Holy Priest 101 part 2

Raid Healing: predictable damage can be healed, assuming the group is setup properly, with PoH and CoH. Be aware that CoH, while incredibly efficient (roughly 23 HpM), is less HPS than PoH, and if you *really* need to heal up a group, CoH may not be fast enough. [CoH works out to about 3.2k HpS, assuming 5 targets; PoH is 3.8k HpS]. If the damage is periodic, and you know you'll have 10 seconds before anyone will take damage again, use Renew 12 or GH:2. They both (at T5-levels of gearing) heal for about the same (3500-ish), and cost about the same amount of mana.

If you are clearing trash, and there is a lot of random AE damage coming your way (examples: RoF from Fearbringers in BT, poison volley from Lurkers in SSC, etc.), use whatever you have to in order to keep the raid alive. Trash (except for HS) is an example of a time when HpS is far more important than HpM. It's extremely rare to run out of mana on a 3-minute trash pull, so screw efficiency -- heal the raid. Keep people alive. Trash clears are one situation where Flash Heal is an acceptable spell to use, simply because it is fast (GCD), and heals for enough to matter (2200+). It's relatively expensive, but it's better to get 3 people topped up plus a PW:S in 5 seconds than to heal 2 people with GH.

Just don't get trapped into the mentality that "trash = Flash Heal". Be willing to use Flash Heal if people need a heal Right Now (TM), but use GH and our efficient spells when you can.

AE Healing: CoH rocks. Full stop. Its efficiency is obscene and it is an instant cast (on the move AE healing = win). If you are planning on doing a lot of AE heals, get and use CoH. You will be grateful you did.

How to Cross Heal Effectively
This is roughly an extension of the above paragraph on Raid Healing. Basically, there are two situations where a priest will be cross-healing a raid during a boss fight.

Situation 1: predictable incoming damage, along with some random variability. Examples: Morogrim Tidewalker, High Warlock Naj'entus, Anetheron, Felmyst.

The keys with this fight is *not* to go nuts and spam heals like a madman, aiming desperately to get everyone in range of you topped up Right Now. You need to know the total amount of incoming damage, and be perfectly aware of what can happen that will take someone at 20% life to 0% life. You also *must* know your responsibilities, and not stray outside them too much -- part of your job is preserving enough mana to heal the entire fight.

For example, if you spam heals like mad on Naj'entus, using Flash Heal and other inefficient spells, you will go OOM in about ... 90 seconds. The fight is roughly 5-6 minutes long. Your assigned people will die about 120 seconds in, because you screwed up and went OOM.

Know what the incoming damage is, and know what else can happen. On Morogrim, the key is mostly to get everyone above 6500 HP as quickly as possible, and rely on the Watery Grave healers to catch graved people and top them up. You're just trying to keep them from being so low that they can't be caught up. On Naj'entus, you know that splashes are coming for 3500+ damage, and that initial impact from a spine + first tick is about 6000 damage. First priority: get everyone above 4k HP. Second priority: everyone above 6.5k HP. Third priority: top them all the way up.

First priorities are situations where you use anything you have. Timing a PoH for just after the Naj'entus shield is actually a great way to conserve some mana while healing for a ton (2500 x 5, talented, results in approx. 15 HpM, while also being very time effective). As a comparison, if you used a GH:1 on each of those people, it would take you 4.1x longer to heal them up, and would actually cost 2x as much mana.

Always balance a heal with the question : do I have to top this person up right now, or do I have 5 seconds, or do I have 15 seconds? On Morogrim, most of the time, you can afford to use Renew, which is extremely efficient. It's also a GCD for 3k+ healing.

If you *have* to top someone up right right now, use Flash Heal. It's faster than anything else you have, and it heals for a reasonable amount. If you think you have time, use Greater Heal. If you *know* you have time, use Renew.

And the rest is experience. Learn to feel the rhythm of the fight, and know where the incoming damage spikes are. If you see a tank spike, and you're on raid healing, feel free to use a GCD to help out the tank healers, assuming you can afford the mana and the time. Saving a tank is not a wrong thing to do. Just never screw up your own responsibilities because you were spending too much time worrying about other people's jobs. If you're on cross-healing, trust the tank healers (most of the time). Let them do their jobs, and you do yours.

One final note: watch the other healers. Most of the time, a tank healer cannot afford the time to stop and heal themselves up. It is incredibly helpful for you to Renew a healer in passing, if it saves them 2.0+ seconds where they would have had to stop healing a tank to heal themselves, and possibly lost the tank in the process.

Situation 2: large incoming damage, but focused on a small subset of the raid population. Examples include Bloodboil, Hydross, Solarian, Illhoof, etc..

You know there is incoming damage, you know roughly how much it will be, but the target is RSTS. Frost Tombs on Hydross are an example. Solarian's Arcane Missiles is another. In this situation, it's almost always (excepting Bloodboil as an obvious counter-example) focused on one single person at a time, but that person is taking a tremendous amount of damage. A 100% frost tomb will kill 30-40% of the raid straight-out. They just don't have enough stamina to survive it.

In a situation like this, healing the person is highest priority. If you time it right, and you are in the right place, use efficient (but appropriately sized) heals. Catching a Frost Tomb @ 100% and landing a GH:4 on that person when you started the cast early enough is just fine. But if you're late, burn inefficient spells in order to save the person. If you're on the run, and see someone get Tombed, a PoM might be enough to save them. Or a PW:S. If you're assisting others in healing an AM target, PW:S on a target you got to late might be enough to save them until the FoL lands.

Situations like this are a balance between making sure people survive, and doing your best to use efficiency. Often, saving lives >> efficiency. Just be aware of fights like this, and do whatever you can to save mana here and there.

On Hydross, heal up Frost Tombs fast, and then take 0-50% of Nature off. No-one will die or even come close to dying from a 25% nature DoT. This is your time to get some burst regen. Use it.

For Bloodboil, CoH is amazing. I can easily heal two groups by myself, provided people stay within 35 yards of one another, and with the help of a good restoration shaman, 3 groups is well within reach. 2 CoH priests is actual ideal for this setup, but work with whatever your raid has available.

Threat Mechanics and You
There are two things you need to know about threat as a priest, and they are spells: Fade, and Prayer of Mending.

Fade: Fade out, discouraging enemies from attacking you for 10 sec. . Note that the threat lost from Fade is regained in full once the 10 second duration finishes, and that you continue accruing threat while Fade is up. It is extremely useful in some situations, and completely useless in others. Make sure you have it keybound or located in a convenient click spot; it can save your butt in numerous situations.

Also be aware that Fade acts as a straight subtractive threat modifier, which actually (used intelligently) can put you below body aggro threat levels on a mob. This can be extremely useful in places like Hyjal Summit when you are trying to shackle something without getting 4 shadowbolts to the face. If you wait until the wave initially aggro's on something (like a shaman's totem) and begin running into your raid, hit fade, and then run forward, you can reliably shackle without getting owned. Anyone in combat with the mobs will have 1 more threat than you do (until you use an ability), which means you won't get ripped apart. Just make sure other people are in combat first ... or you rapidly become a greasy smear.

Prayer of Mending: when Prayer of Mending procs (i.e. dmg taken, PoM charge gets used up), the threat from the healing done is attributed directly to the person being healed. This is incredibly useful for tank threat, as you can put PoM and a PW:S up on a tank just before the pull, and instantly refresh the PoM when the first charge is used up for an easy 2k+ threat for your tank. This is enough to land a 4k heal without pulling aggro: very useful for heroics where you have no salv and no CC.

Some people will try to tell you that pre-shielding a tank on a pull results in less threat, or a rage-starved tank. Unless you're running something with a fully kitted out mitigation-gear T6 tank (basically passive-crush-immune gear), this is patently false. Every mob of significance in end-game raiding hits for 3k+, and a PW:S+PoM will basically eliminate the first attack from the table, without causing *any* threat to you, as a healer. It is far better to keep the tank alive through the first 2-3 attacks than to worry about how much rage he is getting from those attacks. Realistically, almost every boss is pulled with Misdirect + Earth Shield + PoM + trinketed Shield Slam (warriors) anyway, so rage isn't really an issue when the boss is locked onto the tank and will be beating the crap out of him Very Soon Now. If your tanks really suck and need that rage to build threat ... then you're probably going to pull it off them on the first heal anyway, which negates the argument.

Gemming
Q: What rare gems do priests use?
A: [Royal Nightseye].
[Luminous Noble Topaz]
[Teardrop Living Ruby]
(note: do not use [Dazzling Talasite] -- it's a horrible gem)
[Purified Shadow Pearl] replaces [Royal Nightseye] for those who like a little spirit in their life, since 4 spirit ~ 2 Mp5 I5SR

Q: What epic gems do priests use?
A: [Sparkling Empyrean Sapphire]
[Item 'purified shadowsong amethyst' not found!] (new in 2.4.2, replace your [Royal Shadowsong Amethyst]s)
[Luminous Pyrestone]
[Teardrop Crimson Spinel]

The power of the spirit gem has to be seen to be believed. Effectively, you lose some +heal to equip them, but gain a *lot* of regeneration, which allows you to mix up your gear a little and wear some healing-heavy, regeneration-light items to balance it out. I prefer running over 700 spirit raid-buffed, as I feel it provides the best bang for my buck.

Metagems
[Insightful Earthstorm Diamond]: the most useful, and easiest to equip, metagem. The proc goes off quite often, and typically restores 4000+ mana over a 10 minute fight. Very useful, and the intellect also helps.
[Bracing Earthstorm Diamond]: useful metagem, but somewhat difficult to get activated. The 26 healing S&E is largely useless compared to 2500 +heal, whereas the mana return from IED above is still useful in end-game.
[Mystical Skyfire Diamond]: easy to equip, but only really useful if you are spamming on a single target. The haste proc is powerful, and can be a significant part of your play style if you mess around with it and learn how to use it.

Stopcasting
Q: Should I use stopcasting?
A: Yes. It's still useful for tank healing, and I have it built into all of my large-rank Greater Heals. Additionally, you may (read: Felmyst) want to tie it into your Mass Dispel for quick response.

Overhealing and You
Some people pre-TBC would claim that anything over 20% overheal was a lack of skill, and clearly showed that you were a poor healer. There remain some who seem to think that overhealing is somehow bad.

Typical best-case numbers for tank healing in T5/T6 content is 30% overheal (for a priest); more typical numbers are 50%+. The reasons for this are fairly simple. Firstly, tanks are taking more damage than ever. It is not uncommon for a crushing blow to strike a tank for 9500+ when it manages to sneak past Shield Block (especially parry-hasted crushings). Accordingly, any direct healer responsible for tank healing will always have a heal casting, and will be using /stopcasting to interrupt it and start a new one if the tank does not need the heal (dodge, parry, miss).

Unfortunately, we do not play in a zero-lag predictable environment. And if comes down to you landing a complete overheal for 3500, and letting a tank die, you overheal the tank. Many priests' primary "nuke" heal is GH:2, healing for 3500-ish raid-buffed. If the tank still needs any healing when you hit the 1.9 second mark of your heal, just let it land. Yes, maybe the druid HoTs or a paladin will finish topping up the tank in those 0.6 seconds remaining. But maybe not. And if it heals for anything, it's worth spending those 0.6 seconds landing a heal than to interrupt, and be a full 2.5 seconds from landing any healing.

Always *work* on your overhealing, and try to avoid landing 100% overheal hits on a tank during a boss fight. Focus on your /stopcasting and Quartz lag-bar can help a lot with this, as can effective coordination between healers, and, if you have the luxury, use of 2 tree druids as primary tank healers. 2 Lifeblooms, 2 Rejuvs, and 2 Regrowths smooths out tank spikes so effectively that your overheal % will drop tremendously, because you will only have to land a heal if the tank is down enough to truly justify it.

Healing with higher latencies: (written by Eleanor of <Driven> on Hyjal-US)

If you are like many of us who aren't blessed with sub 100ms ping but instead play from Australasia or on a slow connection you can still be a top notch healer. However you will find that you may have to adopt a different healing style to healers with lower latency. These notes are mainly aimed at those with latency in the 400-800 ping range. This is high enough to be really noticeable but not so high as to render the game unplayable.