The Restoration Druid Guide
for Cataclysm

Contents

Things have moved!

• Balance Druid DPS
• Balance PvP
• Druid Leveling
• Guardian Bear Tanking
• Feral Cat DPS
• Feral Cat PvP
• Restoration Druid Healing
• Restoration PvP

This page is way out of date. The links above will take you to our more updated stuff on the main site. Everything below this point is left here for legacy sake.

Introduction

Updated for patch 4.34

Druids are a truly great class and a fun one, more importantly. They present what I would say is the greatest level of variety amongst all the classes. Variety counts for a lot; it keeps you interested and having fun. Tired of melee? Go Balance, or Healing perhaps. At all times you still remain capable of fulfilling up to three or more roles such as: Tank, Melee DPS, Healer, and, (with Balance,) Damage Caster.

As a Restoration Druid you are one of the best healers in the game and can be very hard to kill in PvP. Endless ability to break free of stuns, roots, etc., combined with awesome heals and other abilities put Druids at the top of the "I really hate that class..." list. For those not playing one, of course.

About the Flavor of the Moment

With the 4.0 patch Resto Druids were, briefly, unkillable in PvP due to a couple of bugs proccing heals. Hot fixes quickly changed that, but they had they "flavor of the moment" bit of infamy.

Class balance is something that is contantly tweaked, so instead of focusing on some Flavor of the Minute we'll be laying out good, basic builds that will give you a good place to start on your path to healing godhood.

Race Choices for Druids

As far as which side to choose, you don't have many choices. Druids aren't like Warriors, not everyone can join the club. Heck, not even Pandarens can be Druids.

As far as Raiding? Tauren have the extra health, which is of minor use; Trolls have increased casting speed, and the Worgen have a slightly increased crit chance. The Troll casting speed buff (Berserking) gives Trolls a nice edge when faster healing is necessary in those situations.

Alliance side, the Worgen crit ability gives them a bit more total healing.

PvP? Tauren might be the best horde choice, for the durability.

• Night Elf
  • Shadowmeld - Situationally useful. Stay out of site in a PvP area then pop up and start healing. It also acts like a cheap vanish and will drop enemy targeting and enemy mob aggro until you un-meld.
  • Harder to hit - Of small use for PvP, less useful elsewhere. You shouildn't be getting attacked much in Dungeons and Raids.
• Tauren:
  • Extra health makes Tauren Druids just that much harder to kill and adds a bit of safety if the tank loses a mob for some reason.
  • War stomp has its uses, when mobs and melee types get too close. It goves time to escape and heal.
• Worgen:
• Can periodically move quickly, which doesn't stack with the travel forms.
• Increased crit chance in a general DPS increase and can occasionally boost a heal.
• Reduced duration of curses and diseases (Are you listening, 'locks and DKs?)
• Increased skinning speed and skill
• Trolls:
  • Berserking increases attack and casting speed. Useful for emergency healing situations.
  • Regeneration increased by a small amount
  • Damage increased Vs beasts, all 5 million of them.
  • Reduced duration of movement impariing effects, which isn't so useful since shapeshift breaks those effects anyway.

Level 85 Restoration Druid, Raid Healing (10/0/31)

As Restoration your special abilities are:

1. Swiftmend: Consumes a Heal over Time (HoT) effect on the target and makes it an instant heal.
2. Meditation: Allows some of your mana regeneration from Spirit to continue while in combat.
3. Gift of Nature: Increases all of your healing
4. Disentanglement: Freedom of movement when shapeshifting
5. Mastery: Symbiosis: Increases the effect of your healing spells on any target that already has one of your HoTs.

(view this build)

As always feel free to move things around to suit your particular game or group. Dual speccing healing builds also adds flexibility and allows more experimentation.

Level 85 Restoration Druid PvP Build (7/3/31)

(view this build)

This build takes a point in Balance of Power for the hit rating, to be sure that when you have to pop out to do a bash you can actually hit with it.

Restoration (31 Points)

1. Natural Shapeshifter - Rank 2/2 - Reduces the mana cost of all shapeshifting by 20% and increases the duration of Tree of Life Form by 10 sec.
2. Naturalist - Rank 1/2 - Reduces the cast time of your Healing Touch and Nourish spells by 0 sec.
3. Heart of the Wild - Rank 3/3 - Increases your Intellect by 6%. In addition, while in Bear Form your Stamina is increased by 6% and while in Cat Form your attack power is increased by 10%.
4. Perseverance - Rank 2/3 - Reduces all spell damage taken by 4%.
5. Master Shapeshifter - Rank 1/1 - Grants an effect which lasts while the Druid is within the respective shapeshift form.
   • Bear Form - Increases physical damage by 4%.
   • Cat Form - Increases critical strike chance by 4%.
   • Moonkin Form - Increases spell damage by 4%.
   • Tree of Life/Caster Form - Increases healing by 4%.
6. Improved Rejuvenation - Rank 3/3 - Increases the effect of your Rejuvenation and Swiftmend spells by 15%.
7. Living Seed - Rank 2/3 - When you critically heal a target with Swiftmend, Regrowth, Nourish or Healing Touch spell you plant a Living Seed on the target for 20% of the amount healed. The Living Seed will bloom when the target is next attacked. Lasts 15 sec.
8. Revitalize - Rank 2/2 - When you periodically heal with your Rejuvenation or Lifebloom spells, you have a 20% chance to instantly regenerate 2% of your total mana. This effect cannot occur more than once every 12 sec. In addition, you also grant Replenishment when you cast or refresh Lifebloom.
• Replenishment - Grants up to 10 party or raid members mana regeneration equal to 1% of their maximum mana per 10 sec. Lasts for 15 sec.
9. Nature's Swiftness - Rank 1/1 - When activated, your next Nature spell with a base casting time less than 10 sec. becomes an instant cast spell.
10. Nature's Bounty - Rank 3/3 - Increases the critical effect chance of your Regrowth spell by 60%, and you have a 100% chance when you critically heal with Healing Touch and Nourish to reduce the remaining cooldown of your Swiftmend spell by 0.5 sec.
11. Malfurion's Gift - Rank 2/2 - Whenever you heal with your Lifebloom spell, you have a 4% chance to cause Omen of Clarity.
12. Wild Growth - Rank 1/1 - Heals up to 5 friendly party or raid members within 15 yards of the target for 2863 over 7 sec. Prioritizes healing most injured party members. The amount healed is applied quickly at first, and slows down as the Wild Growth reaches its full duration.
13. Nature's Cure - Rank 1/1 - Empowers your Remove Corruption spell to also remove a magic effect from a friendly target.
14. Nature's Ward - Rank 2/2 - Whenever you take an attack while at or below 50% health, you have a 100% chance to automatically cast Rejuvenation on yourself with no mana cost.
15. Gift of the Earthmother - Rank 3/3 - Increases the healing done when your Lifebloom expires by 15%, and causes your Rejuvenation spell to also instantly heal for 15% of the total periodic effect.
16. Swift Rejuvenation - Rank 1/1 - Reduces the global cooldown of your Rejuvenation by 1 sec.
17. Tree of Life - Rank 1/1 - Shapeshift into the tree of life, increasing healing done by 15% and increasing your armor by 120%. In addition, some of your spells are temporarily enhanced while shapeshifted. Lasts 30 sec.
    • Enhanced spells: Lifebloom, Wild Growth, Regrowth, Entangling Roots, Wrath

Balance (7 Points)

1. Nature's Grace - Rank 3/3 - You gain 15% spell haste after you cast Moonfire, Regrowth, or Insect Swarm, lasting 15 sec. This effect has a 1 minute cooldown. When you gain Lunar or Solar Eclipse, the cooldown of Nature's Grace is instantly reset.
2. Nature's Majesty - Rank 2/2 - Increases the critical strike chance with spells by 4%.
3. Moonglow - Rank 1/3 - Reduces the Mana cost of your damage and healing spells by 3%.
4. Balance of Power - Rank 1/2 - Increases your Nature and Arcane spell damage by 1% and increases your spell hit rating by an additional amount equal to 50% of your Spirit.

Feral Combat (3 Points)

1. Furor - Rank 3/3 - Grants you a 100% chance to gain 10 Rage when you shapeshift into Bear Form, allows you to keep up to 100 of your Energy when you shapeshift into Cat Form, and increases your maximum mana by 15%.

Glyphs

1. Glyph of Swiftmend (Prime Glyph) - Your Swiftmend ability no longer consumes a Rejuvenation or Regrowth effect from the target.
2. Glyph of Lifebloom (Prime Glyph) - Increases the critical effect chance of your Lifebloom by 10%.
3. Glyph of Rejuvenation (Prime Glyph) - Increases the healing done by your Rejuvenation by 10%.
   
   
4. Glyph of Entangling Roots (Major Glyph) - Reduces the cast time of your Entangling Roots by 100%, but increases its cooldown by 5 sec.
5. Glyph of Barkskin (Major Glyph) - Reduces the chance you'll be critically hit by melee attacks by 25% while Barkskin is active.
6. Glyph of Frenzied Regeneration (Major Glyph) - While Frenzied Regeneration is active, healing effects on you are 30% more powerful but causes your Frenzied Regeneration to no longer convert rage into health.
   
   
7. Glyph of Mark of the Wild (Minor Glyph) - Mana cost of your Mark of the Wild reduced by 50%.
8. Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth (Minor Glyph) - Your Rebirth spell no longer requires a reagent.
9. Glyph of Dash (Minor Glyph) - Reduces the cooldown of your Dash ability by 20%.

Stats and Mechanics

First off: getting the best gear, power leveling professions, and so on can be rather expensive. Go here and end your gold troubles permanently.

Stat Priorities

1. Int is by far your best stat. All of your improvement should be based around gaining more Int. It provides spellpower, a bit of crit, a bit of mana regen (especially with various talents,) and mana pool.
2. Spellpower appears on a few weapons and trikets and is all good.
3. Spirit provides mana regen, which is especially important in Cataclysm instances. If you spec into the Balance of Power talent (Balance spec, and not in the above build) then your spirit from gear also adds to Hit rating.
4. Haste - in addition to faster casting, Haste allows HoTs to tick faster and to possibly gain more ticks.
5. Crit/Mastery: These don't affect your healing spells often enough, or greatly enough, to move them above Haste. Mastery has more value if you are the dedicated Tank healer and might be worth reforging into if you are the sole Tank healer.
6. Resilience - Essential for PvP, especially since many players attack the healer first. Less important if you're not the one being pressured in yor PvP group. Useless outside of PvP.
7. Stamina - Your gear will have enough, so there is no reason to look for more for either PvP or PvE.

Gear choices are easy. Whichever item choice gives the most Int, after gemming, is the superior item. The secondary stats have that much less value. For this reason PvP pieces with higher item level can be better than PvE pieces, even though they only have the one secondary PvE stat.

Food and Beverages

• [Flask of the Draconic Mind] or a Cauldron of Battle.
• [Severed Sagefish Head]) or a Seafood Feast.
• [Mythical Mana Potion]
• [Potion of Concentration] has its uses whenever you can get a few seconds of downtime.

Enchants

• Head:
  • Arcanum of Hyjal - 60 Int/35 crit (Guardians of Hyjal revered).
• Shoulders:
  • Felfire Inscription - 130 Int & 25 Haste, Inscription 500 self-only
  • Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone: 50 Int/25 haste (Therazane exalted).
• Back:
  • Enchant Cloak - Greater Intellect - 50 Int
• Chest:
  • Enchant Chest - Peerless Stats - 20 to all stats
  • PvP - Enchant Chest - Mighty Resilience - 40 Resilience
• Wrists:
  • Draconic Embossment - Intellect - 130 Int, Leatherworking 500 , self-only
  • Enchant Bracer - Greater Speed - 65 haste
  • Socket Bracer - Self-only Blacksmithing slot for a 40 Int gem
• Gloves:
  • Enchant Gloves - Haste - 50 haste
  • Enchant Gloves - Greater Mastery - 65 Mastery
  • Socket Gloves - Self-only Blacksmithing slot for a 40 Int gem
• Legs:
  • Powerful Ghostly Spellthread - 95 Int & 55 Spirit
  • PvP - Powerful Enchanted Spellthread - 95 Int & 80 Stam
• Boots:
  • Enchant Boots - Haste - 50 Haste
  • Enchant Boots - Lavawalker - Slight run speed increase & 35 mastery
  • Enchant Boots - Mastery - 50 Mastery
  • PvP - Enchant Boots - Earthen Vitality - 30 Stam & Slight run speed increase
• Weapon:
  • Enchant Weapon - Power Torrent - Sometimes gain 500 Int for 12 seconds
  • Enchant Weapon - Hurricane - Sometimes gain 450 Haste for 12 seconds
• Offhand:
  • Enchant Off-Hand - Superior Intellect - 100 Int
• Rings:
  • Enchant Ring - Intellect - 40 Int, Jewelcrafting 475 self-only enchant
• Belt :
  • Ebonsteel Belt Buckle - Extra socket for a 40 Int gem

Professions

• Leatherworking provides the best increase with its 130 Int enchant compared to the next best, which is 65 Haste
• Blacksmithing gives two extra gems slots for +40 Int gems, 80 Int total. If you install the epic gems (introduced in 4.3) then you get +100 total Int increase and Blacksmithing pulls ahead of the others.
• Engineering has lots of interesting toys, some of which have situational use, and Synapse Springs, which increases Int by 480 for a short time. If you take this use a macro to activate it along with other short term buffs.
• Enchanting will allow you to enchant both rings, for a total +80 Int gain.
• Inscription has a +130 Int shoulder enchant which is an 80 Int gain over the next best item.
• Alchemy has a variety of useful potions and the Mixology bonus is worth 80 Int.
• Tailoring - Lightweave Embroidery sometimes increases Int by 580 for 15 seconds. The problem is that you can't count on that proc at any given instant, much less activate it on call.
• Jewelcrafting used to be a thin hair better than the others, being able to create three +67 Int, self-only, gems for a mighty 81 point total Int gain. WIth the introduction of the epic Int gems in patch 4.3 JC falls behind with a net gain of only 51 points.
  
  
• Skinning provides 80 crit rating, which is far below 80 Int in value. If you have to take skinning for the cash flow then you should take a look at this.
• Herbalism provides a small self heal and 240 Haste rating for 20 seconds
• Mining provides 80 Stam and so has no benefit for casters.