Healing Part 3: Druids

Without further adieu, I give you Murien the druid.

Druid Healing

Druids can serve as a very different type of healer than that of a priest or paladin. We are equipped with a variety of spells, and most notably, three are Heals over Time (HoTs). In my opinion, there are two different specs to go with as a resto druid, if putting only 41 points in the resto tree. The first focuses on improving healing touch, our largest available heal (not a HoT). The second focuses on improving the HoT spells like rejuvenation and regrowth. I am a druid specced to improve my HoTs, and have the most experience from that point of view. However, I will cover all the options a resto druid can take.

There are numerous advantages and disadvantages to being a healer that depends on HoTs. Druids are the best available off healers when utilized correctly. A druid can cast all their HoTs on a target, and use the time the heals are ticking to regenerate mana without concern of getting behind on healing. I usually only get one or two ticks outside of the five second rule when trying to regen mana, but these add up and lengthen my effective healing time. Also keeping HoTs on the tank(s) really helps out other healers in a raid setting.

The big disadvantage as HoT druid is that we lack a heal that instantly heals for a significant amount. Swiftmend and Natures Swiftness are designed to serve as the instant heals but they present small problems. They have cool downs of 15 sec and 3 min respectively. Also, if the target you are trying to “save” does not have a HoT spell currently active on it, Rejuvination must be cast before Swiftmend. This option forces the druid to wait on a global cool down before getting the results. Natures Swiftness does not cause a global cool down, but the 3 minute cooldown on it eliminates the possibility of relying on it. As a result, the druid is not as effective at being a savior as other healing classes when battles have their little “surprises.”

Speccing to improve healing touch over the HoT spells increases the druid’s utility as a main healer. A druid with the potency of improved healing touch offers a solid healer comparable to priests. The problem I have with this spec is that the usefulness of tree form is practically eliminated.

In Tree Form, a druid cannot cast Healing Touch, decurse/depoison, or malicious spells. However, everything you can cast has a mana reduction of 20%. In addition, group members that receive healing get extra healing based on the druid’s spirit. Tree form makes sense to be in as a HoT druid when a battle is going to be mana intensive, or in raid scenario. A healing touch druid loses a lot of their improvements from talents. I have not tried speccing on this way, mainly because I have accompanied Trystery as the offhealer. However, I would consider not getting tree form, and trying natures grace instead, or maybe even one point in moonglow or lunar guidance depending on your needs.

I have found that there are ways to be a more effective main healer even if you are in tree form. As state above, a druid cannot rely on having Nature’s Swiftness and Swiftmend available. A third thing they can use is Lifebloom. Lifebloom stacks up to three times, and heals for a fair amount once the spell expires. I try to keep 3 stacks lifebloom up on the tank if I am the mainhealer (manaintensive, but effective) and, if I need the extra healing, the lifebloom often expires soon after I get swiftmend off. So main healing is possible, we just aren’t the best.

Many might question whether to get spirit or mana per 5 as a druid. I think it depends on your playstyle. If you are an offhealer a lot of the time, and can rest out of the 5 second rule for a lot of time, bring on the spirit. If not, go mana per 5. I suggest you DO NOT only get one or the other though, there are fights where both will be useful to have.

I think that since druids must spec into swiftmend and natures swiftness, even a well geared feral or balanced druid are at a healing disadvantage. Do not expect them to be successful main healers, but they can still have HoTs up on targets if you need the healing during certain battles.

I hope this summary gives an idea of what to expect from a druid, and how to utilize them in groups. Remember that druids are fantastic off healers, can be main healers if specced for it, but consider your spec (consider the healers you run with in the raid when deciding). We cannot heal a tank like a paladin can, or pump out the sheer volume of healing that priests can in battles, but count on a druid to keep the raid health topped off, HoTing the MT, and essentially keeping the pallies and priest from needing to lose focus from their jobs.