I have run Deadmines over 30 times as a like-level priest, so I’m guessing that finally gives me the right to write a guide to healing. I will be assuming a few things about your character, skills, and interface, so read this over carefully, or your group may end up dead.
- You have ‘invested’ in at least some +healing gear.
- You are specced at least some Holy for threat reduction.
- You are not the lowest level member, or are at least level 24 if you are all like-level.
- I would highly recommend ClickHeal for easy healing and buffing of party members.
Now for the basics. The instance starts out with a bunch of squishies wandering around and miners at the walls. The casters are elites and start throwing fireballs at the biggest threat around. If you overheal, that is you. If you are too low level, that is you. Your group should be able to get through this entire area using Renews and an occassional bubble on your squishies when they start nuking.
The first boss is Rhahk’Zor and is stupid-easy. Let me make this abundantly clear right now. If your group wipes or anyone dies fighting him, you are in trouble. Kick anyone who dies or find an excuse to leave the group, because they suck. It’s possible that you do, too, for not healing them enough, but there are players out there bad enough to get killed in this fight before you have a chance to do anything. The technique on him is simple, wait until he walks closest to your door, pull him through into the mineshaft where you all are, and then take out the guys that were with him. Mana up now! There will be patrols coming along behind, with the time depending on how efficient you were at killing Rhahk’Zor.
Now it is time to start paying a little bit of attention. You will be doing a bit more Flash Heals and putting Renews on more party members. Proceed to the next doors. There are a bunch of goblins inside. Mana up and open the doors. Have a hunter (preferred) or tank with their ranged weapon pull NO MORE THAN TWO goblins at a time. You will make easy work by getting one at a time, but three at a time will likely wear you down and possibly result in a death or two. You need to be careful to stay away from accidently pulling additional goblins, but also keeping people in your line of sight (LOS) for healing. I suggest going through the doors once the pulling has moved in there and going to the right and standing in that corner with a good view of the room.
The shredder and Sneed are the next boss. The shredder has a lot of HP, but if everyone has been healed and drank up, I’ve never seen a group have a problem. Groups that make it that far know what they are doing enough to kill the shredder. A word of caution: wait until the shredder has gone up the hill and pull the other goblins before engaging the shredder. After the shredder goes down, the driver, Sneed, is pissed that you broke his machine and he is no wimp. Sometimes he is still buried in the machine, but the tank should be able to pull him out to see for the others to target if they haven’t already. Sneed will really pack a wallop, but nothing a good group can’t handle. Bubble the tank after he gets good aggro. Mana up and wait for the patrols, or at least be aware that they will be coming behind you as you proceed through the doors.
Insist from this point on that the tank gains aggro before others engage. It saves a lot of mana by only healing one or two party members. Put a Renew on the tank before engagement and leave them alone until it wears off.
The next room is a pain in the tookus, and I will continue at my next break at work.
That was a terrible run-through on what a Priest should do in Deadmines, it also didnt give any speculation into what a Priest shouldnt do during Deadmines, since Priest’s are the key element to each parties survival. I’ve ran Deadmines on my Priest at least 5 times with my brother (56 Rogue) and at least 5-6 times with other groups for experience. The groups typically consisted of everyone at the range of 19-21. However we had a group with two level 16’s, a mage and a hunter, which we still managed to pull off an entire Deadmine’s run with only one casualty (The mage). Also it’s a bad idea to bubble any warrior class tank; Paladin and maybe even a feral druid is A-ok. The rage accumulation is pivotal in party survival. Most Priest’s need to realize how essential the spell Fade is in every instance you run. A factor that I wasn’t aware of when I started pulling aggroe for the flash heals I delved out. And I also never actually used renew at all. I still don’t use it 4 levels away from 60. I never understood the need. The goblin pulling sector, in my opinion, is quite accurate. It’s easier to just smash two goblin’s at a time. Well thats my opinion, and if you want to change anything based on my comments- go right ahead.
I’m not in the habit of changing peoples’ posts just because they criticize them. I’m a man, I can take it. Thanks for reading and giving it your critical eye.
I have been in over 30 instance runs with my priests now, and I stand by my tips. Renew, especially if you have put points into it and have healing gear on can keep up with the damage of one, and sometimes two mobs on a party member. Renews generate aggro slower, as well, because instead of creating a bunch of healing points right off, they are spread out as the others continue to do damage and draw their own aggro.
I had been told early on to not bubble a tank before a fight, but if you wait 5-6 seconds and others are behaving by letting the tank get aggro, they have no problem keeping it as they keep DOING damage as well. I say this from experience as both a priest and a level 60 warrior. As a warrior the thing that I hated the most was other people hitting it with a 350pt+ spell as (or before) I engaged it. Then it’s off to the races to pull aggro back and save someone’s butt.
I’m not much of one to give advice on what not to do with a priest, because, frankly I had learned a lot of priest lessons watching my healers as a tank. I know when they rip aggro from healing, or draw adds, etc. I can count on one hand how many times I died because I did something wrong in an instance.
I understand what you mean now, I dont understand what the hell I was trying to get across when I typed that earlier crap. Renew is a very essential spell, I must’ve been drunk off my ass or something. So sorry, matey, lol. Still I dont use it much, especially in stratholme where a mage’ll typically AoE, irregardless of a warriors position on the matter- that Mage will draw the aggression away. So I’ll only bubble/lay on a renew for shits and giggles, and hope that all the mobs are off the squishy before the shield goes down- which for Stratholme is a good 4-5 hits. In something like Deadmines though, renew is a wonderful spell. Did a test run on a holy spec’d Priest I made on Medivh to variate my styles a bit.
If you’re not using Renew, you’re not using a skill that’s horrendously useful to priests. HoTs heal for an obscene amount, get full beefit of your +healing gear, and only draw aggro on their ticks, which gives your tank more time to pull aggro away from you. If your “priesting” consists entirely of running in after your tank and spamming your max rank flash heal, I’m surprised you made it to 56 without getting laughed out of your groups.
Some good tips, renew is a great spell especially in lower level instances due to its effective healing after aoe damage.
have to agree though, Dm is 18-23, especially as a healer. after that you want to be thinking about higher instances such as stockades.
As a healer I find I can go in instances at a lower level than I did on my other characters, as long as my gear is ok I can keep the party healed. To do this though its important only to use renew when your in trouble, as it is unfortunately mana inefficient.
You both raise equally great points, and in my opinion, they are just great use as hybrids. It also proves that you should never get stuck on a playing style. Different raid = different level caps. As in life, too much of the same thing screws you. I am actually an over analytical noob, so I don’t rush through any of this. I spend more time plotting and thinking off of WoW, and thus spend less time on it, getting the results I want.
In a more direct relation to the topic, Renew can be a pain on Mana consumption in DM, but it really comes through in a crunch, as well as PW: Shield. Though I would have to say I too have never considered that it could be useful on a warrior tank at all. At any rate, thanks for the advice from both sides.