Dragonflight Healer Rankings: Vault of the Incarnates Raiding Tier List (Patch 10.0.2) — World of Warcraft
1.
About the Tier List
November 22 update: We finally feel
comfortable
releasing an initial tier list for how classes will perform at the start of
Season 1. There
have been daily tuning passes even up until this week however, so this is still
subject
to change.
DISCLAIMER
This RAIDING tier list is CONSTANTLY
EVOLVING — It CHANGES and IS UPDATED as often as necessary to account for
tuning and balance changes.
Hello! I am Impakt, the raid leader of the North American guild «BDGG», or
Big Dumb Golden Guardians. We finished
Sanctum of Domination as the second-best guild in North America, and at
World 4th. We are prepping hard for the new raid tiers in Shadowlands,
and this list reflects how we are currently feeling about the various classes
and specializations for progressing the new raid tier in Patch 9. 2,
Sepulcher of the First Ones. In addition to our own experience, this list
was created and will continue to be update in consultation with raiders of other
top guilds.
This tier list is entirely based on Healer viability for the new raid in
Patch 10.0 of Dragonflight, Vault of the Incarnates.
To understand exactly why these rankings are the way they are, you first need to
understand what will be valued inside the raid. For healers, we value healing
throughput, cooldowns, DPS output, and other utility.
While the traits that make a character valuable in a raid have not changed
much,
there are two incredibly important new factors to consider.
- Raiding now has a new gearing system, the same group loot system
that exists in Classic WoW. This completely changes how your raid should view
loot
and class distribution. Having a varied raid comp is more important than
ever to make
full use of all loot drops. Even more so, if you stack too many classes on
specific armor types
or tier tokens, those classes will gear up significantly slower than if you have
a well-balanced
raid composition.
- Because of the new talent trees, classes now have the freedom of choice
to decide how to build in various situations. However, this also means that
certain
classes are forced into specializing in either AoE or single target for
different bosses.
For healers, this can also mean specializing into either healing or dealing
damage.
1.1.
A Final Warning
It is incredibly important to emphasize that just because a healer is low in
the tier list, it does not mean that you should ignore it completely. For
the vast majority of cases, you should choose to bring the better player, not
the better class. That does not mean you never need to think about your
raid composition, just that most of the time player skill will be more
important than the difference between classes, assuming you already have the
required raid buffs. All being on a lower tier means is that, all else being
equal, those specs will be less desirable for the raid based on current tuning.
2.
Dragonflight Healer Tier List for Vault of the Incarnate
Below is a quick summary of the full rankings that we have detailed on this
page.
While this gives a good outline of the standings of the healing
specializations
in comparison to one another, we recommend reading the full rankings to
understand
why certain specializations are ranked as they are.
- Restoration Druid (S-Tier)
- Preservation Evoker (A-Tier)
- Mistweaver Monk (A-Tier)
- Discipline Priest (A-Tier)
- Holy Paladin (A-Tier)
- Holy Priest (B-Tier)
- Restoration Shaman (B-Tier)
2.1.
DPS and Tank Class Rankings
If you are interested in our other rankings for the Season 1 Raid in
Dragonflight,
please click the links below.
Season 1 Raid Tank Rankings
Season 1 Raid DPS Rankings
3.
Full Healer Class Rankings
Healer balance is actually quite good going into the first tier of
Dragonflight,
except for Restoration Shamans.
The difference in power for
the damage done and defensive cooldowns brought is significantly less than it
has been previously, and perhaps even more importantly the specs without damage
reduction cooldowns have actually gained some massive buffs to their healing
throughput. While there are slight differences, ultimately healer choice will
come down to personal preference for the vast majority of guilds: play what you
are most comfortable with.
3.1.
S-Tier
3.1.1.
Restoration Druid
Important Utility: Mark of the Wild, Innervate,
Stampeding Roar.
Restoration Druids have the best overall
healing output with a solid throughput toolkit, making them an excellent option
for any healing composition. They do the most healing, including having some of
the strongest
healing throughput cooldowns in the game. While their overall damage will still
remain low compared to specs
like Discipline Priest or Mistweaver, there will be an option to power through
certain parts of the fight with extra DPS.
The biggest downside is the
lack of a damage reduction cooldown and steady damage contribution, but their
exceptional
throughput and strong utility spells more than make up for the downsides.
Restoration Druid Guide
3.2.
A-Tier
3.2.1.
Preservation Evoker
Important Utility: Blessing of the Bronze
Preservation Evoker has exceptional burst healing
output along with a unique array of defensive cooldowns. They are
one of the best healers in the current meta, with an excellent
offensive toolkit (both in single-target and in AoE), competitive HPS, amazing
utility,
and top-notch mobility. Their 30-yard range is a slight detriment, but is only
even noticeable
on very specific bosses and can be played around. While they lack the raw
healing power
that Restoration Druids might bring, their offensive power and cooldowns such as
Rewind
help to make up the gap and almost push Evokers into the S-tier.
Preservation Evoker Guide
3.2.2.
Mistweaver Monk
Important Utility: Mystic Touch, Generous Pour,
Close to Heart.
Mistweaver Monks have exceptionally high healing
output,
which, combined with their strong damage output, excellent mobility, and decent
durability, makes them a strong choice for any healing comp. Previously the lack
of
a damage reduction cooldown was too big of a gap to
overcome compared to other healers, but they do enough throughput that it is
more than worth the loss. The most important aspect to consider is whether you
need
the various unique buffs and debuff that monks bring, as every raid should
always have
at least one Monk. On the downside, Monks are a melee healer, and in a raid
where Melee
DPS are quite valuable the extra character in melee can be a detriment.
Mistweaver Monk Guide
3.2.3.
Discipline Priest
Important Utility: Power Infusion, Mass Dispel,
Power Word: Fortitude.
Discipline Priests are currently one of the most
valuable healers going in to Vault of the Incarnates for a variety of
reasons. Discipline brings the second best passive DPS contribution out of any
healer
without sacrificing healing done, which can be a huge asset during early
progression when damage will be tight.
Discipline offers incredibly strong EHP
(effective health pool) increases through tools like Power Word: Barrier
and Power Word: Shield, while also retaining some powerful, low-cooldown
spells
that enable them to setup for high damage periods better than any other healer.
While Disc Priests have relatively low overall healing output compared to other
healers,
when you plan out encounters correctly, Discipline is the best healing spec in
the game
at dealing with planned periods of intense damage.
Discipline Priest Guide
3.2.4.
Holy Paladin
Important Utility: Devotion Aura.
Holy Paladins excel at high throughput windows
during their cooldowns, but are a bit on the weaker side outside of them.
Paladin’s main
strength would be its other strong raid cooldown utilizing Aura Mastery
along with Devotion Aura as one of the best damage reduction raid
cooldowns
in the game. However, with the larger health pools and more sustained damage
outputs
from raid bosses, that is less important now than in previous tiers.
Paladins
still bring incredible utility, specifically
with Blessing of Protection and Divine Shield. These are going to
be
quite useful on the later Mythic encounters. Their damage is also quite good,
although
not as passive or as strong as other healers.
Holy Paladin Guide
3.3.
B-Tier
3.3.1.
Holy Priest
Important Utility: Power Infusion, Mass Dispel, Power Word: Fortitude.
Holy Priests offer decent healing throughput both
in and out of cooldowns, and are average in terms of overall numbers.
However, in terms of pure output, they get overshadowed by the other throughput
healers on the high end such as Restoration Druids, Mistweavers, and Evokers. Given
that Holy’s niche is meant to be raw throughput, this is what puts them in the B-tier
considering the other lower throughput healers above bring something else such
as damaged reduction based raid cooldowns. Holy Priest’s most valuable role at the
moment is from its damage. If you can afford to lose out on the buffs or throughput,
Holy Priests are the highest DPS healers when they weave in damage and also provide
Power Infusion.
This is a bit more situational, but that can be quite
valuable during progression.
Holy Priest Guide
3.3.2.
Restoration Shaman
Important Utility: None.
Restoration Shamans are the weakest healer
by far in raids for Dragonflight, and are almost worth dropping into a C-tier
unfortunately.
Currently their best niche is the damage they bring, but it is not passive
damage meaning
they would need to sacrifice a substantial portion of their healing to do it.
Spirit Link Totem
is still a strong raid cooldown, but their healing output is the lowest of any
healer,
and they do not bring high throughput burst healing windows in the same way that
Discipline Priests
do. In short, there are significantly better options than Restoration Shamans
right now
for healing inside the new raid.
Restoration Shaman Guide
4.
Changelog
- 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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Mythic+ Healer Rankings — Dragonflight Season 1 Tier List — Guides
Welcome to Wowhead’s Healer Tier List for Dragonflight Season 1 Mythic+ Dungeons, written by Yumytv, where we rank healers from strongest to weakest based on their healing performance, utility, and damage output in Patch 10.0.5. This guide has been written after extensive beta research, and we will continue to update this list frequently based on Blizzard class tuning and the evolving meta.
Dragonflight Season 1 Mythic+Mythic+ Tank RankingsMythic+ DPS Rankings
About the Author
Hello friends, most know me as Growl or Yumytv. I play multiple healer classes in high Mythic+ keys and been in the top 20 healers in Mythic+ in nearly every season since the start of BFA. I’ve also competed in and made top 5 in both MDI and Great Push global finals. I make educational Youtube content to help people get better at Mythic+, and also stream all of my keys on Twitch. I’ve been testing healers on the Dragonflight Beta since the first wave of invites with over 400 hours logged on the endgame testing server.
Disclaimers About This Tier List
This guide was made to give you an overview of how each Healer is performing in Dragonflight Mythic+ Season 1 for Patch 10.0.0. We will update this tier list if any tuning changes do occur. This Tier List was made for players who prefer to choose their class based on its usefulness in the current Mythic+ metagame. If you don’t want to play this way, you don’t have to and can pick your class based on whatever factors you wish.
The best healer is always one that can stay alive and keep its team alive through dangerous situations through good decision making, regardless of class.
The two biggest factors determining a healers success in top level keys are its ability to heal high amounts of quick party damage, and its DPS output. Dragonflight features several bosses with an incredibly high requirement for burst healing such as Hyrja, Azureblade, and The Raging Tempest. One primary factor in how I ranked these healers is how they held up against some of the most difficult bosses with various team compositions and affixes. When healing output is not a concern, total damage is also important. The more damage output a healer is doing, the faster the key can be completed and the more often you will see that healer near the top of the leaderboards. Remember that these are the criteria that I use for judging a healer in high keys, but it may not be the the same things that your groups are challenged with. I tried to add more information down below about playstyle, strengths, utility, and difficulty of each healer so that you can make a decision that suits you.
The rankings use a standard Tier List format, ranking each spec on the scale of the best (S Tier) to unviable (D Tier) based on the criteria of throughput, utility and offensive value in Mythic+. These rankings were made by Yumytv, so therefore are ultimately just his opinion. You may disagree with some of his conclusions, as each person values things slightly differently.
Dragonflight Healer Tier List for Mythic+ Season 1
How We Ranked the Specs
For this Tier List, here is how I ranked each healer spec in Dragonflight for Season 1.
- S: Healers which are an exceptional choice and likely to be seen in world first level keystones
- A: Healers that are capable of world first keystones but with minor weaknesses
- B: Healers that are capable of comfortably doing keys up to +20 but may struggle in surviving some encounters in very high level keys
- C: Healers that have some redeeming qualities but will struggle as early as +20 keys
- D: Healers that are not viable in this current season of Mythic+
No spec has been placed below a B tier, as I believe all specs can comfortably do keys up to +20 once adequate gear is acquired.
S
A
B
C
Dragonflight Healer Rankings and Explanations
- Preservation Evoker (S Tier)
- Restoration Druid (S Tier)
- Holy Paladin (A Tier)
- Disc Priest (A Tier)
- Restoration Shaman (B Tier)
- Holy Priest (B Tier)
- Mistweaver Monk (B Tier)
S Tier Specs
S Tier Healer Specializations are an exceptional choice and likely to be seen in world first level keystones. While being on top for this Season, these classes may not hold the top position for the next Season.
Preservation Evoker
Preservation Evoker is a new addition to Dragonflight, and so far has proven to be a very strong dungeon healer. It has a powerful short cooldown burst healing in Spiritbloom that can be used to quickly top the party, alongside cooldowns that amplify abilities to put out even more healing. Preservation’s damage is also unmatched — being the highest damage output healer overall.
The damage rotation is incredibly bursty, mostly reliant on Fire Breath. This is great for healers because it allows you to do most of your damage in a short window and mostly focus on healing. Although many spells require long channels, strong cooldowns like Tip the Scales and Stasis allow you to get big heals off on the move when needed. Preservation also has strong situational defensive spells like Zephyr to reduce major group damage, and Cauterizing Flame that can remove nearly every type of debuff.
The utility kit of Evoker is somewhat similar to that of Shaman. It has an interrupt and Bloodlust, but unfortunately Quell has a 40 second cooldown with no option of lowering it. Evokers can also disrupt groups of mobs quite easily with the Dracthyr racial abilities Wing Buffet and Tail Swipe. Oppressing Roar allows you to further aid in AoE disruption by increasing the stun duration from allies and can even de-enrage everything hit if talented. Evokers main weaknesses are its shorter range and sustained single target healing.
In Mythic+ having a short range isn’t usually a detriment. You may, however, struggle in certain boss fights like Azureblade and The Raging Tempest where you are forced to spread with consistent high movement and group damage. Evokers sustained single target healing can also be a problem — although in this current season tanks are quite durable so I value group healing much more highly than tank healing.
Preservation Evoker Class Guide
Restoration Druid
Restoration Druid is one of the strongest healers in Mythic+. It has an incredibly well-rounded toolkit with very powerful group healing cooldowns as well as strong healing outside of cooldowns. The most desirable attributes of healers in high keys are their ability to heal heavy amounts of unavoidable group damage, as well as their ability to deal damage to speed up the run. Druid excels at difficult boss fights like Hyrja and Overgrown Ancient by having major cooldowns like Flourish and Convoke the Spirits available for every heavy damage burst.
Their single target damage has been improved greatly with new talents such as Protector of the Pack and Nature’s Vigil . On trash packs they can deal heavy AoE damage with Sunfire and Swipe or Starfire depending on your skill tree.
Druid also brings several powerful utility spells to Mythic+ groups. Depending on talent choices they will be able to contribute some sort of frequent mob control with Typhoon, Skull Bash, or Incapacitating Roar. Druids also now bring Mark of the Wild which is arguably the strongest group buff to have. On top of that you still have access to previous utility such as Soothe, Rebirth, and Stealth. One of Druids greatest strengths is its movement. Nearly the entire rotation can be cast while moving, making it exceptional for still being able to keep the team alive during hectic situations in dungeons. The biggest downside to Druid is that it relies mostly on heal over time effects, so it somewhat demands a proactive healing approach. It may be less effective when you or your party aren’t as familiar with the dungeon encounters.
Restoration Druid Class Guide
A Tier Specs
A Tier Healer Specializations are capable of world first keystones but have minor weaknesses.
Holy Paladin
Holy Paladin has the strongest utility kit of any healer in dungeons and often finds its way to the top of tier lists. Its utility is exceptionally strong because you can completely negate many trash and boss mechanics with things like Divine Shield and Blessing of Protection. Aura Mastery also allows you and your party to survive incredibly heavy boss hits. With the new talent tree systems, Paladin’s have the option to take some very powerful combinations to help with AoE burst healing that they previously didn’t have access to. Glimmer of Light with Beacon of Virtue, or Sanctified Wrath with Awakening. Paladin’s damage is a bit underwhelming — which is the main reason for me that it is ranked behind Evoker and Druid. Some talents buffing Consecration allow for somewhat competitive AoE damage, but its single target damage is a bit behind even with full melee uptime.
Paladin’s Blessing of Sacrifice can now be talented to a 60 second cooldown. This alongside Beacon of Light make paladin one of the best tank healers in dungeons. Holy Shock and Word of Glory are both instant casts so Holy Paladin is great at emergency healing unexpected damage on non tanks as well. During stacked fights where you can benefit from Light of Dawn and your mastery, Paladin can put out large amounts of consistent group healing. Paladins may suffer when the party gets spread, especially if forced out of melee range. Outside of Avenging Wrath, Paladin requires incredibly proactive use of other cooldowns for survival. This in my opinion makes it one of the more difficult healers to play, and can be less beginner friendly unless you have knowledge and experience of the dungeons.
Holy Paladin Class Guide
Discipline Priest
The Discipline Priest Mythic+ playstyle has been improved significantly from Shadowlands. Much more damage has been moved into spells like Penance, and you have more optional buttons you can take such as Shadow Covenant or Schism without losing other key talents.
The Power Word: Shield rework strengthens it a lot as well and gives you an actual instant cast option to protect allies. All of this adds up to much less spamming of Smite and Shadow Mend, and the ability to actually ramp up decent size heals with your Atonements. Disc Priest’s damage has also been improved quite a bit, doing solid DPS passively throughout the fight as well as contributing Power Infusion. The return of Twins of the Sun Priestess means that you also gain that Power Infusion to use for yourself, offensively or defensively. Discipline’s spot healing and mana efficiency is improved with the addition of Power Word: Life. This change along with improved Power Word: Shield and other damage reduction tools make disc a surprisingly good tank healer as well. With several talent builds to use depending on how reliable and how frequent you need your healing to be, I think Disc players should definitely be excited about giving this class a try in Dragonflight.
Similar to Holy, Disc is suffering a lot on the utility end.
They do have some powerful damage reduction tools, but very little disruption or ways they can help their team aside from Psychic Scream and Leap of Faith. This does make the class feel more manageable, however it can leave you feeling a bit empty at times. In the 10.0.5 patch discipline priest received several more strong buffs to Power Word: Radiance and Sins of the Many. There were also several mana cost reductions across the board as well as talent changes to spells like Mindbender and Power Word: Solace. These dramatically improve discipline priests burst HPS and sustained HPS in 5 mans — one of their biggest weaknesses. Discipline has extremely solid throughput in 5-mans, and is mainly held out of S tier due to its lack of utility, mobility, and defensive options compared to Evoker and Druid.
Discipline Priest Class Guide
B Tier Specs
B Tier Healer Specializations are capable of comfortably doing keys up to +20 but may struggle in surviving some encounters in very high level keys.
Restoration Shaman
Restoration Shaman plays very similarly to its BFA & Shadowlands iterations with a few new tools in its kit. It has very strong burst healing cooldowns in Ascendance and Spirit Link Totem that allow you to get through most dangerous situations. Unfortunately with the nerf to Cloudburst Totem — Shaman seems to struggle with bosses that have very frequent burst damage events such as High Channeler Ryvati or Telash Greywing without very precise use of its entire kit. Shaman also relies primarily on casted abilities — so it can struggle in high movement situations when Spiritwalker’s Grace isn’t available. For the most part though, Shaman is a solid healer that can handle most things thrown at it and has the cooldowns to deal with tougher moments. Its damage does suffer compared to some other healers though. Shamans have no large uncapped AoE so in large trash pulls you may underperform compared to other healers, but it won’t have a major impact on the dungeon run.
Unfortunately with so much utility in its tree, you’ll be forced to make some choices that end up feeling like you lost more than you gained. Situational utility like Tremor Totem or Hex will often be skipped in favor of taking offensive or defensive talents. There is, however, lots of room for experimentation and build diversity. Being able to adjust talents in each dungeon means you will be able to take precisely what you need depending on the situation. Shaman does always bring Bloodlust as well as a very powerful ranged interrupt with a 12 second cooldown. Overall, Shaman is a solid healer for pug groups but may struggle with some of the harder Tyrannical boss fights.
Restoration Shaman Class Guide
Holy Priest
Holy Priest is an extremely straightforward single target healer with consistent healing and incredible mana efficiency. It is the clearest example of a reactive healer and its toolkit almost entirely involves making low health bars go up.
Although Holy Priest plays pretty similarly to previous versions, it has many new talents and several builds giving you some variety and choice in your dungeon run. Its single target healing is complimented by passives such as Trail of Light and Binding Heals that help spread some group healing. The main problem arises with really heavy group damage. Holy Priest doesn’t have any major damage reduction cooldowns or ways to pump large amounts of group healing on multiple targets. Apotheosis helps but only once every two minutes. It is possible to overcome this downside, but will require much more precise coordination and spell sequencing. Party members will be required to use defensives and support abilities at the right time. This is mainly only a concern for some of the highest keystone levels and HPS checks though — because Holy Priest will be plenty strong at healing most encounters up to +20 or so.
Holy Priest can choose to take several talents in the spec tree to improve its damage from Holy Fire.
This gives Holy pretty solid single target DPS, alongside the addition of Power Infusion to boost an ally’s DPS. Although Holy Priest got some new choices, one downside of the new talent tree is the lack of utility. Priest lost their Shining Force — and are the only healer that didn’t receive an optional kick. This again reinforces it being a great beginner healer with less things to worry about. As you become more comfortable in dungeons though and look to contribute more, Holy Priest may not suit your needs. Another downside is that Holy Priest is quite immobile and squishy. Holy Priest can benefit from a great defensive combo of Binding Heals + Protective Light providing a constant 10% damage reduction. Other than that though, you’ll be sacrificing valuable talent points to get only minor gains in survivability. Depending on your playstyle and strengths though this may not be that big if a downside. If you can keep yourself alive with good positioning, Holy Priest is an excellent spot healer for allies and can keep people up through loads of consistent damage.
Holy Priest Class Guide
Mistweaver Monk
Mistweaver Monk’s rotation has been massively improved in Dragonflight with the addition of Faeline Stomp triggering Ancient Teachings. On top of that, every 10 seconds you can now cast an instant Vivify. This allows you to get that much needed, spot healing on targets that are out of range from Fistweaving or just need a bit more help. The new Fistweaving playstyle is incredibly fast paced — always on the move and putting out solid amounts of sustained group healing. One problem with Mistweaver healing is its lack of strong cooldowns — having only Revival and your celestial of choice. Revival is an incredibly weak cooldown, and although Invoke Chi-Ji, the Red Crane can be strong at times — it requires melee uptime, several global setup, and precise spell ordering. Even then, it still doesn’t seem to put out the same burst as some other healer cooldowns. This is very much a high level play only concern though when you reach difficult Tyrannical bosses that require these large burst healing checks.
For most people, the AOE healing of Mistweaver is actually incredibly mana efficient and simple enough to get through dungeons up to +20.
Mistweaver’s utility revolves mostly on mob control. Leg Sweep, Ring of Peace, Paralysis, and Provoke all allow you to lock down or move mobs to wherever is best for your team. Mob disruption like this is some of the most valuable utility you can have for pugs because it allows you to stop most dangerous things from happening before they do. Unfortunately, they don’t have any major upside or unique utility from any other healer — aside from the monk debuff Mystic Touch and we haven’t seen a physical damage meta that hasn’t involve a Windwalker Monk in mythic+ yet, which is where Mistweaver would really shine. Regardless of its place in World First keys though, I think if you enjoy the melee healer playstyle you should give Mistweaver a try. It’s in a very fun state and only really has mana problems when it is forced out of melee for prolonged periods.
Mistweaver Monk Class Guide
Changes for January 24th 10.0.5 Patch Update Class Tuning
Here are the updates to the Tier List for the 10.0.5 Patch Notes:
Discipline Priest is now ranked A tier from B tier with all the recent buffs and updated talent tree. They are very underrated and can perform extremely well with gear and good play. The buffs to their healing and mana efficiency fix two major weaknesses that the class suffered from in 10.0.
Holy Paladin remains strong. Not much has changed with paladin and it still sits at a comfortable spot able to heal nearly any level of key.
Preservation Evoker continues to be extremely powerful. The changes to Temporal Anomaly hardly effect m+ and several quality of life changes have been put in.
Mistweaver Monk is receiving some brand new talents as well as slight improvements to its core spells. I expect these changes to be a nice boost- but not enough to see world first keys done on this spec. Because of its underrepresentation — this is the spec I am least sure about its ranking, so be sure to check back later to see if things change.
