IHazHealz

Playstyle Tips

2009-12-06T03:18:00.001-05:00

((In progress))

Itemization

2009-12-05T01:24:00.119-05:00

:::Itemization:::

::Stats::

You probably by now have noticed the overwhelming stats to choose from. Leveling, if you are a new player, you have been leveling in whatever you could find, agility, spell power, stamina, spirit, a number of stats. A few stats happen to be very important as a raiding Restoration Druid. The most popular and effective stacking order as of 3.2 is, Spellpower>Haste >Spirit>Intellect>Crit>MP5>Stamina> and so forth.
So why is that the picking order for stats? Many players try different stat itemizations, but the above has been proven to push the limits for spell throughput.

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Spellpower:

Spellpower is a very important key stat for a Restoration Druid. It's also very important as you gear your druid. More spellpower means your hots will tick for more, and your direct heals will burst for more. Mana will be an issue at first, balancing spellpower with spirit will help alleviate the stress a bit until gear level increases. Coefficient tables can help when determining how spellpower will affect your spells.

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Spirit or Haste:

Spirit scales with the paladin buff Kings, also grants a small amount of out of combat mana return, as well healing, thanks to Tree of Life. Spirit is more important above Haste for gearing druids.

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Haste:

It reduces the cast time for casted spells, and reduces the global cool down for your instants. I like being around 500, for the added bonus to nourish and regrowth while still meeting the cap. You want to aim for getting the gcd between hots to 1 sec. You don't actually need anymore than that, but it's a matter of opinion and playstyle. Haste is a very odd stat, and difficult to fully understand for a gearing resto druid. I would recommend experimenting, but don't overlook spirit at first for haste. Newer restoration druids often experience mana conservation issues until their gearing balances out.
There are a few sources for haste to keep in mind when gearing. Swift Retribution from Retribution Paladins, Improved Moonkin Aura, from Moonkins, and Wrath of Air Totem, from Shaman Totems. Also talents such as Gift of the Earthmother and Celestial Focus can affect the amount of Haste rating you need.
http://www.resto4life.com/ This is a good site for number formulating when trying to figure out the amount of haste rating needed. It is pretty simple to understand.

3.2 Haste Chart: EJ Source

In order to maintain a 1sec GCD on Rejuv, LB, and WG:

Wrath of Air and Improved Moonkin Aura/Swift Retribution Aura (with 3/3 Celestial Focus)
0/5 GotE = ~34.7% Haste = ~1137 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~27.0% Haste = ~887 Haste Rating ~29.45% =~959 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~20.2% Haste = ~664 Haste Rating ~23.85% =~782 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~14.1% Haste = ~463 Haste Rating ~18.48% =~606 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~8.6% Haste = ~282 Haste Rating ~13.11% =~430 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~3.6% Haste = ~118 Haste Rating ~7.72% =~253 Haste Rating

Wrath of Air only (with 3/3 Celestial Focus)
0/5 GotE = ~38.7% Haste = ~1269 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~30.8% Haste = ~1012 Haste Rating ~33.12% =~1086 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~23.8% Haste = ~782 Haste Rating ~27.60% =~905 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~17.5% Haste = ~576 Haste Rating ~22.05% =~723 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~11.9% Haste = ~389 Haste Rating ~16.50% =~541 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~6.7% Haste = ~220 Haste Rating ~10.95% =~359 Haste Rating

Improved Moonkin Aura/Swift Retribution Aura only (with 3/3 Celestial Focus)
0/5 GotE = ~41.4% Haste = ~1358 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~33.4% Haste = ~1095 Haste Rating ~35.71% =~1171 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~26.2% Haste = ~861 Haste Rating ~30.04% =~985 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~19.8% Haste = ~650 Haste Rating ~24.40% =~800 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~14.0% Haste = ~460 Haste Rating ~18.76% =~615 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~8.8% Haste = ~288 Haste Rating ~13.11% =~430 Haste Rating

No outside buffs at all (only 3/3 Celestial Focus)
0/5 GotE = ~45.6% Haste = ~1497 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~37.4% Haste = ~1226 Haste Rating ~39.80% =~1305 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~30.0% Haste = ~985 Haste Rating ~33.97% =~1114 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~23,4% Haste = ~768 Haste Rating ~28.15% =~923 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~17.4% Haste = ~573 Haste Rating ~22.32% =~732 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~12.0% Haste = ~395 Haste Rating ~16.50% =~541 Haste Rating

Wrath of Air and Improved Moonkin Aura/Swift Retribution Aura
0/5 GotE = ~38.7% Haste = ~1269 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~30.8% Haste = ~1012 Haste Rating ~33.12% =~1086 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~23.8% Haste = ~782 Haste Rating ~27.60% =~905 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~17.5% Haste = ~576 Haste Rating ~22.05% =~723 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~11.9% Haste = ~389 Haste Rating ~16.50% =~541 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~6.7% Haste = ~220 Haste Rating ~10.95% =~359 Haste Rating

Wrath of Air only
0/5 GotE = ~42.9% Haste = ~1407 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~34.7% Haste = ~1138 Haste Rating ~37.12% =~1217 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~27.5% Haste = ~902 Haste Rating ~31.41% =~1030 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~21.1% Haste = ~692 Haste Rating ~25.71% =~843 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~15.2% Haste = ~499 Haste Rating ~19.98% =~655 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~9.9% Haste = ~325 Haste Rating ~14.27% =~468 Haste Rating

Improved Moonkin Aura/Swift Retribution Aura only
0/5 GotE = ~45.6% Haste = ~1497 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~37.4% Haste = ~1226 Haste Rating ~39.80% =~1305 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~30.0% Haste = ~985 Haste Rating ~33.97% =~1114 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~23,4% Haste = ~768 Haste Rating ~28.15% =~923 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~17.4% Haste = ~573 Haste Rating ~22.32% =~732 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~12.0% Haste = ~395 Haste Rating ~16.50% =~541 Haste Rating

Numbers in Bold are the new results.

The above chart should give you an idea of how other factors in a raid can affect the amount of haste you need, also how talents can.

The 3.3 patch will change how Gift of the Earthmother affects Haste. The current change indicates,

Gift of the Earthmother: Redesigned. This talent now increases spell haste by 2/4/6/8/10% and reduces the base global cooldown of Lifebloom by 2/4/6/8/10% instead of its previous effects.

Pretty much Gift of the Earthmother was redesigned as a basic increase in Haste percentage, where before, it reduced the global cooldown by a %. The global cooldown reduction made the haste requirement much less, as indicated in the 3.2 Table above.
The new redesigned Gift of the Earthmother means you will need to stack more haste in order to reach a 1second global cooldown. The addition of Lifebloom was to help in PvP.
Good thing although, stacking more haste will ultimately mean the cast time on Nourish and Regrowth will be less, along with a 1 sec global cooldown. To avoid clipping, you can forgo placing talent points in Nature's Grace if needed. You won't need the haste bonus if your Nourish and Regrowth spells are already around 1 sec or less in cast time. That of course is a matter of individual playstyle.

I am not a number crunching junkie, but there are a few helpful sources available in aiding with the transition to the new changes. I would recommend keeping updated through helpful sites such as EJ.

3.3 Haste Chart: EJ Source

32.79 haste rating increases your haste by 1%. If you have Gift of the Earthmother, you need 36.36% haste to get to a 1 second global cooldown, or 1192.36 haste rating. Wrath of Air totem provides 5% haste and improved Moonkin/Swift Retribution aura provides 3% haste. Here is a list of the amount of haste rating you need with these buffs to get 1 sec GCDs

Wrath of Air and Improved Moonkin Aura/Swift Retribution Aura (with 3/3 Celestial Focus)
0/5 GotE = ~34.66% Haste = ~1137 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~32.02% = ~1050 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~29.48% = ~967 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~27.03% = ~887 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~24.68% = ~810 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~22.42% = ~735 Haste Rating

Wrath of Air and Improved Moonkin Aura/Swift Retribution Aura (with 2/3 Celestial Focus)
0/5 GotE = ~35.98% Haste = ~1180 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~33.31% = ~1093 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~30.75% = ~1009 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~28.28% = ~928 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~25.90% = ~850 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~23.62% = ~775 Haste Rating

Wrath of Air and Improved Moonkin Aura/Swift Retribution Aura (with 1/3 Celestial Focus)
0/5 GotE = ~37.32% Haste = ~1224 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~34.63% = ~1136 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~32.04% = ~1051 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~29.55% = ~969 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~27.15% = ~891 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~24.84% = ~815 Haste Rating

Wrath of Air only (with 3/3 Celestial Focus)
0/5 GotE = ~38.70% Haste = ~1269 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~35.98% = ~1180 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~33.36% = ~1094 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~30.85% = ~1012 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~28.42% = ~932 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~26.09% = ~856 Haste Rating

Wrath of Air only (with 2/3 Celestial Focus)
0/5 GotE = ~40.06% Haste = ~1314 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~37.31% = ~1224 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~34.67% = ~1137 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~32.13% = ~1054 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~29.68% = ~974 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~27.32% = ~896 Haste Rating

Wrath of Air only (with 1/3 Celestial Focus)
0/5 GotE = ~41.44% Haste = ~1359 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~38.67% = ~1268 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~36.00% = ~1181 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~33.44% = ~1097 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~30.97% = ~1016 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~28.58% = ~938 Haste Rating

Improved Moonkin Aura/Swift Retribution Aura only (with 3/3 Celestial Focus)
0/5 GotE = ~41.39% Haste = ~1358 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~38.62% = ~1267 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~35.95% = ~1179 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~33.39% = ~1095 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~30.92% = ~1014 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~28.54% = ~936 Haste Rating

Improved Moonkin Aura/Swift Retribution Aura only (with 2/3 Celestial Focus)
0/5 GotE = ~42.78% Haste = ~1403 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~39.98% = ~1311 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~37.28% = ~1223 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~34.69% = ~1138 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~32.20% = ~1056 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~29.80% = ~978 Haste Rating

Improved Moonkin Aura/Swift Retribution Aura only (with 1/3 Celestial Focus)
0/5 GotE = ~44.19% Haste = ~1149 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~41.36% = ~1357 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~38.64% = ~1268 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~36.03% = ~1182 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~33.51% = ~1099 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~31.08% = ~1020 Haste Rating

No outside buffs at all (only 3/3 Celestial Focus)
0/5 GotE = ~45.63% Haste = ~1497 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~42.78% = ~1403 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~40.03% = ~1313 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~37.39% = ~1226 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~34.84% = ~1143 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~32.39% = ~1063 Haste Rating

No outside buffs at all (only 2/3 Celestial Focus)
0/5 GotE = ~47.06% Haste = ~1544 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~44.18% = ~1449 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~41.40% = ~1358 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~38.73% = ~1271 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~36.17% = ~1186 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~33.69% = ~1105 Haste Rating

No outside buffs at all (only 1/3 Celestial Focus)
0/5 GotE = ~48.52% Haste = ~1591 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~45.60% = ~1496. Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~42.80% = ~1404 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~40.11% = ~1316 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~37.51% = ~1231 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~35.01% = ~1149 Haste Rating

Wrath of Air and Improved Moonkin Aura/Swift Retribution Aura Only
0/5 GotE = ~38.70% Haste = ~1269 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~35.98% = ~1180 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~33.36% = ~1094 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~30.85% = ~1012 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~28.42% = ~932 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~26.10% = ~856 Haste Rating

When looking at the chart above, it can seem pretty intense. The amount of haste rating needed is a bit more than it used to be with 3.2 Gift of the Earthmother. Again there are a few possibilities, depending on your playing style you could do. First off, you can change your talent spec around to include Celestial Focus. The above chart shows the effect of how many points you decide to invest. Other ways to deal with the increase are using haste heavier gear, haste gems, or haste enchants. Personally I wouldn't gem for haste unless it was absolutely necessary to meet the requirement, depending on your playing style of course. Although if I would need to gem for haste, I might at first with 3.3 until my haste rating increases, I would use Reckless Ametrine. Spellpower is still a huge Stat to invest in for throughput, especially how well it scales with hots. I would use mixed gems to reach the haste rating if necessary.

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Spirit:

Spirit tends to be a lost stat for Restoration Druids. With the changes to Innervate (old Innervate was based off of Spirit, now it's a direct amount), Spirit isn't as strong as before. Although, it's still very useful. Spirit contributes to out of combat mana regeneration and spellpower thanks to Tree of Life form. Spirit also scales well with the paladin buff, Greater Blessing of Kings. Overall, it's still a nice stat for a Restoration Druid to shoot for, but, it's not a stat to obsessively stack. At a point, spellpower becomes a better stat to stack, simple because Restoration Druids normally don't have mana conservation issues in higher content levels. Eventually the mana bar will turn into something like a rogue's energy bar which will ultimately mean wasted mana and potential spell throughput. It does matter in an opinion of playing styles of course, although stats are still a balancing act around your playing style. Living Spirit is a nice % of spirit available through Restoration Talents.

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Intellect:

Intellect divides into mana return, a small amount of crit and increased the overall mana pool. Spirit is inferior to Intellect due to it's ability to scale well with kings, and also equal spellpower. Intellect also scales with kings, although crit again is not a very optimal stat for restoration druids. Druids do not have very large mana pools, by design, in comparison to other healers, and intellect for the mana pool will ultimately force your to sacrifice throughput in the form of spellpower, spirit, haste, in order to achieve the amount needed to match another healer's mana pool. Intellect was considered an optimal stat to stack for pure mana return thanks to Replenishment, although it has received a reduction since then. Thankfully Restoration Druids normally, depending on playing style of course, do not have mana conservation issues.

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Critical Strike:

Crit isn't a very popular stat to stack as a Restoration Druid, although it's optimal to have a bit in your gear. Crit is useful for the talent Living Seed, and an addition to the passive crit from, Nature's Bounty, although too much crit can be wasted itemization. Only a few spells actually benefit from Crit in our arsenal. Healing Touch, Nourish, and Regrowth mainly and 2 of those spells are already receiving a 25% bonus from Nature's Bounty. Healing Touch, isn't a very used spell in the current content, and is normally used in combination of Nature's Swiftness as an emergency heal, or it's used situationally. Overall again it all depends on playing style, but I don't endorse HT Spec/Glyph of Healing Touch simply because Nourish w/ combination of Hots heals for a greater amount, costs less mana because normally there are hots already present, also it reduces the amount Healing Touch heals for, which nerfs it's combination with Nature's Swiftness. With hot centric builds, crit becomes a less desired stat overall. A talent available if you are interested in 3% increase in crit is, Natural Perfection. The talent is a nice way to balance crit with your stats without changing much balancing with your gear, gems or enchants. It's a way to pick up a bit of crit to balance around more haste for the Tier 9 Triumphant Malfurion's Garb 4 piece set bonus. It grants Rejuvenation ticks the ability to crit. Crit for the most part equals more over healing.

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MP5:

This stat isn't a huge stat to stack as a Restoration Druid, but is equally as important for them as it is for other healers. I would stack MP5 through gems or enchants, but it's nice to have on gear. Again, Spirit > MP5 if there is a choice between the pieces. Spirit scales with kings, and equals spellpower as well, where MP5 is a "straight you get what you see" stat that doesn't scale with any buffs. Although it adds to your "while casting" mp5, which is why most healers tend to lend themselves to mp5. But most healers lean heavier to mp5 because they receive no benefits to using spirit. There is normally enough mp5 on tier pieces and a few off pieces to be ok with mp5. I would not recommend Trinkets with mp5 over spellpower, but Trinkets with spellpower, with a mp5 return/proc are always nice. An example would be, Sif's Remembrance or Solace of the Defeated.

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Stamina:

Stamina is a nice stat to have. More health means you can pretty much take more damage and gives you a nice buffer on damage. Although I wouldn't recommend PvE Restoration Druids to stack this over other stats. Normally, there is enough stamina on the pieces you receive in the current content you are raiding. Stamina does become an issue if you are wearing "Blue" pieces trying to raid T8+ content.

Here are Spell Coefficients if you are interested. May be outdated by 3.3.

((In Progress))

Restoration Talent Builds

2009-12-05T01:05:00.004-05:00

:::Restoration Talent Builds:::

The entire purpose of the talent tree is to gain a specialization. For Druids Specializations include, Balance, Feral and Restoration, although the three can be mixed to have variations of each. 71 Talent Points can be divided among the points values associated with the Talents in the Tree.

With so many unique builds available now through experimentation it can be difficult for players beginning a Restoration Druid to know which and where to use them. Popular builds used in the past were purely based around strengthening hot throughput, primarily Lifebloom in Burning Crusade. With the addition of a few different spells, (Nourish, Wild Growth), a few changes to the talent tree in Wrath, and a few set bonuses later, many turn to strengthening Rejuvenation. A few also play with Nourish heavier builds.

A few key talents from the restoration talent build include:
(At times the point values may vary, although these are often if not always included in basic PVE Restoration builds.)

-Natural Shapeshifter, Master Shapeshifter
-Omen of Clarity
-Intensity
-Improved Rejuvenation
-Nature's Swiftness
-Gift of Nature
-Nature's Bounty
-Empowered Touch
-Living Spirit
-Swiftmend
-Empowered Rejuvenation
-Living Seed
-Revitalize
-Tree of Life
-Improved Tree of Life
-Gift of the Earthmother
-Wild Growth
-Genesis (from Balance Tree)
-Moonglow (from Balance Tree)
-Nature's Majesty (from Balance Tree)
-Nature's Grasp (from Balance Tree)
-Nature's Splendor (from Balance Tree)

A few talents are reserved for situational use or PVP.
Situational use could be a temporary use for a particular boss encounter or a stat increase for a gear set bonus.
-Naturalist (often pvp related)
-Subtelty (often pvp related)
-Tranquil Spirit
-Tranquility

-Natural Perfection (often pvp related)
-Improved Barkskin (often pvp related)

Here are a few various popular builds:
AoE Heavier Healing Build
-Skipped anything that buffed direct healing spells, favoring hots.
Nourish Heavier Build
-Skips raid healing utility, favoring strengthening hots with Nature's Grace.
Primary Build
-Skips Tranquil Spirit, but keeps it's strength in hots and occasional Nourish spot healing.
Hot Centric w/ Nature's Perfection
-Strengthens Hots, while still buffing occasional Nourish spot healing. Additional crit bonus for T9 set bonus.
HT Spec
-Points can be thrown from Living Seed to Tranquil Spirit if mana is an issue. This spec is normally situational, primarily for the Heroic Anub encounter.

~I will update this later with more information about possible 3.3 talent specs.

~Will update with PvP builds later as well.

Restoration Abilities/Talent Selection

2009-12-04T18:12:00.010-05:00

Here’s a quick look at a Restoration Druid’s Talents and abilities available to them. Talent Specs come in a number of variations just as there are many players. Please keep in mind, passive abilities are different between Night Elves and Tauren.

:::RESTORATION DRUID ABILITIES:::

Brief Overview of Basic Restoration Druid Abilities, not including offensive spells.

*Lifebloom (Requires Lv. 64): Heals the target for 371 over 7 sec. When Lifebloom completes its duration or is dispelled, the target instantly heals themself for 776 and the Druid regains half the cost of the spell. This effect can stack up to 3 times on the same target. (@ Lv. 80)

*Healing Touch (Requires Lv. 1): Heals a friendly target for 3750 to 4428. (@ Lv. 79)

*Regrowth (Requires Lv. 12): Heals a friendly target for 2234 to 2494 and another 2345 over 21 sec. (@Lv. 77)

*Rejuvenation (Requires Lv. 4 ): Heals the target for 1690 over 15 sec. (@ Lv. 80)

*Nourish (Requires Lv. 80): Heals a friendly target for 1883 to 2187. Heals for an additional 20% if you have a Rejuvenation, Regrowth, Lifebloom, or Wild Growth effect active on the target.

*Tranquility (Requires Lv. 30): Heals all nearby group members for 3035 every 2 seconds for 8 sec. Druid must channel to maintain the spell. (@ Lv.80)

*Barkskin (Requires Lv. 44): The druid's skin becomes as tough as bark. All damage taken is reduced by 20%. While protected, damaging attacks will not cause spellcasting delays. This spell is usable while stunned, frozen, incapacitated, feared or asleep. Useable in all forms. Lasts 12 sec.

*Abolish Poison (Requires Lv.26 ): Attempts to cure 1 poison effect on the target, and 1 more poison effect every 2 seconds for 8 sec.

*Cure Poison (Requires Lv. 14): Cures 1 poison effect on the target.

*Remove Curse (Requires Lv. 24): Dispels 1 Curse from a friendly target.

*Mark of the Wild (Requires Lv. 1): Increases the friendly target's armor by 750, all attributes by 37 and all resistances by 54 for 30 min. (@ Lv. 80)

*Gift of the Wild (Requires Lv. 50): Gives the Gift of the Wild to all party and raid members, increasing armor by 750, all attributes by 37 and all resistances by 54 for 1 hour. (@ Lv. 80)

*Thorns (Requires Lv. 6): Thorns sprout from the friendly target causing 73 Nature damage to attackers when hit. Lasts 10 min. (@ Lv. 74)

*Revive (Requires Lv. 12): Returns the spirit to the body, restoring a dead target to life with 1800 health and 1365 mana. Cannot be cast when in combat. (@Lv. 80)

*Rebirth (Requires Lv. 20): Returns the spirit to the body, restoring a dead target to life with 6400 health and 4700 mana. (@ Lv. 79)

*Innervate (Requires Lv. 40): Causes the target to regenerate mana equal to 225% of the casting Druid's base mana pool over 10 sec.
The above spells are available to all Restoration Druids regardless of Talented Specs. Here are specialized Restoration Druid talents, with a mix of Balance optional talents.

*Furor (Requires Lv. 10): Gives you 20% chance to gain 10 Rage when you shapeshift into Bear and Dire Bear Form, and you keep up to 20 of your Energy when you shapeshift into Cat Form, and increases your total Intellect while in Moonkin form by 2%.

*Improved Mark of the Wild (Requires Lv.10): Increases the effects of your Mark of the Wild and Gift of the Wild spells by 20%, and increases all of your total attributes by 1%.

*Nature's Focus (Requires Lv. 10): Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Healing Touch, Wrath, Entangling Roots, Cyclone, Nourish, Regrowth and Tranquility by 23%.

*Natural Shapeshifter (Requires Lv. 15): Reduces the mana cost of all shapeshifting by 10%.

*Naturalist (Requires Lv. 15): Reduces the cast time of your Healing Touch spell by 0.1 sec and increases the damage you deal with physical attacks in all forms by 2%.

*Subtlety (Requires Lv. 15): Reduces the threat generated by your restoration spells by 10% and reduces the chance your helpful spells, Moonfire, and Insect Swarm will be dispelled by 10%.

*Omen of Clarity (Requires Lv.20 ): Each of the Druid's damage, healing spells and auto attacks has a chance of causing the caster to enter a Clearcasting state. The Clearcasting state reduces the Mana, Rage or Energy cost of your next damage, healing spell or offensive ability by 100%.

*Intensity (Requires Lv. 20): Allows 17% of your Mana regeneration to continue while casting and causes your Enrage ability to instantly generate 4 rage.

*Improved Rejuvenation (Requires Lv. 25): Increases the effect of your Rejuvenation spell by 5%.

*Tranquil Spirit (Requires Lv. 25): Reduces the mana cost of your Healing Touch, Nourish and Tranquility spells by 2%.

*Gift of Nature (Requires Lv. 30): Increases the effect of all healing spells by 2%.

*Improved Tranquility (Requires Lv. 30): Reduces threat caused by Tranquility by 50%, and reduces the cooldown by 30%.

*Nature's Swiftness (Requires Lv. 30): Instant, 3 minute cool down: When activated, your next Nature spell with a base casting time less than 10 sec. becomes an instant cast spell.

*Empowered Touch (Requires Lv. 35): Your Healing Touch spell gains an additional 20% and your Nourish spell gains an additional 10% of your bonus healing effects.

*Nature's Bounty (Requires Lv. 35): Increases the critical effect chance of your Regrowth and Nourish spells by 5%.

*Living Spirit (Requires Lv. 40): Increases your total Spirit by 5%.

*Natural Perfection (Requires Lv. 40): Your critical strike chance with all spells is increased by 1% and critical strikes against you give you the Natural Perfection effect reducing all damage taken by 2%. Stacks up to 3 times. Lasts 8 sec.

*Swiftmend (Requires Lv. 40): Consumes a Rejuvenation or Regrowth effect on a friendly target to instantly heal them an amount equal to 12 sec. of Rejuvenation or 18 sec. of Regrowth.

*Empowered Rejuvenation (Requires Lv. 45): The bonus healing effects of your healing over time spells is increased by 4%.

*Living Seed (Requires Lv. 45): When you critically heal your target with Swiftmend, Regrowth, Nourish or Healing Touch spell you have a 33% chance to plant a Living Seed on the target for 30% of the amount healed. The Living Seed will bloom when the target is next attacked. Lasts 15 sec.

*Revitalize (Requires Lv. 50): Your Rejuvenation and Wild Growth spells have a 5% chance to restore 8 Energy, 4 Rage, 1% Mana or 16 Runic Power per tick.

*Tree of Life (Requires Lv. 50): Reduces the mana cost of your healing over time spells by 20% and grants the ability to shapeshift into the Tree of Life. While in this form you increase healing received by 6% for all party and raid members within 45 yards, and you can only cast Restoration spells in addition to Innervate, Barkskin, Nature's Grasp and Thorns spells. Instant. The act of shapeshifting frees the caster of Polymorph and Movement Impairing effects.

*Improved Tree of Life (Requires Lv. 50): Increases your armor contribution from items while in Tree of Life Form by 67%, and increases your healing spell power by 5% of your spirit while in Tree of Life Form.

*Gift of the Earthmother (Requires Lv. 55): Reduces the base global cooldown of your Rejuvenation, Lifebloom and Wild Growth spells by 4%.

*Improved Barkskin (Requires Lv. 55): Grants 80% additional armor while in Travel Form or while not shapeshifted, increases the damage reduction granted by your Barkskin spell by 5% and reduces the chance your Barkskin is dispelled by 35%.

*Wild Growth (Requires Lv. 60): Heals up to 5 friendly party or raid members within 15 yards of the target for 686 over 7 sec. The amount healed is applied quickly at first, and slows down as the Wild Growth reaches its full duration.

:::BALANCE TALENTS:::

*Genesis (Requires Lv. 14): Increases the damage and healing done by your periodic damage and healing effects by 5%.

*Moonglow (Requires Lv. 17): Reduces the Mana cost of your Moonfire, Starfire, Starfall, Wrath, Healing Touch, Nourish, Regrowth and Rejuvenation spells by 9%.

*Nature’s Majesty (Requires Lv. 16): Increases the critical strike chance of your Wrath, Starfire, Starfall, Nourish and Healing Touch spells by 4%.

*Nature’s Grace (Requires Lv. 22): All spell criticals have a 100% chance to grace you with a blessing of nature, increasing your spell casting speed by 20% for 3 sec.

*Nature’s Splendor (Requires Lv. 20): Increases the duration of your Moonfire and Rejuvenation spells by 3 sec, your Regrowth spell by 6 sec, and your Insect Swarm and Lifebloom spells by 2 sec.

*Brambles (Requires Lv. 22): Damage from your Thorns and Entangling Roots increased by 25% and damage done by your Treants increased by 5%. In addition, damage from your Treants and attacks done to you while you have Barkskin active have a 5% chance to daze the target for 3 sec.

*Celestial Focus (Requires Lv. 27): Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Starfire, Hibernate and Hurricane by 70% and increases your total spell haste by 3%.

Restoration Druid?

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What exactly is a Restoration Druid? Well we are healers of course =) although we are very different in some ways, and very similar to other healing classes in World of Warcraft. We are now similar to priests and shaman, in that we can cover many targets with our AoE spell Wild Growth, and spot heal more effectively than before Wrath of the Lich King with Nourish. Even though the concept behind those spells are very similar to Priests and Shaman, we are also very different. Restoration Druids rely on Hots, or periodical healing over time spells. Nearly 90% of our arsenal of spells we use are or based off of hots, where a priest or shaman are based around other aspects respective to their classes. The other 10% being casted heals such as Healing Touch, and instant use spells such as Nature’s Swiftness and Swiftmend.

Restoration Druids can potentially be very powerful classes in their own right because the nature of instant spells, but they do have particular limitations that keep them in line with other healing classes. One limitation is simply the mana pool available to them. Restoration druids have the smallest mana pool of all the other healing classes, within respect of similar level of gearing. The smaller mana pool makes spamming casted spells difficult. In that respect, druids cannot be played like a Paladin. The handicap makes Main Tank healing very difficult for Restoration Druids, not because our Heal Per Second (HPS) doesn’t match a paladin, it’s more that we can’t keep up. Many can argue differently to this statement, although I can attest, if a raid leader was given a choice between a Restoration Druid, and a Paladin for Main Tank healing, they would choose the Paladin. Other limitations can be based on raid composition. In a raid healer heavier raid, healing over time spells risk being healed over. A druid may heal another raid member faster than a priest, but a priest can easily heal over the hot. To avoid that situation, make sure to communicate with your healing party or raid leader and work healing assignments appropriately. A druid’s capabilities also depend on the nature of the fight. On fights where healing must be controlled at a precise percentage, healing over time spells are not very useful. Instances where the overall damage is “bursty”, or intense damage in a small amount of time, Restoration Druids also struggle. The ideal situation for a druid is where the damage can be predictable and steady.

Advantages Restoration Druids outweigh their disadvantages. Instants healing over time spells still have the limitation of the Global Cool Down, which varies based on the Haste. Higher haste rating, the lower the Global Cool Down between the casts is. Although, keep in mind there are “caps” to haste rating, where too much would be a waste. Currently Restoration Druids can cover most of the raid with hots, and also aid on the tank, making them very versatile healers. Also, even with a smaller mana pool, Restoration Druids make very good use of mana regen. Mana regen coupled with Innervate, Restoration Druids nearly never run out of mana. Another advantage is the ability to shape shift. Simply shape shifting into Tree Form grants added healing for the druid and increases healing received to rest of the raid by 6%. Increased Armor for the Restoration Druid is also a nice advantage over other healers.

***Restoration Druids can be played by both, Night Elves and Tauren. Worgen and Troll classes will be available in the expansion Cataclysm. ***

Restoration Druid Guide (3.2) Hellos =)

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Hi! My name is Eryssi and I play a Lv. 80 restoration druid. Currently I have stepped back in progression to enjoy some other aspects of life other than WoW, although don’t let that discourage you from following me. I raid with the guild on Cenarion Circle and I have been playing my restoration druid for almost 4 years now. Although I am not a theoretician nut by any sorts, I do research and stay connected in the community to improve my own personal performance in raids. The change in atmosphere is nice in comparison to the guilds I have raided in the past with. We genuinely have a team effort mentality when it comes to raiding, and enjoy raiding with each other.

The guides will begin very simple, to make this site also easily accessible to players new to playing Restoration Druids. I will include more in depth guides over time along with my own person rantings =)

If you have any questions regarding my guide, don’t hesitate to comment or drop an email at fufuu@live.com.