Guardian Spirit

Guardian Spirit is a a level 54 Holy priest ability. It causes a friendly target to receive 40% increased healing for 10 seconds. If the target dies while under the effect of the spell, the Guardian Spirit will prevent death by sacrificing itself and restore 40% of the target's maximum health - massive amounts of damage will however not trigger this effect. Guardian Spirit can be cast while stunned.

Improvements

 * Divine Attendant (honor talent)
 * Guardian Angel (talent)

Tips and tactics

 * This is the Holy priest's panic button when a party member is about to die.
 * Casting Guardian Spirit on the tank will allow the priest to heal other party members, while the tank is safe.
 * Using a macro or addon to announce your target is highly recommended.
 * Because of the unpredictability of incoming damage, care must be taken to cast Guardian Spirit at the right time in order to save the target. If cast too late, server lag or an unexpected damage spike may cause your target to die; if cast too early, the effect may expire before the target reaches 0 health.

Guardian Spirit has 2 functions: to increase healing received, and to provide an emergency heal should the target die. While saving Guardian Spirit as an emergency cooldown can be very effective in preventing wipes, the spell's 40% healing increase should not be overlooked. With only a 4-minute cooldown it can be used regularly to boost healing and conserve mana. However it is usually more advantageous to allow the target to 'die' while under the effect, in order to benefit from the spell's 'sacrifice' heal. Announcing your target before allowing your target to 'die' is usually a good idea.

The optimal amount of healing can be gained from Guardian Spirit by healing the spell's target for a few seconds before allowing them to 'die'. As the buff is consumed in order to save the target from death, the 40% healing increase will only be available before the Guardian Spirit sacrifices itself.