Healing Priests and Raiding

Healing priests and
raiding
Kristof Delaere
A compendium derived from Elitist Jerks
Shaito
Aerie Peak
1 Healing Priests and Raiding
1.1 Cataclysm and Cataclysm prepatch notice
This guide will not be updated for the Cataclysm expansion or the patch introducing the new game
mechanics for Cataclysm. If a new guide is made available, this will be done in a new thread.
1.1 Introduction (3.3.5)

This compendium for healing priests has a long history. The original compendium (several versions)
has been written by Constantinus (Nidaba) with a total of 3 million (!) thread views. Starting around ToC,
Sinndir has done a very substantial rewrite. In addition, many posters in this forum have contributed to
this guide, sometimes supplying small tidbits, sometimes performing elaborate research. Starting after
patch 3.3.3, I have taken over to make necessary changes for ICC and to do maintenance until
Cataclysm hits. This is a huge legacy, and I surely feel the weight of it. As it turned out, I rewrote and
changed more things than I intended, often motivated by a lack of a full treatment of the discipline spec.
That said, you will still read original Nidaba and Sinndir prose in many places.
Audience
This compendium is primarily intended for discipline and holy priests playing in raids at or near the
current raiding tier. At the moment this is ICC with some treatment of ToGC. Many but not all things
written here will apply to lower tiers, too. In addition, not all details will apply to 10 man content.
How to use this Guide

This guide contains reference material and theorycrafting that you can use in isolation. It also contains
general guidance, tips, and personal preferences, too. Some of these are subjective by definition - there
isn't an absolute truth for everything.
Each section title in this guide contains a small note in braces to indicate to which version of the game
the text applies. When new patches hit, not all content can and will be verified at once, so you should
tread carefully when relying on information not labeled with the current patch version.
Random Terms Used

OO5SR : Outside Of 5 Second Rule
I5SR : Inside 5 Second Rule
PoM : Prayer of Mending
PoH : Prayer of Healing
CoH : Circle of Healing
BT: Borrowed Time (talent, Discipline tree)
HC: Holy Concentration (talent, Holy tree)
HpM: Healing per Mana, a measurement of efficiency
HpS: Healing per second, a measurement of throughput
RSTS: Random Secondary Targeting System
I. Spec (3.3.5)
Q: What spec(s) should I be as a healing priest?
A: Now that dual-spec is in place, there's no excuse to not have multiple specs available to you at the
push of a button. Depending on the needs of your raid this can be a dual disc/holy spec or a combination
of one of them with a shadow spec. When considering a shadow offspec, be aware that becoming a good
shadow priest is a serious investment of time, it's certainly one of the more difficult dps specs to play.
Cookie cutter builds for raid healing:

Discipline: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
Holy build for PoM/Renew/CoH style: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
Holy build with Serendipity: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
Note: If you don't use two holy builds, choose carefully. You may want to use a build using Renew
talents as well as Serendipity, then.
Tank healing build:

Discipline: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
Q: But my Discipline spec is different from yours!?

A: There are very very few "optional" talent points in the Discipline spec. First, you will have to go deep
enough in Holy to pick up Inspiration as every priest should. Secondly, you should love the bottom half
of your tree, and take basically every talent in there. The only real "options" are to swap around the
Spell Warding talents for 5/5 Divine Fury (if you really do use Greater Heal). If you wish, you can move
the Focused Will points over to Holy and end up gaining 2 points in Improved Healing, saving a bit of
mana on your Penance spell. It's not really worth it, but you can do it. You could also spec into Holy
Reach, if you use PoH and/or Holy Nova a lot.
Q: But my Holy spec is different from yours?!

A: There are lots of spots you can shuffle Holy to be more useful to you. If you never, ever, ever cast
Renew, then obviously points in Empowered & Improved Renew are useless to you. If you don't believe
you'll ever use PW:S in a raid setting, then don't spec into Body and Soul (although the personal-only
poison removal is hot for certain raid encounters). However, due to some of our lower holy tree choices
you end up taking a point or two in improved renew regardless. You could swap out B & S for Lightwell
and grab the lightwell glyph for 20% more healing on it. All in all, most of the holy talents are useful in
some regard, aside from blessed recovery.
I. a) Holy Talents (3.3.5)

Q: Should I spec Improved Renew and Empowered Renew?
A: My choice would be to always spec 1/3 Empowered Renew, as it gives Renew the ability to crit,
improving HC and inspiration uptime. 2/3 Improved Renew is also a given in most builds as you need to
spend 2 points somewhere to get to tier 5 and the Gheal talents aren't overly attractive to most priests.
Now, if you want to adopt the renew healing style, then of course 3/3 Improved Renew as well as 3/3
Empowered Renew are mandatory. In that case, you can steal points from talents related to flash heal,
such as Serendipity and Empowered Healing. Keep SoL, so you have instant free flash heals from your
PoM, Renew and CoH crits.
Q: What's the deal with Healing Focus?

A: Reducing pushback used to be a much bigger deal than it has been in WotLK due to the mechanics
changes. However, it's still relevant in a few places with heavy focused damage, and the pushback there
will have an impact on your performance, especially if you don't have an active Concentration Aura in the
raid. So when to use Healing Focus? Basically, watch for actual pushback to happen and steal a point or
two from Divine Fury if necessary.
Q: Should I take inspiration?

A: Yes. Everyone should have Inspiration. If you don't take it, you're being selfish, in the sense of caring
more about your own throughput or benefit than of the raid. Even if you are a 100% raid healer, you will
still be proccing Inspiration on targets that may end up being tanks, or in tank groups (in the case of
PoH). Note that Pw:S can proc Inspiration from the shield glyph, too. Proc'ing Inspiration means reducing
tank damage.
Q: How good is Holy Concentration?

A: As gear levels continue to rise (namely spirit/int), Holy Concentration gets stronger. It's nowhere near
as reliable, or as fun to use as it once was, but it's still there, and you should still spec into it. There's
some math on this at the end of the thread. Note that there may be an exception: If you haven't
adopted the renew healing style, but are instead using PoM, PoH, CoH, with flash heals almost only from
SoL procs, you may decide to invest your talent points somewhere else. If you are in doubt and really
want these talent points, check your WoL logs regarding HC uptime in the fights where mana matters to
you.
Q: Holy Reach - yes/no?

A: It's almost mandatory for holy priests to take a single talent point in Holy Reach. Keeping in mind the
spacing requirements in several fights in ICC, a second point is recommended so CoH actually hits 6
targets.
Q: Body and Soul - worth it, or not?

A: This really depends. The talent as such is amazing and has saved more than one raid. However, if you
always raid with a discipline priest who is tasked to bubble-spam the raid, you may find your targets to
be afflicted my weakened soul more often than not. Set up your raid frames to show weakened soul (if
you haven't already done so) to get a feel for this.
Q: Blessed Resilience vs. Test of Faith?

A: Math has Test of Faith being marginally better. 3% all of the time vs. 12% on 50%- targets seems
like a toss-up. The real answer was that most of the time in Ulduar, if you were healing someone, they
were below 50%. Most of the incidental damage was serious: 10-14k hits. Accordingly, Test of Faith
should resulted in more throughput, and especially so on people who really needed the heals. Things
have changed a bit since Ulduar, though. Watch your raid frames to get a feel for how often you heal
people at 50% or less. If that rarely happens, choose BR.
Q: What about removing certain GHeal talents for holy?

A: There are definitely justifications for losing Improved Healing and Empowered Healing if you don't cast
enough GHeal / FH to justify keeping them in a Holy build. It certainly opens up a lot of options for
getting full points into Test of Faith and Blessed Resilience, which scale heals at the end of the
computation, instead of simply off spellpower. The loss of Improved Healing is basically a no-brainer
assuming you don't cast many GHeals, check your overall logs on a weekly basis and if you are hardly
casting GHeal just don’t bother with Improved Healing.
Losing Empowered Healing is a tougher call, simply because it removes one of the best gear-stat-scaling
talents we have. However, comparing an extra 20% of your spellpower applied to FH to a possible 12%
extra *healing* and a guaranteed 3% extra healing to all of your spells balances out fairly quickly. There
is some math on this topic at the end of the post; feel free to check it out, and convince yourself.
Q: 1 or 2 points in Surge of Light?

A: Some people swear by 1, some by 2, but it is entirely up to you. There is math regarding SoL uptime
in the math section of this guide. My personal recommendation would be to start with 1/2, and change to
2/2 if SoL isn't available most of the time when you want it to.
I. b) Discipline Talents (3.3.5)

Q: What's with the bottom of the Discipline tree?
A: It's awesome, that's what. Tiers 7-11 are chock-full of awesome talents that are must-haves. If you
want to drop any talent from the bottom part of the tree, think long and hard before you do. Divine
Aegis, Grace, Pain Suppression, Aspiration, Rapture, Borrowed Time, and Penance are all must-haves.
You could argue for losing Renewed Hope, but it procs the raid-wide -dmg buff, so it's entirely not worth
it from any real perspective.
Basically, if you're spec'ing Disc, plan on filling out Tiers 8-11 completely, and then consider whether you
really want to drop points from Tier 7.
Q: But Aspiration seems so weak?

A: Sure it does, until you realize it reduces your Penance cooldown. Then it's amazing. Combine it with
the Glyph, and Penance becomes the primary focus of your rotation, instead of a long-ish cooldown.
Q: What are the must-have talents for a Discipline priest?

A: It's easier to explain what aren't must-haves. Unbreakable Will, Martyrdom, Silent Resolve, Imp Mana
Burn, and Reflective Shield. To a lesser extent (especially on a fight like Yogg-Saron), Absolution.
Reducing the mana cost of a spammable Dispel Magic or Abolish Disease actually helps a lot over a long
fight.
Q: Is Soul Warding good?

A: Absolutely, 100%, yes, yes, yes. GCD-based PW:S is the next best thing to sex(*). Get this talent,
and never let it go.
(*) My personal preferences say there are a few more things in between, but the talent is of course
mandatory.
Q: Should I take Improved Healing?

A: If you are mostly raid healing, Penance is the only spell to profit. The savings on Divine Hymn are
very good, but you only have one during a fight, and you should use Inner Focus for this to make it a
free cast. Greater Heal isn't really used by raid healers. Now, if you are tank healing, this might more
sense. In that situation, you will probably most of the time have Penance on cooldown, netting around
72 MP5 as well as 185 mana per Greater Heal cast. This is substantial, but only worth it if you do have
mana problems.
Q: What's with the stuff I heard about 1/2 grace instead of 2/2?
A: That was a discussion regarding tank healing. Basically 1/2 was intended to increase the likelihood of
the Grace stack to stay on your tank if you cast a flash heal to someone else. In my opinion this is now
obsolete since if you really heal tanks, you won't really throw flash heals towards other targets, you will
rather cast a shield, if only to keep BT for your next direct heal on the tank. So use 2/2. Regarding the
original discussion, if you're interested, there's more detail and math in the 3.1 discipline compendium.
II. Mana Regeneration (3.3.5)

Priests have multiple sources of mana regeneration:
 Spirit based mana regeneration

 Shadowfiend
 Replenishment
 Rapture (discipline priests only)
 Hymn of Hope
 Innervate, Totem
Spirit based mana regeneration is always active except for the first 5s after completing a cast that used
mana. Flash heals from SoL procs and casts using Inner Focus do not enter 5SR. This is the 5 second
rule, and the time outside of these 5s is called OO5SR. The time within 5s is called I5SR. The meditation
talent (mandatory) gives us 50% of the full spirit based mana regeneration in I5SR phase, too.
Though meditation was buffed to 50% in WotLK, spirit based mana regeneration overall has been
significantly nerfed since BC. The formula for mana per 5s in WotLK is:
They also changed our Holy Concentration talent (in deep Holy) before Ulduar to only work on spirit-
based regen. This forces holy priests to continue valuing spirit as a primary regeneration model, while
reducing its value significantly.
What this effectively means is that priest healing styles have changed. While we can still regen mana by
just standing around, OO5SR, it's significantly nerfed from previous levels. It takes full Ulduar gear
before your spirit climbs to high enough levels to justify aiming for OO5SR ticks. Of course, if you have a
break in the fight, by all means take advantage. It's just not going to net you the 10k mana it used to.
It also means that intellect is that much more important, since mana pool size and response to effects
like Replenishment, Mana Tide Totem, Shadowfiend, and Hymn of Hope are that much more important.
Also, given that priests will find it hard to stack spirit on every item without nerfing their other stats, you
will inevitably end up with more raid-buffed intellect than spirit.
Q: What's with spirit based mana regeneration for discipline priests?

A: Discipline priests rely on spirit much less than holy priests, as they don't have a spellpower gain from
spirit. They also don't have the Holy Concentation talent. Instead they have Rapture, which is int based.
If you have to choose between spirit and mp5 on an item, check with the math section.
Q: How do I take advantage of OO5SR regen?

A: If you are Discipline, you don't want to. Disc is all about sustained throughput, and using any free
GCDs you have to put extra PW:S on people likely to take damage. The preventive nature of discipline
healing basically means you are always active.
If you are Holy, it really comes down to "breaks". We can't cheat the 5SR the way we used to, chaining
IHC into Inner Focus into IHC again, and getting back 5k mana while casting 3 GHeals on our tank.
For discipline priests, trying to get OO5SR is even less desirable as you will run with very little spirit and
at the same have things to do even during lull phases of fight.
III. Mana Regeneration: Rapture (3.3.5)

Rapture is an important part of the mana regeneration for a discipline priest. What it does is return 2.5%
of your total mana each time one of your shields is fully absorbed.
The details are a bit more complex, though. Rapture can proc only once every 12s. However, if multiple
shields break at exactly the same time and Rapture is not on cooldown, Rapture will proc for most
(usually all) of the shields.
There are encounters where you can actively increase your chances for multiple procs. One popular
example is the Lich King encounter. Shields are the ideal way to counter the Infest ability, there.
However, it does make sense to not shield the tanks (except for emergencies, of course). If you shield
the tanks, chances are high Rapture is on internal cooldown when Infest pops the rest of your shields, so
you cannot profit from multiple rapture procs. Depending on gear, aura strength and raid type, you may
need to downrank your shields for Infest, though. In 10 man normal, Infest doesn't hit hard enough to
pop max rank shields from most priests.
Look for situations where you have predictable, significant raid damage on predictable targets within the
raid. These are situations where you can gain extra mana by shielding intelligently. Of course, if you
have absolutely no mana problems whatsoever, don't bother. If you do, additional return from multiple
procs is well worth shooting for.
Exceptions:
In Ulduar, at General Vezax, Rapture has been modified. The return on Rapture for yourself has been
significantly reduced but is still active. The possibility of multiple procs however has been disabled.
IV. Mana Regeneration: the Infamous Shadowfiend (3.3.5)

If you've played priest for long, you've learned to hate our stupid mana regen pets; but hey, it's all we
got! They're slow, they randomly attack the stupidest things, and they generally return a variable
amount of mana that is undependable. However, with 3.3 they were being changed to avoid 90% of
AoE damage in PvE but not in PvP. Combining Shadowfiend with Hymn of Hope is worthwhile if the fight
allows.
Q: How do I best use the shadowfiend?

A: By combining Shadowfiend and Hymn of Hope. If you are low enough in mana that you can be
confident that you will get at least one of the Hymn of Hope ticks (raising your maximum mana by 20%),
use Fiend, then swing directly into Hymn. The combination will net you a minimum of 53% (assuming
your fiend doesn't die), and likely more like 70% given the scaling on Hymn, Replenishment ticks while
you channel, the OO5SR nature of the end of the channel, and the fact that your fiend will be giving you
more than 5% per hit while the buff is up on you. It almost makes sense to aim to be below 25% mana
before you use your effects.
Another way to take advantage is to cast your fiend before a heroism/bloodlust (extra swings mean extra
mana), though this can sometimes be tough, and not all fights allow for it.
V. Downranking and Spell Coefficients (3.3.5)

The actual spell coefficients for max rank are listed in the math section under XII. b).
Q: Is downranking spells still viable?

A: Nope. Nonexistant. It's done. Dead. Finished. Kaput.
Blizzard changed mana costs of all downranked spells to be more than the maximum rank. There is no
reason whatsoever to use anything but max-rank of every spell you have. This helps slightly with bar
bloat, and hurts tremendously in our granularity of heals.
A notable exception for discipline priests is the Lich King encounter where you may want to downrank
your Pw:S so that Infest pops your shield for multiple mana returns. The best rank depends on your raid
buffed spell power and whether you run 10 or 25 man.
VI. Raiding as a Priest

VI.a) Raiding as Holy (3.3.5)
Q: What spells should I typically be using?
This is a tough question. Every fight is different. I'll try to give an idea of different roles, and how each
one uses our unique spells.
Tank Healing: don't try to be a tank healer unless you absolutely have to. Blizzard gutted holy priest
tank healing in 3.1, and it's a lost cause. Without IHC and the old Serendipity, we can't even hope to
keep up with paladins, no less shamans or druids. Just don't heal tanks. If you want to tank heal, you
can try to do this as discpline priest. Supplemental healing can be provided by tossing a renew on the
tank, PoM bouncing off of them and if you have nothing better to do with a Surge of Light proc, toss it
their way.
Raid Healing: Ulduar was all about BURST->lull->BURST. This is perfectly built for the new style of Holy
priest healing. Your primary four tools are: Prayer of Mending, Flash Heal, Circle of Healing, and Prayer
of Healing. Enter every burst phase with a 3-stack of Serendipity up, start with a hasted PoH, and then
CoH. Two FH, then a final PoH+CoH, and the raid damage should be topped up. Regen a bit, then restack
Serendipity and get ready for the next one.
This changed with ToC and ICC, though. There are now fewer cases where we really deal with severe
damage on the whole raid that is limited to phases only. This has led to many holy priests changing their
healing cycle to something like PoM, Renew, CoH, with a variable number of Renews depending on
cooldowns and haste. Flash heals are mostly cast off of SoL procs. If you are new to this healing style,
expect to invest some time to get good results. Blindly spamming Renew isn't going to be brilliant in
most cases. You instead need to have a good feeling for the overall situation to invest your GCDs in an
optimal way.
Choosing one of both healing styles is a matter of your healing composition, what the fight looks like and
what your raid ultimately wants. If you run heavy on druids but lack a disc priest, that could be a good
reason to still go the PoM, FH, CoH, PoH route. That said, it's pretty much an individual choice.
VI.b) Raiding as Discipline (3.3.5)

Contrary to early Ulduar opinions, discipline is not really a tank healing spec. Holy paladins are - by far -
the best for this. Not only that, shamans and druids are better at this now, too. This even applies when
you factor in all of the stuff a priest has to offer.
Let this sink in: you are not a tank healing spec.
Now that you are fully awake (and are possibly starting to protest), let's explain. Why? Well, some of the
benefits of a priest are available whether the priest heals the raid or the tank. To apply pain suppression,
you don't have to be the tank healer. To provide 3% absorb overall, you don't have to be the tank
healer. To provide emergency support, you can offer your shield and penance even if you are not the
tank healer. So, if we assume you can do all this as raid healer, too, there's little reason why you should
be healing the tank, as your sustained HPS is lower. We haven't even started talking about a paladin's
beacon.
That of course does not mean you cannot heal tanks. You can. And as long as tank damage isn't too
high, you will do well. But you are not particularly good at this, and you should to what you are
particularly good at, and that is raid healing py providing absorbtion.
There is an aspect of tank healing that you are very good at, though. I call this "tank healing support",
and it's described further below.
Raid Healing:
Discipline priests are a very strong raid healing spec today, mostly due to GCD-based PW:S. The easiest
way of raid healing is, well, easy: spam shields on the whole raid (giving targets actively taking damage
priority), keep PoM on cooldown, use Divine Hymn in a good moment. This is how many people do it, and
it works.
Read the section on Rapture, though.
Intelligent shield spamming
Instead of blindly spamming shields, you can do better by taking the overall situation into account.
Basically, you want to save people from danger, make use of the heal from your glyph, and finally reduce
the other healer's overheal.
Priorities:
1. Player actively taking damage and already being low on HP (to the rescue!)
2. Player with full HP and predictable heavy damage incoming (HP extender + overheal free)
3. Player actively taking damage but still comfortable HP (prioritize higher if you don't see heals
incoming on that target)
4. Player low on HP and no predictable damage incoming (some heal from glyph + give HoTs time)
5. Player with little HP loss and no predictable damage incoming (use that glyph)
6. Player with full HP and no predictable damage incoming (are you sure PoM is on cd?)
Of course, some of these priorities are debatable and dependent on the encounter, so do not treat them
as science. Just be aware that there is more to shield spamming than looking good on healing meters.
Fully featured raid healing
In 10 man, things differ a bit. First, you often won't have targets to shield. Second, priorities can be
different because you have less backup from other healers. If your holy paladin needs to run and the
tank takes serious damage, it's your job to pick up the slack. Penance, flash heals (maybe a new shield
by then) until the tank is safe. Do also note that for significant sustained damage on the raid, shielding
doesn't provide maximum HPS. If you can preshield because the damage is predictable, do that. But if
serious raid damage hits, a sequence of Pw:S, PoH, Pw:S, PoH may be preferable for burst HPS (don't
forget the PoH glyph in 10 man).
Tank Healing Support:

Especially in 25 man, tank damage can be extremely spiky. While holy paladins provide tremendous HPS,
a relatively fast Holy Light is agonizingly slow compared to an instant Power Word: shield that easily
delivers 10K of healing and absorb (or more). An instant shield, followed by a penance can very nicely
complement a paladin's healing. Most raid leaders will probably still assign you to shield spam the raid.
Just note that tank healing support is a role you fit very well, and if your raid struggles with tank deaths
at some point, this is where you just might be the solution.
Tank Healing:
As stated further above, you are not a primary tank healer. However, sometimes you will heal tanks, so
here' s how to do it. Note that the following doesn't match the technique from the previous guide, which
was intended to provide the most throughput.
Instead, I recommend to shoot for maximum burst HPS during spikes. Your two tools for quick burst HPS
are your shield and penance. Both have a cooldown regarding your tank. So in order to have them ready
during a damage spike, you have to reserve them for this. So, start healing your tank with PoM and flash
heal. If the tank is full, PoM on cooldown, and you have a GCD to spare, shield other raid members.
Flash spam your tank. Now if a damage spike hits, shield your tank, then penance and continue with
flash heal (Greater heal is an option if it's talented and you have BT up).
Get to know damage prevention abilities used by the tanking classes. It's no use wasting a valuable
penance cooldown if your warrior tank has just shield walled. Be sure to have pain suppression at hand
when you need it and get to know all boss abilities that maybe you're not aware of as raid healer. There
are timed or pre-announced abilities on most fights that you can address specifically, and where you
might invest a shield before the damage actually hits.
VI. c) Special Healing Assignments

In some encounters, there are healing tasks that require especial consideration. The following examples
are not meant as fully comprehensive instructions on how to deal with these situations. Instead, they are
intended to show how nonstandard healing situations require you to really think about what you are
doing.
The Lich King, handling Infest
Infest is an ability used by the Lich King that puts a debuff on all raid members that causes instant
damage as well as DoT damage on each target until that target is healed up to at least 90%. To
minimize the number of dot ticks, targets must be healed to 90% as quickly as possible instead of just
providing the maximum total healing on the raid.
Discipline priests: The best way to do this is to have as many people as possible shielded before Infest
hits as Infest will be immediately removed then. As a discipline priest, also consider section III. "Mana
Regeneration: Rapture" regarding the Infest ability, so that you maximize your mana return from rapture
there,
Holy priests: Do not use Renew as soon as Infest is up - remember the goal is to top people up to
remove the debuff, not just to provide a lot of healing. Make sure Infest is displayed in your raidframes,
and concentrate on people who didn't catch a shield. If you are running with a discipline priest, just top
these people up. If possible, have the disc priest shield whole groups instead of random people, so you
can land a precasted PoH on an unshielded group right after Infest hits. If you do not run with a disc
priest, coordinate with your other healers to make sure you don't end up just stabilizing the raid instead
of removing debuffs.
Valithria Dreamwalker
In this encounter, the goal is to heal a wounded dragon up to full, starting at 50%. The key is to heal her
as fast as possible as the speed with which add waves spawn increases as the fight progresses. In heroic
mode, she also takes regular damage.
Holy priests: One holy priest in the raid should carry the Glyph of Guardian Spirit, to increase overall
healing on the dragon. While you are not an optimal choice for healing the dragon, you can. If you are
assigned to do this, make sure your buff stack does not ever fall off. The fight is won in the last 1 or 2
minutes of the fight where all dragon healers are fully buffed up and yield incredible hps. This is where
you have to shine. Remember Renew is the best healing per execution time on single targets, so have it
up without clipping HoT ticks. If you need to move during that phase, use this moment to help out on the
raid with CoH.
Discipline priests: While you can use shields on Valithria in heroic mode, your single target throughput is
still subpar. In almost all healing compositions, your ideal role is to the heal the raid and tanks, not the
dragon. Help out by providing other healers with Power Infusion, do not take portals. Dispell frost bolts
from tanks only, diseases from everyone.
Anub'arak, phase III healing
This is a very special healing situation. You want to minimize the amount of healing done without any
raid member dying in order to reduce Anub's self healing. Whoever is assigned to heal tanks will spam
heal them mercilessly as the damage is severe. Raid members affected by Penetrating Cold (PC) will
require intense healing as long as PC is up. If you are assigned to do this, do not get sidetracked into
other things, especially when PC targets switch. As for healing the raid, if passive healing abilities don't
suffice in your raid, use very controlled healing. Do not use PoM, this heals for far too much on random
targets. Downranked AoE spells (CoH, Holy Nova, PoH) are good choices.
Saurfang - Hardmode: Mark of the Fallen Champion
If you are assigned to a mark target, do nothing else. Mark damage is intense - concentrate on
maximizing single target HPS. If you are a discipline priest, it may be worth it switching in more haste for
this fight.
At the time you get the second mark, advise the two players to move together that PoM is able to
bounce between them (if they are ranged still with a gap big enough to not get hit by the nova). This is
reported to work well in 10 man.
VII. Throughput, Efficiency and Regeneration

Healers need to consider several properties of stats when considering gear (and spell choice). There are
stats that just have one of these properties, and there are stats delivering on all three of them.
Throughput is a measure of how much healing you can provide in a period of time. A typical
measurement unit is HpS (hitpoints per second healed), or eHpS (effective hitpoints per second healed).
HpS is the raw healing, eHpS doesn't include overheal. A typical stat that only delivers throughput but
nothing else (*1) is spell haste.
Efficiency is a measure of much healing you can produce per mana. A typical measurement unit is HpM
(hitpoints healed per mana). Efficiency can be gained by a stat like spellpower that makes a heal larger
for the same amount of mana, or by talents, glyphs, or trinkets reducing the mana cost of spells.
Regeneration is a measure of how much mana you have available in a period of time. For practical
purposes, this includes the initial mana pool size, although the term regeneration doesn't really apply to
that. The measurement unit is Mp5 (Mana per 5s). A typical stat that increases regeneration is Mp5.
These properties are clearly different and cannot be aggregated to provide a single measurement of the
value of an item, talent or consumable. The reason is simple: if you never fully use up your mana in a
fight while casting exactly the spells you want to, then additional efficiency and regeneration have a
value of zero to you. If you have a longish as well as intense fight where your mana just doesn't suffice
with your current gear choice, additional throughput doesn't help (*2), as you will just be out of mana
faster.
There have been many attempts to provide a single measurement unit that integrates all of this, but the
one thing that remains is:
It's your sole responsibility to choose the amount of regeneration and efficiency that you
want or need.
Section "XI. Gearing Questions" contains information and advice to help you to do this, but remember
the choice is yours only.
(*1) Actually, this is not entirely true. Unless a fight has 100% of casting, haste increases the time spent
OO5SR, thus providing for more regen. However, this amount is tiny, as it only happens if a sequence of
casts that profits from haste is ended by phase of not casting of more than 5s.
(*2) It can be argued that haste always has a positive effect by delivering the heals faster to people in
need. For the sake of this comparison, we just ignore that.
VIII. Threat Mechanics and You (3.3.5)

With WotLK, the entire threat system was overhauled. Tanks were given many more abilities to hold
threat on multiple mobs, and Blessing of Salvation was completely removed from the game. Accordingly,
on 90%+ of encounters, threat will be a complete non-issue for you. On the encounters where it will
matter, you will be doing AE healing while mobs spawn at random spots in the room, so tanks can't
necessarily pick them up immediately. This, and only this, will be the situation where you have to care
about threat. And, thankfully, we have a nifty tool to deal with it (or two if you’re a night elf!):
Fade: Fade out, temporarily reducing all your threat. . Note that the threat lost from Fade is regained in
full once the 10 second duration finishes, and that you continue accruing threat while Fade is up. This
has been changed in WotLK to actually set you to zero threat for the duration of the buff. As such, it is
very useful, and should definitely be hotkeyed.
Prefading: If you expect to temporarily pull aggro, for example if you want to refresh a shield during a
pull, use fade before actually healing/shielding. Note that this is only recommended if you know a tank
will get solid threat within the next seconds.
IX. Consumables (content fixed, some restructuring coming)

Food:
 [Cuttlesteak]: only spirit food available.

 [Spiced Worm Burger], [Spicy Blue Nettlefish]: critical-strike rating
 [Imperial Manta Steak], [Very Burnt Worg]: haste rating
 [Mighty Rhino Dogs]: Mp5
 [Fish Feast], [Firecracker Salmon]: spellpower
Oil: Nerfed, no new oils available. With WotLK, Mana Oils are no longer available. RIP.
Flask: [Flask of Distilled Wisdom] is the best option, followed by [Flask of Pure Mojo] (for
regeneration). If all you want is throughput, [Flask of the Frost Wyrm] is your only real option.
Potions: [Runic Mana Potion] is the obvious 1-use consumable, while alchemists are spoiled with
[Crazy Alchemist's Potion]. If you want to elixir up instead of flasking, good choices include [Elixir of
Mighty Thoughts], [Elixir of Mighty Mageblood] or [Elixir of Spirit], or [Elixir of Draenic
Wisdom] for Guardian, and [Elixir of Deadly Strikes], [Guru's Elixir] or [Spellpower Elixir].
Note that in WotLK, you are now limited to one per combat cycle. What this means for healers is that we
get one Runic Mana per boss fight. Now, Runic is a fair bit of mana, but you only get one, so use it
wisely.
X. Useful Addons and User Layout (3.3.5)

Whether you like it simplistic or complex, there are a few things every WoW interface for a healer must
do:
 Show important debuffs on all raid members

 Show selected buffs on all raid members
 Show health and mana bars for all raid members
 Show aggro indicators on raid members
 Let you click-heal your two most important spells without selecting targets first
 Still leave you enough screen estate to see everything that goes on
Everything else is subject to taste and discussion. How and with which addons you do that is also entirely
up to you. But you need a UI with these properties, else you restrict your potential. The list of addons in
this guide is intended to give you some pointers, but that's it. The addon Grid is described in more detail.
Layout
Typical healer layout has some small variations, but is centered around the idea of having the complete
raid in front of you (currently 10-25 bars+tank targets), with easily observable health totals, and some
method of debuff curing.
If you're starting from scratch, the first thing you should do is:
 Replace your unit frames, for example: Pitbull, Xperl, Shadowed Unit Frames (SUF)
as the base-WoW unit frames are horrid. Set these up in a convenient spot on your screen, and make
sure you configure them fully to show health details and debuffs.
Second thing you should do is:
 Replace your raid frames: GRID, Pitbull, sRaidFrames, Xperl and tank targets: oRA2, Pitbull
and make sure you fully configure the setup to show debuffs and buffs easily. Aggro notification is
also a neat feature which can warn you of who will soon need heals.
From here, you can pick and choose which addons you'd like to use, starting with:
 Custom Bar Mod: Bartender4, etc. Something to let you organize, hide, and keybind all your
abilities. Setting up a hidden bar that contains your primary 10+ keybinds is a great way to free
up some real estate on-screen.
and adding some raid utility:
 Deadly Boss Mods, BigWigs: timers, boss warnings, aggro notifications, all sorts of handy
things.
and then add some personal organization:
 FuBar: extremely useful addon, with some amazing little plugins. Give it a try. One you should
definitely get is RegenFu.
Quartz: infinitely useful for /stopcasting (3.3.5 note: actually no longer that useful as we rarely
stopcast today)
MSBT: very useful as a visual tracker for healing and overheals, without having to watch a
combat log scrolling by.
Power Auras: great tool for showing custom buffs, procs, or debuffs that you get. They can
even be accompanied by a ding!
Clique: an absolute must for click-dispelling an/or healing and generally for interacting with
GRID in many useful and interesting ways.
Recount: Good for quick ingame wipe diagnostics (why exactly did player X die?). If you want
to see healing stats, use the RecountGuessedAbsorbs extension if you are playing disc.
If you're interested in UI design, swing by the User Interface and Addons forum and read some of the
threads there.
X. b) Setting up GRID to be useful as a Priest: (3.3.5)

When you to go to download GRID, be aware that many of its most useful parts come as addons to
GRID, and must be downloaded separately. A good list of sub-addons includes:
GRID
GridAlert
GridIndicatorSideIcons
GridManaBars
GridSideIndicators
GridStatusRaidDebuff (must have!)
Once you have all of these downloaded and installed, load into WoW. Now, first thing you want to do is
go GRID -> Frame -> Advanced -> and configure the Frame Width and Height. GRID refers to an
individual in the raid as a 'Frame', so this is essentially your unit bar inside the GRID space. Configure
this to a reasonable size.
Now that you have it to a good size, edit the name length by going GRID->Frame->CenterTextLength. I
have mine set to 20; your mileage may vary.
Now go GRID->Frame->CenterText and set it to display what you want (I have Name listed here). Then
go GRID->Frame->CenterText2 and set it to what you want (I have Health Deficit, AFK, Feign Death,
and Dead listed here). This gets your text bars setup.
Now for mana/energy/rage bars. GRID->Status->ManaBars->Side (Bottom), ->Hide Non-Mana Bars

(disable), and ensure ->Enable is clicked. This gives a nice blue/red/yellow bar at the bottom. You can
modify its height in ->ManaBars as well, if you choose to do so.
For debuff display, go GRID->Status->Auras-> and you can then ->Add New Debuff. I use this to display
things like ncinerate Flesh (Lord Jaxx), Penetrating Cold (Anub), and so on. Once you have set a debuff
here, go to GRID->Frame->Center Icon and enable the Debuff you just created to have it appear in the
center of the frame as a purty little icon.
GRID->Layout->Raid Layout is handy for setting it up as you'd like it. Notice that you can set default
raid layouts for each type of raid: Party, Raid, Heroic Raid, etc..
GRID->GridAlert is handy for setting it up so that one someone is debuffed with something you can
cleanse, it will go SPRONG (audio) and alert you to the issue.
Next, we need to make sure Clique can interact with GRID, so load up Clique, and choose "Options" at
the bottom. Make sure anything labelled "Grid" is clicked on. This will let you setup mouse-click macros
in Clique for dispelling, which is quite amazing, if I say so myself.
Finally, there are a couple of options you can mess with in GRID->Frame->(anything Corner) //
(anything Icon) which will let you setup small icons/lights that will light up on certain circumstances. I
use mine to show when people have aggro, when people have Renew ticking on them (from me), when
people are missing buffs, and so on. It's quite powerful, and is the *real* reason you want to use GRID
over any other raid frame.
From here, the sky is the limit. Configure!
Editor's note:
This section was written by Nidaba once, with no changes by Sinndir as he didn't use Grid+Clique. I do,
however, and use it basically in the same way as Nidaba suggested (though my Clique use is quite
different). All of this still works and is still recommended. I would like to highlight the importance of
addion raid debuffs. Having them shown in your Grid display is key for quick reactions.
Additional recommendations for use by discipline priests:

- configure Grid to display the debuff Weakened Soul
- configure Grid to click-shield (I use left mouse button to target, right to flash heal, ctrl+left button to
shield)
XI. Gearing Questions (holy section pending)

Holy and discipline priests have quite different needs regarding gear. However, one basic rule applies to
all healing priests:
Gear for regen until you no longer have mana issues, then gear for throughput.
Contrary to dps classes where you can find ideal items and stats, this generally isn't possible for healing
priest. It depends on your raid (composition, quality of dps), gear level, as well as healing style how
much mana you need in a given fight. As a result, we cannot give you definitive answers here, the choice
of how much mana you want is yours. There are, however, rules of thumb to give you a starting point.
How to look at Gear
When you are looking at a piece of gear, and asking yourself if it is an upgrade, there a number of
questions you need to ask. Firstly, how would you gem the piece? Always compare pieces to each other
fully gemmed (with or without socket bonuses depending on your gemming choices). If you are unsure
about how to gem, try two or three or four different combinations, and see which one seems to give the
best result.
In general, comparing gear isn't as difficult as it used to as itemization in WotLK has only very few
"special" items. With the exception of trinkets, all items of a gear level have very similar (if not identical)
amounts of stamina, int and spellpower. Then, two out of crit, haste, spirit, mp5 are added, so most
items fall into one of the following categories:
 Stamina, Int, Spellpower, MP5 + Crit or Haste

 Stamina, Int, Spellpower, Spirit + Crit or Haste
 Stamina, Int, Spellpower + Crit and Haste
As you can see, stacking int and spellpower is only possible using gemming, enchants, trinkets and
consumables. For MP5, spirit, crit and haste, we have far more options. This is what makes trinkets with
a healthy amount of spellpower so attractive.
Holy Priests
Rewrite in progress
Discipline Priests
Spellpower
With Power Word: Shield as our signature heal and the extremely high scaling with spellpower, it's
evident that our primary stat is spell power. This is the stat that you should stack.
Crit
Crit is nice for discipline priests, but if you are mostly spamming shields, the only things capable of
critting are your PoM and the glyph heal from the shield, with the bulk of your healing unaffected.
Discipline however has several talents affected by crit, so you still want to keep a healthy amount of crit.
Basically, you will be stacking crit as soon as you have reached the amount of haste that makes sense to
you (see below).
Haste
Regarding haste, you gain 6% from Enlightenment, and an additional 5% from Wrath of Air, plus 3%
from Swift Retribution/Moonkin Aura, leaving you with only 4.67% or 154 haste rating to gain from gear
to reach the hard GCD cap on PW:S (given Borrowed Time). This is why as a general rule you should aim
for 4.67% of haste (or 154 haste rating), but think about whether you need more. Obviously, if you don't
have all of the haste buffs, more haste makes sense until you hit the GcD cap.
The required values to reach the GcD while BT is active are (rounded up):
Buffs available Haste % required Haste rating required

5%+3% haste buff 4.676% 154
5% haste buff 7.817% 257
3% haste buff 9.910% 325
only BT and 6% from talent 13.208% 434
However, there's more to consider. If you are assigned to heal tanks on specific encounters or if you use
PoH to a significant amount (typically in 10 man, less so in 25 man), then more haste makes sense.
Read the thread On the Value of Haste for a full discussion of haste for healing priests.
Int vs. Mp5 vs. Spirit

If you want more regeneration, opt for efficiency/regen trinkets and/or socket int. Int is by far your best
stat to stack for regeneration. You can use spirit and mp5 items, but you will mostly use these because
they are less wanted by dps classes.
Rules of Thumb for Discipline Priests
 Pick up haste until you are haste capped for shield spam - see table above. You can make use of
more haste if you use PoH to a significant amount.
 Spellpower is the stat to stack for throughput and efficiency.
 If you need more mana, use regen trinkets, socket int if necessary.
 Quality MP5 gear is a bit better than spirit gear, but not by a lot. At around iLvl 264, spirit can
match and exceed MP5 , see "XII. c) Value of Intellect and Spirit".
 At high gear levels, you can get away without significant amounts of MP5 and spirit on gear.
Also, at high gear levels, spirit can match and exceed MP5.
XI. a) Gearing Levels for Icecrown (3.3.5)

Entering Icecrown Citadel isn't as hard as it used to. Today, you will most certainly have the majority of
players in your raid already decked in ICC loot, and then there's the aura, increasing all healing and
damage done by 10% at the time of this writing (will increase as time goes by). That's worth around 13
itemlevels for the whole raid. So, today, you may well get away with entry level ToC gear, where at
launch time you were well advised to have at least some ToGC loot.
That said, most raid leaders will expect you to properly enchant and gem your gear, at any equipment
level.
XI. b) Gemming
Q: Blue gems are much cheaper than the new(ish) epic gems?
A: Unless you like doing half-assed jobs splurge. Lets say you have 10 gems and you want to use haste
gems for all of them the difference is 160 haste or 200 haste, 40 haste rating is worth quite a bit (as is
40 crit, and so on). Of course, using blue gems is acceptable if you are a new priest running in blue
equipment. Starting with iLvl 226 equipment, you should really use epic gems.
Q: What should I be using for gems?

A: Choosing gems is the same as choosing any kind of gear. Keep in mind however, that gems are one of
the few places where you can really stack stats that are important to you. If you are a discipline priest
and you want to stack spell power, it doesn't make sense to socket haste, as you can choose haste over
crit in many places, but you can only stat spell power in gems, trinkets and buff food.
Raid buffed stats from gems for holy priests

Gem Spell power MP5 contribution Crit rating Haste rating
[Runed Cardinal Ruby] 23.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
[Sparkling Majestic Zircon] 5.8 13.6 0.0 0.0
[Brilliant King's Amber] 0.0 16.6 6.1 0.0
[Quick King's Amber] 0.0 0.0 0.0 20.0
[Smooth King's Amber] 0.0 0.0 20.0 0.0

[Royal Dreadstone] 12.0 5.0 0.0 0.0
[Purified Dreadstone] 14.9 6.8 0.0 0.0

[Reckless Ametrine] 12.0 0.0 0.0 10.0
[Luminous Ametrine] 12.0 8.3 3.0 0.0

[Seer's Eye of Zul] 2.9 15.1 3.0 0.0
(Conversions and assumptions from "XII. c) Value of Intellect and Spirit")
Raid buffed stats from gems for discipline priests

[Sparkling Majestic Zircon] 0.0 9.2 0.0 0.0
[Brilliant King's Amber] 0.0 19.7 6.7 0.0
[Quick King's Amber] 0.0 0.0 0.0 20.0
[Smooth King's Amber] 0.0 0.0 20.0 0.0

[Royal Dreadstone] 12.0 5.0 0.0 0.0
[Purified Dreadstone] 12.0 4.6 0.0 0.0

[Reckless Ametrine] 12.0 0.0 0.0 10.0
[Luminous Ametrine] 12.0 9.9 3.3 0.0

[Seer's Eye of Zul] 0.0 14.4 3.3 0.0
Considering socket bonuses
Red sockets will be populated by [Runed Cardinal Ruby] for all priests. Regarding yellow and blue
sockets, we can either choose to activate the socket bonus or just socket [Runed Cardinal Ruby].
Metagems may also require us to activate certain yellow and blue sockets.
There priests who use every socket bonus following the rationale that mana regeneration is always good
and they want to get the most stats from their socket. Many other priests socket for pure throughput
which may lead to disregarding socket bonuses. However, especially holy priests should be aware that
for some socket bonus it may not be intelligent to throw the socket bonus away. Let's look at a few
examples:
[Runed Cardinal Ruby] vs. [Purified Dreadstone] in for holy priests
Gem Socket bonus] Spell power MP5 contribution Crit rating Haste rating
[Purified Dreadstone] +4 Spell power 18.9 4.2 0.0 0.0
As you can see, a holy priest socketing 23 spell power in a blue socket with a bonus of +5 spell power
will only gain 3 spell power for the price of 4.2 mp5. This is a trade I would only make if the equipment is
otherwise already free from int gems and other mana stats.
Rule of thumb for Discipline priests
If you still want that quick answer regarding what to socket, here's a quick rule of thumb that will work,
but may not be optimal for you:
 red: [Runed Cardinal Ruby]

 yellow: [Runed Cardinal Ruby]
 blue: [Runed Cardinal Ruby]
Rule of thumb for Holy priests
If you still want that quick answer regarding what to socket, here's a quick rule of thumb. However, a
general rule cannot be given with the same level of confidence as for discipline priests. I highly suggest
you make your own decisions.
 red: [Runed Cardinal Ruby]
 yellow: [Reckless Ametrine]
 blue: [Purified Dreadstone]
Metagems (3.3.5)
[Insightful Earthsiege Diamond]: the most useful, and easiest to equip, metagem. A 45-second ICD
proc that restores 600 mana, and 21 intellect to gain crit and regen make this the best metagem overall.
[Ember Skyflare Diamond]: decent metagem, probably second choice to IED. The 2% intellect ends
up giving more int after you break 1155 intellect raid-buffed, which should happen unless you roam
around in blues. However, the proc on IED is worth a conservative 50 Mp5 that you do not get back from
ESD, making IED significantly stronger in the long run. You can use this one at very high gearing levels
to gain a bit of throughput if you can afford the mana loss, especially if you are a discipline priest.
[Revitalizing Skyflare Diamond]: interesting gem. The Mp5 isn't anywhere near as strong as IED or
even ESD, and the increased critical healing doesn't add that much throughput. Might be slightly superior
to BED or ESD for throughput, but if so, just barely. With holy priests spamming renews and discipline
priests spamming shields, this is exceedingly questionable.
[Bracing Earthsiege Diamond]: basically useless. The reduced threat is as useful as a solar-powered
flashlight. Use the ESD if you really want that spellpower.
Stat breakdown for IED and ESD metagem

[Insightful Earthsiege Diamond] (Holy) 0.0 84.1 6.4 0.0
[Ember Skyflare Diamond] (Holy) 25.0 31.6 11.5 0.0

[Insightful Earthsiege Diamond] (Disc) 0.0 87.4 7.0 0.0
[Ember Skyflare Diamond] (Disc) 25.0 39.5 13.3 0.0
XI. c) Trinkets (3.3.5)

The following table lists healing trinkets from current content as well as selected trinkets from lower
tiers. This includes trinkets that are still relatively good or that are easy to get entry level trinkets for
new priests.
How to use the table
 All mana gains are modeled into a separate MP5 column for disc and holy priests, so it's easy to
compare. Mana gains from int or spirit are computed using the raid buffed conversion values and
int/spirit baselines from this guide. You will gain less mp5 from int/spi trinkets if you gear is
below the int/spi baselines assumed.
 Throughput stats are not modeled into a single number, as this depends far too much on healing
style and encounter.
 The fight length assumed is: 5 minutes. On use or proc effects vary with the fight length. A
[Sliver of Pure Ice] will deliver far lower MP5 with 350s than with 260s.
 Some throughput trinket effects are not modeled, such as heal proc from [Althor's Abacus], so
examine the comments column, too.
 The table will always list heroic version where available.
 Some trinkets require more assumptions than others. [Solace of the Defeated] obviously isn't
8*18 MP5, if only for because it takes a at least 8 seconds until the stack is up. In some fights
the stack won't ever fall off, in some it will. My decision here was to just subtract a few MP5 and
give a tiny uptime advantage to disc. This is a case where I just used gut feeling. It's not worth
it poking into combat logs for hours to find out whether a trinket is insanely great or insanely
great + 4 MP5. So, when tanking numbers from this table, be aware that some trinket effects
will really vary in practice.
Holy Holy Disc Disc

Trinket Source Haste Crit CD Effect/Comment
MP5 SP MP5 SP
[Glowing Twilight T10 25 0 215 0 215 0 0 2min On use HoT effect on multiple
Scale] Man targets. Seems to work with all
healings spells incl. Pw:S glyph,
but not Emp. Renew.
Instant heal on proc, can
T10 25 critically hit and proc of HoTs.
[Althor's Abacus] 0 201 0 201 0 0 45s
Man Heal is larger than it says (so
spellpower or talents).
[Bauble of True T10 25 Instant heal on use. Don't use
86 0 86 0 0 0 2min
Blood] Man this trinket.
T10 10
[Sliver of Pure Ice] 92 178 92 178 0 0 2min Instant mana on use.
Man
[Purified Lunar T10
106 179 106 179 0 0 45s MP5 proc, 10% proc rate.
Dust] badges
[Solace of the
Defeated] & T9 25 Heroic and normal can be
138 168 140 168 0 0 0
[Solace of the Man equipped, regen stacks.
Fallen]
[Shiny Shard of Values are for 1 trinket and
the Scale], [Shiny T9 25 assume both are equipped.
48 125 48 125 0 0 0
Shard of the Man Healing proc does not scale with
Flame] spell power.
T8 10 Used to be BiS, still good for
[Spark of Hope] 236 29 256 0 0 0 0
Man regen.
[Talisman of T9
106 90 126 90 0 0 2min On use spellpower.
Resurgence] badges
[Tears of the
5 Man 128 0 141 0 0 0 45s Mana proc, 25% proc rate.
Vanquished]
World
[Je'Tze's Bell] 44 106 44 106 0 0 45s MP5 proc.
Drop
[Darkmoon Card:
Crafted 25 100 25 100 0 0 5min Mana on use
Illusion]
Good highend choices for holy:

tbd
Best highend choices for disc:

Geared discipline priests in progression content usually do not feel mana constrained. In that situation,
my choice would be to maximize spellpower, resulting in:
- [Glowing Twilight Scale] (item link currently shows normal version)
- [Althor's Abacus]
Best overall value is still a heroic [Solace of the Defeated]/[Solace of the Fallen]. Use this as
replacement if you want far more regen without sacrificing too much spell power.
Good trinkets for getting started:

- [Je'Tze's Bell] - very good entry level trinket for holy and disc, but still pretty expensive on most
realms.
- [Darkmoon Card: Illusion] - pretty close to [Je'Tze's Bell], but far cheaper on most realms.
- [Tears of the Vanquished] - easy to acquire (5 man normal) regen trinket
(old content follows, will be removed as soon as more relevant trinkets have been reevaluated)
25-man Raid Drops:
Tier 8
[Show of Faith]
[Scale of Fates]: interesting throughput trinket
[Pandora's Plea]: incredible regen trinket, but only take it above paladins if you are 100% Disc.
Tier 7
[Soul of the Dead]: incredible regen trinket
[Illustration of the Dragon Soul]: highest throughput trinket available, BiS for Discipline, although
arguably Eye of the Broodmother is more "balanced" if you can pick it up. Given that most priests passed
Illustration, it might be worth asking for Eye; it's our turn!
[Forethought Talisman]: highest possible spellpower, but useless proc; really not worth wearing
[Living Ice Crystals]: decent Disc trinket; weak for Holy
Tier 9
[Binding Light] & [Binding Stone]: Poor items for us, look for something else.
[Purified Shard of the Scale]: Not overly fantastic by itself (better for Pally/Shaman) but when
combined with…
[Purified Shard of the Flame]: Poor by itself but together you get a bonus 222 spell power and a proc
heal that heals for 2269 to 2773 direct healing. Overall not bad if you wear them together. *Note:
Healing proc does not scale with spellpower
Tier 8
[Meteorite Crystal]: godly +int trinket; amazing regen.
[Energy Siphon]: horrible for holy, decent for Disc
[Eye of the Broodmother]: really nice throughput trinket, if you can pry it out of the hands of the dps.
[Sif's Remembrance]
Tier 7
[Spirit-World Glass]: amazing trinket for Holy, meh for Disc.
[Majestic Dragon Figurine]: again, decent for Holy, meh for Disc.
[Embrace of the Spider]: don't even think about taking this trinket. If you want one, buy the badge
option.
Badge / World-drop / 5-man Drops:

[Nevermelting Ice Crystal]: Marked as a DPS trinket it gives spellpower and clicky crit. It is decent if
you don't have other alternatives.
[Ephemeral Snowflake]: A pseudo Spark of Hope giving mana back instead of taking mana off with a
clicky haste buff. Depending on GCD time this can be ~28 mp5 up to a maximum of 55 mp5.
[The Egg of Mortal Essence]: good trinket, although arguably not the best for priests. Definitely worth
getting if nothing else drops. Since badges are easy to get, grab one, and see how much you use the
haste proc. If you use it, this trinket beats Forethought. If you don't, it doesn't.
XI. d) Enchants (3.3.5)

Head: [Arcanum of Burning Mysteries]; available from Kirin Tor (revered)
or [Arcanum of Blissful Mending]: available from Wyrmrest Accord (revered)
Shoulders: Master's Inscription of the Crag - Spell - World of Warcraft and Master's Inscription of the
Storm - Spell - World of Warcraft are available for Scribes; they are the BiS options available. For non-
Scribes, there are [Greater Inscription of the Crag] and [Greater Inscription of the Storm]
available from the Sons of Hodir at Exalted reputation. At honored, there are [Lesser Inscription of
the Crag] and [Lesser Inscription of the Storm].
Cloak: [Formula: Enchant Cloak - Wisdom] or [Formula: Enchant Cloak - Haste]

or
Darkglow Embroidery (tailor only)
Chest: [Formula: Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats]
Bracers: [Formula: Enchant Bracer - Superior Spellpower] or [Scroll of Enchant Bracers -

Exceptional Intellect]
Gloves: [Scroll of Enchant Gloves - Exceptional Spellpower]
Pants: [Brilliant Spellthread] (Argent Crusade (exalted) : Recipe) or [Sapphire Spellthread] (Kirin
Tor (exalted): Recipe)
Boots: [Formula: Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality] or [Scroll of Enchant Boots - Greater
Spirit]
Editor's note: I highly recommend the runspeed enchant, use the spirit enchant only if you absolutely
need that mana (and a tiny bit of spellpower for holy).
Rings: Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower (enchanter-only)
Weapon: [Scroll of Enchant Weapon - Mighty Spellpower]. If you use a stave, use [Scroll of
Enchant Staff - Greater Spellpower].
XI. e) Glyphs (3.3.5)

Regarding glyphs, I invite you to view them - as Nidaba once suggested - as a consumable. If you see a
glyph that is situationally good for a fight, just keep a stack in your bags. There's no reason to view
glyphs as something that you only change every other patch.
The following is based on the premise that we have 3 major glyph slots and that we will fill these with
the must-have glyphs first.
Major Glyphs for Discipline
Glyph name Recommendation

[Glyph of Power Word: Shield] An absolute no brainer for any and all discipline priests. Get one.
[Glyph of Penance] A must have glyph, except if you are really only spamming shields.
Options for 3rd:
[Glyph of Prayer of Healing] Good if you do use PoH, more useful in 10 man than in 25 man
[Glyph of Flash Heal] A mana saver that is good only if you flash heal a lot
If you want to swap out a glyph for a special encounter, drop a glyph of your choice except for the shield
glyph. Regarding the penance glyph, don't forget you may be asked to - for example - heal marks at
Saurfang heroic, so even if you regularly only spam bubbles, keep a few of those penance glyphs in your
pocket.
Major Glyphs for Holy

[Glyph of Circle of
Healing 6 instead of 5 targets on a use-every-cd spell. A must have,
Healing]
Options for 2nd and

3rd slot:
This glyph is worth a discussion of its own - will be included in discussion of renew
[Glyph of Renew]
specs.
[Glyph of Guardian Useful to support the other healers. You don't do tank healing, so it's now a support
Spirit] glyph. Have one in the raid for the Dreamwalker encounter.
[Glyph of Hymn of Not sensational, but renew priests who don't believe in the renew glyph may not
Hope] find a better one
[Glyph of Flash A mana saver that is good only if you flash heal a lot. Note this is useless if you are
Heal] spamming renew and only cast flashs off of SoL procs.
[Glyph of Prayer of
Doesn't look exciting if you mostly use PoM, Renew, CoH.
Healing]
Interesting major glyphs that you may use for specific encounters

Still a nice glyph, but you need to get group composition and positioning right
[Glyph of Holy Nova]
to use holy nova, so it's really situational.
[Glyph of Dispel Magic] Very situational, was useful in a few places in Ulduar.
[Glyph of Inner Fire] Useful at ToGC faction champions due to the way threat works there.
[Glyph of Spirit of Given how many holy forms we see in raid videos, this may be a contender for
Redemption] 1st glyph slot for many priests.
Minor Glyphs for Discipline and Holy
Nothing sensational here, take what you like.

[Glyph of Was mandatory once, but no longer is. Some people will still prefer to keep the
Shadowfiend] glyph - just in case. As will I.
If you do use fade infight, this minor glyph at least has a tangible benefit. Saves a
[Glyph of Fading]
bit of mana in fights with spawning add waves.
XI. f) Set bonus discussion (3.3.5)

T9 2-Piece: Increases the healing done by your Prayer of Mending spell by 20%
Evaluation:
There is a case to be made for keeping pieces to have this bonus on hand for fights where PoM does a lot
of healing. This is especially true if you have access to ilvl 258 T9 pieces, but haven't acquired heroic T10
yet. The bonus is better for holy priests than disc priests due to the already stronger PoM and 7 second
cooldown.
Note that the benefit in practice will vary a lot, depending on how much you already overheal with PoM.
If your PoM usage shows 35% overheal in a fight, it's pretty obvious you won't see a PoM increase of
20% by using the T9 bonus.
T9 4-Piece: Increases the shield from your Divine Aegis and the instant healing from your Empowered
Renew by 10%.
Evaluation:
A 10% increase of a small portion of your effective healing isn't a big improvement. Check with your own
logs to see how much DA (careful with WoL weirdness regarding DA after 3.3.5) and Empowered Renew
heal, multiply with 0.1, and that's your bonus. If at all, disc priests with a very low quota of flash heal
might be interested in keeping 4pc T9 for a while.
T10 2-Piece: Your Flash Heal has a 33% chance to cause the target to heal for 33% of the healed
amount over 9 sec.
Explanation:
This set bonus' strength is dependent on the fact the HoT stacks/rolls (like blessed recovery/deep
wounds) or re-writes itself. The HoT will heal for around 1650 health (assuming ticks at 3/6/9 seconds
they will be ~550 health while crits bump it to 825 health per tick and 2500ish total). Recently we have
had a forum member (Feebis) share that the HoT is a rolling one as seen in this post. You can see based
on the parses that the heal over time portion is unpredictable however it is apparently affected by
talents. The HoT will not tick if it gets refreshed before the 3/6/9 second marks but will get larger (Feebis
had a 6700 tick in his log he posted).
Evaluation (discipline priests):

For discipline, this bonus will often be fully useless in 25 man, as current parses from heroic content
show disc priests to be mostly shield spamming. Where there's no flash heal, there's no bonus. For
discipline priests doing serious tank healing as well as raid healers with a significant flash heal
percentage, this may be different.
Evaluation (holy priests):

A review of several current BQL and Putricide 25 man heroic parses shows an effective heal of between
1% and 2%. This is from parses with around 30% flash heal. Not a great bonus, but certainly better than
T9 4pc.
T10 4-Piece: Increases the effect of Power Word: Shield by 5% and Circle of Healing by 10%.
Explanation:
Starting with patch 3.3.5, this bonus has changed from a very awkward mechanic to something simple
and reasonable.
Evaluation (discipline priests):

Reliable 5% more absorption from our primary spell is serious. Considering Pw:S reaches 80% of total
effective healing for some priests, for example on Lich King heroic, this can be up to 4% of total effective
healing. This will - in combination with the increased stats - usually be worth dropping 2pc T9. If shields
make up less than half of your healing, you might come to a different conclusion, though.
Note the tooltip suggests that the 4pc bonus also increases glyph healing. Testing (see Discipline Healing
Compendium v3.1) indicates that the glyph heal isn't affected, though.
Evaluation (holy priests):

Reliable 10% more healing from our use-on-cd spell is a reasonable bonus. That said, assuming a
ballpark number of 25% contribution of CoH to overall healing, the bonus is 2,5% at best, and that
assumes no overhealing. In reality, we'll be looking at less than 2% more effective healing.
Regarding both discipline and holy priests, it's important to note that the 4pc T10 bonus adds reliable
throughput to every relevant phase of a fight. 2pc T9 can be very good statistically, but it can also get
stuck temporarily on a recently shielded target. So it may contribute significantly less where you need it
most - if you happen to have bad luck.
Comparison of T10 set vs. nonset pieces at ilvl 277

(supplied by tasha)
Using [Runed Cardinal Ruby], [Reckless Ametrine], [Purified Dreadstone]. Not counting Spiritual
Guidance and buffs.
- Head:
[Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Hood]
[Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Cowl], -106 spi, +98 haste, +8 crit
[Corp'rethar Ceremonial Crown], -2 spi, -8 crit, +10 haste
- Chest:
[Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Robe]
[Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Raiments], -114 spi, +114 haste
[Sanguine Silk Robes], -114 crit, +98 haste, +8 spi, +5 sp
- Gloves:
[Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Gloves]
[San'layn Ritualist Gloves], -16 spi, +18 haste, +4 sp
- Shoulders:
[Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Shoulderpads]
[Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Mantle], -90 spi, +8 crit, +82 haste
- Legs:
Only [Sanctified Crimson Acolyte Leggings]
Let's say you want to skip T10 entirely and minimize spirit, you'll get a total of
-326 spi, +312 haste, +16 crit, +4 sp.
Overall Conclusion
Discipline priests can (at ilvl 277) gain around 300 haste and a bit of crit at the cost of both 2 and 4pc
T10 bonus and regen. This is fully irrelevant for shield spamming due to BT. So, for shield spam, the
choice is clear: get T10 4pc. For discipline priests doing serious tank healing, getting the haste setup
may be worthwhile to maximize single target throughput. However, almost all challenging tank healing is
done by holy paladins today, so this is really a niche that you could address by using two sets.
Holy priests also lose around 90 spellpower (due do spiritual guidance, factoring in kings), making the
trade less desirable. At the same time, losing around 360 spirit raidbuffed is regen that many holy priests
will start to notice. My personal choice would be 4pc T10 for holy, but make your own based on this data
and your mana situation.
XI. g) Best-in-Slot List for holy and disc (3.3.5)

I have removed the BiS list because it is outdated and people repeatedly fail to realize it's outdated
although it was clearly marked as such. In red color.
There are currently no plans to supply BiS lists for holy and disc. There are reasons:
 BiS lists will be mostly populated by ilvl 277 items, and players with access to a full set of ilvl
277 items typically do not need BiS lists.
 A BiS list as such does not exist, because every player has his/her own tradeoff between
throughput and regen. Thus, choices will be made on a per item basis. Use the tool Rawr to find
the best item for a given slot based on your preferences and your equipment. It doesn't make
sense to optimize for items you may never lay your hands on.
For those of you who are desperate for a BiS list, Frmercury has kindly compiled a proposal for disc and
holy: http://elitistjerks.com/f77/t97934-w...d/#post1619613 . Do also read his comments regarding the
holy BiS, however! There just isn't a general BiS. If the holy BiS list doesn't work for you, the blame is
yours, not his.
Note: the linked BiS lists do not yet include Ruby Sanctum loot.
XII. Math
There are many things about Discipline and Holy healing that take math to model. The more interesting
ones will be summarized here.
XII. a) Power Word: Shield formula (3.3.5)

3.3.5 testing shows the shield formula (outside of arenas and battlegrounds) to currently be:
Total Absorb = (base absorb+(0.8068+BT)*SP)*(1+ImpS)*(1+FP+TD)*(1+ICC Aura)

Glyph Heal = (base absorb+(0.8068+BT)*SP)*(1+ImpS+FP)*(1+TD)*0.2*(1+ICC Aura)
Notes
1. No systematic testing of all possible talent combinations and with several levels of spellpower has
been done. It is possible that the exact formula as implemented by Blizzard is still slightly different. The
results are, however, extremely close with all scenarios tested.
2. The absorb formula isn't exactly the same as the glyph heal formula. The difference is relatively small,
so you can use the absorb formula for the glyph heal, too. The computed glyph heal will be a bit too
high, then.
3. Currently, as of 2010-05-07, the ICC Aura is always active regarding the absorb formula (even outside
of ICC). The glyph heal formula isn't affected, however. Arena and battleground not tested. As the aura
continues to increase in strength, expect this bug to be fixed. Even now, 15% additional absorb
everywhere is huge. Additional testing has indicated that this effect may not be active between a realm
restart and the first time you enter ICC.
Example calculation with 4000 spellpower:
Total Absorb = (base absorb+(0.8068+BT)*SP)*(1+ImpS)*(1+FP+TD)*(1+ICC Aura)

Total Absorb = (2230+(0.8068+0.4)*4000)*(1.15)*(1.09)*(1.15)
Total Absorb = 10173 (8846 without 15% aura effect)
XII. b) Coefficients for Spells

With WotLK we get the following formulas to determine the gain our spells receive from spell power.
Please note that all cast time are the BASE cast time, that is, not taking talents or haste into
account:
Spell group Formula

Direct Heal Spells: C = (Cast Time / 3.5) * 1.88
Heal over time Spells: C = (Duration / 15) * 1.88
Channeled (only Divine Hymn): Ctotal = (Duration / 3.5) * 1.88
AoE healing spells: C = (Cast Time / 7) * 1.88
Instant AoE (CoH, Holy Nova): C = (1.5 / 7) * 1.88 (non hasted GCD as Cast Time)
The table below lists the spell power coefficients for important spells.
Column "SP talents":

The column "SP talents" only factors in talents that increase the effect of spell power on the spell.
Column "Full gains":

The column "full gains" includes the effects from talents and glyphs that increase the healing of spell.
This column is useful if you are asking the question "If I put in X spellpower, by how much more will this
spell heal"? When using this information, keep in mind that the results can still vary, for example
because you may have Grace or other +healing effects on the target.
Spell name Benefit Disc(SP talents) Disc(full gains) Holy(SP talents) Holy(full gains)
Binding Heal 80.70% 80.70% 83.93% 96.84% 117,18%
Desperate Prayer 80.07% 80.70% 88.12% 80.70% 93,21%
Flash Heal 80.70% 80.70% 83.93% 96.84% 106,52%
Greater Heal 161.11% 161.11% 167.55% 225.55% 248,11%
Holy Nova 40.29% 40.29% 44.00% 40.29% 51.19%
Power Word: Shield 80.70% 112.80% 181.46% 80.70% 88,77%
Prayer of Healing 52.60% 52.60% 65.64% 52.60% 76.38%
Prayer of Mending 80.70% 80.70% 88.12% 80.70% 102.53%
Renew 188.00% 188.00% 236.09% 216.20% 330.24%
Circle of Healing 40.29% n.a. n.a. 40.29% 61,43%
Penance 35.80% 35.80% 37.23% n.a. n.a.
Holy talents and glyphs factored into "full gains":
 Twin Disciplines
 Improved Renew
 Spiritual Healing
 Empowered Healing
 Empowered Renew
 Divine Providence
 PoH glyph
 CoH glyph (sixth target factored in, beware if you compute per-target heal based on this
coefficient)
Discipline talents and glyphs factored into "full gains":
 Twin Disciplines
 Improved Renew (!)
 Improved PW:S
 Focused Power
 Borrowed time
 PW:S glyph
 PoH glyph
Notable talents and glyphs not factored into "full gains":
 Blessed Resilience (multiply with 1.03)

 Test of Faith (increased effect on targets below 50%)
 T9/T10 set bonuses
XII. c) Value of Intellect and Spirit

One of the big questions many priests ask is "how much spirit / intellect should I have", with the
secondary question "where is the point at which it makes sense to stop stacking one and start stacking
the other". As mentioned above, each gives some side benefits that must be considered.
First, realize that regardless of Discipline or Holy, every point of spirit is effectively equal to 1.155 spirit,
thanks to 5% from Enlightenment / SoR and 10% from Blessing of Kings. Disc gains an additional 0.011
spirit for every point from Enlightenment. Similarly, for a Holy priest, every point of Intellect is equal to
1.1, while for Discipline, each point is equal to 1.265, thanks to Mental Strength and Blessing of Kings.
Humans gain another 3% of spirit as racial bonus.
The following sections analyze how much MP5 discipline and holy priests gain from each point of
intelligence and spirit. Note that the numbers depend on quite a number of assumptions.
Assumptions:
 Baseline Holy: 1900 Int, 1400 Spi (used as fully buffed and talented values for all computations)
 Baseline Disc: 2000 Int, 1200 Spi (used as fully buffed and talented values for all computations)
 Fight length: 5 minutes
 Average hits per shadowfiend: 11
 Time OO5SR Disc: 5%
 Time OO5SR Holy: 8%
 Holy Concentration Uptime: 50%
 Rapture procs: every 15s (average assuming fights with no potential for simultaneous procs)
Column "MP5":
The column "MP5" factors in the above assumptions, but no impact from stat scaling talents and buffs.
Uses the given baselines for holy and disc.
Column "Full gains":

The column "full gains" includes the effects from talents and raid buffs that scale with int and/or spirit.
This column is useful if you are asking the question "If I put in X int or spirit, by how much more MP5 will
I gain"?
Note that since the same baselines for int and spirit are used for both columns, you cannot use this table
to answer the question "How much MP5 do I gain from talents and buffs?"
Ability Stat MP5 Holy Full gains MP5 Disc Full gains
Replenishment Int 0.1500 0.1650 0.1500 0.1898
Mana pool size Int 0.2500 0.2750 0.2500 0.3163
Shadowfiend Int 0.1375 0.1513 0.1375 0.1739
Meditation Int 0.1235 0.1375 0.1066 0.1348
Meditation Spi 0.3354 0.3873 0.3553 0.4143
OO5SR Int 0.0215 0.0236 0.0112 0.0142
OO5SR Spi 0.0583 0.0674 0.0374 0.0436
Holy Concentration Int 0.0725 0.0798 - -
Holy Concentration Spi 0.1968 0.2273 - -
Rapture Int - - 0.1250 0.1581

Total Int 0.7550 0.8305 0.7803 0.9871
Total Spi 0.5905 0.6820 0.3927 0.4579

Total for Humans Spi 0.5905 0.7025 0.3927 0.4716
Effect of crit from int
Each point of int gives us a tiny bit of crit, which in turn increases the uptime of Holy Concentration for
holy priests. The preceding guide had the effect of this at 0.08 MP5 at Ulduar gearing levels. This is,
however, very hard to model correctly and much depends on your healing style. If you look closely at the
results, you can see that the exact value of this effect won't change your decision making - it just makes
int a bit more desirable for holy priests.
Spirit vs. Int for Holy priests
The preceding versions of this guide did have one unfortunate error in the int vs. spirit calculations. It
treated the effect from int on Holy Concentration via int giving crit in detail. However, it did not include
the baseline effect from HC, which made a real difference regarding the end result. In combination with
todays gearing levels, and the nerf to replenishment, we may come a different gearing conclusion.
The new end result still says that regarding regen, int is better than spirit for holy priests,
Ability Stat MP5 for Holy, raid buffed

Total Int 0.8305
Total Spi 0.6820

Total for Humans Spi 0.7025
So, for a human holy priest, int still gives us 18% more regen than spirit (depending on scenario, also
Hymn of Hope not included, which favors int a bit). However, we also gain spellpower from spirit due to
Spiritual Guidance. Given a choice between the same amount of int and spirit, we trade 18% of regen (a
bit more if not human) for spellpower from spirit.
Rule of thumb (again, only for holy priests):

If at ICC gearing levels you have the option to replace int by the same amount of spirit somewhere, my
recommendation would be to do so. This will usually mean gems, as we don't have highlevel spirit
trinkets.
Spirit vs. MP5

Due to Spiritual Guidance, spirit is clearly far better than MP5 for holy priests. No news here.
However, contrary to common beliefs, MP5 is no longer clearly better than spirit for discipline priests. If
you look at the end results, discipline priests gain around 0.45 MP5 from 1 point of spirit in the given
scenario. Since itemization lets you usually choose between 2 spirit and 1 mp5, 2 spirit gives you around
0.9 MP5.
Now, according to this, MP5 is still around 10% better than spirit (around 5% for humans). However, this
result is highly sensitive to the int baseline and the assumed times OO5SR. Here are some examples how
this can affect results:
Time OO5SR changed from 5% to 10% for disc: 1 spi -> 0,4941 mp5 for human disc priests
Int baseline changed from 2000 to 2200 for disc: 1 spi -> 0,4946 mp5 for human disc priests
Rule of thumb:
Don't lose any sleep over choosing MP5 vs. spirit. If you are at around ilvl 264, choose spirit over MP5,
given the choice. At sub-264 levels, use MP5 if given the choice. If you want to use the item for a
shadow or holy secondary spec, always use spirit.
XII. d) Surge of Light & Inspiration Proc Chance

The following is math by Sinndir that should still apply as-is. There is, however, additional
material on this in the old compendium thread, for example by Tedv.
I'd like to share is the chance to get a Surge of Light proc with all of our multi-targetted spells. All you
have to do is include your own crit percentage and from the base formula you can determine how much
crit chance you want; or perhaps just for your own curiosity sake. Largely I want this to dispel common
myths that some priests say "I get a Surge of Light proc everytime I press my CoH button"; because no,
you really don't. Note: the penance example is the chance to get an inspiration proc per penance cast.
First the formula and what it means
Proc = 1 - (1 - C/2)^n. - This is for 2/2 Surge of Light

Proc = 1 - (1 - C/4)^n. - This is for 1/2 Surge of Light
Proc = Chance of SoL proc

C = Crit Percentage (where 1.0 = 100%)
n = number of chances to proc (n = 2 for Binding Heal, n = 5 for CoH, n = 6 for glyphed COH, PoH with
a group that has 2 hunters n = 7!)
Example #1:
Binding Heal
C = 21%
n=2
Proc = 1 - (1 - 0.21/2)^2.
Proc = 1 - (.801)
Proc = 0.199
Or a 19.9% chance to get a SoL proc.
Example #2:
Penance
C = 24%
n=3
Proc = (1 - 0.24)^3.
\Pr(0|C,n) = 1-(0.44)
\Pr(0|C,n) = 0.56
Or a 56% chance to get at least one critical heal resulting in an inspiration buff via Penance
Example #3:
Circle of Healing
C = 21%
n=5
Proc = 1 - (1 - 0.21/2)^5.
Proc = 1 - (.5742)
Proc = 0.426
Or a 42.6% chance to get a SoL proc.
Example #4: Manipulating the formula to figure out what crit percentage you would need for the desired
chance of getting a Surge of Light proc.
Proc = 0.75 or 75%, meaning you want your CoH to give you a 75% chance to generate a SoL proc.
C = ??? - unknown
n=6
Proc = 1 - (1 - C/2)^n. (isolate C, gets ugly)
C = -2*[(-P+1)^1/n - 1]
C = -2*[(-0.75+1)^1/6 -1]
C = -2*[(0.25)^1/6 - 1]
C = -2*[0.7937 - 1]
C = -2 * -0.20629
C = 0.41259 or 41.3% crit needed.
XII. e) Empowered Healing vs. Blessed Resilience (yes, the PvP

talent) (3.3.5, but insert your current raid buffed spell power)
Taking two examples for empowered healing (Flash Heal & Binding Heal); this is due to the very low
amount of greater heal casting, personally, done in Ulduar 25 and 10-man. Each heal will be looked at
with empowered healing or with blessed resilience. Calculations will be done with 3000 spell power (a
very attainable goal with even just a couple ulduar upgrades). The formula used will be as follows:
Spell = [Average + (Spellpower * coefficient)]*(talent modifiers)
i) Calculations with Empowered Healing (w/ spiritual healing modifier)

Flash Heal = [2049.5 + (3000 * 0.9668)]*1.1
Flash Heal = 5445 healing average
Binding Heal = [2237.5 + (3000 *0.9668)]*1.1
Binding Heal = 5652 healing average
Greater Heal = [4300.5 + (3000 * 2.2256)]*1.1
Greater Heal = 12075 healing average
ii) Calculations with Blessed Resilience (w/ spiritual healing modifier)

Flash Heal = [2049.5 + (3000 * 0.8057)]*1.13
Binding Heal = [2237.5 + (3000 *0.8057)]*1.13
Greater Heal = [4300.5 + (3000 * 1.6111)]*1.13
iii) Calculations with Blessed Resilience & Test of Faith (w/ spiritual healing modifier) - I found something
interesting testing with Renew. If the spell is cast below 50%, the ticks (even if the health goes higher
than 50%) stay with the 12% increased effectiveness.
Flash Heal = [2049.5 + (3000 * 0.8057)]*1.25
Binding Heal = [2237.5 + (3000 *0.8057)]*1.25
Greater Heal = [4300.5 + (3000 * 1.6111)]*1.25
So those are some pretty plain numbers. If you find yourself casting greater heal more than once in a
blue moon, perhaps stick with Empowered Healing. If you regularly find yourself not casting it at all
during fights then a spec for better output would first put the 5 points from empowered healing to 3/3
blessed resilience and then 2/3 Test of Faith.
Justification for taking test of faith is it provides more healing to those targets who need more health.
XIII. Call for Papers/Open Issues

List of open issues and request for material will go here.
 Detailed mechanics for Halion 25 man trinket unknown: does the HoT scale?
XIV. List of changes
2010-04-14: First version under new maintainer, fixed links, some work on consumables
2010-04-15: Fixed sliver of pure ice heroic, completed Introduction, III, IV, V, VIII, XI, metagem
subsection, all sections marked, separated set bonus discussion from BiS list section
2010-04-16: Rewrote set bonus discussion regarding T9 and T10, added T10 nonset comparison by
tasha, added new section for glyphs
2010-04-19: Changed formatting of glyph section, finalized shadowfiend glyph, section I (not I.a) done.
2010-04-21: BiS list section "completed".
2010-04-26: Redone section "XII. b) Coefficients for Spells", now also includes full talents for holy and
disc, fixed section "I b) Holy Talents", redone section "XI. a) Gearing Levels for Icecrown"
2010-04-27: Update/redone section II, III, IV. The old content from III is integrated into II and IV, the
old section III is replaced by a section on Rapture. Sections VI a) and X b) completed.
2010-04-29: Rewrite of section "Raiding as Disc" completed, some restructuring of VI, VII, some
changes to addon section, added Grace and Improved Healing stuff for disc
2010-05-03: Changed T10 4pc effect to not affect the glyph heal, Replaced cross healing section by new
section "VI. c) Special Healing Assignments"
2010-05-05: New section "VII. Throughput, Efficiency and Regeneration". Added reference to
Frmercury's BiS lists.
2010-05-07: Replaced section XII a) by a new section on Power Word: Shield math., XII b) completed.
2010-05-10: Added Saurfang to VI. c) Special Healing Assignments, edited in some feedback.
2010-05-11: Rewrote disc part of gearing questions section. Removed preface as only a few sections still
need updating.
2010-05-26: Added renew style holy build and talent q/a section on renew talents
2010-06-10: Rewrote "XII. c) Value of Intellect and Spirit" with new theorycrafting results.
2010-06-14: Rewrote "XI. b) Gemming", with stats breakdown based on "XII. c) Value of Intellect and
Spirit"
2010-06-15: "XII. c) Value of Intellect and Spirit": corrected fight length for shadowfiend, corrected full
gains values for meditation (holy), OO5SR (holy), and HC (holy). Updated values in the gemming section
accordingly. Added some documentation.
2010-06-21: Replaced 11% of haste recommendation by haste buff specific table on notice from
Carnathagia. Fixed wrong sp values in section "[Runed Cardinal Ruby] vs. [Purified Dreadstone] in for
holy priests" on notice from Amoenitas.
2010-06-23: Started new trinket section, some old content remains until work is completed, added 3.3.5
trinket, BiS notice 3.3.5
2010-06-25: Added more trinkets and some documentation to trinket section.
2010-07-01: Added Halion testing results from Cenion.
2010-07-08: Corrected Concentration Aura information on note from Zaroua.
2010-08-11: Fixed missing heading for section II, Cataclysm notice

Healing Priests and Raiding

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Healing Priests and Raiding

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Healing priests and

1.1 Introduction (3.3.5)

How to use this Guide

Random Terms Used

Cookie cutter builds for raid healing:

Tank healing build:

Q: But my Discipline spec is different from yours!?

Q: But my Holy spec is different from yours?!

I. a) Holy Talents (3.3.5)

Q: What's the deal with Healing Focus?

Q: Should I take inspiration?

Q: How good is Holy Concentration?

Q: Holy Reach - yes/no?

Q: Body and Soul - worth it, or not?

Q: Blessed Resilience vs. Test of Faith?

Q: What about removing certain GHeal talents for holy?

Q: 1 or 2 points in Surge of Light?

I. b) Discipline Talents (3.3.5)

Q: But Aspiration seems so weak?

Q: What are the must-have talents for a Discipline priest?

Q: Is Soul Warding good?

Q: Should I take Improved Healing?

II. Mana Regeneration (3.3.5)

 Spirit based mana regeneration

Q: What's with spirit based mana regeneration for discipline priests?

Q: How do I take advantage of OO5SR regen?

III. Mana Regeneration: Rapture (3.3.5)

IV. Mana Regeneration: the Infamous Shadowfiend (3.3.5)

Q: How do I best use the shadowfiend?

V. Downranking and Spell Coefficients (3.3.5)

Q: Is downranking spells still viable?

VI. Raiding as a Priest

VI.b) Raiding as Discipline (3.3.5)

Read the section on Rapture, though.

Intelligent shield spamming

Fully featured raid healing

Tank Healing Support:

VI. c) Special Healing Assignments

The Lich King, handling Infest

Anub'arak, phase III healing

Saurfang - Hardmode: Mark of the Fallen Champion

VII. Throughput, Efficiency and Regeneration

VIII. Threat Mechanics and You (3.3.5)

IX. Consumables (content fixed, some restructuring coming)

 [Cuttlesteak]: only spirit food available.

X. Useful Addons and User Layout (3.3.5)

 Show important debuffs on all raid members

Second thing you should do is:

and adding some raid utility:

and then add some personal organization:

X. b) Setting up GRID to be useful as a Priest: (3.3.5)

Now for mana/energy/rage bars. GRID->Status->ManaBars->Side (Bottom), ->Hide Non-Mana Bars

From here, the sky is the limit. Configure!

Additional recommendations for use by discipline priests:

XI. Gearing Questions (holy section pending)

How to look at Gear

 Stamina, Int, Spellpower, MP5 + Crit or Haste

Buffs available Haste % required Haste rating required

Int vs. Mp5 vs. Spirit

Total Absorb = (base absorb+(0.8068+BT)SP)(1+ImpS)(1+FP+TD)(1+ICC Aura)

Total Absorb = (base absorb+(0.8068+BT)SP)(1+ImpS)(1+FP+TD)(1+ICC Aura)