Holy Priest Raid Heals

Chaska

Chaska

New Member
So, my Holy priest just hit 80 and I'm decently well off doing 5-man stuffs but I have no experience in raid healing. So I was wondering how it all works. Any advice for general raid healing and specific to Holy priest healing would be appreciated. :D
 
For UI setup, I use Grid and what I call "mouseover" macros. I have one for each heal. This means that I cast on whatever i have my mouse over, usually one of the Grid boxes. The key here is that you don't need to click on and target whatever you want to heal. If you want I can show you how to set this up. There are probably a number of mods that do this or similar. Grid has a few other nice features, like indicating if someone has aggro, which can be useful for anticipating incoming damage.

Probably the toughest part of healing is predicting and anticipating incoming damage. Based on this, you have to make choices about what heals to use, and when to begin casting. Really the best way to improve this is with experience. Practice, practice, practice. Learn from your mistakes. If you have trouble healing a heroic run or raid encounter (and there are some hard ones to solo heal), don't get discouraged, instead analyze where things went wrong, think about what you could have done differently, and try again.

Some practical help I guess: As long as you're not running out of mana, you probably can overheal the tank. Just keep casting your big heal - you can always cancel in the last second. This works in fights where the tank is eating a lot of damage. Reacting with a hot and fast heal sometimes just isn't fast enough. Intense healing fights tend to also be DPS races, not intended to last long. Longer, less healing intensive fights tend to give you more time to use that 5 second rule and let your spirit kick in. You sit back and let your HoTs do their thing while you wait for the next big hit on your tank.

I'm not super familiar with the Priest's group healing abilities, but one thing that I had to learn was when everyone is taking a TON of damage, long cast group heals may not be good enough. I've had to spam instant and quick heals just to keep people up. In that situation, I don't bother trying to top off the group, just keep everyone alive.

Another thing when raid healing is to remember not to fall into a state of tunnel vision. It's really easy to forget to watch for Fire Walls, Void Zones, and any number of other dangers when you're focused on a tank's health. You still have to watch for these things. If you have to move, shield and hot your target as you move, if needed.

Really tho, the best thing is just practice. You have to be able to pick the right spell to cast at any given moment, and knowing which one to use comes from experience. If you have a bad raid, sit down and think about what other spells you could have used, and what the effect would have been. Try out different heals in situations and figure out which ones work best.

Lastly, don't get discouraged. If someone dies because you made a mistake, shove it out of your mind and keep healing. Analyze it after the fight. If everyone takes a lot of damage, don't panic and freeze up. Keep casting heals. Keep everyone up if possible. You have to have a bit of a thick skin too, because some people (not everyone, but some) will blame the healer when the tank or dps dies. If you make a mistake that results in a wipe, apologize and do better the next time. I have found the SGA to be quite forgiving as I learned to heal.

I think that's probably all I can offer without researching the Priest class in more detail. If you have a specific situation that you're not sure how to heal, I can certainly talk with you about it and offer help. Be sure to also check out the Elitist Jerk's forum on Priests here: http://elitistjerks.com/f77/. There tends to be a lot of math and theory in there, but they know their stuff when it comes to builds and gearing.

Hope that helps!
 
IMO Raid healing is easier than group healing because you generally are working with at least one other healer. The following are rough forumlas for a 10 man raid with 2 healers.

Priest with other priests - Prayer of Mending - this is the first spell you cast even before action..it doesn't cause aggro until the person gets hit so its safe to cast before or even while the tank is running in. Talk to the other priest and make sure that you are choosing a different target for your initial PoM so you aren't trying to overlap (your PoM will not take). Renews go instantly on any tank and keep them fresh...use flash heals on the tank that you are targetting unless they are taking more dmg than a flash can do...then spam greater heals on them remembering to refresh your PoM everytime it expires. I can't speak to Circle of Mending because I'm disc but I'm assuming you'll know when and where to use it. Both of you can cleanse magic and disease.

Priest with pally - PoM again same as above but target the main tank. Pallies generally throw really big heals and you'll need to be able to trust them rather than freaking out when a tank goes lower than you are used to. Again throw a renew right away and use flashes unless the tank is going below 40% or so because otherwise you and the pally are going to be waaay overhealing and you will be wasting mana. Both of you can cleanse magic.

Priest with Druid - PoM again and renew. The strength of the druid healer is the Heals over time so you need to be able to trust that they are doing their job (helps if you have a HoT counter of some sort like built into Xperl) Use flashes rather than the greater heals unless the target is under 40% or so or you will cause the Druid's HoT's to be rendered inefficient or ineffective. Only you can cleanse magic and diseases (I think).

Priest with Shammy - PoM again and renews. With this group the shammy generally relies on chain heals with a couple bigger heals tossed in. They don't have HoT's so you don't have to consider those. You probably want to count on greater heals on the tanks with less consideration for the other members of the raid as the shammy will cover over those. Only you can cleanse magic and diseases by casting but the shammies could put down cleansing totems for diseases.

As the raid grows and the number of healers grows, your healing needs to adapt. Generally on the main bosses you will be given an "assignment" either a tank assignment or a group assignment. Carry out your assignment in the best way that you can, again paying attention to whether you are part of a team healing a target or an individual. If you are team healing, rely on the strengths of your healing team to keep your target(s) alive.
 
Priest raid healing has been made much much much easier when Wrath came out. the raid wide buffs keep your mana pool up longer than anything before. but the biggest thing with a priest in a raid is learn to love your escape button.

Like Larryboy said and I'm sure Anita would tell you precasting and cancelling can save or break you. while Blizz has made this less of a big thing than before it's still up there. Raids die when healers run out of mana, therefore don't run out of mana. so stay out of your casting regen aslong as possable and remember that casting regen only hits WHEN A SPELL LANDS, not while it's casting, so cancelling before it hits means you don't enter that mana regen timer.

Finally it's a trust thing, Anita and Larry talked about it, but I'll state it again. If you can't trust the person sitting next to you to do their healing job, get out of the raid right now, it won't be fun for you and it will cause more stress than it's worth. When I was end game raiding with Escape it was fun because we could all trust the other healers to do their jobs.

I guess on a lighter note, have fun, admit when you mess up (we all do) and always blame the tanks for letting you die. =)
 
Wend said:
Priest with Shammy - PoM again and renews. With this group the shammy generally relies on chain heals with a couple bigger heals tossed in. They don't have HoT's so you don't have to consider those. You probably want to count on greater heals on the tanks with less consideration for the other members of the raid as the shammy will cover over those. Only you can cleanse magic and diseases by casting but the shammies could put down cleansing totems for diseases.
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Actually, we do have a HoT, Riptide, although it's not as strong as a druid's or priests HoT. It is still pretty useful though.

As for diseases, we can cleanse poisons and diseases w/o totems and if you spec into it, curses as well, just not magic.
 
In 10 man with two healers it is all about trust and knowing what the other healer is doing. After you've healed with someone long enough you don't need a ton of communication to cover everyone for a fight. Or you know the really important things to call out over TS.

My experience in 25 mans is you tend to work in teams of 2-3 there as well on whatever your assignment is. It is important to build that same level of communication with your partner(s). Get used to how the other classes heal. I'll admit I can't tell you the names of what heals they are using, but know what to typically expect and can ask questions when I see something new or different so I can better compliment their healing.
 
This post is in the spirit of fun, mostly, but some of it is in the spirit of sanity.

It can really be hard on you as the healer if someone dies. Therefore, consult this handy dandy blame-o-chart.

1. If the tank dies, and the healer has full mana, it's the healer's fault.
2. If the tank dies, and the healer has no mana*, it's the tank's fault.
3. If one DPS suddenly dies, it's his or her own fault.
4. If all of the DPS suddenly dies, it's the tank's fault.
5. If one DPS gradually dies, it's his or her own fault.
6. If all of the DPS gradually dies, it's the healer's fault.
7. If the healer dies for any reason*, it's the tank's fault.
*this guide assumes that the healers are properly geared and know what they are doing.

By properly blaming the right people, you can deflect all culpability away from yourself, in most cases.

I'm joking.

But what is true (that I have seen) is that most healers consider it the end of the world if anyone dies, even if that anyone is a cocky DPSer who doesn't take into account threat generation. I think that that is dumb, and healers should be able to see past that.

Just my 2c.
 
Neirai the Forgiven said:
This post is in the spirit of fun, mostly, but some of it is in the spirit of sanity.
It can really be hard on you as the healer if someone dies. Therefore, consult this handy dandy blame-o-chart.

2. If the tank dies, and the healer has no mana*, it's the tank's fault.

*this guide assumes that the healers are properly geared and know what they are doing.
Click to expand...
Calling exception to #2 (based on my Tanking and DPS experience). If the Tank dies, and the healer has no mana (assuming properly geared), IMHO it's the DPS' fault for not getting the boss down in a reasonable amount of time...
:D Unless of course, the Tank is horribad or undergeared.
 
Neirai the Forgiven said:
a cocky DPSer who doesn't take into account threat generation.
Click to expand...

Dead & stupid dps is not the fault of the healer, let them die more and they will learn, if they bother to actually watch the fight after they are kissing the floor.

I have had so many bad moments trying to tank pugs because of impatient dps.
 
Artaios said:
Calling exception to #2 (based on my Tanking and DPS experience). If the Tank dies, and the healer has no mana (assuming properly geared), IMHO it's the DPS' fault for not getting the boss down in a reasonable amount of time...
:D Unless of course, the Tank is horribad or undergeared.
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Good man, keeping with your healers.

Generally, right now in WLK, however, the only way you run out of mana is if you tank is horribad or undergeared.

I should have added the line "if the boss enrages, it's the DPS's fault."

However, I think everyone with an open mind and real raid experience knows that you pull as a team, fight as a team, screw up and die as a team, and finally win as a team.

...But every time we wipe or someone dies I usually hear a healer *coughmina* *cough* apologize for the wipe, even if it wasn't their fault.

This constant taking of responsibility for wipes might be a sign of maturity (it's definitely better than a constantly defensive attitude that is coupled with an inability to learn,) it can be demoralizing to the healers when they believe that every hiccup is there own fault, especially when it is fairly clear to the rest of the raid that the warlock really shouldn't have cast Seed of Corruption on each and every mob and then wondered why she got whamsplatted.
 
Not sure that its a sign of maturity :) I would suppose that the healers are ppl who are generally more compassionate and less willing to stand in the face of the mobs and smack on them. This would follow through to those compassionate healers feeling badly when there is a wipe rather than feeling aggressive and wanting to smack on something or someone, hence the apologies. Often it's one of those token "sorries" and we're really giggling under our breaths :)
 
I had a nice giggle killing off a MC'd party member today...in the right party that is always a fun time *grin*

See? Healers don't get to have ALL the fun!
 
Neirai the Forgiven said:
It can really be hard on you as the healer if someone dies. Therefore, consult this handy dandy blame-o-chart.

1. If the tank dies, and the healer has full mana, it's the healer's fault.
2. If the tank dies, and the healer has no mana*, it's the tank's fault.
3. If one DPS suddenly dies, it's his or her own fault.
4. If all of the DPS suddenly dies, it's the tank's fault.
5. If one DPS gradually dies, it's his or her own fault.
6. If all of the DPS gradually dies, it's the healer's fault.
7. If the healer dies for any reason*, it's the tank's fault.
*this guide assumes that the healers are properly geared and know what they are doing.

By properly blaming the right people, you can deflect all culpability away from yourself, in most cases.
Click to expand...

One of the students at my high school that I know plays WoW was telling me of a much simpler way of assigning blame, John:

1) After each wipe, each player in the party/raid does a /roll.
2) The lowest roller loses and is therefore blamed for the wipe. :D
3) These lowest rolls are tabulated and at the end of the week, the person with the most "blame roll losses" is awarded the prestigious and totally farsical title, "NOOB OF THE WEEK!!!"

I like this idea and think we should adopt it almost immediately. ;) That way, Bob and I might actually have company as "Grand Poobahs of Nooberosity" (or, more likely, with my dice, I would win the award week after week after week).

j/k lol

Eric
 
Guilo said:
One of the students at my high school that I know plays WoW was telling me of a much simpler way of assigning blame, John:

The person with the most "blame roll losses" is awarded the prestigious and totally farsical title, "NOOB OF THE WEEK!!!"

I like this idea and think we should adopt it almost immediately. ;) That way, Bob and I might actually have company as "Grand Poobahs of Nooberosity" (or, more likely, with my dice, I would win the award week after week after week).

j/k lol

Eric
Click to expand...



I vote for Eric to receive the first "Noob of the Week" title. (Don't worry Eric, Blizz told me they are making it an achievement...) :p
 
not sure if this is useful but. I always have prayer of mending out and jumping around, always have at least 1 tank with renew (glyphed), if not both. I always have at least 1 tank shielded (glyphed). this does 80-90% of the work. after that I flash heal as needed (glyphed). not sure if this specific to raids but I checked healing meters after a 25 man uldar and I was #3 with 50% coming from prayer of mending.
 
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