The War Within Healer Rankings: Nerub-ar Palace Raiding Tier List (Patch 11.0.5) (Patch 11.0.5 / Season 1)

Last updated Today at 11:57 by Seksixeny 27 comments

World of Warcraft has never been perfectly balanced, and The War Within is no exception. Some classes are better than others at the high end for raiding, and inevitably, a meta will exist. This guide will try to explain and rank the viability and strength of the various healing specializations for the current patch.

Disclaimer: This list will be updated as new tuning and class changes come out throughout the season.

1.

About the Tier List

11.0.5 update: Preservation Evoker and Holy Priest have not received changes and are thus expected to continue being among the top healers of the raid meta. Holy Paladin received slight nerfs and has multiple active bugs, dropping it to the top of A-Tier.

Discipline Priest had no changes, while Restoration Shaman received a new talent that helps Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal builds but no other significant changes.

Finally, Mistweaver Monk and Restoration Druid both received quality of life changes and some buffs, which makes them much more likely to ascend to A-Tier in the short term as their new potential is uncovered.

The rankings below reflect the predicted War Within raid meta and will be updated over time as more hotfixes and patches hit the live servers.

To understand why these rankings are the way they are, you first need to understand what is most valued in a raid setting. For healers, we value healing throughput, cooldowns, DPS output, and other miscellaneous utility.

1.1.

A Final Warning

Just because a healer is currently low ranked in the tier list, it does not mean that it is not viable or that it will not become much better after balance changes. Also, excellent players will always be deserving of a raid spot, regardless of their specialization.

The main exception is when you require a specific healer to bring utility that is needed for a particular encounter (such as Rescue Icon Rescue for low mobility classes), or one of the main raid buffs, such as Mark of the Wild Icon Mark of the Wild, Power Word: Fortitude Icon Power Word: Fortitude, or Devotion Aura Icon Devotion Aura.

2.

The War Within Healer Tier List for Nerub-ar Palace

You can find the summarized healer tier list below, but make sure to also check the individual section for each healer in order to understand our ranking reasoning and specialization perks.

S
Preservation Evoker Preservation Evoker

Preservation Evoker has the highest raw throughput potential and can swap easily between high burst and high healing over time, making it a very versatile healer. When also considering the extra Zephyr Icon Zephyr and Time Spiral Icon Time Spiral or Spatial Paradox Icon Spatial Paradox each extra Evoker brings to the raid, they are the most stackable healer.

Holy Priest Holy Priest

Holy Priest is the top spot healer in the game right now and an invaluable specialization to have in the raid as most other healers specialize in area healing. They also bring the unique Symbol of Hope Icon Symbol of Hope which is great to have, especially during raid progression.

A
Holy Paladin Holy Paladin

Holy Paladin has a lot of strong utility and has been a staple of raid compositions across WoW history, being able to play in melee or range and focus on raid healing or spot healing with talent adjustments, making it a very versatile healer for any roster.

Discipline Priest Discipline Priest

Discipline Priest brings the highest DPS contribution of all healers and powerful damage reduction abilities to a raid group. Its burst healing profile is one of the strongest, and Power Infusion Icon Power Infusion and Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel are unique utility that is often invaluable to progression.

B
Restoration Shaman Restoration Shaman

Restoration Shaman remains a strong specialization with many cooldowns, very high burst healing and unique utility which passively increases the survivability of the raid, such as the health buffer provided by Ancestral Vigor Icon Ancestral Vigor. Unfortunately their continued Mana issues currently prevent them from slotting in any higher in the list.

Mistweaver Monk Mistweaver Monk

Mistweaver Monk has high throughput capabilities and while it is relatively low on utility, it has some unique tools that can be indispensable in certain encounters. Similarly to Holy Paladin, it can find its home within melee range, which has multiple advantages from a mechanical standpoint, allowing Mistweavers to generally focus on healing when raiding.

C
Restoration Druid Restoration Druid

Restoration Druid's new talents, Forest's Flow Icon Forest's Flow and Renewing Surge Icon Renewing Surge, have made them stronger, and they are now performing quite well in the raid, although not to the point of being mandatory in any composition.

2.1.

DPS and Tank Class Rankings

If you are interested in other rankings for the Season 1 raid in The War Within, please click the links below.

3.

Full Healer Class Rankings

As the raid to world first unfolds, the healing meta becomes clearer, and this new list should more adequately display the current state of things. Regardless, we will be continuing to monitor and update the healing tier list as new hotfixes are deployed or new playstyles are developed.

3.1.

S-Tier

3.1.1.

Preservation Evoker

11.0.5 update: Preservation is unchanged from the previous patch, and thus expected to continue as one of the best healers for raiding in the new patch, especially in its stacked raid healing niche.

Hero Talents: Preservation has access to the Chronowarden and Flameshaper Hero Talent options. Chronowarden improves your Empowered spells, Tip the Scales Icon Tip the Scales, and Living Flame Icon Living Flame significantly, and also converts Hover Icon Hover into a teleport with Warp Icon Warp, which allows you to bypass certain mechanics entirely. Flameshaper provides a new active ability, Engulf Icon Engulf, which does high single target healing and also huge area healing once you also get Consume Flame Icon Consume Flame, provided you are hitting a target with Dream Breath Icon Dream Breath active. You will also be able to use Renewing Blaze Icon Renewing Blaze on an ally at 50% effectiveness, which serves as a second tank external.

Healing Throughput: Preservation has excellent burst healing, especially against raid-wide damage with its frequent Essence Burst Icon Essence Burst-powered Emerald Blossom Icon Emerald Blossom casts, further amplified by Cycle of Life Icon Cycle of Life. Temporal Anomaly Icon Temporal Anomaly can also be used to create multiple Echo Icon Echos, which can then serve to replicate Reversion Icon Reversion (with Golden Hour Icon Golden Hour for burst), Dream Breath Icon Dream Breath, or Verdant Embrace Icon Verdant Embrace (which also activates Lifebind Icon Lifebind for extra healing when followed up by high self-healing abilities such as Emerald Communion Icon Emerald Communion, Spiritbloom Icon Spiritbloom, or Living Flame Icon Living Flame).

Cooldowns: Evoker is a very cooldown-oriented healer, ranging from the extremely powerful but high cooldown Rewind Icon Rewind, to the short "build your own cooldown" Stasis Icon Stasis. Emerald Communion Icon Emerald Communion is also a decent cooldown when appropriately used with high Lifebind Icon Lifebind counts. Zephyr Icon Zephyr has a small target cap but reduces damage taken significantly. Finally, its external cooldown is Time Dilation Icon Time Dilation, which delays 50% of the damage taken by the target on a very short cooldown.

Damage Output: Preservation Evoker has good AoE damage potential and can also do high single-target damage if you can get into a rhythm of casting an Ancient Flame Icon Ancient Flame-empowered Living Flame Icon Living Flame every time you press Emerald Blossom Icon Emerald Blossom or Verdant Embrace Icon Verdant Embrace. You will also often have extra powerful free Living Flame Icon Living Flames available from Lifespark Icon Lifespark procs.

Utility: Preservation has a lot of niche, but occasionally indispensable, utility. It has a raid buff, Blessing of the Bronze Icon Blessing of the Bronze, and a strong permanent healer buff in Source of Magic Icon Source of Magic with Potent Mana Icon Potent Mana. Landslide Icon Landslide serves as a mass rooting effect, which can be essential in specific fights. Rescue Icon Rescue allows the Evoker to move any player around and is fantastic in encounters with strong knockback mechanics that can be ignored with it. Time Spiral Icon Time Spiral and Spatial Paradox Icon Spatial Paradox serve a similar purpose and keep your group mobile, even when mobility personals need to be used back to back. Zephyr Icon Zephyr has already been mentioned for its damage reduction above, but can also be used for its movement speed increase.

Evokers can also remove MagicMagic and PoisonPoison with Naturalize Icon Naturalize, and Cauterizing Flame Icon Cauterizing Flame can remove bleeds, curses, and almost all other non-magic debuffs. The bleed removal component is especially useful in some raid encounters where only immunities or a Paladin's Blessing of Protection Icon Blessing of Protection can remove high-damage bleeds.

Defensively, Preservation is one of the weakest healers' baseline but compensates by having two personal cooldowns: Obsidian Scales Icon Obsidian Scales and Renewing Blaze Icon Renewing Blaze, which have relatively short cooldowns. Movement and knockbacks are very easy to deal with due to the double-jump mechanic native to Evokers and the short cooldown Hover Icon Hover.

Overall, Preservation Evoker is a cooldown machine likely to have something to use on every major incoming damage source and can produce some very high numbers as a result. Emerald Blossom Icon Emerald Blossom and Echo Icon Echo combos can also provide decent healing during cooldown downtime, and it is noteworthy that Preservation is one of the most flexible healers on whether to use its resources for DPS or healing, as the situation demands, but has relatively low passive damage to compensate.

Unfortunately, these strengths are counterbalanced by the radius limitations of Emerald Blossom Icon Emerald Blossom, the complexities of Echo Icon Echo gameplay, and by Preservation having a lower range than other healers, making Preservation a poor choice for spread fights.

3.1.2.

Holy Priest

11.0.5 update: Holy Priest is unchanged from the previous patch, and thus expected to continue as one of the best healers for raiding in the new patch, especially in its spot healing niche.

Hero Talents: Holy has access to the Oracle and Archon Hero Talent options. Oracle grants the Premonition Icon Premonition ability, which rotates between multiple helpful effects. These allow you to cast 4 Prayer of Mending Icon Prayer of Mending back-to-back for massive smart healing and Apotheosis Icon Apotheosis synergy with Answered Prayers Icon Answered Prayers, convert your overhealing into extra smart healing, which pairs well with Prophet's Will Icon Prophet's Will, and place a large absorb shield and damage reduction on an ally of your choosing. Archon is a very simple tree focused on making your Halo Icon Halo and Flash Heal Icon Flash Heals stronger, making it the perfect compliment to Holy Priests looking for a more relaxed playstyle.

Healing Throughput: Holy has high throughput and is able to cover all types of incoming damage with its versatile kit of healing tools, which includes Prayer of Mending Icon Prayer of Mending, Flash Heal Icon Flash Heal, Prayer of Healing Icon Prayer of Healing and the Holy Words Holy Word: Salvation Icon Holy Word: Salvation plus Holy Word: Sanctify Icon Holy Word: Sanctify. While it is not the best throughput healer for all situations, its healing is solid and easy to set up.

Cooldowns: Holy has some powerful healing cooldowns in Holy Word: Salvation Icon Holy Word: Salvation, Apotheosis Icon Apotheosis, and Divine Hymn Icon Divine Hymn, all of which can do a large amount of burst healing when used at the right timings. Its tank external is Guardian Spirit Icon Guardian Spirit, which increases healing taken by the target and prevents death while active. Due to its unique healing-increasing powers, it can be extremely good in situations where you need to heal a friendly NPC for a large amount.

Damage Output: While Holy Priests can do a lot of damage if they commit globals to damage abilities, doing so forces them to stop healing, which is not ideal. Thus, in harder content, much of the damage potential comes from using Power Infusion Icon Power Infusion on the right targets while they are using DPS cooldowns.

Utility: While Holy Priest is not particularly strong in this area, Symbol of Hope Icon Symbol of Hope can be a strong raid cooldown in the hands of coordinated groups that have their personal cooldowns assigned around its usage. It also provides the Power Word: Fortitude Icon Power Word: Fortitude raid buff and the Power Infusion Icon Power Infusion DPS buff. Finally, their Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel is often invaluable in raid encounters and, while more niche, Leap of Faith Icon Leap of Faith can be a lifesaver in some situations.

Defensively and mobility-wise, Priest is rather weak and mostly relies on Desperate Prayer Icon Desperate Prayer and Angelic Feather Icon Angelic Feather, but it is also the only healer that can keep healing after dying with Spirit of Redemption Icon Spirit of Redemption, which is of fantastic value in some bosses with hard execute phases.

Overall, Holy Priests' perks, ease of use, and versatility allow them to be a jack of all trades, but also means they live and die by their current tuning, as their utility is not particularly compelling outside of a few niche scenarios.

3.2.

A-Tier

3.2.1.

Holy Paladin

11.0.5 update: Holy Paladin received large class tree changes which average out to a slight throughput nerf and small general healing buffs to compensate. Overall we do not expect its relative position in the rankings to change, but will be monitoring its performance in the next few weeks, and adjust as necessary.

Hero Talents: Holy has access to the Herald of the Sun and Lightsmith Hero Talent options. Herald of the Sun allows you to apply Dawnlight Icon Dawnlight to allies, which can be further leveraged when using Avenging Wrath Icon Avenging Wrath through Sun's Avatar Icon Sun's Avatar for massive healing. It also grants the Eternal Flame Icon Eternal Flame active ability, which works similarly to Word of Glory Icon Word of Glory but also leaves a heal over time on the target and is 25% stronger on yourself, making it work well alongside Light of the Martyr Icon Light of the Martyr. Lightsmith has higher damage potential with Sacred Weapon Icon Sacred Weapon and its supporting talents, which can go on allies and deal quite a bit of damage, but its other benefits are simply not nearly as impactful as the ones from Herald.

Healing Throughput: Paladins has strong raw throughput, some of which is delivered as absorb shield healing from Barrier of Faith Icon Barrier of Faith, Greater Judgment Icon Greater Judgment, and Overflowing Light Icon Overflowing Light, as well as Tyr's Deliverance Icon Tyr's Deliverance and Holy Shock Icon Holy Shock, allowing for high amounts of spot healing, which also cleaves off the tank with Beacon of Light Icon Beacon of Light and its supporting talents.

Cooldowns: Holy sports a strong healing increase cooldown in Avenging Wrath Icon Avenging Wrath, a large damage reduction cooldowns for the raid with Aura Mastery Icon Aura Mastery plus Devotion Aura Icon Devotion Aura, and a fine tank external with Blessing of Sacrifice Icon Blessing of Sacrifice. Divine Toll Icon Divine Toll can be pressed frequently for large cooldown healing, as well, and Lay on Hands Icon Lay on Hands is great for emergencies.

Damage Output: Holy Paladin has a decent damage profile, and you can get a lot of damage from your melee swings and rotational abilities, such as Judgment Icon Judgment. Using Blessing of Summer Icon Blessing of Summer on the right targets also provides a good amount of damage.

Utility: Holy Paladin sports some of the best unique utility in the game with Blessing of Protection Icon Blessing of Protection and Devotion Aura Icon Devotion Aura. They can also interrupt on a short cooldown with Rebuke Icon Rebuke, crowd control with Hammer of Justice Icon Hammer of Justice, Turn Evil Icon Turn Evil, Blinding Light Icon Blinding Light, and Repentance Icon Repentance, and combat ress with Intercession Icon Intercession.

They dispel MagicMagic, DiseaseDisease, and PoisonPoison effects with Cleanse Icon Cleanse, any movement-impairing effect with Blessing of Freedom Icon Blessing of Freedom. Defensively wise, Divine Shield Icon Divine Shield is the only immunity ability provided to a healer class, and they also have plate armor, strong defensive talents, and Divine Protection Icon Divine Protection. Their mobility is mostly tied to Divine Steed Icon Divine Steed, making it one of the few things where Paladins do not excel.

Overall, Holy Paladin has a very strong kit and an almost guaranteed spot in a raid, especially as its throughput is also currently quite good, on top of having excellent spot healing capabilities.

3.2.2.

Discipline Priest

11.0.5 update: Discipline Priest still brings by far the highest DPS contribution of all healers and powerful damage reduction abilities to a raid group. Its burst healing profile also remains untouched, making it a great spec for raiding, even if it does need a lot of external support for mobility and to survive harder-hitting mechanics.

Hero Talents: Discipline has access to the Oracle and Voidweaver Hero Talent options. Oracle grants the Premonition Icon Premonition ability, which rotates between multiple helpful effects but is generally less impactful than Voidweaver, which increases your potential Atonement Icon Atonement healing significantly in a fully passive way.

Healing Throughput: Discipline can have strong throughput but has difficulty with spot healing in raids as it is tied to predictable burst timings driven by its short cooldowns. On the upside, it has frequent raid burst healing windows enabled by Atonement Icon Atonement spreading from Power Word: Radiance Icon Power Word: Radiance and multiple single-target applicators, such as Renew Icon Renew and Power Word: Shield Icon Power Word: Shield, which makes it a strong healer against periodic raid burst damage patterns.

Cooldowns: Discipline has a very powerful healing cooldown in Power Word: Barrier Icon Power Word: Barrier, which offers massive damage reduction, but only inside its small area of effect. Rapture Icon Rapture is also a strong cooldown for both emergency spot healing and ramp setups. Discipline can also easily amplify its Atonement Icon Atonement healing with Shadowfiend Icon Shadowfiend or Mindbender Icon Mindbender. Finally, its tank external is Pain Suppression Icon Pain Suppression, which provides a large amount of damage reduction for its target.

Damage Output: Discipline Priests have the strongest passive healer DPS due to their rotation heavily involving the use of DPS abilities for Atonement Icon Atonement healing (which includes multiple DPS cooldowns) and the Power Infusion Icon Power Infusion cooldown, which is a significant raid damage gain when used well.

Utility: Discipline Priest has good utility, as they provide the Power Word: Fortitude Icon Power Word: Fortitude raid buff and the DPS buff Power Infusion Icon Power Infusion mentioned above. Mass Dispel Icon Mass Dispel is also often invaluable in raid encounters and, while more niche, Leap of Faith Icon Leap of Faith can be a lifesaver in some situations.

Defensively and mobility-wise, Discipline Priest might be the weakest healer of all, with only Desperate Prayer Icon Desperate Prayer, Fade Icon Fade (with Translucent Image Icon Translucent Image), and Angelic Feather Icon Angelic Feather to help out in those areas.

Overall, Discipline Priests have a tight kit that can perform well for healing multiple situations while also doing significant DPS and bringing multiple damage reduction options. While it is still not the ideal healer in random player spot-healing-heavy scenarios, other healers can easily cover that gap, leaving Discipline to be one of the best healers at doing everything else in the current tier.

3.3.

B-Tier

3.3.1.

Restoration Shaman

11.0.5 update: Restoration Shaman remains a strong specialization with many cooldowns and high burst healing, and the new Coalescing Water Icon Coalescing Water talent helps with Mana management for Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal builds, while the buffed Reactive Warding Icon Reactive Warding provides additional options for single target healing.

Hero Talents: Restoration has access to the Farseer and Totemic Hero Talent options. Farseer summons Ancestors through Call of the Ancestors Icon Call of the Ancestors and Ancestral Swiftness Icon Ancestral Swiftness, who help you heal or DPS depending on what spells you cast, making it a flexible option. Totemic simplifies your rotation by replacing Healing Rain Icon Healing Rain with Surging Totem Icon Surging Totem which lasts over twice as long and is instant cast and also automatically casts free Chain Heal Icon Chain Heals when you use a totem with the Lively Totems Icon Lively Totems talent, but is heavily reliant on stacked healing abilities.

Healing Throughput: Restoration has decent healing for all situations but suffers from having much of its area healing tied to Healing Rain Icon Healing Rain and Downpour Icon Downpour, with Rain requiring a large number of players to be inside and damaged for a long duration. Chain Heal Icon Chain Heal is a much more versatile spell, especially with Tidebringer Icon Tidebringer, but taxes Mana heavily, limiting its use. Luckily, Healing Wave Icon Healing Wave and Healing Surge Icon Healing Surge are also very strong, especially once you have the Season 1 tier bonuses, creating an environment where Shamans have strong reactive tools for all situations.

Cooldowns: Shaman has multiple powerful healing cooldowns: Spirit Link Totem Icon Spirit Link Totem is the most well-known and allows you to survive healing reduction effects or extreme raid damage, especially if unevenly distributed. Unleash Life Icon Unleash Life, Cloudburst Totem Icon Cloudburst Totem, Ascendance Icon Ascendance and Spiritwalker's Tidal Totem Icon Spiritwalker's Tidal Totem serve as multipliers to your healing, as does Primordial Wave Icon Primordial Wave to an extent, and all of them can be very powerful if you are using them at the right time. Healing Tide Totem Icon Healing Tide Totem is also a strong healing cooldown, which also allows you to continue casting during its duration. Earthen Wall Totem Icon Earthen Wall Totem is a small but powerful cooldown, especially against many small hits. Finally, and notably, Restoration lacks a tank external, but has Earth Shield Icon Earth Shield and Earthen Harmony Icon Earthen Harmony's passive damage reduction to compensate.

Damage Output: Restoration Shaman has two strong damage talents in Acid Rain Icon Acid Rain, which turns Healing Rain Icon Healing Rain into a strong damage effect, and Master of the Elements Icon Master of the Elements, which provides a way to tie Lava Burst Icon Lava Burst damage to Healing Surge Icon Healing Surge healing and automates Flame Shock Icon Flame Shock applications. Combined, these two talents provide a lot of passive damage and are well worth taking, especially in a Mythic+ setting!

Utility: Restoration Shaman has an important raid buff in Skyfury Icon Skyfury and is known for its many utility tools. Besides those mentioned above, Spirit Link Totem Icon Spirit Link Totem which is one of the few cooldowns that works against healing reduction effects, Ancestral Protection Totem Icon Ancestral Protection Totem has the unique power of resurrecting someone, making it very useful for suiciding dangerous mechanics. Shamans also have Ancestral Vigor Icon Ancestral Vigor for passively increasing raid health, Tremor Totem Icon Tremor Totem to break fear, charm, and sleep effects, and Poison Cleansing Totem Icon Poison Cleansing Totem for mass removing poison, as well as many other utility options.

Restoration Shaman also has good survivability talent options in Brimming with Life Icon Brimming with Life and Astral Shift Icon Astral Shift plus its supporting talents, as well as Earth Elemental Icon Earth Elemental or Spirit Wolf Icon Spirit Wolf, which doubles as a mobility tool. Ghost Wolf Icon Ghost Wolf and Gust of Wind Icon Gust of Wind are the primary burst movement options, but Spiritwalker's Grace Icon Spiritwalker's Grace can be even stronger, as it allows you to cast while moving. Finally, Shaman has the unique perk of being able to self-resurrect with Reincarnation Icon Reincarnation!

Overall, Restoration Shamans are strong all-rounders due to their versatile toolkit and are often indispensable due to Skyfury Icon Skyfury, other unique utility, and cooldowns. They are also currently doing strong raid and spot healing, making them a strong option for progressing through Season 1's content.

3.3.2.

Mistweaver Monk

11.0.5 update: Mistweaver Monk received many quality of life talent improvements, and is expected to become a more fluid specialization going forward. While we do not expect its relative position in the rankings to change for now, we will be monitoring its performance in the next few weeks, and adjust as necessary.

Hero Talents: Mistweaver has access to the Conduit of the Celestials and Master of Harmony Hero Talent options. Conduit of the Celestials provides the active Celestial Conduit Icon Celestial Conduit channeled ability, which heals allies and damages enemies around you and can be used while moving, and also the ability to proc help from each of the four Celestials through Courage of the White Tiger Icon Courage of the White Tiger, Heart of the Jade Serpent Icon Heart of the Jade Serpent, Strength of the Black Ox Icon Strength of the Black Ox, and Flight of the Red Crane Icon Flight of the Red Crane, all of which can be activated simultaneously during or after a Celestial Conduit channel with Unity Within Icon Unity Within. Master of Harmony gathers much of your healing with Aspect of Harmony Icon Aspect of Harmony, releases it with Thunder Focus Tea Icon Thunder Focus Tea and Purified Spirit Icon Purified Spirit and amplifies this healing through Coalescence Icon Coalescence. It also boosts Chi Burst Icon Chi Burst significantly through Manifestation Icon Manifestation and Path of Resurgence Icon Path of Resurgence.

Healing Throughput: Mistweaver has excellent throughput and is able to cover all types of incoming damage with its versatile Enveloping Mist Icon Enveloping Mist and Vivify Icon Vivify healing kit. Much of its healing is delivered over time and lacks targeting, such as the healing produced by most Hero Talents and the DPS to Healing conversion of Ancient Teachings Icon Ancient Teachings, which also requires being in melee range of an enemy target, as does Awakened Jadefire Icon Awakened Jadefire and Invoke Chi-Ji, the Red Crane Icon Invoke Chi-Ji, the Red Crane.

Cooldowns: Revival Icon Revival is the main Monk cooldown, and it dispels everyone while also doing massive instant healing. Invoke Chi-Ji, the Red Crane Icon Invoke Chi-Ji, the Red Crane and Invoke Yu'lon, the Jade Serpent Icon Invoke Yu'lon, the Jade Serpent are strong healing cooldowns with different use cases, and Monk has a lot of short cooldowns such as Faeline Stomp Icon Faeline Stomp, Sheilun's Gift Icon Sheilun's Gift, and Thunder Focus Tea Icon Thunder Focus Tea, which provide flexible benefits depending on the spells you combo them with. Mistweaver's tank external is Life Cocoon Icon Life Cocoon, which provides a massive shield and increases healing over time taken by the target.

Damage Output: Mistweaver Monks can do a lot of damage with Rising Sun Kick Icon Rising Sun Kick, Spinning Crane Kick Icon Spinning Crane Kick, Blackout Kick Icon Blackout Kick, and Tiger Palm Icon Tiger Palm. Most importantly, their damage converts into healing efficiently with talents such as Ancient Teachings Icon Ancient Teachings, Awakened Jadefire Icon Awakened Jadefire, and Invoke Chi-Ji, the Red Crane Icon Invoke Chi-Ji, the Red Crane. These conversions create scenarios where dealing damage is the optimal healing strategy and allows for significant DPS while healing, especially in dungeons.

Utility: Monks have a strong raid buff in Mystic Touch Icon Mystic Touch and unique utility such as Ring of Peace Icon Ring of Peace, can interrupt with Spear Hand Strike Icon Spear Hand Strike, and instantly AoE stun with Leg Sweep Icon Leg Sweep. They can also dispel MagicMagic, DiseaseDisease, and PoisonPoison effects with Detox Icon Detox.

Defensively, Monk has multiple cooldowns: the massively buffed Expel Harm Icon Expel Harm, Fortifying Brew Icon Fortifying Brew, and Diffuse Magic Icon Diffuse Magic all contribute towards making Mistweaver one of the toughest healers when played well. Mobility-wise, Monk is also exceptional with Tiger's Lust Icon Tiger's Lust, the customizable Roll Icon Roll, and the instant teleportation of Transcendence Icon Transcendence, making knockbacks, damage nova effects, and other movement-related mechanics easy to solve.

Mistweavers were one of the top healers through the second half of Dragonflight due to the high amount of friendly NPCs to heal and the high amount of dispels required on the hardest bosses, but the new raid tier does not seem to be as friendly to these strengths, although there is significant Transcendence Icon Transcendence potential on some of the harder bosses. Overall, Mistweaver lacks health increasing / damage reduction effects, making it be dependent on having high tuning when encounters are not tailored to its strengths.

3.4.

C-Tier

3.4.1.

Restoration Druid

11.0.5 update: Restoration Druid will gain multiple new talents, such as Forest's Flow Icon Forest's Flow and Renewing Surge Icon Renewing Surge, making them stronger than before, but the precise impact will need some time to be understood, and thus they keep their old rank for now.

Hero Talents: Restoration has access to the Keeper of the Grove and Wildstalker Hero Talent options. Keeper of the Grove focuses on Grove Guardians Icon Grove Guardians and makes you heal significantly more while they are active through talents such as Dream Surge Icon Dream Surge, Power of Nature Icon Power of Nature, and Harmony of the Grove Icon Harmony of the Grove. Wildstalker provides new passive sources of healing over time with Thriving Growth Icon Thriving Growth, which also increase your healing on their targets through your Mastery and Vigorous Creepers Icon Vigorous Creepers, and also increase your general healing with Root Network Icon Root Network.

Healing Throughput: Druid has decent throughput potential, with most of the power being focused on spreading out Rejuvenation Icon Rejuvenations and hitting Regrowth Icon Regrowth on heavily injured targets. It mostly relies on heals over time, such as Lifebloom Icon Lifebloom and the abilities of Grove Guardians Icon Grove Guardians, but also has access to instant healing from talents such as Embrace of the Dream Icon Embrace of the Dream, Thriving Vegetation Icon Thriving Vegetation, and Nature's Swiftness Icon Nature's Swiftness. Most of their heals can also be done while moving, allowing throughput to remain high even in the most hectic of raid bosses.

Cooldowns: Restoration has good healing cooldowns in Incarnation: Tree of Life Icon Incarnation: Tree of Life, Convoke the Spirits Icon Convoke the Spirits, and Flourish Icon Flourish, which can be used separately or as part of a burst healing combo, which can heal through high amounts of damage. Its tank external, Ironbark Icon Ironbark reduces damage taken and increases healing taken by the target, making it one of the best tools of its kind, especially due to its relatively low cooldown.

Damage Output: Restoration Druids can do a lot of damage if they optimize their talents for it and use Cat Form Icon Cat Form and/or Heart of the Wild Icon Heart of the Wild, and they can also convert much of that damage into healing with Dream of Cenarius Icon Dream of Cenarius. Alongside Sunfire Icon Sunfire, Moonfire Icon Moonfire, and Nature's Vigil Icon Nature's Vigil, they have decent damage potential but also need to jump through multiple hoops in order to deal damage, while many other healers just do it fully passively as part of their rotation.

Utility: Druids have one of the best raid cooldowns in Mark of the Wild Icon Mark of the Wild, and also bring Innervate Icon Innervate, which can be used on themselves or other healers, Stampeding Roar Icon Stampeding Roar for a short-cooldown raid-wide movement speed increase and Ursol's Vortex Icon Ursol's Vortex plus Typhoon Icon Typhoon to control enemy movements or Mass Entanglement Icon Mass Entanglement to completely stop them, if needed.

Mobility-wise, Druid is quite strong with the passive speed gain of Cat Form Icon Cat Form and burst speed of Tiger Dash Icon Tiger Dash / Dash Icon Dash or Wild Charge Icon Wild Charge, on top of being able to cast most of their rotation while moving and at range. Their main defensive is Barkskin Icon Barkskin, which has a very low cooldown, and they can shift into Bear Form Icon Bear Form at will to make themselves even tankier.

Overall, Restoration Druids have decent utility and a unique healing style, further pushed by Grove Guardians Icon Grove Guardians pet healing, but are extremely dependent on healer tuning status and thus currently lackluster.

4.

Changelog

  • 29 Nov. 2024: Updated with a new Tier List format.
  • 21 Oct. 2024: Reviewed and updated for the 11.0.5 Patch.
  • 21 Sep. 2024: Updated mid world first race.
  • 22 Aug. 2024: Updated for Season 1 of The War Within.
  • 27 Jul. 2024: Pre-patch rankings update post first week of raiding.
  • 04 Jun. 2024: Further rankings update for Awakened raids hotfixes.
  • 04 May 2024: Further rankings update for Aberrus statistics.
  • 26 Apr. 2024: Updated with early Season 4 healing statistics.
  • 17 Apr. 2024: Updated for Season 4 post healer nerfs.
  • 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for patch 10.2.6.
  • 20 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for the upcoming 23th Jan hotfixes.
  • 12 Jan. 2024: Updated for patch 10.2.5.
  • 17 Nov. 2023: Updates mid road to world first progression.
  • 30 Oct. 2023: Reviewed and updated for Patch 10.2.
  • 22 Aug. 2023: Updates for this reset's hotfixes.
  • 08 Aug. 2023: Updates for this reset's hotfixes.
  • 23 Jul. 2023: Further updates considering upcoming hotfixes.
  • 05 Jul. 2023: Updated for patch 10.1.5.
  • 07 May 2023: Updated for Season 2 of Dragonflight.
  • 06 Feb. 2023: Updated for patch 10.0.5.
  • 22 Nov. 2022: Updated for Season 1 of Dragonflight.
  • 18 Aug. 2022: Updated for Season 4.
  • 23 Jun. 2022: Check-in since last update.
  • 25 Apr. 2022: Updated after first few weeks of Mythic.
  • 18 Feb. 2022: Updated for patch 9.2.
  • 06 Nov. 2021: Updated for patch 9.1.5.
  • 04 Aug. 2021: Updated for first couple of Mythic weeks.
  • 13 Jul. 2021: Updated after Heroic week.
  • 24 Jun. 2021: Page added.
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