I decided to give the Mastery/Crit build a try last night in raid. We were going after Baleroc, and it was mentioned that this build was particularly good for Baleroc since the fight is mostly single-target heals.
The Mastery/Crit build uses the following stat priority: Intellect > Mastery > Crit > Haste > Spirit. The idea is to rely more on Holy Light and less on Divine Light. It was a little nerve-wracking to reforge away so much Spirit.
Performance-wise, the build is solid, I think. The numbers were definitely comparable to the other paladins. Additionally, the single highest source of healing done is actually from mastery shields, Illuminated Healing (something like 27% for me, followed by Beacon at 25%), and damage prevented is always better than damage healed. As well, overheals are not a complete waste, as they still give shields.
For playstyle, initially the build feels very sluggish. High haste means that all your spells are very fast, and it feels easier to react. But you get used to it after a while, and you still have Holy Shock and Word of Glory for speed.
Surprisingly, mana is not really an issue. The thing about Spirit/Haste builds is that even though you regen mana faster, you also spend mana faster. This build seems a lot less "swingy" when it comes to mana. You spend mana at a steadier rate. You still have to Judge on cooldown and use Divine Plea, like normal.
Personally, I rather like this build. It feels very solid and complements the other healers in the raid well. I'd like to see how it performs across more fights, but I think it's the build I will try for the next few weeks.
I reforged away from Spirit/Haste and towards Mastery/Crit last night. Basically, my stat priority (aside from Int always being #1) flopped completely.
ReplyDeleteI raid tonight. I am excited to test out the results. We'll be tackling Shannox and Beth in 10 man.
If the results aren't terrible, I'll regem and reenchant.
Is the build practical for 5 mans, I am new to Paladin healing and still getting geared up
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I didn't like it for 5-mans.
ReplyDeleteThe sluggishness makes it hard to react fast to damage done to the group. You could make it work, but you don't get to "focus" on the tank to make the build shine.
I did ZG with it yesterday, and I didn't really like it. I would use the Spirit/Haste build when gearing up.
So I tried it last night in a raid. The final verdict: I switched out of it during a break in the raid.
ReplyDeleteWe did Shannox, and got Shannox down. But in the last phase, with the heavy tank damage, I didn't have enough mana to bomb DLs and the tank died. We killed him, but with half the raid dead. The attempt before that the tank died with a few percent left and we wiped.
We gave Beth several tries with me in mastery and during the last phase the tanks were dieing. So, I switched back to my normal spirit/haste setup and the tanks lived.
It may just be our raiding comp (I was raiding with two resto druids last night). I don't know a lot about resto druids, but I don't think they have the big burst capability necessary to keep tanks at some points. And with me lacking the mana to cast Divine Light, neither did I.
It was a fun experiment, and I am glad I tried it, but for my group I'll stick with spirit haste. I keep the same play style either way (Beacon a tank and pepper people with Holy Light). The difference is with the spirit/haste build the Holy Lights come a lot faster and I have enough mana to bomb a DL on people when I need it.
And I agree with Rohan. I didn't like the build for the 5 man I ran for the same reasons he listed.
Thanks for sharing, Rohan. I made the switch myself last night after we hit a brick wall with tank gibs. It made all the difference.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I will like it the smaller group sizes, however. Definitely a specialized build for specific fights.
Thanks! It is always interesting to see how people build their WoW characters but even more so when it comes to how that build actually performs.
ReplyDeleteObviously one or two battles can not give conclusive results, as sometimes you just have to get use to playing the build a different way. But you can also tell right off when something just isn't going to work for you personally.
Look forward to hearing more from you.