tence
Legend
As a disclaimer, this is just my personal take on gearing choices and generally how to min/max stats for best performance in a bg setting. These may be controversial choices as they have been in the past, but I've always felt hpally was unique in that it had access to EVERY possible piece of healing gear between armour types. Unfortunately this xpac almost all of the bc gemmed plate gear is quite awful for secondary stats, and as such is inferior to other options.
Stat Priority
Why I'm so against crit/crit rating on healers
Reasoning for the general gear choices
Gear (will be updated in the near future to give alternative easier options to get for each slot):
Head: Circle of flame (the on use is just too crucial in this mana hungry healing meta, it seriously changes things up drastically)
neck: choker of the betrayal (essentially trading 4 int over 13 haste 8 verse, which is a lot but with the rest of the build the haste isnt really needed and the int is)
shoulders: Ravenwing pauldrons (highest amount of int possible with perfect secondary stats. greatly outperforms ilvl 28 shoulders imo)
back: ilvl28 aurora cape socketed - 6 haste 3 verse (2 haste > 1 verse imo)
chest: Hauberk of desolation (only choosing this over the other mail chest to combo later with the gloves for the set bonus, most haste and gems)
bracers: ilvl28 aurora bracers socketed - 6 haste 3 verse (2 haste > 1 verse imo)
gloves: Gaunlets of desolation (most gems and haste plus the nice set bonus for free to get some extra crit)
belt: ilvl28 aurora belt socketed - 6 haste 6 verse (2 verse > 1 haste imo)
legs: wyrmscale greaves (highest gems to secondary stats item available. 4 verse is better than 1 int vs the other possible pair)
boots: dragon slayer's sabatons (highest gem to haste ratio of all boots)
ring1: ilvl28 aurora ring - 18 haste 7 verse socketed (just too good of a stat stick)
ring2: ilvl28 aurora ring - 18 haste 7 verse socketed (just too good of a stat stick)
trinket1: ilvl28 int/haste socketed trinket (too good of a stat stick again)
trinket2: pvp heirloom trinket (why are you not using this?)
wep: aurora socketed wep - go for higher haste than verse (alternative for those like me that are lazy zealot blade)
shield: aurora socketed shield - 4 haste 3 verse (verse is better than mastery)
-this will put you at about 28% haste, 23% verse, and 207 int outside bgs without flask
-all gems should be 2 int 2 verse as the 3 int gem only provides 1 extra to all spells in pvp and no extra to spells outside of pvp, the verse is more impactful)
-stacking stam as a healer in my eyes is pointless, I think I've been 1shot once in the dozens and dozens of games ive played currently, and even then it doesn't happen often enough to warrant gimping your heals. I see the extra hp as a crutch for poor positioning and weak fake casting skills.
-This xpac fake casting is NEEDED
talent - bestow faith (too good period, it heals for a ton and is another useful healing tool, it trumps every other talent by a large margin)
PVP talent
some useful tips and tricks
-save divine favour for holy light only, the casting speed will be fast enough and it heals for so much. I cant think of a situation I'd ever need an even faster FOL
-learn to swap beacon of light just after the cast ends for a heal, you will get the beacon heal on your target of choice (this is a benefit of high haste)
-use your dispell please
-you are not a ret paladin. Please heal people. You are a healer not a dps class.
Stat Priority
- int > haste (to around 28% outside of bgs) > verse > mastery > crit (crit is garbage and should only be taken if absolutely needed)
Why I'm so against crit/crit rating on healers
- I like stats that always provide a bonus.
- With crit, when it doesn't go off its a wasted stat that provided no benefit to you, and often when it DOES go off the extra healing (crit heals are only for 150% instead of 200% like damage) it's often overhealing.
- There's a sweet spot with healing numbers where you
- Holy paladin lacks the strong instant healing abilities of other classes like priest (true wog heals for a lot but it needs setup). Because of this, especially in high pressure situations, you will be spamming flash of light a lot and to a lesser degree holy light.
- This is where haste really shines since it makes your casting time faster. Faster casting time means more abilities going off which means more healing going off.
- Faster casting times also allows you to react easier to burst and damage. Lowers the GCD (global cooldown) and generally just lets you pump out healing.
- An added bonus of high haste rating is that it allows you to fake cast easier (adding more urgency from the opponent to kick you, making it easier to bait them out) as well as the trick of swapping the Beacon of Light target to a new target right after the cast is finished, allowing you to easily choose whom gets the tiny heal from Beacon of Light.
Reasoning for the general gear choices
- The main downside of this strategy is how mana hungry it is. You will run out of mana the fastest of any class. This is mitigated by the head armor 'Circle of flame' as it allows you to easily regen 60-70% of your mana in combat if used for the full cast bar.
- The paladin is unique in that it can use EVERY type of armor, which opens up many more gearing options, especially in the lower levels when you don't gain the stat bonus for using all plate gear.
- Generally speaking, every piece of gear was chosen as the best combination of gem slots, haste, and versatility or other lesser desired stat. Every piece of gear provides haste as the primary secondary stat, as well as gem slot(s) for extra intellect.
Gear (will be updated in the near future to give alternative easier options to get for each slot):
Head: Circle of flame (the on use is just too crucial in this mana hungry healing meta, it seriously changes things up drastically)
neck: choker of the betrayal (essentially trading 4 int over 13 haste 8 verse, which is a lot but with the rest of the build the haste isnt really needed and the int is)
shoulders: Ravenwing pauldrons (highest amount of int possible with perfect secondary stats. greatly outperforms ilvl 28 shoulders imo)
back: ilvl28 aurora cape socketed - 6 haste 3 verse (2 haste > 1 verse imo)
chest: Hauberk of desolation (only choosing this over the other mail chest to combo later with the gloves for the set bonus, most haste and gems)
bracers: ilvl28 aurora bracers socketed - 6 haste 3 verse (2 haste > 1 verse imo)
gloves: Gaunlets of desolation (most gems and haste plus the nice set bonus for free to get some extra crit)
belt: ilvl28 aurora belt socketed - 6 haste 6 verse (2 verse > 1 haste imo)
legs: wyrmscale greaves (highest gems to secondary stats item available. 4 verse is better than 1 int vs the other possible pair)
boots: dragon slayer's sabatons (highest gem to haste ratio of all boots)
ring1: ilvl28 aurora ring - 18 haste 7 verse socketed (just too good of a stat stick)
ring2: ilvl28 aurora ring - 18 haste 7 verse socketed (just too good of a stat stick)
trinket1: ilvl28 int/haste socketed trinket (too good of a stat stick again)
trinket2: pvp heirloom trinket (why are you not using this?)
wep: aurora socketed wep - go for higher haste than verse (alternative for those like me that are lazy zealot blade)
shield: aurora socketed shield - 4 haste 3 verse (verse is better than mastery)
-this will put you at about 28% haste, 23% verse, and 207 int outside bgs without flask
-all gems should be 2 int 2 verse as the 3 int gem only provides 1 extra to all spells in pvp and no extra to spells outside of pvp, the verse is more impactful)
-stacking stam as a healer in my eyes is pointless, I think I've been 1shot once in the dozens and dozens of games ive played currently, and even then it doesn't happen often enough to warrant gimping your heals. I see the extra hp as a crutch for poor positioning and weak fake casting skills.
-This xpac fake casting is NEEDED
talent - bestow faith (too good period, it heals for a ton and is another useful healing tool, it trumps every other talent by a large margin)
PVP talent
- divine favour -> Best for when you're solo queuing as it comes in handy for high pressure/clutch situations (best arena pick)
- Light's Grace -> Provides the most healing output and generally should be used either when you have reliable teammates, or when you are playing consistent group content (best bgs pick)
some useful tips and tricks
-save divine favour for holy light only, the casting speed will be fast enough and it heals for so much. I cant think of a situation I'd ever need an even faster FOL
-learn to swap beacon of light just after the cast ends for a heal, you will get the beacon heal on your target of choice (this is a benefit of high haste)
-use your dispell please
-you are not a ret paladin. Please heal people. You are a healer not a dps class.
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