Friday, September 9, 2011

Basic Keybinding for Healing Priests

Cataclysm introduced many new spells to the priest's healing arsenal. While you can technically bind your healing spells to multi-button mouses, I personally find key-binding far superior. Here's a summary of what I use, based on individual spell use frequency as well as the size of my left hand.

Movement Keys: AWSD

Holy

Discipline

1

Heal

2

Circle of Healing

Holy Fire

3

N/A

Smite

4

N/A

Archangel

Q

Power Word: Shield

E

Greater Heal

R

Chastise

Penance

T

Prayer of Healing

F

Flash Heal

G

Guardian Spirit

Pain Suppression

Z

Dispel

X

Cure Disease

C

Renew

V

Prayer of Mending

B

Binding Heal

Shift + 2

Chakra

Inner Focus

Shift + B

N/A

Power Word: Barrier


Notice that I try to keep the same healing spells used by both spec on the same key, so that when I do change spec occasionally, it doesn't feel foreign. Basic spells such as Greater Heal and Heal still have the same key-binding for both spec.

Characteristic spell of both spec are bind to R. Chastise, which morphs into either Serenity or Sanctuary in Holy, and Penance for Discipline.

The fourth row of the keyboard consists of two emergency keys. F for Flash Heal, which is easy to remember simply based on the name, and G, for either Guardian Spirit in Holy or Pain Suppression in Discipline. The letter G is just slightly further to the right to prevent you from hitting it by accident. At the same time, it's close enough to reach when you need to use it.

I also set the self casting modifier as Shift in the WoW interface. So that when I need to heal myself, I can simply press Shift + C for self-renew, or Shift + Q for self-PW: Shield. I do not have to de-select my current target to do this. This is especially useful in pvp. Having to target yourself, do something, then target your partner and do something is ridiculously inconvenient. It also helps with instant casting while moving, as you do not have to click your unit-frame to cast spells, making mouse turning much easier.

Less frequently used spells, such as Chakra State/Inner Focus/PW: Barrier, can be bind to Shift + ?? that cannot be self targeted. You cannot cast Binding Heal on yourself, so Shift + B is used for PW: Barrier instead.

Last but not least, remember that your TAB key is used to target enemy targets. Do not mouse click enemy targets, it's slow.

For the remaining spells, you can either click, or bind them to modifiers such as Alt + ?? or Ctrl + ??. For myself, I just click them. But I organize their location in my action bar accordingly.

Cooldowns: Divine Hymn, Hymn of Hope, Shadowfiend, Power Infusion, Trinket
Buffs: PW: Fortitude, Inner Focus, Shadow Protection, Fear Ward
Life-saver: FADE. Unless you are raiding with a flawless tank, I think this spell saves more priests' ass than Guardian Spirit, Desperate Prayer, or Pain Suppression combined together...seriously. You see the enemy nameplates flashing red with "high threat"? Hit Fade!