Healer Rankings-BfA Patch 8.3

The key to any raid group is staying alive, and some classes perform better than others when it comes to staying alive (insert Bee Gee’s music here). There are many components that come with being an excellent healer but overall some classes just surpass others when it comes to healing, particularly in Heals Per Second. We have put together a guide of healer rankings and how they stack up.

Healer Rankings

According to Wowmeta this is how the healer rankings breakdown based on performance in Raids and Mythic+ Dungeons.

Number 1- Holy Priest

Holy Priest’s are the top tier of healer rankings in the current meta. So what makes Holy Priests so phenomenal for PvE content?

The Holy spec allows the player to smoothly heal both AoE and single target healing. Holy has always been a reactive healer so it is important to keep this in mind in order to properly play this role. As a Holy priest you will need to pay particular attention to the damage your allies are taking in order to properly and effectively heal the raid group.

So what are some of the strengths of a Holy Priest?

• They are fairly easy to learn to play.
• They are excellent with burst and group healing.
• Cool downs provide a way to regularly heal allies on a pretty continual basis.
• The group cool downs Apotheosis and Holy Word: Salvation are incredibly powerful.
• Not to mention Holy Priests have some incredibly utility spells such as Dispel Magic, Mass Dispel, Symbol of Hope, and Leap of Faith are phenomenal tools in a raid environment.

Number 2- Holy Paladin

Holy Paladins unlike the Holy Priest are great for tank and single-target healing and are just as essential to ensuring the group stays alive. Their single target heals are some of the best in the game and they have several tools that help mitigate damage to other party members.

So what are some of the strengths of the Holy Paladin?

• Their passive tank healing with Beacon of Light is an excellent source to keep the tank alive while you are healing other members of the party or raid.
• Have a party member going down? They can quickly and effectively heal those members with Holy Shock and Infusion of Light.
• Their utility spells like Blessing of Protection and Blessing of Freedom are effective in keeping themselves and other members of the raid or party alive.
• Unlike the Holy Priest they have great durability due to the fact that they are plate wearers and have defensive spells to ensure they stay alive throughout most encounters.

Number 3- Discipline Priests

If World of Warcraft had a double threat class it is definitely the disc priest. Disc priests heal by dealing damage. So not only are they helping with DPS they are also ensuring that the raid stays alive thanks to their Atonement passive. Due to the fact that you need to balance healing and damage it can make it a bit more challenging to play.

What are the strengths of the Discipline Priest?

• They have strong burst healing on a very short cool down allowing them to heal quite frequently and effectively.
• The cool downs they do have allow maintenance of the parties and raids health by absorbing damage or reducing it all together.
• In a tight spot? They are very effective and spot healing in a raid environment.
• Disc Priests are also able to maintain damage without sacrificing healing of the group.
• They can cast most of their spells while moving which makes them very effective in encounters that require regular movement.

Number 4- Restoration Druid

Slow and steady wins the race? Restoration druids are great on maintaining the health of a few targets and can offer some huge heals after cool downs as the situation allows. However their ability to maintain heals definitely suffers when having to react to damage that they were perhaps not ready for ahead of time since a lot of their healing is done via HoTs.

What are the strengths of the Restoration Druid?

• They have some amazing cool downs which can have a huge impact on the outcome of a raid or parties success. These include Tranquility, Incarnation: Tree of Life, and Flourish.
• They are extremely mobile and can heal effectively while moving.
• When their is heavy damage spread throughout the raid group they are able to retain strong healing even in these situations.
• They have probably the best tank cool down in the game and will help keep them alive.

Number 5- Restoration Shaman

Restoration Shamans are an incredibly versatile class that perform well when a raid or party are grouped together. Spirit Link and Chain Heal allow them to handle and heal a huge onslaught of damage when groups take on a large amount of damage at once. Mobility however can be a challenge for them which moves them down the list.

What are the strengths of a Resto Shaman?

• Burst Healing and Sustained Stacked healing are at the top of this classes healing game.
• Although mobility is an issue they do have the ability Spiritwalkers Grace which allows them to be a bit more mobile in a clinch.
• Totems provide some effective healing tools which could be essential to raid group survival.
• They have amazing non-healing tools which help with the survival of the raid group such as Purge and Wind Rush Totem.

Number 6- Mistweaver Monk

Mistweavers are number 6 but don’t underestimate their ability to heal. They are incredibly versatile and can select talent choices that fit the needs of the raid or party very well. They can also be great for single target healing or raid healing.

What are the strengths of the Mistweaver?

• Mistweaver’s are by far some of the strongest single target healers in the game.
• They can keep you alive on the move. They are blessed with several spells that keep them incredibly mobile.
• When faced with personal damage they are able to keep themselves alive effectively with personal defensive cool downs.
• They also have some of the best crown control abilities of any healer in the game to help control the situation and make it more manageable.

Are you a healer? What class and spec do you play? Do you agree with the list? Would you add anything to our list of strengths? Tell us in the comments below.