I'd like to preface this post with a statement that it is not meant to be gospel, or that this is the only way to do this as it is really only just a discussion of what I've done in practice this week, and some basic stat modeling. (previously discussed in other threads over the last few weeks). This post is meant to be discussion, and to facilitate additional conversation on how other Disc's have been Tank Healing. So.... discuss!
With the advent of 200% crits, and higher overall stats, Disc Tank healing has become a very powerful tool for many raids. I've been healing the tanks primarily in my raid (7/7 Normals ATM), and we've really valued the benefits that the Disc Healing has provided. What I am outlining here might not work for you, but really has been working well for us. I'm goign to try to keep this brief, but will do the best I can.
200% Crits What Does It Mean? (all the way!!!)
Well, prior to 4.2 critical heals only hit for 150% of the heal, while now its a full 200%. For Disc Tank healing this means a lot more than just bigger heals, it also is a flat 33% increase to all Divine Aegis that you create.
Before
10,000 GHeal becomes a 15,000 GHeal with a 30% Aegis (4,500, pre-Mastery)
After
10,000 GHeal becomes a 20,000 GHeal with a 30% Aegis (6,000, pre-Mastery).
Stats/Gearing
If you are going to be tank healing, I've found I am valuing my stats as follows: CRT/HST>MST. (while EJ's SS'd is favoring HST over CRT; until I get a bit more reliable in my DA creation, I'm going to be valuing them roughly the same. CRT of course is a RNG based throughput stat and remember you'll have Renewed Hope and likely a Shaman Totem to increase your rating). I've even go as far as dropping some Spirit gear for dual throughput items.As a Disc priest, you'll value spirit less than a holy priest, so you might want to consider putting on some gear that has dual throuhput stats and no spirit.
Speccing
I've probably changed my spec 6-7 times in the last 3 days, and am considering doing more tweaking in the coming days.
At the moment I've been using 33/8/0 http://www.wowhead.com/talent#bfGorRsbcRMochM
However, I would consider folks who really want more haste 31/8/2 http://www.wowhead.com/talent#bfGorRsbcoMochMZb
Wait, you gave up darkness?!?! Yes. In my current spec I wanted Train of Thought to provide me with access to Inner Focused GHeals every ~30 seconds.Remember, not only does it give you a 25% bonus to critical chance, its also acts a FREE GH so it does provide some 'psuedo' MP5, which will become more important if we continue to equip non-spirit cloth items.
If you are Tank Healing, Inspiration is a fairly good value for 2 TPs considering it stacks with Demo Shout. The trade off for throughput is utility.
I did skip Strength of Soul. Why? Well because PW:S is pretty expensive, and in the grand scheme of things really doesn't mitigate all that much on a tank. You're better off actually doing Raw Healing on the tank and get some DA bubbles on them while WS drops off.
Glyphs:
Penance - Reduced CD on a fast and mana efficient GHeal Proxy? Must Have
PW:S - Free direct heal when you put your PWS up, and it can crit and DA too.
POH/Barrier: Toss up here. If you are assisting Raid Healing on occasion during low tank damage/high raid damage... POH can be a boon, while Barrier will allow for faster recovery during Barriered Raid Damage. Pick whichever your role/raid benefits from.
Major:
POM - Bounce it off your tank for a bigger initial hit. Must have
Divine Accuracy - if you're Smiting the boss, you'll want this.
The 3rd one really is a wild card and there are a number of 'ok' options. Pick whichever will benefit you the most.
Atonement/Archangel
Can really depend on the fight. For example Atonement doesn't work all that well on Ragnaros himself (not to say that there isnt parts of the phases where it does work well). Since his Hitbox is so large, the Tank is out of range of the Atonement heal if you smite. In situations like this you need to watch the bosses swing timer try to weave your Smites in when there is a period/lull in damage to allow you to pop AA when you want/need the Throughput.
Smite Healing is very mana efficient and the Throughput Bonus that AA can give you is a huge boon. If you can make it work, there is no reason not to use it.
"Rotation"
I hate to call any healing a rotation, because what we are doing is so much more fluid than that. There are a few things you'll want to keep track of.
- Weakened Soul dropping off your primary tank target.
- Penance/POM off CD
- Grace
Grace, when fully stacked gives you +24% healing done to that target. That isn't a trivial amount of healing. Pre-pull you'll want to Penance your tank to get those stacks up. Additionally, if you are doing a fight where you will have tank taunting, you'll want to be sure your new tank has their Grace stacks ready. This can mean waiting 1-2 seconds on casting a Penance and use that to "prep" the Taunting Tank as they do "Taunting in 3...2 ... 1".
Also remember that Grace (and Weakened Soul) provide you with your benefit from Renewed Hope. 10% Increased Crit on those targets--- and, if you are tank healing, that means you likely will have a reliable and expected 10% critical chance increase. Plan for that.
You'll be using GHeal as your filler spell. Expensive, yes. But the output with DA weighing in is quite remarkable. Don't be afraid of overhealing with GHeal. Canceling that cast might have just canceled a 70k Crit. Looking at our Rag kill last night, and the wipes too...my top 3heals as a percentage of my overall healing were 23%, 22%, 21%. You should see PWS, DA, GH all within a 1-2% of your total output of eachother. (and likely in that order).
Always remember, as a Disc priest your biggest advantage is to know the fight, if you know you have a boss ability that requires everyone to do some movement... prepare yourself. Will you need/have PWS available to use on the fly? Same for POM. If you know big damage is coming in a few seconds, hold off and mitigate some of it with PWS (and hopefully a good GH->DA).
Inner Fire, use it. Inner Will is more for your Raid Bubbling Discs. They need the mana reduction on PWS, whereas you want the Spellpower boost for your tank.
I've really enjoyed how Disc Tank healing has panned out in this first week. Some people might scream "Oh that's so getting nerfed". I really don't think so... and if it does, it'll be minor. On single target healing, it makes us a viable and competitive tank healer. Additionally, we bring a lot of utility to the raid. (Barrier, PS, PI, Inspiration). I've been having a blast with it.
Ignore me
