Druid Heal!

Mostly a druid just goes about his business and knows what to do, untill he realizes that he is actually in a game and it all depends on numbers derived from formula’s. A restoration druid depends on mana regeneration. Today I will talk about spirit, intellect and mana regen. How do these three relate?

What does spirit/intellect/mana regen do?
- Spirit increases your mana regeneration and your health regen, plus gives your +15% of your spirit to healing in Tree of Life form;
- Intellect increases your mana pool, mana regeneration and spell critical hit;
- Mana regeneration is the mana you regenerate in 5 seconds while not casting or while casting.

Now how do these stats relate? Since patch 2.4 mana regeneration depends on spirit, intellect and raw mana per 5 seconds on gear/enchants. Best way to show how mana regen works is the formula theorycrafters have derived:

The mana regeneration formula

Base Mana Regen_{Int, Spi, Level} = S * Base_Regen(Level) * √I * 5 + 0.001

S = Spirit
I = Intellect
The number for Base_Regen(80) is 0,005575, see this page for numbers on lower levels.

NB: This formula calculates the mana regen while not casting.

If I use this formula on Raaff with 990 spirit and 850 intellect the mana regen would be:

990*0,005575*sqrt(850)*5 + 0,001 = 804,57

The formula does not take into account any raw mana per 5 seconds you might have on gear or through enchants, I have to add 41 mana per 5 seconds to come to Raaff’s unbuffed mana regen: 845 mana per 5 seconds. A player only has an influence on is Spirit and Intellect and raw mana per 5 seconds. What happens with your mana regeneration when Spirit and Intellect change?

Raaff gets more spirit!
Lets assume I got a new piece of gear with + 10 spirit and the same amount of intellect, my mana regen would increase by:

(1000*0,005575*sqrt(850)*5+0,001) – 804,57 = 812,69 – 804,57 = 8,13

I did some more numbers and with an increase of spirit and no increase of intellect my mana regen would increase by approximately 1 spirit = 0,81 mana regen.

Raaff gets more intellect!
Now I got a new piece of gear with +10 intellect and the same amount of spirit, my mana regen would increase by:

(990*0,005575*sqrt(860)*5+0,001) – 804,57 = 809,29 – 804,57 = 4,72

With an increase of intellect and no increase of spirit my mana regen would increase by approximately 1 intellect = 0,47 mana regen.

Raaff is lucky and gets more spirit and intellect!
Now I got a new piece of gear with +10 spirit and + 10 intellect, my mana regen would increase by:

(1000*0,005575*sqrt(860)*5+0,001) – 804,57 = 817,47 – 804,57 = 12,89

With an increase of both stats my mana regen would increase by approximately 1 intellect and spirit = 1,29 mana regen. The formula is dependent on both intellect and spirit, so don’t use these numbers as a rule. If your intellect and spirit is different then mine it could give you different numbers! I can post the spreadsheet I used if people want it.

It should be clear to you now that Spirit and Intellect both benefit your mana regeneration. Luckily most gear with a decent amount of Spirit on it has Intellect too. But the formula does not take into account the choices you make between spellpower and mana regeneration. You have to make some choices!

Mana regeneration while casting

As said before, 1 mana per 5 seconds on gear or enchants remains 1 mana per 5 seconds while casting. But how does the mana regeneration from Spirit and Intellect behave? When you cast a spell your mana regeneration is penalized to 0 for 5 seconds. This is also known as the Five Second Rule or FSR. It is important to know that the talent Intensity has an influence on your mana regen while casting from these stats, as the talent states: allows 30% of your mana regeneration to continue while casting. Lets get on with some formula’s:

Casting Mana Regen_{Int, Spi, Level} = (S * Base_Regen(Level) * √I * 5 + 0.001) * Intensity + MP5

If I use this formula on Raaff :

Casting Mana Regen_{Int, Spi, Level} = (990* 0,005575 * √850 * 5 + 0.001) * 0,3 + 41 = 282

So effectively your regen is calculated on the basis of the talent Intensity which everybody (have you?) has maxed out on 30%. If you would have no mana per 5 seconds (raw) and no intensity you would have no mana regen while casting.

Credits and Links

A link of interest is the mana regen calculator!

Want to know more about this? The math comes from Phaelia from Resto4life, Wowwiki and the people contributing to elitistjerks!

What do we have for dinner this evening? A Great Feast or a Tender Shoveltusk Steak? Or do you rather have a Fish Feast? And what would you like to drink? A Flask of the Frost Wyrm or a Flask of Pure Mojo? Some Runic Mana Potion or go all out on Crazy Alchemist’s Potion. Or do you rather have some Spellpower Elixir with a touch of Elixir of Spirit or Elixir of Mighty Mageblood?

What's for dinner?

If you can’t make up your mind here’s the menu:

Menu

Food

Served for 10 or 25 players:
Fish Feast – 46 spellpower and 40 stamina;
Great Feast – 35 spellpower and 30 stamina.

Served for one player:
Tender Shoveltusk Steak – 46 spellpower and 40 stamina;
Firecracker Salmon – 46 spellpower and 40 stamina;
Cuttlesteak – 40 spirit and 40 stamina;
Mighty Rhino Dogs – 16 mana per 5 seconds and 40 stamina;
Spicy Fried Herring – 16 mana per 5 seconds and 40 stamina.

As a druid we all know what we need most: spellpower and spirit. Most druids will use Fish Feast or Tender Shoveltusk Steak. But at some point (and surely with the current raid content) you will have enough spellpower (± 1700 should be enough) to get your task in a raid done. Then other food that buffs your mana regeneration could be a nice choice. If you take the Cuttlesteak you do not only get spirit but also spellpower (15% of spirit, 6), you could also go for raw mana per 5 secons and take some Mighty Rhino Dogs or Spicy Fried Herring. As your chef I would recommend the food that buffs you with 46 spellpower and 40 stamina untill you feel you lack mana regen (which should not happen!).

Drinks

Flasks
Flask of the Frost Wyrm – 125 spellpower;
Flask of Pure Mojo – 38 mana per 5 seconds.

Elixirs
Spellpower Elixir – 58 spellpower (battle elixir);
Elixir of Spirit – 50 spirit (guardian elixir, ± 41 mp5s and 6 spellpower);
Elixir of Draenic Wisdom – 30 spirit and 30 intellect (guardian elixir, comparable to Elixir of Spirit with ± 39 mp5s, 450 manapoints and 4 spellpower);
Elixir of Mighty Thoughts – 45 intellect (guardian elixir);
Elixir of Mighty Mageblood – 24 mana per 5 seconds (guardian elixir).

If you are raiding I would go for the Flask of the Frost Wyrm or Spellpower Elixir with Elixir of Spirit/Elixir of Draenic Wisdom. But mostly players choose the flask because it persist throught death and will cost you less gold if you have to run in frequently. Plus, the flask is 125 spellpower that is a lot and beats the extra regen from the Elixir of Spirit. (If you like to do the math and prove me wrong, drop me an email!).

Potions
Runic Mana Potion – 4200 to 4400 mana;
Runic Healing Potion – 2700 to 4500 health;
Crazy Alchemist’s Potion – 3100 to 3500 health and 4200 to 4400 mana, only available for alchemists.

You can only use 1 potion per combat.

If you are an alchemist, your flasks last for 4 hours, elixirs for 120 minutes and your flask, elixir and potions have an extra effect through Mixology.

Have a nice dinner!

My fellow druids, I got a lot to write still in my guide. It must be rewritten and rewritten and rewritten to approach perfection in a way only a druid can. Thing is I haven’t asked you what you would like to see in the guide. I will sum up some stuff I think still needs to be added in the guide, but I need your help too!

You there, tell me!

Thanks in advance,

Raaff

My list:

- macro’s
- addon’s
- more in depth explanation of stats
- more about talents

Your list:
- consumables
- how does spirit/int and mp5 relate?
- haste cap with or w/o talents
- I need more suggestions from you!

Alas my fellow druids, you will need your cat ability to become nearly invisble. But the cloaks ingame are quite usefull in your endeavours to become the best geared druid on the server.

Some cloaks for pre-raid:
Subterranean Waterfall Shroud – Highest spirit on a blue!
Shroud of Moorabi – More intellect and spellpower then the cloak above.
Reanimator’s Cloak – This cloak will bring you the most spellpower, if you put a nice Runed Scarlet Ruby in.

Some cloaks from raids:
Dark Shroud of the Scourge – apart from the hit rating, its a good cloak (Noth the Plaguebringer in Naxxramas normal).
Shawl of the Old Maid (drops from multiple bosses in Naxxramas heroic) or Disguise of the Kumiho (can be bought for 25 Emblem of Valor) depends if you want crit or haste!
Cape of the Unworthy Wizard – Best cloak in game at the moment, you’ll have to spank Kel’Thuzad in heroic mode though.

For trinkets there are some interesting choices to make. Here’s a list:

The Egg of Mortal Essence or Embrace of the Spider – a very good trinket with lots of spellpower and the haste procs quite often (obtainable respectively for 25 emblems of heroism or Maexxna in Naxxramas normal).
Illustration of the Dragon Soul – 260 spellpowerrrrrrrrrrr! Sartharion Heroic.
Forethought Talisman – lots of spellpower and a nice helper with hotties. It drops from multiple bosses in Naxxramas heroic.
Majestic Dragon Figurine – this will give you 180 extra spirit in 10 casts. Which means about 27 spellpower and a lot of mana per 5 seconds (how much depends on your stats). It is a powerful trinket, but you could miss some spellpower. Drops from Sartharion in normal mode.
Je’Tze’s Bell – This is one awesome trinket, but its a world drop and bind on pick up. So if you get it you are a lucky druid!

For the alchemists around:
Mercurial Alchemist Stone or Redeemer’s Alchemist Stone -  it will buff your mana potions nicely and they have nice spellpower. Use only when you have mana problems.

I won’t tell you which trinket to use, it depends on the task at hand. If you can’t keep up your healing targets get more spellpower, run out of mana get the spirit or mana per 5 secs trinkets.