2.4 Mana Regen: Regrowth as the New Raid Heal?
March 9, 2008Categories: Analysis, Artwork, Lunar Guidance, PvE, Spells and Talents
The 2.4 Mana Regen Series
- 2.4 Mana Regen: The Basics
- 2.4 Mana Regen: The Mana Regen Calculator
- 2.4 Mana Regen: Regrowth as the New Raid Heal?
- 2.4 Mana Regen: Valuing +Healing
- 2.4 Mana Regen: Paladin Blessings
I know that it may sound like blasphemy against Elune to suggest that Regrowth — or really any spell — might be a preferred choice over that holiest of holies (most restorative of restorations?), Lifebloom, in any capacity, but please bear with me.
What are the key components of a spell suitable for raid healing?
- Must be quick enough to cast that we can heal more than one person in between refreshing Lifebloom.
- It must not disrupt or prevent our role of rolling stack(s) of Lifebloom on the tank(s).
- Ideally, should guard against being "overwritten" by heals such as Chain Heal, Flash of Light, or Prayer of Mending.
With the above characteristics in mind, I am going to perform an analysis of 7 seconds of Lifebloom (including its bloom since this is raid healing, not tank healing) vs. the direct heal of Regrowth. The +Healing coefficient values I will use are derived here and summarized below:
| Spell, Component | +Healing Coefficient |
| Lifebloom, HoT |
0.6858 |
| Lifebloom, Direct |
0.4533 |
| Regrowth, HoT | 0.9227 |
| Regrowth, Direct | 0.5941 |
For the coefficients listed above I’m assuming the following:
- Empowered Rejuvenation (affects all four pieces unequally)
- Gift of Nature
- Improved Regrowth (+50% additional crit rate for the direct heal of Regrowth)
- 10% base spell crit (affecting the direct heal of Regrowth) for a total of 60% crit
Applying the coefficients listed above, we can determine the values for amount healed at increasing levels of +Healing:
| Spell, Component | 1000 | 1250 | 1500 | 1750 | 2000 |
| Lifebloom, Direct |
1113.3 |
1226.6 |
1340.0 |
1453.3 |
1566.6 |
| Lifebloom, HoT |
985.8 |
1157.3 |
1328.7 |
1500.2 |
1671.6 |
| Lifebloom, Direct + Tick |
2099.1 |
2383.9 |
2668.7 |
2953.4 |
3238.2 |
| Regrowth, Direct |
2486.7 |
2635.2 |
2783.8 |
2932.3 |
3080.8 |
Notice that the initial healing from Regrowth essentially does the same amount of healing as a full Lifebloom and in two seconds instead of seven. But which is better? Obviously, Regrowth costs more mana than does Lifebloom with HPM values summarized below:
| 1000 | 1250 | 1500 | 1750 | 2000 | |
| Regrowth, Direct; Caster, 676 |
3.679 |
3.898 |
4.118 |
4.338 |
4.557 |
| Regrowth, Direct; Tree of Life, 540 |
4.605 |
4.880 |
5.155 |
5.430 |
5.705 |
| Regrowth, Direct; Caster + Idol, 611 |
4.070 |
4.313 |
4.556 |
4.799 |
5.042 |
| Regrowth, Direct; Tree of Life + Idol, 488 |
5.096 |
5.400 |
5.704 |
6.009 |
6.313 |
| Lifebloom, Caster, 220 |
9.541 |
10.836 |
12.130 |
13.425 |
14.719 |
| Lifebloom, Tree of Life, 176 |
11.927 |
13.545 |
15.163 |
16.781 |
18.399 |
Mana costs aside, Regrowth is superior to Lifebloom as a raid heal because it does in two seconds what it takes Lifebloom seven. This is nothing new and has been true since the release of TBC. The problem, however, has been that the mana cost was too high. With the release of Patch 2.4, the mana costs for Regrowth will be reduced by 20%. Additionally, the changes to Intellect affecting Spirit-based mana regeneration will result in a significant increase to the amount of regeneration you can expect within the 5SR (which was also boosted with the changes to Intensity in Patch 2.3).
Many players complained that they would be unable to compensate for the HPS nerf to Lifebloom’s HoT because they are already having difficulty finding use for near bottomless mana pools. But imagine if you had another version of Lifebloom, meeting the following characteristics:
- Elapses for its full value in two seconds but takes 0.5 seconds longer to cast
- When it elapses, grants its recipient a 21- to 27-second heal over time for 2197 to 3119 points of damage
- Allows the use of a Swiftmend any time within 21-27 seconds (but with no greater frequency than once every 15 seconds)
- Costs around 300 extra mana
If you have the extra mana to spare, then you would have to use this "new" Lifebloom. And with the new mana regeneration, it looks like we’re all going to have a lot of extra mana.
Traditionally, the weakness of Druid raid healing has been a lack of fast-casting, affordable spells such as Flash Heal or set-it-and-forget-it type spells like Prayer of Mending or Chain Heal. Regrowth is both: it’s fast-casting and set-it-and-forget it. But until now, it hasn’t been affordable. We’ve all been in the situation where we’re frantically spamming Lifebloom 2-3 times in between refreshing stacks on the tank only to see a drunken Priest with the reaction time of an inebriated sloth cast a Flash Heal and ruin all that hard work a second later. The changes to Regrowth and mana regeneration may be just the boost we need to put Tharfor’s foot-in-mouth assertion to rest:
Resto Druids are still very strong at what they do. I notice when I’m raiding with mine that I don’t do very well on the healing meters, but that’s just because of the way that Druid healing works.
 |
| Regrowth by Dalmuln |
Regrowth is still on the expensive side, and I seriously doubt it will completely replace Lifebloom for single-stack healing in all situations. Try to think of Regrowth as a Priest’s Flash Heal or Paladin’s Flash of Light, since its direct portion alone has a higher +Healing coefficient (adjusting for the 0.5 sec longer cast time, the coefficients are roughly equal). We pay a lot of extra mana for this capability, but it brings with it a 21- to 27-second HoT, the bread-and-butter of the Druid class. And maybe much of this heal over time will go to overhealing, but I’ve never heard a raid member complain about having a HoT on them! My sense is that we, as a Druid community, undervalue this component. Certainly, a raid frames display that indicates those raid members who currently have Regrowth on them (ex. Grid) will be a valuable tool, since we’ll have even greater use for Swiftmend.
We’re getting a lot of "free" mana with Patch 2.4. And like any good (Female) Druid, I’m immediately trying to think, "How am I going to spend this?" A few pairs of Regrowth (size 7.5) are looking awfully good to me!
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Those little guys are pretty awesome. I haven’t had any Crocolisks turn up in my bags yet, though I did have quite a lucky fishing streak recently, catching not one, but two Mr. Pinchies. So I’m still hoping for a Magical Crawdad. Unfortunately, so far, I’ve only gotten two Furious Mr. Pinchies (”No, Mr. Pinchy, don’t do it! AHHH!! MY EYE!!!!”) and two potion gift packs. I still have two more tries though, so everyone think...
Might have to keep a Mage around for an emergency Cone of Cold! 
March 10th, 2008 at 12:00 am
I just have to say.. you rock. Hard. Thank you for all of this work that you do for us! Even when I only understand 1/8 of it, it’s immensely helpful and the other 7/8 usually comes clear to me once I get on and mess around with it all.
March 10th, 2008 at 1:52 am
I’m at about 3-5/8ths, but I second Calay.
March 10th, 2008 at 3:37 am
I’m a happy tree. About half of my raid healing is made by regrowth.
When there’s a lot of job to do and you’re mentally organizing who and how you’ll be healing for the next 3 GCDs, lifebloom can be the safe choice, but just like we’ve discussed in other posts, the direct portion of regrowth can act as a deterrent for other healers. Even if they’re fast and smart enough to look for HoTs and make decisions based on this, it’s easier to notice a big chunk of health just came back to a raid member than “oh, wait, there’s some green leaf on his portrait!” (and if they’re “mouseover” healers it’s even more important!).
It’s not about just avoiding overhealing: 99% of all wipes happen due to dead tanks, too many dead DPSers, or too many dead healers, not oom healers. It’s about making sure as many raid members as possible are taken care of in the shortest time. If they’re all at full health or with fancy HoTs that will keep them alive, mission accomplished. If someone’s not getting any of that because healers are busy fighting over the same target, that’s bad. This is, for me, the best reason to use regrowth, even though as a math-based druid I still die a bit inside when I think about efficiency (but always keep in mind this: if you have enough mana to do it, there’s no such thing as “mana-inefficient”). -20% cost will make me feel better.
Basic style remains the same, as many HoTs as possible on tanks (even when I’m not directly assigned to them), and lifebloom to keep everyone up (people at 95% health generally don’t get direct heals, but what’s 176 mana these days?), and there are all these situations where targets are not in immediate danger and you have to save as much mana as possible (I was trying Vashj the other day for the first time and having to do some DPS during phase 2 wasn’t exactly part of my “basic style”; same would happen with Leotheras but for some reason he hasn’t been able to find my inner daemons yet), or you just have to heal while moving (Gruul, Lurker.., or even Hydross). That’s still a lot of lifeblooms.
However it will make regrowth a lot more interesting, and will certainly save me a lot of raising eyebrows at me whenever I say “regrowth”
March 10th, 2008 at 4:15 am
I forgot something.. Thank you so much.. You saved me A LOT of math
Like always, great analysis, great explanations.. and funny pics on top of that 
March 10th, 2008 at 6:11 am
like always, great analysis!
Im sure that all my druids will read this article!
March 10th, 2008 at 8:04 am
This news just keeps getting better and better. /happytree
March 10th, 2008 at 8:28 am
While the change is welcome, and I’m sure I will feel more comfortable using regrowth for raid heals, I still question regrowth’s viability as a anything more than an occassional in-the-mix spell. Any chance of a comparison between regrowth vs. other class’s bread and butter raid healing spells? My initial impression would be if you’re doing enough raid healing via regrowth, then your raid probably would be better off with a pally?
March 10th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Kalaghan, I still think paladins and shaman are better at that.
However you can have a druid stacking HoTs on tanks while doing some raid healing. My guild usually has at least a holy paladin, shaman, priest and easily 3 resto druids in every raid. It is true that among our best-geared healers there are a lot of druids so often it comes to what healers we have available, but there are no performance problems. And even when raid-healing is needed, every druid has LB on at least one tank.
There are probably more balanced setups, but I don’t have any complaints about resto druids viability so far (SSC/TK level). I don’t see any problem in bringing several of them to raids, and they can certainly do more than 4xLB with ocasional /yawn every 7 seconds.
March 10th, 2008 at 9:28 am
As a tree who already uses Regrowth quite a fair bit already (like you said, we have too much mana!), this analysis was very encouraging!
March 10th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Hmm..I would like to see the math on a “crit” build of 27/0/34 where every Regrowth crit makes the next one .5 sec faster matching other classes fastest heals. You should be a raid healing machine making even the Paladins a bit envious.
March 10th, 2008 at 10:13 am
This is an obvious attempt to pacify the druids that are upset over the nerf of Lifebloom.
The truth is, mana has rarely, if ever, been a problem for a resto druid. If it is, you are not potting or using the proper trinkets.
What Blizzard is doing here is taking away +heal and adding +mana to us. This is still a nerf especially when the introduction of 2.4 regen comes into play.
What really irritates me is that this is being done exclusively for PvP and not PvE at all. If Blizzard really wanted to appease the uproar of the resto druids they would add 20% healing to regrowth instead of reducing the mana cost by 20%.
March 10th, 2008 at 10:52 am
@Ermengol: “If you have enough mana to do it, there’s no such thing as ‘mana-inefficient’” = win; I’m glad I could save you some time and effort. =)
@Kalaghan: It’s certainly possible to compare RG to spells like Flash of Light and Flash Heal, but I think that generally the trend will be that Regrowth pays for its additional HoT with more mana. In turn, it gets a slightly higher coefficient on its direct heal because it takes 0.5 seconds longer to cast. And while a Paladin can fulfill a similar role with his FoL for raid healing, he can’t stack multiple HoTs on the tank(s). Our niche isn’t hurt or lessened by a change to our style of raid healing since that isn’t really our bread and butter role.
@Bullar: I looked at what it would take to pick up Nature’s Grace yesterday, but even at best case, you’d be losing 3 points in Empowered Rejuvenation (not to mention Tree of Life). Come WotLK, though, I think you’ll see far fewer Druids with 60+ points in Restoration. I know I’ll be going for Lunar Guidance and Moonglow along with ToL. Unless of course our 61 point talent is out of combat rez. In which case, I quit. ^_^
@Lestatfangs: The nerf to Lifebloom’s HoT component was removed. Our HPS from rolling LB won’t drop at all. With the change to Empowered Rejuvenation so that it affects the final bloom, we won’t be all that hurt by the nerf to its bloom effect, either. No one is being pacified, though I supect you’re onto something with regard to the mana reduction also being intended to help us in PvP. They’ve discovered that HoTs on the run are really powerful and want to push us more toward a similar style of healing like that of the Paladin. It’s easier to balance what you’re familiar with, I guess.
March 10th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
nature’s swiftness has alway been part of my speccing tree, which is why im using regrowth, its very rare i’ll cast it without it. i usually open up with it on the MT so i can use it 2-3 more times during a boss fight
I now feel stupid to have passed on the trinket 3-4 times during our SSC runs and we’ll never go back there for sure….
You helped me today in deciding if i would go with the plus 22 healing gem or the plus 11 healing & 2 mana on my new T6 helm, im going for the plus 11, go go mana regen /chaincast regrowth on tanks(currently at 199 per 5 while casting / 398 not casting unbuffed).
March 10th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Yes, this is very much what I’ve been thinking about too.
Lifebloom, while an excellent spell when rolling on a tank (or 2) and Rejuvenation are still our core spells, but Regrowth is starting to look like a better and better spell every time I think about it.
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I think the druid healing model we should be focusing on for +healing vs. Spirit/Int/MP5 should assume rolling HOTs on the tank(s) (along with swiftmend every 15 seconds) and using Regrowths with our excess mana (which there should be plenty of in 2.4). I think it’s really the only way to remain competitive on the healing meters (though that doesn’t really evaluate healing quality fairly, it does seem to be the only measurement raid leaders have).
March 10th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Phae, as always i am just floored with your indepth analysis of the Dr00d healing style. It’s greatly appreciated.
However, i am very cautious. The patch is not out yet, and things are always subject to change. Yes, the lifebloom nerf was reversed becuase alot of people complained about it. But i am sure that all changes will undergo a thourough inspection before being implamented, then again after implimentation.
It may just be me, but all these beneficial changes to Druid Healing almost seem too good to be true.
I pray that these changes are here to stay, however i will not be surprised if Blizzard comes back and says “opps, we made a mistake” and tweak (nerf) a few things.
However (again), i LOVE regrowth and do use it often. It IS indeed a useful spell, and now will become even more so.
I am also Curious Phae, did u take into account the new 20% nerf to the bloom portion of lifebloom and/or the improved talent?
March 10th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I’m a big lover of Regrowth (circa 20% of heals) even atm I don’t believe the mana efficieny of it is too bad especially when u take into consideration the Tier 5 2 piece bonus. I think many ppl look at how efficient Lifebloom is and leave all other heals off their bars….to be a good healer you must use all the tools in ur arsenal.
There are times where even rejuv is a better raid heal than lifebloom if you have a very heavy melee setup again someone like loot(void)reaver where dmg is consistant and constant…it buys u more time to get a hot off on more ppl where as u’r cast rotation on lifebloom would be limted to 4 ppl at best..
Also don’t forget u can Swiftmend the Hot in an emergency.. the no of times I’ve regrowthed then swiftmended it on a tank when NS+HT macro is on CD…potentially 10k Heal in 3 secs with dbl crits (6.5k no crits)
March 10th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Something to note in the joyous loving of Regrowth is that you can only swiftmend once per 15 secs, however, the regrowth HoT is not strong enough to hold a tank on its own.
Raiding BT/Hyjal if I’m single or double tank healing I typically keep Rejuv, Regrowth and a 3 stack Lifebloom on BOTH tanks at once. Just rolling lifebloom over 3 or 4 tanks is not as efficient or effective as focussing on 2 tanks with 5 HoTs ticking on each. And usually there’s the damage to support it…
March 11th, 2008 at 8:11 am
[…] Regrowth: The New Raid Heal? by Phealia […]
March 11th, 2008 at 10:11 am
I’ve been raid healing forever, it seems. In BC, I knew that I was taking the untraditional route by using regrowth as much as I do… Regrowth makes up 60-70% of my healing over the course of a raid. lifebloom and rejuv are usually after that at about 10% each.
Sure, it has always been mana intensive; but I almost always got a shadow priest and I’m not shy about spamming mana potions. I also have several ranks of regrowth on my bar and don’t spam max rank all the time.
I’m at the top of our healing meter 99.9% of the time, and I usually have the satisfaction of knowing that I was able to hit with my direct heal and save someone who might have died in the next hit. Seeing my regrowth hot on so many raid members also makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
For a tree with fast reaction time, Regrowth has always been like a great lover, always there by your side ready to crit big on some warlock who has just pulled aggro for the umpteenth time. A high maintenance lover… making sure you bring at least 30 mana pots to each raid and whispering suggestions of dropping a profession in favor of alchemy for the new Alchemist’s Stone.
With the new changes, I’m grateful for the thought of needing less mana potions, but it won’t change my healing style much. The biggest change will be seeing other druids discover the joys of regrowth and finding themselves as addicted to its use.
March 11th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
[…] Phaelia for some edumacation. Seems like now is a good time to be learning to play Resto as the changes to Regrowth are changing the way it’s played. Also found a good read by Glan at Elitest […]
March 11th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
My only worry is that now there doesn’t seem to be much of a nerf, if any, to Druids in Arenas. I’m fine with that personally since I’m strictly a PvE Resto but I’m wondering what change is coming down the pipe to address what (we assume) blizzard sees as an imbalance. I’d be thrilled if this patch went through as is but I’m worried the nerf bat is still to come. I hope it’s just not a different PvE nerf for PvP reasons.
March 13th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
While this does seem like a good idea, I have a very strong suspicion that the huge buffs to mana regen in 2.4 are going to be savaged pretty badly by the nerf stick in the near future :S
March 26th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
@Falina: I don’t think I’ve ever paired a Nature’s Swiftness with Regrowth. You just get so much bang for your buck (when it’s most needed) by matching it up with a max rank Healing Touch. Of course, you do have to drop out of Tree of Life but now that it’s instant, I just consider it an extra mana charge (and GCD) to switch back once things are again under control. Am I missing something? The trinket has yet to drop for us, but I’ll be nabbing it if ever does. =)
@Rethic: I was worried about the change to mana regeneration being nerfed before 2.4, as well, but luckily it seems to have survived in tact. I think this points to a revised model that Blizzard has in mind for raids where success is less determined by the mana of your healers and more determined by DPS output and overall skill at responding to crucial events (like AOE damage). They must have become bored with the idea of chain-chugging potions to get by (as I think we all have). Hopefully things will stay this way! As to your question, I did take into account the nerf to the bloom and the Empowered Rejuvenation boost.
@Smeeg: I’m very happy that Regrowth is getting a little more limelight but I don’t know if I agree that it’s problemsome when one spell constitutes the large majority of your healing. Shamans heal primarily through Chain Heal, for instance, and are quite effective at it. I guess from a boredom perspective, though, more variety is preferable. I think Priests are a good example of this with multiple viable spells available (and needed) depending upon the situation. =)
@Brent: I wasn’t proposing to use Regrowth as a tank heal but as a raid heal. You should still definitely be stacking Lifebloom (and Regrowth and Rejuv) on your tanks but not be shy about using an extra Regrowth (before the prior one has expired) if you need a burst of healing on your tank but don’t have NS or SM available to you.
@Roxana: That’s definitely a strategy I haven’t seen before. Do you mean that you don’t keep LB stacks rolling on your tanks? There shouldn’t be any reason you couldn’t do both, at least once you’re comfortable with the timing. In my mind, the health spike normalization you can guard against for your raid can be more useful than topping the effective healing meters (though that’s certainly nice, too!).
@Icyslush: I think there were plenty of rather potent Arena nerfs for Druids (drinking nerf, Cyclone range nerf, Lifebloom bloom nerf, 4-piece set bonus nerf). I will be very surprised if Druids continue to make a strong showing at upper-end 2v2 or 3v3 post-2.4.
@Brexan: Let’s hope not. =)
April 3rd, 2008 at 3:36 pm
[…] of my list. Number 1 spot. Since I started levelling my Resto Druid, any tips, information and general healy goodness I can usually find here. Phaelia has some excellent theorycrafting and she will take the time to […]
May 7th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Okay, so I don’t want to read through all the comments again, but I’ve come to a new conclusion. I’m still meh on regrowth in my regular set. But I’ve managed to build a set with 196 spell haste (so far…I still can’t quite keep a 5 cast cycle up so aiming for a bit more), and regrowth has become a much more important part of my healing as a result (for those fights where it makes sense to use it). I basically use the LB idol with my straight +heal set, and the regrowth idol with my haste set (since I lose regen to get haste, and also burn through mana faster). I now do much better on those odd fights where I used to have trouble competing because we lacked a niche roll (i.e. due to fight design).
May 7th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
@Kalaghan: That’s awesome! I envy your spell haste set. I’m just not willing to plonk down the DKP to build one of my own, but I imagine it would be a pretty fun thing to try. Thanks for sharing your experience! =)
May 7th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
I’m going to second what Kalaghan says and put in my two cents. My haste set I keep hovering at ~250 spell haste, which brings my regrow down to a 1.75 cast time. (Current set value is 251.) The haste of 250 allows for 2x regrow and 2 instants, giving a 6.1 second time, or giving me .9 seconds of “fingers hitting the keys.”
Before my haste set, I was loathe to use regrow to raid heal since it made more sense to me to heal 2 targets with lifebloom over 1 with regrow and refreshing lifebloom on 2 targets with 1 instant which may or may not allow the other lifebloom stacks to drop. (5 seconds in a perfect world on the lifebloom & 1 regrow, adding 1 more lifebloom brings it to 6.5 seconds which only allows .5 seconds of delay.) While .4 seconds may not seem like much, really it is.
I’m in the process of getting the Icon restored to me, and for trash I’ll be equipping it over the one from Shadow Lab. I guess my suggestion for people still trying to work on a main healing set, much less a haste set should stick to lifebloom, but once you can fit haste into the mix, regrowth becomes a much better raid spell while still allowing you to keep your HOT’s on your main targets.
May 8th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
One thing that is interesting to note about the use of the now more efficient Regrowth in raids, is that the 4-set pvp bonus (0.2 sec faster Regrowth cast) is very very cool for fast group healing, even in PvE.
I recently changed my main raiding char from lock to resto and the gear i applied to join the BT farming guild with was just Season 3 with a few pve extras (3 or 4 items). First surprise to me was that Season 3 gear is actually alright for Black Temple. It has pretty high +heal and the mp5 on it is barely less than t5, so if you chug pots and beg a shadow priest in your grp it’s not a problem at all. I’ve since gained a bunch of high Spirit items so the deficiency is starting to balance out, but the 4 set pvp bonus remains very cool. It’s like having a free 200 haste on your regrowth.
So what i do it’s make sure i got that bonus running on trash. Always. The drop in some of your other healing stats is more than made up for by the fact that your heal arrived first and did not overheal. Faster than Shamman’s chain heal
The icing on the cake is if you team it with some Spell Haste items you can get Regrowth cast time really low, in the area of 1.6 or even 1.5 seconds. For boss fights this is not great beacuse you can sure goo oom pretty damn fast that way. The cost reducing trinket from Hydross will be excellent to reduce this, but i primarily use it on trash mobs.
One thing I’ve always wanted to see but never had the spare cash for is to see what happens if you spec to get Nature’s Grace from Balance and Improved Regrowth from Resto in a hybrid build. Combined with the set bonus and haste items you would have some rocket-fuelled regrowth casts in much less than 1.5 secs. It would be crazy (…stupid, but fun)