|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Priest Healing efficiency breakdownNumerous posts in forums discuss healing efficiency; which healing spells to cast, when to cast them, etcetera. There are many false assumptions, inaccurate statements, and unsupported suggestions related to these topics. This section attempts to provide recommendations based on a logical analysis of accumulated results.
There are two main considerations to take into account while healing: health points healed per mana point spent (hp/m) and health points healed per second (hp/s). Both of these are valid concerns, if at different times. The first dictates how many health points you can heal given a certain amount of mana, and the second is how fast you can heal during the heat of battle, in both cases a higher number is better.
Let us start by comparing the healing spells you will have at level 60, including PW:S, Renew, Flash Heal, and Greater Heal with no talents at all, just base spell information. PW:S is included because it in effect give you as many health points as it blocks, thereby working as an instant heal of sorts, although you cannot associate a hp/s value to its effect given its 15 second timer. Also note, crits are not taken into account when calculating average damage, because as a healer, you cannot and should not count on crits to heal.
Table 1. A comparison of the hp/m and hp/s values among various Priest class spells without talents applied
As you can see, Prayer of Healing is clearly your most efficient spell when used on 3 or more party members, at least without talents. You should also see that PW:S is the least efficient in the list. Hence, you should be using PW:S sparingly. It is best used as an emergency spell; liberal use of this spell during a fight is simply wasting mana. Now let us take a look at these same spells with talents applied to them. Each spell is listed with effects from each talent that affects it, not taking any consideration of your actual talent build; this is the theoretical max for each spell.
Table 2. A comparison of the hp/m and hp/s values among various Priest class spells with talents applied at a theoretical maximum
MA = Mental Agility 5/5 IH = Improved Healing 5/5 IR = Improved Renew 5/5 MH = Master Healer 5/5 SH = Spiritual Healing 5/5 IPH = Improved Prayer of Healing 2/2
As you can see, applying the 6 talents listed above greatly increases the Priests healing abilities. So, how do we apply this in the real world? Well in the real world, you mostly will compare the Shadow Priest vs. the Holy Priest. So, let us take a look at the healing spell data of the above spells, when used with the Shadow and Holy templates recommended in this guide.
PW:S is not included in the following comparison because Mental Agility, which is the only talent to affect PW:S, is recommended and attainable for both paths so both Shadow and Holy will have the same effective PW:S.
Renew:
Flash Heal:
Greater Heal:
Prayer of Healing 4 targets healed:
Table 3. A comparison of hp/m and hp/s values between Shadow spec and Holy spec builds for various Priest class spells with talents applied
It is evident from this analysis that the Holy Priest has a clear advantage over the Shadow Priest with respect to healing given a straight spell to spell comparison. Notice also, that the Shadow Priests Greater Heal spell is only slightly more mana efficient (-0.08 HP/M) and is actually slower (-15 HP/S) than the Holy Priests smaller Flash Heal. These differences are small in number, however what it emphasizes is that the Holy Priest is effectively just as efficient using Flash Heal as the Shadow Priest is using his biggest heal.
The Holy Priest will draw 20% less aggro through the use of Subtlety, and will have 10% more mana than the Shadow Priest with the talent Mental Strength and a free cast every 5 minutes with Inner Focus. Let us look at some scenarios comparing actual total hp healed with a full load of mana for a single encounter. It is difficult to compare an actual fight, as the mix of healing spells used will vary greatly, so let us just compare the total healing capacity for two spells, Flash and Greater Heals, as if they had been chain cast back to back till the Priest is out of mana.
This chart assumes the Priest has a base mana from equipment and buffs of 6800, which is increased through talents for the Holy Priest. We will also add the use of Inner Focus for the Holy Priest, because we are looking at maximum drain in shortest time, which happens rarely enough that you will be able to use Inner Focus almost every time.
Flash Heal
Greater Heal
Table 4. A comparison of total hp healed and total casting time for a typical mana pool of a Shadow spec and Holy spec Priest
It is evident that the Holy Priest has a clear advantage healing with 29% more hp healed with Flash Heal and 57% more hp healed with Greater Heal. This is appropriate since a Holy Priest gives up some versatility, as well as damage output in exchange for this advantage. Also notice, that the Shadow Priest only increases total hp healed by 2700 by using Greater Heal over Flash Heal when in comparison the Holy Priest gains 8410 total hp healed using Greater Heal over Flash Heal.
Another common belief that requires logical analysis is the idea that it is better to use lower ranks of Heal/Greater Heal instead of top ranks if full healing is not necessary. Some people have even developed or use add-ons that decide what heal spell to use for you, and use these lower ranks when they deem appropriate. The most common theme, is the use of a smaller version of Greater Heal (Heal and Greater Heal are the same spell line, just different names) instead of using the top rank of Flash Heal because somehow it is more efficient. Therefore, we will compare the hp/m and hp/s for the top rank of Flash Heal with no talents and the closest equivalent ranks of the Heal/Greater Heal line.
Table 5. A comparison of hp/m and hp/s among various ranks of Heal and Flash Heal without talents applied
Now let’s look at them with Holy talents added in:
Table 6. A comparison of hp/m and hp/s among various ranks of Heal and Flash Heal with talents applied
In conclusion, if you are not Holy specced, then it is clearly illogical to use the lower ranks, as they do not surpass the top rank of Flash Heal in any category. If you are Holy specced, then lower ranks heals are slightly more mana efficient; however their time efficiency is still abysmal when compared to a Flash Heal. Therefore, it is recommended that you reject this idea and focus on using your highest rank healing spells. The only time you would even consider using Heal rank 2 or 3 to heal instead of the top rank of Flash Heal, is when time is not an issue, and if time is not an issue, you should use Renew instead (3.08 HP/M) as it is much more efficient than any of these spells. Also, do not forget, if you use the longer casting, lower rank Heal, you will not pass the 5 second rule for 2 full seconds after you would with Flash Heal, and therefore would not start regaining mana as soon. I think if you take mana regen into consideration; than the Flash Heal actually would generally be more mana efficient even for Holy Priest. Therefore it is recommended that Priests focus on just 4 healing spells, the top ranks of Renew, Flash Heal, Greater Heal, and Prayer of Healing. It is simpler, easier, and over all much more efficient. |
