Good morning, adventurers! Librarian Husky here, ready to guide you through the intricate world of PvP healing. Whether you’re battling in the Arena or commanding the Battlegrounds, we’re about to delve into the strengths and viability of each healer. Let’s ensure you’re equipped with the knowledge to excel in your chosen path. Let’s get started!
Recent Changes in PvP Mechanics
Recently, a massive wave of changes was introduced, most notably to PvP trinket bonuses. Stamina and Main stats have been reduced, but healing remains exceptionally powerful. Many solo Shuffle Arena games now experience 70-80% Healing Reduction due to the dampening mechanic.
Impact of Healing Reduction in PvP
If it takes 70 to 80% Healing Reduction for a “team fight” to conclude, we can predict issues in Battleground scenarios. Unfortunately, on the beta, Battleground Blitz queues don’t pop often, but I’ve been spamming them a lot on the pre-patch. Healers’ mana expenditure seems to be almost non-existent, allowing them to heal through three DPS effortlessly, indicating a significant imbalance.
Current State and Potential Adjustments
It appears that developers are aware of the imbalance and are actively trying to reduce overall healing, including self-healing for DPS. Recent changes to trinket bonuses have been implemented, but they haven’t significantly impacted the gameplay yet. It’s also unfortunate that all healers were buffed just as the PvP bonus was nerfed. This situation likely calls for additional PvP-specific modifiers to address these issues effectively.
Choosing Between Arena and Battlegrounds
You will need to make a significant decision on whether to focus on Arena or Battlegrounds. Discipline Priest in Solo Shuffle and Arena currently feels very strong. One of the main reasons is its ability to deal substantial damage and utilize damage reduction cooldowns, unlike Holy Priest, which relies on healing amplification. During dampening, Discipline Priest‘s cooldowns remain powerful, and having high damage during these critical moments is crucial to securing the match.
Discipline Priest Performance in Arena and Battlegrounds
Observing the top healers in the game, such as Lonar in Europe, Discipline Priests are making a strong impact in Solo Queue Arenas. However, in pre-patch Battlegrounds, my experience has been quite different. Discipline Priests feel like slow-moving turtles, unable to control their fate. If there’s a Death Knight in the game, they can lock you down, making movement across the map nearly impossible.
For example, I recently saw a heroic Discipline Priest trying to carry the flag but couldn’t make it across the map due to the Death Knight’s control. They need a PvP talent that provides Mobility to be more viable in Battlegrounds because they currently have none—they are stuck in the mud.
Mobility Challenges for Priests in PvP
The current state of Mobility for Priests is a significant issue. Even if you use Fade or Feather, you’ll be snared again and gripped into a corner. Mobility is absolutely crucial, and its lack is severely impacting Priests. If you’re choosing a Priest specialization, especially for high-end Battleground play, this limitation is important to consider. Currently, Battlegrounds don’t seem to offer spec-specific rewards, which is a major oversight, as some specs will clearly outperform others, monopolizing titles and rewards at the end of the season.
Spec Performance in Arena and Battlegrounds
For Battleground Blitz players, Discipline Priest might still be better than Holy for these situations. However, in Arena, Discipline is incredibly strong, and I would place it in the A tier. The spec performs exceptionally well in Arena right now, but the same cannot be said for Battlegrounds.
Preservation Evoker: A Top-Tier Healer
Preservation Evoker is currently very overtuned. Its healing output and damage are impressive, and it also has solid Mobility and excellent cooldowns. The Rescue ability is an underrated tool, especially for helping your flag carrier across the map, making Preservation Evoker a clear choice for the S tier.
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Strengths of the Preservation Evoker Kit
The Preservation Evoker‘s kit is exceptionally strong and fun to play. The talent trees are powerful, and the entire spec feels highly tuned, easily making it the top-performing healer in Solo Shuffle and likely in Battleground Blitz as well. Its high throughput and excellent Mobility tools contribute significantly to its current dominance in PvP.
Challenges Facing Holy Paladin in PvP
Unfortunately, Holy Paladin has been receiving repeated nerfs, which are starting to have negative effects. While Holy Paladin does have better Mobility than Priest in Battlegrounds, thanks to abilities like Freedom and Steed, it struggles to keep up with other healers. Despite having tools like AoE Blind for disrupting enemies and Ultimate Sacrifice for protecting flag carriers or orb holders, the constant nerfs are making it increasingly difficult to remain competitive. While Holy Paladin has potential in Battlegrounds, the lack of compensation for these nerfs places it more in the B tier, as other healers continue to outperform it.
Challenges with Crowd Control and Performance in PvP
As you push higher rankings in Arena, Solo Shuffle, or Battlegrounds, you become increasingly susceptible to crowd control, making it easier for opponents to exploit your weaknesses. While you have decent tools in Battlegrounds, your performance in Arena is declining due to repeated nerfs. This leaves you in the middle of the pack, likely needing PvP-specific adjustments and tuning to stay competitive. The current state of your healing abilities might require further changes after any PvE adjustments take place.
Holy Priest Struggles in PvP
Holy Priest is, unfortunately, the weakest healer by far, opposite to the overperforming Preservation Evoker. Your throughput is very low, and despite having unique mechanics like Angel form and Mass Dispel, you face significant issues. You share the Mobility problems of Discipline Priest, making you much weaker. Even with abilities like Lifegrip, you’re often unable to reach a good position to use them effectively. Snares and classes like Death Knights and Rogues, which are highly viable in Battleground Blitz, further hinder your effectiveness, leaving you severely hamstrung in competitive play.
Challenges for Holy Priest in Arena and Battlegrounds
In both Arena and Battlegrounds, you’re going to struggle significantly. In Arena, where games reach high levels of dampening, your healing output—entirely dependent on raw healing—gets severely reduced. This makes you one of the most negatively affected healers in this type of meta.
Holy Priest performs better in a more bursty gameplay environment, where you can utilize Chastise and Fear on a healer, followed by instant Holy Fires to burst down an opponent. However, the current meta, with long games and healers approaching invincibility, doesn’t favor you. In Battlegrounds, your lack of Mobility and lower healing output hinder your effectiveness, even though you may still be unkillable as a personal healer.
Mistweaver Monk: Strengths and Weaknesses
Mistweaver Monks face similar challenges to Holy Priests in Arena. Their cooldowns are negatively impacted by dampening, making them less effective in this environment. However, in Battleground Blitz, Mistweavers excel with arguably the best Mobility of any healer, allowing them to navigate the battlefield more effectively despite the challenges faced in Arena.
Portal Usage and Mobility in PvP
Using portals as a flag carrier or on other maps allows you to escape from seemingly never-ending team fights and reposition yourself where you can have a greater impact. However, recent nerfs to incapacitate abilities have reduced your crowd control effectiveness. In Arena, your overall throughput feels weak, making it challenging to perform well. While you’re likely to rank higher in Battleground Blitz due to your Mobility and ability to escape fights, your performance in Arena remains low. This disparity highlights the importance of understanding the specific strengths and weaknesses of each spec in different PvP environments.
Restoration Druid’s Current State in PvP
Restoration Druid remains highly effective despite recent nerfs to its Mastery. Its healing output is still strong, and it can often avoid casting while still doing decent damage. With arguably the best Mobility among healers, thanks to shapeshifting out of snares, Restoration Druid continues to be a top-tier healer in both Arena and Battlegrounds. The ability to quickly move out of dangerous situations and maintain high healing throughput makes Restoration Druid a powerful choice in the current PvP Meta.
Balancing Flag Carrier Speed in Battlegrounds
There’s a need to consider changes to the speed boost granted when picking up a flag in Battlegrounds. Currently, every spec receives the same speed boost, but this doesn’t bring equity among them. Specs like Druid or Monk, which already have high Mobility, don’t need this boost as much as slower specs like Priest, which could benefit from a larger speed boost to even out their flag-carrying potential. Since everyone gets a 30% boost, slower specs remain disadvantaged, making them less competitive flag carriers.
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Resto Druid’s Competitive Edge in Battlegrounds
Restoration Druids are inherently strong flag carriers due to their Mobility, especially with talents that enhance travel form speed. They are also formidable in one-on-one situations, often able to outlast or defeat DPS players in Battlegrounds. However, Preservation Evoker has become a significant counter to Resto Druids, with its overperformance in current numbers making it challenging for Druids to compete. Despite this, Restoration Druids remain highly competitive and sit solidly in the A tier, particularly in Battlegrounds, where their Mobility and versatility shine.
Druid vs. Other Healers in PvP
Even considering all aspects of the game, Druid remains one of the top picks for PvP. If you plan to engage in both Arena and Battlegrounds, Druid is a much better choice. However, if you’re focusing solely on Battlegrounds, other healers, like Mistweaver, could still be a solid and enjoyable option. Druids offer versatility and strong performance across both formats, making them a well-rounded and competitive choice.
Resto Shaman: Strengths and Weaknesses
Restoration Shaman relies heavily on Instant Healing, which is generally beneficial for competitive play. Talents like Hydro Bubble and Riptide contribute significantly to healing output, though casted healing feels weaker, which can be a drawback. While Resto Shaman has gained more baseline damage, its performance in competitive play, especially in Solo Shuffle lobbies, has been less impressive. Shamans are losing in matchups where they would typically dominate, particularly against wizard comps.
Despite this, Resto Shaman remains better than many other healers, with decent Mobility and essential utilities like Field Totem, which can root enemies and prevent them from reaching critical nodes. Ghost Wolf offers some Mobility, and abilities like Thunderstorm and Lightning Lasso can be invaluable in certain situations. While Resto Shaman may be struggling to maintain its former dominance, it still holds a solid place in the A tier, possibly leaning towards a low A or high B tier depending on the meta.
Utility Usage vs. Passive Healing in PvP
You can’t rely solely on passive healing, as Mistweaver Monks will dominate in that area. Focusing on Utility Usage is key to finding success in Battleground situations. While this spec hasn’t entirely fallen off, it’s important to acknowledge that Instant Healing remains strong, and the spec is still balanced between Arena and Battlegrounds. This is where I see the current meta, given the current balance.
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