Restoration Druid Healing Spec, Builds, and Talents — The War Within (Season 1)

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

On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Restoration Druid in World of Warcraft — The War Within (Season 1). We also have default talent lists for various types of content, such as raiding or Mythic+. If you play with Warmode on, we have your PvP talents covered as well.

If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Restoration Druid talents.

1.

Talent Cheat Sheets for Restoration Druid

While optimizing talents on a contextual basis is the highly recommended method of setting up your build, the talent builds listed below work great for specific purposes.

Multiple talents require a change to your rotation to use them optimally. You can find more information on how your rotation will look after selecting your talents on our rotation page below.

2.

Best Talents for Restoration Druid

Raid Healing Keeper of the Grove Dungeon Healing Wildstalker Dungeon Healing Delves
3.

Restoration Druid Raid Healing Talents

This is the best generic raid healing build for Raiding:

Be sure to use the 'Export Talents' button on our calculator so that you can quickly transfer our builds ingame!

The build suggested above does not account for specific fights in the current raid tier. You should check out our dedicated page below if you wish to have a boss-by-boss breakdown of talent choices.

3.

Keeper of the Grove Dungeon Healing Talents

This is not our recommended build for dungeon healing. It does not require extensive uptime in Cat Form Icon Cat Form as it focuses more on doing damage through caster DoTs and Starfire Icon Starfire. However, we believe it also does a bit less healing than Wildstalker.

If you want more detailed advice specific to Mythic+, check out our page below.

3.

Wildstalker Dungeon Healing Talents

This is our recommended talent build for Mythic+. It is not harder to play for healing, but it is significantly harder to get maximum damage output than in Keeper of the Grove. This talent build is focused more on damage with the choices picked in the class tree. This does not necessarily mean you should pick all of those. You can still choose to swap some damage for crowd control or defensive options.

Optional talents in the class tree are Primal Fury Icon Primal Fury, Mighty Bash Icon Mighty Bash, Well-Honed Instincts Icon Well-Honed Instincts, Forestwalk Icon Forestwalk, Nature's Vigil Icon Nature's Vigil, Cyclone Icon Cyclone, Soothe Icon Soothe, Natural Recovery Icon Natural Recovery, Thrash Icon Thrash, Typhoon Icon Typhoon. As you can see, there are way too many variations to list them all. Make sure you spec into your utility spells according to your group's needs.

In the spec tree, you either pick Liveliness Icon Liveliness or Master Shapeshifter Icon Master Shapeshifter. Liveliness will help a lot with damage, but will require a much higher uptime in Cat Form Icon Cat Form and will shift priorities from caster spells to cast spells, especially towards Rake Icon Rake, Rip Icon Rip, and Swipe Icon Swipe. Master Shapeshifter is a bit safer option mainly due to Mana regeneration. You will most likely have to drink a bit if you are not playing it.

If you want more detailed advice specific to Mythic+, check out our page below.

3.

Restoration Druid Delve Build

This is our recommended build for Delves, which focuses on maximizing your damage output while still being specced into Restoration.

Be sure to use the 'Export Talents' button on our calculator so that you can quickly transfer our builds in-game!

3.

Spec-Specific Talents for Restoration Druids

Your main idea when building a talent tree should be to spend as many points at the bottom of the tree as possible since they are the strongest ones. With that in mind, try to pick the bare minimum in the first two sections. We will try to break down the order in which you should pick talents and priorities within each tier.

3.1.

Rows 1-4

You have to spend 8 points in this section, which generally leaves you with little choice.

  1. Lifebloom Icon Lifebloom, Nature's Swiftness Icon Nature's Swiftness, Omen of Clarity Icon Omen of Clarity and Ysera's Gift Icon Ysera's Gift are always chosen, no matter what content you are doing.
  2. Grove Tending Icon Grove Tending is a powerful talent for this tier. You will generally pick this one as well.
  3. For both raiding and dungeons, you will pick Abundance Icon Abundance. This means you will pick Nature's Swiftness-improving talents or Flash of Clarity Icon Flash of Clarity. Neither is particularly exciting, so you can use your discretion here. Keep in mind that Mythic+ spec will use double Lifebloom, which will give you more Clearcasting procs.
  4. This leaves you with 1 talent point unspent. You should pick Tranquil Mind Icon Tranquil Mind. Otherwise, pick either of the 3 talents available, as they will not make much difference.
3.2.

Rows 5-7

Similar to the first tier of talents, you are left with 12 points to spend here, making selections generally obvious depending on content.

  1. You will, first of all, always pick the following 3 talents: Efflorescence Icon Efflorescence, Ironbark Icon Ironbark, Soul of the Forest Icon Soul of the Forest.
  2. For raiding, your next obvious choices will be Inner Peace Icon Inner Peace / Dreamstate Icon Dreamstate, Improved Wild Growth Icon Improved Wild Growth, Cultivation Icon Cultivation.
  3. For Mythic+ and raids we pick Stonebark Icon Stonebark / Improved Ironbark Icon Improved Ironbark + Regenerative Heartwood Icon Regenerative Heartwood. Mythic+ skips an extra target for Wild Growth Icon Wild Growth. Mainly, we pick Regenerative Heartwood in raids to use Ironbark Icon Ironbark in ramps. The buff to Wild Growth from Unstoppable Growth Icon Unstoppable Growth is not as good as an extra target being unkillable for your ramp.
  4. Both raid and Mythic+ specs will pick Grove Guardians Icon Grove Guardians and Wild Synthesis Icon Wild Synthesis here.
  5. Raiding spec will have one point left. You spend it on Rampant Growth Icon Rampant Growth if you are pathing towards Spring Blossoms Icon Spring Blossoms, or on Verdancy Icon Verdancy if you are going for Nurturing Dormancy Icon Nurturing Dormancy later.
  6. Mythic+ specs will need four points to advance further. Verdancy Icon Verdancy is a pretty good choice here. You can spend the remaining points on Harmonious Blooming Icon Harmonious Blooming and Rampant Growth Icon Rampant Growth.
3.3.

Rows 8-10

3.3.1.

Raid Builds

Raiding Druids have a lot of mandatory points in this section: Flourish Icon Flourish, Master Shapeshifter Icon Master Shapeshifter, Germination Icon Germination, Convoke the Spirits Icon Convoke the Spirits / Incarnation: Tree of Life Icon Incarnation: Tree of Life, Cenarius' Guidance Icon Cenarius' Guidance, Reforestation Icon Reforestation, Prosperity Icon Prosperity. This is 7 talent points out of 10 available.

You have 3 remaining talent points. First of all, to make it to Reforestation Icon Reforestation and Germination Icon Germination, you need to pick Thriving Vegetation Icon Thriving Vegetation. This leaves us with 1 talent point. You can put it in either Spring Blossoms Icon Spring Blossoms or Nurturing Dormancy Icon Nurturing Dormancy. If you can utilise Efflorescence Icon Efflorescence well on a boss, then Spring Blossoms is an obvious choice. Otherwise, Power of the Archdruid is a slightly stronger talent than Nurturing Dormancy.

3.3.2.

Mythic+ Builds

Mythic+ Druids have to make different choices. The only DPS talents left in this section are Convoke the Spirits Icon Convoke the Spirits and Call of the Elder Druid Icon Call of the Elder Druid. We will pick either Convoke for more damage or Incarnation: Tree of Life Icon Incarnation: Tree of Life for more healing. We will also always pick Cenarius' Guidance Icon Cenarius' Guidance. We will also want either Prosperity Icon Prosperity or Verdant Infusion Icon Verdant Infusion. The better choice for most situations here is Prosperity. This leaves us with 7 talents.

Due to the small group nature of Mythic+, we will generally prefer Lifebloom Icon Lifebloom-oriented builds over Rejuvenation Icon Rejuvenation. For the most healing, we will always pick Photosynthesis Icon Photosynthesis and Undergrowth Icon Undergrowth. We will also want Spring Blossoms Icon Spring Blossoms due to how strong it is. We are now left with 4 points.

Out of Master Shapeshifter Icon Master Shapeshifter and Liveliness Icon Liveliness, we will most often prefer Master Shapeshifter for Keeper of the Grove and Liveliness for Wildstalker. Master Shapeshifter buffs caster spells, which are utilised a lot more with Keeper. Liveliness, in turn, massively speeds up the tick rate of your DoTs. We are mainly interested in Rake Icon Rake and Rip Icon Rip. The more ticks on these two, the more Bloodseeker Vines Icon Bloodseeker Vines procs. Liveliness will also increase the tick rate of Bloodseeker Vines, and they will buff your Rake and Rip.

For the remaining 3 points, we can either put points into Call of the Elder Druid Icon Call of the Elder Druid and Dream of Cenarius Icon Dream of Cenarius for full damage, then one talent wherever. More conservatively, we will pick Budding Leaves Icon Budding Leaves and Reforestation Icon Reforestation. Call of the Elder Druid and Dream of Cenarius really require a lot of time to be spent doing damage to be worth it. They will not contribute any healing during heaviest damage, which is a major downside.

4.

Class Specific Talents for Restoration Druids

There is no good way to make one spec that will work for all raid bosses or all dungeons at all levels. It is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each talent path and build something coherent with synergies, making sure that all extra spells you pick up are utilized properly.

4.1.

Rows 1-4

2 points in Nurturing Instinct Icon Nurturing Instinct are too strong and important to ignore. Improved Nature's Cure Icon Improved Nature's Cure should only be picked for dungeons or bosses with Curse or Poison debuffs.

All Druids will probably want Rake Icon Rake and Feline Swiftness Icon Feline Swiftness for 15% movement speed, although for dungeon content, you can skip Feline Swiftness for other utility options.

The major decisions are on the left side of the first rows. Raiding druids will want to pick defensive options: Frenzied Regeneration Icon Frenzied Regeneration, Improved Barkskin Icon Improved Barkskin, Ironfur Icon Ironfur, and possibly Verdant Heart Icon Verdant Heart.

Mythic+ players will want to pick Starfire Icon Starfire, Sunfire Icon Sunfire, Improved Sunfire Icon Improved Sunfire, Rip Icon Rip, and optionally Killer Instinct Icon Killer Instinct.

4.2.

Rows 5-10

Here, every Druid should be picking the following talents: Natural Recovery Icon Natural Recovery, Thick Hide Icon Thick Hide, Ursol's Vortex Icon Ursol's Vortex / Mass Entanglement Icon Mass Entanglement, Soothe Icon Soothe, Stampeding Roar Icon Stampeding Roar, Renewal Icon Renewal, Rising Light, Falling Night Icon Rising Light, Falling Night.

For raiding you will always pick Improved Rejuvenation Icon Improved Rejuvenation, but for Mythic+, you can definitely skip this point if you are confident about your healing, although this is not recommended.

To go into the left-side defensive talents, you will have to pick Wild Charge Icon Wild Charge / Tiger Dash Icon Tiger Dash and either Matted Fur Icon Matted Fur or Ursine Vigor Icon Ursine Vigor. Matted Fur is not that strong, but it is useful more often because you should not need to use Bear Form Icon Bear Form until the key levels are very high.

Skull Bash Icon Skull Bash is a good pick for Mythic+ here, too, but you will have to pick between getting it, getting Improved Rejuvenation, or any one talent in the last third of the talent tree. It is most likely better to drop something in the bottom to get both the interrupt and a longer Rejuvenation.

4.3.

Rows 11-13

In the last part of the tree, you will have to pick 2 talents in Lycara's Teachings Icon Lycara's Teachings and 2 talents in Lore of the Grove Icon Lore of the Grove.

Raiding druids will always pick Innervate Icon Innervate and Nature's Vigil Icon Nature's Vigil.

If you want to pick defensive talents, then you will pick 2 in Instincts of the Claw Icon Instincts of the Claw, Oakskin Icon Oakskin, and Well-Honed Instincts Icon Well-Honed Instincts. You can also skip defensive side talents and pick Forestwalk Icon Forestwalk together with Heart of the Wild Icon Heart of the Wild.

Mythic+ players will have to choose their utility in this part. 2 points in Instincts of the Claw Icon Instincts of the Claw and Oakskin Icon Oakskin are nice to have for more defense. Then, you will definitely want to path towards Heart of the Wild Icon Heart of the Wild. Fluid Form Icon Fluid Form is not a good talent here, as it only saves some Energy here and there but does not contribute much damage. You will probably save more time in a key using Stampeding Roar more often.

Another option is to completely skip Cat side talents and go into Nature's Vigil Icon Nature's Vigil through Forestwalk Icon Forestwalk.

5.

PvP Talents (War Mode)

You can go into "War Mode." Enabling War Mode provides the following benefits:

  • PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world.
  • 10-30% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level.
  • 10-30% more experience gained while leveling.
  • Earn Conquest Points, which can reward gear every week.

With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended enabling the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at maximum level. However, you will make yourself available for open-world PvP, and the possibility of being killed while leveling or doing World Quests exists.

5.1.

Restoration Druid War Mode Talents

In this section, we will rank the PvP talents best for leveling and doing solo / small group PvE content. Below is a ranking of General PvP Talents and Restoration Druid-specific PvE talents.

5.1.1.

Restoration Druid PvP Talents

  1. Thorns Icon Thorns is a good choice that offers a direct damage increase. It is usable in any form and can provide significant damage to big pulls.

Disentanglement Icon Disentanglement, Entangling Bark Icon Entangling Bark, Deep Roots Icon Deep Roots, Focused Growth Icon Focused Growth, Early Spring Icon Early Spring have limited effect on PvE content in terms of increasing your damage in the open-world or healing in a small group setting.

6.

Changelog

  • 09 Sep. 2024: Updated for TWW Season 1.
  • 29 Aug. 2024: Added Wildstalker dungeon build and added clarifications on some talents.
  • 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: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 4.
  • 20 Mar. 2024: Updated for Patch 10.2.6.
  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
  • 21 Nov. 2023: Updated talent recommendations.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.7.
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Updated pathing and talent choice recommendations for Patch 10.1.5.
  • 01 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.
  • 24 Mar. 2023: Updated raid talent recommendations.
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.7.
  • 24 Jan. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.5.
  • 29 Dec. 2022: Adjusted talent advice for both Mythic+ and Raids.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Added more Mythic+ build options.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
  • 30 Oct. 2022: Updated Regenesis advice.
  • 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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