With WoW Forever (Classic Plus) launching on November 4th and the beta going live on September 17th, healers finally have a fresh set of talents, new hero abilities, and reworked mechanics to sink their teeth into. Blizzard has folded in some Wrath of the Lich King coded design choices while still keeping the slow, strategic pace that Vanilla and TBC healing was known for. Spells like Wild Growth, Power Infusion, Divine Aegis, Penance, and Riptide are now part of the Classic Plus toolkit, and each healing spec has picked up a flavorful new passive or capstone talent that changes how it plays.
Before we jump into the rankings, let's take a quick look at how healers are shaping up in this new version of the game.
WoW Forever Healer Tier List - Best Healer Ranked For PvE & PvP in Classic+
Every healing spec in WoW Forever has received meaningful additions without gutting the classic feel. The lower tiers of the talent trees still look familiar: percent Intellect, percent Spirit, mana efficiency, and standard PvP reduction talents. It's the deeper talents where things get interesting, with new capstone abilities that pull inspiration from Wrath of the Lich King while still respecting the mana-limited, five-second-rule gameplay that Vanilla and TBC were built around.
Down-ranking appears to be in the game, hybrid off-healing looks reasonable rather than out of control, and 10 and 20 man raid sizes should give healers a tighter, more engaging experience than the loose 40 man setups of old. With that context set, here is how each healer spec stacks up in Classic Plus.
The following list ranks every healer spec from best to worst based on raid contribution, dungeon utility, PvP viability, and general strength across content types. Now let's get into the individual specs.
1. Restoration Shaman (S Tier)
Raid: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Dungeon: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
PvP: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Mana Efficiency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Restoration Shaman comes out of the announcement looking like a must-pick for any raid group in WoW Forever. The hero talent gives shamans a modified version of Riptide that not only heals a friendly target with an initial hit plus a 15-second heal over time, but also buffs Chain Heal by 25% when cast on that same target. This creates a clean priority system where you Riptide the tank and then Chain Heal off of them, turning you into a tank healer and a raid healer at the same time.
On top of that, resto shamans still keep Healing Way, Nature's Swiftness, Mana Tide, and Ancestral Healing, along with a new Guardian Totem talent that buffs Stone Skin and Windwall Totem. The utility is off the charts, and totems are far less clunky now thanks to instant fire nova and Totemic Recall improvements.
2. Discipline Priest (S Tier)
Raid: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Dungeon: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
PvP: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Tank Healing: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Right beside resto shaman at the top sits Discipline Priest, which got showered with new toys. The synergy between Weakened Soul and their direct heals is what pushes this spec over the top. Soul Warding reduces the cooldown of Power Word Shield by 4 seconds, giving you an almost permanent shield rotation, and Renewed Hope grants a 2% increased crit chance on Flash Heal, Binding Heal, Lesser Heal, Greater Heal, and Penance when the target has Weakened Soul.
When you crit, the duration of Weakened Soul drops by 1 second, so you can loop this cycle endlessly on the tank. Add Penance, Power Infusion, and Divine Aegis, and you get a spec that pumps healing while also providing top-tier raid buffs. Disc will most likely be the go-to single-target healer in Classic Plus.
3. Holy Paladin (A Tier)
Raid: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Dungeon: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
PvP: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Tank Healing: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Holy Paladin lands solidly in A tier as the second or third best direct tank healer with a new AoE flavor bolted on. The new capstone ability, Light's Vigil, is a design that has not appeared in any previous version of WoW. You apply a buff and then either Holy Shock an enemy for AoE damage, or Holy Shock the friendly buff for AoE healing. The offensive version even refunds some mana, giving Holy Paladin a form of active mana regeneration during downtime.
Between Holy Light, Flash of Light, Beacon-style single-target throughput, and the new splash healing option, Holy Paladin can now cover both tank healing duties and some raid support without giving up its identity. It's a big step forward for the spec.
4. Restoration Druid (A Tier)
Raid: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Dungeon: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
PvP: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
AoE Healing: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Restoration Druid gets Wild Growth in WoW Forever, and that alone bumps this spec up the rankings. Wild Growth is a smart AoE heal over time that was borrowed straight from Wrath, and combined with Rejuvenation, Regrowth, and Lifebloom-style HoT layering, resto druid finally gets the AoE tools it was missing in original Vanilla.
The one thing to watch here is the interaction between multiple druids in a raid group. In Vanilla, HoTs from different druids overlapped poorly and it was almost impossible to justify running two resto druids. If the buff and debuff caps are actually being removed in Classic Plus, resto druid could push into S tier territory. For now, it sits comfortably in A tier.
5. Holy Priest (B Tier)
Raid: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Dungeon: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
PvP: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
AoE Healing: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Holy Priest picks up a fun new passive called Litany of Light, which grants you mana equal to 10% of the base cost of your healing spell when your previous heal was a different spell. This is very Windwalker mastery in flavor, rewarding you for pressing different buttons back to back rather than spamming the same heal on repeat.
Holy Priest also benefits from the general priest upgrades like built-in Devouring Plague, Fear Ward for every priest, and the crit-based DoT changes. That said, when placed next to Discipline Priest, the direct throughput and mana efficiency are just a step behind. Holy Priest remains a good raid healer, especially for AoE healing sections, but it doesn't have the wow factor of shamans or disc priests.
6. Holy Shockadin (B Tier)
Raid: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Dungeon: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
PvP: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Hybrid Play: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Blizzard is clearly trying to push some off-meta specs into viability, and Holy Shockadin is one of them. This build picks up an 18% hit rating baked into the talent tree and gets access to Light's Vigil, allowing shockadins to Holy Shock a target twice in a row with no cooldown between the casts.
It's a fun hybrid build that blends damage and healing, and it will likely be viable in PvP and some smaller group content. That said, it's not going to replace a proper healer in a serious raid setting, and it lacks the sustained throughput of full holy pally. Keep an eye on it as a niche pick.
Looking at the tier list overall, Restoration Shaman and Discipline Priest are the clear standouts in the healer roster, with Holy Paladin and Restoration Druid right behind them as strong A tier picks. Holy Priest and Holy Shockadin round out the list as solid but slightly less optimized options.
Keep in mind that everything here is based on the BlizzCon demo and early beta talent information. Balance passes will likely happen between now and the November 4th release, and specific spell coefficients, mana costs, and gear scaling could still change how these specs actually perform in practice. The good news is that Classic Plus is being built with balance in mind, and the same team that handled MoP Classic healing balance is working on this project, so healers across the board should be viable enough to bring to raid without feeling punished for your pick.
Get ready to pick your main, hop into the beta on September 17th, and start theorycrafting your favorite spec before launch day.