Monday, October 20, 2008

Avierra's 3.0.2 Build - Pally Mana Battery

Last weekend rocked. Big time. Over the course of two days, GoV cleared Gruul's Lair, Magtheridon's Lair, and most of Tempest Keep. As a matter of fact, we probably would have cleared TK had the server not hung as we were assembling before Kael'thas.
I was excited to try out Avierra's new build, which was recommended for healers over a straight-up Holy build. I somewhat regret not being able to try out the new Beacon of Light spell, but so far I'm having lots of fun with this build.
Take note that I'm mostly geared to boost spellpower and crit (formerly +healing and +spellcrit). I don't really have any haste items on Avierra, which I somewhat regret.

RETRIBUTION (whut?!!) - 34 points
Benediction - 5 points. I expect to judge a lot, usually whenever it's up.

Improved Judgements - 2 points. Reducing the cooldown on Judgements allows me to judge more frequently, regenerating more mana for myself and the rest of my raid.

Heart of the Crusader - 3 points. More raid utility! Works very well with DPS whose specs proc off criticals.

Improved Blessing of Might - 2 points. And even more raid utility. This build really only has two blessings, so I thought I might as well talent both of them.

Vindication - 2 points. You can't raid all the time, and this talent helps in farming. Every so often you'll find a miniboss who'll be vulnerable to this.

Conviction - 5 points. A straight-up 5% critical chance increase to all spells makes a great deal of sense, especially to a crit-hungry Holy healing build.

Pursuit of Justice - 2 points. I originally wanted to leave this talent out, but I needed a 2-point sink. I've since learned to appreciate it, as I often have to run into melee range to judge a boss before running back to the ranged DPS and healers.

Sanctified Seals - 3 points. I'm still unsure whether or not this talent affects healing spells, but I'm hopeful that it does.

Sanctified Retribution - 1 point. More raid utility here, although I've mostly used it to farm.

Vengeance - 3 points. I thought I'd need this for farming, but it turns out that I'm using this in raids as well. My spell cycle now includes Hammer of Wrath, which can critically hit and proc Vengeance.

Improved Retribution Aura - 2 points. Retribution Aura is my main farming aura, and I really enjoy grabbing up to 5 mobs and grinding them down with spellpower-boosted Consecration.

Judgements of the Wise - 3 points. Replenishment is a great buff and much appreciated by any caster. Having a Judgement give back almost a thousand points of mana is also an experience worth having.

Repentance - 1 point. I originally did not put points into this talent, until I saw two of our ret paladins CC loose mobs with it. I think it's tremendously overpowered for a 1-point talent and therefore well worth the extra point in Retribution.

HOLY - 28 points
Spiritual Focus - 5 points. Much more useful for farming than for raiding, but certainly more desirable for a healer than the other Tier 1 Holy talent, Seals of the Pure.

Divine Intellect - 5 points. A bigger mana pool and more spellpower make this a no-brainer for any caster.

Healing Light - 3 points. Again, a no-brainer for a healer, and well worth the extra talent points at Tier 2.

Illumination - 5 points. This is my main mana-regen strategy: cast critical heals and get mana back, judging as needed to get even more mana back. Illumination is key to half of this strategy.

Aura Mastery - 1 point. It was a toss-up between this and Improved Lay on Hands, and I went with this for more raid utility. I feel justified in keeping my point here as I have not yet had a need to cast Lay on Hands. 20 minutes isn't so bad, considering what the cooldown used to be.

Improved Blessing of Wisdom - 2 points. I love putting points into this talent. More mana back is better.

Divine Favor - 1 point. It's cheap and well worth the point investment. Also, it's a prerequisite for Holy Shock, which I intend to get once I'm able to spec up to it again.

Sanctified Light - 3 points. Every so often I find myself in a situation where I need to spam Holy Light instead of Flash of Light.

Holy Power - 2 points. I wish I had more talent points to put into this, and certainly as I level up in Wrath of the Lich King this talent will be my first priority.

RESULTS:
The lowest I've gone in a boss fight is 54% mana - and the one time I let a tank die, it was because I hadn't figured out a judgment strategy. That was the first boss fight I'd been in since I'd respecced to this build.
The trick is to find a playstyle which will let me judge. I typically put up Seal of Wisdom at the start of the fight, even when I know I won't be coming into melee range to strike the boss. Then, in between Flash of Light spam, I run in, throw a judgment, then run back to my place with the other healers.
Checking our stats via Recount, I typically find myself at the top of the healing meters (and manaregen meters). Unfortunately, I also find myself at the top of the overhealing meters. That's the way it is, I guess... I'm willing to let it slide as I only really have two heals available to me, and downranking my spells actually increases their mana cost. I've had Holy Lights crit for 11k (and the resulting heals from Glyph of Holy Light can also crit, which is very nice). My Flash of Light typically heals for around 1.7k and crits for 2.4k.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Dude... Is it true, moving to PVE is not one way anymore?

Manny said...

Yep. It's true. Blizzard changed it recently.