Resto Druid in WoW Patch 5.1

What’s that you say? We can have permanent tree form back again? WOOHOO! But that’s not the only change to Resto Druids in Mists of Pandaria and WoW’s Patch 5.1 – there’s the new talent system, new glyphs, and modified spells to take account of too. If you want to get healing without reading a wall of text, here’s our Quick Start guide to your play style, spells, stats, talent builds, glyphs, reforging and gemming and more in MoP.

Resto Druid Changes in WoW Patch 5.1

Er… Symbiosis’ cast time changed a bit? No, basically there are no changes.

Resto Healing “Rotation” and Priorities

The good news is that not that much has changed in MoP – indeed, you can probably jump right in and start healing without too many problems if you were playing a tree in Cataclysm.

Tank Healing As Resto

In general, you’ll want to keep Lifebloom at 3 stacks on the tank, use Rejuvenation on him or her too, and keep them topped up with Nourish in low-intensity phases and Healing Touch in high-intensity phases. Use Swiftmend whenever it’s off cooldown.

If it all goes pear-shaped, throw out at least one Regrowth for the buff, several if absolutely vital – but they’re expensive. Don’t run yourself out of mana overusing Healing Touch, or let the tank die by refusing to switch from Nourish to something bigger. For people used to Cataclysm, note that we have a lot less mana these days – you’ll want to prioritise cheaper spells.

Make sure you’re casting a direct heal (not a HOT) often enough to refresh Harmony – once every 20 sec, or watch your buff bar.

Raid Healing As Resto

Keep 3 stacks of Lifebloom ticking on the tank for the mana benefits. If several people take damage, use Wild Growth as the spell of choice. If it’s heavy damage, pop Tranquility, or if it’s not quite “argh we’re going to die” urgent, put a Rejuvenation on each of the injured people.

Otherwise, just keep using Wild Growth on cooldown to bring people back up.

Use Swiftmend on cooldown on the biggest group of injured people to pop Efflorescence, the AOE heal, and also to refresh your Mastery. Use Nourish to refresh the tank’s Lifebloom, and heal individual people with Nourish, Healing Touch or Regrowth in order from “meh” to “Yikes” levels of damage. Again, remember to cast a direct heal every 20 sec to refresh Harmony.

Our new Wild Mushrooms are unfortunately a bit of a pain to set up. If you have time to set them up, though, they can provide additional AOE healing.

Cooldowns

We have a new cooldown – Ironbark. Use it when a single player – usually the tank – is taking a lot of damage.

Don’t be afraid to use Incarnation: Tree of Life – its cooldown is fairly short. As mentioned above, use Tranquility if everyone’s taking heavy damage – it’s a very powerful spell. For real emergency moments, pop Tree then Tranq.

Other CDs: Nature’s Swiftness is an “emergency” heal. Use Innervate as soon as you hit 85% mana.

Buffs

Remember to cast Mark of the Wild if someone else isn’t providing a similar or better buff. Cast Symbiosis on one of the tanks if they don’t have it already, and otherwise on a Mage, Monk or DK. Remember to use the ability it grants you in return!

Restoration Druid Talent Choices

The new talent system is very flexible, so you should experiment with your choices – although for Resto Druids, there’s arguably less choice than for other classes.

If you want to get started with a simple, solid talent build, we recommend:

• Tier 1: Feline Swiftness
• Tier 2: Nature’s Swiftness
• Tier 3: Typhoon
• Tier 4: Incarnation
• Tier 5: Mighty Bash
• Tier 6: Heart of the Wild – mostly for the strong passive buff.

Stats, reforging and gemming for Restoration Druid

Intellect is still our most important stat, but after that, Spirit is probably our most important stat now. You won’t be able to get away with Cataclysm reforging here – a re-working is in order.
If you are close to the Haste Caps (2004 and 3043, assuming you regularly raid with a Moonkin, Elemental Shaman or Shadow Priest, otherwise 4229 and 5320), it’s very advantageous to reach these. After that, Mastery is the best healing output stat.

Reforging: First, reforge any and all stats to Spirit, starting with Crit, until you’re comfortable with your mana regen. After that, if you can get to a Haste cap, reforge Mastery and Crit to Haste, then reforge anything left over to Mastery.
Gems: Use a Brilliant gem (or Sparkling gem if you need more Spirit) in all sockets. If you can gain 20 INt or more with one non-red socket, or you are close to a Haste Cap, use Purified, Artful, or Reckless gems.
Meta Gem “Revitalizing” meta gems are the best choice in the early stages of the expansion.

Resto Druid Glyphs

Most Major Glyphs are now very situational, so choose the ones that benefit your play style.

Major: Glyph of Lifebloom, Glyph of Regrowth and Glyph of Healing Touch are all good choices. Glyph of Rejuvenation is very helpful if you’re struggling for mana. Glyph of Wild Growth is useful in 25-man.
Minor: Your choice. Although Glyph Of The Treant lets you be a tree again full time!

Restoration Druid enchants and item enhancements

You should almost always use a profession enhancement item if it provides appropriate stats instead of a general enchant – Inscription of the Earth Prince on shoulders from Inscription, for example.

• Shoulders – Greater Crane Wing Inscription
• Back – Enchant Cloak – Superior Intellect
• Chest – Enchant Chest – Mighty Spirit
• Wrist – Enchant Bracer – Super Intellect
• Hands – Enchant Gloves – Superior Mastery or Enchant Gloves – Greater Haste
• Belt – Living Steel Belt Buckle
• Legs – Greater Pearlescent Spellthread
• Feet – Enchant Boots – Pandaren’s Step
• Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Jade Spirit
• Off-Hand Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Major Intellect

Links

• Elitist Jerks has a very complete and detailed Resto Druid guide
• Jaysla at Cannot Be Tamed has a great update guide for Resto players looking to move from 4.3 to 5.04 with the minimum of hassle.
• Restokin’s excellent guide is already updated for 5.04.