[WoW] Best pvp healer for 5-box

I am thinking about makin' team of 4 warlocks and a healer.

My goal is pvp with this team so I want the best pvp healer and here's my thoughts:

Druid - atm I am thinking it is the best. Warlocks are very mobile - you can run non-stop and keep dotting people without stopping movements. And druid has rejuv, swiftmend, lifebloom - all those spells are instant cast. Also druid has longer and more power heals if it gets tough. After all druid can shapeshift to bear with frenzied regeneration and survive some heavy attacks. Ah ye and druid has alot of other cool features like powerful aoe heal, roots etc. Only minus I see is lack of dispel magic ability. And resurrect trouble in pve.

Priest - lots of aoe heals, shield and renew. Fear. Also can dispel magic and resurrect. Minus is that you have to stop your movements to make good enough heals (dont think prayer of healing and that insta party heal are good enough, am I mistaken?). After all it is clothie.

Paladin and shaman... uh, fast powerful heals but total lack of aoe heals. Healing wave is good but not powerful enough on 2nd, 3rd targets. No insta heals. Shaman cant dispel magic as well.

So what do you thing guys about getting druid for 5-box with warlocks? Is it worth a try?

Paladin is an excellent PvP Healer because of the bubble.He can't be attacked while he activated it. I think this is the main reason why nearly every pvp arena team got a pally healer. Negative: He has no HOTs or AOE Heals so he's more the 2 vs 2 arena team healer. :(

Priest got an instant group heal (circle of healing) as the 41th talent in the holy tree. Very nice of you got a group of casters which stand close to each other. And it's instant so you can spam it. He got a powerful Group Heal, an instand shield for the party members, he can fear if someone rushes into the group or attacks the priest and he got a HOT, a flash heal and a binding heal to heal himself and the target.

Druid, very nice because of his cat form. He is invisible to the others until he switches out of this form to heal. Lots of powerful instant HOTs. He can get into bear form to prevent physical damage while the HOTs are ticking.

Never played a shaman :(


I'd prefer a priest because of the group heals and the dispel magic / cure desease stuff. Fought several times against them in PvP and it's quiet impossible to get him down when he spams binding heal or flashheal until his mana is out while the Renew is ticking on him. While leveling you can handle him like a caster and melt faces while you cast the shadowbolt.

just keep the group together while infight, spam renew and shields while running around and cast circle of healing everytime your whole group gets damage. fear if someone gets close.

Ye paladin is insanely good with right gear and trinkets. When I was playing arena with my shaman, my teammate pala had BWL twinket - Scroll of Blinding Light. With it activated he had like 1.3 sec cast heal for 7k hp :)
But in case of group pvp as it was said, pala isnt good choise, no HoTs or something. One counterspell and you can get smashed.

Shaman is almost the same as paladin, without bubble but with totems and earth shield. I liked solo/arena pvp as resto shaman (I was actually enhancement :P) because he is like unkillable untill he is oom. But for 5-box it wont work cause of lack of aoe heals, insta casts and HoTs.

Isnt that binding heal aka insta cast aoe heal on group consumes crapload of mana?

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Originally Posted by unit187

Isnt that binding heal aka insta cast aoe heal on group consumes crapload of mana?

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yeah - but who cares as long as you take the enemy down before you run out of mana? :)

if your priest dies you still got the spirit of redemption to keep the healing up and heal without getting interrupted or loosing mana before you pick the soulstone to stand up again.

you got mass dispell to get the paladin-shield away from the enemy so paladins are easy to kick down

Circle of Healing Rank 5 = 450 Mana for 499-551 Heal
if you got a 5 group that will be:
5 x ((499+551)/2)
2625 Heal Points for 450 Mana
5,8 Heal for 1 Mana

Greater Heal Rank 7 = 825 Mana for 2396 - 2784 Heal
(2396+2784)/2
2590 Heal points for 825 Mana
3,1 Heal for 1 Mana

(calculated without any +heal)

you see? If your Heal reaches the whole group it is much cheaper than a greater Heal and heals more than a greater heal and it is instant!

you got resurrection as often as you like

you got a shadowfiend to get mana back

you can drain mana with the warlocks and burn mana with the priest

you got another AOE instant Fear

you got inner fire to pump up your armor for 1580

you got prayer of mending which you can cast when the fight starts

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Places a spell on the target that heals them for 800 the next time they take damage. When the heal occurs, Prayer of Mending jumps to a raid member within 20 yards. Jumps up to 5 times and lasts until cancelled after each jump. This spell can only be placed on one target at a time.

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so..

Circle of Healing Rank 5 = 450 Mana for 499-551 Heal

you got about 10K mana when you reach level 70.
you got a good mana regeneration (mp5).
you should be able to cast this spell about 25-28 times.

= 13650 heal on each char with instant casts
= 68250 heal on the whole group with instant casts.

and don't forget: calculated without any +heal!

nice one, thanks alot mate :)

looks like priest is gotta be best choice so far

P.S. draenei priest gotta be insane with fear ward and mana regen ability

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Originally Posted by unit187

nice one, thanks alot mate :)

looks like priest is gotta be best choice so far

P.S. draenei priest gotta be insane with fear ward and mana regen ability

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hmm.. dunno if the draenei got the desperate prayer.

I think dwarf priest got the desperate prayer (instant, costs no mana, 10 mins CD and heals yourself ~ 1700) and the fear ward.

dont think they have, but imo group mana regen beats desperate prayer

one key pvp talent that the Shama will bring to the table is Purge

at lvl 2 this purges 2x buffs off the target... it will purge almost anything except druid shapeshift and Paladins big bubble (purges the little one right off ;)

it can purge HOTs, Auras etc very very useful in PVP

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Originally Posted by Djarid

one key pvp talent that the Shama will bring to the table is Purge

at lvl 2 this purges 2x buffs off the target... it will purge almost anything except druid shapeshift and Paladins big bubble (purges the little one right off ;)

it can purge HOTs, Auras etc very very useful in PVP

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auras cant be purged


HoTs and other buffs can be removed by priest's dispel magic

you sure Aura's can't be purged? pretty sure I have purged Aspect of the hawk off a few hunters in my time ;) could be mistaken as it has been a while

probably some time ago it was a bug or something

auras are not magic so they are unpurgable

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Originally Posted by unit187

dont think they have, but imo group mana regen beats desperate prayer

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You have 4 warlocks. GROUP mana regen is not an issue. The question here is PVP and especially in Arenas, Desperate Prayer is just like an instant 3/4 of a life when it crits. With PVP in mind, Desperate Prayer is MUCH better than Dranei group mana regen.

Even for PVE, I have evaded a lot of deaths with Desperate prayer.

Given a PVP spec for a priest (Disc/Holy), priests are a lot harder to kill than you think if played properly. Just my 2 cents.

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Originally Posted by hapiguy314

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Originally Posted by unit187

dont think they have, but imo group mana regen beats desperate prayer

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You have 4 warlocks. GROUP mana regen is not an issue. The question here is PVP and especially in Arenas, Desperate Prayer is just like an instant 3/4 of a life when it crits. With PVP in mind, Desperate Prayer is MUCH better than Dranei group mana regen.

Even for PVE, I have evaded a lot of deaths with Desperate prayer.

Given a PVP spec for a priest (Disc/Holy), priests are a lot harder to kill than you think if played properly. Just my 2 cents.

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well if locks/priest are oom you are as good as dead in combat

mana regen buff can save you and as well it saves time and mana for healing warlocks' life tap

desperate prayer + health potion = Priest got full health without wasting mana =)

Does the group mana regen buff stack, like if all 4 priests cast at once are you getting back ~1300 mana over 5?

That would be crazy interesting. =)

-Slats

Since nobody seems to have any love for the shaman, I'll share my experience (though, my resto shaman is 70 and not multiboxed, I can at least give you an idea of how she does in arenas).

If you're looking for an offensive buffer as well as healer, shaman is awesome. Totem buffs are usable by almost any class, but clearly if your shaman is resto you'd probably prefer caster totems -- so it'd probably work best with other casters.

Grounding totem is god in PvP. Probably moreso than Wrath of Air. A well placed Grounding totem eats things like sheeps, fears, frost traps -- as well as direct damage effects.

Heroism/Bloodlust speaks for itself. Godly in arenas.

For kiters like warlocks, earthbind totem keeps melee away from your squishies.

Now what I'm hearing is that shaman aoe healing is sub par. Chain heal is one of the best scaling heals in the game, and while you don't see it used often in arenas (most people aren't clumped up enough to allow chain heal to hit 3 people), multi-boxers especially will most likely be sitting on top of each other or very close. Combine this with the fact that most groups you'll face will, most likely, focus-fire on a single target with minor pressure on secondary targets, the bounces off chain heal are "minor" but you'll probably be spamming lesser healing wave + earth shielding the spiked target anyway. Point is, shaman can heal through aoe damage (as well as slow the AoE'er with earthbind) with chain heal, and heal through massive spike damage with nature's swiftness, healing wave, lesser healing wave, earth shield.

Not to mention healing stream -- my non-trinketed heal stream totem ticks for 127 mana per 2 -- doesn't sound like much, but it's like a constant HoT on all of your characters.

Earth shield is another amazing single target heal - when placed on the shaman and with Nature's Guardian pretty much makes you unkillable to fast-hitting melee.

I hear quite a few people also mentioning decursing abilities - Shaman can't decurse magic or curses -- however they have abilities and TOTEMS to remove poisons and diseases. Since we're talking about PvP, let's forget disease. The poison cleansing totem is on a pulse system, and removes poisons from any party member in its range per pulse. This is another reason why shaman are godly against rogues, and it takes zero effort on the multiboxer's part to decurse besides laying the totem.

Finally, tremor totem. Fear, CHARM, and SLEEP. Most people forget about those last two - but I have removed sleeps from druids and Succubus charms with it. It IS on a pulse system, but it pulses immediately when you drop it - so lay it ahead of time, and if you'd rather not wait for the next pulse, LAY IT AGAIN if someone other than the shaman is feared/charmed/slept. It's 60 mana to break these effects on all of your party members, with no cooldown.

Personally I would consider shaman if you're planning on building a high-pressure group. Shaman certainly lack the variety of spells (no HoTs besides draenei racial, only insta-cast is nature's swiftness) - they provide adequate defense through single-target healing waves and multi-target chain heals, as well as defensive totems like tremor and grounding. Their weaknesses are having everything in the nature school (besides shocks and fire totems) so counterspell is an issue if you don't time your grounding totems correctly (yes, grounding eats counterspells).

From what I've seen, unless your priest is PvP specced, the clothy priest when focus fired goes down like a sack of potatoes, and paladin healing is single-target, which isn't great for multi-boxers - though they provide major defensive buffs. Druids are awesome pvp healers with their hots, but I also see alot of kiting going on in arenas which may or may not be your thing. Shaman are kings of extended multi-target healing and offensive buffs. So depending on what you're group makeup is and if you'd rather buff strong points or fill in the weak points in your group makeup, choose wisely. Keep in mind, too, how you'd level with these characters. Shaman don't pick up chain heal until level 40 while druids get their hots very early on.

Anyway, just giving insight to those who haven't had experience with shaman -- they are perfectly viable healers. I can solo heal pretty much anything, but shaman EXCEL at healing aoe damage with chain heal, as well as providing offensive buffs. They are perfectly capable of solo healing instances and heroics on the side, as well as providing wipe protection with a self-rez (1hr cooldown non-talented) and a non-combat rez.

I have 70 lvl shaman, mostly raided as enhancement but have alot of experience as resto

Ye its nice idea to use earthbind totem but on other hand it: a) can easy be destroyed b) there is curse of exhaustion (spelling) c) there is fear after all

chain heal is nice but there is a chance it will just to another players you dont want to heal and also it is only 3 targets. When you get heavy AoEd you need to do 5 targets heal, and fast

about dispeling. So what are you gonna do if one of your toons get sheeped? wait 10 sec on one place? thats isnt that good
and poison cleansing totem isnt godly against rogues because it can fail dispeling rogues' poisons so you have to wait another tick... so anyways you more likely will have to remove poison by yourself

about tremor, it does not remove those effects right away after landing. Tested 1000 times in pvp and pve. It can start pulsing whenever it wants withing 5 seconds.

imo shaman isnt perfect aoe healer. Yes shaman is insane solo healer, especially in pvp. I remember those funny moments when I was self healing alone against like 4-5 players and survived long enough untill reinforcements come AND smash them all.

also shaman is tough in case of melee but it becomes not that strong against spellcasters

pvp specced priest has alot of awesome features as well, the % of crit on you heals you, +20% to resist any interrupt mechanics after getting a crit, "shieldwall" etc etc etc

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Originally Posted by unit187

chain heal is nice but there is a chance it will just to another players you dont want to heal and also it is only 3 targets. When you get heavy AoEd you need to do 5 targets heal, and fast

about dispeling. So what are you gonna do if one of your toons get sheeped? wait 10 sec on one place? thats isnt that good
and poison cleansing totem isnt godly against rogues because it can fail dispeling rogues' poisons so you have to wait another tick... so anyways you more likely will have to remove poison by yourself

about tremor, it does not remove those effects right away after landing. Tested 1000 times in pvp and pve. It can start pulsing whenever it wants withing 5 seconds.

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Just quoting the stuff I'm going to comment on.

Chain heal automatically prioritizes the chain heal bounces. It finds the people with the highest health deficiency and goes down from there. Even as a player, I don't have a reaction time that fast. Besides, a priest spamming prayer/circle of healing will go oom faster than a shaman spamming chain heal. Final note - for sudden burst aoe damage, you CAN NS-maxchainheal. Not saying they're BETTER than priests - if the situation calls for sudden and massive aoe healing without regard to mana then sure, priests have higher HPS if everyone's taking damage... but shaman are surely capable alternatives - more capable, in my opinion, than pallies and probably druids as well if the druid wasn't loading everyone up with hots before the aoe.

Finally, it's my experience that people put on heavy offense, like AoE, to force you into excessive defense. As a shaman, when met with heavy AoE or focus fire, my strategy is to meet fire with fire - if their AoE is in my face, I make it so the AoE doesn't WANT to be in my face - earthbind, frost shocks, fire nova totems, etc. Typically the moment a aoeing mage meets resistance they blink the hell out of there. But that's just my experience and my way of doing things - you can take my information and do whatever the heck you want with it. ;) Play the game how you wanna.

There ARE ways to prevent sheeps. Earth shock is one of the fastest counters, and pretty obvious. Even my resto shaman has her stopcasting earth shock macro and uses it FREQUENTLY. Second is grounding totem. Granted, every class has it's weaknesses, but chances are in a group with 4 dps and a priest who do you think is going to get sheeped? The dispeller. So it's a moot point anyway - with no earth shock you're going to have to trinket out of sheep on the priest anyway - why not prevent the sheep with earth shock/grounding? It's just another option to priest/paladin dispells.

As for tremor, it has been my experience 100% that it pulses on the first drop, then pulses on a timer after. I would say, at this point, opinion on this can be reader discretion. Roll a shammy on the PTR and try it out if people are considering using tremor totem effectively in their group makeup. Your experience may vary, but my experience with tremor has been flawless. Casting it prior to the fear, though, is 50/50 - you can easily run out of range of the totem between pulses.

Lastly, totems have 5 health, but seriously... the only time I've seen people destroy my totem is the ones who have totem targeting macros -- and they go straight for grounding totem. The best time to cast grounding is in the middle of someone casting CC - they either have to step out and wand it, in which case you get to earth shock them the next time they cast - or they have to let your grounding totem eat their CC. Earthbind may not seem like much, but when a rogue pounces on my mage buddy I just earthbind + poison cleansing and that rogue is useless.

The truth is most people are too dumb or in too much of a rush to manually target and wand/throw something at the totem.

Why waste a CoEx when you can have CoA or elements, since the totem does just as good? Why not complement your CoEx with a tremor totem if you're facing another warlock? These are all OPTIONS.

I will readily admit that the shaman's enemy in PvP is getting caught by CC and getting spell interrupts. Knowing that fact, all I'm emphasizing is the tools to minimize those weaknesses. If you choose not to use earthbind or tremor totem, that's your loss. ;) The shaman buff system isn't perfect, but you rarely see it played to its full potential.

"for sudden burst aoe damage, you CAN NS-maxchainheal"

and 2 of 5 will die? :P


"As a shaman, when met with heavy AoE or focus fire, my strategy is to meet fire with fire"

and what about ranged aoe? shadowfury? blizzard? rain of fire? you need outheal that and dont tell me you are gonna shock everyone in 100 yards around you :)

about sheeps, in battleground massacre dispeler, especially when he looks like other group members not sheep's target in 100% of cases

also you can have shock on c/d, or just out of range, and ground totem eaten by something else
also not always you can see some1 is casting an cc on you

About tremor. last time I was playing shaman - like 3 monthes ago. Maybe blizz has changed it but before that it was unstable thing.

The biggest shaman's weakness - he lacks instant spells. When priest can run with locks and spam dots non stop and use circle of binding, shield, renew, prayer of healing - shaman have to stop and throw heals. Yes there is healing stream totem but it isnt powerful enough and after all having your ability of movement limited to 30 yards around totem is sick

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Priest - lots of aoe heals, shield and renew. Fear. Also can dispel magic and resurrect. Minus is that you have to stop your movements to make good enough heals (dont think prayer of healing and that insta party heal are good enough, am I mistaken?). After all it is clothie

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The fear will share a DR with all your warlocks fear, if you haven't figured that out by now.

In the upcoming patch all CC is getting nerfed to 10s durations, so I can only assume its 10s, 5s, 2.5s, immune for 15s.