Restoration Druid Talents and Builds
Updated 3 years, 9 months ago for patch 1.13.6 by Preston. View the change log.
Below you'll find details on how each Classic Restoration Druid talent functions and what its best use conditions are. Druid talents allow you to customize your setup between maximum throughput and maximum mana efficiency. Feedback is greatly appreciated! Feel free to leave comments at the bottom of the page, contact me, or tweet @PrestonDvorak.
Talent Builds
Below are the two most common Restoration builds for end-game healing, as well as a popular leveling/hybrid build.
Mana Efficiency (Moonglow)
This build provides maximum mana savings through talents like Moonglow and Omen of Clarity, while still maintaining most basic healing throughput talents and gaining Nature's Grace. This build will see additional benefit from spell critical strike because of Nature's Grace. The downsides are the lack of emergency heals due to missing Swiftmend and Improved Regrowth. You'll likely find this build most useful for raid content where the encounters are longer and there are other healers to help with emergencies.
Maximum Throughput (Full Restoration/Swiftmend)
This build fills out the Restoration tree to maximize the potential healing throughput through talents like Nature's Swiftness, Swiftmend, and Improved Regrowth. This build will see additional benefit from mp/5 and spirit due to its lack of mana saving talents. You'll likely use this build in non-raid content or on shorter encounters where you find yourself needing more throughput or emergency heals.
Hybrid Healer/Tank (Heart of the Wild)
This build strikes a balance between healing and bear/tanking ability. You'll likely only use this build while leveling to save on respec costs, or if you have a supporting tank role in a group. The build is lacking in mana efficiency as well as the deeper throughput talents in the Restoration tree, meaning you won't want to use it while filling a primary healing role at max level.
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