What follows is a sprawling, this-is-how-I-do-things post. It is not necessarily intended as a guide, it’s more me thinking aloud and pondering how I have adjusted my healing to suit the current encounters, in 10 man raids.



Shifting towards direct heals


Running with only 2 or 3 healers in 10 man raiding, there isn’t as much room for a resto druid to be simply placed on HoT-blanketing duty – ie, to simply go from person to person in the raid and put Rejuvs on them. Rejuv x 5, WG, repeat. This can be a common thing in 25s, but if you’re only running with 2 healers, you’re going to have to be using a higher percentage of direct heals. At least, that is what I have found. It’s just not possible for you to just be a Rejuv/WG bot the entire time – you need to weave in a lot more of your chunky heals.


TOC in particular has shifted us away from the “pepper the raid with Rejuvs, WG on every cooldown” mentality and forced us to use more direct heals. I’ve embraced this, where many people still baulk at the idea of breaking the (undeniably highly effective) Rejuv/WG cycle.


While Rejuv is still king for predictable damage, and WG+Nourish is what I would usually lean towards for raid top-ups where I can, I’m finding that I am using Regrowth quite a lot, despite the constant feeling that I’m not supposed to because it’s not optimal. And, while I don’t like using un-HoTted Nourishes, they’re sneaking in there, too, even though they are seen as quite undesirable for raid healing. Sometimes, in a pinch, it’s great to be able to pepper the raid with Nourishes to assist the other healer/s, even if WG is still on cooldown.


I often see people implying that throwing a Nourish on someone who doesn’t have a HoT on them is wrong or bad. Realistically, though, if all of your other options (NS, Swiftmend) are exhausted, and you need to get them a bit of health, fast (ie, they could die if they don’t get your 5k heal in the next second), there is nothing wrong with using Nourish without HoTs. Don’t be afraid to hit your Nourish button if you need to pick someone up quickly – that doesn’t make you a bad druid. Ideally though, you would use this as a last-resort – don’t make it a habit, because it’s not terribly good.


Unimproved Nourishes are a sometimes food.


Another thing to consider is that in 10 man raids there are less people on the floor, and so less people are bunched up. The result is that WG (and so the glyph and Revitalize) may not be as effective because there aren’t as many targets close together. 25mans have more people running all over the place, so you have a greater chance of hitting 5 or 6 people fairly reliably. Not so much in 10s. I’m finding that Rejuv and WG by themselves often won’t cut it for raid healing. So, in many fights, I’m finding that I still use Rejuv as a buffer, but my WG use is less than I would use in 25s, and my Regrowth and Nourish use is up.


It varies from encounter to encounter, as well as according to who my partner/s are, and I adjust my style to suit.



Dual resto specs


I’ve been playing around with having dual resto specs, and at first glance there’s very little difference between them – just 4 points rearranged. I’m trying to put one together that is more geared to HoT-heavy raid healing, and the other to more bursty fights (and/or times when I may be looking after a tank).


I think I will likely end up with two builds (once I have 4pc T9) – one built primarily around Rejuv/WG blanketing, and another build around burst damage. I’ve set up two specs already, but haven’t put points into Natural Perfection yet – I’m waiting on 4pc before I bother. Here’s what I’m thinking for then:


HoT blanketing (link)
- gear to the haste softcap, then perhaps look to crit, for Rejuv crit ticks
- WG glyph
- 3/3 Natural Perfection
- 3/3 Revitalize
- likely keep 2/3 NGrace for any required burst; Living Seed very situational.


Bursty, limited HoT use (link)
- probably more focus on haste, remember I can’t rely on raid haste buffs
- Regrowth glyph
- Still take 3/3 Natural Perfection, have room for it
- No Revitalize (not enough HoT use on raid to warrant it)
- 3/3 Grace and 2/3 Seed for fast burst healing and quasi-shields


As you can see, very little difference between the two specs – only a few points being rearranged. Most people probably wouldn’t even bother having an entire second spec to do this. You’ll notice that despite putting together a spec that focuses more on direct heals, I still don’t care about Tranquil Spirit. The reason for that is that I haven’t run into huge mana issues yet (early innervates plus a mana pot is usually adequate), and until I do, I won’t be putting points into that talent. I think points are better spent elsewhere.



Viva la Regrowth glyph! Um – sometimes


I’m finding that in 10s, some fights have very limited use of HoT-blanketing, so it seems silly to have the WG glyph and points in talents that are best for heavy-HoT use. There’s little point in boosting my WG and having Revitalize if I’m not spraying HoTs across the raid very much. On bursty fights, I wanted my Regrowth glyph back (especially on fights with heavy tank damage); plus the benefit of Nature’s Grace, and the Living Seeds left behind as a buffer.


Conversely, on HoT-blanketing fights, Nature’s Grace and Living Seed have extremely limited value because A) NG is only going to proc from direct heals (which I won’t be casting many of), and B) it’s only in the briefest of “uh-oh” moments where a seed might come in handy.


So the point is – I wanted to make sure that I was getting the most out of my talent points and glyph slots on fights that forced me to change my style.


In some fights I’m actually using Regrowth as repeat raid heals, because I want that HoT portion left behind. For example, on Faction Champions there will often be people in the raid who seem to be constantly pounded on, so I will almost treat them as tanks and keep HoTs up on them. Bigger Regrowths would help me here. I’m not sure about the math. Maybe it has horrible potential EHPS to do things this way. And certainly other druids may consider using Regrowth for raid healing as “wrong” – but I find that in 10s, with fewer healers to go around, leaving that HoT behind can really help give that person a buffer while I’m off healing someone else.


And, of course, healing tanks in TOGC10 in 10 man gear means lower HP tanks and heavier healing requirements – we don’t have the luxury of 25man-geared tanks and 25man-geared healers. It’s for reasons like this that I love the idea of having my big Regrowths back… if only for a few fights. I still use Nourishes as the staple direct heal, but if I can boost my Regrowths by 20% – why not?


Note: I’m still using Rejuvs and Nourishes in there – I don’t want people to think I’ve abandoned the staples! I just find the very long Regrowth HoT portion to be handy in some situations.


Examples


Here are a few fights that I would lean towards the second “bursty” spec. Remember – these are all 10 man fights – things would be different if they were 25.

  • Steelbreaker – yes, this is actually a great fight for Rejuv and WG, but the real make-or-break part is the tank healing at the end. I use Rejuv on the raid primarily, and WG too, but having WG hit one extra target is not going to matter much. Revitalize won’t be missed too much; our DPS is more than high enough, and our mana never seems an issue. So, dropping the WG glyph in favour of Regrowth for some chunky tank heals at the end, plus Nature’s Grace and Living Seed, will make the final phase a lot smoother. The tank healing is what gives us problems, so it makes sense to spec for that, rather than trying to maximise my HPS for the sake of it. I’m not interested in winning on the meters, I’m more interested in the tank being able to survive.

  • Thorim hard – this fight has everyone spread out, making the WG glyph mostly useless. DPS and mana are not an issue, as above, so Revitalize is not a big loss. Massive tank heals in the final seconds WILL make or break this fight; faster casting, seeds, and bigger Regrowths would be valuable.
  • Yoggy – again, limited use for WG here, but big tank healing at the end. Also, with keepers down, even the first phase can be hairy, and I find myself using more direct heals on the raid.
  • TOC/TOGC – So far (I’ve only done one heroic mode) much of the fights have been bursty, and the raid spread out. I definitely think I value the bursty spec for these. I’ve heard that some of the hardmode fights go back to our blanketing roots, but in general, TOC demands a higher level of direct healing.


How to decide which to use


It will probably come down to a couple of simple questions:

  1. What is the biggest risk to our success – constant, heavy raid damage, or crazy damage on one or two targets?

  2. Will I be blanketing the raid with HoTs frequently enough to warrant a WG glyph and points spent in Revitalize?


If there’s a big emphasis on cycling Rejuv & WB on the raid, go with Spec A and cash in on Revitalize procs and 20% more WG throughput.


If the fight calls for chunky burst healing and I can’t or won’t be peppering the raid with (as many) Rejuvs/WGs, swap in Spec B for bigger Regrowths and more emphasis on direct healing.



If you can’t afford a secondary resto spec, then a utility build will serve you just fine. Don’t feel that you have to break your neck for 20% bigger Regrowths and some Living Seeds. But if you can afford to have a second healing spec, it’s great to be able to swap in a spec and glyphs that will best suit the fight. I didn’t like feeling as though my WG glyph slot and Revitalize talent points were wasted on fights where we are spread out or there isn’t much raid damage – now I can swap specs and feel like I am getting better economy out of my spec and glyphs.


Sure, maybe you’ll win on the meters if you stick to HoT-botting and use the WG glyph – but if your raid is having trouble keeping the tank up through big hits, would the Regrowth glyph and Living Seed serve your group better?


At any rate, I’m having fun experimenting!



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