In this 3 part series, I’m going to look at the enchants, gems, and consumables available for restoration druids (and healers in general in some cases) with raiding/instancing in mind. When patch 3.1 drops, I’ll update the series as needed. Feel free to email me with anything I’ve neglected to mention via the Contact Ice link under the banner :)
Note: Enchants that are only available to the enchanter (like the ring enchants) are not listed. If you’re an enchanter, I’m assuming that you know what to put on your own armor. I’m also including rep items and things from other professions for some slots that don’t have a player-made option.
Cloak
Here we have two options: Haste, or threat reduction and Spirit. Considering the incoming Spirit changes, I’d opt for the [Enchant Cloak – Greater Speed]. If you’re concerned about threat, aim for [Enchant Cloak – Wisdom]. Both are available for 4 dream shards from the Shard Trader in Dalaran.
Chest
You can go for mana or general stats for your robe of choice. [Enchant Chest – Greater Mana Restoration] is comparable to [Enchant Chest – Powerful Stats]. I opted for [Enchant Chest – Exceptional Mana] to give me a little boost since my current regen is fine, and I can easily trinket/Innervate for an insane regen rate.
Shoulders
Head to Storm Peaks and get those dailies done with the Sons of Hodir. At Honored they offer the only shoulder enchants in Northrend (the higher quality versions are available at Exalted). Healing critters will want the [Lesser Inscription of the Crag], then upgrade to the [Greater Inscription of the Crag] as soon as possible. While you’re leveling, you can always pop back to your BC faction of choice and put a quickie boost on your shoulders, courtesy of the Aldor or Scryer.
Head
Wyrmrest Accord has what you’re looking for in a head-slot enchant. The [Arcanum of Blissful Mending] is the best enchant you can get as a healer. It’s easily obtained at Revered, so grab that tabard and go quest in Dragonblight.
Wrists
Ice actually has an advantage here with being a leatherworker because I slapped the +67 spellpower fur lining on her bracers, ignoring all other enchants. For the other trees, I advise getting [Enchant Bracer – Superior Spellpower]. Second choice is [Enchant Bracers – Major Spirit] if you can’t get the former due to price/mats, since everyone can use some Spirit but it’s not as juicy as spellpower itself.
Hands
There’s really only one option for your gloves: [Enchant Gloves – Exceptional Spellpower]. Everything else is more or less aimed at melee DPS and/or tanks so score some yummy spellpower in this slot.
Legs
Yay for pants! Cozy up to your tailor BFF and maybe slip them a few cloth stacks. Aim for threads that give spellpower and spirit, instead of spellpower and stamina. [Brilliant Spellthread] is the highest quality, though you can probably scoot by with [Shining Spellthread] if you’re planning to upgrade your pants in the foreseeable future (I roll with the latter, though I’ll put the better thread on the T7 pants when I get them).
Feet
Despite not having a spellpower option, you can either go with 18 Spirit or 6 MP5 on your roots. I think that the [Enchant Boots – Greater Spirit] is more viable because Spirit gives a little boost to spells in tree form, but go with whatever is available. I was a guinea pig for a leveling enchanter, so I swung the [Enchant Boots – Greater Vitality] from him with a curtsy and smile :)
Weapons (1H and 2H)
If you wield an epic weapon and don’t plan on replacing it for a long time, pick up [Enchant Weapon – Mighty Spellpower]. If you have a non-epic or what I call an off-epic (such as Ice being resto but having a Moonkin dagger) then shoot for [Enchant Weapon – Exceptional Spellpower]. It’s a difference of only 13 spellpower, but the latter is MUCH less expensive on most servers and more readily available. I’d love to have the extra spellpower, but a difference of 200g for only 13 SP? Not so much. Right now Ice doesn’t really have a healing weapon (ahoy +hit!) so I’m not going to spring for the better enchant since I can wait for a drop easily.
You want the best enchants, but at least put it within reason. Selling an arm and a branch for an additional 13 spellpower is ridiculous. Conversely if you’re unable to find a spellpower enchant, try to swing [Enchant Weapon – Exceptional Spirit].
While I haven’t used it before, the BC enchant [Enchant Weapon – Spellsurge] looks interesting. I may do some testing with it on Naxx trash on an alternate weapon to see if it’s still viable at 80.
Part II will include the best gems for resto druids. Coming soon to a feed reader near you!
13 comments:
Fantastic list, thank you very much!
In my opinion, though, I would recommend Tuskar's Vitality for feet. It has been posted before (curse me for not remembering where I first read about it) but the increased run speed is something that can't be measured in numbers, but it will help you in ways you don't think about. Getting to the tank a half second earlier can make a big difference, or slightly outrunning something long enough until the tank grabs it can mean life or death.
Once again, this is only my opinion, and I also tend to believe the current feet enchants are lacking for us trees.
I can see that as being useful too. I've noticed that the Unholy DK aura (+15% increased movement speed) can help with fights like Heigan where you have to be moving almost constantly, even as a healer. Some slots have definite "best enchants" (weapon) and others are just a toss-up for a handful of stats (boots).
Thanks for the input!
+1 on tuskarr's vitality.
The spirit enchant for boots is nice and noticeable, but enhanced run speed is something that will affect almost everything.
From getting to the MT just a half second sooner, to dodging heigan's sludge or OS's Flame walls, to running back after a wipe.
Great list! I just linked to this on a post I put up on my blog today, a guide for a tree's first time raiding. Thanks for the good work here. I also threw up a link to your site! =)
@Sylly - Thanks for the link love! Hopefully I can polish up the next part to my Buff series tomorrow evening (college open-house thing tonight, so no writing time!)
Hmmm great post i still needing a few things till im better geared for naxx 10 will probably use this and other blogs for reference.
The Wyrmrest helm enchant requires Revered, not Honored.
Nice list!
For head and shoulders, I'd like to mention the Wintergrasp enchants (Arcanum of Dominance and Inscription of Dominance.) At 40 and 30 stone keeper shards, they are my choice for gear that isn't worth the gold (or I don't have the faction for.)
Thanks for the catch on the helm typo :)
I purposely left out the WG enchants because they waste item points on resilience, which is worthless in PvE situations. But if you're leveling and still working on rep I can definitely see them as being a temporary option. Thanks for the tip!
resilience isn't worthless imo i've had 1% life after an aoe/dot dmg which resilience reduces
i mean if u break it down its like 1% less dmg form dots and mana burn or 1/4 percent crit or 6mp5 which i can get from 10 spirit
Resilience IS worthless in PvE situations. Mana drains are very rare and if you're being crit with something then your tank is having issues. You're also incorrect in saying that it reduces AoE damage taken, which it does not do. Your goal is to heal through and/or dispell DoTs in raids, not reduce the damage taken from them. Also the cap for DoT damage reduction is 33%, which is also useless if you're at low health and running OOM because you didn't stack other proper stats such as spirit.
At level 80, to get 1% damage reduction from DoTs you'd need ~82 resilience, which could be used on an item in place of other stats. PvP gear is regarded as inferior to PvE gear in raids for this reason.
Resilience is useless for raid healers. Period.
Ten spirit gives a higher stat scale than resilience as well, so you proved my point in your little math bit there :)
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