Post by Curva on Jul 10, 2013 18:18:31 GMT -8
Shaman Heal/INT
Shamans before 4.1 update are main interrupters and because of Elemental Precision you can easily get enough hit rating even as heal so its worth wasting some HPS for this.
There isnt any specific rotation for healers because all depends on situation.
Restoration Spells
Healing Wave
- Healing Wave is our mid/low throughput heal with a low mana cost and slow cast time. You can spam this all day and not go out of mana. It can even be used as a mana gaining spell if it crits because of Improved Water Shield. It is highly recommended you use this under the effects of Tidal Waves.
Healing Surge
- Healing Surge is our medium throughput heal with a high mana cost and fast cast time. This is essentially an 'oh shit' spell. Use it if someone needs healing now. Using this under the effects of Tidal Waves can almost guarantee a crit, which can result in a large amount of healing done, especially in conjunction with Ancestral Awakening. It recently took a nerf, so it is truly only for situations where someone will die if you don't cast this heal right now.
Greater Healing Wave
- Greater Healing Wave is our high throughput heal with a high mana cost and a slow cast time. This spell should be used when you know big damage is about to happen. If it crits and has the UE buff, it can heal upwards of 60k. It is recommended to use this under the effects of Tidal Waves. Pre-load this heal if you know big damage is about to land.
Chain Heal
- Chain heal is our 'spammable' (no cooldown) AoE heal. It heals up to 4 targets and is a smart heal (meaning it picks targets based on their health deficiency). Unfortunately Chain Heal is no longer Resto's bread and butter spell. It does not heal nearly as much as it used to. That said, don't be so quick to judge. While Healing Rain does heal for more, Chain Heal still has its uses. That's the beauty of the new healing paradigm: pick the spell for the situation.
Healing Rain
- Healing Rain is our new placed (like Blizzard or Rain of Fire) AoE Heal gained at level 83. Don't let the mana cost fool you. This spell is awesome. AWESOME. It scales with our crit, haste and mastery. It can also proc ELW. That said, because of the mana cost you won't be able to use this on cooldown*. If unavoidable raid damage is about to land, pre-cast HR on your raid and go from there.
*TC Heavy Healing Specs use Lightning Bolt filler as a mana gain so they can keep HR down at all times.
Riptide
- Riptide hasn't changed much since the last expansion. It should be used on cooldown (to keep up the Tidal Waves buff) on different targets as to not renew the HoT. Spread this around the raid for some 'ok' raid healing over time. I'd really recommend keeping this rolling on the tanks. Each tick can crit and activate Ancestral Healing, thus reduce damage done to the tank. The HoT can also be improved if used in conjunction with UE.
Unleash Elements
- Unleash Elements is our new spell that we gain at level 81. It provides a small heal (about the same amount as the Riptide instant heal portion) and buffs your next heal by a significant amount. It can be used to buff a big heal (GHW) for huge results or perhaps to do some large healing on the raid (CH on a Riptide target).
Earth Shield
- Earth Shield is our spec defining ability we gain when we specialize in the Restoration tree. It has the same mechanics as before. However, because of lower tank avoidance, charges tend to fall off faster than before. That said, the mana cost is significant. I'd recommend only refreshing it with 1 charge or so left.
Water Shield
- Water Shield is our prime mana regeneration ability. It gives passive mana every 5 seconds as well as mana back every time we take damage (nerfed recently to half the value it used to be) and/or when we gain a proc from Resurgence. Keep this up at all times and (I personally do this) refresh it any time you get a spare global.
Other Potentially Used Spells
Spiritwalker’s Grace
- This is a 2 minute cooldown gained at level 85. It allows us to cast when moving. Use this when you need to run to a target to get in range, or when you are having to move due to fight mechanics. It has a long cooldown so remember to use it wisely.
Wind Shear
- Wind Shear is our interrupt.
Lightning Bolt
- Lightning Bolt will basically only be used by those who spec into Telluric Currents. In this case it will be used to help damage as well as regenerate mana for the Shaman.
Ghost Wolf
- Ghost Wolf isn't widely used. However it can definitely be used for a 'get out of fire, quick!' ability as well as the (probably more common use) 'get back after a wipe' ability.
Basic Tips for New Shaman
The healing model has changed since the last expansion. It is more 'triage' style now. This means that a healer can't make up for a stupid dps who stands in fire. If people stand in fire too long or are just bad, then they die. Mana matters. Spells are too expensive for us, as Shaman Healers, to make up for every little mistake. AoE heals, in particular, have taken a big hit. This means that things like damage reduction talents and self healing abilities from any class are very viable and greatly appreciated.
However, starting off healing can be difficult for some who aren't that experienced at the game as others. Here are some basic tips to help get you off the ground:
Keep Earth Shield on the Tank at all times.
Keep Water Shield and ELW active on yourself at all times.
We can dispel magic and curses. Do so when they come up.
Discuss when to use Bloodlust/Heroism with your group. Try to have a DPS do it if possible, as it does cost quite a bit of mana.
Use your totems wisely. If a buff is already present in your group, try to use a different totem for maximum benefit for dps/healing as well as staying in range.
Use your healing spells wisely. Don't use a large heal when a small heal will do. Don't use an AoE heal if it won't hit anyone. This list can go on for many things.
Try to utilize your Tidal Waves buff as much as you can by actively using Riptide and/or Chain Heal. It is a huge boost in healing done.
Feel free to ask questions here! This guide is here to help you and make sure you succeed.
I will add more later
Stats:
There will be mixed opinions on this. I will show what I, with the help of many other raiders (<3 you know who you are), have found to be a good balance.
For a freshly dinged 85 I'd recommend the following: Int > Spirit > Crit > Haste=Mastery
For someone with full heroic gear or better, I'd recommend the following: Int > Spirit (until you have 'enough') > Mastery > Crit > More Haste > More Spirit or Int > Spirit (until you have 'enough') > Haste until 2nd Riptide softcap > Mastery > Crit > More Spirit.
The choices I recommend will vary depending your play style. Some prefer to play with Mastery, as others prefer to have more Haste. Choice is yours.
Now let me explain why --
Intellect:
Intellect gives us spell power, a larger mana pool and a small amount of spell crit. It is on every piece of gear you will wear (aside from maybe trinkets). Intellect is our best throughput stat. If you aren't healing for enough, considering getting more, as it is (point for point) our best stat. Intellect can also be considered a longevity stat. The more Intellect (coupled with Spirit) we have, the more mana we gain back from Replenishment and various other effects.
Spirit:
Mana is a struggle in Cataclysm compared to the previous expansion. Aside from Water Shield (along with Resurgence), Spirit is our main source of mana regeneration. You'll want as much as you can afford on gear when you first ding 85. With more and more gear, you can lax a small bit. I recommend you get around 2k Spirit (or until you feel comfortable with your mana). This can go up or down based on personal taste.
Crit:
Critical strike rating is now a pretty good stat for Restoration Shaman. It adds additional healing (200% heal) + a smart heal (AA on a 'low' health target for 30% of the Crit heal) + a physical damage reduction buff (Ancestral Healing for tanks). It even provides mana via Resurgence. So what's stopping us from stacking Crit for everything? The problem with Crit as a throughput stat is that it's unreliable. Mastery and Haste are better choices for getting more HPS. Once you're in full heroic gear, Crit will basically become more of a regen stat than a throughput stat, though it still will provide solid throughput.
Haste:
Haste was our best friend last expansion. More haste = more healing = great success! Not the case anymore. If you are already struggling with mana, getting more haste is counter productive. That being said haste is still a very powerful stat for us. If you are comfortable with your mana and your healing play style, it is highly recommended to get about 916 haste rating so your ELW, Riptide (glyphed) and HR all gain an extra tick (Goblins do require less haste rating to reach this first softcap). Some people prefer higher amounts of Haste opposed to Mastery. These setups have you go for the 2nd Riptide tick. Please Note: All the numbers below are the rating required in addition to having the 5% spell haste buff present.
- Haste Softcaps - (numbers in parenthesis' are ratings for goblins)
Riptide (no glyph):
1st tick - 610 (476)
2nd tick - 3051 (2892)
3rd tick - 5418 (5307)
Riptide (glyphed):
1st tick - 262 (130)
2nd tick - 2005 (1857)
3rd tick - 3748 (3582)
4th tick - 5418 (5307)
Healing Rain:
1st tick - 610 (476)
2nd tick - 3051 (2892)
3rd tick - 5418 (5307)
Earthliving Weapon:
1st tick - 916 (780)
2nd tick - 3966 (3798)
3rd tick - 7016 (6817)
Mastery:
Mastery is the new stat in Cataclysm that allows us to heal for more on targets with lower amounts of health. This means when healing a target with 100% health, we don't heal for any more than anyone else. However, if a target is at 1% health, we can heal for quite a bit more. It is a large misconception that Mastery is our worst stat. This is simply not necessarily the case. Any fight where people take raid damage, your Mastery can help you heal for more for absolutely nothing. It actually doesn't take the target to be very low on health for Mastery to provide more throughput than Crit (something like ~50%). On the other hand, it is not recommended to stack Mastery at the expense of other stats, or if you are under geared.
Gemming:
Useful gems you should be using:
Meta
Burning Shadowspirit Diamond (recommended)
Ember Shadowspirit Diamond
Revitalizing Shadowspirit Diamond
Insightful Earthsiege Diamond - This gem can still be used temporarily, until you can get one of the cata metas.
Red
Brilliant Inferno Ruby
Blue
Sparkling Ocean Sapphire
Yellow
Smooth Amberjewel
Quick Amberjewel
Fractured Amberjewel
Orange
Potent Ember Topaz
Reckless Ember Topaz
Artful Ember Topaz
Purple
Purified Demonseye
Green
Zen Dream Emerald
The gems I recommend:
Red - Brilliant Inferno Ruby
Blue - Purified Demonseye
Yellow - Artful Ember Topaz
Enchants:
The following is a compilation of any and all enchants that are available for your character to use for Cataclysm:
Helm:
Arcanum of Hyjal - Revered with the Guardians of Hyjal
Shoulders:
Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone - Exalted with Therazane
Lesser Inscription of Charged Lodestone - Honored with Therazane
Felfire Inscription - Inscription Only
Cloak
Greater Intellect
Intellect
Greater Critical Strike
Critical Strike
Lightweave Embroidery - Tailoring Only
Chest
Exceptional Spirit
Peerless Stats
Mighty Stats
Bracer
Mighty Intellect
Greater Critical Strike
Critical Strike
Greater Speed
Speed
Exceptional Spirit
Draconic Embossment - Intellect - Leatherworking Only
Gloves
Greater Mastery
Mastery
Haste
Synapse Springs - Engineering only (tooltip clarification: Intellect Buff) Note: This stacks with other regular enchants.
Legs
Powerful Ghostly Spellthread
Ghostly Spellthread
Powerful Enchanted Spellthread
Enchanted Spellthread
Boots
Haste
Mastery
Lavawalker - Note that run speed enchants (via Ancestral Swiftness) do not stack
Rings
Intellect - Enchanting Only
Weapon
Power Torrent
Heartsong
Hurricane
Shield
Superior Intellect
Totems:
My usual set is Stoneskin, Flametongue, Healingstream, Wrath of Air
Stats Priority:
Intelect>Spirit
Spell Power>Haste>Crit>Mastery
Talents:
Glyphs:
Shamans before 4.1 update are main interrupters and because of Elemental Precision you can easily get enough hit rating even as heal so its worth wasting some HPS for this.
There isnt any specific rotation for healers because all depends on situation.
Restoration Spells
Healing Wave
- Healing Wave is our mid/low throughput heal with a low mana cost and slow cast time. You can spam this all day and not go out of mana. It can even be used as a mana gaining spell if it crits because of Improved Water Shield. It is highly recommended you use this under the effects of Tidal Waves.
Healing Surge
- Healing Surge is our medium throughput heal with a high mana cost and fast cast time. This is essentially an 'oh shit' spell. Use it if someone needs healing now. Using this under the effects of Tidal Waves can almost guarantee a crit, which can result in a large amount of healing done, especially in conjunction with Ancestral Awakening. It recently took a nerf, so it is truly only for situations where someone will die if you don't cast this heal right now.
Greater Healing Wave
- Greater Healing Wave is our high throughput heal with a high mana cost and a slow cast time. This spell should be used when you know big damage is about to happen. If it crits and has the UE buff, it can heal upwards of 60k. It is recommended to use this under the effects of Tidal Waves. Pre-load this heal if you know big damage is about to land.
Chain Heal
- Chain heal is our 'spammable' (no cooldown) AoE heal. It heals up to 4 targets and is a smart heal (meaning it picks targets based on their health deficiency). Unfortunately Chain Heal is no longer Resto's bread and butter spell. It does not heal nearly as much as it used to. That said, don't be so quick to judge. While Healing Rain does heal for more, Chain Heal still has its uses. That's the beauty of the new healing paradigm: pick the spell for the situation.
Healing Rain
- Healing Rain is our new placed (like Blizzard or Rain of Fire) AoE Heal gained at level 83. Don't let the mana cost fool you. This spell is awesome. AWESOME. It scales with our crit, haste and mastery. It can also proc ELW. That said, because of the mana cost you won't be able to use this on cooldown*. If unavoidable raid damage is about to land, pre-cast HR on your raid and go from there.
*TC Heavy Healing Specs use Lightning Bolt filler as a mana gain so they can keep HR down at all times.
Riptide
- Riptide hasn't changed much since the last expansion. It should be used on cooldown (to keep up the Tidal Waves buff) on different targets as to not renew the HoT. Spread this around the raid for some 'ok' raid healing over time. I'd really recommend keeping this rolling on the tanks. Each tick can crit and activate Ancestral Healing, thus reduce damage done to the tank. The HoT can also be improved if used in conjunction with UE.
Unleash Elements
- Unleash Elements is our new spell that we gain at level 81. It provides a small heal (about the same amount as the Riptide instant heal portion) and buffs your next heal by a significant amount. It can be used to buff a big heal (GHW) for huge results or perhaps to do some large healing on the raid (CH on a Riptide target).
Earth Shield
- Earth Shield is our spec defining ability we gain when we specialize in the Restoration tree. It has the same mechanics as before. However, because of lower tank avoidance, charges tend to fall off faster than before. That said, the mana cost is significant. I'd recommend only refreshing it with 1 charge or so left.
Water Shield
- Water Shield is our prime mana regeneration ability. It gives passive mana every 5 seconds as well as mana back every time we take damage (nerfed recently to half the value it used to be) and/or when we gain a proc from Resurgence. Keep this up at all times and (I personally do this) refresh it any time you get a spare global.
Other Potentially Used Spells
Spiritwalker’s Grace
- This is a 2 minute cooldown gained at level 85. It allows us to cast when moving. Use this when you need to run to a target to get in range, or when you are having to move due to fight mechanics. It has a long cooldown so remember to use it wisely.
Wind Shear
- Wind Shear is our interrupt.
Lightning Bolt
- Lightning Bolt will basically only be used by those who spec into Telluric Currents. In this case it will be used to help damage as well as regenerate mana for the Shaman.
Ghost Wolf
- Ghost Wolf isn't widely used. However it can definitely be used for a 'get out of fire, quick!' ability as well as the (probably more common use) 'get back after a wipe' ability.
Basic Tips for New Shaman
The healing model has changed since the last expansion. It is more 'triage' style now. This means that a healer can't make up for a stupid dps who stands in fire. If people stand in fire too long or are just bad, then they die. Mana matters. Spells are too expensive for us, as Shaman Healers, to make up for every little mistake. AoE heals, in particular, have taken a big hit. This means that things like damage reduction talents and self healing abilities from any class are very viable and greatly appreciated.
However, starting off healing can be difficult for some who aren't that experienced at the game as others. Here are some basic tips to help get you off the ground:
Keep Earth Shield on the Tank at all times.
Keep Water Shield and ELW active on yourself at all times.
We can dispel magic and curses. Do so when they come up.
Discuss when to use Bloodlust/Heroism with your group. Try to have a DPS do it if possible, as it does cost quite a bit of mana.
Use your totems wisely. If a buff is already present in your group, try to use a different totem for maximum benefit for dps/healing as well as staying in range.
Use your healing spells wisely. Don't use a large heal when a small heal will do. Don't use an AoE heal if it won't hit anyone. This list can go on for many things.
Try to utilize your Tidal Waves buff as much as you can by actively using Riptide and/or Chain Heal. It is a huge boost in healing done.
Feel free to ask questions here! This guide is here to help you and make sure you succeed.
I will add more later
Stats:
There will be mixed opinions on this. I will show what I, with the help of many other raiders (<3 you know who you are), have found to be a good balance.
For a freshly dinged 85 I'd recommend the following: Int > Spirit > Crit > Haste=Mastery
For someone with full heroic gear or better, I'd recommend the following: Int > Spirit (until you have 'enough') > Mastery > Crit > More Haste > More Spirit or Int > Spirit (until you have 'enough') > Haste until 2nd Riptide softcap > Mastery > Crit > More Spirit.
The choices I recommend will vary depending your play style. Some prefer to play with Mastery, as others prefer to have more Haste. Choice is yours.
Now let me explain why --
Intellect:
Intellect gives us spell power, a larger mana pool and a small amount of spell crit. It is on every piece of gear you will wear (aside from maybe trinkets). Intellect is our best throughput stat. If you aren't healing for enough, considering getting more, as it is (point for point) our best stat. Intellect can also be considered a longevity stat. The more Intellect (coupled with Spirit) we have, the more mana we gain back from Replenishment and various other effects.
Spirit:
Mana is a struggle in Cataclysm compared to the previous expansion. Aside from Water Shield (along with Resurgence), Spirit is our main source of mana regeneration. You'll want as much as you can afford on gear when you first ding 85. With more and more gear, you can lax a small bit. I recommend you get around 2k Spirit (or until you feel comfortable with your mana). This can go up or down based on personal taste.
Crit:
Critical strike rating is now a pretty good stat for Restoration Shaman. It adds additional healing (200% heal) + a smart heal (AA on a 'low' health target for 30% of the Crit heal) + a physical damage reduction buff (Ancestral Healing for tanks). It even provides mana via Resurgence. So what's stopping us from stacking Crit for everything? The problem with Crit as a throughput stat is that it's unreliable. Mastery and Haste are better choices for getting more HPS. Once you're in full heroic gear, Crit will basically become more of a regen stat than a throughput stat, though it still will provide solid throughput.
Haste:
Haste was our best friend last expansion. More haste = more healing = great success! Not the case anymore. If you are already struggling with mana, getting more haste is counter productive. That being said haste is still a very powerful stat for us. If you are comfortable with your mana and your healing play style, it is highly recommended to get about 916 haste rating so your ELW, Riptide (glyphed) and HR all gain an extra tick (Goblins do require less haste rating to reach this first softcap). Some people prefer higher amounts of Haste opposed to Mastery. These setups have you go for the 2nd Riptide tick. Please Note: All the numbers below are the rating required in addition to having the 5% spell haste buff present.
- Haste Softcaps - (numbers in parenthesis' are ratings for goblins)
Riptide (no glyph):
1st tick - 610 (476)
2nd tick - 3051 (2892)
3rd tick - 5418 (5307)
Riptide (glyphed):
1st tick - 262 (130)
2nd tick - 2005 (1857)
3rd tick - 3748 (3582)
4th tick - 5418 (5307)
Healing Rain:
1st tick - 610 (476)
2nd tick - 3051 (2892)
3rd tick - 5418 (5307)
Earthliving Weapon:
1st tick - 916 (780)
2nd tick - 3966 (3798)
3rd tick - 7016 (6817)
Mastery:
Mastery is the new stat in Cataclysm that allows us to heal for more on targets with lower amounts of health. This means when healing a target with 100% health, we don't heal for any more than anyone else. However, if a target is at 1% health, we can heal for quite a bit more. It is a large misconception that Mastery is our worst stat. This is simply not necessarily the case. Any fight where people take raid damage, your Mastery can help you heal for more for absolutely nothing. It actually doesn't take the target to be very low on health for Mastery to provide more throughput than Crit (something like ~50%). On the other hand, it is not recommended to stack Mastery at the expense of other stats, or if you are under geared.
Gemming:
Useful gems you should be using:
Meta
Burning Shadowspirit Diamond (recommended)
Ember Shadowspirit Diamond
Revitalizing Shadowspirit Diamond
Insightful Earthsiege Diamond - This gem can still be used temporarily, until you can get one of the cata metas.
Red
Brilliant Inferno Ruby
Blue
Sparkling Ocean Sapphire
Yellow
Smooth Amberjewel
Quick Amberjewel
Fractured Amberjewel
Orange
Potent Ember Topaz
Reckless Ember Topaz
Artful Ember Topaz
Purple
Purified Demonseye
Green
Zen Dream Emerald
The gems I recommend:
Red - Brilliant Inferno Ruby
Blue - Purified Demonseye
Yellow - Artful Ember Topaz
Enchants:
The following is a compilation of any and all enchants that are available for your character to use for Cataclysm:
Helm:
Arcanum of Hyjal - Revered with the Guardians of Hyjal
Shoulders:
Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone - Exalted with Therazane
Lesser Inscription of Charged Lodestone - Honored with Therazane
Felfire Inscription - Inscription Only
Cloak
Greater Intellect
Intellect
Greater Critical Strike
Critical Strike
Lightweave Embroidery - Tailoring Only
Chest
Exceptional Spirit
Peerless Stats
Mighty Stats
Bracer
Mighty Intellect
Greater Critical Strike
Critical Strike
Greater Speed
Speed
Exceptional Spirit
Draconic Embossment - Intellect - Leatherworking Only
Gloves
Greater Mastery
Mastery
Haste
Synapse Springs - Engineering only (tooltip clarification: Intellect Buff) Note: This stacks with other regular enchants.
Legs
Powerful Ghostly Spellthread
Ghostly Spellthread
Powerful Enchanted Spellthread
Enchanted Spellthread
Boots
Haste
Mastery
Lavawalker - Note that run speed enchants (via Ancestral Swiftness) do not stack
Rings
Intellect - Enchanting Only
Weapon
Power Torrent
Heartsong
Hurricane
Shield
Superior Intellect
Totems:
My usual set is Stoneskin, Flametongue, Healingstream, Wrath of Air
Stats Priority:
Intelect>Spirit
Spell Power>Haste>Crit>Mastery
Talents:
Glyphs: