I like melee healers. Will I like WP/DoK?

[Brightlinger]

I am one of those players who was hyped for the original release of WAR because it promised a true frontline melee healers in the WP/DoK, in an era when the WoW paladin would wear cloth and spam Flash of Light from the backline. I played a Warrior Priest when the game was live, and was mostly disappointed with it - the caster spec was alive and well, while the melee specs struggled.

How viable is it nowadays? Am I setting myself up for disappointment if I try to play a melee WP again? Is WP or DoK better for this playstyle? And do I have to commit entirely to playing melee or caster (eg by going for different gear), or is it easy to swap as needed?

[gersy]

"Am I setting myself up for disappointment if I try to play a melee WP again?"

Yes, if your intent is to heal via melee. The way it worked in WAR is not how it works here anymore.

You've 3 specs basically:

Chalice/book - close-mid range pure healer, near to 0 damage, but effective in its role especially as a warband healer

1h/shield - your melee lifetap healer who heals largely by hitting enemies with melee attacks. however this playstyle was severely nerfed and is easily counterable. so it is mostly unplayable atm outside of 6v6 ranked controlled environment or maybe 12v12 scenarios. but it will be worse than all other healer options even in those cases, 98% of the time

Dual wield/2hand - redesigned to be more akin to a pure melee dps. it has some healing via lifetaps and can use some baseline casted healing abilities with heavily reduced value, but can never be considered as an actual healer or even a hybrid in all honesty. highly effective in smallscale, 6v6 and scenarios but pretty much useless in warband/largescale compared to other "real" dps

[ShinraTrooper]

"Am I setting myself up for disappointment if I try to play a melee WP again?"

Yes, if your intent is to heal via melee. The way it worked in WAR is not how it works here anymore.

You've 3 specs basically:

Chalice/book - close-mid range pure healer, near to 0 damage, but effective in its role especially as a warband healer

1h/shield - your melee lifetap healer who heals largely by hitting enemies with melee attacks. however this playstyle was severely nerfed and is easily counterable. so it is mostly unplayable atm outside of 6v6 ranked controlled environment or maybe 12v12 scenarios. but it will be worse than all other healer options even in those cases, 98% of the time

Dual wield/2hand - redesigned to be more akin to a pure melee dps. it has some healing via lifetaps and can use some baseline casted healing abilities with heavily reduced value, but can never be considered as an actual healer or even a hybrid in all honesty. highly effective in smallscale, 6v6 and scenarios but pretty much useless in warband/largescale compared to other "real" dps

Man that's a shame. Shield DoK sounds like an awesome playstyle, I wish it was more effective. Hopefully sometime in the future it gets fixed.

[DirkDaring]

Shield WP used to be actually fairly good , however a year ago they decided to change a lot of the classes again, and after that patch which has been a year now, they are not as good as they once were. Changes take a long time here as it`s only a couple people working in their spare time, so it could be 2 or 3 years before it gets looked at again, maybe never.

[Mvl130]

It's really sad to see all these people who missed the pre-March of 2025 frontline healers, they used to be flawed but efficient in several ways, now they're just pointless to play