Classic Restoration Druid Healer Guide

Druids are most often described as, "the jack of all trades, but master of none." This is quite accurate since Druids are the only class in the game capable of fulling all four roles: tank, healer, ranged DPS, and melee DPS. However, every Druid specialization and build is considered sub-par for PvE and is outclassed by other classes that share the role.

Strengths

• Versatile in PvP.
• Incredibly mobile.
• Strong defensive abilities.
• Strong utility through Innervate and Rebirth.
• Well rounded healing toolkit.

Weaknesses

• Low healing output compared to other healers.
• Easy to run out of Mana if you are not careful.
• Only healer without a normal resurrection ability.

Restoration Druids are the one exception out of the Druid specs and are used in almost every raid group, usually holding 2-3 spots. While Resto Druids do not do as much raw healing as a Priest or a Paladin, they offer situationally good healing through their powerful heal over time (HoT) effects along with their instant cast healing spells that allow them to heal while moving. Additionally, Druids offer incredibly powerful utility spells with Innervate and Rebirth, both of which are vital in most raid encounters.

In PvP, Resto Druids are incredibly strong due to their amazing versatility and survivability due to their strong defensive and kiting ability. With Travel Form to kite with and Dire Bear Form to tank within tight situations, Resto Druids are much harder to kill than any other healer, making them a force to be reckoned with in the open world and in battlegrounds. In Warsong Gulch specifically, Resto Druids are the best flag carriers that top teams will use due to their incredibly defensive, healing, and kiting capabilities. With a large and versatile toolkit, Resto Druids offer a unique play style that makes them excellent for anyone looking for an interesting and varied Druid PvP experience.

One unique characteristic of Druid is the access to animal forms: Dire Bear Form allows for tanking, Cat Form enables melee DPS, Aquatic Form provides water breathing and faster movement speed while swimming, Travel Form allows for quick land transportation while outdoors, and Moonkin Form is for Balance Druids only and helps with caster DPS.

All of these forms have their unique appearances and shapeshifting into a form costs Mana, but also frees you of any movement impairing effects or roots when used, as does shapeshifting back out of the form.

Mana is a Restoration Druid's main resource and it can be hard to avoid running out of it during a long raid encounter. Innervate is a great help, but often used on Priests, which tend to have better healing values per Mana used. As you are a Spirit-reliant healer, you can also regenerate a lot in periods where you have not casted for the past 5 seconds, and thus it can occasionally be helpful to stop healing for a while during low damage periods, if the saved Mana can be of more use later.

Ultimately, what you need to avoid is overhealing, in order to make every point of Mana count. Consider using lower ranked spells when healing low amounts of damage to avoid wasting Mana, and always be ready to cancel your casts when they are close to finishing, if there is no damage to be healed on your target anymore!

The best profession to have as a Restoration is Engineering. It provides powerful items that you can use in both PvE and PvP content to either deal damage or help you get out of a tough spot.

While Engineering is a great profession, probably the more important thing to think about is how you plan to make gold. Gold is incredibly important in WoW Classic for a number of reasons and will be quite hard to come by especially at the start. Check out the Druid Goldmaking section for more information on other potential professions for making gold.

Find our new guides for Druid in WoW Classic Season of Discovery below! The new game mode will have players find and utilize Runes that can then be engraved onto their gear to provide them special bonuses that augment already existing abilities or allow the class to use entirely new spells.

While Druid was already incredibly flexible in WoW Classic, the Season of Discovery will make new builds possible, and increase the power of already existing builds.