World of Warcraft-Wrath of the Lich King-Resto Druid Guide.

The end of the expansion is near. There is a lot of rerolling, playing alts, or picking the game back up in general after taking a break. I have lots of guides, all of which are pretty popular. When I 1st made this blog I never had any idea it would be popular, and everyday when I see how many people have read it that day it still shocks me. All the questions I get are just basic resto druid questions. There are stickies on all the druid forums which all have the good basic information, but people tend not to look there. I’ve decided to just take all the info I have thrown around on different posts and put it together.

All my info has been highly researched. From talking to top 20 World guild druids, to studying all the theorycrafting and numbers on EJ, to reading blogs, looking over forums, and reading tons of official wow forums posts. You may not agree with a lot of this, but almost 100% of it HAS been proven through numbers or is accepted by the top end druids. You may disagree or argue all you would like, but please have solid numbers and proof of your claims =)

Stats

There are 2 stat priorities that are accepted right now.

ICC25+
HASTE(to cap)>SP>Haste>SPI>INT>CRIT>MP5
Pre-ICC25
SP>HASTE(to cap)>Haste>SPI>INT>CRIT>MP5

Why? Pre- ICC25 it’s understood that being haste capped is not as important as sacrificing SP. The gear you will obtain will probably not get you to cap alone without a ton of Haste gems.
Once you are in ICC you will want to be capped, and it is much easier.

When choosing stats it’s very simple.
Most gear you have a choice of Haste or crit. Always choose haste unless you are far above cap.
When it’s a choice between loosing Spi but gaining haste, take the haste if you are under cap.
Mp5 is a very bad stat for us. It should be your lowest priority.

Spell Power-I don’t really support SP stacking. But SP is very powerful, even more now that spirt was nurfed. There is no SP limit going into heroics or raids as a druid, we are not based on large direct healing. There are also no SP talents like every other healer, so if guilds are complaining your SP is low tell them they are idiots. Are SP will almost always be lower than other classes. You want to be well rounded enough that you are haste capped, and you don’t run oom, but SP is our bread and butter.

Spirit-1 spell power for every ~7 spirit with improved Tree of Life talent
1% increase in Spirit increases mana regeneration by 1%, and 1% Intellect yields 0.5% more regen.
IFSR=the five second rule. It takes you into “OOC” regen(out of combat). If you don’t cast for 5 seconds, your regen goes back up to 100% making clearcasting procs amazing. You may not get out of the FSR alot, but phase fights are perfect for this. If you are running oom alot, get more spirit.

Haste- ~33 haste your casting speed is reduced by 1%
The old  rule many used. If you end a fight with more then 40% mana, get more haste. Since you cast faster, you spend more mana becuase you cast more spells in X amount of time. If you are less then 20%, drop haste for other stats. Now being haste capped is a lot more important.

You want haste because you want your GCD as low as it can go. The lower your GCD, the more spells you can throw. In wrath we blanket rejuv most fights, which is where this comes in.

Haste cap:

This has to do with your spec which I will go over later. Look back at this if it confuses you.

The buffs are:
Moonkin/Ret pally
WoA totem from a shaman

Both haste buffs (8%)
736 haste rating (3/3 CF)
856 haste rating (0/3 CF)

WoA alone (5%)
856 haste rating (3/3 CF)
980 haste rating (0/3 CF)

Moonkin/Swift Ret alone (3%)
936 haste rating (3/3 CF)
1063 haste rating (0/3 CF)

No haste buffs
1063 haste rating (3/3 CF)
1193 haste rating (0/3 CF)

Mp5-Bad stat… If your piece has 15 Mp5 on it, it gives you 15 IFSR or out. BUT, it will never come close to spirit, so for even disc priests, spirit has become a better stat, even in 3.3

Crit-Our hots can’t crit without 4pT9. Anyone looking at this guide should not longer be using that. For us, crit is for pretty much nourish alone. It’s an ok stat but like said, not top priority. In 10s, esp 2 healing, it’s a bit more important.

Int- 1 int=15 mana
108 intellect for 1% crit
increases the mana regen from spirit, but haven’t seen theorycrafting for it since 3.1

Spells

Rejuvenation:
18% base mana
Instant Cast
Heals the target for 1690 over 15 sec.
This will be your bread and butter. Blanketing 25 raids normally net the most healing output option.

Wild Growth:
23% base mana
Instant Cast
6 second CD
Heals up to 5 friendly party or raid members within 15 yards of the target for 1442 over 7 sec. The amount healed is applied quickly at first, and slows down as the Wild Growth reaches its full duration.
Also should be a very high spell on your list. The output is amazing. Watch where you cast it and don’t waste it on someone not grouped up.

Tranquility:
70% of base mana
Instant cast
8 min cooldown
Heals all nearby group members for 3035 every 2 seconds for 8 sec.  Druid must channel to maintain the spell.
A good spell but only group wide.

Nourish
18% of base mana
1.5 sec cast
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.
Best spike heal. It has been proven numerically it’s smarter to nourish a lot of spike than RG it.

Lifebloom
28% of base mana
If the mana cost is 782 for 1. 2346 for 3.
Mana back will be 1469.
So mana total for 3 stack bloomed will only be 887.
Instant cast
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.
Very underused spell. If you let it bloom the mana really isn’t that much and it does a very large output.

Regrowth
29% of base mana
2 sec cast
Heals a friendly target for 2234 to 2494 and another 2345 over 21 sec.
Manly a tank spell.
Healing Touch
33% of base mana
3 sec cast
Heals a friendly target for 3750 to 4428.
Still terrible, but being fixed in Cata.

Swiftmend
16% of base mana
Instant cast
15 sec cooldown
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.
Also very underused spell. The BEST tank or raid spike heal. Choose this if it’s off CD over nourish or RG.

What spells should you be using?

Heroics: Depending on your gear Rejuv will still be your most used spell. You should probably keep rejuv on your tank at all times, just as a buffer. Nourish does more healing than Rejuv with the same mana cost minus talents. If you choose to nourish spike, that is fine. With a nice set of even low level epic gear, you can heal heroics with hots alone. LB, rejuv, and RG on your tank as necessary and WG on the group.

Raiding: 10s and 25s are very different. In 10s, esp with 2 healers, expect to use all your spells. Fully hot at least your MT. In 10s, if you have the mana, many druids rejuv blanket the raid even when it’s not an aura fight, just because it’s easier to focus spike and tanks that way with the raid buffered.

In 25s, with a good group of healers, Rejuv blanketing the raid while WG when off CD will normally give you the most healing output. If it’s a fight where your tank will take a good amount of dmg, keep RG up and RJ should already be up. In a fight where the tanks get hit very hard(Marrow),  stack 3 LBs and let them fall. In a perfect situation, you shouldn’t need to help heal raid spike or the tank, but perfect situations are few and far in between. Be ready for anything. Know all your spells.

Spec

There are many different roles druids play. If your guild is asking you to be a tank healer you should probably start looking for another guild. Were as good as priests and shaman but nothing can beat a Holy pally with beacon.

If you are under haste cap(like said above) this will be your spec:
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?druid#QBlPz6D1ehqxR,,11723

After that you have a few options. If you have no mana problems you can take the 1 out of tranquil spirit and put it into Sub and it could help on some add pick up fights. Neither are necessary for raiding. You have 2 points left over. A lot of druids have been dropping NS since they don’t use it much. For 25s I would either put 1 into NS and the other into Revit or 2 into Revit. For 10s I would probably do the same.

Once you reach haste cap this will be your spec:
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?druid#QBlPlMcLc9Cpz,,11723

This time you will have 6 points left over and this is when most druids have 2 specs. On fights you will be rejuv spamming, may need to throw a few nourishes but not many, most druids put 1 into Living Seed and either fill the rest out into Traq Spirit/Nat Perfec/Living Seed. Tbh, none of these talents are very good so just choose which you would like/need best.

On fights you will not be rejuv spamming(Rot, Saur, etc): If you are running OOM, fill our Tranq Spirit. If you aren’t and have very low crit(which most druids are crit starving themselves so) put them into Nat Perf. If you are good on both fill out living seed. You’ll have enough points to mix and match so do what you need based off your play style. Living seed is a good talent if you are direct healing and they are criting.

Gems

Basic gem rules: If your socket bonus is SP socket correctly. If not, all gems should be SP. Under haste capped gem haste/SP (in yellows) until you hit cap. Gem socket bonuses with yellow gems 1st and see if you can hit it that way. If you have the JC gems use the SP one. The extra haste is nice but get it somewhere else.
Red= Sp Runed Cardinal Ruby
Yellow=SP/Haste Reckless Ametrine
Blue=SP/Spi Purified Dreadstone

I see a few higher level druids using SP/Int for yellow but either way, a few gems aren’t ground breaking. If your bonus is not 7-9+ SP just gem SP unless you are under haste cap or are having mana problems, like said.

Enchants

Helm:
If not going oom SP/Crit: Arcanum of Burning Mysteries
If going oom SP/MP5: Arcanum of Blissful Mending
Shoulders:
Same, not going oom SP/Crit: Greater Inscription of the Storm
Going oom SP/MP5: Greater Inscription of the Crag
Back:
23Haste: Scroll of Enchant Cloak – Greater Speed
Chest:
+10 to stats: Scroll of Enchant Chest – Powerful Stats
Bracers:
30 SP: Scroll of Enchant Bracer – Superior Spellpower
Gloves:
28 SP: Scroll of Enchant Gloves – Exceptional Spellpower
Belt:
Socket: Eternal Belt Buckle
Legs:
SP/Spi: Brilliant Spellthread
Boots:
Minor speed: Scroll of Enchant Boots – Tuskarr’s Vitality
Rings:
23 SP if your an enchanter: Enchant Ring – Greater Spellpower
Weapon:
1h: Scroll of Enchant Weapon – Mighty Spellpower
2h: Scroll of Enchant Staff – Greater Spellpower

Glyphs

Major:

In order of importance
Glyph of Swiftmend-Just a must
Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation- If you are haste capped or close, and don’t have mana problems. In 25s if you have 2 druids, use it. If only 1 druid, do not. In 10s you have to base it off of how you heal, who you heal with, and your haste.
Glyph of Wild Growth- should almost always be used in 25s. Only in 10s if you have a lot of melee or on a fight where there is a lot of grouping up.
Glyph of Nourish- If you use nourish
Glyph of Rejuvenation- If you are progressing through fights where your raid is constantly under 50%
Glyph of Regrowth- I’ve never seen anyone use this
Glyph of Rebirth- Not worth a spot
Glyph of Lifebloom- OK if you are a tank healer or use LB a lot in 10s.
Glyph of Innervate- If you have mana problems
Glyph of Healing Touch- Maybe on Dreamwalker but not really needed.

Minor:

Glyph of Aquatic Form- swim speed by 50%
Glyph of Dash-CD of dash reduced by 20%
Glyph of the Wild-Cost reduced by 50%
Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth-No reagent to BR

Gear

The stat post tells what you should choose stat wise, but this is about certain pieces you want.

Tier Sets:

If you are first starting out you want to get 4 piece T9. Up until at least 2pT10, you will want the T9-4piece.

Tier 10 2 piece isn’t that amazing for even beginning 10s unless you start seeing your rejuv crits going to overheal, or you have the lowest level of T9 and your new piece is a big up.

As my other posts have said:
If you take 4 251 pieces of T10 and replace them with 4 pieces of non-set 277 gear, on any blanket fight and even most non, you WILL see a healing decrease. The proc should be making and average of 6-7% of your healing. No stats will give you that. End of story, no questions asked. This has been beaten to death. Really…beaten. In 25s you NEED 4 piece T10.

Trinkets:

Just to start, on-use trinkets are bad for healers. They just are.
Int trinkets are bad for druids. They just are.

Even now, BiS is:

ilvl277: Althor’s Abacus -Gunship-25(H)
ilvl285-Glowing Twilight Scale- Hal 25(H) The SP alone will probably make it BiS
ilvl271-Glowing Twilight Scale-  Hal 25- Not sure about this one yet, we will have to see. On-Use trinkets normally suck for healers unless it’s very OP. You may want to keep using the next trinket over this one if it’s based off SP alone and the proc isn’t amazing.
ilvl258-Solace of the Defeated Up until Hal this was the other BiS. It has 168 SP while the Hal one has 190. In the end, if you need the mana, use this one over the Reg Hal one. If not, use the reg Hal one. If you get the heroic Hal one, use that.

258 Solace is BiS if you aren’t in Halion. The 264 badge trinket isn’t very good, but it’s a close 3rd. Id take the 264 over 245 Solace. Snowflake is still pretty good though it was nurfed. Besides that, outside of raids you wont find much. The Ony SP trinket is still pretty good(200 constant SP). The Ony one and ToC 5 ones are terrible, don’t waste your time.

Also, once you are in ICC. Please, PLEASE don’t use that PoS off Marrow. That trinket is beyond terrible.

Weapons:

As said in other posts:
You can use 264 Trauma and switch to a 277 weapon, you will still see a healing decrease. Trauma puts out a ton of healing, on every fight. No weapon can make up for the proc. Trauma IS BiS. Get it, use it, love it. Even if you have to downgrade from a 277. As for OHs you want to try and get Sindras OH or een the hit one off princes. With Trauma you will get a hit on your haste, but it’s worth it.

Everything else? Follow my basic stat guide. Do what you have to to get haste capped. When you 1st hit ICC get the badge leather haste chest and get your helm, shoulder, pants, and gloves for your T10.

Here is BiS: http://druidlove.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/raeinas-resto-druid-bis-icecrown/

Grid

How to set up Grid for a resto druid: http://druidlove.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/how-to-set-up-grid-for-a-resto-druid/

Professions

http://druidlove.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/what-professions-for-a-resto-druid/

Facts and Myths about Resto Druids

Haste cap doesn’t matter: In the beginning of ICC, I could agree. At this point with the gear we have, Haste cap is probably most important. You will see a huge healing increase, esp in 25s, once you are capped.

I don’t need 4pT10: Wrong. It’s accounting for a very large portions of most druids healing in 25s. Esp if you are the only druid. Even if not, there is no reason not to have it. Even if you are downgrading from 264 or even 277, 4 piece is very good.

Trauma is bad: It used to be. Now that it was buffed everyone should be trying to get it and stay within their haste cap.

Druids can’t top meters: Wrong. I top meters all the time. Even she tops meters 11/12 hardmodes. Stop making excuses and heal harder.

Healbot and Grid are the same thing: No. I used healbot all through Pre-BC and BC. When I switched to grid it really did help my healing in whole. I know people who are used to healbot don’t want to change, but it really is worth it.

I’m capped with 3/3 CF. The extra SP I get from gems makes up for the 7 points into resto: Wrong. Unless you have 2 specs you want 856 haste. Being ready for all 12 fights is far more important than having more Sp for blanket fights.