Raid PvE Healer

How we ranked them

A level-60 character one of several healers in a raid, in Forever's raids at the cap: The Barrow Deeps (10 players) and Hyjal Summit (20 players), both opening 9 Dec 2026 and not in the client yet, and Onyxia's Lair if it ships. Long boss fights, several healers and tanks, raid-wide buffs and debuffs, and a raid leader choosing a composition. Until the raids are in the client the fights are extrapolated from what Blizzard has said.

The subjects are the 5 specs whose tree is built to heal: Restoration Druid, Holy Paladin, Discipline and Holy Priest, Restoration Shaman. Damage and tank specs are rated on their own lists. With five subjects, two healers in the same tier is a normal result.

This is a forecast. The beta stops at level 30, so nobody has played any spec at 60 in a group. The ratings come from the client's level-60 spell ranks and talent trees, the class guides' projected builds, and what Blizzard has announced.

The raids are extrapolated. The Barrow Deeps (10 players) and Hyjal Summit (20) open on 9 December and are not in the client, and Onyxia's Lair (40) is planned. Blizzard has not published a boss list, tuning, fight lengths, lockouts or a debuff limit, so the fights are judged from what it has said and from how raids of this kind are built.

Since 15 October, Leader of the Pack, Moonkin Aura, Trueshot Aura, Battle Shout and the Shaman buff totems reach the whole raid, not just the caster's party. There is no Bloodlust, and the only combat resurrections are a Druid's Rebirth and a Warlock's Soulstone.

Every score is a whole number from 1 to 5 against written anchors, and the tier comes from the weighted score alone: no spec is placed by hand. Two scorers rated every spec without seeing each other's work; where they differed, the score the facts supported better was kept, never an average, and a final pass checked that specs with the same tools got the same scores.

No spec reaches S. The highest score is Restoration Shaman at 4.15, short of the 4.25 S needs: nothing yet measures play at 60, so no spec could be called clearly the best on the heaviest criteria. A spec that proves stronger at 60 than its kit suggests would move up in a later version.

With five subjects, two healers in the same tier is a normal result. This is the first healer list; the dungeon list ranks the same five against its own rubric.

The formula is open to change: a different weight or threshold makes a new version of the list, with every spec that moves saying why.

The rubric: each criterion scored 1 to 5

Criterion	Weight	What it measures
Raid healing	25	Heals many raid members at once, efficiently, through raid-wide damage; in its assigned group or across the raid: 5. A group heal that is party-only, costly or slow: 3. Heals one target at a time in practice: 1.
Mana over a long fight	25	Heals to the end of a long raid boss on its own regeneration and tools, with mana to spare: 5. Needs potions, a mana tool or careful downranking, or runs low late: 3. Runs dry well before a long fight ends: 1.
Tank healing	20	Keeps a raid tank up through heavy, spiky boss damage, with efficient heals sized for it: 5. Can hold a tank alongside another healer: 3. Not trusted on a tank: 1.
What it brings the raid	20	A raid-wide buff or mana for other healers that a raid leader plans a slot for, plus a combat resurrection or dispels the fights need: 5. A party-only buff, or one useful dispel type: 3. Nothing beyond its own healing: 1.
Emergency tools and movement	5	Instant heals, absorbs or HoTs and a strong emergency cooldown; heals well while moving: 5. One emergency tool, or some healing on the move: 3. Cast-time heals only, nothing for an emergency, stops healing when it moves: 1.
Threat and staying alive	5	Survives raid damage and add pulls on itself: a shield, an escape, armour: 5. One defensive: 3. Dies quickly to anything that reaches it: 1.

An entry’s tier comes from its weighted score: 4.25 or more is S, 3.75 or more is A, 3.25 or more is B, 2.75 or more is C, 2.25 or more is D, and anything lower is F. A tier set by hand instead says why in its write-up. Within a tier, the best score comes first.

What the ratings assume

• Talents: the spec's recommended level-60 healing build from our class guide, or the nearest the guide has; a raid variant where the guide gives one.
• Gear: pre-raid: dungeon blues, crafted and reputation items. No raid gear, no world buffs.
• Consumables: the ordinary ones a group player brings: potions, elixirs, food, oils and stones.
• Group: a balanced raid of the instance's size, with the buffs a normal raid gives (both factions' buffs exist in Forever), each player assigned the way that spec is normally used.
• The game rules of the stated build. A patch that changes them makes a new version.

Confidence: Forecast

Rated from the client data and our research, before anyone has played it at this level on this build. Where the data stops, the write-up says what it assumed.