Druid Guide Part 1: Spells
This is part 1 of my Druid Resto Mega Guide 3.0! Since this guide is written for the beginner and the raider alike, we are starting quite basic! I am starting with spells, you need to know your tools before you go healing!
Types of spells
Lets get to know your druid a bit better. Which healing spells does a druid have and what do they do? The most important spell-types for a druid are Healing over Time (HoT) spells. A druid has 5 types of HoT spells:
- Lifebloom, an instant 7 second healing over time spell with a bloom (direct heal) at the end, if refreshed before the end the duration it will not bloom but stack up to three times multiplying the heal per second by 3. The lifebloom spell was introduced with the introduction of The Burning Crusade and was the number one druid spell. It was mostly used on (multiple) tanks to “cushion” high spikes of healing. When Wrath of the Lich King went live, the HoT part of lifebloom was nerfed slighty to make druids aware of other spells. While lifebloom remains a tank healing spell other spells are needed to keep your targets alive. I have used lifebloom more often on raid healing where the raid takes sustained damage.
In patch 3.1 Blizzard is changed this spell a bit. The mana cost of the spell is doubled, when you let it bloom you get 50% of the base mana back. Also the bloom is multiplied by the number of stacks. This means it becomes more expensive to keep the a lifebloom stack on a tank (same healing, more mana) and it is rewarding to let it bloom to get the mana return. Lifebloom will remain one of the most important spells for a druid, you just can’t keep it stacked on multiple tanks anymore due to the higher mana cost. But single casting it on the raid is rewarding (not refreshing it) it gives you a good and cheap spell! The Bloom can crit, and it does often. - Regrowth, a direct heal with a 21 second healing over time spell (2 second cast, 7 ticks, 1 per 3 seconds). The regrowth spell is a very powerful spell because it instantly heals your target plus it gives you 7 ticks of healing. It is quite mana efficient and used with the Glyph of Regrowth it is even better.
- Rejuvenation, an instant 15 second healing over time spell (5 ticks, 1 per 3 seconds, first tick after 3 seconds), this heal is a raid heal. It is perfect to spam around on your raid and of course have one up on the tank(s).
- Wild Growth, an instant 7 second healing over time spell healing 5 targets with 15 yards of the target it cast on. So you can cast it on a Boss and heal 5 melee’s chopping away at that boss, it will not heal the boss. Since patch 3.1 we see more and more raid damage so a decent aoe heal is very welcome. You can spam it every 6 seconds. It is a smart heal which means it will heal the players with the lowest health within 15 yards of the target it is cast on.
- Tranquility, an instant 8 second heal for party members (4 ticks), druid needs to channel. This heal is a panic button and is only used in certain situations like saving your party in heroics, but be wary it can generate a huge amount of threat.
Next to these spells a druid has three direct heals:
- Swiftmend, instantly consumes an active regrowth or rejuvenation spell and instantly heals the target instead of over time. This is a save button for any target you have your HoTs on, it heals for a very decent amount. The Glyph of Swiftmend is mandatory. A swiftmend can crit for quite a good amount of healing, so be sure to put it in sight!
- Healing Touch, heals the target for a large amount (3 second cast), the biggest heal a druid has. Most druids only use it in conjunction with Nature’s Swiftness to turn it into a big save heal. But it can be turned into a flash type heal with the Glyph of Healing Touch and become a 1 second cast heal;
- Nourish, heals the target and healing is increased by 20% if you have one or more HoT’s on the target (1,5 second cast). Nourish becomes even more powerful with the T7 4 set bonus and/or the Glyph of Nourish (these two stack!), it will buff the bonus of 20% by respectively 5% or 6% per HoT present on the target. In patch 3.2 Nourish will get more +healing from the talent Empowered Touch (+20%), which will make Nourish a more favourable spell then a glyphed Healing Touch because its healing amount will surpass Healing Touch.
A druid has a nice set of healing spells to choose from, healing with a druid means you heal over time mostly and use your direct heals like Regrowth, Nourish, Swiftmend and Healing Touch to counter higher or spikes in damage.
Next time I will talk about Glyphs! But if you want to read on now, you can always try my old Druid guide!
NB: There is no “one” way to heal, and my healing strategies might not align with yours. Thats ok though, otherwise it would become a dull world of warcraft!
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