Quick Links
InWorld Of Warcraft: Dragonflight, Healers are essential for any PVE Content. A Dungeon or Raid group simply isn’t possible without having this role present. However, it can be a lot of pressure to be the backbone of any party, especially in Raids with a considerable amount of player health bars to manage and maintain.
RELATED:World Of Warcraft: Dragonflight - Tank Tier List
While some healers are easier to play than others, the role isn’t for anyone who doesn’t want to stay on their toes during engagements with enemies. With various types of ways to maintain your ally’s health bars, each Healer class can bring something unique to the group.
Updated on 19 June 2025 by Alex Ferriday:This guide has been updated to reflect the Patch 10.05 Meta and to give a more detailed breakdown of the placement of each specialisation regarding both Mythic Plus and Raiding.
Healer Tier List Criteria
No PvE content party is complete without a Healer.In the end, they are the life of the party. Alongside maintaining your ally’s health, so they don’t die, the healer must be aware andwell-informed of mechanicsin case they can’t cast and move simultaneously. The need toplan out their heals at appropriate timesis essential.
Similarly to the Tank role, there are only a few healing specialisations to choose from, in contrast to DPS. That being said, each Healing spec can bring something unique to the party. Though there may be some slight differences between Tier Lists, the finality of your Healer class choice should come from your love of the class and your ability to do well with it.
The Healer Tier List comes down towhich classes are the most forgiving to play, the best at outputting high consistent healing, and personal survivability and utility. The differences in these classes boil down to the way they heal, and the various toolkits they can utilise to help the party.
Mythic+ Tier List
Some Healer classes will show their best qualities in Mythic+ dungeons.The Pros and Cons will help give you an idea of where each class shines and where each class comes up empty-handed. They may help you decide on which class to choose for yourself as a Mythic+ healer or which you want to bring into your group to bring about the most efficiency and synchronicity with your team’s classes. Your choice of healermay be just the thing that makes or breaks your Mythic+ run and determines if you time it or not.
Pros and Cons
S-Tier
Pro: Great utility and reliable proactive healing Con: Improper cooldown use is punishing
Pro: Great mobility and all-round burst healing Con: Limited range on most healing spells
A-Tier
Pro: Great passive Tank heals, withBeacon of LightCon: Low mobility and AoE healing
Pro: Great proactive burst Healing Con: Rotation mistakes are heavily punished
B-Tier
Pro: Great survivability and strong utility Con: No immunity options, poor spot healing
Pro: Great group heals Con: No interrupts, low mobility, and survivability
Pro: Great Single Target Healing Con: New players may find mana hard to manage
Restoration Druid
Known as the premier Mythic Plus healers, Restoration Druids are still a top-tier choice for both beginners and veterans alike. Great mobility, utility, and survivability are backed up by a toolkit thatrewards proactive players. Applying your HoTs before incoming damage helps to smooth out dropping health bars, andmany players find Resto Druid to be a forgiving healer to learn the role with. Strong cooldowns in the form ofFlourishandTranquilityare good panic buttons, and the returningMark of the Wildis a strong buff for the party. In Mythic Plus a healer’s damage and utility are extremely important, and with the ability to switch toCat Formfor decent damage, and strong crowd control moves such asUrsol’s Vortex, Restoration Druid is a great pick for any prospective group.
Preservation Evoker
The new kids on the block, Preservation Evokers come with an arsenal of useful tools and easily accompany Resto Druid as the top picks for Mythic Plus content right now. Their heals areprimarily concentrated in powerful bursts, and you have several ways of quickly topping the group.Stasisis an amazing spell that rewards thinking ahead, and being able to bank strong burst heals for when you need them gives Evoker flexibility that few other healers can match. Evoker may not be quite as easy to pick up as Resto Druid, and you may find thereduced spell rangecauses some issues. However, with proper play, Evoker’s healing is currently unrivaled, and when you add in their amazing mobility, survivability, and utility, it is easy to why they currently reign supreme in Mythic Plus content.
Holy Paladin
Holy Paladins are not quite what they used to be, and miss their Shadowlands days of being the top healing powerhouse. That being said, they still retain a strong toolkit and arefantastic at tank and spot healing. Multiple immunities mean you can avoid being caught out, but limited mobility may make your life a bit harder than it needs to be.Where Holy falls is in its AoE healing, as while you can burst heal sufficiently, prolonged AoE heals on anon-stacked partycan prove troublesome. Holy does not bring as much utility as other healers, as their crowd control options are very limited, so they aremore dependent on group compositionthan the S-Tier specs.
Discipline Priest
One of the trickiest healers to master, Discipline’s high-risk high-reward playstyle can sometimes cause problems in Mythic Plus, asthey depend on having a target to damageto use their most effective heals.Shadow Mendspam can act as a filler, butDiscipline shines when they are given time to set up their ramp, which the fast-paced Mythic Plus environment does not always provide. Low mobility and a lack of defensive options may also cause issues in higher keys, but a skilled Disc player will always be capable of great things.
Restoration Shaman
Restoration Shaman is currently a victim of tuning, as their toolkit is fairly good for Mythic Plus. Good utility and the best interrupt in the game make for a nice combo, and unique cooldowns such asSpirit Link Totemmean Resto is one of the unique healers available. However, they specialise in AoE group healing, and while they can spot heal with spells such asRiptide, it simply is not as easy or effective as other classes on this front. Poor defensive options also hold them back a bit, so you may want to put your Resto Shammy on the back burner for a while.
Holy Priest
Often seen as the sidekick to Discipline,Holy Priest does not excel in a Mythic Plus environment. Never known for their spot healing, Holy has at times been an AoE throughput monster, but this is often not the requirement of pushing a high key, and low damage alongside weak defensive options means Holy struggles to keep up. You also won’t be going anywhere particularly fast, aslow mobility leaves you susceptible to mechanics, and you need to stand and cast to output your best healing rotation.
Mistweaver Monk
Mistweaver Monk is a strange one, as they are currently tuned well, and are capable of outputting some great healing. However, they arevery mana hungry, and a lack of burst healing can leave the group vulnerable if they are forced to deal with a mechanic. Great mobility and defensive options mean Mistweaver have the tools to be a tier higher, but it’s hard to suggest a reason to take them over one of the top choices.Dealing damage while healing is a strong mechanic, but it may take some nerfs to the top specs for Mistweaver to climb the ranks.
Though this is the current Mythic Plus Tier list,don’t let it dissuade you from your class choice. Each class can bring a unique skill to the party that can depend solely on situations, playstyle, and synchronicity with the rest of the party. Just because a spec is ranked lower does not mean it isn’t capable of pushing high keys or providing a fun experience.
Raid Tier List
Here is the list of Healer classesthat shine best in the Raid content of World of Warcraft.The list of Pros and Cons can be a great checklist of where each class excels and falls short.This is great for someone wanting to heal a Raiding party but can’t decide which class to play, or for the Raid leader looking for the perfect type of healer.
Pro: Strong all-round heals Con: Mana intensive playstyle
Pro: High mobility, fantastic raid-wide throughput Con: Reduced casting range requires good positioning
Pro: Powerful cooldowns to help shield allies Con: Difficult to learn how to heal in raids
Pro: Can output damage when healing Con: No damage reduction options for the party
Pro: Excellent at stacked group heals Con: Group spread leads to a lack of healing output
Pro: Lots of utility spells and good spot healing Con: Low mobility, suffers from moving out of melee
Pro: Excellent group utility Con: Poor group heals if the party is spread out
While Restoration Druids are not quite as prominent in Raids as in Mythic Plus, their current tuning means it would be remiss of your raid not to bring one.Mark of the Wildis a mandatory buff, andStampeding Roarprovides a raid-wide movement cooldown. Excellent raid healing withRejuvenationis backed up by an interesting new playstyle withAdaptive Swarm. If you enjoy managing multiple buffs across the raid, then Resto Druid is certainly a top pick, and while they gobble up mana, being able toInnervateyourself or another healer is a nice bonus.
To nobody’s surprise, Evokers are an amazing raid healer in their debut expansion.Incredible AoE burst healingmakes Evoker the current stand-out choice, as they possess multiple strong raid cooldowns.DreamflightandRewindare particularly effective at dealing with large bursts of incoming damage, and there is no raid fight that the Evoker is unequipped to handle. A unique buff, top-tier movement, and utility options such asRescuemean Preservation should be an auto-include for any raid.
Not currently enjoying the best tuning, Discipline Priest remains a good pick for raiding, and theproactive shield-based playstylewill always have a place on a roster. Being able tomitigate incoming damage instead of healingit will always give Disc its niche, and while this requires careful preparation if played around correctly,Disc can effectively solo heal large damage phases. Their Mythic Plus limitations are somewhat mitigated in raids, and Disc remains ever-popular despite the tuning.
Another strong choice for raids, Mistweaver comes with a couple of amazing cooldown options.Revival can effectively nullify dangerous raid-wide mechanics, by mass dispelling and healing every member immediately, andLife Cocooncan easily save a life by providing a massive shield. Their fist weaving focused playstyle also means they dish out a nice amount of damage, and while they are still mana-hungry, Mistweaver is able to compete with the S-Tier choices on raw healing output, plus retaining their great mobility gives them a safety net when it comes to dodging incoming mechanics. TheMystic Touch debuff guarantees one monk a raid spot, and with Brewmaster Monk falling off its pedestal on the Tank front, it might be time for the Mistweaver Monk to truly shine.
Another spec that shines more brightly in Raiding than Mythic Plus is Resto Shaman, as their AoE-centered healing is more effective.Healing Rain and correct Totem usage can prop up the raid’s health, andnothing can ever replace Spirit Link as the go-to raid cooldown. A victim of tuning, Resto still has all the tools to be a top healer, but a spread group or spot healing-focused encounter sees them overtaken by most other healing specs.
Holy Paladin should typically have a raid spot, as they arethe best Paladin spec to run Devotion Aura, a flat damage reduction that every raid is going to want. Lower-end AoE healing especially on spread fights can hurt them, as can being out of melee.Generating Holy Power is a struggle if they have nothing to hit, and their low mobility means they don’t deal well with running around for mechanics. However, they arestill excellent Tank healersand can contribute effectively to healing a stacked group of melee.Immunities make them good mechanic soakers, and they can dish out decent damage without lowering their healing output.
While they don’t suffer as terribly in raids, Holy Priest relies on being tuned well to be viable. Areactive heal-focused playstyleis the exact opposite of Discipline, and if Holy doesn’t happen to be producing the numbers, Disc is typically a stronger option. That being said,Symbol of Hopeis a very interesting cooldown that helps your raid with their defensive cooldowns, andHoly is one of the best beginner healers. An easy-to-learn playstyle and forgiving nature make Holy one of the recommended choices for newer players, and with good tuning Holy is perfectly capable of outshining the competition.
While this is the Healer tier list for Raids,each fight in each Raid is incredibly situational and may require something different from what the S and A-Tier can provide.This is where the B-Tier can shine and show the world what they are made of.
Some classes may do better at Mythic+ and Raids than others, but this doesn’t need to stop you from being one amazing Healer as one of the lower-tier Healing classes.Each class varies on utilities and the abilities it can bring to the party, and as a lower-tier class, it may need some extra effort to shine.
