Hey guys.
 
I have a question regarding leveling builds...
 
Basically I'm currently leveling a Sin Rogue (lvl 93) and I'm currently using the suggested IV leveling build (http://www.wowdb.com/talent-calculator#Kl0KlyKlzbEDPcWLLBAcuR), but I don't quite understand the reasoning behind some of the talents and glyphs in the leveling build. I've certainly used other builds/varients in my time leveling, but since I'm really in "crunch time" now, I'd really like to make the most of my efforts.
 
I sort of feel like the build could be changed for the better (my build would be quite different lol), and I know the page even says that the build isn't set in stone, but I'm not a pro Rogue player by a longshot, so I get the feeling the person(s) who made the build knows things that I don't, and there is some method to the madness that I'm not comprehending.
 
So my question, in a nutshell, is this:
 
What are the reasons behind the talents and glyphs in the leveling build?
Is there a better leveling build?
Does it even really matter that much?
 
Sorry for the long exposition before the question, but any help here would be appreciated guys.

I just got into PvP with my SPriest and I could use some advice. What kind of talents should I take? I thought Clarity of Power coupled with Glyph of Mind Harvest, or even Auspicious Spirits with Glyph of Mind Harvest, could be good, but I don't know what the math should be for that kind of talent and glyph combo. Should I take one of the talents but not the glyph? I am using Recount to measure my DPS. I am currently using the talent Insanity because I am putting out so many Devouring Plagues due to Glyph of Mind Harvest.

Well, I started the expansion as Destruction, and have been doing pretty good dps with it, but as I have been progressing in raids and such, I have encountered with more and more gear with haste/mastery/versatility, no crit, and I have been feeling that I'm stuck with my DPS because of the lack of crit, so I gave a shot to my Affliction spec that I used mostly for PVP.
 
The problem is, as much as I try and feel that I'm keeping good the uptime of my dots, my DPS in dummy goes no further of 13k DPS.
Maybe is the not so good levels of haste, or maybe I'm not doing something well in the rotation, so I came here looking for illumination here in Icy Veins.
 
Also, I don't know well the opener for fights very well with Affliction, so a rough idea would help a lot!
As far as stat priority goes, I understand is INT>HASTE>MASTERY. 
 
Thank you in advancement for helping!
 
Here is my askmrrobot page of my character:
http://www.askmrrobot.com/wow/player/us/quel'thalas/min%C3%AEx
 
How do I get logs of my combat in my character?

Table of Content:
GENERAL CONCERNS
COMMON TALENTS AND GLYPHS
ENCOUNTER SPECIFICS:
KARGATH BLADEFIST
THE BUTCHER
TECTUS
BRACKENSPORE
TWIN OGRON
KO'RAGH
IMPERATOR MAR'GOK
 
This post contains my thoughts regarding resto shaman healing in Highmaul Normal and Heroic.
 
My guild hasn’t done any Mythic Raiding yet, so you shouldn’t apply anything written here to Mythic without checking.
 
All the strategies, talents and spells choices are calculated for a ‘standard’ healers setup: 3-4 healers for 20N and 4 healers for 20H, no overgear (my raid average ilvl was 647, healers average 644). This is important to consider because if you overgear and / or overheal (more healers than you need), most of the strategies and talent choices lose their importance - you just heal through the damage with whatever spells.
 
Our Healer Team composition: Restoration Druid, Restoration Shaman, Holy Paladin, Priest (Holy / Disc, depending on the fight).
 
 
GENERAL CONCERNS (top)
 
If there are situations during a raid where you feel that all your heals are going nowhere, try to make some changes to your healing frames. If you are using an add-on for your Healing Frames and not the default Blizz UI, you should be able to track the following:
 
1. HoTs from other Healers
2. Shields from Disc Priests
3. Damage Mitigation CDs from Tanks
4. Raidwide Damage Mitigation and Healing CDs
 
Actually for Number 4, I prefer to use WeakAuras - I track a lot of information on my Healing Frames and I have to cut something from all this or things get too messy.
 
You can find the WeakAura for tracking Raidwide CDs in our WA thread.
 
If you can see what other Healers are doing during the fight, it makes it much easier to choose the ‘right’ targets for your heals and not get into situations when you Riptide somebody who already has a Druid’s HoT and a Priest’s Shield. Same with Raid CDs: if your raid is not too communicative, you don’t want to be in a situation where you drop your HTT while a Holy Priest has already begun to channel Divine Hymn.
 
If you are still struggling with mana issues, check that you have a Spirit enchant on your weapon (even if it’s 630 ilvl) and the DMF trinket. Remember that you can always chose Elemental Blast in your Talents for help in refilling mana. Bring mana potions with you. I know that it’s obvious, but from my experience of checking logs, a lot of the people complaining about mana issues did not use mana potions during encounters.
 
 
COMMON TALENTS AND GLYPHS: (top)
 
TIER 1:
 
STONE BULWARK TOTEM
 
Unlike in MoP, I can’t see any appropriate usage for SBT in Highmaul.
 
How does it work?
 
When you summon it, it grants you a 10-second Shield that absorbs (Spell power * 0.875 * 4) damage. After that 10-second period is over, it casts a smaller shield of (Spell power * 0.875) on you every 5 seconds (overriding the previous shield, even the large, initial one, if it is still active). This smaller shield absorbs exactly 4 times less damage than the first shield and lasts for 10 seconds.
 
So for example, for my current Spell Power 4748 (647 ilvl), I will get a shield that absorbs 16618 damage and after the initial 10 seconds, a smaller shield that absorbs 4154 damage 4 times over a 20 second period.
 
From what it seems, its worth maybe a bit more than one Riptide or one Healing Wave.
We don’t have spiky damage in WoD that forces us to use every bit of constant damage mitigation because we wouldn’t be able to cast a healing spell in time. So, from my PoV, we should use talents that allow us to mitigate a big amount of unpredictable damage or to ignore predictable damage when we have to continue casting.
 
NATURE’S GUARDIAN
 
I would advise taking it for people who get ‘tunnel vision.’
 
If you always get caught by fire on Twin Ogrons or Suppression Field on Ko’ragh, take NG - it will give you a couple of seconds to run away and heal yourself when you actually might already be dead. Obviously, it’s much better to move out of stuff and avoid unnecessary damage but, well, nobody is perfect! ^^
 
ASTRAL SHIFT
 
Perfect talent if you are able to plan your actions.
 
AS reduces all damage for 40%. You should use it when the raid is taking heavy damage from boss mechanics. Force Novas, Expel Magic: Frost, Cleave… Almost every boss uses abilities that you can mitigate with this talent.
 
TIER 2:
 
Actually the only talent in this tier that can help us in Highmaul is WINDWALK TOTEM.
There are no adds that have to be rooted in any fight here and even on trash most of mobs are casters, so it’s more efficient to CC, stun or interrupt them.
 
TIER 5:
 
In my opinion, the only reasonable choice for most of the fights in this tier would be RUSHING STREAMS.
 
ANCESTRAL GUIDANCE was nerfed so heavily in WoD, that even while having a 2 min CD, as a major raid CD it converts only 20% of your direct healing to healing on up to 3 nearby injured raid members. It’s such a minor amount of healing that I wouldn’t recommend it for any fight.
 
CONDUCTIVITY is a very situational talent, simply because it demands a big part of the raid to stay in one spot long enough to fully utilise it. The only fight in Highmaul where people are mostly stacked in one spot is The Butcher. I personally think that additional healing from RS is still better than a possibility not to cast HR on CD. But it’s up to you.
 
TIER 7:
 
CLOUDBURST TOTEM or HIGH TIDE
You should choose whatever is more comfortable for your play style. I checked both of talents in all the Highmaul fights and have to say that there is no significant difference in output numbers if you understand these talents mechanic and plan your behaviour in encounters.
 
There are a couple of encounters where one of the talents may be slightly more beneficial and I mentioned this in Encounter Specifics, but generally, just play with what you are feeling more comfortable.
 
Remember that while there are talents that seems preferable to take with CBT or HT, they are not mandatory.
For example, you can take Echo of the Elements with High Tide, because Unleashed Life empowers your Chain Heal too and additional Riptide without CD will help you to manage High Tide usage easier.
Or, it's not mandatory to take Totemic Persistence with Cloudburst totem if you prefer not to drop Water totems together but one by one.
 
MAJOR GLYPHS:
 
GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM - all fights in Highmaul, except for The Butcher and Mar'goc with Arcane spells have a magic damage component that may be reduced with this Glyph. Even in the Kargath fight, where the boss has only physical abilities, the adds and Pillars add a magic damage component.
 
GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE - with the new healing style in WoD, we are using HW a lot. So why not get free self heals?
 
GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS - reduces the cooldown of Spiritwalker's Grace by 60 seconds but reduces its duration by 7 seconds. I prefer it above Glyph of Spiritwalker's Grace.
The reason for this is that in almost all the fights in Highmaul, we have ground abilities from which we have to move out or knockbacks after which we have to run back to our spots. Mostly they are short but frequent. I see many situations where 8 seconds casting on the move every 60 seconds can be more beneficial than being able to cast on move every 2 minutes.
 
 
ENCOUNTER SPECIFICS (top)
 
 
KARGATH BLADEFIST (top)
 
This is the fight with very low raid damage in both Normal and Heroic versions.
 
TALENTS:
 
Tier 1: Doesn’t matter
 
Tier 2: Doesn’t matter
 
Tier 3:
Call of the Elements or Totemic Persistence.
If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice. I prefer Totemic Persistence with CBT because it gives you the flexibility to use other Water Totems without ruining your CBT timings.
You can use Call of Elements in this fight too but there is no specific advantage to it. CoE is very good when you have to use a utility Totem twice in a row due to fight mechanics (Tremor, Windwalk, Capacitor, etc.) or when the overall damage is so high, that even one more HST could help. There’s nothing like this on Kargath.
 
Tier 4:
Elemental Mastery: we don’t need additional CDs for this fight.
Ancestral Swiftness: no real need for additional Haste or instant casts.
Echo of the Elements: I would say that this is our talent of choice on Kargath. A chance for additional Riptides or an Unleash Life without CD definitely increases our healing output.
 
Tier 5:
Rushing Streams. No reason for Conductivity - the raid is never stacked.
 
Tier 6:
Unleashed Fury: your choice if you are aiming for single target healing in this fight. Not valuable if you chose High Tide in Tier 7.
Primal Elementalist: An acceptable choice. There is nothing to heal for most of the fight, so you could use elementals for DPS!
Elemental Blast: I can’t see any reason for having mana issues in this fight, so I wouldn’t take this talent.
 
Tier 7:
Cloudburst Totem: This is my preferred Talent for this fight. Damage on the Raid is low, so it feels better to single target heal while CBT will redistribute our healing to the raid.
High Tide: The only reason to take this talent on Kargath, in my opinion, is when you are assigned to go upstairs. It’s problematic enough to time CBT there, people are running all over the place, so it might be easier to Riptide the group and Chain Heal them.
 
MAJOR GLYPHS:
 
GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS (you can take something else instead but I don’t see anything really useful)
 
 
THE BUTCHER (top)
 
This is the fight with very high raid damage in both Normal and Heroic versions, especially for soaking groups.
My guild uses a very specific tactic for this boss:
We have two healers for 2 soaking groups (5+5 people) - myself (Restoration Shaman) and Disc Priest. Our Restoration Druid stays on the raid full time while our Holy Paladin prioritizes the Tanks. Sub-30%, our Healers come into the soaking groups to help minimise the damage, 2 healers in each group.
 
TALENTS:
 
Tier 1: I take Nature’s Guardian for accidental (or not accidental Sub-30%) Cleave damage.
 
Tier 2: Doesn’t matter
 
Tier 3:
Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
I prefer High Tide for The Butcher. According to my assignment, I will have at least 5 heavily injured people during the entire fight. It’s clearly worth the constant use of Chain Heal.
So Call of Elements is my choice here. The overall damage is very high, so even one more HST could help.
 
Tier 4:
Elemental Mastery: I wouldn’t take it. The other two talents are much more useful.
Ancestral Swiftness: If you like to cast faster and to have an ‘oh, shit’ instant cast once every 90 seconds, this is a good choice.
Echo of the Elements: A chance for additional Riptides or an Unleash Life without CD definitely increases our healing output. Remember that Unleashed Life empowers Chain Heal too so you can benefit from EotE when taking the High Tide talent.
 
Tier 5:
Rushing Streams or Conductivity.
I prefer Rushing Streams but if you are good in handling Conductivity full time on melee - why not?
You can find the WeakAura for tracking HR with Conductivity talent in our WA thread.
 
Tier 6:
Elemental Blast: I would say that this is our talent of choice for the Butcher. The fight is very intense and we’ll need every possible bit of mana.
 
Tier 7:
Cloudburst Totem: you can choose this it if you prefer single target healing. If you are using spells wisely, CBT will nicely redistribute your healing to all the injured people.
High Tide: This is a very good talent for this fight. You will always have a lot of injured people and the power of High Tide will be fully utilized.
 
MAJOR GLYPHS:
 
GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS (for knockbacks)
Other possibilities:
GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a Resto Druid in the raid, it can be a possibility. If you can’t manage your High Tide CH targets without blanketing the raid, it’s a possibility too. But frankly, the amount of Riptides you'll have with the EotE talent should be enough to fully utilize High Tide.
 
 
TECTUS (top)
 
This is a fight with very intense movement for the entire raid, including healers.
The tactic that my guild uses for this boss involves the whole raid spreading out in a big circle around the boss, no stacking.
We have the assignments for raid healing CDs during Tectonic Upheaval for every Healer too.
 
TALENTS:
 
Tier 1: Nature’s Guardian for accidental ‘standing in crap’ damage or Astral Shift for Tectonic Upheavals.
 
Tier 2: Doesn’t matter
 
Tier 3: Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
Many people prefer CBT for this fight because of constant movement and obstacles that cause loss of LoS for direct target heals.
Call of Elements can be a good choice too. One more HST in the moments when you have to run from Crystalline Barrage or around Earthen Pillar could definitely help.
 
Tier 4:
Elemental Mastery: You can take it if feeling like one more CD is needed but it will burn your mana really fast.
Ancestral Swiftness: If you like to cast faster and to have an ‘oh, shit’ instant cast once every 90 seconds, this is a good choice.
Echo of the Elements: A chance for additional Riptides or an Unleash Life without CD definitely increases our healing output. Remember that Unleashed Life empowers Chain Heal too so you can benefit from EotE when taking the High Tide talent.
 
Tier 5:
Rushing Streams is the only choice here really.
 
Tier 6:
Unleashed Fury or Elemental Blast.
If you are able to cast a lot and burn your mana quickly or if you took Glyph of Riptide for this fight, then take Elemental Blast.
If you prefer single target spells and CBT, take Unleashed Fury - 50% increased heal is really good - you can cast less and pay more attention to your movement.
 
Tier 7:
Cloudburst Totem: you can choose this it if you prefer single target healing. CBT will also nicely redistribute your healing to all injured people when you’re moving around!
High Tide: good talent for people who are good in positioning or with Glyph of Riptide. You will have a lot of injured people in this fight and the power of High Tide will be fully utilized.
 
MAJOR GLYPHS:
 
GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS (so much movement)
Other possibilities:
GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility. If you are not very good in finding safe spots and move a lot, it’s a possibility too.
 
 
BRACKENSPORE (top)
 
By the tactic my guild uses for this boss, we have assignment for every healer. On Heroic progression you will need two healers assigned to heal mushrooms (one healer in Normal).
I have to say that a resto shaman with Cloudburst totem assigned to Mushrooms can do miracles ^^. I was able to pull 11% of total healing from CBT on this fight.
 
TALENTS:
 
Tier 1: Nature’s Guardian for accidental ‘caught in crap’ damage or Astral Shift for Infesting Spores.
 
Tier 2: doesn’t matter
 
Tier 3: Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
Call of Elements can be a choice too. One more HST on Infesting Spores - why not?
 
Tier 4:
Elemental Mastery: no need really and it burns your mana too quick.
Ancestral Swiftness: if you like to cast faster and to have ‘oh, shit’ instant cast once in 90 sec. - it’s your choice.
Echo of the Elements: I like it on this fight. More UL for mushrooms!
 
Tier 5:
Rushing Streams talent would be the best choice here really. Conductivity is very arguable, imo. While there are periods when all the raid is stacked on mushroom, I’m not sure that this time is long enough for using this talent.
 
Tier 6:
Unleashed Fury or Elemental Blast.
I would take Unleashed Fury, especially if assigned to mushrooms. 50% increased single heal is really valuable here. If you are healing the raid, Elemental Blast could be your choice too, but frankly, you can refill the mana from blue mushroom.
 
Tier 7:
Cloudburst totem: best choice for healing mushrooms. CBT will nicely redistribute your healing on mushroom to the raid.
High Tide: good talent if you are healing the raid.
 
MAJOR GLYPHS:
 
GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
Other possibilities:
GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility, but remember that it’s weak and burns your mana fast.
 
 
TWIN OGRON (top)
 
This is the fight with intensive movement for all the raid, including healers.
By the tactic my guild uses for this boss, the ranged dps and healers are mostly stacked together and move together, except of moving of fire and Pulverize.
It would be nice if your hunters will cast Aspect of the Fox, so you could cast when moving from the fire.
 
TALENTS:
 
Tier 1: I would advice Nature’s Guardian here, especially if you are not very good in moving out of fire.
 
Tier 2: doesn’t matter
 
Tier 3: Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
Many people prefer CBT for this fight because of movement it demands.
Call of Elements can be a good choice too. One more HST for fire times or Pulverize could definitely help.
 
Tier 4:
Ancestral Swiftness: don’t think that more Haste could be very useful in this fight.
Echo of the Elements: A chance for additional Riptide or Unleash Life without CD definitely increase our healing output. Remember that Unleashed Life empowers Chain Heal too, so you can benefit from EotE when taking High Tide talent.
 
Tier 5:
Rushing Streams talent is the only choice here really. I don't think that there is enough time of stacking in one spot to benefit from Conductivity.
 
Tier 6:
Unleashed Fury or Elemental Blast.
I would advice on Elemental Blast, this fight is way mana intensive and has more raid-wide than single damage.
 
Tier 7:
Cloudburst totem: chose it if you move a lot. CBT will nicely redistribute your healing to all the injured people in the time when you are moving around.
High Tide: good talent for people who are good in positioning themselves. You will have a lot of injured people in this fight and the power of High Tide will be fully utilized.
 
MAJOR GLYPHS:
 
GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS (so much movement)
Other possibilities:
GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility. If you are not very good in finding safe spots and move a lot, it’s a possibility too, but remember that it burns your mana!
 
 
KO’RAGH (top)
 
This is the fight with a high damage from both the boss mechanics and not paying attention.
One of the fights where you should use shaman utilities.
Remember that there are two main healing strategies for this encounter regarding dealing with Expel Magic: Frost: you can heal through it or move away if you don’t have enough HPS throughput.
 
TALENTS:
 
Tier 1:
Nature’s Guardian, if you are not very good in moving out of things.
Astral Shift if you are able not to forget to use it on Expel Magic: Frost or Expel Magic: Fire.
 
Tier 2: Windwalk totem! Use it to help the raid to get away from Frost Orbs.
 
Tier 3: Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
Call of Elements can be a good choice too to reset the cooldown of Windwalk totem. Especially if you don’t have druids for Stampeding Roar.
 
Tier 4:
Ancestral Swiftness: not sure that more Haste will really shine in this fight, but it worth a shot if you like it.
Echo of the Elements: A chance for additional Riptide or Unleash Life without CD definitely increase our healing output. Remember that Unleashed Life empowers Chain Heal too, so you can benefit from EotE when taking High Tide talent.
 
Tier 5:
Rushing Streams talent is the only choice here really. Not enough time stacking in one spot to benefit from Conductivity.
 
Tier 6:
Unleashed Fury or Elemental Blast.
I would advice on Elemental Blast, this fight is way mana intensive and has more raid-wide than single person damage.
 
Tier 7:
Cloudburst totem: chose it if you like it.
High Tide: just the same.
Both talents are valuable for this fight.
 
MAJOR GLYPHS:
 
GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
GLYPH OF PURIFY SPIRIT (Purify Spirit has 2 charges now. Useful for Expel magic: Fire dispels)
Other possibilities:
GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS
GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility, but remember that it burns your mana and cuts healing output of Riptide!
 
 
IMPERATOR MAR’GOK (top)
 
This is a very long fight with a high damage from both the boss mechanics and not paying attention. There are many boss abilities that will do a raid-wide damage if people handle them in wrong way.
 
TALENTS:
 
Tier 1: I would recommend Astral Shift here. Use it on Force Novas or when you are Fixated.
You can take Nature’s Guardian too, but there’s enough raid damage, so I think it’s better to mitigate.
 
Tier 2: You can use Windwalk Totem on Slow debuff, but I think that it’s better to just dispel it.
 
Tier 3:
Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
Call of Elements can be good for another HST too. It is a long fight, so you’ll be able to use it at least 3-4 times.
 
Tier 4:
Ancestral Swiftness or Echo of the Elements: both talents are valuable for this fight. Chose what you are more comfortable with.
 
Tier 5:
Rushing Streams talent would be the best choice here. Not enough time stacking in one spot to benefit from Conductivity.
 
Tier 6:
Elemental Blast.
The encounter is more than 10 min. long. You will definitely run out of mana without this talent.
 
Tier 7:
Cloudburst totem or High Tide: both talents are valuable for this fight. Chose what you are more comfortable with.
 
MAJOR GLYPHS:
 
GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS
Other possibilities:
GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility, but remember that it burns your mana and cuts you healing output of Riptide!
(top)

Recently looked at starting to tank with my pally again and was looking through your site regarding tanking. On the Paladin protection page one of the Major glyphs you recommend is shield of the righteous however unless i am going blind it is no longer available as a glyph. Was it renamed or removed and if renamed what is it now called.
Cheers guys
ps:- apologies if i am blind, have searched the majors 3 times thou and cannot find it lol