[Guide] So you're a resto Druid and you wanna be Pro?

[bashy]

About me:

Hello everyone I've been playing the Druid class for years and after I stopped playing WoW when BC came out I rerolled a Druid and farmed up Honor. After getting full S1 honor gear, I teamed up with a Hunter and went straight to 2k ratings in 2v2 with few losses. This guide is exclusively for mmowned.com and I don't want anyone CTRL+C / CTRL+V'ing it, if you want to show this guide to your friends, please just link to it and I'll be very grateful that you respect my work! Playing a Druid is not as hard as everyone says it is, people say that Druids are the hardest class to play in Arenas but if you download videos of really good Druids (Sonny/Beasteh/Nrf) you'll notice only 1 thing that they do that makes them stand out, it's not them being superfast at dispelling Viper Stings (in several matches you actually see some of them eat 3-4 seconds of Viper Stings which is very scrubby) or just a machine at everything and playing perfectly, it's them being able to adjust to situations according to their oponents playstyle and I'm going to teach you how to do that and you're lucky, because Druids are the class that is the best at adapting to playstyles because of their versatility.


So what's this guide about?

Simple, it's about how to get YOU prepared to hit at least the 2k ratings if you're absolutely horrible and not dedicated. A big part of being successfull in arenas is having the proper gear. I highly suggest you get at least the honor gear to hit ~400 resilience, 1500~ + healing and about 10k hp and 9k mana and ~250 mp5. Let's get started.

Talents:

One of the great things about Druids is that even for a healing Druid, there is still a spec that is a bit more offensive, the Restokin build (Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft). Although it is a very powerful talent choice, it requires more experience and co-ordination than the normal resto build (Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft)

Play around with the builds, you can take 2 points away from resto and put them to get a bit more range on your balance spells which is nice, or take 3 points away from resto and get insect swarm which is great for killing pets. It all depends on you and your partners playstyle.

Note that I have only seen the Restokin build work successfully with a Hunter/Warlock/Rogue, Rogue being the most effective one. Also note that if you pick Restokin as your spec, you do not need to get ANY spell hit since one talent covers that up so ignore any spell hit enhancements I suggest.


Gems:

What gems you pick up will depend on what partner(s) you play with and what build. I will list the most common setups and the respective suggested gem choice.


Druid/Warrior:

You have a great partner, just 1 global cooldown away, your Warrior turns into a spell-reflecting-pain-in-the-ass high armored monster with a shield on (Your Warrior partner DOES have a shield... right?). This means that with co-ordination you are able to drink whenever you want - but even better, your matches will most likely not last as long as Druid/Hunter or Druid/Warlock since your Warrior can do significantly more burst damage than the above w/o LoS issues. Taking that into consideration your Warrior has 1 weakness, CC. Besides spell reflect and his trinket a Warrior can be CC'd for a very long time but this is okay because YOU can SURVIVE for a very long time even with 2 people on you! This is why Druid/Warrior is such a great combination and currently one of the if not THE highest ranked 2v2 in the World.

So what gems increase your survivability to counter the lack of mobility of your Warrior?

Red - +healing gems are preferred, not only does this increase the healing of your HoT's while you're running away from that nasty Rogue that just won't get off your butt with his annoying Shadowstep but it also gives you more time to drink when your Warrior is sitting with his 1 hander/shield and you put several HoT's on him and go off to drink.

Yellow - Now here is where most Druids just gem horribly, either stacking pure +resil gems or I've even saw some Druids that were actually high rated putting +stam blue gems instead missing out the important gem bonuses. The smart thing to do especially when you're not decked in S3 is to put 1 pure +spell hit gem (I'll tell you why later) and to put steady talasites (or the epic gem equiv.) which is +4 resil and +6 stam. The stats are not the only reason you should put that green gem but also the fact that because the gem is green, you have much more options of meta gems to choose from besides the fact that you need stamina and resilience anyway when facing double DPS and your Warrior is CC'd.

Meta - You want to pick up either the 18 stam 5% stun resist one if you're having trouble keeping yourself up OR the 12 intellect + chance to restore mana on cast. Don't bother about the one that increases haste because it got nerfed way too hard.



Druid/Warlock & Druid/Hunter:

The reason I'm posting Druid/Hunter and Druid/Warlock together is because both of them have a very similiar playstyle; both are very defensive outlast teams. The big difference is that Warlocks lack CC against Warrior teams and some Rogue teams and Hunters have more LoS problems, especially if your Hunter is scrubby (which most are).


Yellow - You definately want to pick up the green +healing +mp5 one, in the long run you'll notice the difference in your increased mp5 especially when your matches can last 30 mins +. If you're getting too many Cyclone/Root resists I highly suggest putting just 1 +spell hit gem, Why just 1? I'll explain it later.

Red - You want the purple + int +mp5 gem, not only does it increase your manapool but also it willl open up more meta gem possibilities.


Meta - I highly suggest getting the 12 int & restore mana on spellcast, it can give you thousands of mana back in those long matches you're up against.

Druid/Rogue

First of all let me tell you that Druid/Rogue is the hardest to master from all of the above, if you think you're capable of performing well as Druid/Rogue though by all means do it, it's a combo that can beat pretty much anything and it's by far the most fun out of all the Druid/X 2v2's. Also you have the option to go Dreamstate for a more agressive playstyle but I'll talk more about that later. Your Rogue has allot of cooldowns and the main thing about this setup is knowing how to use them. Either you use them defensively so you can go drink or you use them to go for a killing blow. No matter what intention you have when your Rogue blows his cooldowns if the execution of either goes bad things get very ugly for you.

Yellow - Your Rogue might be able to survive long with his cooldowns but he cant take a beating like a SL/SL Warlock or a Hunter with all his traps and Feign Death. Unfortunately there are no pure +healing gems that are yellow so you will have to go with the +healing +mp5 one. Don't worry the mp5 still comes in handy. Again, even though you wont be CC'ing as much as Druid/Rogue as you do as Druid/Hunter or Druid/Lock your CC's will always be crucial be it to finish off someone or to save your squishy out of cooldown Rogue or yourself. I suggest getting at least 1 + spellhit gem unless you go Dreamstate, then the talents will take care of spell hit.

Red - +healing all the way if you want you can go with the +healing +int one it's a nice one aswell.


Meta - Again the 12 int & restore mana one is great. Don't really need the 18 stam 5% stun resist one since CC'ing your Rogue partner is allot harder than CC'ing a Warrior for example so he'll be able to get people off you and help you get away much easier.

Inscriptions:

Inscriptions are very important and yet many Druids don't know what the hell to get. Usually they go for the +healing mp5 one but unless you're Dreamstate, in most cases it's better to go with the +spell power +spell hit one from the Sha'tar.

Avoiding resists is crucial, trust me you won't miss that 6 mana per 5 and 11 extra healing when your Cyclones and Entangling roots aren't getting resisted, since 2-3 resists in a row can cost you the game. Without any +spell hit 1/25 spells resist, especially in longer games those odds can get you into very unlucky situations and cost you the game especially when you're undergeared.

The leg enhancement is a no-brainer, get the +healing +stam one. For the shoulder one the perfect is the aldor one, but don't change factions just because of that, the important thing is that you actually have a shoulder enhancement.


Enchants:

Chest: +15 resil, no-brainer.

Bracers: +30 healing, no-brainer
Gloves: Personally I prefere the +15 spell hit one, not only is it cheaper but also it allows you to hit the PvP spell hit cap of 3% with the head inscription and 1 yellow +spell hit gem but the +35 healing one is nice aswell, balance it out, I would get the spell hit one unless I was Dreamstate but there are some top Druids out there with 0 spell hit that are not Dreamstate.

Boots: +9 stam & minor runspeed, no brainer. Also if you are an engineer, the Rocket boots instead of the Honor boots can be great if you can use them, they're awesome to get away and add to the already great mobility of Druids.

Rings: If you're en enchanter make sure to get the +20 healing to your rings, +40 healing is always nice.

Important hints:

So you've got your gear enchanted properly, found yourself a nice partner and are able to hop on vent with him to get some matches in. There are a few things you should know that will greatly improve your survivability and gameplay.

1 - If you have a Warrior on you and you have no way to get him off you because you used your cooldowns, don't be shy to throw a NS+Cyclone on him (try to time it so his MS runs out while you heal but don't wait too long) make sure he used his trinket of course or you'll just waste a 3 min timer for a 2 min item.

2 - Latency is your enemy, but also your friend. Your Cyclone is a 1.5 second cast, if you wait till for example a Warrior Mortal Strikes you, you can most likely get a cyclone off in melee range w/o him being able to pummel it because of latency

3 - Cyclone prevents heals. You can literally make a paladin heal a total of 0 HP even when he's bursting his bubble. Just Cyclone his partner and as soon as the bubble wears, off cyclone the pally himself. Especially with a Rogue partner that's a great way to finish off somebody. Also you can cyclone the paladin's partner when he blows BoP so he won't get healed till it's over. This also is good when a Druid enemy fully HoT's up someone to go off to drink. Just cyclone him and run after the druid to prevent him from drinking and he'll be behind heals now.

4 - LoS is your friend. Your heals are mostly instant, LoS doesn't affect you nearly as much as any other class in the game. You can LoS ANYTHING, the only thing that can get you into a dangerous position is a lock that uses his death coil + fear combo. Make good use of LoS against those dreaded Rogue/Mage and Rogue/Lock combos, if you LoS the mage or the Warlock, you only have to deal with the Rogue and with your partners help, you can live forever.

5 - Learn your arenas! In Blades edge if you stay on the pillar close to the string that hold it, Warriors will fall off after they charge you or intercept you or Druids that feral charge you. This is a great spot if you need to heal your partner without getting someone to annoy you by beating on you. Althought don't forget that the effects of the charge/intercept etc. will still go trough. In Ruins of Lordaeron the tomb is a great way to LoS and confuse both melee and range. If you run "8s" trough the tomb you can live a very long time even with 2 dpsers on you.

Also if you're having trouble with annoying pets, if a pet is too far away from his master it will despawn! This is great especially in blades edge and ruins of lordaeron because you can have your partner lock down a warlock and you can run all the way to the other end of the map and if he doesn't call his pet back (which most of the warlocks won't do) his pet will despawn. If he does call him back, it will give you time to drink. Make sure they don't kill your partner while you're away though.

6 - Rogues can restealth, so can you! When you get out of combat it isn't a bad idea to go into cat form and stealth. Not only does this give you the possibility to open up with a pounce, but if you're smart you can get into a hard to find spot and drink. It's allot harder to stop you from drinking when they don't know where you're going, but always remember to let your partner know so he plays defensively and as always don't let him die.

7 - DID THAT DRUID JUST GET AWAY WITH 1% HP OMFG?! Rocket boots are awesome! They rarely fail and can give you a 2 cnd life if used properly. Don't be shy using them if you're an engineer, don't forget you lose allot of stats though, but it's well worth it if you know how to use them. If you're smart and time it correctly you can avoid blinds with it, has helped me countless times.

8 - Get addons! Everyone uses them, if you don't you'll be at a disadvantage! Get a mod you like that tracks DR's for your CC's and Proximo to keep track of your enemies and any other addons that might help you with your problems.

9 - Avoid teams you can't beat! Yes I've said it, some teams are just too good for you and ontop of that some have an advantage over you. Mage/Rogue has a huge advantage over Druid/Warrior for example if they play well. There is no need to lose 100 points to a team that has played longer together and has an advantage ontop of that, just wait a few minutes before queue'ing again.

10 - Remember it's a game, don't yell at your partner on vent and don't get mad when you lose, how old are you, 10? Do you have any anger management issues? If you lose just analize what you did wrong and if it helps ask veterans to help you! I highly suggest the Arena Junkies - World of Warcraft PvP Strategy and Discussion forums, great help! Also you can record yourself playing with gamecam or fraps and ask for people to check out what you can do better or just check it out yourself.


Basic strategies:

Fortunately there are many many many guides on Arena Junkies - World of Warcraft PvP Strategy and Discussion. Read them and apply them if they work for you. Also check out the macro and forum section of that site, they might have things that do wonders for you. Also don't forget to get your keys bound! I play with all my bars invisible to see more of the game, you need to know your keys in & out! Great keys you can bind are Shift + Mousewheel up and Shift + Mousewheeldow and the other mouse buttons if you have any. Also the button next to the "Z" nad the button next to the "1" are often not used and are very conveniently placed.


Hope you liked it and don't forget to check out WarcraftMovies.com - World of Warcraft Movies for some videos you might enjoy. I'll try and update this guide with new tips and hints as I get better myself, hope I helped and happy arenaing.

[Get Bent]

I don't know if I missed it,

But you totally didn't give any advice with the Feral Charging, Pouncing, etc etc.

Druids are a CCing Machine.

(Also, Warriors have a Spamstring, Not completely useless.)

[evann]

Very interesting for sure, +rep

[bashy]

I don't know if I missed it,

But you totally didn't give any advice with the Feral Charging, Pouncing, etc etc.

Druids are a CCing Machine.

(Also, Warriors have a Spamstring, Not completely useless.)

All of that is information is found on arenajunkies. When you feral charge and use your CC's will depend on ALLOT of things, you don't just use them whenever they're available (wasting 600+ mana just to interrupt a heal that won't really make a difference isn't always a good idea), I would have to write a book to tell people when to feral charge + cc spam with which partner at which time against certain matchups on certain arenas even.

This guide is mainly to get people prepared to get higher than the usual scrubby 1500-1700~ ratings, most people just copy builds and gems from other Druids but don't really know why they do it, this guide will help people think for their own and stimulate creative thinking that improves the teams strength and helps with the weaknesses. The basic strategic direction the team should take, can be read on arenajunkies, I didn't want to make a simple "do this" and "do that" guide because frankly, they don't help, you have to adapt.


EDIT: For those wondering what exactly he meant with CC machine, you can Cyclone x2 -> Feral charge -> bash -> maim and by that time you can already feral charge and cyclone x2 again. You can see that being used perfectly in Sonny's 2.5k rating movie i believe he uses it against a pally. Notice how he only uses it when he tricked the paladin into chasing him making the Warlock drop low enough so he could cc the pally for such al ong time. Also notice how he is almost out of mana, a bad application of that cc rotation would've costed him the game, which is why I cant just tell anyone "cc pally this way and u'll win".

[Ridain]

seems like a great guide... if only i had a druid... and could give rep Oo

[Tipsy]

Guess what its your lucky day you can actually rep if i am correct
Btw good thread idd
But you forgot some things just like Ouramistic sad
Keep up the good work
+rep for you mate
Tipsy

[gbery]

Nice guide.+

[Vandir]

This seems like a good guide, and it seems like you put a lot of work in. Although you could include some information about CC'ing and when to do it. Other than that, it seems okay, so +Rep.

Also, druids for the win.

[Couwae]

this is truly epic.

+rep

:EDIT:

Right now im going to reroll a druid
[Resto] Course

[Clovian]

Srry didnt read the thread. all druids have to do is HoT spam, travel form, and cyclone.

[bashy]

Srry didnt read the thread. all druids have to do is HoT spam, travel form, and cyclone.

That's mainly what you see in videos yes, but trust me the only reason it seems so easy in videos is because the Druids playing avoid being pressured at all times and are so good at it, you would probably not perform so well if you didn't have the experience and skill. Would eat a fear and what not and then under constant pressure you wouldn't be able to just cyclone spam whenever, because you will be at low hp aswell, and there will be people chasing you if you get low after eating a fear etc. etc. etc. I can't even start on how many things you have to be aware of as a Druid.

[jegerbanan]

Well Written.
Good job.

[bashy]

Well Written.
Good job.

Thank you, english isn't my 1st language so I was worried that some people couldn't understand what I wrote.

[intox]

Good guide, and to ppl that say playing resto druids is easy. It's not

Even such a thinig as positioning when leaving stealth can pretty much make or break a game if unlucky against some teams.

[Tenni-T]

I am impressed.. I am gearing a resto druid atm in the BGs and found your post very interesting!

Off to dig that link u gave!

+rep, Tenned.