While Terestian Illhoof is considered an “optional” boss within Karazhan (tucked away behind a “Suspicious Bookcase” on the way to Aran), tell that to any Feral in your guild and you’re likely to get your butt Shredded. You see, Illhoof drops Terestian’s Stranglestaff, the best meow-meow staff available until … well … for a long time. I won’t go into the details of the entire encounter here, as there are several superior guides available (Karthis from Teeth and Claws recently released one from the standpoint of a Feral Druid), but he presents the perfect opportunity for adding a new skill to your retinue: preemptive healing via Focus Target.

One of Illhoof’s key abilities — especially from the viewpoint of a Healer — is Sacrifice. Every so often, he will wrap a random target (other than the main tank) in “Demon Chains,” an effect which causes 1,500 damage per second until the chains are “broken” by enough damage (they have around 13,000 health). 1,500 damage/sec can be a lot to keep up with, even for multiple healers, especially if people are slow to react and switch their heal target. Which is where the Focus and Focus Target frames come in.

You may be familiar with the concept of “Focus” but, just in case, a Focus is a “stored” target that you can easily return to at any time and — with the right unitframes addon — can monitor the status of despite otherwise switching targets. Although there are several addons that will allow you to display Focus and Focus’s Target windows, I use and recommend Pitbull. (For information on setting up Pitbull, visit this thread over at WoWAce.com.)

Once you have a unitframes addon set up to display Focus and Focus’s Target windows, you should set Illhoof as your Focus using the command /focus (you can also bind a command to set focus through the Keybindings options).
Throughout the fight, keep your eye on the Focus’s Target window. When you see it change to someone other than your tank, the person targetted is likely about to become the victim of Sacrifice. Noticing this as soon as it happens can generally buy you 1-1.5 seconds to begin casting a fast casting Heal (I recommend either Regrowth or Rejuvenation in anticipation of Swiftmend). And if you happen to be the only healer in your raid using this technique, you can call out the Sacrifice target over voice chat sooner — and more audibly — than any Boss Mod addon can announce (just make sure your raid knows you’ll be doing so beforehand).

While I’ve used the Terestian Illhoof fight to demonstrate this technique, it can be helpful for several encounters where the boss changes targets frequently. Most immediately, it can be applied to the Shade of Aran fight, where he randomly switches targets to cast Arcane Missiles, Frostbolt, and Fireball. Combining Focus Target with mouseover healing can give his selected victim precious seconds while other, less observant healers catch up.

Related Posts

• Debuffing Your Focus Target
• Hibernating via Focus Target
• Leveraging Insect Swarm as a Healer

Inspired by Vonya of The Egotistical Priest and her recent post on Power Word: Shield, I’d like to look at the Druid’s self-only equivalent, Barkskin:

What Barkskin Does

Well first of all, Barkskin is self-only, like Paladin Divine Shield. Its damage reduction is percentage-based which means it scales automatically with the damage taken (unlike Power Word: Shield which scales with +Healing). Best of all, it can be cast through most forms of crowd control: stuns, ice, incpacitation, fears, or sleep. The damage reduction combined with spellcasting delay prevention and ability to cast while crowd controlled makes this an excellent PvP spell that’s available 12 seconds out of every minute. Unfortunately, it can only be cast from one of our casting forms — Elf, Moonkin, and recently Tree — which leaves Cat and Bear out in the cold (fortunately, they have fur).

How It Stacks Up

In terms of similarity, it makes the most sense to compare Barkskin to the Priest Power Word: Shield and Inner Fire.

Barkskin vs. Power Word: Shield

• PWS can be cast on others, allowing it to be used in a number of helpful ways that Vonya details in her article. As such, it’s generally considered part of the Priest healing arsenal. Barkskin, on the other hand, is self-only and is considered more of a defensive mechanism than a healing tool.
• PWS scales with a Priest’s +Healing, making the shield from a Holy-specced Priest better than that from a Face Melter. Because the damage reduction for Barkskin is an unmodifiable percentage, any Druid casting Barkskin receives the same benefit, regardless of spec.
• PWS can be cast on the same target once every 15 seconds and can be cast on an unlimited number of targets. Barkskin is only usable once a minute.
• PWS costs 600 mana to cast. Barkskin costs 12% of base mana (284 at level 70).
• PWS cannot be cast while under the effects of crowd control (although a friendly target can receive it while crowd controlled).

When used in self-defense, Barkskin seems to come out the winner. A 20% damage reduction, even if only for 12 seconds out of every minute is far superior to PWS, even when augmented with 1500 +Healing. In PvP, PWS isn’t likely to give you enough time to cast much, with Warriors that can Mortal Strike for 3k. However, one of the biggest strengths of PWS is that it can be used on friendly targets and it’s definitely a nice “crutch” in times of need.

Barkskin vs. Inner Fire

However, a more fair comparison for Barkskin might be the Priest spell, Inner Fire which, fully talented, provides an additional 2054 Armor. This effect lasts for 20 hits and can be refreshed for 375 mana:

Let’s compare the two:

• The 2054 Armor from Inner Fire when fully talented equates to an additional 13.79% damage reduction at 1500 Armor in Cloth (math presented at the bottom of this post). Compare this to the 20% reduction of Barkskin and the fact that Barkskin also reduces spell damage by this amount rather than solely physical (melee and ranged).
• The damage reduction of IF divided by the mana cost is .000367. The damage reduction of Barkskin divided by the mana cost is .000704, giving it twice the “bang for your buck” during the twelve seconds out of every minute it’s available.
• IF can be refreshed whenever the Priest needs to and isn’t on a cooldown.
• IF does not prevent spellcasting delay. Nor can it be cast when crowd controlled.

I’d probably have to go with Barkskin for this comparison as well. Because, while Inner Fire is available basically any time it’s needed, assuming the Priest isn’t crowd controlled, Barkskin includes a bigger damage reduction for more types of damage and for less mana. It also allows you to cast spells without worry of interruption by damage. On the other hand, if focus-fired the entire match, IF might end up being more useful, but really a Druid’s forte is avoiding being focus-fired for too long, especially in caster form.

The Secrets No One Told You

Of course, one of the most obvious uses for Barkskin is to allow you enough time to cast a Healing Touch, Entangling Roots, Regrowth, or Cyclone that can’t be delayed by damage. Here are a few additional ways that Barkskin can be used that you may not have considered, however:

• Barkskin + Tranquility
  For a group heal that can’t be delayed or interrupted by damage. Who needs Improved Tranquility? No, seriously. Who needs it — you can have mine. Also usable with Hurricane to clear the Stockades in Stormwind at level 70 (if you’re Restoration-specced).
• Barkskin + Really, Really High Place = SPLAT!
  You may have heard rumors that Barkskin reduces your fall damage by 20%, preventing you from dying since fall damage is based upon total health. This may have at one time been true but is no longer, probably having been changed when PWS was nerfed so that it no longer prevents its recipient from dying when jumping from high places. I know this because I just tested it, leaving behind a Phae-colored puddle in Netherstorm.
• Feared and a sense of impending doom via Warlock?
  Pop Barkskin to reduce the total damage they can do to you while Feared by 20% for 12 seconds. Also helpful for taking the wind out of a 3-minute Mage’s sails (although the ones who spec for Air are already a little questionable).
• Stunlock?
  Be it Warrior or Rogue, one of the best tactics to use against a Druid is to beat on them and keep them from retreating to Bearform until you can kill them. Pop a Barkskin to buy yourself 20% more time for the stunlock to elapse.
• Instancing and Raiding
  There are a number of encounters where Barkskin gives you an advantage that other classes may not have, since it can be cast when you’re otherwise immobilized. Try it when Sacrificed by Terrestrian Illhoof in Karazhan or Thorngrin the Tender in Botanica. Or use it just before Gruul’s Shatter and you’ll take less damage than those unfortunate enough to be around you.

All in all, Barkskin is an incredible class ability that provides a lot of utility when used in various ways, both in PvE and PvP. I know that I personally need to get an itchier trigger finger when it comes to popping this ability when crowd controlled.

P.S. The “Barkbark” reference is to an oft-quoted post from a player who was disgruntled that Barkskin could not be used in Tree of Life prior to Patch 2.1:

————————————————————————–
Q u o t e:
You don’t have any skin! You’re already made of bark.

Barkskin…. silly trees.
————————————————————————–

Barkbark, new spell in 2.1.0

The damage reduction of Inner Fire was calculated using the formula from WoWWiki.com:

%Reduction vs. 70 = (Armor / (Armor + 10557.5)) * 100

So at 1500 Armor in Cloth:

100 * (1500 / (1500 + 10557.5)) = 12.44%

A 12% damage reduction means the Priest would still be taking 87.56% damage. Now add the 2054 Armor from fully talented Inner Fire:

100 * ((1500 + 2054) / (1500 + 2054 + 10557.5)) = 25.19%

That means that with Inner Fire the Priest would still be taking 74.81% damage. Comparing this with the 88% calculated without:

(0.7481 / 0.8756) = 86.20%

An 86.20% of damage taken converts to 13.79% additional damage reduction from Inner Fire.

Related Posts

• Build 8885 and 8905 Changes
• Leveraging Insect Swarm as a Healer
• Hibernating via Focus Target

With the release of the Burning Crusade expansion, several healer-oriented, on-use trinkets were added to the game. Unfortunately, using trinkets like these requires a lot of micromanagement, so much so that many players take less advantage of these items than they might otherwise. An addon like Gello’s Trinketmenu is helpful for cycling through multiple trinkets, but it can be difficult to remember to actually use your trinkets so that the addon can do its work. To ensure that you actually use your trinkets, you can add them to a macro:

#showtooltip Lifebloom

/script UIErrorsFrame:Hide()

/use 13 (13 = upper trinket; 14 = lower trinket)

/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear(); UIErrorsFrame:Show()

/cast [help] Lifebloom;

Note: The “/script UIErrorsFrame:Hide()” and “/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear(); UIErrorsFrame:Show()” lines above are optional but are useful for hiding the “item cannot be used” errors that automatically occur when the trinket you have equipped is on cooldown.

In the above example, trinket use is tied to the Lifebloom spell. I consider this spell ideal since you can easily opt to forego using it in any given fight should you need to save the trinket’s use for an upcoming boss fight. Using it normally, however, will result in your use of a trinket every time one is available. Once the fight is over, Trinketmenu will automatically cycle in the next in the series you have created. Adding a trinket call like this one to one of your heal buttons is an excellent way to get the most return for the inventory slots occupied by multiple trinkets.

On a related note, be sure to check out the Fade! Not just for Priests anymore. article for help staying alive when you have to perform a large burst of healing to keep one or more group members alive.

Related Posts

• Getting More out of Innervate
• 2.4 Mana Regen: Getting the Most out of Innervate
• Arrrghhh!!! Trinkets!!!

In the all-too-frequent comparisons of druids and priests as primary healers, one of the tools that generally stands out is the priest ability Fade. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this ability:

The exact effect of this ability is to reduce a priest’s threat level by 1500 points for 10 seconds. At the end of ten seconds, a priest regains those 1500 points of threat. The assumption is that the 10 second reprieve of Fade will allow a priest to scale back her healing so that the tank can regain aggro. It should also prevent a priest from having to exacerbate the problem of gaining healing aggro by healing herself.

Until recently, aggro reduction was an ability limited only to priests and rogues. However, when content patch 1.9, the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj, went live an epic-colored trinket quietly made its way among the Revered rewards for Cenarion Circle:

That sounds suspiciously like the description for the priest class ability, Fade, with the added benefit that the threat reduction isn’t time-limited but is actually a permanent threat reduction. At the time, Fade (Rank 6) was the highest available with a threat reduction of 820 points. So for a mere month of ridiculously arduous reputation grinding in Silithus, land of a thousand bugs, a druid (or anyone else) could have a permanent threat reduction equal to 80% of that available to priests! Also notable is that, unlike the rogue ability Feint, the effect of this trinket is not targeted; it effects all hostile creatures within 30 yards.

I completed the reputation/badge grinds necessary to obtain this item four months before the BC release. While I found it to be useful in raids, I frequently used my Mindtap Talisman and Royal Seal of Eldre’Thalas instead. It really wasn’t until the release of the Burning Crusade and an almost endless number of 5-man instance runs that I have come to appreciate the benefit of these items.

I presently have one trinket slot dedicated to having one of these items equipped at all times. I use the TrinketMenu addon to queue my threat reduction trinkets in order of decreasing power. This ensures that a fresh trinket is swapped in whenever I’ve exited combat after using one, allowing me to perma-fade at least once a combat. Trinketmenu also lets you bind a key to each of your trinkets, allowing you to respond instantly when an enraged mob comes charging at you, causing him to do an immediate about-face toward your tank.

For those of you interested in trying this tactic out for yourself, here’s a list of the aggro-reduction items that I’ve found, their relative strengths and weaknesses, and how to acquire them:

Acquired from the quest Voidwalker’s Gone Wild in Hellfire Peninsula. Arguably the easiest of the threat reduction items to obtain.

Drop from Grandmaster Vorpil in Shadow Labyrinth. Highest value available outside of those requiring a reputation grind.

Acquired at Exalted reputation with the Keepers of Time faction. Shortest cooldown of any of the aggro reduction items and some very nice stats while equipped.

The obvious downside of using the above items is the loss of one or more trinket slots. Which is a small price to pay for the ability to emulate the core ability of another class, especially when you consider that the effects on a trinket are often on-use anyway. Nonetheless, here are some additional options to consider if you don’t want to forfeit a trinket. They can also be used in conjunction with one or more of the above if you prefer:

Purchased from the Sporeggar at Honored reputation. It has one of the lowest threat modifiers, and you’d be giving up a cape slot to use it. Nonetheless, I will sometimes equip both the cape and an aggro-reducing trinket on fights I know are likely to be problematic for my tank.

The recipe for Shrouding Potions can be purchased and learned at Exalted reputation with Sporeggar. They require 3 Ragveil and 1 Netherbloom to make and reduce your threat by 800. The downside? They share a cooldown timer with Mana and Health potions.

Aggro-Reduction Immunity:

Some mobs, most notably who have wonky aggro to begin with, are immune to the effects provided by these items. It’s worth remembering which of these mobs cannot be affected so that you don’t waste a cooldown for a higher value trinket trying to survive (and, presumably, find some other means of survival). Fel Overseers from Shadow Labyrinth and Moroes from Karazhan are two such mobs.

Rules of Threat Generation:

1. Each point of healing done generates 1/2 the amount of threat for each point of damage done.
2. For the mob to turn to you, you must exceed the tank’s threat by 10%. If you’re standing outside of melee range, you must exceed the tanks’s threat by 30%. This makes the strategy of standing near mobs which AOE fear in the hopes of getting feared along with your tank more dangerous should you be unlucky enough to resist since you’ll be more likely to attract his attention than any casters foolish enough to be standing at range. (As of Patch 2.3, mobs that cast Fear no longer reprioritize their targets by who remains unfeared.0
3. Both the Priest and Druid class have 5-point talents in their healing-focused talent trees to reduce healing threat across the board by up to 30%, and warriors can increase or decrease the amount of threat they generate depending upon their choice of stance (Defensive versus Berserker).
4. Finally, you must exceed the threat value of another player by 10% before the mob will switch its target to you.

Related Posts

• Handling Threat
• Adding Trinkets to Your Macros
• +Spell Damage or +Healing to be Removed in Wrath?