Flash of Light healing style in 3.3
Guest Article from my good friend and guild mate Irixa. We're going to look at the Flash of Light healing spec and what you're going to need to make it work.
Flash of Light itself hasn't changed much since the release of WotLK. It still remains a cornerstone of our healing in certain environments, but ultimately ends up being overshadowed by its big brother in raids. Now is the time when we have the chance to actually make use of this move that is severely under-used in most raids.
The advantages of the move are obvious.
- Extremely mana 'efficient
- Fast cast time
- Low over healing
- Makes a great 'raid' heal
- Can hit for decent amounts (when geared correctly)
Unfortunately it still has its downsides, luckily as we reach the end of WotLK a few things allow this build to finally be worthy of a raid spot and not just an afterthought in the minds of healers. A few things will soon be possible that previously were not. Once all the wings of Icecrown are released we'll have basically all the gear (other than hard mode items) that will be available till Cataclysm. This will allow us to reach the high levels of gear that this build demands.
A few things are really required for a FoL build to go be competitive in the raiding environment.
- The PvP healing libram (preferably the ilvl 251 one -http://www.wowhead.com/?item=42616)
- Very high amounts of Spell Power (4k Raid buffed being easily achievable)
- High amounts of Crit
- 676 Haste
- Decent latency
- Seal of Light
- The ‘Ember Skylfare Diamond’ Meta
- Lastly a build that has 5/5 Divinity and 5/5 Conviction
The way this works is quite simple. You beacon and SS your main target and after applying the FoL
HoT you spam FoL on whoever is taking damage. With such a high crit chance you can expect 10k FoL crits often and fast. This is basically your healing style for most encounters, while you can use HL, you must remember to use it sparingly. Whereas a paladin who has chosen to gem Int will have quite efficient Holy Light’s yours are going to be much more costly.
I am going to add that this build is quite gear intensive, so if you just hit 80; I would stay away from it. However if you feel that you geared enough, give it a shot, done correctly you should be able to still maintain your assignments and be a better raid healer.
Icecrown Citadel Scenarios (Lower Spire)
Lord Marrowgar – (P1) – Using the aforementioned build this fight is great place to get used to it, with not a whole lot of damage going around you can get the feel of the build under your belt. As long as your raid members are quite aware you don’t have to worry about healing ‘Coldflame’ damage too much. Just keep an eye out for Bone Spike, while maintaining the tanks, who will be taking damage from Saber Lash periodically.
(P2) During this phase I simple stand still and heal myself, the Bone Storm doesn’t do all that much damage, so take this opportunity to refresh your beacon and top up the raid member taking damage from the flames and the whirlwind.
Lady Deathwhisper – (P1) – There is quite a bit of damage going around on this fight, mostly in the form of Shadowbolts she will cast on random raid member are the various adds who will be doing damage on the tank. Just beacon your assignment and heal whoever takes damage. FoL is more than enough to keep the tanks up on this fight. Watch out for the curse, avoid using heals until it has been cleared.
(P2) – Watch out for tank swaps and quickly heal those who take damage from the ghost’s melee.
Gunship Battle – The damage on this fight comes mainly in the form of the axes and arrows that are hurled from the opposite ship. Should you be assigned to heal the tank that goes to tank Overlord Saurfang be warned that he will take quite large damage as the fight progress, at this point a few Holy Lights would be fine as you would easily regain the mana. Repeat till dead.
Deathbringer Saurfang – This fight isn’t overly hard on the healers if your DPS are decent, in fact the fewer healers you bring the easier it becomes. Beacon your assignment and then heal all those who get the ‘Boiling Blood’ Debuff. Should your raid receive a Mark of the Fallen Champion, immediately beacon the target and just go to healing the tanks. Keep in mind at 30% he will Frenzy, increasing his damage.
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