HOLY PALADIN HEALING COURSE

HOLY PALADIN PLAYSTYLE

Welcome to our Holy Paladin healing course for the War Within, which is custom designed to equip you with all of the essential knowledge needed to excel in PvP. Now in this introductory video, we're going to be explaining how this spec plays inside of Arena.

Now if you've enjoyed previous iterations of Holy Paladin, well then you're in luck, as the War Within has kept more or less the same playstyle, just with some slight tweaks and improvements.

But at their core, Holy Paladin still mainly focuses on strong single target healing using casted heals like Holy Light and Flash of Light, alongside their main instant heal Holy Shock to generate a resource called Holy Power, which then gets used for a powerful instant heal called Word of Glory.

Now compared to most healers, Holy Paladin is more on the reactive side, which makes them one of the easier healers to pick up and play. Now instead of the need to manage hots and use cooldowns preemptively, the Holy Paladin toolkit is tailor made to react to big damage after it happens.

Now another defining feature of the Holy Paladin playstyle is the abundance of cooldowns at your disposal, with abilities like Divine Toll and Blessings such as Protection and Freedom, you have a response for pretty much every situation.

Now generally though, in terms of playstyle, Holy Paladins fall more so under the category of a defensive healer, preferring to stay back, avoid the crowd control and focus on healing.

However, the best Holy Paladins are able to excel by recognizing key moments when pushing forward and utilizing crowd control abilities like Repentance and Hammer of Justice can quickly turn the tide of the match in their favor.

Now regardless of whether you're continuing from where you left off in Dragonflight or you're entirely new to the Holy Paladin spec, the War Within expansion brings several significant changes and new mechanics to master.

The Hero Talent trees Lightsmith and Herald of the Sun introduce fresh dynamics, with Herald of the Sun representing the playstyle.

Now what this tree introduces is a new mechanic called Dawnlight, which is applied to allies after activating Avenging Wrath or using Holy Power Spinders after using the new ability, Barrier of Faith. Dawnlight provides significant healing over time and extends that healing to nearby allies.

Which is great, as if you've played really any iteration of Holy Paladin over the years, then you're already going to know that the one true long-standing weakness of Holy Paladin has always been the fact that we lack really any form of consistent ongoing healing while we're crowd controlled.

And now, not only do we have Dawnlight, we also have access to Eternal Flame, which thanks to this talent tree replaces Word of Glory, enhancing the initial healing and adding a heal over time effect on top.

Now moreover, if that wasn't enough for you, we then have Barrier of Faith, which is a skill that absorbs a portion of damage for 12 seconds and converts a portion of healing received into an Absorb Shield. Lightsmith, on the other hand, plays into the Protection Paladin class fantasy.

This hero spec is defined by its ability to give a shield or a sword to friendly players, each with unique and powerful effects attached to them. Holy Bulwark grants the target an Absorb Shield, while Sacred Weapon gives the target bonus damage and healing.

And what makes this talent tree even stronger is the ability to give a shield or a sword to a friendly player. And what makes this talent tree even stronger is the ability to give a shield or a sword to a friendly player.

The Lighting of the Lighting is the tempered in battle effect, which provides unique bonuses depending on whether the target is buffed by your Holy Bulwark or Sacred Weapon. Generally speaking, Lightsmith is the more aggressive Holy Paladin option, offering a new twist on the classic Melee Wings playstyle.

Nonetheless, whether you've enjoyed Holy Paladin in previous expansions, or you're looking for a new healer to start your journey in the War Within, Paladin is undoubtedly one of the best choices. Now that we have a basic understanding of the playstyle of Holy Paladin, it's time to learn some of the fundamentals.

Starting with a look at your goals inside of Arena.

HOLY PALADIN GOALS

Hey everybody and welcome back to our Holy Paladin healing course. Now in this next section we're going to be providing you with some basic healing goals that you can safely follow throughout every arena game.

Goal number one, manage your resources. Holy Paladin heals via a classic builder spender type play style using a resource called Holy Power.

You mainly build up Holy Power via your main instant heal of Holy Shock in addition to your two casted heals of Holy Light and Flash of Light whenever cast onto a target with your beacon of light active.

This Holy Power is then spent on your most powerful heal, Word of Glory or Eternal Flame when using the Herald of the Sun talent tree. Although as Word of Glory costs only three Holy Power and we can have a maximum of five Holy Power, there's a lot of power in Holy Power.

Holy Power is a very powerful healer and it's a very powerful healer that can be used to heal your opponent's opponent's opponent's opponent's opponents. There's a certain set of rules that you really want to follow here.

The most straightforward of which being to never, ever over cap. If you're at five Holy Power and still generating, you're going to end up wasting this precious resource, but that should honestly be a given.

The second rule is to always be generating. Again, this is simple.

The more Holy Power we're able to generate, the more healing we're capable of doing. Simple, things like always keeping Holy Shock on cooldown and taking advantage of any opportunities to build Holy Power by casting Flash of Light are going to help massively here.

And then our third and final rule is to be smart with how you spend it. Just because you have enough Holy Power for a Word of Glory, it doesn't necessarily mean you should always immediately do so.

Remember, Word of Glory is our main heal and costs three Holy Power. If you're a Holy Power and you're not sure if you're going to be able to do it, then you're going to have to spend a lot of time on it.

And we can hold up to five Holy Power at one time. This is going to be where the difficulty lies, as you need to find a balance between not wasting Holy Power and having enough available for critical moments.

And speaking of which, that leads perfectly to goal number two. Play around your cooldowns.

Like we mentioned in the play style, Holy Paladin falls heavily under the category of a cooldown-based healer.

Having access to not only powerful, powerful throughput cooldowns like Tears Deliverance, Avenging Wrath, Divine Toll, and Barrier of Faith, but also strong utility and defensive cooldowns like Blessing of Sacrifice, Blessing of Protection, Blessing of Freedom, and Aura Mastery.

Playing around these has always and continues to be a significant part of Holy Paladin, as having access to such an extensive kit means there's a multitude of decisions that we're going to have to make throughout our game. And that's why we're going to be playing around with these.

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And that's why we're going to be playing around with these. And as such, throughout this course, we're going to be focusing heavily on not only how to best use these cooldowns, but more importantly, when to use them.

Now to do this, we're going to cover how to correctly rotate your cooldowns as a whole, as well as breaking down each one of them individually, discussing the rules behind using them, as well as tips and tricks to maximize their effectiveness. But moving on, we have goal number three.

Be smart, but move on, we have goal number three. Be smart, but move on, we have goal number three.

Be smart, with your positioning. Compared to practically every single other healer in the game, Paladins are undoubtedly the most susceptible to crowd control by an incredibly large margin.

Not only do we lack any reliable tools like Winch here, Grounding Totem, or even Transcendence, but we're also the least mobile spec. We're essentially just helpless little babies in this department.

But the one tool that we do have is our positioning. And on Paladins, we're the most reliable tool in the game.

And Paladin, in order to succeed, it has to be top tier positioning. That's why throughout this course, we're not only going to teach you how to leverage your positioning to gloss over this weakness, but also some really clever ways you can utilize our abilities to make avoiding crowd control possible.

Last, but definitely not least, we have our fourth goal of maximizing your crowd control. The new Я пациент П го для正 стан igual в 40%.

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Too many Clerk.h, however, Now have a spammable CC option at thanks to a rework to repentance which now has zero CD and combined with hammer of justice there is a lot more you can do to control the game the challenge with this crowd control is that it is dispellable and it's short range making it very very telegraphed while also causing us to sacrifice our position to really use it effectively that's why throughout phase three of this course we're gonna focus heavily on how to maximize your crowd control kit this includes identifying the best targets to crowd control and teaching you the best times to consider pushing in to use it does all this sound good well we've got that and so much more coming up so stick around as to kick things off we're gonna be continuing with the fundamentals here covering both your maintenance and spot healing priorities we'll see you in just a second

HOLY HERO TALENTS: LIGHTSMITH

Alright, with Herald of the Sun fresh in your mind, it's time to explore the alternative hero talent tree, Lightsmith. Is the trade-off of consistent healing for a Spirit Link effect worth it?

Well, let's find out. At the heart of this tree, and really the entire build itself, is Holy Armaments.

There are two types of armaments you can proc. First, we have Holy Bulwark, which provides a shield for 15% of your max health, plus an additional 2% every 2 seconds for 20 seconds.

This means each Holy Bulwark gives you a total of a 35% absorb. The second is Sacred Weapon, which boosts the target's damage output by a small amount.

Now, on their own, these armaments are pretty solid, but not really game-changing. That's where our other talents come in to really make them truly powerful.

Tempered in Battle is the true star of this tree, as it adds a powerful effect to each Holy Armament. For Holy Bulwark, any over-healing is transferred to the ally with the Holy Bulwark active.

This makes it incredibly easy to keep your team topped off, especially when combined with Beacon. Sacred Weapon gains an incredibly powerful effect.

If you or an ally with Sacred Weapons drops below 40% health, it's going to redistribute your health every second for 4 seconds. So you might be wondering how we actually get these Holy Armaments.

There are two ways to generate them. First, you can cast them manually using the Holy Armament ability.

It starts with Holy Bulwark, and then it rotates to... Sacred Weapon.

Similar to how Blessing of Summer works. This ability has a 1-minute cooldown, but with the Valiant's Tree, every infusion of light you consume reduces the cooldown by 3 seconds.

The second option is through Divine Inspiration. Your spells and abilities have a chance to proc a Holy Armament on a nearby ally.

Now, what this means is you're always going to want to be casting to maximize the number of armaments you generate. When manually casting a Holy Armament, you always want to cast it on an ally.

So thanks to the Solidarity talent, when you give an armament to an ally, you also receive the benefits of that armament. While Solidarity does allow you to give an armament to yourself, when you do so, the ally that benefits from the armament is chosen at random.

Therefore, it's better to cast it directly on an ally so you can control where the weapons and bulwarks are placed. Our Capstone talent pairs perfectly with our cooldowns.

When we activate Avenging Wrath or Avenging Crusader, we summon an additional Holy Weapon, which is a 2-star weapon. This is a 2-star weapon that gives us additional Holy Weapon that echoes our spells.

This significantly boosts our output during Wings, which is why we prefer Avenging Crusader. Avenging Crusader only has a 1-minute cooldown, which allows us to use it more frequently.

Laying Down Arms is an interesting talent that interacts with our core abilities. Each armament that expires reduces the cooldown of Lay on Hands by 15 seconds and grants us an infusion of Light proc.

This means the more armaments we generate, the more often we can use Lay on Hand. Additionally, with Tirion's Devotion from the Holy Paladin Tree, every time we use Lay on Hands, it restores 5% mana, making it even more beneficial in long fights.

Now, let's take a look at our choice nodes, starting with the easy ones. Simply put, Divine Inspiration and Tempered in Battle are non-negotiable.

These talents are what make Lightsmith viable in the first place, so we're really not going to be swapping them out.

The debate between Blessed Assurance and Divine Guidance really is a bit more nuanced, Divine Guidance buffs your consecration whenever you use a Holy Power Spender, Blessed Assurance does the exact same thing, except for Crusader Strike.

Neither of these talents is particularly game-changing, so it really comes down to personal preference here, with more Paladins typically opting for Divine Guidance.

HOLY HERO TALENTS: HERALD

As you likely know by now, while abilities and talents have, for the most part, stayed the same in the War Within, one major new feature is the introduction of Hero Talents. The tree you choose and the talents you select have a significant impact on your overall gameplay and your rotation.

In this video, we're going to be breaking down exactly what those impacts are, and we're going to share some tips and tricks to help you maximize your healing. So, starting off with Herald of the Sun.

Herald of the Sun, as we've mentioned already, is shaping up to be the go-to Hero talent tree, focusing heavily on improving both our sustained single-target healing, but also massively enhancing our burst healing potential as well.

The main reason for this, and the key mechanic within this tree, is Dawnlight, a powerful healing over time effect that's applied to allies and even enemies in one of two ways. The best way to heal is to use the skill of Dawnlight, which is a very powerful healing over time effect.

The main one being courtesy of the end cap, Sun's Avatar, causing you to apply Dawnlight to up to four nearby allies whenever you activate Avenging Wrath.

Then, the other way to apply Dawnlight is after using our new ability, Barrier of Faith, which is going to cause your next two Holy Power spenders to apply Dawnlight to the target.

One more thing to note here too, is that during your Avenging Wrath, you'll also become linked to any Dawnlight debuffs you have active, which you can see by these yellow rays coming out of your character. These deal either healing or damage over time to anybody they pass through.

To maximize the benefits of Herald of the Sun, focus on playing around Dawnlight as much as possible, as it greatly contributes to your consistent overall healing. Here's what you need to know.

Dawnlight lasts for a default of eight seconds on a target. Currently, applying another Dawnlight to the same target doesn't extend that duration.

This might change in future patches, but for now, in its current state, you should manage your two Dawnlights after using Barrier of Faith very carefully.

If dealing with spread damage, it's beneficial to spread out your Dawnlights, using your Divine Purpose proc on one target, and then use a second Word of Glory on another target, or maybe even on yourself to manage the Light of the Martyr absorb effect. For purely single target pressure, you have a choice here.

To maximize consistent healing, try to delay using your second Word of Glory for as long as possible. Cast Barrier of Faith, apply Dawnlight with your free Word of Glory from the Divine Purpose proc, and then hold off on your next Word of Glory for as close to eight seconds as humanly possible to maximize Dawnlight.

However, if the target is in immediate danger and you have no other ways to stabilize him, prioritize the instant healing from Word of Glory over the extra sustain from min-maxing Dawnlight. Use your best judgment based on the situation that you're currently in.

A good example is this here though. Once he sees who the enemy is focusing, Clyde applies his Barrier of Faith to the target, and as he's being pressured, uses his Divine Purpose proc immediately to apply Dawnlight.

But then with his other deep, low-power healing, he uses the second application right after on another Eternal Glory to apply Dawnlight to both, which in turn is going to provide the most overall healing to counter the consistent pressure.

So let's shift focus from Dawnlight here for a moment and discuss the other key talents that are in this tree. First up is Morningstar.

This talent provides a stacking buff that increases the effectiveness of your next Dawnlight. In the context of single target consistent healing here, the more you space out your Dawnlights, the more effective they become.

However, beyond avoiding unnecessary applications of Dawnlight to a target, there's really no need to overly focus on this talent. Next is Will of the Dawn.

This talent is surprisingly one of the strongest in the tree for Holy Paladins. When you're above 80% health, you gain an extra 5% movement speed.

Now while this doesn't seem to be a big deal, it's not. But it's a big deal.

And it's a big deal. And when you're not able to stack with speed enchants, it allows you to opt for Leech instead, which is a pretty nice bonus.

Additionally, when you drop below 35% health, you're going to receive a small boost to movement speed. Now although this doesn't remove slows, combining it with Blessing of Freedom does let you kite and create distance when you're being focused, without relying solely on the long cooldown of Divine Steed.

The next talent, Aurora, which we've already already covered, guarantees a Divine Purpose proc every time you use Barrier of Faith. Since you're going to want to use Barrier of Faith early, it's not always necessary to immediately use your Divine Purpose proc.

Especially during openers, try to hold onto Barrier of Faith until just before the enemy begins to engage. This way, you can keep your Divine Purpose proc for up to 12 seconds, saving it until you actually need it.

One talent you definitely need to focus on is Blessing of Anshi. This talent makes any damage or healing over time effects, like Dawnlight and Eternal Flame, grants a proc that increases the effectiveness of your next Holy Shock by 200%.

These procs heal for an enormous amount, almost like Lay on Hands. The first thing you should do is find an easy way to identify when you have this proc to use.

If you're using a Divine Purpose proc, you should always have a Divine Purpose proc. If you're using a Divine Purpose proc, you should always have a Divine Purpose proc active, and we suggest Weak Horse for this.

When you get one, try to optimize its use. If players are low on health, use it immediately as you would a normal Holy Shock.

However, if you're focused on maintenance healing, disregard the usual guidelines and hold onto the proc until you really need that instant healing. Then there's Eternal Flame, which replaces your Word of Glory with an enhanced version.

It not only heals for more, but it also attaches a healing over time to the target, with even greater healing when used on yourself. Nothing too much to talk about here, as Eternal Flame follows exactly the same rules as Word of Glory.

As for the remaining talents in the tree, Luminosity, Sunseer, Second Sunrise, and Solar Grace, they're essentially passive abilities that work in the background to boost your overall healing. There's not much more to discuss about these, as they primarily contribute to your healing output in a less direct manner.

Now, don't forget to check out the description for more information on the link to the video. Don't worry if not all of this made complete sense yet, as this was purely a showcase of what this tree is capable of and what to expect.

Throughout this course, we're going to be delving way deeper into the effects this has on our overall gameplay and how best to play around it.

HOLY PALADIN MAINTENANCE HEALING PRIORITY: LIGHTSMITH

In this next video, we're going to be showing you how your priority changes based on your hero tree. Lightsmith plays a little bit differently than Herald of the Sun, so it's very important to adjust your approach to it.

With Divine Inspiration, all of our spells and abilities have a chance to proc a Holy Armament, which means you want to maximize your globals. Up first is Spending and Fusion of Light procs, which we sometimes get after using Holy Shock, offering numerous downstream benefits, especially as Lightsmith.

First, the talent Hammer and Anvil from the Lightsmith tree deals extra damage and provides a decent amount of healing whenever Judgment lands a critical strike. This makes Judgment a higher priority unless you urgently need healing from Flash of Light.

But more importantly, we're aiming to proc Valiance, which reduces the cooldown of Holy Armaments by 3 seconds each time we spend in Fusion of Light. Next, you'll want to use Barrier of Faith on the kill target.

This ability works exactly the same for Lightsmith. It's a bit more efficient than it does for Herald of the Sun, so no adjustments are really needed here.

Word of Glory itself functions the same as before, but now it stacks Divine Guidance for us if talented. Every time we spend Holy Power, it buffs our next Consecration, stacking up to 5 times.

Holy Shock remains the same across both hero trees. However, it is important to always aim to keep at least one charge on cooldown to avoid wasting any potential charges which could proc Holy Armaments.

Next up is Greater Judgment even without Infusion of Light. It's still a solid option to use as it can help you proc Holy Armaments.

Next, we have Consecration with 5 stacks of Divine Guidance. When using this ability, you're going to want to be careful since it requires you to move into melee range.

Anytime you step in, you may be cleaved, swapped to, or crowd controlled, so do make sure that you're not doing it during the enemy's cooldowns or when you're off DR. If you opt for Blessed Assurance, then you'll want to keep that in mind.

Next up is Greater Judgment, even without Infusion of Light. It's still a solid option to use as it can help you proc Holy Armaments.

Next, we have Consecration with 5 stacks of Divine Guidance. When using this ability, you're going to want to be careful since it requires you to move into melee range.

Next, we have Greater Judgment, even without Infusion of Light. It's still a solid option to use as it can help you proc Holy Armaments.

Finally, we have Crusader Strike. While it's definitely not ideal to charge headfirst into the enemy team, it does serve as a solid Holy Power generator when you can safely do it.

It's especially effective when paired with your Consecration, giving you an additional tool to maximize your output.

HOLY PALADIN MAINTENANCE HEALING PRIORITY: HERALD

Now that you're familiar with your healing objectives, let's explore how to prioritize your maintenance heals. We're going to break down how to handle passive sources of damage, how to prepare for incoming damage, and how to best spend your globals.

Note that this isn't a rotation, but instead, it's a priority system. First and foremost, your top priority is to always ensure that Barrier of Faith is active on the target.

This new ability in the War Within provides an Absorb Shield and accumulates all incoming healing the target receives, adding more shielding on top. You're going to want to keep this active on the main kill target whenever it's available.

Next in priority are Denounce or Word of Glory when you have 5 Holy Power. Although it's usually best to save your Holy Power for moments of actual damage, if you reach 5 Holy Power and have abilities ready to use, you'll be able to use it for a lot of different purposes.

If you're a target that's under moderate pressure, use Word of Glory to ensure they're at full health and have the Eternal Flame healing over time effect active. Otherwise, if this would be a waste, use your Holy Power on Denounce.

This is going to deal decent damage and prevent the target from being able to critically strike, helping to reduce burst damage when it inevitably happens. Next in priority are Greater Judgment.

If you're not aware, Infusion of Light has a 10% chance to proc after using Holy Shock. When active, it increases the healing of Flash of Light by a substantial amount, while also buffing Holy Light to or enhancing the effect of Greater Judgment by 100%.

For Maintenance, we're going to follow more or less the same rules we just covered. If your target has taken moderate damage and needs topping off, use these procs on Flash of Light for a burst to heal.

Otherwise, if that would be a waste, use your Infusion of Light procs on Greater Judgment. This achieves two things.

It restores some mana thanks to the Divine Revelations talent and prevents a portion of damage from your chosen target. Following in priority, we then have Holy Shock.

This is more or less something you're going to want to be pressing off cooldown. Not only is Holy Shock our most cost-effective heal, it's also our main source of Holy Power and way to proc Infusion of Light.

This is a very useful skill to have in your team. It's also a very useful skill to have in your team.

Again, though, following the same rules, we can either use Holy Shock on an ally to top them off if they've lost health, or otherwise onto an enemy to assist with some extra damage. Either way, aim to use Holy Shock off cooldown.

Next up is Consecration, which not only snares if you're playing Consecrated Ground, but also has a chance to proc Blessing of Anshi whenever it deals damage. Against pet classes, you're going to want to press this often, as it can feed you those juicy procs.

From here, our priority is once again Greater Judgment, which even if you don't have an Infusion of Light proc, it should still be used on an enemy to absorb a portion of the incoming damage. Finally, our lowest priority is Crusader Strike, but there is a caveat.

Only use it if you can do so without sacrificing your positioning. If you weren't aware, Crusader Strike generates one Holy Power when it's used, but it can only be used on targets within melee range.

This means if you have a Holy Power, you can only use it on targets within melee range. This means if you have targets directly on top of you, or even pets nearby, it is worthwhile to use.

Otherwise, if it compromises your position, it's not worth using. This concludes our section on Maintenance Healing.

In the next video, we're going to be covering how to handle Spot Healing. So that's your priority when the target is low on health and you need to immediately recover.

Stay tuned.

HOLY PALADIN SPOT HEALING PRIORITY

Now that we've covered healing maintenance, let's take a look at how to spot heal as a Holy Paladin. Spot healing refers to picking up someone's HP bar through heavy damage, and the spells we decide to use are going to depend on how much damage is incoming and what resources we have available.

Now, this is because our bread and butter spot heal is Word of Glory or Eternal Flame as Herald of the Sun. If we ever have enough Holy Power to use our Spender, we should do so no matter what, since it's going to provide a punchy burst heal without needing to cast.

Spending Holy Power is also going to have a chance to grant us Divine Purpose procs, which makes our next Spender free. If additional healing is needed on a single target, we can spend Divine Purpose for back-to-back Word of Glories or as a way to heal cleave damage on multiple targets.

But what do we do whenever we don't have enough Holy Power to use our Finisher? Well, if that's the case, we obviously need to build, relying on Holy Shock first or even Divine Toll if we desperately need healing fast.

Again, the goal here is to avoid casting. Not only will these abilities help us build, but every hit of Holy Shock has a 10% chance to grant Infusion of Light, which will massively buff the healing done by our Flash of Light.

So, while we're building Holy Power, we're going to need to manage this proc. And that brings us to Flash of Light, which is not only empowered with Infusion of Light, but will also act as a Holy Power generator.

We're going to remind you again here that we want to be relying on our Instinct to heal. So, let's get started.

Let's get started. Let's get started.

Let's get started. Let's get started.

Let's get started. Let's get started.

Let's get started. Let's get started.

Let's get started. Let's get started.

Let's get started. Let's get started.

Let's get started. Let's get started.

Let's get started. Let's get started.

Healing first, especially Word of Glory. So, whenever we can't immediately spend our Holy Power, we'll be aiming to consume Infusion of Light on Flash of Light, which will then give us the Holy Power we need to Word of Glory.

Now, at this point, there is one or, I guess, technically two more abilities that fall into spot healing, Holy Prism and Barrier of Faith, which both share a talent slot. Holy Prism is relatively straightforward and can be pressed whenever Instinct healing is needed.

Now, with that said, let's get started. Barrier of Faith does have a little bit more nuance, since it will not only absorb damage dealt, but will convert further healing done to the target into an absorb.

Now, what this means is that you should ideally try and have Barrier of Faith already active before you do any of the healing combos that we just mentioned. If you have time to place a barrier up before you heal, it will help you pad incoming damage.

And do note that as Herald of the Sun, Barrier of Faith automatically grants a Divine Purpose proc, which means you can use it to instantly Word of Glory.

HOLY PALADIN OPENER: LIGHTSMITH

In this video you are going to learn how to approach openers when playing the Lightsmith Hero Spec. As always, your first task begins before the arena even starts, putting your two beacons on the DPS partners.

It's very rare that you're going to want a beacon on yourself unless you're heavily focused, but you can always swap it to yourself as and when needed.

For openers though, we highly suggest putting one on each of your teammates, and just to clear up any confusion, it doesn't matter which beacon is on what player, they're both exactly the same. Now, once the gates open, we're going to sequence our globals slightly different than we would on Herald.

When the gates open, we want to quickly use our bulwark on the player that we think the enemy team is going to target. The goal is to provide a small damage buffer while getting a charge of our weapon on CD as quickly as possible.

If we're playing Blessing of Summer, we're also going to want to put it on ourselves as quickly as we can, even before the fight starts. Following this, we'll proceed with our Berserker.

We're going to start with our Berserker, and we're going to use our healing maintenance, using Holy Shock to build Holy Power as we approach the fight and attempting to use Judgment as soon as we can and on cooldown for the remainder of the game.

When the kill target has been established, we'll give them Barrier of Faith in order to buffer incoming damage. Now, of course, we also need to think about cooldown trades in the opener too.

Most of the time, there's at least one or two CDs you'll trade very early on. Wings is a guarantee, and Aura Mastery is some extra insurance.

Together, the combination of the two is a great way to get the best of the game. The combination of healing increases and AoE damage reduction will make it much easier to manage early game pressure, especially when multiple targets are taking damage.

HOLY PALADIN OPENER: HERALD

Okay, so let's move past the theory and let's get into the practical. In this next part of our Holy Paladin healing course, we're going to be guiding you through the best strategies for how to approach openers.

So we're going to cover the goals, the thought processes, and the decision making, drawing insights from rank one Holy Paladin, Clyde. Your first task begins before the arena even starts, and that's going to be placing your beacon of light and beacon of faith onto your two allies.

It's very rare you're going to want beacon on yourself unless you're heavily focused, but you can always swap it to yourself as and when needed. For openers, though, we highly suggest putting one on each of your teammates.

And just to clear up any confusion here, it really doesn't matter which beacon is on who. They're both exactly the same.

Once the gates open, your number one priority every single game is to apply and extend your Tears Deliverance. This is going to begin healing yourself, and nearby allies, every second for 20 seconds.

In addition to this, too, any target with the buff active is also going to receive 12% increased healing from your Holy Light, Flash of Light, and Holy Shock.

Thanks to the talent Boundless Salvation, these same spells will then extend the duration by up to 40 seconds, and this is the reason why we want to cast it early. At some point during this, it's also going to be very beneficial to get your Blessings of the Lord, and the season rotating.

The target you press your seasonal buff on does change a bit, and be sure to check out our video on the ability later on in the course. But now, with Blessing of Summer and Tears Deliverance active, it's time to extend the duration as much as possible before our enemies engage.

The most optimal way to do this is by using Holy Shock and Holy Light, but depending on how fast your opponents engage, you might want to opt for Flash of Light for the faster cast. The longer your enemies engage, the faster they can get to the enemy.

The longer your enemies delay engaging, the better it works out for you. Although Clyde didn't have the time here as his opponents rushed in, if you're given the time, you can even drink up and restore some of the mana you lost, extending that duration as well.

Anyway, back to the game. With his opponents immediately rushing in, it is clear who they're going to be targeting, as the enemy warrior popped Recklessness from the get-go.

Now what this means is that it's now time to apply Barrier of Faith, which Clyde thankfully lands just before succumbing to the instant CC.

With Tears Deliverance and Barrier of Faith working in the background to help heal through some of the instant pressure from the cleave, Clyde is able to sit through the first two instant CCs, opting to trinket the full leg sweep.

Once out, thanks to the holy power generated at the start of the game and the free Divine Purpose proc, he then secures an Eternal Flame on his Druid and then his Shaman to provide two Dawnlights and a bunch of passive healing.

At this point, with every single cooldown active from his opponents, it's the perfect time to trade Avenging Wrath. Despite his teammates both still being somewhat stable, his opponents are going to be doing elevated levels of damage for some time, and Avenging Wrath, really just helps to counteract that.

But given he has a moment to cast here, and his allies are still stable from his consistent healing, to cast Searing Glare, which is a great choice, honestly, as rather than being forced to heal through the damage, this really just nullifies their output for four whole seconds, which grants him just enough time to make an offensive push.

HOLY PALADIN COOLDOWN ROTATION

In this next video, we're going to be guiding you through an entire solo shuffle game. We're going to be breaking down how each individual cooldown was used and in what order.

So, to do this, we're going to be following Rank 1 Holy Paladin, Clyde, in a matchup against Ret Paladin, Feral Druid. So to start, Clyde immediately uses Tears Deliverance as soon as the gates open, just as we discussed with the opener.

Focusing on extending its duration and building up Holy Power while waiting for the enemy team to choose their target. The enemy Retribution Paladin starts by using Hammer of Justice and Avenging Wrath on Clyde, while the Feral Druid opens on the Shadow Priest.

However, since the Retribution Paladin's damage isn't too high and there's no immediate threat of follow-up stuns, Clyde wisely decides to sit through the Hammer of Justice. Knowing he has all his defensive tools available to recover once it ends.

Additionally, his Shadow Priest uses Life Grip to pull Clyde to safety, allowing Clyde to save Divine Protection for later on. So, as soon as he's out of this stun, what cooldown do you think he should use?

With both the Feral Druid's Incarnation and the Retribution Paladin's Avenging Wrath active, the obvious choice is to respond with a Stun. The Stun is a good way to respond with his own Avenging Wrath, which Clyde does immediately, paired with Eternal Flame to heal his Priest.

Now that the enemy team is converging on his Shadow Priest, it's clear who their target is, allowing Clyde to now use Barrier of Faith. Remember, it's crucial to use this early in the game, but only once you're certain of the enemy's focus.

This also gives Clyde a Divine Purpose proc, which he uses for a second Eternal Glory on himself. This is a good way to get the healing over time effect, and ensuring he stays above the Light of the Martyr threshold.

He follows up with Divine Toll for extra healing and Holy Power generation, just to help cover the damage. Given that he has Holy Power pooled and Avenging Wrath active, Clyde decides to sit through Blinding Light, using that Holy Power combined with a few fortunate procs to instantly heal his Shadow Priest.

With his team now stable, he can now use the Holy Power to heal his Priest. Clyde uses Aura Mastery to secure casting time, followed by Searing Glare to massively reduce the enemy's pressure, keeping his healing ahead.

Shortly after, the enemy team switches focus to Clyde with the Hammer of Justice, which he trinkets out of. So while Clyde might not have died in the stun, without any major cooldowns left, being low on health would make him a good choice.

With three kicks on the opposing team, he can't escape. After being cycloned on his trinket, Clyde refreshes Barrier of Light on the Shadow Priest as soon as it becomes available.

What he does next is pretty clever. Despite having a Divine Toll, he still has a lot of health left.

Despite having a Divine Purpose proc, both melee enemies are out of range to interrupt, and the enemy Shaman is haxed, meaning there's no risk of interrupts. So Clyde opts to use Divine Favor on a Holy Light, followed by Sacrifice to mitigate some of the incoming damage from Feral Frenzy.

But pay attention here. The Priest gets cycloned.

So what does this mean? There's a high chance the enemy will switch targets, and guess who they've been swapping on throughout the match?

Clyde. So what does he do?

He uses Freedom. He mounts up and runs away as quickly as possible, buying just enough time to be lifegripped to safety once his Priest escapes.

Expertly faking a kick from the Retribution Paladin, Clyde then uses Divine Toll when it comes off cooldown. Along with a Holy Light and Divine Protection to keep himself alive while holding onto his bubble.

However, with the pressure building here, Clyde opts to use Barrier of Faith on himself, this time when it becomes available for the added Absorb coupled with the Divine Purpose proc. So what does this mean?

It's a good sign. So what does this mean?

It's a good sign. So what does this mean?

It's a good sign. So what does this mean?

Topping himself off just before the next Hammer of Justice, which he sits through now that the enemy's cooldowns are down. Once stabilized, Clyde again uses Searing Glare to reduce incoming damage and reactivates Tyr's Deliverance when the opportunity arises.

The same scenario unfolds shortly after, his Shadow Priest gets cycloned, signaling that the enemy team is likely to switch back to Clyde.

Fortunately Clyde is prepared, with full holy power and his Gladiator's Medallion ready, which he immediately uses to break out of Hammer of Justice, as this time the enemy has their offensive cooldowns back.

Once again Clyde responds just as he did before, trading his own Avenging Wrath and pooled holy power to heal through the pressure. He also supports his team offensively with another Searing Glare, causing the Feral Druid to miss their cyclone.

But now the next Hammer of Justice spells big trouble for Clyde. He sits through it, but ultimately has to use his bubble, using the time inside to recover, reposition and pre some holy power.

But look at the enemy team, without any cooldowns left, they have a very clear win condition. So seeing the inevitable, Clyde moves into line of sight just as they connect, and then he's out of the way.

He's out of the way, but he's still in the lead. He's out of the way, but he's still in the lead.

He's out of the way, but he's still in the lead. And his Priest pulls him to safety with Life Grip.

As the situation stabilizes, Clyde uses Searing Glare once more. Then, once the next stun comes, Clyde has one final safety net, Blessing of Protection, which he uses immediately without any cooldowns.

And that's it. He's out of the way, but he's still in the lead.

And if he can get a hold of the game, it's a win for Clyde. And he's out of the way, but he's still in the lead.

And if he can get a hold of the game, it's a win for Clyde. And we still have Purge to contend with.

Buying his team just enough time to secure the win.