Spell Focus: Prayer of Mending
Description
Prayer of Mending (Rank 1)
390 Mana, 40 yd range
Instant cast, 10 sec cooldown
Places a spell on the target that heals them for 800 the next time they take damage. When the heal occurs, Prayer of Mending jumps to a raid member within 20 yards. Jumps up to 5 times and lasts 30 sec after each jump. This spell can only be placed on one target at a time.
Prayer of Mending, or short: PoM, is a very versatile spell that can be used in many situations. As you can see it will jump to nearby raid members on triggering, healing up to 6 times. It will jump intelligently, selecting the raid member with the lowest health % in the 20 yards range. Additionally, whenever the PoM buff heals a target, the healing threat is attributed to that player, not the priest that casted the PoM.
Strengths
It’s instant cast, so it can be cast while moving. It will take care of medium amounts of unpredicted raid damage. It is a wonderful tool to have when there are two tanks standing next to each other, both taking damage. For a very small amount of mana, you can pad both tank’s life without even generating threat, even helping them build theirs!
During fights that may see random raid damage, PoM will greatly reduce your stress to keep up with the damage, as it will do some of the heeling, without your attention. It’s a fire-and-forget spell that can work wonders in many situations.
Weakness
PoM has not many direct disadvantages. If only one target is taking massive damage, you should be better of by spamming those Greater Heals. Also, the heal will occur after the damage is taken, which means, it will not prevent a fellow squishy from being one-shot.
When & how to use
I use my PoM before every pull. Cast it on the tank, so it will absorb the first hit. If it bounces back on you, just say hello the the tanked Mob by casting a Shadow Word: Death. The feedback will trigger your PoM, it will bounce back to the tank and so on. It’s also a good idea to put it on your tank during the fight it the aggro-padding is somewhat thin. It’s not much threat, but every bit helps.
Also, use PoM when more than one player is taking damage. Due to it’s mana efficiency, it’s advisable to have it going round at all times if you can afford the global cooldown.
When not to use
Don’t use it if you need to keep up with large amounts of damage on a single target. But if you find some room to breathe, toss it on your tank or someone else who takes damage. Yes, it’s that efficient. 
Recommended Reading
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