Stubborn Healer (pvp help)

Post by timwar

So despite all the stuff I read about priests bieng awful in pvp at he moment I still find myself determined to play a healer in bg's and the like.

Was just wondering if Holy is viable now with all the recent talent tree changes or whether people are still slogging away with disc. I dont really care about it bieng rubbish as I really think it will help me improve as a player.

I cant seem to find any Holy pvp builds around so if there is someone out there playing holy and getting away with it id like some tips and advice please....

Post by Magnerz

Just to say I haven't tried this, so its all theory, but i'd go with a build like this: http://www.wowhead.com/talent#bfMobZfuorRorkfzo:mo0Vaom0V

Advantages of the tree include:
- An instant heal (in Chakra-state heal)
- Powerful Speed boost (Body and Soul)
- Poison removal (on self only - Body and Soul)
- Desperate Prayer is a hefty heal (or will be post-patch)
- 50% more effective healing when target < 50% Hp
- HW:Chastise is a short incapacitate effect
- Lightwell (though it is easy to kill, it has a huge potential healing output)
- Serendipity allows for fast casted heals (fast, but maybe not fast enough!)
- Possibility for good assist damage when in Chakra-state smite - coupled with Evangelism and the HFire glyph

Disadvantages include:
- Reliance on casted abilities - susceptible to interupts/tree lockouts (this is big in pvp)
- Requiring to shift between Chakra states
- Dispell protection?

The key problem with pvping as holy in wrath (which probably hasn't shifted much) is due to the nature fo a Holy Priest - in order for you to keep up with damage output, you need to be free to cast. This is easier said than done, especially with the number of classes now capable of interupts.

Hopefully a pvp Holy Priest will come along with some more practical advice for ya, this is all I can think of having not attempted it yet.

Post by 688014

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Post by Magnerz

Opinions will differ on playstyle, usefullness of talenst glyphs etc, but just gonna lay down my (purely theortical) thoughts on Gotyouall's points...

I'd suggest that due to Body and Soul, you'll want to be using PW:S as frequently as possible, both on yourself and your teammates - 60% run speed has such huge utility in pvp - hence the glyph choice supporting it, and the talent points in imp PW:S - though as you pointed out, mental agility is a better place for these considering regen.

Mindspike would be better with your talent set-up, but with the one I suggested, Evangelism and Archangel allows for burst healing, as well as a bit of regen. Also are you sure Mindspike would be hitting harder than HFire->Smite?

SoL again, dependant upon you using smite so if you leave that out inspiration would be your next best option - it is also useful vs. casters, where inspiration serves no purpose

Revelations, up to you I suppose, though another low-mana cost inst-heal which ahppens to massively up the crit chance (25%) of any other heals cast in the next 6 secs sounds like a life-saving combo

As chastise will shortly break on damage, its gonna become a lot less useful, and when playing defensively you will wanna use your different healing chakra states

Lightwell will be taregtted and destoryed asap, meaning extra charges probably wont be used (tunneling in pvp is even worse than in pve, so dont expect many team mates to be searching for it)

Lastly i'd have to disagree and say that CoH is an unmissable point, especially only for one talent point, an inst-cast smart heal which ignores LoS (self-cast) shouldn;t be skipped, whether in BG's, arena (namely 5's but 3's as well)

It all comes down to playstyle though,

Post by 688014

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Post by Magnerz

Fair enough, then a build aimed at imp. scream would make more sense given that smite is so inferior i guess, mostly from the PoV of being spell locked out of healing spells would be a kick in the teeth...

Do disagree with the chastise thing (or cetainly so as of next patch) as its not a stun anymore but breaks with enough damage - far less usefull.

Lightwell, no experience of so I have no idea if people have the sense or not to leave it up - if not then ye best its best Glyph opion

Shields again, right on the timing part of things, but I guess that again boils down to your playstyle

Flash heal is 28% of base mana - CoH 21% of base mana.. evidently very situation specific, still not something to skip (imo)

Anyway, best of luck on your mission to beccome a holy pvp priest, and your probably best dipping into bothe the shadow and disc trees twards the end... 3% Haste / 6% dmg&healing / Spirit conversion into hit / 4 secs off scream / 10% mana reduction on instants / 6% less spell damage taken .. all very attractive options.

Post by 255458

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Post by Zerul

Currently, Chastise is indeed a stun that doesn't share a DR with other stuns or your Psychic Scream.

Don't cast Lightwell until you really need it; think of it as an alternative to Power Word: Barrier. Don't cast it until you really do need it. This way, people are less inclined to kill the (soon-to-be-buffed in HP) Lightwell as they focus on you. It's not easy to time and you'll probably be stunned or something before you actually do need it, unfortunately... That or they'll just kill it before going for you.

Not getting Revelations let's you Chakra: ProM/Renew without giving up Chastise or forcing you to cancel the Chakra effect. That 15%+ healing really does help.

Circle of Healing is horrendous HPM and HPS for Arena, sorry.

You will hardly ever going to want to cast another shield after you've already casted one; if you want to buff your teammate's movement speed against a competent team, you're probably going to waste (a) GCD(s) dispelling off roots and the likes anyways.

The Poison Removal is really iffy against Rogues. They simply stack too many poisons on you and relying on RNG to remove Crippling Poison is bad. Things may be alleviated in the next patch where you actually will have the GCDs to spare as you Body and Soul your way out for four seconds. The fact that you can't remove other people's poison effects is really unfortunate as well; as of now, self-poison removal is not really a big thing to boast about.
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A Holy Priest's main problem isn't survivability; ironically, they actually do handle burst a bit better (in 2v2) than a Disc priest. Lightwell, Guardian Angel, Chastise, kiting, and fast Greater Heals (coupled with some juking) really do go a long way. What will kill you is your mana. You'd better hope that your enemy team is bad and that you are good so that you may drink. The sad thing is, you can drink 5 times from 50% to full and still be just "on par" with the enemy team's Paladin/Druid. Blizz doesn't really seem to be fixing this aspect of Holy PVP in fear of breaking Holy PVE; if anything, Holy is being somewhat nerfed thanks to the 80% in-combat mana regen and Chastise's longer cooldown + having it actually break on damage. Running away will only help so much when they begin to focus on your teammate instead and have you forced to spam Flash -> Greater Heal.

Stubborn Healer (pvp help)

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