Healer twinking guide

''This page is a general guide for low-level Twink for the purpose for healing team members in a battleground. Class-specific tips can be found in related links.''

Twinks are player characters who have gained the most powerful gear for their level. A good healer can turn the tide of any Battleground and have a lot of fun while keeping themselves, and their allies, alive. This guide mainly focuses on lvl 19 and 29 twinking.

General pointers for healers
Your mana, mana regeneration and stamina are prized above spell power. Gear up to have a good survivability and place yourself high on the 'heal priority' list.

Be aware you will tend to pull a lot of aggro, both in and out combat. Hunters will always pick you, rogues will always chase you. Keep moving seems the advice, making priests and druids a nice pick.

Stick with the group. Sometimes your group does not tend to stick together. In both cases, identify if you have any tank. If no warrior paladin or druid around, this even might be a twink rogue. A tank-healer combo + some (ranged) DPS can be very effective in Battlegrounds (BG's). The concept of 'tank' is not limited to PvE!

Non-healers: stick with your healer. Make sure you know where he/she is and don't rush out of range expecting heals without your healer needing to maneuver in a dangerous position.

Any class with a heal button, whether healing spec'ed or not, must consider themselves a healer. Having a heal-mod/heal-addon installed will make life easier and help you identify friendly targets that are in need of a heal. So does pressing SHIFT-V (default mapping - View Friendly Health Bar) in lots of cases.

Choosing your class
Depending on your playstyle (healing-only or hybrid DPS/heal, melee or ranged etc) and talent tree you can pick almost any class you like, there is no class 'superior' above another, any healing class can have very good performance in a BG.
 * Priests. Moderate DPS. Good heal, shields and buffs. Moderate but effective CC.
 * Paladins. Hard to get / slow to kill. Good buffs and heal but lack of instant heal spells. Moderate DPS. Very low CC (stun).
 * Shamans. Nice heal but no instants, good DPS if spec'ed. Nice CC (Frost Shock / Earthbind). Good flag carriers (Ghost Wolf).
 * Druids. High survivability. Escape well from CC effects. Effective heal. Nice DPS. Low CC (root outdoor, charge)stun effects). Very good flag carriers (travel form).

Choosing your professions
Some professions offer buffs and unique items. Maximum skill is capped by level: 150 for lvl19, 225 for lvl29. Here are some that may interest a twink:

Engineering
Various items from engineering are very useful, both gear and consumable items (bombs). Engineering is considered a basic skill for twinks and is very recommended. Gnomes have a +15 engineering bonus, allowing craft/use of items up to engineering skill 240 (at level 29), unfortunately the gnome race provides no healing classes.

Lvl29:
 * Spellpower Goggles Xtreme - No stamina or spirit but a very good +21 spellpower bonus which is hard to obtain by other means.
 * Various toys like Big Iron Bomb, Iron Grenade and Explosive Sheep to add some mana-free cc and dps.
 * Gnomish Mind Control Cap

Gathering Professions
Gathering professions give a unique spell or buff:
 * Herbalism - Lifeblood (herbalism ability) heal-over-time which costs no mana.

First Aid
Despite being a healer, sometimes a bandage is a better option (such as when you're out of mana!). Always keep a good stock of bandages for yourself or others. Level your First Aid skill to the maximum of 225.

Fishing
Although fishing has no direct use for a twink, items acquired from it may be the best. Every Sunday startng 14:00 is the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza in Stranglethorn Vale. Catching a rare fish during the extravaganza will reward items like Lucky Fishing Hat or Nat Pagle's Extreme Anglin' Boots that have a very good stamina attribute and the boots are enchantable with TBC enchants. See Fishbot 5000 for details on this quest.

Items that are of use
In general, the PvP rewards from WSG and AB are the best of its kind at this level. Focus your attention for gear on the items that are not rewarded. As healer, consider mana regeneration (spirit/int/stamina gear).

Dark Rune - Returns (a LOT of) mana in trade of some health. Very nice if you have a spare (unattended) second. Heal yourself after use (if it doesn't crit). Drops a lot in Scholomance.

Furbolg Form - Confuses the opponent and is a purgable buff. Ow, and its just fun too. Quest chain is soloable at ~lvl25.

Enchants
Mystic Spellthread / Runic Spellthread - Silver Spellthread Golden Spellthread - Spellpower / healbonus and good stamina buff. Some people may even prefer the stamina of Clefthide Leg Armor but this is not recommended, since there are other ways to obtain stamina, but it's not easy to obtain a high spellpower/healbonus without the spellthread. Make note that this enchant cannot be applied on BoP items. Therefore, twinks will almost always have pants that are BoE. Keep your eyes open for such items on the auction hall.

There are few items ingame that are 'levelless'. They (almost?) always are quest rewards. Such gear allows enchanting of any kind, ignoring the lvl35 requirement that was introduced with TBC enchants.

For level 29 there are a number of interesting items:


 * Shaman's and paladins: Crescent of Forlorn Spirits - This axe is a reward from the quest chain The Legend of Stalvan (soloable at ~lvl28+), and allows encants like the +81 healing Enchant Weapon - Major Healing.


 * From the same quest chain is Ring of Forlorn Spirits, which is recommended for any mana-based twink.


 * Cloth:
 * Civinad Robes - This is probably the only gear for alliance that allows enchanting the +15 Resilience enchant Enchant Chest - Major Resilience.
 * Nat Pagle's Extreme Anglin' Boots

Tips

 * Disable your experience gain as soon as you hit the desired level. Do this by speaking to Behsten or Slahtz.
 * Go to battleground before your target level, even if your gear is not complete, for some practice.
 * Inspect other players.
 * Make sure your twink has cash and bagspace to pick up any bargain items on the AH.
 * Find group or boost to Wailing Caverns. Be sure to pick up the Glowing Shard and complete the quest chain for your Talbar Mantle.
 * Find a friend with the same interests as you. That way, you can help your friend to "boost" his/hers twink in instances, and your friend in turn will help you.
 * Be prepared to invest a lot of gold and time into your twink.
 * Make sure you're having fun :)

Instances
You can find a group for your desired instance through the Dungeon Finder, however you may have to roll against other players for drops. Make sure to check drops beforehand, or install AtlasLoot.


 * lvl19 twinks:
 * Wailing Caverns
 * Deadmines
 * Ragefire Chasm
 * This instance is very hard to reach for alliance.


 * lvl29 twinks:
 * Gnomeregan ('full')
 * Razorfen Kraul (limited use, lot of lvl30+ items. Mainly 1st boss).
 * Scarlet Monastery 'library' - only 1 item - a lvl29 ring Deadman's Hand. 10% droprate.

Very Limited use: Shadowfang keep and Blackfathom Deeps.


 * Gurubashi Arena
 * The Gurubashi Arena arena in SV allows die-hard twinks to ultimately reward a Arena Grand Master.

Healer Addons
Original BGHealer
 * Great unit frames addon for WSG, shows when people near you are hurt and shows buffs you have cast on party members.

Battlefield Commander
 * New flag scoreboard and a way better BG map that has the ability to show unit health and if units are in combat or dead.