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In World of Warcraft the idea of mana managing seems far-fetched
considering all you have to do is sit down and drink some water. But
what if you sit down to drink, you only have 30% mana and the tank
pulls or accidently pulls, and knocks you out of drinking?
You’re all going to die! Unless you know how to manage that
last bit of mana to keep the tank and everyone else alive.
Ok, so the first thought that comes to your mind is “I just
use my shadowfiend and then I will have more than 30% mana.”
But let’s just say you used it 2 minutes ago, and now
you’re back to low mana, what now? Use your mana potion,
that’s what it’s there for. Unfortunately, you
don’t have any mana potions because you’re cheap
and you didn’t want to buy any, then what? All out of
options, nothing else left to do unless you’re lucky enough
to be a Blood Elf and can use Arcane Torrent, but that
doesn’t give you much mana to work with. It’s a
good time to start learning to manage your mana to make that last 30%
of mana that you have left last the entire fight (unless
you’re one lucky priest who only got stuck healing everyone
through one tiny little mob who dies in 10 sec, but we’ll
just pretend it’s a boss fight).
style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">Why it is
Important to Manage style=""> style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">Mana
So, continue to think of the scenario I mentioned above. You only have
30% mana, it’s a boss fight, and you have nothing to fall
back on to regain some mana to survive through the fight. This is a
perfect example of why it is very important to be able to manage your
mana. But considering the scenario is a good example of a 5 man
instance run, compared to a 10 or 25 man raid, where you have other
healers you can fall back on. It is good to ask others for help,
that’s what they are there for, to spread that healing love.
Unfortunately, a lot of boss fights in Naxxramas and Ulduar can be very
mana heavy, especially in Ulduar where boss fights can last for a great
deal of time if the raid is not over geared. Patchwerk is a perfect
example in Naxxramas where healers only focus is the tanks and must
constantly cast heals to save them from giant blows that can take away
60% or more of their HP. In some cases with Patchwerk if a healer runs
out of mana, there’s usually no other healer to fall back on
to help heal that tank you are in charge of keeping alive, and so if
the tanks dies and there is a wipe, it could fall on your head for not
being able to manage your mana properly during Patchwerk.
Since a raiding environment is so much different than a 5 man instance
run, I will focus on 5 man instances. You have no one to fall back on
but yourself in instances. If you can learn to manage your mana in a 5
man instance, then you can do it in a raid.
style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">Tips to
Mana Management
We are all guilty of overly healing targets that lose just a tiny bit
of HP, it’s just common instincts; you see HP is missing and
you fill in that gap. It’s not a bad thing, at least we are
doing the job that our class is designed to do. In some cases, though,
this is a bad thing to do, especially when you know it is going to be a
long fight and you need as much mana as you can hold onto to last
through it all.
Know
how much you heal for.
Knowing how much you are capable of healing for will be able to allow
you to determine when it is best to heal. When healing in instances I
would wait till the tank’s HP falls to a certain amount
before I would start casting Greater Heal. This will save me mana in
the long run and the tank loves being able to never stop pulling.
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My Greater Heal would heal for an average of about 9500 HP (this is
with pretty epic gear), 14500 HP with a crit. Flash Heal would heal for
an average of about 4500 HP and 7500 HP with a crit. This will allow me
to determine, when to start my heal and if it should get them to almost
full hp or over heals them.
Know
how much HP or damage those around you can take.
This goes with knowing how much you can heal for. The tank is in a
whole different class than the DPS, they would be healed the same
amount no matter what armor they are wearing. Unless aggro is gained
from a mob, I would tend to only throw them a Flash Heal or Renew so I
can stay focused on the Tanks HP.
When healing the Tank I would see if the Tank has more or less than 30k
HP, if more then I would wait longer to heal. If less, I would start
healing earlier, and keep renew up. Renew helps a lot in keeping the HP
up without me having to constantly heal and keep my mana high.
When healing other group members, I would heal them all around the same
amount, 20% hp loss, with a Flash Heal. Renew is good to use if you
need to stay focused on the tank.
Know
your environment. Many
instances are pretty much the same; you have groups of 3 or more mobs
and several bosses. But they are all different. For some, you have to
make time between heals to dispel or cure debuffs. So have good
knowledge about what you are heading into, if you don’t have
any knowledge at all about who does what, most groups will explain boss
fights. So when it comes to healing your group through trash mobs to
get to the boss, learn from it. Do they hit really hard and require you
to use bigger heals? Or do they not hit very hard and you can just
Flash Heal or keep Renew up on the tank?
[protip]Its easier to heal several people if you start a heal on one person, select another person before you heal has ended and youll be prepared to heal that second target as soon as your spell is done casting.[/protip]
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style="font-weight: bold;">Know when to heal.
With general knowledge about how much you can heal and how much HP your
tank has, you have to know what spells to use. If your tank is only
missing 20% HP and fighting one mob, casting Greater Heal on the tank
is just pure waste of mana. It’s nice that priests have a
giant toolbox of heals, but I focus on 4 major spells.
-Greater Heal: Would normally start healing when the tank (or other
plate wearer) has lost about 40% on their HP.
-Flash Heal: Would normally start healing on other group members when
they lose 20% of their HP.
-Renew: I would cast this on the tank a lot. During fights it will take
time for HP to fall far enough for Greater Heal to be cast. In some
cases I don’t even have to heal at all. Out of fights
it’s a good way to fill in gaps of missing HP when
running from group to group.
-Prayer of Mending: This is a situational kind of heal. If you know
that the Death Knight or Rogue has a tendency to steal aggro from the
tank, cast it on them rather than the tank. If there is going to be a
point where they decide they want to tank the other mob by themselves,
it’ll bounce like crazy. Also good for when you know
there’s going to be lots of group wide damage.
Other spells like Binding Heal, Circle of Healing and Prayer of Healing
are very situational and should be used when you know it is best to use.
Timing is everything. You know how much you heal for, how much damage your tank can handle and when to heal your other group members. Timing plays a big role, especially if several members are taking damage at once. Who should you heal first? Normally the tank would get priority over any DPS, but you have to remember that the mob beating on that DPS can come right after you if that person dies. You know how much damage your tank can handle and know that your DPS can not take as much damage, so heal that person first, then immediately afterwards, heal the tank. The spell I use would depend on how much HP was missing. If the HP is below 50% a flash heal will give you enough time to get a Greater Heal in there.
Cancel
your spells. One of the most
important things to know is to be able to cancel your spells. Rather
than letting that spell go when you obviously see the tank or member
has full HP, cancel it out. Don’t bother wasting that
valuable mana on someone who doesn’t need the heal yet. This
can also play a vital part when you know the tank is going to be
getting a lot of damage. Keep hitting that Greater Heal, just before
it’s going to go off cancel it if the tanks HP
hasn’t dropped at all or only a little bit.
Everything all together sounds like a “how to heal”
guide, but they all play their part together. You know how to heal -
that’s the easy part. Being able to heal correctly and
keeping your mana pool in a high percentile makes a big difference to
spamming that Flash Heal over and over again on the tank when you could
just wait a little longer and cast Greater Heal. Waiting for HP to fall
between Greater Heals will allow your Mana Regeneration from Spirit
kick in, allowing you more mana to work with and less wait time between
fights.
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Improve Mana Regeneration
Now that you have knowledge about when it is best to heal to save
yourself some mana, you also depend on mana regeneration. Between heals
you depend on that regeneration to give you boosts of mana to keep on
healing. As a Holy Priest Spirit is the best way to go is Spirit. Even
though Mp5 is a good stat to have, Spirit will give you so much more
benefit. Holy Priests are built differently than Discipline Priests who
depend on Mp5, because they do not have many talents that boosts their
healing. So, they have to stay healing more often than a Holy Priest
who can wait between heals.
Take note of this:
Holy Priests = Spirit > Mp5
Discipline Priests = Mp5 > Spirit
Along with Spirit and Mp5, you may also have to fall back on
consumables or food to help boost your mana regeneration through fights
you know will be long and grueling. Bring flasks that improve your mana
regeneration such as Flask of Pure Mojo on top of the food buff from
Spicy Fried Herring. The food buff and flask together will give you a
boost of 54 mana regeneration every 5 seconds.
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Conclusion
Being able to manage your mana is a pretty tough task. We all want to
be the best healers, be at the top of that healing chart, but you
can’t make it to the top of that chart if you run out of mana
before the other healers do. I know it sounds difficult to accomplish,
having to worry about timing, health and your environment, but like all
things with World of Warcraft and other similar games, it’s
all about instincts, knowledge and the ability to react. Move fast,
keep up with everyone else, avoid death, and live to save the day. This
is something that takes time and practice to be able to accomplish, and
if you can accomplish this, than you are a good priest and healer.
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