Class Overview for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King
Wrath of the Lich King is when Holy Paladins really come into their own, becoming a meta-defining powerhouse of a spec that excels in both PvE and PvP. In original Wrath of the Lich King, Paladins underwent a major overhaul of their systems to add a little more complexity and depth to each of the specs, and Holy Paladin is one of the biggest recipients of a "buff" in that regard. Though a lot of the spells function similarly to the TBC counterparts, additions of some maintenance buffs and an overall increased skill ceiling means that skill expression is at the forefront of this spec in WotLK.
As a result, it means Holy Paladins are a core staple of PvE healing rosters, and a meta-defining S-tier healer in PvP. It will be virtually impossible to find a raid roster without a Holy Paladin and in 25-mans, even 2 are not going to be an uncommon sight. Suffice it to say, Holy Paladins are in a great spot in Wrath Classic and truly do well whether it's in dungeons, raids, battlegrounds, and Arenas. Class Changes for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King
The Paladin class received a major overhaul in Wrath of the Lich King, mostly to streamline play and broaden its skill expression in some missing avenues. Despite the major removal of downranking and another nerf to Illumination, Holy Paladin in Wrath Classic is one of the specs that is affected the least from mana problems as it has a slew of powerful new ways to manage and regain it. Additionally, through Beacon of Light Holy Paladins now gain a tremendous amount of flexibility and additional throughput that was lacking in the past. Class Changes for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King
The Paladin class received a major overhaul in Wrath of the Lich King, mostly to streamline play and broaden its skill expression in some missing avenues. Despite the major removal of downranking and another nerf to Illumination, Holy Paladin in Wrath Classic is one of the specs that is affected the least from mana problems as it has a slew of powerful new ways to manage and regain it. Additionally, through Beacon of Light Holy Paladins now gain a tremendous amount of flexibility and additional throughput that was lacking in the past.
Changes to existing abilities & talents
Avenging Wrath—Now increases healing caused by 20% for 20 seconds. This is great for high damage phases or when playing catch-up.
Forbearance—The duration has doubled to 120 seconds up from 60 seconds.
Divine Protection—Now a 50% damage reduction cooldown.
Seal of Wisdom—Changed from a fixed amount to a percentage.
Holy Shock—Now a 6 second cooldown, down from 15.
Illumination—Reduced to 30% mana return, down from 60%.
Spiritual Attunement—Removed as a baseline passive and changed to a deep Protection talent.
Blessing of Kings—No longer a Protection talent but a baseline spell for all Paladins.
Lay on Hands—No longer costs mana.
Certain utility Blessings have been changed into "Hand" spells, which means you will no longer have to re-Bless targets after you use them. The "new" Hand spells are Hand of Protection, Hand of Freedom, Hand of Sacrifice, and Hand of Salvation.
Downranking spells is no longer a good idea as every spell costs a percentage of mana regardless of spell rank, rather than a fixed amount.
Seals are no longer a 30 second temporary buff that get consumed by Judgement, and instead are 30 minute enhancements which give Judgements additional effects.
Judgement has been broken up into three spells: Judgement of Wisdom, Judgement of Light, and Judgement of Justice. For PvE you will be primarily using Light and Wisdom.
As you can see from this list, the Paladin class received a major overhaul in Wrath of the Lich King, generally in terms of quality of life buffs as well as direct buffs to specific abilities. Despite the major removal of downranking and another nerf to Illumination, Holy Paladin in Wrath Classic is one of the specs that is affected the least from mana problems as it has a slew of powerful new ways to manage and regain it.
New abilities & talents
Beacon of Light—As with most specs' WotLK capstone talents, this is a major play defining ability. You'll change your preferred heal target entirely on most fights to play around Beacon..
Divine Plea—This is THE mana regeneration ability for Holy Paladin in WotLK and the main thing you'll be playing around all the time to manage mana now, instead of downranking.
Sacred Shield—By far your most efficient heal, this essentially gives tanks a constant Power Word: Shield-style effect for a whole minute.
Divine Sacrifice/ Divine Guardian—One of the only true raid cooldowns available in WotLK, this is extremely flexible and a powerfully unique cooldown to Paladins.
Aura Mastery—Increases your active aura's effect by 100%. For example, Frost Resistance Aura would give 260 Frost resistance for 6 seconds before going back down to the original 130. A little more niche, but still a good "free" raid cooldown at times.
Infusion of Light—This significantly helps Holy Paladin mobility when healing and makes Holy Shock even nicer when you do have to use it.
Judgements of the Pure—A major free 15% haste buff that you'll keep up at all times.
The playstyle of Holy Paladin in Wrath Classic changes rather dramatically from TBC; the biggest change is that it essentially adds several buffs to manage, namely Beacon of Light, Sacred Shield, and Judgements of the Pure. After that, it's the same gameplay as always - but with an emphasis on active mana management via Divine Plea and Seal of Wisdom. While downranking may have been removed, this "active" decisionmaking component to Holy Paladin mana regeneration means that there's still a large skill ceiling to managing mana in WotLK.
Class Viability for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King
It's no secret that Holy Paladins are the strongest healer in Wrath of the Lich King, and a variety of new Classic discoveries and optimized metas pushes it even more into the spotlight. The spec excels in both PvP and PvE, considered top tier and meta-defining in both avenues. In PvE, the spec brings the most consistent, powerful tank healing, while also bringing a bevy of unique raid cooldowns that other healers lack. In PvP, it's an extremely resilient healer that's nigh-impossible to kill, while also nearly impossible to make run OOM while they pump incredible healing output.
Aside from their raw healing, Holy Paladins bring the usual utility they're known for. Blessings are mostly the same as they were in WotLK; there's three major changes made to the list. The first is that Blessing of Kings was made baseline to all Paladins and no longer as a talent, while the second is that Blessing of Salvation as you knew it is no more - instead, tanks all got a built-in increased threat modifier. This means that there are only three raid Blessings to worry about in practice, Blessing of Kings, Blessing of Wisdom, and Blessing of Might. Protection Paladins additionally spec into Blessing of Sanctuary, but its value is rather niche as the increased stats don't stack with Kings.
Some of the utility Blessings were changed into a category of spells called "Hands", which no longer overwrite Blessings. These are Hand of Freedom, Hand of Protection, Hand of Sacrifice, and Hand of Salvation, which mostly all work the same as they did in the past but now you can cast them a lot more freely and no longer have to worry about re-Blessing targets. Due to this and the raid utility they bring with their other cooldowns, Holy Paladins will be extremely high in demand in Wrath of the Lich King Classic, and a good one will stand head and shoulders over an average one.
Class Mechanics for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King
Healing
The primary heals you'll be using throughout WotLK are still the same three you've known throughout TBC, of Holy Shock, Flash of Light, and Holy Light. However, there are a few buffs to manage that significantly increase the effectiveness of these heals. For those new to Holy Paladin, Holy Light is your main staple heal that casts somewhat slowly and heals for a lot, while also costing a fair bit of mana. Flash of Light is your cheap, fast heal that heals for very little but can be used during low damage phases or to conserve mana. Lastly, Holy Shock sees a major buff in WotLK in both cooldown and healing done, making it an excellent heal to use when you're on the move or need to heal someone instantly. Crits from Holy Shock give you the Infusion of Light effect, causing your next Flash of Light to become instant or your next Holy Light to have a 20% increased crit chance.
While these are your main heals, you have two key buffs to maintain: Beacon of Light and Judgements of the Pure. At level 80, you will also gain Sacred Shield to maintain. All three of these buffs last 1 minute, so refreshing them is very lenient, though it's important to keep in mind the high mana cost of Beacon of Light. Beacon of Light allows you to heal other targets than your Beacon (who will generally be the tank), meaning Holy Paladin finally has some form of "AoE" healing. Judgements of the Pure gives you a whopping 15% Haste for free, and Sacred Shield is a very powerful heal that will constantly shield a tank it's on.
When starting a fight, you will want to precast Beacon of Light and Sacred Shield on a target, ideally the main tank or a similar target who will be taking large amounts of consistent damage throughout the fight. On pull, you will want to cast one of your Judgements to gain the Judgements of the Pure buff. Afterwards, you will launch into your regular healing spells as normal; gauge the situation and your mana to see if Holy Light is good to cast.
Lastly, at level 71, you will unlock Divine Plea, which adds another level of complexity as you'll need to constantly plan ahead and watch your mana and the cooldown to manage your throughput and mana consumption accordingly.
Healing Effects and Useful Cooldowns
One of the changes with Wrath Classic is that Avenging Wrath grants an increase to the Holy Paladins healing by 20% for 20 seconds on a 3 minute cooldown. This is a helpful cooldown to manage around high damage phases when extra healing needs to happen. Divine Illumination remains a strong cooldown to help with mana consumption, reducing the mana cost of all spells by 50% for 15 seconds with a 3 minute cooldown. Divine Plea is an amazing cooldown, returning 25% of your total mana over 15 seconds with the caveat of your healing output reduced by 50% while it is active. This is best saved during lower damage phases and will vary based on fights.
Seal of Wisdom coupled with Glyph of Seal of Wisdom reduces the cost of your healing spells by 5% so long as your seal is active.
Defensive Cooldowns
Holy Paladins have always been known for strong buffs and defensive cooldowns. There is no shortage in Wrath Classic as this continues to be the trend.
Divine Guardian (the improved version of Divine Sacrifice) is an amazing raid cooldown, reducing damage taken by 20% for all party and raid members within 30 yards. This is incredibly useful in high damage AoE phases or if the tank needs a little extra survivability help. This also augments your Sacred Shield, increasing its duration from 30 seconds to 1 minute and increasing the amount absorbed by 20%.
Divine Shield, also known as bubble, is your immunity spell. Using this to survive a mechanic or ignore specific dangers to safely heal your raid is a great cooldown to have in your back pocket. Divine Protection is another handy damage reduction ability for the Holy Paladin, reducing all damage taken by 50% for 12 seconds, though it is important to note the limitations with Forbearance, being unable to have another immunity ability used for 2 minutes as well as being unable to use Avenging Wrath for 30 seconds either before or after these defensive cooldowns and vice versa.
Aura Mastery is an amazing 6 second buff to your auras, increasing their effectiveness by 100%. For example, Frost Resistance Aura would give 260 Frost resistance for 6 seconds before going back down to the original 130.
Hands
Hands are helpful buffs that can be used for varying situations, but only one Hand per paladin per player may be active at a time.
Hand of Freedom: replaces Blessing of Freedom. Grants immunity to movement impairing effects for 10 seconds (up to 14 seconds when talented with Guardian's Favor).
Hand of Protection: replaces Blessing of Protection. Gives a targeted ally member immunity from physical attacks for 10 seconds with a 5 minute cooldown (reduced to a 3 minute cooldown when talented with Guardian's Favor).
Hand of Sacrifice: replaces Blessing of Sacrifice. When placed on a party of raid member, this Hands transfers 30% damage taken to the Paladin, lasting either 12 seconds or until the caster has transferred 100% of their maximum health.
Hand of Salvation replaces Blessing of Salvation. When placed on a party or raid member, reduces their total threat by 2% every 1 second for 10 seconds.
Strengths & Weaknesses for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King
Strengths
Extremely strong tank healer with added area of effect healing through Beacon of Light and Glyph of Holy Light
A large amount of buffs and unique defensive cooldowns, like Divine Guardian and Hand of Salvation
High demand class which will be sought after for the entire expansion
Weaknesses
Lack of mobility
Not a very large healing kit, with Holy Light being the main focus
Because of the strength of not just the Holy spec but the Paladin class a whole, there will be a lot of Paladins
Human is the clear winner for PvP for Alliance, but for PvE, it's much fuzzier and all three options are viable; in general we advise picking whichever one you like the appearances of the most. Horde only has one option for Paladin, but its racial is quite powerful for Holy. The following section has a few things to consider if trying to decide on an Alliance race.
Alliance
For Alliance, the decision is between Human, Dwarf, and Draenei.
Humans have Will to Survive which is a PvP trinket without taking up a slot; it is very useful having it as an option to get out of a potentially threatening situation. It's essentially considered PvP BiS, as this lets you wear a second, more powerful trinket instead of the PvP trinket in that slot. With Wrath of the Lich King, Perception becomes a passive rather than an active and provides a small edge against Rogues and Feral Druids, though this is fairly minor as neither of these specs are particularly worrying to Holy Paladin.
Due to Paladins not having any talents to regenerate mana in combat, The Human Spirit effectively does nothing. Diplomacy can be helpful when first getting reputations up, but it will have a falling off naturally.
Lastly, Sword Specialization and Mace Specialization are surprisingly useful as Holy Paladins want to melee in Wrath of the Lich King Classic. This slightly increases the chances to hit when in melee range to try and get Seal of Wisdom procs.
The racials that Dwarves have that concern Holy Paladin in Wrath of the Lich King Classic are Frost Resistance, Stoneform, and Mace Specialization. Due to the frozen setting of WotLK, Frost Resistance is surprisingly relevant quite often, though a very minor benefit. Stoneform provides a unique Bleed removal that normally doesn't exist, as well as an armor buff, but this is of very little use to Holy Paladins. Mace Specialization is a slightly improved version of the Human racial, and as maces tend to be healing weapons, this is generally a slightly better version of the Human racials.
The primary benefit of Draenei is Heroic Presence which is a great party-wide buff granting 1% melee and spell hit. This is fairly decent as a support class, though again quite minor. Unfortunately, Gift of the Naaru does not transfer through Beacon of Light as well as having a very weak healing coefficient; the only boon is that it's off the GCD, meaning that it's effectively free, but basically irrelevant healing. Gemcutting is a minor boon for those that decide to go Jewelcrafting, which will likely be a majority of Paladins.
Horde
For Horde, the only option is to be a Blood Elf. Arcane Torrent is your only real relevant extra ability, but an AoE silence is a utility that no other class shares and is a major boon to the Paladin class, which has no interrupts or silences otherwise. It also regenerates 6% of your MAXIMUM mana when used and is off the GCD, meaning it returns a surprisingly significant amount of mana for Holy Paladin especially in later tiers.
Best Professions for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King
Engineering
One of the Paladin class's biggest weaknesses in Wrath of the Lich King is a lack of on-demand mobility, and that's the biggest thing that Engineering shores up for every spec via the Nitro Boosts boot enchant. While on occasion you will prefer a consistent amount of movespeed instead, this enchant on your primary pair of boots is an invaluable option that can essentially be considered as gaining a wholly new ability, an effect that no other profession offers.
That's not where the bonuses stop. Hyperspeed Accelerators is your go-to glove enchant and acts as a mini-healing cooldown that will come in handy constantly. Lastly, Engineering has its usual bevy of bombs, with Global Thermal Sapper Charge, Saronite Bomb, and Arcane Bomb.
Jewelcrafting
Jewelcrafting's boons are twofold: first, only a few professions offer bonuses to Intellect and/or Haste, and Jewelcrafting is one of them. You'll be able to replace three of your regular gems with Brilliant Dragon's Eye or Quick Dragon's Eye, which is a significant buff over the standard gems.
Secondly, you will get a very cheap, very powerful trinket in Figurine - Sapphire Owl. Despite the low item level and rather unassuming stats of the item, this trinket is deceptively powerful and essentially makes it into your regular rotation of trinkets from hitting 80 all the way up to Trial of the Crusader in T9 (or even through T9 if you're unlucky with a trinket drop in T8). Without this trinket, you are significantly more hampered for options in the trinket slots in WotLK, especially if you do not have the gold to purchase Darkmoon Card: Greatness. In Wrath of the Lich King Classic, Holy Paladins gain a lot of power and utility from their talents but in return, the spec becomes a lot more inflexible as Divine Guardian requires a deep Prot subspec and nothing really compares to the power of this raid cooldown (which also simultaneously buffs your best heal!). Similarly, while all of the glyphs are very powerful, only one flex slot exists as two glyphs are just way stronger than everything else.
That being said, having more than 1 Holy Paladin in your raid opens up some spec options that let you get more flexibility and utility, particularly through your Hands and Auras.
This is the standard talent build that you'll generally run for all PvE content as a Holy Paladin. It offers the best supporting talents as well as major raid utility/DPS bonuses through Aura Mastery, Improved Blessing of Wisdom, Divine Sacrifice/Divine Guardian, and Improved Devotion Aura.
However, do note that if you are running another two or more Holy Paladins in your raid, only one needs to be running Improved Blessing of Wisdom or Improved Devotion Aura as none of these benefits overlap. However, they should still all run Divine Guardian.
The two points in Improved Blessing of Wisdom can be moved into any mix of 2/2 Improved Lay on Hands, Blessed Hands, or Improved Concentration Aura.
The three points in Improved Devotion Aura can be moved into Benediction or any of the above.
You will always want to run Glyph of Holy Light and Glyph of Seal of Wisdom. The third slot is flexible; Glyph of Beacon of Light and Glyph of Divinity are both okay, generally favoring Glyph of Beacon of Light as Glyph of Divinity's full value requires you to use Lay on Hands on yourself for mana (giving up an important clutch heal) and ideally have 2/2 Improved Lay on Hands. If you aren't making efficient use of either glyph, such as on a fight where you have to swap Beacon of Light a lot, you could use Glyph of Flash of Light.
Holy Paladin has a strange exception with minor glyphs, which normally are meant to be QoL or noncombat additions. Glyph of Lay on Hands is so powerful that it is essentially mandatory, while Glyph of Sense Undead is a small but essentially completely free benefit against a significant portion of raid encounters in WotLK, particularly in Naxxramas, Trial of the Crusader, and Icecrown Citadel.
Talents for Holy Paladin Healers in Wrath of the Lich King
Holy Tree Talents
The defining WotLK talent for Holy Paladins. Note that it only transfers Holy Light, Flash of Light, and Holy Shock direct healing only; that is to say, healing from Glyph of Holy Light or the HoT healing from FoL Infusion of Light does not transfer.
This is one of your primary non-healing related utility talents that you need to progress down the tree, with priority over the other utility talents in the same area. The main reason it's the default is because it gives the highest raid DPS within the 3 other talents that compete with it.
Just like in TBC, the damage reduction from this talent is extremely good on tanks. Due to the minor glyph affecting the cooldown as well, 2 points in this talent drops Lay on Hands's cooldown to 11 minutes. That being said, the long cooldown even after 2 points makes this talent a nice treat if you have it but not at all necessary to prioritize.
This talent affects Hand of Sacrifice ADDITIVELY (35/40%) and affects Hand of Salvation MULTIPLICATIVELY (3/4% per second). Hand of Sacrifice still turns off once it's transferred 100% of your hp, so it's possible for the talent to actually have 0 total additional damage reduction for Hand of Sacrifice.
Most of the value of this talent is in increasing the effect of the aura, rather than the silence/interrupt portion. The vast majority of casters have full pushback resistance with regular Concentration Aura, so the real value of this talent is quite low.
Protection Tree Talents
Divine Sacrifice Divine Guardian
This is an extremely powerful raid cooldown - particularly because raid damage reduction cooldowns don't really exist in WotLK, making Divine Guardian almost a class of its own. The fact that it additionally buffs Sacred Shield to a full minute duration makes these talents non-negotiable - you ALWAYS take them. Generally, it's advised to cancelaura the Divine Sacrifice buff as it can batch and leapfrog the 20% hp break to kill you, OR use Divine Shield to mitigate the Sacrifice damage.
The standard Protection Paladin spec doesn't take this talent, so generally it is up to the Holy Paladin to take it. Despite the healing bonus not stacking with other healing bonuses of that type (Tree of Life), the increased armor is unique and also a minor raid DPS gain due to Armored to the Teeth and Bladed Armor.
Righteous Fury counts as part of a unique “tank stance” mechanic, where it has an extra 43% threat modifier. In total, with Righteous Fury activated, you will generate 0.6435 threat per point of effective healing, slightly higher than the average healer (0.5 threat per healing). There is therefore a little bit of risk involved in using this at times, and you will have to deactivate it in certain scenarios (add spawns for instance). However, in general, as the expansion continues there are a lot of unavoidable raid AoE abilities that you are just getting 6% free DR for. In other words, this talent is a no-brainer - always take it, even if you are too afraid to use RF sometimes.
Retribution Tree Talents
This is the only talent you can access in Retribution, and only 3/5, if you do not need to take Improved Devotion Aura. It's a decent talent, but nothing special.
Glyphs for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King
Major Glyphs
Not only is Holy Light your strongest heal already, this glyph essentially multiplies its healing by up to 50%. Not only that, it's the main reason that trinkets like Soul Preserver and Eye of Gruul are THE MOST powerful for Holy Paladins, as it's a constant reliable heal on many targets at once that creates eligible heals for the trinket procs. However, the healing done from this glyph does NOT transfer through Beacon of Light, and its fairly limited range means that you won't always see good returns from it.
It's well known that mana is the only constraint for a Holy Paladin, and this is a big part of reducing that strain. Due to the insane 4% maximum mana return that you get whenever you get a proc by meleeing, you'll always want to have Seal of Wisdom active anyway; this just makes it even better.
Beacon of Light is of course the defining spell for Holy Paladins in Wrath of the Lich King, but it's also very expensive to refresh. This glyph effectively reduces the cost of Beacon of Light by up to 33%, but only in specific circumstances/fight lengths - therefore, while it's GENERALLY good, it's not always good or even useful. That being said, in an average scenario it saves you some GCDs and a lot of mana.
The main drawback of this glyph is that for maximum benefit, you'll want to cast Lay on Hands on yourself or another mana-limited healer. This gives up an important clutch heal and puts Forbearance on yourself, which can be very nasty in some scenarios. That being said, if you're in a very mana-tight fight where you really need to eke out all mana gains, and Glyph of Beacon of Light is not applicable, this is a very powerful option, returning 7800 mana in total if self-cast.
Just like in the Burning Crusade, Flash of Light is a weak spell that doesn't heal for a lot, though it's extremely cheap. This is a last resort glyph that you should only use if you somehow find yourself in a situation where neither Glyph of Beacon of Light nor Glyph of Divinity is of any use.
Minor Glyphs
Unlike most other classes' minor glyphs, this one is absolutely massive for Holy Paladins and is a must-have.
While Holy Paladin damage is so low as to be negligible, you will be Judging and meleeing occasionally so this has a minor, free benefit. Best Gems for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King
Meta Gem: Insightful Earthsiege Diamond
Insightful Earthsiege Diamond is the best sustain option by far and is very easy to hit. There just isn't a better choice in WotLK. It'll have a rough value of 60-80 MP5, so you really want to make sure you have a meta gem socket available ASAP.
For the meta gem requirement, it's highly advised to use 1 orange and 1 green gem for the meta requirements, as it's an overall higher stat value than using a Enchanted Tear.
Yellow Sockets:
Standard: Brilliant Autumn's Glow
Throughput: Quick Autumn's Glow
Jewelcrafter-only: Brilliant Dragon's Eye or Quick Dragon's Eye (requires Jewelcrafting, max of 3)
Unique-Equipped: Brilliant Stormjewel
These will be the vast majority of your gems, and you should ignore socket bonuses to gem yellows. The vast majority of Holy Paladins will be best served by using Intellect gems; however, if you're in a high-tier guild or speedrunning you may consider Haste gems as the throughput value is much higher than for Intellect.
New to Phase 2, Brilliant Stormjewel is a Unique-Equipped gem that has epic-gem levels of stats. Put one in a piece of gear that you're least likely to replace, and will always have equipped.
Blue: Dazzling Forest Emerald
You will want to use only one of each orange and green gem for the meta gem requirements, in your best possible socket bonuses; in all other cases, you will ignore socket bonuses and gem Brilliant Autumn's Glow everywhere. Enchanted Tear is not really a viable option for the meta gem requirement as using an orange and a green gem will lead to an overall higher total stat value.
You'll want to look to fulfill good socket bonuses in non-yellow sockets when using these gems. In general, you will prefer Int or Haste bonuses, but if a spellpower bonus is very high (such as in helm) it is generally worth it over those two options.
Best Enchants for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King
Having all the proper enchantments on your armor and weapons is very important to maximize your performance in raid. The additional raw intellect and haste that is gained from gear will make a significant difference.
Head Enchant: Arcanum of Blissful Mending = Arcanum of Burning Mysteries
The stat value for Crit and MP5 are extremely close here, to the point where they're both essentially equal with slight edges to both. Crit adds a small amount of variance and throughput, while MP5 is a very steady option that is independent of how much you're casting.
Shoulder Enchant: Greater Inscription of the Crag = Greater Inscription of the Storm
As with the Arcanums, the stat values are quite equal here.
If you have Inscription, you can use Master's Inscription of the Crag or Master's Inscription of the Storm instead, which are profession-specific. This is the main reason why it's one of the worst professions for Holy Paladin; spellpower is a very weak stat, and this is the only thing you get out of it in terms of raiding stat bonuses.
Cloak Enchant: Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed OR Darkglow Embroidery (requires Tailoring)
Darkglow Embroidery is a surprisingly viable option that provides around to 40 to 42 mp5, but is a profession-only benefit.
If you don't have Tailoring, you will go with Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed.
Chest Enchant: Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats
Intellect is great, and this ends up being your best sustain option as well.
Belt Enchant: Eternal Belt Buckle and Frag Belt (requires Engineering)
Eternal Belt Buckle is a BoE Blacksmithing item that lets you add an extra prismatic gem socket to your gear.
If you have Engineering, you can additionally enchant Frag Belt, which stacks with the socket "enchant." However, the bomb it throws is worse than either Global Thermal Sapper Charge or Saronite Bomb, so you can consider this very optional.
Bracer Enchant: Enchant Bracers - Exceptional Intellect and Socket Bracer (requires Blacksmithing)
Enchant Bracers - Exceptional Intellect is your go-to option for this slot.
If you have Leatherworking, a high-throughput option is Fur Lining - Spell Power, another profession-only enchant replacement for this slot. However, be aware that it's a lesser sustain option and overall the profession is highly discouraged as it doesn't give additional haste or intellect.
Socket Bracer is one of the two Blacksmithing-only perks.
Gloves Enchant: Hyperspeed Accelerators (requires Engineering) > Enchant Gloves - Exceptional Spellpower. Socket Gloves (requires Blacksmithing)
You will want to have Hyperspeed Accelerators as it is a small throughput cooldown that competes with an otherwise very sub-par enchant. You will never haste cap Holy Light, so additional haste is always very powerful. If you don't have Engineering, you'll have to settle for the SP enchant.
Socket Gloves is the other one of the two Blacksmithing-only perks.
Legs Enchant: Sapphire Spellthread
The other enchant option gives Spirit instead of Stamina, and Spirit does nothing for Holy Paladins in WotLK.
Boots Enchant: Nitro Boosts (requires Engineering) or Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality
One of Paladin's biggest weaknesses in WotLK is a lack of on-demand mobility, which Nitro Boosts helps significantly. On certain fights with lots of continuous movement, however, you may prefer to have the consistent movespeed increase of Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality.
Primarily you'll want to use Nitro Boosts, but always keep an eye out for a second pair of uncontested boots that you can put Tuskarr's Vitality on for fights like Yogg-Saron, which have lots of continuous small movement.
Weapon Enchant: Enchant Weapon - Major Intellect
Since spellpower is just a fairly weak stat, the TBC Int enchant is just the winner here in all cases. Despite the stat values being very similar, Int pulls ahead on any fight with downtime between casts and in general, sustain is what you're concerned with as a Holy Paladin.
Shield Enchant: Enchant Shield - Greater Intellect
Generally, shields will be much higher value (as well as significantly less contested) than offhands, largely due to this enchant.
Ring Enchant: Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower (requires Enchanting)
As in TBC, this requires Enchanting and is a self-only enchant. As with LW and Inscription, this is a discouraged profession option. Valuable Raid Buffs for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King
Ideal Raid Members
Raid Members Cooldowns
Druid - Revitalize & Innervate
Generally speaking, most raid groups will use Bloodlust to maximize DPS, which will often mean that it has very little effect on healing.
Although we are not guaranteed to get one, Mana Tide Totem restores a fair bit more mana than a regular mana potion; close to 7k in T7 BiS. Innervate regenerates even more than that but as it's based on the base mana of the druid, the static 7866 mana gain will be surpassed by Mana Tide very quickly.
As Hymn of Hope can change targets every tick, it's a very unreliable source of mana. However, whenever possible you will want to try and time Divine Plea with it as even getting a single tick of Hymn increases your maximum mana pool for a short period of time.
Power Infusion and Focus Magic are typically used on DPS, so they're just listed for the sake of completion.
Raid Buffs
144 Spell Power - Totem of Wrath, Flametongue Totem, Demonic Pact
5% Spell Haste - Wrath of Air Totem
3% Spell Haste - Swift Retribution, Improved Moonkin Form
5% Spell Crit Chance - Moonkin Aura, Elemental Oath
60 Intellect - Arcane Intellect, Fel Intelligence
80 Spirit - Divine Spirit, Fel Intelligence
215 Stamina - Power Word: Fortitude
52 to all Stats - Gift of the Wild
+10% Stats - Blessing of Kings
2255 Maximum Health - Commanding Shout, Blood Pact
92 Mp5 - Blessing of Wisdom, Mana Spring Totem
Replenishment - Hunting Party, Enduring Winter, Judgements of the Wise, Vampiric Touch, Improved Soul Leech
Generally, the most valuable buffs for Holy Paladin will be Intellect and Replenishment, although the spec scales well with all of the stats, particularly the haste buffs.
Best Consumables for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King
There are a lot of powerful consumables that can be used to enhance a Holy Paladin's throughput and sustain in Wrath of the Lich King Classic. Using all that you can and using the right ones will help make your Holy Paladin stand out from the others.
Best Battle Elixirs for Paladin Healer: Guru's Elixir or Elixir of Lightning Speed
You will use Guru's Elixir if you need sustain, or use Elixir of Lightning Speed if you need throughput. Generally, Elixir of Lightning Speed will pull fairly ahead just due to stat EPs.
You should always try to use the elixir combo if possible, as it's much better than the flasks.
Best Guardian Elixirs for Paladin Healer: Elixir of Mighty Thoughts or Swiftness of Zanza
Generally, Elixir of Mighty Thoughts will be your go-to Guardian Elixir as it has an insane amount of value.
Swiftness of Zanza has seen consistent use in speedrunning since its inclusion in the game, and WotLK is no different. Especially in WotLK, it's not possible for a Holy Paladin to have Pursuit of Justice and they often have Nitro Boosts enchanted on boots, so your natural runspeed will be quite low. That being said, for most players, it will not be very relevant, but it is a good option to keep in mind.
You should always try to use the elixir combo if possible, as it's much better than the flasks.
Best Flask for Paladin Healer: Flask of Distilled Wisdom
Flask of Distilled Wisdom is still chugging along from Classic. In WotLK though, the elixir combo has finally unseated it. When using Guru's Elixir, there's an additional 20 stamina, while Elixir of Lightning Speed just completely outpaces it in terms of throughput.
Best Food for Paladin Healer: Imperial Manta Steak = Very Burnt Worg
Both of these foods give 40 haste and 40 stamina, so just get the one that is cheaper.
Best Potion for Paladin Healer: Runic Mana Injector and Potion of Speed
Runic Mana Injector is the best option most of the time, especially on particularly mana-intensive encounters and when speedrunning. It can only be used once per fight and provides an average of 4300 mana by default, or an average of 5375 mana as an engineer.
You'll always want the option of a throughput potion if possible, and Potion of Speed is it.
Shared Healthstone Cooldown: Fel Healthstone or Dark Rune
While Dark Rune are technically still viable, they now have a 15 minute cooldown and with level 80 mana costs, it only gets you enough mana for a single Holy Light cast on average.
Generally, you should favor saving your Healthstone cooldown for Fel Healthstone instead.
Best Swappable Glyphs for Paladin Healer: Glyph of Beacon of Light, Glyph of Divinity, Glyph of Flash of Light
Because the third Glyph slot is pretty open, it will be a good idea to keep around a stack or two each of Glyph of Beacon of Light and Glyph of Divinity to swap around as necessary. Glyph of Flash of Light is quite optional, as it's very unlikely that you run into a situation where neither of the other two glyphs are useful.
Best Miscellaneous Consumables: Scroll of Intellect VIII, Drums of the Wild, Heavy Frostweave Bandage, Greater Rune of Warding, Greater Ward of Shielding
You generally won't need Scroll of Intellect VIII or Drums of the Wild in 25-man raids, but they can be useful in 10 man comps where you're missing raid buffs.
While they are not quite as useful as a healer, Heavy Frostweave Bandage are always handy to have. Additionally, just like in TBC, both Greater Rune of Warding and Greater Ward of Shielding are still great defensive consumables to use if you have the time to apply them.
Best Profession Consumables for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King
Because the best professions for Holy Paladin are Engineering, Jewelcrafting, and Alchemy, the only relevant profession-specific consumes are the Engineering ones.
Engineering Items: Arcane Bomb, Global Thermal Sapper Charge, Saronite Bomb, Runic Mana Injector
Global Thermal Sapper Charge and Saronite Bomb are always good in a speedrun scenario or just any instance where you want to deal extra, free damage. Arcane Bomb provides a unique AoE silence ability, which can be very useful on some fights. The additional free 25% extra mana restoration from Runic Mana Injector makes it a no-brainer.
Consumable Check List for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King
You'll want to be prepared with these every raid.
Guru's Elixir, Elixir of Lightning Speed, and Elixir of Mighty Thoughts
Glyph of Beacon of Light, Glyph of Divinity, Glyph of Flash of Light
Scroll of Intellect VIII, Drums of the Wild, Heavy Frostweave Bandage, Greater Rune of Warding, Greater Ward of Shielding
(if Engineer) Global Thermal Sapper Charge, Saronite Bomb, Arcane Bomb
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