Resto Druid 8.0 FAQ
Argus is dead. Bring on Battle for Azeroth.
Resto Druids saw some substantial changes with 8.0 including a talent tree revamp and the loss of our Artifact Weapon traits. Our playstyle in raids is similar to in legion but with a bigger focus on ramping for incoming damage and countering boss burst damage with our cooldowns. You can read a full list of the 8.0 changes at the following link, but we’ll discuss the major changes here. This is brand new stuff and, while we can do a lot with beta information, we have to see how everything performs in a live environment to be certain so you might notice some information shuffle around over the next few weeks. The spec also performs slightly differently while we’ve still got access to our legendary items (which are disabled at level 115).
The Essentials
- All stats have been squished down to more readable levels. This shouldn’t make a noticeable difference to your power level because all mobs have also been scaled down accordingly.
- Global cooldowns added to Frenzied Regeneration, Incarnation: Tree of Life, Rebirth and Innervate. Cast time added to Rebirth. Most unpleasant.
- With the loss of our artifact traits you can no longer move during Tranquility. You’ll want this Weak Aura to remind you to sit still: https://wago.io/Tranquility
- Bear Form stamina increase slashed down to +25%. Particularly harmful in Mythic+.
- Talents revamped (more detail below).
- Several spells removed (Healing Touch, Displacer Beast, Living Seed, all artifact traits).
- Two new spells: Soothe (dispels enrages including the Raging affix, incredibly useful in dungeons), Hibernate (Long CC on a beast or Dragonkin, can be spammed on mobs to interrupt casts).
- Several changes to existing spells including:
- Regrowth (increased crit chance removed)
- Tranquility (Stacking HoT added)
- Frenzied Regeneration (now heals for a percentage of your max health instead of a percentage of damage taken in the last five seconds)
- Shred (no longer requires Feral Affinity)
- Travel Form (split into separate buttons so you can Orca and Owl without switching glyphs)
Talent changes? What are we running now?
Raids
Mythic+
Newbies
You can also consider Balance Affinity for extra damage.
These aren’t the only viable talents. Read more here.
What about our stats? What do I need to know…
Intellect is once again our top stat post-squish but if you’ve mostly been picking your highest item level items up until now then this doesn’t change in 8.0. Our secondaries are roughly equal in value and there’s a new addon to help you get your stat weights. It has a Pawn export and can be set up in minutes. Remember to socket your gear with a 200 intellect gem if you’d like to min-max (but with BFA so close I’ll give you a pass for slacking).
What’s changing at 120?
Abundance and Cultivation are both stronger at 110 than 120 since you can pair them with Aman’Thul’s Wisdom (turns out longer rejuvs go very well with talents that like having a lot of them out). They still don’t necessarily beat the competition, but they’re very competitive while using the shoulders. You’ll also unlock Azerite Traits throughout BFA but the ones we’ve seen so far are pretty minor power boosts. Finally, your secondary stat percentages will be much lower – especially in pre-raid gear.
Should I level to 120 as Resto?
NO. OK if you must, then pick up Balance or Feral Affinity and group with some friends. You’re a patient person. I can respect that. Questing is much more efficient than leveling through dungeons since the rep accrued from each zone is essential at 120.
What else do I need to know?
- There’s a very high chance there will be further balancing to come between now and the release of the first raid tier. Don’t panic too much if you’re miles ahead of, or behind your other healers. Have some fun with the new talents. Experiment.
- Your precious artifact weapon is now a giant stat stick. With all traits disabled you can equip your highest ilvl relics. That’s right, you finally have a use for all of those +Regrowth relics you’ve been hoarding for all this time.
- You can enable War Mode to unlock your PVP talent tree while you world quest. Unfortunately the resto traits are reasonably useless but they can be quite useful if you world quest as a different spec. You might get attacked by the opposite faction but it won’t be a problem because you’re a winner. You’ve always been a winner.
- The Mage Tower challenge has ended. The artifact appearance is unobtainable though you can still earn the tints if you have the base appearance.