Challenge Mode Healer Tier List for Mists of Pandaria Classic

You can find below a quick summary of the current Challenge Mode Dungeon Healer rankings:

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

If you are interested in other Challenge Mode Dungeon role rankings for Mists of Pandaria Classic, check the following links:

When ranking Healers in Challenge Modes, damage output is a much more important facet to consider than usual, as your potential contribution to group damage in a 5 man group is much higher than when raiding. You will still want solid healing to go along with the damage, or specific utility, however:

• DPS — the ability of a healer to do high damage while healing, through mechanics that convert damage into healing such as Atonement and Eminence.
• Throughput — the ability of a healer to do a lot of raw healing, whether sustained or in bursts, and including healing cooldowns such as Ancestral Guidance, Tranquility, Divine Hymn, Revival, and Avenging Wrath.
• Utility — non-healing abilities that the healer brings that are useful to the group, such as Devotion Aura, Power Word: Barrier, Power Infusion, Ring of Peace, Spirit Link Totem, and 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.

• DPS — S-tier — Discipline Priest has high damage potential through their own damage spells, which convert into healing through Atonement, and Power Infusion which can add even more DPS to a party member on large pulls;
• Throughput — B-tier — Spirit Shell is not nearly as useful in dungeons as it is in groups, but Discipline can still keep their party alive fairly easily through their base healing kit alongside absorbs from Divine Aegis and Power Word: Shield.
• Utility — S-tier — the utility of Power Word: Barrier, Power Infusion, Pain Suppression, Mass Dispel, and Power Word: Fortitude are all great reasons to bring at least one Discipline Priest, even beyond throughput reasons.

• DPS — S-tier — Mistweaver Monk has the highest damage potential out of all healers and can heal while doing damage with Eminence, making it the top DPS option healer;
• Throughput — A-tier — Mistweaver Monk brings strong sustained single target healing with Soothing Mist and Enveloping Mist combos and strong spread healing with Uplift;
• Utility — A-tier — while most of Mistweaver utility is fairly forgettable, they have Ring of Peace which can be great in specific fights or for setting pulls, as well as an area stun in Leg Sweep.

• DPS — A-tier — Fire Elemental Totem is a strong DPS cooldown, and due to high passive healing you will have plenty of time to cast Chain Lightning and Lightning Bolt during a dungeon;
• Throughput — S-tier — Healing Rain and Chain Heal are both very strong area healing spells, which do require a lot of targets to be damaged and stacked within close proximity. Riptide buffs Chain Heal with no downside and also provides Tidal Waves, which when combined with the Deep Healing Mastery makes Restoration Shaman a strong spot healer. Finally, Ancestral Guidance and Healing Tide Totem are two new strong healing cooldowns.
• Utility — S-tier — Bloodlust / Heroism is a critical group buff, and only Restoration Shamans can bring Spirit Link Totem and extra group health with Purification while also having a huge array of other Totem utility for niche fights.

• DPS — A-tier — Consecration, Light's Hammer for area damage and Seal of Truth, Crusader Strike, and Judgment for single target allow Holy Paladin to contribute decent damage during healing downtime;
• Throughput — A-tier — while Holy Radiance is not very useful in dungeons, having Beacon of Light and strong single target healing through casts and instant holy power abilities are enough in most situations;
• Utility — A-tier — Devotion Aura is still a powerful group cooldown and Avenging Wrath is a reliable throughput cooldown. Hand of Sacrifice and Hand of Protection are also still great in multiple scenarios, and Paladin is the only healer with a full immunity in Divine Shield.

• DPS — A-tier — Chakra: Serenity makes all damage abilities be very powerful but also limits your healing heavily, requiring good juggling;
• Throughput — S-tier — just like the previous healers, Holy Priests can do it all, with strong single-target and area-of-effect healing, further empowered by Chakra which can be swapped around very often off the global cooldown. Their Divine Hymn is a powerful group cooldown, but does require a long time standing still channeling. Lightwell is also an interesting cooldown which gains value on harder fights where it will activate more reliably. Finally, their mastery Echo of Light provides a ton of unconditional extra healing.
• Utility — B-tier — while Discipline is one of the most important healer specializations to bring to a group for its unique utility, Holy mostly has Guardian Spirit and Spirit of Redemption which are nowhere near as good as Pain Suppression and, especially, Power Word: Barrier.

• DPS — A-tier — between Moonfire multi-dotting and Heart of the Wild boosting your damage potential massively on large pulls or bosses, Druid has decent DPS potential in dungeons;
• Throughput — S-tier — Druids have great spread group healing with Rejuvenation blanketing and also excellent burst healing with the new Genesis and Wild Mushroom blooms. Tranquility and Incarnation: Tree of Life are also good throughput cooldowns. Finally, most of their healing can be done on the move, making Druid the most mobile healer.
• Utility — A-tier — Mark of the Wild, Faerie Fire, and Rebirth are harder to get in dungeons because only 5 players can be playing, making them much stronger than they usually are while raiding. Druid also has a lot of crowd control options for large pulls, such as Ursol's Vortex.

Due to the pre-launch balance changes, we do not currently think any specialization is B-tier or below!