A healer's rotation is a mana plan. Two heals run on their own clocks, Penance and Renew (Rank 10), and every other cast is a choice between a big heal that costs a lot and a small one that costs little. The choice depends on one comparison: your mana against the time left.

The pull

The benchmark casts nothing before the boss is engaged, and the healer begins with a full bar. Open with Penance and Renew. Our simulated priest also presses Power Infusion, Shadowfiend and, where the build has it, Inner Focus in the first second. Power Infusion loses nothing by going early. Shadowfiend and Inner Focus are wasted on a full mana bar (see Cooldowns below).

Priority

Whenever your global cooldown comes back, go down the list and cast the first line you can. The first line is the automatic cooldowns: potions, runes, trinkets and your mana spells.

1. Penance whenever it is ready. Every 12 seconds, three bolts in two seconds, for less mana per point healed than any rank of Greater Heal. The line is worth −0.8 % on a one-minute single-boss fight.
2. Renew (Rank 10) when it falls off your target. It heals 830 plus your healing power over 15 seconds for an instant cast, and Improved Renew and Twin Disciplines add 20 %. Most single-target rotations keep it up all fight.
3. Greater Heal while your mana is ahead of the clock. Compare your mana percentage with the share of the fight still to go. If half the fight is left and you have more than half your mana, cast Greater Heal.
4. Heal, at a low rank, when you are behind. Heal rank 2 or 3 costs about a third of Greater Heal's mana for well under half its healing, so it stretches what you have left. The search picks the ranks fight by fight, from Greater Heal rank 4 or 5 and Heal rank 2 or 3.

On one minute you never fall behind the clock: Greater Heal rank 5 is your only heal besides Penance and Renew, 72.4 % of the healing. With mana to spare, Penance's line can score below zero, because Greater Heal heals more per second of casting.

The rule settles the mix of big and small heals so that your mana runs out as the fight ends, whatever your gear's regeneration. Our fights have no damage to react to, so the sim spends by the clock alone. On a real boss you heal what is needed, and the same comparison tells you whether you can afford the big heal.

Power Word: Shield

No searched rotation casts the shield, on any fight. Nobody takes damage in our fights, so a shield counts only what it absorbs: 928 plus 10 % of your healing power for 500 mana. It can't crit, so Divine Aegis doesn't add to it. Greater Heal rank 5 heals about twice as much for 710. Every rotation the search tried with the shield in it scored lower.

In a raid the shield does what a heal can't. It lands before the damage, and damage doesn't interrupt the target's casts while it holds. Renewed Hope then gives your heals up to 10 % more crit on that target. Put it on the tank before big hits. Weakened Soul then stops a second shield on that target for 15 seconds.

Healing a party

The single-target build heals the same one target on three bosses as on one, so its rotation doesn't change with the fight. For a party of five, switch to the party build at the top of the page.

Cooldowns

Power Infusion adds 20 % healing for 15 seconds every three minutes. It multiplies whatever you cast, so line it up with your big heals. The raid table on the Overview shows what it would be worth on a caster instead.

Inner Focus makes your next spell free and gives it 25 % crit. Press it before a Greater Heal or a Prayer of Healing. Our simulated priest presses it at the pull, where Power Infusion uses it up on a full mana bar, so the sim values it at 0.0 %.

Shadowfiend returns 5 % of your maximum mana each time it hits, for 15 seconds: up to about half your mana bar. Summon it when at least half your bar is empty. Our priest summons it at the pull with a full bar, so much of that mana is lost over the cap.

Dark Sacrifice (Undead) turns health into 1,600 mana plus your Spirit over 15 seconds, once a fight. Our sim waits until the mana fits, and so should you.

Mana potions and runes. Major Mana Potion and Demonic Rune have separate two-minute cooldowns. Use each as soon as its mana fits in your bar, so that a three-minute fight has room for a second of each.

Talisman of Ascendance goes on cooldown every minute: each of your next five heals within 20 seconds adds a stack of 75 healing.

Cooldown	Uses	At
Elune's Light	1	0:00
Talisman of Ascendance	1	0:00
Power Infusion	1	0:00
Shadowfiend	1	0:00
Demonic Rune	1	0:21
Major Mana Potion	1	0:28

What your log should show

The table is what a log of the simulated priest looks like, so line yours up against it. Penance has a 12-second cooldown, so it can't go out more than five times a minute. Expect about 5.0 on a one-minute single-boss fight.

Ability	Casts per minute	Of healing	Crit
Greater Heal (Rank 5)	17.0	72.4 %	22.5 %
Penance (Rank 4)	5.0	13.6 %	17.5 %
Renew (Rank 10)	4.0	10.1 %	0.0 %
Divine Aegis	–	3.9 %	0.0 %
Greater Heal (Rank 4)	–	0.0 %	–
Shadowfiend: Auto attackpet	11.0	–	–
Power Infusion	1.0	–	–
Elune's Light	1.0	–	–
Talisman of Ascendance	1.0	–	–
Demonic Rune	1.0	–	–
Shadowfiend	1.0	–	–
Major Mana Potion	1.0	–	–

Penance crits 17.5 % of the time here, less than Greater Heal's 22.5 %: our model doesn't give its bolts Holy Specialization's 5 %, though the talent's game data names them. In game, expect Penance to crit about as often as your other heals.

Uptimes

Buff or debuff	Uptime	Times per fight
Renew (Rank 10)	89.6 %	4.0
Ascendance	33.3 %	1.0
Ascendance	33.3 %	1.0
Elune's Light	25.0 %	1.0
Power Infusion	25.0 %	1.0
Shadowfiend	25.0 %	1.0
Penance (Rank 4)	16.7 %	5.0

Watch Renew (Rank 10) most: on a three-minute fight it is up 91.2 % on your target. Gaps there are healing you could have had for an instant cast.