A Holy Paladin devotes themselves completely to taking away others’ suffering by healing them with Holy power. They are well acquainted with the concept of self-sacrifice for better for the others. Apart from that, they can be quite powerful Melee fighters for some time.
Introduction
Basic information on the spec:
A Holy Paladin possesses one key resource – Mana. Mana is used as a resource on any spell.
Let’s take a closer look at the weakest and the strongest aspects of this specialization:
Advantages:
- One of the best healers for tanks.
- Powerful instant spells.
- Can deal massive burst damage if no healing is demanded.
- An extremely powerful healer for Mythic+ as can effectively raise the whole group and the tank simultaneously.
- Has several strong defensive or HPS cooldowns.
Disadvantages:
- Low mobility.
- Barely any periodical healing or absobrs.
Glossary
Main abilities
Talents
General information. On achieving several new levels you’ll get access to new talent ‘Tiers’. Talents may have different effect on abilities: add new features, replace old ones, modify passively different effects and spells. Talents can be changed in Sanctuaries or any recreational zones. However, if you don’t have any of those places nearby you can use the Codex of the Tranquil Mind which allows you to switch channels within a minute. You can’t change talents in combat. You can’t change a talent if the talent you’ve picked in the last Tier is on Cooldown. You’ll have to wait until it’s restored first.
Tier 1. Lvl 15
- Crusader’s Might. Crusader Strike reduces the restoring time of your Holy Shock and Holy Light by 1.5 secs. It is a good talent if it is required to be in melee during the boss encounter.
- Bestow Faith. For 1200 Mana, it restores an ally a major amount of Health for 5 secs. CD 12 secs. Not a bad talent but there is no guarantee that an ally will not have full hp in 5 sec.
- Light’s Hammer. Demands 5600 Mana. Select an area with a 10-m radius within which 6 allies will be getting their Health restores once every 2 secs for 14 secs. Also, every enemy within that area receives damage. CD 1 min. Could be useful in situations when the raid is placed in one spot and gets damage regularly
Tier 2. Lvl 30
- Unbreakable Spirit. Reduces the restoring time for your Divine Shield, Divine Protection and Lay on Hands by 30%. For encounters where you need maximum survivability.
- Cavalier. Divine Steed now has 2 charges. A choice for encounters where you often need to run from one spot to another.
- Rule of Law. Increases the range of your healing spells and your Mastery by 50% for 10 secs. 2 charges, CD 30 secs each. The only talent in the tier that increases your HPS because it makes your mastery to work better. This bonus is mainly useful in raids, the other 2 talents in this tier are better for mythic+
Tier 3. Lvl 45
- Fist of Justice. Judgment reduces the restoring time of Hammer of Justice by 10 secs.
- Repentance. Paralyzes your enemy from a 30-m distance. This effect can be applied to a special share of enemies: only Demons, Dragons, Giants, Humanoids and the Undead. CD 15 secs.
- Blinding Light. Disorients your enemies within the 10-m radius of you for 6 secs. Any damage – apart from Holy damage – cancels this effect. CD 1.5 min.
* This Tier’s pick is up to you. Choose based on what type of control – if any – your encounter demands. For Mythic+, Blinding Light could be useful as is has no shared diminishing with stuns. This can be used to interrupt casts in mob packs.
Tier 4. Lvl 60
- Devotion Aura. The allies within the 10-m range receive 20% less damage. The effect is distributed evenly between all the allies within its active range.
Aura Mastery helps you not split this effect between all the allies but be completely efficient to each within the active area. - Aura of Sacrifice. As long as you have over 75% Health, 10% of all the damage dealt to your allies is redirected onto you.
Aura Mastery redirects 30% of damage in you that reduces to 75%. - Aura of Mercy. Once a 2 seconds, restores a minor amount of Health to 3 wounded allies within the 10-m range.
Aura Mastery heals all your allies within the 40-m range, and the aura’s efficiency grows by 100%.
* All 3 auras are utilized according to the situation.
Devotion Aura allows you to reduce the incoming damage on certain targets depending on their position. It also allows you to reduce the total incoming damage on the raid by 20% during Aura Mastery which is definitely a very potent raid saver. It is also your default choice for Mythic+.It is particularly great in hi-key operations when you need to alleviate the damage coming in on particular targets.
Aura of Sacrifice useless now
Aura of Mercy produces continuous healing. Aura Mastery allows you to increase the efficiency of its healing.
Tier 5. Lvl 75
- Justice of Light. Now Judgment hits the target with 25 charges of Justice of Light. Each successful attack by your allies on one of these targets restores them a tiny share of Health.
- Holy Prism. The effect depends on the target it is applied to. CD 20 secs.
To an ally: restores Health to the selected ally and deals damage to 5 enemies within the 15-m range of that ally.
To an enemy: deals damage to the enemy and restores Health to 5 allies within the 15-m range of that enemy. The weakest talent that is not used anywhere. - Holy Avenger. Increases your Haste by 30% and the heal delivered by Holy Shock by 30% for 20 secs. CD 1.5 min. The best choice in the tier if you need additional strong HPS cooldown. It is also the best trait for damage dealing. A preferable choice for mythic+ and raids.
Tier 6. Lvl 90
- Sanctified Wrath. Avenging Wrath has a 25% loner duration and reduces the restoring time of Holy Shock by 50% throughout the whole active period.
- Avenging crusader. Replaces Avenging wrath. You become the ultimate crusader of light, increasing your Crusader strike, Judgment, and auto-attacks damage by 30%. Crusader strike and Judgment cool down 30% faster and heal up to 3 injured allies for dealt damage. Lasts 20 sec. It is a good choice if you need burst healing ability and there is an opportunity to just stand and dps the boss but in overall this talent is worse than Sanctified wrath.
- Awakening. Light of Dawn has a 15% chance to grant you Avenging Wrath for 10 sec. Random burst that can proc when raid has 100% hp so this is not a good option because of randomness.
Tier 7. Lvl 100
- Divine Purpose. Light of Dawn and Holy Shock have a 20% chance of restoring instantly. Should it happen, the next cast of that spell demands no Mana. Increases overall healing and saves up some mana when procs. It is a standard choice for raiding but if the second tank lacks healing it is better to take Beacon of faith.
- Beacon of Faith. Applies Beacon of Faith which backs up Beacon of Light, but the healing efficiency of the former is 30% lower on each of the targets, as compared to that of regular Beacon of Light. Take it if the second tank lacks healing.
- Beacon of Virtue. Replaces Beacon of Light. For 2000 Mana, you instantly apply Beacon of Light on your target and on 3 other wounded allies within the 30-m range. Active for 8 secs. CD 15 secs. Standart m+ choice.
Current build:
Azerite traits
In BFA typical sets were removed and Azerite armor took their place. Now every chest/helmet/shoulders have a few rings for traits.
- Glimmer of light. Holy shock leaves a Glimmer of Light on the target for 30 sec. When you use Holy shock, all the targets with Glimmer of Light are damaged or healed. This is the best healing trait, you should have 3 of such.
- Bonded souls. Your spells and abilities have a chance to trigger Bonded souls for 15 sec. During Soulbond, every 5 sec you and your nearest ally are both healed and gain Haste for 5 sec. A great trait that grants haste and heals you with an often proc.
- Breaking dawn. Increases the healing done by Light of Dawn and its range to 40 yards. Just a good trait that increases the range and healing of Light of Dawn.
- Radiant incandescence. Your holy shock criticals deal an additional damage, or an additional healing, over 3 sec. It is a good trait which is enough to have only 1. Adds up a hot to a critical shock that restores additional hp.
- Grace of the justicar. Using Judgment a foe heals up to 10 allies within 8 yards of that enemy. Could be useful on bosses where the most of the players stand in front of the boss because trait’s radius is short. A situational trait that makes you use Judgment. Also could be useful in m+.
Essences
MAJOR
- Vision of Perfection (Source: “Operation: Mechagon” drop) your strongest choice in any case. Best healing output in raids and balanced healing and dps at mythic+
- The Ever-Rising Tide (Source: Nazjatar reputation) becomes best at mythic+ for max healing
MINOR
- Vision of Perfection (Source: “Operation: Mechagon” drop) if it is not in major slot already
- The Well of Existence (Source: Mechagon Reputation) is a default minor essence
- The Ever-Rising Tide (Source: Nazjatar reputation) can be good for mythic+ if you need to increase your healing output
- Life Binder’s Invocation (Source: Mythic+ dungeons) good as a second minor essence
Gameplay
The healing arrangement depends on whether you are in a raid or a dungeon; on how many raid or group members are receiving damage simultaneously; is anyone receiving damage at al at the moment, etc. Let’s try and review the priorities arising in every situation.
Traditionally, Paladins are considered a full-time heal for tanks.
- Healing a Tank or any other prioritized target:
- Beacon of Light on the active tank, to reduce Mana spending and for continuous healing while healing other members of the group/raid.
- Holy Shock per CD. If your target is not being damaged, use Holy Shock to deal damage.
- Bestow Faith per CD on the priority target.
- Crusader strike for cd refresh of Holy Shock and Light of Dawn
If you need to relocate while your target receives damage, you can use Holy Shock, Lay on Hands with a long CD, or Light of the Martyr on the priority target unless it leads to your death.
- Healing a raid:
- Beacon of Light on the active tank or any other priority target.
- Holy Shock per CD. If your target is not being damaged, use Holy Shock to deal damage.
- Judgment per CD o activate Justice of Light, if talented. Other damage dealing:
- Try to use Light of Dawn as often as possible if the raid is subject to damage. Pick a position to make your spell max effective.
- Holy Light or Flash of Light on other time; spell choice depends on the size of the incoming damage as well as its speed.
If you need to relocate while your target receives damage, you can use Holy Shock, Lay on Hands with a long CD, or Light of the Martyr on the priority target unless it leads to your death.
- Mythic+:
Healing priorities here are quite similar to the raid scheme. The difference is, though, that in Mythic+ you use the talent Beacon of Virtue. Use it any time the whole group is subject to damage. Also, don’t forget to pick a wise position in order to increase the efficiency of your Mastery and your auras, especially in hi-key.
- Cooldowns:
Avenging Wrath empowers your healing by 35% for 20 secs, and also increases the chance of delivering a critical strike by 20%. This is a very powerful cooldown that should be used any time the raid or the group are receiving massive damage.
Lay on Hands is your ’emergency button’ that allows you to restore max HP to an ally instantly, with regard on GCD.
Blessing of Sacrifice allows you to redirect 30% of the damage received by a target onto yourself for 12 secs. It is most used on tanks that are subject to a tremendous amount of damage. That is why you should always use this Blessing together with a personal save – Divine Protection or Divine Shield.
Aura Mastery allows you to cancel the people count limitation imposed on the Aura you’ve talented yourself with, and it increases its active range by 40 m. This is an extremely powerful CD that should be used smart.
Hand of Protection is used to make the target immune to physical damage for 10 secs. It also allows you to cancel many periodical physical effects like that. Keep in mind that as long as the target is Blessed, it is off your enemies’ aggro list.
Blessing of Freedom allows you to cancel various movement-impairing effects on your ally, or makes them immune to the effects of the kind during its active period.
Stats
The basic priority rating for the characteristics is as follows:
For raid
Intellect> Haste> Crit> Mastery> Versatility
For m+
Intellect> crit> Versatility> Haste +Mastery
This specialization’s Mastery increases the efficiency of the healing with regard to the distance to your target – the closer the target, the higher the efficiency.
Haste reduces GCD, casting time for spells and also the CD of Light of Dawn and Holy Shock.
- Gems:
- Leviathan’s Eye of Intellect
- Quick Sand Spinel 50 haste
- Deadly Lava Lazuli 50 crit
- Chants:
- Rings: Accord of Haste or Accord of Critical Strike
- Weapon: Machinist’s Brilliance
- Food:
- Raid feast for 131 Intellect or Baked Port Tato for Haste, or Mech-Dowel’s “Big Mech” for Crit
- Flasks and Potions:
- Greater Flask of Endless Fathoms 360 intellect for 1 h
- Superior Battle Potion of Intellect for general use
- If you need to restore mana instantly, use Coastal Mana Potion.
- If you have a time, for overall mana restoration Potion of Replenishment will be better.
Macros
Kick with a modifier, with the Shift key held, the ability is applied on a remembered target, without – on the current one.
To maximize your efficiency, it is advised you create a mouseover macro for each healing spell. It would save you a load of time during combat.
#showtooltip Holy Light /cast [@mouseover] Holy Light
In a similar manner, create macros for other spells.
Your Blessings at the cursor’s position (you need to care not only about yourself but about your allies as well)
#showtooltip Blessing of Protection /stopcasting /cast [@mouseover] Blessing of Protection
#showtooltip Blessing of Freedom /stopcasting /cast [@mouseover] Blessing of Freedom
#showtooltip Blessing of Sacrifice /stopcasting /cast [@mouseover] Blessing of Sacrifice
Also, Lay on Hands at cursor’s position
#showtooltip Lay on Hands /stopcasting /cast [@mouseover] Lay on Hands
A useful macro to cancel any defensive cooldown on you that remove you from your enemies’ aggro-list:
/cancelaura Blessing of Protection /cancelaura Divine Shield
What’s next?
- Leveling. If your character has been inactive since the previous expansions, the best option to level up it is by Timewalking dungeons. You will gain a lot of experience, but there is one big disadvantage of leveling this way. Timewalks are available only for one week during a month, but Overgear is always here.
- Equipment. At high level, the most important thing for you will become your gear. WoW is a multiplayer game, that’s why we recommend for you to play it with your friends, or to find a new friends for mythic+ runs. If you have any trouble with it – Overgear may help you to find not just friends for a run, but a complete well geared and experienced group that also will be glad to trade all the loot you need.
- Raids. Raids are the top-tier PvE content in the game. That’s why the equipment’s base ilvl is higher than anywhere else. These dungeons require knowing all the tactics and have a good gear to kill the bosses. The possibilities of Overgear might let you skip those criteria.
Azerite. It is also not the best idea to forget about the Heart of Azeroth and not to feed it with more Azerite. Ignoring this won’t make your character stronger. The easiest way to do it – just complete all the world quests with Azerite rewards everyday. You can get extra azerite from Island Expeditions. Companions can be found at Overgear.
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