Holy Paladin Healing Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — The War Within (11.0.5)
On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Holy Paladin, depending on the type of damage your group is receiving. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc. in order to minmax your healing output and your mana efficiency. All our content is updated for World of Warcraft — The War Within (11.0.5).
If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Holy Paladin rotation.
Holy Paladin Rotation Guide for The War Within
Welcome to our Rotation page for Holy Paladins. On this page, you will find everything you need to know about actually playing the spec in Raiding and Mythic+ scenarios.
Holy Paladin Rotations
Each of the sections below explain the rotation for Holy Paladin depending on the build you choose and the content you are doing.
Holy Paladin Rotation
The buttons below can be used to select between curated Raiding and Mythic+ loadouts. You can also use the switches below to add or remove individual talents you may also be using:
Talent Selections, etc. | ||
---|---|---|
Beacon of Light | Beacon of Virtue | Crusader's Might |
Avenging Wrath | Avenging Crusader | Tyr's Deliverance |
Awestruck | Barrier of Faith | Holy Prism |
Inflorescence of the Sunwell | Empyrean Legacy | Veneration |
Divine Favor | Righteous Judgment | Blessing of Summer |
Spell Priority for Holy Paladin
Regardless of build choice, your primary focus will be casting as many Holy Shocks as possible, as well as spending as much Holy Power as possible through one of: Light of Dawn, Word of Glory (or Eternal Flame), or Shield of the Righteous. When you can do none of the above, you will begin casting abilities that are less important or serve as maintenance buffs that you need to keep on cooldown as much as possible (think Holy Prism).
When no healing is needed, the priority will change slightly, and your goals will be to keep Consecration down as much as possible and spending Holy Power on Shield of the Righteous. If you end up talenting into Righteous Judgment, then you will want to also keep Judgment on cooldown to have a chance at spawning extra consecrates.
When you select a desired build, you will be given much more detailed priority lists that explain how and when to use each ability.
Holy Paladin — Raid Casting Build
When playing this build, keep in mind that despite being a "Casting" build, you will still want to stay towards melee. This will allow you to not only auto-attack the boss, but also gain value from abilities such as Crusader Strike, Consecration, and even the rare Shield of the Righteous.
Where this build differs from the "melee" build is that it focuses on consuming Infusion of Light as much as possible to gain extra healing through not only the proc consumption, but the extra Holy Shock and Holy Power spender casts
- Keep Beacon of Light and Beacon of Faith on two ranged targets who have weak survivability (Hunters, Shadow Priests, Boomkins, etc).
- Use Blessing of Summer as much as possible during a fight. Every buff can be safely placed upon yourself with only Blessing of Summer requiring any additional thought (when possible, aim to have it up during cooldowns.)
- Keep Holy Prism on cooldown as much as possible to proc Dawnlight. When possible, you will want to use Holy Prism during Awakening to generate extra Sun's Avatar procs.
- Cast Eternal Flame when you have the Empyrean Legacy proc off cooldown.
- Spend Holy Power on Light of Dawn or Eternal Flame.
- Cast Holy Shock as much as possible.
- Aim to cast Holy Light when you have both a Divine Favor proc availableAND a Infusion of Light proc.
- Spend remaining Holy Power if possible.
- Consume Infusion of Light when you cannot Holy Shock and do not have enough Holy Power to use Light of Dawn or Word of Glory.
- Keep Tyr's Deliverance on cooldown as much as possible.
- Cast Judgment when you cannot do any of the above.
- Cast Hammer of Wrath when you cannot do any of the above.
Holy Paladin — Raid Melee Build
Where this build differs from typical "Casting" builds is that you will be primarily using Crusader Strike as your filler global. By talenting into Crusader's Might, you allow yourself to gain extra Holy Shocks while still generating Holy Power and outputting extra damage.
- Keep Beacon of Light and Beacon of Faith on two ranged targets who have weak survivability (Hunters, Shadow Priests, Boomkins, etc).
- Use Blessing of Summer as much as possible during a fight. Every buff can be safely placed upon yourself with only Blessing of Summer requiring any additional thought (when possible, aim to have it up during cooldowns.)
- Keep Holy Prism on cooldown as much as possible to proc Dawnlight. When possible, you will want to use Holy Prism during Awakening to generate extra Sun's Avatar procs.
- Cast Eternal Flame when you have the Empyrean Legacy proc off cooldown.
- Spend Holy Power on Light of Dawn or Eternal Flame.
- Cast Holy Shock as much as possible.
- Aim to cast Holy Light when you have both a Divine Favor proc availableAND a Infusion of Light proc.
- Spend remaining Holy Power if possible.
- Consume Infusion of Light when you have a proc available and nothing else to do, generally through casting Judgment.
- Keep Tyr's Deliverance on cooldown as much as possible.
- Cast Judgment when you cannot do any of the above.
- Cast Hammer of Wrath when you cannot do any of the above.
Holy Paladin — Avenging Crusader
This build plays a bit unique in the fact that it takes Avenging Crusader and specs into Lightsmith instead of the common Herald of the Sun. It places a high emphasis on Judgment and Crusader Strike in order to output as much healing as possible.
- Keep Beacon of Light and Beacon of Faith on two ranged targets who have weak survivability (Hunters, Shadow Priests, Boomkins, etc).
- Use Blessing of Summer as much as possible during a fight. Every buff can be safely placed upon yourself with only Blessing of Summer requiring any additional thought (when possible, aim to have it up during cooldowns.)
- Keep Sacred Weapon on cooldown as much as possible.
- If at 5 Holy Power, make sure to spend.
- Cast Judgment as much as possible.
- Cast Holy Shock as much as possible.
- Keep Holy Prism on cooldown as much as possible.
- Cast Word of Glory when you have the Empyrean Legacy proc off cooldown.
- Cast Crusader Strike.
- Spend Remaining Holy Power on Light of Dawn or Word of Glory.
- Keep Tyr's Deliverance on cooldown as much as possible.
- Cast Hammer of Wrath when you cannot do any of the above.
It is important to note that your rotation slightly differs when inside and outside of Avenging Crusader. When inside of this cooldown, your priority, above all else, will be to keep Judgment and Crusader Strike on cooldown. You will also want to be triggering Blessed Assurance between each Crusader Strike cast. Because of this, your in Avenging Crusader rotation will look something like this:
- Cast Judgment
- Spend Holy Power
- Cast Crusader Strike
- Cast Judgment
When you do not have Holy Power to spend, you can instead cast Holy Shock to help you generate Holy Power between casts. The goal is to follow that rotation as closely as possible to maximize your Avenging Crusader healing. When you are outside of this cooldown, you can follow the standard rotation detailed above.
Holy Paladin — Mythic+
Many of the priorities you would use in raiding content will stay the same in Mythic+. The main exception to this is the increased importance of Consecration, Judgment, and Shield of the Righteous in order to output extra damage because no healing is needed.
- Keep Beacon of Light and Beacon of Faith on two ranged targets who have weak survivability (Hunters, Shadow Priests, Boomkins, etc).
- Use Blessing of Summer as much as possible during a fight. Every buff can be safely placed upon yourself with only Blessing of Summer requiring any additional thought (when possible, aim to have it up during cooldowns or large packs)
- Keep Sacred Weapon on cooldown as much as possible.
- Keep Consecration active at all times.
- Cast Judgment as much as possible.
- Keep Holy Prism on cooldown as much as possible.
- Cast Word of Glory when you have the Empyrean Legacy proc off cooldown.
- Spend Holy Power on Word of Glory when healing is needed, or Shield of the Righteous when no healing is needed.
- Cast Holy Shock as much as possible.
- Aim to cast Holy Light when you have both a Divine Favor proc availableAND a Infusion of Light proc.
- Spend remaining Holy Power if possible.
- Cast Hammer of Wrath when you cannot do any of the above.
- Consume Infusion of Light when you have nothing else to do and a proc available.
- Keep Tyr's Deliverance on cooldown as much as possible.
Keep in mind that damage may occur in Mythic+ settings that you did not expect. If you are constantly spending Holy Power whenever possible, you may not have Holy Power available when healing is needed. For this reason, it can often be wise as a beginner player to only cast Shield of the Righteous when you have 4-5 Holy Power; that way, you can quickly generate extra Holy Power when healing is needed unexpectedly.
Cooldown Usage for Holy Paladins
As a Holy Paladin, you have several healing cooldowns. You should use them as we explain below:
- Avenging Wrath increases your healing done and damage done by 20% for 20 seconds. It is very useful during periods of high sustained damage.
- Divine Toll is a strong burst heal that can be used to quickly generate Holy Power, or simply get your party healthy.
- Tyr's Deliverance will buff your allies, increasing the healing you can do to them with Flash of Light, Holy Light, and Holy Shock. When using this ability, you will want to make sure you are casting these spells on buffed allies, as well as extending the duration as long as possible with the Boundless Salvation.
- Lay on Hands should be used to save dying raid members, especially tanks.
- Blessing of Sacrifice lasts 12 seconds, transferring 30% of the damage taken by your target to you. The effect is automatically canceled if the transferred damage would cause you to fall below 20% health. This cooldown is excellent for reducing the damage taken by the tank or other raid members. Be cautious, however, because Blessing of Sacrifice can be dangerous to your own life if used without a damage reduction cooldown, such as Divine Protection or Divine Shield, or when simultaneous raid damage independently threatens your life such that the additional damage taken from Blessing of Sacrifice can lead to your death.
- Aura Mastery empowers your chosen aura, increasing its range to 40 yards and also improving its efficiency. It is a raid cooldown, and it should be used at a time designated by your healing officer or raid leader.
- Blessing of Protection can be used to clear harmful physical damage debuffs and bleeds from the target. Be mindful of the fact that bosses will not attack targets affected by Blessing of Protection, though, so only cast it on the current tank if the off-tank is prepared to take over.
- Blessing of Freedom removes movement-impairing effects from the targeted raid member, which can be very useful in certain situations.
Simplified Holy Paladin Rotation for Beginners
If the rotations above seem overwhelming to you, you might benefit from visiting our Easy Mode page, which outlines a close-to-optimal rotation in simpler terms.
PvP
The content on this page is purely PvE-related. If you are looking for PvP Rotation Tips, please visit our PvP page below.
Addons for Holy Paladin Rotation
Check out our Addons page below for some recommended Addons to get the most out of your Holy Paladin!
Macros for Holy Paladin Rotation
Check out our Macros page below for some recommended Macros to get the most out of your Holy Paladin!
Mythic+ Tips and Tricks for Holy Paladin
For information about Mythic+ as a Holy Paladin, please refer to our Mythic+ page.
Questions for the Author
Thanks for reading my Rotation Guide for Holy Paladin. If you have any questions about it that you would like to ask me directly, feel free to contact me (Mytholxgy)on discord through either the Paladin Discord or through direct messages: mytholxgy.
Changelog
- 24 Oct. 2024: Avenging Crusader Rotation updated.
- 21 Oct. 2024: Page updated for Patch 11.0.5.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within Season 1.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Reviewed and Updated for The War Within.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Page Updated for The War Within Pre-Patch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Updated for Season 4.
- 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Rotations updated for Patch 10.2.5.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Page Updated for 10.2.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
- 07 Aug. 2023: Updated rotation and added more info about Beacon of Light targetting.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Rotations updated for Patch 10.1.5.
- 27 May 2023: Avenging Crusader rotation updated.
- 01 May 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Paladin Guides
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This guide has been written by Mytholxgy, who plays healer in Liquid. He is a Templar in the Paladin class discord. You can reach him on Twitter and watch him stream on Twitch.
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