I have mana issues. A lot. Looking at the upcoming spiritless cloth gear (bleh), I had to use some serious strategery for not going OOM as much…
Gear
My fellow members of Team Heal surprised me with Darkmoon Card Tsunami. Apparently they love the lolwell so much, they want me to stay holy. Awww.
I got the first piece of tier gear (chest). In raiding I was already seeing a difference. I just got the pants last night for the 2pc bonus. It should be a pretty constant mana increase, since it will be kept up by my basic healing rotation.
And finally, I reforged down to the bare minimum of haste for 12.5% raid buffed and am relying on the mastery: echo of light. In current content, because there’s SO much healing to be done, echo of light is not as much overheal.
Mana Cooldowns
Potions
So first, I tried those concentration potion doodads. That doesn’t really work for me, since being out of pocket for 10 sec doesn’t work on most fights. I can barely have time for Hymn of Hope. So I’m stuck with regular old mana pots.
Shadowfiend and Hymn of Hope
Now, you can get super extra mana if you cast shadowfiend then swing into hymn of hope. But that would require being pretty low on mana to pay off… and I don’t want to wait that long for throwing the first fiend (so it can reset). Plus, finding time to channel is something that is a challenge. I decided that I’d be better off doing hymn of hope separately from shadowfiend at a predetermined time coordinated with the rest of the healers – while I toss shadowfiend as soon as feasible (i.e. at a mana level where I wouldn’t waste any mana returns) and toss it again right off cooldown.
Now on to using the fiend better. See… I would wait too long to cast the damn thing. And I might not cast him right when he got off cooldown.
First, I made a Power Aura to show when I’m at 70% mana, so I know to toss the first fiend then. Well, I kinda stole it from Beru and then tweaked the mana level to one that I thought was appropriate for fiending.
Second, I used MSBT to create a more obnoxious noise for when fiend is off cooldown. I had a noise already but it was clearly not annoying enough to get my attention.
Spell Choices
I’m not doing so hot here. I’m trying to use Heal, though it pains me to do so. I’m not sure why my fail here deserves its own heading, but there you go.
Lightwell Harassment
Toward the end of the last tier, we got a little complacent in our awesomeness and didn’t need to click the lightwell as much. Now, I’m getting people back into the habit by harassing them over vent to CLICK IT during periods of intense AOE damage. If my lightwell disappears before the cooldown is up, it means that all the charges are getting used up. That makes me a happy camper.
It’s interesting to note that in a 25 man setting, it’s rather easy for a priest to take a few moments to bow out of combat in order to drink a PoC or channel Hymn of Hope. In a 10 man setting, those seconds out of the game can seem painful. I never really realized that until now. It’s certainly not a bad thing, mind you. Just more of an observation, really.
HW:S and Renew can take out huge chunks of your mana, too. I know it’s typically seen as helpful to keep at least a Renew on a tank (or both tanks) if you can, but don’t do it if you don’t have the mana to support it.
Yay for Lightwell love! I also thought the gift your guildies gave you was incredibly sweet. Sounds like a lovely group you have there!
Quick preface: I raid as Disc (though I’m traditionally holy) in a 10 man setting. I usually have a resto druid and resto shaman with me. When two healing (most regular bosses) it’s with the resto druid.
I’d recommend you revisit your mana management. Using appropriate heals, using shadowfiend at appropriate moments (it should be used multiple times per raid boss fight), appropriate use of Hymn of Hope, and appropriate potion quaffage. In Firelands I’ve actually found myself reforging AWAY from spirit because ending a boss with 50% mana left is way too high. I raid at around 1800 spirit as Disc. Holy I would up this to around 2100 since you do not have Rapture to return your mana. Even with that, though, you’ll probably find yourself ending fights with a high amount of mana. As an aside – I find it interesting that you’re continuing with holy. I love, love, love my holy but Power Word: Barrier is so overpowered (and useful) on every boss in the Firelands.
For the shadowfiend, keep in mind it may be beneficial to pop it even earlier than being at 70% mana. This would be appropriate to do when gauging the length of the fight and when you would like the cooldown to be back up. If you find yourself using it before actually needing it take advantage and spam you favorite instant casts (Renew, in the case of holy). Also, if your not specced into reducing the shadowfiend’s cooldown you may want to consider it. This can dramatically help your regen if you’re having mana issues.
For Hymn of Hope I find that I very rarely channel the entire spell anymore. I usually couple it with my second or third use of shadowfiend (depending on mana levels). Hymn of Hope returns very little in the way of mana. It’s principle feature is that it raises your maximum mana pool for a bit of time. This is the key to your regen! Channel Hymn long enough for the tick to raise your maximum mana and then you may stop. This will cause your shadowfiend to return considerably more mana. This will also allow your other healers to do the same with abilities like innervate. Announce on vent that you’re hymning, wait for the tick to raise your mana, and then go about your business. Make sure shadowfiend is always used in conjunction with the Hymn for maximum personal regen.
As for your concentration potions there should almost always be a nice window to use this potion in Firelands.
Beth: Use it during the transition from p1 to p2 when there is zero raid damage going out.
LR: I usually wait until the magma flows go out and I’ve found a secure location.
Alysrazor: It’s not needed on this fight due to getting a free max mana during the burn phase, but if needed you can use after the burn phase while waiting for the eggs to drop.
Shannox: This is another tricky one and it depends on your assignment. Assuming you’re on raid heals (since you’re holy) use this AFTER a face rage when no raid damage should be going out.
Baleroc: It won’t happen on this fight.
Majordomo: Use it at the beginning of a cat phase.
Ragnaros: I tend to use it during p2 after a seed stack/AOE add segment is completed.
Sorry for the long winded response. I imagine you’ve considered much of this but I hope a point or two might help out! Good luck with your healing!
We’re so tapped out on mana right now, the other healers NEED the hymn to run its full duration. Hell we’re even having the shadow priest do the hymn.
I’ve found that ‘forcing’ ones self to use heal can be a bit like training yourself to rub your belly / pat your head. When it works I’m amazed by the mana efficiency and actual healing output of this spell. I’m glad to see you acknowledge your need to use heal more often. I was on the struggle bus with that too.
What worked for me? Just toughing it out. Also remember that with any decent amount of regen you actually net mana while spamming Heal. Heal is ineffective is when you wait for damage to cast it. I’m in the process of training myself to be spamming heal if I’m not doing anything else. This steady stream of stupid-cheap healing just what the doctor ordered.
Those dirty atonement disc priests and their smites. They can be casting smite FOREVER, and it does the same amount of healing as a “heal” – except it’s smart, so they don’t have to choose the target who will need the heal. So. Unfair.
Uh, I know you don’t want to hear it, but…
Well management Atonement procs will typically heal for MORE than a regular Heal, not to mention cost less mana (unless I don’t have my 5 stack of Evangelism up). Yeah, sorry, what can I say: us disco priests cheat.
For your Fiend, try creating a Power Aura for when it is off cooldown and add the 70% mana aura as a conditional. This will make the Fiend aura show only when your mana is 70% or less. The aura will also constantly display as a reminder until you use Fiend, which should help in those times when you don’t catch the MSBT notification.
See here: http://powerauras.wikispaces.com/Matching+Multiple+Conditions
I’ve been wondering how to do that! Awesome! I gotta do that for my innervate aura too.
Then you can add the annoying sound to the Power Aura instead of MSBT.
Annoying noises ftw… with multiple addons!
Which self buffs do you use? Inner Fire or Inner Will? And Chakra: Serenity or Serendipity?
I almost always use inner fire unless there’s a LOT of movement. Sometimes I use inner will while learning an encounter and then switch to inner fire once I know the encounter better and can get out of the bad without the speed boost.
The chakra state depends on my assignment and the type of damage. And sometimes I’ll switch mid-fight if needed. In general, I’m in chakra sanctuary when raid healing and chakra: serenity while tank healing or raid healing an encounter with single-target damage.
I’ve found that Serendipity drains my mana like nobody’s business, so I only use it on massive AoE burn phases like Beth’tilac’s or Rhyolith’s phase 2. Maybe try using Serenity more, even while raid healing. I’m honestly not sure what makes the big difference for me, but I think the nearly free instant heal every 12 seconds helps a ton, not to mention the renew refreshes at no extra mana cost.
I just have to be careful not to use too much healing floor or renew. The decreased cooldown on circle of healing is too much to pass up, so I tend to use Sanctuary.
I admit I run with as much spirit as I can as a Holy Priest. Someone above mentioned using teh concentration potions but then also mentioned not using HoH due to time it takes to use it. HoH is a 8 second ability I think and the potion is 10 seconds…both you haev to stand still and HoH gives to others as well as you. No brainer if you ask me.
as for Spirit, I know I run with 2800+ and thats not including if I flask. Some are going to scream overkill. Personally I want to have that mana handy if I need it if the poop hits the fan. I would rather have the ability to cast throughout the fight then to have a smaller amount of slightly bigger heals. I figure I am there to make sure the folks I am healing are there for the duration of the fight, so longevity over pure throughput is my personal choice.
Lightwell should always be used and I have a macro I use before each boss fight to remind folks to use it.
Also higher mana regen helps when you are raid healing due to the cost of AoE heals. not to mention the fact that I can actually spam the heal spell if necessary and basically regen more mana than I am using to cast it. You would be surprised how often SoL can actually proc if you are using heal more often. Free FH which also procs serendipty. Keep PoM out, its still pure win, and it gives you a nice feeling to hear it pinging around the raid.
With all this said I am NOT doing hard modes in our guild. So this could all change based on that.
As a side note I have found I can also tank heal in any of the T11 raids and have also done so on the Shannox fight. Again the ability to use heal constantly and not drain your mana in serenity chakra…extra crit per heal, refreshing renew with free FH due to SoL and serenity and a GH as needed at times for burst damage….you can handle it easily and still throw out the occasional CoH and PoM to help with raid.
Good luck to you!
Another vote here for spirit stacking as Holy. I normally have a couple of non-spirit pieces, but most of my gear has spirit. I prefer to have more regen and use more powerful spells. Consider using Inner Will. Inner Fire improves throughput very slightly, but if you read Inner Will it reduces the mana cost of instant spells too. Thats more of a benefit if you are low on mana.
Think about Chakra switching mid-fight to be more efficient. I normally start Shannox, for example, with the single target Chakra to heal Facerages and Rages, then I switch to the tank and help there until both dogs are dead when I change Chakra and AoE heal. Similarly on Beth I start AoE healing, then switch to single target while the tank is up, then switch back. This makes your heals far more efficient, which means you can use a little less mana. I didn’t do this as much in tier 11. As nice as the reduced cooldown on CoH is, it in no way makes up for the other benefits of being in the right Chakra for the type of healing you are casting. If you need to spam single target heals, you need to be in the right Chakra even if your assignment is raid healing (it depends on if its general damage, or spike damage). Likewise if you are spamming PoH then you will notice if you don’t change Chakra.
I would say that if all your healers are having mana problems in 10 man than either you are all undergeared for the content, or your dps is standing in avoidable damage. We only did tier 11 normals (and not all of them) before going into FL and while mana was tight, it wasn’t a huge problem. Its not always your fault if you go oom so make sure thats not the case. If a lot of people stand in fire traps, on Shannox, for example, you will go oom. The solution to that isn’t for you to do anything other than tell people to not stand in traps! And theres nothing wrong with getting the SP to Hymn. Thats a normal tactic in 10 man.
You can use HoH and Potions of Concentration on Baleroc, but you have to time it EXACTLY in 10 man and it probably depends on your healer rotation. We do one healer on the tank, two on the raid. So use them between the two shards you raid heal for. You have to hit them immediately and you might not get all of the benefit, but every little helps on that fight (I start the tank healing and that sucks mana like its going out of fashion).