I’ve been running a lot of heroics lately, at least one per day to get my Frost emblems.  What I’ve noticed is that there are very few times during each heroic where a lot of healing is required.  In fact, there’s plenty of time to throw in some dps during the majority of most heroics.  I’ve found I can even do some respectable dps during the new ICC 5-mans when in a good group, especially with the number of undead in these dungeons.  I dps now during every heroic, and I’m almost always above 1000 dps.  On the easier heroics with lots of undead (like Culling of Strat), I can get up to 1300+ dps while keeping heals up as well, with full healing spec and gear.  I have been known to do more dps while healing than the dps during the occasional pug.  Its a fun challenge to see how high I can get my dps while still keeping everyone in the group alive.  The challenge is not just getting the highest dps I can, but doing both good healing AND good dps (because if you fail at the healing side, you FAIL).  I thought I’d list some tips below on how to dps while healing during heroics.

My “Rotation”

One thing to keep in mind is that I’m using the Glyph of Holy Shock and I use Holy Shock almost completely for dps during heroics.  I also have the Glyph of Sense Undead since all the other glyphs are mostly worthless.  I keep Sacred Shield and Beacon of Light on the tank at all times, as well as the Flash of Light HoT.  I usually like to use my Judgement first on my target for the 3% extra crit, but its not terribly important.  You can also pop your wings every cooldown for some extra dps and healing.

Typically, I will be 30+ yards from a mob as the tank pulls, just from grabbing loot and whatnot.  Once the tank pulls, I’ll throw a judgement on the tank’s target followed quickly by a Holy Shock as I run into melee range.  Once I reach the mobs, I’ll throw a Consecration followed by an Holy Wrath if the mobs are undead.  Holy Wrath adds an amazing amount of dps on large groups of undead and helps to reduce the amount of healing needed because of the stun.  At that point, I can throw an (instant) Flash of Light if some damage is coming in or a Hammer of Justice for another stun.  If everything else is on cooldown, I can do a Shield of Righteousness for some more dps.  I try to get an Exorcism in at some point as well during each group.  I keep a close eye on each one’s health and start spamming my Hammer of Wrath button around 35% so I can get it in before the mob dies.  Hammer of Wrath should be your second priority button behind Holy Shock.  If you want to make sure you never run out of mana, use Seal of Wisdom, otherwise you can add some more dps with Seal of Righteousness.

Ability Priority

Here is the priority of the abilities you want to use if two come off cooldown at the same time:

Holy Shock -> Hammer of Wrath -> Consecration (if there are lots of mobs and its early in the fight) -> Holy Wrath -> Judgement -> Shield of Righteousness -> Exorcism

You might question why Exorcism is so low in priority even though it does more damage.  The reason is because of its long cooldown.  You can usually get only one in per fight, so it doesn’t matter when you get it in, just as long as you do.  Its better to get another ability on cooldown so you can use it again and save your Exorcism for when everything else is already on cooldown and you can’t do anything else anyway.  If you think you can get two in during that fight (like on a boss), you probably should put it earlier in priority (like right after Holy Shock) so you’ll have a chance for a second one later.

Holy Wrath has a long cooldown as well, but the reason its so early in the priority is because you want to get it off soon while there are still a lot of mobs up.  Waiting to do Holy Wrath until there’s only one mob left alive would be a waste.  If you’re only fighting one mob, you can wait to do Holy Wrath until everything else is on cooldown.

Keeping up the Heals

The key is to try to keep all your abilities on cooldown all the time, especially Holy Shock, and then throw Flash of Light heals between dps cooldowns.  Many of your Flash of Light heals should be instant cast since you’re using Holy Shock so much.  You can throw FoL on either the tank to keep the HoT up, or on a dps to heal both the dps and the tank.  Keeping Beacon, SS and the Flash HoT on the tank with Judgement of Light means he usually won’t need much healing at all.  You should be always casting, either using a heal, a damage button, or refreshing a buff.  If I keep Divine Plea on cooldown at all times, I rarely have to drink as well.    Blessing of Wisdom should always be on yourself too.

There will be times where you’ll need to throw two, three, or more Flash of Lights in a row if dps start taking a lot of damage.  I rarely need to use Holy Shock for healing though and  I can usually fit some Holy Shocks and Consecrations in between Flash of Light heals even when healing is more intense.

Not having Holy Shock available when someone dies does make you feel a bit guilty.  It also can get a little tricky if someone starts going down fast at the start of your global cooldown because you were doing damage instead of waiting to heal.  Even though you’re doing dps, you need to keep a close eye on everyone’s health at all times and start throwing out Flash of Lights and maybe even some Holy Shocks as soon as people start taking damage.  Remember that your primary job is to heal the group and keep people alive.  The damage you are doing is not signficant or important, its merely a fun personal challenge.  If done right, you can get some real praise (”nice dps, healer!”).  If done wrong, you could get labeled a bad healer (and that label would be correct).  Your #1 priority is healing.  If you can’t keep the people alive while doing dps or if you’re running out of mana too fast, then don’t do dps.

But, assuming everything is going well, seeing how much dps you can do while healing can be a very fun personal challenge.  Good luck!