[EN] Priest Holy 5.4.8 PvE Guide

[Daeron]

Table of Contents:


• Introduction
  
• Recommended Races
  
• Stat priority
  • Understanding the stats better
  
  
• Talents
  
• Rotation
  
• Enchants,Glyphs and Gems
  
• Usefull professions
  

Introduction

Holy is a different spec than discipline priests. This is obvious, but is important to remember. It is not necessarily better or worse, but different. I would relate holy priests closer to resto druids or resto shamans depending on the playstyle. They are a throughput healing class that can dish out big healing numbers once the raid has been damaged. It is a very different model than the preventative healing of the discipline spec.



Recommended Races
Alliance

Human

• Every Man for Himself - removes all movement impairing effects and all effects which cause loss of control of your character. This effect shares a cooldown with other similar effects.
  
• The Human Spirit – Increases Spirit by 3%.
  

Worgen

• Darkflight - increasing current movement speed by an additional 40% for 10 seconds.
  
• Viciousness - Increases Crit by 1%.

Draenei

• Gift of the Naaru - Heals the target for 20% of their total health over 15 seconds. 3 minute cooldown.

Pandaren

• Epicurean - Allows you to receive double the stats from Well Fed effects.

Horde

Blood Elf

• Arcane Torrent - Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds and restore 2% of your Mana. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 seconds.

Troll

• Berserking - Increases your melee, ranged, and spell haste by 20% for 10 seconds.

Goblin

• Time is Money - 1% increase to attack speed and spell haste.

Pandaren

• Epicurean - Allows you to receive double the stats from Well Fed effects.

Stat priority
Intellect -> Spirit -> Mastery -> Haste -> Critical Strike


Understanding the stats better

• Intellect is your primary stat. You should look for this stat in all of your upgrades. It provides you with Spell Power, which increases the power of your heals.
  
• Spirit increases your Mana regeneration. You should always aim to have items with Spirit. Once you are comfortable with your Mana regeneration, you can start prioritising other statistics.
  
• Mastery increases the amount of healing done by your Mastery: Echo of Light. This causes each one of your direct heals to place a HoT on the target, healing for a percentage of the initial heal over 6 seconds.
  
• Haste reduces our cast time, and increases the speed at which Heal over Time spells tick. With enough haste, you can add additional ticks.
  
• Heals when they crit, heal for an additional 100%. However, crits can be RNG and consistency can be important to a healer.For Holy, crit is generally the least sought after secondary stat.

Rotation


Healing as a Holy Priest, is for the most part, all about using the correct spells for the specific circumstances in which you find yourself, particularly with regard to how many raid members are taking damage, and how much damage they are taking.
Below, I will provide you with the best actions to take in each situation.

Single Target Healing

Change your Chakra stance to the single-target heal Chakra: Serenity. This state changes your Holy Word: Chastise spell into Holy Word: Serenity a single target healing spell. While in this Chakra state single-target healing spells will refresh Renew (keep in mind! while in this state Cascade will refresh your Renew duration).

• Chakra: Serenity for added throughput and access to Holy Word: Serenity
  
• Holy Word: Serenity on targets who need a moderate instant heal.
  
• Renew maintained via Chakra: Serenity on Main Tank Targets
  
• Prayer of Mending on targets who will be taking continual damage and will proc the first charge of Prayer of Mending
  
• Flash Heal for Emergency Single Target Heals
  
• Greater Heal provided minimal over healing.
  

Raid Healing.

Change your Chakra stance to the more multiple-target-friendly based state Chakra: Sanctuary. This state changes your Holy Word: Chastise spell into Holy Word: Sanctuary: a floor based multiple target healing spell.

Low Raid Wide Damage

• Circle of Healing on cooldown, provided 3+ targets are in need of healing and are in range of the target.
  
• Prayer of Mending on CD, provided it will be able to bounce to multiple targets
  
• Renew on targets who may need additional healing, particularly if you are in Chakra: Serenity
  
• Prayer of Healing on groups, if necessary, and if Prayer of Healing will heal 3+ targets with minimal overheal

Moderate Raid Wide Damage

• Circle of Healing when 5+ targets are in need of healing.
  
• Prayer of Mending on CD
  
• Renew targets who need additional healing (or if the damage is timed, pre-cast Renew on targets before damage starts)
  
• Holy Word: Sanctuary in an area where a large group of the raid will be standing (ideally without the need to move out of the area)
  
• Prayer of Healing on groups that need additional healing
  
• Divine Star/Halo/Cascade on demand.

High Raid Wide Damage

• Chakra: Sanctuary
  
• Circle of Healing on CD
  
• If damage is timed, pre-cast Renew on a number of targets before damage starts.
  
• Prayer of Healing on CD
  
• Holy Word: Sanctuary in an area where a large group of the raid will be standing (ideally without the need to move out of the area, and before damage starts)
  
• Divine Star/Halo/Cascade on demand.
  
• Divine Hymn

Talents


Tier 1 talents offer you a choice between 3 crowd-control abilities.

• Void Tendrils roots up to 5 enemies in place for up to 20 seconds. Killing the tendrils cancels the effects. The targets must be in the 8-yard proximity of the main target of the spell.
  
• Psyfiend spawns a friendly NPC that casts fears on nearby enemies.
  
• Dominate Mind takes control of an enemy player or NPC.
  

Tire 2 talents offer you a choice between 3 movement speed abilities.

• Angelic Feather when used it places a feather on the ground, if allies walk through it, they gain 80% increased movement speed for 6 seconds.
  
• Body and Soul its usability is more restricted than that of Angelic Feather (the target you want to give a boost to might already have Weakened Soul, or Leap of Faith might be on cooldown
  Phantasm is more of a PvP talent, with situational uses at best.
  

Tier 3 talents offer you a choice between 3 performance-enhancing abilities.

• From Darkness, Comes Light passively grants you a 15% chance, whenever you use Heal, Flash Heal, Binding Heal, or Greater Heal to cause your next Flash Heals to be instant cast and have no mana cost. You can have a maximum of 2 charges of this buff at one time. (recommended for 10 man)
  
• Mindbender is an improved version of Shadowfiend, which it replaces. The Mindbender has a lower cooldown, and provides you with more damage and mana regeneration. (recommended for 25 man)
  
• Power Word: Solace is a spell that replaces your Holy Fire. The differences are that Power Word: Solace does not cost mana, and instead regenerates 1% of maximum mana when cast. Power Word: Solace also heals a nearby injured raid member for the same amount of damage that it dealt to its target.
  

Tier 4 talents offer you a choice between 3 abilities that improve your survivability.

• Desperate Prayer is an instant-cast self-heal that heals you for 30% of your maximum health, with a 2-minute cooldown.
  
• Spectral Guise allows you to enter a pseudo-stealth state (you remain in combat), leaving behind an illusion of yourself. The effect lasts for 6 seconds, or until you receive 3 attacks.
  
• Angelic Bulwark is a passive ability that grants you a damage absorption shield, for 20% of your maximum health, each time you drop below 30% health. The effect has an internal cooldown of 90 seconds.

Tier 5 talents offer you a choice between 3 performance-enhancing abilities.

• Twist of Fate passively increases your damage and healing by 15% for 10 seconds, each time you damage or heal a target that is below 20% health.If the encounter you are progressing on is one where raid members are frequently on low health (intense raid damage, progression content, etc.), then Twist of Fate will shine.
  
• Power Infusion is a 2-minute cooldown that increases your spell casting speed by 20%, and reduces the mana cost of all your spells by 20%, for 20 seconds.
  
• Divine Insight grants you a 40% chance, whenever you cast Greater Heal or Prayer of Healing, that your next Prayer of Mending will not trigger a cooldown, and that it will automatically jump to all of its targets.

Tier 6 talents offer you a choice between 3 abilities that deal damage to and heal multiple targets.

• Cascade is a sort of "chain heal" or "chain lightning", depending on how you wish to use the spell. The initial bolt heals or deals damage to its first target, after which it splits in two, each bolt jumping to targets that are far away, until it eventually stops.
  Note: While in Chakra: Serenity Cascade refreshes the duration of Renew on all targets it hits.
  
• Divine Star resembles a yo-yo, in the sense that the ball of energy travels in a path away from you (in front of you), and after reaching a certain point (24 yards away), it returns. Both on the first, as well as on the second trip, it heals allies in its path, and damages enemies.If your raid is stacked loosely (ideally in a line, although we cannot quite see this happening very often), then Divine Star can shine.
  
• Halo causes an effect around you, which expands up to a 30-yard radius. Allies who are inside it are healed, while enemies are damaged. The highest amounts of healing/damage are received by the targets who are around the 25-yard mark.

Enchants,Glyphs and Gems

Enchants

• Shoulders - Greater Crane Wing Inscription
  
• Back - Enchant Cloak – Superior Intellect
  
• Chest - Enchant Chest – Glorious Stats
  
• Wrist - Enchant Bracer – Super Intellect
  
• Hands - Enchant Gloves – Superior Mastery
  
• Belt - Living Steel Belt Buckle
  
• Legs - Greater Pearlescent Spellthread
  
• Feet - Enchant Boots – Pandaren’s Step
  
• Weapon - Enchant Weapon – Jade Spirit
  
• Off-Hand Weapon - Enchant Off-Hand – Major Intellect

Glyphs

        Major Glyphs

• Glyph of Circle of Healing causes Circle of Healing to heal 1 additional target, at the expense of increasing its mana cost by 35%
  
• Glyph of Prayer of Mending increases the first heal of Prayer of Mending by 60%, but causes it to have one fewer charge.
  
• Glyph of Binding Heal causes your Binding Heal to heal a third target, but it increases its mana cost by 35%.

        Minor Glyphs

All Minor Glyphs are of purely cosmetic value, and they do not influence your gameplay at all.


Sockets

• Red: Brilliant Primordial Ruby / Artful Vermilion Onyx
  
• Yellow: Artful Vermilion Onyx
  
• Blue: Purified Imperial Amethyst

Usefull professions

Primary Professions:

• Leatherworking: Fur Lining (bracers), +500 intellect
  
• Engineering: Synapse Springs, 1920 intellect, 10s duration, 1m CD
  
• Enchanting: 2x Rings, 160 intellect
  
• Jewelcrafting: 2x Brilliant Serpent's Eye, 320 intellect
  
• Tailoring: Lightweave Embroidery, 2000 intellect, 15s duration, 1m CD
  
• Blacksmithing: 2x Sockets, 160 intellect
  
• Inscription: Secret Crane Wing Inscription, 520 intellect, 100 crit
  
• Alchemy: Mixology, 320 extra intellect

Secondary Professions

• Herbalism: Lifeblood, 1920 haste, 20s duration, 2m CD
  
• Skinning: Master of Anatomy, 320 crit
  
• Mining: Toughness, +480 stamina

Will add: Bis gear/Food buffs/Flask elexir/Usefull adons/Macros
This guide is not finished yet

[Evydence]

Learn from this, the real power
GG




If you gonna hit the king you're better kill the king

[Hattred]

The best guide @holy priest.

[Daeron]

Thanks for the nice feedback

[Ashcool]

It's quite nice indeed. Can't wait to see it finished with some tips on single target/raid healing and priority system.
Thumbs up!

Ashcool - TEMPORARY UNAVAILABLE - Please contact Denim.

[mihai011]

Thanks for this warlock guide , is great , i m gonna reroll!

[gRaphhh.]

Ashcool wrote:

It's quite nice indeed. Can't wait to see it finished with some tips on single target/raid healing and priority system. Thumbs up!

@Daeron ?

[Daeron]

@gRaphhh. Will finish it after 03.07, right now i have some exams.
Sorry for the delay

[Burebysta]

Please remember that the Forum is En Only (except the International Zone where there are dedicated zones for each language)

[gRaphhh.]

Daeron wrote:

@gRaphhh. Will finish it after 03.07, right now i have some exams. Sorry for the delay

LIARRRRR

[Daeron]

gRaphhh. wrote:

Daeron wrote: @gRaphhh. Will finish it after 03.07, right now i have some exams. Sorry for the delay LIARRRRR

Added Rotation!