Basic Restoration Guide
Posted by thideras
Version 1.0.4 – Last updated December 8, 2009 (Patch 3.30)
So, you’ve decided to start your first Restoration Druid, change specs or maybe you are just interested in how we work. Regardless of what brings you to this guide, you will find the basics covered. Restoration Druids are a very different type of healer, instead of always relying on direct heals to helps friends, we use HOT’s (Heal over time). While they usually heal for less in the same amount of time compared to other healers, it allows us a unique way of healing. Instead of waiting for incoming damage to cast a heal, we can place a HOT on the player before damage occurs; this is commonly referred to as “Pre-hotting”. I’ll cover more on this later, but it allows us to have HOTs ticking on many people at once. Below is a compilation of the basics you need to start your Restoration Druid.
Note: This guide is written with the assumption that you have a basic knowledge of World of Warcraft. I try to explain any possible new terminology, but a lot will be foreign if you are not familiar with the game itself. If you find any section which does not make sense, I’d suggest searching WoWWiki; they have a great website that covers almost every aspect of the game.
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Restoration Spells
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– Regrowth
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– Nourish
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– I frequently get asked: “Thideras, what spells do you use to heal?” This is a fairly difficult question to answer since healing is situational and greatly depends on what type of instance or raid you are doing.
5 man (Heroics):
When healing 5 mans, I will keep Rejuvenation on everyone while in combat. I will also keep Regrowth ticking on the tank and use Nourish as a spot heal. If anyone needs a quick heal, I’ll use Swiftmend and if healing is still needed, Nourish until the danger is gone. Use Wild Growth when part of the group is taking more damage than the others or when everyone is taking AOE damage. For example, if Skadi the Ruthless in Utgarde Pinnacle starts casting his [Whirlwind], use Wild Growth on the melee and tank. Another example is Loken in Halls of Lightning; when he uses his ability [Lightning Nova], use Wild Growth on the group.
10 man (Raids):
Since there are more healers compared to 5 man Heroics, we can focus more on keeping HOTs up and less direct healing. It is difficult to not throw a direct heal out to a raid member when they are getting low, but keep in mind that there are other healers too. Our main role in raids is raid healing; basically, we heal everyone. You want to keep Rejuvenation up as many targets as possible, keep Regrowth on the tanks, and use Swiftmend if a raid member is getting low and is in danger of dying. If Swiftmend is on cooldown, use Nourish until Swiftmend is available. A good example of constant incoming damage is in the arena of the Thorim fight in Ulduar. When in the arena, hostile mobs will jump down to attack the raid and everyone will take damage constantly. You want to keep Rejuvenation rolling on everyone, Wild Growth when available and Swiftmend anyone that is low. The arena is unique in Ulduar as the raid has a slowing effect that is almost always active. It does slow our GCD (Global Cooldown) to 1.5 seconds along with increasing cast time of all spells. Avoid all spells that have a cast time as they will frequently be interrupted. That is also good advice for raid healing as a Druid in general, rarely use spells that have a cast timer and limit your use of direct healing abilities (except Swiftmend).
25 man (Raids):
10 man raiding guidelines apply here also. In general, I use Rejuvenation, Wild Growth and Swiftmend. If a raid member is in danger of dying, I will use direct heals to save them; namely Swiftmend. You want to keep HOTs up on as many people that may take damage as possible. You want to waste no time, so use every GCD the instant it becomes available. During the cooldown for the GCD, you need to decide who is most likely to take damage in the next 15 seconds and cast either Rejuvenation or Wild Growth on them. This is, by far, the most difficult job for a Druid. Not only do we have to watch 25 health bars, predict who will take damage and know where everyone is standing (to know who to cast Wild Growth on), we have to get out of the way of avoidable damage. You can not tunnel vision as a Restoration Druid, either people are going to die through lack of heals or you are going to die to avoidable raid damage. Remember that it may take some time to get adjusted to this new environment, so don’t get frustrated.
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Builds and Glyphs
The Druid talents and glyphs can greatly change the way we heal. From builds that specialize in mana cost reduction to builds that specialize in single target heals, they all have their place. Knowing what talents and glyphs to use is key to group survival. While I prefer to have a build that utilizes direct healing talents for 5 man Heroics, that build will not do as good raid healing in 10 or 25 man raids. Builds can also vary due to group composition and what healers you bring along. First, we need to cover the glyphs, what they do and when to use them.
Glyphs
Major Glyphs
[Glyph of Healing Touch] – This glyph, while allowing us to have great single target throughput, has horrible mana efficiency. I could see using this if you are healing 5 man heroics and the tank is taking a considerable amount of damage.
[Glyph of Innervate] – If you are having issues running out of mana, I would suggest picking this glyph up. I’ve also used this in 25 man raids where I have to give my [Innervate] out or when we are missing key buffs in 10 man raids (Kings, Wisdom, Replenishment).
[Glyph of Lifebloom] – Lifebloom in general has very limited use. If you know a tank is going to take substantial damage and be out of range when they take said damage. This glyph will increase the duration of Lifebloom by 1 second. Hardly worth it in my eyes, but you may find a use for it.
[Glyph of Nourish] – I would suggest using this glyph in combination with any build below that have [Empowered Touch]. With that talent and this glyph, my Nourish can hit upwards of 12k crits at 2500 spell power.
[Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation] – With 541 haste combined with raid buffs and the new [Gift of the Earthmother], would cause Rejuvenation to tick every 1.96 seconds, a sizable single target throughput increase. Since haste would now apply to this spell, you will not be able to keep it up on as many targets as normal. This glyph was added in patch 3.3 (December 8, 2009).
[Glyph of Rebirth] – If you find that your targets of [Rebirth] are dying quickly to AOE damage, use this glyph. We found that on 25 man Iron Council hard mode, this glyph helps get the first tank back up after they are killed by the buff they receive.
[Glyph of Regrowth] – I try to steer new Druids away from this glyph. While Regrowth’s initial heal does hit fairly hard and crits often, it promotes the spamming of one spell. If you are able to refresh the HOT with only a few seconds left (less than three), I’d suggest using this glyph.
[Glyph of Rejuvenation] – While an extra 50% healing does sound nice, it isn’t as useful as it sounds. The extra 50% healing does not hit the target at the same time that Rejuvenation ticks, but instead about a half second later. Also, if someone is below 50% health, you are going to have very little time before they either die or are healed above that 50% threshold. This prevents the glyph from doing a large amount of healing.
[Glyph of Swiftmend] – This is a glyph that I will always use in any of my healing builds, regardless of group composition or raid makeup. Being able to quickly throw a [Rejuvenation] then [Swiftmend] on a raid member (for emergency heals) and still have the HOT tick is a great tool to have. I suggest this glyph for any build.
[Glyph of Wild Growth] – I suggest this glyph only for 10 and 25 man raids because you will generally not have more than 5 people in a heroic (remember that the spell can apply to pets). This is also a glyph that I use in all my builds.
Minor Glyphs
[Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth] – This removes the reagent cost of [Rebirth]. Since there are very few minor glyphs, I’d suggest picking this up for any build.
[Glyph of the Wild] – This reduces the mana cost of [Mark of the Wild] and [Gift of the Wild] by 50%. Since there are very few minor glyphs, I’d suggest picking this up for any build.
Builds
5 man (Heroics)
(14/0/57) – This build picks up all of the mana cost reduction talents, talents to improve Nourish and avoids talents that won’t help much in 5 mans (Revitalize). I would suggest using this build until you no longer have issues maintaining your mana for long fights. Use [Glyph of Nourish], [Glyph of Swiftmend] and [Glyph of Innervate].
(18/0/53) – This build is the same as above, but instead trades the mana cost reduction of [Tranquil Spirit] for the haste in [Celestial Focus]. While haste does not mean as much in Heroics, it is still a good option to have. The soft haste cap is 250 with this build, if you have more than that, pick up the first build. Use [Glyph of Nourish], [Glyph of Swiftmend] and [Glyph of Innervate].
(14/0/57) – This build is the same as the first, but instead drops the mana cost reduction talent [Tranquil Spirit], picks up the crit in [Natural Perfection] and grabs the talent to reduce the cooldown on [Tranquility] to 4 minutes while also removing all threat generated from using that ability. When starting 5 man Heroics and you find yourself falling behind on healing the entire party, this is a great emergency spell; it heals for a very large amount and generates no threat when combined with [Improved Tranquility]. Use [Glyph of Nourish], [Glyph of Swiftmend] and [Glyph of Innervate].
10/25 man (Raids)
(18/0/53) – This build goes into Balance to get the 3% haste from [Celestial Focus] and the healing bonus from [Empowered Touch]. This allows you to do solid raid healing combined with better spot healing with Nourish. Use this build if you have under 856 haste and notice that raid members frequently get low enough to be in danger of dying. Use [Glyph of Wild Growth], [Glyph of Swiftmend] and [Glyph of Innervate]. If you have enough mana regeneration to finish the fight without using Innervate, use [Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation] in its place.
(18/0/53) – This is old 25 man raiding build. It has a haste soft cap of 736, has maximum mana cost reduction for any spells I use and is not made for direct heals. To maximize this build, you want to keep Rejuvenation up on everyone that could take damage shortly, use Wild Growth on raid members that are taking damage in a close proximity and emergency heal with Swiftmend. Use [Glyph of Wild Growth], [Glyph of Swiftmend] and [Glyph of Innervate]. If you are not hurting for mana, swap out the [Glyph of Innervate] with [Glyph of Rebirth] or [Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation].
(14/0/57) – This is close to my normal raid healing build. It drops the 3% haste from [Celestial Focus] and should only be used if at or close to 856 haste. Extra talents are [Empowered Touch] for emergency heals and [Improved Barkskin] for improved survivability during hard modes.
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Stats to look for
This is easily the most common question that is asked. A quick look through the Restoration builds above should quickly hint towards what you should gear for. The two that stand out the most are [Living Spirit] and [Improved Tree of Life].
Spirit
Spirit is a very good stat for Restoration Druids due to good synergy in our talent trees. [Living Spirit] gives a straight 15% spirit increase, which, by itself, increases mana regeneration through spirit by 15%. [Improved Tree of Life] then takes the new total of your spirit (115% spirit from gear and buffs) and gives you 15% of that total as spell power. This makes us different from other classes as we now get more regen than others and we get spell power from it. I wouldn’t suggest putting all enchants and gems as spirit, but I would suggest favoring it over any other stat.
Spell Power
Spell power does exactly what it sounds like, it adds more power to spells. With more spell power, heals will heal more for the same mana cost.
Intellect
Intellect has two functions, it increases your mana pool by 15 mana per 1 intellect. It also slightly improves how much mana regeneration you get from spirit. For raids, do not forget that you also get [Replenishment], so the more mana you have, the more mana you regenerate through that buff. Please note that Replenishment was slightly nerfed in patch 3.2 from 1.25% mana every 5 seconds to 1% mana every 5 seconds.
Haste
Haste lowers the casting speed of spells and decreases the GCD (Global Cooldown). Since Rejuvenation is our main spell in raid healing and it uses the GCD, it is imperative that we get the GCD to its minimum speed of 1 second. [Gift of the Earthmother] gives a flat 10% haste to all spells. With no other talents and including normal raid buffs ([Wrath of Air Totem] and [Improved Moonkin Aura] or [Swift Retribution Aura]), we need 856 haste to bring it down to 1 second. With the GoTM changes introduced in Patch 3.3, haste is substantially more important than it was previously. The old haste caps were in the 300′s while the new cap is up around 856. If you are just starting to raid, you won’t be able to come near this cap without sacrificing other stats; so don’t worry about it until you are raiding in ToGC or Icecrown. At the start of Patch 3.3, I entered Icecrown with 541 haste.
Mp5
Mana per 5 (Mp5) is how much mana you gain every 5 seconds. Since we get an increased effect from spirit and get spell power from spirit, I wouldn’t suggest going out of your way to directly stack this stat. While I do have gear that has Mp5, I would (in most cases) trade it for pure spirit.
Critical Strike
Critical Strike (shortened “crit”) is a poor stat to have on gear. While it is almost impossible to completely avoid crit, I give the same advice as with Mp5; don’t go out of your way to get it. The [Tier 9 4 piece bonus] increases the need for crit very slightly, but, as stated before, don’t go out of your way to get it.
Spirit vs Spell Power
There is a balance you want to keep with spell power and spirit. You want enough mana regeneration to last the entire fight or you are useless to the raid (no mana = no healing). You do not want to rely on your Innervate to keep mana; if someone else needs it, you or the person who needs the Innervate are going to run out of mana. Once you get enough spirit to last through fights, start working on getting spell power up. In example, I’m pushing 1850 spirit with only 2500 spell power (raid buffed). I have enough mana regeneration that I can keep up Rejuvenation on as many players as possible, use Innervate on another healer, use Rebirth when needed and still have enough room in case something goes wrong. If I didn’t have the regeneration I do, I’d be out of mana and the raid would die. You need to apply that same logic to the fights you do. If you only do heroics, you don’t need a lot of mana regneration and can focus more on spell power. You could have different sets for different fights. For example, I don’t need 888 Mp5 to do Kologarn or Hodir. I would love to have a pretty chart or equation where you can plug in what fight you are doing and have it give you exactly what stats are best, but I can’t. There are so many things to consider, it makes it impossible. Current fight, group makeup, spells you cast, incoming damage, other healers and spells the other healers use will all modify what stats are better. I hope that clears up how to decide how much mana regeneration and spell power you need; it is custom to each individual fight.
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Gems and Enchants
Gems
Gem balance for Druids can vary substantially. When I first started raiding, spirit was the most important stat as I needed the mana regeneration to finish the fight. In ToGC, I switched all my red sockets to spell power gems and all my blue sockets to spell power/spirit gems. Even with that large change, I still have too much mana regeneration for most fights. You will need to balance your gems depending on your gear, your playstyle, the content, other healers and other variables. When you start raiding, I’d suggest you put pure spirit in blue sockets, spell power/spirit or pure spell power in red sockets and pure spirit in blue sockets. As you get better gear, the more “passive” regeneration gained directly from the quality of your gear increases, lessening the need for spirit in sockets.
If the socket bonus is not needed (crit, low Mp5, etc), feel free to not follow the socket colors. If the bonus is spirit or spell power, I’d suggest gemming to follow the socket colors unless they are all yellow. For example, I use two spell power/spirit gems in [Boots of the Harsh Winter]; the socket bonus isn’t worth the stat loss from the gems.
Meta Socket
[Insightful Earthsiege Diamond] – Gives 21 intellect and chance to restore mana on spellcast. It restores 600 mana and is worth about 75 Mp5 by itself.
[Ember Skyflare Diamond] – Gives 2% intellect and 25 spell power. I would only suggest this meta gem if you are not hurting for mana to get more intellect and spell power compared to the Insightful Earthsiege Diamond. Remember that you need 1050 intellect to match the 21 intellect given by the other meta gem.
Do not forget that meta gems have a colored gem requirement. Make sure that it is active at all times. Use combination colored gems listed below if needed.
Red Socket
[Runed Cardinal Ruby] / [Runed Scarlet Ruby]
[Purified Dreadstone] / [Purified Twilight Opal]
Blue Socket
[Sparkling Majestic Zircon] / [Sparkling Sky Sapphire]
[Purified Dreadstone] / [Purified Twilight Opal]
Yellow Socket
[Seer's Eye of Zul] / [Seer's Forest Emerald]
Enchants
Head
[Arcanum of Blissful Mending] – 30 spell power and 10 Mp5. This requires you to be revered with [The Wyrmrest Accord].
Shoulder
[Master's Inscription of the Crag] – 70 spell power and 6 Mp5. This is the scribe only shoulder enchant.
[Greater Inscription of the Crag] – 24 spell power and 8 Mp5. This requies you to be exalted with [The Sons of Hodir].
Back
[Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed] – 23 haste to cloak.
[Enchant Cloak - Wisdom] – 10 spirit and threat reduction. I would only suggest this if you are above the haste cap. Material cost is much higher than Great Speed.
[Darkglow Embroidery] – Chance on cast to restore 400 mana. This is a tailor only enchant.
[Lightweave Embroidery] – Chance on cast to increase spell power by 295 for 15 seconds. This is a tailor only enchant.
Chest
[Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats] – +10 to all stats.
[Enchant Chest - Super Stats] – +8 to all stats.
Wrist
[Fur Lining - Spell Power] – 76 spell power. This is the leatherworking only wrist enchant.
[Enchant Bracers - Greater Spellpower] – 23 spell power. Highly suggested over the Major Spirit enchant below.
[Enchant Bracers - Major Spirit] – 18 spirit.
Hand
[Enchant Gloves - Exceptional Spellpower] – 28 spell power.
Belt
[Eternal Belt Buckle] – Adds an extra socket. Either put a red or blue gem in it.
Legs
[Brilliant Spellthread] – 50 spell power and 20 spirit.
[Shining Spellthread] – 35 spell power and 12 spirit.
Feet
[Enchant Boots - Greater Spirit] – 18 spirit.
Weapon
[Enchant Staff - Greater Spellpower] – 81 spell power to a staff (2h).
[Enchant Staff - Spellpower] – 69 spell power to a staff (2h).
[Enchant Weapon - Mighty Spellpower] – 63 spell power to a main hand (1h) weapon.
[Enchant Weapon - Exceptional Spellpower] – 50 spell power to a main hand (1h) weapon.
Finger
[Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower] – 23 spell power per ring. This is an enchanter only enchant.
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Gear and Idols
I won’t cover all possible gear combinations here as that would require far too much time and it would change often. Instead, I will cover the tier sets and idols as those are much easier to discuss.
Tier sets
Tier 10
[2 piece bonus] – The healing granted by your Wild Growth spell reduces x% less over time.
[4 piece bonus] – Each time your Rejuvenation spell heals a target, it has a 2% chance to jump to a new target at full duration.
Tier 9
[2 piece bonus] -Increases the critical strike chance of Nourish by 5%.
[4 piece bonus] – Rejuvenation has a chance to critically heal when it ticks.
Compared to the Tier 8 set below, the set bonus is actually a slight upgrade in certain situations. See the Tier 8 note.
Tier 8
[2 piece bonus] – Increases the healing done of Swiftmend by 10%.
[4 piece bonus] – Rejuvenation instantly heals the target when applied.
The tier 8 bonus is a large upgrade over tier 7 and a slight downgrade from tier 9 in certain situations. It allows your Rejuvenation to heal right as you apply it to a target, basically a mini instant cast direct heal. It does not benefit from talents such as [Genesis]. With 2034 spell power the initial heal is 627; with 2418 spell power the initial heal is 787. In patch 3.22, they reduced the healing done by the initial heal by 50%, I’ve updated the numbers to reflect that change. Even with the reduced healing, I’d suggest getting the T9 4 piece bonus before swapping out your T8.
Tier 7
[2 piece bonus] – The cost of Lifebloom is reduced by 5%.
[4 piece bonus] – For each HOT you have on the target, Nourish’s healing is increased by 5%.
For raid healing, tier 7 is lacking. Although, I will admit that with the 4 piece bonus combined with [Glyph of Nourish] can cause some massive Nourish heals. I clearly remember Nourish hitting for 16k+ when I had my tier 7 set and was testing the new Nourish glyph. I would almost be tempted to keep a tier 7 set just for heroics, but I don’t have any issues; no reason to go out of my way to get it.
Idols
[Idol of Awakening] – Reduces the mana cost of Rejuvenation by 106. Please note that it does not reduce it 106 directly and can be lowered slightly by other talents. Without this idol in my normal raiding build, Rejuvenation costs 416 mana. With it equipped, it lowers the cost to 341 mana; a difference of 75 mana. Quick math shows that if you have a GCD of 1 second, it is worth 75 Mp5 and with a GCD of 1.2 seconds, it is worth 62.5 Mp5. You can obtain this idol easily through the badge vendor for 25x [Emblem of Valor].
[Idol of Flaring Growth] – Chance to gain 234 spell power when Rejuvenation ticks. When active, Rejuvenation will tick for 67 more healing. Please note that it is 234 spell power for any healing spell, not just Rejuvenation. It will also only apply to spells that are cast before the buff wears off, not before or after. That means you want to cast as many times as possible when this idol is active. You can purchase this idol for 25x [Emplem of Triumph]. I’d suggest using this idol instead of Idol of Awakening if you are not having mana issues.
[Idol of the Flourishing Life] – Increases the spell power of Nourish by 187. This increases the healing of Nourish by 182 with a single HOT up, no tier 7 bonus or the Glyph of Nourish bonus. You can purchase this idol for 19x [Emblem of Conquest]. I would suggest using this idol in combination with a Nourish build and glyph.
[Idol of Lush Moss] – Increases the spell power of the periodic (tick) of Lifebloom. This increases the healing of the Lifebloom tick by 18. You can purchase this idol for 15x [Emblem of Heroism].
[Deadly Gladiator's Idol of Tenacity] – Increases the spell power of bloom in Lifebloom by 246. This increases the healing of the bloom by 231.
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Addons
I want to open this section with this comment. I, nor anyone else, can tell you what you should have for addons, only give suggestions and show what options are available. While I prefer to use Grid combined with Clique, that may not work for everyone and I don’t expect it to. I will show all the healing addons that I am aware of; please send me a message if you find a new one that you would like to see listed. This section is to help you find what addons are available and to assist you in finding the way you will ultimately heal. I’ll also list out other addons that are useful for raiding in general.
Unit frames/healing addons
Blizzard raid frames
While some healers may visibly shudder when you mention using the stock Blizzard raid frames to heal, they work extremely well if your system is having performance issues while raiding. If you open the Social window (press ‘o’) and go to the raid tab, you can drag out groups or individuals. Don’t forget that you can use these raid frames in combination with other healing addons to watch specific people. Addons, such as, Clique, would work extremely well with the stock raid frames. Another option would be a “mouse-over macro”.
Healbot
Healbot is a good healing addon. It works similar to Clique, you can configure mouse click bindings (left click, right click, alt + left click, etc) to heal players. Healbot doesn’t have as much configuration as Grid, which can be good or bad depending on what you are looking for. If you want an addon you can just click “install” and have it work with minimal configuration, Healbot will do just that. I acutally used this when leveling up and used it through Naxx before switching to Grid and Clique. It isn’t that Healbot is worse, I just like the other addon better.
Vuhdo
This is an addon that I have not tried yet, I will add more when I get it up and running.
Grid
A little warning first, if you are not prepared to research how to configure Grid or do a lot of tinkering, do not install this addon. By default, it is very bland and hard to read, but, with proper configuration, Grid can basically look any way you want. It has many “snap-ins” that change how it displays information. By itself, Grid is merely a raid frame that can show health, buffs and debuffs. Combine it with Clique and you have a highly configurable Healbot.
As you can see by this screenshot, you can pack a lot of information in a very small amount of space. You can see that I have full health (colored bars are a health bar and class indicator) and about 92% mana. The colored boxes in the upper left corner are my HoTs and the timer in the center is Lifebloom. The green box is Regrowth, the pink is Rejuvenation and the light blue is Wild Growth. The boxes turn red one second before the HOT falls off, so I know when to refresh; of course you can set that number higher if you want. Lifebloom has three colors, red for one stack, yellow for two stack and green for three stacks. Here is Grid setup for raids, click to see the full image. The health bars are also colored according to their class; orange is Druid, white is Priest, etc.
If you would like to use the same setup that I have, download the following file, extract both files and place them in the path specified:
http://thideras.com/downloads/Grid.zip
C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\WTF\Account\<ACCOUNT NAME>\SavedVariables
Clique
Clique can work with any type of raid frame and works similar to Healbot; you can assign mouse buttons to certain heals. For example, my left click is Rejuvenation, right click is Swiftmend, middle click is Regrowth and my back button is Wild Growth. You can do whatever combination of buttons (alt, ctrl, shift) and use whatever spells you want. This addon is very flexible and easily configured. Click the image to get a full view.
XPerl
XPerl is a complete unit frame addon. It will replace the stock Blizzard character, target, party and raid unit frame. You can use this as a direct replacement to dragging out raid windows (stock UI) and you can also combine this with Clique. That would give you a Healbot-like combination of addons.
Convenience addons
SmartRes
SmartRes, when everyone in the raid that can res uses it, removes the confusion and inefficiency of recovering after a fight. For example, if Sckep starts ressing Prithivi, I see a green bar on my screen that displays how much time left on his res and who he is ressing. If I start to res Prithivi, I get a red bar which indicates that someone is already ressing that person and should cancel my cast and move onto someone else. SmartRes can also announce to the raid who you are ressing. Click to see the full image.
DruidAnnounces
DruidAnnounces announces in raid if you cast Rebirth and whispers who you cast Innervate on. What is nice is that you don’t have to write macros or use special buttons for this addon to work, just use Innervate and Rebirth normally. You should not need to configure this addon.
oRA2
By their definition, oRA2 is a “lightweight replacement of CT_RaidAssist”. What does it do though? It allows raid leaders to make checks on the raid to make it runs smoother. For a full list of everything it does, see WowAce here.
RatingBuster
RatingBuster has been around for quite some time, long before the new built-in gear comparison was added. It allows you to see what stats you will get if you equip the item. It takes into account gems, talents (Improved Tree of Life, Living Spirit, etc) and does not include enchants. This allows you to quickly assess new gear to see if it is an upgrade.
CooldownCount
This is a simple addon, it just adds a timer to any abilities that are currently on cooldown. It makes it much easier to figure out how much time before you can cast Wild Growth instead of waiting for the “sweep” of the stock UI to come around.
DoTimer
DoTimer is a replacement for the buff and debuff icons in the upper right corner of the screen. It uses easy-to-read bars that show the duration left of the spell (the bar itself is the timer along with a numerical counter at the end) and the name of the spell. It places permanent buffs on top and sorts the rest by the the total duration of the buff and then by duration left of the buff.
Recount
While it pains me to put this addon in the list, I am forced to do so. Why is it so hard to add it to the list? Healers like to compare numbers, doesn’t sound too bad, does it? The only issue is, no one heals like we do and there is almost no fair way to compare us. For example, if you see the healing meters with me and Sckep (Discipline Priest), you’d see that I greatly outheal him, according to Recount. So why don’t we just stack Restoration Druids since we are obviously superior? Sckep heals differently from me and Recount doesn’t completely take that into account. He uses [Power Word: Shield] to prevent damage on players and Recount does not show that. But, there is a good side to Recount when only comparing against yourself. It shows your healing breakdown, what spells you used, how much they healed for, how much they overhealed and much more information. Just keep in mind that healing meters mean very little when comparing between different healing classes.
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Macros
As with the addons section, I would like to show you macros that you can use to help healing or let your raid know when you are using key abilities. Feel free to change, modify and distribute any macros below. The Rebirth macro can be replaced with the addons SmartRes and DruidAnnounces seen above.
Rebirth macro
#showtooltip Rebirth
/ra Casting Rebirth on %t!
/cast Rebirth
Innervate focus macro
#showtooltip Innervate
/cast [target=focus] Innervate
Nature’s Swiftness + Healing Touch macro
#showtooltip Nature’s Swiftness
/cast Nature’s Swiftness
/cast Healing Touch
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Change Log
v1.0.0 – August 27, 2009 to August 31, 2009 – Initial creation
v1.0.1 – September 12, 2009 – Updated “Stats” section for clarity
v1.0.2 – October 2, 2009 – Updated wording for a few sections
v1.0.3 – October 9, 2009 – Updated “Tier” section for T10
v1.0.4 – December 8, 2009 – Updated guide for Patch 3.3
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Some of the information is pulled from the Elitest Jerks website, specifically this thread. All of the content is hand written by me and some of the numbers (such as the healing increase of the idols and haste soft caps) were taken from the thread. I do not hold responsibility for the accuracy of the above information, but I try to keep it as up to date and as accurate as possible; I am not capable of reviewing every last detail. If you find any information that is incorrect, please talk to me in game or send me a message through the website and I will correct it.One Response to “Basic Restoration Guide”
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New: Basic Druid Restoration Guide « Thideras – Raiding as a Tree Druid (Restoration) Says:
August 31st, 2009 at 9:20 am[...] Basic Druid Restoration GuideBasic Restoration GuideAll systems go!Borean Tundra – Mining [...]
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