The Paladin as a Healer ( Healadin )

[Muridin]

The Paladin as a Healer
Paladins can be amazing healers in both PvE and PvP situations. With only two direct healing spells in our spell book, you might think that this is incorrect, however, knowing how to use those spells can really make a difference to your party's survival. The most important thing to remember about Paladin healing is that you are an incredibly durable healer, no matter what your fighting style. You can play the Cleric, if you want, simply enduring attacks, or you can be a capable healer armed with some serious two-handed hardware and SoC for anyone that thinks they can shut you down.


Healing Basics
Paladins have two direct healing spells, Holy Light and Flash of Light. These two spells convey the two basic strategies that a Paladin has when healing others, either spreading the healing over with efficient small heals, or letting someone's health drop and then hitting them with a large heal, healing them to nearly full. Let's start by looking at the direct healing spells side-by-side.
Holy Light vs. Flash of Light
Holy Light
Flash of Light



Rank 1
Mana
AVG
HPM*
HPS   39-47
35
43
1.23
17.2        


Rank 2
Mana
AVG
HPM
HPS    76-90
60
83
1.38
33.2       


Rank 3
Mana
AVG
HPM
HPS   159-187
110
173
1.57
69.2    Rank 1
Mana
AVG
HPM
HPS   62-72
35
67
1.91
44.67


Rank 4
Mana
AVG
HPM
HPS    310-356
190
333
1.75
133.2   Rank 2
Mana
AVG
HPM
HPS   96-110
50
103
2.06
68.67


Rank 5
Mana
AVG
HPM
HPS    491-553
275
522
1.90
208.8   Rank 3
Mana
AVG
HPM
HPS   145-163
70
154
2.2
100


Rank 6
Mana
AVG
HPM
HPS    698-780
365
739
2.02
295.6   Rank 4
Mana
AVG
HPM
HPS   197-221
90
209
2.32
139.3


Rank 7
Mana
AVG
HPM
HPS    945-1053
465
994
2.14
397.6   Rank 5
Mana
AVG
HPM
HPS   267-299
115
283
2.46
188.67


Rank 8
Mana
AVG
HPM
HPS    1246-1388
580
1317
2.27
526.8   Rank 6
Mana
AVG
HPM
HPS   343-383
140
363
2.59
242


*HPM: Average Health per Mana
HPS: Average Health per Second

As you can see, Flash of Light wins in the mana efficiency department, offering a 2.59 Health-per-Mana ratio at its highest rank, and Holy Light wins in the speed department, clocking in at 526.8 health per second. The ramifications of this should be obvious for basic healing strategies. If you want to heal fast, use Holy Light. If you want to heal efficiently, use Flash of Light. This of course does not over shadow the obvious - if you need to heal someone for 1500, you're going to want to use Holy Light. It often helps to have a few ranks of Holy Light hotkeyed if you're going to be the primary healer. Ranks 4-7 can easily cover the gap between Rank 6 Flash and Rank 8 Holy Light. Cast Party, and other healing mods, can also help as they will attempt to automatically select the proper rank for you. This can be a good or bad thing.


But Wait, There's More
That's not the end of the healing story for Paladins, though, due to Blessing of Light, a Blessing that increases healing done via Paladin heals as if you had a built-in set of +healing gear. Blessing of Light, at its highest rank, adds 400 health to Holy Light spells and 115 health to Flash of Light spells used on the subject of the Blessing. This is adjusted for lower ranks, however, so you can't get the full 115 health from FoL Rank 1. Blessing of Light adds roughly 30% more healing to Holy Light and Flash of Light for only the mana cost up front (which is really not a factor).
Let's look at what it does for Rank 8 Holy Light and Rank 6 Flash of Light.
Paladin Healing with Blessing of Light
Holy Light
Flash of Light



Rank 8
Mana
AVG
HPM*
HPS    1646-1788
580
1717
2.96
686.8   Rank 6
Mana
AVG
HPM
HPS   458-498
140
478
3.41
318.67


*HPM: Average Health per Mana
HPS: Average Health per Second

On top of that bonus, there is the 11-13 point Holy talent Healing Light, which adds 12% more health to your Holy Light and Flash of Light spells.


But I Want More Healing!
Well, on top of everything that you can do with talents and given abilities, you can get armor and gear that has +healing, that is to say, +X to Healing Spells, which is a modifier found most often on higher-end armor. +healing is a little tricky. When an item is said to have +50 healing, it's not going to add 50 points to every heal - it's going to add up to 50, based of how fast the spell casts. The closer to 3.5 second casting time a spell gets, the more benefit of +healing you get. For reference, Holy Light and Flash of Light get the following benefit from +healing items
•   Holy Light gains 71% of every point of +healing.
•   Flash of Light gains 43% of every point of +healing.
Let's say you manage to scrape up +400 healing. Let's see what that does your fully talented, Blessing of Light heals, shall we?
Paladin Healing, +400 Healing, Talented
Holy Light
Flash of Light



Rank 8
Mana
AVG
HPM*
HPS    2112-2271
580
2192
3.77
876.8   Rank 6
Mana
AVG
HPM
HPS   671-716
140
694
4.96
462.67


*HPM: Average Health per Mana
HPS: Average Health per Second
As you can see, that is a significant jump in healing power, with no increase in cost or time. While you're not going to reach the high numbers of a priest, this is easily the most efficient single target healing of any class. 5 health for every point of mana spent is wonderful. Of course, this requires perhaps the most top end of gear, but serves as a current top-end healing that you can expect in today's game.


Okay, So What About Crit Heals?
So every now and then you might notice that your heals will "critically heal", which means they will heal for 150% of normal. The more savvy of you might have noticed the talents Illumination, Divine Favor and Holy Power. These three talents contribute to the power of your heals by making them more efficient (and in Holy Power's case, do more healing), by Illumination's function of returning the mana cost for critical heals.
So what does this mean for your healing? Well, for one, with Divine Favor, every two minutes, you can throw out a guaranteed critical heal for a net 60 mana (the cost of Divine Favor). This also means that if you raise your spell crit rate, your heals are going to become more effective and a bit better. How better? Well assume with the Holy Power talent you have 10% chance to crit on a spell. That means 10% of your spells will be free of charge, reducing your mana cost over time by 10%. Also, 10% of your heals are going to heal for 150%, raising your average healing over time by 5%. Let's see what happens with our above juiced-up healing sets.
Paladin Healing with Holy Power
Holy Light
Flash of Light



Rank 8
Mana
AVG
HPM*
HPS    2218-2385
522
2302
4.40
920.8   Rank 6
Mana
AVG
HPM
HPS   705-751
126
729
5.79
486


*HPM: Average Health per Mana
HPS: Average Health per Second
Remember since spell crits are only 150% of normal, you are only getting half of a percent increase over time in damage/healing per point of spell crit.


Judgment of Light
While not a healing spell in the strictest of definitions, Judgment of Light can be an amazing group (or more importantly, raid) heal over time. When you judge Seal of Light on a target, any melee attack against that creature has a high chance of returning life back to the person that hit it. While this value is small and may only add up to a few hundred hit points on a single target, fast attackers such as rogues and hunter pets get amazing healing over time, which can help against bosses and raid mobs that like to AE. This can help ease the pain of having to heal your DPS classes. Unfortunately, it only works for melee, so casters do not get the benefit of this.
Blessing, Seal and Judgment of Wisdom
Another aspect of Paladin support - the ability to return mana to others is unique to the alliance and quite frankly, one of the most powerful abilities we have in a raid aspect. Blessing of Wisdom is another 5 minute blessing that returns 30 mana (36 if you have improved) every 5 seconds to the subject. Judgment of Wisdom acts just like Judgment of Light, but for mana, and, it will work with any attack, melee or magical, so your casters can wand the target for mana return. Likewise, if you need some mana whilst healing, slap on Seal or Judgment of Wisdom. No other healer can regenerate mana like a Paladin.