Starting to do some higher keys on Holy Priest. 655ilvl. Nothing crazy, just a couple 10s and 11s so far. Wondering if I’m alone in feeling like survivability for this spec in m+ is just kinda bad?
Not claiming to have optimal stats or talents, but I’m spaced for Desperate Prayer and the damage reduction on Fade, but I still feel like I get one shot (or close enough to it) more often than I should. Examples: the rock throw or whatever from mobs in the first hallway of DFC, or the party-wide damage from Blazikon.
Desperate Prayer is decent, but if it’s on cooldown I feel pretty helpless, save for spamming holy words on myself. Trying to save guardian spirit as a tank cooldown in most cases.
Any thoughts/feedback, or even just validation? Lmao
Try out grabbing Restitution, at least while trying to learn to survive. I was running Restitution the last few keys I had to get to 3k.
I got just above 3k io on holy. I think I had good survivability in the 12-13 key range.
One thing that took me a while to realize was that Binding Heals is pretty much a must. You will keep up that 10% DR from Protective Light nearly all the time. Make sure that you get the 10% DR from Protective Light rolling and Fade’s 10% DR before big damage from things like Blazikon. You may even want to throw in a PW: Shield, yes it kinda sucks but the extra 400k-500k shield can help when you are struggling to stay up. You can have 20% DR and a ~500k shield for pretty much all big damage.
Binding Heals and Trail of Light means you can have nearly 50% of your Heal and Flash Heal echo onto you.
Also I wouldn’t ignore Inspiration, the extra 5% Physical DR can be helpful especially if you have enough crit.
I don’t know what Hero tree you are using but Oracle offers an extra DR and buffs Angelic Bulwark.
Otherwise, you should feel free to use Guardian Spirit on yourself, especially if you are going with Guardian Angel.
This isn’t to say Holy is great at surviving in M+, but it can definitely manage. In raid Holy has some of the least amount of time dead, I believe, in the whole game.
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I am not currently running holy for keys but have in the past. I do these things as disc too actually.
-binding heals for 10% dr from flash heal
-talent into lower fade cd and use it often for another 10% dr
-shield myself when I know things will be rough
-desperate prayer as needed
-stack vers!!! I think I am at 13% now not counting vers flask. I run haste flask for 10s and vers for anything higher.
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Also, the rock herder dudes won’t throw rocks at you if you are in melee. It is tricky of course if there is more than 1 and they aren’t stacked but at least stand by one so you aren’t pelted by multiple.
Flash heal/fade/shield for the aoe from blazikon.
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We are pretty much the squishiest healer.
Just make sure to save Fade for big hitters so you get that 20% DR and Desperate Prayer before the dmg happens.
I run restitution in my keys, doing 14s rn. So sometimes I get nuked but well I’m coming back at least.
Preshield yourself for a big upcoming dmg, it’s a bunch of extra life on you
That’s all you can do
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Thanks all! Really helpful stuff. I had completely overlooked Protective Light and how good that can be with Binding Heals. Gonna try that and stacking some more vers! Oh, and slotting back in restitution 
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This makes a big difference given how squishy we are. Also make sure to keep yourself topped off and let dps die if you have to dodge a swirly.
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I stacked Vers off rip so I haven’t had issues surviving. Only time I die is if i straight up stand in bad. I don’t use the 10% DR talent, I use From Darkness. They both kinda do the same thing it’s just that From Darkness is stronger and more versatile (benefits the entire party), but it has the drawback of a ramp up.
Also I will just always reserve PoM and Renew for myself if I think I’m about to need it. Between those and Binding Heal, you should be good. Oh and of course the Cheat Death (literally doesn’t matter if you die).
I don’t take the leech stuff either, I take the Holy Nova talents and will just cast empowered Holy Nova during movement. It’s arbitrary proactivity which is fine since it does damage.
The M+ builds for Holy on WoWhead seem like they were written for people who do +17s. You don’t need to be squeezing out every single ounce of DR in +10 keys. They aren’t that serious.
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Holy Priest is very low on the defensives tbh.
I usually pair Fade (with the defensive talent) with PW: Shield to get some mitigation.
Desperate Prayer is good as defensive to use for INCOMING dmg, its not good as a reaction thing, it increases your HP, so combined with the two above, it can make you decently sturdy.
You can also apply Guardian Spirit on yourself for an emergency.
While technically not a defensive, theres also Symbol of Hope, which drastically reduces the CD of Desperate Prayer, allowing you to use it fairly soon after casing it the first time, take in min SoH is a long CD.