Ive never done tanking or healing ever since im really new. Which one would be easier of the two to learn or most forgiving and what what class/spec?
neither are very forgiving unfortunately and both need different skill sets. if you are new to both the easiest tank to learn is probably warrior or druid and healer would be holy priest and shaman
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Theres more of a spotlight on the Tank, especially in Raiding. So if youâre nervous about it, I would probably Heal.
I recommend Resto Shaman or Resto Druid.
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If youâre doing M+ into +8 and higher, both will be a little rough if youâre new to it. Tanks get hit hard right now on top of having the responsibility of routing and Healing becomes incredibly emergency spot-healing on repeat at higher levels of M+ to the point that itâs more stressful than fun to me (but obviously not everyone).
In a Raid Setting, both are much easier to manage.
In a vacuum, Iâd argue Tanking is easier to learn and be successful at than Healing. Youâre basically a DPS but if you play suboptimally it doesnât matter as much as long as you keep your active mitigation rolling (and ideally arenât saving your big CDs for imaginary scenarios).
But again, that comes with the responsibility of effectively leading the group in dungeon content. You can look up the routes, itâs not that bad, but it is an extra external component to Tanking youâd have to be okay with. Healing doesnât really have that, but I see it as by far more stressful in terms of actual gameplay.
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Warrior tank is the most straight forward
And either Holy Priest or Resto Shaman
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Regardless of which role, class, and spec, start with a few follower dungeons, then normal, then heroic, etc. As someone really fresh youâll want to just work your way up through the progression. Itâs absolutely worth it so you can learn to use your abilities on a curve rather than get thrown right into the sharks.
Thank you for this!
Healing is mainly whack-a-mole. You can generally ignore tanksâ health bars for the most part in lower-tier content. Blizzardâs bad design decisions have had the effect of filtering out bad tanks, ones that remain generally know what theyâre doing, so theyâre nigh on indestructible. That leaves just healing self-important DPS who stand in fire. Also ignore them when they demand dispels (infuriating 8s CD). Use those on yourself or the tank. Heal the rest. Click/mouseover casting is faster/more efficient than targeting, but takes some getting used to and Blizzardâs UI constantly gets in the way while youâre setting up. Do some follower dungeons to check your binds and ensure your mouseover casts actually hit who youâre mousing over. Do some practice in normal dungeons, move up to heroics. Youâre going to be waiting awhile in queues, since everyone does TW dungeons these days, though those arenât great microcosms to do healing practice in. The scaling is just insane, so your numbers get inflated beyond the point of being useful as a learning tool.
I used to tank in Wrath/Cataclysm, but generally refuse to now. Too many buttons that are uncomfortable for me to bind (Iâm a programmer IRL, so Iâm dealing with early effects of RSI).
Iâm a healer main, and itâs my favorite thing to do in the game.
Healing is much easier than tanking in several respects because you are not responsible for leading the dungeon. It is a role you fill by going with the flow of what the group is doing rather than a role you fill by taking the lead.
The healer deals with the consequences of what the group has chosen to do rather than choosing what the group does.
Tanking is the easiest role to execute, but it carries the most responsibility and requires the most leadership/initiative of the three roles. Tanks must choose what to pull, when to pull, and move at a quick clip through the content. This means you need to familiarize yourself with the paths available to you, choose one, and be assertive.
In todayâs WoW culture, you will not be able to effectively learn either role (healing or tanking) in leveling dungeons. Itâs a problem. Itâs a HUGE problem.
That said, here are my recommendations:
Set Up Your Character
Get your healer or tank spec up. READ your abilities and talents thoroughly. Keybind your abilities in a way that makes sense to you. Watch a video about that spec or read a guide about it AFTER you have done this so that what youâre seeing/reading makes a modicum of sense to you.
Do Some Follower Dungeons in the New Spec
This will not teach you to play the healer or tank spec. What it will do is help you learn your keys and see the rotation in action.
As a tank, you can use a follower dungeon to learn the map, get familiar with the trash pull locations, and test out various tanking addons to see how it will go in a ârealâ dungeon.
As a healer, you can learn your combinations and see how everything works together in a low-pressure environment. Follower dungeon groups do not take realistic amounts of damage, so donât be shocked when your first ârealâ dungeon makes you work harder.
The follower dungeon serves as an entry point for learning. Go there. Use them to learn what you can, but donât make the mistake of thinking they are a complete guide that will teach you everything you need to know.
Graduate to Time Walking
This is where the shenanigans really begin. Real players, real dungeons, but with bad scaling, unrealistic tuning, and groups that expect you to pull wall-to-wall and finish the entire run in literally 5-10 minutes.
These are a good thing to experience because it will take everything you learned in follower dungeons and then make you do it at 100 miles per hour.
TW dungeons are not a good measuring stick for how well or how poorly youâre doing, but they are live content with live group members, and that means they are the natural next step. Stay here in TW dungeons until they are easy for youâŚbecause they should feel super easyâŚbecause they are super easy.
I Highly Recommend a Guild
If you play with friends, let your first current-expansion dungeons and anything you complete on a higher difficulty than Normal be done with a guild or friend group. If thatâs not something you wish to do, then this is where you should start trying to heal and/or tank in pug groups. Go slowly. TELL the group at the start that youâre newâŚand hope for the best.
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There are plenty of cases where even âliveâ dungeons wonât have you doing much healing. Could be a combination of people knowing what theyâre doing or overgearing things. They arenât as common as ones where you need to pay attention, but arenât rare either. Blizzard has pigeonholed healers into using DPS abilities for these situations, so bind those as well.
I think being a healer is a little easier than being a tank. I think you could start with Discpriest. Apply atonement to the entire group and do as much DPS as you can, as the Disc heals by dealing damage.
Healing prob, tanks are expected to have a lot of game knowledge and get blamed a lot (to be fair, so do healers)
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Healing is the easier of the two. You donât need all the dungeon routes memorized. Nobody can heal through stupid but the mechanics and flow are pretty easy to pick up.
Heya! Iâve done both into Mythic keys.
Both roles at a glance feel a bit unforgiving but I tried a tank I didnât play much yesterday and it felt quite fun. I tried it in a Timewalking dungeon and people were pretty chill. I think most important part is setting expectations (I said I was new).
Healing Iâd start by trying by getting familiarised with your heal spells on a dummy and then doing the same thing in a dungeon. Honestly once I had a party bar set up and installed decursive (which I use in all roles now) it feels like a pretty easy role. Only major issue is when I was doing keys this season is my offsider tank (my irl friend) was kinda new to tanking so heâs often run in with nothing. It can work up to +5s even but +6/7+ heâd fall flat. 
However in a party with a good tank healing arguably feels easier than a DPS at times, because while you will still be DPSing in your free time thereâs no expectation of throughput other than keeping people alive.
Guardian Druid bro easiest rotation. 
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Exactly I always say I donât know where Iâm going doodz
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It really depends on the kind of complexity you find worse. I actually find tanking to be less âdifficultâ than healing, but more stressful because a mistake is much more punishing.
For example, failing to dispell and heal through the dot on the squid boss in Siege might mean one death, but if a tank overpulls, or messes up their defensive rotation in the case of VDH, the entire group wipes, and with challengers peril the key is most likely bricked.
With that said, for tanking, I would say prot warrior or guardian druid are both really good for beginners, rotation wise. For healers, I have found resto shaman and holy priest to be the least cooldown reliant and most intuitive, and all around the best for learning and just pumping out a lot of raw healing.
Honestly tanking is easier, given your only worrying about keeping yourself alive during each encounter like a DPS. Healing on the other hand is much harder this expansion given the bulk of encounters are extreme high burst, even with trash pulls. Meaning you have to not only focus on keeping yourself alive, but keeping everyone else alive while maintaining your mana.
Healing got dealt a death blow this expansion, and while I still enjoy it, I feel like a lot of people have turned away from it. Due to at times literally walking on a razor line between surviving and not surviving an encounter due to the high burst that happens consistently and randomly to players.
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They are about same at lower ilv , tanking was easier in past but this expansion they actually have to pay attention and use whole toolkit. Once you get geared up tanking becomes much easier, while healing can still be headache if you have dps that ignores mechanics and or does not use defensives when needed.
So in summary⌠tanking.
Oh goshâŚman, I just find disc to be one of the hardest specs to master in the game. Thatâs only me, and lots of people really love it but my gracious, I find that spec intimidating.
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