Healer Rankings / Tier List for WoW Classic

Below is a quick summary of the full rankings that we have detailed on this page. While this gives a good outline of the standings of specializations in comparison to one another, we recommend reading the full rankings to understand why certain specializations are ranked as they are.

1. Priest (S-Tier)
2. Paladin (S-Tier)
3. Shaman (A-Tier)
4. Druid (B-Tier)

If you are interested in our other rankings for WoW Classic, please click the links below.

Out of all the different tier lists between DPS, Tanks, and Healers, the Healing tier list is by far the closest between the tiers. Specifically, it is almost disingenuous to put Shamans and Paladins in a tier below Priests when they bring some of the best buffs in the game and are critical to every raid composition. However, in terms of pure healing output, Paladins and Shamans fall slightly below Priests.

Priests are the iconic healing class of WoW Classic. With Power Word: Shield, Renew, Prayer of Healing, and Flash Heal, Priests have the most complete healing toolkit out of any healer. Not only do they have the best toolkit, but Priests have the highest healing output due to a combination of great scaling, strong talents, and high base healing. The class was designed with healing in mind, which is why the majority of any raid's healing composition will be made of mostly Priests.

Paladins bring some of the strongest raid buffs in the game, along with having incredibly useful auras. In a 40-man raid group, having at least 4 Holy Paladins is a necessity, with some groups even choosing to run more. Now that WoW Classic is into Phase 5, we have reached the point in gear scaling that Paladins have access to the critical chance needed to approach the level of healing that Priests can do. With their talent Illumination, Paladins refund the Mana of their heals that crit, making them the most Mana efficient healers in the game with high-tier raid gear. Paladins also have some of the strongest single target healing in the game, which is one of the more common requirements for healing during raids. Simply put, Paladins now are almost at the level of Priests in terms of raw healing output, but also bring an array of some of the most powerful buffs and auras in the game, putting them firmly into the S-tier for the first time.

Shamans are an excellent healing class with an incredible amount of Raid utility. While Shamans do not do the healing output that Priests or Paladins will do, they bring extremely powerful totems to buff their party that make them a necessary support class. Even still, Chain Heal is extremely potent for multi-target healing and, even for just healing throughput, keeps Shamans solidly in the A tier. For overall raid usefulness however, Shamans are an absolutely necessity in every raid, and would be considered S-tier along with Priests and Paladins.

Druids have the lowest healing output out of all the healers. Most healing done needs to be quick, and raids will rarely sit low for lengths of time, making Rejuvenation and other Druids' HoTs not as effective as stronger direct heals, which lowers Druid's healing potential. However, Druids do bring some important raid utility, such as Innervate, Rebirth, and Mark of the Wild. While their healing might not be as high as a Priest's, you can still expect to see 1-2 Resto Druids in most raids due to their strong utility and different healing toolkit, which can prove useful in some situations.