So you’ve just rolled up a fresh new character, you’ve done some questing, gotten some levels and you’re looking to go out and heal your first instance? The question is of course, what do you do, and when do you do it? well that’s a question that cannot be answered easily. however seeing as how Prayer of Mending is intended to answer just those kinds of questions I suppose I should dispense some knowledge on the matter.
I have thought about which to discuss first, your toolbox or your priorities in a group, as knowing both are very important. In the end I concluded that knowing what to do and when to do it is pointless if you don’t know how best to get it done. So let us start off with the important skills a holy priest has at their disposal up to level 20.
When you get it: level 1
Cast time: 1.5 Seconds
Cooldown: Global
This is your first healing spell, and is indeed your only healing spell until level 8. It is unique in that it is completely replaced after level 20 by Flash Heal, and has no trainable ranks after your first rank of Flash Heal. With a short casting time and a decent sized heal this will be your original “bread and butter” spell in an instance.
When you get it: Level 6
Cast Time: Instant
Cooldown: 4 seconds
Power Word: Shield, or PW:S for simplicity, is not a heal but rather a protective barrier that absorbs both magical and normal combat damage. PW:S is more extensively used by Discipline priests but it fits into the Holy priests life as a stop-gap measure when you need to buy a little time to let a larger heal go off.
The shield placed on your taget, Absorbs a certain amount of damage before fading away, So it can be thought of as a heal since it provides extra “health” to the target. Being shielded does cause a Debuff which prevents the same target from being shielded again for 15 seconds, however other targets can be shielded as soon as the spell is ready.
When you get it: level 8
Cast Time: Instant
Cooldown: 30 seconds
in instances, sometimes you’re going to get the enemies attention. Fade is what is going to keep you alive when that happens. It reduces the threat your spells generate, as well as your overall threat dropping you, hopefully, below the tanks threat. It lasts 10 seconds, during which a good tank will be busy reestablishing control of the mob. even in a bad group it is rare that after a fade I”ll reacquire threat on a given target. This spell combined with PW:S and a quick heal can mean the difference between a dead healer and a live one.
When you get it: level 8
Cast time: Instant
Cooldown: Global
Also acquired at level 8 is your first heal-over-time spell or HoT. It does a modest amount of healing over 15 seconds, and is useful as padding on your direct healing. Especially at the lower levels this can take the edge off a fight where the tank is recieving a large amount of damage very quickly. It also has some use in topping off group memebers after a fight, as it costs very little mana.
When you get it: level 10
Cast time: 10 seconds
Cooldown: global
This is the priests only talent that lets them resurrect fallen members of the party. It is useful if a single member dies during a fight to get the group moving again faster. It also has some use after the entire party has died. However as most party members release and run back on their own during a wipe The priest usually will not get the chance to resurrect an entire party unless they somehow survived the encounter.
When you get it: Level 14
Cast Time: Instant
Cooldown: Global
This spell does exactly what it’s tooltip says, it removes one disease from the target. This is a very situational spell but I felt it deserved a place on this list as some fights do require you to cleanse disease.
When you get it: Level 18
Cast time: Instant
Cooldown: Global
This spell works exactly like Cure Disease for magical effects, removing one off of your target. The only noteworthy thing about this spell is that it can be used to remove beneficial spells from enemies.
When you get it: Level 20
Cast time: 1.5 Seconds
Cooldown: Global
This spell is a direct replacement for Lesser Heal as stated earlier. It will be your primary short cheap heal all the way to max level.
When you get it: Level 20
Cast Time: Instant
Cooldown: Global
I included this spell on this list only for the sake of completeness. Holy Nova without glyphs is terribly inefficient, providing very little healing for a large portion of your mana. Spamming this spell over and over will quickly drain mana that is better spent on other spells. use it sparingly if at all.
That’s it for the main healing abilities from 1 to 20. I will continue this post later on with the rest of the abilities one gets on the way to 80. Next I shall be posting an article detailing some simple tips to make the most of these abilities.
Happy Healing,
Noveera
