Halion HM : healing druid role analysis

In this post I'll try explain this new boss from different points of view, especially for the last phase. This fight is quite difficult in HM and you don't have the godmode-buff from ICC so tank HP are back to normal and no more 18k Nourish.

I will start with the 25-man HM and complete the post with the 10-man one as the fight is the same without some features.

Halion is a 3-phases boss. The first phase takes place in the fire realm from 100% to 75% then the boss switch realm and a portal allow you to enter the shadow realm for the second phase. In phase 2 you must avoid the 2 beams, Tail Lash and Flame Breath. At 50%, phase 3 starts.

Phase 1

In phase 1 most of the damages are on the tanks and you have to keep hots on them. If you are assigned to decurse the Fiery Combustion, be sure to know where is the player targeted and where he goes to avoid out of range issues and decurse it at the right time. You can usually use the raid symbol to spot it. You also have to hot the player targeted, a Rejuvenation and a Lifebloom should be sufficient.

Be sure to always heal the tank of Halion, the tank of the small adds and possibly the tank of the Big Elemental. If you have 4 tanks, one will be on Halion, the second on the small adds, the third on the big elem and the last will wait to tank inside during phase 2 and 3. If you only run 3 tanks, both Halion and the Big Fire Elemental will be on the same tank and he will require permanent and intensive focus. 

Hot the MT before the pull, and keep healing him with full hots and Nourish during the whole phase. Train yourself to time your Swiftmend and Nourish with the Flame Breath. Hot the other tanks when Meteor Strike is about to land.

Throw a Wild Growth if you see damages, usually due to fire or to threat instability as the adds are coming. Regarding this point, you might take aggro too because you did good effective heals on fire damages after the Meteor Strike. Remember to use Barkskin before adds reach you. If you detect some fury warrior or ret pal usually taking aggro from the small adds tank, hot them as well and be ready to use Swiftmend. 

At 76%, cast a Regrowth and a Rejuvenation on the tank that will take Halion inside. When the portal spawns I strongly recommend you to enter as fast as possible.

Phase 2

As I said, you must be one of the first in the shadow realm. When you see the boss casting the transition (purple and like a mage casting portal), start running to the portal spot while stacking Lifebloom on the shadow realm tank.

It's a bit tricky but you must NOT enter BEFORE the tank because you won't see him for 2-3 seconds. In that situation you must have a really reactive tank that definitely spam the portal to enter first. I recommend to wait 1s before clicking to be sure it will work.

On Grid, people in range are those who entered before you. If you don't see anyone, you entered too fast. If you can see 20 person you entered too late. On our attemps I usually saw the tank and 2-3 players. 

Why is this so important? Because Halion hits really hard and if your tank do not receive any heal he will probably die the second after he taunts. It's possible to use cd on it to avoid instant death, but it's not our business, we don't have any cd. So basically when you enter you just spam Nourish and use Swiftmend if the tank drops to low. Once everyone is in, refresh your hot and start healing the raid. 

In phase 2, all healers are inside and all of them have to focus on the tank. Just keep your hots up on it and cast some Nourish when the raid is ok. 

Keep healing the raid and the tank, decurse if you are assigned to, and hot the player targeted by the Mark of Consumption. Avoid beams, Tail Lash and Flame Breath. Remember to use Barkskin if you are targeted by the Mark of Consumption.

This is the right way to go if you get the debuff during the beams.

Keep doing the same from 75% to 50% with special care on tank. At 50% Halion does the same as during the first transition and 2 portal spawns. If you have to go back in the fire realm be sure not to have the Mark of Consumption or it will explode as you click the portal.

Phase 3

The fight seriously starts at 50% and there are 2 alternatives : fight Halion in the fire realm or in the shadow realm. On a side note, our Rebirth is useless inside and do a BR becomes tricky. However we are really good healers inside.

Shadow realm :

At 50% half the heals, all casters and some melee (usually rogue to ToT off tank) go up in the Fire realm, and you are now with a maximum of 10 players inside including 3-4 healers, 4-5 dps, 1 tank. The hard part is clearly to keep the tank alive. CDs must be used during movements and when there is no cd, every healer must be warned. 

Besides decursing and avoiding beams, Flame Breaths and Tail Lash, you will need to keep all your hots up on the tank while stabilizing the raid and prehotting the player with the Mark of Consumption. 

You will encounter a lot of wipe if you don't focus on the tank. It must be roughly 65% of your focus time. I did not say 65% of your healing but of your time spent doing something. So basically you have to keep your hots on the tank, letting lifebloom fade when needed (especially during movements), refreshing it, throwing Swiftmend (again especially during movements) and obviously casting a lot of Nourish (taking advantage of Living Seed). Keep your NS+HT for the tank during beams. 

Honestly, if you keep rolling Rejuvenation on everyone with a common 5x1 you will waste a lot of time  and the tank will surely die. The raid must be stabilized but don't need an insane focus. Damages are low enough and everyone is stacked in melee so you just have to throw some Rejuvenation and cast Wild Growth on cd. Most of your attention must be on the tank. During beams, throw hots while moving and stop regularly to cast Nourish or refresh Regrowth on the tank. 

If you manage to have a good Wild Growth uptime, raid healing will be ok. You must  also use Rejuvenation and Swiftmend on players affected by the Mark of Consumption. You can add a Lifebloom on him, it helps.

Phase 3 is quite long so keep a good focus on what you have to do and you will finish with 10k+ hps with 20-25% of your healing on the tank, more than any other healer. 

Fire realm :

Phase 3 outside is pretty much like phase 1 but with more focus on tank. You don't have to do much raid healing and you have to focus a lot on tanks. Keep your hots up and cast Nourish as much as possible. Be careful with your threat when small adds spawn, keep using Barkskin. 

The best way to have a good transition is to let 1 healer and the tank of Halion, outside during phase 2. 

Heal outside is not really hard for us as we don't have to do both permanent raid and tank healing. It's more about patch heal and pre-hot. Watch out the Meteor Strike and fire.

If you have to decurse, pay attention to your position to avoid the out of range issue and keep throwing Rejuvenation and Regrowth on players affected by the Fiery Combustion.

10-man 

The 10-man version of this fight is far easier than the 25 one. Besides the fact that there is no fire elementals, damages on tank are much lower. It's possible to do it with only 2 healers but it seems 4 healers works better.

Inside you just have to cover the raid with Wild Growth and Rejuvenation. Keep a good focus on the tank with Rejuvenation, Regrowth and Lifebloom. You don't really have to predict damage and throwing Swiftmend when needed if sufficient. Cast Nourish instead if you feel comfortable with damages and keep your Swiftmend for player affected by the Mark of Consumption.

Keep the tank alive outside, decurse and hot players targeted by the Fiery Combustion.

Do the same as in 25 and Halion 10HM is absolutely not a problem.