First off - I’m liking the newest Resto Talent Tree build that came out today. This thread is for one of my two main concerns: The choice node for [Flow of the Tides] and [Ancestral Reach].
First off, this is an uninteresting choice. Both options are both fairly simple throughput options for Chain Heal. This is a problem because as community consensus is built up; there will necessarily be a “Best” choice here. And spoiler alert: [Astral Reach] is the better choice.
Flow of the Tide - feels bad to play.
- It consumes a rip tide, and the bonus does NOT flow through to bounces of chain heal.
- This directly it anti-synergistic with many talents like [Wavespeaker’s Blessing] (right below it) and [Undercurrent].
- The remaining duration of Rip Tide does not factor into the healing. So you clip your HOT for a flat 30%.
- Trying to track this, and time it so you clip rip in the last few seconds, is not feasible given that you are healing a target who is dying (unlike similar DPS talents). It’s not like you can tell your tank “can you wait 8 more seconds before you need to be healed”.
- The 30% does NOT transfer to the later targets - when are using this effectively? When 1 target in the group is almost dead, and they have riptide, and you need a some healing on 2-3 other targets.
Ancestral Reach is a MUCH better throughput ability:
- the 8% is across ALL targets being healed
- Adding +1 bounce is also just free extra healing added to your chain heal (in a throughput setting where everyone is hurt)
- It directly synergises and talents like [Unleash Life], [High Tide], and [Ancestral Vigor].
- The higher throughput also better amplifies talents like [Ascendence], [Cloudburst Totem].
If you are in an encounter where everyone is taking huge damage, and you want to maximize your aoe healing throughput in raid; then [Ancestral Reach] is a clear winner. It is a desirable talent to choose for raid. Taking [Ancestral Reach] Alongside [High Tide] + [Unleash Life] with [Ancestral Vigor] will give you that “turbo chain heal” you’re looking for.
Let’s try and imagine the “damage taken” profile where [Flow of the Tide] would be optimal: You’d need to have 1 target, taking a lot of damage AND everyone else needing some healing. Even without [Flow of the Tide], you ALREADY have talent options that accommodate this. Talents such as [Ascendence], [Ancestral Awakening] [Couldburst Totem], and even [Healing Stream Totem] or Healing Raid are very potent tools for keeping everyone fresh while you are in single target healing spam mode.
I think [Ancestral Reach] will be taken for certain encounters where Chain Heal is desired - and [Flow of the Tides] will be taken never.
What could go here? Well I have a perfect recommendation (and plea) – [Chains of Devastation] as the other option paired against [Ancestral Reach]
You can see my full thread / Open Letter on it Chains of Dev linked below. But in summary, this is a perfect place for it. Even more perfect in the current talent build (Almost painfully perfect). It flows down from two possible talent nodes that precede it:
- [Acid Rain] - a DPS talent that seems designed for M+ which would then flow into the Chains of Dev / Ancestral Reach choice node. Giving the “battle shaman” build a perfect DPS talent.
- [Ancestral Vigor] - Vigor is a great tool to have in the Chain Dev playstyle. And as a player of Chain Dev in the current game, I heavily favor taking Vigor in the current talents.
Anyway Thanks for listening, and you can see my original thoughts here…