EDITED FOR POST Patch 3.1:
I have added Itemization, Glyph, Idol, Mod and Gem information at the bottom.
There was a lot of talk that 3.1 would totally change druid healing (change in lifebloom mana cost and nerfing of spirit outside of 5secs mana regen), but I haven't seen it happen. We have had to make some adjustments, but they really haven't been huge and most of them are somewhat gear dependent.
Okay, I'm not sure how much you know so I'll just say what I generally do and if you have questions, you can ask.
DRUID HEALING THOUGHTS - OVERALLThe most important thing to know is that Druids are best with Healing Over Time (HoT) spells. We do HoTs better than any other class so it is important that you focus on those as much as possible. That means loading up tanks and other targets taking damage with HoTs (lifeblooms, regrowth, rejuvenation, WildGrowth). We have some direct heals (swiftmend, nourish and Healing Touch) but you should really only use those when the target really needs a larger heals or where death is imminent. The reason HoTs are so effective is that they give the target constant (every second) healing. This helps keep a tank's or other target's health at an even level and prevent the huge drops followed by huge saving heals that would otherwise occur. HoTs are very consistent and rarely have much overheal (wasted healing). The other advantage of HoTs is that it allows you to cast a HoT on a raider and then focus on something different knowing that the raider will continue to get some healing while you attend to others.
SPECIFIC HEALING STRATEGIESSpecific Tank Healing (classic example is Naxx Patchwerk)
Keep all of your HoTs up on all the tanks:
Lifebloom x3 (rolling)
Regrowth
Rejuv
If you are doing this rotation on 1 or 2 tanks you can also help raid heal. If 3 tanks, like in patchwerk, it will take all of your effort just to keep those 3 HoTs up. Normally I start with 1 lifebloom, then regrowth, then the other 2 lifeblooms and then the rejuv. If things get crazy you can always swiftmend for big boost and follow with regrowth again. CHANGE 3.1: Lifebloom costs twice as much mana, but upon blooming the lifebloom gives you back the extra mana it cost. However, if you continue to roll it, you won't get it back. With good gear, this isn't too much of an issue. In fact I was still able to roll the usual 3 lifebloom stack on the 3 tanks for patchwerk as well as rejuving and regrowthing the 3 tanks. The only change here is, if you are having mana issues, slow roll up to 3 stacks and then let them expire, and then restart slow rolling them again, rinse and repeat. By slow rolling I mean cast one, wait for it to almost expire, cast second one, wait for it to almost expire and cast the third one. As opposed to casting all 3 right away. This extends the life of the stack without having to keep it rolling. It doesn’t provide as much healing but easier on mana – so only do it that way if you have mana issues.
When you are on tank healing, if the tank gets low and your HoTs are enough see the "Holy Crap Healing" section below.
General Raid HealingIf you are doing any raid healing you should be cast wild growth every 6 seconds (its cooldown time). This is a great spell, it heals 5 friendly targets (6 with the new wild growth glyph) that need it within range with a HoT. It is very mana effective.
If a player is down a bunch or will be taking a bunch more damage, use regrowth as that has big upfront heal and very long HoT. The only downside is that it is pretty mana intensive. Not a big deal right now with decent gear, but it may be a problem after the patch which nerfs spirit regen. PATCH 3.1 UPDATE: Regrowth has gotten a little weaker as the talent that increased its crit chance by 50% was reduced to 25%. But for raid healing I still find it to be very effective.
Other options for lighter healing are a single lifebloom or rejuv. Also, if you are having mana issues use lifebloom or rejuv instead of regrowth. I prefer lifebloom because I use that idol and because it has big bloom heal at the end.
Combo of Tank (1 or 2) and Raid HealingThis is what you normally do. Get the 3 lifeblooms and regrowth up on the tank (or two) then make sure you are spamming wild growth every chance. Then toss out lifeblooms and regrowths (depending on the extent of the need) on the raid. PATCH 3.1 UPDATE: Still very viable. But if you have mana issues (depends on gear level) you can slow roll the lifeblooms and let them drop off - see explanation above. You can also change the raid healing regrowths to rejuvs or lifeblooms.
Holy Crap HealingIf things go bad, for instance if your tank has HoTs but is still dropping health fast, or someone just has super low health and their is no time for HoTs - here are your options:
Regrowth on top of regrowth with swiftmend on CD. This works pretty well but you need the glyph. PATCH 3.1 UPDATE: This is still semi-viable, but most likely you should do 1 regrowth (if it isn't already active on the target) and then switch to nourish. Most resto druids no longer use the regrowth glyph because of 3.1 changes.
Nourish. This is our quick direct heal. PATCH 3.1 UPDATE: Nourish has gotten a lot better especially if you have the combo of the new Nourish glyph and the 4 piece tier 7 bonus. Both of these make nourish stronger depending on how many HoTs you already have on the target. It’s still not that great for full/general raid healing as you don't normally have several HoTs up on each raid member. But definitely the best heal for a target/tank where you already have HoTs up. So if you are tank healing and rolling lifeblooms with regrowth and rejuv and the tank gets in trouble, you should use glyphed nourish. If you have no HoTs on the target, best to regrowth first and then nourish.
NatureSwiftness+Healing Touch - if you have this macro'd you can use it instantly. The cd on natures swiftness is long so you can really only do it once. Save it for a tank or healer in dire trouble.
Wild Growth General CommentThis is great heal spell. No matter what type of healing you are doing (tank, raid, combo) you would be well served by casting wild growth at every opportunity. It has a 6 second cooldown, so just keep an eye on it, and cast it whenever it is available.
GEAR (GEARING, GLYPHS, GEMS, IDOLS)Gear/ItemizationGeneral Itemization:
Spellpower > spirit/mp5 > intel > haste/crit (spirit is much preferred over mana/5 as it effects innervate and is boosted by druid resto talents.) You don't want any +hit.
Pretty much you are looking for gear with SP, Spirit and Int. Several pieces can have mp5 instead of spirit but don't do this a lot. Overall Spirit is preferred over mana/5 as it effects innervate, is boosted by Living Spirit talent, and increases your Spell Power with Imroved Tree of Life talet. Though rumors say that innervate may not be spirit based in the future. Since most raid gear you will get will automatically have SP, spirit and int, your real itemization choice lies with haste/crit. The druid forums are split on the haste vs crit with a slight preference towards haste. [See the Haste vs Crit section at the bottom of this thread for more info.] Since mana isn't an issue right now I have focused more on haste (though I have several crit pieces) as that allows me to get my regrowths out quicker and also reduce my cd on my instant casts (lifebloom, wild growth and rejuv). The soft-cap for druid haste is about 400 with the Gift of the Earth Mother talent (which all resto builds have). The 400 also takes into account at least getting one raid haste buff so its not exact but 400 is a good amount to shoot for.
I also ignore the leather or cloth distinction as that makes very little difference when resto.
Much more detail is available at Elitist Jerks Resto Itemization thread:
http://elitistjerks.com/f73/t37578-restoration_itemization/Glyphs to use:Regrowth - not that great any more, now that nourish is a better spamming oh crap heal.
Swiftmend - very good, keeps the HoT on a target when you swiftmend
Innervate - not really needed, once you get raid geared, mana isn't much of an issue
Wild Growth - adds an extra wild growth target (from 5 to 6). Great for raid healing, but I find it useful no matter what I'm doing.
Nourish - very good for tank healing when the HoTs aren't doing enough and you need to spam heals to save the tank. Even better once you have the tier 7 4-piece bonus.
Rejuvenation - not that useful because it is only effective when the target is very low health, in which case you probably wouldn't be casting a slow heal like rejuvenation. However, this becomes better once you get the new tier 8 4-piece bonus.
Lifebloom - an excellent glyph, that extra lifebloom tick not only gives it more healing, but also gives you more time to do other things before having to go back and refresh your rolling lifebloom stack. Very important for fights like patchwerk where you are trying to keep 3 tanks with 3 stacks of rolling lifebloom.
What I use: Swiftmend, WildGrowth, Lifebloom (once I get the 4 piece tier 7 bonus I'll add nourish and remove either wild growth or swiftmend)
Gems: From Elitist Jerks Druid Gem thread located here:
http://elitistjerks.com/f73/t38642-druid_gem_compilation/Resto:
Blue:
- Purified (SP/Spi): Purified Twilight Opal
Red:
- Runed(SP): Runed Scarlet Ruby
- Reckless(SP/Haste): Reckless Monarch Topaz
Yellow:
- Luminous(SP/Int): Luminous Monarch Topaz
- Reckless(SP/Haste): Reckless Monarch Topaz
Meta:
- Ember Skyflare (SP/Int): Ember Skyflare Diamond
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41333 If you are good on mana and want more power.
- Bracing (SP/Reduced Threat): Bracing Earthsiege Diamond
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41395 Not that common - threat really isn't an issue for us.
- Insightful (Int/Mana Return): Insightful Earthsiege Diamond
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41401 If you are having mana issues, use this one.
Idol: Idol of Lush Moss (Lifebloom) is the consensus best resto idol.
MODSHealBotNeeded Mod – HEALBOT - This is essential – HealBot takes a bit to get tweaked and get used to but is fantastic for raid healing. It gives you a box/bar for each raid person (I use one column for 5 or 10 mans and two columns for 25 man raids.) You should set up the following featuers:
1) The box/bars shows you both a raiders health and mana/energy.
2) You can set the transparency to show you who is in range.
3) You can set it to show incoming heals so that you know when your a raider is getting a heal from another healer.
4) It can be set to show who presently has aggro which is a great early warning on who will need a heal soon.
5) I have mine set up to show those raiders who don’t have MOTW as blue so I know who needs that buff from me.
6) Healbot now can show what HoTs you have on a target and how long until they fall off. This is essential for rolling lifebloom. You see a little number counting down on the lifebloom icon and that is how much time you have to cast another lifebloom before the stack falls off/blooms).
For HealBot I put each heal on a button on my mouse (my mouse has 4 buttons – 2 on top and 2 on the side and a roller on top that you can pressed like a button.)
Top Button 1 is Lifebloom
Top Button 2 is WildGrowth
Side Button 3 is Regrowth
Side Button 4 is macro – Natures Swiftness + Healing Touch
Top Roller is Swiftmend
Shift Button 1 is Rejuv
Shift Button 2 is Nourish
Shift Top Roller is Target that player (good for sharing innervate or battle rezzing)
Ctrl Button 1 is Abolish Poison
Ctrl Button 2 is Remove Curse
This setup works for me as the most common spells I cast are Lifebloom, Wild Growth, Regrowth and Rejuv.
LIFEBLOOMS AND STARTING OUTAbout Rolling Lifeblooms and Starter Healing StrategyRolling Lifeblooms – Lifebloom is a heal that has a medium sized heal tick and then a big bloom heal at the end. You can have up to 3 lifeblooms active on a player at one time. And that means that the medium heal ticks are 3x bigger. If you cast another lifebloom before the existing stack of lifeblooms runs out, they will just continue to medium heal tick and never bloom. All the stacked lifeblooms are on the same timer so when they expire (5 or 6 seconds – add a tick with a talent and glyph) the whole stack blooms. If this happens when you are trying to roll lifeblooms you just need to recast 3 more and keep them going. You keep them going by casting another one right before the existing stack expires. This allows you to keep up a stack of 3 lifeblooms on a player indefinitely. This gives them constant healing for the whole battle. This is incredibly mana efficient – even an average geared druid can keep a stack of 3 lifeblooms rolling on 2 players forever. UPDATE 3.1: It is no longer as mana efficient as it used to be, but still the most important druid HoT.
If you are on a tank – I normally start with a quick lifebloom, a regrowth, then 2 more lifeblooms and finally a rejuv. I cast the regrowth early just in case the tank takes some major damage early, I can swiftmend it into a big heal. Once I have the regrowth and stack of 3 lifeblooms rolling, I toss in a rejuv. Then it is just a matter of keeping all of those things up on the tank at all times. You just watch your HealBot HoT icons to see what is ending and cast it again. You can let the rejuv and regrowth end before casting another one. But the lifebloom stack needs to be recast (only 1) before the stack ends otherwise the stack will end and you need to cast 3 more.
If things get crazy on the tank and he is dropping health, let the lifebloom stack end which will give a good bloom of healing. Cast another regrowth and/or swiftmend. Or if really bad start spamming nourish. If the tank is in really bad shape below 30% health, then do the natures swiftness and healing touch macor for a massive heal. But quickly get your rolling lifeblooms up again.
In many fights, the druid healer will use rolling lifeblooms on both the main tank and off-tank. In this case, cast lifeblooms on one than the other until you have rolling stacks of 3 on both. With that done you are relatively busy casting lifeblooms as each tanks’ stack is about to end. However, you normally have time for another heal or two and that allows you to rejuv or regrowth whichever tank needs it more. Or even heal yourself or another healer at risk. I would normally avoid helping too much with dps raiders when you are lifeblooming both tanks. Atleast not until you are more comfortable with raid healing.
I thought I would throw in a sample of one of our more complicated fights so people could see how the process of Druid healing goes:
Sample Patchwerk healing looks like this (T1 is tank 1, T2 is tank 2, T3 is tank 3)
T1 Lifebloom #1
T2 Lifebloom #1
T3 Lifebloom #1
T1 Regrowth
T1 Lifebloom #2
T2 Lifebloom #2
T3 Lifebloom #2
T2 Regrowth
T1 Lifebloom #3
T2 Lifebloom #3
T3 Lifebloom #3
T3 Regrowth
T1 Lifebloom #3 (rolling stacks)
T2 Lifebloom #3 (rolling stacks)
T3 Lifebloom #3 (rolling stacks)
T1 Rejuv
T2 Rejuv
T3 Rejuv
T1 Lifebloom #3 (rolling stacks)
T2 Lifebloom #3 (rolling stacks)
T3 Lifebloom #3 (rolling stacks)
T1 Regrowth
T1 Lifebloom #3 (rolling stacks)
T2 Lifebloom #3 (rolling stacks)
T3 Lifebloom #3 (rolling stacks)
T2 Regrowth
T1 Lifebloom #3 (rolling stacks)
T2 Lifebloom #3 (rolling stacks)
T3 Lifebloom #3 (rolling stacks)
T3 Regrowth
T1 Lifebloom #3 (rolling stacks)
T2 Lifebloom #3 (rolling stacks)
T3 Lifebloom #3 (rolling stacks)
T1 Rejuv
T2 Rejuv
T3 Rejuv
Etc. etc. etc. This pattern has you constantly casting the whole 3 to 5 minute fight, no rest, no breaks, no stops. If you have a spare second, cast Wild Growth. Also, keep an eye on your mana and innervate and mana pot when necessary. If you get behind on a lifebloom and it falls off, just skip rejuv and cast 3 quick lifeblooms on that tank to get them back up to 3 rolling ones. If your gear isn’t high enough to do all that (mana issueS), skip the Rejuvs and just do the Lifeblooms and Regrowth. Most fights you normally won’t have to do all that, because you will only be healing 1 or 2 tanks. But Patchwerk is a crazy healing fight, very specific with 3 tanks taking 90% of the damage constantly.
HASTE VS CRIT ITEMIZATIONOn the topic of the big Haste vs Crit Itemization decision on raid gear:
Very good comment from a druid blogger at
http://restokin.com/?p=976I've included it in my above post.
Haste & Healing trees
If you are a healer using nourish a lot, since it is the same cast time as wrath is for moonkin (only you don’t have the 3% extra crit that moonkin do), you would need a little more than 15% haste to get nourish casts that start clipping the GCD with full raid buffs (including imp moonkin aura, shaman totems, & Nature’s Grace procs). This would put you around 500 haste rating (and you could have more haste than that if you were missing those raid buffs, and more than that for any cast when you aren’t under the effects of Nature’s Grace). So, resto druids should be able to pick up a fair amount of haste before nourish clips the GCD in most situations.
For regrowth, it would take even more haste to clip the 1 second GCD cap, so if you are using regrowth a lot, you can pretty much pick up any amount of haste on gear and not worry about it clipping at our current gear level. For HOTs with the Gift of the Earth Mother talent, calculations taken before raid buffs or Nature’s Grace concluded that 505 was the amount of haste for HOTs to stop receiving a benefit, according to posts on the plus heal forums.
Dreambound Druid also worked out a whole chart for how haste interacts with our healing spells, if you want to see a graph with pretty numbers for a bunch of our spells. I think it is just based on haste without taking into account raid buffs (shaman totems, imp moonkin form haste that reduces healing cast times if you have a moonkin in the raid, etc).
In March, Averna at Nerf this Druid wrote out advice & math for thinking about crit versus haste on healing gear.
http://www.nerfthisdruid.com/2009/03/haste-vs-crit-guide-for-resto-druids.html Averna comes to the conclusion that haste is still slightly better for resto druids than crit, since our HOTs can’t crit, but their GCDs can be lowered with haste.
In my own gear choices, I pretty much just stick with going for whatever gear has the best item level - with more spell power, int, & spirit. I like trying to get a healthy amount of both haste and crit, though my haste rating right now is a lot lower than I would like it to be, since all my Naxx gear I picked up had crit and no haste on it.
FYI - I have been doing the same as the blog poster - taking the best gear (SP/SPirit/Int) regardless of whether it had haste or crit. When I did have a choice, I chose haste. What I've ended up with is 8 haste pieces and 7 crit pieces which ends up giving me approximately 400 haste.
