Jekyll2018-04-05T01:40:34+00:00https://rsham-faq.org/Resto Shaman FAQFrequently asked questions about Restoration Shamans in World of Warcraft
Nighthold Trinket Theorycrafting2017-01-18T00:00:00+00:002017-01-18T00:00:00+00:00https://rsham-faq.org/nighthold-trinkets<p><strong>Note:</strong> If you’re looking for how these trinkets fit into the larger context of existing trinkets, see
<a href="/trinkets">Trinkets</a> instead.</p>
<p><strong>These numbers are outdated as of the hotfix on Jan 24, 2017.</strong> See
<a href="https://questionablyepic.com/nighthold-healer-trinkets-update/">Questionably Epic’s analysis</a> for up-to-date numbers.
I’ve left the below info to not break links, but this page is outdated and is now hidden from the rest of the site.</p>
<p>Here’s some theorycrafting about Nighthold trinkets:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=140805/ephemeral-paradox&bonus=3518">Ephemeral Paradox</a> from Elisande. Only affects Healing Wave (that is, it procs off all heals, but only makes
Healing Wave free/restore mana). According to Wowhead, this trinket has a proc rate set at ≈1.2 procs per
minute. This gives a mana return of:</p>
<div class="highlighter-rouge"><pre class="highlight"><code>1.2 * (3869 + 19800) = 28402 mana
</code></pre>
</div>
<p>per minute. Over a 5-minute fight, that’s 142k mana restored - about 2.5 chain heal casts - which you could use to heal
3 million or so health. The extra mana is maybe a 2-4% bump in overall healing, and the static intellect makes this is a
decent trinket, especially if you have mana issues sometimes. However, I would still prefer an int/stat stat stick,
as >1k mastery or crit will probably be more than 2% healing done in a fight.</p>
<p><strong>Note:</strong> Some info suggests that the datamined value for the procs per min (from Wowhead) may be higher than it actually
is in game. Need to confirm, but if so that makes this trinket weaker than expected.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=140803/etraeus-celestial-map&bonus=3518">Etraeus’ Celestial Map</a> from Star Augur Etraeus. According to Wowhead, this trinket has approximately 2 procs
per minute, leading to (2 × 8 sec / 60 sec) ≈ 27% uptime. As a relatively low uptime proc trinket, the Map
won’t be all that great in raid, other than the fact that it has intellect as its stat (and since it’s Nighthold gear,
it will drop at a high item level). See the bottom of the <a href="/trinkets">Trinkets</a> post about this trinket and
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=139330/heightened-senses&bonus=1806">Heightened Senses</a>, which are very similar.</p>
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=140793/perfectly-preserved-cake&bonus=3445">Perfectly Preserved Cake</a> from Trilliax. This trinket is… interesting. A useful Wowhead comment tells us it
has these properties:
<ul>
<li>The trinket is off GCD</li>
<li>The cake is placed instantly in front of you when you use it. It immediately affects yourself (maybe a bug)
plus five other raid members within an 8 yard radius. No action or movement is required. If there are fewer
than five other members, the cake persists for 20 seconds and will auto-apply to those who enter its radius
(up to the cap). See <a href="/assets/cake-radius.jpg">this picture</a> to see where the trinket drops in relation to
your character and how wide the radius of effect is. <strong>Note:</strong> The cake persists for a bit even after its
charges are exhausted, so don’t tell raid members to run to it if they see it, necessarily.</li>
</ul>
<p>So, this trinket (at 900 item level) places five 296k absorbs (= 1.48 mil total) every 2 minutes, or about 740k
absorbs per minute on average. Not bad - <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=138222/vial-of-nightmare-fog&bonus=1806">Vial of Nightmare Fog</a>, for example, does about the same absorbs per
minute at similar ilevels. Plus, with mastery as its stat, it fits our stat priority really well. <strong>I think this
trinket is probably better than <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=138222/vial-of-nightmare-fog&bonus=1806">Vial of Nightmare Fog</a> for similar item levels,</strong> if used properly (which should not be
that hard, given the information above). This is especially the case for Nighthold, which has several fights where the
raid stacks.</p>
<p>This trinket may be mechanically annoying to use, however…</p>
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=140795/aluriels-mirror&bonus=3518">Aluriel’s Mirror</a> from Spellblade Aluriel. According to Wowhead, this trinket has approximately 3 procs per
minute, giving a total healing of 321k healing per minute (in the form of a 12 sec HoT) plus the <em>chance</em> for some 58k
AoE explosions. (Note: this is assuming 905 item level.) As far as heals per minute goes, this seems weak for a
trinket, and combined with the haste stat, I think <strong>this is the weakest trinket in Nighthold for us.</strong> (Also, I
suspect this trinket will have a high percentage of overhealing.)</li>
</ul>Note: If you’re looking for how these trinkets fit into the larger context of existing trinkets, see Trinkets instead.Nighthold BiS List and Tier Sets2017-01-18T00:00:00+00:002017-01-18T00:00:00+00:00https://rsham-faq.org/nighthold-tier-bis-list<p><strong>Should we get the 2-piece bonus?</strong> Yes. In raid, you can expect 2-4% extra healing on most fights, and maybe even
higher depending on your playstyle. Also, the 2-piece is a <em>significant</em> buff in dungeons, since <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=8004">Healing Surge</a>
is your primary heal (see <a href="/dungeon-healing">Dungeon Healing Guide</a>).</p>
<p><strong>Should we get the 4-piece bonus?</strong> Yes. In raid, you can expect between 4%-7% extra healing on most fights,
depending on the HPS requirements, your playstyle, and whether or not you have <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=137058">Praetorian’s
Tidecallers</a>. It is significant.</p>
<p><strong>Does the 4-piece proc when you generate a Tidal Waves charge or when you spend one?</strong> It procs when you generate
one. That’s why it’s so powerful. Frequent chain heals are still potent with the 4-piece. (Note: it only procs −3
seconds when you <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=61295">Riptide</a> with <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=197464/crashing-waves">Crashing Waves</a> - it
<em>doesn’t</em> count the two charges as −6 sec.)</p>
<p><strong>Which pieces should we get?</strong> Llenne has curated a <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JDs9yaU-xFctoalGoQSX_JkvGOCx6qTC3deG9BRj4VM/">community BiS guide for
Nighthold</a> that gives some
starting points.</p>
<p><strong>Is it worth dropping Drape of Shame for the tier cloak?</strong> Probably, if you can get a higher item level one. As one of the
tier pieces with high mastery, the tier cloak is valuable.</p>
<p><strong>I don’t like those stats. Should I take the 4-piece?</strong> Yes.</p>Should we get the 2-piece bonus? Yes. In raid, you can expect 2-4% extra healing on most fights, and maybe even higher depending on your playstyle. Also, the 2-piece is a significant buff in dungeons, since Healing Surge is your primary heal (see Dungeon Healing Guide).Trinkets2017-01-15T00:00:00+00:002017-01-15T00:00:00+00:00https://rsham-faq.org/trinkets<h2 id="trinket-ranking">Trinket “Ranking”</h2>
<ul>
<li>Stat sticks for their consistency. (That said, it may be hard to compete with the Nighthold trinkets,
which have high base ilevel.) Examples of really good stat sticks:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=141482/">Unstable Arcanocrystal</a> from Withered J’im world boss</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=142166/">Ethereal Urn</a> from Nightbane in Karazhan</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=142507/brinewater-slime-in-a-bottle&bonus=605:1497">Brinewater Slime in a Bottle</a>
from Helya in ToV (raid)
<ul>
<li>Any of the secondary stats is good, but we tend to prefer mastery (or crit)</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The value of <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=140793/perfectly-preserved-cake&bonus=3445">Perfectly Preserved Cake</a> depends on your item level and the throughput requirements of the
fight. Since the absorb doesn’t scale with stats (except vers, which is irrelevant), for highly geared players
with other trinket options, Cake won’t be quite as good, especially since the legendary trinket is so powerful
for us. Here’s how it works:
<ul>
<li>The trinket is off GCD</li>
<li>The cake is placed instantly in front of you when you use it. It immediately affects yourself (maybe a bug)
plus five other raid members within an 8 yard radius. No action or movement is required. If there are fewer
than five other members, the cake persists for 20 seconds and will auto-apply to those who enter its radius
(up to the cap). See <a href="/assets/cake-radius.jpg">this picture</a> to see where the trinket drops in relation to
your character and how wide the radius of effect is. <strong>Note:</strong> The cake persists for a bit even after its
charges are exhausted, so don’t tell raid members to run to it if they see it, necessarily. <br />
Most folks around the 910+ item level range will be running stat sticks and/or <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=140803/etraeus-celestial-map&bonus=3518">Etraeus’ Celestial Map</a>
instead of Cake, along with the legendary trinket.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Next, prefer the “stat+proc” trinkets, like
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=140803/etraeus-celestial-map&bonus=3518">Etraeus’ Celestial Map</a> from Star Augur Etraeus in Nighthold
<ul>
<li>See the above Nighthold info. This is a little worse than a stat stick of the same item level, but it may
be hard to find a stat stick at such a high ilevel currently.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=140805/ephemeral-paradox&bonus=3518">Ephemeral Paradox</a> from Elisande in Nighthold
<ul>
<li>If you don’t think you can utilize the extra mana, then this isn’t a good option.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=138222/vial-of-nightmare-fog&bonus=1806">Vial of Nightmare Fog</a> from Dragons of Nightmare in Emerald Nightmare</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=136714/amalgams-seventh-spine&bonus=1532:1727">Amalgam’s Seventh Spine</a> from
Black Rook Hold</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=142162/fluctuating-energy">Fluctuating Energy</a> from Mana Worm in Karazhan</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=137484/flask-of-the-solemn-night&bonus=1532:1727">Flask of the Solemn Night</a> from
Court of Stars</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=137419/chrono-shard&bonus=1532:1727">Chrono Shard</a> from Arcway</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=133645/naglfar-fare&bonus=1532:1727">Naglfar Fare</a> from Maw of Souls
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=138222/vial-of-nightmare-fog&bonus=1806">Vial of Nightmare Fog</a>, at the same ilevel, is <em>strictly better</em> than Naglfar Fare.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Finally, some “starter trinkets”:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=128710/darkmoon-deck-promises&bonus=670:1482">Darkmoon Deck: Promises</a> (crafted)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=128709/darkmoon-deck-hellfire&bonus=670:1482">Darkmoon Deck: Hellfire</a> (crafted)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=139322/cocoon-of-enforced-solitude&bonus=1805">Cocoon of Enforced Solitude</a> from
Elerethe Renferal in Emerald Nightmare
<ul>
<li>The on-use effect is 98% worthless. Prefer to use Leytorrent Potions instead. This is almost solely for
static intellect. As a result, at the same ilevel, the Darkmoon trinkets above are better (same intellect,
but with a better effect).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=140795/aluriels-mirror&bonus=3518">Aluriel’s Mirror</a>
<ul>
<li>Currently very underwhelming, especially for resto shaman</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>Trinket “Ranking”Stats2017-01-15T00:00:00+00:002017-01-15T00:00:00+00:00https://rsham-faq.org/stats<p>For a variety of reasons, the community does not provide stat weights or Pawn strings for resto shamans. Instead, we work on a priority system:</p>
<ul>
<li>Above 100% mastery (<strong>no cap: we really like mastery</strong>)</li>
<li>Between 20% and 30% crit (personal preference)</li>
<li>Between 5% and 20% haste (personal preference)</li>
<li>Vers to taste</li>
</ul>
<p>There’s a lot of disagreement in the community about the exact distribution of stats, but so long as you’re in these general ranges you’ll be good for both raids and dungeons. Everyone in the community seems to agree that mastery is an excellent stat and you want a lot of it.</p>
<p>In general, if a non-jewelry piece of gear has mastery and is 10 ilevels greater than your current piece, it’s probably an upgrade.</p>
<p>Don’t stress too much about “perfect” stats. If you look at the Top N logs on a given fight for resto shamans, you’ll see a lot of variance in stats.</p>For a variety of reasons, the community does not provide stat weights or Pawn strings for resto shamans. Instead, we work on a priority system:Legendary Ranking2017-01-15T00:00:00+00:002017-01-15T00:00:00+00:00https://rsham-faq.org/legendaries<p>These rankings are subjective. <a href="/about">Contact me</a> if you disagree.</p>
<p>Survival:</p>
<p>These legendaries don’t directly affect throughput (besides their stats) except insofar as they help you survive. That is really valuable. For example,
I choose to run Roots</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=132444">Prydaz, Xavaric’s Magnum Opus</a>
<ul>
<li>Fantastic for personal survival - the shield is very strong - and has an absurd amount of stats.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=132466">Roots of Shaladrassil</a>
<ul>
<li>Good, steady self-healing on top of amazing stats. Feeds into <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=157153/">Cloudburst Totem</a> and is affected
by <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108281">Ancestral Guidance</a>, for what it’s worth (but this is just a bonus).</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Excellent:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=144258">Velen’s Future Sight</a>
<ul>
<li>Combos with our various healing CDs thanks to its low CD; the overheal redistribution is very effective for CDs like Ascendance and
Healing Tide totem.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=137058">Praetorian’s Tidecallers</a>
<ul>
<li>Has synergy with Nighthold 4-piece. Extra duration on SLT and HTT are both very nice, if you can effectively utilize them.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=137051">Focuser of Jonat, the Elder</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Situationally Good:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=137104">Nobundo’s Redemption</a>
<ul>
<li>If the fight has opportunity for frequent chain heals needing frequent spot heals, this will work very well.
Works well for Mythic Gul’dan, for example.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=143732">Uncertain Reminder</a>
<ul>
<li>May be excellent for some fights, in particular those where Bloodlust is used during high damage periods (e.g. Cenarius).
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=207355/sense-of-urgency">Sense of Urgency</a> <em>does</em> persist into the bonus bloodlust
period.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=132452">Sephuz’s Secret</a>
<ul>
<li>May be good for fights that have frequent dispels/interrupts and also have opportunities to put that haste to use.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Meh:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=137036">Elemental Rebalancers</a>
<ul>
<li>Low item budget. The HPS gain doesn’t apply to healing rain itself (and in ToS, our HR will be strong). May be good in fights
where everyone is always stacked and you can effectively guarantee its use, but otherwise: hard pass.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=137085">Intact Nazjatar Molting</a>
<ul>
<li>Bad stats, and if the raid is low enough that spamming Riptide is attractive, then Chain Heal will be more attractive.
On top of that, such situations usually have raid CDs planned. Probably our worst legendary.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>These rankings are subjective. Contact me if you disagree.Dungeon Healing Guide2017-01-15T00:00:00+00:002017-01-15T00:00:00+00:00https://rsham-faq.org/dungeon-healing<p>This guide is written for newer restoration shamans who are interested in healing dungeons. This guide does not claim to
present the “best” or “only” way to heal dungeons as an rsham: instead, it presents a method of dungeon healing that has
worked for many folks so far.</p>
<p>First of all, take this talent build:</p>
<p><img src="/assets/dungeon-talents.png" alt="Dungeon talent build" /></p>
<p>Feel free to swap Graceful Spirit for Gust of Wind. Other adjustments can be made based on your preferences,
but this build is an excellent starting point for dungeon healing.</p>
<p>When healing dungeons, take opportunities between pulls to drink for mana. In other words: except for
Tyrannical boss fights that last a while, mana should not be a concern in dungeons. If needed, use mana potions:
ancient mana potions are cheap.</p>
<h2 id="rotation">Rotation</h2>
<p>As a general “healing rotation” for dealing with incoming damage, use</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=61295">Riptide</a> → <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=8004">Healing Surge</a> → <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=8004">Healing Surge</a> → <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=61295">Riptide</a> … repeat</p>
<p>Because of <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=197464/crashing-waves">Crashing Waves</a>, each riptide grants two stacks
of <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=53390/tidal-waves">Tidal Waves</a>. That makes your next healing surge have a very
high chance to crit, which in turn will give <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=207285/queen-ascendant">Queen Ascendant</a>
very high uptime. In other words, you’ll be bonking party members with healing surge crits (which are on the order
of about 900k), with every 3rd healing surge being buffed by the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=200071/undulation">Undulation</a>
talent (which will be on the order of 1.4mil), and because of QA, you will enjoy very high haste in this rotation.</p>
<p>Those 900k/1.4mil numbers are not taking our mastery into account. On a low health target, an undulation’d surge can
easily heal for over 1 million health. You can frequently take nearly-dead DPS straight to full health this way.</p>
<p>These healing surges will eat your mana, but as mentioned above, drink between pulls.</p>
<p>In cases where party members all need moderate healing, use <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=1064">Chain Heal</a> or (better, if available)
the <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=207778">Gift of the Queen</a> artifact ability. Surge is not your only tool; it’s merely the best for the
strong single-target healing required in dungeons. With the new 7.2 traits, <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=207778">Gift of the Queen</a> is appropriate
even for moderate to severe group healing.</p>
<p>Frequently drop <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=5394/healing-stream-totem">Healing Stream Totem</a> where applicable. It does
an appreciable amount of “passive” healing and is great for taking care of the people who need light healing. That lets
you spend more time on DPS.</p>
<h2 id="cooldowns">Cooldowns</h2>
<p>With this build, you have three healing cooldowns at your disposal:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=114052">Ascendance</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Use Ascendance for periods of high group-wide damage. It has a 15 second duration and 3 minute cooldown, so you can use
it several times in a dungeon. With Ascendance going, your Healing Surges will be duplicated and split to all the party
members <em>within 20 yards</em>. This will effectively make your group immortal, so long as the damage is actually healable.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=108280">Healing Tide Totem</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Use HTT for periods of moderate, sustained damage - for example, for the Lantern of Darkness in Maw of Souls.
HTT will help you keep up with incoming damage, but it won’t single-handedly save the group.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=98008">Spirit Link Totem</a></li>
</ul>
<p>SLT is probably the most <em>interesting</em> ability in our toolkit. It creates one giant “health pool” out of
everyone who stands in it.</p>
<p>SLT is the preferred cooldown for cases where there are extreme differences in group members’ health. For example,
it can be used to save a tank who is nearly dead (so long as you and the DPS have sufficient health to redistribute).
It can also be used to save pulls where the tank has not established aggro appropriately on the mobs, and as a result
they are walking around hitting random people - for example, the jump off point in Vault where you may aggro several
spirits and spiders. In those cases, total damage taken by the group is still higher than usual (because a mage has
far less mitigation than a warrior tank, for example), but as long as everyone’s inside the link, you can usually
heal through it.</p>
<h2 id="general-responsibilities">General Responsibilities</h2>
<p>Help with DPS. Use <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=188389/flame-shock">Flame Shock</a> and
<a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=51505/lava-burst">Lava Burst</a> when minor heals are required (especially if Healing Stream
Totem is out). Our mastery makes our heals more effective on lower health targets, so don’t feel rushed to heal someone
who is at 95% health (unless there is impending doom). In heroic/mythic/low level M+, as a healer, you can do very
respectable damage on trash pulls.</p>
<p>Use <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=192058">Lightning Surge Totem</a> to help with stuns on trash pulls.
Coordinated group stuns are extremely potent in dungeons, and surge totem (also sometimes called “cap totem”
or “capacitor totem,” its previous name) is no exception. You should try to use cap totem almost on cooldown,
usually every other trash pack. Try not to overlap it with another AOE stun.</p>
<p>Cap totem basically stops the damage the group is taking for 5 seconds, in almost all cases. If you know
a pull’s going to be bad, use it when you feel you can’t keep up with the incoming damage anymore.</p>
<p>Use <a href="http://www.wowhead.com/spell=57994">Wind Shear</a> to help with interrupts. Proper interrupts are also
extremely potent in dungeons, and at higher M+ levels they are effectively required in some dungeons
(e.g., Arcway). Wind Shear is the best interrupt in the game: 30 yard range, 12 second cooldown.</p>
<p>I usually let the tank take the 1st interrupt (most do) and then I take the 2nd. If there’s a competent
melee DPS in your group, they may take the 2nd interrupt instead; at that point you probably aren’t
in an interrupt rotation. <em>Be prepared to interrupt anyway.</em> People are flaky, so expect them to miss
interrupts, and don’t be flaky yourself.</p>This guide is written for newer restoration shamans who are interested in healing dungeons. This guide does not claim to present the “best” or “only” way to heal dungeons as an rsham: instead, it presents a method of dungeon healing that has worked for many folks so far.