Restoration Druid Spells and Abilities

This should be the spell you're using the most. For its mana cost, it's safe to cast on any player missing at least 10% of their health. If you know heavy group-wide damage is coming in <10-seconds, you should prepare by casting this on as many players as possible, even if they're at full health. This should also be kept active on the current tank as you can expect the tank be taking persistent damage. Take a look at the healing tips and tricks page for more information on healing group-wide damage.

Place this under the largest group of players you can find, ideally at least three. In most cases, it's safe to keep this active even if there's no damage happening, but you should always have it active in preparation of group-wide damage. If players are spread out to the point you can only place it under one or two, you can instead place it under the current tanks to ensure it's healing is at least being used consistently.

Use this just as heavy group-wide damage begins, after you've cast Wild Growth and ideally after casting as many Rejuvenations as possible prior to the damage starting. To be even more optimal, you should also have Lifebloom and Cenarion Ward (if talented) active, but you shouldn't delay usage if players will die in the mean time or if Wild Growth will expire.

You should also try to have Flourish available after using Tranquility to refresh the heal over time effect it applies on all players.

This should be used after six or more players have taken damage. Try not to use it before the damage has happen because the healing over time starts out quickly and you don't want it to go to waste.

This should be kept on the current tank at all times unless you're using Photosynthesis, in which case it's acceptable to place it on yourself when group-wide damage is happening. It not only provides Omen of Clarity the opportunity to proc Clearcasting but also counts as a heal over time effect for Mastery: Harmony. Additionally, if Lifebloom is refreshed with <30% of its duration remaining, the bloom effect is triggered just like if it expired. This can be used to supply a burst of healing to the tank in some cases.

This is our external defensive cooldown spell and its usage depends a lot on the situation. If you're in a raid setting where the tanks or certain players need external cooldowns at specific times, its best to save it for those times. Otherwise, I personally try to use it as often as possible at times that make sense. This is usually to save players that get caught where they shouldn't be, get a debuff they shouldn't have, or are low on health before taking unavoidable damage.

Generally speaking, Cenarion Ward can be thought of as a second Lifebloom and should often be put on the current tank whenever it's off cooldown. In some cases, you can hold it to put on a player you know is going to be taking significant damage with in the next 30 seconds. Either way, you want it up as much as possible.

Nourish is a very efficient heal when healing a player that has one or more heal over time effects active on them already. It should be used to heal moderate or heavy damage that isn't critical, as long as at least one heal over time effect is active. If no heal over time effects are active, it's best to lead with Rejuvenation or Regrowth depending on if the situation is critical or not.

As our only remaining "direct heal" that isn't on a cooldown or a talent, this should be used to rapidly heal players when other heal over time effects aren't enough. Don't be afraid to cast it multiple times on the same player if the damage they're taking warrants it. Try to avoid overusing it though, as it's mana cost is quite high compared to other spells. It should always be used when your Clearcasting buff is active, either on a player that's missing health or on the current tank if everyone is at full health.

This is our main emergency healing spell and will be our first choice when used with Regrowth for a player that needs emergency healing. It not only makes Regrowth instant cast, but also makes it heal for 100% more.

You can also use this with Rebirth for an instant cast battle resurrection, or with Entangling Roots for instant crowd control. Although those scenarios are less common than using it for healing.

This consumes a heal over time effect on the targeted player and should be used to keep a player alive when an instant burst of healing is needed.

If you've taken the Soul of the Forest talent, you'll be using Swiftmend much more often to gain the buff. In this case, it's acceptable to use it outside of emergency situations.

This spell applies all of our heal over time effects to the targeted player, leading to rapid healing over time. This healing should be enough to survive even heavy damage but could fall short for particularly large bursts of damage. You can follow up with Swiftmend if a burst of healing is required. The downside to this spell is it moves our Lifebloom to the targeted player, which may not always be ideal.

This is our large group-healing cooldown. In most raid situations, it will be coordinated with other large cooldowns for use during critical points in the fight. If it hasn't been coordinated, use your best judgement and try to avoid using it at the same time as other healers' cooldowns. When in a dungeon, this will do twice as much healing, making it incredibly useful for emergency situations there, too.

Each time this heals a player they gain a healing over time stack, which can and should be extended with Flourish if you've taken the talent.

This is best used at the beginning of heavy group-wide damage. You should try to cast Wild Growth three times while it's active and cast as many Rejuvenations as possible in between. If a player needs critical healing, you can also make use of instant-cast Regrowth, but don't use it too often because it will quickly drain your mana.

You'll probably use this before preparing for group-wide damage, as detailed on the healing tips page. Ideally, you'll cast Efflorescence, Wild Growth, Cenarion Ward (if talent taken), and Lifebloom while it's active, in addition to as many Rejuvenations as you can. This will give you the maximum mana savings, but really any mana savings is important.

In most cases, it's safe to dispel any Magic, Curse, or Poison effect immediately. However, because of the eight second cooldown you may need to prioritize what you dispel first if there are multiple debuffs present. Usually, you want to dispel things that incapacitate the player first, followed by debuffs that cause high amounts of damage. Be on the look out for debuffs that “explode” or otherwise cause harm to the player or nearby players when dispelled. Coordinate positioning ahead of time or be ready to use an extra cooldown (like Ironbark) to keep them alive.

Druids are one of the few classes that are able to remove Enrage effects on enemies, making this an important utility spell in most group content. With a 10-second cooldown, it will be almost impossible to dispel every Enrage effect. The best way to handle it will usually be to dispel the highest health enemy first, except in cases where an Enrage effect is more potent on a lower health enemy. The idea behind this is the lower health enemies have a higher chance of dying partway through their Enrage buff, so you help limit the total uptime of Enrage effects by dispelling the one that's likely to last the longest.

Resurrecting someone in combat is very powerful. My rule for using it in raids is to resurrect tanks immediately, healers immediately if it's a heavy healing fight, and to leave DPS down unless the chances of a tank or healer dying are low. When in a five-man group, it's usually safe to resurrect anyone immediately. This is something you can coordinate with your group leader when needed.

This spell increases the potency of your chosen Affinity talent, increasing your damage dealt or survivability. With Feral Affinity and Balance Affinity your associated spells and abilities will deal more damage. With Guardian Affinity you'll gain more survivability while in Bear Form. If you know you'll need to help DPS during an encounter, you'll want to pair this with Feral or Balance. For general use, the extra survivability with Guardian is a decent choice.

Use this to resurrect dead group members when out of combat. Classes with healing specializations are the only ones with a mass resurrection, so be sure to use it!

This spell is primarily used for controlling melee enemies. It doesn't fully incapacitate the affected enemy so it's less useful for ranged or caster enemies. It will also break quickly if the affected enemy takes damage. If a player is standing near a melee enemy when it's rooted, that player will be hit even if they don't currently have aggro.

Unlike Entangling Roots, this will fully incapacitate a Beast or Dragonkin enemy, making it useful not only on melee enemies but also ranged and casters. Any damage on the affected enemy will break the effect, so it will be best to use this before enemies have been engaged whenever possible.

This is a powerful, short duration crowd control effect that makes the affected enemy completely immune to beneficial and harmful spells. In almost all cases it should only be used on an enemy that's not going to be the target of DPS for its duration, and unless coordinated with the group shouldn't be used on current DPS targets.

Great for any situation that has lesser enemies that need to be controlled. It can keep enemies grouped up to be killed or to keep them from harming players.

This can be a tricky spell to make use of in a group environment without some planning. It's very good at holding enemies in place, but only if they're not taking sustained damage. Its use should be well coordinated with the rest of the group if possible.

This is a strong, short-duration crowd control effect that's perfect to use while an enemy is already in combat or taking damage. It's also nice for interrupting spell casts, especially on enemies that are immune to spell interrupt effects but still susceptible to stun effects.

This can be used to control enemies for a short duration, whether that be to follow up with more powerful crowd control, or just to slow incoming damage for a moment. It's also a great for interrupting spell casts from enemies that are susceptible to disorient effects

*Obtained as part of the Guardian Affinity talent.

This can be used to help keep lesser enemies where they need to be and can even be used to interrupt spell casts on enemies that can be knocked back. However, because of the knock back effect, you likely only want to use it in emergencies as knocking enemies away from DPS is usually not a good thing.

*Obtained as part of the Balance Affinity talent.

This can be thought of like another Mighty Bash, with the downside of needing combo points to use. If you have the time to generate the combo points, this is a powerful incapacitating effect that can be used for general crowd control while the enemy is in combat and taking sustained damage, or even as an interrupt on enemies that are susceptible to stuns.

*Obtained as part of the Feral Affinity talent.

Our mastery rewards having multiple heal over time effects on a player, something that's not hard to do with our spell toolkit. Even a single heal over time will benefit from this, but the more the better!

A free Regrowth cast can be powerful at the right time. You should use the Regrowth on anyone who is missing health at the time, with tanks being the priority. If no one is missing health, you can use it on a tank to give them the heal over time effect.

This is small little bonus heal to yourself or a nearby player. It's not substantial on its own, but you don't need to think about it and it will rarely ever overheal.

This is the baseline movement speed ability for Restoration Druids. It requires you to stay in Cat Form to take advantage of the speed increase. However, you can freely shift in and out of Cat Form for the duration of the buff. You should use this ability if you won't make it out of something without the speed increase. If you can make it out safely without using Dash, you should always continue healing while moving.

Similar to Dash, this will not only increase your movement speed but also the movement speed of nearby players. When used, it shifts you into Bear Form but you don't have to remain in Bear Form to take advantage of the movement speed buff. You should use this anytime you or nearby players need to make it out of a dangerous spot quickly.

This replaces Dash and allows you to cover a significant amount of ground in a short period of time. It will likely be your default mobility choice. It does require you to be in Cat Form but you'll cover the distance more quickly and can shift out sooner than with Dash.

This is a versatile spell that you can customize by changing forms. The downside is it's a little clunkier than the other options because you need to change forms and then use it. However, it offers possibilities the other options don't and may see niche use on some encounters.

This is our baseline personal cooldown and should be used anytime you're at risk of dying or before you're going to take heavy damage.

This isn't like a traditional survival cooldown, but considering it increases your health and armor, it can still help keep you alive. If you've taken the Guardian Affinity talent, it will also give you access to Frenzied Regeneration. The down side is you won't be able to cast healing spells while in the form, but you shouldn't need to stay in it for too long.

This should be used when missing at least 30% of your total health and in most cases can be thought of like a second healing potion or healthstone.