Raiding
I claimed that my talent build is extremely effective in all arenas. First and foremost, raiding Onyxia, Molten Core, etc. My talent build gives you two raid buffs (Improved Blessing of Wisdom and Blessing of Sanctuary), which are useful to help the raid. You have improved healing, free critical heals, and improved mana. All this amounts to more heals and bigger heals, which results in a happier and more survivable group.
I almost exclusively use Seal of Wisdom. Often I am not hitting mobs, particularly on Molten Core boss pulls, so I’m not using any seal. On trash mobs, etc. I use Seal of Wisdom to keep my mana regeneration as high as possible. There’s really no point in trying to do damage, in my opinion. I keep DPS classes alive so they can do the damage for me.
I usually dish out Blessing of Light to Rogues and Warriors and Blessing of Wisdom to classes with mana. I give Warriors that are not my responsibility to heal Blessing of Sanctuary. I sometimes also give Warlocks Blessing of Light, depending on their tendency and frequency of using Life Tap.
Group PvP
I see skilled, organized group PvP as almost identical to PvE raiding, except Warriors are not able to manage threat. Therefore, the weaker targets are more likely to be targeted (Mages, Priests, Rogues). It is my responsibility in group PvP to keep them alive. Again, my DPS is negligible compared to the value of keeping DPS classes alive. In group PvP I very often use Seal of Wisdom (you’ll find this a common theme) to regenerate mana. Otherwise, I’m usually healing, cleansing, stunning, etc.
My shield, high armor, and Redoubt allow me to take a ton of damage in these situations.
Class-by-Class Duels
Preface this section to say that duels do not necessarily reflect “real PvP” and that you’re unlikely to find a one-against-one fight in the game world, particularly on fair ground. Nevertheless, this is a common practice among players, including myself, and I believe it helps build skill and tactics.
A common theme in all these strategies, which the Holy talents I have allow, is survivability and outlasting the enemy. My talent build does not in any way result in quick or easy wins. They are usually long and strenuous. On the other hand, a win is almost assured.
Rogues
Judge rogues with Seal of Crusader and use Seal of Righteousness to start out the fight. Against rogues the choice of blessing is up to you. I have successfully used Wisdom, Sanctuary, and Might. You may wish to start with Might or Sanctuary, then switch to Wisdom after your first mana costing heal. After the initial stun-lock is over, cast Holy Shield. Depending on the Rogue you’re fighting, you may or may not want to use Holy Shield often (it has a fairly high mana cost). If you don’t want to have it up all the time, try to time the cast when Redoubt fires. Note that abilities like Gouge can be blocked by shields.
Once your health is at a certain point, stun the rogue and do a divine favor heal. At this point the rogue is probably fairly low health as well. If you have a damage over time trinket (Lower Blackrock Spire and Sunken Temple) cast it near them so that they can’t bandage or stealth after blinding you.
Shamans
From what I can tell, this is an extremely easy and straightforward fight. Shamans will immediately purge your buffs. Don’t bother recasting them. Keep a rank one seal (Seal of Righteousness or Seal of Crusader) on your hot bar and use this against them. These cost 20-25 mana to recast, whereas purge is far more. If the Shaman catches on to you and stops purging, switch to a real seal and cast Blessing of Wisdom on yourself.
From what I can tell, Shamans that use the melee with shield and earth shock tactic are extremely easy. They do little damage to you and your mana should outlast them. Remember to always heal early or you could find their burst DPS puts you in a jam.
Shamans also try to use frost shock to kite and run around, etc. This spell costs a lot of mana and further removes their ability to interrupt your heals. All shocks are on the same timer (6 second cool down, 5 seconds with talents). This means that after they use frost shock on you, you can freely heal yourself. Again, your mana should outlast theirs.
Many Shamans don’t bother using totems. If they do, just kill the totems. They take one hit to die.
Mages
This is an amusing fight. Put on Fire or Frost aura, depending on what mage you’re fighting (if you don’t know, switch mid-fight once you realize their emphasis). Switch to a two-handed weapon if you prefer. I still use my shield and one-handed weapon for the stats and because my damage output just doesn’t matter.
Lately I’ve been opening with Blessing of Light against mages. Otherwise I would use Blessing of Wisdom. If you sense that they’re about to polymorph you to bandage or evocate, throw on Blessing of Wisdom quickly so that you regenerate mana while polymorphed.
The mage will likely polymorph you at the start and then cast a big spell. Combustion pyroblast or frostbolt. Once you’re hit, start healing. With Blessing of Light on I heal at first using Flash Heal against mages. It’s harder for them to counter-spell Flash Heal, it heals you quickly, and is extremely mana efficient. It also allows you to heal yourself earlier. I usually chase the mage around with Seal of Wisdom on, healing whenever necessary. If, for whatever reason, your health gets low, stun the mage and go for a divine favor Holy Light heal. If the mage recently blinked, you will get this heal off for sure. Otherwise, the mage has to be extremely quick to blink out of the stun and counter-spell you. If you ever fear that you could die after being counter-spelled and nuked, throw on your shield before healing (this shouldn’t happen if you’re doing this strategy right).
Basically you run down the mage’s mana. They run out, while you’re still full mana and health. Then you bludgeon them with your club, sword, axe, etc.
As in the Rogue example, if you think the mage will polymorph you to evocate or bandage or drink, etc. cast a DOT trinket on them to prevent some of these.
Warriors
This is pretty straight forward. Just don’t get too $!$%y. Don’t let your health get low, Warriors can have good burst DPS, silencing, and mortal strike. Otherwise this is a breeze with any build. Whack away with any weapons, spells, seals, or blessings that you please.
Hunters
Previously one of the most difficult fights for me, now one of the easiest. Again
use Blessing of Wisdom and Seal of Wisdom (or Seal of Righteousness if you’refull mana). In my opinion, this is the match up where the armor and shield really shine. Hunters do very little damage to me and with practice I can now usually end the duel full mana and health.
At the start you’re likely to get trapped. The hunter will then probably aim shot you and then Vyper Sting you. This is the key to winning this fight. You must learn to recognize the Vyper Sting shot in the air and cleanse it fast. If you don’t have a self-cast UI mod (Cosmos, etc.) you should get one. I keep one finger on the Cleanse button at all time against hunters. From here, you basically chase the hunter around with Seal of Wisdom and Blessing of Wisdom. If they Wingclip you, use Blessing of Freedom. Once it runs out, recast Blessing of Wisdom. Once your health gets to about half, stun the hunter, critically heal yourself for no mana. Repeat this process.
Even with extreme abuse (scatter shot, feign death, new trap, eat/drink) hunters can’t win.
Paladins
Don’t bother dueling them, you can’t win, or lose. It will just go on forever if they have any skill and you will waste your time.
Druids
Do what any Paladin does. Just keep your mana regeneration high and you can’t lose.
Priests
Keeping your mana buffs up here is extremely important. This is the only match up where you’re at a disadvantage. Nevertheless I’ve been able to beat most priests I’ve gone up against. They mana burn all my mana away and I regenerate it back. There are a lot of tricks to use in this match up, however, and they make a difference. I like to use my Divine Shield to break fear, especially during a mana burn cast. If your health is down some, cast a divine favor heal while you still have mana to cast it with.
If the Priest is trying to mana burn you while you’re hitting him, try to run behind him as the cast goes off, so he gets an error. You can also stun him during the cast.
Because Priests generally have high spirit, and their Fear has almost no mana cost, this match up usually ends in a draw for me.
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