Want to be a heroic priest?

This is my guide to how to get your healing priest ready for heroics.   It is a slot by slot guide about how to get a basic level of gear for heroics.  It includes only guarenteed gear from quests and reputation rewards.  There are plenty of other options, many better, but the items listed will be sufficent to start  you in heroics.  It assumes your leveling to 80 or already there.

Edit:  These are stats I started healing heroics with – Spellpower: 1300, IFSR MP5: 220, Spirit: 550, Int: 800, Holy crit: 13%, Haste: 10% (5% plus 5% from Enlightenment).  They will vary a bit for holy priests.

Reputation wise you need to be revered with Horde Expedition, which most toons will be after leveling via questing.  You will need to be Honoured with Kirin Tor.  To get there buy the tabard and do some level 80 instances and also do some daily quests out of Dalaran.  The cooking and normal instance dailies are pretty easy to complete.  You will need Revered with Wyrmrest Accord.  Once again buy the tabard and do some level 80 instances.  Also do their dailies.  Drake Hunt from Raelorasz at the Transitus Shield is marked ‘low level’ at 80 but still gives reputation and is very easy.  Defending Wyrmrest Temple from Lord Afrasastrasz on the middle level of the temple is also pretty easy.  A third option is Aces High! I could never get that one completed after a few tries, but it is another option.  None of the reputation grinding is particularly onerous as you only need lowish levels of each reputation.

Below are the items by slot.

• Head – Cowl of the Vindictive Captain can be obtained by completing the Vengence Be Mine quest given by Brigg just inside the Utgarde Pinnacle instance.  You have to kill the final boss in the instance to complete this.
• Shoulders – The Mantle of the Intrepid Explorer is a quest reward from Brann Bronzebeard in Halls of Stone.  You will discover Brann and complete this quest in the course of completing this instance.
  Edit: Other very good options are Runecaster’s Mantle and Dark Runic Mantle.  Both are BoE, better than the quest reward above, and can be bought of the AH for abour 60-120g at time of writing.
• Chest – Bauble-Woven Gown can be obtained by completing the Junk in My Truck quest given by Brigg just inside the Utgarde Pinnacle instance.  You have to pick up random junk inside the instance to complete this.
• Hands – Gloves of the Time Guardian is a quest reward from the Royal Escort quest from Chromie in the Culling of Strathholme instance.  You meet him near the start of the instance and will complete this by completing the instance.
• Legs – Conferred Pantaloons are a quest reward from the Containment quest from Warden Alturas at the entrance to the Violet Hold.  Enter Violet Hold, kill the bosses and you will complete this.  Note that you need to complete the Discretion is Key quest from Rhonin in Dalaran to be offered this quest.
  Edit: You might be able to get Ring-Lord’s Leggings off the AH for a reasonable price although they are currently selling for 300g on my server.
• Back – Shroud of Dedicated Research is a Kirin Tor Honured reputation reward.
  Edit: Another good option off the AH is the Reanimator’s Cloak.
• Wrists – Ancestral Sinew Wristguards is a Wyrmrest Accord reputation reward at Revered.
• Waist – Mammoth Sinew Cinch is a quest reward from Ample Inspiration from Ricket at K3 in the Storm Peaks.
  Edit: You might also be able to get a Shimmerthread Girdle off the AH for a reasonable price.
• Feet – Fur-lined Moccasins is a quest reward from the One of a Kind quest from Chronicler Bah’Kini, who is just west of the instance entrance.  Complete Grundrak to complete this quest.  Another option are the Sandals of Mystical Evolution from a quest in the Nexus instance.
• Neck – I was wearing the Choker of Betrayal when i started heroics.  It is from the end of a fun chain in Zul’Drak.  To start the chain kill some stuff around Ebon Watch in Zul’Drak.  An item called an Unliving Choker will drop and allow you to start the chain.
• Fingers – Ring of Temerity can be obtained by completing The Struggle Persists from Raelorasz at the Transitus Shield.  You will complete this by running The Oculus instance.  My other ring was Kurzel’s Angst from the Search and Rescue quest in Drak’Tharon.  This is part of a short chain starting from Mack Fearsen in Granite Springs in Grizzly Hills.  To complete this make sure you ‘open’ the webbed victims in the spider section of this instance.
• Main hand – Gavel of the Brewing Storm is a Wyrmrest Accord reputation reward at Revered.
• Off hand – The Witching Grimoire from this quest chain in Icecrown is excellent.  If you haven’t made it that far something like the Branch of Insightful Dreams will do to start with.  This can be obtaind from the Jin’arrak’s End quest from Kraz at Harkor’s Camp in eastern Grizzly Hills.  Its at the end of a short but easy chain of quests which starts with this quest.
• Wand – Charged Wand of the Cleft is a Horde Expedition reputation reward at Revered.  You can purchase it at either  Horde Expedition quarter master at the starting towns in both Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord.  If you quested to 80 you should be revered already or pretty close to.
  Edit: The identical, but otherwise inferior 🙂 , Alliance version is the Gnomish Magician’s Quill.
• Trinkets – Badge of the Infiltrator an be picked up from the same quest chain as the Choker of Betrayal (neck), in fact from the quest immediately before it.  Look at the neck entry above for how to start this chain.  Your other trinket could come from anywhere, but if your lucky the Soul Preserver from the last boss in the Culling of Strathholme instance is excellent.  So is the Tome of Arcane Phenomena from the last boss in The Oculus.

Ok that’s the gear done. Don’t forget to get spell power enchants on everything if you can.  You can get a Arcanum of Burning Mysteries at Revered with Wyrmrest Accord also.  I didn’t have belt or shoulder ‘enchants’ prior to starting heroics.

A few other comments I have are … be ready to be aggressive with your healing, especially when you first start healing heroics.  You might not realise it but healing normal instances is pretty lazy and you react to damage most of the time.  When you start on heroics you’ll get a shock as you need to watch who has agro and expect damage.  You need to be casting your preventative heals and heals-over-time more on targets you know are about to start taking damage and you will need to do some queueing of Greater Heals and cancelling them.  How much of this you need to do is determined by your spec, gear, group and experience.

Edit: You will find it significantly easier to start healing heroics if your tank in uncrittable (e.g. 540 defence for warriors).

One final thing is that reputation gains from wearing tabards in heroics are big.  Your reputation levels will rocket up.

Gobble gobble.

Edit: Item value is mostly based of this LootRank.

Edit 2: For another angle on the same topic check out HolyDuegs recent post.