Flash Heal: An Azerothian State of Mind

Bonus points for those who like the Billy Joel reference! With 4.0.6 finally dropped, and subsequently all of the (many) hotfixes, it is time to revisit our spec descisions!

For Holy Priests, one of the biggest changes 4.0.6 brought was the change to Chakra. Chakra now lasts a full 60 seconds when activated, and has a 30 second cooldown; on top of that change we also saw a change to State of Mind. State of Mind now will reduce the cooldown on Chakra by 6 seconds (with 2 points).

This does change a couple of things for us, and let’s review those:

1. Chakra Maintenance – this means we can cast Chakra once and know we’ll be in our corresponding Chakra state for 60 seconds beforing needing to cast Chakra again. Previously, via State of Mind we were able to extend Chakra and stay in one state without having to recast it; now we will have to manage our State a bit more carefully.  I keep an eye on my Chakra cooldown with Power Auras, and have a visual notification when I am in combat and NOT in  a Chakra state— I should ALWAYS be in a Chakra state. (especially with a 4-piece bonus)

2. Added Flexibility – With State of Mind now reducing the Chakra Cooldown by a maximum of 6 seconds, you can more readily bounce in between your Chakra states.

Wait a second here… 2 points for a whole 6 second decrease in our ability to swap stances? Sounds good on paper doesn’t it? Let’s think about this…

How often are you really changing from one Chakra state to another? Most 25 man (and 10 man) Holy Priests are nearly always in Chakra: Sanctuary… the added benefit of swapping stances might seem great; but in reality we really aren’t changing often enough (if at all) to warrant 2 points for a measly 6 second reduction.

If you aren’t finding a need for that 6 second improvement in your flexibility, you might want to consider spending those 2 points elsewhere. Perhaps you skipped Desperate Prayer (also buffed this patch), or perhaps you didn’t spec into Rapid Renewal or Surge of Light… if you find that those 2 points are better used elsewhere: move them.

For my Holy Spec, I moved my talent points around, skipping State of Mind, and capped off the Renew Talents (Divine Touch, Rapid Renewal) and Desperate Prayer. (I also gave up Spirit of Redemption, due to previous discussions and not wanting to use points on “improved death” since I shouldn’t be dying).

Have you been using State of Mind? Where did you move those points if you haven’t been?