Spiritual Guidance: 17 trinkets for healing raiders
by Matt Low 
Nov 30th 2008 at 8:00PM
Every Sunday (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of PlusHeal, a new healing community for all restorative classes. How do you feel about trinkets? This week Matticus will examine a wide variety of trinkets in the game obtainable in Northrend for healers!
Trinkets are interesting items. They have different abilities and uses best suited for the situation at hand. Here is the majority of trinkets that I believe us healers would be interested in the most and my initial thoughts on them. I've even recommended a few of them for us Priests!
Soul Preserver: Kill Mal'Ganis in CoT: Stratholme, and you might get this decent trinket. This one of the first trinkets I acquired at 80 and it served me well. I had a lot of mana problems early on and this helped ease the pain. Resto Druids may wish to look at this trinket as well. I don't know if it procs off of HoT ticks or just spell casts. Comments on WoW Head reveal that it has no internal cooldown either. It can also proc off of every jump from Chain Heal for the Resto Shamans.Cannoneer's Morale: This comes from the sweet Icecrown quest where you defend the Argent encampment by commandeering the base defenses. You don't even need this trinket as a reason to do it. Go do it! It's loads of fun! It offers a solid 22 mana per 5 and it can boost your spell power by 281 whenever you need it. It's easy to obtain.
Wingted Talisman: Bigger brother to the Cannoneer's Morale. Obtainable from Halls of Lightning on heroic.
Mercurial Alchemist Stone: Limited to Alchemists, it's a good introductory and profession trinket. I honestly don't know how well it will do compared to higher end trinkets. The 1 potion per fight rule does make the bonus lackluster. Nonetheless, it's a great introductory level trinket.
Talisman of Troll Divinity: This comes from heroic Drak'Tharaon Keep. Try to gun for this one if you can. It has a lot of Spirit and the use effect is nice for AoE related encounters. Pop it and spam your AoE healing spells. Everyone affected by your heals will also get the bonus. Remember that other healing classes will benefit indirectly as your targets gain the increased healing done to them. Matticus recommended
Figurine – Sapphire Owl: Sadly, I believe this is available to Jewelcrafters only. It has a godly amount of mana return on it and it also has 2 blue sockets available for you to gem it with!
Forge Ember: Drops from heroic Halls of Stone. I would pass on this but if there's no one else, it's still something. The proc's an eye opener for sure.
The Egg of Mortal Essence: Same thing as the Embrace of the Spider. Good starter trinket for Priests if they need happen to need one. Pick this up from your local Heroism emblem vendor.
Spirit-World Glass: Oh, Earring of Soul Meditation I missed you. It seems to drop from Gothik in normal Naxx. It's not limited to just Priests anymore. I suspect Resto Druids may wish to exercise option on this. Pop it and watch the mana flow. Matticus recommended
Majestic Dragon Figurine: The mechanic is similar to the Illustration of the Dragon Soul (below). During prolonged encounters, you'll gain a constant 180 Spirit as long as you keep casting spells (like Levitate). Comes from the normal version of Obsidian Sanctum.
Embrace of the Spider: Increases your spell power by 98. If it procs, expect to see some really fast heals. Pair this with The Egg of Mortal Essence. It seems both the Embrace and the Egg can activate at the same time for ~1000 haste. I can see the Paladins salivate now. Obtainable from Maexxna in normal mode Naxxramas.
Darkmoon Card: Greatness: What the heck do Priests want with Agility? Did Matt lose his marbles? This is but one version of the trinket I could find. The other versions of the trinket offer 90 Strength, Intellect or Spirit. For the Priests, I'd say snag the 90 Spirit version of this. The proc chosen is calculated by your highest stat. This one is assembled from the Nobles deck.
Darkmoon Card: Illusion: Decent entry level trinket for Priests. I'm not sure if I would go out of my way for it. Some raid encounters have a 5 minute enrage timer. This means you'll get one use out of it per fight. If you're lucky, you might be able to use it twice. Assemble this from the Prisms deck.
Soul of the Dead: Snag this trinket from Sapphiron. I'm going to say this trinket may be better off for a Disc Priest than a Holy Priest. WoW Head commenters peg it with a 45 second internal cooldown. I would probably prioritize this for Holy Paladins and Resto Shamans. I'm sure there may be a few DPS casters interested in this trinket.
Illustration of the Dragon Soul: Drops off of Sartharion. The deal with these types of trinkets is that it takes a while before it reaches its full potential. Once you get going in a fight, you're looking at an overall increase of 260 spell power. Every cast seems to refresh the duration of the buff no matter how many stacks you have on. It literally kicks in off of every spell. It's good for not just healers but for casters as well. Even if there's a part in the encounter where you're not supposed to do any healing or DPSing, pop a few free spells to refresh it (like Levitate)!
Forethought Talisman: Hell yes. If you get the opportunity to snag one of these bad boys, go for it. Especially for the Holy Priests, this trinket will rock. Shamans and even Holy Paladins may wish to give this trinket a glance. It seems that Earth Shield can proc the affect. And why Paladins of all classes? A Glyphed Holy Light counts as a direct heal on all players affected by it. It does not appear to proc on multiple targets simultaneously (Example: It seems to proc on one target off of Circle of Healing). Nonetheless, it is a very good trinket. Matticus recommended
Living Ice Crystals: This trinket is obtainable after taking down Malygos in Heroic mode. I think this trinket may be better off in the hands of a Resto Shaman or a Holy Paladin. The on use effect is nice for the rare encounters where the entire raid gets silenced for a few minutes. It reminds me of Vial of the Sunwell 2.0 (without the need to build up charges). I don't think it's affected by spell power so you're stuck with the ~2710 healing burst every minute.
Have fun and happy healing! There's nothing wrong with picking up an extra trinket or two (assuming no one else needs it) so that you can swap to them if necessary!
Want to find more great tips for carrying out your Priestly duties? Spiritual Guidance has you covered with all there is to know! And don't forget to check out our other Leveling Guides as well as our Wrath Guides and Galleries!Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Alchemy, Items, Jewelcrafting, Raiding, (Priest) Spiritual Guidance
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
CTD Nov 30th 2008 8:10PM
How does DMC: Blue Dragon stack up to these? Does the massive increase in spirit on gear still make it a worthwhile choice or has it finally gone the way of the dodo?
m0wglie Dec 1st 2008 3:45AM
I've been told (no proof yet) that DMC: Blue Dragon has a 0% chance to proc at level 80.
Llanion Dec 1st 2008 12:41PM
@m0wglie: Whoever told you that was just plain wrong. The Blue Dragon will still proc at level 80, at a 2% chance on cast. I just tested it. :)
segv Dec 1st 2008 12:30PM
DMC:Blue Dragon *does* proc on a lvl 80, and it does quite often.
(80 resto druid here)
willowblue Nov 30th 2008 8:37PM
I've been using my Blue Dragon for difficult boss fights in heroics. As a Resto Druid I've found it invaluable, even now in Wrath. Your mileage may vary and no I don't have any solid numbers, just the fact that we've downed bosses I was running OOM on once I switched to it. Once my spirit and int based regen comes up I doubt I will use it nearly as much but for now I loves mine.
Killu Nov 30th 2008 9:11PM
Due to Divine Plea its much better for holy pallys to stack int which provides a bigger manapool(therefore more mana regen thru divine plea and replenish), spell power and spell crit, so I'd say the greatness card is the way to go.
Bernard Dec 1st 2008 9:46PM
Matticus,
Keep in mind that Disc Priests are probably going to stack Int not Spirit because of Rapture+Replenishment, total mana pool becomes one of the best things for regen and spirit doesn't increase spellpower for Disc. Also Crit is a must (Divine Aegis), so Forge Ember is going to be a target for me.
Blachand Nov 30th 2008 10:00PM
How is Earring of Soul Meditation a Original Naxx item when it's a level 70 trink? Source check, aisle 14.
soul Nov 30th 2008 11:36PM
Unless Matt edited it, he never said it was an original Naxx item. Reading skills, aisle 13.
VSUReaper Dec 1st 2008 12:11AM
The comment is a little ambiguous, but its pretty obvious with a little bit of comprehension what is being said.
Skysong Dec 1st 2008 1:09AM
I believe that Spirit-World Glass is being presented as the level 80 version of Earring of Soul Meditation, not that they are trying to claim the Earring trinket drops in Naxx.
Xanda Dec 3rd 2008 6:30PM
I'm not sure about those trinkets which require you to cast a spell within 10 secs to kep the stack active. As a priest, you want to spend as much time outside the FSR as possible, and doing so may drop the stack a lot more times than it'd be useful for.
m0wglie Dec 1st 2008 3:45AM
Free spells (levitate, anything with IF up) don't trigger the 5sr.
hedyd Dec 1st 2008 5:03PM
Is there really a way to have Levitate be 'free' ?
Sure, it's really cheap, and mana regen will quickly recover the cost, but it still puts you into FSRule.
Unless there is a way to reduce it's cost to zero...?
joyu Dec 1st 2008 3:21AM
i think Je'Tze's Bell(http://www.wowhead.com/?item=37835) is a good trinket too
Fletch Dec 1st 2008 7:18AM
There was a quest reward (not sure where it was from, but I think I got it somewhere in the mid 70s) called Valenforth's Remembrance that was 16mp5 on equip and a chance to proc 222 spirit on spellcast. It's probably not on the same level as the epics listed, but for a green mid 70s item I found it was very good for a suitably specced priest as that additional chunk of spirit increases regen substantially and also adds to spellpower.
Tanichka Dec 1st 2008 8:57AM
You also forgot http://www.wowhead.com/?item=37657 - Spark of Life. Drops from the same boss as the Forge Ember and seems to be a +haste version of the Memento of Tyrande.
The Soul Preserver has a terribly low proc rate that negates the mana-saving aspect, sadly, else I would agree with you. 2% is really not worth it even for a spam-casting paladin or resto shaman.
Interestingly enough, the Badge of the Infiltrator (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=39811) is a fairly solid trinket for raiding if you're having mana problems, simply due to the way that the Replenishment buff works. Add this to the fact that many classes are built around INT converting to SP, and not to mention the crit gained from straight INT, and it actually winds up ranking high in the lists of good trinkets. I'm not even taking into account the +% modifiers such as Blessing of Kings.
FireStar Dec 1st 2008 11:03AM
Agree. I was just about to post on the Spark of Life too. That's one of those trinkets that are really nice for resto shammies just because of our regen issues.
I've noticed now that i have at least 400 haste rating that clutch healing is so much easier. I can run the speed H Strat with a tank that only has 19k hp.
Jane Gray Dec 2nd 2008 3:39AM
But what do you do if you get double chained on Meathook? I couldn't get past him with my low health tank because he'd die before the CC broke on me. (I could trinket the first chains but then I had to wait out the second)
neadamthal Dec 1st 2008 9:29AM
http://thottbot.com/i28370
this beauty from heroic bot is still equipped as i'm leveling at lvl 75... anything like this in wrath endgame?? it procs a pleasing amount and really helps with mana