WoW Forever Holy Paladin BiS

A level 60 Holy Paladin in WoW Forever has five weeks between launch on November 4 and the first raids on December 9, and every healing item you collect in that window is part of your pre-raid best-in-slot (BiS) list. The catch is that Forever rewrote the healing numbers on most classic loot: Hammer of the Grand Crusader went from 22 to 135 healing, The Hammer of Grace from 31 to 124, and dozens of new caster pieces arrived with Blackmaw Hold, The Shaper's Terrace and the Booty Bay vendor Pix Xizzix. A Classic BiS list will send you after the wrong items, and several "Forever" lists include raid drops from Molten Core and Ahn'Qiraj that are not in the game yet.

ConquestCapped checked the Forever data of every item on this page on November 13 and kept only pieces with a source you can reach before December 9. Below you will find the list at a glance, the stat priority behind it, every slot with its alternatives, what the Lightforge dungeon set is worth for healing, the crafted and reputation pieces, PvP options, what we know about raid gear and the enchants and consumables to finish your set.

WoW Forever Holy Paladin BiS at a Glance

A Holy Paladin can wear cloth, leather, mail and plate with no penalty, and Forever adds no armor specialization bonus. That is why the strongest pre-raid set mixes all four armor types: healers roll on the piece with the most healing, not the one with the most armor. Forever also gives healing to caster weapons, so a one-handed mace with an off-hand item now beats every two-hander a Paladin can use.

Every item in the main column has a confirmed source in the Forever data. Crafted pieces are marked, and the ones that bind when equipped can be bought from another player:

Three slots have a stronger option that takes much longer: Lei of the Lifegiver in the off hand needs Exalted with Stormpike Guard or Frostwolf Clan, and the shoulders and chest have Exalted rewards from the Darkspear Islands factions. All of them are covered in the slot tables below.

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Holy Paladin Stat Priority in WoW Forever

Holy Paladin healing in Forever is built on big single-target heals that crit often. Illumination refunds Mana equal to 50% of the base cost of a heal that crits, Holy Power adds up to 50% to the size of those crits, and the new Reverence talent lets 30% of your Spirit-based regeneration continue while you cast. That makes three stats matter at once: healing for the size of each heal, Intellect and crit for how often it crits and how much Mana you have, and regeneration for long fights.

Most current guides and ConquestCapped's own item comparison agree on this order for the pre-raid phase:

1. Healing (shown as "Increases healing done by up to X" on the tooltip)
2. Intellect, for the Mana pool and spell crit
3. Critical Strike Chance, which feeds Illumination and Infusion of Light
4. Mana per 5 seconds (mp5), which also works while you cast
5. Spirit, worth more than in Classic because of Reverence
6. Stamina for survival

Healers do not need Hit Chance, because heals cannot miss. The Holy talent Divine Precision adds 8% Hit Chance to Holy spells, which only matters for the damage of Holy Shock and Exorcism, and there is almost no haste on gear apart from Enchant Gloves - Minor Haste. If fights in your raid run long and you finish them out of Mana, move mp5 above crit: a piece with 5 mp5 often beats a piece with 10 more healing once a fight passes three minutes.

Our WoW Forever stats and itemization guide explains how healing, crit and the other reworked stats are calculated, and the WoW Forever hit cap guide covers why healers can ignore Hit.

Pre-Raid BiS by Slot

Each table below lists the best pre-raid item for the slot, then the next options in the order we would take them. The key stats are the Forever values, which often differ from Classic: Forever split most healing items into separate healing and spell damage numbers, and the table shows the healing number.

Head, Neck, Shoulders and Back

The head and shoulders are where Blacksmithing pays off. Whitesoul Helm and Dawnbringer Shoulders are both Bind on Equip, so an Armorsmith on your realm can craft them for you. The back slot is the weakest on the list, because the best cloaks either need a currency without a known source or a profession pattern nobody has found yet:

Bad Hat has slightly better stats than Whitesoul Helm, but it binds when picked up and is a reward from new quests in Azshara whose names are not in the data yet. Take whichever you reach first. The plans for Dawnbringer Shoulders need Revered with the Argent Dawn and the Armorsmith specialization, so most Paladins buy the shoulders rather than make them.

Drape of Recovery would be the best cloak, but Tarnished Undermine Real has no confirmed source in Forever yet. Blizzard has confirmed the currency, and in Season of Discovery it dropped once a day from dungeon bosses of level 55 and up. Until it appears, Wisdom of Ursol is the cloak most Holy Paladins can actually get.

Chest, Wrist and Hands

The chest slot shows how much Forever changed healing gear. Red Dragonscale Breastplate was a modest Classic mail piece, and in Forever it carries 57 healing, more than any other pre-raid chest with a known source. Leatherworking now makes mail as well as leather, so a Leatherworker crafts it from the pattern that drops from General Drakkisath:

If you level Blacksmithing yourself, Prefect's Gloves is a small upgrade over Harmonious Gauntlets, but it binds when picked up, so only the Blacksmith who makes it can wear it. The same goes for Prefect's Wristguards in the wrist slot. Both belong to the new Prefect's line of healing plate.

Forest's Embrace is the easy choice if you want a chest without a profession. It comes from an outdoor quest in Un'Goro Crater and trades 13 healing for Intellect, Spirit and 6 mp5, which makes it nearly as good on long fights.

Waist, Legs and Feet

The legs are the biggest single upgrade on the list. Martyr's Legplates is a new Forever epic with 73 healing, twice what most dungeon legs offer. It is also the hardest piece to make, because each pair needs 12 Legionite Bar:

Legionite Bar comes from Recipe: Transmute Legionite, an Alchemy recipe that drops from the Felguard Sentinel demons in Mount Hyjal. Until an Alchemist on your realm learns it, Padre's Trousers from Dire Maul East is the legs to wear. The plans for Prefect's Waistguard and Prefect's Sabatons are sold by Stondry Darkhammer for the Alliance and Gor'mak for the Horde, the Azeroth Commerce Authority supply vendors.

Rings and Trinkets

Two of the best healer trinkets in Forever have an area bonus. Royal Seal of Eldre'Thalas adds 9 mp5 only in Haunted areas, which covers Stratholme, Scholomance and Dire Maul, and the Paladin-only Sanctified Orb doubles its Mana return in Wasteland and Haunted areas. Onyxia's Lair counts only as Cavernous, so both lose their extra there:

Fordring's Seal and Shroud of the Exile are two choices from the same quest, In Dreams. Take the ring: it carries 37 healing against the cloak's 12. Serenity Field is one of the four Undermine trinkets, which share a unique slot, so you can wear only one of them.

Weapon, Off-Hand and Libram

Paladins can use one-handed and two-handed maces, swords and axes, plus polearms, but not daggers, staves or fist weapons. That rules out several healer weapons on generic lists, including Fist of Revelation from Blackmaw Hold and Gift of the Elven Magi from Stratholme. Among the weapons a Paladin can hold, a one-handed mace with an off-hand item gives more healing than any two-hander:

Masterwork Crimson Hammer with Penelope's Rose adds up to 149 healing, 11 Intellect and 20 Spirit, while Hammer of the Grand Crusader gives 135 healing, 26 Intellect and 17 Spirit. The one-hander wins on healing and leaves room for a shield on fights where you take damage. Once you reach Exalted in Alterac Valley, Lei of the Lifegiver replaces the Rose and adds another 15 healing and 5 mp5.

The Hammer of Grace is the easier mace to get, because the Chest of The Seven appears after every kill of the Seven in Blackrock Depths. Its death effect heals your whole party for 1,082 to 1,270, which can save a wipe in a five-player group.

Paladin Dungeon Set in WoW Forever

Forever keeps the classic dungeon sets, but the Paladin one is not built for healing. Lightforge Armor, the Tier 0 set from Blackrock Spire, Scholomance and Stratholme, mixes Strength, Agility, Intellect and Stamina, and its five-piece bonus adds up to 65 spell power for 10 seconds on attacks and spells. Lightforge Helm, for example, has 13 Intellect and 4 mp5 but no healing at all.

A Holy Paladin should skip the set and use the dungeon pieces in the tables above. The plate Deathbone set from Scholomance is a tank set, and the Tier 0.5 upgrade chain that ends with Lord Valthalak improves Lightforge without turning it into healing gear. The two-piece bonus of +8 to all resistances is the only part worth wearing on a healer, and only if you already own the pieces.

Our WoW Forever dungeon sets guide lists every piece, where it drops and how the Tier 0.5 upgrade works.

Crafted and Reputation Items

Crafted gear and reputation rewards fill the slots where dungeon drops fall short. Blacksmithing is the most useful profession for a Holy Paladin in Forever, because it makes four of the pieces on this list and the crafted parts of the raid set. Here is where each piece comes from and what it takes:

• Blacksmithing: Whitesoul Helm from Plans: Whitesoul Helm, Dawnbringer Shoulders from Plans: Dawnbringer Shoulders (Armorsmith, Revered with the Argent Dawn) and Martyr's Legplates from Plans: Martyr's Legplates. All three bind on equip. The Prefect's gloves, belt, boots and bracers are Bind on Pickup healing plate for the Blacksmith alone.
• Leatherworking: Red Dragonscale Breastplate from Pattern: Red Dragonscale Breastplate, Bind on Equip.
• Tailoring: Wisdom of the Timbermaw from Pattern: Wisdom of the Timbermaw, sold by Meilosh in Felwood to players with Timbermaw Hold reputation.
• Darkspear Islands: Theramore Mantle from Bryanna Embreeze for the Alliance or Darkspear Mantle from Creeg Bothunk for the Horde, both at Exalted. At Friendly, the same vendors sell Enriched Seal and Darkspear Voodoo Seal, trinkets with 5 mp5 that rises to 15 mp5 in Forest and Grassland areas.
• Alterac Valley: Lei of the Lifegiver at Exalted with Stormpike Guard or Frostwolf Clan.
• Pix Xizzix in Booty Bay: Drape of Recovery, Blessed Band of Light and Serenity Field for Tarnished Undermine Real, once the currency starts dropping.

Several healing items on other lists have no source in Forever yet. The patterns for Living Crown (73 healing), Hide of the Wild, Mooncloth Gloves and Mooncloth Circlet and the plans for Breastplate of Salvation and Evergreen Shield have no recorded drop or vendor, and Sageblade needs Plans: Sageblade from Winterfall Shaman plus Arcanite and two Flask of Supreme Power. Skip them in your planning until their sources are confirmed on live servers. Wavefront Necklace, which some lists put in the neck slot, drops from Lord Skwol, one of the Abyssal Council lords you summon in Silithus. We keep Animated Chain Necklace as the main pick because it drops in a dungeon you run anyway.

Exalted with a battleground faction takes weeks of matches, so start the one whose reward you want most. Our Darkspear Islands battleground guide explains how its new reputation works, and the WoW Forever Blacksmithing guide gets you to 300 skill.

PvP Gear as a Pre-Raid Alternative

From level 55 you can buy rare PvP armor with Honor and Marks of Honor, with no rank required, and upgrade it to epic later with an Emboldened Seal at Ranks 8 to 13. Forever adds a Paladin healing line, the Luminous pieces, with Stamina, Intellect, mp5 and healing. The epic Premier Marshal's Luminous Pauldrons carries 26 Stamina, 12 Intellect and 4 mp5, so it trades some healing for a lot of survival.

PvP pieces are a fallback for slots where dungeon luck runs out, not a replacement for the list above. The rare set costs roughly 64,000 Honor in total, and the weekly cap of 25,000 Honor spreads that over several weeks. Every slot, mark and seal price is in our WoW Forever PvP gear costs guide.

Raid BiS: Onyxia, Hyjal Summit and Barrow Deeps

The first raids open on December 9: Onyxia's Lair, the 20-player Hyjal Summit and the 10-player Barrow Deeps. The stats of their drops are hidden until players see them, so no one can build a full raid BiS list yet. What the game data does show is the Holy tier set and how to craft part of it.

Justice Armor is the Holy Paladin tier set, with six pieces at item level 65 and bonuses at two to five pieces:

• 2 pieces: +10 Spirit.
• 3 pieces: 30 seconds off the cooldown of Blessing of Protection.
• 4 pieces: up to 26 healing.
• 5 pieces: 1 second off the cooldown of Holy Shock.

Blacksmiths can craft four of the six pieces: Justice Epaulets, Justice Gloves, Justice Legplates and Justice Treads. They bind on equip, but each craft needs Malleable Essence of Nature, which comes only from disenchanting items from Hyjal Summit and the Barrow Deeps. The plans are sold in Mount Hyjal to players with Guardians of Hyjal reputation. The head and chest come only from raid bosses.

We will add the raid drops to this guide once their stats are known. For the full set, the crafting costs and the bonuses of all three Paladin specs, see our WoW Forever Paladin tier set guide.

Enchants and Consumables for Holy Paladins

Enchant the pieces you plan to keep, which usually means the weapon, chest, bracers and gloves. Forever adds necklace and off-hand enchants, and several healing formulas are sold by the Azeroth Commerce Authority for Merchant's Favor. These are the best enchants a Holy Paladin can get before the raids:

Enchant Bracer - Healing Power adds 24 healing and is the biggest single enchant for a healer. Its formula needs Revered with the Argent Dawn, while Enchant Bracer - Mana Regeneration for 4 mp5 needs only Honored. Arcanum of Focus comes from a Dire Maul libram quest and goes on both the head and the legs. Where every formula drops is in our best enchants in WoW Forever guide.

For consumables, Greater Cleric's Elixir adds 40 healing and Greater Mageblood Elixir 20 mp5, both for 30 minutes. Sage's Tea is new Forever food that restores Mana and gives 44 Healing Power for 15 minutes. Brilliant Mana Oil on your weapon adds 30 healing and 15 mp5, Flask of Distilled Wisdom raises your Mana pool by 2,000 for two hours, and Major Mana Potion covers emergencies.

Tips for Gearing a Holy Paladin Before the Raids

The list above tells you what to wear. These tips come from how Forever's item changes work in practice and save time on the way there:

• Run Stratholme first. It holds the neck, feet, main hand and two-hander on this list, plus Robes of the Exalted and Blood of the Martyr, and both of its halves are short runs.
• Keep two trinket sets. In Stratholme, Scholomance and Dire Maul, Royal Seal of Eldre'Thalas and Sanctified Orb get their area bonus. In Onyxia's Lair they do not, so a steady trinket like Burst of Knowledge is worth more there.
• Do not roll against cloth casters for leather or mail pieces you do not need. Red Dragonscale Breastplate, Harmonious Gauntlets and Loomguard Armbraces are healer items that Shamans and Druids also want, so agree on loot rules before the run.
• Buy Bind on Equip pieces instead of farming them. Whitesoul Helm, Dawnbringer Shoulders, Martyr's Legplates and Red Dragonscale Breastplate can all be bought from a crafter on your realm.
• Ignore Hit Chance and attack power on healing gear. Forever puts small amounts of hit on caster items such as Sageblade, and it does nothing for your heals.

Talents decide how much each stat is worth, so check our WoW Forever Paladin talents guide before you spend points.

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More Guides for a Raid-Ready Holy Paladin

Gear is one part of preparing a Holy Paladin for December 9. These guides cover the class overview, the tier set, how gear progresses from dungeons to raids, what each stat does and the enchants to finish your set.

WoW Forever Holy Paladin BiS FAQ

These are the questions players ask most about Holy Paladin gear before the first raids.