Healer for 2'sand BG's

[Apsiputes]

Greetings everyone.

So after seeing that in horde BG's ain't much healers I've decided to level up one but don't know which one. I'm choosing between MW monks, resto shamans and holy/disc priest. So my question is wich class is most suited for bg's and 2's. And maybe someone could tell me pros and cons of each class in those aspects?

Thank's in advance.

[kairxa]

MW is solid healer for pvp, having more raw damage then other healing class, really good mobility.
Resto shaman is basically almost top wounded ppl up in unleash+surge, having cheap offensive purge, hex (not all healer/dps can dispel this), and totem. Downside is anti cheat with ghost form can make u bald.
Both priest spec are good, disco is more tanky healer while holy is more easy on chaining cc. Downside is mana (espeically disco) ..... drink all day.

[Apsiputes]

MW is solid healer for pvp, having more raw damage then other healing class, really good mobility.
Resto shaman is basically almost top wounded ppl up in unleash+surge, having cheap offensive purge, hex (not all healer/dps can dispel this), and totem. Downside is anti cheat with ghost form can make u bald.
Both priest spec are good, disco is more tanky healer while holy is more easy on chaining cc. Downside is mana (espeically disco) ..... drink all day.

So wich one of these you would recomend for noobish player ? :D

[prophecy]

So wich one of these you would recomend for noobish player ? :D

Disco if you have some amount of skill and like a challenge.

MW if you wanna faceroll.

[kairxa]

So wich one of these you would recomend for noobish player ? :D

I suggest u to play resto shaman, since the mechanic is straightforward (direct healing, direct hot, have some cc avoidance, solid amount of cc, ranged interupt, and doesnt have problem top ppl up on high dampening. Mana management also isnt an issue, furthermore the class have low skill floor while still have high skill cap. This will make u learn how to play "basic healing class" while still giving alot of room for improvement.

I didnt rly suggest disco early since you need to predict when they burst, make room for drink, shadow word:death to avoid cc, etc. Generally except the potential to extinguish enemy burst by using shield at right time (as disco), shaman can do equally, but if u want to play MW like prohecy said its ok.

[Anqel]

As a healer main, here's a brief overview of all the healing classes in PvP:

1. Druid - Awesome AoE healing capabilities, amazing HoT (Heal over Time) effects, through which you can easily maintain a whole battleground group healthy. Has decent survivability through bear form and barkskin, great mobility through travel and cat form, dash and stampeding roar... Great pick for large scale PvP and PvE, but not my go-to pick for arenas.... Can be a bit hard to master due to having a lot of different skills.


2. Mistweaver Monk - Insane AoE healing capabilities, coupled with some of the strongest single target heals you can find. Definitely my go-to pick for an overall best PvP healer. A nice amount of crowd control and insanely strong heals, however, you have to get used to it for a bit not to burn mana excessively (MW monks can burst heal insanely strong, at the cost of a large portion of your mana pool, so you have to find balance in healing and mana consumption)... Also insanely strong in 2v2 arenas, especially when coupled with a melee class, like a warrior, or a DK. The only downside is, you're going to spend the majority of your time casting, so you're quite prone to being interrupted, but it's really not that big of an issue with all the other things you have to save your butt.

3. Resto shaman - Hands down the strongest heals you'll ever see. It's not uncommon to pull out a 300k heal in PvP, which is over 50% of your ally's hp pool. However, this has a cost. Very immobile healers, and arguably the easiest healer to train (focus him down and kill him), doesnt do very well under massive pressure, which is the reason I think it's weaker than a monk. Other than that it's great at saving people because of the mastery that makes you heal stronger the lower your ally's hp drops.


Gonna fill in on other specs in a bit, gotta go do something real quickly.


Nevertheless, stay away from priests. Definitely do. I'd go with MW monk, or resto shaman if you think you have very good positioning. Otherwise, take the monk for sure. If you don't mind playing a druid that's an option aswell. I'd say druids and mw monks are tied on the first place, but honestly, monks are alot easier to get into, so if you're new to it, take a monk. :)


I can provide you with a brief guide on what to do as a mw monk to maximise your effectiveness abit later.


Regards,
Bear

[Apsiputes]

Thanks for detailed awser. Before reading your commend I started to level priest becuose it has 2 healing specs so that I could choose one. And now I thinking to reroll to monk due to their mobility and annoying silence/disarm ability :D

[Anqel]

Thanks for detailed awser. Before reading your commend I started to level priest becuose it has 2 healing specs so that I could choose one. And now I thinking to reroll to monk due to their mobility and annoying silence/disarm ability :D

Okay, I'm back. Sorry about that lol!

Anyways, let me explain why I think you should stay as far away from the priest as possible...

Brief description of each spec:

Disc priest - Great single target shielding (damage prevention), decent single target healing and probably the weakest of all specs AoE healing. Decent crowd control, nothing major however. One of the perks is, it does okay damage, if you for example end up in a team with 5 healers, you can add a bit of DPS with the disco priest, which is okay, but still, as a 550 disco priest you wont do more damage than a 522 caster will. :p Overall, a good pick for the arena, a somewhat weak pick for battlegrounds. And here's why I think disco priests are useless:
Their main healing ability (shields) can ALL be purged. And they WILL be purged in any form of serious PvP; heck, even in random BGs you'll find your shields getting purged away. And that's a major issue. When I enter the arena and I find myself against a disco priest, I generally giggle. Sure, purge drains your mana, but not as fast as it drains the discipline priest's ability to heal. Discipline priests can be completely negated by one simple spell that every restoration shaman will use as often as he uses his healing spells.

A much stronger single target healer would be a holy paladin; they got insane single target heals, very strong cleave heals (for 3v3 melee comps for example, or if you group up with a warrior and a DK in a battleground), decent shielding (due to their mastery, heals also convert into shields, and that's pretty nice!), super strong crowd control (6 second stun anyone?)


Then there's your holy priest. Average at everything, superb at nothing, hes really the jack of all trades. Can shield, can heal single target, can heal AoE, has alot of support-based utility, but at the end of the day, he does nothing well. His single target heals are a joke compared to those of a resto shaman or a holy paladin for example, and his AoE is garbage compared to a resto druid or a mistweaver monk... He has less cc than a monk, a druid or even a shaman. He has to cast almost all of his spells, unless he's praying for a <Surge of Light> proc, but in that case, he lets his healing capabilities be completely determined by RNG... Very prone to interrupts and mediocre in mobility (the angelic feathers help alot, but outside of that, its meh)... The only really nice thing is the fact he can still heal for about 20 seconds after he dies, with 0 concerns about mana, but that can also be turned against you if you miss a spawn in a battleground (after your avatar dies out you realise you have to wait 29 secs to spawn, and you actually wasted more time than you profited with the avatar)...


So, I really suggest you stay away from the priests, but they can also work. Don't get me wrong. They're just very weak compared to the others. Mistweaver monk would be my recommendation as an all-rounded spec, because you can do damage, you can heal AoE insanely well, you can heal single targets insanely well, you can duel most people with the same iLvL as you have and win the duels (550 mw monk can easily win a duel against an equally geared frost DK for example, or any type of rogue, or a mage), you got interrupts, stuns, disarms, silences, you got an insane amount of mobility to get away from awkward situations through your rolls and speed ups, and if you aren't panicking, you will never run out of mana.

Like seriously, the only way a mw monk runs out of mana is when he is forced into panic. Example 2 angry fury warriors jump onto you out of nowhere and start slamming their rusty swords into your face. That's when you'll panic. >_>

But when left alone, they're hands down the most efficient healer, and the strongest overall. They work great with melee classes too, for the arenas. :)


Hope that helped, any other questions, just shout!


Regards,
Bear

[Apsiputes]

Yea, 3 more questions.
1-st Wich race on horde side is best for MW monk (or it just personal preference)
2-nd. Should I level monk as MW or WW ?
3-rd. How can I contact you in-game ?

[Anqel]

Yea, 3 more questions.
1-st Wich race is best for MW monk (or it just personal preference)
2-nd. Should I level monk as MW or WW ?
3-rd. How can I contact you in-game ?

1. For alliance, I'd go with human all day long, because of the racial ability, which basically lets you have 2 combat-oriented trinkets. If you plan on playing horde, I would definitely go with an orc, again, cause of the racial. However it's not THAT big of a deal, if you prefer one race, go with it, they're all very viable. :)

2. I'd level as a WW monk, and I'd get myself an elixir of ancient knowledge to speed the process up. Unlike most of the hybrid classes, monks are TERRIBLE for leveling up. They're extremely slow and clumsy through leveling, though they become insanely strong at level 90. A friend of mine actually leveled his monk as a BM, and he said it was okay, so I'd consider that aswell. Cause from experience, I've leveled all characters to level 90 in MoP, and monk was by far the slowest and the most painful. Maybe it'd be better if I went BM. MW leveling is too slow without the working dungeons, so forget about that.

3. You can contact me in-game at "Bearquard" if you're alliance side, or at "Liqht" if you're on the horde side. I play them both equally, so you'll surely be able to reach me ^^


Give me a shout whenever!


Regards

[user2510]

if you are playing horde, especially healer, you should definitly go with undead - there are so many fear effects in 5.4.8...
cc is your worst enemie if you play healer, allways remember this

[prophecy]

if you are playing horde, especially healer, you should definitly go with undead - there are so many fear effects in 5.4.8...
cc is your worst enemie if you play healer, allways remember this

Seconded.

I have to disagree with Bear regarding Priests being weak. You seem to forget that when you crit with a Priest, you also apply an absorb cuz Mastery. It also increases your single target healing and potency of your absorption spells. Also would like to mention that 90% of disco spells are instant(penance can be cast while moving with glyph) so you can move basically for the entire duration of the fight unlike most classes needing some spell for mobility. Penance also ignores the debuff allowing you to cast another shield on your ally. The sheer amount and potency of the absorbs is unmatched by any class in the game. Oh boy and the mana. I've only ever run out of mana in my disco at around 70% dampening(against another priest).

TLDR : Priests are very versatile and insanely hard to compete against in 2v2 or 3v3. For BG's you can respec to Holy for the sweet AoE. If you need any help with your priest, drop me a pm.

Also dont roll Resto Shaman. They are a joke.

[Treba]

Something a lot of people don't realize about healing priests is how powerful their Focused Will damage reduction passive is. It basically means that whenever they get focused, they have almost permanent 30% damage reduction. That's 50% more powerful than barkskin with way higher uptime.

[Anqel]

when you crit with a Priest, you also apply an absorb cuz Mastery.

Wrong, providing absorbs is a Holy paladin mastery, and priests have nothing to do with it.

Sources:
https://wow.gamepedia.com/Mastery:_Shield_Discipline (Disco mastery)
https://wow.gamepedia.com/Mastery:_Echo_of_Light (Holy priest mastery)
https://wow.gamepedia.com/Mastery:_Illuminated_Healing (Holy paladin mastery)

90% of disco spells are instant

Druids have alot more instant cast spells than a disco priest, and penance can, despite being able to move while doing it, be interrupted, and is NOT an instant cast.

The sheer amount and potency of the absorbs is unmatched by any class in the game.

And so is the amount of heals that can be easily countered by a purge. No other healer can be countered so hard by anything with a purge than a disco priest. It's practically useless when there are 2 people able to purge on the enemy team, and even with 1, you're getting close to doing nothing...

I've only ever run out of mana in my disco at around 70% dampening

Against any team with any brain you'll die before you run out of mana cause of the dispels. Also, disco priests aren't known to be the most mana conservative.

For BG's you can respec to Holy for the sweet AoE

Really? What sweet AoE is that? Holy has like 3 decent AoE healing skills, all having cooldowns above of 45 seconds or more. Where's the sweet AoE? >.<

Also dont roll Resto Shaman. They are a joke

And this is where you lose all of the credibility. Seriously? You're going to trash talk the class that puts out the highest numbers through heals, the class that can play an offensive healer, and the class that has more CC than your lovely priests ever will? Come on son. I get you like your priests, and there's nothing wrong with that, but please, don't drag others into this crusade of yours, cause you're obviously biased.

I've played all healers on this very server with conquest gear, and I know what's what. Holy priest is the worst, and disco priest follows closely. Disco is only good for certain matchups, where you're not seeing an enemy that can purge. But that's like praying you'll hit the lotto. The second you are teamed up against a resto shaman you can kiss your fight goodbye, unless you're playing against a tree stump.

Resto shammies, Resto druids and MW monks are where the real power lies. Holy paladin comes afterwards very closely - required in every RBG team, but the thing is, their AoE healing cant really compare to the others. Still their single target pressure is unmatched, and no man can make me believe that a disco priest is more suitable to keep a single target alive than a holy paladin is. That's bollocks.

Besides, priest is the only class I created with a purpose of healing, and because it was so weak, I had to reroll him into shadow, and to this day, I play him on shadow only. His heals just cant keep up with the others.

Something a lot of people don't realize about healing priests is how powerful their Focused Will damage reduction passive is. It basically means that whenever they get focused, they have almost permanent 30% damage reduction. That's 50% more powerful than barkskin with way higher uptime.

No. Just no.

What you seem not to realise is, that priests have cloth armor, whereas druids have leather armor, which by itself, reduces damage taken by a significant amount further than the cloth armor does. Secondly, what you seem not to realise is, a druid can swap into bear form, in which his armor practically becomes mail, which is a super significant damage reduction further from cloth. Bear form also increases stamina, the druid has alot more mobility to get away from enemies, the druid has a cyclone, entangling roots, nature's grasp for instant casts of the before mentioned spells, has a dash and a blink (displacer beast), etc, etc, etc....

Please don't act like there are only passive defenses. If that's what you believe, holy paladin wins by a sheer amount, because it wears plate and a shield. And honestly, holy paladin DOES win compared to a disco priest. Both in survivability, in healing done, in cc and in viability.

Also, dont forget that glyphed barkskin makes people unable to crit on you. That's worth mentioning aswell ;)

Priests are just weak this expansion, get over it. They're viable, yes, but taking another class, you'll be at least 3 times more viable in terms of healing.



Regards,
Bear

[Clothahump]

nature's grasp for instant casts of the before mentioned spells

That's nature's swiftness, or NS for short :)
Nature's grasp is the "hit me and get rooted" variant.

Besides, I have to agree with Anqel. If you check out the serious PvP content from back in the day, you'll find hardly any (if at all) priest healers in high-rated teams. It was an expansion dominated by druids and shamans mostly, and as Anqel said, monks were/are amazing as well.

Edit:
Only real weakness of MW in my opinion is the fact that their main chi generator is channelled and doesn't allow them to move while channelling. On the plus side, it turns some of your casted spells into instant casts while you're channelling.