The Best of the Best Healing Guide for World of Warcraft

LF1M need healer! Sound familiar? Of course it does because good healers are always in demand by everyone from the best raiding guild on the server to the lowliest pick up group. This guide is your one stop source for the best of the best information on healing in World of Warcraft.

My guide discusses everything you need to know to become a top healer. Before you sign on as a healer make sure the rest of the group is geared enough to do the instance. If the party is geared enough the tank should not be taking too much damage or die instantly.

You are also counting on characters like mages and rogues who specialize in DPS (damage per second) to not pull aggro from the tank, if they don't pull aggro you can concentrate on keeping the tank alive and they shouldn't be taking damage often. DPS should be able kill mobs and bosses fast enough that your mana is not depleted before the fight is over. The better the DPS, the faster the instance will go and the less healing you will have to do. It's held as a general rule on the World of Warcraft forums: "If the tank dies, its the healer's fault. If the healer dies, its the tank's fault. If anyone else dies, it's their fault."

Add Ons

I know superb healers who don't use add ons at all and are able to support entire raids with the point and click method of targeting. Most players don't want to do that and faster and more efficient by using an add on.

I highly recommend Heal Bot which you can download from Curse. Once you have configured Healbot you will have a health bar for each party member that you can set up to use a specific healing spell based on a click. I like to have Healbot set up to use my most mana efficient HOT (heal over time), my fastest casting heal and a full heal spell.

With Healbot, I can just go down the list and use a HOT on DPS and then use a big slow heal or a fast one for the tank, depending on the situation. You may also want to consider using Clique and Grids which are other add ons similar to Healbot that some healers like. I have found that Clique and Grids involve more work to configure and install but it is a matter of preference.

About classes, which one heals the best? There is no class which heals better than all others but all the classes heal differently and some types of healers may be better than others for certain situations. Lately, serious raiding guilds have been favoring Paladins and Shamans as opposed to other healing classes to get more buffs and totems.

Planned Changes to Mana Regeneration in Patch 3.1

Zarhym, recently announced that Blizzard is introducing a major change to mana regeneration in Patch 3.1. Most healers currently wait 5 seconds or more after casting a healing spell, to get mana back in long fights. Blizzard is making mana regeneration more effective while casting and reducing mana regeneration when not casting. Soon the five second rule will go the way of downranking spells and other old healer tricks to save mana.

On the test center, it became clear that to make the most of the changes, healers will want to stack Intelligence for a higher mana pool and spell critical more than spirit. For example, a Holy Priest, after casting a critical heal will get 50% increased mana regeneration from Holy Concentration. Blizzard is also introducing new items for healers/casters which have the new ideal stats, take a look here.

With Patch 3.1 healers will also be able to have dual specializations, starting at level 40, purchased from a trainer for 1,000 gold. Dual specialization allows you to store an alternative build and switch between the two builds when out of combat. It will be possible to be a healing priest and then turn into a shadow priest, with all your glyphs and action bars saved; all it takes is a five second cast. This change should make playing a healer of any class more exciting and make it possible to play DPS at least some of the time, make doing daily quests easier and having a healer more fun all around.

Planned Changes to Healing in Patch 3.1

Major chances to healing are now on the test center for Patch 3.1, the following changes are now listed on the public test center patch notes. Undocumented changes on the test center are listed here.

The Priest Healer

Priests are different from other healing classes because they have the most options for healing, including powerful group heals and heals with neat effects. Playing a priest involves more brain work than some of the other healers because of the wide variety of spells you have. Priests are good for experienced, fast thinking players who make the most of the versatility of their class. The Priest talent, Meditation allows 30% passive mana regeneration while casting and if you have enough spirit, you can regenerate a lot of mana during battle. There are two major healing talent trees available to priests for healing; discipline and holy.

Discipline priests excel at preventing damage and mitigating damage and holy priests have more healing spells and more mana efficient heals. Priests also have the ability to cast a shadow fiend which also gives the priest mana in combat. Priests also have some of the best shielding spells in the game. Finally, when you are playing a priest, most players will see you and think healer automatically. Because I have played a paladin, druid and shaman, I know that a priest will get asked about twice as often to heal groups, simply because most players associate priests with healing and the other classes more with DPS and Tanking.

What to Cast:

Regular Rotation: Renew, Flash of Light or Greater Heal, depending on how much health the target needs.

Prayer of Mending: Cast this spell on the tank just before a boss is pulled. When hit, the Prayer of Mending will jump from the tank to a different member of the group. Casting Prayer of Mending on a tank is also useful because it reduces the initial damage taken from the boss and generates threat for the tank. Prayer of mending is a powerful spell that heals 800 hit points and can jump up to 5 times.

Circle of Healing: Is a solid situational group heal but has a 6 second cool down.

Power Word: Shield: Power Word shield prevents damage to a player. Tanks such as warriors and bear druids, do not appreciate having this spell cast on them at the beginning of a fight because it interferes with them gaining rage. For warrior and bear tanks, case prayer of mending on them instead. Feel free to cast power word shield on paladin and death knight tanks anytime, in addition to prayer of mending. Power word shield really shines as an emergency tactic to keep someone alive until you can get a heal on them. If you use shields often or have chosen the discipline talent tree, consider using the Glyph of Power Word: Shield which also causes your shileds to heal the target for 20% of the absorption amount.

Holy Nova: With the Glyph of Holy Nova, the spell becomes a poor man's circle of healing without a cool down. You can spam Holy Nova when your group is in trouble and heal the entire group for about 80% of what Prayer of Healing does for the mana cost of renew or flash heal on one person. Hoiy Nova will quickly drain your mana if over used.

Guardian Spirit: Use this when the Tank is in danger of dying. The Guardian spirit spell increases the amount of healing received by the target by 40% and prevents one killing blow. The tank can only have one guardian spirit at a time.

Binding Heal: Use binding heal only when you are hurt and the tank needs a big heal, otherwise it's not worth the mana.

Prayer of Healing: Although Prayer of Healing is costly, if you use the major Glyph Prayer of Healing, your entire group will also recieve a powerful heal over time effect with their group heal. In situations where everyone needs a heal and a heal over time, you can come out ahead by using this spell, if you use the glyph.

Lightwell: Lightwell, also known as the lolwell, is enjoying a sort of renaissance due to changes made in Patch 3.0, the spell now breaks if one receives damage equal to 30% of health. As a group healing method, lightwell can be useful and has the potential to restore 120,000 hit points to your party. The lightwell must be used by party members in order for them to be healed and many people won't use the lightwell. However, if you have warlocks who need to lifetap, hurt dps who aren't getting heals while you focus on the tank, the lightwell can be a lifesaver. Priests debate whether lightwell is worth spending talent points to aquire but most agree that it has creative and situational uses, provided you have a group that knows how to use the lightwell effectively.

Priest Glyphs:

Glyph of Renew: Reduces the duration of your Renew by 3 seconds but increases the amount healed each tick by 25%.

Glyph of Flash Heal: Reduces the mana cost of your Flash Heal by 10%

Glyph of Holy Nova: Your Holy Nova spell heals for an additional 40%, but deals 40% less damage.

Glyph Prayer of Healing: Use: Your Prayer of Healing spell also heals an additional 20% of its initial heal over 6 sec.

The Druid Healer

Druids have a potent array of heal over time spells, are the only class that can resurrect in battle and have the Innervate spell. Want a free flying mount? Druids get flight form for the training cost only. Druids are also a great class because if you get tired of healing you can easily change your talents to become a feral tank or dps type of character. It's also fun and convenient to have stealth and hiding when you need it. Druids use HOTS first, then use Swiftmend or use a large heal if needed. Most of the time, you will not need a large heal, your heal over time spells are powerful enough to keep everyone happy. Healing is so easy with a druid that you could throw some heal over time spells on someone, go afk for 30 seconds and no one would die unless you are deep in a difficult heroic instance or raid.

What to cast:

Regular Rotation: Lifebloom, Rejuvenate, Lifebloom, Lifebloom.

Druid Glyphs:

Glyph of Healing Touch: Decreases the cast time of Healing Touch by 1.5 sec., the mana cost by 25%, and the amount healed by 50%.

Glyph of Rejuvenation: While your Rejuvenation targets are below 50% health, you will heal them for an additional 50% health.

Glyph of Swiftmend: Your Swiftmend ability no longer consumes a Rejuvenation or Regrowth effect from the target.

The Paladin Healer

Holy Paladins are tough, excellent single target healers and their spell criticals restore their mana which helps them keep healing through long fights. However paladins do not have heal over time or many group healing spells. Paladins are survivors with high hit points and shields, plate mail and protective spells. Paladins can take quite a bit of punishment and keep healing unlike other healers. As a hybrid class like the druid and shaman, Paladins can always change talents, becoming tanks or dps if they get tired of healing.

What to Cast:

Regular Rotation: Flash of Light and Holy Light

Divine Plea: You gain 25% of your total mana over 15 sec, but the amount healed by your spells is reduced by 50%.

Beacon of Light: Beacon of Light causes the target to become a beacon of light for everyone around them for 40 yards. When you heal anyone in the area, the beacon also gets healed. So you could heal a rogue or death knight and also heal the tank.

Paladin Glyphs:

Glyph of Holy Light: Your Holy Light grants 10% of its heal amount to up to 5 friendly targets within 8 yds of the initial target.

Glyph of Flash of Light: Your Flash of Light heals for 50% less initially, but also heals for 140% of its initial effect over 12 sec.

Glyph of Cleansing: Reduces the mana cost of your Cleanse and Purify spells by 20%.

The Shaman Healer

Shamans are often thought of as one of the best healing classes and have gained wide acceptance for end-game raiding. Shamans typically use lesser healing wave and chain heal for the group when necessary When healing tanks, Shamans use Earth Shield which functions like a HOT because when the tank gets hit, the Earth Shield will heal some of the damage and also reduce the damage the tank takes. The healing shaman also has totems which give powerful buffs to the group.

What to Cast:

Earth Shield on the tank, lesser healing wave and chain heal when the party needs it.

Shaman Glyphs:

Glyph of Chain Heal: Your Chain Heal heals 1 additional target.

Glyph of Lesser Healing Wave: Your Lesser Healing Wave heals for 20% more if the target is also affected by your Earth Shield.

Glyph of Mana Tide Totem: Your Mana Tide Totem grants an additional 1% of each target's maximum mana each time it pulses