 ImmerGentlemanPremium
join:2010-01-07
Evans, GA
kudos:6
 ·Comcast
1 edit | [Classes] Cataclysm Resto Druid I was asked to share my approach to healing by an infrequent poster. Since the Druid thread is more for druids to just talk about all things druid and less a reference point, I decided to start a resto druid specific thread. I would ask that we keep the tone of this thread informative, and move "spirited debate" to the druid thread.
Spec:
avg ilvl 315~346: »www.wowhead.com/talent#0hboZcZrf···VcZmVZzc
If you prefer having Nature's Swiftness then go with: »www.wowhead.com/talent#0hboZcZRf···VcZmVZzc
3rd Prime glyph choice: either RG or LB... they serve differen purposes, but the differences will primarily be playstyle driven.
3rd Major choice: If you use Nature's Swiftness, then I recommend HT glyph... if you are raiding then I recommend WG glyph.
Once your avg ilvl is above 346, mana should be non issue for 5m Heroics and normal raids. At this point you may want to try to improve your throughput of each heal by gradually leaving the feral tree and grabbing some genesis:
»www.wowhead.com/talent#0hfoZZRfz···VcZmVZzc
how many points you move out of furor without hurting yourself will depend on your gear and playstyle.
Now, from what I read from Hamlet, those of you healing heroic raids may get more mileage out of this type of build: »www.wowhead.com/talent#0hfZzZMfd···VcZmVZzc
opting for perserverance for increased survivability. Note: I have not healed any HM raids, so I cannot personally vouche for this type of build
Healing 4.1(Symbiosis):
If you healed in wrath, one big change is how much shorter RJ and RG are now... so don't pre-HoT the tank. Let the tank pull or DPS CC. Your tanks have CDs and your heals are fine for this, it'll be alright. going to have to watch your threat though early on.
Pre-pull: make note of ranged mobs. If you have CC go for it, otherwise just be aware that your heals will grab their attention first until the tank can position them. Also, make note of your CCers, they will probably need a RJ/WG early depending on tank ability.
Early Pull: (tank) LB,RJ,LB,LB and thorns as soon as the melee adds are engaging the tank. Your first OOC proc should go to regrowth (to trigger Nature's grace haste buff) then see how the group is doing. If all is well, move to management healing. If the group is melee heavy, toss out a WG early (note, this is a lot of healing threat at once). Don't be afraid to Swiftmend early, especially if the tank is wrath-baby pulling without all of his CDs up. HT is a great spell, and still rather short cast if you are under Nature's Grace (and your Hurricane procs on your weapon).
Management Healing: Now is the time to pay attention to maximizing every point of mana. If the tank is barely getting touched (above 90%) you are better off just hardcasting an LB (7% base) to keep the stack rolling than Nourish (10% base) or Healing Touch (30% base). Keep buring your OOC on RG for the tank (or on a melee dps that is flirting with aggro).
Sustained fighting: Threat should be non-issue now, so keep WG on CD. For dungeons, everyone should be in range most of the time for WG. If you have ranged that don't keep up with melee, keep your self in between the ranged and melee and target yourself for your WG (this is also very useful in raids). Having the WG on target boosts your RJ that you will cast on those who are really hurting. Nearly every dps class has a way to mitigate dmg or even heal themselves... so they should be reacting to excessive dmg. your primary concern is the tank.
Oh Shit: sadly, we don't get a magic "oh shit" ability. It will take several heals to make up for a big "oops". the faster you triage the group the more of a rockstar you will appear to be. If the tank takes a huge hit while you are trying to get someone else healed up, I recommend letting the LBx3 bloom on the tank while you cast RG (for haste) then RJ, Swiftmend, then HT spam (usually 2 will do fine for the tank). Now, if everything is cool, simply rebuild your LB stack (while keeping WG on CD) and move back to mangement healing. If people are still in trouble, pop ToL and spread LB around with WG on CD. Your insta-RG will /oom you if you go crazy with it... choose your targets, and swiftmend someone in a group.
Tranquility: Lets face it, there are times when you are healing and you get distracted by guild chat/TV/significant other... and you need a couple of seconds to get your head back in the game. Those times are when I use Tranquility. It will give you 3 seconds to assess the situation.
Innervate: If you don't have the Mandela of Strings trinket (TB rep) then pop innervate on yourself as soon as you get down to 75% mana. That way, you ensure you get all the benefit of it early on, and there is a chance it will be available again at the end of the longer boss fights. If you have the Mandela, the same overall approach applies, except you will want to wait for the insane INT proc before casting innervate. It will take some practice. If you don't have the trinket, this is a good time to use those otherwise pointless Volcanic Potions (1200INT for 25 sec)... drink the pot at 75% then pop Innervate.
Healing 4.2(Harmony):
Early Pull: (tank) RG,LB,LB,LB,RJ and thorns as soon as the melee adds are engaging the tank.
We'll see how it pans out, but essentially we should expect to cast more direct heals in Firelands, particularly RG since Blizz thinks we've been neglecting it. More to come
Stats
INT is king. INT provides mana pool and regen (via Innervate) and spellpower. Take leather healing gear with spirit on it but don't enchant or reforge into it.
Relevant Haste breakpoints: 916 for an extra tick of Rejuv, 2005 for an extra tick on WG. The RJ breakpoint is relatively easy to achieve... but you need some good haste gear to reach the 2005 breakpoint. So for those who would be reading a guild like this I'd say once your haste is ~1k reforge excess into spirit or mastery. I'm not a big fan of crit, so I like to reforge it to mastery.
You pulled threat, eh? Barkskin... and move toward the tank. I like to step up beside the melee dps (so I know I'm not getting cleaved by the mob) so that my adds will be in the tank's face. If we are doing the wrath-baby thing... I don't like the idea of moving into a pack of mobs... so i will pop Barkskin, Nature's Grasp, and strafe. If I'm feeling cheeky I'll announce, "healer tanking, ftw /flex".
I also have the benefit of being a sorry Alliance Nelf who can shadowmeld  and I love it.
so, this is my approach to healing at least. what's yours?
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Immergruen (resto/bearbutt) on Nathrezim Server (US)
Guild leader for Pride and Ego
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| Very good guide. Also a tip that i found out the hard way LB can only be on 1 target unless in TOL form. I was still in wotlk thinking when i started healing and was like wtf |
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ImmerGentlemanPremium
join:2010-01-07
Evans, GA
kudos:6 Reviews:
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| thanks. I was also very disappointed with the LB only on one toon thing.
It does make things interesting when healing 10m raids (25 not so much because you usually have dedicated healers there) because you can't just "react" to which ever tank is taking damage. You should really know ahead of time when each tank is going to taunt... let the stack bloom on the tank just before the swap and have the stack built on the next tank before he taunts.
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Immergruen (resto/bearbutt) on Nathrezim Server (US)
Guild leader for Pride and Ego
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Thanks for this. It's like you were reading my mind.
I was a good tree healer in WOLK, took a 3 month break right before cata came out due to computer not up to standards. I came back in February strictly DPS and just started trying to heal again a few days ago.
This helps a ton. |
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ImmerGentlemanPremium
join:2010-01-07
Evans, GA
kudos:6 | I'm glad this helped. Looking forward to hearing how the weekend went for ya. |
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 stvnbrsPremium
join:2009-03-17
Cary, NC
kudos:5 | Very nice guide Immer, you mind giving stat weights, gemming options and reforging tips? I would assume Brilliant IR for all red, Int/SP or Haste for yellow if 20+ int socket bonus? I am thinking about moving from bear/boom to tree/kitty as I may have more fun with that and because I can solo most in cat form anyways.
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I am stating my opinion. Obviously you don't like it. Honestly, I don't care. |
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ImmerGentlemanPremium
join:2010-01-07
Evans, GA
kudos:6 Reviews:
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| Re: [Classes] Cataclysm Resto Druid - Stats said by stvnbrs:Immer, you mind giving stat weights, gemming options and reforging tips? I would assume Brilliant IR for all red, Int/SP or Haste for yellow if 20+ int socket bonus? I'll give it a go.
Caveat: how you gem/reforge should always be kept in balance with your spec and healing style. Clearly, my advice will lean towards my style. I'll try to provide notes as to "why" so that everyone can make their one informed adjustments as they see fit.
Generally speaking the stat weights for healers up to i350-ish is
INT > Spellpower > Haste 916 > Spirit > haste = mastery > crit
If you are completely decked out in raid epics, I'd adjust a bit towards a haste build (depending on your spec regarding mana costs):
INT > SP > Haste 2005 > spirit = mastery > crit
Enchants:
Head: Arcanum of Hyjal
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of the Charged Load Stone
Back: Greater Intellect
Chest: Peerless stats ($$) or Powerful Stats ($)
Wrist: Exceptional Spirit
Hands: Greater Mastery
Legs: Powerful Ghostly Thread
Feet: Earthen Vitality (I do this for the run speed. Druids are highly mobile healers)
Weapon: Power Torrent ($$) Hurricane/Heartsong ($)
I do not follow AskMrRobot for my resto druid at the moment (only at i355). Because I focus on self-innervates synchronized with my Mandela of Strings proc, I have no mana regen issues. My combat mana regen is at 2.2k. by default, AskMrRobot will encourage this stat weight: INT > SP > Spirit >>>Haste>Mastery>crit.
Gems:
Meta: Ember Shadowspirit Diamond (+54 INT, +2% Max Mana)
Red: +40 Int (Brilliant)
Yellow: +40 INT for non INT socket bonus
+20/20 for INT bonus (Artful for mastery, Reckless for Haste) and to activate the meta
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Immergruen (resto/bearbutt) on Nathrezim Server (US)
Guild leader for Pride and Ego
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stvnbrsPremium
join:2009-03-17
Cary, NC
kudos:5
1 edit | So after your guide, I decided to go bear/tree. Could you possibly check out toon and pass on any advice? I know I don't have the BIS shoulder enchant yet, (still working on rep there) and I normally don't put any 1k+ enchants on anything less than epic. Thanks.
Furold on Stormrage.
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I am stating my opinion. Obviously you don't like it. Honestly, I don't care.
Edit: Large damage during movement, I know we have RJ and Swiftmend, but what else can we do when we perhaps are taking major damage and must keep moving (stand and heal through it?)
Also: mind touching on the ToL best uses? I had to pop it last night and had no idea what I was doing as a couple spells changed and 3 had lit up. Thanks again. |
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ImmerGentlemanPremium
join:2010-01-07
Evans, GA
kudos:6 Reviews:
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1 edit | Reforge: I think you made a mistake on the gloves... you actually reforged into hit. You are still far short of the 2005 haste breakpoint for an extra WG tick, so I'd actually undo some of the reforges that went into haste (especially if you had reforged out of Mastery for it).
spec: how much is living seed doing for you? are you spamming your big heals a lot (with all that haste, I could see that being an approach)? For raid healing, you might be better served moving the one point in living seed to blessing of the grove for a static 2% boost to rejuv.
enchants: this is why I favor the stam/runspeed boot enchant over the straight mastery or haste one. The faster you can get to a safe spot, the faster you can get back to your efficient healing spells rather than trying to do everything with WG and Rejuv spam (costly mana).
Movement: If we are talking a twin dragons P2, or ODS fight style of movement I often let my LB stack bloom on the tank during (preferably towards the end of) my movement while I refresh hots and WG the moving group... and once I've settled, rebuild LB stacks and go back to maintenance.
ToL: ToL is a 15% boost to healing across the board. while in ToL LB can be cast (and stacked) on multiple targets, Regrowth is now an insta-cast spell, and wild growth gets a boost (don't remember what exactly, since I rarely pop ToL) maybe its CD is removed. Roots are now insta-cast and I think wrath gets a boost, too... but neither is really a PvE benefit.
Anyway, if you are good on mana you could use ToL to spam some WG and RG for those in need... but watch yourself... you'll /oom if this becomes a twitch.
If you are low on mana and still waiting on Innervate to come off of CD, then pop ToL and spread around LB's while keeping WG on peeps.
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Immergruen (resto/bearbutt) on Nathrezim Server (US)
Guild leader for Pride and Ego
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stvnbrsPremium
join:2009-03-17
Cary, NC
kudos:5 | thanks, I actually only changed the meta gem when moving my gear from boom to resto. I will change the gloves over. I only healed a heroic last night after the respec as it was late, goal:fill raid healing spot. Immediate: heal heroics. Mana didn't seem to be too much of a problem, but getting used to the healing game again. Heroics are pugs, so I need to be able to heal less-skilled players. Thanks again for the tips.
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I am stating my opinion. Obviously you don't like it. Honestly, I don't care. |
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 Rhenai
join:2010-09-07
Elkhorn, NE
kudos:1 | reply to Immer
Re: [Classes] Cataclysm Resto Druid Great guide, thanks for sharing! |
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 TreebarkPremium
join:2010-03-04
Havelock, NC
kudos:1 | reply to Immer
Re: [Classes] Cataclysm Resto Druid - Stats If you are primarily a raid healer, wouldn't mastery be pretty garbage and crit be better to reforge in to if your not making the 2005 Haste break point? |
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ImmerGentlemanPremium
join:2010-01-07
Evans, GA
kudos:6 Reviews:
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| Mastery(Symbiosis) still isn't garbage, since HoT's also benefit from symbiosis. Your WG and rejuvs will boost each other. You could move to crit, but crit is more expensive than mastery (each point of crit is a smaller delta than a point for mastery), so instead of reforging to it, I'd try to collect more crit items (or swap out more boomkin stuff for resto gear).
In 4.2, we should see more crit-love... especially with healing crits going up to 200%. If you are piling on crit, I'd also opt for the Lifebloom glyph to boost my chances at OoC procs (so that RG and it's associated glyph will get more love). The change to our mastery will still make mastery a strong stat for us raid healers... since RG will count as a direct heal, and each HoT afterward (10sec) will get a boost. Should be really fun to see go live.
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Immergruen (resto/kitty) on Nathrezim Server (US)
Guild leader for Pride and Ego
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TreebarkPremium
join:2010-03-04
Havelock, NC
kudos:1 | Cool, I need to do some reading up on it. |
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ImmerGentlemanPremium
join:2010-01-07
Evans, GA
kudos:6 | oh... and if you are raid healing with McBrain in the melee group... just go ahead and keep your LB stack rolling on him... he'll need it. |
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 JBEveryday Normal Guy
join:2009-05-14 | hahahaha, no match for my healing rain! |
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ImmerGentlemanPremium
join:2010-01-07
Evans, GA
kudos:6 Reviews:
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| said by JB:hahahaha, no match for my healing rain!
it's McBrain... he needs both... and the priest CDs |
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 drewAutomaticPremium
join:2002-07-10
Port Orchard, WA
kudos:6 | reply to Immer
Re: [Classes] Cataclysm Resto Druid Great write-up immmer. It's not geared at HM-only players, which adds a lot of real value.
Some things I'd like to mention:
Healing Touch same base cast time as Nourish. It costs a ton of mana, however if you don't need the OOC proc for Regrowth or have some time to get the tank back up, use HT.
Oh Shit: this is called tranquility. It's now a three minute cool down, so very, very viable. I would just ensure that your tank target just got a refresh of LB (to avoid having it fall off during Tranq since it's a channeled spell) and possibly consider refreshing RJ. Ensure that you have Barkskin bound and unless you need the CD for a specific purpose in the next 60 seconds, cast it before hitting Tranq. I think it's off the GCD so you could even macro it to tranq if you wanted.
Group Healing & ToL Tree of Life is a fantastic cooldown. It is not only a direct throughput increase, it also is a great mana cooldown as well. In a raid setting, get LB on both tanks and then start spreading it out to the rest of the raid or your assigned groups. Use OOC procs to insta-cast RG to either refresh LB on key players OR get a player back to a healthy place. Again, this is a three minute cooldown that you should be using, generally, twice a fight. A perfect example of popping ToL early: Halfus.
Pre-pull I don't RG or RJ the tank pre-pull but I certainly get a trip-LB stack going. This helps smooth out the damage intake and will help you or your other healers that may be slow to start.
WG WG is not something I personally keep on CD unless it's a super heavy raid damage fight. It's fairly mana intensive. This is a YMMV kind of tip.
Raid frames: for the love of all things good in this world: get your raid frames into a good spot. The middle, right under your toon, is good. You need to be able to watch your screen for stuff to move out of, prepare to move, etc. Watch your healers that tunnel vision on a fight like Al'akir who keep getting hit by tornados. Their raid frames are not in the right spot.
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flickr | Of faith, power and glory |
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ImmerGentlemanPremium
join:2010-01-07
Evans, GA
kudos:6 | excellent additions, thanks, Drew. Good to see you posting resto guidance again. |
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| reply to Immer
what the raid frame/add/ui that the tankspot chick uses? |
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