FAQ for Resto Druids in 5.0.4

After reviewing the search engine hits this morning, I’m seeing a few common questions:

Is there a spirit cap for Resto Druids in 5.0.4?

No.  There is no upper level of Spirit at which point it starts to become useless to us.  I was running with about 1800 Spirit prior to the patch (which is quite low), and I got rid of some extra haste last night – making sure I still had at least 2005 when I was done – so that I could get some Spirit back.  I ended up with around 2300 Spirit while I was running heroics after the patch.  I kept an eye on my mana bar and used Innervate more often than I normally would, but even so I never saw myself dip below 50%.

The tl;dr version is:  try healing with your current level of Spirit.  If you find yourself running out of mana too quickly, reforge any extra haste to Spirit first (again, making sure you have at least 2005 haste) and then reforge out of extra mastery.

How do you get permanent tree form back?

Permanent tree form comes from the Glyph of the Treant, which is a minor glyph.  Druids in any spec can use this glyph and it will add a Treant Form button to your shapeshifting bar.  The effect is completely cosmetic; it does nothing to increase your healing.  You will not be able to see your character’s weapons if you use this glyph (except, oddly enough, if you melee an enemy).

What is Nature’s Cure and why is it on an 8 second cooldown?

Nature’s Cure used to be a talent in the Resto tree that allowed our old dispel, Remove Corruption, to also remove one magic effect.  Now, Nature’s Cure is our dispel ability and it removes all Magic, Curse, and Poison effects on a friendly target.  Like all healer dispel abilities in 5.0.4, Nature’s Cure has an 8 second cooldown (though this cooldown only activates if a dispell is successful).  Ghostcrawler explains why the development team decided to make this change below:

Dispels are just too frequent. They are supposed to be decisions, but they aren’t. We don’t think the answer is to give everyone dispel protection. We think the answer is to make dispels harder. In 5.0 we want dispels to have a cooldown and duration more like [Counterspell] but get all buffs or debuffs at once to make them more tactical — you can dispel Avenging Wrath if you really want to, but then you won’t have it if the paladin uses Freedom immediately after .

(source)

We would like all dispels to be in the 20 sec cooldown and 10 sec duration range. Some variation among that is fine. Dispels with very short cooldowns aren’t decisions and completely neuter classes with a lot of magical mechanics.

(source)

Do Resto druids still have Nature’s Grace in 5.0.4?

No.  Nature’s Grace has been removed.

What glyphs should a Resto druid use in 5.0.4?

Even glyphs are much more optional and situational than they used to be, but here are a few suggestions for major glyphs:

• Healing Touch – Anything that reduces the cooldown on Swiftmend is going to be a good choice for us, and Healing Touch will still be a spell you’ll use a lot, despite the changes to our mana pool.  This is a strong all-around choice.
• Lifebloom – A must-have for any Resto druid who will be raid healing.  This finally gives us a way to swap Lifebloom from one tank to the other and keep all 3 stacks.  This would not be helpful for a Resto druid who is exclusively running dungeons.
• Regrowth – A really interesting glyph that essentially turns our Regrowth into something more like a Flash Heal.  With Regrowth guaranteed to crit, this also means it is guaranteed to apply Living Seed to its target.  I think this is likely to be a strong choice for tank healing, though it does take a little bit of getting used to.  Remember that this will mean you won’t have Regrowth HoTs to use for Swiftmend.
• Wild Growth – Do not take this for healing dungeons or for 10 man raiding.  It is, however, useful for 25 man raid healing.
• Rebirth – No longer mandatory, as Rebirth now returns its target t0 60% health as a baseline.  It’s not a bad choice, but there are other glyphs that are stronger for Resto druids.
• Blooming – Do not take this for PvE situations as it would completely change the way that we tank heal.  It would be a strong glyph for PvP Resto druids.

Minor glyphs are totally optional because they are all cosmetic, fun, or quality of life changes.  Again, the full list of druid glyphs is available here.

What is the best Resto druid spec for 5.0.4?

Nope, not going to answer this one.  The best Resto spec is the one that best fills your needs as a healer.  Again, I’ve offered some suggestions about what talents might fit what situations or playstyles on the Talents page, but this is really something that’s best left up to personal experimentation.

Just as a quick example:  In the level 75 tier, I’d been planning to choose Mighty Bash all along.  Last night, on a whim, I went with Ursol’s Vortex instead.  After running a few heroics with it I realized that it is extremely helpful for grouping up a bunch of adds into a pile (even those pesky Rangers in the Hour of Twilight dungeon), and that the spell effect is really pretty.  I’m sold.

Have fun!  Try new things!  Don’t be a talent sheep!

Hope that helps, druid friends!  And I’ll leave you with this final image that might answer any lingering questions I had about whether I’m happy that perma-Tree form has returned.