Welcome to part two of The Best Specs in WoW Shadowlands Early Season 1 guide. We talked about the Best Melee Tier List last time. Today we will continue with the Best Casters & Healers Tier List. The video below is still from Skilled Capped WoW Guides. If you find this guide helpful, don’t forget to subscribe his channel on YouTube. Now let’s begin!
Caster
We will move on to the Caster DPS. There are 4 specs right now that stand out from the rest - Shadow Priest, Fire Mage, Balance Druid and Elemental Shaman. This definitely seems to be the Season of hybrid specs with hybrid classes currently representing many meta comps.
Shadow Priest
Representing the best Caster DPS in the current meta is Shadow Priest. They offer good consistent damage with multiple control options and one of the most unique abilities in the game. They're just incredibly well-rounded. They have two talents - Unfurling Darkness and Damnation, which allow them to quickly spread dots onto multiple targets in Arena. This allows them to have seamless swaps and setups and allows them to pair their damage over time with their single target damaging abilities like Shadow Crash. Power Infusion and Void Eruption are really powerful offensive cooldowns and pair effectively with the instant cast CC options that Priests have. If dots are rolling on multiple targets and if Power Fusion and Void Eruption are used, Shadow can deal a ton of pressure. Silence, Psychic Horror and Mind Bomb are all really powerful right now due to how high damage is. Usually a four-second instant-cast CC is enough to either force a cooldown or score a kill if damage is high enough. These options pair well with one of the most unique and powerful abilities in this expansion – Mindgames. It is a new spell added in Shadowlands that has helped elevate a class to dominance in multiple roles. This ability needs its own category to explain. It is one of the most dynamic abilities ever in Arena. It can be used against Healers to force dispel or risk killing their entire team. It can be used against Retribution Paladins and Enhancement Shamans to deny Word of Glory and healing surge. It can also be used against Balanced Druids to deny the self-healing of Renewal and Frenzied Regeneration and it can even be used as a defensive cd. If cast on an enemy player popping offensive damage, it can completely deny a setup by converting that damage into healing. This can be strong into setup based comps like RMP and Thug Cleave if not immediately dispelled. Even if dispel is available, Shadow Priests often pair Mindgames with Silence to ensure maximum value. Shadow Priest's defensive options are also really strong right now with Greater Fade being one of the only abilities that allows player to avoid spear basting covenant abilities from Arms Warriors.
Fire Mage
Representing the only pure DPS class for the best Casters in Shadowlands Season 1 is Fire Mage. It is the most well-rounded pure DPS Caster right now with high consistent damage, a powerful offensive cd and multiple spell schools to CC with. Having 3 spell schools is incredibly valuable in the current meta with the prevalence of Melee DPS. Because their damage spell school is different than their control spell schools. Fire Mages can seamlessly manage interrupts by always having a school to cast. If kicked on fire, they can polymorph. If kicked on polymorph, they can cast damage. If kicked on fire or arcane, they can cast Ring of Frost. Fire Mages become incredibly scary with combustion especially when paired with Ruin of Power. One of the biggest changes to Fire Mages in Shadowlands is a change to the crit modifier. Critical strikes are back to dealing 200% damage. This was a massive buff to Fire Mages who rely entirely on crits for their damage rotation. This increased crit multiplier makes Combustion unbelievably scary. Many Fire Mages are playing with the Rune of Power talent, which will instantly proc when Combustion is used. This gives them a massive spike in damage and doesn't rely on any hard casting. Mages also gain back Alter Time which can be used to manage the high burst damage of many comps especially combined with Cauterize. Mages are still Mages and fire is still the best. Their control and burst damage makes them one of the best specs so far in Shadowlands.
Balance Druid
Another hybrid representing the best range DPS so far in Season 1 is Balance Druid. Their cooldown damage must be respected. When combined with their control options and team support, Balance is one of the best specs so far. Balance Druid's damage is both high with AoE dot damage and single target burst. They have multiple spell schools, which allows them to deal with many interrupts in 3v3. Their primary damage comes during Incarnation or Celestial Alignment when 90 Astral Power is stored to unleash 3 instant cast star surges. These surges increase in damage with both the Kyrian Covenant ability and the Legendary Timeworn Dreambinder. When a Druid pops with a full bar of Astral Power, a lot of damage is coming. A cheesier option but scary nonetheless is the Night Fae Convoke the Spirits, which casts 4 star surges on average during its 4 second duration. Druids also offer control outside of their offensive cds. Cyclone continues to be one of the best spells in the game and is now even better with the High Winds PvP talent. With damage being so high, a Cyclone plus a damage reduction is incredibly high in value.
Elemental Shaman
Rounding out the final spot for top range DPS is Elemental Shamans. It is another hybrid DPS class that is proved to be dominant in the current PvP meta. Elemental Shamans offer instant cast burst damage combined with a well-rounded utility toolkit to support their team. The primary damage setup of Elemental Shamans is relatively easy to execute and doesn't require any hard casting, which makes it suitable for dealing with the multitude of interrupts currently in Arena. Shamans deal most of their burst damage during Stormkeeper combined with Echoing Shock. This combination of spells allows Shamans to deal massive damage with their Lightning Bolts while requiring no hard casting. Most of their damage comes from instant cast spells, which allows them to utilize their utility options for their team in between their damage rotation. Grounding Totem, Lightning Lasso and Tremor Totem are all incredibly high value spells right now. It allows Shamans to shut down kill attempts from Rogue Mage by countering CC with Totems and disrupt setups with stuns and interrupts. This dynamic toolkit allows Elemental Shamans to work with a wide range of comps and keeps them well equipped for dealing with other meta dominant classes.
Healer
There are 3 Healers that stand out in the meta - Holy Paladin, Discipline Priest and Restoration Shaman. Each of these Healers brings a unique strength to Arena. Holy Paladins offer big burst healing with efficient cooldowns. Discipline Priests are offering incredible damage output and pressure and Restoration Shamans are one of the most mana efficient in the game. It's hard to say exactly which Healer is best due to how unique their strengths are, but each of these Healers pair well with other meta specs.
Holy Paladin
They offer the strongest burst healing and have incredibly high throughput during Avenging Wrath. Their healing output during Wings is so high that it is unlikely anyone can die on their team assuming the Paladin is not CC. Avenging Wrath can even randomly proc with the awakening talent which offers an RNG way to save their team in scary situations. The Kyrian ability Divine Toll also offers a lot of burst healing. It is possible to max out on holy power with a single Divine Toll cast and grant access to an instant Word of Glory. Paladins also continue to have some of the best and most consistent defensive cooldowns in the game. Blessing of Protection is high value because of the popularity of Melee. Blessing of Sacrifice is graded to 9 CC options from comps like Rogue Mage. If Ultimate Sacrifice is selected, Holy Paladins can completely deny damage onto their partners. It can be paired with Divine Shield or PvP trinkets to completely shut down kill attempts from Rogue Mage. Saved by the Light is also back and gives beacon targets and absorbed shield while at low health. It gives an increased chance at making a recovery. If targeted, Holy Paladins have some of the best defensive cooldowns with damage being so high. Divine Protection can be used during stuns and can deny kill attempts against Shadow Priests and Affliction Warlocks. Paladins offer Cleanse of the Weak and Divine Vision which grants reduced dot damage. Blessing of Freedom is also good in the Melee Cleaves and is great against Balanced Druids for denying rude Beam.
Discipline Priest
Discipline Priests continue to be the best offensive Healer in Shadowlands. They have a great toolkit for supporting their team with kills. Power Infusion, Dark Archangel, Thoughtsteal and Mindgames open up kill options for their team. Power Infusion is great when used on Mages, but it's also good when used on Melee DPS like Retribution Paladins. Thoughtsteal is a new addition in Shadowlands. While it isn't selected for every matchup, it is quite powerful in Druids and Mages. Priests also have the option to have one of the best AoE heals in the game with the Ultimate Radiance talent. Power Word Radiance with Ultimate Radiance and the Shining Radiance conduit allows Discipline Priests to have powerful AoE healing. It should be noted that this heal is really mana intensive. Some Priests are now transitioning back to Atonement based healing to conserve mana. Purge of the Wicked, Schism and Mind Blast allow Priests to deal damage while AoE healing their team, which is just always going to be powerful. Even though it was covered in the Shadow Priests section, Discipline Priests also have access to Mindgames through the Venthyr Covenant. Once again it is one of the most dynamic abilities ever in Arena. It can be used against Healers to force dispel or risk to kill their entire team. It can be used against Retribution Paladins and Enhancement Shamans to deny Word of Glory and Healing Surge. It can be used against Balanced Druids to deny self-healing and even be used as a defensive cooldown. If used on an enemy player popping offensive damage, it can completely deny a setup by converting that damage into healing. Door of Shadows is a great tool for Discipline Priests in setup based compositions like Rogue Mage as well. It allows the Priest to quickly reposition for an AoE fear during kill attempts. Overall the offensive toolkit of Disciplined Priests in this high damage meta makes them one of the best Healers in Shadowlands.
Restoration Shaman
Finally Restoration Shamans represent the efficient Healer of this strong Healer Trinity. Shamans are incredibly mana efficient and have multiple instant cast seals. Their damage is surprisingly high and they have multiple tools to disrupt enemy casters. Shamans have two charges of riptide with Echo of the Elements, Earth Shield and the new Necrolord Primordial Wave. These 3 spells give them multiple instant cast healing options. These spells are also incredibly mana efficient. Their instant cast healing allows them to keep their team topped without worrying about getting interrupted by the other meta dominant classes. Restoration Shamans continue to have great control options against enemy casters and are especially good into Shadow Priests with Tremor Totem and Grounding Totem to avoid CC. Surprisingly Restoration Shamans also deal a lot of damage with Lava Burst which is a guaranteed crit with Flame Shock and can be instant cast with procs. The increase to the multiplier makes their Lava Burst damage actually pretty scary.
That is all for today. In addition, if you don’t have much time on the game, to buy WoW Gold directly from MmoGah is a good option. We will provide you with professional and thorough service. If you want to learn more Shadowlands guide, stay tuned to us. I will see you next time!