WoW Cataclysm: Healing Enhancements

Healing
is, without a doubt, one of the hardest and most demanding jobs in
World of Warcraft. This fact is even more prominent now after the
massive
changes Blizzard has brought to healing with the release of World of
Warcraft: Cataclysm. Because of this it’s essential that
healers always be on the top of their game. In order to achieve this
all healers must be sure to have the best and most effective
enhancements on their gear at all times.



Before giving you the standard list of must have healing enchants for
Cataclysm, it’s important to first understand why certain
enchants will be better for healers than others. What it comes down to
is simple; Combat Ratings, or as they're more commonly referred to,
stats. Different kinds of healers value stats (Intellect,
Spirit, etc) on different levels. Some healers such as Holy Paladins
will rely more heavily on a stat like Critical Strike than their Holy
Priest counterparts. However, despite the fact that all healers will
value stats differently, healers are essentially all looking for the
same basic stats. You will never see a healer looking for Agility or
Dodge on their gear.



These stats can then be carried over and used for all the healing
enhancements you will need including enchants, gems, and even
consumables. Below is a list of the stats important to healers and what
they do:


Intellect Haste Spirit Critical Strike Mastery Stamina

Intellect

With the release of Cataclysm Intellect now not only provides players
with additional mana, which is very important considering that most
healers are finding themselves out of mana (OOM) more and more often.
But it is now also
is the primary source of a healers Spell Power, which increases the
amount a heal actually heals for, and also provides healers with a
slight increase in Critical Strike which increases the chance that your
heals will do even more healing than they normally would.

Haste

Haste provides healers with the ability to cast their heals faster. A
faster
cast time on a longer heal could mean the difference between life or
death for a party member, or even the healer themselves. Haste does
have a
downside, because the faster the healer casts heals, the quicker that
healer will burn through their mana pool. Keep in mind that each
healing class has an “ideal” amount of Haste. After
this magic number is reached Haste becomes somewhat useless and other
stats can and should be focused on. For a more detailed look at Haste
and how it factors into heal over time (HoT) spells in particular, be
sure to read href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/stats/haste-hots-dots"
target="_blank">Haste Explained: How it Affects HoTs
and DoTs.

Spirit

Unlike the days of old, Spirit simply increases the healers mana
Regeneration while not casting and doesn’t do much more
outside of that. While some healers may find that certain talents (such
as Holy Priests) will help make better use of Spirit, most healers will
find that the gear they pick up will have more than enough Spirit on it
to provide them with adequate mana regeneration. If not, healers do
have the option to Reforge pieces of gear if needed. Enchanting and/or
Gemming for Spirit is not necessary unless there is no better option.

Critical Strike

Critical Strike Rating does precisely what it says it does, gives the class="caption right" href="/node/95074"> src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/95074/preview"
alt="" width="100">
healer and increased chance to crit when casting
spells. This applies
to both damage and healing spells. However,
with its
unreliable throughput this stat will come out as a low man on the totem
pole for most healers.

Mastery

A new stat implemented in Cataclysm, Mastery does something vastly
different for every class and spec. Because of this Mastery’s
importance will vary from class to class, however, this stat should not
be totally overlooked by anyone. To see what Mastery provides your
particular class simply bring up your talent panel in game and click
the “View Summaries” button found at the bottom of
the panel or check out a href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/90201" target="_blank">basic
overview of Mastery for each class
right here at Ten Ton Hammer.

Stamina

Stamina, while seemingly unimportant for healers, is something we all
need. Stamina increases the overall health of the healer and because of
this provides the healer with a longer lifespan. Remember, a dead
healer is helping no one. Thankfully Blizzard foresaw the fact that
while Stamina is something every healer needs it shouldn’t be
something they need to focus on. As you gain better gear, your Stamina
levels should automatically go up, so unless your gear level is much
lower than it should be for your current content level, you should
always have enough of this particular stat without gems or enchants.



Remember the above list is in no particular order and depending on what
healing class you choose to play will determine how important each of
the above stats is for you. With a basic understanding of the above
stats and what they do, it should make it far easier to pinpoint healer
enchants and other item enhancements and discern why they are best for
you.

Enchants

style="width: 600px; text-align: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"
border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">Slot style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">Enchant style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;">Head href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62367" target="_blank">Arcanum
of Hyjal style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;">Shoulder href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=62343" target="_blank">Greater
Inscription of Charged Lodestone href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=86403" target="_blank">Felfire
Inscription style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;">Back href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74240" target="_blank">Enchant
Cloak - Greater Intellect href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=75175" target="_blank">Darkglow
Embroidery href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=75172" target="_blank">Lightweave
Embroidery href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=52764" target="_blank">Enchant
Cloak - Critical Strike style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;">Chest href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74250" target="_blank">Enchant
Chest - Peerless Stats href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74231" target="_blank">Enchant
Chest - Exceptional Spirit style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;">Wrist href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74237" target="_blank">Enchant
Bracer - Exceptional Spirit href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74256" target="_blank">Enchant
Bracer - Greater Speed href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74248" target="_blank">Enchant
Bracer - Greater Critical Strike style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;">Hands href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74198" target="_blank">Enchant
Gloves - Haste href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74255" target="_blank">Enchant
Gloves - Greater Mastery style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;">Waist href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=55054" target="_blank">Ebonsteel
Belt Buckle style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;">Legs href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=54450" target="_blank">Powerful
Ghostly Spellthread href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=54448" target="_blank">Powerful
Enchanted Spellthread style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;">Feet href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74253" target="_blank">Enchant
Boots - Lavawalker href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74199" target="_blank">Enchant
Boots - Haste style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;">Ring href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74217" target="_blank">Enchant
Ring - Intellect style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;">Sheild/Off-Hand href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74235" target="_blank">Enchant
Off-Hand Superior Intellect style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;">Weapon href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74225" target="_blank">Enchant
Weapon - Heartsong href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74242" target="_blank">Enchant
Weapon - Power Torrent