I thought I'd start putting together a FAQ on the Resto Druid, since we regularly see the same questions coming up again and again. Rather than ask the questions here and have a long running Q&A session, I'd love to see people suggest the elements they want up here, and I'll keep editing the first posts. If you have a question you don't know the answer to, post it like normal in the forum, and if its a regular enough question it'll end up on here. (i.e. Focussing on "Frequently" not "Question" )

Post below what Questions and their Answers that you think we should have, and feel free to have discussion on what should be posted, just don't pose the question only.

TBD - Feel free to suggest the entries for these

• Outline of each spell and where its best used, and what synergies exist
• Specific talent evaluations
• Other ideas

Additionally, the dates next to sections and questions will refer to the date that the information was last updated or checked, so that people can see how out of date a specific answer may be.

Gearing/Stats

Q: What is the stat priority for druids? (16 Dec 2009)

A: Spellpower > Haste (till 856 cap) > Int/Spirit (for Regen) >>> Crit

Spellpower is still our most advantageous stat, as increases in spellpower result in higher HPS and higher HPM without impacting our output vs regen numbers etc. Haste to the cap has become the most popular aim after this, so that we can boost our HPS through capping the GCD and to increase our ability to use spells like Nourish and Regrowth. Haste also is beneficial for the Rapid Rejuv glyph in bringing an 18s Rejuv to 12s at the GCD cap.

Spellpower
Spellpower is the prime stat for Resto Druids. It directly increases the amount of healing done by each spell you cast, based on the coefficient of that spell. The table below lists each healing spell and what percentage of your current Spellpower total is being added as extra healing.

Spellpower Coefficients

• Healing Touch: 161.1% (201.1% with Empowered Touch)
• Lifebloom(Bloom): 51.6% (61.9% with Empowered Rejuvenation)
• Lifebloom(HoT): 9.518% (per tick) (11.422% with Empowered Rejuvenation)
• Rejuvenation: 37.604% (per tick)(45.125% with Empowered Rejuvenation)
• Regrowth(Direct): Approx 53.90% (64.68% with Empowered Rejuvenation)
• Regrowth(HoT): 18.80% (per tick)(22.56% with Empowered Rejuvenation)
• Tranquility: 53.80% (per tick) (64.56% with Empowered Rejuvenation)
• Wild Growth: 11.505% (per tick) (13.81% with Empowered Rejuvenation)
• Nourish: 67.1% (87.1% with Empowered Touch)

Swiftmend does not directly gain any additional effect from spellpower, since it is already based on a spell that has had spellpower coefficients applied to it.

Intellect/Spirit
Q: What is the mana regen formula for druids? (25 Nov 2009)

A: At Level 80

MP5 = 5 * (0.001 + sqrt(Int) * Spirit * 0.005575 ) * 0.60 rounded up

Haste

Q: What is the Resto Druid Haste cap? (8 Dec 2009)

A:

Pre-TLDR:
Without CF, but all raid buffs - 856 Haste
With CF and all raid buffs - 735 Haste

Haste converts at 1% = 32.79 Haste Rating. With no talents, buffs or auras you need 50% haste, or 1640 Haste Rating. Depending on what talents and buffs you have, this number reduces. For a standard spec (not taking Celestial Focus, but taking 5/5 GotE) in a normal raid group (that has a Shaman for WoA, and a Boomer or Ret Paladin for Improved Moonking Aura or Swift Retribution Aura) you need 856 Haste Rating to bring your HoTs and Nourish to a 1s GCD/cast time.

(See http://www.plusheal.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4931 for more info on how Haste is calculated.)

Required Haste Calculations

General GCD/Nourish
General Raiding Setup (Wrath of Air and Improved Moonkin Aura/Swift Retribution Aura Only)
0/5 GotE = ~38.70% Haste = ~1269 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~35.98% Haste = ~1180 Haste Rating
2/5 GotE = ~33.36% Haste = ~1094 Haste Rating
3/5 GotE = ~30.85% Haste = ~1012 Haste Rating
4/5 GotE = ~28.42% Haste = ~932 Haste Rating
5/5 GotE = ~26.10% Haste = ~856 Haste Rating

5/5 GotE Calcuations:
With no other modifiers = ~36.36% Haste = ~1193 Haste Rating
With just IMA/SRA = ~32.39% = ~1062 Haste Rating
With just CF = ~32.39% = ~1062 Haste Rating
With just WoA = ~29.87% Haste = ~980 Haste Rating
With WoA and CF = ~26.10% Haste = ~856 Haste Rating
With WoA, IMA/SRA, and CF = ~22.42% Haste = ~735 Haste Rating

Lifebloom gains an extra reduction in GCD at the same rate as the main haste complonent of GotEM (2%/4%/6%/8%/10%)

Lifebloom Calculations with GotE
General Raiding Setup (Wrath of Air and Improved Moonkin Aura/Swift Retribution Aura Only)
0/5 GotE = ~38.70% Haste = ~1269 Haste Rating
1/5 GotE = ~33.257% Haste = ~1091 Rating
2/5 GotE = ~28.027% Haste = ~919 Rating
3/5 GotE = ~22.994% Haste = ~754 Rating
4/5 GotE = ~18.148% Haste = ~595 Rating
5/5 GotE = ~13.478% Haste = ~442 Rating

5/5 GotE Calcuations:
With no other modifiers = ~22.72% Haste = ~746 Rating
With just IMA/SRA = ~19.15% Haste = ~628 Rating
With just CF = ~19.15% Haste = ~628 Rating
With just WoA = ~16.88% Haste = ~554 Rating
With WoA and CF = ~13.478% Haste = ~442 Rating
With WoA, IMA/SRA, and CF = ~10.17% Haste = ~334 Rating

Crit

Q: Does Critical Strike help my healing?

A: In absolute terms, yes. Every time you crit with a direct healing spell, you increase the amount healed by that cast by 50%. There are also a number of talents like Living Seed that activate when you critically heal someone. However, as the lion's share of druid healing comes from HoTs which cannot crit, the usefulness of critical strike rating diminishes rapidly. Raid healing mostly comes from Wild Growth and Rejuv, both of which cannot crit (T9 set bonus aside). Main tank healing however, can source crits from Healing Touch (usually combined with Nature's Swiftness), Nourish, the Bloom component of Lifebloom and Regrowth. Nourish and Regrowth also have a talent to increase their base chance to crit by 25%, making it more likely that you'll get the benefits. Due to stacking of Int for mana regen, most druids have somewhere between 18% and 25% crit, without gearing for it.

Hit
Q: Do PVE Resto Druid's need a certain Hit rating? (25 Nov 2009)

A: No. While you may see some well geared druids with +Hit items, often it may be because the +Hit is superfluous compared to whatever they were wearing. e.g. [Matriarch's Spawn] to [Symbol of Transgression]

Spells

Q: What does Innervate give me in mana, and is it the same if I cast it on anyone? (25 Nov 2009)

A: Since 3.2 at level 80, over 10 seconds you'll gain exactly 7866 mana, as will anyone you cast the spell on. The spell can't be cast on anyone without a mana pool (Rogues, Warriors etc), but will affect everyone who does equally, regardless of whether they function on spirit regen or not.

Q: When should I use Innervate? (25 Nov 2009)
A: With a CD of every 3 minutes, it pays to cast this early and regularly if you're using it on yourself. A good gauge for things like Scrolling Combat Text or Mik's Scrolling Battle Text is to set a low mana warning at 60% of your mana pool, which for an average endgame player is somewhere between an 8,000-10,000 mana deficit. This will allow you to gain the 7866 mana without your natural regen pushing you over-full.

Q: When should I use Tranquility?

A: Tranquility is a very situational spell. It requires a few key things to get the most out of it:

1. Damage to multiple targets
2. Multiple damaged targets in your own group (not raid)
3. Either almost catastrophic damage, or multiple ticks of damage incoming
4. Damaged targets in your group are near you
5. You aren't stretched for Mana on the fight

This situation is rarely the case, especially when you have 5 healers in a group, since typically any fight where multiple players take damage at once they're spread out to minimise the number of healers hit at the same time. However, one perfect situation comes to hand when employing the "Door Strat" for Twin Valkyrs. This is the strategy where everyone stands in the doors with 3 Dark Groups and 2 Light Groups. When the Vortex that is the opposite colour to your debuff (Dark Essence = Light Vortex) is about to cast, you can cast Tranquility and maintain your group easily through it. However, if you get two Light Vortexes in the fight... you're out of luck because of the 10min cooldown.

If the list above never happens in a given fight, then really, feel free to proc it as emergency if someone in your group is out of position or about to take a lot of damage. At least they'll get something out of it, though remember the mana issue.

Talent Specs

Cookie Cutter Specs

• 11/0/60 - A fairly standard Resto build not taking Nature's Grace. The two points in Natural Perfection are sometimes moved around to other talents such as 3/5 Tranquil Spirit or 2/2 Improved Tranquility
• 14/0/57 - The other fairly standard Resto build, taking Nature's Grace. Again the higher Resto talents may be juggled around to the player's preference.

Specialist Specs

• Naturalist Build - This build is used in Anub'arak Heroic Mode to get high speed Healing Touch casts in Phase 3. The listed build has 3 points spare, with the players choice to spend, though the recommendations are Nature's Grace, Living Seed or Natural Perfection.
• 18/0/53 - This Celestial Focus build passes over some of the Nourish targetted talents to focus on faster GCDs and haste. Shuffling the high end talents, and swapping the Rejuv glyph to Nourish can convert this into a Hasted Nourish focussed build.

Specific Talents

Glyphs

Major Resto Druid Glyphs

Q: What glyphs should I use?

A:

Preferred

• [Glyph of Swiftmend] - Swiftmend is an important part of both Tank healing and Raid healing, and the Swiftmend glyph adds a level of repeatability to it. Aside from that, its become a bit of a courtesy glyph as well, since you won't be stealing a HoT that someone else is expecting to be on a target.
• [Glyph of Nourish] - Nourish comes to the fore in Tank healing, and the Nourish glyph makes it even more effective, because while tank healing your more likely to have 3 or even 4 HoTs on the target, boosting your heal.
• [Glyph of Wild Growth] - Wild Growth generally constitutes a high percentage of your raid healing, somewhere between 25% and 50% of healing done, playstyles notwithstanding. Having this glyph increases the the possible output of WG by 20%, and is well worth it for raid healing.
• [Glyph of Rejuvenation] - The Rejuvenation glyph is another very strong raid healing glyph, though it kicks in more in fights where lots of AOE damage is dropping players below 50% health.
• [Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation] - With haste being one of the most prominent desired stats of a Resto Druid now, high Haste values make the Rapid Rejuvenation glyph very desirable. Opinion is still divided on its best use, with some saying that its an MT healing glyph, because it increase the HPS of Rejuv thus making regular healing better on one or two targets. Raid healers that use it list the fact that it will recover spot healing faster to be one of its key features. The only real disadvantage of the Rapid Rejuv glyph seems to be that in environments where you want to blanket the raid and only expect one or two of your ticks to be effective (for raid wide bursts etc) then this glyph makes it harder to maintain a many stacks at once.

Others

• [Glyph of Innervate] - Glyph of Innervate is still a occasionally used glyph, either swapped in on mana intensive fights, or as a way to boost a low regen gear-set. Since 3.2 it now provides exactly 1573 mana every 3 minutes, which is less than a mana potion, but is reusable unlike the potion.
• [Glyph of Regrowth] - Glyph of Regrowth was a mainstay glyph at the release of WotLK. However, with the release of the Nourish glyph in 3.1, most moved away from spamming Regrowth. While levelling, this glyph his highly recommended (if not using a HT glyph) but at 80 when you get Nourish, you'll get more performance out of it for main tank healing. See Viability of Regrowth for more information on the history and present.
• [Glyph of Healing Touch] - This glyph is primarily a pre-80 glyph, as it turns Healing Touch into a weaker version of Nourish. Its advantage is to give a very fast spammable heal till you get Nourish. It does have some endgame uses on specific bosses though, such as the Naturalist build for Anub'arak on Heroic.
• [Glyph of Lifebloom] - With Lifebloom's direction into a PVP heal this glyph has seen less use, though it is still quite good for a MT healing Druid allowing you to keep a 3 stack Lifebloom ticking longer.
• [Glyph of Rebirth] - This glyph returns your target on full. Very useful in fights like Steelbreaker, where the tanks are guaranteed to die, you can bring them back up without fear of them dying from the AOE damage immediately.

Minor Glyphs

Preferred

• [Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth] - This glyph is highly recommended to avoid any 'egg-on-the-face' responses when you're asked to [Spell "Rebirth" not found] someone during a boss fight and you realise "Uhh, I'm out of seeds "
• [Glyph of the Wild] - Useful to get buffing done quicker, as you don't need to drink as much to regain the mana, its worth a total of 1748 mana saving.

Others

• [Glyph of Dash] - A useful glyph for the last spot, especially for Night Elves who want to get away from the group and Shadowmeld.
• [Glyph of Thorns] - More for soloing, this glyph keeps your personal [Spell "Thorns" not found] up for a lot longer so you don't need to constantly refresh.

Useful Macros

Q: Where can I find some macros for healing? (25 Nov 2009)
A:

• The Macros Forum here on PlusHeal has a lot of nice macros for healers.
• This thread has compiled a lot of them together. (Thanks Kirava!)

Q: How do I make a macro to cast Nature's Swiftness and Healing Touch at once? (25 Nov 2009)

A: Simply put both spells in the same macro. As Nature's Swiftness does not trigger a GCD they can be combined.


Q: How do I make a mouseover macro for healing? (8 Dec 2009)

A: This macro will cast the selected spell on your mouseover target if its friendly and not dead, or on your current target if its friendly, or on yourself if you don't have a current target. More variations can be found in the Macro's forum.


Q: What's a good panic macro? (8 Dec 2009)

A: Assuming you have Nature's Swiftness in your spec

Consumables

Q: What guardian/battle elixirs or flasks should I use?

A: In Wrath raiding, you should be using flasks, unless you're fairly sure you won't be wiping at all. Elixirs require you so spread your gain out over two stats, and the total effect isn't as strong.

Flasks

• [Flask of the Frost Wyrm] - This is the default standard for Resto Druids. As Spellpower is our prime stat, its the best flask.
• [Flask of Pure Mojo] - This flask is useful in situations where you're running out of mana, though the extra mana may not outweigh the greater output. Best in situations where its a long fight with low output, but lots of it, such as where you're doing a lot of Rejuv blanketing. Also for early gear levels this may help you get through a fight.

Elixirs

Q: What food should I eat?

A:
Preferred Food
All of the foods you should be using require [Northern Spices] so make sure you're doing your cooking dailies first for the patterns then for the extra spices.

• [Fish Feast] - 46 Spellpower (as well 80 Attack Power)
• [Firecracker Salmon] - 46 Spellpower
• [Tender Shoveltusk Steak] - 46 Spellpower

Other Food
These foods also give the 40 Stamina buff, but provide other types of buff besides spellpower. They're useful if you're trying to bring up something like capping haste, or boosting regen, but are less commonly used in general.

• [Cuttlesteak] - 40 Spirit
• [Imperial Manta Steak] - 40 Haste Rating
• [Spicy Blue Nettlefish] - 40 Critical Strike Rating
• [Very Burnt Worg] - 40 Haste Rating
• [Mighty Rhino Dogs] - 20 MP5
• [Spicy Fried Herring] - 20 MP5
• [Spiced Worm Burger] - 20 MP5

Gems and Enchants

Enchants

• Head: [Arcanum of Blissful Mending]
• Shoulder: [Greater Inscription of the Crag]
• Cloak: Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed
• Chest: Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats
• Bracer: Enchant Bracers - Superior Spellpower
• Gloves: Enchant Gloves - Exceptional Spellpower
• Belt: [Eternal Belt Buckle]
• Legs: [Brilliant Spellthread]
• Feet: Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality or Enchant Boots - Greater Spirit or Enchant Boots - Greater Vitality
• Rings: Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower
• 1H Weapon: Enchant Weapon - Mighty Spellpower or Enchant Weapon - Black Magic
• 2H Weapon: Enchant Staff - Greater Spellpower

PVP Tips

*While PlusHeal is more of a PVE site, PVP is still a big part of the game so this section will contain questions on PVP. I'll need suggestions on this aspect though, as its not something I really do personally.

Macros



Frenzied is there for PVP purposes when in bear form with sneaky pesky rogues and alike on you.

Looks excellent in the layout Perrin, would maybe add a suggested macros bit. NS+HT, announce for Rebirth and Revive, etc. Quite a good idea though, very glad to see you doing this.

Nice work so far, Perrin!

Great idea, P.

I presume that for 3.3, the haste cap to which you refer is for Rejuvenation gcd (and Rejuve ticks with Rapid Rejuve glyph)? Because Lifebloom gcd will be capped at a lower level. Might be worth mentioning that, plus specifically stating that the Celestial Focus talent would lower the cap further (I can see why you didn't include it, as it would probably be regarded as a controversial choice in these early days of theorycrafting 3.3).

Is it worth including some haste cap data for situations where we can't count on ret aura or boomkin, or WoW totem? i.e. heroics and 10s. e.g. "Ret aura and boomkin aura are worth 3% haste but don't stack with each other; Celestial Focus is also 3%; while WoA totem is 5%. With 5/5 GOTEM and 3/3 Celestial Focus, but no totem or auras my soft haste cap for Rejuve gcd would be ....."

I'll definitely include the lifebloom modifications. However, if I list all combinations of Boom/Ret Aura, CF(1,2,3), Totem and GOTEM (1,2,3,4,5) it becomes a post dedicated to haste cap combinations. It might be worth having a few more detailed posts in the forums that I can link to 'for more information'. I included the above table specifically because Imp Boomer/Ret Aura + WoA is a fairly standard support structure that any Resto Druid in 25 man content can rely on and well crafted 10-mans can too. It doesn't require any special speccing on the Druid's part. Depending on how people start speccing in 3.3 for the haste, I might include the B/RA+WoA+CF3/3 table as well (once I can kick the 3.0-2 table) so that people can assess which they want to work off.

EDIT: Plus the 3.3 figures aren't the 'Rejuv' cap. They're the GCD cap on everything but Lifebloom, and the 1s cast time cap for Nourish. GotEM affects everything but lifebloom completely evenly in 3.3, with a 10% haste bonus (as opposed to a GCD reduction). The Lifebloom change doesn't give you an extra 10% haste to the Lifebloom GCD but rather is a 90% modifier on whatever the value is. i.e. Apply your usual haste formula to 1.35s instead of 1.5s.

A quick one:

Minor Glyph:

Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth!

Now now, you have to give me to the text to put up about it too I'm just collating everything.

Of course. I was merely pointing out that Lifebloom and Rejuve have different gcd's in 3.3, if you take GOTEM.

To me, it would be far more useful to know how much extra haste I need for the cap if my ret pally doesn't log on, than how much I would need if I took a point out of GOTEM.

Nicely done, will be very nice to have a thread to point to. I'm tired, but will read through later and see if I can come up with anything to add

Two quick thought

[Glyph of Rebirth]

also thoughts on Flasks

[Flask of Pure Mojo]
Vs.

[Flask of the Frost Wyrm]

thanks for the FAQ

Now that I've finally gotten the t9 Idol, I'm having to watch my mana again. I'd like to see a table showing tradeoffs between SP and MP5. To get it started (smaller numbers are better, you want to spend as little SP as possible to get MP5)

Food: 46 SP / 20 MP5 = 2.3 SP/MP5
Flask: 125/45 = 2.8 SP/MP5
Idol of Flaring Growth->IoA = 234/20 = 11.7 / (Number of Rejuvenations maintained)
Gem: 23 SP -> 10 MP5 = 2.3 SP/MP5
Gem: 23 SP -> 12 SP + 5 MP5 = (23-12)/5 = 2.2 SP / MP5

The next two depend on your Int (and assume 100% in the 5SR). At a raid-buffed Int of about 1490:
Gem: 23 SP-> 20 Spirit = (23-3.4 SP) / 7.2 MP5 = 2.7 SP/MP5
Gem: 23 SP-> 12 SP + 10 Spirit = (23 -12 -1.7) / 3.6 = 2.6 SP/MP5

Fixed the macro for you! No, but really, adding /stopcasting allows you to mash this macro and it'll pop instantly instead of not doing anything if you're already casting a Nourish or Regrowth on someone (I've made this error in the past. Ouch :<). It's the best thing since sliced bread ... Almost!

Not specific to actual healing per se, but here's my "OH SH!T! SAVE YOURSELF!" macro as an alchemist.


Frenzied is there for PVP purposes when I'm in bear form with sneaky pesky rogues and alike on me. I added the Endless Healing Potion bit on a whim now, as I realised "Why not?!" as I typed this.

Feel free to tweak or ignore ;>

General gear tips, gems/enchants. Our resident do-it-all druid has poked me many times is this weapon better than that weapon and how do I gem it?

I use Flask of Distilled Wisdom or Frost Wyrm. Pure Mojo flasks got really devalued on my server because no one uses them anymore...

I don't remember the math, sorry for being useless. But there were definitely good reasons why Distilled Wisdom was superior to Mojo. Blah sorry for being vague, I'm not a number-cruncher I just go by what my theorycrafting buds tell me. I'll ask one of them for the numbers later. Something about the Int scaling with raid buffs, most fights lasting 7 minutes-ish, Crit + mana pool + mp5, etc. etc.