World of Warcraft™

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HOLY PRIESTS
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HPriests are mainly cast time healers, with the potential to do very high burst healing.
Discs and HPriets share many of the same abilities, but to keep from repetition only the more notable HPriests ones are metioned here.

Mechanics/Abilities: HPriests have a mechanic called their Chakra state that allows them to switch between single and multi target healing. As multi target healers they use an AoE heal (Holy Word: Sanctuary), three 5 target heals (Prayer of Healing, Circle of Healing and Divine Hymn), spammed instant HoTs (Renew) and a bouncing chain heal (Prayer of Mending). As a single target healer they have several strong cast time heals (Flash Heal, Greater Heal and Binding Heal). With the mechanic Body and Soul, HPriests can gain/give up to a 60% speed boost for 4 seconds when they cast Power Word: Shield on themself or friendly players. They also have a unique heal called Lightwell, which is arguably HPriest's strongest and most mana efficient heal - if players would actually click it.

What Mastery Does: Echo of Light: Their direct healing spells heal for an additional 10% over 6 sec. Each point of Mastery provides an additional 1.25% healing over 6 sec.

Misc. Info.: Priests have a rather large toolkit in comparison to other classes. HPriests mana regen scales with spirit.

Strong Points: They can go back and forth between single and multi target healing swiftly and easily.

Weak Points: There can be mana problems with low gear. Mana control and conservation are big parts of the playstyle.

Fun Fact: In 5-mans, a potential wipe can be saved even in death by using Divine Hymn while in Spirit of Redemption form.

Link to class forum: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/1012666/

Back to contents: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/4015354204?page=1#1

Sticky request!

You might want to add to the Pally bit that their AOE heals are very distance and position limited so work better in environments where groups are standing close to each other. This applies to shammies too I believe. Something like "They raid heal with two very powerful AoE heals (Holy Radiance and Light of Dawn) which can be spammed in a certain rotation but which are limited to groups standing close together."

Perhaps add strong/weak points. Or fun points.
For Disc priests that they are extremely strong single target healers coupled with several mitigation effects, but are weaker in AoE healing then other healing specs or classes.
Fun note: Blanketing the raid with Power Word: Shield could mitigate an entire boss mechanic.
(Rhyolith in FL, or Morchok etc etc)

sticky requested keep going! =D thx

Sticky requested! And get resto sham in there :p

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HOLY PALADINS
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Pallys are cast time healers with many cooldowns available for when trouble hits.

Mechanics/Abilities: Pallys can tank heal with some big single target heals and a special heal cleave called Beacon of Light, which always heals the designated target whenever any other target is healed. They have a very powerful saving throw (Lay on Hands) and several immunity and damage reduction cooldowns. They raid heal with two very powerful AoE heals (Holy Radiance and Light of Dawn) which can be spammed in a certain rotation, but are directionally limited (players need to be stacked/close together to receive healing). With the mechanic Speed of Light, Pallys can gain up to a 60% speed boost for 4 seconds when they cast Divine Protection on themself.

What Mastery Does: Illuminated Healing: Their direct healing spells also place an absorb shield on their target for 12% of the amount healed lasting 15 sec. Each point of Mastery increases the absorb amount by an additonal 1.50%.

Misc. Info.: Only HPallys can benefit from plate armor with intellect/spirit. Their mana regen scales with spirit.

Strong Points: Very strong single and 2 target healing. They have an incredible self-heal (Protector of the Innocent), which combined with their plate armor and stamina gives them high surviability and lets them make good use of Hand of Sacrifice (30% damage transferred to caster) in a pinch.

Weak Points: Reliance on the Holy Power mechanic, which leads to more of a "rotation" than any other healing spec. They can also have mana problems at lower gear levels.

Fun Facts: Using Glyph of Divinity (which grants 10% of their mana when they use Lay of Hands) as well as continual melee using Seal of Insight (made easy with Enlightened Judgements), allows them to come back from nearly OOM moments. Also, should the tank go down, first using Divine Shield then throwing Taunts+Righteous Defense can help HPallys to peusdo tank until hopefully the proper tanks gets a battle rez.

Link to class forum: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/1012668/

Back to contents: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/4015354204?page=1#1

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RESTORATION DRUIDS
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Druids are HoT based. They are very mobile and can heal while running.

Mechanics/Abilities: Druids two basic healing strategies consist of targeting one player with a powerful stacked HoT (Lifebloom) combined with single cast time heals as needed and/or scattering smaller HoTs (Rejuvenation and Wild Growth) over a large number of targets. They have two raid healing cooldowns (Tranquility and Tree of Life) but no very good tank cooldowns. They do however have the best battle rez in the game (Rebirth). They also have an ability called Efflorescence which is a powerful 3 target location oriented heal that procs everytime they use the ability Swiftmend.

What Mastery Does: Harmony: Their direct healing is increased by an additional 10% and casting their direct healing spells grants them an additonal 10% bonus to periodic healing for 10 sec. Each point of Mastery increases each bonus by an additional 1.25%.

Misc. Info.: RDruids are the only druid spec that keeps their caster form (doesn't shapeshift). This is nice for those who'd like to show-off transmog'ed sets. Their mana regen scales better with intellect than spirit.

Strong Points: Very mana efficient and can have very high healing throughput when multi target healing. They are also the only healer that brings Replenishment; it gives 10 party or raid members (with the lowest mana left) 1% of their maximum mana every 5 second for 15 seconds, or 3% over the full duration.

Weak Points: Poor single target heals. They are the most fragile healer, with low armor and no threat dropping abilities. Their mastery can be wasted if Harmony is allowed to fall off.

Fun Fact: Druids can have up to 5 HoT effects on a single target at once.

Link to class forum: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/1012663/

Back to contents: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/4015354204?page=1#1



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RESTORATION SHAMANS
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Shammys are a combination of cast time and HoT healers.

Mechanics/Abilities: Shammys have both decently strong single target and AoE heals. Their signature spell, Earth Shield, places an eathern shield on only one player at a time that increases healing on that player and procs a heal every few seconds with incoming damage. They have a mechanic called Tidal Waves where every time they cast the abilitites Riptide (HoT heal) or Chain Heal (smart AoE heal) they get a +30% haste buff on their next 2 direct heals. They have the most potent single target burst heal in the game (Greater Healing Wave). They have a nice raid save in the ability Spirit Link Totem (which reduces damage taken and redistributes health for 6 secs within 10 yrds). They also bring many totem buffs, offensive dispells, a ranged interrupt, strong CC and Heroism/Bloodlust.

What Mastery Does: Deep Healing: Increases the potency of their healing spells by up to 24%, based on the current health level of their target (lower health targets are healed for more). Each point of Mastery increases healing by up to and additional 3.0%.

Misc. Info.: Shamans have a travel form called Ghost Wolf which increases their run speed to 130%. It can be used anywhere. Their main mana totem regen buff is shared with all in the raid and scales with their spirit.

Strong Points: They're outstanding at fast triage. They can also provide a huge amount of supporting AoE healing with very little time invested, because the ability Healing Rain is the largest single short cooldown AoE heal in the game.

Weak Points: While having many cooldowns and utility, their raw healing power is comparatively lower than the other healing specs.

Fun Fact: Reincarnate doesn't count as a battle rez.

Link to class forum: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/1012669/

Back to contents: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/4015354204?page=1#1

Sticky requested, great idea for a thread.
And thanks for doing the work most of us are too lazy to do.

I would say for PvE, a Holy Pally strong point would be our incredible self-healing from Protector of the Innocent, combined with out plate armor and stamina gives us high survivability, and let's us make good use Hand of Sacrifice in a pinch. A weak point would be reliance on Holy Power, which lends itself to more of a "rotation" than other healing specs. A fun fact would be using Glyph of Divinity granting us 10% of our mana when we use Lay on Hands, as well as continual melee using Seal of Insight (made easy with Enlightened Judgements), allows us to come back from nearly OOM moments.

Oh, and we can throw up Righteous Fury and Divine Shield to tank long enough for someone to brez the proper tank...not that it's ever happened to me or anything.

I took a stab at these.

Druids.
Strengths: Very mana effiecient, and can has very high healing throughput when multitarget healing.
Weaknesses: Poor single target heals. Most fragile healer, with low armor and no threat dropping abilities. Mastery can be wasted if harmony buff is allowed to fall off.
Fun fact: Treeform-tranquility is the most powerful healing spell in the game.

Paladin
Strengths: Very strong single target and 2-target healing. Most durable of all healers, with near-tank level armor and large amounts of self-healing. Lots of cooldowns available when trouble hits.
Weakness: Needs to stand in place to heal effectively. The holy power resource system can be hard to keep track of. Can have mana problems at low gear.
Fun Fact: Holy Paladins have their own unique gear, which no other spec can use.

Shaman.
Shaman have both strong single target heals along with strong groups heals. They have a mechanic called tidal waves where every time they cast riptide or chainheal they get +30% haste on their next 2 direct heals. They also bring many totem buffs, offensive dispells, a ranged interrupt, strong CC and heroism/bloodlust. Their main mana regen buff is shared with all healers in the raid, and scales with their spirit.
Strengths: Capable of being good tank healers or good raid healers, if specced for the role.
Weaknesses: While they seem to be able to do everything, in each roll there are other classes which do the same thing better.
Fun Fact: Shaman reincarnate does not count as a battle rez.

02/06/2012 09:35 PMPosted by Albydru

sticky requested keep going! =D thx

02/06/2012 08:09 PMPosted by Abeille

Discs are weaker in AoE healing than other healing specs/classes.

We are not!

Well, ok, on a fight like Ultraxion where the AoE is constant, sure. Maybe. But on your average fight, we can match any other class's AoE. We just have to work for it.

Disc's major weak point is that we're not very good at triage (in the sense of using single-target heals and HoTs selectively on low-health targets across the raid to prevent deaths). The Grace and Weakened Soul mechanics make our single-target healing rather inflexible.

Edit: Besides that, nice post! Much needed. Sticky requested :)

Strong Points: Capable of either tank healing or raid healing if specced for the role.Weak Points: While being a versatile healer, their abilitites are somewhat weaker in comparison to other classes.

Basically, we are a jack-of-all-trades, good at everything but great at nothing type of healer. I think that might be a little less confusing to say.

You can't righteous fury + divine shield to tank.

Rather, righteous fury will do nothing.

Divine shield drops you off the aggro table; you must taunt (you can do back to back taunt + righteous defense) to keep the boss aggro on you, but thats all you can do.

If you don't taunt, you will lose aggro and dps will die.

Also, disc priests are great aoe healers.

Sticky requested! Nice little write-up :D

02/06/2012 08:10 PMPosted by Abeille

Treeform + Tranquility is the most powerful healing combination in the game.

I'm pretty sure Divine Hymn is more powerful than a ToL Tranq, and so is HR spam + any throughput CD.

DF is nearly equal to ToL, and popping AW during its duration puts it well ahead of ToL.

02/06/2012 08:10 PMPosted by Abeille

Their two basic strategies are healing a tank with a powerful stacked heal over time (Lifebloom) or scattering smaller heals over time (Rejuvenation and Wild Growth) over a large number of targets.

Lifebloom on the tank is something that you do as a Resto Druid even if you are raid healing. It's not exclusive to Tank healing. In addition, it certainly takes more than Lifebloom to keep a tank up if you are Tank healing.

You also didn't mention anything about efflorescence?