Any friendly holy paladins out there that have some helpful tips and tricks for a someone new to the spec? My goal is mythic+ healing mostly. Coming from a dedicated mistweaver who’s never played holy before. Thanks in advance!
At this point we just need a sticky with Wingsisup .com any further questions after reading up on that feel free to post. There is no better place to start than there though, imo
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My bad. I read most of the guides and was looking for personal tips and tricks based on experience as everyone is different. I guess the forums aren’t the place to go for advice.
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Nah, you can get good info here it is just hard when you post on your non pally character to figure out where your knowledge base is when you only put “new holy pally here”.
Don’t use BoP on a PUG tank. Things I find I don’t do often enough (resolved from shaman a bit over a month ago) …improved devo aura, blessing of sac on a non tank, bubble plus martyr ( I usually use martyr without bubble in emergency moments, I may or may have not basically killed myself once or twice because of this), hand of justice in raids on CD.
In raids you want to use holy shock on CD (and in most cases in M+) the first time I raided I had horrible use percent despite having a WA, I went ahead and set up an audio que and it was like night and day for me.
I think a huge misconception about pallies is, “LuL reactive healer” when in fact we are hugely CD reliant and you need to make sure to have certain CDs for certain situations so you have to know when damage spikes are going to come or you’ll simply get to watch your party dwindle to nothing while you helplessly mash weak hps heals.
I just switched from Kyrian to Venthyr and I cannot overstate how insane Ashen Hallow is in raids. I pull 4-5K HPS and 4k DPS during ashen Hallow and pretty much allows you to ignore 30 seconds of raid mechanics for your whole raid.
Since I no longer have Divine Toll I switched from Shock Barrier to Shadowbreaker and it has kept my HPS high along side beacon of virtue. I know a lot of people are not using it but this build got us past Heroic Artificer and Council last night.
Also timed two 10 keys that before I had a lot of issues trying to keep a group up while playing around shock barrier.
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This is the paladin I made and have been working on gearing.
Thank you for giving me some of your experiences. The audio que for certain things is a massive tip. With so much going on on the screen things get lost so a sound effect for certain procs and what not could be a game changer.
I just made the Shock Barrier legendary yesterday but haven’t tried it out in dungeons yet. After basically being carried through a mythic + run (I was drastically under geared at the time) I know what you mean about needing to know when to use cooldowns. That’s actually one of the things I’m liking coming from a mistweaver, the two have some similarities.
I don’t raid much, dungeons are more my thing. The guides mostly say glimmer build is best for 5 man’s but I’d rather have player opinions. Guides are nice yes but most are written by higher end players and word things in a way that aren’t really helpful or have an air of annoyed superiority. Could just be me tho.
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Glimmer is defs something to get used to, but it (probably) won’t be an overnight thing. You need to remember that it’s effective when you’re constantly pumping out holy shocks and isn’t actually something you can heaving rely on to get everyone’s hp up. BoV is something you can first try out to help you learn the ways of Hpal as it’s a massive CD that’ll be able to help you catch up on the healing needed.
I found that the main thing with holy paladin is to make sure you work with you cooldowns, so like knowing when to use wings, AM, DT, etc. This will come quick to you with experience of the fights you’re doing as you realise how much you can handle. Also, it’s really tempting to stack CDs but try not to stack too much, especially with wings since you, theoretically, should be able to keep everyone up when it’s up.
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That’s perfectly ok, I’ll try to see what kinda of general tips I can provide.
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Don’t be afraid of your cooldowns. They are up more frequently then you think. Yes from an optimizing standpoint you have to learn the fights to make the most of them but doing the opposite and being afraid to use them is worse then using them wrong.
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Don’t underestimate the damage you contribute: I can easily pull about 1.1-2k dps depending on the situation and burst much higher when it’s safe to. Killing mobs faster means they do less damage. Your higher then normal damage for a healer is something you’re capable of contributing.
I personally never considered “I do 10% of the groups damage” to mean “I’m weak and useless.” I consider it to mean. “I’m helping the group kill 10% faster.” And hey, I’m sure hpaladins better then me are doing more then that, I’ll get there eventually. but if it works it works.
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As for M+ I’d suggest stacking Crit and using Beacon of Virtue for party healing. When the servers come back up I’ll check your armory.
You guys have already provided more help than a guide and I appreciate it. I’ve set up some weakauras to have an audio que as well as visual and that’s been a tremendous help.
So far I’ve been sticking to practicing in heroics. The problem with that is most of the time ppl are over geared and don’t require much healing. It’s probably time to transition into mythic 0’s now.
It seems that Glimmer healing is the more challenging route compared to the Virtue build. Like I said I have no prior experience on Holy Paladin so I’m not sure if it’s worth sticking with one way of healing while learning the spec or trying to do them both.
Glimmer is more efficient and more overall hps, and gives you a constant beacon for tank sustain. However it does lack the reactive burst BoV gives. Personally I don’t like using BoV myself but I won’t deny it’s value when it’s needed.
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Yeah. I had to remember to move the keybind for that to something easy to hit…
And yes - proactive healing.
Use holy shock on cooldown.
Spam the living daylight out of crusader strike to get those holy shock cooldowns reset.
Always put judgement on the primary target of the DPS so that “Judgement of Light” is working it’s magic. In my healing logs that’s about 7-8% of my HPS right there. Not big, but it’s basically your “top off the folks in the back” move. Healing that just happens because you’re there.
Spam Divine Toll on cooldown. Don’t hold it because it’s a “1 minute cooldown” - spam it because if fills up your holy power, procs the legendary that puts a ‘bubble’ on 5-people, and puts a 30-second ‘beacon’ on those 5 as well.
- I find this gives me massive heals for 30-seconds, in such a manner that with smart play I am in a strong spot for the other 30-seconds because as it’s coming off I’ve already been putting shocks on people and keeping my holy power capped with that crusader strike…
Keep Consecration under yourself so that ‘Golden Path’ is self healing you.
Put your beacon on whichever tank you need to pay the least attention to. This is an evolving choice when working with new tanks or new healers. Just watch them and see which of them needs you the least, beacon that one, and then focus your attention on the other one.
Don’t dismiss Light of Dawn. It’s a small conal AoE heal. But well aimed and well timed it can make all the difference. If I have holy power and nobody needs a spike heal from Word of Glory, I just turn to face of people and toss out Light of Dawn.
The more melee in your raid, the better… your mastery makes your heals more effective the close people are - so those ranged characters can just… die…
- let the other healers deal with those fools that stand in the far back. Don’t obsess over running over to heal those folks. Even once you get in range the heal you toss them is as powerful as a linen bandage…
If you’re casting Flash of Light or Healing Light in combat, you’re in the process of failing. Find a way to reset your Holy Shock or accept the fail.
(Healing Kael’thas during a transition phase where our DPS had killed ALL the adds has been the only time I’ve managed to find a use for those spells… and I would have had higher HPS if I’d just taken an AFK…)
If you’re in an M+ and your tank has 10% health left, and the entire group is down to 20% or less, including you, and there’s a trash pull ahead of you of 573 mobs…
- and your tank is waiting to be topped off.
- NOW is the time to pull.
Your out of combat healing sucks, but as soon as they pull you can usually proc 27 different things and have the whole group insta-topped off.
- Let your regular tanks know that the best way to keep you going is to never leave combat unless some fool got 1-shot by a mechanic and needs a rez. They should be chain pulling and NEVER leaving combat.
Also, if a mage rezzes a mana table, look at him and type the /lol emote. What is this mana stuff?
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I don’t use LoD much in Mythic+/dungeon healing but use it all time time in raids. when you’re in dungeons people are usually more spread out and if your Lod isn’t touching 4+ people, it isn’t really worth it. I tend to WoG more with the shielding words conduit (WoG grants a shield on YOU for x amount of the WoG healing).
holy shock on cd…obviously… lol
run crusader talent and crusader strike when HS is on CD, this resets your HS timer.
Also I see your belf, don’t forget about Arcane torrent. this no longer interrupts but gives you 1 HP
if group is taking a large amount of damage (or pridefull summons) pop AM for damage reduction with devotion aura.
Personally, I like running Divine purpose and awakening talent in dungeons, (unless in NW cuz there is a ton of damage and I run Holy avenger). I like the wings proc which happens A LOT more than you would expect for only being a 15% chance.
Don’t be afraid to pop your cds, like someone else said, they are up pretty fast.
I run Glimmer talent but I have been playing hpal for a long time so know how to use it effectively, if you are learning, BoV may be a good choice as kind of an oh crap button but you lose out on beacon which is why I personally don’t like it. I feel its a somewhat different playstyle and might as well learn the way you will be playing later on. Being a 15sec cd is nice though. GoL is great but don’t expect it to do burst healing. its basically a hot but can crit for 1500~
Light of the martyr, I think you’ll get different opinions on using this based on who you talk to. I use it for PVP but not much in PVE. In PvP, I usually bestow faith myself before using so I get healed shortly after from the damage is does.
DO NOT… I repeat… do not use FoL. Only in very rare instances do you ever use it. Its a 2.2k mana spell (which is very expensive) that only heals for 5k~ ish crit, depending on your gear. its not an effective way of healing and you will go oom. You’d be better of using Light of the Martyr which is 400mana and a bigger heal (but also damages you). You can Holy light on infusion of light procs in dungeons. in raids I hardly CAST any spells. Your basic rotation usually looks like HS, CS (which gives 1 h power) HS, Lod… repeat. also throw judge in there with the JoL talent.
Don’t be afraid to dps. if the group isn’t taking damage, throw consecration down (you should do this anyway on cd if you are keeping everyone’s health up) and start dpsing, you will be surprised how much damage a h pally does
DT is AMAZING. you should save this spell for when the group is taking a lot of damage. it can also be cast on enemies as well and does a ton of damage so keep that in mind.
Don’t forget to use your stewards phial for healing. it also clears all diseases, poison’s, cures, and bleeds (good to know for PVP or stone generals)
before pulls, try and get a crit HS on the tank before he pulls, this will put a shield on him usually around 1500~ depending on gear (this is only if you’re using shielding words legendary, which you should be) this isn’t too important, its not going to stop a wipe by any means but its nice additional support.
Dont forget about Shield of the Righteos. This is our Holy Power “Dump” ability which does AoE damage and increases your armor. It’s important to note that this ability is OFF the Global Cooldown (GCD) meaning you can use it in between your other abilities. Make sure you’re always dumping excess Holy Power into this ability when there isn’t heavy healing required.
INT>haste>mastery>>verst>crit will be stat priority
Conduits: the most effective conduits are 2 potency, 1 endurance, 1 finesse using Pelagos.
- Focused light: Hs crit chance is increased by x amount depending on conduit lvl. my 213 is 7.5 increased crit.
- Ringing clarity
- shielding words: WoG puts a shield on you for 22.5% of WoG heal (again, 213IL conduit)
OR
Golden path: Consecration heals you for 270 every .8sec you stand in it (if you feel you can keep consecration down and stand in it) this is also my 213IL conduit, it will change based on IL. - lights barding: increases divine steed duration by 75% (with my 213 conduit)
someone mentioned above wingsup .com and I highly recommend reading through this sight as well.
That’s all I can think of right now but let me know if you have any questions 
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good info here but a couple things I disagree with.
You definitely Should hold DT for large group damage. This will be easier to time once you learn the dungeons and bosses in raid. If you pop DT right before a lot of group damage, you’ve essentially wasted those heals just to apply GoL. when they would have gotten GoL when you used DT during the group damage. I understand that might be hard to do if you don’t know the instances or pulls.
the whole not leaving combat thing is silly. If your tank is at 10% health and the rest of the group at 20% its fine to leave combat and heal them before pulling… this is going to cause an inexperienced person to wipe ESPECIALLY if you don’t have DT up. if you struggled with a pull and need to top people off before the next pull, dont be afraid to say so. A good tank will notice this anyway.
I do love the comment about mana though, i never take the mage food anymore because i cant remember the last time i had to drink 
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your not gonna get real good info here … youtube is better at such things good luck !
Lots of great replies. My experience coming back from Cataclysm holy paladin (Holy Radiance spam) to the new BFA/Shadowlands (new for me) Paladin is this:
HS on CD of course like everyone says. Get as much haste as possible and cast holy shock as much as possible. If no one is taking damage (or very light damage), cast on the enemy and CS spam to get it back for healing. With enough haste, this won’t cause any issues when people need heals and if there is very light damage going out, GL will heal them up in a group setting.
I exclusively use WoG and maybe one or two LoDs throughout raid fights. As a holy paladin, I have built my healing group with mostly raid healers/ramp healers like Disc priests and I solely focus on Tank/Spot healing.
Utilize your CDs properly. I almost use BoS on CD. With Golden path, JoL, and leech cape enchant heal me more than enough that I will pop it on a tank if no-one else needs it or there is no major spot healing that I might need it for (Council of Blood/Stone legion heroic are good examples). Aura Mastery should be used during major healing spots (think Sludgefist when he hits a pillar, use it just before that). It’s a 3 minute CD so you will need to plan ahead on when to use it or if there are no major points, save when a fight is close to ending or when someone might die.
The only time I ever cast is during healing damage with HL, or (major or) to get a HP if CS and HS and Arcane Torrent are on CD with FoL on tank but only if I have IoL. This lets me cast more HP abilities such as WoGs, LoD, or even Shields when needed. Also, LoM is a weird spell and I almost never use it. Not even in situations to save someone. If I need to save someone, HS, BoP, BoS, AW, or DT will save them.
Finally, once you get healing down, get good at dpsing. Faster fights = less healing that you and/or your team has to do. If I am more focused on healing, I can potentially put out 1.5k dps. If I am in a fight where healing isn’t an issue, I can get closer to 2k dps while still pumping free WoG on tanks/targets.
My experience currently is 9/10H but my highest mythic + key is 11 so I have less experience in a 5 man, but I find those to be much easier to heal because I know that my divine toll will hit all 5 people every single time. LoD is difficult in groups because of having to angles and I find it difficult to use in raid settings because I have resto shams, fistweavers, or disc priests picking up raid healing.
I hope this helps and let me know if you have any other questsion. Also feel free to add me in game if you want to chat that way. My battle.net tag is Gingivits#11827.
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Thank you guys. This info is much more helpful than a guide, most of which just tell you what talents to pick for which type of content you want to do.
I did make the mistake of using BoP on the tank exactly once. Thankfully the tank taunted immediately and the dk was quick to pick up the rest and kite and it didn’t cause a wipe. Lesson learned lol.
I decided to go with the glimmer build bc that’s what I intend to play primarily. Didn’t make sense to learn a different playstyle at first and then switch…I may also be a glutton for punishment lol. So far I’m really enjoying it. I have a pretty good idea of the dungeons coming from another healer but Holy Paladin cooldowns are much different from monk so it’s still an adjustment.
Based on what some of you have said I don’t feel too bad about not using LoD in dungeons very much. I do find myself throwing out Holy Lights during procs though.
I think the biggest thing I need to work on is watching my movement and not allowing myself to get separated from the mobs as much when avoiding ground gunk. On monk this wasn’t as big a deal bc I could easily switch to ranged heals.
I made a few weakauras to help out. The best one so far is a audio que when I reach 3 holy power. This has helped more than I can say in not capping my holy power.
I’m having a ton of fun playing/learning Holy Paladin and may end up switching my main (provided Blizz doesn’t show some love to Mistweaver soon). I actually can’t believe I never picked it up sooner to be honest.
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This has been an inspiring thread for me. I’m very interested in trying Holy out as well. As you can see, I’m just beginning to level to 60, so I have a ways to go.
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The tips have been really helpful. I was terrified to try a new healer. This character had originally been my attempt at tanking (a role I really did not like). When I first read through some of the guides it was either lack of personal experiences or very intimidating.
When I first made the switch I spent the first couple days in the proving grounds (something I wish Blizzard would update) where no one could judge me while I tried things out. Then I had to finish leveling her to 50 so my brother jumped on one of his tanks around legion level and made me do dungeons with him. Talk about jumping into the deep end!
After that we did Threads of Fate and he kept making me do dungeons between zone events and world quests. I think if he had left it up to me I would have started a new pally to learn spell by spell and would still be leveling lol. Now I’m a bit nervous to climb the keys, only done a handful of lowers ones. My brother tried to carry me through a +7 (I believe) on his geared tank. That was scary! That’s about the time I made this thread. I took some tips from the other posters and have been having so much fun since.
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Would you mind sharing a little info on your weakauras? I, too, will make one with a sound effect at 3 or 4 HP; that’s a great idea.