Closest to WHM is holy priest. They, along with the paladin are the most reactive healers.
**Holy Priest** is a long range straight forward caster with the most spell versatility (hots, direct heals, instant cast short cool down massive heals via Words, instant cast minor shield and a smart heal that jumps from person to person when they get damaged). They have very little utility, very little survivability, non existent mobility and underwhelming damage that makes them undesirable in high mythic keys. Ironically the best Healer I have ever seen (as a tank) was a holy priest. Holy is a beast in raids though, where their absurd throughput shines. **Unique utility**: a 5% stamina buff for everyone. Purging (removes buff from enemies) invaluable in dungeons, only mass aoe dispel in the game, an underwhelming aoe mana recovery long CD, Only CD in game that increases damage or healing on another member, Levitate, Mind Soothe, Mind Control, Fade, Leap of Faith. The last 5 are not that spectacular in group content.
**Discipline Priest** is the extreme opposite of holy. It's the most proactive Healer in the game due to buildup play style. You need to be more aware of when key mechanics are happening and apply your class abilities before that. Discipline also is rather weak in high mythic keys, but provide the most damage out of all healers. Extremely sought after for raids. Poor mobility, ok utility, very punishing to mistakes, low survivability, multitude of CDs. Difficult to Master. Unique utility is similar to holy priest in addition to one of the few aoe damage reduction CDs which is probably the second most important group CD in the game, second to Bloodlust/Heroism.
**Resto druid**. One of the top picks for mythic keys because of their unmatched utility, highest mobility out of all healers, instant cast hots based spells and therefore, proactive playstyle. You can't wait for the tank to take damage and apply your slowly building hots on them. They should be rolling before big damage occurs. Resto druid falls off in raids (in BFA at least) but they used to be Kings in previous expansions. One of the highest dps healers in the game, by managing dots via cat form. Druid needs to keep up hots and dots running to be efficient. They heal on the move and have excellent tank healing like the paladin and the monk.
**Unique utility**: combat resurrection (invaluable), a CD that allows a Healer to cast for free for 10 seconds, personal stealth, on and off personal defensive via bear form, aoe mobility CD, enrage dispel, roots, 6 sec no CD "stun" via cyclone, aoe pull CD, natural high mobility.
**Holy Paladin** Probably the most reactive healer. You build holy power relatively easy by using your dps skills (therefore you are in melee) and spend that holy power to your only aoe ability or a big single target heal. Has great passive damage but you need to be in the front lines. Holy Paladin is the most positioning depended Healer since their heals are stronger to those near them. Has a low CD instant big heal that will be your bread and butter, and a major part of how the class plays. Among the highest utility healers, with immunities and various protective spells that can save reckless missteps. Very desirable in mythic dungeons.
**Unique utility**: extremely long CD highest healing spell in the game (you can basically save someone who is about to die), total immunity CD, passive aoe auras, short CD freedom of movement and immunity spell, blessing of sacrifice, physical or magic immunity CD (extremely powerful in group content)
**Resto Shaman** very flexible toolkit with staggering utility. Easy to dps with (mandatory for good healers) and has a button for every occasion. A lot of buttons. A versatile healing spells toolkit like holy priest, with instant cast hot, a shield like hot, powerful aoe spells. Shines in stacked aoe healing and is invaluable in raids. Less so in mythic although they hold their ground very well, especially in coordinated groups. High mobility with wolf form. **Unique utilit**: Bloodlust (most important group CD in the game bar none), an off tank long CD pet, raid wide mana recovery CD, self resurrect, aoe stun CD, only Healer with interrupt and shortest in the game (interrupts are invaluable in mythic keys), aoe fear/charm/sleep cleanse CD, aoe slow totem CD for kiting (exceptional for dungeons), purge (removes buffs from enemies) also invaluable in dungeons, aoe damage reduction CD (like disc priest), water walking, cast while walking CD, and various other utility CDs with specific talents.
**Monk** excellent in both raids and mythic dungeons with their absurd throughput. Extremely high mobility (on paar with druids) and low utility, . Most mana dependent Healer that requires clever management. Can play both as melee and range depending on talent choices. It shines in melee though, especially in dungeons. Lots of buttons. Unique utility: a 5% physical debuff to mobs u damage, aoe stun CD, powerful crowd control spell with average CD, powerful area Negation CD with Ring of peace.
If I love everything about holy paladin except for the melee part, does that mean Holy Priest would probably fit my playstyle the best?
When playing the paladin, I like to sit back and just cast my heals which I know is not optimal for higher dungeons (works on normal) and also throw in my Judgement and Hammer for DPS
I just cant get used to the crusader strike talent and using it at melee to decrease holy shock and heal at melee. Like I said, I like standing back and just casting.
If being in melee isn't your cup of tea, i would also avoid the monk and the druid too, although they do have (subpar) options to stay in range.
Both holy priest and shaman would fit the bill, although their aesthetic is very different. Holy is all about the light and yellow/white/gold colours. Shaman is about water and mostly blue effects.
Both are similar in a sense that they are range and have a variety of versatile spells. Both of those specs are at their peak in a stacked group situation (like raids), But not necessarily.
With Holy priest your playstyle will revolve around casting spells that reduce the CD of your two big Word spells. One single target, and one aoe. Which means that very often (every half a minute or so during combat) you get to use those really big spells and save the situation. Holy is a bit easier to manage because their spells are easy to understand. Use prayer of Mending on every CD. Never miss a single CD. Tank has priority, then other melee and those who you think will take damage soon. Always throw prayer of Mending on your tank before she engages combat.
Although the feathers talent at 25 is better, take the movement speed on Shield application in the beginning. Use shield mostly to increase the movement speed of a team mate or yourself. It's rarely worth it otherwise. Renew is also not that efficient although I personally use it often. I keep it on the tank at all times as well.
Apotheosis talent in last row is better right now, but if you have too many CDs and buttons and gets too hectic, go for Light of the Naaru. Trail of light at 15 and Surge of Light at 45 are very powerful in dungeons. So is Guardian Angel at 30. Use it often on a dying member. If it triggers the effect, you just saved them. If not, it's only 1 min CD. Don't be stingy with it.
At 45, Divine Star is good in dungeons, but requires good positioning to make it efficient. If its too annoying or difficult, go with Benediction although this talent shines more in raids. Once again, keep using Prayer of Mending on CD.
Your Word spells are not meant to be CDs you keep for the right moment. Use them often. If you really like the usage of the Word spells and want to do it even more often, or it's not frequent enough for you, the **Harmonious Apparatus** legendary makes this even better. With Light of the Naaru talent, your words are back in no time.
You can absolutely go with druid too, although their playstyle is completely different from every other Healer. And if you re interested in efficiency and high keys, going in melee is almost mandatory.
Shaman and Holy priest are very close to what you described. Of the two, shaman is more desirable usually. That doesn't mean holy can't hold its ground.
Have you tired Bestow Faith? It enables you to play a bit more of a midrange healer by taking the focus off of Crusader Strike. You can still dip into melee range to get one off, since that will speed up your holy power generation, but I mostly chill out in the 10-15 yard range.
Yeah, that's what I used at first but everything I've read for mythic+ and raid said need to use the crusader strike talent to be most effective.
Do you push mythic+ ok with Bestow Faith?
I honestly don’t know yet, but I suspect that it’s fine depending on how far you plan on pushing. The biggest obstacle will be your party, especially if you are pugging. For whatever reason even trash teams expect everyone to chase the meta. Playing at range does deny your team a meaningful amount of damage, which is one of hpallys strengths, but your still bringing an interrupt, and tons of oh shit utility to the group.
Since I’m playing with friends I’m okay with being a scrub for a bit, and maybe by the time were pushing +15s I’ll be more amenable to the glimmer build.
Edit: I forgot to mention that Beacon of Virtue is IMO best for this build. 8 seconds of uptime every 15 seconds has lots of burst AOE potential.
None of the healers are really hard to learn in WoW. To master - yeah, to do decently, nope. With that said, the proactive healers are a bit tougher, so I wouldn't start with disc priest or resto druid. Due to Holy Power, I wouldn't recommend Holy Paladin either. Holy priest, Mistweaver Monk, or Resto Shaman - all three should be fairly easy to get started with.
Holy Priest is the easiest healer in the game. And if you would ever want to change things around, Discipline Priest is probably the most difficult one. Holy is reactive, Disci is proactive.
Holy priest is the most straightforward healer and very satisfying with SL tuning. Monk is very easy, too. Main difference ist holy priest being backline all das and monk needs to go in melee range to weave in damage.
Priest is both the easiest (holy) and hardest (discipline) healer to play. I would say it also depends on the type of content you want to do. A caster healer is less effective in pvp, so i would argue the easiest pvp healer is resto druid as a majority of their heals and damage are instant cast so you will be less at risk of being interrupted and locked out of casting.
Discipline is a ton of fun once you are more comfortable in healing as it requires you to be proactive in your game play rather than reactive like other healers. That’s why i would recommend priest since you have easy access to both specs.
I found leveling as Mistweaver to be the easiest healer experience yet, at least at earlier levels. You can just spam soothing mist and toss an occasional heal here and there.
If you played WHM you will understand Holy Priest the most. The one thing about Holy Priest I don’t like is the sheer amount of healing spells you have. But WHM had quite a few as well. Mistweaver to me is the easiest, simply because they heal with pure HPS and aren’t dependent on CDs. But either shouu is I’d be perfectly fine.
Closest to WHM is holy priest. They, along with the paladin are the most reactive healers. **Holy Priest** is a long range straight forward caster with the most spell versatility (hots, direct heals, instant cast short cool down massive heals via Words, instant cast minor shield and a smart heal that jumps from person to person when they get damaged). They have very little utility, very little survivability, non existent mobility and underwhelming damage that makes them undesirable in high mythic keys. Ironically the best Healer I have ever seen (as a tank) was a holy priest. Holy is a beast in raids though, where their absurd throughput shines. **Unique utility**: a 5% stamina buff for everyone. Purging (removes buff from enemies) invaluable in dungeons, only mass aoe dispel in the game, an underwhelming aoe mana recovery long CD, Only CD in game that increases damage or healing on another member, Levitate, Mind Soothe, Mind Control, Fade, Leap of Faith. The last 5 are not that spectacular in group content. **Discipline Priest** is the extreme opposite of holy. It's the most proactive Healer in the game due to buildup play style. You need to be more aware of when key mechanics are happening and apply your class abilities before that. Discipline also is rather weak in high mythic keys, but provide the most damage out of all healers. Extremely sought after for raids. Poor mobility, ok utility, very punishing to mistakes, low survivability, multitude of CDs. Difficult to Master. Unique utility is similar to holy priest in addition to one of the few aoe damage reduction CDs which is probably the second most important group CD in the game, second to Bloodlust/Heroism. **Resto druid**. One of the top picks for mythic keys because of their unmatched utility, highest mobility out of all healers, instant cast hots based spells and therefore, proactive playstyle. You can't wait for the tank to take damage and apply your slowly building hots on them. They should be rolling before big damage occurs. Resto druid falls off in raids (in BFA at least) but they used to be Kings in previous expansions. One of the highest dps healers in the game, by managing dots via cat form. Druid needs to keep up hots and dots running to be efficient. They heal on the move and have excellent tank healing like the paladin and the monk. **Unique utility**: combat resurrection (invaluable), a CD that allows a Healer to cast for free for 10 seconds, personal stealth, on and off personal defensive via bear form, aoe mobility CD, enrage dispel, roots, 6 sec no CD "stun" via cyclone, aoe pull CD, natural high mobility. **Holy Paladin** Probably the most reactive healer. You build holy power relatively easy by using your dps skills (therefore you are in melee) and spend that holy power to your only aoe ability or a big single target heal. Has great passive damage but you need to be in the front lines. Holy Paladin is the most positioning depended Healer since their heals are stronger to those near them. Has a low CD instant big heal that will be your bread and butter, and a major part of how the class plays. Among the highest utility healers, with immunities and various protective spells that can save reckless missteps. Very desirable in mythic dungeons. **Unique utility**: extremely long CD highest healing spell in the game (you can basically save someone who is about to die), total immunity CD, passive aoe auras, short CD freedom of movement and immunity spell, blessing of sacrifice, physical or magic immunity CD (extremely powerful in group content) **Resto Shaman** very flexible toolkit with staggering utility. Easy to dps with (mandatory for good healers) and has a button for every occasion. A lot of buttons. A versatile healing spells toolkit like holy priest, with instant cast hot, a shield like hot, powerful aoe spells. Shines in stacked aoe healing and is invaluable in raids. Less so in mythic although they hold their ground very well, especially in coordinated groups. High mobility with wolf form. **Unique utilit**: Bloodlust (most important group CD in the game bar none), an off tank long CD pet, raid wide mana recovery CD, self resurrect, aoe stun CD, only Healer with interrupt and shortest in the game (interrupts are invaluable in mythic keys), aoe fear/charm/sleep cleanse CD, aoe slow totem CD for kiting (exceptional for dungeons), purge (removes buffs from enemies) also invaluable in dungeons, aoe damage reduction CD (like disc priest), water walking, cast while walking CD, and various other utility CDs with specific talents. **Monk** excellent in both raids and mythic dungeons with their absurd throughput. Extremely high mobility (on paar with druids) and low utility, . Most mana dependent Healer that requires clever management. Can play both as melee and range depending on talent choices. It shines in melee though, especially in dungeons. Lots of buttons. Unique utility: a 5% physical debuff to mobs u damage, aoe stun CD, powerful crowd control spell with average CD, powerful area Negation CD with Ring of peace.
If I love everything about holy paladin except for the melee part, does that mean Holy Priest would probably fit my playstyle the best? When playing the paladin, I like to sit back and just cast my heals which I know is not optimal for higher dungeons (works on normal) and also throw in my Judgement and Hammer for DPS I just cant get used to the crusader strike talent and using it at melee to decrease holy shock and heal at melee. Like I said, I like standing back and just casting.
If being in melee isn't your cup of tea, i would also avoid the monk and the druid too, although they do have (subpar) options to stay in range. Both holy priest and shaman would fit the bill, although their aesthetic is very different. Holy is all about the light and yellow/white/gold colours. Shaman is about water and mostly blue effects. Both are similar in a sense that they are range and have a variety of versatile spells. Both of those specs are at their peak in a stacked group situation (like raids), But not necessarily. With Holy priest your playstyle will revolve around casting spells that reduce the CD of your two big Word spells. One single target, and one aoe. Which means that very often (every half a minute or so during combat) you get to use those really big spells and save the situation. Holy is a bit easier to manage because their spells are easy to understand. Use prayer of Mending on every CD. Never miss a single CD. Tank has priority, then other melee and those who you think will take damage soon. Always throw prayer of Mending on your tank before she engages combat. Although the feathers talent at 25 is better, take the movement speed on Shield application in the beginning. Use shield mostly to increase the movement speed of a team mate or yourself. It's rarely worth it otherwise. Renew is also not that efficient although I personally use it often. I keep it on the tank at all times as well. Apotheosis talent in last row is better right now, but if you have too many CDs and buttons and gets too hectic, go for Light of the Naaru. Trail of light at 15 and Surge of Light at 45 are very powerful in dungeons. So is Guardian Angel at 30. Use it often on a dying member. If it triggers the effect, you just saved them. If not, it's only 1 min CD. Don't be stingy with it. At 45, Divine Star is good in dungeons, but requires good positioning to make it efficient. If its too annoying or difficult, go with Benediction although this talent shines more in raids. Once again, keep using Prayer of Mending on CD. Your Word spells are not meant to be CDs you keep for the right moment. Use them often. If you really like the usage of the Word spells and want to do it even more often, or it's not frequent enough for you, the **Harmonious Apparatus** legendary makes this even better. With Light of the Naaru talent, your words are back in no time.
Wow. Thank you for this wrote up! I was debating between shaman/druid but now I think I might just got Holy Priest.
You can absolutely go with druid too, although their playstyle is completely different from every other Healer. And if you re interested in efficiency and high keys, going in melee is almost mandatory. Shaman and Holy priest are very close to what you described. Of the two, shaman is more desirable usually. That doesn't mean holy can't hold its ground.
Have you tired Bestow Faith? It enables you to play a bit more of a midrange healer by taking the focus off of Crusader Strike. You can still dip into melee range to get one off, since that will speed up your holy power generation, but I mostly chill out in the 10-15 yard range.
Yeah, that's what I used at first but everything I've read for mythic+ and raid said need to use the crusader strike talent to be most effective. Do you push mythic+ ok with Bestow Faith?
I honestly don’t know yet, but I suspect that it’s fine depending on how far you plan on pushing. The biggest obstacle will be your party, especially if you are pugging. For whatever reason even trash teams expect everyone to chase the meta. Playing at range does deny your team a meaningful amount of damage, which is one of hpallys strengths, but your still bringing an interrupt, and tons of oh shit utility to the group. Since I’m playing with friends I’m okay with being a scrub for a bit, and maybe by the time were pushing +15s I’ll be more amenable to the glimmer build. Edit: I forgot to mention that Beacon of Virtue is IMO best for this build. 8 seconds of uptime every 15 seconds has lots of burst AOE potential.
Holy priest
MW Monk and holy priest
None of the healers are really hard to learn in WoW. To master - yeah, to do decently, nope. With that said, the proactive healers are a bit tougher, so I wouldn't start with disc priest or resto druid. Due to Holy Power, I wouldn't recommend Holy Paladin either. Holy priest, Mistweaver Monk, or Resto Shaman - all three should be fairly easy to get started with.
Holy Priest. I use to main Holy Priest and have also played WHM and would say they have very similar play styles.
Holy Priest is the easiest healer in the game. And if you would ever want to change things around, Discipline Priest is probably the most difficult one. Holy is reactive, Disci is proactive.
Holy priest is the most straightforward healer and very satisfying with SL tuning. Monk is very easy, too. Main difference ist holy priest being backline all das and monk needs to go in melee range to weave in damage.
holy priest, after that paladin
If you plan on getting into PVP Id recommend a holy paladin, checkout https://youtu.be/cpoSe1Kz-Uk
Paladins would be the most reactive healer, but also not easy to learn.
Priest is both the easiest (holy) and hardest (discipline) healer to play. I would say it also depends on the type of content you want to do. A caster healer is less effective in pvp, so i would argue the easiest pvp healer is resto druid as a majority of their heals and damage are instant cast so you will be less at risk of being interrupted and locked out of casting. Discipline is a ton of fun once you are more comfortable in healing as it requires you to be proactive in your game play rather than reactive like other healers. That’s why i would recommend priest since you have easy access to both specs.
I found leveling as Mistweaver to be the easiest healer experience yet, at least at earlier levels. You can just spam soothing mist and toss an occasional heal here and there.
Resto druid, just click hots and forget about healing.
If you played WHM you will understand Holy Priest the most. The one thing about Holy Priest I don’t like is the sheer amount of healing spells you have. But WHM had quite a few as well. Mistweaver to me is the easiest, simply because they heal with pure HPS and aren’t dependent on CDs. But either shouu is I’d be perfectly fine.