H.Pally and MW Ability Immunity

[Akaina]

Alrighty so I'm posting this in the pally forum because generally MWers already know what is up when it comes to our Melee Healer status. The classification as Melee Healer is exactly what Mistweavers have been for WoD, it has just been given a new name that is not "monks are op". It takes a bit getting used to being in melee but it makes certain abilities much easier to combat. Ignoring abilities like Dark Conduit on Mythic Archy and being able to cheat Felseeker movement on Manny are only the beginning. Here is a list the MW Garg is putting together for prepatch and Legion. There are a few odd ones not listed like not being debuffed on council unless there is no other option. I don't think that one was intended as melee usually do get debuffed but it has never been changed and I haven't seen anything suggesting it has changed on the current patch. This means you don't really have to worry about reap except for your normal healing duties.

This has generally meant that hanging out in melee is the easier of the two options as ranged tend to have to move to avoid abilities and melee often don't. Allowing us to stay still and cast freely when the rest of the healers have to move is highly advantageous because there are plenty of situations, Killrog for example, where there has to be movement from the ranged while a lot of damage is going out on the raid. This does have exceptions, the thrown swords on Council, the adds' cleave on Killrog, etc, but the advantages usually outweigh the disadvantage of dealing with positioning.

The one major benefit of being ranged is you can at all times see where you are and what is underneath you. Melee? not so much and the fewer hunters the happier you'll be. This is so much the case for Velhari that in the past I built up mana tea and got the heck out of there. Velhari and Zakuun are the only bosses in HFC I stay out for, however. In generaI I would recommend leaving the glowing circle Bliz added around your feet on as it makes it easier to see where you are when spells and a giant boss are blocking your vision of your feet. GTFO helps with this as well of course.

If anyone else has any advice for our new melee healer buddies, feel free to add it. Making the transition is a bit awkward, especially for those who have been healing in ranged for years and years. Pallies and monks both will do extra healing to those close to us when we have all our abilities in legion so constantly being stacked with others will be a further boon to our healing. Don't worry! The pain now will be worth it when we start pushing new bosses =)

Hopefully the list I linked ends up being thorough as legion launches, but never be afraid to ask your fellow monks and pallies about ability immunities. People have generally left MW advice out of guides and there has been a lot of misunderstanding in the wider community about where monks fit in to abilities. Hopefully this will change with two specs now filling this classification but I doubt it.

One last thing to mention: if you are sure you are immune to an ability and the raid is hurt by where your leaders are trying to put you, speak up and explain clearly why it is a better idea to let you follow your spec's role. Usually whispers and your team healing channel is the best place to do this but I leave that up to you knowing your team to know how best to handle it. Taking care of explanations outside of the raid entirely and pointing out specifics during the raid is probably the best option. Melee healers are rare and it is difficult for leaders to keep track of the specifics on every spec in the game. This is not at all their fault but it is our responsibility to help them lead the raid to success.

Happy healing!

[dyeus]

Good link!

To add to that list:

• Iron Reaver - supposedly, being in melee exempts you from being targeted with barrage. I haven't been able to definitely confirm this, but it's been mentioned several times that holy paladins in melee will not be targeted with barrage with another healer standing out.
• Kilrogg - you cannot be targeted by Heart Seekers
• Council - healers never got debuffed unless there was no other option, in range or in melee. It's always been like that /highfive!
• Iskar - Fire will not target you if you're in melee

Going into Legion, my attitude is mainly stay in melee unless I find out I'll blow up the raid so I can't, or it's more advantageous not to. Testing Normal Krosus and Tichondrius tonight, both of those bosses seem ideal to stand in melee and I was never targeted by any mechanic that required me to move out.

Glad to be part of the cool healers club, avoiding mechanics is so much fun!

[Akaina]

That is correct for Iron Reaver. The only time she'll target you is if there are no healers at range. It will happen occasionally if the other healer/s edge a little to close to her huge hit box but even then, standing close makes it a lot easier to move out of her line of attack.

That is good to know on Council. I never read anywhere that healers had priority on not getting it so I always kinda felt like a cheat lol!

[Conosour]

Thanks for the link and info! All this melee healer talk has made me feel super weird! So many years spent at range; it's going to take some getting used to. Information is key I suppose! Thanks again!

[Medx]

Great post! However the Tier 7 talent Beacon of the Lightbringer should you take it, which in my opinion it is one of the better choices in the tier, makes it so you can be melee or ranged depending on where your beacon is placed and still hit the majority of the raid with your mastery bonus.

"Beacon of the Lightbringer causes your Mastery: Lightbringer to increase your healing the closer the target is to either you or your Beacon of Light target, whichever they are closer to. Moreover, Beacon of the Lightbringer passively increases the healing and the range of Light of Dawn by 30%."

This being the only constant passive in tier 7 has the potential to give you the largest healing increase over time. While the others may assist in burst healing, one is a bit random and the other just allows a second beacon for a short time so its not as focused as ensuring an extra ~30% or so to every target you heal

[dyeus]

Great post! However the Tier 7 talent Beacon of the Lightbringer should you take it, which in my opinion it is one of the better choices in the tier, makes it so you can be melee or ranged depending on where your beacon is placed and still hit the majority of the raid with your mastery bonus.

I'm seeing this in a lot of places, BotL is the "default" choice, in no small part due to big name holy paladins pushing it. However, I'm finding a lot of use with it in HFC especially with our tier bonuses increasing beacon healing. Not only that, but top parses in HFC in pre-patch are using BoF in lieu of BotL.

It's good that this point is brought up in this thread too. The way I currently view it:

Beacon of Faith (BoF):
PRO:

• Heals both tanks
• Save mana by having reduced mana costs anytime I direct heal a tank
• Being in melee means we avoid many of boss mechanics

CON:

• Mastery practically makes us be in melee
• Reduced effective range healing
• Reduced beacon transfer

BotL (BotL):
PRO:

• Can heal ranged/melee with equal effectiveness if standing at range

CON:

• If standing in melee to avoid boss mechanics with beacon on tanks, this talent is essentially wasted.
• Only 1 beacon to put on a tank

The more I play with it, the more that Con of BotL stands out: if my goal is to avoid boss mechanics by standing in melee, it's a complete waste to talent into BotL while also keeping the beacon on the tank. In any of those situations, I'd always do more healing if I had BoF instead. So it might come down to whether or not it's possible or desirable to stand in melee: if I can, use BoF; if I can't, use BotL.

Another consideration worth mentioning, but I'm not sure how much emphasis to put on it, is the reduced ranged healing with BoF+standing in melee. At the moment, I'm generally fine with ceding that responsibility to other healers who are not penalized by range issues and if ranged are dying because of insufficient healing, I'm not sure how much responsibility that should be to the holy paladin among all the healers in the raid.

This being the only constant passive in tier 7 has the potential to give you the largest healing increase over time. While the others may assist in burst healing, one is a bit random and the other just allows a second beacon for a short time so its not as focused as ensuring an extra ~30% or so to every target you heal

The consensus I've seen for Beacon of Virtue is that it's amazing for dungeons, but too mana-intensive for raids. As DPS gear up and fights shorten, it might be interesting to keep an eye on it. Think about it like this: every 15 seconds, you're able to do a ton on of healing to 4 people for 8 seconds (essentially topping all 4 people off) for the trade-off of losing a permanent beacon.

[Medx]

Beacon of Faith (BoF):
PRO:

• Heals both tanks
• Save mana by having reduced mana costs anytime I direct heal a tank
• Being in melee means we avoid many of boss mechanics

CON:

• Mastery practically makes us be in melee
• Reduced effective range healing

Keep in mind BoF also reduced the beacon heal to 20% from 40%. As a holy paladin you'll likely be assigned to healing MT or OT so while both targets will get a beacon heal if either are the target of your heal it will not receive the beacon heal and the other will . Otherwise I feel like you would be missing out. The only benefit then will be 30% return on mana for FoL and HL spells.

Also BotL might end up being a go to for council fights when you have tanks/groups split to extend the reach of your mastery bonus

[dyeus]

Oops! Good point, corrected my post, thanks.

Also, good point on Council fights. It's a good thing to consider boss-by-boss.