Best Healers in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
If you’re looking to level up a healer in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, whether for PvP or PvE action, it’s important to know which ones are the most competitive. While there are no new healer specializations or classes in the latest expansion, the existing ones can still be effective in helping you make your decision. Here is a tiered ranking of the best healers for players in the current Shadowlands expansion.
PvP
Discipline Priest
Discipline Priests are considered the strongest healers in Shadowlands. Their unique healing-through-damage playstyle makes them versatile in the arena, able to switch between damage dealing and healing. With the addition of new abilities, Legendaries, and Covenants, Discipline Priests have become even stronger.
One notable addition is the “Thoughtsteal” card, which allows them to use a spell from their opponent and prevent them from using it for 20 seconds. This can be a game-changing ability if they can steal important spells.
Mistweaver Monk
Mistweaver Monks remain one of the most efficient healers, with little changes compared to the previous expansion. They excel at healing and can easily top off their allies in seconds. However, they are not strong in terms of dealing damage, so they may not be the best choice if you need a healer who can also contribute to offensive strategies.
Restoration Shaman
Restoration Shamans’ playstyle has remained mostly unchanged compared to the previous expansion. While they have higher mana costs, they have the Mana Tide Totem ability, which can restore a significant amount of mana. They are a decent choice for rounding out your arena composition, but they may not always be the first choice as a healer.
Restoration Druid
Druids have regained some useful abilities like Overgrowth and Nature’s Swiftness, but their healing style relies heavily on healing-over-time effects, which may not be effective in the current burst-focused meta. They struggle to keep up with damage and may have difficulty surviving compared to other healers.
Holy Paladin
Holy Paladins were strong in the previous expansion due to borrowed power mechanisms, but they have been nerfed in Shadowlands. With the reintroduction of Holy Power as a resource, Holy Paladins need to manage their abilities carefully to ensure effective healing. They may not be as powerful as before, but they still bring useful tools to the table.
Holy Priest
Holy Priests are not as viable in PvP compared to their Discipline counterparts. They lack damage, shielding, and overall utility. Their slow-healing playstyle is not suited for the fast-paced PvP environment, where swift decision-making is crucial. They are easily crowd-controlled or interrupted due to their stationary casting.
PvE
Discipline Priest
Discipline Priests continue to shine in both PvP and PvE. Their unique healing style and utility make them perfect for dungeons and raids. The ability to deal damage while healing is especially valuable during progression weeks when players are undergeared. Shielding the entire group with Rapture remains a powerful aspect of Discipline Priests, making them highly sought after for competitive PvE.
Restoration Shaman
Restoration Shamans are expected to perform well in PvE content. Their AoE healing abilities are valuable in dungeons and raids with multiple damaging AoE effects. The Spirit Link Totems they bring allow raids to equalize their health pool and give healers enough time to heal everyone back up if things go wrong.
Holy Paladin
Despite losing some power in Shadowlands, Holy Paladins are still reliable healers for raids. They have a wide range of tools to handle various mechanics, such as Divine Protection, Blessing of Sacrifice, Lay on Hands, and Devotion Aura.
Mistweaver Monk
While Mistweaver Monks are exceptional in PvP, their performance in PvE is not as strong. Their focus on single-target healing limits their ability to heal entire raids. They have not received many new tools compared to other classes in Shadowlands and are mainly useful for fights with heavy single-target damage.
Restoration Druid
Restoration Druids should theoretically be strong healers in PvE due to their healing output, but they are mediocre compared to Discipline Priests or Restoration Shamans. They lack offensive capabilities, so they often end up primarily relying on healing-over-time effects.
Holy Priest
Holy Priests are at the bottom of the ranking for both PvP and PvE. While they have various tools for dealing with mechanics in dungeons and raids, they can’t match the utility of Discipline Priests. Holy Priests may provide more healing output, but they lack the damage potential of Discipline Priests.