TBC Classic Restoration Druid Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Restoration Druid Healer, depending on the type of damage your group is receiving while doing PvE content in TBC Classic. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc. in order to minmax your healing output and your mana efficiency.
Restoration Druid Rotation / Spell Priority in TBC Classic
- Be in Tree of Life whenever possible for the healing increase and Mana reduction, but be prepared to drop it in order to cast Healing Touch and Tranquility if emergency healing is required.
- Keep a triple stack of Lifebloom active on players taking significant, steady damage such as the tank of the party.
- Keep Rejuvenation and Regrowth active on players taking damage. Consume low-duration heal-over-time effects with Swiftmend for extra burst healing if the target is taking heavy damage.
- Heal large amounts of single-target damage with Healing Touch, using Nature's Swiftness if the target is about to die.
As a healer, your "rotation" depends on both the situation and build that you are playing. Calling it a rotation is disingenuous since you are reacting to different situations, different damage outputs, and different levels of danger. However, there are some basic rules that you can follow.
If you are trying to heal a tank, keeping your HoT effects rolling on them at all times is critical. This means keeping Lifebloom, Rejuvenation, and maybe even Regrowth up.
If you need more healing than that, you will want to resort to Healing Touch, and should also rely on Swiftmend for emergency healing.
The last thing to consider for normal healing is Mana efficiency. Even with the new TBC downranking penalty, using lower ranks can be the way to go when healing small amounts of damage, due to their lower likelihood to overheal.
Thus, it is a good idea to have lower-ranked versions of your healing spells on your bars for times when you want a weaker, more efficient heal:
- Rejuvenation Rank 8 for efficient healing, Rank 11 for a good balance of healing and throughput and Rank 13 for maximum throughput.
- Healing Touch Rank 13 for massive healing, often used with Nature's Swiftness. Rank 8 and Rank 10 are also good for more Mana efficient healing.
Cooldowns
While you will spend most of your time healing, do not forget that as a Druid, one of your core strengths is your versatility. Rebirth is amazing for getting a free do-over on a dead raid member, Innervate can give someone a full new Mana bar, and Entangling Roots or Cyclone can provide some much-needed control on enemies that might be running rampant.
Tranquility is also a powerful healing cooldown that can be used when you need a solid burst of extra healing on the raid. You have a wide and varied toolkit; part of mastering a Druid is becoming familiar with all parts of your toolkit so you always have an answer for any situation.
Changelog
- 27 May 2021: Guide added.
This guide has been written by Seksi, original Burning Crusade player and multi-class player, currently playing on Gehennas Horde. You can find him on the Classic Shaman (as Woah) and Druid Discords, as well as the Icy Veins Discord.
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