep links you are using. If you quote this post, you'll get the code inside of the following quote block...
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Spells
Healing Spells
Single-Target
Multi-Target & AoE
Other Spells
Builds
Talents
Holy Talents
Discipline Talents
Shadow Talents
Glyphs
Prime
Major
Minor
Stats
Intellect
Spirit
Haste
Mastery
Crit
Gearing
Gear
Reforging
Gems
Enchants
Professions
Races
Gear
Reforging
Consumables
Flasks
Potions
Food
I converted all the links to anchor links instead of post or topic links to use the new anchor thing they opened up. So, using the single-target healing spells link I have up there as an example, you would need to go to the part of the post with that heading and modify the line introducing that section to...
Single-target
Each section would need an anchor matching the names I used or your own names if you change the links.
For the spell information blocks (which are a brilliant idea), you have this...
Holy Word: Serenity
Cast time: GCD*2 (3 seconds base)
Base Heal: 3136-3644
9% of base mana
Co-efficient: 36.24%
One idea for making it look cooler is...
Holy Word: Serenity
Base Cast Time
: 3 seconds (GCD × 2)
Base Heal
: 3136-3644
Mana Cost
: 9 % of base mana
Co-efficient
: 36.24 %
I reversed the GCD-to-literal-cast-time relationship and changed a couple of the headings. Using the \ block lets us do some alignment. A few more examples...
Base Cast Time
: Instant
Base Heal
: 5198-6100
Mana Cost
: 8 % of base mana
Co-efficient
: 60.40 %
Cooldown
: 15 seconds
Desperate Prayer
Base Cast Time
: Instant
Base Heal
: 30 % of total health
Mana Cost
: None
Co-efficient
: N/A
Cooldown
: 2 minutes
NOTE
: I am not sure if this spell can crit.
NOTE
: Desperate prayer is 30% of total health, not base health.
It might be overkill, but I always think cool things can be made cooler
:)
.
The proofing/edit-suggestion section! I'm going to avoid saying "possibly" or "maybe you should" or all of that and just use assertions to save typing and time. Consider them implied as all of this is obviously my suggestion rather than a direction or a command.
For each of the spells that trigger a Chakra state, move that to the next line and bold it.
E.G.
Also can be used for spot-healing when incoming raid damage is slow and/or light.
Triggers
Chakra:Serenity
I have a
suggestion
in to extend the link BBCODE to support the suffixes, but for now, you could just link to the buff like I did in my example.
Under Renew's section, Prayer of Healing is missing a spell link.
Under Holy Word: Serenity, it is more accurate to say "Only castable
while in
Chakra: Serenity." I think we refer to it as being "in" a Chakra state.
Also you're missing a space after the colon.
You can link to the Chakra: Serenity buff as above.
Flash Heal is missing a link. Heal is missing a link. I agree that referring to the spell under whose section you are should not be done with a link, but any reference to another spell should. You do this in some places and it looks good that way.
...and provides a
crit buff
on the target you cast it on.
Under PW:S, missing a space after the colon.
Under DP, 30% of maximum health is significant and given it's zero mana cost, you might mention that it's almost literally a no-brainer at this point for 1 talent point that you have to figure out how to spend anyway.
Under Lightwell, the what-you-need-to-know section, reformat...
Everything You Need To Know About Lightwell
Right-click it to use it. Your cursor will turn into a cog if your mouse is over it as it would a seat.
Has 10 charges and can be
glyphed
to 15 charges.
The heal,
, scales with spell power. If you are using
for a fight, I suggest switching to
to cast Lightwell.
Can be clicked from up to 20 yards away.
Clicking it no longer de-selects your current target.
Clicking it does not trigger a GCD.
Cannot be re-clicked until your current
has worn off.
Same note with spells that trigger Chakra: Sanctuary. Put them in a consisten spot and consistent format. I suggest at the end of the paragraph as I wrote, above.
For Prayer of Mending, perhaps...
This is the one spell that, no matter what, whether you are raid-healing or tank-healing, you want to keep on cooldown all the time.
Triggers
Chakra: Sanctuary
(initial cast only - not subsequent bounces)
Under PoH, missing a period at the end of the paragraph.
Under Holy Nova, "...can eat your mana pretty quickly; however, it can be handy..." -- added semicolon.
Under Divine Hymn, you say "not able to be reduced by haste" (which is, itself, a correction to the phrasing and spelling of 'reducable'), but in the body you say "at 0 haste, this will tick 4 times". Which is it?
Change your back-to-top link to "Back To Top" without a period and using title case.
For each section heading, use title case. E.G. "Non-healing spells" -> "Non-Healing Spells".
Also, in my ToC change, I changed this to "Other Spells". That's obviously subject to your taste and agreement with mine.
Under Non-Healing Spells, capitalize the first word of the quasi-sentences after the dash following the spell link.
Under Leap of Faith, "(e.g. Fire, an add's cleave, etc.)" -- punctuation corrections.
Under Psychic Scream, link the word "glyph" to the glyph.
Under Shackle Undead, "there's" is incorrect. Use "There are two downsides..."
Cheers, however, for knowing that you separate items in a list introduced by a colon with a semicolon if items in that list contain commas.
Under Shadowfiend, change the \ block to \.
Add links to Hymn of Hope when you refer to it at the end.
"...mana pool increase from Hymn of Hope; so, if possible, you should cast..." -- added semicolon construction.
Under Inner Fire/Inner Will, "30 minute" used as a compound adjective should be hyphenated, and there should be a comma between the two adjectives -- "30-minute, self-buff that increases..."
Under Inner Will, probably should duplicate the mutually-exclusive comment in reverse.
Under Shadow Protection, the mana cost was changed, so that comment is obsolete.
Under Holy Talents, "...fact of the matter is there are 37 total points available..." -- changed "a" to "are".
Under Builds, same note about the first word in the quasi-sentences following the dash. Also check for missing periods throughout.
Under Empowered Healing/Divine Fury, remove the "duh". The tone of this guide is more or less serious until that
:)
.
Under Surge of Light, "can proc off of" -- added "of".
Add links for the heal spells you refer to.
"...Greater Heal; and, for the first time ever..." -- added semicolon construction.
Under Serendipity, you might consider adding a note about how that talent is the only thing that makes PoH's HPM exceed that of CoH.
Under Chakra, link to the buff version of the Chakra states.
"be using two of them in a raid: ..." -- changed "2" to "two" and "-" to ":".
After Guardian Spirit, you have two \ instead of one.
Under Twin Disciplines, maybe "how can you not take this" is better phrasing. I could easily go past it to tier two if there was something there I wanted
:)
.
Under Glyphs, again the note about capitals and periods.
Under Dispel Magic/Mass Dispel, "dispel-heavy" should be hyphenated. Needs correction in MD.
Under Glyphs, you still have the link to PoM glyph described as SoR glyph.
Post by
donnymurph
Wow, great formatting tips! I'm about to start work, will have a look at it more closely tonight. But anything to make it look more polished and professional is fine with me!
Post by
pelf
No problem. I like doing this stuff. I've annoyed several guide writers with pages of feedback.
One thing I noticed when I got home though. The CSS selector for the pre and code tags looks like this...
text pre.code {
-moz-border-radius: 6px 6px 6px 6px;
background-color: #141414;
border: 1px solid #101010;
color: #EEEEEE;
font-family: 'Bitstream Vera Sans Mono','Lucida Console','Courier New',Monaco,Courier,monospace;
line-height: normal;
margin: 2px 15px 15px;
overflow: auto;
padding: 10px;
white-space: pre-wrap !important;
}
I generally have Bitstream Vera Sans Mono installed everywhere, but at home I hadn't put it back in after my last format. Lucida Console is what it defaulted to next. This pointed out a rather glaring shortcoming of Lucida Console. It doesn't preserve its fixed width between bold and normal states of its characters. That means those well-layed-out spell blocks that have neat aligned values are actually not perfectly aligned if your code blocks are displaying using Lucida Console. I'm gonna make a report in Feedback about that, but I realize that might affect your choice for those blocks. Allow me to include a screenshot of what it looks like in BVSM, though. It's quite pretty.
http://i52.tinypic.com/2vn1kao.gif
Post by
donnymurph
Started doing some of the things you suggested, will have to stop now until tonight, my lunch break is over...
Post by
pelf
A bit busy at work since I had the time to do that first pass, but I'll get back on this as soon as I can.
One thing that I noticed, as an aside, is that "coefficient" is a word and doesn't require the prefix to be hyphenated like "co-efficient".
Glad you appreciate it. I have fun combing the desert like they did in Spaceballs.
EDIT
: Just made a big edit to the ToC suggestion. I realized that for anchors you can just say...
Link Text
...instead of specifying the whole URL. Saves a lot of characters and makes the BBCODE a lot easier to read.
Post by
donnymurph
After going through and making
most
of the changes you suggested, I then went through and proof-read the rest of it myself. Did things like adding capital letters and periods to all of the quasi-sentences, also picked up a few missing commas and semi-colons.
You seem to have more of an eye for it than I do though, so you may still find some errors.
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