Ten Ton Hammer's Class Guides - Druid

Restoration Talent Guide

This Restoration talent guide goes over each of the talents in the Druid healing talent tree. The Restoration talent tree is for Druids that spend their time healing. The restoration talent tree is the most commonly used talent tree for high level Druids, as there is always a huge requirement for healing in the end game. The tree allows you to cast bigger, faster, more effective heals that will keep your group alive longer.

Return to the Druid Talent Guide. The Druid Talent guide contains the links to all three talent trees: Balance, Restoration and Feral. These Talent guides provide you with the resources to better understand Talents and the best ways to go about spending your Talent Points.

Tier 1

Tier 1 is available at level ten, when your first talents open up.

  • Improved Mark of the Wild - Max 5 points, provides up to a 35% increase to your Mark and Gift of the wild spells.
    • 35% is nothing to sneeze at, but at max level it never seems to make a difference if you have it or not.
    • While nice it is not required, other than for one of your raid druids to have it.
    • Recommended

  • Furor- Max 5 points, Provides up to a 100% chance to gain 10 rage the you shapeshift to Bear or Dire Bear for or 40 Energy when shifting into cat form.
    • Not needed as a healer, however very nice as a hybrid. The ability to drop into bear from if a tank goes down and charge or roar right away is invaluable.
    • Recommended

Tier 2

Tier 2 talents are available as soon as you have 5 points in that talent tree.

  • Naturalist - Max 5 points, reduces the time to cast healing touch by up to 0.5 seconds and increases the damage you cause by physical attacks by up to 10%.
    • A half second off your big heal is a huge boost in healing power and a must have for healers.
    • The 10% physical damage increase is a must have increase for feral druids, so you need to come into the restoration tree to get this talent..
    • Strongly Recommended

  • Nature's Focus - Max 5 points, Provides up to a 70% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting Healing Touch, Regrowth, and Tranquility spells.
    • A very strong talent if you are getting hit in combat while trying to heal which will happening while leveling, in PUGs or PvP.
    • In raid situations in the end game though it is almost a waste, as if you are being hit, something has gone horribly wrong.
    • Recommended

  • Natural Shapeshifter - Max 3 points, Reduces the mana cost of shape shifting by up to 30%.
    • Only really useful in PvP where you spend lots of time shifting back and forth between shapes. In PvE you tend to remain in one shape for longer.
    • Skip it unless your healy into PvP

Tier 3

Tier 3 talents are available as soon as you have 10 points in that talent tree.

  • Omen of Clarity - 1 point skill, each melee attack has a chance to cause you to enter a clearcasting state. The clearcasting state reduces mana, rage or energy of your next spell or ability by 100%.
    • This ability gives you a chance to cast spells or attacks for free. Obviously best used for attack form since melee attacks trigger it
    • Not used up by changing form and the attack used to trigger it does not effect what can be done with it. So when it procs you can immediately case your biggest heal or damage spell for free.
    • Recommended

  • Intensity - Max 3 points, Allows up to 15% of your mana to regenerate while casting, and causes your enrage to generate up to 10 rage instantly.
    • Neither ability by itself is that great, however combined they give good utility.
    • Take it only if you have the points

  • Subtlety - Max 5 points, reduces the threat generated by your healing spells by up to 20%
    • Reduction of your threat is a good thing while doing pugs or 5 man instances, however by the end levels the tank will be generating far more agro than you can.
    • Take it to start with, then at max level re-spec to remove it
    • Recommenced

Tier 4

Tier 4 talents are available as soon as you have 15 points in that talent tree.

  • Tranquil Spirit - Max 5 points, reduces the mana cost of your healing touch and tranquility spells by up to 10%.
    • While not very exciting, a 10% reduction in mana cost translates to at least 10% more heals, therefore its a must have talent for healing builds.
    • Strongly Recommended

  • Improved Rejuvenation - Max 3 points, Increases the effect of rejuvenation by up to 15%.
    • This can be a very important talent if you use the spell. Some druids rely on it, other prefer to actively heal.
    • If you use rejuvenation then you have to get this talent.
    • Strongly Recommended

Tier 5

Tier 5 talents are available as soon as you have 20 points in that talent tree.

  • Nature's Swiftness - 1 point skill, this is an instant cast ability with a 3 minute cool down, that when activated, your next Nature spell becomes an instant cast spell.
    • This allows you to recover from bad situations by turning a big heal into an instant cast.
    • While not 100% required it does offer a nice safety net when things go bad.
    • Also allows that extra bit of burst DPS for PvP
    • Strongly Recommended

  • Gift of Nature - Max 5 points, Increases the effect of all healing by up to 10%.
    • While not all that exciting this is a very solid healing talent that stacks with the other healing bonuses.
    • Since your this far into the Restoration tree you should take it, you are a healer after all.
    • Strongly Recommended

  • Improved Tranquility - Max 2 points, Reduces threat generated from tranquility by up to 100%
    • While tranquility is a very nice talent, it seems to be a waste to most players to spend 2 talent points on an ability with a 10 minute cool down.
    • You can skip this safely.
    • Skip

Tier 6

Tier 6 talents are available as soon as you have 25 points in that talent tree.

  • Improved Regrowth - Max 5 points, Increases the critical effect chance of regrowth by up to 50%.
    • A 50% bonus to crit to any spell is nothing to ignore.
    • This becomes a must have if you choose to go with the Tree of Life form since it will be one of your main heals.
    • However, relying on critical's when healing is never a good thing, so some players chose to ignore it. Counting on a 50% crit rate though isn't a bad thing and can help save mana in long fights.
    • Recommended

  • Empowered Touch - Max 2 points, Healing touch gains up to an additional 20% healing bonus from your +healing gear.
    • Scales with gear to increase effectiveness as your gear gets better
    • Nice to have

Tier 7

Tier 7 talents are available as soon as you have 30 points in that talent tree.

  • Living Spirit - Max 3 points, increases your spirit by up to 15%
    • Spirit is not all that useful unless you are in long raid fights.
    • Slightly better teamed with Intensity, however still not that great
    • Skip it unless your a raid healer

  • Swiftmend - 1 point skill, This ability consumes a Rejuvenation or Regrowth effect on a friendly target to instantly heal them an amount equal to 12 seconds of Rejuvenation or 18 seconds of Regrowth.
    • A very nice instant heal on a 15 second cool down.
    • Since at this point in the tree you are a full time healer, take it to have what is essentially another castable heal.
    • Strongly Recommended

  • Natural Protection - Max 3 points, your critical strike chance with spells is increased by up to 3%, and melee and ranged critical strikes against you cause up to 12% less damage.
    • In either of the other talent trees this would be a great ability, however this deep in Restoration it is essentially useless.
    • Skip it

Tier 8

Tier 8 talents are available as soon as you have 35 points in that talent tree.

  • Empowered Rejuvenation - Max 5 points, adds up to an additional 20% of your +healing effects to you heal over time spells.
    • Since this is your only option at tier 8 and since it is required to get the tier 9 talent you have no choice.
    • 20% extra to your HoT's is a very nice bonus and can really add up as your gear gets better.
    • Required to get Tree of Life form
    • Must have for Tree Form

Tier 9

Tier 9 is the top tier talent and is available as soon as you have 40 points in that talent tree.

  • Tree of Life - 1 point skill, Transforms the Druid into the Tree of Life Form. While in this form, you increase healing done by 25% of your total Spirit on all party members within 40 yards, your movement speed is reduced by 20%, and you can only cast Swiftmend and healing over time spells, but the mana cost of these spells is reduced by 20%. The act of shapeshifting frees the caster of Polymorph and Movement Impairing effects.
    • While you do not need this talent to heal, it is a very nice option. Even if you choose to not use the form all the time it is nice to have the option to switch into it.
    • Limits your healing options, but reduces the cost of the spells allowing much higher mana efficiency.
    • A solid option as a raid healer since you can keep many players healed through HoTs at a low cost.
    • Strongly Recommended

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Ten Ton Hammer's Class Guides - Druid

 


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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Byron has been playing and writing about World of Warcraft for the past ten years. He also plays pretty much ever other Blizzard game, currently focusing on Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone, while still finding time to jump into Diablo III with his son.

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