Holy Paladin Healing Easy Mode — Shadowlands 9.0.5
On this page, we explain how to easily play Holy Paladin in World of Warcraft — Shadowlands 9.0.5, using the simplest rotation, talent tree, stat priority, gear setup, etc., without sacrificing performance.
Foreword
This page is intended for players who are new to the game or class, have no intentions of raiding Mythic difficulty, or simply want a more straightforward way to play their specialisation without being overwhelmed by the numerous subtleties and active abilities that need to be taken into consideration for optimal play.
The Basics of Holy Paladins
Holy Paladins do best at passively supporting tanks with their beacons and
single target healing in general. In addition to this, Holy Paladins are
peculiar for having many tools at their disposal that allow them to handle
various encounter mechanics in ways that other healers cannot. Additionally,
the Glimmer of Light build grants us a powerful raid-wide healing cooldown,
similar to a Restoration Druid's
Tranquility or Holy
Priest's
Divine Hymn.
That said, their mobility is weak.
Talent Choice for Holy Paladins
These are currently the best talent choices as a Holy Paladin. Note that some of the suggestions sacrifice a bit of performance for ease of use, but overall the difference is not great. Consult the detailed talents page for the complete picture.
- Level 15:
Crusader's Might
- Level 25:
Judgment of Light
- Level 30: Any
- Level 35:
Rule of Law
- Level 40:
Divine Purpose
- Level 45:
Awakening
- Level 50:
Glimmer of Light
Stat Choice for Holy Paladins
Currently, you will want to prioritise secondary stats for the talent choices given above as follows:
For Glimmer of Light:
- Haste;
- Mastery;
- Versatility;
- Critical Strike.
For Dungeons:
- Haste;
- Versatility;
- Critical Strike;
- Mastery.
Basic Playstyle for Holy Paladins
Single Target / Tank Healing
- Always keep
Beacon of Light on the target.
- Use
Holy Shock on them on cooldown.
- Use any
Infusion of Light procs on
Flash of Light.
- Use
Word of Glory if you have the Holy Power available and the target is in need of big healing.
- Use
Bestow Faith on them on cooldown.
- Use
Holy Light for low or moderate damage, and add
Flash of Light for higher damage as needed and as Mana allows.
In case you are forced to move and Holy Shock is on cooldown, you
can also make use of
Light of the Martyr to heal your target if they
are at risk of dying (as long as it does not put you at risk to do so).
Group or Raid Healing for Holy Paladins
- Keep
Beacon of Light on the tank or on another target who is taking constant damage. If you have selected the
Beacon of Virtue talent, use it when multiple people have taken damage and continue to heal, preferably a target that does not have the beacon buff.
- Use
Holy Shock on cooldown.
- Use
Light of Dawn if you have the Holy Power available and it will heal 3 or more targets.
- Use
Bestow Faith on cooldown on targets who will take damage soon or are damaged, but not in immediate danger of dying.
- Use
Holy Light if you have an
Infusion of Light proc and you can cast it without putting yourself in danger or impacting the rest of your rotation.
- Use
Flash of Light if you have an
Infusion of Light proc and you do not have a chance to use
Holy Light. You can use it on a raid member in danger, or on your
Beacon of Light target to generate 1 Holy Power.
As in the case of single target healing, if you are forced to move and
Holy Shock is on cooldown, you can also make use of
Light of the Martyr to heal a target, but we do not recommend using
this spell otherwise.
Cooldown Usage for Holy Paladins
As a Holy Paladin, you have several healing cooldowns. You should use them as we explain below:
Avenging Crusader should be used as often as possible throughout the fight, but you should also consider saving it for periods of high sustained damage. Make sure that you have a target to attack and can safely be in melee range of a target for the entire duration of Avenging Crusader.
Lay on Hands should be used to save dying raid members, especially tanks.
Holy Avenger increases your Holy Power generation. You will want to use this as often as possible, as long as there is healing to be done. In most cases, you will not want to use Holy Avenger with any other cooldowns. It can occasionally be paired with
Avenging Wrath, if extreme healing is needed. However, you will want to avoid combining them if possible.
Blessing of Sacrifice is excellent for reducing the damage taken by the tank, or other raid members. Be cautious, however, because Blessing of Sacrifice can be dangerous to your own life if used without a damage reduction cooldown such as
Divine Protection or
Divine Shield, or when simultaneous raid damage independently threatens your life such that the additional damage taken from Blessing of Sacrifice can lead to your death.
Aura Mastery should be used at a time designated by your healing officer or raid leader.
Blessing of Protection can be used to clear harmful physical damage debuffs and bleeds from the target. Be mindful of the fact that bosses will not attack targets affected by Blessing of Protection, though, so only cast it on the current tank if the off-tank is prepared to take over.
Blessing of Freedom removes movement-impairing effects from the targeted raid member, which can be very useful in certain situations.
Changelog
- 13 Mar. 2021: Updated talent recommendations.
- 09 Mar. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 23 Nov. 2020: Page updated to reflect changes for Shadowlands.
- 12 Oct. 2020: Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
More Paladin Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Mytholxgy, who plays healer in Pieces. He is a Templar in the Paladin class discord. You can reach him on Twitter and watch him stream on Twitch.
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