Holy raid-healing performance

[Syl]

Hi guys,

Been reading through the forums quite a bit to see if I can improve my raid-healing performance. I think I got the gist of it, but I would like your advice and crit on a few things.

When raid-healing as holy, my main problem is mana conservation. I find this to be less of a problem in disc (strangely enough), however in holy I run into problems. I can adapt my healing style so that I run oom only at the very end of the fight, but I have to sacrifice healing for this - thereby putting strain on the other healers to pick up my slack, so to speak. This is, of course, boss-dependant. I'm using Bethi'lac as an example here. By the end of phase 1 (when Bethi'lac comes down from the web), I'm already oom due to the hectic group-healing required during phase 1. The problem is, it's about to get much worse in phase 2 :P At this point I use my shadowfiend + hymn of hope (and I'm a blood-elf, so I use my Arcane Torrent whenever it's off CD and my int trinket procs). At the end of the fight, I'm usually either completely oom or very close to it.

Now, I know this isn't a problem. Being oom at the END of a fight is not a bad thing :) We're currently 5/7 normal (10man), and up to Alysrazor my healing's still alright, mana issues are kept at bay. I'm concerned about the last 2 bosses, though. If I barely make my mana last with the first few bosses, I'm almost certain to have some serious problems when the endbosses make their appearance. Not to even mention heroics.

Now, to give you some details of "how" I heal. Again using Bethi'lac as an example:

- I'm in sanctuary chakra for the whole fight.
- Right after the pull, sanctuary circle goes down and using PoH to heal the raid up to full before the scatter to their various positions.
- I usually position myself close to the west side, where our one tank handles the drones. I keep him alive using PW:S, PoM, and the occasional GH. Our shammy healer helps me out here.
- I spot-heal raid members who are taking damage with GH, and if they're not at full hp I also throw a renew in. If quite a few of them in the same area are taking damage I'd use CoH, or if they're in the same group, PoH. Sometimes both, depending on the damage.
- During the devastation, we stack up, sacntuary goes down again, and PoH is used to heal everyone back up to full.
- Rinse & repeat until phase 2.
- Phase 2, we stack up at the back of the boss, sanctuary and lightwell go down. I almost exclusively spam PoH here to keep everyone alive. This is where my biggest mana drain is. I keep sanctuary circle down on cd, as well as PoM.

Like I said, with all of the above, I *just* make it. Here are raid logs for our last 2 Bethi'lac kills:

Last week: http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/obfg ... 509&e=5940
This week: http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/dlm3 ... 806&e=7261

My armory page is at: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/t ... t/advanced

To give you a summary of my stats/gear:

- I stack haste only up to 7.5% unbuffed, since our shammy gives the extra 5% to reach 12.5% for the extra renew tick.
- My priority then is mastery. It's currently at about 16.4.
- Obviously, where primary stats are concerned, int has priority, then spirit. The rest I reforge according to above (haste to 7.5, mastery as high as possible).
- I have the t12 two-piece bonus (the replenishment).
- You'll notice that I try stack spirit as high as possible, but not to the detrement of int. I have Power Torrent on my weapon, and the int proc trinket from TB (which works well when used with Arcane Torrent).

So my first question is basically in two parts: 1) Considering my armory, am I prioritising stats correctly, and 2) considering my raid logs, am I prioritising heals correctly?

My second question is, given the above, is it possible to increase my raid performance, as well as my mana conservation?

Sorry for the wall of text :)

Syl

[Jhazrun]

I'm in sanctuary chakra for the whole fight.

our one tank handles the drones. I keep him alive using PW:S, PoM, and the occasional GH.

I think I figured it out. Serenity Chakra is actually really neat.

[Adelee]

I'm just recalling what Jhazrun has said in the past and making some conclusions here.

PWS isn't worth using by holy due to the lack of disc talent and mastery, also mana-efficiency wise.
Holy Word: Sanctuary isn't worth using due to the mana cost vs healing done.
Heartsong is better for holy but then we don't have the luxury to have 2 weapons with different enchants on.
Mandala of stirring patterns is not great for healing output but it's useful to couple its proc that with hymn of hope or shadowfiend.
You should probably pick up body&soul and blessed resilience as they really help quite a bit in most fights.

From your logs I see that you use PWS a lot and generally very little greater heals, which should be your main healing spell.
Like what Jhaz said, you should probably be in serenity charkra during non-devastation times. Keep renew and serenity rolling on drone tanks at all times. Constantly throw out PoM and greater heals to players in need. Switch back to sanctuary chakra for devastation phase and do your normal thing, without the HW: Sanctuary.

[Syl]

I know the serenity chakra is intended for single-target healing - however, I keep on wondering whether the extra bit of crit and renew-refresh is worth losing the renew bonus from sanctuary?

It might very well be, but I haven't crunched numbers to compare yet. I assume someone has, though?

(Also, do you only use serenity when single-healing people who are scattered?)

[Tyrannon]

You´re running out of mana. with that stance you won´t need to refreh your renew. Shields are to expensive anyway

[Sylphura]

To the OP: You also expressed concerns about your mana in fights going forward.

Majordomo Staghelm: I find during the Scorpion form to be in the Sanctuary Chakra and Cat form to be in the Serenity Chakra.
Scorpion form is simple AoE healing. If you're strapped for mana don't worry about dropping Holy Word: Sanctuary. If you have the mana then go for it, otherwise stick to PoH, CoH and PoM.
Cat form is easy to heal. The damage is rather predictable so don't burn mana on flash healing someone once they've been pounced. Watching his energy bar you'll know exactly when it happens.

Ragnaros: I actually find this fight easier mana-wise than Staghelm. Due to the length of the encounter you can pop Shadowfiend early in phase 1 and he'll be up again at some point in phase 2 (where the most healing is required).
The main thing in phase 1 is your trap popper needs to communicate when s/he is about to pop the traps and if possible, give some sort of countdown so you can better judge what spells to use to keep the raid topped off. The transition phases, after everyone is topped up I find myself just helping dps the Sons of Ragnaros. Phase 2, most of the healing happens in the form of AoE heals with Molten Seeds. Phase 3, most of the damage is tank damage. Engulfing Flames does cause initial damage when it spawns but nothing your raiders should be in for more than half a second. BigWigs has a timer for it so no excuse for it to catch people by surprise.

[Syl]

Thanks guys, appreciate the replies! Sylphura - some great advice for those 2 bosses, thanks alot. They don't look quite that frightening after reading that :P So far Bethi'lac is probably the most mana-intensive burn I've experience due to the horrible group damage in phase 2. In the previous patch, Nefarian won the worst-healer-mana-punishment race hands down. Well, for me anyway.