Mana Management - Tips to Avoid Going OOM

While mana management becomes fairly obsolete at high gear levels, it's something that lesser geared players and newer raiders do need to concern themselves with. Having an endless mana pool is something that many geared players, myself included, can easily take for granted, and that can come back to bite you. For example, as a Holy Paladin on hard mode LK, if I stop casting at the wrong time, my tank will die. Because of this, I need to be aware of my mana pool and my surroundings, and know how to manage my resources so that I don't run out in this long fight. With Blizzard wanting to make mana management part of a healer's routine again, I want to take a look at some strategies healers can use to maximize cooldowns and intelligently manage their resources.


Preparation
As with any situation, being prepared is a key to success. There's a few ways you can ensure you're properly prepared to handle situations where mana is at a premium. From choosing the right gear for the job, or changing talents, there's several things we can do even before stepping foot in a raid.

Know Your Spells
If you know you are prone to having mana issues, the first place you should look is at the spells you are using. Recently, I was in an ICC10 group on my druid, and the other healer I was working with was the same class. Overall, the group was doing great. However, she was often using her innervate on herself, and needing mine as well. considering our healing output was about even, and we were similarly geared, she asked me what I was doing differently, so we opened up recount to check spell usage. She was heavily reliant on Lifebloom for group and tank heals, a tactic popular during The Burning Crusade, but really obsolete now with the mana cost changes. I was favoring my hots and Nourish to do the same job. After altering her playstyle a bit, mana was no longer an issue. If you find yourself often scraping the bottom of the pool, hit the web and see what spells other healers are preferring. Often just changing your spells around a small amount can have a profound impact on both mana cost, and healing output.

Choose Gear Accordingly
If your spell usage seems correct, and you're still having problems, check your gear. If you're a Paladin or a Shaman, maybe start looking for haste/mp5 gear instead of haste/crit, as a Holy Priest or a Druid, check your spirit. One common theme that I use across all my healers is that I try to always have at least one of my two trinket slots used as a mana cushion. There are several attractive options, and not all of them are hard to get. If you have access to it, one of the most powerful options available is from Lord Jaraxxus in 25 man ToC, Solace of the Defeated (Solace of the Fallen for Horde). And because it's from ToC, if you're lucky enough to have access to both the normal and heroic versions, you can use two. (You cannot use both normal and heroic for ICC trinkets, just ToC.)

However, the majority of people won't have access to this, but there's still other options. 10 man Lord Marrowgar drops Sliver of Pure Ice. While the regen on it isn't as strong, it's easier to obtain, and can be bound to any ability to auto fire, or you can choose when to use it for some control over your regen.

If you're a person that doesn't raid much, but have some emblems to burn, Purified Lunar Dust only has slightly less mp5 than the solace, and can be bought for only 60 Frost Emblems.

The last regen trinket worth noting is the Ephemeral Snowflake dropped off Marwyn in the Heroic halls of reflection. This one is especially powerful for classes using HoTs, as it can proc off each tick. It's easily obtained, and very powerful.

Understand Your Talents
Every healing class has talents to aid in regen, and if you get your spec from an online source like Plusheal or Elitist Jerks, then you undoubtedly have them in your build. However, understanding them is key to making the most of them.

Paladin
Illumination - While this talent is not as powerful as it used to be, it is still a decent source of mana. It is a pretty passive talent though, and nothing really needs to be done to make it work.
Divine Illumination - This talent is more powerful than it gets credit for. You can bind it to another spell and have it fire on cd, or you can save it for times when you know you'll be casting without breaks. I'll get into this a little more below, as it's use changes with tier 10.

Priest
Holy
Spirit of Redemption - The "upon death" part isn't important here, but the "5% increased spirit" is well worth 1 point.
Holy Concentration -  This talent makes that spirit even more powerful, and is why holy Priests prefer spirit for regen, while disc prefers Intellect.

Discipline
Meditation - This talent is taken by both Holy and Disc priests due to how powerful it is. Mana regenerates a lot slower in combat, and this talent helps out quite a bit.
Inner Focus - This spell is optional, as it really isn't much regen, but personally I like to bind it to Divine Hymn to make sure if everything hits the fan, my most expensive heal is free. I take it as both Holy and Disc.
Mental Agility - You spend most of your time shielding as a discipline priest. This lowers the cost of that.
Rapture - The brunt of Discipline's regen, and why Disc priests prefer int to spirit.

Shaman
Imp Water Shield - Causes water shield to restore mana without having to get hit. Very nice.
Tidal Focus - Straight 5% reduction in cost. Very nice.
Restorative Totems - Makes your mana spring totem a little better. Does not stack with talented Blessing of Wisdom from a pally, but a talent that still shouldn't be passed up due to it being a prerequisite for:
Mana Tide Totem - Shaman's best friend.
Improved Shields - This increases the effectiveness of your water shield, and it DOES work with imp water shield.

Druid
Omen of Clarity - Procs free spells, and procs quite often. This will save you mana.
Intensity - Great if you are using Nourish a lot, and worth grabbing just for the spell below it.
Tranquil Spirit - Only worth grabbing for the Nourish reduction. Better for tank healing druids, although I like this for 10 mans.
Living Spirit - 15% extra spirit, quite a bit more regen. Gets better as you get more spirit.
Tree of Life - Reduces the mana cost of your HoTs by 20%.


Execution
So you've done all you can to prepare, you're mid fight, and still having issues. It could be due to gear, but, chances are you can find a way around it by playing smart.

Come Prepared 
This should go without saying, but don't show up to raid without being prepared. You will make more off of boss drops than you will spend buying consumables, more often than not. Go the extra mile. If you usually use spellpower flasks, you should still always have some regen flasks on hand, just in case. If the group dies because you were too stingy to spend 20g on re-flasking when you know you tend to oom on that fight, you'll be kicking yourself later.

This doesn't just apply to flasks though, if mana is an issue, don't rely on fish feasts for your food. There is plenty of easily obtained mp5 and spirit food out there. Farm the mobs, and ask friends or guild mates and you should find a cook relatively quickly. 

Lastly, bring potions. They're not terribly expensive to get made, especially if you put in the effort to find a potion master. It might not be a whole lot of mana, but sometimes it's all you need to last you until the next innervate is off cd.

Communicate and Coordinate
Communication is incredibly important for healers. If you let each other know what you're doing, you lower the risk of overlapping abilities, and can maximize everything to it's fullest potential. If you have voice chat, use it. Call out when you pop your mana regen abilities. If you don't have vent, macro a /ra message saying you used your Mana Tide Totem/Innervate/Divine Hymn so the other healers know. Also call out if you need a cooldown. If your mana is low, don't be afraid to ask for an innervate, or ask if your shaman's mana tide is off cooldown. The worst thing that can happen is they say no. It beats letting people die because you ran oom and didn't ask.

Also, coordinate use of your cooldowns. Plan out ahead who is going to pop theirs first, and you can maximize returns as a group. For example, if you have a shaman and a priest, decide who will use theirs first, then when either of you feels low, call for it. The first person can use theirs, and then use the next one when it's called again. This way, you don't run the risk of having two popped at once, and you can keep your returns more regular by rotating.

Call out Early/Use Early
Knowing when to use cooldowns is a huge deal in the mana return business. If you pop your cooldowns early into the fight, you can often times use them an extra time when you really need it. Drop that mana tide when you're at 75%, it will be back off cd when you're scraping the bottom. Call out for those innervates early if it looks to be a long fight, it will just get them off cd faster for the next guy, or yourself. Granted, this strategy won't always work on shorter fights, but it's a good first plan until you can get a feel for your mana consumption.

Tips For Individual Classes
There's some regen tactics that really only work on a per-class basis, but are still worth mentioning.

Paladin
Seal of Wisdom is your best friend. If mana is a problem, heal from melee.  It has no internal cooldown and is based on maximum mana. If you don't already, start healing in a way that does not require you to target your heal target, such as Mouseovers or Vuhdo. This way, you can get a swing in between casts without having to re target the boss.

Cushion your Divine Plea. With t10 2 set, wings, and an on use trinket, you can plea fairly often without fear of a tank death, if melee is not an option.

If there's more than one Pally, coordinate judgements. Make sure both JoL and JoW are being put down.

Priest
Understand your cooldowns. Hymn of Hope works on your raid members with the lowest mana, so you will get more use on yourself if you wait until you are low. This means use your shadowfiend first, then your hymn. Of course, if other healers are struggling with mana too, adjust and use your hymn for them.

Shaman
Don't let water shield fall off. It costs no mana to cast, so get something to monitor it. Power Auras works great for this. Also, use your mana tide early. Pop it at about 70%, and it should be ready again by the time you really need it.

Druid
Be stingy with your innervate if you need to. If you need it for yourself, don't be afraid to hoard it. However, if you don't be sure to let other healers know it's available. If no one is calling for it, watch their mana for them, and try to use it on cd if it looks like one person is lower than the rest by quite a bit. Lastly, if you find yourself using it on other often out of necessity, but still struggling yourself, glyphing it is always an option.


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While mana may not be the largest issue for most players, some still struggle with it, and I hope this can shed some light on how people deal with mana problems in current content, and give you some ideas on how to plunge into the Cataclysm without being afraid of running OOM.

/bubblehearth