It gains a decent tank for fights where you could use an extra tank, while at the same time swapping to a passable healer via gear swap for the fights that you don’t need the extra tank for. It’s strength is in versatility and ability to change up roles as needed.
1 Like
But the OP wants to be a healer and survive in WPvP! If you don’t care about giving them a build that is best suited for this, I don’t know why you are posting in this thread. I’m sorry if you have a personal attachment to those two builds or if I have been rude to you in some other way, but 8/12/31 is the single most survivable PvP druid build and is also the most safe and efficient raid and 5-man healing build due to its 31-point Resto core.
Other builds have other uses, I agree–HOTW for making 5-man LFG easier, Moonglow for balance/resto PvP hybrid… but the OP is a healer!
1 Like
He said he will heal dungeons while leveling but then says he wants to switch to doing BGs and world pvp at max level. Whether he wants to focus more on healing in pvp or actually doing more damage with healing is still up in the air. You say you don’t know why i’m posting in this thread yet you are the one that completely derailed it. I stayed constructive and answered his questions, you on the other hand want to debate about a build that wasn’t even asked about. If you feel my advice to him about those builds he asked about weren’t good then point it out, if you want to just promote your talents then feel free to do so but once again leave me out of it, I don’t care for the third time.
I don’t know why you’re making this such an argument man. Let’s just chill out and calmly help OP with his builds, ok? I’m sorry if I was rude to you–I didn’t mean to be.
That’s the thing, i’ve never argued anything about your build, lol. I never once said anything bad about it. Literally all I have said is that HOTW and Moon glow builds are good as well and don’t write them off because they have their uses. I might actually end up trying your build eventually.
What do you think the advantages of Moonglow and HOTW are, if you could briefly list them?
That’s already been answered multiple times in the thread. For me, personally, since I do a lot of solo PVP I would prefer HOTW. Most of my fights are 1v1’s where the extra damage in the feral tree are more useful. In a 1v1 I don’t need the extra healing power, typically the fight will be over after 1 NS HT. I imagine once BG’s come around Moon Glow / Swiftmend build could end up being more useful in group content where focusing on healing / FC are more useful.
1 Like
Moonglow is equally as efficient as Swiftmend for healing but with less throughput, less mobility and less flexibility.
Its only real benefit is cheaper and stronger Balance spells.
HOTW in Agi gear is a somewhat ok Feral with mediocre offhealing. HOTW in int gear is a mediocre healer with a minor damage boost.
Swiftmend remains capable of 1v1s because of spells’ higher base damage relative to melee abilities. As a Swiftmend specced healer you remain able to do damage in duels–almost equal to a Int-gear HOTW–due to the combined damage of Moonfire, Insect Swarm, animal and caster autoattacks, and cat-form DoTs. You would be surprised about the sustained 1v1 DPS potential of the defensive build.
HOWEVER, something in your post struck me–most of my 1v1s are against raid geared warriors, rogues, mages, etc. Maybe if enemy players on your server have a different demographic and are less dangerous, you need the survivability less in 1v1s and you need more damage to kill them before backup arrives?
Edit: What is your primary goal in playing? Are you a druid that leans towards Feral? What is your gear like?
Thanks for all of the info, guys, and I’m sorry that the thread ended up this way. Perhaps I should have been more clear, but truth be told, I didn’t exactly know what I wanted to do… I was mostly curious about Moonglow and HotW since I’ve heard a lot of praise about them and was wanting to know which you guys prefered.
I think that I will try a more “offensive” Moonglow path while leveling; building for mana efficiency while also picking up key talents like Improved Healing Touch and several damage talents from Balance. Once I reach endgame, I may stick to Moonglow if I like it, or give either HotW or Bleu’s Swiftmend build a go; I’m leaning more towards Swiftmend since I think I’ll be more comfortable in a supportive role for my team.
Again, thanks for all of the info, everybody… it’s been really helpful. Honest. 
1 Like
There’s also something I liked to mess with that I called “Vengeance Swiftmend” that was (20/0/31) and was a bit of fun.
That said, good luck and have fun! Druids are the best
2 Likes
Hey man .Fellow Druid here . i have been super indecisive with my build . bouncing between HotW NS and Moonglow and i am not super stoked on any one of them … my goal is to balance between raids … PVP and 1v1 ability. and your 8/12/31 build sounds interesting as its not the typical swiftmend build … could you shed some light on your choices into the balance . feral and resto tree ? i miss feral charge. lol
For raiding I like the moonglow spec, 24/0/27. What you’re giving up is swiftmend, imp rejuve, and imp regrowth. You’ll have 1 point to put in either of those last 2. What you gain is 9% mana reduction, and 50% faster casts after a spell crit.
It’s effective for rank 4 healing touch spam.
I haven’t specd for pvp yet. But if I did, I would go 8/11/32. It seems to provide all the goodies I’d want for pvp healing.
Improved nature’s grasp, no pushback on roots, improved bash, charge, then deep in resto for an instant heal with swiftmend.
What you give up in the Resto tree for a Moonglow build is Swiftmend, 5% improved healing on Rejuvenation (2/3 instead of 3/3) and +50 crit on Regrowth, a spell you never cast anyway if you are having efficiency problems.
You do not give up the base +10% healing nor the reduced mana cost of Healing Touch.
Lets understand each spec is designed for a specific purpose.
Swiftmend is the best top end spec.
-
HOTW is the best for 5-man dungeon and pre-raid BIS farming: it is more flexible regarding the role (you can tank or dps, when a healer isn’t required); the huge mana pool really helps when most of your gear is just a few +intellect pieces.
-
Moonglow is the best for raid entry level when you are in blue/green with some pre-raid BIS gear: it is much more mana efficient while still doing a rather good amount of HPS, and because you are going to be doing “low” healing anyway, you don’t see a significant decrease in HPS. This spec is good when most of your gear has +healing, but without having much +intellect.
-
Swiftmend is the top end spec you should be using once you have your MC and Ony raid items, and you have your gear enchanted, and you are willing to use some consumables.
If you try to go Swiftmend with green/blue gear you are going to suffer from mana shortage in 5-mans. Its a spec that requires some sustainment in order to work. This is why you usually pick swiftmend when you are, at least, fully pre-raid bis.
You don’t give up the 10% heals. Moonglow is the best raid spec heals. Swiftmend is trash, and Regrowth spec is horrible until Naxx lvl gear.
There is one thing to consider though: the more druids there are in a raid, the less effective it is if they all spec Swiftmend (their total healing output is much more reduced).
Swiftmend has the greatest potential, I agree, but if you are raiding with 3 resto druids, the best geared one will usually top end while the rest do much more deminished healing.
In a raid group compositions such as this, its not crazy to have one druid go HOTW or Moonglow for raid healing (much larger mana pool or efficiency for most of the raid) , and having the Swiftmend druid focus on the tanks.
It varies really.
In an optimal raid composition (just one resto druid), swiftmend would be the way to go.
I don’t know much about druids, since I am a priest, but I want to add something to the discussion which I think is important.
Namely, the best healing spec heavily depends on how good your guild DPS is. I used to heal in PUGs, where the clear times were quite long, and I was forced to heal via efficient spells: greater heal and heal.
When I joined a good guild, my healing plummeted to ridiculously bad HPS. Whenever I would start a long cast, some other healer would snipe me. After a few weeks of pathetic healing, I stopped following the efficiency advice and just started spamming flash heal. And now my healing is vastly improved. Note that this is only possible due to the fast kill times of the guild. If I would heal in the same manner in a PUG, I’d probably wipe the raid by going oom 50% into the fight.
In that sense, and based on my observations, a regrowth specced druid is absolutely bonkers in good guilds. You don’t need mana efficiency with fast kill times. If you are in a strong guild, my suggestion is to go with that spec.
If you are PUGing a lot, or your guild struggles with some bosses, I’d go with the more mana efficient builds.
1 Like
Neither.
Catweaving is probably the most fun spec in the game. 14/0/37.
Swiftmend build is far better.
Deep Restoration specs are very mobile. Casting Rejuvenation on 5 players in a group including yourself will cost a lot of mana but, think about it, its an AOE heal on the move. A Swiftmend is like a snipe heal on the move.
A skilled Restoration Druid can heal and switch to Cat form to assist the DPS. Using your energy to DPS is much better than using your mana. You’ll need your mana to heal.
If you get Omen of Clarity like I do, you can weave in and out of Cat form to DPS and Heal. You can use Omen of Clarity for burst damage as a Cat or use it to cast Regrowth for free after popping out of Cat form.
Our PVP gear was designed for this. Having Str, Agil, Int, Stam and Spirit on gear means that you can benefit from all forms. Use Bear form to soak incoming damage and survive focus fire.
Nature’s Grasp (1, 4) -> 3 points in shapeshifting mana reduction
feral aggressiveness, armor talent, feral charge, 1 point in stun
31 points in resto skipping MOTW, pushback ignore, threat reduction, tranquility, regrowth
Hey man it’s ok to have your own opinions but you should watch out because you just said a lot of things that are factually incorrect and when you say such things it makes your opinion look like less of an educated opinion : /