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Restoration Druid Healing Tips and Tricks

Updated 3 years, 4 months ago for patch 8.3 by Preston. View the change log.

Healing doesn't have a rotation of spells to go through like a DPS spec does, however, there are often certain types of situations that arise where you can respond in a certain fashion. I've detailed some of the most common situations below, as well as how to heal them. In the heat of battle, you may not always be able to stick to these things exactly, but with a little practice they should become second nature.

If you have any questions or feedback, you can leave a comment below, contact me, or tweet @PrestonDvorak.

Things to always do

  1. Maintain Lifebloom on a player at all times, usually the current tank or yourself if using Photosynthesis.
  2. Maintain Efflorescence on the largest group of players.

What to do when there's no major healing to be done

  1. Continue to keep Lifebloom and Efflorescence active.
  2. Consider helping DPS.
    1. The cheapest way to do this is with Solar Wrath.
    2. You can also use Moonfire / Sunfire if mana permits.
    3. If you know you have a long period to DPS, and have taken Balance Affinity or Feral Affinity, you can shift into these forms, too.
  3. Be mindful of incoming/predictable damage so you can start putting Rejuvenations on players ahead of time.

Healing heavy tank or single-target damage

  1. If you know the damage is coming, place Ironbark or Cenarion Ward (if talented) on the target ahead of time.
  2. If the target is already <50% health and nearing death, use Swiftmend to heal them up and follow-up with Regrowth, Ironbark, or Cenarion Ward (if talented) if the damage is going to continue.
  3. Once the target is stable >50% health, place Rejuvenation on them and then follow up with another large heal (Regrowth, Swiftmend, etc) if they risk dying again without it.
  4. The main thing is to recognize when the damage is no longer critical so you don't waste mana or cooldowns.

Healing group-wide damage

  1. If you know the damage is coming, start placing Rejuvenations on as many players as possible ~10 seconds before the damage will start.
  2. For low to moderate damage where you were able to place Rejuvenations beforehand:
    1. Use Wild Growth as the damage starts.
    2. Move Lifebloom to yourself if you've taken Photosynthesis.
    3. Continue to place Rejuvenations and use Wild Growth as needed.
    4. Use Ironbark, Swiftmend, or Regrowth to save players that will die otherwise.
  3. For heavy damage where you placed Rejuvenations beforehand:
    1. Use Wild Growth as the damage starts.
    2. Depending on your talent choices:
      1. Use Flourish.
      2. Move Lifebloom to yourself if you're using Photosynthesis.
      3. Use Incarnation: Tree of Life.
    3. Continue to place Rejuvenations on players and using Wild Growth as needed.
    4. Use single-target spot healing like Swiftmend and Regrowth on players that will die otherwise. 
  4. For moderate to heavy damage with little to no Rejuvenations placed beforehand:
    1. Use Wild Growth after the damage starts.
    2. Move Lifebloom to yourself if you're using Photosynthesis.
    3. Begin placing Rejuvenations on players not affected by your Wild Growth.
    4. Just before Wild Growth's heal over time expires, use Flourish if you've taken that talent.
    5. Use Incarnation: Tree of Life if you've taken that talent
    6. Continue placing Rejuvenations on players and using Wild Growth as needed.
  5. Finally, for critical, unexpected damage, Tranquility should be used. Using it should be your last-ditch plan to keep the group alive. If you're assigned to use Tranquility at a specific time by the group leader, try to hold it for that time at all costs. If you've taken Flourish, try to always have it available to extend the heal over time effect from Tranquility after it's done channeling.

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