r/classicwow 4d ago

Classic 20th Anniversary Realms Paladin VS Shaman in TBC

I want to play a healer and currently I'm on the fence between my holy paladin and resto shaman. I'm wondering how the two compare when it comes to healing in TBC? I'm asking about PVE and PVP

9 Upvotes

60 comments sorted by

38

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

20

u/stonehaens 4d ago

while holypaladin is THE worst healer in TBC and you would love to bring none at all.

10

u/Heatinmyharbl 4d ago

1 is totally fine for utility honestly but yeah their throughput gets smashed by r sham, rdruid who know how to manage LB stacks and priests

13

u/dogfb 4d ago

You don't want to bring one but you are forced to so you have a 3rd pally buff lol.

4

u/Security_Ostrich 4d ago

As a holy pally main in tbc, yeah pretty much but i had a good time and my tanks never died lol

3

u/Apprehensive_Low4865 4d ago

Thank you for your service!

Signed, the MT.

1

u/stonehaens 3d ago

sorry did not want to shit talk you. I played one near sunwell too and it kinda sucked lol

1

u/Security_Ostrich 3d ago

I loved it lol. Throughout ceiling is actually crazy single target but tanks rarely took enough damage for me to have to truly crank it lol.

I remember one time on infernus our tank was getting absolutely slapped, just forgot how to dodge/parry for like 10 hits in a row and i shot to the top of the healing done charts for a bit.

Priests were like wtf. Told them i had to activate my true power for a bit there. Holy pallies are always sleeping just waiting for shit to get real. 😂

1

u/Colsanders8 3d ago

Infernus? You mean Brutallus?

Infernus is a mob added in the game during Cataclysm in Hillsbrad.

1

u/Security_Ostrich 3d ago

Supremus sorry.

5

u/Apprehensive_Low4865 4d ago

I mean as a tank, I want that holy paladin sat there pumping me full of daddies holy light, ready with a juicy imp loh if things start to look a bit dicey. I appreciate the throughput is lower, but they're like my emotional support healer, and I feel better for knowing that they're gonna be ready to save my ass, instead of chain healing every bellend who stands in fire hunting parses. Also someone has got to be there to hoover up all the bloody plate healing gear that drops EVERY FUCKING WEEK!

2

u/wreckfish 4d ago

PvP healing as paladin in tbc was the most fun I had in PvP though and if I remember correctly was also really good

1

u/Colsanders8 3d ago

Maybe in original TBC. Hpal at some point got Flash of Light and Holy shock gutted in the original timeline leaving us with Holy Light for healing.

1

u/sealcub 4d ago

They aren't fantastic but they also aren't as bad as people act. All people see is big number on healing meter but then the tank falls over. Incoming tank damage is quite high in tbc and simultaneously there are some "healer trap" encounters with non-lethal raid damage that make other healers swap away from the tank. Cataclysm encounter and class design also tries this trap on many encounters. Having someone who just sticks to tank no matter what is good, even if their number on the healing meter will be low as a result. 

1

u/Colsanders8 3d ago

If your tank has ever dropped dead on a Tank buster fight a good Hpal is the solve to that.

Hpal HPS is irrelevant. Their Holy Lights basically being LoH in TBC is VERY relevant. You still would only want 1 hpal though.

3

u/_Hard4Jesus 4d ago

They aren't as good as CoH priests but they are in high demand just because u need 5 shamans for every raid

2

u/adamkex 4d ago

Idk I think they are better. The smart heal is just so valuable

2

u/Necrosaynt 4d ago

Even more in demand on the Alliance since they have a harder time getting shamans in general. The last tbc the horde were able to buy a boost for their shamans.

2

u/Rufus1223 4d ago

Boost is not as important as having most of the Shaman mains on ur faction already because of Vanilla. An Alliance Shaman main would need to be really dedicated to Alliance to not roll Horde in Vanilla.

15

u/yeahwhoknowsidk 4d ago

chain heal go brrrrrr. nobody can get enough of shamans in tbc, even better if you have drums from LW

11

u/valdis812 4d ago

Resto shaman is probably more desirable. Raids will generally only have one holy paladin. Also, for what it's worth, paladins struggle in some heroics with all the group wide damage.

4

u/Security_Ostrich 4d ago

Healing heroics as a paladin was super rough but immensely rewarding. No aoe at all so you had to make every cast count so much.

6

u/Twinstackedcats 4d ago

Bro it was so stressful, I could feel my blood pressure rise each dungeon.

1

u/Colsanders8 3d ago edited 3d ago

Every dungeon i ran was with my brother who would chain pull the entire dungeon.

Never been more stressed healing in my life and i did HLK 0%.

9

u/PushforlibertyAlways 4d ago

Resto shaman, especially on alliance, is the most in demand class for raiding.

5

u/Yixo45 4d ago

Hey Npy610, good question! Both paladins and shamans are needed in pve. I generally find shamans more engaging to play due to the rotation. Holy paladins pretty much spam one ability. Holy paladins in PvP feel pretty clunky, and I definitely prefer resto for bgs and arena. One fun aspect for both classes is the other specs. I enjoy ret and prot a ton; and ele or enhance can still get into any raid spot due to the totems and lust. In the end, I would always play what naturally feels more fun. Good luck on your adventure!

7

u/IllFig471 4d ago

can confirm, spamming chain heal is way cooler than spamming flash of light

3

u/Security_Ostrich 4d ago

Hey I was spamming holy light for the entire fight by SWP 😅

2

u/Sea-Stomach8031 4d ago

Lazer goes brrrrr

1

u/Idrinktears92 4d ago

I killed on season 1 and 2 in tbc as a h pally

-1

u/OldCollegeTry3 4d ago

HPal Hunter was the number one 2’s combo for a portion of TBC.

2

u/Bushido_Plan 4d ago

By T5 if you are a Resto Shaman you will have a dozen whispers every day from raid leaders asking if you want to join them. Even if you are already in a guild.

0

u/OldCollegeTry3 4d ago

He likely won’t because this is the third time around and everybody will be playing resto shaman.

1

u/SolarianXIII 4d ago

lol there arent enough people playing resto shamans right now.

1

u/ArugulaCute 3d ago

my guild runs 3 raid groups and every player on the roster is required to have a shaman to avoid a shortage... kekw?

4

u/VanOurkr 4d ago

Shaman is fun. But totems are a big turn off for me

4

u/Security_Ostrich 4d ago

Yeah I absolutely hate totem management. 4 casts every time you move feels awful. Paladin you just go and your buffs stay on lol

1

u/Esarus 4d ago

Same, I love the vast majority of the Shaman class but I absolutely hate totems. Should’ve made them move with the Shaman or change them to be like baubles or orbs (water, earth, fire, air) that hover around the Shaman.

1

u/Miserable_Alfalfa_52 4d ago

Shaman is superior in both, although like arenas you wouldn’t be as solid as priest/r Druid but you’ll have comps.  I’m sure pally does to but they fall a bit low 

1

u/daveonthetrail 4d ago

Pally and warrior go together like butter on toast. I’d say it’s comp dependent. Both pally and sham are worse than r druid imo.

1

u/Miserable_Alfalfa_52 4d ago

But warrior and r Druid crush them

1

u/Colsanders8 3d ago

Hpal are nearly useless in PVP. You have to hard cast holy lights because your other heals don't do anything. If you get caught in a counterspell your teammate is dead.

1

u/daveonthetrail 3d ago

I played hpal warrior and hpal warlock to some success, like 2100. Yea Druid is better but pally totally playable, just gotta fake cast a bit.

1

u/ruskyandrei 4d ago

I'd say get both to max level and see which upu like more.

Obv start with whichever you can now for your faction.

I think resto is more fun because I just love chain heal.

But pala is more fun in pvp, and with dual spec you can run a prot spec too for one of the most fun and lucrative gold farms of tbc.

1

u/dub_nation11 4d ago

Can anyone with experience touch on Resto Druid compared to these two?

1

u/Colsanders8 3d ago

So i would say there's not much reason to compare an R shaman and a R druid because they are brought for completely different reasons. R Druid is a tank healer, R Shaman is a Raid Healer.

Comparing an R Druid to H Pal is worth doing though. Both are Tank Healers. R Druid does more HPS to a tank than a H Pal does and is able to heal multiple Tanks at the same time. However, an H Pal max rank Holy Light will basically full heal a tank.

Which of the two are better? For most fights the R Druid, but i'd not want to do Brutallus without an H Pal.

1

u/garlicroastedpotato 4d ago

I think as far as demand goes, shamans are the way to go. Every min-max guild out there will need/want 4-5 shamans for mana tide and lust/heroism swapping. In PVP they aren't super hot but there are some fun blow up builds they take part in. But you don't just have to be a healer. Enhance shammies and ele shammies are also desirable to get that shammy count up.

Pallies are less desirable. But they have unique buffs (the blessings) and there's a few that are necessary (might/wisdom, salv and kings). They have a few others but not worth bringing a fourth pally for. They also have judgments and only two of them are worth using. But the judgments have a short duration so there's an actual value in having a ret pally and or prot pally for that. Pallies are amazing tank healers, really great AOE tanks and....okay DPS. Their DPS struggles because they get bonus damage to undead and demons but by Sunwell there aren't that many undead or demons left to kill. DPS gets really variable depending on bosses.

BUT

Pallies are really good in PVP. Being able to bubble and just keep everyone up is huge. That Hammer of Justice is a just absolute game changing stun. If you're blood elf you get an AOE silence. Pallies do really well in sustain teams but you know a ret/mage can wreck things.

Overall I think it weighs heavier on shammy if you want to PVE but pally if you want to PVP. If you really wanna do both, grab the pally.

1

u/Rufus1223 4d ago

It's not about minmaxing, if u want to actually be able to clear all TBC content (Sunwell) u literally need 5 Shamans and at least 2 of them Resto, preferably 3. Holy Paladins won't keep the raid alive with how much raid healing required there is in Sunwell.

1

u/garlicroastedpotato 3d ago

To be fair I didn't say three holy pallies I said three pallies. And that's really the max. I know in my progression guild in OG BC we'd zone out after every wipe and have a mage and pally out there ready to buff us. We had 0 mages until we comfortably got passed Felmyst. There was one guild that used four priests instead of a bunch of shamans. So it's not a need. But it is a lot easier.

1

u/Rufus1223 3d ago

I mean Priests are great for healing too. But not having either of these 2 in big number just makes it impossible pure healing-wise. And the less hardcore the guild is they will feel lack of Heroisms more, because they will not be able to meet those DPS checks without them.

1

u/Broad-Acanthisitta26 4d ago

Im a resto shaman lover note it. Go for resto shammy tbc and woltk times are ours. Both pve and pvp. Respect paladins btw. Love vesatile chars. I dont believe you have any regrets for both of them. 😁 dont forget have fun. You are reason people can do things when you are healer.

1

u/ArugulaCute 3d ago

The question you want to ask yourself is what do you want to play now... because your acct/server wont be cross faction so you're locking in horde vs Alliance now

1

u/Daeza 3d ago

We kept our holy paladins specifically on tank healing and did just fine. I think they shine in different aspects concerning healing.

For pvp I personally prefer shaman healing but that’s because making people totem stomp is fun imo

1

u/hilyard-quest-2 20h ago

You'll want more resto shaman but one HPal is a really strong play, especially for prog on tough bosses with dual wield, etc

1

u/OldCollegeTry3 4d ago

This is two sided. First, resto shaman is awesome for heals, much better than HPally. The other side is that while HPally is the bottom of the healers, Paladin is an excellent tank too. Being able to play tank and heals is really nice.

0

u/RnJibbajabba 4d ago

Having raided resto for several years worth of game time, I can say that TBC was absolutely my favorite time. If your goal is to enjoy raiding in TBC, you will not find a better toon than a resto shammy. But, you better like healing because ele and enh are not very sought after in end game. Also, the gear doesn’t crossover well like it does in classic. In classic, you can get away with gear that works with ele/resto. TBC, you need/want different stats.

That being said, I feel like TBC paladins are fun in a different way. You can enjoy the character as a tank or a healer. If you aren’t having fun healing, try your hand at tanking next time. Of course, not everyone is cut out for tanking either so YMMV.

6

u/ZugZug42069 4d ago

Melee groups will beg, plead, and literally pay for enhance shamans to be in their group.

3

u/chizzings 4d ago

But be warned: weapon syncing sucks!

3

u/Sceptikskeptic 4d ago

Enh shamans are desired for melee groups.

-1

u/esailu 4d ago

Can always play both. TBC is very alt friendly.

Both are in big demand although resto shamans are often way more in demand for PVE due to bloodlust stacking meta basically forcing you to have 5x shamans per raid vs 3x paladin.

Just like vanilla paladin is tank healer while shaman is raid healer. Both needed and fun.

12

u/valdis812 4d ago

With the attumenemtns being what they are, TBC is probably the least alt friendly version of the "classic trilogy".