With the World of Warcraft: Shadowlands expansion around the corner, players everywhere are anxious to know how their favorite classes are going to hold up. Many classes have drastic changes to talents and abilities, so the current tier lists are all going to change in a couple of weeks. When it comes to raiding at high levels, the choice of healer is almost more important than the choice to tank. This means that healers are keeping an extra close eye on the World of Warcraft: Shadowlands beta and what their classes may look like at the end of the month.
The Shadowlands pre-patch changed a lot of the game. The addition of Chromie Time allows players to level in any expansion they choose, which is something that has been asked about for years. In addition, the level squish means that every level a player gains matters and adds something to their class. One of the other major changes is that many classes have new talents or spells that completely reworks their class spec’s rotations. With the new expansion coming out soon, many players are asking how these changes have affected healers.
The Best Healer
For healing, the current best spec in the Shadowlands pre-patch is the Holy Priest. This spec was previously near the bottom of the list but saw Circle of Healing become a baseline ability, and the talent Prayer Circle increases the spell’s effectiveness. Restoration Shaman jumped from 5 to 2 after receiving buffs to Chain Heal, Healing Rain, Healing Wave, and Riptide. These abilities are all much stronger and place Restoration Shaman at a very good spot going into the new expansion.
The Worst Healer
On the other end of the spectrum, Holy Paladin saw the biggest decrease from first place to last place. Several of the spec’s powerful abilities came from the Corruption feature that is now obsolete in the pre-patch. Holy Paladins also gained the new Holy Power mechanic, and many players are seeing lower numbers due to being unfamiliar with the class changes. Players shouldn’t ditch this spec just yet, as many of these rankings will change when Shadowlands officially goes live due to Covenant abilities being introduced.
With the current World of Warcraft Anniversary buff granting players 16% extra experience, now is a great time to level other healers and get them ready for Shadowlands. Warlords of Draenor is the fastest way to level at the moment, so it shouldn’t be much trouble getting another character or two to the max. Now is the perfect time to see what classes players enjoy so they know which to try out in the next expansion.
With players getting ready to leave Battle For Azeroth and start their journey in Shadowlands, a lot will change with the game. The Heart of Azeroth and Azerite Traits will be exchanged for Covenant abilities, and that alone will likely completely shift the tier rankings for classes. Players should focus on playing what they enjoy right now and wait for the new expansion to settle before giving up on any specs.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands will release on November 23 on PC.
Source: WoWHead