SCH player, new to WHM

[EvianEverdeen]

I got my WHM to 50 and ilvl 86 not long ago and just have a few questions. Are there any important macro's I should be doing with WHM? SCH is macro haven, but haven't really discovered anything useful to macro as a WHM, so that tells me I'm probably missing something. Also, what is up with Presence of Mind? What is the situational use for that? I normally just skip it, because I'm not sure the best time to be using it. Also, anything else I should know as a relatively experienced healer (SCH) now playing a WHM would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[subteraneanbird]

I can answer these.

1) Not really. Because WHM plays almost entirely reactively, there's little use for macros beyond Swiftraise or informing the party when you use Virus/E4E. I currently have those and one that also informs party when I sleep or use Benediction, and that's it.
2) Presence of Mind is so situational that it is rarely used. When I was a bit lower in ilvl I'd pop it post heart for Titan HM to help me keep up with the damage, but at i86 that won't be needed. I've also found it works really well with Holy for something like FATE grinding (atma...) for just pushing out big hits without regards to MP (since its a FATE)
3) Just note that your playstyle is quite different. SCH is designed to be very proactive. If you cast an Adlo that hits before any damage is done, Galvanize is still significant in it's own right. If you do that with a Cure 2 you've done nothing. WHM is all about reaction. It helps to know the fight on a deeper level, it helps to know when you can stop and do nothing for a bit (since our effective MP is lower). It's a very rewarding kind of play when you can do it well, but it'll take some work to change to that mindset from the SCH one.

[Yumi_umi]

technically the only thing that you need to know is that you are alone and the only best friend you'll have is the tank and if the tank hates you then everything will be 10x harder lol.
No pet, nothing.. all situational and reactive.
If you know the fight and is geared then you are capable of carrying.
Just keep calm and remember if the tank goes down you need to go and stoneskin urself and use every skill to survive!!!!
Also you'll be dpsing a lot more than a scholar looool
Cuz we have
-aero
-aero 2
- blizzard
- stone 1
- stone 2
* holy
- PoM and CS

[Yumi_umi]

technically the only thing that you need to know is that you are alone and the only best friend you'll have is the tank and if the tank hates you then everything will be 10x harder lol.
No pet, nothing.. all situational and reactive.
If you know the fight and is geared then you are capable of carrying.
Just keep calm and remember if the tank goes down you need to go and stoneskin urself and use every skill to survive!!!!
Also you'll be dpsing a lot more than a scholar looool
Cuz we have
-aero
-aero 2
- blizzard
- stone 1
- stone 2
* holy
- PoM and CS

Oh lol and fluid aura!!!
Very important

[EvianEverdeen]

technically the only thing that you need to know is that you are alone and the only best friend you'll have is the tank and if the tank hates you then everything will be 10x harder lol.
No pet, nothing.. all situational and reactive.
If you know the fight and is geared then you are capable of carrying.
Just keep calm and remember if the tank goes down you need to go and stoneskin urself and use every skill to survive!!!!
Also you'll be dpsing a lot more than a scholar looool
Cuz we have
-aero
-aero 2
- blizzard
- stone 1
- stone 2
* holy
- PoM and CS

SCH has quite a bit of DPS actions as well, but since WHM is more reactive a sothers have mentioned, I can see where a little more time to DPS comes in. Also what do you mean PoM and CS? What is CS and why did you lump Presence of Mind in with the other listed DPS actions?

[Manuka]

SCH has quite a bit of DPS actions as well, but since WHM is more reactive a sothers have mentioned, I can see where a little more time to DPS comes in. Also what do you mean PoM and CS? What is CS and why did you lump Presence of Mind in with the other listed DPS actions?

CS = Cleric Stance. And the reason they probably included PoM in the dps list is that some WHM's will pop it for moments where they want to spam Holy during things like speedruns or phase 1 of T4. It's pretty useful as the SS buff is good enough that you can stunlock the adds for quite a bit until immunity kicks in. Also I'm not sure if I agree that WHM's will (or should) dps more than SCH's specifically because they are more reactive. WHM's don't have many means of consistent damage mitigation or insta-cures like lolstrate that they can throw out to control incoming damage while they switch to Cleric Stance and dps without worry (unless the content is so weak your HoT can do the job). Like if you're stoning some baddy while the tank is taking consistent damage an he suddenly gets a reeeally unlucky crit? Well things just got interesting lol Not to mention MP management is more of a worry and Stone 2 an Holy are pretty expensive over time, so careful in drawn out fights.

That said there aren't many must have macros for a WHM. Besides Swiftcast-Raise I'd suggest these:

/macroicon "Virus"
/ac "Virus" <f>
/ac "Virus" <tt>
This will cast Virus on Focus Target first an if none, to the Tank's target. Saves you the hassle of manually switching.

/macroicon "Benediction"
/ac "Benediction" <t>
I use this to try an avoid the frustrating situation when you cast it on the tank a little too late an it self-casts.. :/ the <t> insures that you must have a valid target.

[Estellios]

Presence of Mind is useful in situations like current speed runs and any larger pulls where you notice you're heal spamming but your tank's HP is gradually getting lower and lower and you are eventually going to lose the damage race. It's just something that comes with practice but as you get better at it you will be able to recognize when it's worth using.

Same with Benediction, which with how its animation delay currently works requires some foresight. I tend to use Benediction in situations where I'm expecting a big hit on the tank and won't be able to get to it in time or I need to move to avoid dying. I feel like it's most useful as a way to ensure your target is going to be able to survive the next hit coming their way rather than simple recovery. I guess the best way I can put it is to use it when the next hit is going to bring the tank to critical HP, not when they are already at critical HP.

[PenutButter]

For healing, PoM is instinctive. If everything is going smoothly, you will probably never need to use it; however, there are high burst situations where it is useful, especially if you are quite under-geared.

WHM has more effective damage mitigation via DS > Regen > Med 2. If Sch didn't have their pet, they don't even come close. However, since WHM don't have an "Oh Shit" heal like Lustrate, they do have to be more careful about when to switch back to healing.

[AarinEphemera]

Manage your MP wisely. Know when to heal and try not to overheal as much as possible to save MP. Always pop Shroud of Saints when it's not on cooldown and needed when necessary. Shroud of Saints recovers a total of 1060 MP when effect ended (Assuming you level 50 whm).

[ManaKeKz]

Shroud of Saints recovers a total of 1060 MP when effect ended (Assuming you level 50 whm).

Far as I know it's 1080. Not that that's much of a difference.