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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsSpiritual Guidance: A Lightwell primer
by Matt Low 
Aug 10th 2009 at 3:00PM
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 No Stock UI, a UI and addons blog for WoW. What exactly is Lightwell? How is it used? Why does no one use it?
Oh Lightwell. The things you could have been. Misunderstood by many and under-talented by a large number of Priests. Will you ever see raids?
Perhaps not. But we can try!
Lightwell
The first thing Lightwell novices need to understand is the purpose of the spell. It creates a Holy Lightwell wherever you want it that any player can interact with. A player who uses it gains a charge that heals them for more than 4500 health over a period of 6 seconds. It's got a 40 yard placement range. Be sure you pick up the Lightwell glyph for it. A 20% boost to Lightwell ticks go a long way and will help make this talent even more worthwhile.
There is a slight downside. If the player under the effect of a Lightwell charge takes a hit that's 30% of their total health, the effect disappears.
Lightwell talent spec overview
This particular build doesn't use a maxed Improved Healing (Not much use of Greater Heal anyway). It doesn't pick up Holy Reach or Healing Prayers either. It also happens to be 1 point short on Test of Faith. Anyway, feel free to play with it some and to come up with a particular spec that accommodates you. The important part is obviously investing a point in Lightwell.
Placement
There's two parts to Lightwell usage. I'll get to the second one in a moment. But the first part of Lightwell is where you place it. It makes all the difference in the world. Drop it too far away and the players who benefit the most from it won't be able to use it.
There's a few things to consider before deploying the Lightwell:
- Make sure the players who need to use them are able to use them. Doesn't matter if it's melee players or ranged players. Keep it handy close by for them to use. If they're in a fight where there's a ton of movement required, try to pick a location where the players who need it most can access it easily.
- You won't have to worry about healing them as much. Sure you'll want to keep some Renews or Shields on them. But it is a fire and forget type of spell. Ideally you'll want to cater towards the players that healers will not be able to cover as well. For example, a Priest could drop it on one side of the room and heal from the other side because they need to be well out of range for some reason. The Lightwell should last long enough to buy several seconds.
Getting players to use Lightwell
This is the second part of Lightwell effectiveness. And if anyone figures out how to encourage players to use Lightwell, get back to me.
Heh, in all seriousness, many players do not appreciate (or even know) what Lightwell is. They don't understand its capabilities or strengths. If you want to start encouraging its use, just spec into the talent and use it keeping the above points in mind.
What you will want to let the other players know is that the best way to effectively use Lightwell is to simply click it once and then stay away from danger for a few seconds while it works its magic. Remember the 30% threshold. If enough damage is taken, the Lightwell effect is removed. Stay away from any abilities or effects that will deal damage until Lightwell finishes the patching up process.
The really limiting factor on Lightwell is that it requires other players to use it. It's just unfortunate that it isn't utilized by players often enough.
Fights where Lightwell is useful (or at least, not completely useless)
I know Priests can heal these fights without the use of Lightwell. but I'd figure I'd throw out a list here for raid encounters where it's "nice to have".
Loatheb. Great for the times when Loatheb temporarily lowers his no healing aura. Dropping the well on top of Loatheb means you won't have to stress over melee players. You can stick to the ranged.
Four Horsemen. Healing the two tanks on Sir Zelik and Lady Blameaux? Drop a Lightwell between the two of them so they can snag a tick as they tag back and forth.
Gluth. Plant it in the back of the room for your zombie chow kiting raiders. They'll appreciate as they randomly get bitten and attacked by a zombie or two as they' do their job.
Malygos. Players about to get vortexed? Go ahead and pre-Lightwell yourself just before you get thrown around.
Razorscale. Anytime while Razor is in the air is a perfect time. Players are going to take damage whether it is from some whirlwind or from random trash hits.
Deconstructor. Tympanic Tantrums. Enough said.
Kologarn. Ouch. I'm sure players would love to use it after getting swept by that pesky Left Arm.
Hodir. I'm thinking Frozen Blows here. Park it near the melee. If Hodir isn't being moved around, then it's great for those up close to be able to use it. Most of the ranged players are moving around doing the whole buff management thing anyway.
Mimiron. I'd use Lightwell extensively throughout phase 2. Heat waves and his twin cannon arms will ensure that Lightwell becomes popular by the raiders.
General Vezax. Set it up on the outside for your ranged players. Any stray raiders that manage to eat a Shadow Crash or take a tick or two of the General's Mark of the Faceless ability will cherish the well. You might even see it disappear before the 3 minute expiry kicks in!
Yogg-Saron. Phase 3 is a good candidate. The raid will be standing on one side of the room fending off those Immortal Guardians. Drop it and go!
Bonus use! One more thing that Lightwell is incredibly useful for. Trying to find someone in a capital city? Drop a Lightwell! It functions as a perfect beacon. It just can't be missed. Your associates will be able to find you with no problem.
Yes Lightwell isn't exactly the most optimum spell to use in raids. It does have its uses, I will admit. But it's going to take some more time and possibly more buffs before it will see "mainstream" usage. For the present, give it a spin and inject a new spell into your lineup!
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: Priest, Tips, Tricks, Raiding, Talents, (Priest) Spiritual Guidance
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
Cale Aug 10th 2009 4:27PM
I like foofer4ever and Creid's ideas above. I think either one of them would make Lightwell a far more attractive talent/spell.
Another thing to consider whether players would use versions of this spell designed for other roles. This isn't completely analogous, but what if a tank could lay down a Hatewell that, when clicked, reduced your aggro over time (or increased the tank's aggro). Or a mage laid down a Firewell that added a dot to the mage's target.
It seems to me that dpsers riding the edge would likely work a Hatewell in to their rotation to reduce their aggro and, ultimately, increase their dps. The Firewell might well become a raid requirement if it did any kind of decent damage. Would healers click on these? For my part, I would if I had a few spare moments b/c it would ultimately help the raid. On the other hand, if I'm busy saving lives, I'd likely ignore the wells and pay attention to my own job - healing (the most important one, of course).
I would imagine tanks and dps feel much the same way from their perspective. They're busy doing their thing and the healers should just do their job, but if they have a spare moment, or if their life was in immediate danger, they'd click the Lightwell.
I guess we just can't depend on the end user, as Avan says, to know when to heal themselves. I'm all for the ToC version of the spell. I also like positive incentives so, dreaming here, if it gave some other advantage to the clickers like mana, temporary increased stamina (like Divine Hymn) or reduced aggro, that'd be great.
Flad Aug 10th 2009 4:42PM
You want to know the real reason lightwell is unpopular? Non-healers do not want to take responsibility for their own health. The End. It's the same reason you have trouble convincing DPS to move out of the damned fire even if they're in the middle of a long cast. It's the same reason most people don't use their class's damage reduction abilities unless they're tanking. It's the same reason so many people forget to use their lock rocks or healing pots.
Other posters have suggested making light well passive - we see the trash mobs with a version like this in the new 5man. This would certainly make it more used. The question is how much Bliz wants to cater to the laziness of non-healers.
Angus Aug 10th 2009 7:43PM
Yes, but how do you teach people that still haven't learned from recent medical studies that standing in fire is detrimental to your health (and can cause bad burns) that maybe they should CLICK THE FREAKING THING!?!? Seriously, I have told a hunter in our guild that if he kills any more dps because he decided to let the mob run up to him before using FD (which means that I now have to be 130% of the closest melee target's aggro, and often I am barely above our mages) I'd force him to level a tank so I could do the same thing to him. I'd happily pull aggro of of him and let 3-4 people die then everyone would blame him for wiping at 2% because we lost 2 dps in the first 30 seconds of a fight...
He's working on a druid...
(The medical study comment is a quote, all credit goes to Lore)
Lucidique Aug 10th 2009 4:49PM
The Lightwell in Trial of the Champion = amazing.
It's essentially a POM in a well, but it is awesome.
Lucidique Aug 10th 2009 4:58PM
After seeing eblume's post, I must admit, I didn't know that Lightwell was this, uhm, well. Good.
I didn't even know about the 40 yard clickable range. I posted it on my guild forum right after reading it. Lightwell is, and I never knew I would be saying this, extremely awesome!
LOLTalents Aug 10th 2009 5:12PM
Sentry Totem, Lightwell, Dark Pact, Curse of Weakness, Hellfire, etc.
Yep.
No ranged or melee DPS will waste uptime running over to this thing. At least none you want in your raid.
But, w/e.
Holy can't get the Lightwell from TotC because it would be useful in PVP and as per current logic, if you have a viable PVP build, you can't have another, despite the fact that all builds will be viable for PVP.
Vestus Sancti Aug 10th 2009 6:53PM
I was unaware that Warlocks were not considered a necessity in instances and raids.
Maybe in 3.2 they made it so that they can't cast Soulstone or Healthstone, and they can't turn their health in to mana, and they can no longer summon people into instances they're not keyed for, but i didn't read that in my Patch Notes.
LOLTalents Aug 11th 2009 9:30AM
Warlocks aren't worthless, but them and other classes have some severely worthless talents and abilities outside of DK's.
bmiller Aug 10th 2009 5:14PM
I have a level 61 Priest that's specced shadow/holy. I've always skipped a point in Light well just because of the reputation "LOLwell". I was running Blood Furnace yesterday and the orc technicians that have an AOE silence were very annoying and were ruining a well paced, well run instance.
I thought, "if there was only some way I could get HoTs on everyone" Arrgh, I should have specced Lightwell. Then today I see this article. I'm speccing my next holy point in Lightwell.
Rational Aug 10th 2009 5:59PM
Here's the problem with lightwell: Most fights involve damage that is severe, unpredictable, and must be healed immediately. Take either Ignis, XT, Kologarn in Ulduar. At any moment any player may take massive near-lethal damage that must be healed immediately without any significant interruption in their DPS. They can not break out of formation to run around looking for Lightwells to put a relatively paltry 4500 hp HOT on themselves. I'm pretty sure it could be mathematically demonstrated that the loss in DPS from breaking formation is far more severe than the cost of mana to AOE heal them.
So the thing is, Lightwell hurts the team way more than it helps. The fights are just too fast and erratic and the damage comes too hard for the lightwell to do any good. I think it well deserves its common nicknames Failwell or Lolwell.
eblume Aug 10th 2009 7:37PM
Funny, me and my rejuvenation ticks of half that number (~2.5k) seem perfectly capable of outpacing every other healing class on every fight you just mentioned. Furthermore, it's my understanding that you can be 40 yards away from the well and get the buff... that's max healing range. I could be wrong, but...
Matchu Aug 10th 2009 6:14PM
Speaking as a Warlock whose mana mysteriously disappears after 10 seconds, lightwell is definitely my friend. Definitely reduces the guilt over life tapping continuously!
Vestus Sancti Aug 10th 2009 6:45PM
Lightwell is one of the most misunderstood abilities in the Priest repertoire. It doesn't incur a CD on the people who click it, and if they're smart (ie, have a /focus addon or simply know how to click on one thing and then on another), it will serve its purpose of Cost/Time/and Heal efficiency.
If the PuG I'm in refuses to click the lightwell, I refuse to heal them. If all of the Priests in the game stuck to that principal, then over the course of a week- perhaps two- everyone would be well acquainted with how awesome the HealWell truly is.
Believe me, I almost received sexual favors from a Warlock when they figured out how good it was.
Clevins Aug 10th 2009 8:07PM
A couple of other downsides to light well....
Lasts 3 mins. In a 5 minute fight and things are getting tight at the end? You're screwed if you dropped Lightwell at the start of the fight and didn't redrop it.
10 charges. Killer for 10s. Not so killer if people use it up in 25s.
Yes, you can click it from 40 yards away, but unless you have it /focused, you're unlikely to. Oddly, the best people for this are melee who will usually be near to it.
I'd imagine a focus macro would be nice to help people use this. I'm tempted, despite what I've said here, to try it out.
Zusterke Aug 11th 2009 4:02AM
You're saying a focus macro works? Can you give an example macro here? When I tried it, it didn't work. I may have missed something.
This would make a tremendous difference in my book!
eblume Aug 10th 2009 7:33PM
A couple people have thanked me for this post now, so I feel I should step in with a disclaimer.
I mentioned that I knew "nearly (but not completely) everything there is to know about ... raid healing". The distance you can click on Lightwell from is one of those "nearly" anythings. It is my understanding from the comments on Wowhead any my own frustratingly limited experience with Lightwell that you can click on the well from 40 yards away. I could be wrong.
I made that post strongly worded for a reason. It's taking the best of what I know and putting it towards a good cause: bringing to the forefront one of the better spells in WoW, that currently is not being used appropriately. In truth, people should probably experiment to verify these data. It's a sad fact that so little is known about this spell.
Babasyzygy Aug 12th 2009 2:05PM
You can not click it from 40 yards away. You can only *place* it from 40 yards away.
Noscy Aug 10th 2009 7:38PM
DPS are generally to self absorbed, and expect to be looked after by the healers, not have to look after them selves.
DPS who look after themselves would use to the lightwell to its maximum capacity.
Eturyu Aug 10th 2009 9:21PM
I used to use it all the time, when i noticed people actually clicked on it 1 out every million times i dropped, i dont even bother wasting apoint on somthing nobady uses these days.
comedown Aug 11th 2009 2:43AM
How about we let my warrior spec into a 41 point talent that lets me drop an axe on the ground that healers can run and click every time they want to do some damage? Or maybe up the prot tree i can put my shield on the ground and players can click on it when the boss needs to be tanked?
Oh wait... that would be re-goddam-diculous.
Don't waste the talent point and make your dps learn to stand just a little bit outside the fire. Something tells me most healers would prefer that than a 6 second HoT that is barely equivalent to a Flash of Light