So you're cruising along, leveling your paladin (who you probably picked up leveling again after 2.3, you lazy blaggard) when you finally find a group for the instance you've been dying to go to. You join the group ... and discover that it consists of a warrior, a mage, a rogue and a hunter. They need a healer.
"But I'm ret/prot!" you exclaim. "I don't know anything about how to heal! How can I keep my party from become a splat on the floor when I'm not even holy?" Relax -- you don't really need to be a healing spec to heal regular, non-heroic, non-raid instances. All you need is a few add-ons, a tiny bit of gear, and some knowledge on how to properly play a healer.
Addons
The one addon that I found completely necessary for healing was Clique. This enables you to press a key and click on name bars to heal their associated players. I bind Flash of Light to shift-left click, Holy Light to shift-right click, and Cleanse to shift-middle click. (Shockadins might want to bind Holy Shock to shift-middle click instead, or BoP as needed. Lay on Hands is NOT recommended.) This worked so well that I went through half of Botanica the other day without noticing that some of my action bars weren't working. It's easy to configure, and since paladins have only a couple of healing options, it's simple to use.
Other nice healing addons are Grid (gives a quick overview of large groups), Healbot Continued (like Clique but more complex), and Paladin Healing Calculator (helps you figure out what gear will be most beneficial.)
Another important role for pallies is blessing your allies, and there are a few addons that will help with that. I use Pallypower, which enables me to quickly see and change the greater blessings of my party members (and even their pets!) It decreases a lot of the "5 minutes left on Might!" chatter when they know that you have an exact timer and warning for when they're going to need a re-blessing.
Gear
I'm one of those people who think that every paladin should have gear for tanking and healing, as well as the more popular DPSing. You should be able to grab a decent set of healing gear just by picking healer quest rewards when there are no good rewards for your spec. Since plate healing gear is somewhat lacking pre-BC, it's perfectly acceptable to collect some cloth gear pre-Outlands. Anything with plus healing or plus damage/healing, even if it's not plate, is something that you should pick up and store for when you're called on to heal -- but you'll most likely be finding intellect, spirit and stamina as your main stats.
Once you get to Outlands, you'll find a wide variety of great healing gear. Hellfire Peninsula's early quests have some rewards that should last you quite a while as a backup set. Once you start getting the good quest rewards, you can be a little more discriminating in your stat choice. Look specifically for healing, spell crit, intellect, and mp/5. Store them in your bank in a way that they're easy to find when you need them.
Technically, you can heal in your soloing gear, but I wouldn't recommend it. If you're a prot grinder with a lot of dam/heal gear, you're going to do tons better than a retadin with mostly DPS warrior stuff -- and your group will notice if you're still in +strength gear.
How to do it
All things considered, paladin healing is not very difficult. You've got two main options -- Holy Light, a 2.5 second cast that can heal for a huge amount of your target's health, and Flash of Light, a 1.5 second quickie that heals from a fourth to a fifth of the amount healed by Holy Light. However, Flash of Light is much more mana-efficient and is the heal of choice for most paladins. (Holy Light is good for healing after a fight, or if your tank is taking heavy hits and needs to get up by a lot of HP.) Lay on Hands is an interesting little spell that heals for your full mana pool, costing, of course, your full mana pool. Do not bind it near anything important, and save it for when the boss is almost dead and the tank's about to bite it.
And ... that's about it for non-holy pallies. Holydins will have Holy Shock, an instant-cast heal that heals for about the same amount as Flash of Light. They also have talents to increase their mana conservation, crit chance, etc. This scarcity of spells means that paladins are best as single-target healers. If you're lucky enough to find yourself in a group with a second healer or hybrid, ask if you can take the tank while they spot-heal the DPS.
But being a healer goes beyond just healing. Paladins can Cleanse off poison, disease and magic effects, making certain instances a lot easier. Keep an eye on the debuffs of your party so you can take care of those pronto. Blessing of Protection can transfer your "bubble" to a DPSer that's pulled too much aggro. Unfortunately, the mobs sometimes decide that means you're the next person on their hit list. Use it carefully and make sure there's a tank-type person between you and the DPSer. Blessings have been covered extensively elsewhere in this column, so all I'll say today is that you should bless the tank with Light if at all possible.
Other than that, just act wisely. Stay as far back as possible if aggro is a concern. If you have a very good group, ask if you can run in and judge the mob occasionally if no one needs heals. And watch out for ninjas!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
12-04-2007 @ 10:03PM
brogadorn said...
Using Grid
Creat macro and copy/pasta the macro code below (replace Flash of Light with Holy Light to make the two macros)
/stopcasting
/cast [target=mouseover,nomodifier,exists] Holy Light; [target=mouseover,exists,modifier:ctrl] Holy Light; [target=mouseover,exists,modifier:shift] Holy Light
Put macro in button. I use bongos but you can you any other bar mod. Bind the button to your choice of key or mouse button.
Best way to heal. Just place mouse over the player and press the button that you bound the macro to.
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12-05-2007 @ 8:18AM
Daryl said...
I have a similar problem with my 64 elemental shammy. My mains are a mage and warlock and I've never healed anything before.
I use the shammy like a mage and he does very well with crits and kills mobs with lightening before they reach him.
To date I've never had to heal anything in an instance.
Rydolomo
12-04-2007 @ 10:19PM
chris said...
yup. that's how I do it. it's really efficient and tricks people into thinking that I'm awesome at healing raids >_>
12-05-2007 @ 9:12AM
Khanmora said...
As of 2.3 /stopcasting is not needed for macros. It has been built into the server side interaction with the client.
I'm a holy paladin and have been for about 2 years, and played a resto druid prior to that. However I did level up with Ret and I can attest that it is not difficult to heal as an offspec just by switching out to some int/mp5 gear. I'm finding that my shaman is the same. She may be enhancement but I have no problems healing in instances if I just bump up my mana pool and regen.
I will also say that sometimes it's better to start out your time healing by just binding the heals to a few keys (literally a very few keys for pally) and use F1-F5 to target party members and hit the keys. Once you get a feel for how the heals work then it's much easier to fold that into a mod if you like. My mods just give me the info I need (health bar/mana bar/highlighting for debuffs) and I do the rest myself cause I hate click casting.
12-04-2007 @ 10:17PM
Nathan said...
"you don't really need to be a healing spec to heal regular, non-heroic, non-raid instances"
QFT
I'm not even a pally, but this can't be stated enough. My shadowpriest has main-healed every 5-man through Blood Furnace with zero points in holy, usually with an arms or fury warrior (or ret pally) tanking. I'm sure it'll change at some point, but at the moment a modicum of skill seems to be a fine substitute for 50-some-odd talent points.
Before 70, waiting around for a non-dps specced healer or tank of any class is ridiculous. Just make sure the person is fine doing the role you need them to do, and get on with the instance already.
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12-04-2007 @ 10:20PM
Rene said...
I started to play a Paladin after 2.3 went live, with the intention to end up as the healer in instance groups. But even though I really want to heal (that's why I made the Pally!) I usually end up as the tank of the group, because there's a priest as well or a druid or a shaman and the warrior usually doesn't want to tank. But someone has to do it, right?
Next time I go into an instance, I'll wear cloth. Should be a good argument not to tank.
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12-04-2007 @ 11:28PM
Nails said...
this is true
non healing-spec healers do just fine in 5-mans
i just healed our entire group through Zul'Farrak last night as a 0/0/41 shadow priest, in shadowform, using vampiric embrace for about 80% of all heals.
it was pretty sexy
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12-05-2007 @ 12:25AM
Eyeon said...
surprised you didn't mention that +crit is useless to non holy paladins, as we don't have that talent that refunds mana for crits. so your primary stats should run like
+healing
+int
+mp5
put in w/e order fits your playstyle, and don't be afraid to pick up that leather piece the priest can't wear for healing
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12-05-2007 @ 12:57AM
computermachina said...
good read now to convince my friend to respec :P
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12-05-2007 @ 1:45AM
arudehero said...
This is great info. I plan on leveling ret but was afraid I might miss out on some instances, so knowing its still feasible to heal if needbe to get into groups is great. Thanks for the tips on add-ons as well.
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12-05-2007 @ 2:26AM
Brasson said...
Lay on Hands heals for your full health bar at the cost of your full mana bar. Other than that quibble, great article. I've been healing prot spec since I hit Outland.
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12-05-2007 @ 2:47AM
Zegim said...
I have to try those addons. My hotkeys are getting worn already from spamming flash of light.
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12-05-2007 @ 7:37AM
Kaiser said...
The problem that hasn't really been touched on is that when trying to heal as a Prot Pally is that if, like me, you started to collect any "of the Champion" gear you could find once you hit Outlands, you seem to be OOM if you're doing anything but using Seals & Judging. Even when using Blessing of Light on the main tank and spamming Flash of Light, off-spec Priests will always be better at healing in longer fights as they will invariably have +int gear.
Basically, if you're a feral druid or prot/ret pally, keep some +int and/or +healing gear in your bag if you're running PUGs. Ideally you wont have to purchase any from the AH as you can get appropriate gear from quests. Anytime you have a choice of quest rewards and none of them are suitable for your spec - grab the cloth piece/healing mace & put it in the bank.
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12-05-2007 @ 8:44AM
Squishy said...
Tried Clique when it came out. Didn't like it.
What works better for me is Grid and Decursive plus mouse-over macros such as posting 1.
The macro I use is slightly different:
/cast [modifier:ctrl, target=player] Greater Heal(Rank 1); [target=mouseover, help] Greater Heal(Rank 1); [help] Greater Heal(Rank 1); [target=targettarget, help] Greater Heal(Rank 1); Greater Heal(Rank 1)
Why Grid and Decursive? Grid puts the party or raid into a small frame. Small frame == less mouse movement to any single person == faster response time. Decursive? The MUFs (micro unit frames) are right next to my Grid frame, so again, short mouse movement.
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12-05-2007 @ 9:26AM
Corr said...
I say don't be afraid to wear superior cloth gear even at 70. My build is 41/20/0, and while I do have a great set of tanking plate, I also have some very nice healing gear that includes a cloth chest. This puts my healing at +1035, and yet my armor is >11,000 with the crusaders aura activated.
In BG's, I am a healbot, full-on, and often I'll just stand and take abuse (after my shields have already been popped) while I spam flash of light on my DPSers until I drop. Even in a cloth chest, I can take a hell of a lot of damage, and this approach has turned the tide of more than one battle, for sure. :)
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12-05-2007 @ 9:55AM
Snoey said...
@8:
What about spirit? Or do you count spirit as MP5? Even paladins benefit from spirit.
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12-05-2007 @ 10:34AM
Khanmora said...
Actually paladins don't benefit from spirit at all really b/c we are constantly inside the 5sr, that makes mp5 far superior to spirit for us.
As for wearing anything other than mail or plate post 70, it's just shameful. The itemization post TBC is amazing and while we might have needed cloth at 60 endgame, it can be left to the priests and druids at 70.
There are a ton of pieces you can get (and for offspec healing just pick up some "of the physician" or "of the elder" plate and mail pieces). This doubles your survivability, especially against melee classes (50%+ melee dmg reduction from armor), and with good armor/smart healing you will often be the last one standing when things go south.
12-05-2007 @ 10:57AM
Moketronics said...
Holy Priest here - I'm a huge fan of clique, and healbot was good while I used it. I have a ton of stuff bound through clique on my 8 button mouse, but its pretty simple to devise a system of organization... I find as a raid healer it lets me keep a shackle or important person constantly selected and frees up my action bar so i can have consistent access to trinkets, prayer of healing, and other stuff that isn't useful on click cast.
Also have harmful effects on clique to easily drop off a quick SW:P or smite, or also get off my shadow fiend - which I found needed to be on one of the more remote hotkeys and was a pain to find when I needed it most.
Gotta admit I'm leary of non-holy speced palis for healing instances - not that I won't try it out with someone new - but theres been a bunch of times where the pali runs up and starts DPSing and mostly ignores healing until its basically too late.
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12-05-2007 @ 11:02AM
Corr said...
Ummm...
Beating your sick dog with a stick is shameful. Wearing a cloth chestpiece with through the roof healing/spell damage specs until you pick something better up is simply a choice in a video game. =P
I am a casual player - I realize that there are awesome healing pieces out there of the plate variety, but I haven't been able to obtain them yet. Currently, I'm saving for the Season 1 stuff available for BG points, but until then I'll be in cloth when I need max healing capability.
You do have a point about the pvp though - I think I should def. save that cloth piece for main healing PVE, not for PVP. I could wear my full prot set and still have enough healing capability/MP5 for most BG situations. So, if I swap my prot chest with my cloth and leave the rest of the healing gear on, I'm sure I'll still heal fine. But now I'm just thinking out loud, hehe.
For the light!
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12-05-2007 @ 12:51PM
Khanmora said...
Hehe, I'm not saying that it can't be used just that it's makes me a sad panda to see lvl 70 clothadins. Part of the defining characteristics of the class is our survivability and the cloth really defeats that purpose :) There is also usually quite a lot of spirit on cloth that is mostly a wasted stat for us.
I play 2-3 hours a night 4-5 nights a week (sometimes more on weekends) and I used and abused gear rewards from quests and instances while leveling up. If you grind your way to 70 (ouch) then I can understand you might not see much of that but if you are doing the quests there is SO much to choose from now. Especially if you can get some Badges of Justice under your belt. The new mail and plate pieces added with 2.3 are awesome, not to mention the shield, trinkets, cloaks, etc. And as you mentioned honor points and arena points can help fill gear gaps as well (500 more arena points to my new weapon, woot!).
BTW, love the new reply button in the comments!