Tier

by Healer CDs on June 21, 2013

Resto Druid T16 significantly changed

The Resto Druid 4pc has undergone some changes, including switching the Ironbark 2pcbonus to a different Ironbark bonus from 4pc, from what they originally announced. Here are the changes, and what they were before.

Item – Druid T16 Restoration 2P Bonus ~~Ironbark increases your critical chance by 20% for 12 sec.~~ Rejuvenation ticks have a 5% chance to grant a Sage Mender, reducing the mana cost and cast time of your next Healing Touch by 20%, stacking up to 5 times.
Item – Druid T16 Restoration 4P Bonus ~~Rejuvenation, Lifebloom, and Wild Growth critical heals have a chance to cause all cast time heals for~~ Casting Ironbark grants you Spark of Life, causing all cast time spells within the next 12 sec to ~~cause~~ grant a Living Seed on the target for 80% of the amount healed.

The Sage Mender proc is an interesting one, although to be honest, Resto Druids generally don’t seem to have many mana issues in raid. Time will tell if this change sticks around or not.

by Healer CDs on June 16, 2013

Resto Shaman T16 Tier Bonuses Announced

The Resto Shaman T16 tier bonuses have been announced, and Shamans are getting their first healing absorb.

Item – Shaman T16 Restoration 2P Bonus (New) When Earth Shield heals a target, the target will gain 100% of the amount healed as an absorb.
Item – Shaman T16 Restoration 4P Bonus (New) Spiritwalker’s Grace will also summon a spiritual version of yourself that will mimic all cast time targeted spells for 15 sec.

The two piece bonus will likely start Earth Shield Wars again (why can’t Blizzard allow double Earth Shield on a single tank, as it allows a resto Shaman to Earth Shield a Shaman who already has a personal Lightning or Water Shield.) The absorb though will be pretty small (8-10k-ish depending on gear level) but it is a resto Shammy absorb.

The 4pc bonus does seem to have some buggy issues on the PTR or there are exceptions to the spells it will mimic, since it doesn’t seem to mimic Healing Rain.

Forum Discussion on Resto Shaman T16 Tier

by Healer CDs on June 16, 2013

Holy & Disc Priest T16 bonuses announced

The Holy Priest and Disc Priest T16 bonuses have been announced.

Item – Priest T16 2P Bonus (New) Serendipity also increases the healing of your next Greater Heal or Prayer of Healing by 50% per stack. While Archangel is active, your critical chance is increased by 10%.
Item – Priest T16 4P Bonus (New) Circle of Healing and Prayer of Mending casts increase the effect of your next Holy Word spell by 50%, stacking up to 10 times. While Spirit Shell is active, you gain 10% haste and 3,500 mastery.

For Disc, having a 10% crit while using Archangel (aka wings) is really strong and the 4pc bonus to spirit shell is pretty significant. Having spirit shell up with archangel is a 10-15% healing buff. For non-absorb healers, this buffs discs absorbs, at a time when most healers are wishing the absorbs would get nerfed.

The downside to Disc, is that many priests are simply running spirit shell and then Power Word Shield because of all the haste and mastery with as much Atonement as possible, while abandoning all other healing spells.

For holy, the T16 bonuses as it stands will make holy a super OP healer for T16 and it seems likely that the bonuses will be nerfed, so don’t get too excited.

Note: Priest T16 isn’t working as the tooltip states on the PTR currently.

Discussion for Holy Priest & T16 here
Discussion for Disc Priest & T16 here

by Healer CDs on June 16, 2013

Holy Pally T16 tier bonuses announced

Holy Pally T16 tier bonuses are here.

Item – Paladin T16 Holy 2P Bonus (New) Infusion of Light also increases the healing done by Holy Light, Divine Light, and Holy Radiance by 10%. Instant.
Item – Paladin T16 Holy 4P Bonus (New) Reduces the cooldown of Divine Favor by 45 sec. While Divine Favor is active, Mastery is increased by 1,500.

The Holy Pally 2pc is pretty weak at this time, so it won’t be surprising to see holy pallies keeping their old T15 around until they get 4pc, much like they kept the T14 when T15 came out – until it got nerfed that is.

Aside from the 4pc bonus increasing mastery by 1500, neither of the bonuses will increase the current holy pally absorb healing.

Of course, as with the PTR, this could very well change before 5.4 hits, and with such a poor 2pc, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it change.

Forum Discussion on Holy Pally T16 here

by Healer CDs on June 16, 2013

Mistweaver Monk T16 tier bonuses

Mistweaver Monk T16 2pc and 4pc bonuses have been announced, and introduces an absorb for mistweavers.

Item – Monk T16 Mistweaver 2P Bonus (New) When Gift of the Serpent spheres heal a player, they gain an absorb for 20% of the amount healed.
Item – Monk T16 Mistweaver 4P Bonus (New) When your Renewing Mist heals a target, you have a 20% chance to cast a Chi Wave healing bolt that will not bounce at a nearby low health friendly target.

Blizzard is bringing another absorb to a class without one currently, perhaps to test how well monk mastery interacts as an absorb. Unfortunately, it is tied to Gift of the Serpent which is bound to make some Mistweavers pretty unhappy. With the exception of high end raiders pushing progression content, healing spheres aren’t very often deliberately run over by players to heal, it is more likely a player moves for something else and just happens to have a sphere in his or her path that heals.

For those confused about the wording on the 4pc, it essentially means that it is a single targeted extra Chi Wave healing bolt, not once that is bounced from another person. In theory, this should mean it would be a slightly “smarter” heal compared to a bounce.

With the 2pc bonus, it could end up being that mastery becomes a better stat for mistweavers than it has been this entire expansion. Or they are perhaps putting it upon mistweavers to nag their raiders to run over the healing spheres since they have an added absorb because spheres have been very underused. And it could be baby steps to making mastery into a real absorb for mistweavers not tied to a tier bonus.

Remember this is the PTR, so things could vastly change and get updated before 5.4 hits.

Forum Discussion on Monk T16 here

by Healer CDs on June 16, 2013

Resto Druid T16 2pc and 4pc bonuses announced

First look at the Resto Druid T16 tier bonuses on the PTR.

Item – Druid T16 Restoration 2P Bonus (New) Ironbark increases your critical chance by 20% for 12 sec.
Item – Druid T16 Restoration 4P Bonus (New) Rejuvenation, Lifebloom, and Wild Growth critical heals have a chance to cause all cast time heals for the next 12 sec to cause a Living Seed on the target for 80% of the amount healed.

The T16 resto druid has a great 4pc bonus but the 2 pc bonus is a little meh. Ironbark has definitely been underused by resto druids except for those in the upper end raiding guilds. While the CD is relatively short, sometimes tanks prefer to call for Ironbark, as opposed to leaving it up to the healer’s discretion, so some druids will have problems lining this up with other cooldowns.

The 4pc is going to be particularly strong, especially for those who like to blanket the raid with rejuvs, and healing for 80% of the amount healed can be pretty significant for Lifebloom and Wild Growth.

Because of the 4pc bonus, and because of the crit increase by the 2pc proc, it seems from this intial look as though resto druids will have a greater emphasis on crit rating for T16, so it is probably worthwhile for druids to begin looking at what gear they can pick up from T15 with crit on it. Of course, with Blizzard being Blizzard, the T16 bonuses could change any time while on the PTR.

Forum Discussion on Druid T16 Here