by Yadiera on Jun 24, 2009
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]
style="width: 237px; height: 250px;" alt="Greater Healing"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/70309" align="left">
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.
style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">Ways to
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.
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/70321">
style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%;">In
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.