Healing Fundamentals

Healing is not a race to refill every bar. It is a constant judgment about who is actually in danger — and the calmest player in the group usually wins it.

Triage first

Not every injury is urgent. Learn to sort damage into three piles: someone dying now, someone who will die if ignored, and everyone else. Heal in that order. The DPS at 60% health while the tank is dropping fast is fine — top them off after.

Damage has patterns

• Most group damage is predictable: tank damage is steady, mechanic damage comes in bursts, and avoidable damage is spiky and someone's fault.
• Heal the pattern, not the panic. If a group-wide hit is coming, prepare for it rather than playing catch-up after.
• Idle time is normal. Not every second needs a heal — over-healing wastes mana and accomplishes nothing.

Mind your resources

Mana — or your spec's equivalent — is the budget for the whole fight, not the current pull. Expensive emergency heals are for emergencies; efficient heals cover everything else. Running dry at the dangerous part of a fight is the classic healer failure, and it starts ten pulls earlier.

Positioning is healing

Most failed heals are actually failed positioning: out of range, out of line of sight, standing in the thing that forces you to move. Stand where you can see the whole group and reach the exit — healing gets much easier when you are not also dodging.

Stuck on something here? Post a note on the Academy Learning Board — someone aboard has been exactly where you are.