The launch of World of Warcraft Cataclysm Classic marks the return of fans to one of the oldest additions to the World of Warcraft series, which has a completely different balance than the Retail or vanilla versions of the game; the difference also applies to heroes, their classes and builds, which requires special attention for fans of the franchise. In this guide, we'll take a look at Restoration Druid, his abilities, the best talents to choose, items, and other nuances about him.
Class overview for Restoration Druid
The Restoration Druid has become one of the best healers in World of Warcraft history, particularly in the area of gradual health recovery. In the Cataclysm expansion, this class has become much stronger than in previous expansions, making the Restoration Druid very useful in many situations.
An important aspect of playing as this healer is mana control, as many abilities consume a certain percentage of the total amount of this resource, rather than a constant value. An example of such an ability is Lifebloom, which consumes 7% of mana, healing the target for 10 seconds, accumulating up to three charges at a time, and at the end of its effect or if the effect is dispelled, it instantly additionally heals the selected hero.
One of the main differences from WotLK is the replacement of the Treant Form ability with Tranquility, which heals five members of a group or raid with the lowest health for eight seconds. This replacement provided an additional AoE ability that will be useful for leveling enemy damage in both PvE and PvP content.
Main attributes
Intelligence - this stat now directly gives spell power without the use of gems, and this stat continues to give mana and critical damage.
Speed now affects all abilities, including those that act over time (Heal-over-time, HoTs), including Lifebloom, allowing you to cast spells, restore abilities faster, and apply healing more often.
Mastery is a new (within WoW Cataclysm) stat that enhances direct healing. In addition, if you use the same direct healing spell every 10 seconds, it also improves all abilities.
Critical Strike allows abilities to deal critical damage and healing, which makes abilities more powerful. In Cataclysm, the crit coefficient has increased from 1.5 to 2. However, this attribute is not a priority like the previous ones, and therefore it can be emphasised last, as it is a rather expensive parameter that is difficult to collect.
Differences in abilities in the classics
Cataclysm has made many different changes that have significantly affected many characters and their builds, including Restoration Druid. The Tree of Life ability has become one of the main abilities mainly used to boost Wild Growth, Regrowth, and Lifebloom. The previously mentioned Tranquility ability has become a much stronger mass healing spell. The duration of Rejuvenation has been reduced to 12 seconds and no longer provides additional ticks.
The effect of Nourish is slower but also costs less mana, which allows you to use this spell to save resources for heavier abilities. Innervate has become slightly weaker in Cataclysm, restoring 5% of the total mana, but if you use the ability on yourself instead of an ally, the mana recovery will be 20%. Thorns deals a 20-second buff that deals natural damage to enemies. All resurrection abilities, including Rebirth, have a limit that depends on the size of the raid.
Talents for Restoration Druid
- Natural Shapeshifter — reduces the mana cost of all shape-shifting abilities by 10% and increases the duration of Tree of Life Form by 3 seconds
- Naturalist — reduces the duration of Healing Touch and Nourish by 0.50 seconds.
- Heart of the Wild — increases intelligence by 2%, in addition to increasing endurance by 2% in bear form and attack power by 3% in cat form.
- Master Shapeshifter — depending on your druid form, increases one of the following stats: physical damage, critical hit, spell power, and healing.
- Perseverance — reduces all incoming damage from magic by 2%.
- Improved Rejuvenation — increases the effect of Rejuvenation and Swiftmend abilities by 5%.
- Revitalize — each time a character performs healing with Rejuvenation or Lifebloom, he has a 20% chance to restore 1% of his total mana instantly, but no more than once every 12 seconds. You can get Replenishment in the app when you perform or upgrade Lifebloom. Replenishment restores a portion of mana to heroes equal to 1% of the character's total mana.
- Nature's Swiftness — after activation, the following natural ability with a recovery time of up to 10 seconds becomes instantaneous.
- Empowered Touch — increases direct healing from Healing Touch, Regrowth, and Nourish by 5%, and gives a 50% chance to renew Lifebloom duration.
- Malfurion's Gift — When you use Lifebloom, you have a 2% chance to trigger Omen of Clarity and reduce Tranquility's cooldown by 2.5 minutes.
- Efflorescence — Swiftmend spell can summon healing flora that will additionally heal the target by 4% of the amount of health restored by this spell. It is applied to the three most wounded characters in the vicinity.
- Wild Growth — heals up to five allies of a group or raid nearby, with the effect first affecting the most wounded members.
- Gift of the Earthmother — increases healing by 5% when Lifebloom ends, and also causes Rejuvenation to instantly restore 5% of the total amount of health from the periodic effect.
- Swift Rejuvenation — reduces the recovery of the Rejuvenation ability by 0.5%.
- Tree of Life — Changing form to a tree of life increases healing and armour by 15%. In addition, it protects the caster from the Polymorph effect, and some abilities (Lifebloom, Wild Growth, Regrowth, Entangling Roots, Wrath) receive buffs.
- Nature's Grace — You gain 15% to the speed of abilities after using Moonfire, Regrowth, and Insect Swarm.
- Nature's Majesty — Increases the chance of a critical hit by 2%.
- Moonglow — reduces mana cost for damage and healing abilities by 9%.
- Furor — gives a 66% chance to get 10 points of anger when a druid changes form to a bear, as well as allows you to save 66 points of energy in the form of a cat and increases the maximum amount of mana by 10%.
- Genesis — Increases periodic healing by 4% and also increases the duration of Moonfire and Insect Swarm by 4 seconds.
- Nature's Cure — enhances the Remove Corruption ability, allowing you to also remove a magic effect from an allied target.
Glyphs for Restoration Druid
Primary glyphs
- Glyph of Rejuvenation — increases Rejuvenation healing by 10%;
- Glyph of Lifebloom — increases the chance of a critical effect from Lifebloom by 10%;
- Glyph of Swiftmend — Swiftmend no longer absorbs the effect of Rejuvenation and Regrowth.
Main glyphs
- Glyph of Rebirth — Rebirth revives the hero with 100% health.
- Glyph of Healing Touch — using Healing Touch reduces the recharge of Nature's Swiftness by 10 seconds.
- Glyph of Wild Growth — Wild Growth can affect one additional target, but the cooldown is increased by 2 seconds.
Minor glyphs
- Glyph of the Wild — Mark of the Wild's mana cost is reduced by 50%.
- Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth — Rebirth ability does not require reagents.
- Glyph of Dash — the recovery of the Dash ability has been reduced by 20%.
- Glyph of the Treant — Tree of Life shape now resembles Treant.
Equipment for Restoration Druid
Fury of Stormrage build:
- Head — Sanctified Lasherweave Cover;
- Shoulder pads — Sanctified Lasherweave Mantle;
- Back — Cloak of Burning Dusk;
- Chest — Sanctified Lasherweave Vestment;
- Wrists — Phaseshifter's Bracers;
- Hands — Sanctified Lasherweave Gloves;
- Waist — Professor's Bloodied Smock;
- Legs — Sanctified Lasherweave Trousers;
- Feet — Boots of Unnatural Growth;
- Jewelry — Blood Queen's Crimson Choker or Bone Sentinel's Amulet;
- Rings — Ashen Band of Endless Destruction;
- Trinkets — Glowing Twilight Scale and Althor's Abacus;
- Weapon — Royal Scepter of Terenas II;
- Secondary weapons — Shadow Silk Spindle or Sundial of Eternal Dusk;
- Two-handed weapon — Archus, Greatstaff of Antonidas;
- Idols — Idol of the Lunar Eclipse or Idol of the Black Willow.
Pure Healer build:
- Head — Sanctified Lasherweave Helmet;
- Shoulder pads — Sanctified Lasherweave Pauldrons;
- Hands — Sanctified Lasherweave Gauntlets;
- Legs — Sanctified Lasherweave Legplates
- Rings — Ashen Band of Endless Wisdom;
- Weapons — Val'anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings;
- Other elements remain the same as in the previous build.
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