The Healadin - A Guide To The Holy Paladin

[Asbert76]

Index
1.0: Introduction
1.1: How to socket
2.0: Primary Stats
2.1: Which enchants to choose
3.0: How to spend your talent points.
3.1: Glyphs
4.0: Rotation
4.1: +'es and -'es
5.0: Outro





Introduction

Hello,
In this guide I am going to teach you how to make a successful holy paladin. What I am learning you in this guide is what I've collected from my own experience as a holy paladin during the years.

I started playing holy paladin back in The Burning Crusade. During The Burning Crusade and all the way to the end of WotLK, all a holy paladin had to do was stack intellect and then spam Flash of Light. Everything was easier, but it got boring. Now in Cataclysm EVERYTHING has changed. Holy paladins now use Holy Light as they're primary heal. As soon as i reached 85 in Cataclysm i got gear and did as usual in WotLK and The Burning Crusade, i stacked intellect and spammed Flash of Light, but as you may know, Flash of Light is a REAL expensive heal since cataclysm. After a few weeks of blood and sweat trying to heal trough heroics only using Flash of Light & Holy Shock i bumped into an old friend, he was also playing as holy paladin. But things were going real great for him. He had already downed a few bosses in BoT and BwD with his guild. I asked him if he knew what i was doing wrong, he asked me to explain my rotation for him and then he also inspected me. After i had told him my rotation and he had inspected my gear he gave out a loud "hahahahaha". He told me that i was doing everything totally wrong. He gave me some tips on how to improve and what to change. He also helped me out with my rotation. And now, it's my time to help you with whatever you need help with, wether it'd be gearing, socketing, enchanting or speccing.





1.1: How to Socket

Socketing in Cataclysm isn't the same as in WotLK or The Burning Crusade, now in Cata paladins actually have a USE for spirit, rather then in WotLK or TBC where it didn't give anything to palas. As a holy paladin right now there are 2 different ways to socket, depending on your play style.(need help with play style? read section 4.0: Rotation) Okay so, some paladins may think "Uh... I only got 14 Yellow socket slots and nothing else, oh well I guess I'll just have to go and buy 14 yellow sockets." but DON'T! The best way you can socket right now is to get FULL Brilliant Inferno Ruby (40+ Intellect) except for 2 slots, where you will put 2x Reckless Ember Topaz (20 Haste + 20 Intellect). You'll need these 2 yellow gems to get the effect from the meta gem you're going to use, which is an Ember Shadowspirit Diamond (+54 Intellect & +2% Maximum Mana). This Socket way is good If you use Flash of Light / Divine Light alot, as they are mana eaters tbh, which means you need alot of mana. Theres another way of socketing too, which I'm going to tell you about now. Okay so for the other way now, you are still going to want the same meta gem. But this time, instead of Full Brilliant Inferno Ruby & 2 Reckless Ember Topaz you are going to use totally 100% full with Potent Ember Topaz's (20 Int & 20 Crit). This way of socketing is good If you use Holy Light alot, cus with Holy Light your going to want to crit alot, you won't need as much mana as it doesn't cost very much, but it's always good to have some mana so u can be relaxed and not focus on keeping your mana up all the time.




2.0: Primary Stats

Okay so, now in Cataclysm, there are (as mentioned before) 2 "main" play styles. Both of which needs different primary stats.

For the first play style you'll want to get as much Intellect as possible. Just stack intellect as much as possible, Spirit is always useful in this play style aswell. This play style is where you use Divine Light & Flash of Light most of the time, they cost a lot of mana and therefor you need a lot of intellect & mana regen.

For the second play style you'll want to get alot of Critical Rating, haste rating and a little intellect. This play style is where you use Holy Light the most. It doesn't cost alot of mana but is pretty slow, therefor it's good to have critical rating & haste rating. But as mentioned before it's good to have some mana to be relaxed over so you can focus on other things such as healing instead of focusing on keeping your mana alive.

Tip: Mastery is a good stat in both play styles.




2.1: Which enchants to choose

In this part of the guide I think it's easier if I just write a list and do not say so much, so here's a enchanting list.

Head - Arcanum of Hyjal (+60 Intellect & 35 Crit) *Req Guardians of Hyjal Revered*
Shoulders - Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone (+50 Intellect & 25 Haste) *Req Therazane Exalted*
Back - Greater Intellect (+50 Intellect)
Chest - Exceptional Spirit (+40 Spirit)
Wrists - Mighty Intellect (+50 Intellect)
Hands - Haste (+50 Haste)
Legs - Powerful Ghostly Thread (+95 Intellect & 55 Spirit)
Feet - Greater Spirit (+18 Spirit)
Weapon - Power Torrent (Chance On Spell Cast To Increase Intellect by 500 for 12 sec)
Shield - Greater Intellect (+25 Intellect)



3.0: How to spend your talent points

There are plenty of ways to spec, there's PVP, PVE, Shockadin and lots more. But theres 1 way that i prefer for PVE, and it's this:

Here's it as a list too if u want to read instead:

3/3 Protector of the Innocent
3/3 Judgments of the Pure
3/3 Clarity of Purpose
1/2 Last Word
1/1 Divine Favor
2/2 Infusion of Light
2/2 Daybreak
1/2 Enlightened Judgements
1/1 Beacon of Light
3/3 Speed of Light
1/1 Sacred Cleansing
3/3 Conviction
1/1 Aura Mastery
2/2 Paragon of Virtue
3/3 Tower of Radiance
1/1 Light of Dawn

Now Go into Protection tree and spec:
2/2 Eternal Glory
3/3 Divinity

And then go into Retribution tree and spec:
3/3 Crusade
2/2 Improved Judgement

Note: This is Holy PVE spec, NOT PVP




3.1: Glyphs

Prime Glyphs:

Glyph of Word of Glory
Glyph of Seal of Insight
Glyph of Holy Shock


Major Glyphs:

Glyph of Divine Plea
Glyph of Cleansing
Glyph of Light of Dawn


Minor Glyphs:

Blessing of Kings
Blessing of Might
Insight


As for Minor Glyphs u can pretty much choose anything, but these 3 are the ones i would recommend.



4.0: Rotation

Okay so, for the rotation there are 2 play styles (as mentioned before). I'll take them style for style.

Play style 1
This is the play style where you stack intellect & spirit.
This style is pretty much a 3 spell rotation.

Rotation:
Holy Shock
Divine Light / Flash of Light (for emeregencies)
Judgement
Word of Glory / Light of Dawn at 3 Holy Power
then continue doing that.


Play style 2
This is the play style where you need alot of critical strike rating, haste and a bit of intellect.
This style is also a very simple rotation.

Rotation:
Holy Shock
Holy Light
Judgement
Word of Glory / Light of Dawn at 3 Holy Power
then continue doing that.


Both of these play styles are very similar except that simple fact that one uses Holy Light and the other uses Divine Light / Flash of Light.

Remember to always keep Beacon of Light on the tank!

Also, In both play styles you always need to have Seal of Insight and Blessing Of Kings on you.





4.1: +'es and -'es

+'es
Good Mobility
Great AoE Heals Which is Good for Raids
Useful Beacon of Light to Heal 2 Targets At Once


-'es
Best of Their Heals are Slow (Divine Light, Holy Light)
No Combat Ress
Blessing of Kings can be overwrote by Mark of the Wild



Outro

I would just like to thank everybody who have read this and helped me out with my paladin.
Hope this guide helped you out with your paladin as my friends helped out with mine. Think there's something i missed out / shouldn't have added? Comment or PM me and i'll see what i can do.

Credits:
Cheatin / Tegabob / Handybob (Holy Paladin That Helped Me Out)
Alley / Ameyshia / Calalith (Holy Paladin That Helped Me Out)
Me for Writing the tutorial
And everyone else that i've missed out

[ohmaigawd]

Looks like a well written guide (Didnt read it all since Im good at holy already) but I dont think that "Blessing of Kings can be overwrote by Mark of the Wild" is a - xD

Also about playstyles: You should use Holy Light on the tank all the time and Divine Light only when he is taking more damage than your holy light can heal - using only divine light or flash of light will just get you oom fast.

EDIT: Tip: Mastery is a good stat in both play styles. <- NO WAY, Mastery is the worst stat for holy pala atm!

[Cheat'R]

Gems are totally wrong. Never go full 40 int or full 20 int 20 crit.

Red: 40 int
Blue: 20 int 20 spi
Yellow: 20 int 20 haste

Crit really isn't good. I don't like the "2nd playstyle." Socket bonus is good yo.

Mastery is horrible.

Blessing of kings being overwritten is good. Druid buff + might.

We never had a combat rez.

Best heals have always been slow. FoL spam in 3.3.5 doesn't exactly count as a big heal, but it was very useful nonetheless.

Glyph of Holy Shock should be replaced with Divine Favor.

Glyph of Light of Dawn would be better replaced with Lay on Hands. This isn't a huge issue, it's just I find myself barely using LoD.

40 int enchant on shield :S

[Asbert76]

Thanks for the advices, and as i said, this is from my OWN experience, which means it's not exactly 100% correct, so thanks for helping me

[rage5]

Looks like a well written guide (Didnt read it all since Im good at holy already) but I dont think that "Blessing of Kings can be overwrote by Mark of the Wild" is a - xD

Also about playstyles: You should use Holy Light on the tank all the time and Divine Light only when he is taking more damage than your holy light can heal - using only divine light or flash of light will just get you oom fast.

EDIT: Tip: Mastery is a good stat in both play styles. <- NO WAY, Mastery is the worst stat for holy pala atm!

Do you raid with your Holy Paladin?

Glyphs:

1. Holy Shock should be replaced with Divine Favor
2. Cleansing with Divinity
and
3. Divine Plea with Divine Protection

1. 10sec longer duration on Divine Favor is awesome -> nn 5% crit on Holy Shock
2. Cleansing? You have to dispell many Magicdebuffs with your Paladin? I don't think so -> 10% Mana through Lay on Hands rocks!
3. 6% more Mana through Divine Plea no thx! -> a 40% Magic Dmg Reduce is at nearly every Encounter usefull!!

Enchants:

20 All Stats on Chest > 40 Spirit
Heartsong > Power Torrent
50 Haste on Boots > 18 Spirit

Gems:

I have to confirm to the post above

20int + 20crit isnt as useful as 20int + 20haste

Playstyle:

You have to find your own playstyle ofc
I like your first playstyle but for myself my use of holy lights is very low since there is mostly a huge damage incoming on the tanks + raid (13/13 exp) shock + divine light + light of dawn + ( sometimes word of glory ) rocks especially for tank heal
You should mention the use of light of dawn + beacon in raids -> very nice tank heal for only 3 holy power

-> just my opinion

[Asbert76]

Do you raid with your Holy Paladin?

Glyphs:

1. Holy Shock should be replaced with Divine Favor
2. Cleansing with Divinity
and
3. Divine Plea with Divine Protection

1. 10sec longer duration on Divine Favor is awesome -> nn 5% crit on Holy Shock
2. Cleansing? You have to dispell many Magicdebuffs with your Paladin? I don't think so -> 10% Mana through Lay on Hands rocks!
3. 6% more Mana through Divine Plea no thx! -> a 40% Magic Dmg Reduce is at nearly every Encounter usefull!!

Enchants:

20 All Stats on Chest > 40 Spirit
Heartsong > Power Torrent
50 Haste on Boots > 18 Spirit

Gems:

I have to confirm to the post above

20int + 20crit isnt as useful as 20int + 20haste

Playstyle:

You have to find your own playstyle ofc
I like your first playstyle but for myself my use of holy lights is very low since there is mostly a huge damage incoming on the tanks + raid (13/13 exp) shock + divine light + light of dawn + ( sometimes word of glory ) rocks especially for tank heal
You should mention the use of light of dawn + beacon in raids -> very nice tank heal for only 3 holy power

-> just my opinion

You serious? You don't dispell a lot with your paladin? Lol.... I dispell magical debuffs ALL the time (especially in BH lol) but in BwD and BoT too..... Cleansing takes a lot of mana.. Cleansing, u maybe use it... 8 times per boss, Lay on Hands? 1 Time every 10 min....


And does Light of Dawn work with Beacon now? I thought they fixed up that & Holy Radiance.

Also, with 13/13, do you count BH? Cus i don't think that's how you do it ^^

[rindy]

Holy Paladin Guide.

1. Becon OT heal MT.

enjoy

[ohmaigawd]

You serious? You don't dispell a lot with your paladin? Lol.... I dispell magical debuffs ALL the time (especially in BH lol) but in BwD and BoT too..... Cleansing takes a lot of mana.. Cleansing, u maybe use it... 8 times per boss, Lay on Hands? 1 Time every 10 min....


And does Light of Dawn work with Beacon now? I thought they fixed up that & Holy Radiance.

Also, with 13/13, do you count BH? Cus i don't think that's how you do it ^^

You're right, cleansing takes alot of mana but in the end glyphed LoH is better - Let your tank down to ~20% hp and use loh - its a free heal to 100% hp and bonus 20% of your max mana (it procs twice) -

[Asbert76]

Lol, i barely use CDs in raids

[Cheat'R]

Lol, i barely use CDs in raids

l2p.




.

[swii]

Introduction

Hello,
In this guide I am going to teach you how to make a successful holy paladin. What I am learning you in this guide is what I've collected from my own experience as a holy paladin during the years.

I started playing holy paladin back in The Burning Crusade. During The Burning Crusade and all the way to the end of WotLK, all a holy paladin had to do was stack intellect and then spam Flash of Light. Everything was easier, but it got boring. Now in Cataclysm EVERYTHING has changed. Holy paladins now use Holy Light as they're primary heal. As soon as i reached 85 in Cataclysm i got gear and did as usual in WotLK and The Burning Crusade, i stacked intellect and spammed Flash of Light, but as you may know, Flash of Light is a REAL expensive heal since cataclysm.



Man... you must have been bad in tbc/wotlk

[abhorsenjay]

Even the spec itself isn't top notch...

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

[Asbert76]

Introduction

Hello,
In this guide I am going to teach you how to make a successful holy paladin. What I am learning you in this guide is what I've collected from my own experience as a holy paladin during the years.

I started playing holy paladin back in The Burning Crusade. During The Burning Crusade and all the way to the end of WotLK, all a holy paladin had to do was stack intellect and then spam Flash of Light. Everything was easier, but it got boring. Now in Cataclysm EVERYTHING has changed. Holy paladins now use Holy Light as they're primary heal. As soon as i reached 85 in Cataclysm i got gear and did as usual in WotLK and The Burning Crusade, i stacked intellect and spammed Flash of Light, but as you may know, Flash of Light is a REAL expensive heal since cataclysm.



Man... you must have been bad in tbc/wotlk

Depends, does 11/12 ICC 25 HC count as bad? Didn't raid in TBC thought.

---------- Post added at 02:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:31 AM ----------

Even the spec itself isn't top notch...

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

I'm pretty sure "Blessed Life" isn't top notch for PVE either ....

[Anonie]

Dude... Blessed Life - Spell - World of Warcraft is mandatory for any pve raiding pally.

Your post is not very clear as to why someone is taking one talent over another, and why you think mastery is better than others. Especially when talking about the 2nd play style. You completely fail to explain why you chose what you did there.

You want to have as much int, haste and spirit as possible. Mastery/crit are decent stats but doesn't give as much as int/haste/spirit. Haste has a slight disadvantage that it allows you to burn more mana and over healing. Based off that, when gemming, if you have a yellow/blue slot with mastery/crit bonus, use red gems. If an yellow with haste/spirit bonus, I'd put in an orange int/haste gem just to help with Ember Shadowspirit Diamond - Item - World of Warcraft. There's no telling when in the future you might accidentally deactivate your meta requirement.

You must be usually be ret spec, because no healer class has any sort of "rotation". Anyone who thinks so has a strange perception on healing. If you find your tank at sub 35%, will you still be using HL? I don't think so.

As far as rotation goes, use Holy Shock on CD, use WOG or LOD at 3 charges. Don't be afraid to beacon someone else and give them a Divine Light or Flash of Light to build up holy charges. Glyph of Beacon of Light - Item - World of Warcraft helps alot here. And just heal whoever needs healing, while trying not to over heal (eg: heal them for 10k when they only need 2-4k).

[swii]

Depends, does 11/12 ICC 25 HC count as bad? Didn't raid in TBC thought.

nah not bad.. but i would not call it an achievement either