I dont even have it on my bars, I actually completely forgot I spec’ed for it. Just wondering if I should drop it and replace it with something else (if possible that is)
Is the ability basically useless? If not how exactly do you use it effectively
It is most useful for oracle disc since there is an oracle talent for +40% nova damage and you get to double dip on the healing with atonement. In this case, it is definitely useful when fully charged.
2 Likes
Plus if your oracle and running TE. Before hero talents its how we would use it, pws to get pious, shadow to proc TE then fully charged holy nova
I mean it’s my 6th most pressed button in raid on average but you can use it however you want. It’s quite a flexible spell.
4 Likes
oh…I dont raid
As Holy, I use it often. During my most recent boss fight in raid I averaged 2.8 casts per minute of Holy Nova. I also use it in dungeons with questionable effectiveness (I’m not running many dungeons this season). It’s one of the few spells we can cast while moving. With our Mastery, even if everybody is fully healed when you cast it you may realize 15% or so of its healing if people are damaged up to four seconds after the cast goes off. The extra talent that allows it to build stacks makes it pretty powerful. My gut tells me that a powered up cast of it, since it’s instant, is probably one of our strongest AoE heals, useful for healing the entire party when there’s group wide damage going out.
It does great in raid for what it is. It contributed 2.75% of my overall healing in that most recent boss in raid and I also use it to charge up my overhealing trinket, Viscous Coagulation, which did 2.77% of my overall healing on that same boss.
It does really good dmg on 4+ targets. I use it a lot on M+.
Even if you don’t run oracle, I go archo and when I pop halo I just spam holy nova and I do massive aoe dmg.
Also the full 20 stacks holy nova deals a lot of ST dmg too so worth pressing it when it’s fully stacked
1 Like
It’s mostly for movement, or when you have rhapsody stacks, it’s actually a decent AoE heal/damage spell. It’s generally never worth casting if you don’t have a decent number of Rhapsody stacks or you don’t need to move (and your other instants are on CD).
It’s kind of silly that it’s decent for movement on Holy, but it’s actually better HPS than hitting renew.
3 Likes
I didn’t mention M+. I used much more in previous seasons, I removed pts from harmonious this season so I lost synergy and I have less dps time than previous seasons… otherwise it’s an important part of your dps rotation during apoth. As mentioned it still heals at full stacks but I’m less aware of its full effectiveness and don’t really have logs to show for it.
When you have the talent that boosts it by up to 200%
Ok I will be honest, I didn’t get the Rhapsody talent so I changed my build a little and it was my 2nd most damage in a quick damage I did…so ya, I was missing out
Really glad I asked 
Generally I use it to AoE clear old raids, otherwise I have never been impressed with the spell in any spec or felt like it did relevant damage or healing regardless of the talents put into it.
1 Like
H Priest (PvP enjoyer) here. I can’t recall ever having it on my bars, doesn’t provide enough value for this spec to warrant a single GCD.
In pvp its great to interrupt flag captures. In PVE, if you are fully spec into it, It’s a nice aoe burst heal inbetween rotation. Often times better than circle of healing considering how weak circle is right now.
2 Likes
I use it when I get pulled into a group of people, or we need to stack for some reason.
Small Burst Heal that applies EoL on everyone hit for an additional small HoT. – I also use it if I’m repositioning and notice myself running through a group of allies.
This may seem weird, but as disc, I personally I put it next to shadow word: death, I found that rhapsody reaches 20 stacks at roughly the amount of time it takes for a mob/group to go down. Helps me remember to use it as they both flash, integrate it into rotation and reduce the time I am sitting with full unused stacks
It’s a strong spell in PvP. As Squidacles pointed out, you can use it to spin flags. You can also use it to help reveal enemies that are stealthed.
2 Likes
In Arena against a Rogue who opens with Sap, use Holy Ward, and as soon as it drops, cast Holy Nova to flush out the Rogue from stealth.
1 Like
It’s good on Oracle. If you are able to hit your allies with both the heal and atonement damage/healing it is basically as much healing as a Smite cast but without the squid CDR. So on 2+ targets it’s basically just more damage and equivalent healing even at 0 stacks of Rhapsody.
Sadly however, it costs a ton of mana so you can’t just spam it to compensate for Oracle’s garbage damage profile. If Oracle had something to reduce its mana cost down to like 5 or 10K like Smite is, you could probably fix Oracle’s damage (in M+ not raid) just by giving them a consistent and good AoE option like this. Sucks that it’s melee range but I’d take anything to fix Oracles damage atm.
But it’s worth pressing on anything above basically 0 stacks as long as you have the mana. I usually send it at 16+ whenever I have spare GCD. Just for the damage honestly.
Use it to kill trash in old raids, and find stealthies in pvp. Other than that I find it pretty useless, even with Rhapsody
2 Likes