Restoration Druid Healing Easy Mode — The War Within (Season 1)

Last updated on Sep 09, 2024 at 18:00 by Torty 72 comments
General Information

On this page, we explain how to easily play Restoration Druid in World of Warcraft — The War Within (Season 1), using the simplest rotation, talent tree, stat priority, gear setup, etc., without sacrificing performance.

1.

Foreword

This page is intended for players who are new to the game or class, have no intentions of raiding Mythic difficulty, or want a more straightforward way to play their specialization without being overwhelmed by the numerous subtleties and active abilities that need to be taken into consideration for optimal play.

2.

The Basics of Restoration Druids

Restoration Druids rely on HoTs to set up strong bursts using Flourish Icon Flourish in raids or have strong and steady output in dungeons using Photosynthesis Icon Photosynthesis, and Undergrowth Icon Undergrowth. They do good healing on single targets but require some time to set up their HoTs. They require knowledge of the encounter to prepare for the incoming damage.

If you are completely new to Restoration and need more information on your abilities, check out our Spell Summary page.

3.

Talent Choice for Restoration Druids

These are currently the best talent choices as a Restoration Druid:

3.1.

Raiding:

Use our calculator's 'Export Talents' to quickly import our build!

3.2.

Mythic+:

Use our calculator's 'Export Talents' to quickly import our build!

4.

Stat Choice for Restoration Druids

4.1.

Raid Healing

Intellect is stronger than all secondary stats, thus making virtually any higher item level item an upgrade. The only exceptions are rings and necks. You generally want to equip higher item level ones, but there might be small exceptions for those within 5 item levels. Gem sockets are worth 10-15 item levels. You can also drop 5 item levels for a piece with Leech; doing more is too much of a survivability loss to be worth it.

Generally, you will want to use items with Haste at equal item levels. Make sure to check our BiS list page since there are quite a few items with special effects that will not follow these general guidelines:

4.2.

Dungeon Healing

Haste and Mastery are the strongest secondaries for pure healing. However, some players prefer to run as close to 0 Mastery as possible in dungeons. This is mainly done due to Mastery not contributing to your damaged output. You should run as much Mastery as needed to heal and invest in other stats. If your priority is healing and nothing else matters, then just equip Mastery because it is by far the strongest healing stat in small group content.

If you want to see the full explanation of the stat priority and the absolute top choices for the priority, head to our full stats page below.

5.

Basic Playstyle for Restoration Druid

5.1.

Raid Healing

It is essential to note that Restoration Druids are unable to cast Rejuvenation Icon Rejuvenation continuously. As such, we use DPS abilities as fillers to maintain healthy Mana for burst phases. In cases of unfamiliarity with encounters, you should match your Mana percentage to the boss's Health percentage.

The following rotation is a rough idea of what you should prioritize when playing. It is not the correct way to play, and there are many small ways you could improve your gameplay, but it will give you a general idea.

  • Maintain Efflorescence Icon Efflorescence under the melee group.
  • Keep Lifebloom Icon Lifebloom on a tank.
  • Use Grove Guardians Icon Grove Guardians to not waste the charges. Use multiple during heavy raid damage. Always try to save at least 2 for that.
  • Use Clearcasting Icon Clearcasting procs to cast Regrowth Icon Regrowth.
  • Cast Regrowth Icon Regrowth after Flourish Icon Flourish or when players need to be saved from death.
  • Use Swiftmend Icon Swiftmend and then Wild Growth Icon Wild Growth when at least 6 members of the raid are damaged. Every build you play will have Soul of the Forest Icon Soul of the Forest, so this order is critical.
  • Apply Rejuvenation Icon Rejuvenation to the active tank(s) and members of the raid who are taking or will take damage.
  • Cast Wrath Icon Wrath to regenerate Mana (with Master Shapeshifter Icon Master Shapeshifter).

The most challenging part of Restoration Druid is the usage of cooldowns. Check the cooldown section at the bottom of this page or, better yet, the Rotation page:

5.2.

Dungeon Healing

  • Maintain Efflorescence Icon Efflorescence under the tank and melees.
  • Keep Lifebloom Icon Lifebloom on an active tank. You should never keep the second one on yourself because the bloom portion of Photosynthesis Icon Photosynthesis is stronger than the tick rate on HoTs. Place it on some DPS player, preferably ranged.
  • Use Grove Guardians Icon Grove Guardians often, even to cover small damage events. You can use the free time to do damage.
  • Use Swiftmend Icon Swiftmend and follow it up with either Regrowth Icon Regrowth or Wild Growth Icon Wild Growth, depending on whether you need single target healing or AoE.
  • Use Regrowth Icon Regrowth as an emergency heal.
  • Keep Rejuvenation Icon Rejuvenation on the tank and on members of the group that just took damage or are about to take damage.
  • During downtime, use Moonfire Icon Moonfire, Sunfire Icon Sunfire and Wrath Icon Wrath on enemies to help with the damage.

Keep in mind that in Mythic+ builds, your Regrowth will apply the HoT to all Lifebloom targets too. You can heal most damage without using many, or perhaps any, Rejuvenation Icon Rejuvenations, if you follow the spell priority.

For a more detailed and optimized version of the priority list, check the full rotation page linked below. On top of that, doing competitive damage as Restoration Druid can be rather complicated, so make sure you check the DPS guide as well.

6.

Cooldown Usage for Restoration Druid

  • Tranquility Icon Tranquility should be used during heavy raid damage or when you are assigned to use it by your raid leader. Casting Wild Growth Icon Wild Growth before Tranquility is recommended to increase the benefits of Mastery. In cases where Tranquility might be too dangerous to cast; you might want to use either Barkskin Icon Barkskin, Ironbark Icon Ironbark, or even both on yourself.
  • Innervate Icon Innervate should be used as often as possible during the fight. Refresh Efflorescence Icon Efflorescence, cast Wild Growth Icon Wild Growth, and spam Rejuvenation Icon Rejuvenations during Innervate. The basic idea is to use Innervate as often as possible, while preferably not doing so in Tree of Life. You also want to do that before Tranquility Icon Tranquility, if you are specced into Dreamstate Icon Dreamstate.
  • Convoke the Spirits Icon Convoke the Spirits in raids should be used together with Reforestation Icon Reforestation procs, if you are using the talent. Try to time your Swiftmend Icon Swiftmend usage accordingly. Sometimes, you will cast Wild Growth without a Swiftmend due to this.
  • Flourish Icon Flourish should be used during heavy raid damage. Ideally, you should use it together with Wild Growth Icon Wild Growth or right after Convoke. Make sure you are prepared for the damage event. Flourish should be used when great damage happens; your HoTs should be ready. Do not use Flourish just because you have a lot of HoTs up.
  • Regarding Flourish Icon Flourish, your Rejuvenation Icon Rejuvenation count should be fairly high after each Flourish. On top of that, there should be a lot of raid damage happening at the same time. You should start casting Regrowth Icon Regrowths at this point. Not only will they cost a lot less Mana, they will also do a lot of healing.
  • Ironbark Icon Ironbark should be used to reduce the damage a tank takes during critical moments (such as when important boss abilities are about to be cast). In the absence of such situations, you should use it on players who are taking damage. You may be assigned to use it at a specific time as part of a rotation with other healers and the tanks' cooldowns.
7.

Changelog

  • 09 Sep. 2024: Updated for TWW Season 1.
  • 21 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within.
  • 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within pre-patch.
  • 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
  • 22 Apr. 2024: Updated for Dragonflight Season 4.
  • 20 Mar. 2024: Updated for Patch 10.2.6.
  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.7.
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.5.
  • 01 May 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.0.
  • 24 Mar. 2023: Changed build recommendations.
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.7.
  • 24 Jan. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.5.
  • 29 Dec. 2022: Adjusted recommended talent builds.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
  • 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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