Raid Rx: Analyzing tier 12 healing set bonuses

Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI-, macro- and addon-related. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading on the Matticast.

Good news, everyone! Patch 4.2 information is heating up! I've already fired up my PTR client, and I'll be eagerly testing any new encounters. Some of the new information that has been released includes the new tier bonuses, which I'm sure you're burning with desire to know more about. I'll see if I can help stoke the flames of your anticipation. I suspect we'll have some players returning to see if new content is going to rekindle their interest in the game.

Too many fire puns? Okay, let's just blaze on through and look at healing tier bonuses.

I really do like the creativity the design team is taking with regards to set bonuses. Keep in mind that even though all of this stuff is in the PTR data, it could change at any time. I hardly expect all of this to be the final iteration. It looks like the two-piece bonuses provide a slight boost to your mana regeneration, while the four-piece offers cool effects inspired by select boss mechanics.

Priest set bonus

Holy and Discipline two-piece Your Flash Heal, Heal, and Greater Heal spells cause you to regenerate 2% of your base mana.

Holy and Discipline four-piece You have a chance when you cast a helpful spell to summon a Cauterizing Flame. Friendly raid and party members can use the Cauterizing Flame to be instantly healed for 4,625 to 5,375. Lasts for 45 seconds or 10 charges. After using the Cauterizing Flame, players cannot benefit from it again for 10 seconds.

With the two-piece, I guess I won't be doing much filler Renew work. Depending on my mana reserves, I'll need to revert back to plain Heal casting in order to gain it.

In regards to the four-piece, Chase said it best: The four-piece is the only bonus that literally scales with player skill. Chance on heal, summon a Firewell! Players click on it, and they get an instant heal. It seems like a paltry amount. I wonder if it is going to scale with mastery at all. Too early to say, and we don't know enough about the mechanics yet. It is just a first impression, and it seems to feel extremely lackluster. Where would it even spawn? The target of the heal? Next to the casting priest? I've always had mixed feelings about Lightwell, and they're going to carry over here. The effectiveness of the proposed four-piece bonus is determined by the awareness and skill of the raid group I am with.

On the cosmetic side, I'm hoping it will be a red-colored Lightwell of sorts. Imagine being in a zone that is all fire and trying to find the Firewell amidst all the chaos.

Paladin set bonus

Holy two-piece Casting Flash of Light, Holy Light, or Divine Light on your Beacon of Light target has a 40% chance to grant you 2% of your base mana.

Holy four-piece Your Divine Light also heals a nearby injured target for 20% of the amount healed.

Paladin two-piece bonus is similar in design to the priest one. The difference is that it involves your Beacon of Light target and it has a chance of restoring mana.

The four-piece reminds me of Althor's Abacus. At least it will scale nicely as paladins gain better gear. I can't find much to really criticize on the paladin bonuses. Divine Light coupled with the set bonus amplifies the multi-healing aspect of paladins slightly. I presume it'll be great for paladins placed on raid healing, although I'm not sure how often raid healing paladins cast Divine Light. If paladins are being assigned to tanks, melee players will benefit the most in a melee tough raiding environment.

Druid set bonus

Restoration two-piece Your periodic healing from Lifebloom has a 40% chance to restore 1% of your base mana each time it heals a target.

Restoration four-piece When your Lifebloom blooms, it instantly heals up to 2 nearby injured targets for the same amount.

Curiously, the druid two-piece relies on Lifebloom instead of using other direct healing spells. In fact, both of the bonuses revolve around Lifebloom. It'll be up to the casting druid to determine when to let the spell expire or when to maintain it. When it does expire, two nearby players will benefit from it. This bonus seems like it'll be slightly challenging for druids to manage. Druids will need to keep a finger next to Lifebloom, eyes on the target, and be aware of any health loss to any players around that target.

Fun times!

Shaman set bonus

Restoration two-piece Your periodic healing from Riptide has a 40% chance to restore 1% of your base mana each time it heals a target.

Restoration four-piece Your Chain Heal spell will jump to one additional target.

The shaman two-piece falls in line with the druid set bonuses. It simply reinforces the idea of players continuing to use Riptide whenever it is available and does not rely on the normal direct healing spells.

I have a hunch that the four-piece bonus is a placeholder and isn't implemented yet. As it stands, it just looks boring compared to the other bonuses of the other three healing classes. Perhaps a bonus whereby every target hit by Chain Heal has a chance to heal a nearby player for 10% of the initial Chain Heal? Mm, that's probably too overpowered.

What type of shaman bonus would you give? What do you think of your tier 12 so far?

Need advice on working with the healers in your guild? Raid Rx has you covered. Send your questions about raid healing to mattl@wowinsider.com. For less healer-centric raiding advice, visit Ready Check for advanced tactics and advice for the endgame raider.