[WoW] Best pvp healer for 5-box

[unit187]

probably some time ago it was a bug or something

auras are not magic so they are unpurgable

[hapiguy314]

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

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.

[unit187]

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

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.

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

[beyond-tec]

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

[Slats]

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

[Vyndree]

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.

[unit187]

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

[Vyndree]

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.

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.

[unit187]

"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

[cerruption]

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

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.