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Holy Paladin Healing Stat Priority in Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.0.1

Last updated on Sep 03, 2018 at 02:15 by Adamselene 29 comments

Table of Contents

General Information

On this page, we explain what the best statistics are for Holy Paladins in World of Warcraft Battle for Azeroth 8.0.1, how the class benefits from each of them.

The statistics priority is important as it influences itemisation choices (gear, enchants, and gems).

The other pages of our Holy Paladin guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Author

This guide has been written by Holy Paladin Theorycrafter Adamselene. He currently raids with War Front of Kel'Thuzad-US. You can find him on the Hammer of Wrath class Discord and the most up to date version of “The Light and How to Swing It” — the spreadsheet he maintains with Rhyno — can be found here.

1. The Basics of Stats for Holy Paladin

The stat priority for a Holy Paladin varies based on your spell selection or fight duration, your proximity to your healing targets, and your talents. We will give the general stat priority, then explain how each of these can change it for you. Having said that, our secondary stats are so close in value, and Intellect is so strong at current gear levels, that an item level upgrade will usually be worth equipping. You should use the information on this page to help you decide if one similar item level piece of gear is superior to another.

For the purposes of determining upgrades you should value a socket as worth 15 item levels if it is your only socket (because you can use Kraken's Eye of Intellect Icon Kraken's Eye of Intellect) or 10 item levels if is not.

The general stat priority is:

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

1.1. How Good is Haste?

In general Haste is a good stat. However, the value of Haste is difficult to determine because it can change significantly even on the same boss encounter. It does so because of your Mana usage and spell selection. If you find yourself out of Mana before a fight is over you should check to see if you were casting too many expensive spells. If not, then you can likely improve the situation by removing some Haste. You should aim to strike a balance between having enough haste to respond quickly when others take damage, while also not going out of Mana on longer fights.

1.2. Holy Paladin Mastery

The value of Mastery depends on your positioning relative to your healing targets. In situations where the entire group is very close to you, Mastery outperforms Critical Strike. In situations where the group is spread out, and your targets are further than 30 yards away from you, Mastery becomes your least valuable stat.

It is important to remember, also, that while Mastery is generally a good stat for healing dungeons it provides no increase to your damage and your other secondary stats will.

If you wish to optimize for specific encounters it is beneficial to have a Mastery-heavy gear set and a low-Mastery gear set and switch them based on group positioning requirements and talents as necessary.

1.3. Talent Choices and Stats

With Avenging Crusader Icon Avenging Crusader selected, Mastery becomes your worst stat. Healing from Judgment Icon Judgment and Crusader Strike Icon Crusader Strike while Avenging Crusader is active is unaffected by Mastery. Since Avenging Crusader is such a strong cooldown this greatly reduces the value of Mastery.

With Awakening Icon Awakening selected the value of Critical Strike is reduced slightly and the value of Haste increases. This is because Haste reduces the cooldown of Light of Dawn Icon Light of Dawn and more casts will trigger the Avenging Wrath Icon Avenging Wrath effect; which has a 30% Critical Strike bonus when active.

Crusader's Might Icon Crusader's Might will increase the value of Haste.

1.4. A Word About Leech

Although tertiary stats such as Speed, Leech, or Avoidance only appear as a bonus on gear at random, the Leech stat is so valuable for healers that it deserves to be mentioned. Any Leech on your gear is free healing that allows you to focus on other people rather than healing yourself. Its value will vary a bit based on how much damage you are taking in an encounter, but it is typically at least as valuable as your other secondary stats and often more valuable. You should keep this in mind when comparing lower item level gear with Leech to higher item level replacements without it.

2. Getting a Better Understanding of Holy Paladin Stats

2.1. Statistics Explanations

Intellect is your primary stat. You should look for this stat in all of your upgrades. It provides you with Spell Power, which increases the power of your heals.

Critical Strike increases your chance to critically hit with all spells and abilities.

Haste lowers your global cooldown and your cast time.

Mastery (Mastery: Lightbringer Icon Mastery: Lightbringer) causes healing you do to be increased the closer they are to you. The actual increase depends on the amount of Mastery you have.

Versatility increases all your damage and healing done, and decreases all damage taken.

⋘Boss by Boss Strategies
Gems, Enchants, and Consumables⋙

3. Changelog

  • 03 Sep. 2018: Added clarification on how stat values can change.
  • 13 Aug. 2018: Updated for Battle for Azeroth launch.
  • 21 Jul. 2018: Added a section about Leech.
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