Glyphs in 3.1–Which to use?

• Glyph of Exorcism — Increases damage done by Exorcism by 20%. (Old: Your Exorcism also interrupts spellcasting for 2 sec.)
• Glyph of Divinity  — Your Lay on Hands grants twice as much mana as normal and also grants you as much mana as it grants your target. (Old: Your Lay on Hands also grants you as much mana as it grants your target.)
• Glyph of Lay on Hands  — Reduces the cooldown of your Lay on Hands spell by 5 min.(Old: Increases the mana restored by your Lay on Hands spell by 20%)
• Glyph of Beacon of Light *new*  — Increases the duration of Beacon of Light by 30 sec.
• Glyph of Hammer of the Righteous *new*  — Your Hammer of the Righteous hits 1 additional target.
• Glyph of Divine Storm *new*  — Your Divine Storm now heals for an additional 15% of the damage it causes.
• Glyph of Shield of Righteousness *new*  — Reduces the mana cost of Shield of Righteousness by 1 to 6%.
• Glyph of Divine Plea *new*  — While Divine Plea is active, you take 3% reduced damage from all sources.
• Glyph of Holy Shock *new*  — Reduces the cooldown of Holy Shock by 1 sec.
• Glyph of Hand of Salvation *new*  — When you cast Hand of Salvation on yourself, it also reduces damage taken by 20%.

These are the new Pally glyphs & Changes to existing  coming in 3.1

The 3 holy pally glyphs I currenlty use…

Glyph of Flash of  Light – 5% crit on FoL

Glyph of Holy Light – 10% of heals go to players within 8 yrds

Glyph of Seal of Light – Increase healing by 5%

Now what to do with….

• Glyph of Divinity  — Your Lay on Hands grants twice as much mana as normal and also grants you as much mana as it grants your target. (Old: Your Lay on Hands also grants you as much mana as it grants your target.)
• Glyph of Lay on Hands  — Reduces the cooldown of your Lay on Hands spell by 5 min.(Old: Increases the mana restored by your Lay on Hands spell by 20%)
• Glyph of Beacon of Light *new*  — Increases the duration of Beacon of Light by 30 sec.
• Glyph of Divine Plea *new*  — While Divine Plea is active, you take 3% reduced damage from all sources.
• Glyph of Holy Shock *new*  — Reduces the cooldown of Holy Shock by 1 sec.

Glyph of Divinity and Lay on Hands are sweet, but I am not using a glyph spot for a spell that I only use 2-3 times a raid night.

Glyph of Beacon of Light is Ok, at best.  No real benefit other than i conserve a little mana per fight due to not recasting as often.  IMO not a big deal replenishment is OP right now and I never run out of mana.

Glyph of Divine Plea – interesting for Holy pally, but it suited for Tanks and ret, not for holy.

Glyph of Holy Shock – WINNER!!  Now I love this BUT does 1 sec out weigh the my current glyph setup? I dont know yet.  If i had to swap one out it would be glyph of Seal of Light.

Intel vs. SP

…the age old question.

There have been hundreds of post on this topic on www.elitistjerks.com . The conclusion is that intel is the way to go.  Contrary to my own thinking, intel on paper provides more benefits that just stacking SP.

(Copied from Elitist Jerks)

Intellect has received a HUGE boost with WotLK mechanics, and is now the best stat for Holy Paladins by far. Let me list what 100 Intellect gives you:

• 126.5 Intellect, with BoK and Divine Intellect
• 1897 Mana at the start of the fight
• 39.5mp5 from Divine Plea, if its used on CD.
• 21.3mp5 from Replenishment, with 90% uptime.
• 4.7mp5 from Arcane Torrent, if you are a Blood Elf.
• 25.3 Spell Power
• 0.759% Spell Crit

Now just because it has be theory crafted, does it mean you have to follow it? No, of course not.  I admittedly had a hard time accepting the fact, and have yet to re-gem.  I am still of the belief that mana is not an issue in Wrath.  I have yet to run out of mana in any fight.  I know that intel provide more than just mana, but I love stacking SP and crit more.

The main benefits of intel stacking is large mana pools and divine plea.  If you are looking to get major crit and SP from intel, look else where.  For these reason alone, I have stuck to my guns and just stacked SP and crit (which means my heals hit harder and I get mana back more often from illumination).  I dont care about 25K mana pools (my 20K is good enough for all Wrath content).  Also, I only NEED to use divine plea in 3 fights in Wrath (Patchwerk, Sarth 2D and 3D).  Everything else in the game is a joke on mana consumption. Replishment and illumination is good enough.

Conclusion: Play the way you want to play.  Although I go against commonly accepted theory crafting, doesn’t mean I dont know how to play my toon.  I just have a different play style.

Cheers…

Maly 25 man & Sarth 25 man

We downed both. YAY!!

Healers perspective…

Maly 25 man is the same as 10 man. Read my previous post

Sarth 2D – We went in with 7 healers and 3 tanks.

Sarth tank – Druid, healers: Holy pally (me) & Shammy

Drake tank – Warrior, healer: Druid & Shammy

Whelp/add tank – Pally, healer: Holy pally & druid off heal

Sarth healers: Pretty easy fight to heal except with 2 drake lands. This is where you will be proving your worth as a massive single target healer. There is a lot of spike damage when the 2^nd drake lands. You will need to be dropping HL bombs like no other. The only heals you should be casting are HL and holy shock for the procs.

Be aware of your surroundings (ie Flame Walls and fissures) and your MANA. You will be moving a lot to avoid flames, moving and healing not our strong suit, but here are some tips. When you have to move away from your tank, holy shock the tank and hope it procs. When you get back in position you will have a 1.5 sec HL bomb ready. You will be using your Divine Illumination and potting (if you don’t have sufficient replenishment buffers). If mana is an issue, use Seal of Wisdom and get in melee range of Sarth and you will have your mana back in no time, which brings up positioning.

I stand within melee range of Sarth; in the belly area (between front and rear legs). If you stand their, (1) you will not get breathed, (2) you will not get tail swiped, (3) if your tank positions him correctly you won’t have to move for a flame wall.

Good luck…

Malygos – 10 man healing

We just downed Malygos (10 man) last night.  What a rush, serious epic fight!!  Multiple phases, raid dmg,  flying drakes, etc. ….WOW!

We had 3 healers- Resto Druid, Coh Priest, and me (duh! holy pally #1, hehe)

Phase 1 – Tank was taking lot of spike dmg.  Druid and I were on the MT the entire time. CoH and druid’s HoT’s covering the raid.

Pally insights:  Keep seal of wisdom up. Hit box is rather large, auto attacks will generate mana for you.  MUST keep sacred shield and Beacon on the tank. You will be using Holy Shock alot, for some fast raid heals and proc.

Phase 2 - Cake! Stay in the arcane bubble = win, when you move to another bubble make sure Holy Shock is off CD, just in case you need a rapid heal. Thats it

Phase 3 – The fun begins…If you have never done the last boss in Oculus, you should. It is some what similar.  You are on a flying drake fighting the boss with the drake abilities.  All the drakes have every ability, so in case someone goes down (a healer) another can pick it up.  You only need 2 healers.  Healing on the drake is similar to a druid HoT system.

What to do (for healing) – Each healer was assigned a group. They will only heal their group.  Click on every party member and apply a “HoT” (#3 button, forgot the name) = 5 HoT’s. Then hit #4 button, this activates the AOE heal. Rinse and repeat.  Make sure you apply a HoT on every party member, not all 5 on one target.  What heals the target is the AOE heal.

Stay alive and win = epic loots

Trying 25 man tomorrow….

Im back…6 days to lvl 80….

Well I have been away for awhile since expansion….lvling, gearing up, raids, testing out specs/talents/rotations. I’m at a comfortable position right now and want to share my thought about Holy Pally healing in Wrath.

Wall-o-text incoming (this may be a part series)

First thing, Spec.

There have been numerous conversations/debates/arguments over “what’s the best spec for PVE?” The unanimous decision is a non-kings spec. By going 18 points in Ret, you get imp Might and 8% crit. You definitely need 51 points in holy and 18 in ret, which leaves 2 points left over. I put mine in imp concentration and aura mastery.

Check my spec: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-talents.xml?r=Nordrassil&n=Alphapally

(oh, btw I changed my name to Alphapally)

So who buffs kings? In 5 man heroics there is no need for kings. Tank already have 25-28K HP, so its no big deal. In our guild we have required Ret pallies to get Kings. They (ret spec.) has the most flexibility in their build to spec 5/5 Kings. I recommend that you do the same. This way there is no confusion on who has Kings. We typically run with 1 prot, 1 ret, 2 holy pallies in raid—all buffs covered. (Proc: Sanctuary, Ret: Kings, Holy: imp might & imp wisdom)

Second, Spell rotation.

There were a few new talents/skills introduced with Wrath. Ill talk about them and then how to use them…

Judgements—must have talent is Judgement of Pure (15% haste). I always start and encounter with judging light. Not only does it heal all party members on every hit, but you gain 15% haste for 1 min. With Sanctified Seals (ret tree), you gain 3% crit for 18 sec. Keep this buff if possible, if not then you must judge every 50-55 sec. to refresh 15% haste. Note: your judgement of light might be overridden by a ret pally, no worries because you still get the 15% haste which is the key.

Beacon of Light—It was shunned when we first heard of it, but now after using it, IT IS A LIFE SAVER. When raid is taking dmg pop Beacon on tank and heal the raid like there is no tomorrow and the tank’s HP bar will not go down. Note: Beacon does not take into account overheal, meaning if you land a monster 10K heal on a party member that only is missing 2K health, the beacon will on get the 2K. This is the concern and wish for Beacon to change.

Holy Shock—WOW what a change. This is probably the most drastic change and best change in Wrath. Instant cast with a 6 sec CD, plus on crit reduces your next FoL (flash of light) to instant or you HL (holy light) to 1.5 sec. I use this all the time trying to get the proc/crit. It is a great spell to use during raid dmg. Especially when you combine Divine Favor + Holy Shock = guaranteed crit = guaranteed Holy Shock proc. = WIN

Sacred Shield—I ALWAYS have this up on the tank.  It absorbs 500 + (75% of spell power) dmg every 6 secs.  During those 6 sec FoL crit is increased by 50%

Divine Plea—Another amazing spell. 25% mana return (scales with intel) in 15 sec, healing reduced by 20% for 15 sec.; 1 min CD. Who cares about the 20% healing debuff. I never go OOM any more. I pop this even when I’m at 70-75% mana.

Avenging Wrath- Now affects healing; increases your healing by 20%; 3 min CD. This is like having a trinket always with you. Try poping Divine Favor + Avenging Wrath + Holy Shock + Holy Light and see how much you heal for. I have healing one target for 30K within 2 secs. (Holy light crit of course). It’s like having a lay on hands every 3 min.

Third, Glyphs (patch 3.0.8)

Must have:

Glyph of Holy Light (major) – Your Holy Light grants 10% of its heal amount to up to 5 friendly targets within 20 yards of the initial target. (Up from 10 Yards)

Glyph of Flash of Light (major) – Your Flash of Light has an additional 5% critical strike chance. (Old – Your Flash of Light heals for 50% less initially, but also heals for 140% of its inital effect over 12 sec.)

Glyph of Seal of Light (major) – increase healing by 5%

——OR——-

Glyph of Seal of Wisdom (major) – reduce mana cost of all spells by 5%

Holy Pally Guide to Kael’thas

Kael’thas Holy Pally Guide

Prep—you WILL need all the consumables you can get—Brilliant Wizard Oil, golden fish sticks, Flask of Distilled Wisdom or Elixir of Draenic Wisdom/Adepts Elixir/Super Healing Elixir—not for the mana regen but anything to get +healing maxed. Mana regen is not an issue in this fight. There are multiple phases which allow you regain mana.

Phase 1 — Easiest of the entire fight. There is not time limit, so no need to rush. Just stay alive. No one should die. The hardest part of this phase is keeping the 2 warlock tanks alive. They will be taking massive amounts of damage—time to spam FoL

Phase 2—Weapon tanks are the easy heals, but AOE DPSers are a different story. The AOE is going to be insane to get those weapons down, so be prepared to keep a close eye on squishy clothies. PICK UP THE MACE (Comic Infuser)—you will NEED it. Once you get it equip it immediately.

Phase 3 — The phase 1 bosses resurrect from the dead. Now instead of fighting them one at a time, they all spawn and have to be fought at the same time. Very hectic!! But don’t lose your cool. This is where we wiped the most during this transition. Stay claim and keep your healing assignment alive. Do you job and other will do theirs. Keep an eye and ear open if healers go down or need help, you might need to shift over and help.

Phase 4 — KEEP THE MAIN TANK ALIVE!!! As well as the DPS of course. Once you reach 50%—-it is seriously a cake walk (watch the vid I posted, it’s from 50%-dead)

Main points:

1. Understand that it is going to be a wipe-fest. This is not an easy fight to grasp overnight and down in one night. It took a month or more (about 10 raid nights and 40-50 wipes). Prepare your raiders, but the reward is unparallel.
2. You have to trust your other healer. Stick to your assignments. There is A LOT going on in this fight, you need everyone to do their job.
3. STAY CALM and COMPOSSED. If you are clam it will spread to the raid members.

We Downed Kael’thas…woot

OMG!!! What an Epic fight!!  After a month of raiding 2 nights a week, Natural Selection (US-Nordrassil-Alliance) downed Kael!!!! We are the 2nd Alliance guild to kill Kael, right behind Upper Echeleon.

Screenshot on guild homepage

Check out the vid of our final moments….

Black Temple Raid…8/5

Downed first 3 bosses again (Najentus, Supremus, Shade).  Going for another stab at Teron today.

WWS Stats for the night….Alphamale (my pally)

Pally Healer perspective….

Najentus— All I can say is TONS of raid damage. Your are going to be spamming FoL the entire fight.  After the tidal shield is popped, hit Divine illumination (reduce mana cost by 50%) and start spamming HL to top everyone off.  Everyone in the raid is going to take 8,500 hp hit, so you need to top everyone off ASAP.  Second, do not go OOM!!  Pot every chance you get.

Supremus— STAY ALIVE….Avoid the “blue” ground fire and the erupting volcanoes.  Keep the MT and OT topped at ALL times, especially the OT (2nd highest HP in melee range).  If the OT does not have the 2nd highest HP at the time, supremus will one shot the next highest in melee range.  You can spam FoL; over heal is a requirement for this fight.  Don’t worry about going OOM because you get a break during the kitting phase to recover mana.

Shade— Easiest healing encounter, so far.  Its like healing a heroic.  Just stay out of the raining fire and you’ll be fine.

Stay tunned for Teron…..

WOTLK Holy Talents—-part 2

The Protection Tree—-

What can I say….it’s a utility tree. Blizz didn’t make any significant changes in this tree as they did in the Ret tree for Holy pallys.

Protection has some benefits—-

Kings, Improved BoP, Devo arua… I think that most of the pallys that are dipping in this tree are going to Improved Devo arua (3% increase in healing). But other than that there is nothing earth shattering. Kings a staple in any raid situation, but I think a lot of pally tanks are willing to spend 1 point to get kings. At least in our guild, when WOTLK comes out they are going to buffing kings if no other pally gets it. That’s all I can say about Prot tree.

There are MUCH more benefits for us in the Ret tree…5% crit and sheath of light HOT & increase healing from AP. In my opinion, those 2 talents are far more valuable than the talents in Prot.

WOTLK Judgements

Judgements. Well, the majority of the holy tree changes have been in Tier 9 (40-45 points). There are two talents that specifically focus on judgements; Enlightened Judgements and Judgements of the Pure.

Enlightened Judgements—increase the range of judgement spells by 10/20 yrds and increases hit by 2/4%

Judgements of the Pure—increases casting and melee haste by 2/4/6/8/10% for 30 sec.

Ok here is my beef with giving these, pointless, talents in the holy tree.

1) As healers, we are far away from melee range. Judgements/seals require a refresh ever 20-30 secs. The only way to refresh is to melee hit the target. How many times have you seen a holy pally go and melee? Hell I stay the heck out of melee range for number of reasons…aoe damage, cleave, line of sight of the entire raid, etc.

2) In order for this to be viable, the raid will need a Ret pally. Ret pallys can refresh all judgements/seal. Only in this case will it be justified for holys to apply the initial seal and leave the rest to the ret pally. In our current raid make up we don’t have a ret pally, so these talents would be a waste, but if you did they might of some benefit.

As it stands right now, I don’t see myself spending 8 talent points in judgements especially when there are many other more viable talent points in the Ret tree (see my post about Ret talents) or Prot tree.