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Resto PvP Guide
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Post by
Mesoforte
Doing format edits
Before I start this guide, understand that it will not cover spells or stats in a basic way. Basic spells and stats are covered
here
with the exception of the value of Resilience. Needless to say, resilience is incredibly valuable on PvP gear.
Restoration Guide: PvP Style
Do you enjoy healing in BGs? Do you enjoy saving your allies from a ganking rogue, ret paladin, or arcane mage? Do you enjoy being nigh indestructible in 1v1 duels? Do you particularly like the graphics of the angel of death at graveyards?
If you answered yes to all, or maybe one of these, you might have it in you to be a BG/Arena/World PvP healer. And because this is the Shaman forum, you also will hopefully be a Shaman.
Presented here are some simple things you can do to make your BGing play as enjoyable as possible.
1. Gearing Strategies (Running in naked will get you pity points)
2. Reactive and Proactive Strategies (Long subcategory title)
3. Macros
4. Glyphs
5. Spec Options
Post by
Mesoforte
1. Gearing Strategies
Blizzard, in their infinite wisdom, decided that no totems, shields or maces would be available for pure honor purchase. I don't know why they did it, but the developers have assured me that they are omnipotent and omniscient and that I would do better not to ask too many questions. So, the first thing to deal with in gearing is deciding upon a totem, shield, and main hand weapon combo until you can Arena to the real pvp ones.
Main Hand-
You want this to be the best main hand you have/can get. It should be the one with the highest stamina value, unless the current stats of another option outweigh the stamina loss. When starting out pvp, stamina will be your lowest stat, but one of the higher valued ones.
Shield-
Again, you want the shield with the highest stamina value, unless you can get different stats that will benefit you more. Shields are important in pvp, mainly because of the massive chunk of armor they give. While it won't help against casters, it will do a lot against any melee.
Totem (Relic that is)-
For most arena/bg healing, you will want a totem that will benefit your lesser healing wave spell. Though there are situations where you can cast other heals that benefit from totems, lesser healing wave will be your primary bg heal. I personally use
Totem of the Plains
(an old outland quest totem. You can get
this
one if you vendored taht toem already.) for lesser healing wave healing. Until you can get the arena totem, totems like this will be your best option.
Keep Your Gear up to Date-
Even if you don't arena at the top levels, it's important to keep your gear up to date with the current season. If you only honor grind, you will always be one gear season behind everyone else on the off-set items, and two seasons off on the set items. If you arena, try to keep at least one season behind the current one, even if cannot get the current season's level of gear.
Gladiator's Armor Set Bonus-
For most PvP healers, the 2 set bonus is the greatest benefit you can receive from the Gladiator gear. To maximize this, you can mix the
Elemental Gladiator
(it's the one with crit) 2 set bonus with the
Restoration Gladiator
(it's the one with mp5) 2 Set bonus. In total it will give you 100 extra resilience.
Crit v. Mp5 on Non-Set Gear-
Whether you focus on the crit or mp5 gear is entirely up to you. While the crit will cause more heals to proc improved water shield, the mp5 will provide more dependable mp5 in cases where you are using earth shield. When deciding on which to choose, be sure to consider how you plan to heal.
Starter PvP Gear-
Stormhide Set
Rings/Neck
Post by
Mesoforte
2. Reactive and Proactive Strategies-
A lot of shaman survivability and healing in BGs and Arena, depend on doing the right things before, and after something happens. Here are a few things to keep in mind while you are Running around flagged.
A. Situational Awareness is Key
Be on the lookout on who is coming at you from the surrounding area. Do you have enough people to take on the group of enemies that are rushing your flag? Are those enemies already targeting you? Having a plan for what to do in most situations will give you the upper hand in PvP.
B. Have Your Special Totems Ready
See a melee rushing you?
Stoneclaw
and
Earthbind
had better be within easy reach. Is that a mage preparing a large spell?
Grounding Totem
had better be dropped before he finishes casting. Is that a Warlock in the back?
Tremor Totem
had best be down before he starts fearing. Is that a DK disease?
Cleansing Totem
will be the best hope to save both you and your group.
Having special totems (Tremor, Stoneclaw(with glyph), Earthbind, Grounding, and Cleansing) either keybound or in an easy to reach spot can help save your life against these classes. While you can't have all of these out at once and counter every class, having them ready can help prevent the situation from going out of control.
C. Know How to Stop the Enemy-
As a healer, you usually won't have to solo down enemies. However, you will be expected to survive their attacks while keeping your group alive. Make sure you have a strategy ready against all types.
*Note on all of these strategies. Never forget that you can use hex on most of the types of targets (excluding druids).
Melee- Kiting is the safest way to deal with these.
Frost Shock
, Earthbind totem and
Ghost Wolf
are your primary tools.
If you suspect a rogue/druid is nearby stealthed, drop
Magma Totem
and Cleansing. It you're lucky, you'll catch them.
Ranged (Hunter)- With a hunter, you have 2 options. Either you can get out of Line of Sight of the hunter by putting a solid object between you (walls, pillars) or you can get within the 8 yard deadzone of the hunter and avoid their primary way of dealing damage (bows/guns/crossbows). Cleansing Totem will dispel some of the nasty stings that hunters use.
Ranged (Caster)- You have 3 options against casting enemies. You can use an interrupt (either Wind Shock or Earth Shock), Grounding Totem, and Line of Sight to reduce the damage that they can deal to you.
D. Know When to Just Die
There are some (read: lots) of situations where it would be better to just die than waste a cooldown to survive. If you are completely oom with no method of quick regen, death will provide you with a full mana bar. If you stumbled upon a group of four or more enemies alone, it is probably not a good idea to waste a cooldown. If you ever have a three player combo of a class that can interrupt, stun and burst, it might be a good idea to just let it go (maybe not on higher gear levels). Remember that some of your cooldowns might be better served in other situations, though don't ever regret using them.
Post by
Mesoforte
3. Macros-
For 2's:
/cast lesser healing wave; lesser healing wave
For 3's:
/cast lesser healing wave; lesser healing wave; lesser healing wave
Replace ARENA1 or ARENA2 with name of your teammember(s), and go :D (inspiration and credit to Uhana)
Instant Heal -
/cast Nature's Swiftness
/cast Healing Wave
Shock Focus -
(It's good to let your team know when you use your interrupt. You could use earth shock for the litttle damage, but Windshock is off the GCD so ya.)
/stopcasting
/cast Wind Shock; Wind Shock
/p (or RW) SHOCKED: Focused Target %t
Purge Focused Target
/cast purge
Heroism (or Bloodlust)
/Cast Heroism
/RW (or /p) HEROSIM IS UP!
Focus/Clear Focus Macro
/focus
/stopmacro
/clearfocus
Hex
/cast Hex
/p (or /RW) HEXING: %t
Post by
Mesoforte
4. Glyphs-
Glyph of Lesser Healing Wave
Glyph of Water Mastery
Glyph of Earth Shield
Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem
* This one is probably mandatory
Glyph of Water Shield
5. Spec Options-
PvP specs are hard to quantify. I'll list a few here, and if anyone posts a good one, it'll be added.
This
was one I was using for a while.
Post by
Mesoforte
Okay, extra information is needed for this. Please feel free to add it in a post. I'll be doing format edits for a while anyways, so it will be a bit before this is complete.
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124864
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Post by
Neutronimity
this is just common sense that all resto shamans shud know
From where else would they know it other than guides and/or own experiences? Also note, the guide isn't even complete yet. Give him some time to finish.
Mesoforte, keep up the good work!
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269223
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Post by
Booterang
Bloodlust (or Heroism)
/Cast Bloodlust
/RW (or /p) BLOODLUST... blaraghblaraghblargah!
Fixed
Ninio gave some pretty good macros for PvP, that covers about all of them. The set focus shock, purge (hex too I find) are particularly useful as they allow you to shock your focused target while targeting someone else that needs a heal.
PvP specs are usually based off preference (I take mana-tide myself) though 3/3 focused mind and healing grace are essential (in additon to already essential talents ^.^).
I found the best glyph choice was Earthshield, Stoneclaw and Lesser healing wave. Watershield, and ghostwolf for minor glyphs.
As for itemization:found it to be of great benefit to just get the crit set (4/4) and then spec guardian totems.
Next season Mp5 may be more useful due to the supposed buff that gear will be receiving and the change to Tidal Waves. I mix Mp5 and crit, but have found crit rating to be more useful in the long run.
Resilence rating is really based on how comfortable the player is with it, I found that 800 was the bare minimum required, with over 1000 as too much (losing out on +heal and stamina at that point). To keep it cheap I carry different kinds of trinkets based on what I feel I need.
Post by
Mesoforte
seriously a guide on how to pvp as a resto shaman? this isnt even how u pvp this is just common sense that all resto shamans shud know
Everyone has to start somewhere. ;)
Okay, I'll add in all the info after the fourth. (Fireworks tend to start fires during a burn ban, and I'll probably be all across the county before the night's over). Other than that, keep the information coming if you think of anymore so this guide can get started.
Oh, and thanks for all the information. :D
Post by
shazi
Resilence rating is really based on how comfortable the player is with it, I found that 800 was the bare minimum required, with over 1000 as too much (losing out on +heal and stamina at that point). To keep it cheap I carry different kinds of trinkets based on what I feel I need.
Balance your resilience around your partner. If you, as I, play with a rogue, I'm running with just around 800. I simply dont eat any burst. Also, if you have a partner that can peel an aweful lot *cough*hero class*cough* I would still consider 1000 to be alittle over the top.
A macro is use for healing (since mouseclicking the target you wanna heal takes time, time thats better spend elsewhere)
For 2's:
/cast lesser healing wave; lesser healing wave
For 3's:
/cast lesser healing wave; lesser healing wave; lesser healing wave
Replace ARENA1 or ARENA2 with name of your teammember(s), and go :D (inspiration and credit to Uhana)
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188424
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Post by
sugarzombie
update and sticky pls
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