With the new depths in World of Warcraft, Cortyn dares to heal for the first time. And it went surprisingly well, because Blizzard did a good job.
With the second season of The War Within, the depths were significantly revised. Not only are they more fun and interesting, they now also offer healers the chance to explore the depths with Brann as a tank.
Since this comes with some new achievements, I couldn’t help myself, leveled a new priest to level 80 (because my shadow priest will never be holy) and equipped her exclusively through the depths. Now my priest has reached item level 642, and I can proudly announce: I completed all depths at level 11 as a healer, without a group:
Brann as Tank – More Creative than Real Tanks
Blizzard really came up with something for Brann as tank. Because Brann needs healing not only to stay alive but also to deal additional damage:
- Every time you heal Brann, part of the healing is converted into damage that hits all enemies nearby Brann.
- Direct heals on Brann increase the damage of his gun, stacking multiple times.
This means that it is best to let Brann lose some health and only then start healing. This causes solid damage to all nearby enemies. By “waiting” at the beginning, you also have enough time to distribute some dots yourself or cast a damage spell or two.
Right now, everything in WoW revolves around Gallywix:
The only sticking point for me as a priest were bosses that really must be interrupted because they channel extremely high damage to all characters. I occasionally reached my limits, especially with (still) poor gear. You do notice that holy priests might indeed deserve a real interrupt after all these years.
In general, playing with Brann was extremely fun – especially because he is as moody as real players are as a tank. He often brings in an additional group with “Body Pull” or shouts “You must dodge!”, only to then walk into the area effect himself.
Whenever I ran out of mana, he often set up a campfire for regeneration – only to not wait for it and already jump into the next group of elite enemies.
Pacifist Gear for Healers – The Perfect Damage Boost
A true blessing was Brann’s item “Pacifist Gear” – just as recommended in our perfect Brann gear for healers. Because this regularly summons a large mech that you can control for a few seconds. The mech deals extremely high damage to all targets nearby. In its short lifespan of 10 seconds, it can easily deal 50 million damage or more. This can quickly wipe out even large groups of enemies.
This is particularly strong because you remain invulnerable during this time, and the mech has so many hit points that it will last until the end.
The downside, however, is that you cannot heal Brann while doing this – because you are controlling the mech. So as soon as the announcement comes that the mech is about to land, I had to pump all healing into Brann.
If Brann still dies during this time, you should ensure that all current enemies are indeed killed with the mech – because then Brann is instantly revived and ready for action again.
If that doesn’t work out, then after the mech visit, all the mobs came running joyfully to me to show me for once where the respawn point in this depth is.
Conclusion: Depths are the Perfect Introduction to Healer Life
Was it really difficult in the end? No, probably not. Even though the first depths were absolute horror, due both to the Brann nerfs and the lack of gear, the later depths were relatively relaxed. Every single item that I could swap made the next depth easier and better.
As a healer, depths can indeed be a bit tedious, especially if you do not use the Brann item “Pacifist Gear”. Then certain depths can take 25 to 30 minutes as a healer.
Nevertheless, I believe that depths took away some of the “worry” about healing. They were a learning experience, and when I look at how my behavior changed from the first to the last healer depth, I can very well imagine healing in Mythic+ as well – even if I then have to heal 4 wildly jumping Branns.
So I want to give you all the recommendation: If you’ve been avoiding the healing role so far because you feel uncertain or fear failure – just try it in the setting of depths.
Whether you start at level 11 or slowly feel your way up with a 4 or 5. The depths are an amazingly good “practice mode” where you can learn a lot, which would otherwise require some (unpleasant) dungeons with players that you would have to scrape off the floor. If you are considering the entry or return to WoW, we have here 3 classes that make it very easy.
