Holy Paladin PvP Rotation and Playstyle — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0.1)

The main role for a Holy Paladin, besides keeping your team alive, is to use your utility to prevent your teammates from using cooldowns and keep them offensive. To keep your team offensive, you will often push in with your team to try to get a Hammer of Justice/ Blinding Light on the enemy healer.

Before the gates open, you should use Beacon of Light on a teammate that might be the kill target for the enemy team. It does not have a cooldown, so it is acceptable if the enemy team swaps their target, but it is important to keep it active on the teammate that the enemy team is focusing.

Make sure your team has a strategy for crowd control, Hammer of Justice is a strong stun that should be used on a DPS when trying to get a kill or on a healer to set up crowd control. If you are using Blinding Light make it clear who you are using it on.

The other team is going to try to force your trinket in the opener so they have an advantage later in the game. Use Divine Steed/ Blessing of Freedom to try to avoid incoming crowd control on you, and hold on to your trinket for as long as you can.

Aura Mastery is a strong 3-minute cooldown (with the Divine Vision PvP talent it is reduced by 30 seconds) with an effect that changes depending on which Aura you have active. It will not be uncommon to switch between these auras during an Arena match. Here are the two auras you will find yourself switching between and when you should use them:

• Concentration Aura makes interrupts and silences shorter on you and your teammates. When Aura Mastery is used, it will also make them immune to interrupts or silences for 8 full seconds. This should be used when you are playing with other casters or versus teams that have ranged kicks.
• Devotion Aura reduces the damage your teammates take by 3%. This is crucial when the enemy team is using their burst rotation. When Aura Mastery is used, it will you and your teammates take 15% less damage. This should absolutely be used when the enemy team is using their burst cooldowns.

Overall, you want to use Concentration Aura when you are playing with casters or if the enemy team has ranged interrupts available for you. If they do not, then use Devotion Aura.

Before jumping into the healing rotations, it is important to know how to generate Holy Power. This is important, because Holy Paladins have both Holy Power and Mana. Learning how to heal with both resources is crucial for maximize your healing output and not running out of Mana quickly. Here is how to generate Holy Power:

• Crusader Strike generates 1 Holy Power and should be used on any enemy within melee range. If there is not an enemy player close to you, you can also use it on pets or totems. Note: This is only active when Avenging Crusader is active.
• Judgment is a ranged spell that does a low amount of damage, but generates 1 Holy Power. Similar to Crusader Strike, you can use this spell on pets or totems, as well as enemies in range. it is also important to use Judgment as often as you can to get value from the talent Greater Judgment.
• Hammer of Wrath. While Avenging Crusader/ Avenging Wrath is active, Judgment turns into Hammer of Wrath. This deals a moderate amount of damage and will generate 1 Holy Power.
• Holy Shock it does not matter whether you use this on an enemy or ally, this will generate 1 Holy Power every time it is used.
• Divine Toll instantly casts Holy Shock on up to 5 targets. This will cast every 5 sec for 15 seconds. This is great for when you see damage is incoming and want to quickly generate Holy Power. Note: If you are playing the Lightsmith Hero Talent tree, Holy Armaments will replace Divine Toll.

You can store up to 5 Holy Power, but once you get to 3 you can start using abilities that cost Holy Power. The only ability you want to use Holy Power on is Word of Glory/ Eternal Flame if you are playing Herald of the Sun hero talent. This ability will be instant and works well with the regular talent Divine Purpose.

The 2 spells you will be spending Holy Power on are Word of Glory or Eternal Flame if you are playing Herald of the Sun hero talent. Your goal during your healing rotation is to use your Holy Power generators off cooldown and use that Holy Power on these two spells.

This is the basic rotation you should be using.

1. Use and maintain Beacon of Light on whichever teammate is taking the most damage.
2. Use Beacon of Faith on a second teammate.
3. Use Holy Shock. This will generate Holy Power and give you a chance to get a Infusion of Light proc. When you get this proc, you can do one of the following:
   • Flash of Light healing increased by 200% and is instant.
   • Greater Judgment prevents 150% more damage.
4. Use Flash of Light. This will heal and generate 1 Holy Power.
5. Use Judgment to generate Holy Power.
6. Use Holy Shock as often as you can.
   • This will also generate 1 Holy Power.
7. Use Word of Glory/ Eternal Flame if you are playing Herald of the Sun hero talent when you get to 3 Holy Power.
8. Use Infusion of Light procs on Flash of Light.
9. Use a Holy Armaments if a teammate is taking heavy damage.
10. Cast Holy Light if the enemy team is far and cannot interrupt you.
11. Use Flash of Light when your teammate is extremely low on health and you need to quickly heal them.

Use this if the enemy team uses their cooldowns to try to kill a teammate and you are playing Avenging Wrath.

1. Use Beacon of Light on the primary target taking damage.
2. Use Avenging Wrath.
3. Use Holy Shock.
4. Use Word of Glory/ Eternal Flame if you are playing Herald of the Sun hero talent at 3 Holy Power.
5. Use a Holy Armaments.
   • If you are Herald of the Sun, use Divine Toll.
6. Use Holy Shock.
7. Use Holy Shock.
8. Use Word of Glory/ Eternal Flame.
9. Use Holy Shock.
10. Use Word of Glory/ Eternal Flame.
11. Cast Holy Light.
12. Continue using Holy Shock and Hammer of Wrath to generate Holy Power. Use Word of Glory/ Eternal Flame at 3 Holy Power. Use Flash of Light if you get an Infusion of Light proc or if you do not have Holy Shock available.
13. If you are Lightsmith, make sure to use Holy Armaments on the teammate taking damage.
14. If you do not have Avenging Wrath available, use Divine Toll. This will heal your target and generate Holy Power to help you use Eternal Flame/ Word of Glory.

If Avenging Wrath ends or is on cooldown, the rotation is almost the same. Use Holy Shock as often as possible to generate 1 Holy Power and have a chance at getting an Infusion of Light proc. If you do get one, use Flash of Light. If your teammate is still low, you should use Blessing of Sacrifice. Against teams with no purges or with melee on it, you might also have to use Blessing of Protection to stop a lot of the incoming damage and give you time to recover. If you are Lightsmith, make sure to use Holy Armaments on the teammate taking damage.

Use this to heal sustained damage throughout the match (damage done when the other team does not have burst cooldowns available).

1. Maintain Beacon of Light on your teammate that is being focused.
2. Use and maintain Beacon of Faith on another teammate if you are using this talent.
3. Judgment, Holy Shock and Flash of Light to generate Holy Power.
4. Cast Holy Light.
5. Use Word of Glory/ Eternal Flame when you get to 3 Holy Power.
6. Use Holy Shock off cooldown.
7. Use Divine Toll if you have no Holy Shock charges left and you need to generate Holy Power.
   • If you are playing Lightsmith hero talents, use Holy Armaments.
8. Use Judgment for damage and to prevent damage the enemy deals, thanks to the Greater Judgment talent.
9. Use Word of Glory/ Eternal Flame if you are playing Herald of the Sun hero talent.and when you get to 3 Holy Power.
10. Use Flash of Light when you get an Infusion of Light proc.
11. If you are Lightsmith, make sure to use Holy Armaments on the teammate taking damage.

One important note about the Holy Paladin healing rotation is that Avenging Crusader is a powerful cooldown and might be the best playstyle throughout the expansion. With that said, here is what you should do to maximize your healing output when playing Avenging Crusader:

• Use Avenging Crusader.
• Use Crusader Strike and Hammer of Wrath off cooldown to deal damage and generate Holy Power.
  • Note: During Avenging Wrath, Judgment turns into Hammer of Wrath and Avenging Crusader turns into Crusader Strike.
• Use Word of Glory/ Eternal Flame if you are playing Herald of the Sun hero talent at 3 Holy Power.
• If you are Lightsmith, make sure to use Holy Armaments on the teammate taking damage.
• Use Holy Shock.
• Use Crusader Strike.
• From here, you will keep rotating your damage abilities, Hammer of Wrath and Crusader Strike, to generate Holy Power and spending it on Word of Glory. Use Holy Bulwark when Avenging Crusader is on cooldown and you need additional healing.

One of the unique things about Holy Paladins is the amount of utility you have. Below are all of the spells you can use on teammates and when to use them.

• Blessing of Freedom: this is a great ability for getting away from enemies or to use on your teammates to catch up to an enemy.
• Blessing of Protection: this is a strong ability against melee classes. This should be used on a teammate that is being focused and you do not want to use cooldowns or or do not have any left. Alternatively, it can be used on yourself, but it does give you the debuff that prevents you from using Divine Shield for 30 seconds.
• Blessing of Sacrifice: use this ability when the enemy team uses multiple offensive cooldowns. This way, you use one cooldown when the other team has used 2-3 cooldowns. If you use this before a crowd control ability that can be broken from damage, it will break.
• Turn Evil fears an enemy Undead, Aberration or Demon. This is useful versus Death Knights and Warlocks. You can fear the Death Knight's Abomination or fear the Warlock's pets. This does cost quite a bit of Mana, so do not use it too often, but it should be used when you want to stop some incoming damage.

Divine Shield is your primary defensive cooldown. Using this ability makes you immune to everything and should be used when you or a teammate is about to die. This will guarantee that you will stay alive if you are being focused; and guarantee that you will not be interrupted if your teammate is being focused.

Divine Protection can be used while stunned and can only be used on yourself. Use this if you are being focused and need to reduce any incoming damage.

It is advised to use Macros to use abilities on enemies or allies without having to target them. For this reason, we have a page dedicated to them.