Holy Priest PVE Guide – Cataclysm

Welcome to the PVE Holy Priest Guide for World of Warcraft Cataclysm!

This guide will teach you how to play a Holy Priest in a raid. It covers talents, glyphs, gems, enchantments, rotation, and gameplay tips.

This is the basic raid healing build, taking Darkness for the haste increase.

Prime Glyphs

• Glyph of Lightwell
• Glyph of Prayer of Healing
• Glyph of Renew

Major Glyphs

• Glyph of Circle of Healing
• Glyph of Mass Dispel
• Glyph of Prayer of Mending

Minor Glyphs

• Glyph of Fading
• Glyph of Levitate
• Glyph of Shadowfiend

Gems are situational and depend on the build and equipment. They are used to reach the required stat caps.

• Meta – Ember Shadowspirit Diamond or Burning Shadowspirit Diamond
• Red/Prismatic – Brilliant Queen’s Garnet, Brilliant Inferno Ruby or Brilliant Chimera’s Eye (Jewelcrafting)
• Yellow
  • Haste – Reckless Lava Coral or Reckless Ember Topaz
  • Mastery – Artful Lava Coral or Artful Ember Topaz
• Blue – Purified Shadow Spinel or Purified Demonseye

• Head – Arcanum of Hyjal
• Shoulder – Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone or Felfire Inscription (Inscription)
• Cloak – Enchant Cloak – Greater Intellect or Darkglow Embroidery or Lightweave Embroidery
• Chest – Enchant Chest – Peerless Stats
• Bracers – Enchant Bracer – Mighty Intellect or Draconic Embossment – Intellect (Leatherworking) with Socket Bracer (Blacksmithing)
• Gloves – Enchant Gloves – Haste or Enchant Gloves – Greater Mastery with Synapse Springs (Engineering) or Socket Gloves (Blacksmithing)
• Waist – Grounded Plasma Shield (Engineering) or Ebonsteel Belt Buckle
• Legs – Powerful Ghostly Spellthread or Sanctified Spellthread (Tailoring)
• Boots – Enchant Boots – Lavawalker or Enchant Boots – Haste (cheaper)
• Rings – Enchant Ring – Intellect (Enchanting)
• Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Power Torrent or Enchant Weapon – Heartsong
• Off-hand – Enchant Off-Hand – Superior Intellect

Once you reach the 12.51% soft cap of Haste, you can prio Mastery equally with Haste.

• Intellect
• Spirit
• Haste
• Mastery
• Critical Strike

Be in Chakra: Sanctuary when raid healing, for the increase to AoE healing and the Circle of Healing cooldown reduction.

Raid Healing Rotation

• Low/No damage
  • Use Heal on players who aren’t full
  • Use Renew on players who aren’t full or who will take damage soon
• Low/Moderate damage
  • Use Circle of Healing on cooldown, assuming it will heal 3+ players
  • Use Prayer of Mending if damage is sustained
• Moderate/High damage
  • Use Holy Word: Sanctuary on the spot with the most raid members, preemptively when possible
  • Use Renew on targets that will take damage soon
  • Use Circle of Healing on cooldown
  • Use Prayer of Mending
  • Use Prayer of Healing if raid members are not healed or fully healed
• High/Sustained damage
  • Use Holy Word: Sanctuary on the spot with the most raid members
  • Use Circle of Healing on cooldown
  • Use Prayer of Mending
  • Use Prayer of Healing, on separate groups if possible
• Life or Death damage
  • Use Flash Heal on players near death
  • Use Blinding Heal on players near death if you also need heals
  • Use Greater Heal or Prayer of Healing if you have stacks of Serendipity

Assist on Tank Healing

• Low/No damage
  • Use Renew on tank and keep it applied
• Low/Moderate damage
  • Use Renew on tank and keep it applied
  • Use Prayer of Mending on the tank
• Moderate/High damage
  • Use Renew on tank and keep it applied
  • Use Prayer of Mending on the tank
  • Use Power Word: Shield on the tank
  • Use Greater Heal if your assignments allow
• Life or Death damage
  • Use Flash Heal on the tank if they are near death
  • Use Blinding Heal on the tank if they are near death and you also need healing
  • Use Guardian Spirit on the tank if they are very close to death, so long as you are not assigned to use Guardian Spirit at a different, specific time

Cooldowns

• Use Divine Hymn only when there is very high raid damage, and/or at specified times based on your assignment
• Use Lightwell the same way, where there is a period of high and sustained damage
• Use Guardian Spirit as a get-out-jail-free card on a raid member who is about to die, or else at a time based on your assignment