Let's start with the basics
Build & Talents
Currently, the best build for mythic+ by far is the Glimmer build. This build revolves around getting 3 of the same azerite trait called Glimmer of Light. With this trait, casting Holy Shock will leave a Glimmer of Light on the target for 30 sec. Then, whenever you cast Holy Shock, all enemies with glimmer are damaged and all allies with glimmer are healed. The idea is to use crusader's strike to reset Holy Shock and put as many Glimmer of Light's out as you can. This means when you're doing aoe damage, you want to keep Glimmer out on as many enemies as possible, and when aoe healing get glimmer out on as many allies as possible. Read more about optimal rotations for damage and healing in the Playstyle section.
Reduces the cooldown of Holy Shock and Light of Dawn by 1.5 sec.
This choice should be very straight forward, as it is the core ability in the Glimmer of Light build. We use this to reset our Holy Shock so we can put more glimmers out on enemies or allies, dependant on what the situation calls for.
Reduces the cooldown of Divine Shield, Divine Protection and Lay on Hands by 30%.
This ability is extremely strong for mythic+ due to how often we should be using our defensive abilities. Turning Divine Shield into a 3.5 minute cooldown also means we can treat it more like a Healing Cooldown instead of saving it just for an emergency. Rule of Law is generally what we run in raid, but because Mythic+ is close quarters already, you rarely get any effective use out of it.
Blinds all enemies within 10 yards, disorienting them for 6 seconds.
One of the most underrated abilities we have, in mythic+ this button is a lifesaver. You can use it to mass interrupt every mob, disrupt an uninterruptable cast (like fetid maggots in Underrot), CC a mob temporarily if no one is dpsing it (like a Tides Emissary), and so much more.
Provides damage reduction to nearby allies.
Just like in raid, a flat 20% damage reduction often amounts to more hps then any other healing cooldown could compare with. This is your strongest tool for handling large incoming aoe damage.
Increases your haste by 30% and Holy Shock healing by 30% for 20 seconds.
HA is the best choice on this row due to the huge haste increase and healing boost to Holy Shock. Even without the Glimmer of Light build factored in, this will always be the default dungeon talent as it provides you with an extra CD that you can use to either burst huge damage and healing when grouped with wings, or stagger to help you through multiple difficult pulls in a row.
Avenging Wrath lasts 25% longer and reduces Holy Shock's cooldown by 50%.
This is the most important talent for us when playing the Glimmer of Light build because of the reduced cooldown it gives Holy Shock during wings. If you are not running the Glimmer of Light build for some reason, you still take this over Avenging Crusader as it's a much more versatile talent (provides more damage, more priority target healing and doesn't require being in melee combat to use).
Light of Dawn and Holy Shock have a 20% chance to proc a free cast.
This is the talent row that always fields the most questions. Back in the day, before the Glimmer of Light build, many Holy Paladins ran Beacon of Virtue to handle all the AoE damage that seemed too rough to heal through without it. Those days are over. With Glimmer of Light, we have all the aoe healing we could possibly need. Also, as you push higher keys you'll start realizing that tank damage is much more important then aoe damage for 90% of the dungeon. In every dungeon there are really only a few spots where you need to worry about aoe healing, so being able to keep your passive beacon for huge tank healing is far more valuable then an emergency aoe heal button. Keeping your default beacon is the main reason for running this talent, but the other part of Divine Purpose makes it even stronger, which is the proc that synergizes so well with the Glimmer of Light build, giving you tons of extra damage and healing from Holy Shock procs. The key to running without virtue is knowing all the dangerous pulls and bosses and how to prepare for the aoe damage in those spots (this is gone over in more depth in the Dungeons section).
Should you ever run Beacon of Virtue?
There are really only two circumstances when you should run Beacon of Virtue. If you're new to Holy Paladin, you may find that Virtue will help you early on until you have more gear and experience and learn how to handle those aoe situations without it. The only other time Virtue is suggested is if you're pugging lower keys on Bursting affix weeks and your dps are bad (ie constantly resetting / getting high bursting stacks).
Stat Priority
Haste (22-25%)
Crit (40%)
Vers
Haste Past 25%
Intellect
Mastery
IMPORTANT: THIS IS NOT OUR STACKING STAT! KEEP IT AROUND 22-25%, THEN STACK CRIT.Haste is still vital for the Glimmer build in mythic+. The idea is to get a strong base level of haste so you can maintain the fast paced playstyle of Glimmer while allowing you to stack other stats like crit and vers that make your abilities more effective.
Crit is the mythic+ stacking stat for Holy Paladins in Mythic+ due to our reliance on Infusion of Light procs outside of our wings for single target / spot healing. Between that, the raw damage/healing increase crit gives, and many of our BIS corruptions revolving around crit as well, stacking it is huge for dungeons. Keep in mind, once you hit 40% crit unbuffed its value falls off hard since you guarentee Holy Shock crits with wings up (30% crit from wings + 30% bonus for holy shock + 40% crit = 100%).
Versatility buffs all of our damage and healing by a flat percentage. Additionally, the damage reduction from versatility becomes more and more valuable the higher you push keys so after you get your crit and haste minimums, stack as much vers as you can.
If you hit your 40% crit and 25% haste and can't stack any more vers but find yourself with having to choose between adding more haste or more intellect/mastery, just go for the extra haste since there is no real soft cap for haste.
The reason Intellect has a lower value is that it has no effect on Glimmer. Although this does make the stat less desirable, let's not forget that the majority of dungeon healing doesn't actually revolve around glimmer healing. Since intellect still increases the damage and healing of all our abilities, it is still very strong.
If you want raw healing throughput, Mastery is great. But it has no effect on our damage, which in Mythic+ is probably 60% of what we do. The only time you want mastery is if you need huge healing and not much damage, which is really only one dungeon: Temple of Sethraliss (this is gone over in more depth in the Dungeons section).
*Don't overthink gearing too much, just follow this general stat line when creating sets for M+. As a general rule, don’t lose 10+ ilvls on an item to optimize stats (unless it’s a ring or a mastery heavy piece). Sockets are worth ~15 ilvls and Leech is worth ~10.
Essences
Major Essence
Your spells have a chance to activate Avenging Wrath for 7 seconds.
Why is vision so strong? The simple answer is that no proc is ever wasted. You can use the proc for damage or healing, and it has far more of an impact then any other essence. This will also give you access to the most important minor essence which reduces your wings cooldown to 1.6 minutes.
Replicate a party member's major essence to use yourself.
If someone in your group is running Focusing Iris, this essence has potential to be very strong for damage throughput. It will not help at all with healing though and the multiple channels required make it sketchy to run, so unless you consider yourself an expert at holy paladin in keys or have a very coordinated group, just stick with the visions major build. Keep in mind if you do run this build you have to run vision minor, see my Formless Void Playstyle section for more details.
Core Minor Essences
Provides a significant amount of versatility while in combat.
Our most versatile minor is Conflict and Strife, providing a ton of versatility throughout the dungeon which means increased damage and healing, and decreased damage taken. Definitely a must have for pushing keys.
Every 5 seconds, gain a stacking buff that increases Flash of Light healing.
This is a new trait added in 8.3 that will be the best option of the new traits due to our reliance on Flash of Light outside of wings for single target healing. Infusion of Light also increases the amount of healing this essence provides, making it even stronger for us.
Other Minor Essences
Your spells have a chance to apply a stacking DoT/HoT to an Enemy/Ally.
This essence won't give you a lot of healing, but will generally be ~5% of your overall damage, providing a meaningful dps increase in both AoE and single target situations.
Your spells have a chance to grant a 15 second intellect buff or mana.
ERT does provide a very strong Intellect buff, but will contribute less damage then CoF. Use this instead of CoF in heavy hps requirement dungeons and affixes like Temple/Waycrest or on grievous for extra healing/mana.
Each time an ally uses an essence, gain int and haste for 20 seconds.
First on the list of lesser desired minors is The Formless Void. If you aren't running this in your major slot, its minor will provide your group with some decent intellect and haste throughout the dungeon.
Azerite Traits
Although our outer ring traits are largely predefined due to the Glimmer of Light build requiring certain azerite traits, we have some flexibility with our inner traits and two of our outer traits as well.
Required Outer Azerite
Glimmer of Light (x3)
Holy Shock leaves a Glimmer on the target that deals damage to enemies and heals allies.
For the Glimmer build to work properly, you will need 3 Glimmer of Light traits. This trait is so strong that a 420 azerite piece with glimmer will be stronger then a 450 azerite piece without glimmer. If you are still trying to get glimmer on your items, you may want to run Beacon of Virtue until you get your full glimmer set.
Avenging Wrath's duration is increased by 6.3 seconds.
Even though this is a Ret trait, it is essential to playing the Glimmer build properly. You don't use the Holy Power part of this trait, it's only taken for the increased wings duration, which does not stack so you only ever want one of these traits. To take this trait, switch to Ret to select it from your azerite tree, then switch back to Holy.
Flexible Outer Azerite
Your secondary stats are increased while your Corruption Level is above 25.
The secondary stats this provides is a huge gain to both damage and healing, provided you are above 20 corruption (which you will be once you have corruption gear). This is our best traits for Mythic+ outside of Glimmer and Light's Decree.
Judgment deals additional damage based on the enemies health.
Do not underestimate how much damage this adds to your Judgement. Once you start running this I guarentee you'll notice a difference in your single target damage. This is a very close second place for BIS trait right behind Heart of Darkness.
Your spells have a chance to increase your haste for 15 seconds.
Because the proc resets whenever a mob is killed, it beats out the other proc traits, but is still not as strong as Heart of Darkness or Indomitable.
Your Holy Shock crits deal additional damage or healing over 3 seconds.
Because we stack crit in Mythic+, this trait will do decent damage and healing, but still won't be quite as impactful as Indomitable Justice. This is a good choice if you want extra healing instead of pure damage.
Your spells have a chance to increase your crit for up to 18 seconds.
Both of these traits provide a mediocre crit proc, but as with all procs it won't be very reliable so this stays fairly low on the list.
Inner Ring 1
Lifespeed increases Haste by 93, On My Way increases Versatility by 93.
Both of these traits provide a flat secondary and tertiary stat (Lifespeed gives avoidance, On My Way gives speed).
Your spells have a chance to increase your haste (Overwhelming) or crit (Unstable).
As far as inner proc traits go, these are by far your best options. The difference between these two is marginal, either one is a great choice.
Increases Mastery by 93 and Leech by 46.
Although mastery is our weakest secondary in M+, no stat is bad for Holy Paladins, and the leech this provides makes up for the lesser secondary.
A fluctuating intellect buff ranging from 29 - 147.
If you can't grab any of the others, Earthlink is still a decent choice that provides a medicore intellect boost.
Inner Ring 2
Every 30 sec, gain an absorb shield for 30 seconds.
Prydaz is back! This is an extremely powerful shield that provides you with a much larger effective health pool. If possible always take this trait.
Passive self heal any time a mob around you dies.
In mythic+ this trait can be a massive lifesaver, especially on bursting weeks, by providing you a significant heal every time any mob dies.
Give nearby allies an absorb whenever you use Divine Shield.
This puts an absorb on allies near you any time you use Divine Shield, which is very useful in large aoe damage situations.
Heal for 6840 (Visage) or gain Avoidance (Gemhide) when you take damage.
Impassive will do decent healing overall and Gemhide will help on dungeons with heavy aoe burst damage. Neither are super strong but they're both solid options.
