Questions about Intellect and Spirit MP5

[Snabe-benediction]

I’ve read old forum posts and discussions and wikis, I’ve found a formula which my brain can’t really process right now. But in Classic and Vanilla, Spirit directly increased MP5 by a given amount, further divided by your level.

So simplified, its always been “Get a lot of spirit, get a lot of MP5, the higher your level, the more it takes to reach those high amounts”

With TBC the formula changed to include intellect into the spirit regen equation. What I want a clear answer on, is what is the exact ratio, (even if its just for level 70) of Intellect and Spirit balance to MAXIMIZE mana per 5 regen. Like is it 10 spirit for every 2 intellect? or 10 intellect for every 10 spirit? Regardless of equation, i’m sure it can be simplified in this way to make it easier to keep track of.

[Serraticx-sargeras]

Put on an item and look at your stats.

Simple breakdown

More = good

[Snabe-benediction]

yes I do that, but that doesn’t narrow down the simple ratio i’m looking for.

[Yanadin-mankrik]

For a level 70 Priest:

• 1 Intellect = 0.5 non-casting MP5 & 0.15 casting MP5. Ergo, you need 7 int for 1 mp5 (while casting)

• 1 Spirit = 1.0 non-casting MP5 & 0.3 casting MP5. Ergo, you need 4 spirit for 1 mp5 (while casting).

However:

• 1 Intellect = 15 Mana

Example:

Flash Heal (Rank 9) base mana cost is 470.

470/15 = 31.333333 (etc.). So, you’d need +32 intellect for the cost of a max rank Flash Heal.

With that 32 Intellect, you’re also getting 4.7 mp5 (32*.15 = 4.7; easy numbers here).

So, in terms of mp5, intellect is half as useful. So it’s a trade-off between higher regen from Spirit and pure mana itself.

STOP HERE IF YOU WANT NO MORE NUMBERS/MATH.

But for a quick further explanation, see below:

Of course, for both int and spirit, there are other benefits from our talents as well. As a disc healer, I get +10% mana via talents. So, +1 int gives me +16.5. Therefore, I only need +28 int to give me one max rank Flash Heal.

Another great example is if you have the talent mental agility (reduces instant cast spell mana cost by 10%). Max rank PW:S base mana is 600, but for me, it’s now 540, which makes it more useful and more mana efficient. If not specced into +10% mana, you’d need +40 int for the cost of one PW:S, whereas being specced into means you’d need +33.

For reference, a Brilliant Dawnstone gives +8 int, so in theory, if not talented into it the +10% mana, I get 9 PW:S casts for every 8 PW:S casts based on mana alone.

Of course, there are also talents that increase bonus healing based on spirit (imp. divine spirit, spiritual healing). Just another factor in your decision. Again, these are just examples and don’t take into account play style, raid composition, which boss fight, etc. Just wanted to throw in a few things to help add in addition to thinking about strict mp5.

Hope this helps!

[Drfury-mankrik]

Thank you this is super helpful!

[Yanadin-mankrik]

In the event you don’t have them, two add-ons I use to help me make these decisions are GearQuipper and Extended Character Stats. The former lets you create different gear sets so you don’t have to manually equip pieces and remember what goes where (I have a questing set, a dps set, a standard healing set, and an mp5 healing set). The latter opens an additional tab and let’s you see your character stats with a lot more detail, including mp5 (and the sources of it, from straight mp5 or spirit). I play around with it and can have a better look at the trade-off between healing power, crit, mana pool, regen, etc. and make my gear sets based on that, as some things aren’t as intuitive as one might think. Also, it’s juts plain fun!