The owner of this guide who goes by the name "Artsy" is no longer active, but it is being preserved due to the quality of it.
Hey there guys, my name is Wildey and I'm goin' to tell you all you need to know about a resto druid in Cataclysm!
Some people pick the best race for the class whilst others pick the race they like. From a max performance point of view Worgen and Troll are the winners. Worgen have a passive crit racial whereas Trolls have a short haste racial. But that doesn't mean they are the best races. Similar to professions, racials have been more or less balanced over time and I suggest that you roll which race you like and don't make your choice based on racials alone.
Which faction do you like more? That's a big decision when making a new character and take your time, no rush.
Do you care for aestethics? After all, you will stare at that toon from now on.
Do you do PVE or PVP? Some races have racials that suit PVE more whilst others have racials that suit PVP more.
> Night Elf
Comes with Shadowmeld that allows you to stationary stealth until cancelled, a 2% reduced chance that melee and ranged attacks will hit you, Wisp Spirit upon death that increases movement speed from 50% to 75%, reduced chance to be detected while stealthed and an increase to speed while stealthed by 5% and a passive nature resistance that scales with level.
> Worgen
Comes with Darkflight that increases your movement speed by 40% for 10 sec (does share a CD with our Dash), a passive 1% to crit, a passive shadow and nature resistance that scales with level, increased Skinning by 15 (and speed of skinning) and Running Wild that serves as the Worgen "mount".
> Tauren
Comes with War Stomp that stuns up to 5 enemies in a 8 yd radius for 2 sec, base health increased by 5%, increased Herbalism skill by 15 (and speed of Herb Gathering) and a passive nature resistance that scales with level.
> Troll
Comes with Berserking that increases attack and casting speed by 20% for 10 sec, health regeneration bonus increased by 10% and allows 10% of normal health to regen during combat, an increase to 5% damage when fighting beasts, increased critical chance with Throwing Weapons and Bows by 1% and a reduction to all movement slowing effects by 15%. Trolls be flippin' out mon!
The so called Basic Spec (in my opinion):
> Optimal for both tank and raid healing
> 1 leftover point for you to put wherever you see it more fitting:
- Perseverance (reduces spell damage taken by 2%)
- Nature's Swiftness (next nature spell is instant)
- Furor (max mana increased by 5%)
- Genesis (HoT healing and swiftmend healing increased by 2%
> The 3 points in Moonglow can be put into Genesis to boost your HoTs and Swiftmend even further but mana management will get a bit harder.
> Feel free to move points around as you them fit for your playstyle and personal liking.
The glyph system was changed and improved in Cataclysm. There are 3 types of glyphs now - Prime Glyphs, Major Glyphs and Minor Glyphs. You now learn the glyphs and can change them if you acquire Vanishing Powder, this is a rather great change because you will end up spending less gold on Glyphs than before.
> Prime Glyphs: Glyph of Lifebloom, Glyph of Rejuvenation and Glyph of Swiftmend.
> Major Glyphs: Glyph of Rebirth, Glyph of Wild Growth (recommended only if you focus heavily on healing 25 mans), the third one is up to you as there is no best glyph to fill this spot.
> Minor Glyphs: Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth/Glyph of Mark of the Wild/Glyph of the Treant/Glyph of Thorns/Glyph of Dash.
We have 5 types of spells:
> Instant Hot: Lifebloom, Rejuvenation, Wild Growth
> Instant Direct Heal: Swiftmend
> Direct Heal with Hot: Regrowth
> Direct Heal: Nourish, Healing Touch
> Channeled: Tranquility
> Ground area of effect: Efflorescence (Talent triggered by Swiftmend)
> Lifebloom: Instant cast HoT that ticks every sec for 10 sec. Always stacked to 3 to stabilise tanks or any other other party/raid member taking heavy sustained damage. Lifebloom can bloom-heal for quite a substantial amount.
> Rejuvenation: Instant cast HoT that ticks every 3 sec for 12 sec. Used to stabilise tanks, top people off and provide a buffer for slow raid damage.
> Nourish: Slow and cheap direct single target heal increased by your HoT present on the target. Used for tank healing or quickly topping people up.
> Regrowth: Fast and expensive direct single target heal that provides an almost non-existant HoT. Used in dire emergency situations but try to avoid spamming Regrowth or you'll find yourself with a low mana pool.
> Healing Touch: Slow, expensive and big direct single target heal. Used to heal the tank for example when he's taking huge amounts of damage. (not recommended)
> Swiftmend: Instant direct heal that requires Rejuvenation or Regrowth present on the target, if not glyphed consumes the HoT in the process. Can be used in conjunction with other druids HoTs and is used to instantly heal someone for a quite impressive amount and trigger Efflorescence.
> Wild Growth: Instant cast multi-target that ticks every sec for 7 sec. Heals most at the beginning and then for less with each tick as the HoT fades. Used to top up a group of players.
> Tranquility: Very strong and channeled, party/raid-wide heal that ticks every 2 seconds for 8 seconds. Used in highly emergency situations to top people very fast up and providing a HoT that stacks up to 3 times, the druid must channel this spell.
> Efflorescence: If talented, under the feet of the swiftmended player a flora sprouts/a green circle zone that heals the most injured people standing in it each sec for 7 sec. Used to provide an additional buffer to tanks or a group of players.
> Mark of the Wild: increases main stats and resistances, does not stack with Blessing of Kings.
> Thorns: very useful to help your tank keep aoe aggro, best cast after he engages the enemy.
> Innervate: I suggest you keep this for yourself since every healer has 1 or more mana gaining tools and provides you with a higher mana return when used on yourself rather than on other players.
- How to Heal -
> Tank Healing: is quite simple actually. Try and keep Lifebloom on your tank stacked to 3 as much as you can because it's a fairly cheap spell and will also grant you Clearcasting (if specced into Malfurion's Gift - which you should be!), same goes for Rejuvenation, keep it on the tank at all times. It's ok to let the Lifebloom bloom sometimes bif you must heal someone else who's in a bad situation aka about to die. Fill in with Nourish which also refreshes Lifebloom if specced into Empowered Touch and Regrowth for emergency moments when a quick big heal is needed, Regrowth having a talented high crit rating will also trigger your Nature's Grace - avoid spamming it or your mana will be gone in no time. In addition, Swiftmend is meant to be used on CD to trigger Efflorescence.
> Raid Healing: is a bite more intense compared to tank healing. In addition to having to keep Lifebloom up to 3 stacks and Rejuvenation on your tank you must heal the rest of your raid aswell. You don't have to rush toppping people back up to 100% right away, doing so would hurt your mana pool badly causing you to lose mana faster than your mana regen can handle to regen rendering you soon obsolete due to low mana. If the damage your raid members receive is heavy and sole Rejuvenation and Nourish can't keep them up pop Tranquility or ToL and Tranquility for even more burst healing. If the damage isn't as heavy and you want to keep Tranquility for later then keep on using Wild Growth on CD followed by Rejuvenation if needed. You can also use ToL and Lifebloom to blanket the raid for fairly quick burst healing to get the job done - Clearcasting procs will assure you free emergency Regrowths or Healing Touches. Swiftmend is meant to be used on CD to trigger Efflorescence.
> Spellpower - Will now be only found on weapons and all other Spellpower sources have been changed to Intellect.
> Intellect - Gives you 1 Spellpower per point and 0.0006% crit. Provides 1.169 pellpower and 0.007% crit per point with Mark of the Wild, Heart of the Wild and Leather Specialization.
> Haste - 128.057 haste equals 1% spell haste. Haste reduces the cast time and GCD of our spells but also makes you burn much faster through your mana pool.
> Spirit - Only increases our mana regen. 1 point of Spirit equals 0.00836 Int in terms of regen, clearly proving that for regen Spirit is superior.
> Mastery - 143.42 mastery rating adds 1% to our Harmony bonus. This is essentially a flat bonus to all healing. Aside from haste breakpoints, mastery is the secondary stat giving the best throughput increase.
> Critical Strike Rating - 1% crit equals 179.28 crit rating. HoTs benefit from crit now, which makes us dish more healing out, making crit a bit more valuable than it was 'til now for a resto druid - but it's still not good enough to be among the first on our stat priority list.
Your priorities when talking stats are to get as much Intellect as possible, enough haste to squeeze in additional ticks into your HoTs, mastery to buff your HoTs even more and enough regen to get job done.
> For dungeons: Intellect > Spirit > Haste > Mastery > Crit
> For raiding: Intellect > Spirit > Haste (to ~920) > Mastery > Haste (to ~2010+) > Mastery > Crit
Why do I love haste? Easy. Haste reduces our GCD, allows our HoTs to tick faster and can squeeze in additional ticks into our HoTs. (but remember haste will also make you burn through your mana pool faster)
Haste Breakpoints are as following:
> Lifebloom - 5%, 15%, 25%, 35%, 45%, 55%, 65%, 75%, 85%, 95%
> Rejuvenation - 12.5%, 37.5%, 62.5%, 87.5%
> Regrowth (HoT) - 16.666%, 50%, 83.333%
> Wild Growth - 7.15%, 21.43%, 35.715%, 50%, 64.285%, 78.57%, 92.855%
-> The major Haste Breakpoints lie at ~920 and ~2010, as seen above in Stat Priority! (920 and 2010 provided you have classes that provide haste auras/buffs in your party/raid)
916: 5th tick of Rejuvenation. You should have this in any raid gearset.
1573: 9th tick of Wild Growth and Effloresence with Dark Intent. If you have DI, you only have to make it to here instead of 2005 to get this nice bonus.
1602: 5th tick of Rejuvenation without 5% haste. If you're missing the haste buff, you really want to be at this point or higher.
1779: 6th tick of Rejuvenation with Nature's Grace.
2005: 9th tick of Wild Growth and Efflorescence. This point is very valuable, as these two spells make up a large portion of our healing.
2032: 6th tick of Rejuvenation with Shard of Woe proc active. If you have a Shard, this is only a small leap from 2005 and makes your trinket use much more effective.
2490: 7th tick of Rejuvenation with Nature's Grace and Shard of Woe active.
3106: 11th tick of Wild Growth/Efflorescence with Nature's Grace.
3478: 6th tick of Rejuvenation with Dark Intent.
3754: 10th tick of Wild Growth/Efflorescence.
3967: 6th tick of Rejuvenation.
You can reforge crit, mastery, spirit and haste off items in order to reach your needs.
At the beginning you will want as much spirit as possible. As your gear improves you will prefer haste in order to add additional ticks to your HoTs and after reaching the haste soft cap you will prioritise mastery above all.
Try to avoid reforging a lot of spirit even though you can because "an OOM healer is a useless healer". - Keeva
T11: The 2T11 is mediocre, but the 4T11 bonus is quite good. Use it as soon as you can get it.
T12: The 2T12 and 4T12 are both useful, so you should upgrade smoothly into T12 items as they become available to you.
T13: The 2T13 and 4T13 are ok but not that impressive, so you're not in a hurry to upgrade from T12.
Gemming your gear is probably the easiest thing!
Only match the gem socket colour to activate your Meta gem and if the socket bonus is of 20 Intellect or more. If not, gem for pure Intellect.
> Meta: Ember Shadowspirit Diamond/Burning Shadowspirit Diamond
> Red: Brilliant Inferno Ruby
> Yellow/Orange: Reckless Ember Topaz, Artful Ember Topaz, Quick Amberjewel
> Blue: Purified Demonseye
> When the epic gems become available, replace each with their epic counterpart.
> Head: Arcanum of Hyjal
> Shoulders: Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone
> Back: Enchant Cloak - Greater Intellect
> Chest: Enchant Chest - Peerless Stats
> Wrists: Enchant Bracer - Mighty Intellect
> Hands: Enchant Gloves - Haste
> Legs: Powerful Ghostly Spellthread
> Feet: Enchant Boots - Lavawalker
> 2H Weapon: Enchant Weapon - Power Torrent/Enchant Weapon - Heartsong
> 1H Weapon: Enchant Weapon - Power Torrent/Enchant Weapon - Heartsong
> OH Weapon: Enchant Off-Hand - Superior Intellect
Consumables can further boost your Intellect, regen or haste (and of course other stats). Choose whichever you need or like the most.
> Food:
#Intellect/Spellpower: Broiled Dragon Feast, Pickled Guppy, Goblin Barbecue, Seafood Magnifique, Severed Sagefish Head, Fortune Cookie
#Regen: Whitecrest Gumbo, Delicious Sagefish Tail
#Haste: Broiled Mountain Trout, Basilisk Liverdog
#Mastery: Salted Eye, Lavascale Minestrone
#Crit: Lightly Fried Lurker, Baked Rockfish
> Flasks/Elixirs:
#Intellect/Spellpower: Flask of the Draconic Mind
#Regen: Flask of Flowing Water, Ghost Elixir
#Haste: Elixir of Mighty Speed
#Mastery: Elixir of the Master
#Crit: Elixir of the Cobra
> Potions: Volcanic Potion, FirelordÔÇÖs Draught
> Tailoring: ~90 Int average - Lightweave Embroidery (130 Int at the cost of 50 Int enchant).
> Jewelcrafting: 81 Int (down to 51 when epic gems become available) - Brilliant ChimeraÔÇÖs Eye x 3 (instead of Brilliant Inferno Ruby x 3)
> Engineering: 80 Int average - Synapse Springs, boosted Innervates, survivability tinkers
> Leatherworking: 80 Int - Draconic Embossment - Intellect (130 Int at the cost of 50 Int enchant, OR 50 Haste, 50 Spirit, 65 Mastery)
> Alchemy: 80 Int - Mixology
> Blacksmithing: 80 Int - Socket Bracer + Socket Gloves (Brilliant Inferno Ruby x 2)
> Enchanting: 80 Int - Enchant Ring - Intellect x 2
> Inscription: 80 Int - Felfire Inscription (130 Int at the cost of 50 Int from Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone)
> Herbalism/Mining/Skinning - not so recommended but someone must have them.
Having addons is not mandatory but they can help and in some cases make your job easier.
> Raid Frames: X-Perl, Grid, VuhDo, Healbot, Pitbull
> HoT Timers: HotCandy, DoTimer, Lifebloomer, Rewatch
> Other: AddonControlPanel, Bartender4, Deadly Boss Mods, ButtonFacade/Masque, Cooldowns, Quartz, Decursive, Atlasloot Enhanced, Macaroon!, Dominos, Sexymap, Postal
I disliked the concept of clique healing therefore I mouseover macroed all of my healing abilities, if or not this is the best it highly depends on player and playstyle. All I can say is, I like it. :)
> Mouseover Heal Macro
/cast [target=mouseover,help] Spell; [help] Spell; Spell
> Selfcast Innervate
#showtooltip Innervate
/cast [target=player] Innervate
> Nature's Swiftness+Healing Touch
/cast Nature's Swiftness
/cast Healing Touch
> Nature's Swiftness+Rebirth
/cast Nature's Swiftness
/cast Rebirth
- Pre Raid BiS List -
Spoiler:Show
- Pre Firelands BiS List -
Spoiler:Show
- Firelands BiS List -
Spoiler:Show
- Soon BiS List -
Spoiler:Show
A short list of items you must get asap with Valor Points!
Helm:
Helmet of Perpetual Rebirth - a good choice until DS gets released.
Cloak:
Woundlicker Cover - our new BiS cloak.
Gloves:
Fungus-Born Gloves - a must have and debatable our new BiS gloves.
Belt:
Belt of Universal Curing - you can get up to 3 sockets on this baby, need I say more?
Boots:
Boots of Fungoid Growth - our new BiS boots.
Ring:
Band of Reconstruction - a good choice until DS gets released.
Relic:
Lightning Spirit in a Bottle - our new BiS relic.
While this guide was written, Icecream was eaten!
Thanks for checking out my guide and leave your comments and critics below!
I'm writing this guide by hand and keyboard thus it will take a while to finish, similarities with other guides are due to appear (duh).
Guides written by my friends:
[Guide] PvE Shadow Priest 4.3.4
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