I was trying out a holy priest. One thing I couldn’t quite figure out is when to use holy word serentity versus continuing to spam flash heal. It starts out with a 1 minute CD, so if you use it at the wrong time, you are stuck with just flash heal. Do you basically wait until you are about out of mana before using holy word serentity? IN contrast, restoration druid has swiftmend on a 15 second CD. I just use that when on CD, but I don’t see what to do with HWS and its longer Cd.
The beauty of hpriest is it’s very forgiving. You don’t have to hold onto many CDs for long, and with a lot of the systems/talents in Shadowland (like resonant words or HW: Salvation) you’re rewarded for using them early, often and as soon as possible PLUS even if you use it at a time of minimal damage the hpriest mastery and Empowered Chrysalis just turn a lot of the wasted heal into a HoT/shield anyway.
And if all that’s not enough to get you to loosen up casting Serenity you have Flash Concentration at max level which turns Heal into a powerful spot healing tool (partially replacing Serenity’s importance) AND that ALSO helps get Serenity back off CD that much faster.
But wait, there’s more!! You can even talent Apotheosis in dungeons and then even if you “waste” your Serenity/Sanctuary it’ll instantly reset the CD on both for you AND provide huge cooldown reductions to all holy words while it lasts.
So really hpriest is a “spam all the things” spec. The current design really does feel like playing whack a mole with all your CDs to keep them going and FC up regardless of any particular damage patterns.
About the only things you don’t want to spam all the time are Flash Heal (unless needed for FC or Ephemeral Effusion or with a SoL proc), renew, shield and PoH due to their high cost/HPS.
Holy Word: Serenity’s cd can be reduced by using Flash Heal.
I use it when I need a quick heal. I don’t worry about the cooldown. By the time I need it again, it usually is off cd because of Flash Heal or whatever.
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Serenity’s CD can be reduced, and with Apotheosis the CDR is huge.
I tend to use it when someone’s HP dips below 50%, or if a dps was a goofball and I know there isn’t much damage inc and I can throw it out.
Like others have said, with Hpriest you don’t have to be afraid of using your CDs.
I use it when the targets HP is under 50%, especially on the tank. You can reduce the cooldown on it with Flash and of course apotheosis brings it right back up. HP cooldowns are almost a non issue. We are a triage healer whereas Resto Druid is a pre-emptive one. Different playstyle entirely.
Holy Word Serenity becomes a 5-cast reset if you use Light of the Naaru or the 2-piece set bonus you get at max level. In most situations it’s a 10s or less reset time plus you can get a +120% heal bonus to your next heal or flash heal cast after using a holy word with the 4-piece bonus.
I use it whenever someone’s health spikes low, but primarily I just keep my 5 stacks of flash heal up and use heal/AoE heals, and Serenity usually goes for tanks taking chucking damage, or when a DPS goofs up. But like people said above you dont really need to save them for rainy days, just use them when you need a fast/big heal.