Holy Priest Healing Spell List and Glossary — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0)

If you are new to Holy Priest, this is a great place to start understanding how the spec works. On this page, we will discuss your abilities, what they are used for within the specialization, how they interact with each other, and important cooldowns. If you already have experience with Holy Priest and are comfortable with it, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

Mana is your only resource as a Holy Priest. All your healing abilities cost Mana, so managing it so you stay supplied throughout each encounter is crucial to healing competitively. The best way to track this for most encounters is to keep your remaining Mana around the same percentage as the remaining boss's health.

Managing your Mana well is one of the more challenging parts of being a healer and, as a result, can often be a contributor to reduced performance. Many mistakes made concerning Mana management are discussed later in the guide and are aimed at helping you improve your gameplay and Mana usage.

Note that this page lists all the different abilities, assuming you are at max level. If you are leveling, check out our dedicated Holy Priest Leveling page, which has detailed information on when you unlock all of these abilities.

These are your core skills that are available regardless of talents and form the core gameplay of the specialization.

Ability	Also Known As	Description/Effect
Flash Heal	FH	Single-target heal with a short cast time.
Focused Will	-	Reduces the damage you take after being melee'd. This is mostly relevant in open-world content and PvP, as you typically are not hit by melee attacks often in Dungeons and Raids.
Levitate	-	Niche ability that can prevent fall damage on your target if timed correctly.
Mind Soothe	-	Now an AoE, Mind Soothe provides a unique buff reducing the distance at which an enemy will aggro on to yourself and your allies. This has fairly niche usage but can be used in some scenarios to avoid having to pull a pack of enemies and instead walk right past them.
Power Word: Fortitude	Fort	Grants all party or raid members with increased stamina for an hour. It is essential you cast this before each encounter to ensure everyone in your group has it.
Prayer of Mending	PoM	Places a buff on the targeted ally, which heals them when they take damage and jumps to another nearby ally (up to 5 times). This is one of your most efficient spells and should be used as often as possible.
Purify	Dispel	Removes all harmful magic and disease effects from your target with a short cooldown. You will find yourself using this spell regularly in dungeons, raids, PvP, and world content.
Resurrection	Res	Resurrects a dead ally so long as you remain out of combat.
Shadow Word: Pain	SW:P	An instance cast Damage over Time ability. It is quite efficient for Mana spent and is a great way to add extra damage
Serendipity	HW	This hidden passive ability that causes Flash Heal to reduce the remaining cooldown of Holy Word: Serenity by a short amount. It also causes Prayer of Healing to reduce the remaining cooldown of Holy Word: Sanctify by a short amount. While you do not need to actively manage this ability in any way, it is crucial that you are aware of its existence and constantly monitor the remaining cooldowns of your Holy Words so that you can use them soon after they become available.
Smite	-	Our default single target DPS filler spell. Despite some cooldown reduction towards Holy Word: Chastise, in scenarios where your Mana matters, such as a raid encounter, you still want to avoid spending Mana on Holy Word: Chastise anyway.
Spirit of Redemption	SoR	Allows you to continue casting healing spells for a short period after you die. During this time, your spells cost no Mana, and you cannot perform any other actions. You can not cast damage spells or use special effects like Trinkets during Spirit of Redemption.

The Holy Priest talent tree has a combination of many passive and active talents. To break the list of every possible effect down into manageable chunks, we have grouped these abilities into active and passive effects, organized by the rows you will come across them from top to bottom in each tree.

If you would like to know more about which of these talents to select for your own Holy Priest, please see the builds and talents section of our guide.

Ability	Also Known As	Description/Effect
Angelic Feather	Feather	The primary movement enhancing ability for Holy Priest. It is typically used to enhance your own movement. However, multiple feathers can be placed at once to grant a movement boost to any ally who walks through them.
Holy Fire	HF	A hard-hitting single-target spell with a short cooldown. Great for adding some damage in situations where Mana is not a concern.
Holy Nova	HN	An AoE spell capable of both healing allies and damaging enemies within range. This is primarily used for AoE damage, as the healing amount is quite small.
Dispel Magic	Purge	Removes a beneficial magic effect from an enemy target. This spell can be potent, granting you the ability to remove strong buffs from dangerous enemies. There is a high Mana cost to this spell, so it is not advised to be casting it too often in situations where Mana is a concern.
Psychic Scream	-	Fears all enemies within a short distance. It can be useful for interrupting large groups of enemies, or sometimes even just on single ones.
Leap of Faith	Life Grip	Pulls the targeted ally to your location. It can be useful for helping your tank kite or simply for saving careless allies from avoidable damage.
Power Infusion	PI	A miniature Bloodlust/ Heroism effect you can cast on yourself, or an ally. While this is not technically a healing cooldown, paired with Apotheosis, it can provide significant additional throughput. Depending on the situation, you may find it more beneficial for your group to instead be casting this on someone else, primarily lining it up with DPS players using their own cooldowns.
Mass Dispel	MD	Removes all harmful magic effects from up to 5 friendly targets, and 1 beneficial effect from enemy targets. This spell has a long cooldown and a high Mana cost but can be invaluable at removing dangerous debuffs from your allies and buffs from your enemies. Mass Dispel can also remove some beneficial effects from enemies that regular dispel abilities cannot, such as Ice Block and Divine Shield.
Mind Control	MC	Controls a target for 30 seconds that is not Demonic, Mechanical, or Undead. Because it shares diminishing returns with other disorient effects, you must be mindful that a cast may not last for the full duration, particularly when using it on powerful enemies.
Dominate Mind	-	Controls a target for 30 seconds that is not Demonic, Mechanical, or Undead. You retain control of your character during Dominate Mind, and your dominated target behaves like a pet.
Holy Word: Serenity	HW:Serenity	A strong instant cast, single-target heal with a 60-second cooldown that can be further reduced by casting Flash Heal. It is an important spell to use during times of serious single-target damage.
Holy Word: Sanctify	HW:Sanc	A strong instant cast spell that heals up to 6 allies in a targeted 10-yard radius. It has a 60-second cooldown, which can be further reduced by casting Prayer of Healing.
Guardian Spirit	GS	Places a buff on the target, which lasts for 10 seconds and increases all healing received by the target by 60%. If the target receives a killing blow during this time, they will not die and instead be healed for 40% of their maximum health, consuming the Guardian Spirit effect. This ability should generally be used to help tanks survive large amounts of damage or to save raid members from dying.
Holy Word: Chastise	HW:Chastise	An instant cast damage spell with a long cooldown but provides a short disorient to its target.
Prayer of Healing	PoH	Heals the target and the 4 nearest allies within 40 yards of them. It has a cast time and is one of your most reliable sources of AoE healing.

Ability	Also Known As	Description/Effect
Improved Flash Heal	-	Increases the effectiveness of Flash Heal.
Spiritual Guidance	SG	Increases your Intellect.
Lightburst	LB	Increases the damage, healing, and cooldown of Holy Nova.
Painful Invocation	-	Increases the damage of Shadow Word: Pain.
Sheer Terror	-	Reduces the amount of damage a target can take before Psychic Scream will break.
Petrifying Scream	-	Changes Psychic Scream to tremble in place instead of fearing them away.
Surge of Light	SoL	Gives a chance for healing spells or Smite to grant an instant Flash Heal; procs are uncommon for Shadow unless actively healing.
Body and Soul	BaS or BnS	Grants movement speed after casting Power Word: Shield; also interacts with Leap of Faith targets.
Twins of the Sun Priestess	Twins	Talent that shifts Power Infusion use toward allies, increasing group utility and potential DPS gains when coordinated.
Strength of Soul	SoS	Increases the amount of Stamina you have.
Psychic Voice	-	Small reduction in the cooldown of Psychic Scream
Void Tendrils	-	Causes enemies to be rooted in place once Psychic Scream ends.
Guardian Angel	GA	Reduces the cooldown of Guardian Spirit to 60 seconds when it expires on a target without having saved them from dying.
Restitution	-	Brings you back to life when Spirit of Redemption expires. The amount of health you revive with depends on the healing you do during Spirit of Redemption. After Restitution brings you back to life, you cannot trigger Spirit of Redemption again for 10 minutes.
Censure	-	Causes Holy Word: Chastise to also stun the target for 4 seconds.
Prayerful Litany	PL	Increases the healing done to the most injured target healed by Prayer of Healing, adding a valuable triage component to each Prayer of Healing cast.
Cosmic Ripple	CR	Causes some nearby injured targets to be healed for a small amount when either Holy Word: Sanctify or Holy Word: Serenity comes off cooldown.
Afterlife	-	Increases the duration of your Spirit of Redemption by 50%, cast range by 50%. It allows you to cast Resurrection, bringing one ally back to life at the cost of ending Spirit of Redemption. Care should be taken when casting Resurrection to ensure enough time remains on Spirit of Redemption to complete the cast.
Voice of Harmony	VoH	Provides additional Holy Word cooldown reduction when casting specific short-cooldown spells: Halo reduces the cooldown of Holy Word: Sanctify Prayer of Mending reduces the cooldown of Holy Word: Serenity Holy Fire reduces the cooldown of Holy Word: Chastise
Burning Vehemence	BV	Increases the damage of Holy Fire and causes it to also damage some nearby enemies.

Ability	Also Known As	Description/Effect
Shackle Undead	-	Incapacitates Undead or Aberration targets, preventing actions until the effect is broken by damage.
Shadow Word: Death	SWD	Execute-style ability that deals increased damage against low-health targets.
Desperate Prayer	-	On-demand self-heal on a moderate cooldown that improves personal survivability.
Fade	-	Threat-reduction ability that drops aggro and reduces your aggro radius, useful for avoiding unwanted pulls.
Divine Hymn	DH, Hymn	A channelled spell that heals all nearby raid members while you channel it, and also increase the healing they receive during that time. It is a powerful raid cooldown that can be used to mitigate serious raid damage.
Apotheosis	Apoth	An active ability with a 2-minute cooldown. Casting it immediately resets the cooldowns on Holy Word: Serenity, Holy Word: Sanctify, and Holy Word: Chastise and for a short period, the cooldown reduction to your Holy Words is greatly increased, while decreasing their mana cost.

Ability	Also Known As	Description/Effect
Everlasting Light	EL	Increases the proc chance of Surge of Light based on your missing mana.
Move with Grace	-	Reduces the cooldown of Leap of Faith, improving its availability.
Mental Agility	MA	Reduces the mana cost of Purify Disease and Mass Dispel, and Dispel Magic.
Twin Disciplines	TD	Increases the damage and healing of our Holy and Shadow spells.
Dark Enlightenment	DE	Increases our Haste.
False Autonomy	FA	Increases the duration of Mind Control or Dominate Mind.
Inspiration	-	Minor talent for Shadow with limited impact, since Shadow rarely casts Flash Heal.
Binding Heals	-	When used on allies, your Flash Heal also heals you for a portion of the amount.
Sanguine Teachings	-	Provides a small amount of leech.
Twist of Fate	ToF	Procs from damage or healing spells and grants a temporary damage increase while active, improving execute potential.
Tithe Evasion	-	Reduces the damage taken from Shadow Word: Death by 50%. This is a great addition to Shadow's kit, especially when running talents like Inescapable Torment or Deathspeaker which will have you casting Shadow Word: Death more than you would otherwise.
Uplifting Words	UL	Increases the Critical Strike chance of your healing Holy Words.
Cosmic Wave	CW	Increases Cosmic Ripple healing.
Enlightenment	-	Passively increases your Mana regeneration rate by 10%.
Benediction	LR	Prayer of Mending has a small chance to place a Renew on each target it heals.
Efficient Prayers	EP	Reduces the mana cost of Prayer of Healing.
Healing Focus	-	Reduces the mana cost of Flash Heal.
Seraphic Crescendo	-	Dramatically reduces the cooldown of Divine Hymn.
Gales of Song	Gales	While channelling Divine Hymn, periodically places a small number of stacks of Prayer of Mending on a few nearby allies.
Divine Service	DS	Increases Prayer of Mending healing done by a small amount for each bounce remaining every time it heals.
Renewed Faith	RF	Provides a small increase to your healing done to any ally with your Renew present on them. This works on Renew from all sources, pairing it well with other talents that apply it to allies.
Angelic Touch	AT	Increases the critical strike amount of your healing spells.
Prayers of the Virtuous	PotV	Adds a small number of additional total jumps to Prayer of Mending, having excellent synergy with Benediction, Divine Service, and Say Your Prayers.

There are no active abilities on these talent rows.

Ability	Also Known As	Description/Effect
Angel's Mercy	-	Reduces the cooldown of Desperate Prayer.
Protective Light	-	Extra defensive talent that grants damage reduction after casting Flash Heal.
Mindpierce	MP	Increases the damage of Smite.
Spectral Illusion	-	Causes Fade to create a spectral illusion of your character that tricks enemies to attack it instead of you.
Improved Fade	-	Reduces the cooldown on Fade.
Light's Inspiration	-	Increases the maximum health gained from Desperate Prayer.
Unwavering Will	-	Reduces the cast time of Flash Heal, Prayer of Healing and Smite while above 75% health.
Spell Warding	-	Simply reduces damage taken from magic abilities by a small amount.
Phantasm	-	Gives an extra effect to Fade letting it also remove snare effects. Pairs well with Improved Fade.
Angelic Bulwark	AB	Cheat-death-like shield that procs when you are low on HP. The shield is only a small portion of your max health.
Benevolence	-	Increases the healing of your spells by a small amount.
Focused Power	FP	Increases the damage of your spells by a small amount.
Phantom Reach	PR	Gives most of your spells slightly more range.
Translucent Image	-	Makes Fade an instant cast defensive button, making it one of the few in our kit.
Dispersing Light	-	A small amount of healing done by Flash Heal is replicated to some nearby injured allies.
Trail of Light	ToL	Causes Flash Healcasts to also heal the previous target you healed with Flash Heal for 35% of the amount. Casting one of these spells two or more times in a row on the same target does not cause them to benefit from Trail of Light. Instead, the previously healed other target is still healed, no matter how many heals ago you had healed them.
Miracle Worker	MW	Provides Holy Word: Serenity and Holy Word: Sanctify an extra charge each. This is a great quality of life improvement, but depending on the content is not a significant healing improvement.
Divinity	-	Increases all healing done during Apotheosis and after casting Apotheosis, causes your next few Prayer of Healing spells to be instant and heal for more.
Eternal Sanctity	ES	Increases the duration of Apotheosis by a small amount.
Holy Celerity	-	Reduces the cooldown of Holy Word: Serenity, Holy Word: Sanctify and Holy Word: Chastise.
Say Your Prayers	SYP	Grants each jump of Prayer of Mending a chance to not consume a charge, effectively increasing the maximum potential number of times each cast of Prayer of Mending will jump in total.
Crisis Management	CM	Improves the chance Flash Heal and Prayer of Healing will critically strike by a small amount.
Light of the Naaru	LotN	Reduces the cooldowns of your holy words by an additional amount when you cast the relevant spells. An easy-to-use and reliable increase to your healing by increasing the number of powerful Holy Words you can cast.
Light in the Darkness	LitD	Increases the healing done by Holy Word: Serenity and Holy Word: Sanctify by a small amount. Increases the radius of Holy Word: Sanctify.
Prismatic Echoes	PE	Causes your Mastery: Echo of Light to heal for slightly more from all sources. Increases the healing done by Renew by a small amount.
Desperate Times	DT	Increases all healing you do to targets below 50% health. The value of this talent will vary greatly depending on the content you are healing and your group composition.
Radiant Plea	RP	Increases the healing done by Prayer of Mending.
Lightweaver	LW	A strong increase to the healing done by Prayer of Healing when cast after a Flash Heal. This increase provides a relatively Mana-efficient way to heal with Prayer of Healing, synergizing well with other talents.
Ultimate Serenity	US	Increases the healing done by Holy Word: Serenity and also causes it to heal some nearby allies for a portion of the Serenity cast. Taking this prevents you from using Holy Word: Sanctify.
Divine Image	DI	Your Holy Word spells spawn the image of a Naaru beside you. This image will cast its own version of spells, replicating in its own style, most of your spells.
Lasting Words	-	Holy Word: Serenity and Holy Word: Sanctify apply a Renew to one of their targets.
Epiphany	-	Your Holy Words have a small chance cause your next Prayer of Mending to ignore its cooldown.

Since nearly every primary ability for Holy Priest interacts with each other, it can be challenging to figure out how they are meant to be prioritized. But now that you know what they do, our rotation page can help you see how to balance your spell casts and manage your Mana while effectively healing your allies.