Neirai the Forgiven
Christian Guilds List Manager
Deltara asked me for this info last night, but we never got to talking so here it is:
Healadins, Tankadins, Restos, and Bears
Basically the point of this post is to compare druids and pallies in terms of healing and tanking.
Healing
Please bear in mind that I have not been a resto druid for quite some time now... but I did play one for a while.
Druids:
Strengths:
Druid healing majors on Heal-over-time spells, an area where the druid is unmatched. With regrowth + rejuvenation stacking with each other, a druid can create upwards of 500 healing/3 seconds on a target for an extended period of time. Druids typically also create less threat when they heal. Druids also have Innervate, which allows them to restore mana to a single target (not just themselves) every 6 minutes. One of the resto druid's most powerful abilities is Nature's Swiftness, which allows them to cast one healing spell instantly -- a huge bonus when things go crappy in a fight. And don't lets forget the in-combat rezzes!
Weaknesses:
Lack of fast healing... Nature's Swiftness is the only way to cast a fast healing spell, and you can only do that every 3 minutes. Okay, I'm a little old-school... Swiftmend lets you do fast heals now, but it also takes more time, and more mana. Flash healing is not the druid's forte. Druids also lack any form of shielding spell, and their healing does tend to be mana-intensive. Also, the half-hour cooldown on rezzes can be a pain.
Compared to a priest:
The druid is more of a 'brute force' healer, and often outperforms the priest on Healing meters, but many druids must watch out for overhealing numbers as they can often waste their mana healing a fully-healed target. Druids lack any form of "fade" abilities, which prevent them from losing aggro once they pull it. Finally, priest's bubbles and aoe heals definitely outperform the druid in those areas.
Pallies:
Strengths:
In many ways, the Healadin is the antithesis of the druid. Healadins excel as flash healers, and their spells are very mana-efficient. Many times I have heard it said that "Flash of Light is the most efficient healing spell in the game." Moreover, this efficiency is bolstered by the Healadin's ability to cast all critical spell hits for free. This, coupled with an ability to force a mana-less critical hit every 2 minutes, makes the Healadin one of the most mana-efficient healers in the game. Add to those statistics a large amount of armor and possibly a shield, and the ability to bubble targets to prevent them from taking any damage, and you have one rocking healbot.
Weaknesses:
Keeping with the antithesis of the druid theme, the Healadin has no HoT spells whatsoever. No Heal over Time. None. The only way a Healadin can "heal over time" is with Judgement of Light. Yeesh! This lack of HoT capabilities makes a Paladin prone to overheals and makes it quite hard for them to heal a teddytank. Also, the Healadin has no effective way of regaining mana once he has lost it, although this is changing in BC, somewhat.
Compared to a priest:
Healadins are quite different healers imho than priests are. When compared to a priest, a Healadin comes up short on the healing end of things, but greatly overcomes a priest when it comes to combat durability. A Healadin does not have to hang out behind the mages in order to survive, instead it can get right up there with the meleers, which is on of the Healadin's greatest assets. Bubbles and Lay On Hands also allow for a lot of emergency flexibility.
Tanking:
I'm gonna do this a bit different because this is my "field of expertise." However, I do expect Connor to come along and correct me about my pally info. All pally info will attempt to take BC into consideration as Tankadining really gets changed up in BC.
Power Source:
Warrior: Rage. Rage builds up during battles and never is completely exhausted. On the other hand, if rage is unable to be generated properly (because of a ranged, or flighty boss, or a shield) the warrior is gimped.
Teddy: Rage. See above.
Tankadin: Mana. Mana runs down during a battle and eventually is exhausted. On the plus side, Mana is not effected by relative boss position or shielding. In BC, Tankadin's mana will replenish as the Tankadin is healed, alleviating the mana problem to a certain point.
Who wins? Warriors and Teddies in Classic, but in BC I'm confidant that this is a tossup.
Damage Mitigation:
Warrior: High defense skill and shield mechanics allow the warrior to avoid many of the nasty high-damage effects that would otherwise cause huge amounts of damage. Unfortunately, any non-blocked/defended critical or crushing hits will do their full damage (which is a lot) to Warriors. Warriors are the only class that can willfully force a shield block.
Teddy: Extremely high armor and HP, but no shield and limited defense skill are the teddy's lot in life. Teddies will in fact take a huge number of those nasty high-damage effects, but those effects will do significantly less damage to a teddy. As a result, Teddies have a much smoother damage chart than warriors or pallies, but this chart moves more quickly.
Tankadin: Tankadins have access to the same or similar itemizations as warriors, and so much of the tankadin's damage mitigation is the same as the warriors. But, unlike the warrior, the tankadin employs his shield in different ways. A tankadin's shield tends to come up powerfully as a result of being the brunt of a critical or crushing blow, and then stays up for a number of attacks. Basically, after a Tankadin takes a nasty extra-damage attack, he or she becomes immune to that sort of thing for a small amount of time.
Who wins? That depends on who you ask.
Threat Generation: This is a big one!
Warrior: Warriors create threat by the use of special, threat-causing abilities, such as Sunder Armor. The amount of threat that the Warriors create is independant of enemy armor as long as Sunder Armor is not resisted. However, this means that the Warrior's aggro generation is dependant on his rage and his ability to stay near the target. Warriors also have a melee-range taunt that they can use to grab aggro.
Teddy: Teddies create threat with each and every action they do. Faerie Fire, Demoralizing Roar, Thorns, and Frenzied Regeneration are all valid sources of Teddy threat. However, enemy armor and defense can limit the effectiveness of the Teddy's threat generation. Teddies are less dependant on rage and positioning (FF can be cast behind the teddy, and Frenzied Regen can be used as a AoE threat gen) than warriors, but this is still a factor. Teddies also gain rage quickly if they score critical hits. Teddies have a melee-range taunt that is similar to a warrior's.
Tankadin: Tankadins' threat generation is different than a warrior or teddy's. Basically, Tankadins get aggro by LAYING DOWN HOLY SMACK. Therefore, a Tankadin basically uses as many attack spells (SoC, Consecration, Ret aura, exorcism, et al) as possible with the most +spelldam he or she can muster. This means that, unlike teddies and warriors, an effective Tankadin must have high DPS and know how to use it. Any source of holy damage will cause threat, however. In BC, Tankadins will have a long-ranged taunt that will work differently than a warrior or teddy's.
Who wins? At this point, I'm going for the warrior. On the flip side, I'm constantly flipping aggro off of warriors, so I'm not sure.
**A brief note on Tank transitions: Seasoned warriors are good at tank transitions. Teddies suck at them. Tankadins should excell at tank transitions because they don't need to be anywhere near each other to transition.**
Multi-target Tanking:
Warriors: Warriors are quite limited in their ability to tank multiple targets; if they go for the AoE tank model, it is quite often in Berzerker stance, which jeopardizes their threat generation and survivability.
Teddies: Teddies can tank up to three targets reasonably well, but then the Teddies don't do much damage to their targets... they basically don't do anything BUT tank those targets. Teddies can tank more than three targets, using Roars and Frenzigen, but in that case their aggro hold is very tentative.
Tankadins: Concecration, Ret Aura, Holy Wrath. 'Nuff said.
Who wins? The Tankadin, hands down.
Priest bubbles and emergency situations:
Warriors: Warriors have Last Stand, Shield Wall, and a few other nice buttons that they can press when things go bad. These often make the difference between a whipe and a win. Bubbles, on the other hand, are bad for Warriors, because they largely prevent them from getting any rage.
Teddies: Teddies do not have any anti-fluky boss buttons. This means that a Teddy relies completely on his armor and heals... And when the boss is a chronically fluky boss, that's a bad thing. Teddies can generate threat from inside a bubble, but it still does do bad things to the teddy's rage. A Teddy should only be shielded when he knows that he has a good hold on his aggro.
Tankadins: Tankadins have Divine Shield and the ability to heal themselves when things get bad. Sure, healing stops aggro gen, but so does dying. Tankadins do not use rage at all, so they don't mind being inside a PW:S at all.
Who Wins? Tankadins, again.
Stat requirements:
Warriors: Stamina, Strength, Defense, Block, Parry. I think that's the whole list. Very easy to get items that have these things if you are a Warrior.
Teddies: Stamina, Critical hit%. That's it. Largely, "Stamina" is what you want. Hard to get decent Teddy loot, but easy to get passible loot.
Tankadins: Stamina, Strenght, Intellect, Spirit, Defense, Block, Parry, +Spelldamage, +Spellcrit, +mana/5. It is much harder to get first class Tankadin loot.
Who Wins? Warriors, by far.
Anyhow, that's it for now. I may add to this later, perhaps as Deltara asks me specific questions.
Healadins, Tankadins, Restos, and Bears
Basically the point of this post is to compare druids and pallies in terms of healing and tanking.
Healing
Please bear in mind that I have not been a resto druid for quite some time now... but I did play one for a while.
Druids:
Strengths:
Druid healing majors on Heal-over-time spells, an area where the druid is unmatched. With regrowth + rejuvenation stacking with each other, a druid can create upwards of 500 healing/3 seconds on a target for an extended period of time. Druids typically also create less threat when they heal. Druids also have Innervate, which allows them to restore mana to a single target (not just themselves) every 6 minutes. One of the resto druid's most powerful abilities is Nature's Swiftness, which allows them to cast one healing spell instantly -- a huge bonus when things go crappy in a fight. And don't lets forget the in-combat rezzes!
Weaknesses:
Lack of fast healing... Nature's Swiftness is the only way to cast a fast healing spell, and you can only do that every 3 minutes. Okay, I'm a little old-school... Swiftmend lets you do fast heals now, but it also takes more time, and more mana. Flash healing is not the druid's forte. Druids also lack any form of shielding spell, and their healing does tend to be mana-intensive. Also, the half-hour cooldown on rezzes can be a pain.
Compared to a priest:
The druid is more of a 'brute force' healer, and often outperforms the priest on Healing meters, but many druids must watch out for overhealing numbers as they can often waste their mana healing a fully-healed target. Druids lack any form of "fade" abilities, which prevent them from losing aggro once they pull it. Finally, priest's bubbles and aoe heals definitely outperform the druid in those areas.
Pallies:
Strengths:
In many ways, the Healadin is the antithesis of the druid. Healadins excel as flash healers, and their spells are very mana-efficient. Many times I have heard it said that "Flash of Light is the most efficient healing spell in the game." Moreover, this efficiency is bolstered by the Healadin's ability to cast all critical spell hits for free. This, coupled with an ability to force a mana-less critical hit every 2 minutes, makes the Healadin one of the most mana-efficient healers in the game. Add to those statistics a large amount of armor and possibly a shield, and the ability to bubble targets to prevent them from taking any damage, and you have one rocking healbot.
Weaknesses:
Keeping with the antithesis of the druid theme, the Healadin has no HoT spells whatsoever. No Heal over Time. None. The only way a Healadin can "heal over time" is with Judgement of Light. Yeesh! This lack of HoT capabilities makes a Paladin prone to overheals and makes it quite hard for them to heal a teddytank. Also, the Healadin has no effective way of regaining mana once he has lost it, although this is changing in BC, somewhat.
Compared to a priest:
Healadins are quite different healers imho than priests are. When compared to a priest, a Healadin comes up short on the healing end of things, but greatly overcomes a priest when it comes to combat durability. A Healadin does not have to hang out behind the mages in order to survive, instead it can get right up there with the meleers, which is on of the Healadin's greatest assets. Bubbles and Lay On Hands also allow for a lot of emergency flexibility.
Tanking:
I'm gonna do this a bit different because this is my "field of expertise." However, I do expect Connor to come along and correct me about my pally info. All pally info will attempt to take BC into consideration as Tankadining really gets changed up in BC.
Power Source:
Warrior: Rage. Rage builds up during battles and never is completely exhausted. On the other hand, if rage is unable to be generated properly (because of a ranged, or flighty boss, or a shield) the warrior is gimped.
Teddy: Rage. See above.
Tankadin: Mana. Mana runs down during a battle and eventually is exhausted. On the plus side, Mana is not effected by relative boss position or shielding. In BC, Tankadin's mana will replenish as the Tankadin is healed, alleviating the mana problem to a certain point.
Who wins? Warriors and Teddies in Classic, but in BC I'm confidant that this is a tossup.
Damage Mitigation:
Warrior: High defense skill and shield mechanics allow the warrior to avoid many of the nasty high-damage effects that would otherwise cause huge amounts of damage. Unfortunately, any non-blocked/defended critical or crushing hits will do their full damage (which is a lot) to Warriors. Warriors are the only class that can willfully force a shield block.
Teddy: Extremely high armor and HP, but no shield and limited defense skill are the teddy's lot in life. Teddies will in fact take a huge number of those nasty high-damage effects, but those effects will do significantly less damage to a teddy. As a result, Teddies have a much smoother damage chart than warriors or pallies, but this chart moves more quickly.
Tankadin: Tankadins have access to the same or similar itemizations as warriors, and so much of the tankadin's damage mitigation is the same as the warriors. But, unlike the warrior, the tankadin employs his shield in different ways. A tankadin's shield tends to come up powerfully as a result of being the brunt of a critical or crushing blow, and then stays up for a number of attacks. Basically, after a Tankadin takes a nasty extra-damage attack, he or she becomes immune to that sort of thing for a small amount of time.
Who wins? That depends on who you ask.
Threat Generation: This is a big one!
Warrior: Warriors create threat by the use of special, threat-causing abilities, such as Sunder Armor. The amount of threat that the Warriors create is independant of enemy armor as long as Sunder Armor is not resisted. However, this means that the Warrior's aggro generation is dependant on his rage and his ability to stay near the target. Warriors also have a melee-range taunt that they can use to grab aggro.
Teddy: Teddies create threat with each and every action they do. Faerie Fire, Demoralizing Roar, Thorns, and Frenzied Regeneration are all valid sources of Teddy threat. However, enemy armor and defense can limit the effectiveness of the Teddy's threat generation. Teddies are less dependant on rage and positioning (FF can be cast behind the teddy, and Frenzied Regen can be used as a AoE threat gen) than warriors, but this is still a factor. Teddies also gain rage quickly if they score critical hits. Teddies have a melee-range taunt that is similar to a warrior's.
Tankadin: Tankadins' threat generation is different than a warrior or teddy's. Basically, Tankadins get aggro by LAYING DOWN HOLY SMACK. Therefore, a Tankadin basically uses as many attack spells (SoC, Consecration, Ret aura, exorcism, et al) as possible with the most +spelldam he or she can muster. This means that, unlike teddies and warriors, an effective Tankadin must have high DPS and know how to use it. Any source of holy damage will cause threat, however. In BC, Tankadins will have a long-ranged taunt that will work differently than a warrior or teddy's.
Who wins? At this point, I'm going for the warrior. On the flip side, I'm constantly flipping aggro off of warriors, so I'm not sure.
**A brief note on Tank transitions: Seasoned warriors are good at tank transitions. Teddies suck at them. Tankadins should excell at tank transitions because they don't need to be anywhere near each other to transition.**
Multi-target Tanking:
Warriors: Warriors are quite limited in their ability to tank multiple targets; if they go for the AoE tank model, it is quite often in Berzerker stance, which jeopardizes their threat generation and survivability.
Teddies: Teddies can tank up to three targets reasonably well, but then the Teddies don't do much damage to their targets... they basically don't do anything BUT tank those targets. Teddies can tank more than three targets, using Roars and Frenzigen, but in that case their aggro hold is very tentative.
Tankadins: Concecration, Ret Aura, Holy Wrath. 'Nuff said.
Who wins? The Tankadin, hands down.
Priest bubbles and emergency situations:
Warriors: Warriors have Last Stand, Shield Wall, and a few other nice buttons that they can press when things go bad. These often make the difference between a whipe and a win. Bubbles, on the other hand, are bad for Warriors, because they largely prevent them from getting any rage.
Teddies: Teddies do not have any anti-fluky boss buttons. This means that a Teddy relies completely on his armor and heals... And when the boss is a chronically fluky boss, that's a bad thing. Teddies can generate threat from inside a bubble, but it still does do bad things to the teddy's rage. A Teddy should only be shielded when he knows that he has a good hold on his aggro.
Tankadins: Tankadins have Divine Shield and the ability to heal themselves when things get bad. Sure, healing stops aggro gen, but so does dying. Tankadins do not use rage at all, so they don't mind being inside a PW:S at all.
Who Wins? Tankadins, again.
Stat requirements:
Warriors: Stamina, Strength, Defense, Block, Parry. I think that's the whole list. Very easy to get items that have these things if you are a Warrior.
Teddies: Stamina, Critical hit%. That's it. Largely, "Stamina" is what you want. Hard to get decent Teddy loot, but easy to get passible loot.
Tankadins: Stamina, Strenght, Intellect, Spirit, Defense, Block, Parry, +Spelldamage, +Spellcrit, +mana/5. It is much harder to get first class Tankadin loot.
Who Wins? Warriors, by far.
Anyhow, that's it for now. I may add to this later, perhaps as Deltara asks me specific questions.
