Are you ready to perform a noble Healing role in the new Season 2 of the War Within? Want to know which specializations will help you reach the highest RIO? We've got you covered!
In this article, we'll unveil the healer specs that currently excel and look into those that sadly fall a bit short — breaking down exactly why they perform the way they do.
Going into Season 2 Healer balance seems much better than previously with more specializations being closely matched in their potential.
Let's break down what all these A, B and Cs above actually represent:
Discipline Priest is undergoing some major changes in Season 2 — Rapture cooldown is gone and Void Summoner has been overhauled (you can finally forget about the stupid Smite spamming). So far their gameplay looks heavily improved: more cooldown usage decisions, less tedious button spam!
Despite all these tweaks, they still retain stellar healing and damage output and a strong utility (double Pain Suppression and Power Word: Barrier is just something, isn't it?) which keeps them an S-tier pick for the Season 2 as well!
Mistweaver Monk is set to see significant improvements in Mythic+ for Season 2. One highlight is the new Jade Empowerment, which lets Crackling Jade Lightning dish out heavy single-target and AoE damage while healing allies—like an extra minor cooldown. Coupled with the impressive Jade Bond talent (and its CDR boost via Invoke Chi-Ji), this spec becomes incredibly potent. With an outstanding HPS profile, solid melee damage, and a robust utility package, Mistweaver Monk is cemented as one of Season 2's top healers.
Restoration Druid has had their Mastery changed. While their rotation remains similar to Season 1, several quality-of-life tweaks — such as improved target interrupts — make their Mythic+ runs easier, with a stronger focus on committing to either "Owl weaving" or "Cat weaving". Additional survivability adjustments could further boost their durability without sacrificing their excellent party-wide utility. Their damage and healing outputs are solid, though not "broken" enough for S-tier status.
Learn all ins and outs of playing a Healer in Mythic+ with the help of our Pros!
Holy Paladin's most notable change is the boost to Holy Shock's healing and damage output, which synergizes with the tier set to amplify damage during Divine Toll windows. This upgrade, along with a shorter Divine Toll cooldown, makes it easier to handle tough healing checks. Overall, both healing and damage have improved compared to the previous season, making them an average decent healer.
Preservation Evoker still offers the narrowest range of offensive and defensive abilities among all healers — a major drawback. While their damage and healing output are impressive enough to make them a solid pick for any group composition, they don't shine as the top healing option in Mythic+. This is mainly due to the challenge of making them work in pug environment and their inability to match the pure output of the top healing specs.
Holy Priest will maintain their solid DPS and HPS profiles, but their output isn't enough to rank them higher than other healing specs on the tier list. Additionally, they will continue to face the same issues as in Season 1 — low mobility and limited mob control (similar to Discipline Priest). Moreover, being one of the few healing specializations without an interrupt spell further weakens their mob-control compared to other healers.
Restoration Shaman changes going into Season 2 include the removal of some minor cooldowns like Ancestral Guidance and Mana Tide Totem, which will slightly affect their gameplay. They will however retain their incredibly party-wide utility and healing capabilities, but it seems this time around to be much more mana "hungry" than the rest of the healers, that and their low damage output is currently making them lag behind from counterparts.
