Want to skip the theorycrafting and jump to the list? Go to the bottom.

Trinkets: A few things you should know

Q: Why does everyone consider Int+spi bonus trinkets to be BiS?
A:  Raiding regen is going to be different on every fight. You ALWAYS want a trinket with the primary stat as int. The reason is because int is overwhelmingly our best stat by far. After that you has haste procs, int procs, spi procs, among other things. I’ll go into those later, but in general, taking int/regen trinkets will open up the rest of your gear to loads of possibilities.

Q: Are int procs better than the straight stat being int? It gives way more int!
A: Since they are on-use or procs they end up leading to around the same int, if not less by the end of the fight. The Spi or haste as the main stat isn’t worth it.

Q: The alch trinket is amazing, why isn’t it higher?
A: As you’ll see later, since we aim at int/regen trinks which is better for our gear overall, Alch trink just doesn’t keep up compared to the others.

Q: Be honest, do we reallllly need int as our passive stat?
A: Yes, a 359 int trinket is around 875 SP. That’s too much to pass up. This is the difference between a Kara weapon and a heroic ICC one, just to put it in perspective. Aka, don’t use a trinket without passive int.

Any other questions I see, I’ll add.

This theorycrafting  was done by EJ and is supported by many other top end teorycrafters.
Spirit Regen = Sqrt(Intellect) * Spirit *.016725
Combat Regen = Spirit Regen * Meditation + Base Regen
Base Regen @85 = 0.003345
One point of Intellect increases your maximum mana by 15, and your regen from Replenishment correspondingly

In BiS order:
[Shard of Woe] – (Sinestra)- Not enough testing done on this yet, but, will probably be BiS.

[Tyrande's Favorite Doll] – (Night Elf Archaeology)
-Can be pre-charged before a fight
-Assumed 4200 mana per 60 seconds, times 5 seconds, on cooldown = 350 mp5, unaffected by Spirit Regen
-321 Int adds 24 mp5 regen from Replenishment, along with 4815 mana

[Darkmoon Card: Tsunami] – (Inscription, BOE)
This has not been updated since it procs from instants. This probably now overtakes Doll now.
-Has internal cooldown of ten seconds if a spell is cast on yourself; no internal cooldown when heals are used on other targets

-80 Spirit * 5 stacks = 400 Spirit
-Ignoring ramp up time (ideal conditions), Combat Spirit Regen is worth roughly 300 mp5
-321 Intellect adds 24 mp5 from Replenishment, along with 4815 mana

[Fall of Mortality] – Cho’gall
-Assumed 75 second Internal Cooldown
-Variance of 10 seconds for calculations
-1926 Spirit for 15 seconds, every 85 seconds = 255 mp5
-321 Intellect adds 24 mp5 from Replenishment, along with 4815 mana

[Core of Ripeness] – (Valorous Vendor)
-1920 Spirit for 20 seconds, times 5 seconds, every 120 seconds = 241 mp5 when used on cooldown
-321 Int adds 24 mp5 regen from Replenishment, along with 4815 mana

[Tear of Blood] (Stonecore)
-Procs off both Periodic and Direct Critical Heals
-1710 Spirit for 15 seconds every 85 seconds = 201 mp5
-285 Int adds 21 mp5 regen from Replenishment, along with 4275 mana

[Vibrant Alchemist Stone]
-Assumed 351 Intellect adds 26 mp5 from Replenishment, along with 5265 mana
-Highest passive Int on a 359 Trinket, along with a large chunk of Haste for reaching breakpoints
-40% more mana from Potions is approximately
—3700-4100 extra mana from a Mythical Mana Potion; once per 6 minute fight, this is roughly 55 mp5
—8800 extra mana from a Concentration Potion; once per 6 minute fight, this is roughly 122 mp5

[Jar of Ancient Remedies] – Maloriak
-6420 Mana every 120 seconds = 267.5 mp5
-Assumed 515 Spirit for 90 seconds every 120 seconds = 193 mp5
-Total mp5 = 461 mp5

[Witching Hourglass] (Blackrock Caverns)
-1710 Haste Rating for 15 seconds every 85 seconds is roughly 302 Haste
-285 Int adds 21 mp5 regen from Replenishment, along with 4275 mana

[Blood of Isiset] (Halls of Origination)
-Does not seem to proc off of instant cast spells, more testing requested
-1710 Spirit for 15 seconds every 85 seconds = 201 mp5

[Gale of Shadows] (Grim Batol)
-Provides one of the easiest means of reaching 2004 Haste Rating in 346 gear

[Figurine - Jeweled Serpent] (Jewelcrafting, BOP)
[Mandala of Stirring Patterns] (Hellscream’s Reach/Baradin’s Wardens Exalted)
[Corrupted Egg Shell] (Grim Batol)
[Figurine - Dream Owl] (Jewelcrafting, BOP)
[Sea Star] (Throne of the Tides)

Follow the resto druid guide to know which pieces are BiS for you. They are not in order of importance. Shocking, ik, but heroic BiS list will be these, but the higher ilvl. They drop off the same boss. This is my list so may need to be updated a bit.
* general BiS, but you want to try and stay around that haste cap so switch out gear as you see needed.

Helm
*[Helm of the Blind Seer] Atramedes: BWD
[Camouflage bio-optic killshades] Eng
[Stormriders Helm] T11-token off Nefarian: BWD

Neck
[Lightning Flash Pendant]-Alliance [Yellow Smoke Pendant]-Horde
*[Valionas Medallion] V&T: BoT
[Wyrmbreakers Amulet] Halfus Wyrmbreaker: BoT
[Dorian's Lost Necklace] Random World Drop

Shoulders
[Hide of Chromaggus] Random Drop from BWD
[Passive Resistor Spaulders] ODS: BWD
*[Stormriders Mantle] Cho’gall: BoT

Back
*[Drape of the Twins] V&T: BoT
[Heavenly Breeze] 1250 VP
[Ritssyns Ruminous Drape] Random World Drop
[Shadow of Dread] Nefarian:BWD
[Haunt of Flies] 1250 VP (boomy itemized)

Chest
[Stormriders Robes] 2200 VP
*[Scorched Wormling Vest] Magmaw: BWD
[Chestguard of Natures Fury] LW

Wrist
*[Manacles of the Sleeping Beast] Chimaeron: BWD

Gloves
*Stormriders Handwraps] 1650 VP
[Hydrolance Gloves] Elementium Monstrosity: BoT

Legs
*[Stormriders Legwraps] 2200 VP
[Leggings of Consuming Flames] Maloriak: BWD
[Gale Rouser Leggings] Has random enchants. Stam+Int and 2 secondary stats. Heart of Wind: Throne of the Four Winds

Waist
[Belt of the Nightmare] Nefarian: BWD
*[Belt of the Untamed]-Alliance [Withered Dream Belt]-Horde
*[Lightning Lash] LW
[Gale Rouser Belt] Random secondary stats. Nezir: Throne

Boots
*[Fading Violet Sandals] 1650 VP
[Treads of Hideous Transformation] Cho’gall:BoT

Ring This is where you can start trading out some haste if you need to
[Band of Secret Names] 1250 VP
[Planetary Band] Nezir:Throne
[Ring of the Boy Emperor] Arch
[Signet of High Arcanist Savor] Random World Drop
[Twined Band of Flowers] 1250 VP
[Signet of the Fifth Circle] Cho’gall: BoT

Weapons

One Hand
**[Andoros Fist of the Dragon King] Nefarian: BWD
[Twilights Hammer] Cho’gall: BoT
[Blade of the Witching Hour] V&T: BoT
*[Incineratus] Magmaw: BWD

Off Hands
[Heartbound Tome] Random Drop
[Scepter of Ice] Elementium Monstrosity: BoT

Two Hands
[Chelleys Staff of Dark Mending] Random BoT drop
[Staff of Sorcerer Thane Thaurissan] Arch
[Staff of Ammunae] Arch

Relics
[Relic of Eonar] 700 VP
[Relic of Norgannon] 700 VP

Trinkets
BiS is still int/spi trinkets. Alch trinket is good too since it givs straight haste. Any trinket with a haste proc or on use is worthless.
Shard of Woe is still being tested.
[Core of Ripeness] 1650 VP
[Darkmoon Card: Tsunami] DMF deck
[Fall of Mortality] Cho’gall: BoT
[Tyrandes Favorite Doll] Arch

Other Ok ones:
[Jar of Ancient Remedies] Maloriak: BWD
[Vibrant Alchemist Stone Alch

It is worthwhile to note that greens are comparable with (or even surpass) ilvl 277 by the time you get to Twilight Highlands. Unlike previous expansions, it is extremely unlikely that you will want to be wearing any of your WotLK gear when you begin raiding and doing so will probably put you at a large disadvantage.

Helm
[Camouflage Bio-Optic Killshades] obtained from Engineering. With appropriate Cogwheels, this item is comparable to Tier 11 raid items.
[Cluster of Stars] obtained by spending 2,200 Justice Points in your capital city. This is the only other pre-raid helm with haste.
[Cowl of Rebellion] drops from Vanessa Van Cleef in Deadmines (H)
[Willowy Crown] drops from Ascendant Lord Obsidius in Blackrock Caverns (H). No spirit so it may not be useful.
[Helm of Reorigination] is a reward from the quest Doing It The Hard Way from Blackrock Caverns

Amulet
[Dorian's Lost Necklace] Random World Drop
[Yellow Smoke Pendant] & [Lightning Flash Pendant] are obtained from Dragonmaw: Exalted & Wildhammer: Exalted respectively
[Acanthia's Lost Pendant] is a zone drop in Blackrock Caverns (H)
[Amulet of Tender Breath] obtained from Altairus in the Vortex Pinnacle (H)
[Celadon Pendant] obtained by spending 1,250 Justice Points in your capital city
[Quicksilver Amulet] obtained from Karsh Steelbender in Blackrock Caverns
[Winking Eye of Love] most likely obtained from Valentine’s Day event in SFK
[Pendant of Elemental Balance] obtained from Earthen Ring: Honoured

Shoulders
[Gladiator's Kodohide Spaulders] are currently showing as having no resilience. If this bug goes live, they are an excellent candidate.
[Mantle of Bestilled Winds] obtained from Altairus in Vortex Pinnacle (H)
[Mantle of Soft Shadows] obtained from Anraphet in Halls of Origination (H). There is a normal mode version [Mantle of Soft Shadows]
[Somber Shawl] obtained by spending 1,650 Justice Points in your capital city
[Spaulders of the Endless Plains] & [Mantle of Wild Feathers] are obtained when Honoured with Dragonmaw or Wildhammer repspectively

Back
[Azureborne Cloak] obtained from Drahga Shadowburner in Grim Batol (H). There is a normal mode version [Azureborne Cloak]
[Solar Wind Cloak] obtained from Rajh in Halls of Origination (H). There is a normal mode version [Solar Wind Cloak]
[Springvale's Cloak] obtained from Commander Springvale in Shadowfang Keep (H)
[Cloak of the Dryads] obtained from Guardians of Hyjal: Honoured

Chest
[Chestguard of Nature's Fury] is BOE & craftable by Leatherworkers. It’s not perfectly itemised but is the only pre-raid epic chest piece available right now
[Cursed Skardyn Vest] obtained from General Umbriss in Grim Batol (H)
[Robes of Forgetfulness] obtained by spending 2,200 Justice Points in your capital city. This is the only pre-raid high end blue with haste & spirit
[Vest of the Curious Visitor] obtained from Glubtok in Deadmines (H) if you happen to prefer crit to spirit
[Robes of the Loving Ursine] drops from Defias Overseer in Deadmins (H) but seems to be 21 ilvls too low. This may be fixed.
[Wrap of the Fallen City] obtained from quest The Fall of Neferset City in Uldum

Wrist
[Manacles of the Sleeping Beast] are a zone drop from Blackwing Descent. You may be able to trade with another guild for them early on
[Armbands of Change] obtained from Corla, Herald of Twilight in Blackrock Descent. These are the only ilvl 346 blue wrist with haste
[Oasis Bracers] are a BOP zone drop in Lost City of Tol’vir (H). There is a normal mode version [Oasis Bracers]

Gloves
[Aessina-Blessed Gloves] obtained from Guardians of Hyjal: Revered
[Blessed Hands of Elune] obtained by spending 1,650 Justice Points in your capital city
[Deep Delving Gloves] obtained from Slabhide in Stonecore (H). There is a normal mode version [Deep Delving Gloves]
[Gloves of the Uplifted Cup] obtained from Baron Silverlaine in Shadowfang Keep (H)
[Gloves of Baleflame] obtained from the quest Closing a Dark Chapter in Grim Batol (N)

Legs
[Leggings of Consuming Flames] are a zone drop and BOP. Pray you get lucky.
[Blazewing's Furious Kilt] is a BOE with unknown drop location. However, there is a rare phoenix Blazewing which may drop it. Check the AH
[Leggings of Clutching Roots] obtained via Earthen Ring: Revered
[Leggings of Late Blooms] obtained by spending 2,200 Justice Points in your capital city. This are the only ilvl 346 blue leggings with haste
[Leggings of the Path] obtained from Siamat in the Lost City of Tol’vir (H). There is a normal mode version [Leggings of the Path]

Waist
[Lightning Lash] is BOE & craftable by Leatherworkers
[Withered Dream Belt] & [Belt of the Untamed] obtained via Dragonmaw: Exalted and Wildhammer: Exalted
[Thatch Eave Vines] obtained by spending 1,650 Justice Points at your capital city
[Underworld Cord] obtained from Earthrager Ptah in Halls of Origination. There is a normal mode version [Underworld Cord]

Boots
[Awakening Footfalls] obtained from Temple Guardian Anhuur in Halls of Origination (H). There is a normal mode version [Awakening Footfalls]
[Decapod Slippers] obtained from Mindbender Ghur’sha in Throne of the Tides (H)
[Tarvus's Poison-Scarred Boots] obtained from the rare spawn Tarvus the Vile in the southern most cave in Obsidian Forest in Twilight Highlands
[Vision-Tainted Treads] & [Treads of Revelation] are obtained from the quests Traitor’s Bait (Orgrimmar) and A Villain Unmasked (Stormwind) respectively

Ring
[Ring of the Boy Emperor] obtained from Archaeology if you get obscenely lucky with Tol’vir fragments
[Band of Life Energy] obtained from Ammunae in Halls of Origination (H). There is a normal mode version [Band of Life Energy]
[Diamant's Ring of Temperance] obtained via Therazane: Revered
[Kibble] obtained from Beauty in Blackrock Caverns (H). There is a normal mode version [Kibble]
[Ring of Frozen Rain] obtained from Asaad in the Vortex Pinnacle (H). There is a normal mode version [Ring of Frozen Rain]
[Ring of the Great Whale] is a BOE drop from Throne of the Tides
[Veneficial Band] obtained from Augh in Lost City of Tol’vir

Weapons
Note that there is no specific Enchant Staff type spell in Cataclysm, all weapons can have the same enchants.
Coupled with the +100 Int to off-hand, it appears as if Staves will have lower total Int but more Spir – at least in the first Tier.

Note also that a ilvl 346 Off-Hand is buyable with Justice Points or craftable and 346 1H Maces are craftable. That raises the bar on raid entry level weapons to pretty much 346 blue.

1H Weapons
[Elementium Hammer] crafted by Blacksmithing
[Scepter of Power] obtained from Setesh in Halls of Origination (H). There is a normal mode version [Scepter of Power]
[Shimmering Morningstar] & [Shimmering Morningstar] obtained from Hellscream’s Reach: Revered & Baradin’s Wardens: Revered respectively
[Torturer's Mercy] obtained from Rom’ogg Bonecrusher in Blackrock Caverns (H)
[Gurgthock's Garish Gorebat] obtained from the Crucible of Carnage event

2H Weapons
There are very limited choices for Resto

[Staff of Ammunae] obtained from Archaeology if you get obscenely lucky with Tol’vir fragments
[Staff of Isolation] obtained from Lord Godfrey in Shadowfang Keep (H)
[Soul Releaser] obtained from Earthrager Ptah in Halls of Origination (H)

Off Hands
[Apple-Bent Bough] obtained by spending 950 Justice Points in your capital city
[Prophet's Scepter] obtained from High Priestess Azil in Stonecore (H)
[Divine Companion] cratfable by Inscription
[Bioluminescent Lamp] obtained from Neptulon’s Cache in Throne of the Tides (H)

Relics

[Tattooed Eyeball] craftable by Inscription. Not well itemised for Resto but it is the only epic Relic obtainable pre-raid
[Book of Dark Prophecies] obtained from High Priestess Azil in Stonecore (H). This is the only 346 Relic with Spirit
[Book of the Well Sung Song] obtained from Vanessa Van Cleef in Deadmines (H)
[Captured Lightning] obtained from Asaad in Vortex Pinnacle (H)

Trinkets
Trinkets
BiS is still int/spi trinkets. Alch trinket is good too since it givs straight haste. Any trinket with a haste proc or on use is worthless.
In general order of best to worst:
[Darkmoon Card: Tsunami] DMF deck
[Tyrandes Favorite Doll] Arch
[Core of Ripeness] 1650 VP
[Tear of Blood] (Stonecore)
[Vibrant Alchemist Stone] Alch
[Witching Hourglass] (Blackrock Caverns)
[Blood of Isiset] (Halls of Origination)
[Gale of Shadows] (Grim Batol)

Other ok ones:
[Figurine - Jeweled Serpent] (Jewelcrafting, BOP)
[Mandala of Stirring Patterns] (Hellscream’s Reach/Baradin’s Wardens Exalted)
[Corrupted Egg Shell] (Grim Batol)
[Figurine - Dream Owl] (Jewelcrafting, BOP)
[Sea Star] (Throne of the Tides)

The link to the guide without messed up html vs bbcode is http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/806487-Resto-Druid-Guide-Cata-edition

A link to Raid and Pre-Raid is linked at the bottom

1. Introduction
2. Stats on Gear
2.1 Reforging
2.2 Gems
2.3 Enchants
3. Glyphs
4. Specs
5. Healing Strategies
5.1 Healing Spells
5.2 Utility Spells
6. Professions
7. UI and Mechanics
7.1 Macros
7.2 Addons
7.3 Other Mechanics
8. Other Topics
9. FAQs
10. Version History

Searching the guide: To make it easier to search this guide, each section is proceeded by a #. If you need to get to a certain section quickly, hit [Crtl]+[f] to open your browser’s “find” option, then type the section number you’re looking for, preceded by the # sign. For example “#2.1″ (without quotes) will take you to Reforging.

#1. Introduction
This guide will be updated a lot from now until well into T11. There is a lot of different information out there right now since a lot of changes happened right at the end of beta, but I will try and cover all of them.

#2. Stats on Gear
[Gear list at the bottom!] Stats have changed with 4.0.6 along with priority. This will be in *general* order of importance:
Hint: Int is a major stat. You can’t reforge it and it is on every piece of leather healing gear. Mastery, Crit, SPI, and Haste are your secondary stats.
Spi only gives regen. The more int you have, the less spi you’ll need. You want to balance haste around your caps. After that, Mastery>Crit. Below will show you more of what each stat does and give you more information on what stat to take and when.

Intellect:
Intellect provides 1 spellpower and 0.00154% to crit per point. With Mark of the Wild, Heart of the Wild, and Astral Leather Specialization, it provides 1.169 spellpower and 0.0018% crit (555 points per 1% crit, a bit under 1/3 of a crit rating).
Similarly, with these talents, one point of Intellect increases your maximum mana by 17.53 (19.28 with 2/3 Furor), and your regen from Replenishment, Euphoria, and Innervate correspondingly.

Spellpower:
Intellect, without the talent bonuses, crit bonus, or mana gains. Basically a weaker form of Intellect that only appears on weapons and trinkets, but is still good.

Spirit:
Your new mana regen. One point of Spirit gives 0.00836*SQRT(Int) MP5. Int in general is better for regen than spi, but it’s still good.

Haste rating:
128.05 haste rating gives 1% spell haste. This reduces the cast time and GCD of all of our spells, to a minimum of 1 second GCD (there is no effect on Rejuvenation, which automatically has a 1 second GCD from talents). It also causes our HoT’s to tick faster and potentially gain extra ticks.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuwcTdFIcJZydHZlY09wQTQ3UUxKZVJWa04yQ1ZsTHc&hl=en#gid=0

You want to strive for at least 917, aiming at 1221 to get 12 LB ticks in. By the end of T11(HM BiS gear) you will probably want to aim for 2440 getting the RG, WG, and LB tick in.

Mastery rating:
179.28 mastery rating adds 1.45% to our Symbiosis bonus. The value of this depends greatly on your particular spell usage and healing technique. If more than around 30% of your spells are affected by Symbiosis, this will tend to give more raw throughput than crit rating. With the 4.0.6 change, Mastery is even better, even for 25s, probably pushing it above crit.

Critical strike rating:
179.28 crit rating gives 1% to crit. Crit heals do 1.5 times the healing of non-crit heals (1.545 with a Revitalizing meta). As of 4.0, all healing effects are able to crit. Due to its greater itemization cost and weak bonus, crit adds significantly less throughput than haste for all spells besides Rejuvenation).

Few Pointers:
Never, use cloth. 5% int is too much to waste. To beging raiding, make sure you have no cloth pieces.
Direct Healing:
Haste is our best throughput stat outside of int, end of story. Yes, even after the patch. But, a few things. You don’t want to mastery starve yourself. Mastery is a very good stat. Haste, while still the best ‘throughput’ stat also drains your mana a lot quicker and most likely leads to a bit of overheal. With this in mind, mastery is overtaking haste between break points until we have a bit more gear and we can get the most out of haste. Right now with mana problems, we just can’t.
Raid Healing:
Haste between break points brings nothing. Mastery is amazing for Rj, WG, and efflor communicating with each other.

#2.1 Reforging

• Spi depends on you and how you use your own spells. Before you reforge your spi off something, test to see if you can spare it. With the mana tide totem change, spi is a lot more important now.
• As said above, mastery is a great stat. But, most of the time it’s better to leave gear as is between haste break points unless you just really need to drop some of that spi.
• Haste is still your best throughput stat OUTSIDE of RJ. The more you RJ, the less you need haste between caps.
• Higher ilvl = more stats. Choose the piece with the most stats(int is the main stat you want to look at) and what has the most socket bonuses.

#2.2 Gems
Meta: [Ember Shadowspirit Diamond]
To meet the requirement: gem two [Reckless Ember Topaz] wherever you can get the two best yellow socket bonuses.
In all other sockets, gem[Brilliant Inferno Ruby], unless you can pick up a socket bonus of 20 Int or more with a single [Purified Demonseye] or [Reckless Ember Topaz].
I can not stress this enough. 40 int is better then 30int/20spi, even if it is less stats when you include socket bonuses. Unless you are striving for a break point, gem int.

#2.3 Enchants
Excluding profession bonuses, you should use:

• Head: 60 Int/35 crit (Guardians of Hyjal revered).
• Shoulders: 50Int/25 haste (Therazane exalted).
• Back – 50 Int
• Chest – 20 stats
• Wrists – 65 haste
• Gloves – 50 haste
• Legs – 95 Int/55 Spirit ([Powerful Ghostly Spellthread])
• Boots – Run speed/35 mastery
• Weapon – Power Torrent
• Offhand – 40 Int

#3. Glyphs
Prime:
[Glyph of Rejuvenation], [Glyph of Lifebloom], [Glyph of Swiftmend]
Only other healing glyph is [Glyph of Regrowth] and it’s not recommended.

Major:
[Glyph of Wild Growth], [Glyph of Rebirth], [Glyph of Innervate]
Thorns is situational but not recommended. Innervate for raids if you have another resto druid, [Glyph of Healing Touch] for 5 mans or raids if you don’t have another resto druid.

Minor:
[Glyph of Mark of the Wild], [Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth], [Glyph of Dash]are the only glyphs that can help you during an actual fight, but any minors are fine.

#4. Specs
Specs are extremely debated so I will be posting the ones that are a possibility. I recommend multiple specs at least to begin with. Some encounters you will need a lot of mana while some are much easier. Some you need a lot of AoE healing and some none. It will ALL depend on the encounter, your gear, and your raid/other healers.
This is the hardest section since there is no right or wrong answer. All the points will be good depending on what situation you are in.

Spec 1: Basic 25 spec, mana problems
8/2/31
I took out natures cure and natures swiftness, along with 1 point in Nat Bounty. If you NEED Natures cure, drop a point elsewhere.

You have a few other options now:
Option 1 If you don’t have a lot of mana problems and see NG is not helping your healing, you can go 2/3/36 instead. Furor is not as good as MG but should keep you out of trouble if you have no mana problems with MG. This gives you a ton of points in resto to play with, giving you basically everything, but at the cost of a lot of regen. Most people use this if they are in easy 10s/25s and just don’t have mana problems. Will probably be used less this patch. Points can be moved as needed.

Option 2 If you like NG but don’t need MG and furor, you can take  8/0/33. This will take furor and MG out while giving you all your healing talents and a 3/3 Genesis.
These specs can be changed as needed. Don’t need Natures cure? You can add it to furor, or Moonglow, or genesis. You like Natures Grace and need Moonglow but don’t need furor? Take genesis. I’ve seen a few people test this spec, but not many use it. You loose way too much regen.

Option 3 Genesis spec with regen talents 10/0/31. This spec was usable by some pre-patch. But the the mana changes genesis will once again probably need to take the backburner. For full raid healers it would be acceptable to drop all direct healing talents, but there is just no way to do that and full out the resto tree. You would have to drop furor to get gen, and with the changes it’s just not worth it.

Option 4 The advanced HM raiding spec. You will get to a gear point that you are still having mana problems, but not enough you need MG and furor. This is where this spec comes in, and I’ve seen a lot of endgame druids adapting it.
10/0/31. A few things you can change:

• According to EJ, unless you use RG a lot Nat Bounty isn’t the best. The Nourish buff is underwhelming.
• Naturalist to some is valued over BotG. Some do 2/2 in one while some do 2/2 in the other. It fully depends on what you are progressing though.
• Some fights, if you really don’t direct heal at all, you can switch those out for survivability. But, forewarning: Perseverance and Nat Ward are only useful on certain fights. These aren’t talents you want for your solid spec, these are talents you want to switch into situationally.
• Depending on how many times you pop ToL and what fight you’re on, 2/2 Malf Gift may be necessary for you.

In the end, the talents you NEED are:

• Natural Shapeshifter
• Heart of the Wild
• Master Shapeshifter
• Living Seed
• Revitalize
• Empowered Touch
• Malfurion’s Gift(700-800 MP5 after the patch), at least 1/2
• Efflorescence(as many as you can and depending on the fight)
• Wild Growth
• Gift of the Earthmother
• Swift Rejuvenation
• Tree of Life

Optional but still very good:

• Nature’s Bounty (Want, but not 100% needed)
• Naturalist (Want, but not 100% needed)
• Nature’s Grace
• Nature’s Majesty (Want, but not 100% needed)
• Moonglow (Want, but not 100% needed)
• Furor (Want, but not 100% needed)
• Blessing of the Grove
• Nature’s Cure (Look before if you need or not)
• Nature’s Swiftness (Situational, but not necessary and a good place to drop a point)

A few points:

• Efflor gives average 7% healing in raid environments. If you are raiding, take 3/3.
• MG is only needed if you are having a lot of mana problems. Taking MG takes out some direct output talents, but really gives you more gear and raid mistakes leeway. For awhile, it will be best to keep this and use all the mana you can. Unless with it you are healing almost 100% of the time(unless it goes to overheal but you wont have that problem in raids) it’s not really worth dropping yet, with gear with will change.
• Shamans and Priests both heal when they cleanse. If you [u]heal[/u] with either of these people it’s perfectly reasonable to drop the talent and let them dispel. With mana the way it is and having to take all the regen talents, it’s one place for now we can drop it.
• Nature’s Swiftness is a very good talent. But, like Nature’s Cure, it’s one of those things you will probably want to drop until you don’t need MG.
• If you have the mana to drop furor completely and enough points to get 2/3 Genesis by doing that, drop it, take MG and Genesis. But ONLY if you have the mana.

#5. Healing Strategies
No matter what you are doing, raid or heroics or regulars, raid healers or tank healers, keep LB on the tank. If by letting it bloom, the heal will not go to overheal, let it bloom. If you are properly geared LB wont even make a dent in your mana before it regens back up. In intense healing situations, most of the time its not worth letting bloom because you will need those 3 GCDs.

5 Mans:
Regulars and heroics are pretty much the same, just heroics are more intense. Don’t heal what you don’t have to. If your rogue gets hit by something random once, Wg or RJ will be enough, no need to spam HT/RG him. Don’t waste mana.

You aren’t going to have everyone at 100% all the time. Especially in heroics, 99% of the boss fights most dmg is avoidable. If you are playing with bads, yes, you will have mana problems and people will die. This isn’t a druid problem, this is their problem. If someone stands in something, explain to them you don’t have the mana to heal through people playing badly. It’s not being rude, it’s the truth. They all have defensive CDs they should have taken now, they need to use them. Heal people about to die, don’t spam to 100%.

Nourish is a filler. Like LB, you will regen that mana back as fast as you use it. So, whenever you aren’t healing spike or someone about to die you should be nourishing people closer to 100%. Go for the people with hots 1st for mastery and the nourish buff.

Use WG. It’s low mana and it will give you a buffer to nourish if needed and will get them further away from 0. Use SM every CD. It’s also a very cheap spell. People that say efflor is underwhelming are those that do not use SM. It may not heal for a ton, but if you use it at the correct time and people stand in it like they should, by the end of the fight it makes up a very good amount of healing.

Don’t be afraid of tree. If there is an aura mechanic pop ToL, LB everyone once and start going back through the line to stack to 3 and refresh. When CC pops, throw an instant RG on whoever needs it.

Along with that, do not be afraid of Tranq. It’s a very good spell, use it.

Healing in heroics is hard with bads, but not impossible. Use your lower mana spells, use your hots, and fill with nourish as often as possible. Once you get some gear, you will find even heroics extremely easy to heal.

Raids:
There are 2 main ways to heal raids right now:
1) Assign groups. If your guild does this you will heal the same way you do in 5s. Your WG/Efflor will go on other people, along with tranq, but that’s ok. Why? Because everyone’s AoE heals are doing the same. If you see someone low and you have WG on them, don’t be afraid to help heal them. Good guilds that assign groups make it work because people help each other while still focusing on their group. You just need to play smart and communicate with your other healers. This really isn’t popular anymore, it was at the beginning of the expac, but with gear and strats most people don’t need to do this.

2) Rj spam. Yes, really. Though, it’s a bit more complicated now. Instead of going down the line hitting RJ, you RJ smart. It’s not really ‘spamming’ anymore, but you will hardly use Noruish unlike the other way, where you use it a lot. Most people hardcore progressing right now(Top 10 world guilds) are doing this with 2 druids. They both keep LB up, RG with omen, proc Efflor and WG whenever off CD, and super stack spi. They are reforging so every piece has spi and most have a nice balance of the rest of the stats while keeping the RJ haste cap. If you know a big aoe mechanic is coming, don’t be afraid to RJ spam. Use wg, hot those you hit. For AoE you may want to ‘assign’ healing. As in, assign heals so everyone is covered by something. Use your mastery. If you know there are going to be 2 waves of AoE(magmaw, ods, arc for beginning examples), throw RJs 1st, throw WG after the 1st hit, efflor after the 2nd.

Priest spike heal is insane right now. Pallys are insane right now. Don’t get discouraged if you get beat certain fights. Especially in HMs, the gap gets much wider. But, druids are still worth bringing to tank or raid heal.

3) Tank healing: Depending on your gear this will change a lot. Some people use nourish all the time, some people can spam HT and not have any problems. You need to test for yourself and see how it goes. If you can keep your tank up by rolling LB and RJ, procing WG and SM on CD and use nourish, do it. Unless your tank is going to die you can use the extra mana to throw out RJs on raid dmg. If the tank is getting hit so hard that you have to constantly HT them, do that, your job is for your tank to live.

Spamming HT which has the same cast time as nourish just because when you don’t need to is waste of mana that can be used other places. In 10s, you shouldn’t really need a tank healer and with the future changes to RJ/nourish/wg, it will be a nice buff to all tank healers, but especially 10 mans.

#5.1 Healing Spells
Rejuvenation: This will still be 1st or second on your meter, especially in raids. Know how much yours heals for. RJ is still a very powerful spell, don’t underestimate it. Don’t spam it, but if it won’t go to over healing this will be your most powerful spell for mana cost.

Lifebloom: Keep it rolling, end of story. You should never not have LB on a tank. If you have time and the healing’s needed, refresh with nourish or HT(CC procs). If not, just refresh.

Wild Growth: It’s smart cast, it has a 30 yard range, it costs 1% more mana than RJ. WG can be used on a hostile unit and smart heal the closest thing around it making it very unique. Use your WG when needed, but since it’s expensive don’t spam it if possible. If you have Vuhdo make sure you turn clustering on.

Nourish: Your filler. Whenever you don’t have to cast something else you should be casting this if it wont be going to overheal. Don’t be disappointed by the low healing, even without the hot buffer it’s still a filler heal. With a hot buffer it’s better, so aim at keeping a buffer up(also so you have symbiosis.) In raids most of the time you’ll hardly use nourish unless you are hard pressed for mana.

Healing Touch: Same cast time as Nourish but heals for a lot more, and in turn is a lot more mana. If your tank NEEDS it, cast it. It’s a lot of mana but the tank needs to live. Outside of that, sometimes it’s better to use HT on CC procs over RG, but you need to decide how much direct healing the target needs and if RGs initial heal isn’t enough to last until the hot is completed.

Regrowth: Our flash heal. It costs a lot of mana but heals a good amount and leave a hot. Mainly used with CC procs. But, if SM is down and someone needs emergency spike, this is where you go.

Efflorescence: Yes, it’s been nurfed since beta. Yes, it’s still worth 3 points, even in 5 mans, as long as you use smartly and your group stands in it. It is a nice buffer to have that is instant and comes with SM which you should already be using. Take free healing wherever you can, just be smart where you put it.

Swiftmend: Use every CD if it’s not going to overheal or you know you want to place efflor somewhere specifically soon. SM is probably our best spell. It’s instant, heals for a good amount, and throws efflor on the ground. You can also SM other druids hots so if you have Vuhdo, make sure you put SMable targets on.

Tranqulity: You can only use this once per fight, but don’t be afraid to use it. Tranq is very strong now putting out a ton of healing and can easily save a big mistake. Know mechanics of a fight so you know the best time to pop it, but use it!

Tree of Life: A lot of people before release claimed ToL would be terrible, and no matter how many times we beta testers said it’s not, they stood by they knew just from reading the spells. Well, as we said, ToL is amazing.
15% increase to healing:
LB: Can be cast on multiple targets. Especially in 5s, if everyone is low and you just can’t catch up, blow tree. LB everyone once and start going back down the line refreshing and getting everyone to 3 stacks.
RG: Instant. Don’t spam this, you’ll go oom. With LB on all targets you will have CC proc a lot. When it does, instant RG those lowest. If people will die before LB can save them, RG, just don’t mindlessly spam.
WG: Hits two extra people, amazing for raids, nothing special for 5s obviously. If you blow tree in raids use WG as much as you can as long as it’s hitting those 2 extra people, which it should be(30 yard range)

#5.2 Utility Spells
Innervate: Use early so you can use it again. If you raid with another druid, glyph it so you can use on each other and get the bonus.

Rebirth: You can only use once in 10s and 3 times in 25s per attempt. Don’t waste it. Communicate with your other druids who you are BRing.

Thorns: Resto thorns are the weakest of the 3 specs, so unless you are the only druid, don’t waste your mana. Even in 5s, unless you have a lot of mana to spare don’t bother.

Barkskin: Doesn’t use a GCD, keybind it, use it whenever possible.

Remove Corruption: This can now be used on people without a debuff and is very expensive. Try and coordinate who is using it on which person/group so you aren’t wasting mana.

#6. Professions
In order of best to worst.

1) Eng: 96 int BUT it’s not a straight stat buff so you need to decide if you want to add another complexity to your game play for minimal increase.
2) JC: 81 int while below are 80.
3) Alch, BS, Enchanting, LW, and Inscription: all give 80 int.

4) Tailoring, and the gathering profession all trail behind. Tailoring you loose mana from what you could normally enchant and receive a unimpressive healing buff.

#7. UI and Mechanics
UI:
Your UI is completely up to you and what you like. The only thing I can fully talk about unbiasedly is how it should be set up.
You need as much of your middle screen clear as possible. Don’t put your bars in the middle, don’t have your map in the middle, keep it clear.

Put your healing bars(grid, healbot, vuhdo) in the middle lower screen. I can not stress enough how bad it is to place it anywhere else. When you have your bars there is clears up the middle of your screen so you can see what’s on the ground, in the air, left and right of you, and where people are at. As humans we have limited peripheral vision especially when we are focused on something. If your bars are lower mid screen, you will still be able to easily see everything going on around you.

Mechanics:
The only thing you need to know, especially in raids, is to not stop casting. There is no more fsr, so no need to stop. Blizzard added a que system for us. That means we can que a spell to cast as soon as the current one is released. With instants, you want to be trying to hit the exact GCD mark. Being able to time your abilities up perfectly will increase your tps, dps, and hps by a significant amount every fight.

#7.1 Macros
Instant Healing Touch:
/showtooltip Nature’s Swiftness
/stopcasting
/use Nature’s Swiftness
/use [@mouseover] Healing Touch
(Take out mouseover if you use a click addon)

Rebirth in combat, revive out of combat:
#showtooltip
/use [nocombat] Revive
/stopmacro [nocombat]
/use Rebirth
/ra Rebirth on %t

#7.2 Addons
Use a healing addon. They are all pretty much the same. I’m not going to go into this largely, but from a lot of people testing all 3 on many different factors many agree(for right now at least) Vuhdo is superior, though not by a lot, trailed by Grid than healbot. This is based on functionality, latency, resource usage, and customization.

Use something that shows your CDs and when they will be up. I use coolLine though there are many out there that work.

Use DBM. You have no excuse not to.

Besides that, anything outside the blizzard UI is up to you. I like a more sleek look so I don’t use any standard UI, but nothing else is needed.

#7.3 Other Mechanics
*Added as needed*

#8. Other Topics
TreeCalcs. This is a spreadsheet made by the resto druid guide writer for EJ. He is pretty much amazing and this spreadsheet is the BEST you will find for resto druids. If I had an e-crush on anyone, it would be him. =P

http://elitistjerks.com/f73/t110354-resto_cataclysm_release/#TreeCalcs

Gear List-Raid and Pre-Raid

http://druidlove.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/cata-pre-raid-gear-list-final-updated/
http://druidlove.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/cata-raid-resto-druid-bis-final-updated/

Most of the things I have written down are now outdated so I’m merging it with the what is written on mmoc for those who want another easy place to see it. Besides that, I still don’t have any time to blog =/ But I’ll try and keep up eventually.

I’m still geting over 1000 views a day without having even visited in months. I feel like I need to keep things updated but I just really don’t have the time, and I apologize for that…

I’ve been peer pressuring her to make a blog, so imo, everyone massive PM her and maybe she will. It would be nice to have another competent druid blog writer since all the old good ones no longer write and all the ones out right now….they’re just awful =)

Stats: in order of importance

Intellect:
Intellect provides 1 spellpower and 0.00154% to crit per point. With Mark of the Wild, Heart of the Wild, and Astral Leather Specialization, it provides 1.169 spellpower and 0.0018% crit (555 points per 1% crit, a bit under 1/3 of a crit rating).
Similarly, with these talents, one point of Intellect increases your maximum mana by 17.53 (19.28 with 2/3 Furor), and your regen from Replenishment, Euphoria, and Innervate correspondingly.
These things together make Int the best stat for both HPS and mana.

Spellpower:
Intellect, without the talent bonuses, crit bonus, or mana gains. Basically a weaker form of Intellect that only appears on weapons and trinkets, but is still good.

Spirit:
Improves your innate mana regen. Specifically, one point of Spirit gives 0.00836*SQRT(Int) MP5. Spirit is not as good as Int for improving your mana longevity, but is still good.

Haste rating:
128.05 haste rating gives 1% spell haste. This reduces the cast time and GCD of all of our spells, to a minimum of 1 second GCD (there is no effect on Rejuvenation, which automatically has a 1 second GCD from talents). It also causes our HoT’s to tick faster and potentially gain extra ticks. A particularly important value is the amount of haste required to make Rejuvenation gain a 5th tick, which 915 haste rating (assuming a 5% haste raid buff).Get at least 917, try for 1221, you want 2440.

Rejuvenation:
4 ticks Baseline
5 ticks 7.15% (917 Haste rating)
6 ticks 30.95% (3963 Haste rating)

Wild Growth:
7 ticks Baseline
8 ticks 2%(256) (Will pretty much auto have)
9 ticks 15.62%(2001 Haste rating)
10 ticks 29.24% (3744 Haste rating)

Regrowth: (base is now 3 ticks over 6 seconds)
3 ticks (Auto Have)
4 ticks 11.05% (1416 Haste rating)

Lifebloom:
10 ticks Baseline
11 ticks 5% (Will pretty much auto have)
12 ticks 9.53% (1221 Haste rating)
13 ticks 19.05% (2440 Haste rating)
14 ticks 28.58% (3660 Haste rating)

Critical strike rating:
179.28 crit rating gives 1% to crit. Crit heals do 1.5 times the healing of non-crit heals (1.545 with a Revitalizing meta). As of 4.0, all healing effects are able to crit. Due to its greater itemization cost and weak bonus, crit adds significantly less throughput than haste for all spells besides Rejuvenation).

Mastery rating:
179.28 mastery rating adds 1.25% to our Symbiosis bonus. The value of this depends greatly on your particular spell usage and healing technique. If more than around 30% of your spells are affected by Symbiosis, this will tend to give more raw throughput than crit rating.

Reforging:

• Don’t reforge until you practice healing raids/groups with that gear 1st.

• Spi gives less mana return than Int per point BUT, it’s not a bad stat. If you’re having a ton of mana problems so be careful changing this.

• If you plan on raiding 25s, you will want spi on every piece of gear. After looking/talking to many top druids this is what it seems like they are all doing: If the gear doesn’t have spi on it, change the lowest stat you need to Spi. This is haste if you are under a cap, crit, or mastery based on which you think you don’t need anymore of.

Specs: Your spec will be based on what YOU need. I will cover the two basics and explain what can be changed as needed.

Spec 1: You need mana/regen
8/2/31
You want 3/3 Moonglow and 2/3 Furor. If you need Nature’s Cure, take it out from somewhere, but you want Efflor and the majority of the other talents. There are many talents you can switch around as needed depending on what you’re doing, but if you NEED moonglow and furor, this is the basic spec.

Spec 2: Not enough mana problems to waste 6 points in Balance.
2/3/36
This is the spec I see almost every single endgame druid using. They take 3/3 furor for maximum mana/innervate/replen/revit while skipping NG and MG in balance. This frees up Nat cure, NS, and though many people see it as bad, BotG. BotG is a very good talent if you plan on raiding 25s. If not, it’s eh, but not terrible.

If you can clear bosses without all your dps dying with spec 2, use it. It will give you more throughput and no waste points. But, if you NEED MG, take it.

Healing Spells
Rejuvenation: This will still be 1st or second on your meter, especially in raids. Know how much yours heals for. RJ is still a very powerful spell, don’t underestimate it. Don’t spam it, but if it won’t go to over healing this will be your most powerful spell for mana cost.

Lifebloom: Keep it rolling, end of story. You should never not have LB on a tank. If you have time and the healing’s needed, refresh with nourish or HT(CC procs). If not, just refresh.

Wild Growth: It’s smart cast, it has a 30 yard range, it costs 1% more mana than RJ. WG can be used on a hostile unit and smart heal the closest thing around it making it very unique. Use your WG when needed, but since it’s expensive don’t spam it if possible. If you have Vuhdo make sure you turn clustering on.

Nourish:Your filler. Whenever you don’t have to cast something else you should be casting this if it wont be going to overheal. Don’t be disappointed by the low healing, even without the hot buffer it’s still a filler heal. With a hot buffer it’s better, so aim at keeping a buffer up(also so you have symbiosis.)

Healing Touch: Same cast time as Nourish but heals for a lot more, and in turn is a lot more mana. If your tank NEEDS it, cast it. It’s a lot of mana but the tank needs to live. Outside of that, sometimes it’s better to use HT on CC procs over RG, but you need to decide how much direct healing the target needs and if RGs initial heal isn’t enough to last until the hot is completed.

Regrowth: Our flash heal. It costs a lot of mana but heals a good amount and leave a hot. Mainly used with CC procs. But, if SM is down and someone needs emergency spike, this is where you go.

[b]Efflorescence:[/b] Yes, it’s been nurfed since beta. Yes, it’s still worth 3 points, even in 5 mans, as long as you use smartly and your group stands in it. It is a nice buffer to have that is instant and comes with SM which you should already be using. Take free healing wherever you can, just be smart where you put it.

Swiftmend:Use every CD if it’s not going to overheal or you know you want to place efflor somewhere specifically soon. SM is probably our best spell. It’s instant, heals for a good amount, and throws efflor on the ground. You can also SM other druids hots so if you have Vuhdo, make sure you put SMable targets on.

Tranqulity:You can only use this once per fight, but don’t be afraid to use it. Tranq is very strong now putting out a ton of healing and can easily save a big mistake. Know mechanics of a fight so you know the best time to pop it, but use it!

Tree of Life:A lot of people before release claimed ToL would be terrible, and no matter how many times we beta testers said it’s not, they stood by they knew just from reading the spells. Well, as we said, ToL is amazing.
15% increase to healing:
LB: Can be cast on multiple targets. Especially in 5s, if everyone is low and you just can’t catch up, blow tree. LB everyone once and start going back down the line refreshing and getting everyone to 3 stacks.
RG: Instant. Don’t spam this, you’ll go oom. With LB on all targets you will have CC proc a lot. When it does, instant RG those lowest. If people will die before LB can save them, RG, just don’t mindlessly spam.
WG:Hits two extra people, amazing for raids, nothing special for 5s obviously. If you blow tree in raids use WG as much as you can as long as it’s hitting those 2 extra people, which it should be(30 yard range)

Utility Spells
Innervate:Use early so you can use it again. If you raid with another druid, glyph it so you can use on each other and get the bonus.

Rebirth: You can only use once in 10s and 3 times in 25s per attempt. Don’t waste it. Communicate with your other druids who you are BRing.

Thorns: Resto thorns are the weakest of the 3 specs, so unless you are the only druid, don’t waste your mana. Even in 5s, unless you have a lot of mana to spare don’t bother.

Barkskin: Doesn’t use a GCD, keybind it, use it whenever possible.

Remove Corruption: This can now be used on people without a debuff and is very expensive. Try and coordinate who is using it on which person/group so you aren’t wasting mana.

Gems
Meta: [Ember Shadowspirit Diamond]
To meet the requirement: gem two [Reckless Ember Topaz] wherever you can get the two best yellow socket bonuses.
In all other sockets, gem [Brilliant Inferno Ruby], unless you can pick up a socket bonus of 20 Int or more with a single [Purified Demonseye] or [Reckless Ember Topaz].

Enchants
Excluding profession bonuses, you should use:

• Head: 60 Int/35 crit (Guardians of Hyjal revered).
• Shoulders: 50Int/25 haste (Therazane exalted).
• Back – 50 Int
• Chest – 20 stats
• Wrists – 65 haste
• Gloves – 50 haste
• Legs – 95 Int/55 Spirit ([Powerful Ghostly Spellthread])
• Boots – Run speed/35 mastery
• Weapon – Power Torrent
• Offhand – 100 Int

Glyphs
Prime:
[Glyph of Rejuvenation], [Glyph of Lifebloom], [Glyph of Swiftmend]
Only other healing glyph is RG and it’s not recommended.

Major:
[Glyph of Wild Growth], [Glyph of Rebirth], [Glyph of Innervate]
Thorns is situational but not recommended. Innervate for raids, [Glyph of Healing Touch] for 5 mans.

Minor:
[Glyph of Mark of the Wild], [Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth], [Glyph of Dash] are the only glyphs that can help you during an actual fight, but any minors are fine.

Healing Strategies
No matter what you are doing, raid or heroics or regulars, raid healers or tank healers, keep LB on the tank. If by letting it bloom, the heal will not go to overheal, let it bloom. If you are properly geared LB wont even make a dent in your mana before it regens back up.

5 Mans:
Regulars and heroics are pretty much the same, just heroics are more intense. Don’t heal what you don’t have to. If your rogue gets hit by something random once, Wg or RJ will be enough, no need to spam nourish him. Don’t waste mana.

You aren’t going to have everyone at 100% all the time. Especially in heroics, 99% of the boss fights most dmg is avoidable. If you are playing with bads, yes, you will have mana problems and people will die. This isn’t a druid problem, this is their problem. If someone stands in something, explain to them you don’t have the mana to heal through people playing badly. It’s not being rude, it’s the truth. They all have defensive CDs they should have taken now, they need to use them. Heal people about to die, don’t spam to 100%.

Nourish is a filler. Like LB, you will regen that mana back as fast as you use it. So, whenever you aren’t healing spike or someone about to die you should be nourishing people closer to 100%. Go for the people with hots 1st for mastery and the nourish buff.

Use WG. It’s only 1% more base mana than RJ and even though it does less overall healing, it will give you a buffer to nourish if needed and will get them further away from 0. Use SM every CD. It’s also a very cheap spell. People that say efflor is underwhelming are those that do not use SM. It may not heal for a ton, but if you use it at the correct time and people stand in it like they should, by the end of the fight it makes up a very good amount of healing.

Don’t be afraid of tree. If there is an aura mechanic pop ToL, LB everyone once and start going back through the line to stack to 3 and refresh. When CC pops, throw an instant RG on whoever needs it.

Along with that, do not be afraid of Tranq. It’s a very good spell, use it.

Healing in heroics is hard with bads, but not impossible. Use your lower mana spells, use your hots, and fill with nourish as often as possible.

Raids:
There are 2 main ways to heal raids right now:
1) Assign groups. If your guild does this you will heal the same way you do in 5s. Your WG/Efflor will go on other people, along with tranq, but that’s ok. Why? Because everyone’s AoE heals are doing the same. If you see someone low and you have WG on them, don’t be afraid to help heal them. Good guilds that assign groups make it work because people help each other while still focusing on their group. You just need to play smart and communicate with your other healers.

2) Rj spam. Yes, really. Though, it’s a bit more complicated now. Instead of going down the line hitting RJ, you RJ smart. It’s not really ‘spamming’ anymore, but you will hardly use Noruish unlike the other way, where you use it a lot. Most people hardcore progressing right now(Top 10 world guilds) are doing this with 2 druids. The both keep LB up, RG with omen, proc Efflor and WG whenever off CD, and super stack spi. They are reforging so every piece has spi and most have a nice balance of the rest of the stats while keeping the RJ haste cap.

Both ways, you will be high on the meters. Pallys are op right now, they are very strong in everything without mana problems. But no good guild is going to sit you for a pally. We all do and give certain things, and if you play correctly you can even beat the pallys(many of the top 10 druids are 1st or second right with the pallys. In the end, meters don’t matter. Don’t link them, don’t look at them. Know that those you healed live, your group lived, and that you completed an encounter. If you are having a lot of trouble, that’s when you need to look at the meters and look at dmg taken and overall healing. Most of the time, it’s not going to be you.

Professions
LW-130 int instead of 65 haste
Eng-96 int BUT it’s not a straight stat buff so you need to decide if you want to add another complexity to your game play for minimal increase.

Alch, JC, BS, Enchanting, and Inscription all give around the same amount- JC is 81 int while the rest are 80.

Tailoring, and the gathering profession all trail behind. Tailoring you loose mana from what you could normally enchant and receive a unimpressive healing buff.

Mechanics:
The only thing you need to know, especially in raids, is to not stop casting. There is no more fsr, so no need to stop. Blizzard added a que system for us. That means we can que a spell to cast as soon as the current one is released. With instants, you want to be trying to hit the exact GCD mark. Being able to time your abilities up perfectly will increase your tps, dps, and hps by a significant amount every fight.

Macros
Instant Healing Touch:
/showtooltip Nature’s Swiftness
/stopcasting
/use Nature’s Swiftness
/use [@mouseover] Healing Touch
(Take out mouseover if you use a click addon)

Rebirth in combat, revive out of combat:
#showtooltip
/use [nocombat] Revive
/stopmacro [nocombat]
/use Rebirth
/ra Rebirth on %t

Besides….this made my life. Spoiler: They latch on, beat the shit out of a guy and throw him off the bluff. Blizz, your in game advertising has got me >_>

Once I’m done with finals I’ll be actively posting again.=/  I have a lot of topics I want to cover to ease the minds of many non-beta druid players since looking at the forums, people are honestly considering rerolling. I’ll be here to put your mind at ease.

As requested, I’ll go ahead and do the pre-raid BiS list.

To start, only take leather. Unless the cloth is a huge up right at 85, don’t take it, it probably wont make up for the 5% int bonus.

Stats are not 100% concrete yet. Many people claim for healers, including resto druids:

Enough mana to finish an encounter with innervate > all
After that: int=>Master>crit=haste
int will always be best, it’s your SP. But mastery is good up to a certain point. Until that point, take all the mastery you can. Especially for 5 mans/heroics, our mastery is amazing. 25 mans it loose a bit of value, but not much. 5 mans though, you have no where near the same mana problems and procing your mastery(which is very good I might add) is easy.
You can not hit the haste cap, don’t bother trying. So after those, take crit or haste, whichever you have less of(until crit soft cap which I’m not 100% sure of) and has more stats you need on it.

As always, this will have all the pieces you can get according to ilvl and will be in order from BiS down, I will only be doing lvl 85 gear, not gear you will get while leveling/reg under 85 dungeons.
By the time you need to know these, you’ll know the acronyms. And to be clear, your PERSONAL BiS will all be different. It’s 100% based on what stats you already have, and how much spi you need. To know what they have:
I=int, S=Spi, M=Mastery, #=number of sockets+color, H=haste, C=Crit

Remember: Take Spi till you no longer run OOM. Everything pretty much has int, so that’s not a problem. Haste=Crit=Mastery(Mastery probably above H&C once we figure out soft cap). Until then, keep it balanced. In real terms, esp when it gets into raids: Spi=healer gear. No spi=dps gear. Yes, you really will need spi on almost all your gear when raids are released, and dps doesn’t get use out of it, so those bommys wont be rolling on it. Unknowns are probably a horde/alli difference.

Helm:
ilvl 346: Cluster of Stars 2200jp: ISH,2MY
ilvl 346: Cowl of Rebellion H DM: ISM,2MR
ilvl 346: Willowy Crown H BRC: ICM,2MB (If you don’t need spi)

Neck:

Shoulders:
ilvl 346: Mantle of Soft Shadows H HoO: ISC,2RB
ilvl 346: Mantle of Bestilled Winds H Not sure yet: ISH,1R
ilvl 346: Somber Shawl 1650jp: ISM,1R

Back:

Chest:
ilvl 346: Vest of the Curious Visitor H DM: ICH,2RB(if you don’t need spi)
ilvl 346: Cursed Skardyn Vest H GB: ISM,2RB
ilvl 346: Robes of Forgetfulness 2200jp: ISH,2RY

Bracers:
*ilvl 346: Oasis Bracers H Not sure yet: ISM
*ilvl 346: Armbands of Change H BC: ICH(if you don’t need spi)
ilvl 333: Bracers of Caustic Purification BC: ICH

Gloves:
ilvl 346: Aessina-Blessed Gloves Rev with Hyjal: IHM,1Y
ilvl 346: Blessed Hands of Elune 1650jp: ISC,1B
ilvl 346:  Deep Delving Gloves H stonecore: ISH,1B
ilvl 346:  Gloves of the Uplifted Cup H SFK: ICM,1B

Belt:
ilvl 359: Lightning Lash LW: ISH
ilvl 346: Underworld Cord H HoO: ISM,1R
Ilvl 346: Thatch Eave Vines 1650jp: ISM,1Y

Legs:
ilvl 346: Blazewing’s Furious Kilt Unknown: ISM,2YB
ilvl 346: Leggings of Clutching Roots ER Rev: ISC,2YY
ilvl 346: Leggings of Late Blooms 2200jp: IHM,2RB
ilvl 346: Leggings of the Path H Tol: ISM,2YB

Boots:
ilvl 346: Awakening Footfalls H HoO: ICM,1Y
ilvl 346: Decapod Slippers H ToT: ISC,1R
ilvl 346: Tarvus’s Poison-Scarred Boots Unknown: ISC,1R

Necks:
ilvl 346: Acanthia’s Lost Pendant H unknown: ISM
ilvl 346: Amulet of Tender Breath VP: ISC
ilvl 346: Celadon Pendant 1250jp: ISM
ilvl 346: Eye of Many Deaths Jewelcrafting: IHM,1Y
ilvl 346: Pendant of the Keep H SFK: ICM
ilvl 346: Pipefish Cord TotT: IHM
ilvl 346: Quicksilver Amulet H BC: ISH
ilvl 346: Tauntka’s Necklace H TotT: ICH

Rings:
ilvl 346: Abandoned Dark Iron Ring Unknown: ICH
ilvl 346: Band of Life Energy H HoO: ISC
ilvl 346: Kibble H BC: ISM
ilvl 346: Ring of Frozen Rain H VP: ISC
ilvl 346: Ring of the Great Whale Unknown: ISH
ilvl 346: Ring of Warring Elements Jewelcrafting: ICM,1B
ilvl 346: Rose Quartz Band H SC: ICH
ilvl 346: Spirit Creeper Ring H Tol: ICM
ilvl 346: Veneficial Band H Tol: ISM
ilvl 346: Immaculate Br’etc Signet Unknown: ICH,1B

Trinkets: These are hard to get as is and a lot of them aren’t that great. You’ll have to pick and choose based off what you’re doing, how you play, and what kind of regen you have.
ilvl 359: Darkmoon Card: Tsunami
ilvl 346: Blood of Isiset
ilvl 346: Corrupted Egg Shell
ilvl 346: Gale of Shadows
ilvl 346: Rainsong
ilvl 346: Sea Star
ilvl 346: Tear of Blood
ilvl 346: Tendrils of Burrowing Dark
ilvl 246: Witching Hourglass

Weapons:
Dagger:
Biting Wind H VP

1h Mace:
*Elementium Hammer BS
*Scepter of Power H HoO
*Shimmering Morningstar Wardens/hellscream Rev
*Torturer’s Mercy H BC

Staves:
*Emberstone Staff H DM
*Insidious Staff Hellscream/Wardens Rev
*Soul Releaser H HoO
*Staff of Isolation H SFK
*Staff of Siphoned Essences H GB

OHs:
*Apple-Bent Bough 950jp
*Bioluminescent Lamp Unknown
*Divine Companion Inscription
*Prophet’s Scepter H SC
*Bone-Inlaid Sarcophagus Key unknown

As always, I’ll be updating this often and making a new one once a solid stream of live raid gear info is available. This is all still changing and can be changed once Cata is released. if you didn’t read the top, read it and you’ll understand what “your” BiS will be.

Also, the menu isn’t working yet. I have to go through every post and categorize them. Good thing to do in class! Until then, keep using the search and you can find anything you need.

And yes, the menu is fucking ugly. I’m not paying wordpress 15$ to use CSS when I have my own webspace. If only it were easier to transfer all my posts and info…

Point One: They nurfed RJ because they don’t want us using it.
False; they nurfed RJ because beta druids can still blanket on raids. They don’t want that. They want people to heal with all their spells.

Point Two: Without blanketing, we wont get any use out of our mastery outside of tanking.
False; and here is the big explanation:

We will have a triad of spells:
RG = Our fast, expensive, heals for a middle/large amount heal. Our flash heal.
Nourish = Our slow, Cheap, heals for small/middle amount heal. Our go to heal.
HT = Our slow, expensive, Huge heal. Our big heal.

Nourish, when beta is balanced, should be your go-to heal. Healing in Cata is actually fairly simple.

LB on your tank at all times, even if you aren’t tank healer. It’s cheap, just do it. That means any heals you do on the tank is buffed by mastery. That means SM is buffed, Efflor, and all direct healing spells.

When you know a lot of dmg is incomming to one person, RJ them. After that, you can decided where you need to go. Anything after that is effected by mastery. Nourish will probably be next. If it’s intense, maybe RG, or SM.

Hint: Nourish is shit without at least one hot anyway. So unless it’s just minor dmg you don’t need mastery for anyway, it will have a hot.

A group has large dmg incoming. WG and go from there.

In the end, healing is changing. ALL the masteries are based off if the target needs more healing than you just did. It may be the pally bubble, priest hot, or shaman healing based off health. It’s all about boosting healing when it counts.

You need to learn your other healers class. You need to update your addons so you know who is healing what, and what procs/buffs they have on them. If all your healers are just overhealing eachothers mastery procs, hots, bubbles, amoung other things, you will have a very hard time surviving in HMs. Blizz has openly said, hardcore guilds WILL be communicating now. Healers will be saying who they are garbbing on harder fights to minimize overheal.

If you really want to get the most out of your mastery as possible and be competitive in endgame, you will have to start playing that way. Blizz is really pushing the best seeing endgame HMs while those slightly behind will stay that way. it may not last, but be prepared for it.