Easier healer shaman or druid?

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1

Hey there!

I’m looking for a healer and was wondering which ones were the most beginner friendly between Resto Shaman and Resto druid.

I already know that Holy priest is probably the easiest, but shaman and druid just seem nice aswell, and I like the dps classes elemental and balance way better thus the reason I’d like to ask about your input.

I want to know which one has more buttons to push and which one is simpler in playstyle.

The things I’ll struggle with if I choose druid I think will be that there are so many HoTs and DoTs and mayby catweaving because I despise melee. If I don’t have to catweave to be good it’s one problem less.

Things I think I’lls truggle with as a Shaman is that they have any utility skills and that it might be overwhelming, but also keeping track of healing tides seems like it’ll be a chore.

I’m grateful for anyones input on this! :slight_smile:

2

You seem to have a solid grasp of the essentials, so maybe I can’t tell you anything useful.

I don’t heal. Ask anyone I’ve grouped with when I was in healing spec and they’ll confirm. :rofl:

When we’re talking about beginner levelling healing, Druid seems much easier and friendlier to beginners to me.

Druid healers also have a higher representation in M+. See the graph at the top of

https://raider.io/mythic-plus-rankings/season-bfa-2/all/world/leaderboards-strict/2

But a) it depends what content you’re doing and b) unless you’re playing very competitively, they both work fine in any content.

At higher levels of healing, you can compare

vs

or watch videos from top players.

In the end, you will do better using the class you enjoy more.

3

As I see it Shaman has WAY more cooldowns to keep track of, is that correct?

And druids mainly have to anticipate when to use their 10000000000 little hots on a party or raid member as I see.

Hmm it’ll be hard deciding between HoT healing or Utility healing.

P.S.: You’ll see me again in a few mins with another post, this time about dps class so saying it just in case you’ll think “It’s him again!” :rofl:

Just for the sake of not making the post too long I decided to created two seperate ones lol.

4

Hi,

I find it difficult to help you with this amount of information therefore I will go with a more general statement which comes from my personal experience.

I apologize for this beforehand :sweat_smile::slightly_smiling_face:

I think if we are talking about “the amounts of buttons” it should be pretty equal in terms of usable abilities and trinkets. However, the number of buttons you “have to” use depends a little bit on the content you play and especially the difficulty. I think for a beginner shaman might actually be a tiny bit easier since the healing throughput of a shaman has a more direct impact compared to the druid.

However,
no matter which class you choose you will struggle once you pass a certain threshold (e.g. in m+ key level or raid difficulty / boss difficulty). At a certain point you will find that you are struggling in certain areas because you will be made aware of lacking in certain situations. This will happen with any class no matter which one you choose.

Here is what, from my experience, is something you cannot avoid:

  • Learn when and how to cast (druids may be a little bit easier on that part)
  • Learn to use your cooldowns often and accurately (shaman might be a little bit easier since the biggest cds are of a “fire-and-forget” type (Spirit Link Totem & Healing Tide Totem))
  • Learn to use either heal-by-click addons or mouseover macros (selecting your target and heal is a no-go, no matter what healer you pick)
  • Learn to track your important cooldowns (this is equally difficult for shaman and druids, however the impact will show in different areas if you fail to do so) Note: The use of WeakAuras or equivalent addons will make this very easy for you!
  • In correlation to the point above: Structure your interface in a way which allows you to have control over your cooldowns and the situation
  • Playing the class

Now, for the last part I want to specify this a bit. If you are looking for more than just healing LFR and maybe mythic+ up to +5 you will have to play and learn where you struggle and how to deal with it. You will face situations as a healer where it is your job to keep the group alive and where you will not do so because you are too late to react and/or you have not found the correct way to save your group yet.

This will be the point where all I pointed out above comes together and has to be executed in a more or less refined way. This will also be the point where no matter which class you choose you will not get away with “I want to push less buttons” or “the more simple playing style”.

The difference (from my experience) between the classes will show itself when you have moved beyond this state and when you are trying to max out what you can do for your group / raid.

If you are not that ambitious (which is totally fine) and you are just looking for playing on a basic level I would choose druid because it allows you to play all roles in this game.

So, if I have not scared you away yet here is what I would do:

  1. Choose the class which you like more and I mean “like” as in “I can really imagine myself as a powerful healer with this”. The reason I am stating this is that I have observed that people tend to play better if they feel comfortable with the image of their character. If you want to be a wild/wise, young/old powerful druid then be that druid. If you like the image of being a powerful master of the elements then be a shaman.

  2. Get a comfortable interface: Position your group/raidframe near your character (below or on the side) so you can see your group as well as your surroundings. Get mouseover macros (if you really want to click though, get an addon for it (e.g. vuhdo)) and get WeakAuras. If you are not a technical guy/girl you can find a lot of helpful auras on https://wago.io which will make it a lot easier for you to track whatever you want to track. You can even build/add audio reminders and flashy stuff to remind you to do specific things (e.g. I use a sound of reloading a shotgun (that “chk-chk” sound) to remind me of using abilities on short cooldown in case I forget it)).

  3. Change your keybindings (unless you already have a good set): This means that you should use the keys around your movement keys (e.g.: for “wasd” as movement keys you should be easily able to use: ^1!2"3§4$5qQeErRfFcCt this should already cover most actions you have to use minus some convenience elements)

  4. Play, learn and enjoy. Don’t be scared of making mistakes and try to think about how to get more and more control over your characters and the situations you are facing.

Again, I am super sorry for posting this much. Have fun! :grin:

6 Likes
5

You answered the question yourself in honesty.

Shaman utility is easy in the grand scheme. Totems which are static, on a CD and have an effect. The use of them is trial and error like any class until you get the timing/usage down. You also get heroism.

You seem to show more interest in Shamans as a whole compared to druids so I’d definitely recommend picking one up over the Druid.

I personally like the active play style of resto even if I do pop some hots then sit in bear form :joy:

Whats more is shamans have direct throughout rather than as you said Druid HoTs. Which can help in panic situations, I personally found shaman easier to heal on than Druid, the totems felt like second chances to me. Both have strengths/weaknesses.

Honestly though pick which ever appeals to you more across all three specs rather than just the one.

6

Shaman has more keys to press
DPS on shaman is kinda 5 button + healing spells + utilities like totems
DPS on druid is 3 buttons + healing spells + utilities. DPS mostly comes from Sunfire and wrath - easy to do that. Tanq is one of the best aoe healing spell + druid has one the best tank CD on short cooldown. On Spike dmg druid rely on cds.

In short I suggest druid over shaman.

7

From my own experience Druid is alot easier than shaman. Shaman is CD dependant and it is hard to track all of them for me, but in higher content, when constant damage is greater it would be hard to keep your group alive playing dudu, proactive healing is much effort but i think it’s easier to master than shaman.

1 Like
8

And what’s your opinion about the dps specs if you are a nooblord at multi-dotting like me?

Still Druid or would being a horrible multi-dotter make ele better in that case?

9

As healer choose healer who is easy to heal for you - don’t worry about DPS. Multi dotting cost Mana also so sometimes need to conserve Mana. DPS is bonus thing which healer can do. 1 Sunfire and your job kinda done.

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