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Beginner 85 healerFollow
Hey guys. My priest is 84 and soon to be 85. I've been healing dungeons on this character basically all the way up and have mainly been holy but spent some time as disc as well. I am wondering what spec will be more "noob" friendly for me in these 5 mans especially while I get used to being more mana efficient(because while leveling I really didn't have to be). Is either tree clearly stronger for 5 mans and raids? Thanks in advance.
As a matter of opinion, I've found Disc to be better at just about everything besides Raid Healing. Holy has the uncanny ability to spread their healing out with a lot of set-and-forget abilities and some pretty awesome smart-heals. But that's about the extent of it.
Discipline allows for far more powerful healing. It also allows for smite-healing which is absolutely awesome for easier pulls. It's going to depend on your situation, on a pull-by-pull basis, but if you're going with a good yet under geared group, Disc will outperform Holy by a solid margin. Don't be afraid to use Pain suppression, and basically use the rest of your cooldowns as they pop up, and you'll be fine.
Penance to get Grace3 up, make sure you grab Inspiration.
Greater Heal for Train of Thought.
Heal for Strength of Soul.
PW:S for Rapture and Renewed Hope. Only PW:S if you know it'll break.
Never Renew. Never Flash Heal.
Those are the rules I played by. Now, unfortunately I have to be Holy for Raid heals and it's a lot of fun, but when a Main healer goes down my HPS go from 15k to like 7k, it's rough, and honestly Holy Priest just stinks compared to Disc or Holy Pallies for Main Heals.
Regardless, though, you're going to be drinking A LOT. So stock up on water, make friends with Mages, and keep both on your hotbar. Drinking as soon as it allows will save the group a lot of time.
Edited, May 23rd 2011 12:39am by tzsjynx
Discipline allows for far more powerful healing. It also allows for smite-healing which is absolutely awesome for easier pulls. It's going to depend on your situation, on a pull-by-pull basis, but if you're going with a good yet under geared group, Disc will outperform Holy by a solid margin. Don't be afraid to use Pain suppression, and basically use the rest of your cooldowns as they pop up, and you'll be fine.
Penance to get Grace3 up, make sure you grab Inspiration.
Greater Heal for Train of Thought.
Heal for Strength of Soul.
PW:S for Rapture and Renewed Hope. Only PW:S if you know it'll break.
Never Renew. Never Flash Heal.
Those are the rules I played by. Now, unfortunately I have to be Holy for Raid heals and it's a lot of fun, but when a Main healer goes down my HPS go from 15k to like 7k, it's rough, and honestly Holy Priest just stinks compared to Disc or Holy Pallies for Main Heals.
Regardless, though, you're going to be drinking A LOT. So stock up on water, make friends with Mages, and keep both on your hotbar. Drinking as soon as it allows will save the group a lot of time.
Edited, May 23rd 2011 12:39am by tzsjynx
Awesome thank you for the reply. I'm actually gonna take your advice and give some dungeons a shot tonight. Quick question though about shielding. In 5 mans what do you do, always shield dps or just when they are taking a good amount of damage? Also, I assume you try and keep up the shield permanently on the tank? Thanks
folsomdog
folsomdog
As tzs said "Only PW:S if you know it'll break.", so put it on the tank. It's useful to have the weakened soul debuff visible on your health bars. Always putting shields on dps is a waste of mana, but good if you know there's damage incoming or if they are taking damage - shield helps casters to keep casting without interruption too.
In the end disc or holy is just a matter of preference. Disc better for tank healing, holy better for group healing, but either spec is fine in 5-mans.
In the end disc or holy is just a matter of preference. Disc better for tank healing, holy better for group healing, but either spec is fine in 5-mans.
Shield buys you time or helps on an incoming damage spike, but does use mana. Use it liberally on the tank. Shield yourself or a dps when you feel necessary.
I agree with most of what was said above. However, there isn't only one right way to do it.
Personally, I use renew quite a bit, and will flash heal on the tank if he is in danger of dieing (very mana intensive).
Sometimes multiple PoH fit a particular pull or situation.
PoM is always a good Idea. Throw it on the tank often.
Penance is great.
PW:Barrier is especially nice on initial pulls where there are a maximum number of mobs on the tank.
Binding Heal is wonderful if you are down on health, but need to keep healing others.
Smite healing is awesome if things are under control, and your mana will last the longest if you can work it in during a fight. I use xperl and keep my focus (tank) and his target just above my grid frames. Then I can Holy Fire, Smite, and pop ArchAngel all with my mouseclicks on the tank's target using Clique. I watch my evangelism stacks, availability of Holy Fire and ArchAngel with Power Auras.
In short, Disc is one of those specs where you will use most of the healing spells you have available. That's one of the things that is fun about it.
Edited, May 23rd 2011 7:19am by dadanox
I agree with most of what was said above. However, there isn't only one right way to do it.
Personally, I use renew quite a bit, and will flash heal on the tank if he is in danger of dieing (very mana intensive).
Sometimes multiple PoH fit a particular pull or situation.
PoM is always a good Idea. Throw it on the tank often.
Penance is great.
PW:Barrier is especially nice on initial pulls where there are a maximum number of mobs on the tank.
Binding Heal is wonderful if you are down on health, but need to keep healing others.
Smite healing is awesome if things are under control, and your mana will last the longest if you can work it in during a fight. I use xperl and keep my focus (tank) and his target just above my grid frames. Then I can Holy Fire, Smite, and pop ArchAngel all with my mouseclicks on the tank's target using Clique. I watch my evangelism stacks, availability of Holy Fire and ArchAngel with Power Auras.
In short, Disc is one of those specs where you will use most of the healing spells you have available. That's one of the things that is fun about it.
Edited, May 23rd 2011 7:19am by dadanox
I haven't played in ages so my info is outdated, but I have to side with disc as well. Last time I checked holy was ridiculously hard to play completely optimal while it's a lot easier for disc. Disc also has Penance as a really reliable crutch whereas Holy gets Circle of Healing in its stead. The latter isn't a bad spell, but the first one will do better at getting you out of sticky situations where everything is going wrong.
Thanks everyone, I appreciate all the replies. I have been trying out disc and enjoy it overall. It takes a little getting used to but it seems more enjoyable and it's a nice change from leveling all the way up as holy. Thanks again. Also, more tips are always welcome.
folsomdog
folsomdog
I typically try and DPS as much as possible. I spam Smite like crazy, well HF now as well.
Using BT for Mind Sear is good.
When I was a fresh 85 I used a lot of GH, PW:S, Penance and PoH.
Using BT for Mind Sear is good.
When I was a fresh 85 I used a lot of GH, PW:S, Penance and PoH.
Hellbanned
idiggory wrote:
Drinking at home. But I could probably stand to get laid.
Hey guys. I've been grinding reg 85 dungeons a bit the last couple days and have gotten better with disc. I wanna make the jump to healing heroics but not quite sure if my gear is there yet. I have a 335 ilevel but i've heard different opinions of when to begin healing heroics. I'll link my armory, let me know what you think and if I should gear up further. Thanks
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/spinebreaker/had%c3%abs/simple
folsomdog
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/spinebreaker/had%c3%abs/simple
folsomdog
Should be fine.
Primary spec should have glyphed PoH for heroics.
Secondary spec needs to drop Renew and GS and pick up PW:S and Penance. PoH is still good. I'm guessing it was Holy spec at one point.
Primary spec should have glyphed PoH for heroics.
Secondary spec needs to drop Renew and GS and pick up PW:S and Penance. PoH is still good. I'm guessing it was Holy spec at one point.
Hellbanned
idiggory wrote:
Drinking at home. But I could probably stand to get laid.
Awesome thanks. Yeah, My secondary spec was holy for a long time and switched it to the smite disc spec to try it out. I guess I forgot to swap out my glyphs. :D Thanks again, I'll give some heroics a shot.
Edited, May 27th 2011 12:22am by folsomdog
Edited, May 27th 2011 12:22am by folsomdog
PW:B glyph is more for raiding than 5 mans, PW:S and Penance are required for disc though. I only use the PW:B one for a few fights tbh.
Hellbanned
idiggory wrote:
Drinking at home. But I could probably stand to get laid.
looks good for heroics. As you have inscription, might as well work on getting the darkmoon tsunami trinket too.
Your success in heroics is going to be dependent on your group and crowd control. With good cc and a decent tank, you'll have a fun, manageable run. Without cc, you may have an impossible task. Keep in mind that success is a group thing.
Your gear may be ok, but it isn't going to be able to compensate for a poor group.
Your gear may be ok, but it isn't going to be able to compensate for a poor group.
Callu wrote:
looks good for heroics. As you have inscription, might as well work on getting the darkmoon tsunami trinket too.
I actually just got the full deck today. Now I just need to find someone to trade me or wait till the faire comes to town : /
When did they change PW:S/Weakened Soul to 15 sec/15 sec? I thought it was 30/10, but I haven't played my priest in a while.
I think they made that change around the start of Cata, but I could be wrong on that.
You're half right. They made the 10 Second Weakened Soul into 15 second in 4.0 pre-cata.
They made the Buff itself last 15 seconds in 4.1. They are homogenizing the Healers to such a degree that they figured that the shielding ability of Disc Priest was too far from the norm and they wanted to cap it, essentially making it a CD in effect that would literally be a HoT that worked in a different way. All it really did was make me want to cast DW:S less.
They did, however, buff the mana returns on it breaking, which is why it's awesome to use on tanks.
It's funny how different Holy and Disc gear, Holy gobbles SPI as much as humanly possible even with BiS, where Disc just kinda mehs at it.
They made the Buff itself last 15 seconds in 4.1. They are homogenizing the Healers to such a degree that they figured that the shielding ability of Disc Priest was too far from the norm and they wanted to cap it, essentially making it a CD in effect that would literally be a HoT that worked in a different way. All it really did was make me want to cast DW:S less.
They did, however, buff the mana returns on it breaking, which is why it's awesome to use on tanks.
It's funny how different Holy and Disc gear, Holy gobbles SPI as much as humanly possible even with BiS, where Disc just kinda mehs at it.
Yeah, I meant 4.01 when I said start of Cata. I'm pretty tired today, didn't get much sleep last night.
tzsjynx wrote:
You're half right. They made the 10 Second Weakened Soul into 15 second in 4.0 pre-cata.
They made the Buff itself last 15 seconds in 4.1. They are homogenizing the Healers to such a degree that they figured that the shielding ability of Disc Priest was too far from the norm and they wanted to cap it, essentially making it a CD in effect that would literally be a HoT that worked in a different way. All it really did was make me want to cast DW:S less.
They did, however, buff the mana returns on it breaking, which is why it's awesome to use on tanks.
It's funny how different Holy and Disc gear, Holy gobbles SPI as much as humanly possible even with BiS, where Disc just kinda mehs at it.
They made the Buff itself last 15 seconds in 4.1. They are homogenizing the Healers to such a degree that they figured that the shielding ability of Disc Priest was too far from the norm and they wanted to cap it, essentially making it a CD in effect that would literally be a HoT that worked in a different way. All it really did was make me want to cast DW:S less.
They did, however, buff the mana returns on it breaking, which is why it's awesome to use on tanks.
It's funny how different Holy and Disc gear, Holy gobbles SPI as much as humanly possible even with BiS, where Disc just kinda mehs at it.
Ya, I feel fine with a bit over 2k Spirit ask Disc and know holy priests that need a lot more to feel ok with mana.
Hellbanned
idiggory wrote:
Drinking at home. But I could probably stand to get laid.
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