January 21st, 2008 at 01:24am
Under Druid Guide
Raid Armor is usually the armor that most stick with throughout their World of Warcraft lives. Identifying the tier armor sets can show you the difference between them, and see which one is better suited to you and your character.
Cenarion Raiment, Tier Set 1
Cenarion Raiment is an eight piece epic quality raid set. It will give set bonuses depending on the number of pieces you wear of the set. Three of the Set: Damage dealt by Thorns increased by 4 and duration increased by 50. Five of the Set: Increases your spell critical strike rating by 28. All eight of the Set: Reduces the cooldown of your Tranquility and Hurricane spells by 50.Cenarion Raiment is made up of Cenarion Belt, Cenarion Bracers, Cenarion Boots, Cenarion Gloves, Cenarion Helm, Cenarion Leggings, Cenarion Vestments, and Cenarion Spaulders.
Stormrage Raiment, Tier Set 2
Stormrage Raiment is an eight piece epic quality raid set. It will give set bonuses depending on the number of pieces you wear of the set. Three of the Set: Increases the amount healed by Chain Heal to targets beyond the first by 30. Three of the Set: Restores 20 mana per 5 sec. Five of the Set: Reduces the casting time of your Regrowth spell by 0.2 sec. All eight of the Set: Increases the duration of your Rejuvenation spell by 3 sec. Stormrage Raiment is made up of Stormrage Belt, Stormrage Boots, Stormrage Bracers, Stormrage Chestguard, Stormrage Cover, Stormrage Handguards, Stormrage Legguards, and Stormrage Pauldrons.
Dreamwalker Raiment, Tier Set 3
Dreamwalker Raiment is a nine piece epic quality raid set. It will give set bonuses depending on the number of pieces you wear of the set. Two of the Set: Your Rejuvenation ticks have a chance to restore 60 mana, 8 energy, or 2 rage to your target.
Four of the Set: Reduces the mana cost of your Healing Touch, Regrowth, Rejuvenation, and Tranquility spells by 3. Six of the Set: Your initial cast and Regrowth ticks will increase the maximum health of your target by up to 50, stacking up to 7 times.
All eight of the Set: On Healing Touch critical hits,you regain 30 of the mana cost of the spell. Dreamwalker Raiment is made up of Dreamwalker Boots, Dreamwalker Girdle, Dreamwalker Handguards, Dreamwalker Headpiece, Dreamwalker Legguards, Dreamwalker Spaulders, Dreamwalker Tunic, Dreamwalker Wristguards, and Ring of the Dreamwalker.
Malorne Harness, Tier Set 4
Malorne Harness is a five piece epic quality raid set. It will give set bonuses depending on the number of pieces you wear of the set. Two of the Set: Your melee attacks in Bear Form and Dire Bear Form have a chance to generate 10 additional rage and your melee attacks in Cat Form have a chance to generate 20 additional energy. Four of the Set: Increases your armor by 1400 in Bear Form and Dire Bear Form and increases your strength by 30 in Cat Form. Malorne Harness is made up of Breastplate of Malorne, Gauntlets of Malorne, Greaves of Malorne, Mantle of Malorne, and Stag Helm of Malorne.
Malorne Raiment, Tier Set 4
Malorne Raiment is a five piece epic quality raid set. It will give set bonuses depending on the number of pieces you wear of the set. Two of the Set: Your helpful spells have a chance to restore up to 120 mana. Four of the Set: Reduces the cooldown on your Nature’s Swiftness ability by 24 sec. Malorne Raiment is made up of Chestguard of Malorne, Crown of Malorne, Handguards of Malorne, Legguards of Malorne, and Shoulderguards of Malorne.
Malorne Regalia, Tier Set 4
Malorne Regalia is a five piece epic quality raid set. It will give set bonuses depending on the number of pieces you wear of the set. Two of the Set: Your harmful spells have a chance to restore up to 120 mana. Four of the Set: Reduces the cooldown on your Innervate ability by 48 sec. Malorne Regalia is made up of Antlers of Malorne, Chestpiece of Malorne, Gloves of Malorne, Pauldrons of Malorne, and Britches of Malorne.
Nordrassil Harness, Tier Set 5
Nordrassil Harness is a five piece epic quality raid set. It will give set bonuses depending on the number of pieces you wear of the set. Two of the Set: When you shift out of Bear Form, Dire Bear Form, or Cat Form, your next Regrowth spell takes 2 fewer seconds to cast. Four of the Set: Your Shred ability deals an additional 75 damage and your Lacerate ability does an additional 15 per application. Nordrassil Harness is made up of Nordrassil Chestplate, Nordrassil Handgrips, Nordrassil Headdress, Nordrassil Feralkilt, and Nordrassil FeralMantle.
Nordrassil Raiment, Tier Set 5
Nordrassil Raiment is a five piece epic quality raid set. It will give set bonuses depending on the number of pieces you wear of the set. Two of the Set: Increases the duration of your Regrowth spell by 6 sec. Four of the Set: Increases the final amount healed by your Lifebloom spell by 150. Nordrassil Raiment is made up of Nordrassil Chestguard, Nordrassil Gloves, Nordrassil Headguard, Nordrassil Lifekilt, and Nordrassil LifeMantle.
Nordrassil Regalia, Tier Set 5
Nordrassil Regalia is a five piece epic quality raid set. It will give set bonuses depending on the number of pieces you wear of the set. Two of the Set: When you shift out of Moonkin Form, your next Regrowth spell costs 450 less mana. Four of the Set: Increases your Starfire damage against targets afflicted with Moonfire or Insect Swarm by 10%. Nordrassil Regalia is made up of Nordrassil Chestpiece, Nordrassil Gauntlets, Nordrassil Headpiece, Nordrassil Wrathkilt, and Nordrassil WrathMantle.
Thunderheart Harness, Tier Set 6
Thunderheart Harness is a five piece epic quality raid set. It will give set bonuses depending on the number of pieces you wear of the set. Two of the Set: Reduces the energy cost of your Mangle ability in Cat Form by 5 and increases the threat generated by your Mangle ability in Bear Form by 15%.Four of the Set: Increases the damage dealt by your Rip, Swipe, and Ferocious Bite abilities by 15%. Thunderheart Harness is made up of Thunderheart Chestguard, Thunderheart Gauntlets, Thunderheart Cover, Thunderheart Leggings, and Thunderheart Pauldrons.
Thunderheart Raiment, Tier Set 6
Thunderheart Raiment is a five piece epic quality raid set. It will give set bonuses depending on the number of pieces you wear of the set. Two of the Set: Your harmful spells have a chance to restore up to 120 mana. Four of the Set: Reduces the cooldown on your Innervate ability by 48 sec. Thunderheart Raiment is made up of Thunderheart Headguard, Thunderheart Vest, Thunderheart Handguards, Thunderheart Pants, and Thunderheart Shoulderpads.
Thunderheart Regalia, Tier Set 6
Thunderheart Regalia is a five piece epic quality raid set. It will give set bonuses depending on the number of pieces you wear of the set. Two of the Set: Reduces the cooldown of your Swiftmend ability by 2 sec. Four of the Set: Increases the healing from your Healing Touch ability by 5%. Thunderheart Regalia is made up of Thunderheart Tunic, Thunderheart Gloves, Thunderheart Helmet, Thunderheart Legguards, and Thunderheart Spaulders.
By admin
December 27th, 2007 at 02:28am
Under Druid Guide
I’ve played World of Warcraft since its release in 2004. I started out playing a Warlock, but then moved into playing a Night Elf Druid when I realized that I wanted to play a healer class. The idea of shapeshifting interested me, but not enough to keep me from almost fully putting my talent points in restoration.
In patch 1.8, Blizzard reworked the Druid talent trees to make both Balance and Feral as provocative as Restoration is/was.
I hope to impart you aspiring Druids on what I have found to be the best and most efficient way to heal at level 60. I do not have uber gear (I have full Wildheart and a few purples from MC, but the epics are NOT necessary to be effecive, believe me).
First of all, you will want to realize what stats you want. I have found that +healing isn’t nearly as good as people make it out ot be, so what you can get just from a Hide of the Wild and from set bonuses is pretty good. You really want to invest in either as much Int/Spi as you can or as much Int/Mana per 5 seconds. It really depends on your personal healing style, but for me, I like high Int and Spirit more than anything else, so I will be taking that route as I write this.
Your talent build isn’t really that important. To be the best healer you can be, in my opinion, you should take these talents:
Improved Healing Touch: Just to lower the casting time by .5 seconds can be a life-saver.
Improved Regrowth: 50% critical chance on our “emergency” heal is astounding.
Innervate: Regenerates 50-70% of total mana while casting, depending on spirit. If a Priest begs for this spell, then laugh in his or her face. Innervate is most useful for Druids to get because we are more mana inefficient. If a Druid is at 70% mana and has been healing as long as a Priest who is at 15% and begging for an Innervate, the Priest needs to learn more mana management. Toss the spell on a Priest (or even a Mage) or another Druid if they are out of mana and you are low, but keep in mind that it is YOUR spell and you should get FIRST priority. Afterall, why hope someone else can do a job that you KNOW you can do?
The rest of the talents are honestly negligible. Subtlety doesn’t stack with the new 1.9 Shaman Totem OR with Paladin’s Blessing of Salvation, so that’s iffy whether or not you should take it, and the rest of the talents are up to personal preference and style. The ones listed above are the only ones that I believe that every Druid who attempts to heal should have.
Let’s look at your spells:
Healing Touch, your “big heal.” You will want the talents that make this spell a 3 second cast. I suggest using Rank 7 as your “main” heal.
Regrowth, our “flash” heal. This is far too mana inefficient to be used as our main heal, so invest in “Improved Regrowth” so you can get a much higher chance to crit when you do have to cast it, making it much more Mana to HP Healed efficient.
Rejuvenation, our bread and butter spell. This spell is the best we have. With my gear of almost full Wildheart (with Cenarion Leggings), Hide of the Wild, and the Dire Maul trinket, I generally get 260-290 per tick.
This is how you should heal in almost any normal situation: Toss a Rejuvenation on the target, then start casting either Rank 7 or Rank 10 Healing touch depending on how hard the person is getting hit. Your Rejuvenation should act as enough of a buffer from the damage the target is taking, and when the Healing Touch goes off, the target should be close to full health.
You should use Regrowth only in emergencies (if a mage draws aggro, or a priest) and you have to do something quick. If you are using Regrowth on the Main Tank as a chain heal, then you are wasting mana and losing the benefits of the Heal Over Time that the spell has. You will notice a large difference in how much mana you can save by using Rejuve/HT over Regrowth after Regrowth with a Rejuve occasionally tossed in.
Though I must say that I do occasionally start a fight off by Regrowthing a MT because I want to stack it’s HoT and Rejuvenation on him or her at the same time to give a little more lee-way in the fight.
By doing this method, I have become one of the more sought-after Druids on my server, especially once someone has partied with me. I have yet to be out-healed by a Priest in UBRS or below who wasn’t casting Prayer of Healing over and over, and I am usuall 3rd on our Molten Core ranking. I never have more than 15% overheal rate.
What a Druid has to realize to be an effective healer is that we aren’t Priests. We do not have a quick flash heal or shield to keep people out of danger when they get in trouble. We are PROACTIVE healers meaning that we keep damage from happening with our Heal Over Times and want people as high as they can be in HP so we can be as efficient as we can be. Priests, on the other hand, are REACTIVE healers, so they can shield and Greater Heal/Flash Heal when someone is at next to no health.
Neither class is a “better” healer than the other, but I hope that this short look at the Druid healing abilities will help you be the best Druid you can be. We are “support” healers in most cases, and if we keep that in mind, we can actually become more valuable to the group than the Main Healer who only worries about 1 or 2 people out of 10-15.
By admin
