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#1 Nov 18 2008 at 7:49 PM Rating: Good
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Ok.

I've been invited to a guild that is pretty progressive... as in they all got their bear mt from BC before the patch came out and removed it from the loot table.

So I'm to be a main healer and to be honest have done nothing with my priest really since 3.0 came out (yeah, I still love my pally). What I'm looking for is a good Raid Healing build (no I do not have Wotlk yet so a lvl 70 cap) and opinions about Disc Healer vs Holy Healers.
Also is there someone who has used Guardian Spirit and can let me know if it's really worthy of 51 pts?
Any build links would be welcome (again I'll be main healing for 5, 10, and 25 man raids).
And with the new math what is a good + spell power to have as one goes in to heal Heroics/Kara ect...? (they are due to upgrade me to badge loot as I probally won't have WotLK till Christmas and we have some time to get to know eachother).
Mmmm... yeah. I did lot's of healing pre 3.0 so I'm pretty good on the skills thing.... just looking to adapt to the new patch and WotLK as I've been playing my Pally since the release.

Thanks ahead of time!!



Edited, Nov 18th 2008 10:51pm by Simskin
#2 Nov 19 2008 at 1:41 AM Rating: Decent
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For a level 70 healing spec, i'd say this.

It has all you need at level 70. I have used it successfully since patch from kara to BT/HJ.
#3 Nov 19 2008 at 4:49 AM Rating: Excellent
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I agree with Pilgrim's build. TBH, 70 raid healing is pretty easy post-patch, but if there are going to be issues with anything, it's mana. Between the one-potion-per-fight rule and the end of downranking, that can be a challenge. So I would never give up Meditation in favor of Guardian Spirit.
#4 Nov 19 2008 at 4:59 AM Rating: Decent
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4,684 posts
I think 80's raiding different a LOT with 70's raiding specwise... If you're indeed sticking with 70, all that has been said is completely correct. Once you level to 80, about the opposite of what's just been said is correct.
#5 Nov 19 2008 at 10:46 PM Rating: Decent
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224 posts
All the level 70 advice is good. But I assume sometime in the near future you will be getting Wrath?

Well, to me, Holy has always been very lackluster. the 21, 31 and 51 point talents are... well... crap. I mean it just irritates me that you climb a tree and put 45 points in it, but all the 1 point skill talents are bad. Now, there are some pretty good talents in Holy, like Divine Fury, and Holy Concentration, but for the most part, the tree has always just seemed very bland to me.

So that's why I was shadow up until Wrath came out. My guild is in need of healers, so I'm changing my priest to a healer. He's going to be a main-healing, tank supporter. I'm going to be discipline specced, and I'm leveling as Disc, currently level 72.

Here's my spec at the moment: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=bVhbuhhtrxsifRtc

Here's the spec I *think* I'll have at 80 (though it quite possibly change): http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=bVIbuh0trxsifRtcbt

Now, I'm not saying these are by any means the best builds, but the top one is currently working for me. I'm not really a fan of Mental Agility, because I have few spells that are instant cast that I use consistently. The only ones I do use are Renew, Power Word: Shield and Prayer of Mending.

Improved Inner Fire is not an amazing spell, but I'll try it out and see if the increase to the spell damage is noticeable, otherwise I'll go back to 3/5 in mental agility.

So, with this build, healing is a bit different. Your shield is very useful, not only for mitigating damage, but giving you mana back. I mostly just use it on DPS when they are getting beat on, but if I have a Paladin or Bear Tank, I'll throw them a shield every now and then.

Penance is just simply amazing. At max rank and raid geared, I'm thinking it will tick for about 3000 healing per tick, and for about 900 mana. By Casting a Greater heal, and then immediately after, casting Penance, you can get about 20000 burst heal.

As a Disc priest, I rarely go out of mana. I guess I'm just saying, having been both Disc and Holy (way back in the day), Disc is way more fun, and now is completely viable as more than just an off-spec/PvP tree.

Hope this helps, good luck!
#6 Nov 20 2008 at 5:56 AM Rating: Decent
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Haven't played in a while so after dying quickly a couple of times I realized that no longer had a build. (Also 70 with local store out of WotLK).

So I quickly slapped together a build in about 15 seconds and came close to Pilgram's.

Two questions why improved concentration over test of faith?

And why 1 in healing prayer over a fifth one in spiritual guidance?
#7 Nov 20 2008 at 7:00 PM Rating: Decent
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343 posts
Cool cool.
Thanks for the spec build. Yes, I was planing on getting WotLK, but I got it yesterday in the mail as an early X-Mass present from my best budd. :-)

Ok. So I'm starting my way to 80 and again will still be the main healer, a roll I'm perfectly happy with and though I do thank you very much for the Raid build a lot of my other questions went unanswered.

1) Is Guardian Spirit as cool in play as it reads?
2) What is target + spell power?
3) Disc Healer vs Holy Healer? (it looks like single target heal vs party heals but I'm not really sure).

And actually I have an additional question. I'm using healbot for the first time, and really don't know how to :-( I haven't been in a group yet as I only really had an hr to play last night and started a Death Knight (cool stuff!), but if anyone has an easy guide to config it I would so be greatful! I'm sure that with trial and error I can figure it out (and my bud that got me WotLK would help) but I was looking for pro advice.

Thanks again!
#8 Nov 20 2008 at 11:41 PM Rating: Decent
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561 posts
@NCjim: if you talk about my build.. it includes 5/5 spiritual guidance... :) And improved HC is because of the way HC is implemented: based on CRIT, not on spellcast. First the healing must crit, then it checks to see if HC procs. This increases the chance HC procs to almost 50%. So, if you get a crit (anywhere from 10 to 20% chance to happen) then you have 45% (instead of 30%) chance to get HC. And the haste part is good to have.

I'm not really a fan of Test of faith, as i don't like having ppl lower than 50% :)

@simskin: You don't have to have a specialised spec to heal your way to 80. I suggest a leveling build :) As you level, max out enlightenment and mental strength. The last 5 points... are up to you: Maybe Spiritual healing, or some talents in disc. Doesn't really matter.
#9 Nov 21 2008 at 4:21 AM Rating: Excellent
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Simskin wrote:
Cool cool.
3) Disc Healer vs Holy Healer? (it looks like single target heal vs party heals but I'm not really sure).


Disc is an interesting approach, because a lot of the talents center more on preventing or mitigating damage than actually healing it. Shield and Flash Heal are primary tools with this build. Lots of people are rallying to Disc right now because that's new and exciting. Holy is more old-school style healing: big greater heals with lots of multi-target healing in between. Hybrid builds like an IDS build may be less strong than they were in BC, but may be fun to play with as well.

Which is right for you will depend on your playstyle as well as your role in your raids and the other classes/specs you're playing with. Don't cheat yourself out of the fun of trying different things out, especially if you're not sure which is for you. Chances are one style will click with you (I'm a Holy girl myself - you can pry CoH out of my cold dead hand), but IMO one of the great things about the priest class is how fun taking a little vacation in a different spec can be. Smiley: cool
#10 Nov 21 2008 at 5:22 AM Rating: Decent
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129 posts
OK thanks Pilgrimfx. I was thinking that test of faith would give you more when you needed it the most, but looking more closely your combination is better overall.
#11 Nov 21 2008 at 6:47 AM Rating: Decent
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343 posts
Thank you!

@PilgrimFX: When I make it back to a trainer I'm going to try that lvl build. It looks fun and easier than what I'm working with.

Anybody don't by chance have a few builds avial for quick reference? The faq's are out of date. Or links to someone who has put together a quick talent build list?

edit
Nice build. Had a moment as I was putting it together to go over it and thanks again.

Also, another questions about healbot. I have greater heal linked to my left click, and when i did it... it casted renew (which is my center click). Why?


Edited, Nov 21st 2008 7:45am by Simskin
#12 Nov 21 2008 at 9:58 AM Rating: Decent
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Quote:
1) Is Guardian Spirit as cool in play as it reads?


Cool, yes, though you won't use it as often as Penace. On the bright side, that's not what it's been designed for. The thing is, when you need it it's extremely useful to have, but you generally shouldn't need it on your avarage run. Which is what seems to scare some priests away from it. In the end, it's definitely not a bad talent too have, though. If you find yourself never using it, lower your standards on it a bit and throw it down earlier; in for example a burst/enragement period on a boss.

Quote:
3) Disc Healer vs Holy Healer? (it looks like single target heal vs party heals but I'm not really sure).


Though both trees are viable enough to heal pretty much everything, the difference is indeed a shift of focus of single target vs party heal.

As for builds:
This is the base for a main holy build. The points in Spiritual Guidance can be swapped around to Healing Prayers, Holy Reach and/or Desperate prayer, and the points in Silent Resolve can be swapped into Improved Inner Fire. Inner Focus could also be removed. Other than that, you'll want all these talents wherever you go. It's really up to you if you take stuff like Lightwell, Divine Guardian, Test of Faith, Surge of Light, Divine Spirit and/or Improved Inner Fire. For example, this is a very possible variation, but so is this or this.

The base for a main disc build is like this. In this "template", the points in Absolution can be swapped for Improved Power Word: Shield, and one point in Holy Specialization can be thrown into Desperate Prayer. From that point on, all fields are open to you once more. Run as shield heavy disc, non-shield single target pro or as little miss mix.

In the end, it depends almost entirely on what situation you're in. That said, either a varation of the cookie cutter holy build or the cookie cutter shield-disc spec are the most common and probably more versatile than for example a "little miss mix" build.

As a last note: some healers feel they can live without Healing Focus as they get more experienced with raiding. If you feel you do, it's always droppable to open some other options.

Edited, Nov 22nd 2008 3:12am by Mozared
#13 Nov 22 2008 at 1:14 PM Rating: Good
I really like that there are talents very useful to a healer in both disc and holy. It allows a lot of customization, without losing the ability to heal well.

I had focused on a healbot build, but changes in mana management (loss of downranking and chain potting) had me looking again at heavier disc.

Once I said "What if I don't take Gaurdian Spirit?", it opened some other possibilities. Currently, I'm working toward a 30/41/0 Circle of Healing build. It has a few quirks that I like. The good news is it's ok to vary from the cookie cutter builds. We can always respec.

I've found that my increased spirit seems to have compensated for a loss of some pure holy points. I'm also flying in the face of recommended wisdom, by taking unbreakable will rather than twin disciplines (the thought being that breaking out of silence a moment sooner, may save a party member).

Likewise, a few extra points to save mana may mean the difference. I'm thinking a priest with mana is better than one without.

The point of my post is that we have a lot of great talents. Meditation is probably the one talent that is a must have for the disc/holy priest. After that, look at the cookie cutter builds, find what you like, do some customization and testing, and have a blast playing a priest.
#14 Nov 22 2008 at 2:06 PM Rating: Decent
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The only thing I don't like about your build is that you do pick up the Holy Conc proc, but stick to 1/5 Holy Specialization. Feels like a waste to me. I'd say at least throw those 2 points from Healing Focus into Holy Spec.

I've been swayed to respec to a shield heavy disc build (or my current level 70 version of it), and I've got to say I really like it. It's exactly like I've stated before; I've lost some AOE healing capabilities but I'm the king of single target healing.

Coming from an AOE heavy holy build, here's what happened:

-My heals lost size. Basically, my greater heals went from 4000 avarage non-crits to 3100 avarage non-crits. This is compensated by the fact that it's nearly impossible for me to run OOM anymore. I've got so much regeneration and my spells are so cheap that I'd need to heal by using Flash Heal only to even get near to the downtime I had as Holy.
-I've lost the Surge of Light and Holy Concentration procs. This is compensated by gaining the Divine Aegis proc, which is probably as good as SoL+Holy Conc.
-I've lost a panic button (Guardian Spirit). Compensated by gaining a new panic button (Pain Supression).
-I've lost AOE capability. Basically compensated by improved single target healing with Penance and Grace.
-I've lost Lightwell. Compensated by Power Infusion as either self-buff when quick healing is needed, or caster DPS buff.

Aside from that, I feel I've only improved my character. Power Word: Shield now really packs a punch, and it even deals damage (heck, the damage dealt by it can CRIT!). Also, the Borrowed Time buff isn't consumed on Penance use, while it does fuel Penance's casting time; effectively, shield+penance+flash/greater heal is an answer to every critical situation. Last but not least, I've also gained a spirit (and DPS) buff.

I can see very well why people would want Holy priests around, but right now Disc really feels like it's my thing. You basically fly about your targets throwing quick heals around, having a mana pool that easily allows that. Holy is more... fragile, and a bit less adaptable, if you ask me.
#15 Nov 23 2008 at 4:07 PM Rating: Decent
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343 posts
Well I've started grouping with my fun buddies and working through some of the WotLK content. Loving the quests and the instances are a blast!

I've moved over to the holy/disc lvling build and it's been cool. I haven't seen much difference from the build before that, but as I didn't doc it I couldn't tell you much except that is was mostly holy, anyway....

I've been spending more time healing instances (5 mans, running with 3 +74: druid tank, 2 fire mages... though one is working on a shadow priest to trade out with their mage). My point? I'm finding that I'm working pretty hard healing with this lvl build, so I was looking at this (as my roll has moved more to healing 5 mans with my avial playtime). As I progress in 5 mans (before I respec to a aoe holy to raid heal at 80), fill in Focused Power, Enlightenment, Holy Concentration and, Spiritual Healing as I go.
The end result? (among other things)
+14% to heals
5% to crit
+80 spirit (and spell power)
+5% spirit
25% of spirit in Spell Power
+5% Spell Haste

With the way talents fall, I think I've done everything to make Greater Heal (my main heal) the best it can and keep the rest of my heals high.

BTW, I've been working on and using Healbot. What a cool UI!

So, advice? opinions?
Thanks!
#16 Nov 23 2008 at 4:38 PM Rating: Decent
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Well, two things;

1) While not a terrible build, it seems a bit sporadic to me. 3 points in Mental Agility, 1 in Focused Power, and 1 in Enlightenment. Throw them all 5 into Mental Agility and be done with it, I say.

2) I've made a huge shift myself since I moved from holy to disc, and right now, I can only recommend to simply go for the shield-heavy disc spec. I A) Never run out of mana, B) Gained DPS and C) Lost a lot of AOE capability which I didn't really need anyway while levelling. I think your spec would seriously make you 100% unable to run out of mana if you had a shadowpriest or retridin fuelling you, but you lack specialization; there is nothing you really excel in. Ofcourse, this isn't neccisarily a bad thing.

Either way, my suggestions are these:
A) Go with a shield heavy disc spec, or
B) adjust the spec you've built and turn it into this and work it up to this.

I just have to warn you; I'm not sure if the 38/33/0 build is on par with full disc, full holy, or a 23/48/0 or 45/26/0 build.
#17 Nov 23 2008 at 7:38 PM Rating: Good
In contrast to CoH, which I've been for a while, I'm giving full Disc + Improved Renew a try. I lost a few hundred on my big heals, but I'm going for the least chance of going oom.

So far it's fun and effective. I'm going to give it a good try.
#18 Nov 23 2008 at 8:23 PM Rating: Decent
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First off, please understand I'm not against what the wonderful input I'm getting. I love it because it will always strive to make me do better and I thank you for that (it's the politician in me... my best friend is someone who will push me to do better).

Yes, this probally wasn't the best way to present my build as it's 8pts shy (lvl 80) and I have 1pt in spots to remind me what I want to build. The final is this.

The idea? Mad Spirit, Int, Stam, toss in the haste and crit.
Right now I use Greater Heal, Renew and Prayer of Mending 98% of the time. Those are actually my left/middle/shiftleft (respectivily) mouse buttons on Healbot. So the idea is 1)get spirit and anything that will buff spirit. Gear for spirit and mp5. 2) Anything that will improve my Greater Heal as that truly is my most used spell (love those big heals... so old school). + heals it, haste it, spirit buff it... anything.
I chose Healing Prayer for PoM because running with 2 other clothies it seems to sit on them and I recast it on the tank hoping it will bounce between the Druid (tank) and his brother the Rogue. I do use PoH once and a while due to boss aoe. 3 in Mental Agility... that is to get my 20pts to get to Divine Spirit.
Power Infusion looks HOT!! And it looks like another great trinket without filling the gear slot! Shields? Well I do use (right mouse) and renew when my 77 fire mage crits too much... but these guys are pretty good at watching their omen, so not often.

Have to say love the look of 38/33/0. Might have to give that a spin. Just not a shield user. Guess I played my pally too much and just hated those priests who shot me with a shield and took my agro... Does the reflective damage cause threat for me or the target? That would probally be my turning question.

So there are my goals. If I'm dreaming about the effectiveness of this build in play or for my goals, is there a way to tweek it or should I just change my goals?

Again, thank you so much for the lesson!!
#19 Nov 24 2008 at 4:41 AM Rating: Good
Simskin wrote:
Just not a shield user. Guess I played my pally too much and just hated those priests who shot me with a shield and took my agro... Does the reflective damage cause threat for me or the target?


Reflective Shield Rank 3/3 - Causes 45% of the damage absorbed by Power Word:Shield to reflect back at the attacker. This damage causes no threat.

As holy, I've always been in the "don't shield the tank" camp. Now that I'm disc, I'm a bit confused as to the role of shielding in a full disc build. In the past, I've always reserved it for the non-tanks and tank emergencies, and usually confined it to myself, mages, and warlocks.

Edited, Nov 24th 2008 7:43am by dadanox
#20 Nov 24 2008 at 8:07 AM Rating: Good
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Quote:
First off, please understand I'm not against what the wonderful input I'm getting. I love it because it will always strive to make me do better and I thank you for that (it's the politician in me... my best friend is someone who will push me to do better).


No worries, fresh views on the matter are important for us too. You can have plenty of "commonly accepted builds", but you need people constantly bashing all aspects of them if you want to know whether they should be adapted.

Quote:
The idea? Mad Spirit, Int, Stam, toss in the haste and crit.
Right now I use Greater Heal, Renew and Prayer of Mending 98% of the time. Those are actually my left/middle/shiftleft (respectivily) mouse buttons on Healbot. So the idea is 1)get spirit and anything that will buff spirit. Gear for spirit and mp5. 2) Anything that will improve my Greater Heal as that truly is my most used spell (love those big heals... so old school). + heals it, haste it, spirit buff it... anything.


Uh-huh. But then why aren't you picking Spirit of Redemption? That 5% spirit is actually pretty big. I'm guessing you overlooked the spirit bonus?

Quote:
Power Infusion looks HOT!! And it looks like another great trinket without filling the gear slot! Shields? Well I do use (right mouse) and renew when my 77 fire mage crits too much... but these guys are pretty good at watching their omen, so not often.

Have to say love the look of 38/33/0. Might have to give that a spin. Just not a shield user. Guess I played my pally too much and just hated those priests who shot me with a shield and took my agro... Does the reflective damage cause threat for me or the target? That would probally be my turning question.


The reason I'm calling it the 'shield heavy disc build' is not because all you do is shielding, though. I find myself using Penance most of all spells, then renew, then greater heal, then prayer of healing, and only then shield and flash heal. The reason I'm calling it 'shield heavy' is because the larger your spell power, the more absorbtion your shield gives, the more mana it returns. Somewhere around the beta you could effectively make your shield free upon reaching ~2000+ healing this way.
To answer Dadanox' question, for as far as I've noticed you basically heal as normal, except for the fact that it's perfectly normal to shield AOEing casters prior to engaging combat, and overall use your shield a bit earlier.

Quote:
So there are my goals. If I'm dreaming about the effectiveness of this build in play or for my goals, is there a way to tweek it or should I just change my goals?


I'm not sure, but I think it could work. Full holy has big heals. Full disc has insane mana regeneration. You simply have a bit of both. It's like putting 35 points in holy and 36 points in protection as a paladin, except that wherever you put those points, they always improve your healing. I suppose we could name your build the "improved priest build", since you basically don't really specialize but ensure you get the maximum use out of all your basic priest spells. I do suppose it's more versatile than full holy or full disc. Just two things; you need Spirit of Redemption, and you should put the 3 points from Imp Power Word Shield into Imp Inner Fire and/or Mental agility. Something like this is what I'd do.
#21 Nov 24 2008 at 4:46 PM Rating: Decent
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WONDERFUL!

Yeah, I overlooked the 5% in SoR. I love your (our) build! Thanks for the help, think I've settled on my 5 man build!!!
#22 Nov 25 2008 at 6:56 AM Rating: Good
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Sweet, have fun then =)

And remember to keep the feedback coming, we want to know how it's working out, specially in heroic and raid content!
#23 Nov 25 2008 at 2:53 PM Rating: Decent
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343 posts
Ahh, it works well.

Last night we ran Nexus (71-73), Utgarde Keep (70-72) and Dark'Tharon Keep (74-76).
I ding'd 71 and upgraded 3 or 4 pieces of gear.

The build? Well Improved Priest (or Healer) is a great way to put it. I had 733 base spell damage going in to the evening and was doing fine. Renew (with glyph) was ticking for 800+, Greater Healing was hitting for 42xx and I really never hit below 50% mana. I'll tag myself with healbot's spam and take some screenshots to get you hardcore #'s for my next post.
Other than that, it's really, truly playing the basic healer. Greater Heals to keep your tank up (I have the PWShield Glyph so when I KNOW he has full agro I'll pop it on him and renew so I can regen mana), PoM and Renew. Shield your dps when they grab agro and renew or flash heal them. The first boss we hit up in Nexus has an AOE so PoH came in handy there. I had no problems in Nexus at all. We ran with no deaths. Moving to Dark'th we wiped once (hey, first time there...) but that went really smooth too. Utgarde was easy after Dark'th and actually after the group split up the tank, a mage, and I went through it twice more killing trash mobs and the second boss for exp to top off my lvl! I had the flow of things down well enough that on my down time (5 sec rule and mana regen) I was getting some wand shots in. (I'm loving my new wand... like +100 dps from my old one and of course better stats).

I'll make sure to hit this up again with some hard #'s. But for those who want to try it out... the build really is Imp Healer. Basic principles, basic taticts. All gained while healing BC content, just with gear upgrades you keep up with the curve, and the talents keep your heals anything but basic.

GL.

Gear upgrades? So easy to get guys...
Wand of Shimmering Scales
Telestra's Journal
Reinforced Velvet Helm
Band of Glittering Permafrost

I'm going after King Dred and get Staff of the Great Reptile. What a nice piece.


Edited, Nov 25th 2008 6:46pm by Simskin
#24 Nov 27 2008 at 1:50 PM Rating: Decent
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343 posts
These are the photos that I snagged.
There are the averages. With my gear... is this good?
FH 2157
GHeal 4392
PoH 1789





Edited, Nov 27th 2008 1:55pm by Simskin
#25 Nov 27 2008 at 2:29 PM Rating: Decent
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Hmm, I really tried to give a solid answer, but the pictures are too small ánd the armory link isn't working =(

Assuming you're in S2 equal gear. I'd say that's not bad. I think that's just about what I got when I was holy.
#26 Nov 27 2008 at 9:43 PM Rating: Decent
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Sorry, I forgot to change my link after I move to Akama. It's fixed now.
I use Windows Picture and Fax Viewer (the default) and zoomed in on the pics to see the actual numbers.

Otherwise... what your saying is that you got basically the same #'s when you were full holy... I don't run out of mana... and on a boss fight I might get down to 20%... So as of yet this build is just what we've been calling it...Imp Healer :-) Nothing wrong with that.

Thanks for the input! More is always good!

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