Holy Paladin Macros
My earlier post discussed the benefits of spending some time up-front setting up your UI for healing. Your macros should be the first thing you set up, since you’ll need to use them both in your hotkeys and in your add-ons. Ideally you’ll set up all three aspects of your UI at about the same time.
I currently use six macros for healing: one for each heal, one for Beacon, one for Divine Shield, and a judgement macro. I’m sure these aren’t the best macros and there’s probably a lot of good ones I don’t have set up, but they work well for me. Feel free to chime in with your own macros in the comments below. I’m always open to adding new macros to my arsenal.
Macro Philosophy
Before getting into the specific macros, you need to have some understanding of the philosophy behind the macros and what their purpose is. Holy Paladins have a few abilities that do not trigger the global cooldown, which means you can add them to a macro so they get used automatically before performing another action. These abilities are:
Popping one of these abilities gives you a short-term buff that can be very powerful. What the macros below do is allow you to use a single button click to use this ability and heal at the exact same time. You won’t have to spend any time whatsoever popping these abilities. They will fire automatically with no healing downtime at all. This is important because usually the best time to use these abilities is when you don’t have even a split-second to spare. The macros also include lines to temporarily remove error message warnings if the ability is on cooldown, that way you can still use the macro to heal without having an error message go off everytime you use it. They also include code that allows them to work with the Healbot Add-on.
When should I use these macros?
A number of macros are set up.
When to use them is kind of up to you. Ideally, you will use them when they are most needed, for example, during boss enrages or when the tank/raid is going to take a lot of damage. However, in the real world, saving them for only when they are really needed will usually mean that they never or rarely get used. These abilities all have a short 2 - 3 minute cooldown, so you should be able to use them every fight or even multiple times per fight.
Personally, I use these macros for every single heal I do. When a fight starts and I do my first heal, it will pop Divine Favor, my trinkets, etc at the start of the fight. I get a good healing boost right off the bat. This is nice since the pull is often one of the craziest parts of the fight. Once an ability is off cooldown, it will automatically pop again, insuring that these abilities are always on cooldown and are used as often as possible. I don’t worry about not having them available for emergencies. I’d rather have them always on cooldown than have them never get used. If you are really on cutting-edge, difficult content, you might want to save them for when they’re really needed. For most people though, you’ll get more benefit by leaving them on cooldown at all times.
That being said, I don’t have every ability bound to every heal. I save Divine Favor for Holy Shock so that every 2 minutes I get a gauranteed Holy Shock crit. I save Divine Illumination for Holy Light and Beacon of Light since those two spells will get the most benefit from the mana cost reduction. Since trinkets often have shared cooldowns, you’ll still usually only have one trinket buff up at a time. I personally prefer trinkets without a “Use” ability at all, since you’ll have more consistent healing over the course of a fight, instead of occasionally having small bursts of improved healing.
How to create a Macro
To create a macro, type /macro into chat. The macro window will pop up. Click “New” to start your new macro, then type in a name (like “HLMacro”) and choose an icon (choosing the ? icon is usually fine, it will auto-choose for you). Once you have the macro created, type or paste the code below into the macro window. There’s no save function, it will automatically save changes as you type. Once you’re done entering the macro, you can drag the icon onto one of your action bars to use it. You’ll need to replace “Trinket” with the name of your trinket in the macros below. If you don’t have an on-use trinket, just delete that line.
Flash of Light Macro
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/use 13
/use 14
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/cast [target=hbtarget] Flash of Light
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear();
This macro will pop my trinkets every time their cooldown is up, since I’m always using Flash of Light.
Holy Light Macro
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/use 13
/use 14
/cast Divine Illumination
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/cast [target=hbtarget] Holy Light
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear();
This macro will pop trinkets as well as pop Divine Illumination for a 50% reduced mana cost Holy Light heal every 3 minutes (as well as any heals I do for 15 seconds after that).
Beacon of Light Macro
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/cast Divine Illumination
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/cast Beacon of Light
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear();
Same idea as Holy Light.
Holy Shock Macro
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/use 13
/use 14
/use Divine Favor
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/cast [target=hbtarget] Holy Shock
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear();
I add Divine Favor to this macro for a guaranteed Holy Shock crit every 2 minutes, which also gives me a gauranteed instant Flash of Light or buffed Holy Light on the next heal every 2 minutes.
Judgement Macro
#showtooltip Judgement of Light
#show Judgement of Light
/cast [harm] [target=targettarget] Judgement of Light
This macro allows me to judge the tank’s target by first targeting the tank. If I have the boss targeted instead, it will automatically judge the boss. It makes it much simpler to judge the tank’s target since it’s usually a lot easier to target the tank than it is to target a specific mob. One problem with this macro is that it will change your target from the tank to the mob. This isn’t a problem for me, since I heal using an Add-on and don’t need to have the person I want to heal targetted. However, ideally this macro would re-target the tank after judging. If anyone knows how to add that feature in, let me know. You can easily modify this macro on the fly to use whichever judgement is most appropriate for your group.
One thing to keep in mind with these macros is that they won’t work at all if you don’t have the ability. So, for example, if you lose an ability when changing your spec (like Divine Illumination) you’ll need to remove that ability from the macro in order to use it with your new spec (or create a new macro for the new spec).
Summary
As you can see, with these macros I get all the benefits of my “extra” abilities without having to think about them during a fight at all. Considering how difficult and crazy healing can get, having a few less things to think about should help you focus on what is really important - keeping everyone alive. Now that you’ve got a feel for macros, feel free to modify and create your own. For example, I also added Lifeblood to my Divine Shield macro, since I often lose health just before I Divine Shield.
Related Articles
I think the macro for targeting the last person you targeted is /targetlastfriend
But don’t quote me on that, I saw it on a forum somewhere and haven’t had the chance to try it yet.
Excellent articles, thank you for writing.
It’s /targetlasttarget
just put that at the end of your macro.
I may be missing something - but the macros are not quite working for me as I thought they would. The macros (say for HL) work fine to activate a trinket or a power of the GCD and then healing. However, the macro stops working until the power is off of its cool down.
For now, I just keep two versions on my toolbar (macro version and direct heal version) so I can watch the cool downs easily. I would prefer to map this to clique or healbot as described - but that requires something in the macro to ignore an ability if it is still on cooldown.
Is there a line I need to add to the macros to do this?
Hmm, I’m not sure why its not working for you Fraunhofer. These are the exact macros I use for every heal with Healbot. The macro should throw an error when the ability is on cooldown (with the error message hidden), but then still continue on to use the healing spell. Is anyone else having any troubles or have any ideas? I’ll see if I can figure out what might be going on.
I’m having the exact same problem as Fraunhofer.
You do have to make sure that you’re only using abilities that do not have a global cooldown, like Divine Illumination, Divine Favor, and your trinkets. Divine Plea, for example, can’t be used with these macros.
Sorry, I see my problem now. I was using target=hbtarget but not using it with Healbot yet, just testing it from my toolbar. So I just made one macro for my toolbar for soloing, and one for Healbot.
Thanks for the info, love the site and look forward to lots more!
Also, I found you can replace the /use trinket lines with:
/use 13
/use 14
These are the two trinket slots. That way you won’t have to update the macros if you upgrade trinkets.
The judgement macro….i was hoping for it to keep my tank as target even when used the macro..i hear you cant do that with the judgements..:S Thats really a shame since its lovley on my priest..:) but thank you tho..
Can you provide more details on how to use these macros with healbot? Currently when I click in a frame in healbot, I’ll be casting a specific spell, not a macro. How do you get it to trigger the macro instead of that specific spell?
This is explained better in my post on Healbot, Karyena (including a screenshot), but all you need to do is enter the name of the Macro in the “Spells” tab instead of the name of the heal. For example, I have “FlashMacro” typed into the “Click” field.
Thanks for the clarification, I should have read that article in more detail. BTW, great website!
I’d like to thank you for all the effort you put into your esteemed website. I personally found it very useful and it has improved my healing that I’m now my guild’s main healer <3
I just wanted to know if I could create a macro to auto cast Beacon of Light and Sacred Shield on my target should the buffs diminish anytime.
Thanks,
Ezz
I’ve been thinking about a good macro for those as well. The problem is that both of them trigger the Global Cooldown, so you won’t be able to just push one button and cast both. You could do something like this:
/castsequence Sacred Sheild, Beacon of Light
This will allow you to push one button and cast Sacred Shield, then when the GC is over, you can push the same button again and cast Beacon of Light. That might be useful if you don’t have a lot of spare hotkeys to push. Otherwise, I’d just leave them as two separate buttons so you have more flexibility.
There’s no way a macro can “auto-cast” anything. A spell cast always has to have some kind of a hardware button push, either a key press or a mouse click in order to cast it.
Thanks a lot for the tip. I had them before on two separate keys like [Shift + S] and [Ctrl + B] - which required an octopus-like playing style on the keyboard.
Hey, i have 100% no knowledge about macros AT ALL.
But have tried to implement all of the ones you speak of above to see if it makes any difference.
Although i understand you dont use the mod, is there a way of re-writing the macros to work with Clique as opposed to healbot?
I think youre fab btw <33
Kisses
x
I believe with Clique you might be able to just do [target=mouseover] instead of [target=hbtarget]. Try it out and let me know if it works!
It did. Ty ty x
Can you post your Divine Shield macro, and any other ‘oh crap’ macros you may have?
I am going to try to setup Healbot tonight and see how it works out, thank you for the great articles!
Lana
usuful macro:
1. whit DBM:
/cast [target=focus] Beacon of Light
/dbm timer 90 !!! B A L C O N
2.
/cast Divine Illumination
/dbm timer 15 !! 50 %%%%
3.
/cast [target=focus] Sacred Shield
/dbm timer 30 !! S H I E L D
4.
/target focustarget
/cast Judgement of Light
—————–
AD: 1,3
a) make focus MT
b) make keybidning in wow option
bootom leftaction7 bar q -> macro 3
bootom leftaction8 bar e -> macro 1
now any when you focus MT and use “q” you automatic Beacon of Light MT
etc…
AD4.
focus MT and you now just click jugment-macro and maco find target tank automaic
(use 2 jugment of light whit macro and orginal for debuff more that 1 mobs in one fight if you not brake CC)
And at last balco of light is very sux when you got 40%crit+25k intelect and use 90% HL+HS
Balcon is good whit combo fol+haste and pvp but is easy way to get for pally becose lov mana cost but your hps and healing done will be sax and you will be last in recont :> . Hard way is for pally true raid healing (1500-2000hps) use onwly HL and HL making glyf of holy light greand item.
http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Hellfire&n=Quisatz
GL HF
I am looking for a macro to cast bubble then righteous defense or Hand of Sacrifice(whichever is most useful.) Is this do-able?
You wouldn’t be able to do that with one click, mcignot, since Divine Shield activates the Global Cooldown. However, you could do “/castsequence Divine Shield, Hand of Sacrifice” to be able to do it in two clicks.
Here are some modified versions of the scripts for clique users.
Beacon of Light
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/use 13
/use 14
/cast Divine Illumination
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/cast [target=mouseover] Beacon of Light
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear();
Flash of Light
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/use 13
/use 14
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/cast [target=mouseover] Flash of Light
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear();
Holy Light
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/use 13
/use 14
/cast Divine Illumination
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/cast [target=mouseover] Holy Light
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear();
Holy Shock
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/use 13
/use 14
/cast Divine Favor
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/cast [target=mouseover] Holy Shock
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear();
I just want to thank you for all the work you do on this site. There are definitely other good sites out there, but yours is by far my favorite that I have found. You seem to have a different outlook on the potential of pally healing than a lot of others that makes it more interesting and versatile as a healing spec. Your guidance and research has been very helpful to me as a new healer - so thanks so much!
Is there a way to remove Divine Plea in a macro?
Like /castsequence Divine Plea, (remove divine plea)
or something like that
Great web site.
Thnx
Oh nevermind, just found this ^^
#showtooltip Divine Plea
/cancelaura Divine Plea
/cast Divine Plea
Pretty much, press/click this binding and it’ll cast Divine plea, press again and it will cancel it. Simple.
Still have to test it myself tho
There is another ability that doesn’t trigger the gcd avenging wrath. if im low on mana i cast avenging wrath divine illumination and divine plea so only 30% nerf to my half cost mana heals, i’ve found this an effective way for a WOW I NEED MANA combo. although divine plea activates gcd it can be popped right after the other two for minimal heal downtime.
Should these macro’s work with patch 3.1.3? Because I can’t seem to get them to work
They’re still working for me in Patch 3.2.
As for your judgment macro, I think you can retarget the tank at the end of it. You’d have to have the tank on focus beforehand to do it, though. Just add a line to the end and target your focus. (I’m not sure what that command is atm. Perhaps /tar [focus] ?)
Excellent site, thank you for your fabulous work.
Am respeccing to holy, and this site had been of great help to me, especially the macros and guides.
thank you
I tried out your Holy Shock/Divine Favor and your Divine Illumination/Beacon of Light macros last night.
Beacon of light would for some reason only cast on me when I wanted to cast it on the tank. I use Healbot and when setting it as one of my clicks it still cast on me even when I was casting it on the tank. Also the same thing happened with the Holy Shock, this was only casting on me so when I was in desprite need last night to Holy Shock someone I was ending up Holy Shocking myself.
I’m not sure if this was a fault of my own where my Healbot was playing up but if this is supposed to happen. Any ideas on how to change them so they cast on others or the tank?
I have tried writing Macros before and have done nothing but FAILED.
Any help on this will be welcomed.
Regards,
I have found that in getting set up as per your guides here at times the healbot/macro clicks didn’t work as expected. But someone suggested I reload my user interface (/reload ui), after doing this the healbot/macro clicks all was well :-).
Regarding Healbot…addon is nice, but you might wanna try VuhDo. It has quite good options, including auto-trinket pop-up as soon as CD is over. Again it depends on your style of healing, as you might wanna keep trinket (badge trinket) for plea, and use it together with wings. Also to me it seems that VuhDo is working much faster, than Grid and Healbot.
I am using these macros with HB, and they are working great but I am still getting the text error messages in between CDs saying
SPELL IS NOT READY YET.
(when I am holy shocking and Divine Favour is on CD for example)
Is there a way to get rid of this text within the macro? It is annoying as hell!
Cheers
I did some playing around with the 2 macro’s I had mentioned earlier and had a chat with a fellow pally on my realm.
He suggested putting in [target=mouseover]. This is also written above so I have managed to work out my little dilemma.
By the way, bearly geared and healed Naxx 25 the other night. Was amazing, I was 4th in the healing chart the 3 above me were friends who are geared in Ulduar gear so no wonder I was 4th. But there were too others in nice gear only there heals were well under mine. I love healing now…Don’t think I will ever have a solely DPS toon again…
WoW man.
Thos macros removing the error sound was the best thing that happen to me.
I always tried to do this withouth sucess.
TY a lot.
I use
/cast divine plea
/stop casting
/cast Divine Illumination
/stop casting
/cast Avenging Wrath
for some serious mana regen, plus u can cast divine plea 2 times between the other cd’s
Something is wrong with my Flash/Holy Light macro. If I’m not in Seal of Righteous and Blessing of Might, it casts those two spells on me before it will cast any Flash of Light spells… what’s wrong?
@Retrik
This is because you haven’t set your healbot up properly, they’ve changed healbot so it can keep buffs up now, so this is a healbot issue, not a macro issue, if you open healbot go to the end option tab, I think its called buffs, and clear BoM and SoW
The macros dont work for me, nothing happens when i use fol, hl, or hs. Are they outdated? thanks
Make sure you’re clicking the macro button and not the button for the original spell.
wait….if im clicking the macro button how will this work with heal bot?
In the spells tab of Healbot specify the name of the macro for each click instead of specifying “Holy Light” (for example).
ah ok, got it, thank you
Healbot is for noobs.
Make your own mouseoverheal makros and get to it.
you can cast every spell by just hovering you mouse over it and than pressing 1 2 3 4 5 for your spells.
furthermore you can have your spells displayed by the same icon they use when no macros are used by using the /#showtooltip Flash of light (rank 9) or somtehing makro
Have fun and dont use healbot!
The only problem with using mouseover macros is the limited number of macros you can have
As for the question about targeting your last target, I believe adding:
/targetlasttarget [harm] will revert your target back to your last target, if what you have targeted is currently is an enemy.
now just a question on macros which i have yet to see, has anyone tryed to macro a libram for holylight, flash of light, and holy shock to bump up output. i tryed doing a few but couldnt get them to work with healbot. Was just wondering because you can change librams while in combat
You can swap librams mid-combat but doing so activates the global cooldown. So its really not worth it unless maybe you only swap once or twice per fight for specific phases. Since it activates the global cooldown, you can’t put it in a macro with another spell/ability.
I have heard of a trick - probably/possibly read it here - to cast Divine Sacrifice then immediately follow it with Divine Shield - thus having the 30% redirect bounce right off your bubble….Is this possible? If so, would the right macro be:
/cast Divine Sacrifice
/cast Divine Shield
??
Thx
Uta
Also - in various articles, I see you reference/use Jgmt of Light - I have had OOM issues in past and prefer to use Wisdom for the mana regen. Any issue with that?
Tx
U
Which judgement you use really isn’t that big of a deal. On fights with a lot of AoE damage, judgement of light will do a lot of healing to your raid. If your raid needs more mana then judge wisdom. If there is more than one paladin in the raid then you should have both judgements up all the time anyway, so just coordinate with the other paladin so you aren’t both doing the same one.
Whichever judgement you use, it has a lot more affect on your dps than on you since they are hitting the mob a lot more than you are, so it won’t really give you back that much more mana unless you are hitting the mob a lot.
Also, I believe that macro works fine, although its impossible for Divine Sacrifice to kill you by itself now anyway.
May I request a macro, that will sacred shield and or beacon of light your focused target, I am unfamiliar with focus macros.. but I’m certain there is a way to do this.
/cast [target=focus] Sacred Shield
they all do not work for me
i do heal with grid so no changes needed.
still, all the macros just use my trinket on place 13 thats it.
crap
and i have no idea of makros at all.. seems i still have to normal click them
I’m looking for a judgement macro as a holy paladin. What I’m looking for it to do is to judge an enemy target or judge the target f my friendly target without switching whom i have targeted, similar to this healing one:
/cast [help][target=targettarget] Flash of Light
I set it up the same way:
/cast [harm][target=targettarget] Judgement of Light
However no matter what combination of syntax I use whenever I judge it always changes target and no line of code seems to keep me targeted on my friendly target (usually the tank).
Any suggestions? According to forums this used to work back in Feb`09 but the coding changed. Just looking to see if anyone has found a way around this.