Shaman Restoration Talents Builds
Comments on the Tree in General
Restoration is a strong high-end PVE tree(i.e., raiding), as well as a strong PVP tree. It is not necesary for low-end PVE. We don't need the healing power early. If we kill the enemy before we need to heal, then Improved Lesser Healing Wave doesn't help. Nature's Swiftness isn't necessary unless you screwed up; it's easier to just not screw up.
For PVP; Nature's Swiftness is almost necessary. Improved Lesser Healing Wave is similarly good. Healing Way, when used with appropriate healing techniques, is a very strong healing tool. Restoration really shines in raids, and in survivability - Earth Shield brings us into nearly paladin-esque levels of survivability. If you want your enemies to curse your name as the shaman who will just not die, Restoration is for you.
No Prerequisites
Improved Healing Wave
Reduces the casting time of your Healing Wave spell by .5 seconds.
Healing Wave is roughly 9% more efficient than Lesser Healing Wave. Thus, the use of this talent is to create situations where untalented Healing Wave would not heal fast enough, but talented would, preventing you from needing to use Lesser Healing Wave. It is largely a playstyle decision.
Tidal Focus
Reduces the mana cost of your healing spells by 5%.
A passive, useful talent. We have again the choice of versatile versus specialized when comparing this to Improved Healing Wave.
Requires 5 points in Restoration Talents
Improved Reincarnation
Reduces the cooldown of your Reincarnation spell by 20 minutes and increases the amount of health and mana you reincarnate with by an additional 20%.
Not a phenomenal talent. If you like to Reincarnate often to get the last laugh, or to help in a fight after you died anyway, this talent is useful to you. If, like most shamans, you save your Reincarnate for wipe protection, this will not be very helpful.
Ancestral Healing
Increases the target's armor value by 25% after getting a critical effect from one of your healing spells.
Not a bad talent at all. It is largely a matter of personal preference whether you put points in this or keep them for the next talent, Totemic Focus. You can always do both, as this talent only requires 3 points to max out.
Totemic Focus
Decreases the mana cost of your totems by 25%.
A very strong talent. Placing totems can get expensive, and saving 25% of their cost is nothing at all to sneeze at.
Requires 10 points in Restoration Talents
Nature's Guidance
Increases your chance to hit with spells and melee attacks by 3%.
An excellent talent if you are not purely a healer. Many elemental and enhancement-primary builds like to reach into Restoration, and take this talent.
Healing Focus
Gives you a 70% chance to avoid interruption by damage when casting any healing spell.
An excellent talent. The only reason to not take this talent is if you already have Eye of the Storm in the Elemental tree.
Totemic Mastery
Increases the radius of your totems by 10 yards.
Another excellent talent, especially for only one point.
Healing Grace
Reduces the threat generated by your healing spells by 15%.
Shaman heals are inherently high-threat, and this helps to offset that. However, remember that unless you have problems with aggro while healing, this talent will do nothing. It is a good place to put points if you have extra, but few shamans do.
Requires 15 points in Restoration talents
Restorative Totems
Increases the effect of your Healing Stream and Mana Spring totems by 25%.
A fairly weak talent. It changes Healing Stream from 14 hp/2 sec to 17.5/2 sec, and Mana Spring from 10/2 sec to 12.5/2 sec. It is, however, the prerequisite for Mana Tide Totem, which most Restoration shamans want.
However, for Healing Stream Totem, it does apply after +healing, so it gets slightly less weak as your gear gets better.
Tidal Mastery
Increases the critical effect chance of your healing and lightning spells by 5%.
Synergy with not only Ancestral Healing, but also with the Elemental talent tree, and it also helps you with healing. Yes, this is a very good talent.
Requires 20 points in Restoration Talents
Healing Way
Your Healing Wave spells have a 100% chance to increase the effect of subsequent Healing Wave spells on the target by 6% for 15 sec. This effect will stack up to 3 times.
Some explanation; it only affects the spell Healing Wave, not Lesser Healing Wave. Healing Wave spells from any shaman will benefit, but only spells from shamans with the talent will apply or renew the buff.
This is a very strong talent to increase your healing power, but it takes a little set-up. As a result, it is not particularly strong in PVP, but it is a powerhouse in PVE healing.
Nature's Swiftness
Instant cast. 3 minute cooldown
When activated, your next Nature spell with a casting time of less than 10 sec becomes an instant spell.
As an instant spell, you can cast it without stopping your movement. You can use this for an instant healing wave, lightning bolt, chain lightning, or ghost wolf spell; Nature's Swiftness is a very powerful and very versatile talent. If you have 20 points in Restoration, your 21st should always be Nature's Swiftness.
Focused Mind
Increases your chance to resist Silence and Interrupt mechanics by 15%.
First, a little bit of clarificiation - this does not affect your chance to be delayed by damage in casting a spell. It increases your chance to resist school lockouts such as Kick, Pummel, and Counterspell (those are interrupt mechanics), as well as Silence mechanics (such as, well, Silence, Counterspell-Silence, etc).
Focused Mind is a very, very strong PVP talent. Interrupts and silences abound, and being unable to cast any Nature spells for up to ten seconds (the longest interrupt effect) is crippling both to you and your team. For PVE, interrupts and silences are rare and generally avoidable, and so this talent is not helpful often.
Requires 25 points in Restoration Talents
Purification
Increases the effectiveness of your healing spells by 10%.
A free, passive, +10% healing talent. If you like to heal, you want Purification.
Requires 30 points in Restoration Talents
Mana Tide Totem
60 mana Instant cast 5 minute cooldown
Summons a Mana Tide Totem with 5 health at the feet of the caster for 12 seconds that restores 6% of total mana every 3 seconds to party members within 20 yards.
An excellent talent. Overall, it restores 24% of each party member's total mana (that's full mana bar, including all buffs) over 12 seconds. It scales, it's powerful, and it's effective. Now if only it didn't require Restorative Totems, it would be perfect, but I suppose we can't have everything.
Requires 30 points in Restoration Talents
Nature's Guardian
Whenever a damaging attack is taken that reduces you below 30% health, you have a 50% chance to heal 10% of your total health and reduce your threat on that target. 5 second cooldown.
First, a clarification - any damage taken that reduces you to anything below 30% has a chance to proc this talent. That is, if you are at 29%, and take a 2-point hit from a critter, you have a 50% chance to heal and end up at 39%.
This talent is phenomenal. It makes killing you a real ordeal. There really isn't a whole lot to say other than that - it's very good at healing you and keeping you alive, and as an added bonus, in PVE it will reduce your threat.
Requires 35 points in Restoration Talents
Nature's Blessing
Increases your spell damage and healing by an amount equal to 30% of your Intellect.
I know I'm saying this a lot, but all the talents down here are excellent. This is another incredible talent, giving you back a little bit of the damage you sacrificed by going so far into Restoration, as well as increasing your healing.
Improved Chain Heal
Increases the effect of your Chain Heal spell by 20%.
I note that like all percentage effects, this applies after +healing. Combined with Purification, your Chain Heal gets +30% healing done. It is simply amazing. Chain Heal is a very powerful spell once you have enough +healing, and this talent makes it even more so, as well as lowering the amount of +healing needed for the talent to truly shine.
Requires 40 points in Restoration Talents
Earth Shield
Requires 3 points in Nature's Blessing.
900 mana 40 yard range
Protects the target with an earthen shield, giving a 30% chance to ignore spell interruption when damaged and causing melee attacks to heal the target for 270. This effect can only occur once every few seconds. Lasts 10 minutes. 10 charges. The shield can only be placed on one person at a time.
This talent is simply amazing. Despite what the tooltip says, it procs exactly as if it were Lightning Shield. You can place it on yourself for unparalleled (by other shamans, anyway - very comparable to being a paladin) survivability, or you can place it on someone else and have it act as a 'smart' HoT that will only heal them when they are damaged. The only drawback is that it is dispellable, and with such a hefty mana cost, renewing it is not an option. But that is a small price to pay for such power in any case where your opponents cannot dispel. I also note that each charge gets 30% of your +healing, and is affected in full by Purification
