Holy Priest

Overview

Talents and builds

Level 60 and raid build

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Key talents

• Prayer of Mending1/1Places a spell on the target that heals them for [(172 + (Healing * 0.42899999)) * (1 * 1)] the next time they take damage or receive non-periodic healing. When the heal occurs, Prayer of Mending jumps to a party or raid member within 20 yards. Jumps up to 5 times and lasts 30 sec after each jump. This spell can only be placed on one target at a time per caster
• Spiritual Healing3/3Increases the amount healed by your spells by 10%
• Spiritual Guidance4/5Increases your spell healing by up to 20% of your total Spirit and your spell damage by up to 6% of your total Spirit
• Litany of Light2/2When you cast a healing spell, gain Mana equal to 10% of the base cost of the spell if your previous heal was a different spell
• Spirit of Redemption1/1Upon death, the priest becomes the Spirit of Redemption for 15 sec. The Spirit of Redemption cannot move, attack, be attacked or targeted by any spells or effects. While in this form the priest can cast any healing spell free of cost. When the effect ends, the priest dies
• Improved Healing3/3Reduces the Mana cost of your Lesser Heal, Heal, Greater Heal, Penance, and Prayer of Mending spells by 15%

The build spends its deep points in Holy and fills Discipline with the mana and spell-cost talents a healer wants. Chosen by simming candidate builds on the same gear against the same fight, not by recollection. Every figure behind this ranking comes from one stated incoming-damage profile (the scaled Phase 1 tank hits and raid pulses described on the BiS page): it ranks gear and builds for this spec, and says nothing about which healer class is stronger.

• Holy Specialization, Divine Fury and Improved Renew open the tree: more critical heals, Heal and Greater Heal cast faster, and a stronger Renew.
• Improved Healing makes the direct heals cheaper, and Litany of Light pays mana back when you switch heals instead of repeating one.
• Holy Binding takes the slot of Binding Heal, which the client removed: your Flash Heals on others heal you for half as much. The simulator does not model it (the fight never damages the healer), and nothing else in the rows above Litany of Light measured more healing, so it is the point that keeps you alive.
• Spiritual Guidance turns Spirit into bonus healing, which is why Spirit outranks its raw look on the stat list below.
• Spiritual Healing is a flat multiplier on every heal, and Prayer of Mending (with Spirit of Redemption as its prerequisite) is the capstone.
• In Discipline, Meditation keeps part of your regeneration running while you cast and Mental Strength lifts Intellect; Twin Disciplines and Improved Power Word: Shield are the points that open the rows beneath them.

On the same gear the build with Holy deepest scored ahead of the one with Discipline deepest. Open the planner at /planner?class=priest to adjust it.

Rotation and priority

The curated rotation tops up from health, tank first. Prayer of Mending and Renew go on the tank and stay there. Flash Heal is for emergencies only: a tank or party member who is nearly dead. Prayer of Healing answers several party members being hurt at once, and Heal is the efficient filler for a tank or member with a real hole in their health bar.

The filler and Prayer of Healing are paced against your mana: they only fire at their normal thresholds while your mana is keeping up with the share of the fight that is left, and wait for a more serious hole when it is not. Mana is the limit for this spec under the profile, so the pacing matters. The filler is Heal at its top rank.

Stat priority

1. 1MP5
2. 2Healing power
3. 3Spirit
4. 4Intellect
5. 5Critical strike

In simulator-derived order, per point of stat, the mana stats outrank raw healing: MP5 and Spirit buy more healing over the fight than a point of anything else, then Intellect, then healing power, with critical strike last. That order follows from the fight being mana-bound: a healer who runs dry stops healing, so a point of regeneration is worth more than a point of throughput. Items still trade many points of one for few of another, so read the list as “which stat is cheap to give up”, not “which stat to hunt”.

Spell power, the damage side of a healing item, adds nothing to a heal. Forever puts a third of every healing bonus on an item as spell damage; it is the healing number that heals. Every figure behind this ranking comes from one stated incoming-damage profile (the scaled Phase 1 tank hits and raid pulses described on the BiS page): it ranks gear and builds for this spec, and says nothing about which healer class is stronger.

Best in slot

Spirit stays the tree’s core sustain stat.

Enchants and consumables

Races

• Human
• Dwarf
• Night Elf
• Undead
• Gnome (Recommended)
• Troll (Recommended)

Gnome is the Alliance pick: Escape Artist and Expansive Mind. Troll is the Horde pick: Berserking.

Professions

Community convention for healing Priests favors Tailoring for caster cloth stats alongside Enchanting for weapon and gear enchants, since neither profession competes with anything Holy-specific.

Leveling

Outlined: points added in this level range.

Shadow is the generally recommended leveling spec for Priest, not Holy — Holy’s group-throughput kit doesn’t translate to fast solo leveling the way Shadow’s self-sufficient damage and healing does.