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.

Faction Champs Secrets Uncovered

A new day at work means to search websites and blogs that i am following for something new or interesting.

Today, I've found something both new and interesting on The Bossy Pally blog a post about Faction Champions fight in TOC and how it works.

Althought Oph wasn't the one making that project, Maintankadin did.

Please have a look on both Oph's post and Joanadark's post.

A Questionnaire?

I had comments on my last post from Ophelie from The Bossy Pally and the Giant Spoon, so i decided to check out her blog.
Something caught my eyes very quickly, A Questionnaire? (my first thought was WTH does that even mean? :P)

This post called ''My first meme-that-is-not-a-meme!''
and i wanted to get in!
So here how it goes.

• What is the name, class, and spec of your primary healer?

Almaster, Paladin, Holy.

• What is your primary group healing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)

Mostly raiding, daily heroic and such, wanted to PVP but i was never a big fan of it.

• What is your favorite healing spell for your class and why?

FOL, or flash of light, i love the numbers it heals, plus the HOT from FOL and SS.

• What healing spell do you use least for your class and why?

Divine Favor. Why? Because i crit half of the time already!

no seriously, i rarely use it, i don't know why, i have it keybinded already, but rarely find the chance to use it for a critical setuation.

• What do you feel is the biggest strength of your healing class and why?

Burst healing, the ability to keep tanks alive during all the fight, and finishing with more than half of your mana bar remaining. also waering plate with a shield is awesome.

• What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your healing class and why?

the lack of raid healing spells, and being not able to move casting holy light, some setuations you are casting the big holy light cast, the tank is low on health, and the boss thinks that it would be awesome to throw a big fire under your feet, so its either you stay there and take damage from that fire and you might die, or move and cast holy light again just as the tank dies.

• In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best healing assignment for you?

Healing tanks, DUH!

beacon of light and SS are very powerful tools, you can heal both of the OT and the MT with no stress at all.

• What healing class do you enjoy healing with most and why?

I'd say resto druid or disc priest, i tried resto druid before, but my gear and skill was lacking so i didn't have much fun.

• What healing class do you enjoy healing with least and why?

Shamans, i had a 70 shaman back when i was playing horde, a TROLL shaman! but all i did was Chain heal, Chain heal, chain heal, chain heal.

i remember one time i was watching House, and chain pressing 1 untill i heared the raid leader calling my name saying that the boss died and i didnt have to chain heal anymore.

• What is your worst habit as a healer?

I like challenges, sometimes in heroics, i leave the tank or the dps health to go too low and then start healing them, just to get the thrill of doing something rather than just using FOL every 5 secs.

• What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while healing?

I'd say for all healers its - I really hate when people say “so and so needs heals!” over vent.

i agree with Oph and Jes here.

• Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other healers for PvE healing?

As i said, the lack of raid heals might cause a problem for some pallys, although i enjoy it.

beacon the tank, cast FOL on the raid = full healed raid and tank.

• What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a healer?

As long as my target or anyone that i am assigned for healing is still alive, i am FUCKING PRO!

last time i went to TOC 25 man, someone thought it would be funny to die from Icehowl's charge, and the boss went enraged, i remembered one spell that i didn't use since the time me and Headstab were doing arena in last season, so i used it.

Hand of sacrifise, its awesome with a bubble, mitigates a lot of damage, also i use hand of freedom a little bit too much, since i made a macro when i use it, i yell the phrase from Braveheart movie.

''They might take our lifes, but what they'll never take, OUR BLESSING OF
FREEDOM!''

:D

• What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your healing class?

I don't believe there is any misconceptions people have about holy paladins, we are very OP'ed :P

• What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new healers of your class to learn?

Timing thier heals, big or small heals needs some timing, but i learned fast, as i learned healing when i was doing Illidan lol.

i was port before i switched to healing, i had SSC/Tk gear and was healing Illidan fight hehe.

• If someone were to try to evaluate your performance as a healer via recount, what sort of patterns would they see (i.e. lots of overhealing, low healing output, etc)?

Well, it depends on the fight, so i don't see this as a valid question for paladins, in TOTGC with major damage for tanks, i usually be the first on healing meters, in lest say TOC 25 faction champion fight, i am usually the last in healing, with 184 dispells lol.

but anyhow, if you for example check my healing for 1 fight, it will depend on the fight itself, otherwise check my overall preformace, and you'll be happy of what you'll see :D

i'll make sure to post a screenshot of my recount sometimes soon.

• Haste or Crit and why?

both, i'd say, crit was the major mana regen for paladins, but not anymore, it still get us mana back, but not that much, also too much haste can get a paladin OOM fast.

so a mix of them both will be good.

• What healing class do you feel you understand least?

Shamans, hands down.

I've failed on my troll shammy before, but i can see Shamans in my guild owning the healing meters.

i need to understand them more.

• What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in healing?

I don't have that many macros, addons, i have many, check out my post about my addons.

• Do you strive primarily for balance between your healing stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why?

Right now, i am stacking Int, i didn't want to at the start, as i said before SP is gets your SS OP'ed but sadly with nerfs hitting us, i decided to go for Int, be a good pally is better than QQing all the time :P

Now is the hard part, i need to tag another healing class blog.

Armaggedon isn't a new blogger, and he isn't even a healer, but then came Squidly! his alt shammy that from reading his blog, i see he is enjoying playing him a lot.

A Touch of Arcane, also not a new blogger, but one of my favorites, he really knows what he is talking about!

The original post by Jess from Miss Medicina

Jes Miss Medicina's Circle of healing

Ophelie's POV

Best in slot Holy Paladin in 3.2

I've been researching since i came back from my vacation for the new BIS items for holy paladins, and what my researches proved was that the best way to calculate BIS items is this way:

Gear is chosen based on the following statistics in the current patch along with subjective reasoning.

1. Intellect
2. Mana Per 5
3. Haste Rating
4. Critical Strike Rating
5. Spellpower

my researches were based on Alliance items, but i am pretty sure that there are the same items with the same stats but with different names for horde, i will try to post horde item names later.

1- Head:
Alliance: Turalyon's Headpiece of Triumph
Horde: Liadrin's Headpiece of Triumph
Coliseum 25 (H)

2- Neck:
Alliance: Wail of the Valkyr
Horde: Cry of the Valkyr
Coliseum 25 (H) (Twin Valkyrs)

3- Shoulder:
Alliance: Turalyon's Spaulders of Triumph
Horde: Liadrin's Spaulders of Triumph
Coliseum 25 (H)

4- Back:
Alliance: Jaina's Radiance
Horde: Aethas' Intensity
Coliseum 25 (H) (Tribute Chest)

5- Chest:
Alliance: Breastplate of the Frozen Lake
Horde: Chestplate of the Frozen Lake
Coliseum 25 (H) (Twin Valkyrs)

6- Wrist:
Alliance: Vambraces of the Broken Bond
Horde: Bracers of the Broken Bond
Coliseum 25 (H) (Faction Champions)

7- Weapon:
Alliance: Blade of the Unbroken Covenant
Horde: Mortalis
Coliseum 25 (H) (Tribute Chest)

8- Shield:
Alliance: Bastion of Purity
Horde: Bastion of Resolve
Coliseum 25 (H) (Faction Champions)

9- Libram:
when it comes to Librams, it really depends on the way you play, some people prefer Libram of Renewal, others prefer Libram of Tolerance, or even Libram of Veracity, but if its up to me i'd take Deadly Gladiator's Libram of Justice since we are using so much FOL these days.
i'd take Libram of Renewal as the best 2nd best thing, and after that, Libram of Veracity.
Edited: thanks Sederin for reminding me.

10- Hands:
Alliance: Turalyon's Gloves of Triumph
Horde: Liadrin's Gloves of Triumph
Coliseum 25 (H)

11- Waist:
Alliance: Belt of the Forgotten Martyr
Horde: Girdle of the Forgotten Martyr
Coliseum 25 (H)

12- Legs:
Alliance: Legplates of Failing Light
Horde: Leggings of Failing Light
Coliseum 25 (H) (Lord Jaraxxus)

13- Feet:
Alliance: Boots of the Courageous
Horde: Sabatons of the Courageous
Coliseum 25 (H) (Northrend Beasts)

14- 1st ring:
Alliance: Ring of the Darkmender
Horde: Circle of the Darkmender
Coliseum 25 (H) (Lord Jaraxxus)

15- 2nd ring:
Starshine Circle
Ulduar 25 (Algalon)

16- 1st trinket:
Meteorite Crystal
Ulduar 10 (Algalon)

17- 2nd trinket:
Alliance: Solace of the Defeated
Horde: Solace of the Fallen
Coliseum 25 (H) (Lord Jaraxxus)

Kindly note that all of those items are from Hard mode only.

this list is from the information that i gathered from Wowhead and mmo-champion, i know some other bosses will be released soon, and i will try to update this as much as i can.
updated with horde item names.