3.3 Restoration Druids and Haste

[Ciccone]

Terms searched for:

“3.3 Restoration Druid Guide”

Seeing as the most applicable search result was dated around the time of 3.1 and there is currently a lot of confusion regarding the changes to the deep restoration talent, Gift of the Earthmother and what that means for druids, not to mention countless nosey pursuits leading me to be very irate with other trees I have decided to create a small guide pertaining to the PvE aspects of Tree healing that have changed in 3.3. For a long time I have gained a lot of knowledge from sections of this site (particularly Exploration) and amusement from the model edittings (oh, the bliss not to look like a dead piece of broccoli) and as such, this is in some way, this is a return of information to this site. Where information is listed directly from another site sources will be given in the form of links. Aside from this, the writing will be my own work and research. For the record my character is (The World of Warcraft Armory - Miatela @ Bronzebeard - Profile ) and I have been healing end game since TBC. I will be trying to avoid using mathematical explanations in this guide as even though I am a chemist myself, maths just really isn't my thing.


The Haste Problem
Notable changes to Restoration in 3.3:
(Patch 3.3.0 - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft )

From this list, what particularly should interest Restoration druids is;
“[Gift of the Earthmother]: Redesigned. This talent now increases spell haste by 2/4/6/8/10% and reduces the base global cooldown of Lifebloom by 2/4/6/8/10% instead of its previous effects.”

Which will be key to all further discussion. Previously, the talent Gift of the Earthmother (GotEM) in its pre-3.3 iteration reduced the global cooldown on Rejuvenation, Lifebloom and Wild Growth by 4% for each talent point spent in it, allowing for a total GCD reduction of 20%, resulting in 0.3 seconds off of the GCD. This meant that in patch 3.2, along with the introduction of a 4 piece tier set that allowed for Rejuvenation to scale with crit, a restoration druid would optimally reach the haste soft cap for a 1 second GCD with optimal raid buffs and then stack crit, making the style of blanket healing with Rejuvenation and Wild Growth when it was off cooldown very effective on damage aura (DA) fights. The amount of haste that would allow for this would be 360 haste (roughly 11%) with a standard 14/0/57 spec allowing for the druid to increase their crit value and gain more of a benefit from the 4 piece bonus.

What the 3.3 change means, in essence, is that a lot more haste is require to reach a 1 second GCD on Rejuvenation and Wild Growth (two of our main spells). A list of the values of haste required can be found at: (Restoration Itemization - Page 41 - Elitist Jerks ). For gearing it is better to aim for the haste cap when in 25 mans (with optimal buffs) as in 10 mans, the lower number of people required to be covered by your heals should allow for a little flexibility on your GCD and as such the haste numbers a 3.3 restoration druid should aim for will include haste from Gift of the Earthmother, Wrath of Air and Swift Retribution Aura / Improved Moonkin Aura. Unfortunately this is the point when some basic maths needs to be invoked. Referencing Casting speed - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft a formula for calculating the effect of haste on the GCD is given as:

HasteRating = ( RatingConversion * 100 ) * ( ( BaseCastTime / NewCastTime ) - 1 )

The rating conversion can be calculated using some simple cross multiplication. To demonstrate this, I have used my current haste numbers. Given that I have 811 haste which results in a decrease of casting time by 24.73% this means that 1 haste gives 0.03049% or alternatively 32.79 haste results in 1% quicker spells. Applying this into the formula results in a rather hefty value of 1639.5 haste or 50% haste to obtain a 1 second GCD.

Now, we need to apply in the additive effects of Wrath of Air[WoA] (5%), Swift Retribution / Improved Moonkin Aura [Ret] (3%) and GotEM (10%) which should all be present in a 25 man raiding environment. These haste effects change the base value of the GCD as such:

(Base GCD)/(Ret)*(WoA)*(GotEM)

1.5/ ((1.03)(1.05)(1.10)) = 1.26

Which, is the remaining GCD that needs to be minimised. As a 1.5 second GCD requires 50% haste to be lowered, a 1.26 GCD remaining requires 26% haste to result in a 1 second GCD. Now, it is possible to spec 18 points into balance as a restoration druid and obtain Celestial Focus to gain another 3% haste resulting in a remaining GCD of 1.225 or 22.5% haste required (from gear). These two figures result in the possibility of two different specs druids can primarily use for healing, the reasons for which will be expanded on shortly. If aiming to be soft capped without Celestial Focus you will need approximately 855 haste whilst speccing into Celestial Focus means 738 haste is required to reach the soft cap of a 1 second GCD.

At this point it is probably worth reinforcing with an example as to why reaching the haste cap is important and useful for restoration druids. In a fight such as Blood Queen Lanathel, who has a damage aura that hits for 4.5k per 2, a restoration druid that is haste capped will be able to put up 10 Rejuvenations (effectively covering two parties) in 10 seconds whilst a druid without the haste soft cap (above 1 second GCD) will take longer. It will also result in a slight difference in the reaction times of two equivalently skilled druids. One that is limited by a longer GCD will be casting a heal after the druid with a lower GCD. Thus, coupled with Rejuvenation scaling with the Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation means it is better to reach the haste cap as a priority and gear that only offers crit and spirit (no haste) should generally be ignored.

Talents, Gear and Glyphs
Given that there are two possible values of haste soft cap there are two different specs which restoration druids can use. For those who only have access to a lower gear level (232 or less) then speccing into a Celestial Focus (CF) build can be useful and will allow for being haste capped at a lower gear level. This build will be referred to further as 18/0/53 whilst the build better suited to players with access to a higher gear level will be the standard 11/0/60 build.
The standard CF build is: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
The standard 11/0/60: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
With 7 points left to distribute as you wish.

Essential talents in both builds include Gift of the Earthmother, required for the 10% haste, and Revitalize which is incredibly useful as a raid utility tool and helping keep your mana pool high. Gear that should be favoured are haste pieces when aiming for the cap (even a downgrade of a higher ilvl crit piece to a lower ilvl haste piece is preferable) and once the cap is achieved, aiming for more throughput via spellpower is preferable. It is possible to gain this cap easily whilst still in 4 pieces of T9 allowing for scaling of Rejuvenation with both crit and haste though the stats available on 4 pieces of T10 merits upgrading to it but only when a 4T9 to 4T10 switch is available. 4T10 scales very well with haste and the Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation as with more ticks per minute of Rejuvenation, there will be more free Rejuvenations, increasing maximum healing per second. At haste soft cap, in a raid environment, Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation will decrease Rejuvenation to a 12 second duration greatly increasing throughput. Ideally, 855 Haste is desirable coupled with a 11/0/60 as Nature's Grace will push your direct heals under the GCD when at the haste cap.

More will come shortly, likely with information on healing styles and a more indepth look at talents and good sources of haste gear but for now, I feel that is enough of a wall of text.

[Ciccone]

Sources of haste for Restoration Druids.
For this, it will be presumed that the following slots will be used for tier pieces:

• Helm
• Shoulders
• Gloves
• Legs

This leaves the remaining slots to be filled with items that can lead towards the haste cap. The reason for the selection of using the above slots for the tier pieces is that for both tier 9 and tier 10 it allows for the use of the maximum 2 tier haste pieces in both cases with no need to gear out of a haste chest which saves you badges / DKP / gold. Wowhead will be used here in order to create lists for easy browsing, as I am aware different content will be available to different readers. Leather items only have been listed though of course, cloth items can be used (for example, Circle of Ossus which is easily available)

Neck: Amulets - Items - World of Warcraft
Back: Cloaks - Items - World of Warcraft
Wrist: Leather Armor - Items - World of Warcraft
Waist:
Leather Armor - Items - World of Warcraft
Feet:
Leather Armor - Items - World of Warcraft
Rings:
Rings - Items - World of Warcraft

Some items that are very much worth considering due to their ease of gain and high amount of haste in 3.3 are Vestements of Spruce and Fur, Circle of Ossus and Blessed Cenarion Boots. Depending on your auction house and number of raiding guilds on the server, Marrowgar’s Frigid Eye may be readily available and would offer a sound investment due to its high ilvl and available yellow socket, suitable for gemming with haste.
One thing that should be stressed is that I won’t recommend individual pieces due to the differences in how people manage their mana. For those that do not have any issues, using crit and haste pieces that lack regen may not be an issue whilst if you find yourself taxed due to either difficult encounters, lower gear level or poor healing coordination or other raiders then more mana regeneration may be preferred.

Gemming:
As a rule, it is worth gemming using discretion to reach haste cap and after reaching the cap to gem spellpower. +23 spellpower, +20 haste and +12 spellpower and +10 haste gems are all good for this purpose and of course +12 spellpower and +10 spirit may be desirable if there is a useful socket bonus.
For meta-gems, Ember Skyflare (Ember Skyflare Diamond - Item - World of Warcraft) is preferable due to increased intellect resulting in an increase of mana gained through replenishment and revitalise.

Just to add, all comments are very welcome as it will only serve to help myself write better in the future.

[tlaube]

I play a resto Druid myself. With an offspec of Tanking.
I think your guide could use a little bit of cleaning up and some additions if you ever plan on a fresh druid getting good use out of it.
I completely understand what you're talking about, but a new Druid might see the "3.3 Restoration Druids" Title and be dissapointed that the only thing the thread is about is haste.
(This isn't meant to be taken in a bad way)

[Ciccone]

The thread will hopefully expand beyond haste, more into healing styles for restoration druid however I feel that so few players know of the haste issues with resto druids that its worth making a strong point about. Thanks for the comments though!

[Razgul]

Awesome work! + 2 rep

[twinkmates]

awesome very nice!

[vectorian]

I have a 80 resto druid as well. Haste is important but it isn't everything.

[torquxx]

Haste is just an alternative playstyle, you can do good rating with spellpower as well

[Quba73]

Awesome

[Keeros]

On certain fights like Blood-Queen with a constant and painfull aoe, I have had better output(And survival for the raid) by going SP instead of hitting haste cap. But on a fight like Putricide, haste would be a better choise. But that's why it's nice with 2x Restodruids in a 25 Man raid.

So not based on playstyle imo. But the delay between aoe's and other factors in the fight.

My highest SP peak is 15.4k Hp/s
My highest Haste peak is 13.7k Hp/s
Both values from Blood-Queen with 4xT10.