Updates for 7.1

Hello!

Sorry it took me a little while to update the guide for 7.1. There were several things I wanted to change/update on the spreadsheet, so I made sure to get that squared away first. As a side note, there are a lot more people using the spreadsheet, which is great, but I want to write a post giving some context to what the spreadsheet is and is not good for. I also want to try to make at least some form of documentation for it, but I’ll try to do that when I get back from Blizzcon.

There weren’t too many changes from 7.1, but I’ll give a quick recap for people who don’t want to have to go back through the entire guide to find what changed.

The official changes from the patch notes:

• Flash of Light now heals for 450% of spell power (was 425%) and costs 18% of base mana (was 16%)
• The Rule of Law talent now increases the radius of Tyr’s Deliverance by 50% (up to 22.5 yards).
• Light’s Hammer now costs 35% of base mana (was 40%).
• Sanctified Wrath now extends Avenging Wrath by 5 seconds (was 10 seconds).
• The Tier 19 2-piece bonus increases Holy Shock’s critical chance by 10% (was 15%).

The buff to Flash of Light won’t change our gameplay in any meaningful way, but it does further increase the value of critical strike due to even larger Infusion-of-Light-buffed Flash of Lights.

The Rule of Law and Light’s Hammer buffs aren’t really very noteworthy except to say that Light’s Hammer still has issues beyond mana cost that make it a little weaker than Bestow Faith and Crusader’s Might, but this does help some.

The nerf to Sanctified Wrath isn’t too bad. It will still be good to use in burst healing situations and still the best talent for Dungeons. Several Paladins had already started making the switch from Sanctified Wrath to Judgment of Light (especially with the legendary ring), so this change doesn’t have a huge effect on talent selection. Judgment of Light is chosen for most fights and Sanctified Wrath for fights where you need better cooldowns or burst healing.

The change to the T19 2-piece set bonus is understandable. We’re already fairly close to being crit capped for Holy Shock even without the bonus. This does change the crit softcap with Tier 19 to 45% instead of 42.5%. Again, the crit softcap is never something you need to reach, it’s just the point where crit loses a lot of value.

The last significant change from 7.1 is the re-introduction of the new Mythic Dungeon, Karazhan. The 2nd boss of the dungeon, the Maiden of Virtue, drops the Drape of Shame, a cloak that increases the healing of all crit heals by 10%. This is an absurdly powerful cloak and will be best-in-slot at any item level.

(Nov. 7, 2016 Edit: The cloak’s passive is half of what I previously thought. The key difference is that it increases the effect of crit healing, not the crit healing itself. Don’t worry, it’s still really good and better than anything we can currently get.)