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Shifting Perspectives: Restoration 101, part 3

allison robert
Updated ·7 min read


<< Go back to part 2

9. Basic restoration gameplay:

There is no "rotation" as such for healing classes; we try to choose the best and most efficient spells for each situation. Currently, overhealing at 80 is not considered a problem, because mana is rarely an issue if you are appropriately geared for a fight.

  • If you are tank healing: Maintain Regrowth and Rejuvenation on the tank/s at all times. This is especially important in any situation where the heal team is moving, because other tank healers can't heal as effectively on the run. Depending on the fight and the tank's gear, you may wish to roll Lifebloom as well, allowing a stack to "bloom" to address damage as needed. With HoTs on the tank/s, use Nourish to keep them topped, re-applying HoTs as needed. If the tank's health is stable, spread a few HoTs around the raid as necessary.

  • If you are raid healing: Resto druids generally "blanket" the raid in Rejuvenation, using Wild Growth on cooldown for fights with heavy raid damage, and Nourish or (more rarely) a glyphed Healing Touch as a spot heal. Regrowth can be used on raid members who are taking (or likely to take) heavier damage, e.g. Mark of the Fallen Champion targets on Deathbringer Saurfang, or people focused on Faction Champions. In essence, these people should be treated as a tank while they're taking damage.If you have the global cooldowns to spare, maintain Regrowth and/or Rejuvenation on the tank/s as much as possible.

  • If you are 5-man healing: Follow the directions for tank-healing for your tank (although most decently-geared tanks in 5-mans and heroics these days don't usually need more than one HoT), with Rejuvenation/Wild Growth/Nourish on the party to address damage as necessary. If you're in party with a mage who gives you Focus Magic (you're unlikely to get it in raids), it's a nice courtesy to emphasize more Regrowth or Nourish-centric healing as, properly talented, you should have a high crit rate with them.

10. Gems:

Pre-3.3, you were best off gemming for straight spellpower, but right now the average resto druid isn't at the soft haste cap without a little extra help.

  • If you have reached the soft haste cap (856 or 735 with 3/3 Celestial Focus): Gem for straight spellpower with the Runed Cardinal Ruby.

  • If you have not reached the soft haste cap: Gem for a combination of spellpower and haste with the Reckless Ametrine or (if you're really hurting for haste) the Quick King's Amber.

  • Meta gems: Either the Insightful Earthsiege Diamond (if you have mana issues) or the Ember Skyflare Diamond (if you don't). As your gear improves, it's almost always going to be the latter.

  • Should I gem for socket bonuses?: If it's convenient, go for it. If not, don't bother.

  • Do not gem for: Intellect, Mp5, crit, or straight spirit. A Purified Dreadstone is OK when you need to meet the meta requirements for the Insightful Earthsiege.


11. Glyphs:

The effectiveness of a particular glyph is dependent on the individual fight in question and your role within the raid.

  • Glyph of Wild Growth: Mandatory for a raid healer in either 10 or 25-man content.

  • Glyph of Swiftmend: Very popular with both tank and raid healers, allowing you to Swiftmend a HoT without having to spend mana and a global cooldown re-applying it.

  • Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation: One some fights, Rapid Rejuv is extremely useful; on others, it's a pain in the ass. As a general rule, Rapid Rejuvenation becomes more and more problematic as: a). the number of people taking damage in the raid rises, and: b). the frequency of raid damage rises. The faster your Rejuvenation ticks, the fewer people you're able to keep it rolling on. That's a big problem on fights like Twin Valkyrs and Blood-Queen Lana'thel with unavoidable damage occurring to everyone in the raid. By contrast, on fights like Blood Princes or Saurfang where damage (in a competent raid) is confined to a few people at a time, Rapid Rejuv is extremely useful. Use your best judgment.

  • Glyph of Nourish: Extremely useful for a dedicated tank healer, as one of the druid's weaknesses with respect to, say, paladins is relatively mediocre throughput on single targets.

  • Glyph of Innervate: This is a helpful glyph if you are in the habit of giving Innervate away in raids, as it will return a little more than 3,000 mana to you as well.

  • Glyph of Healing Touch: In progression content and/or hard modes where one's speed in landing a heal often matters more than the amount healed, this glyph, in addition to 5/5 Naturalist, has really grown on me (yes, I realize this Questions The Orthodoxy, which is likely to bring a howling pack of EJ aficionados down on my head). However, it's mostly of situational use, and most famously so on Anub'arak-25 in Trial of the Grand Crusader.

  • Glyph of Lifebloom: Not recommended unless tank healing is really all you do.

  • Glyph of Regrowth: Same deal as with Glyph of Lifebloom.

  • Glyph of Rejuvenation: This is more a PvP-oriented glyph. It finds situational use in PvE, but not frequently enough to justify using it over something else.

  • Glyph of Rebirth: Very situational, and usually not worth it.

Recommended glyphs for tank healers: Glyph of Swiftmend, Glyph of Nourish, Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation. Runners-up: Glyph of Regrowth, Glyph of Lifebloom. If you are having mana issues, substitute Glyph of Innervate for Rapid Rejuvenation.

Recommended glyphs for raid healers: Glyph of Swiftmend, Glyph of Wild Growth, and the third glyph is really a crapshoot depending on the fight. If you are having mana issues, Glyph of Innervate. If you are doing fights where raid damage is confined to a few people at a time, Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation. In the event that neither is true or you don't have the gold to keep switching up, glyph whatever works best for you personally.

Recommended glyphs for 5-man healers: Glyph of Swiftmend, Glyph of Nourish, Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation.

12. Endgame enchants:

Enchants for restoration druids are pretty straightforward:



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Every week, Shifting Perspectives treks across Azeroth in pursuit of truth, beauty, and insight concerning the druid class. Sometimes it finds the latter, or something good enough for government work. Whether you're a Bear, Cat, Moonkin, Tree, or stuck in caster form, we've got the skinny on druid changes in patch 3.3, a look at the disappearance of the bear tank, and thoughts on why you should be playing the class (or why not).