Restoration Druid Frequently Asked Questions — Dragonflight 10.2
On this page, we go over several of the most frequently asked questions regarding Restoration Druid in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.2. This will be updated as more common repeated questions surface over the course of the expansion.
Are Restoration Druids Good in Dragonflight (Patch 10.2)?
Restoration Druids continue to do one of the highest HPS in the game in all forms of PvE content. We can do one of the highest single-target healing in Mythic+ and deliver large bursts in raids through our multiple cooldowns. The downsides remain to be a lack of a group-wide damage reduction cooldown and our over-reliance on them. Our damage is very good in Mythic+, but it requires quite a bit of effort to master. If you are looking strictly to outheal incoming damage in Mythic+ or in Raids, then Restoration Druid is one of the better specs to do it on.
A summary of all changes can be found on our intro page.
When to replace tier?
You should look to replace your tier as soon as you have 2 pieces of the new tier. The item level gap is too large to ignore. The initial goal should be to play 2 pieces of the new tier and 2 pieces of the old. Then only drop the old 2-piece once you have the new 4-piece.
Convoke or Incarnation in raids?
This talent will depend on your tier set. If you have
Druid Restoration 10.2 Class Set 2pc, then you should most definitely
play
Incarnation: Tree of Life. If you are still using
Druid Restoration 10.1 Class Set 4pc, then
Convoke the Spirits is a
better choice.
Are Restoration Druids Good in Raids?
Convoke the Spirits is essentially another mini-cooldown. You can pair
it really well with both
Reforestation and with
Flourish or
even use it as a standalone CD. Alternatively, you can use
Incarnation: Tree of Life to line up with every other Flourish. You can overcome
our damage issues with
Nature's Vigil. The main role of a Restoration
Druid in raids remains as a cooldown-oriented throughput healer with
good survivability.
Are Restoration Druids Good in Mythic+?
Yes, Restoration Druids are one of the best specializations for Mythic+. We provide very strong healing and damage throughput.
Which race is best for Restoration Druids?
Night Elves are by far the best race for dungeon content due to the power
of Shadowmeld. Night Elf passive racials are inconsequential
in raid content.
As for raiding, you have to choose between a better burst from Trolls and better utility racials from Taurens and Highmountain Taurens. There is no formula that will help you make this decision, but the differences between all three races are pretty small. Finally, Zandalari Trolls offer nothing exceptional, but they are not too far behind that it would really make a difference in any content, even cutting edge.
How Much Haste Should I Use? Is There a Haste Cap?
There are no goals for stats, no set amounts to aim for, no combinations of stat distributions that are good. It is a very common misconception to focus on stats or aim for the "right" ones. They do not exist. The only stat that will always be correct to pick is Intellect.
Haste increases the healing of all your HoTs linearly, which means there
are no, and cannot be any breakpoints. You will have a 10% reduction in Haste
rating effectiveness after acquiring a 5100 Haste rating, which will make it slightly
weaker overall. At your discretion, you can start gearing for other stats at that
point. After the 6800 Haste rating, you will have a 20% reduction, at which point you
might want to look into getting other stats instead. Keep in mind that diminishing
returns only work for the Haste rating, not for effects that give you Haste percent
increases like Bloodlust, Heroism, or Lycara's Teachings.
Which Raid Frames Should I Use?
Grid2, VuhDo, or ElvUI all provide strong, customizable raid frames options. Standard Blizzard frames, unfortunately, do not offer options to show the same amount of information or ways to filter out useless information.
Can I Level to 70 as Restoration?
You can, but there are no good reasons to do it. Playstyle in any of the talent builds is essentially the same as the specs they mimic but with much lower damage. If you choose to still level as Restoration, make sure you drop any and all gear with Mastery on it and try to use any trinkets with damage procs or on-use effects.
Two-Handed weapon or One-Handed plus Off-Hand?
Right now, you should just pick a higher item level of the two. Both combos will provide the same amount of stats with very minor differences in roughly a few secondary stats.
Changelog
- 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.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 29 Dec. 2022: Updated Mythic+ analysis.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Druid Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been reviewed and approved by Torty, one of the main Restoration Druid theorycrafters. He is an author of the Twig It spreadsheet and DPS action priority list. He currently raids in Pure.
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