Healer Rankings / Tier List for Cataclysm Classic

Last updated on Jul 30, 2024 at 19:00 by Seksixeny

While DPS in Cataclysm have different power levels, which determine to which extent you want to stack them, all healers and tanks are welcome in Raids and Dungeons, as they all have unique benefits that are worth learning about.

We will be ranking each healer class available in Cataclysm below, alongside a short explanation on the reasoning behind its position. This list will be kept updated as Cataclysm progresses, in order to always reflect the current meta healer rankings.

TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THIS PAGE
1.

Healer Rankings Summary

Below you can find a quick summary of the current PvE healer rankings:

  1. Holy Paladin (S-Tier)
  2. Discipline Priest (S-Tier)
  3. Restoration Shaman (A-Tier)
  4. Restoration Druid (A-Tier)
  5. Holy Priest (A-Tier)

In order to further understand the reasoning behind these rankings, we would recommend you read the rest of the page, as that is explained in more detail in the next few sections.

1.1.

DPS and Tank Class Rankings

If you are interested in other PvE role rankings for Cataclysm, check the following links:

2.

Healer Ranking Details

When sorting out the rankings for healers PvE, we are primarily concerned with two things:

  • Throughput — the ability of a healer to do a lot of raw healing, whether sustained or in bursts, and including healing cooldowns such as Avenging Wrath Icon Avenging Wrath, Tranquility Icon Tranquility, and Divine Hymn Icon Divine Hymn.
  • Utility — non-healing abilities that the healer brings that are useful to the raid, such as Aura Mastery Icon Aura Mastery, Power Word: Barrier Icon Power Word: Barrier, Power Infusion Icon Power Infusion, Spirit Link Totem Icon Spirit Link Totem, and Rebirth Icon Rebirth.

We will rank each healer on both of these categories and further elaborate on how they come together to create the current ranking for the class.

2.1.

S-Tier Classes and Specializations

While all healers can do a lot of healing, Holy Paladins are the kings of area healing with Holy Radiance Icon Holy Radiance whenever the raid can be stacked, especially during Avenging Wrath Icon Avenging Wrath. They also sport many useful defensive cooldowns for themselves and the raid, making them the overall best healer.

Discipline Priests are also a must in raids due to their unique healing style which includes significant shielding with Divine Aegis Icon Divine Aegis and Power Word: Shield Icon Power Word: Shield. While their throughput will no longer be completely made out of absorbs, these will allow the raid to survive through some high damage mechanics, especially in combination with Power Word: Barrier Icon Power Word: Barrier.

These are the two specializations you will usually want healing your 10-man groups.

2.1.1.

Holy Paladin

  • ThroughputS-tierHoly Paladin is no longer the undisputed king of single-target healing in Cataclysm, but is now able to do unparalleled area healing when the raid is stacked with Holy Radiance Icon Holy Radiance and Light of Dawn Icon Light of Dawn, which converts to massive tank healing with Beacon of Light Icon Beacon of Light, allowing Paladin to retain its S-rank throughput status, especially once their new Mastery, Illuminated Healing Icon Illuminated Healing, is taken into account;
  • UtilityS-tier — while Divine Guardian Icon Divine Guardian is gone from Holy's toolkit, Aura Mastery Icon Aura Mastery is still a powerful raid cooldown, Avenging Wrath Icon Avenging Wrath a reliable throughput cooldown, Hand of Sacrifice Icon Hand of Sacrifice and Hand of Protection Icon Hand of Protection are still great in multiple scenarios, and Paladin is the only healer with a full immunity in Divine Shield Icon Divine Shield.
2.1.2.

Discipline Priest

  • ThroughputS-tier — most of your spells will activate Divine Aegis Icon Divine Aegis and Power Word: Shield Icon Power Word: Shield still exists, even though it will not be spammed anymore due to high Mana costs. Combined with the new Mastery, Shield Discipline Icon Shield Discipline, Discipline can prevent much of the incoming damage before it even happens, which is a fantastic healing style to have for keeping other players alive, and more than justifies S-rank even when raw throughput potential is not high.
  • UtilityS-tier — the utility of Power Word: Barrier Icon Power Word: Barrier, Power Infusion Icon Power Infusion, Pain Suppression Icon Pain Suppression, Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel, and Power Word: Fortitude Icon Power Word: Fortitude are all great reasons to bring at least one Discipline Priest, even beyond throughput reasons.
2.2.

A-Tier Classes and Specializations

Cataclysm has good healer balance, which justifies every other healer being in the A-Tier, although all of them have their own weaknesses and strengths, described below. Restoration Shamans are stacked and spot healing specialists with a lot of unique utility, Restoration Druids are spread healing specialists with a lot of raw throughput but no shielding, as are Holy Priests.

While these three specializations can work in 10-man groups, they are generally better suited for 25-man healing due to their area healing spells needing to hit many players in order to be efficient.

2.2.1.

Restoration Shaman

  • ThroughputA-tierHealing Rain Icon Healing Rain and Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal are both very strong area healing spells, but also require a lot of targets to be damaged and stacked within close proximity, making them more situational than most other area healing spells. Riptide Icon Riptide buffs Chain Heal and is a very powerful spell on its own in Cataclysm. It also provides Tidal Waves Icon Tidal Waves, which can be combined with the new Deep Healing Icon Deep Healing Mastery to make Restoration Shaman a very strong spot healer.
  • UtilityS-tierBloodlust Icon Bloodlust / Heroism Icon Heroism is still a critical raid buff in Cataclysm, but can now also be brought by Mages. Regardless, Restoration is getting fantastic new utility with Spirit Link Totem Icon Spirit Link Totem and Ancestral Healing Icon Ancestral Healing and can still bring a huge array of Totem buffs and debuffs to fill in any raid buff gaps.
2.2.2.

Restoration Druid

  • ThroughputS-tierDruids have great spread raid healing with Rejuvenation Icon Rejuvenation blanketing, while also doing significant tank healing with Lifebloom Icon Lifebloom and spot healing with Omen of Clarity Icon Omen of Clarity procs. Their Tranquility Icon Tranquility is also now a raid healing cooldown, and Tree of Life Icon Tree of Life is a strong personal throughput cooldown, making them very well rounded for healing. Most importantly: most of this healing can be done on the move, making Druid the most mobile healer.
  • UtilityB-tier — equivalent raid buffs to Mark of the Wild Icon Mark of the Wild, Faerie Fire Icon Faerie Fire, and Replenishment Icon Replenishment are likely to already be brought by other classes in a raid setting, and Innervate Icon Innervate is now very weak unless used on self. Also, while Rebirth Icon Rebirth is important, it can now also be brought by multiple other classes and all players in the raid will share a common battle resurrection limit, making it much weaker than it used to be.
2.2.3.

Holy Priest

  • ThroughputS-tier — just like the previous healers, Holy Priests can do it all, with strong single-target and area-of-effect healing, although Chakra Icon Chakra does require you to specialize in one or the other for its duration. Their Divine Hymn Icon Divine Hymn is perhaps the most powerful raid cooldown of all, but does require a long time standing still channeling. Lightwell Icon Lightwell can do a lot of healing but is very cumbersome to use properly and easy to ignore or waste. Finally, their mastery Echo of Light Icon Echo of Light provides a ton of unconditional extra healing.
  • UtilityB-tier — while Discipline is one of the most important healer specializations to bring to a raid for its unique utility, Holy mostly has Guardian Spirit Icon Guardian Spirit and Spirit of Redemption Icon Spirit of Redemption which are nowhere near as good as Pain Suppression Icon Pain Suppression and, especially, Power Word: Barrier Icon Power Word: Barrier.
3.

Changelog

  • 30 Jun. 2024: Reviewed for Phase 2.
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