Inner Fire: Cataclysm Talents - Part 2: Holy
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Greetings, fellow Priests! Welcome to the 7th edition of Inner Fire, here on crusaderscoliseum.com! Cataclysm is ridiculously close now, and to prepare for it, I have just upgraded to Windows 7, from Windows Vista Home Basic, hence, the lateness of this article. Having to re-install the files I didn’t stick on to the External hard Drive (e.g. Everything except WoW) took quite a while, and I had to acquaint myself with the awesomeness of Windows 7. Which, although it seems great, I don’t understand why people get Windows 7, when Windows 98 is 14 times better! ;) Hopefully the quality and information enclosed will make up for the lateness, though!
After brushing over the Cataclysm spec for Shadow last week, it is time for us to take a more gracious approach to the Cataclysm changes. This week we'll be looking into the
Holy side of Priests, and come Cataclysm, as we are all aware, much is subject to change. And Holy is no different!
Beginning with the benefits you receive from choosing to specialize in the Holy tree, much like other specs, a general flat increase of a stat and a further additional doodad unique to that spec will become available to you. These are:
Holy Word: Chastise - [15% of base mana, 25 sec. cool down] - Chastise the target for X to X Holy Damage, and disorients them for 3 seconds. - A very nice spell, whichever way you look at it - one thing Holy does lack are instant heals. The disorient effect will be invaluable within PvP, and the instant heal could be a lifesaver in raids. But, with quite a large cool down, this spell is quite situational, so you may find yourself thinking ahead as to when would be the most appropriate time to use this.
Meditation - Allows 50% of your mana regeneration from Spirit to continue while in combat. - A nice passive for a Holy priest to possess, the more mana the better, and a 50% increased regen from your Spirit will be a great way for some easy mana.
Spiritual Healing - Healing increased by 25%. - A flat 25% increase on healing will be great for every healing spells you use - not much to say about this apart from, awesome!
Echo of Light - Your direct healing spells heal for an additional 10% over 6 sec. Each point of Mastery provides an additional 1.25% healing over 6 sec. - An interesting ability, an additional small HoT on your direct heals, similar to Earthliving Weapon.
So, the summary abilities your receive from choosing Holy seem to be very powerful indeed, let’s hope the actual talents perform just as well!
(The number in brackets next to the talent’s name represent the amount of points that can be spent in that talent.)
Tier 1
Improved Renew (2) - Increases the amount healed by your Renew spell by 5/10%. - A nice talent for those who like to use for Renew, otherwise you can work around this.
Empowered Healing (3) - Increases the healing done by your Flash Heal, Heal, Binding Heal and Greater Heal by 5/10/15%. - A talent which is sure to be taken by all Holy Priests, increasing the effectiveness of most of your most used heals, this will be invaluable for any Holy Priest.
Divine Fury (3) - Reduces the casting time of your Smite, Holy Fire, Heal and Greater Heal spells by .15/.35/.5 sec. - Primarily a levelling/PvP talent, although the cast time reduction on Heal and Greater Heal could be useful if you prefer to use your larger heals.
Tier 2
Desperate Prayer (1) - [2 min cool down] Instantly heals the caster for X to X. - Nice to see this talent not going far, as many of you will know, this talent is a lifesaver for the Holy Priest with limited time to cast a heal, and in dire straits.
Trinity (2) - When you Smite three times in a row, your spell haste will be increased by 5/10% for 12 sec. - A really good levelling tool, a 12% haste increase will really help you drop your enemies faster. In a PvP environment this has it’s obvious uses, and if you can get away with casting a few Smites in a raid encounter, this Haste increase will help you immensely.
Inspiration (2) - Reduces your target's physical damage taken by 5/10% for 15 sec after getting a critical effect from your Flash Heal, Heal, Greater Heal, Binding Heal, Penance, Prayer of Mending, Prayer of Healing, or Circle of Healing spell. - A hefty 10% damage increase will be great for you tanks, and the fact that the spells included with this proc will almost always have at least one crit every 10 seconds, this buff will have a lot more uptime than you think.
Tier 3
Divine Touch (2) - [Requires 2 points in Improved Renew] - Your Renew will instantly heal the target for 5/10% of the total periodic effect. - For those Renew lovers, this talent will have it’s obvious benefits, otherwise, you can cope without this.
Holy Concentration (2) - Increases the amount of mana regeneration from Spirit while in combat by an additional 10/20%. - Combined with the Meditation talent, this will take your In-Combat mana regen up to 70% of your Spirit. Looks like Holy Priests will have an abundance of mana of Cataclysm.
Surge of Light (2) - [Requires 2 points in Trinity] - You have a 3/6% chance when you Smite or Heal to cause your next Flash Heal to be instant cast and cost no mana but incapable of a critical hit. - Seemingly redesigned from the current WotLK version, but this talent still has it’s good points. If you find yourself using Heal a lot, an instant Flash Heal will be a great boon to you.
Lightwell (1) - [30% of base mana, 3 min cool down] - Creates a Holy Lightwell. Friendly players can click the Lightwell to restore X health over 6 sec. Attacks done to you equal to 30% of your total health will cancel the effect. Lightwell lasts for 3 min or 10 charges. - Ah, Lightwell. Perhaps the most debated talent within the Holy Tree, this seems to be pretty much unchanged. Personally, as a Lightwell user, I am happy to see this staying, and having spell at your fingertips is a great way to increase your raid utility.
Tier 4
Serendipity (2) - When you heal with Binding Heal or Flash Heal, the cast time of your next Greater Heal or Prayer of Healing spell is reduced by 10/20% and mana cost reduced by 5/10%. Stacks up to 2 times. Lasts 20 sec. - Perhaps one of the most cherished Holy Talents, this when used correctly will give you access to a powerful, very fast heal. Whether you choose to increase your raid healing, or give your tank that much needed boost, this is a talent not to be missed by any Holy Priest.
Spirit of Redemption (1) - Upon death, the priest becomes the Spirit of Redemption for 15 sec. The Spirit of Redemption cannot move, attack, be attacked or targeted by any spells or effects. While in this form the priest can cast any healing spell free of cost. When the effect ends, the priest dies. - Although dying is the number 1 priority for Holy Priests to avoid, but at least if you do happen to be struck to your death, you can keep your allies preserved for another 15 seconds, perhaps giving them the time to kill the enemies that so cruelly slayed you. And being a giant supreme Angel is pretty awesome.
Tier 5
Body and Soul (2) - When you cast Power Word: Shield or Leap of Faith, you increase the target's movement speed by 30/60% for 4 sec, and you have a 50/100% chance when you cast Cure Disease on yourself to also cleanse 1 poison effect in addition to diseases. - Primarily a PvP talent, to help the target can as far away from danger as possible, although this talent could have it’s benefits in PvE but it would seen very situational. An interesting decision as to whether this talent is worth the 2 points in a PvE setup.
Chakra - [6% of base mana, 1 min cool down, Requires 2 points in Holy Concentration] - When activated, your next Heal, Renew, Prayer of Healing or Smite spell will put you into a corresponding Chakra state. Lasts for 30 sec.
Heal - Increases the critical effect chance of your Heal spell by 10%, and your Heal refreshes the duration of your Renew on the target.
Renew - Increases the healing done by your Renew spell by 10%, and reduces the global cooldown of your Renew spell by .5 sec.
Prayer of Healing - Increases the healing done by your area of effect spells by 10% and reduces the cooldown of your Circle of Healing by 2 sec.
Smite - Increases your total damage done by Shadow and Holy spells by 15%.
A very nice talent, and a much needed boost to Holy Priest’s utility. This talent is a great addition to any Holy Priest as it can suit any play style.
Revelations (1) - [Requires 1 point in Chakra] - While in a Chakra state, your Holy Word: Chastise ability will transform into a different ability depending on which state you are in.
Holy Word: Serenity (Heal) - Instantly heals the target for 5198 to 6100, and increases the critical effect chance of your healing spells on the target by 25% for 6 sec. 20 sec cooldown.
Holy Word: Aspire (Renew) - Instantly heals the target for 2224 and another 4206 over 18 sec. 15 sec cooldown.
Holy Word: Sanctuary (Prayer of Healing) - Blesses the ground with Divine light, healing all within it for 299 to 355 every 2 for 15 sec. Only one Sanctuary can be active at any one time.
This talent combined with Chakra can give you a great buff for whichever aspect you desire. Again, a much needed boost to Holy Priest’s utility and the fact that Holy priests will be able to frequently intertwine cool downs to deal with different situations will make them very powerful healers indeed. Not that they aren’t powerful healers already though. Because they are. Very powerful indeed.
Blessed Resilience (2) - Whenever you are victim of an attack equal to damage greater than 10% of your total health, you gain Blessed Resilience increasing all healing received by 5/10% lasting for 10 sec. - I can’t see much use for this in PvE, although this talent will excel in a PvP environment. However, increasing your healing received may suggest you wouldn’t be healing yourself, which is rather strange considering you’re a Holy Priest.
Tier 6
Test of Faith (3) - Increases healing by 4/8/12% on friendly targets at or below 50% health. - A great PvE talent, a 12% healing increased for your comrades in a sticky situation could get them out of it in a single, well-timed heal. This talent could also have it’s uses in PvP, but as most of you will know, if someone goes below 50% health, they’re FRESH EASY MEAT.
State of Mind (2) - [Requires 1 point in Chakra] - Your successful Heal, Renew, Prayer of Healing or Smite spell casts increase the duration of your corresponding Chakra state by 2/4 sec. - A great spell in order to increase a wonderful buff. The added duration of the buff could be the amount of time you need to pull off those empowered heals which could save lives.
Circle of Healing (1) - [21% of base mana, 10 sec cool down] - Heals up to 5 friendly party or raid members within 15 yards of the target for 1776 to 1962. Prioritizes healing most injured party members. - A spell close to the heart of every Holy Priest, allowing instant, powerful group healing, and the fact that this spell will now prioritize those members who need it most, this spell is a must have in PvE or PvP.
Tier 7
So, we’ve reached the end of this complex, fresh, Holy Priest talent tree. Everything so far seems to be great, and I can’t wait to try out healing as Holy. However, there seems to be something missing…
Guardian Spirit (1) - [6% of base mana, 3 min cool down] - Heals up to 5 friendly party or raid members within 15 yards of the target for 1776 to 1962. Prioritizes healing most injured party members. - Ah, Guardian Spirit. Keeping our tanks alive since you came into the fray. Good to see this wonderful talent unchanged, any Holy Priest will know that this talent is the trump card a Holy Priest possesses, but to be honest, with all the new healing abilities and cool downs Holy Priests are obtaining, I’m not sure if there will even be a need for this, you’ll be keeping everyone at 100% health, 100% of the time. Make sure you take this talent though. It’s incredible.
Overall, I would say that this Holy tree looks formidable in it’s Healing aspects. I for one, can’t wait to try it all out and I can’t wait to see what Discipline will offer us in Cataclysm! Feel free to leave your comments and views, and you can also contact me via the Kuurg Contact Page!
Next week we’ll explore the Discipline tree, until then, try and keep your excitement bottled until Cataclysm!
Written by Thaesha Friday, 24 September 2010 22:37