Level 19 Druid

[Intari]

I am going to start working on a healing Druid with a balance offset and I just had a few questions before I take the plunge.

• Are druids a viable healing class?
  
• Is there gear between healing and balance pretty similar?
  
• Can I make a decent druid WITHOUT BoA items?
  
• How much does it cost to twink out a full druid?
  

If anyone has answers to those, I would appreciate it! Also, if anyone has some armory links of druids without BoA items I would appreciate the links. Thanks again!

 

[-Peco]

I am going to start working on a healing Druid with a balance offset and I just had a few questions before I take the plunge.

• Are druids a viable healing class?
  
• Is there gear between healing and balance pretty similar?
  
• Can I make a decent druid WITHOUT BoA items?
  
• How much does it cost to twink out a full druid?
  

If anyone has answers to those, I would appreciate it! Also, if anyone has some armory links of druids without BoA items I would appreciate the links. Thanks again!

Druids are quite cheap now as they dont require any rare items for them to be viable healers.. Fcs on the otherhand can get costly given the rarity of the bracers.



Boas are obviously beneficial but not needed for healing.

The largest cost you will see as a Healer is the two major staffs (seer/chanter) and the enchants associated. All in all you should have a respectable druid twink within 1k. If you want to complete the twink it will likely come to more as separate sets are needed as a druid given the lack of mana efficiency.

Druids are very effective healers but really can only be used as secondary healers in a premade as they run oom quite fast and the majority of the Heals (Hots are primary for healing) can and will be dispelled.



The healing and balance gear is largely the same unless you want to stack +nature dmg/arcane dmg items. Just remember you need a 22int weapon and a 30sp one for when you use the benefit the 22intelect offers.

 

[Bragh]

I am going to start working on a healing Druid with a balance offset and I just had a few questions before I take the plunge.

• Are druids a viable healing class?
  
• Is there gear between healing and balance pretty similar?
  
• Can I make a decent druid WITHOUT BoA items?
  
• How much does it cost to twink out a full druid?
  

If anyone has answers to those, I would appreciate it! Also, if anyone has some armory links of druids without BoA items I would appreciate the links. Thanks again!

I managed to play without BoA's a long time.

just recently I decided that enough was enough, so I leveled a main xD



Don't need BoA's, but they come in handy anyways.

 

[Eliot]

Are druids a viable healing class?

Yes

Is there gear between healing and balance pretty similar?

Balance as in caster DPS? If so yes.

Can I make a decent druid WITHOUT BoA items?

Yes easily a few stats won't kill you.

How much does it cost to twink out a full druid?

A healing druid pretty cheap 200-400g maybe.

 

[Cptheals]

In price for a healing druid you should probably look into the 500-1k range because of the enchants and specialized gear. Also get an FC set with it just for fun.

 

[ailahi]

Healing enchants are pretty expensive imo; I guess this depends on server. This is the one I'm working on shes pretty far along

[char=Argent+Dawn]Walou[/char]



I logged out with my sp staff on, she uses twisted chanters staff +22 int, Staff of the blessid seer + 30sp and Staff of Westfall +20 spirit. I think spirit staff is necessary for resto druids.



I can't endorse a spec yet because I'm still playing around with hers. She can do 180ish hp heals in .5 seconds with healing touch right now, but goes oom rather fast.





Edit: Make sure you get aquarious belt. The healing effect has saved me many times. Replace it with the one I'm wearing when the effect is on cooldown.

 

[Deadhed]

yes heal chants on argent dawn alli side are crazy expensive, i was on a friends 19 rogue over there today and couldnt believe the price for fiery



in essence not a heal chant but you get it amirite?

 

[roguedubb]

* Are druids a viable healing class?

Yes. HoTs can be great, but if someone is actively dispelling them, don't bother unless you are prepared to spec into Subtlety. Glyph of Healing Touch is a mixed blessing: you can dish out 1 to 0.5 second heals (I go for 2 in Naturalist so I can pickup Subtlety, but you can end up locking yourself down just spamming heals on one target.



* Is there gear between healing and balance pretty similar?

Some healers don't gear for Hit Rating, but it helps for roots. Hit Rating, talents and your major are the only real difference. I've tried speccing for Wrath, with and without Glyph of Wrath and it didn't make a huge difference due to Nature's Focus.



* Can I make a decent druid WITHOUT BoA items?

Easily. The BoAs are good, but not even close to mandatory.



* How much does it cost to twink out a full druid?

I've spent about 1k and that's without a 3 staff setup. But that does include a Stamina set as well.



wowhead SP druid link

 

[User]

.

Druids are great offensive healers because they can of course kite rogues

and other melee that will be looking to gank you as you heal your group.

Dont go full glasscannon if this is your intention as you will need some survivability for hunters.



Check out my cannon druid that ive been making for Caster DPS(Balance).



He will be much better with the AGM and fishing hat as its hard to stay alive sometimes with low hp (Arena). The reason for mind thrust is definatly moonfire which will eat your mana. So spec for mana reduction and use wrath on rooted target's. The reason for BoA Staff is the crit and int you gain and you only lose 4 stam vs using hammer and pouch.



I havnt tried the glyph of moonfire and specced for periodic damage but im pretty sure it sucks as it can be dispelled. Moonfire is most effective for spamming a debuffed efc.



I don't think Balance is viable without BoA. Im pushing sp limit and have the best spec for damage, its only above average.



Travel form and moonfire is very good for chasing another druid fc, u can root hibernate and moonfire them as offense where other classes cant keep up. Downside is you wont be doing alot of damage. And hunters will want to kill you first.



Some useful macro's



/castsequence reset=2 cast Travel Form, Rejuvenation (Rank 1)

Alot of the times if your rooted your taking damage and you will do a quick Travel Form in and out to remove the root and get distance. This will cast a travelling HoT on you in such a situation but u will need to double tap.



/castsequence reset=35 cast Rejuvenation (Rank 2), Bear Form



Same theory except with Bear form, This has a higher timer.



Downside. In mana clutch situations it could stop you from morphing due to the small amount of mana the HoT will use. Discretion advised.

[char=Medivh]Donteatmebro[/char]

 

[Bragh]

Healing enchants are pretty expensive imo; I guess this depends on server. This is the one I'm working on shes pretty far along

[char=Argent+Dawn]Walou[/char]



I logged out with my sp staff on, she uses twisted chanters staff +22 int, Staff of the blessid seer + 30sp and Staff of Westfall +20 spirit. I think spirit staff is necessary for resto druids.



I can't endorse a spec yet because I'm still playing around with hers. She can do 180ish hp heals in .5 seconds with healing touch right now, but goes oom rather fast.





Edit: Make sure you get aquarious belt. The healing effect has saved me many times. Replace it with the one I'm wearing when the effect is on cooldown.

Hey man, After recent changes I'll actually suggest you to get the Warsong Gulch staff as your spirit wep.

 

[Eliot]

Hey man, After recent changes I'll actually suggest you to get the Warsong Gulch staff as your spirit wep.

Tbh, Staff of The Frair Is probably still better.

 

[Kore nametooshort]

Tbh, Staff of The Frair Is probably still better.

I would agree for most situations, especially since we got speed kitty. Alliance get staff of westfall as a cheaper option, however Friars remains slightly better.



Balance sets are very similar to Resto sets, the only difference being hit rating, and if you roll with spidersilk and lavishly jeweled ring you are fairly close to the cap anyway, and will be enough if you feel the need to wrathspam in arena at anytime. Wrathspamming at 19 can be viable, and can yield a fair amount of dps whilst being a very cheap spell, wrath does in excess of 100 dmg a pop non crit when you have ~100SP with a 1.5 sec cast time and naturesfocus and/or glyph of wrath its possible to provide a good stream of dmg even when being wailed apon (i sometimes pop lifeblood and aquarius belt and do this in arena just for a change of tacts). when specced 5 starlight wrath, 3 in moonglow and 2 in natures focus you can dps whenever you like whilst having a viable healing spec, although this misses out on subtlety, and letting you have a choice of which ever glyph you like, both wrath and moonfire are good balance choices with moonfire coming out slightly on top. This is also a good HT glpyh spec due to reduced mana cost of all your spells.



My current druid is [char=eu-Earthen+Ring]Korette[/char] This was a funded reroll so has no access to BoAs or any of the more expensive/exclusive gear (TBJ, mindthrust etc)