Need some WHM Speedrunning tips please

[EmeraldAres]

Speed Runs are a regular part of a healer's experience who does not run with friends all the time, due to the popular demand of random players. I am usually not a fan of them myself unless the tank uses cooldowns properly and both damage dealers aoe well, so as to minimize the impact that the healer takes. Unfortunately, at least one member usually fails to live up to Speed Run expectations, making it more difficult for the healer. Due to a number of skilled and geared healers compensating for deficiencies in other roles, it has started to become expected that a healer can deal with almost anything. This isn't always the case, especially at lower gear levels.

I'll start off by saying that it is the responsibility of the tank (and really, the entire group), to check and see if the healer is geared enough to be doing a speed run for that particular dungeon. Beyond that, there are a few specific procedures that I think should always be followed. Keep in mind that the rest of this post is my personal opinion about proper speed run procedure, and that there may be other ways of doing this that other healers employ.

Beginning of the run / buffing
1) Protect is essential, any tank who runs off without letting you do this is asking to die. Prioritize Protect over Stoneskin, but that is not to say that Stoneskin isn't important either. Which leads me to...
2) Stoneskin: When you have time to use it (like people still being in cutscenes at the entrance), prioritize the tank over everyone else. That damage buffer can mean the difference between life and death in a speed run pull. That being said, do Protect first if the tank is the last person out of the cutscene. If you have to choose, do Protect. Unfortunately, in cases where there is more than one mass pull, it may be hard to do a new Stoneskin if the tank runs off. Ideally everyone has this, but if people won't wait this is usually the best you can do. Stoneskin II can be nice with Swiftcast or a group willing to wait 5 seconds, but you never know who you're getting. I'd say use normal Stoneskin outside of 8 man content unless you get good with how to get Stoneskin II onto people.

Speed Pulls

1) When you see the tank charging ahead (hopefully with at least Protect if they don't have a death wish), follow as close behind them as possible while avoiding environmental hazards and possible enemy aoes. If needed, employ sprint to close the gap so that the tank doesn't start getting owned when you aren't even in healing range.

2) The tank should stop at some point, and this is go time. He/she should be using some or all of their cooldowns on the pull (tanks that don't are lazy, inconsiderate, or don't know better), and should be dodging all of the aoes from whatever they pulled. Ideally, both dps should already be there aoeing already, starting the end of the enemies. Get into a safe position nearby and begin casting.

3) Again, this is my procedure: Divine Seal (when tank is stopping to make initial heals strongest), Cure II, Regen, then Cure II / Cure until tank is safe. Then I immediately flip into Cleric Stance, move close enough to the enemies, and begin casting Holy. Make sure you aren't in front of enemies that do aoe cones, and be ready to abort and dodge attacks if you have to. Somewhere in here, you can add Eye for an Eye to reduce damage from the mobs somewhat on huge pulls (you can use this between casts). To aid with your Holy use, there are some tools available. Presence of Mind speeds up your casting, and you may selectively use it to either speed up your Holy spam to do more damage and stun quicker, or accelerate your heals if that's what the tank needs. Swiftcast will let you fire off the first Holy instantly, for an on-demand aoe stun to give you time to set up for more pain or to go back to healing if necessary. Remember well that Holy stuns almost everything, so using it the first couple times will give you slight breathing room from the mob's assault. take advantage of that to either dps more or go back to healing.

4) This is where it gets tricky. Depending on how well your group can SR, the pull may be very easy or very hard. If your group is good (should be speed running), the mobs shouldn't need more than 3-5 holy casts from you (if that many). The dps should be doing some hefty aoe damage, and any damage leftover is their responsibility anyway. That being said, the mobs will either die to Holy or will survive it. With weaker dps and lower healing gear, this will be more common. If they survive, you either have to switch to full healing mode and spam the tank until it's over, or alternate between heavy heals and damage. What you'll have to do depends on the size of the pull, the nature of the enemies, and (again) the rest of the groups competency.

5) Emergency Skills: Both the tank and the healer should be familiar with their emergency abilities. For WHM, that's Benediction. Use it if a tank is going down way too fast, and especially keep it in mind if you just trapped yourself in cleric stance for 5 seconds and the tank is plummeting. Timely use of Benediction can mean the difference between surviving a speed pull and wiping. Don't forget it's there. Also, your tanks each have a skill for delaying death. Smart use of Hallowed Ground can prevent a Paladin from losing HP too quickly, and can even open up a window for you to Holy without consequence. While riskier and less effective, Warrior's Holmgang can also prevent a wipe. Your tank should be prepared to use these skills in addition to their cooldowns. The worst kind of speed puller is the one who never uses a single cooldown and lets the healer do all the work.

6) Post Pull: Don't forget that Shroud of Saints will help your mana refill more quickly if you pop it outside of combat. If there is another huge pull coming up (or a boss, or anything really), pop this as soon as the last enemy dies to get back into realistic fighting shape. Good Bards will Ballad if the healer is struggling, but this is rare (More often they will Foe, which is excellent for Holy). It's best to get used to effectively getting the most out of Shroud so that you can fend for yourself. NOTE: It can also be used to dump threat if your Holy/healing takes threat from the tank mid pull, but this is a worst case scenario. Speed runners hate waiting, and you being low on mana is of no concern for the inconsiderate ones.

A Final Note: The Duty Finder Community

Many of the players you find in Duty Finder are used to spamming the same dungeons constantly, often for tomes or relic quests. They forget who they once were, and will often not go easy on players who are either new or unable to play their class as they see fit. There is no perfect scenario, even when you become a skilled speed run healer. People have all sorts of subtle ways that they do pulls differently (for better or for worse), and you never really know what will happen. In an ideal world, people wouldn't force healers to speed run without even asking permission first, but it has become so expected in popular dungeons at 50 that many will automatically do it without even thinking about it. Anyone who automatically speed runs and then kills themselves because you weren't geared or prepared to deal with several packs at once is essentially committing suicide. I am sorry to hear that you have been getting kicked from Brayflox by some of these people. This is unjustified use of the vote dismiss feature in my humble opinion, and I have left groups before when other players were kicked for a dumb reason by a premade pair out for blood.

I hope at least some of this is useful.

Edit: After typing all of this out in one go and coming out with a mostly-coherent mess, a couple things bugged me after some posters pointed them out. Eye for an Eye should go out early in a pull. Using it late doesn't do any good, like Yare pointed out. Gotta debuff as many enemies as possible as soon as possible. Then there's also what Spoekes said about Shroud: Many healers are probably going to want to use it when they get a little under 3/4ths mana, and it can help a lot with mitigating threat from the enemies if the tank isn't used to speed running either (or just plain can't do it well). This is what happens when you try to post what amounts to an entire guide at 4 AM. Not afraid to admit I was wrong.