Holy light builds VS Flash light builds.

Inspired by Ophelie of The Bossy Pally i am going to post the long time due HOL VS FOL+SS builds.


I've been a FOL+SS fan from the start of this expansion, thats how i rolled in TBC, my first Heroic dungon, and thats how i started doing TOC 10.
Untill i got into the guild that i am currently in, Lets Go Burgling.

I've done a couple of TOC 25 man pugs before, i saw the need of HOL spam in some fights, but the first time i stepped into TOGC 10 or 25, i knew that FOL+SS spec won't work, thankfully, i had my stand by Holy build spec and gear, so i equiped them.

qouting from Ophelie, because she can spell better than me:

So, um, what are these Builds you speak of?

As the names imply, a Holy Light build revolves around using Holy Light (HL, big heal) as your primary spell and a Flash of Light revolves around using Flash of Light (FoL, little heal) as your primary spell. The Holy Light build is what you’ll see most often in PvE, with Int Gems in every socket save one to activate the meta gem. The key is to this build is to have enough mana to pump out a lot of strong, toe-curling, in yo’ face heals for the whole fight. You’ll still use the Flash of Light spell, but your gear is tuned towards using Holy Light as much as you need to. The Flash of Light build is one you’ll see occasionally, but not as often. Spell Power gems all over with some haste and mp5 gems to get every ounce of Spell Power socket bonuses. The point is to make Flash of Light a powerful, nearly instacast spell. It also gives Sacred Shield some extra oomph, although never having seen an FoL pally in action, I couldn’t tell you exactly how much oomph that is.

Are there talent builds that are connected to each type?

Not exactly. There are two common specs for PvE as a paladin, the “crit spec” (holy/ret to get Conviction and sometimes Sanctity of Battle) and the “bubble spec” (holy/prot to get Divine Sacrifice). The crit spec has advantages for both types of play, maximum mana return due to crit (always good) and extra output for a FoL spec. Bubble spec, however, gives you the glorious Divine Sacrifice and delightful reduction on the hand of protection CD. Utility is important as a paladin, if you’re not making yourself useful, you fall into the paladin cliché who does nothing but spam 1-2 spells the entire time. Whats the fun in that?

Many holy paladins actually have both specs and swap between them depending on the fight. If you don’t have an offspec you frequently use, this is a great option.

Glyphs, on the other hand, change depending on whether you want to go FoL or HL:

Holy Light Glyphs
1- Glyph of Holy Light
2- Glyph of Seal of Wisdom
3- Glyph of Divinity, Glyph of Flash of Light, Glyph of Beacon of Light or Glyph of Holy Shock (all depending on your style and raid environment)

Flash of Light Glyphs
1- Glyph of Flash of Light
2- Glyph of Seal of Light
3- Personal Choice

After reading all about ICC instance, and the ''Chill of the throne'' debuff that everyone will be having, i am advicing EVERY Paladin to go HOL spam, tanks will have less dodge, and thats less avoidance, not to mention that bosses hit harder, you'll have to consider your mana though, if you are below 31k unbuffed, you'll have some troubles with getting mana back, even with Divine Plea.
Gem int, and keep some haste and most importantly, crit.
forget about the MP5 that Blizz is fooling us with, its not worth it.
feel free to check my armory, Almaster of Arthas, i am usually using holy light build with crit from Ret tree.

Feel free to throw a comment, if you need more explination.