Holy Paladin Healing Easy Mode — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1

1. 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.

2. 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.

That said, their mobility is weak and they lack very powerful raid-wide healing cooldowns like a Restoration Druid's Tranquility or Holy Priest's Divine Hymn.

3. 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: Bestow Faith
• Level 30: Rule of Law
• Level 45: Blinding Light
• Level 60: Devotion Aura
• Level 75: Judgment of Light OR Holy Avenger
• Level 90: Avenging Crusader
• Level 100: Beacon of Faith OR Beacon of Virtue (dungeons)

4. Stat Choice for Holy Paladins

Currently, you will want to prioritise secondary stats as follows:

1. Critical Strike;
2. Haste;
3. Versatility;
4. Mastery.

5. Basic Playstyle for Holy Paladins

5.1. 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 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).

5.2. 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 on cooldown, assuming it will heal 3 or more damaged targets.
• Use any Infusion of Light procs on Flash of Light on low health 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 for low or moderate damage, prioritizing low health targets, and add Flash of Light for higher damage as needed and as Mana allows.

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.

6. 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 is a Haste-increasing cooldown that you should use as often as possible, as long as there is healing to be done. It can be combined with Avenging Crusader if incredibly high healing is required, but most often will be used alone in order to speed up your non-instant heals during periods of moderate to high damage.
• 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.

7. Azerite Traits for Holy Paladins

Azerite Traits are additional effects that are available on special helm, shoulder, and chest slot armor throughout Battle for Azeroth. These Azerite traits will scale with the item level of the item and all versions of an item will have the same traits. Some of the traits are generic while others are specialization or role specific. Azerite gear will have either two (Rare Armor) or three (Epic Armor) rings of traits. For the purpose of this guide the rings will be referred to as the outer, middle, and inner rings. Rare armor does not have a middle ring.

For your convenience we have listed the best Azerite traits on each ring below. To read our comprehensive trait rankings, please see our Azerite Traits page.

7.1. Best Outer Ring Azerite Traits

• Archive of the Titans is a stacking Intellect buff; this trait is excellent, especially on longer fights. Like Laser Matrix, it also activates an Uldir-only buff.
• Breaking Dawn is an excellent trait to have, since it allows you to use Light of Dawn even on encounters where the raid is spread out. More than one of this trait is not recommended, since the range increase does not stack.
• Grace of the Justicar is incredibly good when combined with Judgment of Light. It is limited to ten targets. It is potentially very strong if you can consistently heal 4+ targets.

7.2. Best Middle Ring Azerite Traits

• Azerite Veins is good mechanically, and an incredibly large heal. Low proc rate is the only downside. Because of the low proc rate, other strong Azerite traits should be chosen if you have more than one of this trait.
• Blessed Portents functions like Highfather's Machination, but with half the proc rate.
• Savior: Excellent trait, especially on progression. Loses value in lower difficulties or when the raid over-gears the content.

7.3. Best Inner Ring Azerite Traits

• Impassive Visage: A very strong trait that provides regular healing in all situations.
• Resounding Protection: A new version of the Prydaz, Xavaric's Magnum Opus shield, this trait is always effective.

8. Changelog