Luarana of Feathermoon writes:

I am a full Restoration Druid and I very rarely PvP. While watching your blog over the past few months I have realized how wrong I was about Resto Druids and PvP, and I would love to get started in an Arena team! I am using your blog for the main re-building of my character for days I’m not in Karazhan; All the tips & tricks, Talents, etc. One thing I’m not sure what to do, is about my gear. I think it would be fantastic if you could some how post about what type of gear for a resto druid in arena. I am pretty sure I don’t want to stick with all my healing gear, for example, but I don’t want to lose all the healing bonuses, and such.

For a great list of starter Arena gear by slot, Mookysolo’s Arena Guide just can’t be beat. I wouldn’t presume to think I know more than he does, but I will share what I have learned are some good general guidelines to follow for PvP gear!

Cloth is for Tissues

Which is what you’ll need if you continue wearing cloth armor in PvP. If you’ve been healing primarily in PvE, you probably have a fair number of cloth pieces. You’ll want to replace these pieces with something made of leather as soon as possible. As a Restoration Druid, you’ll often find yourself retreating to the mitigation of Bear Form when attacked by melee (Rogues, Warriors, Feral Druids, Retribution Paladins, or Enhancement Shamans), so every bit of armor counts!

Before I was able to replace my cloth gear with leather healing items, I even wore two pieces of Heavy Clefthoof. While these items have no +Healing, Intellect, or MP5 on them, they do have incredibly high armor values and just beg to be slotted with +12 STA Solid Stars of Elune. Don’t feel bad about investing in these items as they’ll serve you well should you ever decide to give Feral a try (Heavy Clefthoof is generally regarded as a great starting set for Bear tanks just hitting 70). Leatherworkers also use these recipes to raise their skill so they shouldn’t be too expensive.

Battlegrounds

Don’t discount the value of Battlegrounds. They’re a great source of PvP-oriented items and offer items for slots that Arenas do not. Your first acquisition should be the Medallion of the Alliance, popularly known as the “PvP-trinket.”

Medallion of the Alliance Binds when picked up Unique Trinket Classes: Druid Requires Level 70 Equip: Improves your resilience rating by 20. Use: Removes all movement impairing effects and all effects which cause loss of control of your character.

The Medallion will cost you 16983 Honor Points. There is a less expensive version called the Insignia of the Alliance, but it’s on a longer cooldown (5 minutes versus 2) and doesn’t have the 20 Resilience that the Medallion has. In my opinion, you’re better off saving toward the Medallion than spending 3300 Honor on an item you’ll eventually replace.

After you’ve purchased the PvP trinket, the best piece to acquire from Battlegrounds are the Veteran’s Kodohide Boots:

Veteran’s Kodohide Boots Binds when picked up Feet Leather Equip: Improves your resilience rating by 26. Equip: Increases healing done by up to 70 and damage done by up to 24 for all magical spells and effects. Equip: Restores 8 mana per 5 sec.

I recommend getting the boots first because leather +Healing boots are hard to find, and feet are one of slots with the highest armor yield (your other options include bracers and belt, both of which typically have lower armor values). Getting these boots will also justify paying someone to enchant them with Boar’s Speed, an enchant that grants +9 Stamina and an 8% run speed increase.

After the Boots, what you pick up is really up to you. Be sure to replace any of your cloth pieces first, though. The bracers are a good choice since it can be difficult to find healing bracers that aren’t cloth.

Arena Gear

Because the seasonal Arena gear is built on Tier 4 and Tier 5 points, you will likely find pieces that are upgrades for both PvE and PvP, especially if you don’t rely heavily upon Spirit (a statistic that is thankfully absent from our Arena sets) and if your guild isn’t much further than Karazhan in terms of progression. I recommend picking up the pieces that are PvE upgrades first, followed by those that would be the largest upgrades over what you currently wear for PvP.

For many classes, the Arena gloves provide must-have bonuses, but the Druid bonus is a measly 0.1 seconds off the cast time of Cyclone, so don’t feel like you need to pick those up first. On the other hand, our 4-piece set bonus (15% speed increase in Cat, Bear, and Travel forms) is so good, I’m surprised it isn’t a class feature of level 20 Warlocks. Get four pieces of the current seasonal set as quickly as you can for a huge boost to your survability, both through mitigation and avoidance.

You’re No Melee

So don’t act like one! A Restoration Druid benefits less from a weapon upgrade than does a melee class like Rogue or Warrior. In the beginning, you’ll want to focus on raising your defenses. Arena weapons — while often superior to those available in PvE — will avail you little in your quest to stay alive long enough to do your job. At the same time, they’re the most expensive items available. Pick up a PvP weapon only after you’re comfortable with where you are Armor wise.

Resilience, Stamina, and Armor or “Dying Less Quickly”

In general, any item you see with Resilience on it is likely to be considered “PvP-oriented” item. You’ll want to get your Resilience up as quickly as you can as it’s one of the stats that can limit your Arena progression. Obviously, the Battlegrounds and Arena gear will be your best source of items with Resilience on them, but there are a few exceptions:

• Resolute Cape: with 349 Armor, 30 Stamina, and 21 Resilience, this cape is an amazing addition to any Druid’s PvP set. When shifted into Bear Form, this item will give you 1745 Armor (1920 Armor if you have 3 points in the Thick Hide Feral talent). This is a crafted item requiring a Nether, 10 pieces of Primal Mooncloth, and 12 Primal Earth. The downside to this item is that it can be very hard to find a tailor with the recipe (an epic world drop) so expect to spend some time searching.

  Resolute Cape Binds when equipped Back Equip: Improves your resilience rating by 21.

  A cheaper, dropped alternative to the Resolute Cape is the Thoriumweave Cloak which has 390 Armor and 35 Stamina (but no Resilience). This item drops from Mechano-Lord Capacitus in the Mechanaar.

• Seal of the Exorcist: This ring is purchased with 50 Spirit Shards (obtained from all bosses in Auchidoun instances while your faction holds the Terrokar PvP objective). While it isn’t pure +Healing, the other stats make this ring a nice PvP item when just starting out.

  Seal of the Exorcist Binds when picked up Unique Finger +24 Stamina Requires Level 67 Equip: Improves spell hit rating by 12. Equip: Improves your resilience rating by 11. Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 28.

• A’dal’s Recovery Necklace: This item is a quest reward for killing Harbinger Skyriss in Tempest Keep’s Arcatraz. It’s obvious lack of Stamina makes it inferior to the Heroic Badge necklace that’s available, but if you’re doing the quest, you may as well hold onto it until you find something better.

  A’dal’s Recovery Necklace Binds when picked up Neck Equip: Improves your resilience rating by 24. Equip: Increases healing done by up to 51 and damage done by up to 17 for all magical spells and effects.

• Exorcist’s Wyrmhide Helm: Another Auchidoun PvP reward, this item also isn’t a pure +Healing. Nonetheless, at only 21 Spirit Shards, this is a great starting helm.

Roar Softly and Carry a Big Stick

Since shifting to Bear Form is one of our most frequently used means of defense, you should invest in a high armor weapon that you can automatically swap in when you shift. An easily acquired option is the Braxxis’ Staff of Slumber:

Braxxis’ Staff of Slumber Binds when equipped Two-Hand Staff 130 – 223 Damage Speed 3.00 (58.9 damage per second) 550 Armor +39 Stamina Durability 100 / 100 Requires Level 64 Equip: Increases attack power by 292 in Cat, Bear, Dire Bear, and Moonkin forms only.

Assuming 3/3 Thick Hide, equipping this staff in Bear Form will yield a staggering 3025 Armor! You should be able to pick this item up from the Auction House for approximately 50 gold; definitely a worthwhile investment! To set the staff to autoequip on shift, use a macro something like the following:

/cancelform [modifier:ctrl]
/cast [nomodifier:nostance] Dire Bear Form
/equip [nomodifier,stance:1] Braxxis’ Staff of Slumber

The above macro will switch you to Bearform when pressed the first time then equip your staff on the second click, but only once you’ve shifted. It’s important that you shift before swapping weapons because changing weapons activates the Global Cooldown and can prevent you from shifting altogether. Hold down CTRL and hit this button to shift out of Bear Form; requiring a modifier prevents you from accidentally deshifting. (I didn’t include a weapon swap when deshifting because you may need to instantly access abilities and may not be able to wait for the Global Cooldown.)

---

Gear can be a tremendous barrier of entry to Arenas. When you first start out, sacrifice healing-oriented stats for defensability. As you unlock better gear through Arenas and Battlegrounds, your PvP healing stats will begin to more closely resemble those of your PvE gear. But you’ll need to survive long enough to get to that point.

I hope this guide is helpful to those considering or just starting out in Arena PvP. Thank you, Luarana, for the question!

Related Posts

• Mailbag: Zul’Aman Healing Chests
• Guest Post: Balance vs. Restoration Gear
• Armor Values on PvP Gear

Welcome back!
That’ll be 50 silver.
Porlin of Terenas asks an interesting question on the official forums today, wanting to know how to write a macro that will subjectively choose a Rebirth rank based upon whether or not the caster is in combat. The highest rank of Rebirth requires a 50 silver Flintweed Seed, making it the most expensive reagent-driven spell in the game. Rank 1 of the same spell only requires a Maple Seed, costing around 7 silver 2 silver. If you have an inventory slot to spare (and sometimes make use of your combat resurrection spell out of combat), this technique could add up to a signficant savings over time:

/cast [nocombat] Rebirth(Rank 1); Rebirth;

Related Posts

• Macros for Reagent-Driven Spells
• Price Gouging by Reagent Merchants
• Rebirth Bugged (or Nerfed)

One of the most frequently asked questions on the official Druid Forums seems to be, “How much +Healing do I need to successfully heal in Karazhan/Heroics?” While different players may choose to focus on one stat or another (pursuing longevity through MP5 or a larger mana pool through Intellect), due to the balanced nature of most of the items that can be acquired before entering Karazhan and Heroics, +Healing is a good indicator of the overall quality of a healer’s equipment. But how much healing is enough? For Karazhan, somewhere around 900 is recommended. But what does this number mean and how does it apply to the myriad of healing spells available to the Druid?

+Healing increases the HPM (healing per mana) of a given spell; this is sometimes referred to as “scaling” since it allows the same heal spell to become more and more effective as its caster’s gear improves. However, +Healing affects different spells and spell ranks differently, the degree to which is determined by two factors: the casting time of the spell (or, in the case of Heals over Time, the number of ticks) and the level of the spell’s rank relative to caster level.

Casting Time

There are several types of heals (direct, heal over time, channeled, area of effect), and casting time affects the scaling of each type differently:

• Direct Heals (Healing Touch)

  To determine the scaling of a spell with a direct heal component, divide its cast time by 3.5:

  S_direct = cast time / 3.5

  For example, 3.5 second Healing Touch is afforded 100% of +Healing. Note that talents which reduce the casting time of a given spell (such as Naturalist for Healing Touch) do not reduce scaling.

• Heals over Time (Rejuvenation)

  The scaling of HoTs is directly related to the spell’s duration:

  S_hot = duration / 15

  Rejuvenation, lasting a total of 12 seconds, receives 80% scaling divided over each of its 4 ticks.

• Mixed Method Heals (Regrowth)

  Some spells such as Regrowth have both a direct heal component as well as a portion that heals over time. The scaling for these spells are divided between the two portions and are determined as follows:

  

  

• Area of Effect Heals (Tranquility)

  Because Area of Effect heals hit multiple targets, the benefit of +Healing is divided by 3. Otherwise, it uses the same formula as a direct heal:

  S_aoe = (cast time / 3.5) / 3

  Since Tranquility lasts eight seconds, the scaling for this spell is 76% divided among its four ticks or 19% per tick.

Spell Level vs. Caster Level

Spell Level is defined as the level before which the next rank can be trained. For example, since Rank 8 of Healing Touch is first trained at level 44, the effective spell level for Rank 7 is 43. To discourage downranking (using a lower level spell with a large amount of +Healing to increase its HPM), Blizzard reduces the +Healing awarded to spells whose effective spell level are significantly below that of the caster:

S_downrank = (spell level + 6) / player level

Thus, a level 70 player casting Rank 7 of Healing Touch would have her +Healing bonus reduced to 70% ((43 + 6) / 70). These diminished returns have eliminated the technique of using the faster-casting Rank 4 of Healing Touch that was popular before the release of the Burning Crusade since Rank 4 only receives 44% of +Healing. Note that the ranking modifier cannot result in a bonus to +Healing; the maximum is 100% regardless of how the calculation works for later ranks.

Here are two figures which illustrate the HPM statistic (healing / mana cost) for ranks 4 and 10-13 of Healing Touch as +Healing increases from 500 to 1500. Notice that as +Healing increases the HPM efficiency of Healing Touch Rank 4 increases more quickly than that of ranks 10-13, even after the mitigating penalty is applied. The penalty keeps this spell from being especially viable, however, as an average untalented HT 4 is only 847 with +1000 Healing so don’t let the figure mislead you into reconsidering downranking to such a degree.

Figure 1. HPM of Untalented Healing Touch Ranks

Figure 2. HPM of Talented* Healing Touch Ranks

* Healing Touch talents under consideration include Empowered Touch, Naturalist, Tranquil Spirit, and Gift of Nature.

Bonuses and penalties to a spell’s +Healing benefit are cumulative. A spell that is downranked to receive only 70% of +Healing and that has a 2.0 second cast time (57%) that is cast with +1000 Healing would receive 399 points of healing (1000 * .57 * .7 = 399).

Individual Spell Scaling

Because spells scale according to their cast time, duration, type and rank used, the relative efficiency of Druid heals (measured in HPM) fluctuates as the amount of +Healing changes. Below are two figures which describe the relative scaling of the various heals available to Druids, including talented versions if applicable. Lifebloom has been separated from all other heals to prevent its high HPM values from skewing the graphs:

Figure 3. HPM of Heals other than Lifebloom

Figure 4. HPM of Lifebloom

Clearly Lifebloom outclasses all other heals, even without considering the 20% mana reduction afforded by Tree of Life. Also notable is that, as +Healing increases — representing an improvement in gear — the HPM efficiency of an untalented Rejuvenation eclipses that of untalented Regrowth (although a fully talented Rejuvenation far outperforms a talented Regrowth). Also notable is that, while it would seem that Healing Touch is an underperformer in the HPM stat, it does make a superior showing in the HPS stat, as any Heroic healing Druid can attest.

The two figures below demonstrate the healing power (measured by HPS) of Druid heals. Figure 5 compares the HPS of Healing Touch against the initial direct heal component of Regrowth and the final burst heal of Lifebloom were it allowed to expire. Figure 6 compares the HPS of all heals over their full duration (for example, for Regrowth, total time is 2 seconds of casting time plus 21 seconds of healing over time).

Figure 5. HPS of Direct Heals and Direct Heal Components

Figure 6. HPS of Heals over Time

As predicted, Healing Touch is a better choice under a high damage scenario where mana is less likely to be a factor (such as trash mob fights in Heroics between which the caster is free to drink). The other HoTs such as Rejuvenation and Lifebloom are efficient enough to be used to provide some padding against emergencies, however.

While none of the data collected and presented here invalidates the use of a particular spell or style of healing, it does demonstrate the relative strength — and subsequent prioritization — of certain spells over others under specific conditions. In general, Lifebloom is an excellent choice for low, sustained damage levels. Should DPS increase beyond that which can be handled by a triple stack of Lifebloom alone, Rejuvenation can be applied. At further escalating levels of damage, a Tree should fall back upon a combination Swiftmend and Regrowth. A non-Tree druid would instead fall back upon Swiftmend (if available) and the highly powerful, less efficient Healing Touch. So, too, might a Tree druid, should Regrowth prove insufficient to the task.

The bonuses of Tree of Life are not included in any of the above calculations, due to the fact that — in its current form — it is too impractical to be used most of the time. In general, this would push the HPM efficiency of all HoTs up slightly, but you would lose the ability to handle burst damage (not to mention the ability to decurse and remove poison). The subjective viability of Tree of Life is something that will be addressed in another post.

---

Notes:

Assumptions: The following talents were factored into the “talented” statistics for each heal:

• Healing Touch: Empowered Touch (20% scaling bonus to +Healing), Naturalist (-0.5 seconds cast time), Tranquil Spirit (-10% mana), Gift of Nature (10% bonus to the end total)
• Regrowth: Empowered Rejuvenation (14% scaling bonus to +Healing of the HoT portion), Gift of Nature (10% bonus to the end total), Improved Regrowth (50% additional crit rating)
• Rejuvenation: Gift of Nature and Improved Rejuvenation (resulting in a cumulative bonus of 26.5% to the end total (1.1 * 1.15)), Empowered Rejuvenation (16% scaling bonus to +Healing)
• Lifebloom: Empowered Rejuvenation (+10% single stack, 31% for a stack of 3), Gift of Nature (10% bonus to the end total)

References: Many of the formulas and values included in this article were taken directly or derived from the following articles on WoWWiki.com:

• Formulas: Plus Damage and Plus Healing
• Healing Comparison

Download the Spreadsheet
used to calculate these values.

Related Posts

• Nordrassil Raiment and Regrowth
• Method: Coefficient Testing
• Talent Updates from Alpha

This article became obsolete as of Patch 2.4. For Innervate optimization techniques relevant as of 2.4, please see 2.4 Mana Regen: Getting the Most out of Innervate.

---

Most long time players of the druid class can remember a time when raiding druids were required to spec 31-points into Restoration, if only to pick up that most priest-coveted of talents, Innervate:

Innervate 4% of base Mana 30 yd range Instant cast 6 min cooldown Increases the target’s Spirit based mana regeneration by 400% and allows full mana regeneration while casting.  Lasts 20 sec.

This requirement was much to the chagrin of our feral brethren and was one of the factors that contributed to the feral spec’s lack of endgame viability or acceptance. It was therefore a much-celebrated blessing when Blizzard made the decision to make this formerly talented-skill trainable by all druids.

Today, most Balance and Feral druids freely bestow their Innervate on the most needful members of their raid, healers whose mana level often determines the success of an encounter. But for a Restoration druid, Innervate is generally reserved for oneself. And with much of the endgame itemization lacking in spirit (upon which Innervate’s mana return is based), many Restoration druids are finding that their ability doesn’t stretch as far as it used to. There are, however, some nice tricks that can help.

Weapon Swap

There are very few druid usable weapons having 15 or more Spirit, and these weapons aren’t always ideal to be used at all times. Luckily, weapons and offhands are the two slots that can be changed even while in combat, and adding a weapon-swap to your Innervate macro can be one of the easiest ways to increase its efficiency. Here are a few weapons that I recommend for this purpose:

• [Serpentcrest Life-Staff]: 27 STA, 27 INT, 46 SPI, 227 +Healing; drops from Mekgineer Steamrigger of Steamvault.
• [Staff of Divine Infusion]: 23 INT, 50 SPI, 194 +Healing; world drop, easily purchaseable for around 50g on the Auction House
• [Nightstaff of the Everliving]: 33 STA, 34 INT, 55 SPI, 348 +Healing; drops from Nightbane in Karazhan. This staff is probably good enough to be used full time, but it’s relatively easy to acquire for any Kara-capable guild and could serve as a weapon swap item far beyond Karazhan.
• [Dathrohand's Ceremonial Hammer]:13 STA, 14 INT, 18 SPI, 227 +Healing, one-handed mace; Drops from Captain Skarloc in Heroic Old Hillsbrad. While the spirit on this item is lower than on the staves listed above, it frees your offhand for a [Draenei Crystal Rod of Spirit], a level 70 green item that has 32 Spirit additional spirit.

Whether you choose a 1-hander or 2-hander, have it enchanted with Mighty Spirit, a +20 Spirit bonus acquired from Honored with Thorium Brotherhood. You can then use an addon such as Evocation2 to automatically change to your highest Spirit weapon or weapon + offhand for the duration of your Innervate.

Alternatively — if you prefer to run with as few UI addons as possible — you could set up a macro to perform your weapon swap:

/cast [target=player] Innervate /equip Nightstaff of the Everliving

Note that the above macro will prevent you from accidentally innervating someone else. To make this macro allow you to Innervate your target when you hold down CTRL, simply change the macro as follows:

/cast [modifier:ctrl] Innervate; [target=player] Innervate /equip [nomodifier] Nightstaff of the Everliving

If you opt for the macro’d weapon swap, you should also create a second button that swaps you back to your original weapon(s).

To determine how much additional mana you will gain from the addition of a weapon or a weapon and offhand item, use the following formula (which assumes you have the 3-point Living Spirit talent):

((SPI * 1.15) / 4.5) * 50

Applying this formula to the weapons listed above:

• [Serpentcrest Life-Staff]: 46 SPI + 20 SPI = 66 SPI = 843 mana
• [Staff of Divine Infusion]: 50 SPI + 20 SPI = 70 SPI = 894 mana
• [Nightstaff of the Everliving]: 55 SPI + 20 SPI = 75 SPI = 958 mana
• [Dathrohand's Ceremonial Hammer] and [Draenei Crystal Rod of Spirit]: 18 SPI + 32 SPI + 20 SPI = 70 SPI = 894 mana

Bangle of Endless Blessings

The [Bangle of Endless Blessings] drops from Warp Splinter, the final boss in Botanica. It can drop in both normal and Heroic modes, but obviously is easier to farm in normal. Botanica is unique in that you can skip any bosses that you aren’t interested in drops from, making this item particularly easy to farm.

Bangle of Endless Blessings Binds when picked up Unique-Equipped Trinket Requires Level 70 Equip: Your spell casts have a chance to allow [15 - max(PL - 70,0) / 2]% of your mana regeneration to continue while casting for 15 sec. Use: Increases your Spirit by 130 for 20 sec.

In addition to the amazing proc on this item (approximately once per minute), applying the formula outlined above works out to approximately 1660 additional mana, assuming the druid has all three ranks of the Living Spirit talent. Because trinkets cannot be swapped in during combat, you must plan ahead to have this item equipped if you don’t intend to use it at all times. Then add its use to your Innervate macro as shown below:

/script UIErrorsFrame:Hide() /use Bangle of Endless Blessings /script UIErrorsFrame:Clear(); UIErrorsFrame:Show() /cast [target=player] Innervate

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 you don’t have your Bangle equipped.

With only the Bangle and the [Staff of Divine Infusion], you can get an additional 3555 mana back from your Innervate. That’s 500 more mana than a maximized [Super Mana Potion] on every boss encounter (2 if the fight goes much longer than 6 minutes). And all it takes is a few runs through Botanica and a 50 gold Auction House expenditure … plus however much it costs you to get your new weapon enchanted with 20 Spirit.

---

As a reader-suggested addendum, I’m also including discussion of the Masquerade Gown:

Masquerade Gown

The [Masquerade Gown] is a drop from Julianne of Karazhan’s Opera event:

Masquerade Gown Binds when picked up Chest Cloth 194 Armor +34 Stamina +32 Intellect Durability 100 / 100 Requires Level 70 Equip: Increases healing done by up to 88 and damage done by up to 30 for all magical spells and effects. Equip: Chance on spell cast to increase your Spirit by 145 for 15 secs.

Although the proc rate is unconfirmed, the 145 Spirit works out to about 1297 mana (the 15 second effect would only be effective for at most 7 of 10 Innervate ticks). At first glance, this seems like a substantial bonus. However, while this robe can proc an additional 150 spirit, it has no inherent Spirit of its own. Compare this to the the [Primal Mooncloth Robe] which has 20 Spirit of its own (256 mana returned during Innervate) in addition to the +5% mana regeneration while casting set bonus. (Admittedly, this item is only available to druids who have maxxed tailoring and chosen the Mooncloth specialty.)

Another downside to the Masquerade Gown is that you have to wait for a proc to use Innervate. When you most need it to proc, you’ll be nearly out of mana, and the robe only procs from spellcasting. Finally, unlike a weapon which can be swapped in after Innervate has elapsed or a trinket that can contribute as much over time as the Bangle can, the Masquerade Gown must be worn the entire duration of the fight and the +150 Spirit would really only be useful if it procs around the time you need to Innervate (at other times, it grants 15 seconds of +43 healing assuming Tree of Life + Living Spirit). Still, for all its limitations, this is a great Healing chest if you don’t happen to be a Mooncloth-specialized tailor (it certainly doesn’t hurt that it looks amazing).

Related Posts

• 2.4 Mana Regen: Getting the Most out of Innervate
• Adding Trinkets to Your Macros
• Arrrghhh!!! Trinkets!!!