Deciding between RDruid & RShaman

[Deleted]

Dear Druids / Shamans,

For the last month I have played a Holy Paladin. And while I find this an excellent healer, I cannot help desiring to play something else within the healer spectrum. I'd like to have more spread / aoe healing and I'm looking for some real tools to give answer to emergency situations in dungeons. My Paladin ofcourse comes with it's own cooldowns, but I still cannot help feeling they're not quite what I'm looking for when comparing them with HTT or Tranq.

I nailed it down to Resto Shaman and Resto Druid. I have a Shaman at 110 and a Druid at 106. Over the last few weeks I've done a lot of comparing, a lot of reading, and sadly, reading a lot of biased posts. I've got my own pros and cons, but I cannot quite find the information to cut down to a decision. So I decided to write everything down, post it in both class forums and hopefully find other opinions that can help me make a decision.

About me:
I've played WoW since 2005, but only up until 2 months ago I decided I wanted to learn how to heal. I have never healer before, at all. And I like it a lot. I managed to complete M+6 on my Holy Paladin and healing felt very satisfying. I'm currently in a guild that's at 2/7M EN, but sadly I'm not on the raidteam due to lack of healers. I'll be mainly joining the alt HC raids and doing Mythic+. Hopefully in the near future a healer spot opens up, my officers are aware of my desires to heal and will keep it in mind.

Resto Druid:
I adore the extreme mobile gameplay this spec and class brings. I also think the talents and the artifact are really well done. Everything feels very "tuned" and complete". As if Blizzard payed a lot of attention to this class. When checking statistics on Mythic raids and dungeons, it's Resto Druid all over the place. From the worst brackets of percentiles, this spec doesn't seem to deal with a lot of issues and errors. Somehow it feels this class cannot go wrong and that this spec will always be in a proper position, not only this expansion, but future expansions as well.

My main concerns are mana issues I've been reading up on often, and dealing with spike damage. It's definitely these 2 points I would like to see more opinions about.

Resto Shaman:
It's funny. On paper I personally would rate Resto Shaman the absolute best M+ healer there is. Mastery written for it and tools to supplement it to a point a Resto Shaman in M+ would be borderline OP. When I look up statistics, specifically on M+, I see something completely opposite, and I wonder why that is. I really don't understand it.

I also feel as if the talents and artifact of the Resto Shaman are not as carefully tuned / fluent as with the Resto Druid. A concern is the rapid decline of Shaman healing when content gets put on farm.

Here's my personal shortlist:
Shaman: Awesome on paper, great offspecs, worrying statistics and somewhat mixed opinions. Reactive healing a + for now. Depressing class hall.
Druid: Great talents and artifact. Feels as a FOTM choice, can't seem to go wrong with ever. Worrying mana issues. Spike dmg? Is HoT/pro-active healing really that different or hard?

I most certainly are not looking for a "play this spec" answer, note to moderator, but definitely answers to my concerns, general advice that I might have missed, and would love to hear from people who perhaps play both specs. All in all, I think either choice is a good choice, I just want to make sure I've considered everything when making that choice.

Thanks in advance, cannot wait to read replies!

[Deleted]

I'm in a similar position, I'm also trying to figure out what to play. I keep looking at forums, hoping to find the answer there, but, truth is, no one can decide that for you besides yourself. The questions you need answered cannot be answered by anyone besides yourself.

I'd like to share with you what I've learned in my expasion long hunt for a new main (which also includes a pick for a guild and a faction change that I regret, which is a different story).

Do you want to play FotM or not? It will most likely no longer be FotM next month. It's rarely worth rerolling when you figure out something is good, because something else will be better when you get that char ready. Better is, imo, to play something that fits your playstyle. That you like regardless of whether you are on the top of the meters or not, because if you do, you'll be better at it. And you can wait until the next time it is FotM. Alternatively, you can keep up 2-3 characters and raid/M+ on the best one of them, while keeping the other one(s) relevant.

Also, I tend to look at toolkit. I love my shadow priest, but as the solo player I am, shadow just isn't that awesome. I'd also gimp myself playing a pure dps, as pugging content as those is much harder. I'm currently trying to pick between DK, druid and shaman. I'm in the process of leveling up each of them and I've decided I like shaman and druid a lot more than DK. So, my shortlist is shaman and druid now as well.

Lastly, but perhaps most importantly: play what you want to play and not because your group needs it. If you want to play what your group needs, great! If not, don't do it, it will come to haunt you later.

Now I'll make way for people that actually know these classes

tl;dr Play what suits you. If any class was the best, everyone would play it. Different classes suit different playstyles, figure out which one suits you.

[Deleted]

I was in the same position. I've played both the Rdruid and Rshaman to 110 and ventured both into Mythic dungeons. Settled on the Rdruid. I'll repost something I said to someone on the official forums.

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I jumped around quite a bit this expansion. Warrior, Hunter, Monk, Shaman, Druid. Finally settled on Druid. My initial plan was to tank with him, but I decided to get my resto artifact and try healing on a druid.

I loved it! Having played a decent amount of resto shaman and druid in Legion now, I definitely prefer the mobility of druid healing. Especially as my focus is mythic plus dungeons.

However, I do miss some of the amazing utility and cool downs that a shaman brings. Firstly, they just seem to have insane mana management. I definitely don't oom as quickly. Their mastery is incredible for both progression and high level m+, where lower health targets can be easily ramped back up with quick firing tidalwaved healing surges and waves. Their cooldowns kit of dealing with spike damage is very potent and almost feels spoilt for choice. Spirit link totem is such a beautiful thing. To top it all off, bloodlust/heroism which is pretty much a must for any group in m+.

I adore the resto druid, though. It's such a fun and flexible style to play. Hots upon hots upon hots. There's something really satisfying about see multiple health bars go up at once as double rejuvenations tick and lifebloom pops. The lack of seeing much castbar means you can really maneuver around the battlefield. Cremation Ward and a talented Stonebark means I rarely have to worry about the tank, and I can deal with AoE damage quite efficiently with Wild Growth, which again, is so satisfying to see and use. To round it all off, we come with the very clutch battle res and probably the most potent healing cooldown in the game; TRANQWALATEHH.

So yeah, any questions, feel free to ask as I've given both a fair amount of time this expansion. And don't rush it, I couldn't decide for the longest time between the two.

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I wrote this about a month ago. Since then, I've been maining my Druid. I joined a casual guild and do HC raiding as an Rdruid, and M+ as a Guardian. I really enjoy tanking and healing so it's become a no-brainer for me. I also really enjoy doing WQs as a Guardian, simply by pulling everything and being done with it.

I do crave the healing playstyle of Shaman at times, though. It's just as fun with the hard healing/mastery. Whilst Rdruid ticks up health bars, Rsham powers up health bars.

[Deleted]

And don't rush it, I couldn't decide for the longest time between the two.

Thanks a lot. Very helpful to read a comparison from somebody who's actually played both. As for taking my time, I've been plotting this for about 2 weeks now. I just want to round it off now and get progressing on 'a' choice.

@Cyonis Playing what I find fun is something that I can't really deal with. I like both Druids as Shamans. I think both are fun and both are good. That's just what makes it hard to make a decision.

What it essentially boils down to for me is this:
Style of healing: Big point for Shaman, because of reactive powerhealing. I do like the concept of Druid healing and I find their kit very interesting as well.
Talents & Artifact: Big point for Druid. Feels much more...finished, tuned, fluent. If you know what I mean.
Class fantasy: Big point for Druid. Druid order hall looks really good, I love the shapeshifting. The Shaman order hall is absolutely depressing, neither do I have a lot with the elements.
Misc.: Cannot help but feel that Resto Druid has been a solid, if not the best, healer this and recent expansions. It's an almost guarantee perfect choice in expansions to be. And it will always be viable throughout all expansion tiers.

What I am really curious to learn about is the warcraftlogs statistics. Being bottom of that rank doesn't mean it's bad at all. Balance this epxansion has been really good. Yet I am eager to learn to understand why Shamans are in that spot. Is that perhaps something due to their mastery? Is Druid activity much higher that it gets bumped up much more?

And Druid mana issues. Is that really a thing unless you're spamming Regrowth as mad man and trying to dual hot everybody?

[Skylarking]

I think druid isn't about blanketing everyone with rejuv anymore but instead being more smart about it and only choose the targets that you know will really need it to conserve mana.

[Mattiu]

Druid is a more steady kind of gameplay. Shaman is more bursty. Druid is also safer gameplay than shaman. Also idk but my druid can cast 500k regrowths plus living seed and compared to a like a 600k healing surge i dont think it really makes shamans mastery much better imo (was watching cdews stream the other day and was biting my nails when everyone was taking damage on the fortified raging mariner in MoS, seemed so struggled when in my druid its a breeze)

[Deleted]

So anybody want to shoot at the mana issues?

[Deleted]

Hands down, Shaman take the crown with mana management over Druid.

However, in M+, no matter what healer I played, I always sat and drank when possible. However, the Druid would have the advantage in this aspect as I could get the tank pre-hotted before pull, then start drink. On the other hand, you can say that a Shaman would have to drink less since it just felt like their healing spells cost nothing.

[Captain Fizz]

Having played both (Resto druid as off-spec 26 points in weap, Resto shammy as alt with 22 points in weap) - The shammy can prevent deaths better than the druid.

SLT when the group is close enough saves people from dying, every time.
If someone takes a big hit, a RT, HS, HS brings them back up.

On the druid, at higher gear levels, WG seems to keep the other players healthy with a rejuve too. Or 2 x rejuve + WG on maiden in Kara for example.
But if someone takes a big hit it's either expensive regrowth spam or just hope not much more damage comes in until the hots finish them off.

In a raid I prefer the druid so far. (Not done many with shammy)
Fantastic AoE healing with Rejuves + WG + Flourish.
Shammy can do great at low mana / low damage phases with RT + HW + HW

In Mythics, I feel safer on the shammy. If tank is getting beat on + a DPS I can keep both up.
On the druid, I can CW the tank, Ironbark the DPS... But will eat a chunk of mana keeping both up.

[Deleted]

Pretty much!

Shaman have many ohshet buttons at their disposal - Spirit Link Totem, Healing Tide Totem, Ascendance and Earthen Shield Totem. It plays into their "reactive" mastery style.

Druids function best when they know when the damage is going to come. "proactively" healing members so that as the damage begins to hit the party, the healing is already in full swing, to the point where it looks like your party isn't really taking any damage at all.

I should also mention that with the Druid, I tend to keep two gear sets for Raiding and for M+. Not sure how the upcoming patch will affect secondaries for Rdruids, but for now, I can't recommend enough how incredible Mastery stat is in M+. Mastery, coupled with Haste, turns my Hots into godly AOE healing. All whilst on the move. Since our Mastery increases our healing of Hots depending on how many Hots are on the target, it makes tank/party healing a breeze if correctly done.

Tank healing - Lifebloom, Rejuv, Germination, Cenarion Ward, Regrowth. Not including Wild Growth.
Party healing - Rejuv, Germination, Wild Growth.

That is a lot of mastery stacking and % increase.

Healing Touch to do exactly as it says, touch up health bars that need it. A common mistake I see with Rdruids in M+ is not using Iron Bark (talented) enough. With a short cooldown, it should be taken advantage of. Especially talented, it increases all Hots potency by 20%, which when stacked on top of our already stacking mastery, it starts to get a little silly.

You can see why Rdruids are very sought after in M+.

It's mostly on, do you like playing reactive, or proactive healing. What's great about the Shaman is how they can have a cooldown ready for nearly every pull. Not to mention, Shamans, I believe, dominate big/massive pulls. Tank pulls the entire first corridor and Shamans SLT without breaking so much as a sweat.

This probably isn't helping at all. Heck, after playing my Druid mainly for a month or so, I'm still getting evenings of wanting to jump on my Shaman and heal.

[Raakel]

When shit hits the fan RShaman has almost always an answer to it. I feel very comforatable with it healing through some f'ups while with my RDruid I'm struggling. For example if you used Ironbark on the tank but he continues to drop low + group get's big hits and you burned tranq I often find Regroth can't bring up the tank as quick as I want. Shaman can top people quickly and if I get very stressed by mechanics I tend to switch to single target healing anyways. I for myself can't stand doubble reju the group all the time.

These are the things I always miss on my other healers in 5mans:

- Lightning Surge Totem
- Earthen Shild Totem
- Double Riptide (heals a lot!)
- Healing Tide Totem
- Ancestral Guidance
- Spirit Link Totem
- Acendance

[Deleted]

Indeed. I agree that Shaman have the better toolkit for handling those ohshit moments. On top of that, Bloodlust/Heroism and AOE stun totem.

Having said that, if the tank has Lifebloom, Rejuv, Germination and Cenarion Ward, that is more than plenty to survive. If the tank is going dangerously low after that, then either the tank is not properly geared or the tank is not using their mitigations/skills properly.

When it comes to cooldown utility, Shaman have the edge. But the Druid should never have to feel like it's a "struggle".

[Deleted]

Indeed. I agree that Shaman have the better toolkit for handling those ohshit moments. On top of that, Bloodlust/Heroism and AOE stun totem.

Having said that, if the tank has Lifebloom, Rejuv, Germination and Cenarion Ward, that is more than plenty to survive. If the tank is going dangerously low after that, then either the tank is not properly geared or the tank is not using their mitigations/skills properly.

When it comes to cooldown utility, Shaman have the edge. But the Druid should never have to feel like it's a "struggle".

I agree with this. Serenity used a resto druid in their +20 clear. The health bars seemed constantly full. Shaman is much more of a reactive healer than druid is, you have to put hots on before they take damage as a druid. This makes their playstyles very different and, especially with the mastery, shaman will feel a lot stronger if you're less familiar with the fights.

Bloodlust/heroism is a huge plus though, especially if your group doesn't have a shaman, mage or hunter already.

About the mana issues, druid does have mana issues if you spam. Hps is in my opinion not the best metric for healers. The best metric is healing per mana (taking into account recovered mana). Druid has potentially very strong healing per mana. I 'main' a mistweaver monk and while one of our spells (essence font) costs a lot of mana, it also heals a lot and is definitely worth using if it does not overheal. Its healing per mana is better than our cheapest spell (effuse). The same can be said about the whole druid class. Their spells may cost more, they also heal for more, in general.

[Purpleisbetter]

For m+ just build a mastery set and enjoy the millions flowing with just g'hanir.

Throughput wise, r.druids are golden on m+.

[Deleted]

I'd like to thank each and everyone for their input. I came up with a decision last night. I chose Shaman. Reasons for me to do so:

1. For now I would like to stay with the more reactive way of healing.
2. If 1 thing got clear to me is that the Shaman just comes with a lot more tools in case of shit. Since I'm still new to healing, it would be very handy to have multiple tools to overcome.
3. My Shaman is already AK 17, my Druid level 107. While I do not care if having to level up the Druid, overcoming the AK would require quite some time. Last night doing daily emi world quests, the Focuser of Jonat, the Elder dropped. Basically giving me the push towards Shaman.

Again, thanks everybody for all the input!

[wikinews]

I'd like to thank each and everyone for their input. I came up with a decision last night. I chose Shaman. Reasons for me to do so:

1. For now I would like to stay with the more reactive way of healing.
2. If 1 thing got clear to me is that the Shaman just comes with a lot more tools in case of shit. Since I'm still new to healing, it would be very handy to have multiple tools to overcome.
3. My Shaman is already AK 17, my Druid level 107. While I do not care if having to level up the Druid, overcoming the AK would require quite some time. Last night doing daily emi world quests, the Focuser of Jonat, the Elder dropped. Basically giving me the push towards Shaman.

Again, thanks everybody for all the input!

Might wanna level that druid to 110 sometime so you can start farming AK.

[Deleted]

I'd like to thank each and everyone for their input. I came up with a decision last night. I chose Shaman. Reasons for me to do so:

1. For now I would like to stay with the more reactive way of healing.
2. If 1 thing got clear to me is that the Shaman just comes with a lot more tools in case of shit. Since I'm still new to healing, it would be very handy to have multiple tools to overcome.
3. My Shaman is already AK 17, my Druid level 107. While I do not care if having to level up the Druid, overcoming the AK would require quite some time. Last night doing daily emi world quests, the Focuser of Jonat, the Elder dropped. Basically giving me the push towards Shaman.

Again, thanks everybody for all the input!

In 7.1.5 you'll be able to buy AK 5 ranks lower than your highest and rounded down to the nearest 5 on your alt. So when you're AK 17, you'd be able to buy AK 10 for your alts. So, whatever you do, keep getting that AK I do think you've made a good choice. Enhancement is great too and it looks like elemental is getting a buff next patch.

[Deleted]

Resto Shaman Ez Mode


Resto Druid Brain Mode

the only difference is that as Resto Shaman you have a CD for everything, so it is super easy to play.

Where as resto druid all of your GCD's are important. So you need to know what you are doing.

[Purpleisbetter]

Hitting massive numbers on druid is not really much of a challenge.
It goes braindead lvl if u have a melee group and spec into spring blossom.

The only thing that you should consider about the r
Druid vs r.sham is that druid is immune to affixes while with the sham got a ranged interrupt.

[Orpheus66]

Having played both (Resto druid as off-spec 26 points in weap, Resto shammy as alt with 22 points in weap) - The shammy can prevent deaths better than the druid.

SLT when the group is close enough saves people from dying, every time.
If someone takes a big hit, a RT, HS, HS brings them back up.

On the druid, at higher gear levels, WG seems to keep the other players healthy with a rejuve too. Or 2 x rejuve + WG on maiden in Kara for example.
But if someone takes a big hit it's either expensive regrowth spam or just hope not much more damage comes in until the hots finish them off.

In a raid I prefer the druid so far. (Not done many with shammy)
Fantastic AoE healing with Rejuves + WG + Flourish.
Shammy can do great at low mana / low damage phases with RT + HW + HW

In Mythics, I feel safer on the shammy. If tank is getting beat on + a DPS I can keep both up.
On the druid, I can CW the tank, Ironbark the DPS... But will eat a chunk of mana keeping both up.

I felt the same way then I spec'ed into Tree of Life and I had that burst healing when needed. I just created a macro to cast Innervate+Tree of Life and I could spam Regrowth without worry in m+

You do sacrifice cultivation but IMHO having that burst healing is more important for those oh shit moments