Mythic+ Healer Rankings: A Tier List for Dragonflight (Patch 10.0.5 / Season 1)
From the weakest to the strongest specialization, each provide unique character distinction and add value toward shaping the seasonal "meta" of Mythic+. The Healer specialization rankings provided for Dragonflight's first season of Mythic+ are based on the pure healing strength and group-added-value such as utility, survivability, mobility, damage and self-sustain.
This list will be updated as new tuning and class changes come out over the course of leading up to the season's start and beyond.
About the Tier List
This tier list is NOT FINAL; it will change and will be updated as often as necessary prior and during Dragonflight Mythic+ Season 1. There are often moments of tier set and class tuning, as well as talent changes and secondary stat scaling that will impact the placement of the specs.
I am Petko, a competitive Mythic+ player, known to be pushing the boundaries of High Mythic+ with several World first and Europe first rankings among past seasons on multiple classes. I have worked hard on preparing for Season 1 of Dragonflight, spending numerous hours per day examining each and every class and spec in a dungeon environment. This Tier list will continue to be updated as much as it requires over the course of Dragonflight and it will also focus on what the "meta" will look like as it stabilizes. Along the way, this Tier list will also be supported by various professional Mythic+ players with high credibility in the community, theorycrafters across all specializations, and my own empirical evidence.
To begin with, this Tier list will exclusively focus on the first Season of Mythic+ in Dragonflight. There will be no Warcraft Logs rankings added nor simulation data for the majority of the classes and specs. As a result, this Tier list will be solely based on empirical evidence of the current state of the classes' performance in Mythic+ from my own point of view and the point of view of the group of players testing those classes who are among the best representatives of the class in the community. Moreover, this Tier list will take into consideration every impactful class change and tier set tuning before and after the start of the season.
It is important to note that opinions might vary and that is completely okay, but remember to be respectful when providing feedback as the sole purpose of this tier-list is to help the WoW community with their choice of main or alt each season.
This tier list is entirely based on healer performance in Mythic+. The factors that are considered are HPS and DPS output, external cooldowns, utility, durability, and mobility.
A Final Warning
It is important to understand that this Tier list is NOT permanent and it will be due to change with upcoming changes and tunings over the course of the season. I have always advocated to the "bring the player, not the class" motto, meaning: value the player skill more than the class itself. This Tier list should NOT discourage you to play whatever you enjoy the most, if having fun is your main drive when you play Mythic+. The list will be updated as much as it requires before and after the start of each season.
Important Note for Season 1 of Dragonflight
This tier-list is based on the assumption that you have your 4-piece tier-set present at all times. Places can vary drastically if this measure is not taken into consideration, as our main purpose is to showcase which specializations will become the best months before the season hits its peak.
Healer Tier List for Season 1 of Mythic+ in Dragonflight
Below you can find the full rankings for Healers slots in Dragonflight Mythic+. We encourage you to further read and understand why some classes are placed lower or higher than expected, with several factors taken into consideration.
- Restoration Druid (S-Tier)
- Preservation Evoker (S-Tier)
- Holy Paladin (A-Tier)
- Discipline Priest (A-Tier)
- Restoration Shaman (A-Tier)
- Mistweaver Monk (B-Tier)
- Holy Priest (B-Tier)
DPS and Tank Class Rankings
If you are interested in our other rankings for Mythic+ in Dragonflight, please click the links below.
Full Healer Class Rankings
S-tier
Restoration Druid
February 14, Patch 10.0.5 update:
Restoration Druid received a nerf leading to the Patch 10.0.5
minor patch. Their Verdancy healing was nerfed by 10% and
Adaptive Swarm was nerfed by 10% + it will now increase
the effectiveness of the periodic spells by 20% (previously 25%).
Followed by a 3% overall nerf on every healing ability.
However, the changes won't be enough to push the class off the S-tier, but now the battle
for the best healer in Season 1 is close, with Preservation Evoker
coming hot! Restoration Druids are looking amazing going into the season;
with one of the best damage profiles (both AoE and single-target),
spot-healing, and group-healing, they are a contender for the top spot. This will
be a close battle for the top, but it will truly come down to how much value
Restoration Druid can bring to the table, or in other words, is their
utility suitable to be "meta' worthy? I cannot point out any flaws of
this spec except that other healing specializations might have better
party utility than them or if
Mark of the Wild is already present. Still,
they are on par, if not ahead, in any other department.
Playstyle and Cooldowns: Restoration Druid has one of the
more unique playstyles in Mythic+ across all healers, with most of its focus
based on heal-over-time effects like Rejuvenation,
Regrowth,
Wild Growth,
Lifebloom,
Swiftmend, and much more. In
addition, they have one of the shortest external-defensives
in Mythic+ with
Ironbark, which is a great source of single-target
mitigation for anyone in danger. Their major healing cooldown is
Tranquility with some minor cooldowns being
Nature's Swiftness
and
Flourish. On top of this, if they ever decide to
contribute to the overall group damage, they can do it with
Cat Form
— "cat-weaving" is the most popular way to do DPS as a Restoration Druid
— or in caster form DoTing all the targets with
Moonfire and
Sunfire. Historically, Restoration Druids have always performed
well and I believe they will do amazing this expansion too.
Utility: Restoration Druids have a great utility toolkit
for Mythic+, with their signature external defensive cooldown of Ironbark.
Druids also have a raid-wide buff added in Dragonflight with
Mark of the Wild
(available to all specs), which provides additional value to the
already-strong utility toolkit. Some of their utilities
include
Hibernate,
Stampeding Roar,
Remove Corruption,
Soothe,
Mass Entanglement or
Ursol's Vortex (depending on the talent choice),
Renewal,
Cyclone,
Mighty Bash, or
Incapacitating Roar
(depending on talent choice),
Typhoon,
Innervate, and much more.
Going forward to Dragonflight, Restoration Druids will also have the option to
talent
Skull Bash, which gives them an interrupt. This will make them
even stronger in Mythic+, though keep in mind this is quite a "pricy" talent and
you might not go down that route. Druids are also one of the few
classes that have access to a stealth ability with
Prowl, allowing them
to do any skips without using an Invisibility Potion. Moreover, they have
access to
Rebirth, a battle-resurrection that is limited to only a
few specializations in the game.
Defensives and Self-Sustain: Outside of their great utility,
Restoration Druid has a quite strong defensive with Barkskin
being only a 1-minute cooldown, followed by great passive
mitigation from 25% on-demand Stamina with
Bear Form and 6%
permanent damage-reduction from
Thick Hide (if talented in the class tree).
Mobility: Restoration Druid's overall playstyle is quite
mobile; since a healthy portion of their playstyle is with instant
heal-over-time spells, they can freely swap positions without being punished.
Druids of any spec also have a talent to increase their movement speed
by 15% with Feline Swiftness. In addition, they can choose to
talent
Tiger Dash or
Wild Charge to gain extra mobility if they
are in combat and need to move as quickly as possible.
Preservation Evoker
February 14, Patch 10.0.5 update:
Preservation Evoker received several changes, both to some
of their spells and talents, but are neither to be considered
nerfs nor buffs. However, the follow-up second round of changes hit them
with a 5% overall nerf on all of their healing spells. The changes are not going to diminish
their power in Mythic+, so they are still likely to remain one of the
best healer options in the first season of Mythic+. Preservation Evoker
is in the commanding position to become one of the best healers in the current meta,
with one of the best offensive profiles (both in single-target and in AoE) among all healers,
competitive HPS, amazing utility, and top-notch mobility. On top of this, they can provide
Fury of the Aspects to their team, which is incredibly valuable to have.
There is nothing else to add except that they have earned a well-deserved S-tier.
Playstyle and Cooldowns: Preservation Evoker is the first
hybrid-Healer, having most of its healing spell having a 30-yard range (as
opposed a fully-ranged healer having 40-yard ranged abilities most of the time).
Its healing style is more about direct heals rather than heal-over-time effects
(unlike Restoration Druid) with some of their signature abilities being
Dream Breath,
Echo,
Reversion, and
Spiritbloom.
Their major healing cooldown is
Dream Flight and a small personal cooldown
that restores Mana and health is
Emerald Communion. They can remove
all
Magic and
Poison debuffs with
Naturalize.
They also have unique external defensives, the first being
Time Dilation
which works similar to a Brewmaster Monk's
Stagger, and the
second being
Rewind, a strong party-wide cooldown. If you enjoy
high mobility healing specializations that have a healthy mixture of
direct heals and heal-over-time effects with a hint of a great damage profile,
this spec is for you.
Utility: The Evoker class comes quite strong out of the gates,
with one of the best party-wide utilities in the game. They have access to
a combined Bleed,
Poison,
Curse, and
Disease
dispel with
Cauterizing Flame (this is an additional dispel outside of
their regular one), a mass-root effect with
Landslide, a knockback
racial ability
Wing Buffet, a knock-up racial ability with
Tail Swipe, party-wide area-of-effect damage reduction with
Zephyr,
and access to a mass stun effect in the form of the
Terror of the Skies talent.
They also have an ability to fly with an
ally, known as
Rescue (which is quite useful if your party member is out of position
and you can save them a few seconds of relocating), access to a brand-new utility
with
Oppressing Roar and an AoE
Enrage Dispel with
Overawe,
if talented. They also have
Fury of the Aspects, which is another form of
Bloodlust, party-buff with
Blessing of the Bronze, and a talent
choice to restore Mana to a 1 chosen ally with
Source of Magic.
They also have access to a hybrid-ranged interrupt. Evoker further has
the power to let you use your major movement ability without
causing it to go on cooldown (and it will let you use it if it is already on cooldown)
if talented into
Time Spiral, so this can help a lot of classes that have
limited mobility.
Defensives: Evoker has a unique passive,
Tempered Scales, which will make them mitigate more Physical damage, and
access to
Obsidian Scales, a 1.5-minute cooldown that provides 30%
reduced damage for 12 seconds, which you can further bolster if you talent
into
Obsidian Bulwark.
Mobility: To top everything off, the majority of their playstyle will
be based on instant spells with some exceptions, further complemented by
Hover if needed. Speaking about being mobile, they have their own version
of dash with
Verdant Embrace, which has a 30 yard range just in
case they are required to quickly reposition.
A-Tier
Holy Paladin
January 25, Patch 10.0.5 update: Holy Paladin received several minor changes (mostly talent repositions), which might open up the possibility for different builds. Holy Paladin is in a great place in the game's current state, as their overall value for the team is quite high. With multiple defensive and offensive external cooldowns, an immunity, great mob control, and an amazing damage profile, you are looking at a solid contender across all healer specializations. The only minor drawback is the lack of a great HPS outside of their cooldowns, which in the current season is extremely important.
Playstyle and Cooldowns: Holy Paladin's playstyle will consist
of building Holy Power through abilities like Holy Shock,
Crusader Strike, or
Hammer of Wrath and spending it on abilities
like
Word of Glory or
Light of Dawn.
Meanwhile, their damage spells are a mix between Melee (
Crusader Strike and
Consecration) and Ranged (
Holy Shock), so depending on the situation
they can choose exactly how to approach it. They have one major offensive
cooldown with
Avenging Wrath (though it can be used as a defensive too),
with minor cooldowns like
Divine Toll/
Seraphim depending on their
talent choices. Holy Paladin has a lot more cooldowns than what is listed
here; read the text down in the utility section for a full description.
Utility:> Holy Paladin has historically always been one of the
strongest healers (performance-wise) in Mythic+. They have great party-wide offensive
and defensive utility; one of them being Aura Mastery, which will
change depending on what Aura they have and is most commonly used in combination
with
Devotion Aura to further enhance it and increase its damage-reduction
value to 15% for 8 seconds. In Dragonflight,
they will gain access to several brand-new utility spells, increasing their overall
value to the roof! First, they will gain access to an interrupt with
Rebuke
and a new external-cooldown talent with
Blessing of the Seasons. Blessings
work in a unique manner, as the ability has 4 options based on a cycle:
Blessing of Summer,
Blessing of Autumn,
Blessing of Winter,
and
Blessing of Spring. They will have an option to either
use
Beacon of Faith or
Beacon of Virtue, both extremely valuable
depending on the dungeon. Having the
Rule of Law talent choice can make
their healing spells have a 60-yard range (most of their healing spells
have 40 yard range), even though they are considered a "melee healer".
In addition, they can choose to have
Turn Evil if their team needs an additional
crowd-control effect, and also the option to have
Lay on Hands, a quite powerful
single-target healing spell. Going into Dragonflight, all Paladin specs
will even have access to a baseline combat-resurrection ability with
Intercession, making their utility even better. They also have the option
to remove
Magic,
Disease, and
Poison effects with
Cleanse and access to
Blessing of Protection, which can be used both offensively
to prevent someone from taking the tank's threat, or defensively by offering immunity
to Physical damage, and
Blessing of Sacrifice as incredibly useful
party-wide utility available for all Paladin specs
Blessing of Freedom is another utility spell that will improve their
quality of life in Mythic+, and Tanks will love them for it. To top it off,
let us not forget that they have great mob control for a healer, with an option between
Blinding Light (AoE disruption) or
Repentance (a strong crowd-control ability), depending on the talent
choice. Having access to single-target stun with
Hammer of Justice
can help them control any mobs considered dangerous, especially the casters in Mythic+.
With all this in mind, Paladin is looking better than ever going into Dragonflight.
Defensives and Self-Sustain: Holy Paladin has one of the shortest
defensive cooldowns in the game with Divine Protection, if
Unbreakable Spirit is talented. In addition, Paladin is the
only healing specialization that has an immunity in
Divine Shield,
which is highly valuable in Mythic+.
Mobility: One of the major concerns for Paladins has always
been their limited mobility, being bound to Divine Steed. Luckily that
has been improved going forward to Dragonflight if you choose the
Cavalier talent in the general Paladin tree.
Discipline Priest
January 25, Patch 10.0.5 update: Discipline Priest received the most changes across all healing specializations for the past several weeks, improving their talent flexibility, healing output and damage contribution. Another major drawback is that they are one of the healing specializations without interruption, which holds immense value in Mythic+. There are not any significant flaws of the spec, outside of struggling to heal heavy HPS spots, but simply other healing specializations placed above them, are better in some of the departments, with some providing better utility, better HPS/DPS, or better survivability. Still, they are a solid contender for the top and get a well-deserved A-tier.
Playstyle and Cooldowns: Discipline Priest has one of the
more unique healing playstyles across all healing specializations thanks to
Atonement simply forcing them to do effective damage to contribute
towards overall healing. Of course, in
critical situations they also rely on direct healing with
Power Word: Life
and
Power Word: Shield covering the majority of the spot-healing, which
means they still rarely cast
Penance or
Flash Heal.
The more knowledge you have in Mythic+, the better it will be once you get
to play Discipline Priest, since you will know exactly where you will need
more healing, meaning you can pre-mitigate some using their powerful shields.
Discipline Priest is a highly skilled specialization that has a high
skill ceiling; done correctly, they become unstoppable!
Utility: Discipline Priest is one of the few Healing
specialization that has 3 forms of dispel: Dispel Magic,
Purify Disease, and
Mass Dispel.
They have 2 strong external-defensive cooldowns in
Pain Suppression
(single-target damage reduction) and
Power Word: Barrier (AoE damage-reduction),
in addition to their strong absorb cooldown
Rapture.
Priest is the only class in the game that can
provide a party-wide 5% Stamina buff with
Power Word: Fortitude,
which makes them unique. All the Priest specializations
have access to an incredibly strong external cooldown with
Power Infusion,
which can be used offensively or defensively, depending on the situation. Since
the introduction of the new talents in Dragonflight, Priests
also have access to the
Twins of the Sun Priestess talent
(previously a Shadowlands legendary effect), which increases the overall damage
of the party. To add to Priest's utility, let us not forget their iconic
Leap of Faith spell, helping their teammates escape dangerous situations
or reposition without losing valuable uptime, and
Shackle Undead, which
has limited use depending on the mob type. Having
Mind Soothe can help
their team save an Invisibility Potion, if they are planning to skip a pack.
Mind Control /
Dominate Mind are spells that can be useful
in Dragonflight dungeons; as we have previously seen, there is always
something you can "cheese" with those abilities.
Defensives and Self-Sustain: Discipline Priest's defensive
toolkit will improve going forward to Dragonflight. Outside
of their iconic defensive cooldown of Desperate Prayer (which now can be
improved if they talent
Light's Inspiration, the spec will have the option
to talent choices like
Protective Light,
Angelic Bulwark, and
Translucent Image, having a 10% damage reduction every 20 seconds
(if talenting into
Improved Fade); not to mention that it can also remove
all snare effects on themselves if they have talented
Phantasm, which
makes
Fade quite a strong short defensive cooldown.
Mobility: Priest's mobility is not the greatest, but having
plenty of their spells as instant-casts allows them to reposition without
sacrificing much of their performance. In addition, they can opt to talent
Blaze of Light, which will bump their movement-speed when using
Penance by 25%/50% and even stacks with
Angelic Feather. Having Angelic Feather can also help not only themselves
but their team as well, in addition to the
Body and Soul talent
which fits their healing playstyle and adds extra movement speed.
Restoration Shaman
February 14, Patch 10.0.5 update:
Restoration Shaman massive buffs leading to the second half of
Season 1. The spec endured several buffs that will impact their overall
damage, healing, and spot-healing. Overall, they will have much
better healing and damage profiles, closing the gap between the healers
above them. Their damage profile feels much better than before, with
significantly improved sustained damage (Thanks to Acid Rain).
The spec has great utility, decent defences, and a unique playstyle mixed
between heal-over-time effects and direct heals. All those changes combined
will push the spec from the bottom ranks of the tier list.
Playstyle and Cooldowns: Restoration Shaman is not in a
great spot compared to the rest of the healing specializations. The old
"Kyrian" build from Shadowlands, which made Restoration so good in Mythic+, is
no longer possible due to the removal of Vesper Totem. This took away both
offensive and defensive powers of the spec. Yes, they received
Stormkeeper as a talent choice, as well as
Acid Rain, which makes their damage better, but that alone will not be enough
to put the spec to its previous glory. Its playstyle is a mixture of heal-over-time
effects mainly coming from
Riptide, direct heals such as
Healing Wave,
and a combination of their external-party cooldowns to keep their teammates alive.
Utility: Restoration Shaman's utility will vary depending on
the choice of talents, but for most of the party, they will always want to go
with Spirit Link Totem, which is their major cooldown as well; everything
after that is optional and I will recommend checking our Restoration Guide on
Icy Veins for more information. Their general utility is quite strong, having access to an
AoE stun with
Capacitor Totem, which can be further enhanced via the
Static Charge or
Guardian's Cudgel talents, followed by a
Curse
dispel with
Cleanse Spirit, a single-target crowd-control effect with
Hex, and a
Purge (or a
Greater Purge if needed). Of course,
one of their oldest abilities is
Tremor Totem (which also works on Charm effects),
along with the options to choose between
Earthgrab Totem and
Wind Rush Totem
alongside the usual
Thunderstorm ability.
Ancestral Guidance can help the group
with off-heals if there is a high danger situation.
They have access to
Bloodlust, an AoE slow with
Earthbind Totem,
and
Earth Elemental (which also serves as an extra defensive since it
gives an extra 15% health). They will have the option to restore extra
Mana to your party-members if needed with
Mana Spring Totem, a small
auto-heal effect with
Nature's Guardian,
and the ability to self-resurrect with
Reincarnation. If that
was not enough, they will gain access to even more utility in Dragonflight through
Poison Cleansing Totem and
Stoneskin Totem, a
Poison cleanse
and 10% party-wide Physical damage reduction. To top things off, they have the
shortest cooldown interrupt in the game with
Wind Shear.
Defensives and Self-Sustain: We cannot go by without mentioning the
defensive part of the spec; outside of their usual Astral Shift, they
will be able to bolster it, depending on talent choice, with
Planes Traveler or
Astral Bulwark. They can opt to talent
Earth Elemental, which also
will increase their health by 15% and reinforce their party in case of danger.
In addition, they can have the
Spirit Wolf aura if
they use the talent; just remember that it results in gaining 1 stack
each second.
Mobility: Restoration Shaman is one of the more mobile healers
as their healing playstyle is a mixture between heal-over-time effects and direct
healing, allowing them to move or change position without sacrificing much of
their offensive and defensive capabilities. Their general mobility has improved,
with the newly-returned talent of Gust of Wind. They can also use their
Ghost Wolf if mounts are not allowed in the dungeon to move from point A
to point B much faster. Finally, let us not forget
Spiritwalker's Grace,
allowing them to cast spells while moving!
B-Tier
Mistweaver Monk
February 14, Patch 10.0.5 update:
Mistweaver Monk received the most changes out of any class
in the game, so it will be hard to summarize in one post. To reflect,
they will receive talent readjustments, a buff to Revival, a flat
3% buff to all of their healing abilities and many
more quality-of-life changes for Mythic+. Mistweaver Monks are entering Season 1 with a
significant improvement based on their previous performance in the last season
of Shadowlands. They gained access to new offensive and defensive abilities and
more utility, pushing their placing higher. Still, their major weakness
remains: they do not have a strong damage-reducing single-target or party-wide
external cooldown in their toolkit, which is very punishing. Mana issues are
another major red flag of the spec; possible adjustments in this department will
greatly benefit Mistweaver Monks. Their HPS and damage are in great
condition, as well as their mobility and durability, but that does not justify
the lack of a strong damage-reducing CD. Their offensive profile
is amazing, especially in mass AoE scenarios. Still, the whole package
lacks in areas where other healers excel better than them.
Playstyle and Cooldowns: Mistweaver Monk has always been a
"hybrid" healer, as the majority of their healing toolkit —
Renewing Mist,
Essence Font,
Vivify,
Enveloping Mist,
and more — is ranged-based, but
if they want to contribute to their team's overall damage, most of
their abilities are melee-based, like
Blackout Kick,
Rising Sun Kick,
Spinning Crane Kick, and
Tiger Palm.
Most of Mistweaver's abilities provide some benefit to healing now, so they
do not really feel like they are switching gears when jumping back and forth from
DPS to healing. They now also have access to more offensive options to push their
damage even higher with
Zen Pulse and
Faeline Stomp, in the
Mistweaver-only talents. Their major cooldown is
Revival, a useful
cooldown that also works for
Bursting or any other party-wide
Magic,
Poison, or
Disease
debuffs. In addition, they have access to one more
external cooldown with
Life Cocoon, which can save their allies in
critical situations.
Utility: Mistweaver Monk received an interrupt with
Spear Hand Strike, which will strengthen their already-strong mob-control
in Mythic+. We must also point out that this is the only
class that can provide
Mystic Touch (though any of the 3 Monk
specs can do it), which can be extremely valuable if you are running a
Physical damage-oriented composition. They have access to an AoE stun with
Leg Sweep and the unique
Ring of Peace ability, providing them
with enough crowd-control to help their tank with kiting if needed. They can
dispel
Poison and
Disease effects with
Detox and also
have the ability to remove all roots and snares (sort of like Paladin's
Blessing of Freedom but also giving 70% movement speed) with
Tiger's Lust. They have a single-target crowd-control ability in
Paralysis, which can be used on any mob-type. They also provide a
group-wide buff called
Windwalking (if talented), which can help when
mounts cannot be used. Speaking about group-wide buffs, they also have the
talent options of
Close to Heart and
Generous Pour
(available to all Monk specs) which are additional party-wide auras.
Defensives and Self-Sustain: Mistweaver Monks have great
defensive cooldowns, with several talent options under their belt
such as Dampen Harm,
Diffuse Magic,
Fortifying Brew,
and
Bounce Back.
Mobility: Monk has great baseline mobility; not only do they
have Transcendence, but also access to
Roll, making it easier
to move from point A to point B.
Holy Priest
January 25, Patch 10.0.5 update:
Holy Priest received massive changes leading forward to the
Patch 10.0.5 minor patch. Several quality-of-life talent changes
will impact their offensive and defensive profile and
a flat 3% increased healing on all of their abilities.
Holy Priest remains a solid choice for the upcoming
new season of Mythic+, with the primary focus being their incredible HPS profile.
They have great raw damage, one of the best external offensive damage cooldowns in
the game with Power Infusion, and a strong single-target
external defensive with
Guardian Angel. One of the major disadvantages of having
Holy Priest is that they do not offer any damage-reduction ability to
their team, which is highly valuable in Mythic+. That being said, we are now placing
the spec under B-tier rankings.
Playstyle and Cooldowns: The majority of the spec's playstyle relies
on direct healing spells instead of heal-over-time effects. They might not
have such strong external defensive cooldowns, but they have the ability to outheal
any incoming damage. Depending on the situation, Holy Priest can use
their Holy Words defensively with Holy Word: Serenity and
Holy Word: Sanctify
spot-healing a single member or doing AoE Healing, respectively, or offensively
with
Holy Word: Chastise. Some of their signature healing abilities are
Prayer of Healing,
Heal,
Flash Heal,
Divine Hymn,
Renew, and
Prayer of Mending. It is important to note that any
direct healing spell will also add a heal-over-time effect based on the value
of their
Mastery: Echo of Light. During healing downtime, they will be contributing
to their team's overall damage with
Smite,
Holy Fire,
Shadow Word: Pain, and
Empyreal Blaze, if talented.
Utility: Holy Priest is one of the few Healing specialization
that has 3 forms of dispel: Dispel Magic,
Purify Disease, and
Mass Dispel. They also have 2 strong external defensive cooldowns
with
Guardian Spirit (which can be enhanced by
Guardian Angel/
Guardians of the Light), and
Symbol of Hope,
in addition to a few minor cooldowns depending on talent choices, such as
Divine Word and
Apotheosis. Holy Priest additionally has
a unique passive called
Spirit of Redemption that enables them to heal even if
they die. They can also help with mob control in dungeons if they talent
Holy Word: Chastise. Priest is the only class in the game that can
provide a party-wide 5% Stamina buff with
Power Word: Fortitude,
which makes them unique. All the Priest specializations
have access to an incredibly strong external cooldown with
Power Infusion,
which can be used offensively or defensively, depending on the situation. Since
the introduction of the new talents in Dragonflight, Priests
also have access to the
Twins of the Sun Priestess talent
(previously a Shadowlands legendary effect), which increases the overall damage
of the party. Speaking about introducing new spells, they have gained access to
the
Void Shift talent, which can prevent any of their team members from dying.
To add to Priest's utility, let us not forget their iconic
Leap of Faith spell, helping their teammates escape dangerous situations
or reposition without losing valuable uptime, and
Shackle Undead, which
has limited use depending on the mob type. Having
Mind Soothe can help
their team save an Invisibility Potion, if they are planning to skip a pack.
Mind Control /
Dominate Mind are spells that can be useful
in Dragonflight dungeons; as we have previously seen, there is always
something you can "cheese" with those abilities.
Defensives and Self-Sustain: Holy Priest's defensive toolkit
will improve going forward to Dragonflight. Outside
of their iconic defensive cooldown of Desperate Prayer which can now be
improved if talenting
Light's Inspiration, the spec will have the option
to talent choices like
Protective Light,
Angelic Bulwark, and
Translucent Image, gaining a 10% damage reduction every
20 seconds if
Improved Fade is talented; not to mention that it
can also remove all snare effects on themselves if they have the talent
Phantasm, which makes
Fade quite a strong, short defensive cooldown.
Mobility: Holy Priest's mobility is not the greatest, but
having some of their spells as instant-casts will "buy" them enough time to
reposition without sacrificing much of their performance. Having
Angelic Feather can also help not only themselves but their team as well,
in addition to the
Body and Soul talent which fits
their healing playstyle and adds extra movement speed.
Changelog
- 14 Feb. 2023: Further Adjustments based on the most recent Patch.
- 25 Jan. 2023: Further Adjustments based on the upcoming 10.0.5 Patch.
- 21 Dec. 2022: Further Adjustments based on the latest class changes.
- 18 Nov. 2022: Updated with the initial iteration for Season 1 of Dragonflight.
This guide has been written by Petko, one of the top M+ players of all time. He has accomplished several Europe and World #1 Team and Solo Seasonal rankings with multiple specialization and classes throughout the seasons. Moreover, he competes in MDI and streams his runs live on Twitch and and share his personal opinion on YouTube and Twitter.
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