The Light and How to Swing It: Working with a single school of magic
by Chase Christian 
Oct 16th 2011 at 8:00PM
Holy paladins have several features that make them powerful healers in PVP environments. Our diverse utility spells provide us with capabilities that our rivals can only dream of, and we have plenty of cooldowns that can counter our opponents' actions. While holy paladins are generally considered to be strong PVP healers, we aren't without our weaknesses. Our most notable flaw is our complete reliance on a single school of magic -- holy.
All of our spells and abilities are tied to one school of magic, which means that interrupts are incredibly potent at shutting down holy paladins. Even Judgement, which feels like a physical attack, is tied to the holy school. Interrupts are obviously potent against any caster, but holy paladins are especially hurt since we don't have any alternative spells to fall back onto. Mages can still cast Frost Nova if their Arcane Blast gets Kicked, and shaman can use any of their fire spells after getting a heal hit by Pummel. Holy paladins are useless when interrupted, which provides us with a unique set of challenges.
So you got interrupted
If you get interrupted while casting a spell, you're in some real trouble. You can run around and melee your enemy while hoping for a Seal of Insight proc, Crusader Striking your way to triple-digit DPS. If you're already locked out of your holy tree, you should probably look into hiding somewhere. Breaking line of sight with your opponents will allow you to minimize your incoming damage while you wait for the interrupt to wear off. If I'm in a Battleground, I like to run behind a wall and then start drinking to regain some mana when I'm locked out.
Instants are always safe
You can't have one of your instant-cast heals interrupted, which means they're ideal for healing when you have a rogue or warrior just waiting to interrupt you. Luckily for holy paladins, Cataclysm significantly boosted the number of instant healing options we have available. Holy Shock is now a potent heal in its own right. Word of Glory is our most powerful single-target heal, although its usage is limited by our holy power generation. Protector of the Innocent, Enlightened Judgements, and Beacon of Light also allow us to spread our instant-casts between more targets than ever before. Technically, Lay on Hands is instant-cast as well, but it has a long cooldown and isn't usable in an Arena environment.
Holy Radiance used to be an option for instant healing, but patch 4.3's redesign leaves it with a cast time. During Infusion of Light procs, Flash of Light also becomes instant-cast. While FoL is taboo in PVE, the heal can see plenty of use in PVP where speed is more important than mana efficiency. All of our Hand Of spells are also instant, which means that it's really only Holy Light and Divine Light that can be interrupted when casting. Exorcism spam can also be dangerous in PVP, as it's tied to the holy tree like every other spell we have.
Preventing interrupts
Sometimes you just have to cast a heal. Whether it's because Infusion of Light isn't always active, Holy Shock has a cooldown, or that Word of Glory requires HP, you will find yourself casting in PVP. If the enemy is ignoring you, then casting a few heals is probably safe. If the enemy is focused on you, however, you need to take some anti-interrupt precautions.
Holy paladins have several tricks for blocking interrupts. Aura Mastery, when activated with Concentration Aura, will allow you to cast freely and without worry for 6 seconds. AM blocks both interrupts like Kick and silences like Strangulate, which makes it a very powerful cooldown for us. Divine Shield and Hand of Protection also allow us to avoid interrupts, although Hand of Protection allows magical interrupts like Strangulate and Counterspell through.
You can also get offensive, using Hammer of Justice to stun a melee class who's training you in order to buy yourself time to heal. I have also often used Divine Protection to give myself a Speed of Light speed boost, allowing myself to get out of melee range of my attacker in order to give me a few seconds of breathing room to heal. Even just running away from your target can give you time for your spells like Holy Shock to come off of cooldown. There's no law that says you have to stand around getting beat up, so move around offensively to create gaps between yourself and your opponents.
Juking that interrupt
The most advanced method of avoiding interrupts is juking. If you're familiar with the idea of a pump fake, then you understand juking. The idea of juking is that you start casting a spell, and then you abruptly stop casting it. If your timing is right, your opponent will try to interrupt your cast, but since you already stopped casting, their interrupt will be wasted. You can then cast all you like until their interrupt is off cooldown again. In order to be successful at juking, you need to have quick reaction times, be aware of your surroundings, and be able to track your enemies' interrupt cooldowns.
The first half of juking involves knowing when your opponent will try to interrupt you. Some enemies are eager to interrupt and will jump on their Kick key early in the cast time. Other players are savvy to your tricks and will delay interrupting until it's absolutely necessary. You need to figure out what style of player you're facing, and you need to know their class. If you juke a rogue's Kick, he can still stun you or Gouge you instead. If you juke a shaman's Wind Shear, the next one could be there in just a few moments. You typically don't want to remain casting for more than half a second during a juke, as if you cast for any longer, even an amateur could interrupt you by then.
The other half of juking involves knowing when it's appropriate. If your friends are going to die soon, juking may be the only way for you to get a spell cast off before they go down. If your partner is at full life, you might not want to risk getting interrupted if you don't have to. Juking is considered to be an advanced caster tactic, so don't worry if you don't pick it up right away.
The Light and How to Swing It: Holy helps holy paladins become the powerful healers we're destined to be. Find out just how masterful mastery healing can be, gear up with the latest gear, and learn how to PVP as a holy paladin.
Filed under: Paladin, (Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Smoke353 Oct 16th 2011 8:24PM
All healers have this problem, all healing spells in the game are either Nature or Holy, and no class has both. For shaman, earth shield, water shield, and call of the elements are all nature spells. Ghost wolf and Hex are nature spells. Druids are maybe better off because of travel form, but with Crusader strike, I really think Holy paladins are the best off as far as interrupted healers go. At least you get holy power.
Windswept Oct 16th 2011 8:35PM
Yeah, but holy is unique in that it does not have ANY other school to cast.
Priests have Shadow
Shamans have multiple elemental spells to choose from
Druids have some arcane if I am not mistaken
Vorken Oct 16th 2011 8:38PM
Priests.
Disc and holy.
Don't be hating on pallies just cause.
HDPriest Oct 16th 2011 8:48PM
Yes, but a Shaman, Priest or Druid can offensively cast a Fire, Shadow or Arcane spell so they're not just totally standing there doing nothing. It's true that an interrupt will stop all healing, but HPallies really don't have other options when locked out of the Holy tree, like he said.
Manny Oct 16th 2011 9:01PM
ya druids have 2 arcane spells which r pretty useless in damage and the cast time on starfire is stupid long theres no point in using unless its to draw out a kick in itself.
but once a nature spell is kicked u cant do a thing to keep someone alive in any way. no cyclone root or even the useless wrath cannot be cast.
if a priests heal gets kicked they can fear, manaburn, and mind control. they also have innerfocus to prevent from being kicked or silenced
shamans r at a disadvantage as well theres not much use for their fire/frost spells but they can still use totems and unleash elements
pallies are on the same boat as druids the only defense they have is aura mastery which is a rather long cd
just wonder if blizzard forgot about resto druids theres just so little representation of resto druids in high rated brackets
Smoke353 Oct 16th 2011 9:15PM
Unleash Elements and all the multi-totem casts are nature spells, you can't use them. Shamans have only Lava burst and shocks, which have cooldowns, and earth shock isn't usable.
Lightning bolt is nature. Starfire does negligible damage and requires standing still. Priests have mana burn which is a stupidly powerful spell and I have absolutely no pity for priests in pvp.
Also, paladins have aura mastery to prevent interrupts, druids' nature's swiftness at least buffs the spell, but for shamans, it's the only healer 'cooldown' they have, and it's not at all on par with inner focus and aura mastery.
Bellajtok Oct 16th 2011 9:54PM
The point is that no one can heal once their heal has been interrupted. Conversely, most (but not all) offensive casters are able to cast from a different school when interrupted.
Zenotho Oct 17th 2011 12:57AM
Sorry, I disagree completely that Pallies are "best off" after being locked out of their healing school. Let's go down the list:
-Priests can dot, mana burn, fear, mind control, or cast a mind spike into mind blast crit
-Shaman can snare (frost shock), dot, or cast a lvb
-Druids can dot, cast a starfall or switch to travelform and at least escape incoming dmg
And, the three other healing specs can do all of the above AT RANGE.
H
Smoke353 Oct 17th 2011 1:11AM
@Zenotho
None of those things do any healing at all. None of them contribute to future healing. None of them really do anything useful except for mana burn and potentially mind control.
Zenotho Oct 17th 2011 11:16AM
@sm
Natsumi Oct 17th 2011 11:22AM
@Windswept
Actually, there are 3 spells that are non-nature spells:
Flame Shock
Frost Shock
Lava Blast
That's it, nothing else. Your misconception that Shaman are packed full of elemental schools is something that only someone that hasn't ever played the class would say. That's like saying that Disarming a Warrior doesn't lock them out of all their abilities because they can still use shouts and Thunderclap. School lock on a resto Shaman is exactly the same as Silencing them, it shuts them down completely for the duration of the lock (unless for some reason they have Lava Blast on their bars lol), so please, before you post something like this in the future, check your information first, it'll make the rest of us not hate you.
Natsumi Oct 17th 2011 11:24AM
@Zenotho
Uh, 90% of school locks come from MELEE, so the ability to hit people at range is moot, as the person doing the spell lock is IN YOUR FACE!
Zenotho Oct 17th 2011 2:53PM
@Smoke - Reasonable people can agree to disagree. Unfortunately, you aren't being reasnoable. Your claim that holy pallies are "best off" following a holy school lockout is laughable. They can lolcs if they're within melee range, which they're usually trying to avoid in the first place, and that's the ONLY THING THEY CAN DO. I listed a dozen things the other healers can do, and you claimed that only mana burn was useful (with MC being "potentially useful".)
Psychic Scream, arguably the single best insta-cast aoe CC, isn't useful? Slowing your enemy healer who is trying to kite your dps with frost shock isn't useful? Finishing off a wounded enemy with Mind Spike or Moonfire isn't useful? Come on, man - crusader strike is holy pallies ONLY option. If you think they're the "best off" - your words - then you're playing a different game than me.
jlhealy Oct 17th 2011 3:52PM
"Vorken Oct 16th 2011 8:38PM
Priests.
Disc and holy.
Don't be hating on pallies just cause."
Disc and holy are different talent trees, not different magical SCHOOLS. All priest healing and many utility spells are of the holy school. The rest are shadow, with the exception of mind spike, which is shadowfrost.
------------
While I agree that lock-outs can be rough for holy paladins, you can't discount the potency instant casts give in combat. Every cast is a vulnerable point, and being able to instant heal forces enemies to have to use the longer CDs of silences rather than just interrupting. Instants can ALSO be cast on the move, which is very helpful, especially in BGs. IMHO, these benefits are very much something which should be taken into account.
I play both a disc priest and a holy paladin in PvP and, even undergeared, the holy paladin feels like she can push out heals more easily. They simply don't have as many vulnerable casting windows - on the other hand, it's fun to actively peel for yourself and help with offence. In short, each class is different and brings its own flavor. Debating which is more powerful is a fruitless task.
Smoke353 Oct 16th 2011 9:10PM
Unleash Elements and all the multi-totem casts are nature spells, you can't use them. Shamans have only Lava burst and shocks, which have cooldowns, and earth shock isn't usable.
Manny Oct 16th 2011 9:30PM
y wuld any shaman use a multi totem cast after being kicked?
Smoke353 Oct 16th 2011 9:36PM
the same reason youd cast it at any other time? it's a thing that shamans do. if you're interrupted you cant.
Manny Oct 16th 2011 9:55PM
u realize that its possible to just use one totem such as stoneshin or grounding to avoid damage after being kicked
Natsumi Oct 17th 2011 11:30AM
@Manny
1) It's StoneSKIN Totem, not StoneSHIN Totem.
2) Stoneskin Totem is a NATURE SPELL, thus if you get school locked YOU CANNOT USE IT.
3) Your argument MIGHT have more effect if you bothered to spell out your words and use proper grammar. It took me more time to figure out wtf you typed than it did to reply.
burntoutfool Oct 17th 2011 12:59PM
@Natsumi
Maybe he meant stoneshin as a way to not get kicked by a normal rogue/bitten by a gnome? :D