[PVE Guide] Restoration Shaman 6.0.3

[Xarganthos]

got mark of rapid replication (mythic) from my very first mythic mission on my shaman today, but i dont think its worth using over my 670 hourglass. haste/vers sure are nice but i'd lose a lot of int

[Jayjayhey]

How are resto shamans right now? I have heard they are at the low end of the totem pole and our guild is looking around possibly for another healer. We do not have a resto shaman. Was just curious as why/why not we should look for one? Are they really that bad right now? Or is it another issue, like a high skill cap and people just don't know how to play one?

[Alltat]

How are resto shamans right now? I have heard they are at the low end of the totem pole and our guild is looking around possibly for another healer. We do not have a resto shaman. Was just curious as why/why not we should look for one? Are they really that bad right now?

We were a bit low before 6.1, but then we got a blanket throughput buff. Now we're at roughly the same levels as most others (ignoring the fact that disco always look deceptively good on total healing charts). Our utility isn't really better or worse than anyone else's, just different, so stacking different healers is (as usual) preferable to going with lots of one spec. One advantage right now is that we don't really have any bad fights in BRF.

Or is it another issue, like a high skill cap and people just don't know how to play one?

I think there are two things that make restoration shamans seem to be in a worse stat than we actually are:

The first is our mastery, which makes our numbers look bad on easy content. With so many guilds farming the content, we don't exactly look good if you look at normal and heroic data. That doesn't mean we're bad if you're progressing on that content, but statistics will be skewed by all the logs of people farming it. However, if you look at mythic then things look much brighter. And if you look only at the top 10% of healing parses (i.e. when things went really bad but the group pulled through, which is where we really shine), things look even better.

The second is that the spec has changed quite a bit since previous expansions, and a lot of players seem to have gone into WoD doing the same things they did before, and it didn't work at all. Lots of guides out there are also basically just copy/pastes of MoP guides with some new numbers added. Basically lots of misguided players and bad information floating around, resulting in a lot of people seemingly not knowing what they're even supposed to be doing. If you were to look through all the "help me fix my healing" threads here and elsewhere, you'll see that it's the exact same things repeated over and over.

[lavaburstandstuff]

So what our new bis trinkets considering ilvl changes in brf?

[Alltat]

So what our new bis trinkets considering ilvl changes in brf?

It doesn't really change much. Still chew toy and "whatever, meh". With all the stat procs around, which trinket is best for the second slot is going to vary depending on the fight. Random procs are fine on some fights but useless on others, and you can't really calculate any meaningful average for all of BRF. Since the spirit trinkets were just buffed to have even more spirit, whether they're any use to you will depend on how much spirit you've got on the rest of your gear. Past 1500 spirit or so (including trinket procs and enchants), there's not a whole lot of useful stuff you can do with that extra mana. If you find that you need more spirit than that, you're doing something else wrong and switching trinkets won't fix your healing. Unless you can get rid of spirit in other slots, intellect trinkets are the way to go.

[Volitar]

I just wanted to share this hilarious healing tide from one of our Kromog attetmpts. https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports...aling&source=2

[Sigmatic]

I just wanted to share this hilarious healing tide from one of our Kromog attetmpts. https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports...aling&source=2

Yeah, popping Shards + EM + AMP with Tide can be REALLY good sometimes. Then, if you have the 4p buff up, it gets even more insane as you can keep that buff running for 20 seconds with that haste.

[Volitar]

Plus Berserking and int pot

[Deleted]

Plus Berserking and int pot

That was my mythic butcher progression strategy too. Stand outside of raid on pull to not get lust, stack everything on htt.

[Alltat]

Level 60 Talents: Ancestral Swiftness and Elemental Mastery are both great choices each offering a total throughput gain not offered by Echo the Elements...

I think this bit needs updating. The provided discussion link is for 6.0 and has no mentions of the changes to Echo of the Elements in 6.1. And while it was speculated that EotE wouldn't do anything for healing done, all logs show that it allows for a significantly higher number of Riptide casts in practice, leading to more High Tide synergies and more Chain Heal healing. Looking at logs, EotE seems to add the same amount of healing over a fight as AS.

Glyph of Chaining – This is one of my default glyphs as it generally increases the throughput of Chain Heal...

The four piece set bonus is probably worth mentioning here.

Glyph of Riptide – I feel like this glyph is essential for a raiding environment...

There are countless threads on this subject, but I think the standing advice should be to not use it, or at least pointing out that GoRT is not suitable for inexperienced players. If used properly, you do the same healing as without it. If used improperly, you end up doing less. The Echo of the Elements talent also fills the same "flexibility" niche to some degree. Either way, it's certainly not essential, as the majority of high ranking shamans aren't using the glyph.

Spirit – With current gear levels our throughput is restricted by our mana, because of this I always prioritize spirit over other secondary stats.

I don't think this really applies anymore. Spirit is still good, but it doesn't really dominate any more. It comes down to how much spirit/mana you get from trinket effects and such.

Regarding stats, I also think Leech deserves mentioning. Getting healed is an uninteresting bonus as DPS, but it's a pretty big perk when you're a healer. Any healing you get passively is healing you don't have to do actively.

[Zambal]

What is a resto shamans max dps rotation?
Searing
Flame shock
Lava burst
Lightning bolt
?

I am asking for all those fights that got periods of low/no healing required.

Also on a fight where you dont need mana from elemental blast how big dps increase can primal elemental be instead?

[The Yeti]

Also on a fight where you dont need mana from elemental blast how big dps increase can primal elemental be instead?

The difference is really negligible, because you'll be using your PE enhanced elementals to give you your bonuses to healing throughput, and they are much better reserved for that purpose as opposed to a DPS cooldown if you are speccing into PE.

[Staargasm]

Hi there

I was wondering if its possible to make a macro that bakes "Unleash Life" into "Chain Heal" and "Healing Wave", i often forget to use Unleash, and i would be nice if i could bake the spell into the two others, to be cast on cd, anyone here that can make a macro like that?, if its even possible?

[The Yeti]

Hi there

I was wondering if its possible to make a macro that bakes "Unleash Life" into "Chain Heal" and "Healing Wave", i often forget to use Unleash, and i would be nice if i could bake the spell into the two others, to be cast on cd, anyone here that can make a macro like that?, if its even possible?

I would strongly recommend against that. UL does not do nearly enough healing to be used on CD, despite it buffing the heals that are cast next. Use it in very low damage times in preparation for a higher incoming damage phase (usually better to cast riptide anyways if off CD, to benefit your high tide) or for the movement speed burst. It's not good enough to be used on CD.

[Alltat]

I was wondering if its possible to make a macro that bakes "Unleash Life" into "Chain Heal" and "Healing Wave", i often forget to use Unleash, and i would be nice if i could bake the spell into the two others, to be cast on cd, anyone here that can make a macro like that?, if its even possible?

You should not be using Unleash Life rotationally, so it's not something you'd want even if it was possible. It's a useful spell for any time you have to move, since it's instant and gives you +30% speed for 4 seconds, and it can be useful for dealing with very predictable damage (like if you know the tank will be taking a big hit in 5 seconds), but that's it. It's not worth casting if you could be using that time to cast more Healing Waves or Chain Heals instead. If you're standing still and someone needs healing, UL is a wasted GCD.

If you're having trouble remembering to use it, just think of it as a sprint. It gives the same movement speed bonus as Ghost Wolf, but you can keep casting during it.

[Staargasm]

Thanks for the respons, i guess its a good thing that i've forgotten it 70% of the time then

[Deleted]

What is a resto shamans max dps rotation?
Searing
Flame shock
Lava burst
Lightning bolt
?

I am asking for all those fights that got periods of low/no healing required.

Also on a fight where you dont need mana from elemental blast how big dps increase can primal elemental be instead?

Frost shock is higher DPET than Lightning bolt (or at least was, don't remember if it was changed), so weave that in also if you're purely dpsing. Afaik primal fire elmental adds about 5k dps over regular FE.

[Deleted]

Quick question about Blackiron Micro Crucible, does it proc from heals? I can't make it proc while in combat with the tank dummy in my garrison, yet I have read that it does work for healers. Anyone can confirm?

[Volitar]

You have to be in combat to proc it. So just flameshock the dps dummy.

[Deleted]

http://www.wowhead.com/compare?items....0.567&focus=0

Clearly the offhand.