Restoration Druid PvP Rotation and Playstyle — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0)

The main role of a Restoration Druid, besides keeping your team alive, is to always have your HoTs on your teammates and control the enemy team.

Most of the healing for Restoration Druids are instant casts. This makes it easy for you to heal teammates without getting interrupted. Once you have all of your HoTs ticking on your party members, you will only have to leave a pillar to refresh them.

Use Cyclone and Entangling Roots to control the enemy team. Cyclone should be used on the enemy healer if your team is using offensive cooldowns and trying to get a kill. If you are not, use Cyclone on the DPS you are not focusing to stop damage. If you are playing against melee, Entangling Roots can stop them in their tracks. You also have access to Hibernate and Soothe. Hibernate can be used on Druids that are in animal form or Hunter pets to stop their damage. You can use Soothe to dispel Fury Warrior enrage effects.

Make sure your team has a strategy for crowd control because you have a large crowd control toolkit, and it is important to take advantage of that.

Healers do not really have an "opener" as such. As a Restoration Druid, you want to do a few things when the gate opens.

1. Use Rejuvenation twice on a teammate that might be the focus for the enemy team to get value from Germination.
2. Use Prowl to gain Stealth and prevent the enemy team from getting crowd control or starting on you.
3. If you can, use Rake to stun the enemy healer and cast Cyclone on them.

The other team is going to try to force your trinket in the opener so they have an advantage later in the game. If you are playing against a Mage, any form you are in will negate their Polymorph. If you cannot avoid the incoming crowd control, try to use Ironbark on the teammate they are focusing.

A large majority of your healing spells are instant. This will prevent you from being interrupted, so take advantage of this. Rejuvenation, Lifebloom, and Swiftmend. The only healing spell you will have to cast is Regrowth. Use this after using Swiftmend. You will gain the Soul of the Forest buff and have a large Regrowth heal. Use your empowered Regrowth with Nature's Swiftness to do even more burst healing.

Use this if the enemy team uses their cooldowns to try to kill a teammate.

1. If you are using Incarnation: Tree of Life:
   • Use Incarnation: Tree of Life.
   • Use Innervate to make all of your spells cost no Mana.
   • Use Rejuvenation two times on your teammate.
   • Use Lifebloom.
   • Use Swiftmend.
     • With Grove Guardians, this will summon a treant that will cast Nourish on your teammate.
     • If you are playing Keeper of the Grove, these treants will also use Moonfire on an enemy and increase your healing by 5% while they are active..
   • Use Regrowth repeatedly until your team is at high health.
   • You should also get used to instantly rooting enemy melee with Entangling Roots.
   • Use Nature's Swiftness with Regrowth when you have Soul of the Forest active to do even more healing if you are still having a hard time recovering.
   • Use Tranquility to place another HoT on your teammates (this results in you doing more healing from Mastery: Harmony).
   • Note: with Reforestation talent, every 4th Swiftmend grants Incarnation: Tree of Life. When this happens, you will want to use your empowered Regrowths to heal through any incoming damage.
2. If Incarnation: Tree of Life is on cooldown, do the following:
   • Use Innervate on yourself to make all of your spells cost no Mana.
   • Use Ironbark. With a relatively short cooldown, this should be the first ability you use when the enemy team is bursting.
   • If your teammate is low and you have a few globals to heal, do the following:
     • Use Rejuvenation two times on your teammate.
     • Use Lifebloom
     • Continue with the rest of the rotation.
   • Use Swiftmend. This will give you the Soul of the Forest buff.
     • With Grove Guardians, this will summon a treant that will cast Nourish on your teammate.
     • If you are playing Keeper of the Grove, these treants will also use Moonfire on an enemy and increase your healing by 5% while they are active..
   • Use Nature's Swiftness to make your next Regrowth instant and cost no Mana. Use this when you have a Soul of the Forest buff.
   • Use Tranquility to place another HoT on your teammates (this results in you doing more healing from Mastery: Harmony).
   • Note: with Reforestation talent, every 4th Swiftmend grants Incarnation: Tree of Life. When this happens, you will want to use your empowered Regrowths to heal through any incoming damage.

Use this to heal sustained damage throughout the fight (damage done when the other team does not have burst cooldowns available).

1. You never want your HoTs to expire.
2. Always maintain two Rejuvenations on your teammates taking damage.
3. Use Lifebloom.
4. Use Swiftmend. This is great instant healing and gives you the Soul of the Forest buff.
   • With Grove Guardians, this will summon a treant that will cast Nourish on your teammate.
   • If you are playing Keeper of the Grove, these treants will also use Moonfire on an enemy and increase your healing by 5% while they are active..
5. Use Nature's Swiftness to make your next Regrowth instant and cost no Mana. Use this when you have a Soul of the Forest buff.
6. If Nature's Swiftness is not available, cast Regrowth with the Soul of the Forest buff.
7. Use Tranquility to place another HoT on your teammates (this results in you doing more healing from Mastery: Harmony).
8. Note: with Reforestation talent, every 4th Swiftmend grants Incarnation: Tree of Life. When this happens, you will want to use your empowered Regrowths to heal through any incoming damage.

For more information about your talents, please refer to our dedicated guide.

You have several defensive abilities you can use to help keep you and your team alive.

• Bear Form is going to be your main defensive ability. If an enemy team is focusing you, be sure to use Rejuvenation, Lifebloom, and Regrowth and then sit in Bear Form. Use the ability Frenzied Regeneration to get even more health back.
• Thorns is a PvP talent and should be used versus teams with 2 melee on it. Thorns does a lot of damage and will normally force enemies to swap off of you when it is active. This can be used while in Bear Form.
• Cyclone is a good defensive if the enemy team does not have any interrupts remaining. This stops a player from doing damage and is especially impactful when an enemy is trying to use their burst cooldowns. If the enemy does have interrupts available, try juking them first to gain Precognition and then start casting it.
• Ursol's Vortex is great when trying to get away from melee DPS. It is also important to remember that it can be used when in other forms. If you are taking heavy damage in Bear Form, you can use Ursol's Vortex and Dash away.
• Use Druid mobility as a defensive. We mentioned earlier that Restoration Druids have great mobility. They have spells like Travel Form and Dash to break snares and get away from enemies. Remembering that shifting between forms also breaks roots/slows.

It is advised to use Macros to use abilities on enemies or allies without having to target them. For this reason, we have a page dedicated to them.