Holy Priest PvE guide: Prayer of Mending raid healing for level 60

Overview

Level 60 · Holy Priest · Healer in dungeons and raids.

Holy is the throughput healer. It keeps the Classic core of Divine Fury, Spiritual Guidance and Spiritual Healing, and adds three Forever talents that change how you heal. Prayer of Mending bounces between raid members as they take damage, Binding Heal heals your target and yourself in one cast, and Litany of Light returns mana whenever you alternate between different heals. The build rewards variety: a Renew, a Prayer of Mending, a Heal and a Flash Heal cost less in sequence than the same spell four times.

Your job in the group

You are the raid healer for damage that hits many players at once. Keep Prayer of Mending bouncing through the melee group, cover whole groups with Prayer of Healing when a raid-wide mechanic lands, and help the tank healers with Renew and Heal when things are quiet. In five-player dungeons you can heal alone: Renew on the tank, Binding Heal when you take splash damage yourself, and Holy Nova when a pack of adds reaches you.

Why play it

• Group healing. Prayer of Healing, Spiritual Healing and Prayer of Mending cover raid-wide damage better than any other Priest build.
• Mana back for variety. Litany of Light rewards the mixed spell pattern a real fight asks for anyway.
• Healing yourself for free. Binding Heal covers your own health while you heal someone else.
• A second chance. Spirit of Redemption lets you keep healing for a few seconds after dying.

Weak points

• Mana on long fights: Holy spends faster than it regenerates if you only cast Greater Heal.
• Movement: most strong heals have cast times; Renew and Prayer of Mending are the only instants to heal while moving.
• Prevention: fewer shield talents than Discipline, so damage has to be healed after it lands.
• Prayer of Mending range: it can only jump to raid members nearby, so a spread raid gets fewer bounces.

Level 60 talent build

Discipline 18 / Holy 33 / Shadow 0, all 51 points. The talent tree above shows the finished build.

Holy (33)

• Improved Renew 3/3 — Renew is your main heal-over-time for tanks and movement.
• Holy Specialization 5/5 — crit chance for heals, which also triggers Inspiration.
• Divine Fury 5/5 — faster Heal and Greater Heal, the spells a raid depends on.
• Holy Nova 1/1 — a single point for moments when the whole group is stacked.
• Inspiration 3/3 — critical heals leave the tank with extra armor.
• Improved Healing 3/3 — cheaper Heal, Greater Heal and Prayer of Mending.
• Binding Heal 1/1 — heal someone else and yourself when both of you take damage.
• Litany of Light 2/2 — mana back whenever the next heal is a different spell.
• Spirit of Redemption 1/1 — keep healing for a short time after dying; required for Prayer of Mending.
• Spiritual Guidance 5/5 — Spirit becomes healing power, making Spirit gear doubly useful.
• Spiritual Healing 3/3 — a flat increase to all healing.
• Prayer of Mending 1/1 — a bouncing heal that follows damage around the raid.

Discipline (18)

• Twin Disciplines 5/5 — Renew and Power Word: Shield are instants, so both heal or absorb more.
• Silent Resolve 3/3 — less threat when healing at the start of a pull.
• Improved Power Word: Shield 2/3 — stronger shields for emergencies.
• Mental Agility 1/3 — a small discount on instants.
• Inner Focus 1/1 — a free Greater Heal with extra crit.
• Meditation 3/3 — mana regeneration while casting.
• Mental Strength 3/5 — more Intellect for a larger mana pool.

Rotation and priority

1. Keep Renew on the tank and put Prayer of Mending on whoever takes damage first; recast Prayer of Mending as soon as it comes off cooldown.
2. Use Heal as the tank maintenance spell and Greater Heal for predictable large hits; Flash Heal only when the tank is about to die.
3. When you and a raid member are both hurt, Binding Heal is the efficient answer.
4. Alternate spells so Litany of Light returns mana; avoid long strings of the same heal.
5. Prayer of Healing for group damage, Holy Nova when the group stands on top of you.
6. Inner Focus on a Greater Heal during a spike, and keep mana potions for the late fight.

Resources

Holy has more throughput than mana. Litany of Light rewards mixing spells, Meditation and Spirit carry regeneration, and Inner Focus is a free large heal. Spirit of Redemption is not a cooldown you plan, but it lets you finish a heal after dying. Use Prayer of Mending on cooldown: it is the cheapest healing in the kit.

Stat priority

1. Healing power first.
2. Spirit, which Spiritual Guidance turns into more healing power and which also regenerates mana.
3. Intellect for the mana pool.
4. Mana per 5 seconds for long raid fights.
5. Spell crit for Inspiration and bigger heals.

Gear and set bonuses

Holy shares Vestments of Conviction with Discipline. The two-piece +10 Spirit is doubly useful with Spiritual Guidance, the four-piece adds healing power, and the five-piece shortens Prayer of Mending by 1 sec, which directly means more bounces per fight. Fear Ward’s 60 sec reduction at three pieces is a raid utility bonus. Piece names are withheld in the client, so where the set drops is not known yet.

Consumables and professions

• Mana: Major Mana Potions, runes and Mageblood Potion or the Forever equivalents.
• Weapon: Brilliant Mana Oil for healing power and mana regeneration together.
• Food: Spirit food suits Holy better than any other healer because of Spiritual Guidance.
• Professions: Tailoring for cloth pieces and Alchemy for your own potions.

Sources

Rotation, stat and matchup advice adapts these Classic 1.12 guides to the WoW Forever talent trees; talents, set bonuses and new abilities come from this site’s WoW Forever data.

• Icy Veins: Classic Priest Healer Guide
• Icy Veins: Classic Priest Healer Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
• Icy Veins: Classic Priest Healer Stat Priority
• Icy Veins: Classic Priest Healer Enchants and Consumables