State of Affairs

By in large, I don't have the intention of maintaining a post count on this blog, however, I'll throw a post up every now and then if I'm inspired to talk about something.

That aside, the intention of *this* post is to convey that the Healadining 101 guide has been updated to reflect recent changes. If I'm not going to post on a regular basis, the least I can do is make sure the old posts are up to date! =)

Healadin-ing 101

Averna from nerfthisdruid.com challenged a guildie of each healing class to develop a guide for healing to serve as a resource to all healers in order that we can better work together as a team, rather than as competitors. I want to take this one step further and gear it towards both current Healadins and up-and-coming Healadins in addition to the general healing community.

The objective is to cover a few general points that Averna laid out, while shying away from "too much theorycrafting."

• What's your general rotation - what spells do you use and what do they do? When do you use them?
• What are your "oh shi-" buttons? How do they work?
• What talents are absolutely necessary? If you spread talents between trees, why do you do that?
• What stats are best for you and why? spirit? int? crit or haste?
• How does beacon of light work exactly? What are those judgment things and which ones do you use?
  

Let's hop to it and see what we come up with!

1. The Arsenal
Healadins have a tremendous number of weapons in our arsenal. The best Healadins are the ones who know, understand, and can use all of them reflexively. Let's start with the baseline tools and then work our way to the talented tools from top to bottom. We'll leave Seals and Blessings for another section.

Baseline:
Holy Light - Our heal of choice, also probably the *biggest* heal in game (cooldown heals withstanding). With a cast time of 2.5 seconds (hasted down to 1.3 seconds in Naxx 25+ gear), this is also easily our highest HPS-yielding heal. Holy Light typically hits for 15k while critting in the 30k range.

Flash of Light - Our filler / smaller heal. We can spam this heal for almost eternity and beyond without running out of mana. The trouble is that it's not a very powerful heal and could *never* keep a tank up full time in Ulduar content. With a cast time of 1.5 seconds (hasted down to 1.0 in Naxx 25+ gear) It's a *great* tool for raid heals or for the in-between heals that don't require Holy Light bombs, but that's about all it is. These will hit in the 6k range with crits in the 9k range.

Judgement (Wisdom/Light/Justice) - we'll take a better look at this in section 3, but for our purposes, we have our points in Enlightened Judgements for a reason! We hit Judgement at least every 60 seconds to maintain the Judgements of the Pure buff which increases our haste by 15%.

Lay on Hands - Our biggest "Oh Shi-" button. Lay of Hands is an instant cast spell that grants the target health equal to your maximum (buffed and topped off) health pool and some extra mana to boost. The downside? A 20 minute cooldown.

Cleanse - Our Swiss Army Knife of debuff removals. A single instant cast will remove a poison effect, magic effect, and a disease at the same time. It's important to keep Cleanse handy by way of a keybind or an easily accessible click.

Redemption - WTB Rez, PST!

Divine Plea - A *major* source of mana regeneration (25%) with a *huge* caveat: a 50% reduction in healing. When your mana pool reaches 30,000, a 25% return is 7,500 mana. Suffice to say, this is something that any Healadin has to be really careful before hitting. If you know your tank is going to be taking major damage really soon, then now is a *bad* time to hit it. Never put yourself in a position where you *have* to hit Divine Plea.

Avenging Wrath - This spell is typically used by Protadins to jump ahead on threat and by Retadins to blast some extra DPS. However, a Healadin uses this 3 minute cooldown to put out some extra healing. You know yourself better than anyone else. Learn the fight and try and time Avenging Wrath for key moments. Alternatively, consider hitting it when you *need* to hit Divine Plea and you can't afford the loss of healing, as a counter to some of the loss.

Sacred Shield - This spell is effectively our *only* way of mitigating tank damage on a regular basis. In addtion to reducing tank damage, we receive a 50% bonus to our crit rate on Flashes of Light cast on our Sacred Shield's target. A *good* Healadin can and should maintain a 100% uptime of Sacred Shield on the tank taking the most damage.

Talented:
Aura Mastery - A situationally useful spell that causes your Concentration Aura (yep, you have to have this one up to utilize Aura Mastery's full benefit) to make everyone affected by your Concentration Aura immune to silences and spell interrupts. Additionally it grants a 100% bonus to all *base* aura abilities (ie. It doubles the armor bonus from Devotion Aura but if a Protection Paladin put up Devotion Aura, it doesn't double the heal bonus.).

Divine Favor - An instant cast spell that prefaces any of your three main heals (HL, FoL, HS) that causes that heal to automatically crit. It's an excellent tool, especially when you know exactly when the target is going to take a massive chunk of damage.

Holy Shock (31 point talent) - Consider this one to be the crust to our bread and butter heal spells, especially with thanks to Infusion of Light which ensures that when we crit, we get bonuses to our bread and butter spells themselves.

Divine Illumination (41 point talent) - This spell was far less valuable in TBC than it is now. Modern day Healadin-ing dictates that we cast Holy Light. A lot. Any time you're about to spam Holy Light for whatever reason, pop this spell if it's up. A 50% reduction in cost of spells is a MAJOR bonus.

Beacon of Light (51 point talent) - This tool is *the* tool that allows us to effectively serve other roles than the stereotypical dedicated "main tank healer" that never casts a spell on anyone else. The way it works as of patch 3.2 is as follows: 1) The Healadin casts Beacon of Light on the main tank. 2) The Healadin heals a raid member within 60 yards of the main tank. 3) All healing that Healadin did on this raid member gets duplicated on the main tank. Bear in mind that a FULL overheal on a raid member will still be duplicated on the main tank. Effectively speaking, you can throw a Beacon of Light and more or less ignore the main tank (or the target with the Beacon of Light).

2. Talents
In this section we'll cover all of the talents that a PvE Healadin would likely pick up (at my discretion, of course).

HOLY:
Spiritual Focus (5/5) - A 70% pushback reduction on major heals? Yes please!

Healing Light (3/3) - A 14% bonus to our 3 primary healing spells? Yes please!

Divine Intellect (5/5) - With intellect being our PRIMARY stat (to be discussed in detail shortly), this is a MUST take!

Aura Mastery (*/1) - We covered this in our "arsenal" above.

Illumination (5/5) - This is easily one of our most critical talent in the entire tree. Without this critical source of mana return, we'd be out of mana in no time. Every crit returns us 30% of the base cost of the spell cast. When we crit 45-60% of the time, the returns on mana are invaluable. Bear in mind the key phrase *base cost*, as cost reduction items and talents do not count against the 30% return on mana, so in reality your return may be higher. (Edited post-3.2: 60% down to 30%)

Improved Lay on Hands (*/2) - We've already covered Lay on Hands above, but the improved form comes with a 50% armor bonus for 15 seconds and a 4 minute reduction in cooldown. With Glyph of Divinity (we'll cover this later), it's also something to consider casting if you've already potted and you don't quite want to hit Divine Plea just yet. Casting it on yourself is actually a *double* bonus in mana, but be careful - then you're out on an "oh shi-" spell.

Improved Blessing of Wisdom (2/2) - As Blessing of Wisdom is our blessing of choice (supposing we only had one to choose from), it's important to make sure we have the most upgraded form of it available. If you have another dedicated Healadin who is picking this up, then feel free to pick up a side talent option.

Improved Concentration Aura (*/3) - I wouldn't call this a "must have" talent for you to do your job well, but it's a good idea to pick it up if you can afford the points. The extra 15% effectiveness and the 30% reduction in the duration of silences is nothing to laugh at.

Divine Favor (1/1) - We covered this in our "arsenal" above.

Sanctified Light (3/3) - Due to Illumination and the bonus effect to throughput, crit scales really well for us, so this is a "must have" talent. (Post 3.2, crit doesn't scale as well for us, but this is still a "must have" talent.)

At this point you need to put at least ONE talent point in one of the optional talents above in order to move on to the next tier.

Holy Power (5/5) - More crit? Yes please!

Light's Grace (3/3) - After casting Holy Light, you automatically get a bonus 0.5 cast time reduction on your next Holy Light for 15 seconds (bear in mind that you're casting Holy Light a lot, so this buff should actually be up most of the fight).

Holy Shock - We covered this in our "arsenal" above.

At this point you now need to put a SECOND talent point into one of the option talents above in order to move on to the next tier.

Holy Guidance (5/5) - Yet another reason why Intellect = Awesome for Healadins.

Divine Illumination (1/1) - We covered this in our "arsenal" above.

Judgements of the Pure (5/5) - This talent benefits us two-fold: 1) Judgements hit harder, so that's good for soloing/questing or loldpsing during easy stretches on boss fights. 2) Judgements increase your haste by 15% for 1 minute. The latter benefit is the *big* one. This talent alone brings down our haste soft cap (the point where our GCD = 1.0 seconds = 687 haste).

Infusion of Light (1/1) - This spell highlights one of the main benefits of casting Holy Shock, in either the instant cast Flash of Light or the increased crit chance on Holy Light.

Enlightened Judgements (2/2) - This talent increases the range on your judgements, which allows you to judge while healing from afar to trigger the Judgements of the Pure buff. Additionally, since Healadins have no +hit bonus, the 4% increased chance to hit with judgements go a long way.

Beacon of Light (1/1) - Last but not least, the star of the show (we covered this in our "arsenal" above).

At this point you should have 51 points in your Holy tree, which means you have 20 points remaining to put either in your Holy tree or in your Protection or Retribution trees.

PROTECTION:
Divinity (*/5) - A 5% bonus to throughput, plain and simple. The tradeoff when taking Divinity is a loss of Sanctity of Battle (3% crit) and/or Pursuit of Justice (increased run speed), depending on how you put points into your Retribution tree.

At this point you can either switch right over to the Retribution tree or you can fill in the points in the Protection tree to reach Divine Sacrifice and Divine Guardian. This would be a situational benefit that you'd have to determine the worth of. The in between points are typically PvP or further situational abilities, and are beyond the scope of this guide.

RETRIBUTION:
Benediction (*/5) - While a 10% reduction in cost on only a small percentage of your spells isn't a big deal, it's your only option to reach the 2nd tier.

The 2nd tier isn't much more impressive than the 1st tier but the 3rd tier is where you want to be so until then, your best fillers are Heart of the Crusader (*/3) and Improved Blessing of Might (*/2) for further raid utility.

Conviction (*/5) - A 5% crit bonus to *everything*? Yes please!

Pursuit of Justice (*/2) - The primary benefit of this talent is the 15% movement speed increase. This typically never makes or breaks a fight, but it can be found as situationally useful. If you're taking this talent then you're likely giving up 2% throughput on healing from Divinity, so be sure of it!

Sanctity of Battle (*/3) - A 3% crit bonus to *everything*? Yes please!

Your results may vary but it should resemble my preferred raid build (51/5/15) to some extent, perhaps with different optional talents taken. Alternatively, if you wanted to put the points in the Protection tree for Divine Sacrifice and Divine Guardian, then the build should resemble something like this (54/17/0), also perhaps with different optional talents taken.

3. Glyphs
There aren't too many glyphs that apply to Healadins, let alone how many are actually useful.

MAJOR:
Glyph of Beacon of Light - An extra 30 second duration is *nice* but the mana savings from only casting it half the time doesn't justify using this over Glyph of Divinity, for comparisons sake. That said, if you're not likely to take advantage of Glyph of Divinity, then this is pretty much the way to go.

Glyph of Divinity - Double mana for your target (3,900 mana) when you cast Lay on Hands, and a return of the same amount of mana for you (also 3,900 mana). I should also add that if you cast Lay on Hands on yourself, that's a return of 7,800 mana.

Glyph of Flash of Light - The 5% crit bonus to Flash of Light is nice but is really situational only. If you're the type of healer that likes to throw in a lot of raid heals, you'll see more benefit from this than the typical Healadin who spams Holy Light. All in all, not a bad glyph but there are better options.

Glyph of Holy Light - This one is probably the most critical glyph we have. This is effectively a passive healing bonus that can easily comprise 15% of your overall healing in a raid.

Glyph of Holy Shock - Shockadin anyone? Stay away from this one.

Glyph of Seal of Light - You're going to have a seal up while healing at all times in order that you can judge, so you may as well take either the 5% healing bonus OR the next glyph:

Glyph of Seal of Wisdom - A 5% reduction in your spells cast. As a Healadin, you'll likely find yourself needing the extra mana reduction moreso than needing the extra throughput.

RECOMMENDATION: Glyph of Divinity (or Glyph of Beacon of Light), Glyph of Holy Light, and Glyph of Seal of Wisdom.

MINOR:
I'm not going to detail the minor glyphs as they are all fairly straightforward and unfortunately, underwhelming with the exception of Glyph of Lay on Hands.

Glyph of Blessing of Kings
Glyph of Blessing of Wisdom
Glyph of Lay on Hands
Glyph of Sense Undead
Glyph of the Wise

RECOMMENDATION: Glyph of Blessing of Wisdom and Glyph of Lay on Hands. Oh, there's a 3rd slot? :-/

4. Gearing a Healadin
Paladins focus on 5 primary stats: Intellect, Haste, Spell Power, Critical Strike, and Mana Per 5 (MP5), typically in that order (more on this later). Any piece of plate or mail gear that has these stats will do you fine if you're just starting out. Do yourself a favor and shy away from cloth and leather. Wearing higher "armor class" gear is a part of what we can bring to the table (translate: we can take a few more hits before we go down).

A general rule of thumbs: The higher the item level, the better the piece. However, as you work your way up in progression, your numbers matter more and more and you need to figure out who you are as a Holy Paladin. Are you the type of Healadin who loves to spam Holy Light left and right? You probably want to put an emphasis on stacking intellect and haste. Are you the type of Healadin who prefers the Burning Crusades style of healing with primarily Flash of Light? You probably want to put an emphasis on stacking spell power and mp5. Let's figure out what each of these means.

Intellect - Our primary stat without exception. Endoscient posted in Elitist Jerks a really nice breakdown of what 100 intellect brings to the table:

• 126.5 Intellect, with BoK and Divine Intellect
• 1897 Mana at the start of the fight
• 39.5mp5 from Divine Plea, if its used on CD.
• 21.3mp5 from Replenishment, with 90% uptime.
• 4.7mp5 from Arcane Torrent, if you are a Blood Elf.
• 25.3 Spell Power
• 0.759% Spell Crit

Crit - Every heal that we cast has the ability to crit which increases the amount healed by 50%. At first glance this benefits only our throughput. If you recall from earlier, the mandatory talent of Illumination enables us to earn a return of 30% of the *base* cost of the spell whenever one of our spells crits. Suffice to say, Healadins run around with *a lot* of crit. The 35%-45% unbuffed range isn't uncommon.

Haste - The definition of haste as it relates to Healadins is the ability to cast more spells in the same amount of time. Translated, haste reduces the cast time on our spells. Gryphonheart posted a detailed explanation on how haste works here.

The important thing to know is that our soft-cap is 676 haste. What this means is that with our talent Judgements of the Pure, a Wrath of Air Totem from a Shaman, and either Boomkin or Retadin form of the 3% haste buff, we can reduce our global cooldown to 1.0 seconds. This also means that our Flashes of Light are also cast in 1.0 seconds. At around this level of haste, Holy Light can be cast in 1.4 seconds.

Mana Per 5 Seconds (MP5) - This stat is easily the most straightforward stat we have. Every 5 seconds we receive exactly x amount of mana where x is the amount of MP5 we have. While this constant source of mana regeneration is good, it's easily our most inferior stat relative to its item budget. It's more favorable to increase your crit rating and intellect if you're in need of mana regeneration than it is to increase your MP5. This does *not* mean that MP5 is a *bad* stat, merely an inferior stat. Don't gem or gear for it, but don't pass on upgrades just because it has MP5 on it.

Spell power - Last but certainly not least, this stat is *the* number that influences the size of our heals. The higher your spell power, the bigger your heals. There's nothing wrong with gemming for spell power but it's not as optimal as gemming for say, intellect. You're sure to acquire plenty of spell power through the gear stats alone. That said, don't hesitate to throw a spell power gem into a piece of gear to meet a *good* socket bonus.

5. Judgements
In the Burning Crusades, Holy Paladins *never* judged while healing. Nowadays, it's a fundamental part of our play. There are 2 reasons that a Holy Paladin should judge: 1) Our talent Judgements of the Pure increases our haste significantly, and 2) each judgement has a positive effect on the raid as a whole.

The 3 different types of judgements are:
1) Judgement of Wisdom - This judgment gives a return of 2% of the attacker's base mana on each attack, whether it be ranged or melee.

2) Judgement of Light - This judgement gives a return of a certain amount of health (determined by the stats on the Paladin judging) to the attacker on each attack, whether it be ranged or melee.

3) Judgement of Justice - This judgement prevents the target from fleeing and reduces the target's movement speed. This benefits of this judgement do *not* work on bosses, however the judgement hits like any other.

From a Healadin's perspective, we can't judge Judgement of Justice from ranged as Enlightened Judgements does not work on Judgement of Justice, so that one is eliminated from our options.

When you're the only Paladin in the raid, it's generally more favorable to use Judgement of Light for the added overall healing. If you're finding that the healing is really light, feel free to help your DPS'ers out with Judgement of Wisdom.

6. Seals
The basic premise function of Seals are to allow you to judge. Without a Seal up, you can't judge ANYTHING. If you can't judge, then you can't attain your Judgements of the Pure buff. As for deciding *which* seal to put up, this one is easy! Of the six seals (Blood/Martyr, Corruption/Vengeance, Justice, Light, Wisdom, Righteousness) that are available to a Paladin, only two of them are affected by your glyphs in a positive manner for healing (see above section on Glyphs):

Seal of Light - When you melee the target, you gain x amount of healing based on your attack power and your spell power.

Seal of Wisdom - When you melee the target, you gain 4% of your maximum mana (translated: raid buffed). With 25,000 mana raid buffed, that's 1,000 mana per attack. With 30,000 mana raid buffed, that's 1,200 mana per attack. This is a fairly reliable and reasonable source of mana regen when there is down time from healing (ie. when Razorscale is grounded during phase I, or when the heart is out on XT-002).

Make sure you use whichever seal you're glpyhed for!

7. Auras
A Paladin can choose one of seven auras to use at any given time. Whichever aura is chosen will impact everyone in your raid group that is standing within 40 yards of you (which should typically be most of the raid).

Devotion Aura - Grants a bonus of 1,205 armor to anyone affected by this aura.

Retribution Aura - Causes 112 holy damage to any target who hits anyone affected by this aura.

Concentration Aura - Causes anyone affected by this aura to reduce the loss in cast/channeling time when damaged by 35%.

Shadow Resist Aura - Grants a bonus of 130 shadow resistance to anyone affected by this aura.

Frost Resist Aura - Grants a bonus of 130 frost resistance to anyone affected by this aura.

Fire Resist Aura - Grants a bonus of 130 fire resistance to anyone affected by this aura.

Crusader Aura - Increases the mounted speed of anyone affected by this aura by 20%.

Choose whichever aura is most likely to benefit you and the raid as a whole depending on the boss fight. When in doubt, the Healadin should put up Concentration Aura.

8. Blessings
Blessings are buffs that a Paladin can cast on any raid member that lasts for 10 minutes. Each blessing has a "greater" compontent that allows the Paladin to cast that particular blessing on *all* members of the class that they are buffing. There are only three blessings available to a Healadin (Tankadin get a fourth - Blessing of Sanctuary):

Blessing of Wisdom - This blessing grants a bonus of 92 mana per 5 seconds to all affected targets. When this blessing is blessed in its improved form (talented), the bonus is increased to 110 mana per 5 seconds.

Blessing of Might - This blessing grants a bonus of 550 attack power to all affected targets. When this blessing is blessed in its improved form (talented), the bonus is increased to 688 attack power.

Blessing of Kings - This blessing grants a flat 10% increase to all baseline stats (strength, agility, stamina, intellect, and spirit) to all affected targets. This is easily one of the most powerful buffs in the game and the buff most sorely missed when a raid lacks a Paladin.

Part of playing a Paladin is knowing whom to buff what. The addon PallyPower while isn't required to buff a raid effectively, can serve as a tremendous asset in doing so.

If you're the only Paladin in the raid then as a general rule, buff all tanks and warlocks with Blessing of Kings, all melee DPS and hunters with Blessing of Might, and all other ranged DPS and healers with Blessing of Wisdom.

9. Hands
"Hand" spells are spells that used to be Blessings in the Burning Crusade that were given a new category in order to make accomodations for Blizzard's change in philosophy with raid buffs in Wrath of the Lich King. The only exception to this rule is Hand of Reckoning which is a new ability that was added in 3.0.8. These "hand" spells are now all situational usage type of spells. They are as follows:

Hand of Freedom - This hand has a 25 second cooldown and grants immunity to movement impairing effects to the target for 6 seconds. If you find yourself or fellow raid member limited by a movement impairing effect, hit them up with one of these.

Hand of Protection - This hand has a 5 minute cooldown and protects the target from all physical damage for 10 seconds. BE CAREFUL when using this hand, as it also limits the target from being able to attack during the duration of this hand. If you see a mob that accidentally got pulled by a healer or a DPS'er, hit them up with one of these.

Hand of Reckoning - This hand was recently added in 3.0.8 to give Tankadins a single target taunting ability, and this does exactly that. This hand doesn't have any real use for Healadins with the exception of a possible situation where the tank is overwhelmed with mobs and you see an add beating on another healer you can hit Divine Shield, followed by
Hand of Reckoning for a temporary repreive until the tank can pick the mob up.

Hand of Sacrifice - This hand with a 2 minute cooldown is our best "oh shi-" type of abilities when coupled with a Divine Shield beforehand. This combination directs 30% of the damage taken by the target to yourself (whom is immune due to Divine Shield), effectively mitigating 30% damage. The downside is that this is really an "oh shi-" type of ability that is primarily prepped ahead of time when you know a big hit is coming.

Hand of Salvation - Your DPS'ers favorite hand! This hand has a 2 minute cooldown and will reduce your target's total threat by 2% every second for 10 seconds. If you see a DPS'er climbing the threat list a little bit too fast, don't hesitate to hit them up with one of these! (Just make sure you *never* hit the tank up with one of these!)

10. Conclusion
Let's go back and see what we've learned in each section:

1. The Arsenal - We covered all of the Healadin's tools used to heal effectively.
2. Talents - We covered all of the talents that a Healadin would conceivably pick up in a PvE build and we made note of the mandatory versus the optional talents.
3. Glyphs - We covered the major and the minor glyphs that a Healadin should use and gave recommendations as to which to take.
   
4. Gearing a Healadin - We covered the primary stats that a Healadin looks for on gear and how they affect the Healadin.
5. Judgements - We covered the three judgements that are available to Paladins and we discussed how to determine which Judgement a Healadin should use.
   
6. Seals - We talked about the two *real* seals that a Healadin has available and explained that the Healadin should use the one that he/she glyphed for.
   
7. Auras - We discussed the seven auras that are available to a Paladin and gave a recommendation for which to use when in doubt.
   
8. Blessings - We covered the three blessings that are available to a Healadin and gave a general rule of thumbs as to how to decide which people get which buffs.
   
9. Hands - We covered the "hand" spells and explained what they were all about and suggested situations where each could be used.

Good luck!!!

Guest Post @ Nerfthisdruid.com

I've been quite busy lately, and not just with RL matters but I've also spent quite a bit of time writing up a guest post for Averna's blog nerfthisdruid.com. Head over there and take a look! I'll eventually post it here it its entirety (it's slightly shortened on Averna's blog) after it's been up for some time.

The Healadin's Ulduar Best-in-slot Guide

(UPDATED: INCLUDES MAIL GEAR)

I've come to rely on Siha's best-in-slot guide for Tier 7.5 content and I absolutely loved it, and loved being able to refer others to it if not just myself. I've looked around and I haven't seen anything else remotely like it, nor have I seen any "best-in-slot" type of guides for Ulduar, so I wanted to try and fill that void.

The caveat to this guide is that not all loot tables off bosses are completely revealed, nor am I 100% certain that I've seen everything that has been revealed. This is all of the loot to the best extent of my knowledge and if I'm missing anything or I've mistaken anything, PLEASE let me know.

I've included cloaks/rings with spirit and hit despite the wasted itemization points for reference purposes. That said, I've effectively ignored spirit and hit for ranking purposes. Additionally, there are two general approaches for gearing a Holy Paladin (I've covered this in previous posts). I personally subscribe to a haste-oriented approach over an MP5 approach (I let my higher intellect/crit do my regen work for me) and as a result, I weigh MP5 fairly low, relative to most other stats.

3.1 Holy Paladin Gear

Head:
1) Conqueror's Aegis Headpiece (SP, Crit, Haste) - 25-Man Thorim, Tier 8.5 (ilvl 226)
2) Ancient Iron Heaume (SP, Crit, Haste) - 25-Man Iron Council (ilvl 226)
3a) Helm of Veiled Energies (SP, Crit, Haste) - 10-Man Flame Leviathan (ilvl 219)
3b) Valorous Aegis Headpiece (SP, Crit, Haste) - 10-Man Mimiron, Tier 8.0 (ilvl 219)
5) Steamworker's Goggles (SP, Crit, MP5) - 25-Man Flame Leviathan (ilvl 226)
6) Faceguard of the Eyeless Horror (SP, Crit, MP5) - 10-Man Yogg-Saron (ilvl 219)

The #1 and #2 slots are pretty clear cut. The Helm of Veiled Energies is close to the Valorous Aegis Headpiece. Obviously, if you need the set bonus, take the T8.0 helm. The Tier 7 best-in-slot helm was the Faceguard of the Succumbed. If that were ranked in the Ulduar gear, it'd fall between the #3's and #5.

Neck:
1) Pendant of the Shallow Grave (SP, Crit, Haste) - 10-Man Thorim, Hard (ilvl 226)
2) Charm of Meticulous Timing (SP, Haste, MP5) 25-Man XT-002, Hard (ilvl 239)
3) Unblinking Eye (SP, Crit, Spirit) 25-Man Iron Council (ilvl 226)
4) Frozen Tear of Elune (SP, Crit, MP5) - 19 x Emblems of Conquest (ilvl 226)
5) Freya's Choker of Warding (SP, Haste, MP5) - 25-Man Flame Leviathan (ilvl 226)
6) Sapphire Amulet of Renewal (SP, Haste, Spirit) - 25-Man Iron Council, Hard (ilvl 239)
7) Evoker's Charm (SP, Haste, Spirit) – 19 x Emblems of Conquest (ilvl 226)
8) Pendant of Endless Despair (SP, Crit, MP5) - 10-Man Vezax (ilvl 219)
9) Watchful Eye (SP, Haste, Spirit) 10-Man Iron Council, Hard (ilvl 226)

The Tier 7 best-in-slot neckpiece was the Life-Binder's Locket. If that were ranked in the Ulduar gear, it'd fall between #5 and #6.

Have to add when available on wowhead:
Pendant of the Somber Witness (SP, Crit, MP5) - 10-Man Algalon (ilvl 226)

Shoulders:
1) Conqueror's Aegis Spaulders (SP, Crit, Haste) - 25-Man Yogg-Saron, Tier 8.5 (ilvl 226)
2) Valorous Aegis Spaulders (SP, Crit, Haste) - 10-Man Thorim, Tier 8.0 (ilvl 219)
3) Pauldrons of the Combatant (SP, Haste, MP5) - 25-Man Thorim, Hard (ilvl 239)
4) Pauldrons of Tempered Will (SP, Crit, Haste) - 10-Man Ignis (ilvl 219)
5) Razorscale Shoulderguards (SP, Haste, MP5) - 25-Man Razorscale (ilvl 226)
6) Amice of the Stoic Watch (SP, Crit, MP5) - 25-Man Auriaya (ilvl 226)

The Tier 8 itemization on the shoulders is absolutely fantastic! All the stats we want, and none of the ones we don't (ugh, MP5). The Tier 7 best-in-slot shoulders was the Valorous Redemption Spaulders. It's really inferior to all of the shoulders available in Ulduar, save for maybe Amice of the Stoic Watch.

Back:
1) Drape of the Sullen Goddess (SP, Crit, MP5) - 25-Man Freya, Hard (ilvl 239)
2) Drape of Mortal Downfall (SP, Hit, Crit) - 25-Man Iron Council, Hard (ilvl 239)
3) Drape of the Spellweaver (SP, Crit, Haste) - 10-Man Trash (ilvl 219)
4) Asimov's Drape (SP, Crit, Spirit) - 25-Man Mimiron (ilvl 226)
5) Shroud of Alteration (SP, Haste, MP5) - 25-Man Trash (ilvl 226)
6) Shawl of Haunted Memories (SP, Crit, Spirit) - 25-Man Yogg-Saron (ilvl 226)
7) Shawl of the Caretaker (SP, Haste, MP5) - 10-Man Unknown (ilvl 219)
8) Cloak of the Dormant Blaze (SP, Crit, MP5) - 10-Man Trash (ilvl 219)

The cloaks in Ulduar aren't impressive, to say the least. If the Tier 7 best-in-slot cloak, the Pennant Cloak, were to be ranked on this list, it'd be right up top with Drape of the Sullen Goddess in the best-in-slot position, probably as a 1a. Sadly enough, a *hit* cloak is our #2 best-in-slot piece from Ulduar. Not everyone had access to the Pennant Cloak, so for argument's sake, the 2nd best-in-slot cloak from Tier 7 was the Shroud of Luminosity. I'd slot that in just below Drape of Mortal Downfall. Even the 10-man Tier 7 best-in-slot of Cloak of the Dying beats out some of these cloaks (probably around #5-6). Since this is an Ulduar gear list, we'll have to take what we can get.

Have to add when available on wowhead:
Sunglimmer Cloak (SP, Haste, Spirit) - 25-Man Algalon Quest Reward (ilvl 239)
Sunglimmer Drape (SP, Haste, Spirit) - 10-Man Algalon Quest Reward (ilvl 226)

Chest:
1) Breastplate of the Devoted (SP, Crit, Haste) - 25-Man XT-002, Hard (ilvl 226)
2) Chestguard of the Fallen God (SP, Crit, Haste) - 25-Man Yogg-Saron (ilvl 226)
2) Breastplate of the Stoneshaper (SP, Crit, Haste) - 10-Man XT-002, Hard (ilvl 226)
3) Firestrider Chestguard (SP, Crit, Haste) - 10-Man Flame Leviathan (ilvl 219)
4) Quartz-studded Harness (SP, Haste, MP5) - 25-Man XT-002 (ilvl 226)
5) Conqueror's Aegis Tunic (SP, Crit, MP5) - 25-Man Hodir, Tier 8.5 (ilvl 226)
6) Lifeforge Breastplate (SP, Crit, MP5) - 25-Man Ignis (ilvl 226)
7) Breastplate of the Afterlife (SP, MP5) - 10-Man Razorscale (ilvl 219)
8) Valorous Aegis Tunic (SP, Crit, MP5) - 10-Man Yogg-Saron, Tier 8.0 (ilvl 219)

Breastplate of the Devoted is by FAR the best-in-slot chest piece. I haven't done an analysis on which of the five Tier 8 pieces to exclude for the 4-piece bonus, but I have a sneaking suspicion it's going to be the chest piece. In fact, the itemization for the Tier 8 pieces are so poor that all of the available mail gear is superior. The Tier 7 best-in-slot chest piece was the Chestplate of the Great Aspects. If that were ranked in the Ulduar gear, it'd fall between #3 and #4.

Bracers:
1) Bindings of the Winter Gale (SP, Crit, Haste) 25-Man Hodir, Hard (ilvl 239)
2) Wristguards of the Firetender (SP, Crit, MP5) 25-Man Ignis (ilvl 226)
3) Armbraces of the Vibrant Flame (SP, Crit, MP5) 10-Man Ignis (ilvl 219)
4) Horologist's Wristguards (SP, Crit, MP5) 25-Man XT-002 (ilvl 226)
5) Armbands of the Construct (SP, Crit, MP5) - 10-Man XT-002 (ilvl 219)
6) Unfaltering Armguards (SP, Haste, MP5) - 25-Man Kologarn (ilvl 226)
7) Bracers of Righteous Reformation (SP, Haste, MP5) - 10-Man Ignis (ilvl 219)

Sadly, all of the plate Ulduar bracers have been itemized with MP5. Only one piece of mail spell power gear is NOT itemized with MP5, and guess what? Yep, it's our best-in-slot bracers. While we're on the subject of mail bracers, all 3 mail bracers that drop in Ulduar are superior to the plate bracers that drop in Ulduar. :( The Bracers of Liberation (our best-in-slot from Tier 7) come out at around #3 or #4.

Gloves:
1) Gauntlets of the Thunder God (SP, Crit, Haste) - 10-Man Thorim, Hard (ilvl 226)
2) Gloves of Whispering Winds (SP, Crit, Haste) - 10-Man Freya, Hard (ilvl 226)
3) Runeshaper's Gloves (SP, Crit, Haste) - 25-Man Iron Council (ilvl 226)
4) Gloves of the Pythonic Guardian (SP, Crit, MP5) - 25-Man Kologarn (ilvl 226)
5) Gauntlets of Serene Blessing (SP, Haste, MP5) - 28 x Emblems of Conquest (ilvl 226)
6) Conqueror's Aegis Gloves (SP, Haste, MP5) - 25-Man Mimiron, Tier 8.5 (ilvl 226)
7) Gloves of Augury (SP, Crit, MP5) - 28 x Emblems of Conquest (ilvl 226)
8) Valorous Aegis Gloves (SP, Haste, MP5) - 10-Man Freya, Tier 8.0 (ilvl 219)

The Gauntlets of the Thunder God are the clear #1 best-in-slot *plate* piece by a mile. They are however somewhat comparable to Gloves of Whispering Winds, though still inferior, but not by much. The Tier 7 best-in-slot gloves was the Valorous Redemption Gloves. If that were ranked in the Ulduar gear, you could make an argument that it should fall between #6 and #8, but I think that in actuality, it's inferior to all of the Ulduar gloves that are available (which is a nice change over some other slots).

Waist:
1) Belt of the Fallen Wyrm (SP, Crit, Haste) - 25-Man Razorscale (ilvl 226)
2a) Belt of Clinging Hope (SP, Haste, MP5) - 25-Man Ignis (ilvl 226)
2b) Windchill Binding (SP, Haste, MP5) - 28 x Emblems of Conquest (ilvl 226)
2c) Girdle of Unyielding Trust (SP, Crit, MP5) - 28 x Emblems of Conquest (ilvl 226)
5) Plate Girdle of Righteousness (SP, Haste, MP5) - BoE Blacksmithing Pattern (ilvl 226)
6) Cable of the Metrognome (SP, Haste, MP5) - 10-Man Mimiron (ilvl 219)
7) Belt of the Iron Servant (SP, Haste, MP5) - 10-Man Iron Council (ilvl 219)
8) Blue Belt of Chaos - BoE Leatherworking Pattern (ilvl 226)

The Belt of the Fallen Wyrm is EASILY our best-in-slot. The Tier 7 best-in-slot belt was the Waistguard of Divine Grace, and it falls short of the Belt of the Fallen Wyrm but still comes out ahead of the rest of the Ulduar waists (though not by far).

Legs:
1) Conqueror's Aegis Greaves (SP, Haste, MP5) - 25-Man Freya, Tier 8.5 (ilvl 226)
2) Frostplate Greaves (SP, Crit, MP5) - 25-Man Hodir (ilvl 226)
3) Legs of the Tortured Earth (SP, Haste, MP5) - 25-Man Trash (ilvl 226)
4) Valorous Aegis Greaves (SP, Haste, MP5) - 10-Man Hodir, Tier 8.0 (ilvl 219)
5) Legplates of Flourishing Resolve (SP, Crit, MP5) - 10-Man Freya (ilvl 219)
6) Legguards of the Peaceful Covenant (SP, Haste, MP5) - 39 x Emblems of Conquest (ilvl 226)
7) Leggings of the Stoneweaver (SP, Crit, MP5) - 25-Man Kologarn (ilvl 226)
8) Leggings of the Weary Mystic (SP, Haste, MP5) - 39 x Emblems of Conquest (ilvl 226)
9) Ironscale Leggings (SP, Haste, MP5) - 10-Man Razorscale (ilvl 219)

The legs have been by far the most difficult to "rank". The first thing that I've noticed is that every single piece is itemized with MP5 :(. There's a lot of tradeoffs of haste for crit, not to mention socket (too many ugly blue ones at that). You could reasonably make a case for several pieces for the #1 slot, and even within the middle of the pack, there's quite a bit of leeway. Given the small discrepancy between the Conqueror's Aegis Greaves and the non-tier legs, I'd probably take the Conqueror's Aegis Greaves over the rest. The Tier 7 best-in-slot legs was the Valorous Redemption Greaves. If that were ranked in the Ulduar gear, it'd *still* compete for best-in-slot given its superior itemization.

Feet:
1) Greaves of the Rockmender (SP, Crit, MP5) - 25-Man Auriaya (ilvl 226)
2) Treads of Destiny (SP, Haste, MP5) - BoE Blacksmithing Pattern (ilvl 226)
3) Lightning Grounded Boots (SP, Crit, MP5) - BoE Leatherworking Pattern (ilvl 226)
4) Boots of the Forgotten Depths (SP, Haste, MP5) - 25-Man General Vezax (ilvl 226)
5) Greaves of the Earthbinder (SP, Crit, MP5) - 10-Man Kologarn (ilvl 219)
6) Sabatons of the Iron Watcher (SP, Crit, MP5) - 10-Man Kologarn (ilvl 219)

Yet another slot where MP5 reigns over all. There's a lot of tradeoffs here as far as crit and haste so go with what suits your playstyle/needs. The Poignant Sabatons (best-in-slot T7) are easily competitive with the top Ulduar options, and they're BoE which means you can probably *still* get them off the AH.

Rings:
1) Pyrelight Circle (SP, Haste, Crit) - 25-Man Ignis (ilvl 226)
2) Inscribed Signet of the Kirin Tor (SP, Crit, Haste) - Lower Ring + 1000g (ilvl 213)
3) Fire Orchid Signet (SP, Haste, MP5) - 10-Man Freya, Hard (ilvl 226)
4a) Radiant Seal (SP, Haste, MP5) - 25-Man Iron Council (ilvl 226)
4b) Ring of the Faithful Servant (SP, Crit, MP5) - 25-Man Auriaya (ilvl 226)
6) Glowing Ring of Reclamation (SP, Crit, Spirit) - 25-Man Flame Leviathan (ilvl 226)
7) Sanity's Bond (SP, Haste, MP5) - 25-Man Yogg-Saron (ilvl 226)
8) Lady Maye's Sapphire Ring (SP, Haste, Spirit) - 10-Man Iron Council (ilvl 219)
9) Inscribed Loop of the Kirin Tor (SP, MP5, Spirit) - Lower Ring + 1000g (ilvl 213)

To be honest, I think that the comparisons between the rings are fairly straightforward and I doubt there will be much debate over this. That said, the best-in-slot ring from Tier 7 was the Signet of Manifested Pain, and that remains best-in-slot, just ahead of the best Ulduar #1. Just as a point of reference, the #2 in slot from Tier 7 (Seized Beauty) is pretty comparable to #6 above and I'd rank it right about there. Just as a note, all the hit rings are inferior to the above, save maybe the Inscribed Loop of the Kirin Tor.

Have to add when available on wowhead:
Starshine Circle (SP, Haste, MP5) - 25-Man Algalon Quest Reward (ilvl 239)
Starshine Signet (SP, Haste, MP5) - 10-Man Algalon Quest Reward (ilvl 226)

Trinkets:
1) Pandora's Plea (Int/SP) - 25-Man Mimiron (ilvl 226)
2) Eye of the Broodmother (Crit/SP) 10-Man Razorscale (ilvl 219)
3) Scale of Fates (SP/Haste) - 25-Man Thorim (ilvl 226)
4) Sif's Remembrance (SP/MP5) - 10-Man Thorim, Hard (ilvl 226)
5) Spark of Hope (Spirit/SP Reduct) - 10-Man Unknown (ilvl 219)
6) Energy Siphon (MP5/SP) - 10-Man Flame Leviathan (ilvl 219)

It's relatively safe to label Pandora's Plea as a clear cut winner but beyond that: TBD. Trinkets by their very nature are quite difficult to weigh (ie. do I need more spell power for throughput? Regen for longevity? Something in between? etc.).

Weapons:
1) Val'anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings (Legendary 1H Mace - SP, Crit, Haste) - 25-Man Quest (ilvl 239)
2) Constellus (1H Mace - SP, Crit, MP5) - 25-Man Hodir, Hard (ilvl 239)
3) Aesuga, Hand of the Ardent Champion (1H Mace - SP, Crit, Haste) - 10-Man Vezax, Hard (ilvl 226)
4a) Guiding Star (1H Mace - SP, Haste, MP5) - 25-Man Razorscale (ilvl 232)
4b) Runescribed Blade (1H Sword - SP, Crit, Spirit) - 25-Man Auriaya (ilvl 232)
6) Pulse Baton (1H Mace - SP, Crit, MP5) - 10-Man Mimiron (ilvl 219)

Weapons are probably the biggest disappointment of mine for all the gear that drops in Ulduar. It's a matter of taking the stats that you need/want over those that you dont. The Turning Tide still appears to be one of our top options and if you have it, I wouldn't hesitate to hold it for the duration of Ulduar raiding. With the changes in 3.1.2, I'd put it on par with Aesuga, Hand of the Ardent Champion, depending on how you'd weigh the 30 spell power difference.

Shields:
1) Wisdom's Hold (SP, Crit, Haste) - 25-Man Thorim, Hard (ilvl 239)
2) Pulsing Spellshield (SP, Crit, Haste) - 10-Man XT-002 (ilvl 219)
3) Ice Layered Barrier (SP, Haste, MP5) - 10-Man Hodir, Hard (ilvl 226)

Wisdom's Hold comes ahead of all the other shields available in Ulduar, by far. The Tier 7 best-in-slot shield was the Voice of Reason. If it were ranked in this list it'd fall just short of Wisdom's Hold, but a LONG shot ahead of the other two. (Edit: With the changes to Pulsing Spellshield in 3.1.2, I bumped it up ahead of the Ice Layered Barrier (1 sp, 10 haste, 15 mp5, 8 int for 46 crit). It's closer than it looks - take the one with the itemization you like.

Librams:
1) Libram of the Resolute (SP) - 25-Man Auriaya (ilvl 226)

The one and only libram available from Ulduar. Too bad it's inferior compared to the Libram of Renewal that we have come to love.

A Response to Shazalyn

I hope Shazalyn doesn't mind but I'd like to respond to her recent post on Paladin healing in Ulduar. She brings up three tips of which, I have to respectfully disagree with two. In her defense, some of these points came from the guides that she quoted in the beginning, but since I thought that all of these points were important and relevant, so I decided to post them.

Tip #1: "Especially in 10-Man, use Beacon of Light on yourself to stay alive.That point could be the strongest change from "Nax style" healing. As being non mobile healers, we have to stand in the fire sometimes to toss that heal, and we're confronted to the choice of moving & surviving, or staying & dying. And in such cases, the first choice which is the obvious one, can mean the death of the character we are assigned to heal. That's were the bacon will save you and your assignement. Aoe damage and mobility in Nax were much less an issue, you will feel they are in Ulduar."

Response: I have to strongly disagree with you here on this one. While Beacon of Light may be a tool that would ensure our survivability if you're healing the tank, and only the tank, you shouldn't be in a position where you're taking more damage than the rest of your fellow raiders. Putting your beacon on the tank would allow you to maintain heals on your tank even as the raid takes a TON of damage. Back in Naxxramas, there really wasn't enough damage going around that you could be sure to keep your tank up by throwing up a Beacon of Light and throwing an occasional Holy Light for some raid healing. Now, you more or less can. More importantly, if you've taken a decent amount of damage, you can quickly throw a heal on yourself and swap back to the tank without really losing a beat. Throwing a beacon on yourself doesn't give you that same luxury of being able to help out on raid heals when it gets stressful (XT-002's Tympanic Tantrum comes to mind).

Tip #2: "Keep up that Sacred Shield. Mitigation is the new deus of healing. Spikes are very common and very strong in Ulduar, Razorscale blue fire patches and fireballs will probably be the first ones you encouter. Disc priests obviously have the edge on mitigation and shielding, but even if it has been strongly nerfed, keep your Sacred Shield up on the player in danger of spikes (if you ues a fireball "tank" on Razorscale it will be him for example)."

Response: I STRONGLY agree with this point and wanted to mention this for re-emphasization.

Tip #3: "My last advice, try to hit that boss a few times with your mace/sword/stick to get some mana back. With judgement of wisdom on it, you should be able to get some good mana regen even if with only a few hits during the whole fight. Most bosses have phases in Ulduar, and some of them are less healing intensive and will give you the opportunity to do that. Learn your bosses and try to find the right times to get these mana regen hits"

Response: I'm reallllly not a fan of this approach, save for very, very, limited opportunities such as when XT-002's heart is out, or when Razorscale is on the ground (pre-50% health), at which time you can safely hit Divine Plea anyways. Running up to melee a boss for mana should be the ultimate last resort save for those limited opportunities. You have a ton of other options for maintaining your mana pool (Illumination regen, Replenishment, Wisdom/Mana Tide, Divine Plea, Lay on Hands, Mana Potions, etc..). If you're starved for mana despite this, then the likelihood is that you're short on healers, you're undergeared for the content (either you or the raid), or something has gone drastically wrong in combat, in which case you're likely to wipe anyways.

A First Look at 3.1, Post-Release

I'm sorry, I've been SO busy and haven't been able to update as much as I've wanted to. I promise, that'll change!

Just a quick thought: After having fought and Emalon, Flame Leviathan, XT-002, and Razorscale on 10-mans (25's coming up shortly), the first and most noticable difference is that healers are no longer fighting each other for heals. There's more than enough healing to go around for everyone. By the time you've topped off one target, a few more need your attention, and so on.

As a result, I think that we're going to find ourselves needing to use our big heals a bit more than we're used to in Naxx / Sarth 3D / Malygos. It's particularly going to be interesting balancing that with all the MP5 gear that's out there, which many Healadins have shied away from in Tier 7 in favor of Crit-based regen.

Mana Pool vs. Crit Rate (from EJ's)

I'm still working on an active vs reactive healing post, but I came across this post from EJ's a week or two ago and I still reflect back to it because I think it offers a bit of interesting insight.

---

The way most of paladins gems for Int and the design of Udlar gear are linked. Blizzard saw the failure in its design for Holy paladin; it's too easy for us to reach the perpetual HL cycle on a 5 min fight.

Mana expense :
With the 4pT7/libram and the glyph, one Holy Light costs us 970 mana.
So 970 mana / HLtime

Mana gain :
M is our mana pool and C is our HL critical rate.
- Replenishment with 95% uptime: M*0.0025*0.95 per seconds
- Mana tide: M *0.28 / 300 per seconds
- Ill : 764*C / HL time
- BoW : 24 per seconds
- DP every 2 min : M*0.25 / 120
- Mana pot : 4300/300

So for a 5 minutes fight, which mana pool/Critical rate is needed to cast a HL every 1.8s ?

(-970/1. + M*(0.0025*0.95+0.28/300+0.25/120)+24+764*C /1.8 + M/300 +24 +4300/300 = 0

C = 1.8/764 [ 970/1.8- M( 0.0025*0.95+0.28/300+0.25/120+1/300) - 24 – (4300/300) ]

Mana Pool Critical rates
18000 0.81
20000 0.77
22000 0.73
24000 0.69
26000 0.64
28000 0.60
30000 0.56
32000 0.52
34000 0.48
36000 0.44
38000 0.40

Some paladins hava already 30k mana buff and nearly 50% CC in raid. With Uldar gear we could reach the cap, so Blizzard put stuff which is not optimal (Full of MP5) to avoid us to reach this level.