Restoration Druid Races and Racials
Updated 7 months, 1 week ago for patch 10.1 by Preston. View the change log.
Below are details about the different races Restoration Druids can be as well as how to best utilize their racial abilities. Generally speaking, you should play the race you're most excited about playing because no racial effect offers too significant of a benefit over another. However, it can still be useful to know what your options are and how to best make use of them. Feel free to leave comments at the bottom of the page, contact me, or tweet @PrestonDvorak.
Horde
These races are available to Restoration Druids in the Horde faction.
Tauren
Tauren are one of nature's guardians and seek to keep its balance while honoring the Earth Mother.
Active Racials
- War Stomp (Utility) - An area of effect stun that can be used to interrupt casts or slow damage on the tank if you need to catch up on healing. Especially useful in dungeons and Mythic+.
Passive Racials
- Brawn (Throughput) - A small increase to critical heals, and because Resto Druids like a balance of stats, you should always end up with some amount of critical strike.
- Endurance (Survivability) - An small increase to hit points is useful in nearly all types of content.
- Nature Resistance (Survivability) - Depending on what you're fighting, this can be another marginal boost to survivability.
- Cultivation (Non-combat) - A thematically appropriate skill for the Herbalism profession
Troll
Trolls are fierce warriors with a shadowy heritage and close ties to the spirit world.
Active Racials
- Berserking (Throughput) - A minor cooldown to use when healing gets tough, similar to how you might use Flourish or Incarnation: Tree of Life. The haste has the added benefit of reducing the global cooldown, too, allowing you to use spells like Rejuvenation more quickly.
Passive Racials
- Regeneration (Survivability) - A small amount of passive healing while in combat.
- Da Voodoo Shuffle (Utility) - This won't come into play often in PvE content, but being incapacitated for a shorter amount of time can be helpful when it does happen.
- Beast Slaying (Non-combat) - A nice, thematically appropriate boost to leveling.
Highmountain Tauren
Highmountain Tauren are devoted to the spirits of earth and have spent ages protecting their sacred mountain.
Active Racials
- Bull Rush (Utility) - A charging area of effect stun that can be used to interrupt casts, slow damage on the tank if you need to catch up on healing, or even charge out of a bad location. Especially useful in dungeons and Mythic+.
Passive Racials
- Mountaineer (Throughput/Survivability) - Additional versatility translates into a small amount of throughput and survivability.
- Rugged Tenacity (Survivability) - Reduces all damage taken by a small amount, useful in all types of content.
- Waste Not, Want Not (Non-combat) - Can be useful if you're using consumables that require meat or fish and collect your own resources.
- Pride of the Ironhorn (Non-combat) - A nice, thematically appropriate passive effect if you plan to have Mining as a profession.
Zandalari Trolls
Zandalari Trolls are one of the strongest navel civilizations, dating back to the early existence of Azeroth.
Active Racials
- Pterrodax Swoop (Utility) - Reduced falling speed likely won't see much use in PvE content, but it could be useful for knock-up mechanics seen on some encounters.
- Regeneratin' (Survivability) - This can be nice to heal up in between pulls in a dungeon or Mythic+, but being interrupted by taking damage can make it hard to use overall.
Passive Racials
- Embrace of the Loa (Throughput) - Allows you to select a passive buff/effect by honoring a loa. This can be changed once every 5-days.
- Loa Shrines can be located by talking to a guard in Dazar'alor, selecting Loa Shrines from the list, and then picking the shrine you want. Once at the shrine, open your spell book to the Embrace of the Loa spell and change it as desired.
- The following will be most useful to Restoration Druids (ranked from most useful to least useful from a PvE/healing perspective).
- Embrace of Pa'ku - Getting more stats as a Restoration Druid is always a good thing, and this is the top choice because of that.
- Embrace of Akunda - Having a chance to apply additional healing to a player isn't bad, but the healing provided won't outweigh the benefit of additional critical strike chance.
- Embrace of Gonk - Druids don't often need additional mobility, but this is an option if you ever find a situation where movement speed is needed over more healing throughput.
- Additional, non-healing options: Embrace of Bwonsamdi, Embrace of Kimbul, Embrace of Krag'wa
- City of Gold - Not a combat bonus, but who doesn't need more gold for repairs?
Alliance
These races are available to Restoration Druids in the Alliance faction.
Night Elf
Night Elves are ancient guardians of nature, their existence is as old as Azeroth itself.
Active Racials
- Shadowmeld (Survivability/Utility) - Great for running by enemies and then going invisible, allowing you to skip enemies in dungeons and Mythic+. It can also be used to drop threat on enemies attacking you.
Passive Racials
- Touch of Elune (Throughput) - A small stat increase, and because Restoration Druids aren't too picky about their stats, either time of day is useful.
- Quickness (Survivability) - You won't often be taking melee or ranged attacks as a healer, but having a chance to mitigate damage is never a bad thing.
- Nature Resistance (Survivability) - Depending on what you're fighting, this can be a marginal boost to survivability.
- Wisp Spirit (Non-combat) - Gets you back to your body faster while out in the open world.
Worgen
Worgen are an old group of cursed humans that recently re-emerged from their prison behind a wall that was meant to protect them. They now work to find purpose on Azeroth.
Active Racials
- Darkflight (Utility) - Having an additional movement speed cooldown can be nice on encounters with frequent movement.
- Running Wild (Non-combat) - Allows you to run on all four legs as fast as if you were on a ground mount.
- Two Forms / Altered Form (Non-combat) - Allows you to switch between your human and worgen forms.
Passive Racials
- Viciousness (Throughput) - A small stat increase, and because Resto Druids aren't too picky about stats, having more critical strike is just fine.
- Abberation (Survivability) - Depending on what you're fighting, this can be a marginal boost to survivability.
- Flayer (Non-combat) - A nice, thematically appropriate passive if you choose to take Skinning as a profession.
Kul Tiran
Kul Tirans are fearless explorers and elite sailors that helm one of Azeroth's most powerful navies.
Active Racials
- Haymaker (Utility) - Can be used to interrupt casts or stun a particularly damaging enemy. The only downside could be the knock back, be careful not to knock things into other groups. Especially useful in dungeons and Mythic+.
Passive Racials
- Brush It Off (Throughput) - Gives a small boost to healing throughput and some additional survivability.
- Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Survivability) - Depending on what you're fighting, this can be a marginal boost to survivability.
- Child of the Sea (Non-combat) - Can be nice for questing or anything that involves swimming.
- Jack of All Trades (Non-combat) - A nice, thematically appropriate passive for your professions.
Comment on Restoration Druid Guide