Don’t be that Holy paladin…
In the same vein of Llyra’s Don’t be that Shaman… and Matt’s Don’t be that priest…, I’ve decided to continue the series with my own Don’t be that Holy paladin… Here are my list of healing tips and things not to do as a Holy Paladin.
Don’t be that Holy paladin…
…who still has Crusader aura on when the boss gets pulled, or worse, has no aura on at all (at least with Crusader aura on, someone is sure to yell at you). Also, don’t use an aura that is already up (except in some cases for assurance).
…who consistently overwrites the other paladin’s blessings. Blessings aren’t hard. Just check which blessings your target already has and give them something else.
…who doesn’t know how to click off Divine Intervention when it is used on you. And never ever yell that you can’t move, or wait for the boss to respawn before you click it off so that he instantly kills you.
…who stands around OOM doing nothing when your Lay on Hands, mana potion, and Seal of Wisdom are still unused. At least go whack a mob or something!
…who kills yourself with Divine Sacrifice or Hand of Sacrifice.
…who casts Sacred Shield on a target who already has it (especially if the other paladin’s is stronger)… or who doesn’t cast Sacred Shield at all.
…who lets the tank die while refreshing buffs and/or cleansing during a fight.
…who wears all Cloth.
…who wins a roll on Spirit gear or uses Spirit gems.
…who uses Shadow Resistance Aura while everyone has Shadow Protection.
…who doesn’t have the Insightful Earthsiege Diamond in your helm.
…who uses nothing but Concentration Aura.
…who still puts Beacon on yourself.
…who decides to help out the dps with a Consecration and then pulls aggro and dies.
…who stays in melee range during a whirlwind and dies.
…who decides to help out the dps with a Holy Shock and then the tank dies.
…who specs into Judgements of the Wise.
…who always heals yourself first after using Divine Shield.
…who uses Hand of Salvation on the tank.
That’s all I’ve got! Let me know if you can think of any more!
HAHA! Thats awesome. Good points too. I am quilty of being “that guy” once or twice. But thats how we learn.
By the way, thank you for all you do here. Yo have helped me greatly improve my healing game as a pally.
I love to beacon myself in faction champions fight( just in that fight). Is this consider into don’t be? or exception? or there is a better use for beacon in that fight?
“…who doesn’t have the Insightful Earthsiege Diamond in your helm…”
mmmh I prefer Embre Skyflare Diamond, maybe I’m noob.
I think I’ve done at least 1/3 of those things, probably more.
I think Beaconing yourself during the faction champions fight is fine. I’m always confused about who to Beacon, and end up not using it at all. What a waste.
Holy Paladins should really be healing both tanks in order to maximize their utility. In other words, you Beacon one tank and heal the other. If there is only one tank, you can use Beacon on the tank and heal yourself (and the raid). This will allow you to keep healing the tank if you have to go out of range.
If you’re really worried about dying/moving you CAN Beacon yourself, but most of your Beacon heals are wasted and your total healing is going to be almost half what it could be, meaning the other healers have to pick up the slack. There’s no way you’re taking as much damage as the tank unless you’re risking your life by taking a ton of unnecessary damage. Your tank should have enough healers on him that you can take a second to move away from an orb or switch an essence. You can also use that movement time to refresh Beacon, Sacred Shield, judgement, or throw a Holy Shock or instant Flash of Light. You have to do those anyway, might as well do them when you can’t do anything else.
Not using Beacon at all is so unthinkable I didn’t even include it in the list! =-P
… Who asks, “What’s a raid frame?”
… doesn’t have a boss mod installed.
Very nice! Not only useful for new Healadins and reminders for others - but funny too (because it’s true!).
…who still has Crusader aura - addon RaidBuffStatus can tell you who! (and combat log?). Regarding the doubling of auras - true - although two pallys spec’d with Aura Mastery might want to run the same {likely resistance} aura in certain fights (maybe depending on other Pallys bringing the other auras).
…who consistently overwrites the other paladin’s blessings - Pally Power (or ZOMGbuffs). Seriously - I was the only Pally in my last (first) guild who ran this! Yes - you can get by without it - why?
…who casts Sacred Shield on a target who already has it - last I heard pallys can only cast one SS - but multiple SS’s can be on one target and proc separately.
…who wears all Cloth - can you bold the ‘all’ plz.
Don’t hate me because I focus on healing and not tanking adds! 
…who uses Shadow Resistance Aura while everyone has Shadow Protection - I agree, and never done it myself, but using Shadow Res Aura during some fights (e.g. Twins) with Aura Mastery could be useful. (I just run Fire Res Aura to deal with the Light damage - but a AM spec’d pally could rotatate depending on surges, or multiple AM spec’d pallys).
And, replies on the comments:
For an Int stacking Healadin you’d still end up losing Int by using an Ember Skyflare - due to the requirement to socket three orange {red} gems to activate. By the time you’ve done that, and not gotten the 21 Int from Insightful, you end up with less Int. Insightful can be activated with a Yellow, Orange, Purple mix - or one Nightmare Tear (trade-off - but more Int).
If you’re going to be socketing Orange (or even Red) gems anyway - then the Ember may be a sensible choice for your play style (though still not sure). That said - trading a nice mana proc (70mp5 or more averaged out?) for 25 spell power?
I beacon myself also for Faction Champions in both ToC and ToGC. While it’s technically more efficient to determine one person who is going to take regular damage and beacon them - this fight is so fluid - that regular healing is not an issue. Healing here generally shouldn’t be high (if the others are doing their jobs with interupts/cc/mass-dispel) but bursty. I rotate Cleanse & Holy Shock, throwing Holy Light as needed. (+ using other talents - such as AM+Conc Aura, Bubble+Sac {careful in case bubble is dispeled!} and refreshing things as needed).
So - makes it easier to put Beacon on myself and not have to worry while I take care of the raid. Sacred Shield I usualy put on the Disc Priest - although I’ve occasionally started it on the Rogue in ToGC - as they sometimes get squished in the first few seconds.
Haha, for some reason whenever you guys said Faction Champs I was thinking of Twins. whooops!
Yes, Beacon on yourself is fine in Faction Champs. I know I laughed about being a Holy Paladin and not using Beacon, but that’s one fight where I actually don’t use Beacon. I actually change to a healing spec that doesn’t even have Beacon since its mostly worthless on that specific fight. I know its only one talent point but I’ve found very little use for it on that fight except the rare times when I’m focused without a way to get away. I also don’t like taking the time to refresh it on that fight, and so I just pick up a pvp talent instead.
But that is definitely one fight where I would Beacon myself over anyone else.
Forgot to say - thanks - great site.
Good idea on the Champs fight - using an unusual spec for such a non-standard PvE fight! Maybe a PvP Healadin spec - or even some kind of Sheeth spec?! My second spec is sitting unused at the moment - might have a play and see what I come up with!
“…who still puts Beacon on yourself.”
I use beacon on myself only when tank-healing Algalon 25-man. The other paladin puts beacon on tank and helps raid-healing. We find it better to have at least one paladin direct healing the tank currently in aggro.
In Faction Champions fight I usually put beacon on a warlock taking constant damage. In that fight beacon has a great tactic advantage: you can heal the beaconed also when largely out of range (it happens very often).
We actually do this:
“…who uses Shadow Resistance Aura while everyone has Shadow Protection.”
on Twins Valkyr 25 Heroic - cause of Aura Mastery
And yes, we ofc. have enough palas to all other auras meanwhile
Threat in Faction Champions is governed by three things:
1. Armor (for physical) or Resistances (for magic)
2. Proximity
3. Health Deficit
As a holy pally on faction champs, if I beacon myself I’m almost guaranteed to not get targetted, as long as I keep my distance/get out of whirlwind/etc. Because my health stays up, I am therefore able to focus more on healing and cleansing the raid rather than running for my life from a mob who decided to pick on me. I recommend beaconing yourself as a holy pally on this fight for this reason. But pretty much every other fight I do, I have beacon on someone else.
I definitely miss this when I switch over to a clothie alt, where I *do* wind up running for my life too often.
…Who overheals more than he healed
…Who is smart enough to think the others should come in his range instead him going in their range
…Who uses divine plea when the boss enrages and/or the tank is dying
…Who uses Lay on Hands to heal instead of gaining half mana bar
…Who doesn’t remember he has the bubble + heartstone when the others are boons and don’t know the tactics
@ jugulator:
It is normal for a pally to overheal more than he heals. Some bosses hit so hard and fast that if you reactivly try to heal the tank they will die before your heal goes off.
Ending the fight at full mana with no overheal and half the raid dead is worse than having 90% overheal and almost no mana left but having everyone still alive.
Half mana bar? how much mana do you have? 8K? and why would you glyph that anyway, there are much better pally glyphs.
-Please just dont Hand of protection the guy who is currently tanking the boss. Dont DI him either.