Druid Heal!

Now we have progressed to a gear level that has enough of our base stats spellpower, spirit and intellect other stats like haste and critical strike chance become more important. I already wrote about Haste, you can read it here, but how does crit work? It is becoming more important, especially now we have the new Tier 9 set bonuses that are all about crit:

- 2 set: + 5% critical strike bonus to Nourish;
- 4 set: Your Rejuvenation ability now has a chance for its healing to be critical strikes.

Critical Strike

Every time you cast a spell you have a chance of getting a bonus on the result. The bonus is 50 – 100% when it is a damage spell (depending on talents) and 50% on a healing spell. The chance to get a critical strike depends on your critical strike chance and of course more critical strike chance means more probability of a critical strike. The formula for calculating your critical strike percentage is:

Critical strike percentage = ((Intellect/166.6667) + 1,85) + (Critical Strike Rating/45,91)

The formula tells us that you get more critical strike by accumulating either Intellect (166,67 intellect = 1% crit) or Critical Strike Rating (45,91 rating = 1%). The easiest way to boost your critical strike chance is getting critical strike rating found on gear. If you are not yet raiding you will get critical strike mostly by accumulating Intellect, critical strike rating is hard to get on pre raid gear. Having said that, critical strike is not important until you become fully raid geared and it starts to make a real difference. It is important to remember that your HoTs can not crit, only direct heals can crit: Healing Touch, Nourish, Regrowth and the Lifebloom bloom.

Next to gear you can boost you critical strike rating by choosing the right talents. The following talents improve your critical strike chance:

1. Nature’s Bounty : 25% extra on Regrowth and Nourish;
2. Natural Perfection: 3% extra on all spells;
3. Nature’s Majesty (Balance tree): 4% extra on Healing Touch and Nourish.

Or summed up by spell:

1. Nourish +29% or + 32%;
2. Regrowth  + 25% or + 28%;
3. Healing Touch +4% or +7%.

An example:

A certain druid has a 1029 intellect and 438 critical strike rating that means he has a critical strike chance of 17,57% on all his spells. The above mentioned spells have a bonus through talents (between brackets with Natural Perfection):

• Nourish : 17,57 + 29 = 46,57% (49,57%);
• Regrowth:17,57 + 25 = 43,57% (46,57%);
• Healing Touch: 17,57 + 4 = 21,57% (24,57%).

As you can see Nourish and Regrowth benefit the most from crit and if you use these spells a lot it is good to pick up a few pieces of gear with critical strike rating.

Tier 9 Set Bonus

Nourish has the potential of getting a bonus to critical strike chance of 34/37% with the 5% of the set bonus, which is a lot! If you use Nourish a lot this is a set bonus for you.

I am not so sure about the 4 set bonus. I assume it will take your normal crit chance into account. The success of this set bonus depends on how much critical strike chance your druid has and how much you actually use Rejuvenation. Since nobody has had the chance to test this set bonus I am sceptical of this bonus. The 4 set bonus of T8 (your Rejuvenation spell also provides an instant heal for your target) is a lot better where you are sure of an extra instant base tick (not benefitting from Genesis, Improved Rejuvenation, or Gift of Nature. It is benefitting from Empowered Rejuvenation, Master Shapeshifter, and Tree of Life).

Next post is all about the Druid guide again, Part 4: attributes.