This Mists of Pandaria Classic Phase 1 PvE Healer Tier List will go over each Healing specialization in MoP Classic and give you a general understanding of the power level of each one in PvE content.
Table of content:
If you want to know what should be the strongest Healer Class and Spec in Mists of Pandaria Classic Phase 1, this tier list should help you understand where your specialization lands in terms of power.
Tier List Disclaimers
As this tier list tries its best to evaluate the power level of each class in Mists of Pandaria Classic, there are a few things you should keep in mind before reading it.
- First, it’s based on the overall performance we witnessed in the original release and during PTR, but Mists of Pandaria Classic will release on the latest patch of MoP and with extra changes from PTR. This can and most likely will change.
- This tier list doesn’t take into account leveling speed, dungeon performance, and only considers phase 1. Some specs can be a bit rough early on but scale very well, and you might miss this information if you only look at the actual tier list, but we will do our best to mention the scaling elements in the deep dive part of the guide.
- Mists of Pandaria Classic is a solved expansion, which means everything can be done with every spec. Player skill difference is always more important than balance: if someone plays well, they will perform, no matter the specialization.
Healer PvE Tier List for MoP Classic (Phase 1)
Note: Order matters within each row.
MoP Classic Healer Tier List Explanations & Ranking Details
Tier List Explanation
S Tier: This Tier is reserved for the best specialization in the first phase of MoP Classic. They are the ones with the highest potential or/and best utility. They might not be always first at everything, but you should see one or multiple of them in every raid group.
A Tier: A Tier specs are very good, and you should always see one of these in raid groups. They aren’t as dominant as S Tier specializations, but are in a very comfortable spot: strong, but not broken. The best state a class can be.
B Tier: These specializations could have great performance… but only in the right hands. With fewer tools to dominate the damage or healing meters, they are still reliable and good enough to be considered viable, but to actually perform they need a bit more than A or S Tier specializations.
C Tier: C Tier specializations aren’t bad per se, they just often compete with way stronger alternatives in their own classes. Combining this fact with a tendency to ask a lot of effort to match B and A tier classes, and you have weaker specs that tend to see less representation.
D Tier: This tier should include only a few Specs. These specializations are accumulating a few core issues that Blizzard would need to address for them to be viable this phase, or specs that need to wait for a later phase to shine.
Ranking Discussion
S Tier: Discipline Priest
Discipline Priests are just great at everything. They have a good healing output through their Atonement healing, can bring the raid back on track with nice burst healing, but more importantly: they can mitigate an insane amount of damage dealt. A good Discipline Priest, who understands when the raid is about to take a large amount of damage, can negate pretty much all of the damage dealt to the raid. And in combination with this incredible healing and shielding capacity, they deal good damage for healers, and bring important raid buffs.
S Tier: Restoration Shaman
Restoration Shaman are also very good. If your Discipline Priest lets some damage reach your raid, Restoration Shaman can just heal it back instantly. With insane AoE Healing and very strong raid cooldowns, Restoration Shaman are the best “true” healers this patch (Disc tends to mitigate damage more than healing it). With all that healing, they also bring incredible utility with a lot of raid buffs. Having at least one Shaman in every raid comp is mandatory even if they were weak.
A Tier: Mistweaver Monk
Mistweaver Monk is the new healing specialization in Mists of Pandaria. And balance wise, it’s a very strong option. The spec has three big problems: it’s a bit harder to play than other specs due to the new mechanics it brings into the game, every raid comp will most likely already have a few Monks so it’s harder to find a place and it’s not as broken as Restoration and Discipline. Besides that, it does everything right: great healing and burst healing, good utility, great mobility, good damage… It’s a great healer, not broken, just very strong.
B Tier: Restoration Druid
Restoration Druids are in the same state as Restoration Shaman, just weaker because they have less on demand strong heals like shamans. But they bring a very unique type of healing profile, being the only Healing over Time specialization. This makes them very strong in some niche scenarios but pretty weak if you need mitigation and not healing. They can heal a raid group pretty well, but need a bit more help if a mechanic is hurting the raid a bit too much in one hit.
B Tier: Holy Paladin
Holy Paladin are in the exact same spot as Restoration Druid: their healing profile is very unique, being the best single target healer in the game. So in specific fights where few targets are getting destroyed by the boss, Holy Paladin thrive. But when the whole group is taking constant damage, they tend to struggle a bit more. But with an incredible utility package and good enough healing output, they are welcomed in a lot of raid groups.
C Tier: Holy Priest
Holy priest could have gone down to D tier. They are pretty weak, and have a lot of issues, but they can still heal people. Putting them in D tier would have been a bit too harsh, as they can be useful. But the chakra systems, the absence of a true raid cooldown and the fact that this spec shares the spotlight with Discipline Priest makes this the worst healing specialization in the game by a long-shot. If you are not a progress guild, you should still accept people playing Holy, as it can clear most of the content, but if you have a more intense competitive goal, switch to Discipline.
