Holy Paladin Healer Talent Builds and Glyphs - Wrath of the Lich King Classic

By Wowhead Updated: 2023/04/17

Talent Builds for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich KingDivine GuardianHoly Paladin Imp Devo Aura 51/20/0 Healer Talent BuildAura MasteryImproved Blessing of WisdomDivine SacrificeDivine GuardianImproved Devotion AuraImproved Blessing of WisdomImproved Devotion AuraDivine GuardianBlessed Handsincreases the transfer cap of Hand of Sacrifice by 25/50%Holy PowerEnlightened JudgementsImproved Blessing of WisdomImproved Devotion AuraImproved Blessing of WisdomBlessed HandsImproved Lay on HandsImproved Concentration AuraImproved Devotion AuraBlessed HandsBenedictionImproved Lay on HandsImproved Concentration AuraGlyph of Holy LightGlyph of Seal of WisdomGlyph of Beacon of LightGlyph of DivinityGlyph of Beacon of LightGlyph of DivinityLay on HandsImproved Lay on HandsBeacon of LightGlyph of Flash of LightGlyph of Lay on HandsGlyph of Sense UndeadTalents for Holy Paladin Healers in Wrath of the Lich KingHoly Tree Talents

Beacon of Light

The defining WotLK talent for Holy Paladins. Note that it only transfers Holy Light, Flash of Light, and Holy Shock direct healing only; that is to say, healing from Glyph of Holy Light or the HoT healing from FoL Infusion of Light does not transfer.

Improved Blessing of Wisdom

This is one of your primary non-healing related utility talents that you need to progress down the tree, with priority over the other utility talents in the same area. The main reason it's the default is because it gives the highest raid DPS within the 3 other talents that compete with it.

Blessed Hands

This talent affects Hand of Sacrifice ADDITIVELY (35/40%) and affects Hand of Salvation MULTIPLICATIVELY (3/4% per second). However, importantly, this talent has an unlisted, major side benefit - it also increases Hand of Sacrifice's transfer cap by 25% per point. This means that if your HP was 25k, you could transfer 37500 damage with 2 points in the talent. Despite also raising the transferred percent, this in effect means that Sac will always last longer. You do have to be a little more careful using "naked" Sac with this (without bubble up), but it's a small sacrifice to pay for a much stronger tank cooldown.

Improved Lay on Hands

While this talent does provide a pretty hefty damage reduction cooldown to the tank which stacks with all other sources, the cooldown being 13/11 minutes, and LoH not resetting on boss pulls, makes it really weak in practice. Couple this with Glyph of Divinity, if you run it, having a very contradictory use case to this talent, and it's just awkward and clunky to use well. It's not a terrible utility talent, particularly for tank-busters like Algalon, but it's worse than its main competitor, Blessed Hands.

Improved Concentration Aura

Most of the value of this talent is in increasing the effect of the aura, rather than the silence/interrupt portion. The vast majority of casters have full pushback resistance with regular Concentration Aura, so the real value of this talent is quite low.

Protection Tree Talents

Divine Sacrifice
Divine Guardian

This is an extremely powerful raid cooldown - particularly because raid damage reduction cooldowns don't really exist in WotLK, making Divine Guardian almost a class of its own. The fact that it additionally buffs Sacred Shield to a full minute duration makes these talents non-negotiable - you ALWAYS take them. Generally, it's advised to cancelaura the Divine Sacrifice buff as it can batch and leapfrog the 20% hp break to kill you, OR use Divine Shield to mitigate the Sacrifice damage.

Improved Devotion Aura

The standard Protection Paladin spec doesn't take this talent, so generally it is up to the Holy Paladin to take it. Despite the healing bonus not stacking with other healing bonuses of that type (Tree of Life), the increased armor is unique and also a minor raid DPS gain due to Armored to the Teeth and Bladed Armor.

Improved Righteous Fury

Righteous Fury counts as part of a unique “tank stance” mechanic, where it has an extra 43% threat modifier. In total, with Righteous Fury activated, you will generate 0.6435 threat per point of effective healing, slightly higher than the average healer (0.5 threat per healing). There is therefore a little bit of risk involved in using this at times, and you will have to deactivate it in certain scenarios (add spawns for instance). However, in general, as the expansion continues there are a lot of unavoidable raid AoE abilities that you are just getting 6% free DR for. In other words, this talent is a no-brainer - always take it, even if you are too afraid to use RF sometimes.

Retribution Tree Talents

Benediction

This is the only talent you can access in Retribution, and only 3/5, if you do not need to take Improved Devotion Aura. It's a decent talent, but nothing special.

Glyphs for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich KingMajor Glyphs

Glyph of Holy Light

Not only is Holy Light your strongest heal already, this glyph essentially multiplies its healing by up to 50%. Not only that, it's the main reason that trinkets like Soul Preserver and Eye of Gruul are THE MOST powerful for Holy Paladins, as it's a constant reliable heal on many targets at once that creates eligible heals for the trinket procs. However, the healing done from this glyph does NOT transfer through Beacon of Light, and its fairly limited range means that you won't always see good returns from it.

Glyph of Seal of Wisdom

It's well known that mana is the only constraint for a Holy Paladin, and this is a big part of reducing that strain. Due to the insane 4% maximum mana return that you get whenever you get a proc by meleeing, you'll always want to have Seal of Wisdom active anyway; this just makes it even better.

Glyph of Beacon of Light

Beacon of Light is of course the defining spell for Holy Paladins in Wrath of the Lich King, but it's also very expensive to refresh. This glyph effectively reduces the cost of Beacon of Light by up to 33%, but only in specific circumstances/fight lengths - therefore, while it's GENERALLY good, it's not always good or even useful. That being said, in an average scenario it saves you some GCDs and a lot of mana.

Glyph of Divinity

The main drawback of this glyph is that for maximum benefit, you'll want to cast Lay on Hands on yourself or another mana-limited healer. This gives up an important clutch heal and puts Forbearance on yourself, which can be very nasty in some scenarios. That being said, if you're in a very mana-tight fight where you really need to eke out all mana gains, and Glyph of Beacon of Light is not applicable, this is a very powerful option, returning 7800 mana in total if self-cast.

Glyph of Flash of Light

Just like in the Burning Crusade, Flash of Light is a weak spell that doesn't heal for a lot, though it's extremely cheap. This is a last resort glyph that you should only use if you somehow find yourself in a situation where neither Glyph of Beacon of Light nor Glyph of Divinity is of any use.

Minor Glyphs

Glyph of Lay on Hands

Unlike most other classes' minor glyphs, this one is absolutely massive for Holy Paladins and is a must-have.

Glyph of Sense Undead

While Holy Paladin damage is so low as to be negligible, you will be Judging and meleeing occasionally so this has a minor, free benefit.

Comments

Comment by Specoli

3 points into righteous fury for a -6% damage reduction to only the holy paladin is extremely selfish and a noob trap.
Imp blessing of wisdom over blessed hands? 2 talent points for an extra 18 mana per 5 seconds on a buff?
Anticipation over Stoicism?

Who wrote this?

Comment by Campollia

Why doesn't Glyph of Holy Shock, or Glyph of Seal of Light get any mentions here? those seem like at least interesting enough of glyphs to mention them and their potential weight when compared to other options.

Comment by Mercier91

no holy paladin uses righteous fury lol

Holy Paladin Healer Talent Builds and Glyphs - Wrath of the Lich King Classic

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