Holy Paladin WotLK Guide
Holy Paladin healing guide for WotLK 3.3.5a: spell priority, cooldowns, the 51/20/0 talent build, glyphs, stat priority and BiS gear for ICC and Ruby Sanctum.
The Holy Paladin is one of the two best raid healers in Wrath of the Lich King. On roughly four out of five bosses it is the strongest healer you can bring, and only the Discipline Priest stands next to it, and even that depends on the fight. It is a slow, big-heal healer: you cast Holy Light nearly all the time, top people up with Flash of Light, and use Holy Shock when someone needs a heal right now.
The other thing the Holy Paladin does is save players. Hand of Protection, Hand of Sacrifice, Divine Sacrifice, Aura Mastery and Lay on Hands are why your raid leader wants a Paladin. This guide covers the heals, the cooldowns, the talents and glyphs we run, the stats, and the boss duties in Icecrown and Ruby Sanctum.
1.How the Holy Paladin plays
Holy Light is your healing. On a good day it is around ninety-eight percent of what you cast, with the glyph that lets it heal the people around the target. Flash of Light is what you use when a target needs a small, cheap top-up and you have mana to spare, and Holy Shock is your instant heal: use it when someone is dying, and remember that a critical hit from it makes your next Flash of Light instant.
Beacon of Light on the main tank is the heart of the spec. Every heal you cast on someone else lands on the tank too, and that is why Holy Paladins are so efficient at tank healing. Keep Beacon on the tank, and do not let it fall off. Around that, you keep Judgement of Light up on the boss when it is safe, because every hit the raid lands with it heals a little.
2.Healing priorities
- Beacon of Light Keep Beacon of Light on the main tank. Renew it before it ends.
- Holy Light Your main heal. Most of your casts are this one.
- Holy Shock When someone needs a heal right now, and to trigger your Flash of Light procs.
- Flash of Light For a small top-up on one or two damaged targets, when mana allows.
- Judgement of Light On cooldown, when you have nothing more useful to do. Do it during safe moments, never while somebody is dying.
Do not use auto-attacks or mana tricks as a plan: mana comes from casting with your talents and from Divine Plea, not from meleeing. And do not spam Holy Light at full health targets. Look at the fight, and let the others take the small damage.
3.Cooldowns and raid utility
Your healing cooldowns are tools for specific moments, not buttons for the meters. Save them for the mechanic that asks for them.
Reduces the cost of your spells and increases healing for a short time. Use it first, before Avenging Wrath, on the heavy healing phase.
Increases the healing you do for a short time. Use it after Divine Illumination on a phase where the raid takes big damage.
Gives back a large part of your mana over time but reduces your healing while it is active. Use it on cooldown, at moments when the raid does not need you.
Doubles your active aura for a short time. With Devotion Aura it is a raid cooldown, with a resistance aura it is a boss answer.
Protects a player from physical damage. Icecrown is full of moments where it is the answer. Read the boss section below.
Takes a part of the damage a tank or a raider would receive onto you. Do not use it on a target that will take damage you cannot survive.
A full heal. Use it on a tank when nothing else can save them, and remember that with the right talent the target also gets extra armor for a short time.
4.Talents and glyphs
The Holy build is the same 51/20/0 in every variant in the calculator, and the difference is in the last few points: the Raid variant takes Divine Sacrifice, the ICC Toughness variant spends points on Improved Lay on Hands, and the recommended build sits in between. Take Illumination at five points, and Light's Grace, Divine Illumination, Judgements of the Pure and Beacon of Light in every version.
The glyphs are the Glyph of Holy Light, the Glyph of Seal of Wisdom and the Glyph of Beacon of Light. The minor glyph that every Holy Paladin should have is Lay on Hands.
The target becomes a Beacon of Light to all members of your party or raid within a 60 yard radius. Any heals you cast on party or raid members will also heal the Beacon for 100% of the amount healed. Only one target can be the Beacon of Light at a time. Lasts 1 min.
Reduces the mana cost of all spells by 50% for 15 sec.
Increases the damage done by your Seal and Judgement spells by 25%, and your Judgement spells increase your casting and melee haste by 15% for 1 min.
Your Holy Shock critical hits reduce the cast time of your next Flash of Light by 1.5 sec or increase the critical chance of your next Holy Light by 20%. In addition, causes your Flash of Light to heal targets with Sacred Shield for an additional 100% over 12 sec.
Causes your Concentration Aura to make all affected targets immune to Silence and Interrupt effects and improve the effect of all other auras by 100%. Lasts 6 sec.
30% of all damage taken by party members within 30 yards is redirected to the Paladin (up to a maximum of 40% of the Paladin's health times the number of party members). Damage which reduces the Paladin below 20% health will break the effect. Lasts 10 sec.
Your Holy Light grants 10% of its heal amount to up to 5 friendly targets within 8 yards of the initial target.
While Seal of Wisdom is active, the cost of your healing spells is reduced by 5%.
Increases the duration of Beacon of Light by 30 sec.
Swap options if the fight asks for them: Glyph of Divinity, Glyph of Flash of Light.
5.Stats, gems and gear
Your stat priority is intellect, then haste, then critical strike, then spell power. Haste matters more than it looks: with your buffs, aim for a Holy Light cast that lands around 1.2 to 1.3 seconds. That is where the spec feels smooth and where mana lasts.
Do not chase spirit. Your mana comes from your talents, from Divine Plea and from Judgement, and intellect gives you both a bigger mana pool and more spell power.
- Intellect
- Spell Power
- Haste
- MP5
- Critical Strike
The only Horde option. Arcane Torrent returns mana for Holy and doubles as an AoE silence / interrupt for Retribution and Protection.
Retribution wants the Sword / Mace expertise; Holy and Protection lean on The Human Spirit and Every Man for Himself. Draenei (Gift of the Naaru, party +1% hit) and Dwarf (Stoneform clears bleeds, poisons and disease — a strong Prot cooldown) are both viable.
Val'anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings
Bulwark of Smouldering Steel
Libram of Renewal
Meteorite Crystal
Glowing Twilight Scale
Sanctified Lightsworn Headpiece
Rot-Resistant Breastplate
6.Common mistakes
• Letting Beacon of Light fall off the tank.
• Using your cooldowns for the healing meter instead of for the mechanic that needs them.
• Relying on melee auto-attacks for mana instead of casting and using Divine Plea at the right moments.
• Casting Judgement while somebody is dying. Do it in the quiet moments.
• Forgetting your Hands: a Hand of Protection on the right player is worth more than a full bar of healing.
7.On the bosses
Holy Paladins are needed in most Icecrown fights. These are the ones where the spec is decisive. The full boss-by-boss list of Hands is in the Icecrown Citadel guide.
A Holy Paladin can solo-heal the Lich King 25 heroic, and the video by Iqui in the class guide shows how. Divine Sacrifice and Hand of Sacrifice for the Soul Reapers, and healing help inside Frostmourne. See the Lich King healing guide.
Hand of Protection on a healer before Blistering Cold so they are not pulled into the boss, and the Frost Resistance Aura with Aura Mastery for the breaths.
Divine Shield yourself and Hand of Protection on the other healers for the Shock Vortex, so the group keeps its healers.
Hand of Protection on the target of an ooze stops the hit and confuses the ooze while the Hand lasts.
In the Twilight Realm your Hands and Divine Sacrifice help the tank and the healers stay alive. See the Ruby Sanctum guide.
8.Questions people ask
They are close, and it depends on the fight. The Holy Paladin is the more flexible healer, with more raid saves. The Discipline Priest is stronger on damage that can be absorbed.
Yes. It is the core of the spec. Every heal you cast on someone else is copied to the tank, which is why Holy Paladins are so efficient tank healers.
The Glyph of Holy Light, the Glyph of Seal of Wisdom and the Glyph of Beacon of Light, plus the minor glyph for Lay on Hands.
Enough for a Holy Light around 1.2 to 1.3 seconds with your buffs. More is fine, but it is not the first thing to chase.