Playstyle & Rotation
General Playstyle
Holy Paladins are typical reactive healers. Unlike proactive healers who rely on set rotations and preemptive “ramps” to build up healing before damage occurs, we respond directly to damage as it happens. This is mainly achieved through powerful spot heals like Holy Shock and Word of Glory.
The core gameplay of a Holy Paladin revolves around a straightforward build-and-spend playstyle. We use Holy Power-generating abilities like Holy Shock to accumulate Holy Power, which is then spent on abilities like Word of Glory.
If you're new to playing a Holy Paladin, the first essential skill to master is to always keep at least one charge of Holy Shock on cooldown and ensuring you are consistently spending your Holy Power.
Since Paladins don't rely on a specific “ramp” sequence, our gameplay focuses on following a priority list of spells rather than memorizing complex rotations.
Priority Lists
Raid - Melee
- Use Holy Prism on cooldown
- Spend Holy Power - either on Eternal Flame or Light of Dawn if Eternal Flame would overheal
- Use Divine Favor on Holy Light to consume Infusion of Light
- Use Holy Shock (1 charge should always be on cooldown)
- Use Judgment (for Lightsmith this is above Holy Shock)
- Use Crusader Strike
- Use Hammer of Wrath
- Use Consecration
Raid - Caster
- Use Holy Prism on cooldown
- Spend Holy Power - either on Eternal Flame or Light of Dawn if Eternal Flame would overheal
- Use Divine Favor on Holy Light to consume Infusion of Light
- Use Holy Shock (1 charge should always be on cooldown)
- Use Flash of Light to consume Infusion of Light procs
- Use Judgment
- Use Hammer of Wrath
- Use Consecration
- Use Crusader Strike
Avenging Crusader - Active
While in Avenging Crusader your priority list will change to the following:
- Judgment
- Crusader Strike with Blessed Assurance buff
- Spend Holy Power
- Crusader Strike without Blessed Assurance buff
- Holy Shock
Mythic +
In Mythic+ your pure HPS rotation is similar to what you'd use in a raid— melee. However, in keys, a healer’s damage contribution can be crucial and often determines whether you successfully time a key or end up depleting it.
This is why in addition to your normal healing sequence you should focus on dealing damage whenever possible.
Keep Consecration active at all times, and weave in damage abilities whenever you can.
Holy Power should be spent on Shield of the Righteous whenever Eternal Flame spot healing isn’t needed.
Pure Damage Priority List
- Consecration should always be down (remember you can have two if you proc Righteous Judgment)
- Shield of Righteousness
- Judgment
- Hammer of Wrath
- Crusader Strike
- Holy Shock
Cooldown Usage
Avenging Wrath is very unique since it is a healing and damage cooldown. You basically want to use it on cooldown and only delay it when it’s assigned to a specific event in the Boss fight by your Raid Leader or Healing Officer. For Mythic+, you need your own timing where you and/or your group need extra healing throughput.
When specced into Sun’s Avatar, to get the most out of your wings you want to use them together with Holy Prism, this way you will have the most amount of Dawnlights. Also be aware of your positioning during Sun’s Avatar, you want to hit as many people as possible with your beams..
Aura Mastery is mainly assigned to specific points in the fight by your raid leader or healing officer. If that’s not the case, use it when you know big raid-wide damage is incoming.
Divine Toll - is a great burst heal with a short cooldown that will fill your holy power bar. Use it liberally but don’t waste it. Generally you want to keep it on cooldown as much as possible, the only reason you should hold it is if you know that a damaging event is going to happen soon.
Beacon of Virtue - While its short cooldown might make it tempting to use on cooldown, doing so can quickly drain your mana. Yes, it should be used often, but you have to be aware of damage patterns and only cast it when you know you’re going to get value out of it.
Here's how to get the most value out of Virtue:
- Build 5 Holy Power before the damage hits
- Apply Beacon of Virtue right before damage hits, this way you take full advantage of Light's Protection talent.
- As soon as the damage hits, press Eternal Flame/Word of Glory
- Cast Holy Shock
- Cast Eternal Flame/Word of Glory again