Oh, for the Love of Chakra

During late Burning Crusade and early Wrath days, Holy Priests were able to tank or raid heal and be arguably one of the most effective healers in each role. Throughout Wrath the niche of the Holy Priest has slipped away, reducing most Holy Priests to mindless bubble spammers.

Blue posts have openly claimed Blizzard wants to help the Holy Priest recapture their ability to fill any healing role. Amidst much confusion from the priestly masses, Blizzard unveiled a fantastically confusing new spell, Chakra, claiming it was the tool that Holy Priests would use to float through healing  roles with ease. Unfortunately, "ease" is not the attitude most players are directing at the new and very daunting ability, Chakra. For many this ability is confusing, too much work, or flat out not understood.

WTF is Chakra, Anyway?

Chakra is actually a principle of yoga and mediation, based on the belief that man has seven circular pools of energy within themselves which can be tapped into and used to enhance their day to day actions, much like Chakra will work for the Holy Priest.

Chakra is not new to pop culture, Blizzard did not pull it out of thin air. In fact, Chakra is the basis for the 'super powers' of many popular fiction characters. Many gamers and anime fans will recognize at least one of the following characters and shows:





I know, you're thinking "ok so now the overly shiny animation for Chakra makes sense. I'm an anime character." And maybe that's what Blizzard is going for. But think about your average anime superstar. They have a learning curve for their abilities, just like the Holy Priest, but once they understand how to use them they can do pretty much anything.

Versatility

The following information is based on both the Live version of Chakra, as well as expected changes for the Chakra build. These changes include the removal of Chakra Renew, the adjustment of the utility of Chakra Prayer of Healing (Sanctuary) and the many other changes Holy Priests are expected to see.

Any math in this section is a rough estimate, I suck at math. 

Many arguments against Chakra involve a lack of understanding of "what it does for me," or claim that it is simply too confusing. Here is a breakdown of  what Chakra does for you.

Each Chakra form:

· Adds a direct benefit to your heals based on your Chakra form

· Changes the utility of your Holy Word

· Effects to benefit other commonly used spells

At the end of this blog I have attached two tables which breakdown the basics of each Chakra form, as well as its corresponding Holy Word changes and benefits. They may be used as quick references for questions about each Chakra and Holy Word.

Raid Healing

The best way you can look at Chakra is to understand an encounter before you enter it. Think of any raid encounter that requires heavy AoE healing (i.e. Festergut and Blood Queen)? You need to understand the benefits of Chakra Sanctuary.

Chakra Sanctuary is commonly looked at as the ‘wasted’ Chakra on live, as it is only based on Prayer of Healing use. However, once the current Beta patch goes live I believe this chakra will be used more commonly by priests for several reasons. This form of Chakra:

· Now works with Prayer of Mending as well as Prayer of Healing

· Increases all AoE healing done by 15%

· Increases the healing done by Renew by 15%

· Reduces the cooldown of Circle of Healing by 2 seconds

What a mother load. Automatic 15% increase to spells you’ll use anyway, such as Circle of Healing, Holy Nova, Prayer of Healing and Holy Word Sanctuary, the ground AoE from Holy Word. With Prayer of Mending affecting it, I see little reason for Holy Priests to spend time out of this Chakra, unless being called upon to direct heal.

Direct Healing

Now consider an encounter which calls for an extra tank healer, either constantly or during periods of heavy damage (Blood Princes or during frenzies). Chakra Serenity significantly influences your single-target direct healing. This form of Chakra:

· Increases the critical chance of Heal by 10%

· Refreshes Renew on the target of your Heal

· Transforms your Holy Word into Serenity, an instant direct heal.

It is important to note that Holy Word: Serenity also increases the Crit chance of all heals on the target  by 25% for six seconds. Without haste Heal has a 3 second cooldown, allowing plenty of time for two full Heals at 25% increased crit chance. Before Tome of Light the cooldown on Serenity is 15 seconds, which roughly means 24 out of every 60 seconds your Heal gains 25% crit on your primary target (4 casts of HW:S in 1 minute = 4*6 = 24 sec buffed, gcd not accounted for).  

Addressing Concerns

Across the forums, no matter where you look, priests are switching away from Holy claiming that Chakra is awkward and clunky. The two major complaints are that priests find micromanaging their Chakra uptime to be clunky and that Prayer of Healing simply isn't worth bothering with. Blizzard has heard these complaints and has done a few things to help address them:

Micromanaging Uptime

To those who find micromanaging your uptime of Chakra to be annoying, rest assured Blizzard has heard your complaints. No more will priests be forced to use less-than-ideal spells just to upkeep a Chakra  that isn’t going to benefit them.
The cooldown of chakra has been reduced to match its duration. What this means is you can uninstall that pesky Power Aura you made to monitor Chakra - if you are not already in a Chakra state it is off cooldown and ready for use. This much needed adjustment allows Chakra to become the intended tool to allow Priests to flow freely between healing roles.

Chakra PoH is 'weak'

Yes, Chakra Prayer of Healing does feel weak, especially in five and ten man raids. Consider your most recent raid or even heroic - how often did you cast PoH? Even if the extension of time for your current Chakra state does proc off every person a single cast of Prayer of Healing affects, there simply aren’t enough situations where Prayer of Healing is the best option.
Blizzard has answered this concern as well: insert Prayer of Mending. Prayer of Mending is a nice little free-bouncing heal which will also influence the Chakra Prayer of Healing state, meaning that as long as you have this spell flying around your Chakra will be maintained. 

Free-flowing Healing Roles

As any good healer knows, encounters will affect your play style and what spells will be used more often than others. This becomes even more predominant as Chakra works its way into your heals. The idea of Chakra is to allow you to do whatever the encounter or current phase of requires, while benefiting your spells  in each role. As an example, let us take a quick look at what one very familiar encounter becomes when Chakra comes into play.

Festergut:

• When the room is filled with gas, you will use Chakra Prayer of Healing. The timer on your Chakra will be maintained with each cast of PoH or PoM, making upkeep easy.
• Holy Word: Sanctuary can be left on the melee to ease their healing required.
• Your Renew and AoE heals are all experiencing a 15% increased throughput.
• Your Holy Word becomes a ground AoE heal which can be left on the Melee to ease healing on them
• As Festergut absorbs gas in the room damage on the tank increases. With the expected cooldown of Chakra to be 30 seconds, you are free to switch to Chakra Heal, allowing them to aid the tank healer in keeping the tank alive.
• During this you are experiencing a 10% increase chance to crit with Heal, which is expected to make quite a comeback in Cata content.
• Each cast of Heal will refresh Renew on your target
• Your Holy Word becomes a very potent instant heal to help keep the tank alive
• After the tank is done getting their face wrecked, your Chakra is likely to be off cooldown again, allowing you to save your raid from that initial punch of the gas returning to the room, as well as smooth the transition back to raid healing.

Is Chakra confusing? Yes, as with any other significant class change this is going to be confusing at first. But do you really want to be a master of a class that can be face rolled?

Healing is not easy.

Mastering Chakra will be something to take pride in. My advice to those who are still concerned is to take the time to learn your new healing toolbox. Take some time to work with each Chakra individually. Identify its weaknesses and strengths. Play with it until you are familiar with it.

Once understood, Chakra will allow you to solidly fill the role of tank or raid healer by beefing up our most common heals in each. Chakra single handedly turns the Holy Priest’s niche from blanketing the raid with Renew into the floating healer role that we held during BC and early Naxx days. 

The following tables are meant as quick-reference tools for the Holy Priest to ease the confusing tooltips associated with Chakra and its benefits