So you're a Tankadin...you've been gearing yourself up as a Tank, you've got your (0/43/10 +
tanking build, and you've been running heroics to get your tanking Libram. Howver, from time to time you're asked to step back and heal on some boss in Karazhan, or perhaps you just want to be a solid healer for 5 mans and even the occasional heroic (yes, this is possible for at least some heroics!). How do you gear yourself?
Gearing for healing as a Tankadin differs significantly from doing so as Holy for one simple reason: Illumination. Holy gets 60% mana return on crit heals, we do not. As a result, spell crit should be completely ignored when gearing yourself for healing. Without the benefit of free heals, crit heals are expensive in terms of itemization to gear for, and provide you their extra healing in unpredictable ways, so that the benefit is often lost to overhealing. As such, you should think of spell crit for your healing gear in about the same way as you consider strength or mp5 on your tanking gear.
When gearing yourself for healing, my main piece of advice is: don't get hung up on armor class. Plate is great, and if you have a solid plate healing piece go for it, but as a prot pally you don't have the luxury of giving up healing power just so you can feel better about the sturdiness of your armor. There aren't a ton of plate healing pieces out there, and when you throw out those with spell crit, the options are even narrower.
In terms of itemization itself, I'd suggest the following priority:
mp/5
+heal
int
stam
Out biggest weakness compared to a Holy Pally is our longevity, and without free crit heals we rely exclusively on mp5 for our in combat regen. Pick it up wherever you can, including enchants (6 mp/5 to chest is very cheap, as a start).
I've got some selected slot hightlights below, but for a more comprehensive picture I've got a wowhead search that summarizes the healing gear available to us. The good news is that most slots have some piece of plate for us pre-raid (there aren't gloves or belts until Kara, and not suprisingly for BC, there are no wrists at all). There are of course pieces outside of this list, but these pieces focus on the stats I've listed, and are thus the best bang for your buck in terms of itemization points:
Pre-Kara/Kara gear:
http://www.wowhead.com/?items=4&filter=qu=3:4;minle=95;maxle=127;ub=2;cr=119:49:24;crs=1:3:3;crv=0:0:0
Post-Kara gear:
http://www.wowhead.com/?items=4&filter=qu=3:4;minle=128;ub=2;cr=119:49:24;crs=1:3:3;crv=0:0:0#0+2+1
Remember, no matter what your focus a good Paladin should have the gear to take on any role, whether tanking, healing, or dps. Keep up the work work, Tankadins!
/salute
).
