It was somewhat concerning, especially when you consider that the standard Holy Paladin build spends 4 talent points and a Prime Glyph to support that single spell. So I experimented with a build that eschews the WoG points, and cast Light of Dawn exclusively.
I think it actually worked out better in terms of total healing done, at least for 25-man raids. It was okay in heroics, but I liked WoG a little better there.
Side Notes:
- Blessed Life contributed about 10% extra Holy Power (70 points to Holy Shock's 736).
- Word of Glory contributed more (170 points) but it meant that I was mostly using Word of Glory. Light of Dawn's total healing was still higher, even with less Holy Power.
- Tower of Radiance barely contributed any points (11 tonight). Partially that's due to my healing style, but right now it's looking like a terrible waste of talent points.
- I've changed my mind on Haste versus Crit. I forgot that one spell, Holy Radiance, does have a straight HPM benefit from Haste. And Holy Radiance does a ton of healing.
- As well, healing feels "snappier" with a lot of haste. It just seems to play better, even if you are spending mana at a faster rate.
So I'm still thinking about the best Holy playstyle. So far, I much prefer using Light of Dawn as the Holy Power finisher, rather than Word of Glory.
I'm considering trying a build like 31/3/7, and seeing how that works.
Haste doesn't run you OOM quicker if you know what you're doing -- in fact it gets you more HPM from all your cast time spells and allows you to use Holy Light where you'd normally have to FoL/DL your tank to keep them up. In that sense, it not only increases our HPM but also increases our mana efficiency. You may want to do some research on this. Haste is our current best throughput stat. Also, for tank healing with the 30% chance to proc a free cast, Word of Glory is superior in almost every situation when glyphed.
ReplyDeleteDid my second real of the expansion and I came to much the same conclusions.
ReplyDeleteIf I can hit even a few people in a 10 man raid, LoD heals for more. I very rarely heal the tank directly, they seem to be supported entirely by beacon and a few heals by the other heals like Earth Shield or HoTs. Only during a few critical periods did they need direct heals. Which means there wasn't much of a need for WoG or much of a need for Tower of Radiance.
I've recently found turning on friendly nameplates/health bars (ctrl+v) really makes it easier to see where people are standing and therefore how effective your LoD will be. I've never run with them on before. In 5 mans it's great, I haven't tried it in 10 mans yet, in 25s I wonder if it'd just be too crazy.
ReplyDeleteDo you know if Arbiter of Light affects the heals off judgements from Enlightened Judgements? Becuase that might be a reason to put more spare points into it.
ReplyDeleteBenjy
I am guna do my first raid on thursday.
ReplyDeleteDo i still use a combination of divine light word of glory and holy shock or do other spells come into play?.
Love the blog btw
Flâsher
The Sha'tar (EU)
Flasher, I'll tell you how I heal. My main heals are Holy Shock and Holy Light. I'm always casting at least Holy Light, and casting Holy Shock on cooldown.
ReplyDeleteMy Holy Power finisher is Light of Dawn, usually aimed at the melee. I tend to cast LoD whenever I get to 3 Power.
The next two important heals are Divine Light and Holy Radiance. If the tank takes a big hit or gets low, I cast DL on him. If it looks like the raid is taking damage, I cast Holy Radiance. These two are more reactive than HS/HL/LoD, but you still use them a lot.
I don't really use Flash of Light. But I do try and use Blessing of Sacrifice and my other cooldowns when they come up. Also, try and Judge to keep the buff up and regain mana.
I just healed baradin hold and found out like you that word of glory is only healing a small amount (5% in my case).
ReplyDeleteIntreged to see your report on the new spec, maybe something i will consider.
Love the blog and the tips :)
Flâsher
The Sha'tar (EU)