Holy Paladin guide
Talent trees, every tier list's rating and the sim: the Holy tab.
In short
- A healer who is strongest on one target, usually the tank.
- No sim result: the sim engine has no healing spells.
- Crits pay for your heals: at 5 of 5, Illumination gives back 50% of the spell's base mana cost every time a Flash of Light, Holy Light, Light's Vigil or Holy Shock heal crits. Sourced: Talent database Source pending
- Weak spot: little healing for a whole group.
How it plays
Up to level 30. Flash of Light is your main heal from 20, and Holy Light only for big hits, since it's slow and expensive. Blessing of Might on yourself and the group, or Blessing of Wisdom while Mining's Lodestone campfire buff is up, since Might and the Lodestone don't stack. Solo, use Seal of Righteousness, Judgement and Holy Strike on cooldown, and Consecration on packs. Our level-60 build starts with Divine Intellect and Healing Light, then Spiritual Focus and Reverence, which keeps 30% of your mana regeneration going while you cast at 3 of 3.
Sourced: Guide · 2 Oct, Talent database
At level 60. Theory Holy Shock for sudden damage: it heals an ally or hits an enemy. Flash of Light as the filler, a lower rank of Holy Light on the tank, and Divine Favor before a Holy Light for a guaranteed crit. Light's Vigil marks a target for 30 sec, and your next Holy Shock on it doesn't trigger Holy Shock's cooldown. Holy Power adds 15% crit chance to Holy Shock and Holy Strike and 5% to your other spells at 5 of 5. In PvP: Blessing of Freedom on the runner, Divine Shield, and Hammer of Justice on the melee.
Sourced: Talent database Source pending
Talents at a glance
Our level-20 and level-30 builds for Holy are still to come; for now, here is the level-60 build.
Level 60: Divine Intellect 5, Healing Light 3, Spiritual Focus 2, Reverence 3, Voice of Truth 1, Purifying Power 1, Illumination 5, Divine Favor 1, Infusion of Light 2, Holy Shock 1, Divine Precision 3, Holy Power 5, Light's Vigil 1, Toughness 5, Precision 3, Guardian's Favor 2, Anticipation 5, Sacred Duty 2, Improved Seal of Fury 1
Illumination requires Reverence 3/3; Divine Precision and Light's Vigil require Holy Shock. Protection filler: Toughness, Precision, Guardian's Favor, Anticipation, Sacred Duty, Improved Seal of Fury (its mana return is nice even for healers with a shield).
Theory · See the trees · Open in the calculator
Rotation at level 30
RecommendationSingle target
Open with Blessing of Wisdom/Kings on the group, Concentration or Devotion Aura.
- Flash of Light as the default heal
- Holy Light (downrank) for tank spikes
- Holy Strike between heals — Holy Power adds +15% crit to it
- Cleanse/Purify on dangerous debuffs
- Lay on Hands as the emergency button
Groups
Nothing stored yet.
Tip
Illumination (row 4) refunds mana on crits — stack spell crit.
Stats
Each guide's stat order as it gives it, the sim's stat weights, then ours. Guides dated before the last big tuning are shown but not counted.
Guides differHealing power first on every guide; the order after it differs.
| Where | Stat order |
|---|---|
| Guide · 1 Oct PvE, level 30 · read 12 Oct | Healing power › Intellect › Mana per 5 sec › Crit › Haste › Spirit |
| Guide · 1 Oct PvE, level 20 · read 12 Oct | Healing power › Intellect › Mana per 5 sec › Spirit › Crit |
| Guide · 9 Oct leveling, level 30 · read 12 Oct | Not ranked |
| Ours Recommendation | Healing power › Intellect › Mana per 5 sec › Spell crit › Spirit › Stamina Ours adds Stamina, which neither guide lists. Our order matches the guides' wherever they all agree. |
Race
Each guide's race picks for Holy, then our pick for the Paladin.
Alliance
One guideHuman on 1 guide.
- Guide · 1 Oct PvE, level 30 · read 12 OctHuman, Dwarf
- Guide · 1 Oct PvE, level 20 · read 12 OctNot given
- Guide · 9 Oct leveling, level 30 · read 12 OctDwarf
- Ours, for the Paladin RecommendationDwarf S
Horde
One guideUndead on 1 guide.
- Guide · 1 Oct PvE, level 30 · read 12 OctUndead
- Guide · 1 Oct PvE, level 20 · read 12 OctNot given
- Guide · 9 Oct leveling, level 30 · read 12 OctUndead
- Ours, for the Paladin RecommendationUndead S
Professions
Guides differThe guides name different professions.
- Guide · 1 Oct PvE, level 30 · read 12 OctEngineering, Mining, Blacksmithing
- Guide · 1 Oct PvE, level 20 · read 12 OctMining, Blacksmithing, Herbalism, Alchemy
- Guide · 9 Oct leveling, level 30 · read 12 OctNot given
- Ours, for the Paladin RecommendationMining + Engineering; or Mining + Blacksmithing
Level 60: where gear will come from
- Pre-raid: Alcaz Prison, Shaper's Terrace, the Drowned City and Hyjal quests for healing-power cloth/leather/mail; Forever rebuilt item stats so Classic BiS lists don't transfer.
- Crafted: Tailoring 'Pristine' / 'Filigreed' healing sets (the L20 tier already exists), Leatherworking 'Wisdom's' sets; Enchanting ring Spell Power.
- Remember bonus healing also grants one-third as much bonus damage in Forever — a healing set is a solo set too.
- Raids open 9 December; no level-60 BiS exists yet.
Theory
What changed for Holy
8 Oct: Retribution Aura base damage back to Vanilla values (about 33% lower), spell power ratio 6% (was 13.3%); it now uses the Paladin's own spell power.
Sourced: Dev notes · 8 Oct
Holy Strike's weapon damage per rank now goes from 25% to 50% (was 25% to 40%); cooldown 10 sec baseline; Improved Holy Strike removed from the Holy tree.
Sourced: Dev notes · 24 Sep
Consecration bugs fixed; Echo of Justice proc rate fixed; Retribution Aura scales with spell power.
Sourced: Dev notes · 24 Sep
Holy: Holy Power now also +15% Holy Strike crit; Light's Vigil tooltip clarified (damage version returns mana).
Sourced: Dev notes · 24 Sep