Utolsó módosítás programmer, ekkor: 2014.06.20.
In this article, we list your Restoration Druid (WoW 4.3) core abilities and how they should
be used together (rotation). We also explain when to use your various
cooldowns. Then, we go deeper and present all the subtleties that playing
a Restoration Druid will face you with.
The other articles of our Restoration Druid guide can be accessed
from the table of contents on the left.
1. Basic Rotation↑top
How you heal as a Restoration Druid depends on several factors, such as
the type of damage (burst damage, sustained damage etc.) that your raid is
taking, the target(s) you are assigned to heal and who the other healers in
your raid are. Additionally, of course, the intensity of the damage will also
further narrow down your spell selection choice.
It is impossible provide a "rotation". You will have to choose when and on
who to use each of your spells, based on their strengths and weaknesses. Once
you familiarise yourself with your spells, you should also read our playstyle section.
1.1. Commonly Used Spells (HoTs)
Rejuvenation should primarily be used:
- to pre-HoT players before a spike of damage is coming;
- to act as a pre-requisite for casting
Swiftmend on players;
- to heal players who have taken damage.
Wild Growth should primarily be used:
- on cooldown, whenever multiple players are in need of healing.
Efflorescence should primarily be used:
- to heal groups of players who are standing together;
- before a burst of damage will hit the raid, to heal players through it,
allowing you to cast other spells.
Lifebloom should be used:
- on the tank, always with 3 stacks;
- You should refresh this before it is about to expire, by casting a direct
heal (
Nourish, 
Regrowth and 
Healing Touch) on the target.
1.2. Less Used Spells (Direct Heals)
- Swiftmend should primarily be used:
- on cooldown;
- on players who are grouped together, to benefit from
Efflorescence.
- Nourish should primarily be used:
- as a filler, during times of low damage;
- to refresh Lifebloom.
- Healing Touch should primarily be used:
- on players who are taking a particularly high amount of damage;
- to refresh Lifebloom.
- Regrowth should primarily be used:
- on players who are about to die before you can get another, longer cast
off, when no instant cast spells are available;
1.3. Additional Action To Perform
In addition to simply using the above spells to react to the damage being
done, you should also keep the uptime on the 
Harmony self-buff as close
as possible to 100%. This requires that you cast a direct heal
( Swiftmend, Healing Touch, Nourish or Regrowth) at
least once every 10 seconds.
2. Cooldown Usage↑top
As a Restoration Druid you have three healing cooldowns. They should be
used as follows:
Tree of Life should be used as many times as possible during the fight.
Use it during periods when a high amount of healing is necessary. During this
time, cast Wild Growth, Efflorescence and put Lifebloom on as
many raid members as possible.
Tranquility should be used whenever a very large amount of raid
healing is needed. You may be assigned to use this at a specific time, as part
of a rotation with other healers.
Nature's Swiftness should be used on cooldown (as long as it does
not overheal). It is best used together with Healing Touch.
Especially in the case of Tree of Life, more subtleties must be explored.
We do this in our detailed cooldowns
section.
3. Optional Read: Mastering Your Restoration Druid↑top
While playing correctly as a Restoration Druid does effectively rely on
using the above spells as we recommend, there is more you need to understand
to maximise your performance.
3.1. Understanding Your Spells
In order to make the best use of your heals, it is important that you
familiarise yourself with their strengths and weaknesses.
Rejuvenation is an instant cast periodic heal which will make up the
highest amount of your healing at the end of most fights. It is not very
costly, and as long as it will not overheal, it is always mana efficient to
use it.
Wild Growth is a spell that heals 5 (6 with Glyph of Wild Growth)
low health raid members over 7 seconds. It is very mana efficient, assuming
it does not overheal.
Efflorescence is a healing zone placed on the ground, under the
target of your Swiftmend spell. It heals the three lowest health targets
it for a very good amount, making it a very strong spell.
Lifebloom is a healing over time spell that can have up to 3 stacks
and can only be on one target at one time.
Swiftmend is an instant cast heal with a 15 second cooldown. It can
only be cast on targets that have a HoT from Rejuvenation or
Regrowth on them.
Nourish is a cheap heal with a relatively long cast time that heals
for a low amount. It heals for an extra 20% on players on whom you have
a HoT active.
Healing Touch is an expensive heal with a long cast time that heals for
a high amount.
Regrowth is an emergency heal. It has a high mana cost and a low cast
time. It heals for a large amount instantly and a smaller amount over 5
seconds. Its total healing is below that if Healing Touch.
3.2. Procs and Mechanics
As a Restoration Druid, you have quite a few things that you must keep track
of and react accordingly to. Other than using the appropriate spell for the
type of damage that is being done, this is really all there is to playing to
your maximum potential.
3.2.1. Mastery: Harmony
Your Mastery, Harmony, has two effects:
- A permanent boost to your direct healing. While this is a welcome buff,
it is not very impressive, since the vast majority of your healing will come
from your HoTs anyway.
- A temporary, 10 second boost to your periodic healing, each time you cast
a direct heal. This part of your Mastery is very strong.
It is important to make sure that the self-buff from your Mastery never
drops off. This means you need to cast at least one direct heal every 10
seconds. Since you should be using Swiftmend practically on cooldown,
the requirement is more relaxed. For the rest of the time, simply using a
direct heal on your Lifebloom target in order to refresh Lifebloom will
ensure 100% uptime on Harmony as well.
3.2.2. Clearcasting Procs
Each time your Lifebloom ticks, you have a 4% chance to get a proc
from 
Omen of Clarity, making your next Healing Touch or
Regrowth, cast within 15 seconds, cost no mana. Which of the two spells
to use it with depends on the situation:
- Healing Touch heals for more, but also has a longer cast time. Use
this when you want to heal the tank and you are not in a very big hurry.
- Regrowth is a faster cast, so you can use this to save low health
raid members. You can also use Regrowth on someone and then follow it up
with Swiftmend (and, thus, Efflorescence), since Swiftmend requires
a HoT, such as the one from Regrowth.
3.3. Detailed Cooldown Usage
In this section, we explain in depth how to use your cooldowns.
3.3.1. Tree of Life
While Tree of Life is active, your healing is increased by 15% and
three of your healing spells are enhanced, as follows:
- Wild Growth now affects an additional 2 targets, making it even
more powerful than the rest of the time. You should use this on cooldown.
- Lifebloom can now be applied on as many players as you want. This
is an absolutely fantastic effect that we will discuss below in depth.
- Regrowth is now instant cast. Since Regrowth is very expensive, this
benefit is mostly useful for casting spells while having to move.
What exactly to do during Tree of Life depends greatly on the situation that
you used Tree of Life for. Generally, the best thing to do is:
- Use Wild Growth on cooldown.
- Place a stack of Lifebloom on as many raid members as you can.
- Place additional stacks of Lifebloom on raid members, if time allows
it.
- Use Omen of Clarity procs (which should be abundant from the many ticks
of Lifebloom) on instant cast Regrowth.
- Keep up your Harmony buff.
The idea is that Wild Growth is very powerful, and should be used on
cooldown. Also, the more players you can place Lifebloom on (which is a very
mana efficient heal), the more procs you will get from Omen of Clarity.
This in turn means you can save a great deal of mana by casting mana-free
spells. Regrowth is the best choice since it is instant cast when in Tree of
Life.
You can also use Tree of Life to maintain a decent amount of healing
while moving, by making use of instant cast Regrowth. Though this
technique is generally not the best use of Tree of Life, it can work
situationally.
Finally, you can use Tree of Life offensively, since it reduces the
cast time of 
Wrath by 50% and increases its damage by 30%. Again, this
is far from the most ideal use of Tree of Life, but, situationally, it can
prove beneficial.
3.3.2. Tranquility
Tranquility is a channeled spell that heals nearby raid members for
a large amount each second, and also places a HoT on them that heals for
an additional amount after the channel is finished. It is an extremely powerful
spell. It is best used during times of very heavy raid damage.
You should use Tranquility when you can channel it for its full
duration (or at least very close to its full duration).
3.3.3. Nature's Swiftness
Nature's Swiftness causes your next spell with a cast time to
be instant cast. This should be used on cooldown, always with
Healing Touch, to the point where you can create the following macro:
- #showtooltip Nature's Swiftness
- /cast Natures's Swiftness
- /cast [@mouseover] Healing Touch
It is best to use this spell as often as possible, and not to save it for
a "real emergency". The reason behind this is that, thanks to
Glyph of Healing Touch, each time you cast Healing Touch, the cooldown
of Nature's Swiftness will be reduced. Overall, this amounts for a hefty
reduction over an entire fight. If, however, you are not keeping Nature's
Swiftness on cooldown, the benefits of this glyph are lost.
3.4. Restoration Druid Playstyle
As a Restoration Druid, you cannot simply "react" to the damage that is
happening in the encounter, since most of your spells are HoTs. While you
can react to bursts of damage with spells such as Swiftmend and
Regrowth, this is not your best asset.
Instead, you should become familiar with the way in which damage occurs in
the encounter you are progressing on, and you should always prepare for it
accordingly. This means that you should be able to do the following things:
Indeed, these are the most important things that you must plan ahead for as
a Restoration Druid. The rest of your gameplay will have to do with keeping up
your Harmony buff, making good use of your Omen of Clarity procs and
using spells such as Swiftmend, Nature's Swiftness and
Regrowth to respond to unexpected damage.
3.5. Mana Management
In addition to the various talents that increase your mana pool and reduce
the cost of your spells, your only tool for mana management is
Innervate. While this spell can be cast on other players (healers,
mostly), its effect is greatly diminished when doing so. As a result, it is
best to use Innervate on yourself.
You want to use it as many times as possible during an encounter. To gain
maximum benefit from it, you should try to use while you have procs or buffs
that increase your maximum mana pool, such as:
3.5.1. 2-Part Tier 13 Set Bonus
The 2-part Tier 13 set
bonus grants you 25% reduced mana cost for all your spells for 15 seconds
after using Innervate. While there is nothing in particular that this
changes about your playstyle, you should be aware of it, and it is also even
more of a motivation to use Innervate as much as possible.
