Resto Druid mini guide

[vasantra]

Restoration Healing
Hopefully this helps people until they attain the gear to have more freedom in heroics/raids.
Stat Priority
Intellect- increases mana, spellpower, and crit
Spirit- mana regen
Haste- Your big heal and small heal are the same cast time, 3 seconds. 3 seconds is a long, long, long time.
Crit- self explanatory.
Talent Breakdown
http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0hfbZZMfzIdcbuoho
http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0hfbZZMfzIdcruooo
　
TIER 1
Natural Shapeshifter
Added 10 seconds to Tree of Life
Naturalist
Reduces cast time on Healing Touch and Nourish
Down from a 3 second cast to a 2.5 without haste.
Important 3 seconds is way too long of a time to wait for a heal to pop off.
Heart of the Wild
6% intellect
More Mana
TIER 2
Master Shapeshifter
4% healing
Improved Rejuvenation
15% to Swiftment and Rejuv
TIER3
Living Seed
30% of critical heal becomes a seed on target blooms when they are next attacked.
Useful for tank healing.
Revitalize
2% MANA
Mana mana mana, regen is a problem.
Nature's Swiftness
Instant cast, some builds I've seen omit this. In my opinion this could save you from a wipe.
TIER 4
Nature's Bounty
60% crit to regrowth situationally beneficial especially in Tree of Life.
Critical heals with HT and Nourish reduce coold down of swiftmend by 0.5.
Empowered Touch
10% to Healing Touch and Nourish
Refreshes lifebloom- ESSENTIAL
Malfurion's Gift
4% Chance to proc omen of clarity whenever you heal with lifebloom. - Depends on if your a raid healer or a tank healer.
TIER 5
Efflorescence
Added perk to using swiftmend a group heal.
Wild Growth
Hasn't changed much.
Nature's Cure
Self Explanatory
TIER 6
Gift of the Earthmother
Seeing as a previous talent automatically refreshes your lifebloom, some people might be a little turned off to that aspect. Tree of life + multiple targets with lifebloom in a sticky situation = a nice way of saving your group.
Rejuv instantly heals 15% of its total period effect.
If raid healing this talent is quite useful for the rejuv effect and for the fact you are expecting your lifebloom to actually bloom you aren't focusing on a specific person and continually keeping lb up.
　
TIER 7
Tree of Life
The "Oh Shit" button.
Increases healing done by 15%, multiple targets can be lifebloomed, WG hits an additional 2 targets, and Regrowth becomes an instant cast.
Feral
Furor
15% mana Debatable if in doubt test it out. Swap out the moonglow for this talent.
Balance
Natures Majesty
4% extra crit
Nature's Grace
15% spell haste after casting Regrowth
Moonglow
9% reduction in mana cost
Genesis
6% additional healing done by periodic spells and swiftmend.
Glyphs
Prime
Lifebloom & Swiftmend
Rejuv or Regrowth depending on Healing style
Major
WG, Rebirth, Healing touch
Minor
MotW, Rebirth
Healing Tatics (Added Info)
Mana is a priority issue. Along with the fact most tanks get hit for more than were used to and theres periods of burst damage with multiple people to heal.
As far as this goes druids healing tanks place lifebloom 3 stacks, healing touch to refresh lifebloom or if the tank isnt taking damage cast lifebloom again.
SPAMMING IS NEVER GOOD.
Do not go around hitting buttons like a mad person. Now healing is about reaction previously it was layer hots and heal till your hand broke.
Today its all about slowly integrating your heals while maintaining your mana. So if the tank isnt taking damage just continue to maintain lifebloom on them.
I've been running pug groups along with guild groups. Fresh healers just can't run with most pugs. Tanks are run and gun. Dps are oblivious. Its to the point of so much damage is being tossed out that its impossible to even see what's happening to your own toon!
Some mention just tell them to move, mark targets for the tank, ect. My sugguestion do not queue up for randoms as you would previously advertise in trade or grab guild instead. Screen your tank and dps. Your the healer! You'll save them a 30-40 minute queue where they "might" succeed.
If you can use a vent/ts/mumble use it. A lot of the time dps/tanks do not know they're doing anything wrong and think its your fault because they didn't catch a heal in time.
Swiftmend- it is not just your saving grace or a spell you save for those "oh %%#%@%" moments. Use it. The area heal that accompanies it will take stress off you in situations of multiple targets taking damage.
Rejuventation- It used to be you could blanket a raid with this and never run out of mana not so. Use it wisely namely when say someone like a dps takes a hit needs health the combination of rejuvenation and swiftmend will bring them back up in 2 clicks without you loosing your ability to heal the tank. Also useful in situations where you need another aoe heal.
Wild Growth- In situations where your group is taking damage as a whole cast imbetween healing specific targets that need direct heals. Placing this allows for you to benefit from symbiosis in direct healing.
Healing Touch vs Nourish- I have issues with the mechanics of these two spells now yes one is not nearly the mana hit the other is, but it simply doesnt hit for enough to be worthwhile unless the person doesnt need a big heal.
Tanks need big heals if they're already below 80% that little nourish isn't going to do squat for them and your going to be casting a 2.5 second spell when you could be hitting a big heal for the same speed.
Healing Touch refreshes lifebloom with talents (as does nourish), use this to heal your tanks. Or even your dps if they like to stand in pretty fire. Cast nourish about 80% and enjoy the fact you can do this indefinately.
Some debate on the forums about the mechanics of nourish are underway as far as this heal goes it doesn't compare with any of the other classes healing spells for the mana cost and cast time its significantly underpowered. (New PTR patch notes signify a definate change in nourish)
Omen of Clarity- Is not consumed by nourish any more as of the last patch notes, quite effective if you use regrowth or HT while its up.
Regrowth- I take this and I leave it, conceptually its nice, another hot. However for the mana cost its not worth it unless your in dire straights and are in Tree of Life. Its an instant cast and will save a group from destruction, realize you will burn your mana so fast it isnt funny using this.
Nature's Swiftness- This is the button most people used to think of as swiftmend. Use swiftmend, SAVE THIS for the sticky situations.
Innervate- Why is this in healing tatics? well because I say so. Innervate may be a 3 minute cool down, so what I've done with it consistently is if I know its a drawn out fight, I hit it early- maintains mana while you cast. Just don't cast it if your not actually healing. That way when the fight progresses toward the end you can use it again.
Symbiosis- I'm mentioning this here because this is a tatic, not just a mastery. Knowing your heals are improved significantly if theres a heal over time on the target realize that if you cast a heal over time before a big heal more healing is done than casting multiple big heals. its just a way of prioritizing. Don't let your HOTs drop of the tank, your shooting yourself in the foot.
Tree of Life- Use this. I've seen plenty of healers forget this. It's important. When your group as whole is taking massive damage, regrowth instant cast. When your tank is at a critical point use it.
Thorns and Barkskin- It hurts me to say this but when I see druid healers not use this I cry a little. Thorns is excellent to cast on the tank it helps its beneficial. It costs almost nothing to use it when its up. Barkskin can save you from dying. Why try to heal through all that damage when you can reduce it!
　
UI
I know everyone likes a lot to look at. They like pretty things.
Requirements for a ui as a healer. Your raid frames better be big enough for you to click on them easily, to see what you need to see in them.
Your screen in general. KEEP IT CLUTTER FREE. The more you place on your screen the less likely you are to notice that pretty blue fire. I sugguest TukUI, its updated frequently is easy to install, and you can add. But most of all it reduces the amount of distraction on your screen and doesnt make you lag.
Alot of people swear by addons. I myself do not want my addons to cause errors, to "break", to be so obscure they never get fixed, to require hours of set up time every patch, and most of all I don't want them to cause lag, slow my game, slow my computer, or to some how prevent me from healing.
I sugguest you dont search out obscure addons or packages that require hours of set up. The most addons I'd sugguest you have that you have to set up is 5. I think the ui compilations are becoming more popular and better designed but they have to be updated to work right. So choose wisely and choose one that isnt just visually appealing. A lot of the prettier ones require you memorize ways to access things or to figure out how to edit lua files.
I'm OOM and I did it all! You did too much. Dps get panicky around oh 70% health it's funny especially if you don't heal them. Leave them there don't bother healing a dps unless they hit 50% and if they are getting hit it better be unavoidable or else let them kiss the floor for awhile. Don't bother topping people off toss a swiftmend on the tank and let the aoe heal take some effect. Even the tank doesn't need to be topped off unless- a)currently taking massive damage, b) you know the phases/predict they will take a lot of damage. If the tank isn't taking much damage sit there wait for lifebloom to bloom. They can drop to 70% health and it is okay.
If I've made any mistakes or you have sugguestions for additions or questions about anything I've put please feel free. Also by no means do I think this is the "right" way to heal I just find it a comfortable healing style.

[Quinafoi]

Your second spec actually has a very clear flaw in it. You took the third point in Moonglow instead of the third point in Furor. 5% more mana is always greater than 3% reduced cost.

3 Furor with 2 Moonglow equals...
(mana / spell cost) = 115 / 94 = 1.2234 = +22.34% more casts
2 Furor with 3 Moonglow equals...
(mana / spell cost) = 110 / 91 = 1.2088 = +20.88% more casts

22.34% more casts is always greater than 20.88% more casts.

Also your documentation on what Intellect does is missing the fact that Intellect determines the value of Spirit. In fact the mana regeneration per point of spirit is directly related to Intellect. So increasing Intellect also increases mana regeneration.

[vasantra]

Thank you for your response, I'll add that in there.

[jafager]

5% more mana is always greater than 3% reduced cost.

No, it's not. Furor provides a fixed amount of mana, based on the size of your mana pool. Moonglow saves you mana proportional to the number of spells you cast.

The math is long and boring, but at the 333 blues level (80k mana pool, 2k regen) it's close on very short fights (under 3 minutes), and by the time you get to 5 minute fights Moonglow is clearly better. For Furor to catch up, your mana pool would have to increase something like five times as fast as your regen, and I severely doubt that is possible.

That said, percentage-based regen effects (Replenishment and Revitalize, most notably) will scale better with Furor. I doubt it will close the gap, but I could be wrong.

Also your documentation on what Intellect does is missing the fact that Intellect determines the value of Spirit. In fact the mana regeneration per point of spirit is directly related to Intellect. So increasing Intellect also increases mana regeneration.

This is technically true, but spirit scales linearly and intellect scales with its square root. There is a persistent misconception that the two are close in value (for the purpose of regen only) and it's just not true.

[vasantra]

factor in innervate which is off of your maximum mana it could close the gap.
I'm not about to do the math on it. It's purely based on play style and gear.

From my own perspective I find that the idea of more casts being more beneficial seems to be a misperception in itself. Casting more doesnt essentially mean much in cataclysm.

Not sure someone would have to get into a very techincal math to figure out with innervate/replenish would beat out a 3% constant reduction of spell cost.

I lean toward the 3% reduction in total cost for raid settings being more beneficial.

[Airowird]

This is technically true, but spirit scales linearly and intellect scales with its square root. There is a persistent misconception that the two are close in value (for the purpose of regen only) and it's just not true.

Just to comment on this part:
Replenishment, Innervate and if you are grouped with a Resto Shaman in raids, Mana Tide Totem all work purely off Intellect, not Spirit.
It is that part that makes Intellect more than equal to Spirit.

Without any of those Spirit would be about 4 times as good in mana regeneration as Intellect (depending on their exact vaules ofc), but surely you can count on atleast Replenishment & Innervate.

[jafager]

Mana Tide Totem works purely off Intellect, not Spirit.

Mana Tide Totem was changed in Cataclysm to boost spirit by 350%. It scales like normal regen now.

It is that part that makes Intellect more than equal to Spirit.

Without any of those Spirit would be about 4 times as good in mana regeneration as Intellect (depending on their exact vaules ofc), but surely you can count on atleast Replenishment & Innervate.

And Revitalize, which is 2% maximum mana, but I still don't buy that they're anywhere close in value (for the purpose of mana regen). There are a lot of good reasons to stack intellect over spirit, but intellect being equal or superior to spirit in terms of mana regeneration is not one of them.

[vasantra]

As far as the typical person is concerned the only time this would even matter is if:

A healer is comparing caster dps gear for an ug which they shouldn't in all honesty.

Gemming and enchanting, which I haven't discussed here.

Overall imo intellect is still priority over spirit, however you shouldn't omit a piece of gear because it has more intellect at a loss of substantial spirit. (And again that should only be a concern if you are gemming or enchanting or attempting to reforge caster dps gear for healing).
Also as far as this intellect versus spirit is concerned and its value they're both of value the debate is whether 5% maximim mana versus 3% reduction in cost would win out in a mana regen battle.

[Karoht]

Big thing I had to really get used to was Wild Growth actually. It's nearly the same cost as a rejuv, but it heals for about 1/4-1/2 by my estimation, but does so on 5-6 targets. As such, I use Wild Growth a lot, and then start hitting Nourish on targets that need a top up to take advantage of Symbiosis. I use rejuv when only one or maybe 2 targets need a top up (maybe a swiftmend to follow if they are still taking damage) and Wild Growth when 2 or more have taken damage.
5-man strategy mind you, haven't touched 10/25 yet.

[Hearthyn]

I'm not good with the math here. However, I notice no one is suggesting using Genesis instead of Furor. I'm primarily a raid healer--it seems to me that, especially since you can increase mana with intellect in gear and gems, the increase in healing would be more beneficial to your group and/or raid over the increase in mana. What exactly is the benefit to choosing Furor over Genesis?

[vasantra]

I'm not good with the math here. However, I notice no one is suggesting using Genesis instead of Furor. I'm primarily a raid healer--it seems to me that, especially since you can increase mana with intellect in gear and gems, the increase in healing would be more beneficial to your group and/or raid over the increase in mana. What exactly is the benefit to choosing Furor over Genesis?

Furor over genesis

Mainly due to the concern of mana that is really the only reason for the switch I'm currently in the process of updating the guide for raid content.

Considering the 6% increase in periodic spells healing and the swiftmend it is more than likely that in a raid setting the increase is more beneficial.



Additional comments about wg
Wg is still predominately my go to heal as it puts a hot and you benefit from symbiosis as it hits multiple targets and lasts for 7 seconds it allows you enough time if your quick to heal up to 3 people and still benefit from symbiosis while rejuv doesnt not . I find that from my experience rejuv+swiftmend +wg on a tank will usually clear most of the incidental damage to the group as such I use the combination more often than healing specific people.

[Allinone]

As someone who has always hated incorrect an anecdotal information, I've decided to Necro this thread.

Furor vs Moonglow

Per point, Furor will give you 5% extra mana (5/10/15%). This only changes your max mana, so it will only effect abilities that work off your mana. This will increase your regen/total mana available during a fight in the following ways.

1. The increase of total mana to start a fight
2. Innervate is based of the total mana pool (20% of current max mana), an extra 10% possible buff if glyphed...and you make friends with another druid. 3 Minute cooldown
3. Revitalize - 2% total mana (20% proc chance, 12s internal cooldown)
4. Replenishment - 1% mana return ever 10s

Lets assume you have 100,000 mana (without Furor). 3 Talent points would net you 15,000 extra mana for these abilities to work with. Lets assume a raid boss fight lasts 6 minutes long.

1. 15,000 Mana gained
2. Innervate can be used twice, 30% buff (times 2), 60% returned mana total - 9k additional mana.
3. As the proc rate is 20%, lets assume Revitalize will proc once every 15s (24 times total). 48% mana returned total. 7200 total mana
4. 1% every 10s, 6% a minute, 36% over a 6 minute fight. 5400 Mana gained

For a total of 15,000 + 9,000 + 7,2000 + 5,400 = 36,600 total mana gained from Furor.

Now Moonglow, simply reduces the cost of our spells by 3/6/9%. Contrary to the OP, druids in raids do find themselves with very few free GCD's. We are simply using our more efficient spells. Just as a quick example, RJ x6, WGx1 is still (output wise) our highest HPS rotation.

Mooglow Saves:
Rejuvenation ~336 mana/cst
Healing Touch ~504 m/c
Wild Growth ~453 m/c
Nourish ~168 m/c

In an 8s window (The current cooldown for Wildgrowth), Moonglow will save 2469 mana (336*6 + 453*1), there can be a total of 45 of these rotations in a 6 minute (360s) fight

2469 * 45 = 111,105 mana saved.

111,105 mana saved is over 3 times the mana gained from Furor.

Now, i will easily admit I've presented a best case scenario for Moonglow. Through talents Rej is GCD capped down to 1s, so it wont scale any better with haste. For other rotations, however, it still shows to be valuable. I'll save all the math, but for a LB/Rej/Noursh/HT tank healing cycle (assuming 2s cast time, raid buffed) the saving go from 35,280 (casting nothing but rej/Nourish after lifebloom to 3 stacks) to 85,680 (replacing Nourish with HT). Which on the low end puts it on par with furor, or makes at least up to twice as valuable.

Another common misconception. Both talents scale with gear. Furor scales with Int, Moonglow scales with Haste

[vasantra]

Thanks for doing the math on that. As most of us are at some point tank or raid healers it does give a good idea of the mana saved versus "more" mana.

More cast versus more effective casts. Glad I leaned toward moonglow out of preference now I even have math to back it up! (lol)

[Yggdrasil]

Go to http://restodruid.info/. I would sit here a quote that reference but the guy deserves the traffic for such an amazingly blog/site.

Fixed the link that was bugged some how ;/

[Dylis]

Great link