Resto Druid Legendaries 9.1 – Shadowlands

Last Changed: 21 April

One of Shadowlands major features is the addition of craftable legendaries using mats pulled from the depths of Torghast. This time around you only get to wear one at a time (plus your covenant legendary through Unity). We discuss each in some detail below. In addition to the Druid legendaries listed we can pick one of several “neutral” legendaries that are available to all classes. These aren’t worth wearing for PVE content currently.

I’d also recommend furthering your 9.2 knowledge with the full FAQ which includes a full breakdown of how legendaries interact with the new Domination Socket system.

What do I build first?

Raid

Your raid legendary choice is very straightforward, with Vision of Unending Growth pairing well with the Celestial Spirits effect you’ll get through Unity. Verdant Infusion has a niche too, but doesn’t see that much play.

 

Mythic+

Mythic+ is a much more complex choice with many legendaries being situationally useful. You will be best off reading the Catweaving guide for a more in depth breakdown.

  • I’d prefer to focus on healing: Verdant Infusion.
  • I want to deal damage and am very comfortable with the healing requirement of my current keys: Draught of Deep Focus or Circle and Life and Death.

Legendaries must be crafted in specific slots to avoid overlapping with our Domination Socket slots. More information below.

 

Legendaries in Depth

This section goes into vast detail about every legendary. If you’re just looking to make a decision then the section above should suffice. This was written during beta and may not be current information. For that see the above recommendations. 

Oath of the Elder Druid

Ekowraith 2.0

Notes

  • Available Slots: Wrist, Shoulders
  • Pattern drops from: PVP Honor Vendor
  • Preliminary Rankings: C (Raid) / B (Mythic+ – mostly owing to its HotW bonus)
  • You don’t need to be talented into Heart of the Wild to get the bonus.

In raid we’re looking at +4.5% damage reduction from Guardian Affinity and about 2-2.5% healing from the Ysera’s Gift increase. It also turns Bear Form into an even chunkier defensive once per minute through Heart of the Wilds 20% stamina increase. An all-inclusive package, but it’s an incredibly defensive one too on a spec already loaded with survivability. The throughput portion also scales poorly with raid burst damage since Ysera’s Gift does a very consistent amount of healing. Ultimately this isn’t good for throughput and you’re unlikely to value it as part of your top three.

In Mythic+ you’ll be running Feral Affinity or Balance Affinity instead. The Ysera’s boost is mediocre to poor here, and the movement speed or range increases are very minor boons. We are more interested in the Heart of the Wild portion. As a reminder, Feral Affinity Heart of the Wild gives us a 30% damage increase (plus a few bonus combo points) while Balance Affinity offers a 30% damage increase and instant Starsurges. If we can make frequent use of the bonus as it comes off cooldown we’re looking at a 5-6% DPS increase. I think we’ll find we can get better elsewhere.

Overall this is a very “jack of all trades” legendary and like it’s Legion counterpart it’s unlikely to be best in slot anywhere. Merely “capable” whatever you’re doing.

 


The Dark Titans Lesson (Post-post-post-post Nerf)

Notes

  • Slots: Neck (slightly better), Cape
  • Pattern drops from: Lord Chamberlain (Halls of Atonement dungeon)
  • Preliminary Ranking: B- (Raid) / B+ (Mythic+)
  • Recent Changes: Lifebloom “bloom” increase removed. -10% Lifebloom healing penalty added.
  • Full synergy with Photosynthesis.

Sometimes I wonder if Blizzard regret adding this legendary in the first place. It’s initial iteration gave you two lifeblooms and buffed your bloom healing on each by 200%. They’ve nerfed it four times (and Photosynthesis itself once) since then so where does it leave us? A 10% nerf to all lifebloom healing is a harsh penalty and I honestly have a strong dislike for a legendary item reducing the power of a core resto spell – regardless of balance. It makes equipping a legendary feel more like doing your accounting homework than the big exciting moment that it should be. Having to consider both sides of a ledger can be good design in general but I don’t think it suits the legendary system. Let’s see how the numbers shake out:

Numerically still ok, but we’re looking at a rather best case scenario. If you don’t use all of your mana (losing Lifeblooms efficiency over rejuv), miss Clearcasts (ridiculously common), or fail to keep both Lifeblooms up then it’s value drops off the face of the earth.  So the once great Dark Titans Lesson joins it’s Legion equivalent in the middle of the pack. This now sees stiff competition from the buffed Verdant Infusion and you’re unlikely to use it much, though it’s still playable if you crafted it in 9.0.2 and don’t have better.

 


Verdant Infusion

“Swiftmend HoT Extender”

Notes

  • Slots: Shoulders, Hands, Back (Craft on Back to avoid Domination Socket overlap)
  • Pattern drops from: Oranomonos (World Boss)
  • Preliminary Ranking: A- (Raid) / A (M+)
  • The target of your Swiftmend does still require a HoT on them for the cast – even though it won’t be subsequently removed.
  • Swiftmend cast as part of Convoke the Spirits do not extend any HoTs, nor do they have any other synergy with this item.

This was an incredibly powerful legendary, mostly owing to its ability to extend Cenarion Ward twice. They nerfed it down to 6, then buffed it back to 8, now they’ve buffed it again back to 10. We like this a lot at 10. It lets you once again comfortably extend Cenarion Ward twice which is a lot of extra healing. It still sees tough competition in raid from Vision of Unending Growth (think of it as niche and usable rather than bad) but is a dominant choice in dungeons.

 


Lycara’s Fleeting Glimpse

“Auto-Wild Growth”

Notes

  • Slots: Waist, Boots (slots equal)
  • Pattern drops from: Mordretha (Theater of Pain)
  • Preliminary Ranking: B (Raid) / B+ (Mythic+)
  • Resets at the start of every raid boss fight. First cast is 45 seconds in, rather than on pull like some similar effects.

A little boring and a little uncontrollable but fine on paper. Your decision making here is which form to be in when your free spell pops and you’ll have a weak aura to aid your timing. In raid it will be a rather straightforward decision most of the time. Stampeding Roar is fantastic but travel form is only rarely available; free DPS from Primal Wrath / Starfall is fine if non-burst AoE is good for a fight or when nothing else is going on but Wild Growth is going to be our bread and butter.

Weaker than our single target choices in net throughput and behind Memory of the Mother Tree in sustained healing. The raw strength of Wild Growth keeps this in rough contention but it’s unlikely to see play for now.

In Mythic+ this item is likely to be evaluated primarily by its DPS value. A free Primal Wrath or Starfall is much more powerful in a dungeon environment and you’re much more likely to be outside where Stampeding Roar adds further powerful utility. We don’t have any proper DPS calculations yet, but should soon.


Vision of Unending Growth

“Rejuv Spreader, Tier 19 Redux”

Notes

  • Slots: Helm, Boots, Legs (Pick legs to avoid Domination Socket overlap)
  • Pattern drops from: Torghast
  • Preliminary Ranking: A (Raid) / F– (Mythic+)
  • Recent Changes: Chance to create a new Rejuvenation increased to 2.5% (from 2%).
  • Rejuvenation HoTs spread by the item don’t remove the rejuv that procced the spread.

Buffs to this item, in combination with nerfs to the previous frontrunners, has pushed it straight into top tier (for raid). A similar effect was brokenly strong in legion but we had far more support to our Rejuvenations back then (some HoTs were as long as 23+ seconds, whereas now they’re 15). Without those it’s just good, rather than overpowered. Rejuv Spreader is also incredibly easy to use, which means you are likely to get incredibly consistent healing from it regardless of how you play whereas the legendaries with more of a skill aspect will have greater variation.

Remember that Mother Tree gives us about 4 free rejuvenations per minute. Unending Growth (Rejuv spreader) needs to beat that, which it will easily do if you’re around ~18-20 rejuv casts per minute with a moderate amount of haste. There is no longer a haste breakpoint due to Blizzard using a prorated proc rate on partial ticks.

The % increase represents the net increase to your total rejuvenation healing. The above is now slightly out of date due to the newly discovered prorated ticks. 

This won’t see any play in Mythic+. You just have too few average rejuvs out at any given moment. Put your Germination away. It isn’t happening.

 


Circle of Life and Death

“Speedy DoTs / HoTs”

Notes

  • Slots: Helm, Ring (Craft Ring to avoid Domination Socket overlap)
  • Pattern drops from: Stone Legion Generals (Raid, second to last boss)
  • Preliminary Ranking: C (Raid) / A (Mythic+)
  • Does also reduce the duration of each HoT or DoT, which makes it different from Photosynthesis.
  • The increased speed effect is separate from Haste and the two scale together multiplicatively.

In raid this is likely to be a non-starter for the entire expansion unless we see some truly bizarre fights. It weakens your cooldown windows, reduces the value of mastery and doesn’t offer any real power in exchange.

In Mythic+ on the other hand this should prove powerful. Efficiency is of lower value, Rake / Sunfire / Moonfire make up a large portion of our damage and a 25% increase to their damage is significant. It is not a good healing legendary, and Verdant Infusion is so powerful that you might find you skip this even on high keys.


Memory of the Mother Tree

Free HoTs, but in a bad way

Notes

  • Slots: Legs (Best), Wrist
  • Pattern drops from: Inerva Darkvein (Raid)
  • Preliminary Ranking: B+ (Raid) / B+ (Mythic+)
  • Does copy the Regrowth initial heal as well as the HoT.
  • Each copied spell crits independently.
  • Soul of the Forest only applies to the initial cast, not to the copies.

Mother Tree is a decent all-rounder that ultimately just gets beaten out by legendaries that are stronger for each specific purpose. It’s higher on RNG, and easier to misplay than Vision of Unending Growth, and while the average throughput is solid it is still behind.

In Mythic+ it does good healing but is unable to match the dominant Verdant Infusion.

 

42 responses to “Resto Druid Legendaries 9.1 – Shadowlands”

  1. shanna says:

    I do not intend on raiding at all, i am more into mythic+ do i really need to recraft my legendary

    • Voulk says:

      In your case it will be technically optimal to change it, but the benefit is very very small to the point where I don’t think I would recraft it myself.

  2. Gathering Moss says:

    Still waiting on the relative HPS for circle. Any thoughts?
    Personally, running circle for mythic+ seems to buff my throughput enough that I’m never really missing the HPS of a healing-focused leggo, and the added damage is significant.

  3. Trent says:

    Hey VOULK, im wondering if there was any update to an initial theorycrafted build by Lightwater with a super high haste build w/ DTL. Does the math still check out?

  4. Iregail says:

    With the buff to Verdant Infusion I had a couple questions about it. Does Swiftmending a Soul of the Forest buffed Rejuvenation reset the buff, or does it extend the 200% increased Rejuv?
    If you swiftmend (with verdant infusion) during the lifebloom bloom window does it proc the bloom?
    ( i feel like it wouldn’t, but hey … maybe?)

    also, think VI buff and Rejuv 11.5 % buff would make Germination better if your Swiftmending on cd (pretty sure you get 3 extensions, for 45 second rejuv’s)? or still meh compared to photo?

    If verdant infusion extends the soul of the forest buffed rejuv, you could keep up two 200% buffed Rejuvs on a tank, which is a lot of healing.

    Does having lifebloom on yourself (with photo) ever increase your single target healing done compared to having Lifebloom on the target you want to heal? (Assuming Rejuvenation, Regrowth, Wild Growth, Cenarion Ward, and Spring blossoms all up) Would soul of the forests 200% increased rejuvenation alter that?

    • Voulk says:

      It extends a soul of the forest buffed Rejuv, though getting one is a little awkward. You have to either hold your Soul of the Forest buff a few seconds, or make use of a Pandemic Rejuv in order to get one.

      For a similar reason I don’t think Germination really changes much in value. Extending two buffed rejuvenations on a target is not really feasible, and with a SotF Rejuv + Cenarion Ward on the target they are already close to immortal so adding even more healing to them is not that impactful.

      With PhoSy you are always better putting the lifebloom on the target taking damage if they are the only one taking damage. It basically always outstrips the 20% HoT increase speed since the more hots you add to the target the more free blooms they are getting.

  5. Caya says:

    I decided to craft Lycara’s Fleeting Glimpse as my first and so far only legendary even if not a single guide recommended it – and I absolutely LOVE it!! I think it’s totally underrated because ppl don’t know what to make of this one or how to actually measure its value. Things I consider valuable:

    – it’s super versatile and I get something out of it no matter what I do in the game. I heal M+ and raids, do stuff solo as resto (Torghast) and balance (everything else) with it.
    – I have a WA that will do a 5 sec heartbeat sound when it’s about to proc so I can assess the situation and right before it procs pick the form I have to be in to get the spell I want. This makes Lycara’s very engaging – and for me super fun! – to play with.
    – it procs no matter what – Stunned? Feared? No time to heal cause you dodge Massacre and puddles on Sire? Lycara will heal your party for you in times when you can’t.
    – it benefits from Incarnation: Tree of Life’s increased number of targets for Wild Growth. It also benefits from our strongest healing potency conduit, Unstoppable Growth.
    – it allows me to spread Wild Growth on more targets simultaneously in raids as I still got my regular Wild Growth available (or “reduces its cooldown” if I’ve already used mine.
    – when there’s a lot of dmg going on and I’d Wild Growth my party first and then apply Rejuvs but I hear the heartbeat sound and know that there’ll be a free instant cast Wild Growth in a few seconds, I’ll instead start casting Rejuvs on everyone to get my party topped up faster.
    – if my party doesn’t need that much healing I can get a Starfall out outside of Convoke. If it’s about to proc when I’m balance and my Starfall is already up, I can get additional AoE dmg from cat form.

    I just got enough Soul Ash to be able to craft another rank 4 legendary. I think I’ll craft a pure balance one this time cause I’d sure miss Lycara’s if I replaced it now.

  6. Kustos says:

    Is the effect of “hot effects in less 15% time” from “Circle of Life and Death” stacking with the effect “While your Lifebloom is on yourself, your periodic heals heal 20% faster.” of the talent “Photosynthesis”?

  7. Beargrylls says:

    Something to note is that Dark Titan’s Lesson lets you cast lifebloom while in moonkin form. So if you keep your DPS spells on your mookin action bar (like I do) it lets you do more healing in mookin without triggering a GCD by switching back and forth between caster and mookin.

  8. Tree says:

    Does circle of life and death synergize with flourish?

  9. Tenquatil says:

    With Unending Growth no longer eating Soul of the Forest, I assume that makes it pretty viable in raid content now? Also, does germination make sense at all with Unending Growth for raid content?

    • Voulk says:

      Yeah Soul of the Forest is definitely back in contention with the fix. I imagine you’ll still see a lot of Tree, with Soul of the Forest slipping in for some specific damage patterns. We’ll know more as we see raid data continue to come in. Germination is hard out for all content types. I think they’ll need to add something to that talent if they want it to see proper use.

      • Izeranee says:

        Except… look at the Druid who’s clearing M+23’s now. He/She is running Germination+Overgrowth with Circle Legendary and no Potency Conduits. I think the idea being to pop rejuv+overgrowth on the tank to buy the largest window to DPS in.

        • Voulk says:

          Who is that mate? The only Druid running 23s right now ran Spring Blossoms / Flourish on all high keys. Germ + Overgrowth is a common PVP setup which is why you might see it on player armories, but their streams all show a pretty regular setup at this stage.

  10. Smegheads says:

    Is Visions of Unending Growth still going to be the ideal choice in a small raid of 12 or so people? Or will I not be casting enough rejuvs for it to be viable in this situation? If this is the case, which legendary would you pick for a small raid group?

  11. Lifender says:

    Do you think the covenant / soulbind / conduits could change the choice of legendary ?
    It seems like you have to play perfectly around some legendaries to maximise their throughput and make it competitive with simpler effects to use. I feel like the range of choices have widen and the flexibility of the build for each fight has to be taken into account more than the raw healing potential.

  12. Nowaki says:

    I would like to know if Visions of Unending Growth trigger Germination and trigger from Germination. Like if I have a rejuv two targets, can it trigger a germination onto the other one if procs or will it refresh the duration? Also, if I have a Germination on the target (the aura name is Germination not Rejuvenation so probably not but the talent does say second rejuv) can the Germination heal also proc this effect?

  13. Mooshroom says:

    Is there a recommendation on which slots to prioritize when crafting the legendaries? If not, does anyone have any initial thoughts or impressions on how to determine which slot is more efficient? Cost of the base item, available stat quantity in the slot, something else?

    • Voulk says:

      Generally you’ll just go with whichever slot has the most stats on it out of the two available. Of the top two, Memory of the Mother Tree will always be added to Pants and Double Lifebloom likely ends up in the neck slot.

      • Mooshrom says:

        Thanks for the reply. I figured that might be the case but as I don’t have access to the beta, wasn’t sure if the base items are going to function differently and all essentially end up with the same quantity of stats regardless of slot.

  14. Kayno says:

    There just was an update:

    Memory of the Mother Tree now has 50% chance to apply 3 additional Rejuvs. Seems a lot stronger for raid healing now.
    Verdant Infusion now extends HoTs by only 6 seconds. Still quite good I think.
    The Dark Titans Lesson now increases Lifebloom final heal by only 25%. Quite a nerf, but still very strong through the double dip with PhoSy.

    Overall makes the decision harder in my opinion. I’m still leaning towards The Dark Titans Lesson as my first legendary, maybe followed by Memory of the Mother Tree.

    What do you think?

    • Trikolas says:

      The changes are substantial. I think the Memory or Verdant is the way to go but unsure. I’ve been using Verdant in beta and it feels OK. I hate holding on to swiftmend for Cenarion only. I really wanted to play double lifebloom but unsure if it’s competitive with all the nerfs – and hate losing flourish! Memory of mother tree seems like it would be good in raid but not sure in M+. If Voulk could update the writeup that would help make things more clear.

      • Voulk says:

        Yeah I’m kind of settling on Dark Titans / Memory as my top two as well. The article is now up to date with the changes.

        • Jord says:

          Why Verdant as top two instead of lifebloom lego? Didn’t the nerf just make it much worse?

          • Voulk says:

            Yeah you are correct. I am honestly just terrible at remembering their “proper names”. Memory + Dark Titans are the leaders as you noted. I’ll edit my comment. Cheers.

  15. Kayno says:

    Seems like double Lifebloom will be my first legendary. I love the fact that it synergizes with Photosynthesis in two ways: 75% stronger bloom healing proccs when on another target, plus 20% DoT haste with the second Lifebloom in yourself. Seems exceptional in M+ and also good in raids.
    Second one will probably be “Swiftmend HoT Extender” with the current tuning.

  16. Altecice says:

    I can see Dark Titans Advice with Photosynthesis being very powerful when you mix in some of our conduits.
    Two LB’s (choice of 4/8% bloom chance and the option for 20% HoT tick rate when needed). With two LB’s out and the Flash of Clarity conduit we can increase our Clearcast free Regrowths power from 20-50% all while gathering procs at twice the rate… Sounds like good fun!

    • Kayno says:

      Sounds like a nice increase in our spot healing. But I wonder, is it possible to put two Lifeblooms on one target? And is the Clearcast procc rate actually doubled, or is there some hidden cooldown?

      • Voulk says:

        It isn’t possible to lifebloom one target twice sadly (can you imagine how many Photo blooms they’d get? Amazing). Clearcast proc rate does appear to be doubled, though you can of course waste potential procs if you don’t use them fast enough. There doesn’t appear to be any hidden cooldown.

    • Voulk says:

      We’ve been kind of lucky with legendaries all up. Great numbers, a good flexible range of effects and some playstyle changes to keep it interesting.

  17. Dustin says:

    Curious if Rejuv spreader synergizes with Germination.

    • Voulk says:

      The gap between Germination and Flourish just tends to be too large for minor synergies to close it. Spreading rejuvs also has some solid synergy with Flourish. Germination was honestly a talent I thought they should have looked at.

  18. Owul says:

    Are any of the neutral legendaries (sephuz et al) worth considering?

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