---
title: 'What to Main in 12.1? The Debate for Tanks & Healers'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=D-NNSfC1zKw'
video_id: 'D-NNSfC1zKw'
date: 2026-08-03
duration_sec: 853
---

# What to Main in 12.1? The Debate for Tanks & Healers

> Source: [What to Main in 12.1? The Debate for Tanks & Healers](https://youtube.com/watch?v=D-NNSfC1zKw)

## Summary

In this video, the creator discusses their main class candidates for tanks and healers in World of Warcraft Season 2 (12.1), sharing personal preferences and insights on each spec's current state, tier sets, and playstyle.

### Key Points

- **Introduction to Tank and Healer Candidates** [00:04] — The creator introduces the topic of choosing a main for tanks and healers in Season 2, noting that they will discuss main candidates and their viability based on PTR testing.
- **Blood Death Knight: A Strong Main Candidate** [00:30] — Blood Death Knight is a top main candidate due to the fun playstyle and decent tier set, though the tier set is mostly passive. The creator enjoys playing Blood in Mythic+ and with their guild.
- **Brewmaster Monk: Not Attracted** [01:25] — The creator has no attraction to Brewmaster Monk, finding the hero talents passive and boring, despite enjoying it in the past. The Midnight version is slightly more interesting with Exploding Keg changes.
- **Discipline Priest: Fun but Routine** [02:17] — Discipline Priest is fun and easy to get into, but the Oracle playstyle feels routine and samey. Evangelism feels low impact, and finding a healer spot in Mythic+ may be hard.
- **Holy Paladin: Decent Alt** [03:21] — Holy Paladin has dropped to an alt status. It's receiving buffs and nerfs, with a potential rework in the future. The current version is decent but can get routine.
- **Holy Priest: Disliked** [04:04] — Holy Priest is the most disliked healer/tank spec due to the loss of Heal and Greater Heal, and the reliance on Prayer of Mending, which the creator finds boring.
- **Guardian Druid: Interesting Main Candidate** [05:14] — Guardian Druid is an interesting main candidate, with two flavors (Arcane and Physical) that are not fully incentivized. The creator enjoys the tanky feel but notes the talent synergies are scattered.
- **Mistweaver Monk: Edging Closer to Main** [07:03] — Mistweaver is the best monk spec in terms of fun and complexity, with high mobility and the ability to cast while moving. The duality of Way of the Crane and Way of the Serpent is nice, though Way of the Crane dominates.
- **Preservation Evoker: Not Interesting** [08:27] — Preservation Evoker's reworks feel risk-averse and not interesting enough. The initial version had cool interactions with Seedlings, but they were tuned down.
- **Protection Paladin: Identity Crisis** [09:06] — Protection Paladin is going through an identity crisis with uncertain talent tree changes. The creator dislikes the consecration-focused talents, finding them boring.
- **Protection Warrior: Boring but Loved** [10:18] — Protection Warrior is a favorite spec but feels boring in the next season with no major changes. The creator has seen it all and wants something new.
- **Restoration Druid: The Real Druid Spec** [10:58] — Restoration Druid is the only druid spec that meaningfully uses shapeshifting, making it a strong main candidate. The creator loves the versatility and the Shapeshifter talent.
- **Restoration Shaman: Potential Alt** [11:49] — Restoration Shaman has an interesting tier set with Healing Rain, but the playstyle feels too simple and samey. It could become a main but isn't fully sold.
- **Vengeance Demon Hunter: Favorite Tank** [12:42] — Vengeance Demon Hunter is the creator's favorite tank to play in Midnight, and if it becomes meta, they will main it for Mythic+ key pushing. They dislike squishy tanks.

### Conclusion

The creator's main candidates for tanks and healers in Season 2 are Blood Death Knight, Guardian Druid, Mistweaver Monk, and Restoration Druid, with Vengeance Demon Hunter as a potential main if it becomes meta. The video provides personal insights into each spec's current state and playstyle.

## Transcript

season 2 without exploring the tanks and the healers because we need more tanks and healers and I don't mind being that one. Granted, it's these particular tanks and healers that I think are main candidates because they're not all main
candidates unfortunately as it stands as of this point and we will go over in which ones there are in the initial stages of the season 2 PTR testing because there might be a final conclusion by the end of it and till
then we're going to kick it off with blood decay. Blood decay is as I mentioned in the DPS one, I really want to play Death Knight once again and that is mostly because I kind of want to play blood. Now, I'm
probably not going to be able to main tank in my raids. My raid already has little bit of a bummer cuz usually my main starts with rating, but if I do end up maining blood decay, it'll probably be in mythic plus and
with my with my guild depending on what they want. And that's going to be a how playing a Death Knight and blood has been really fun. The tier set is decently good. I think it's just mostly passive although I I guess I for frost
decay I just don't really care that much cuz I don't know if there's a tier set it really really for blood rather that makes it really really interesting cuz blood just does some very unique things
that usually are very hard to tune or balance. hell no spec. It's not that I think it's necessarily bad. I just don't feel any attraction to play it and that probably has to do a lot with how the hero
passive and boring. Those were some of the highlights of playing Brewmaster in the world within cuz I did main it back then in mythic plus at the very least and it was so much fun to play. The mid night version is just a little bit more
bit Exploding Keg is definitely interesting. more interesting and with the recast of exploding kick to do a lot more cool stuff. I don't know how the tier set will improve this at all. I just don't
feel it. I haven't played it as much, but I just had like zero attraction to to actually even touch it. I don't care at all. Discipline priest is very close to becoming a main, but it is an alt. In
the DPS video, I talked about shadow priest being very high and discipline would definitely be an easy alt for me. [music] It is very very fun and I do like the voice shield being super strong in Oracle and it's the healer that I've
one that I have the easiest time getting into. It feels like it has been definitely simplified quite a bit, but it also feels very samey. At least the Archon play style that uh Oracle I keep saying Archon, it's Oracle. Uh at least
the Oracle play style that I've been engaging with um it gets very routine. outside of casting voice shield once as soon as it becomes available, buffing it with wheel and woe and then just using penance offensively or defensively. Of
course, spreading uh shadow word pain and all of that, but that's that's about it. Evangelism is an interesting button, but it feels so low impact. I feel maybe only in raids it has like a really cool impact and in mythic plus
be hard for me to find a healer spot. Once again, my guild has is all good on any more. Holy paladin has dropped from uh very
high praise that I had to one alt. It's a it's a decent alt. So far it's still lot of attention in season two. It's not changing a lot, but they are very aware of what holy can and cannot do. I'm pretty sure they have a rework in the
obviously cannot get it out in time, so they're just buffing it and nerfing it aggressively in in certain areas. Mostly buffs to be to be fair. So, that kind of cool stuff in the future for holy. I kind of like the version of holy that we
have right now, But, similar to discipline priest, it can get very bit more interesting I can I can probably put it in front of discipline. uh than discipline, to be fair. But, otherwise, ah
Holy priest is definitely a hell no for me, and it's the healer {slash} tag that I uh dislike the most. And, this is from a very very selfish and very biased reason, but hey, that's how we all
interact with the game and in the world, so sue me, okay? But, I really dislike the fact that we lost heal, greater heal, and things like that. Uh I think but heal most most recently. I'm not a fan of prayer of mending
spells in the game. If they could delete prayer of mending, I might just play holy just for that. I feel like it's such a boring spell. It has a lot of synergies. It's such a It's such an important spell to use. But, I believe
the apex also works into it. Half of the talents work into it. The hero talents work into prayer of mending. I just cannot care for it at all. And, the most had that was always made me cool to cast is like those big
fat heal casts, which obviously are replaced with flash heal right now. And, it. That's fine. You guys go enjoy your holy priest. You play the class that I cannot play. Guardian is also an interesting main
Guardian is also an interesting main candidate, similar to blood. I crave playing a druid, and I'm definitely not going to main other druid specs outside potentially bear. Bear has been made
passes. It's kind of like at a crossroads right now, I feel, with its design. I still don't know exactly what it's trying to do, because it clearly has the two flavors of bear that I super love that are not incentivized enough or
or empowered enough. You have the arcane bear, galactic guardian, Elune's chosen, physical bear, Sundering Roar, Mangle, Killing Blow, which is also really cool. Probably play with Druid of the Claw,
still going to be playing bits from both talent sides, and that's great, but you're you're always probably going to play Ursoc's Fury with Galactic Guardian, with the Arcane Bear, and okay, that's that's fine, but the fact
that the synergies are all over the place just make the dichotomy of the bear or the flavors of the bear kind of a little bit inconsequential since the same cookie-cutter talent builds. You maybe change about two or three
nodes based off of what hero talents you're playing, and I feel bear. I don't know why I'm why I'm telling the bad parts, because the good parts are just bear is just very fun, and I I I start to feel once again that
I'm a big fat sponge that can just take a lot of punishment. I like the changes to the apex talents, where well, I don't like the bear ghost just running around and pulling everything, but I like that it's a little bit more
can respond to, and then kind of, you know, proc the bear to just go and pull probably going to get fixed. Hopefully not too late, cuz that's going to be my group if they're not going to fix that.
because every time I play Mistweaver, it it edges closer and closer to main, but tier list, and I still want to test it, I'm going to put it there. Mistweaver just reminds me a lot of why I love to play monk,
and it's definitely in my eyes the best monk spec at the moment in terms of its and complexity that I still like to enjoy in a spec. don't like on Mistweaver, which is why I'm not sold off, but I've been saying
little bit weird, so I'm just going to talk about the fun aspects of it. Being able to be super mobile is incredibly engaging. Having castable while moving soothing mist while also using instant enveloping mist and and vivify feels
like I haven't played Mistweaver for a long time and this is something that I'm it, it reminds me of the old days when I had to sit still and then just, uh, heal nuke one of my, uh, allies and being able to do that feels like it's
like, "Oh my god, back in my days we used to struggle so hard. It's so much better now." It's that kind of vibe that I have. And the duality of of know, way of the crane versus way of the serpent, although way of the crane still
seems to reign supreme, is very nice to have. I hope they get to be a little bit can play both if I ever end up maining, uh, preservation. Not preservation, Mistweaver. Cuz preservation is going into the hell
I really like the initial version of preservation when the class was announced and every other rework of it feels very risk-averse and is just not interesting enough to pull me into it. If anything,
uh, seedlings had the most interesting interactions that I could have hoped kind of like, "Ooh, them blossoms on everybody." That was cool, but they tuned that down as as well because, of course, they did. So,
they did do some pretty cool things with dream breath, but that feels like it preservation that would probably enjoy that. I personally don't enjoy that, uh, as much. Prot paladin is also going, uh, through
an identity crisis as of now. We're still not sure what the final talent tree is. Again, you're you're probably watching this a little bit after we've changes announced since, but as of recording this video, we've had two, uh,
prot paladin talent changes. Well, they initially borked it and now they kind of awkward cuz I still feel like I have to take some talents that I really don't want. Not to mention it looks like it's a going to be a consecration season and
as long as they have golden piss, I I golden path, uh, style talents where consecration does five damage. Consecration heals for three health Like that type of tuning to consecration just feels so boring and having to
did you know that if you pick what is it? Lightsmith and you pick this hero talent then your consecration does 4% of your overall damage? You can take that and shove it where the sun don't shine. I
spells to be impactful and I want consecration to be big especially if it's going to be a whole season surrounding that ability. Prot warrior is always always very close to becoming a main once again. Once
to becoming a main once again. Once again, it seems more or less boring in in the next season. No particular great changes. I'm playing the exact same talents every time, the exact same rotation. It's one of my all-time
favorite specs and I still love what it's doing but I've just seen it all. It's it just doesn't bring anything new to me. I I cannot honestly consider it a main. It's I love what it does but I've
classic wow over and over again. I know some people enjoy that and that's great and happy for you but I've done it already. I kind of want something else. And that something else is definitely resto druid. Resto druid is what I dub
the only real druid spec that druid has since it's the only real druid spec that interacts with most of its shape shifting abilities in meaningful ways. You shift into bear I guess like every other druid spec to be a particular tank
where you actually have to be a bear to kind of take over from your tank as your tank gets its bearings back if if he or she died or if you just res them or whatever. You obviously go into a cat or a chicken if you want to cat or owl
weave to do damage and that's really great and not to mention that you have cool talents that I personally like like a shapeshifter which is funny that only resto druid has in his resto talent tree instead of just the
druid class, but I digress. It's kind of like the only druid spec that makes me is very close to being a main, and it would be >> the main the main healer, the the candidate I want to main in more than
anything else on this list. Resto shaman is a potential alt right now. It has an interesting tier set with healing rain, probably more interesting than a lot of other specs. It has the potential to become a main. I'm not 100%
sold on it. Once again, it's a little bit too simple for my my taste, but it's simple. It's not too bad, but once again, I've seen what resto shamans play and the play style again just feels very samey. It's just the exact same one.
It's very hard to have divergence in your play style if your talents are just almost doing nothing. There's a couple of talents that just buff chain heal, healing wave, and a couple of talents that just buff riptide, and you kind of
play almost all of them always. And or you're ignoring one aggressively. I seen heal wave being played in quite a while. Okay, enjoy it. I've played better versions of resto. I
don't want to play this. Demon hunter is still holding strong for like it's going actually going to be a strong tank. Now, if you haven't followed our off-video
content, particularly our streams to twitch.tv/marcelianflame, especially the first time that we're doing this, where we have our raid
don't really care, but in mythic plus, we tend to gravitate towards meta, cuz I raids we're just going to play whatever we like, how about we try meta for we like, how about we try meta for mythic plus?" And vengeance is currently
my probably favorite tank to play in midnight, and if it also becomes meta, then I'm probably going to be a main tank in in season 2. At least insofar as it comes to our key pushing, which I am excited for cuz I love
changed for vengeance, but it's playstyle was also really good baseline. personally dislike playing squishy tanks, which is why Propel then is way actually the lowest tank as of this point. Squishy tanks just makes no sense
to me. Just be tanky. You're a tank. And I talked at length about the DPS in this video right here, and I talk about why some of the tanks and healers
are in the main category right now, and they have to do a lot with why the that I've put in the main category are in the main category. So, how about you in the main category. So, how about you click it and see what you think.