Tips for Healer? (New Healer)

Been playing a druid for as long as I could remember, but never actually gave healer a chance. Was always intimidated to play it, due to my first experience trying to heal was with a disc priest. Any beginner tips I could learn about a druid healer? I’d love to really try and master all 4 specs of the class

1 Like

use mouse over macros. seriously they are a life saver. give me a minute to start up the game and i will post an example my priest uses.

#showtooltip Renew
/cast [target=mouseover,help] Renew; [help] Renew; Renew

this macro will try to cast renew on whoever you are hovering your mouse over first and if your not mousing over someone (or their unit frame) it will cast renew on who ever you have targeted. you can also alter it to cast an attack spell if your mousing over an enemy by changing the [help] to [harm] and putting an attack spell in there so you can add some DPS without changing targets. for healers this is useful because you can keep your tank targeted and still heal the rest of your party when needed. make sure to set your unit frams to darken when the character is out of range so you know who you can actually reach. :slight_smile: happy healing.

also the best way to learn is just to try it. get into a random dungeon and tell people its your first time healing as a druid. if any of them have done it before you will get some friendly (and not so friendly) tips. tell your tank to take it slow at first. learn at a low level so you know how things change as you get to the higher levels. do not boost your healer. boosting tanks and healers is a big nope unless you already know how to use them.

so basically just play it like any other new class XD.

Here’s a bit more optimized version that will do the same thing:

#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][]Renew

I think you can still talk to a class trainer to enter the proving grounds for some no-pressure practice. (Although the level requirement is pretty high, level 50 I think.) I have no idea how it’s tuned, but it’s more about building up muscle memory. It’s also a good place to test UI stuff. Other good places to practice are epic battlegrounds and LFR. (Epic battlegrounds have enough people around you don’t get singled out as long as you’re doing stuff, and LFR generally assigns more healers than needed making it lower pressure than other PvE group content.)

You’ll definitely need to get some good party/raid frames. The default ones are inadequate for a druid even if you play with the settings. (Other healers can get away with them, but with a druid you really want something with some more customization for tracking hots.) Any of the healer-focused frame addons (Grid, Grid2, Healbot, VuDoh) will work fine — it’s a matter of preference.

1 Like

I use an add-on called “Clique” which essentially creates the mouse over macros for you. Haven’t had any issues, its just I’m lazy and this is easier than writing the scripts.

I’d recommend the site “questionably epic . com” as a great resource for Resto Druid.

I’d also recommend switching to one of the raid frame add ons folks mention above. I use ElvUI which lets you customize your whole UI. I’ve heard some people complain about it, but it rolls a lot of the functionality of several add ons into one. The raid frame customization is fantastic.

1 Like

Best tip I can give as a resto druid main myself is try not to get discouraged at the beginning. The learning curve for resto can be pretty substantial compared to some other healers, but if you just keep practicing and researching, you’ll get it in no time.

Keep in mind that you are still a Druid first. You have one of the best utility kits in the game as a Druid, and there are a lot of times that utilizing that kit can mean the difference between sailing through a pull, bearly scraping through it, or wiping on it. Since you’ve been playing the other druid specs this shouldn’t be a big issue for you to adapt to, but just as a friendly reminder of how great your class is :wink:

Everybody else gave good advice.
I would stress picking out macros over anything else first.
I would not, however, recommend going straight for addons until you get a feel for healing, unless you’re already familiar with addons and setting them up. My experience with addons for healing has been unpleasant because it requires you understanding what you need, and when you are a newcomer it is hard to understand where you’re lacking and how addons could help.
Do however use the raid frames options in your interface options and use that for healing.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the spells (esp as a druid who is overloaded with spells), a good way to learn healing is by starting a fresh character and healing in (preferably classic) dungeons. You’ll start off simple and learn spells as they come. It’s a time commitment to make another character, but the option is there and can be good for future healers you (may) make.

1 Like

Thank you guys for all the help!

Okay, so a few quick tips:

1- Get the Talador Tasty Lunchbox toy from Talador. This gives you a permanent food and drink toy in case you ever run out in dungeon or raid. Drag the toy down to your side bottom bar.

2- Get Healbot

3- Set left click to Rejuvenation

4- Set Middle mouse button (scroller) to Swiftmend (use this on yourself on other party members when you’re in trouble and need an instant large heal)

5- Set Right click to Regrowth

On your action bar:

#1 on your action bar should be Tiger Dash (when you are in this form you will get a different action bar - click one on your number pad on your keyboard when you need to catch up quickly to the tank and the rest of your group) :ambulance: :fire_engine: :ambulance: :fire_engine:

#2 should be Wildgrowth

#3 should be Life Bloom

And anywhere else on your bar, Overgrowth and Convoke the Spirits for extra / better / faster heals. Use these on big fights with lots of mobs or when you’re on a boss.

Cast and re-cast Rejuvenation and Regrowth on all your party members (including yourself if you take any damage)

Cast Lifebloom on the tank because they will probably be taking the most damage.

Now that all party members have Rejuv and Regrowth on them and the tank has Lifebloom on them, use Regrowth on any party members (including tank) as you see fit… so whoever needs topping up, top them up with Regrowth.

Periodically cast Wildgrowth as it heals all party members too on top of the other spells. :shamrock:

Swiftmend whenever you needs to heal someone fast (middle click mouse button). :baby_bottle:

Efllorenscence and Tranquility for large AoE heals (but you needs to stand in place while casting those). :rosette: :blossom: :tulip:

And that’s pretty much it. You have Rejuv, Regrowth Swiftmend as mouse clicks (so you just left click / middle click / right click on party members name plates in healbot to cast each spell) and you have your numbered action bar ready so you can Sprint / Dash forward and cast additional spells when you need to.

In Cat form action bar:

#1 on that action bar should be the spell Travel Form that lets you switch back to your normal Druid form (and that’s it). : )

All the best! ^.^

Other things that could help when you’re in a dungeon or raid:

  • Argent Squire and Argent Pony Bridle (lets you vendor items and sell junk as well as check your personal bank if you need to deposit things to empty your bags)

  • Guild Herald / Guild Page (also if you need to vendor items and sell junk on the fly) (these two share a CD with the Argent Squire though so just a heads up. : )

  • Drag your guild bank icon down to your bar so you can also deposit items in your guild bank (if you’re like me and have your own personal bank guild)

  • Jeeves and / Reeves for repairs if you’re an engineer or you can purchase Auto-hammers from the AH that you can use for dropping a repair hammer that you and all your party members can use to repair their gear in the middle of a dungeon or raid

  • Whispers of Rai’vosh Toy for slowfalls if you need to jump off cliffs in any dungeon (some of the lower level ones have cliffs) or Stylish Parasol also lets you glide down and can be cast mid-air

  • Katy’s Stampwhistle also lets you mail items to your alts to help empty your bags

^.^

:tulip: :blossom: :cherry_blossom:

Just an FYI - need to be level 37 to use the toy.

1 Like