I actually always liked Emp Touch for the huge Healing Touches I could belt out if I needed to; but it wasn’t very economical when Healing Touch is used so rarely (unless you’re a HT glypher). Two points for something that I would use usually once per fight at most is a stretch. I loved those big (cue fanfare) “I’LL SAVE YOU!” moments, but two points to boost ONE spell that I use so rarely.. it was hard to justify.

Of course, this ties back in with my article on black sheep talents and the fact that you need to weigh these things up for yourself and your own situation.


What I’ll likely do

I had a leftover point in Natural Perfection, with the reasoning that “1% crit is better than an empty slot.” Concrete argument there ;P

I would have had 1/2 Emp Touch but I (currently) use HT so infrequently that it just wasn’t warranted. It’s a weak argument, but I went with 1% crit on Regrowth, blooms, and the occasional Nourish, over a boost to HT which I rarely use. I did miss my big emergency heals, though. I see this buff to Emp Touch as an excuse to get my big NS heals back :P Hooray!

So that was one point to pilfer, but where to get the other?

I’m likely going to drop a point in Living seed, making it a 66% chance of a seed rather than 100% chance. My overall talent spec would then look like this.

I don’t like dropping a point from Seed because I really like it, but in the end, I prefer to put a point into something I can rely on to be boosted every time I use it (even if that is not very often), rather than an additional 33% chance to proc Living Seed, a spell that:

  • can only come from a portion of my heals (the direct ones);
  • is rarely valuable in a raid-healing situation;
  • after proccing, may expire without being used;
  • may or may not end up entirely as overheal; and
  • is of unreliable size.

There are too many “ifs” in there. I would rather know that my point is helping a particular spell full-time (even if that spell only gets moderate use), rather than applying to something only when the stars align themselves nicely.

Plus, a 66% chance is still quite a high chance – I’m not losing the whole talent. I will still get some Living Seed buffers when I direct heal.



A hybrid within a hybrid

It’s important to note that the spec I mentioned is basically a “hybrid” resto build.


Look Ma, an analogy!
Original photo credit to Redken on Flickr.


By that, I mean that it doesn’t focus on raid healing or on tank healing specifically. It’s an “allrounder” spec.

I choose this middle-of-the-road option because I am mostly doing earlier raiding content, heroics, etc. I don’t need to hone my talents or have them specialised for either raid healing or tank healing. I don’t need to max out all of the tank healing talents at the expense of the raid healing ones, and vice versa. I’ve gone for a balanced spec that will serve me well in a range of situations.

Check out Restokin’s post about 3.2 healing builds – it explains your options for more specialised raid healing and tank healing builds a little more, and where you might want to pinch those points from.


FYI, why I didn’t drop the others

Nature’s Grace – I’ve dropped points here before and there’s a noticeable difference (and I don’t like it). It feels slowww. I think NG makes a difference and I will avoid dropping points from here.

Revitalize – I like this one too much. I enjoy bringing something to raids that nobody else can. It’s certainly not mandatory, your raid will do okay without it – but I like bringing it along.

GotEM – This was where I actually wanted to drop a point from, but I don’t have the haste to support that yet. More importantly, I am still getting upgrades over blues and greens at the moment – I don’t want to play around with this talent if my upgrades may cause my haste to fluctuate all over the place in the next few weeks. Plus – we all know how much I hate math and calculating ratings and whatnot.


What about you?

1. Are you going to take Empowered Touch, now that it also applies to Nourish?
2. If you didn’t have it before, what talent points will you rearrange?
3. How does your usual assignment, play style, raid size and level of content affect your decision?



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