Another gear post? Seriously?
Yes. If there’s one thing people like to research on the net and on blogs, it’s gear. I know I used it extensively when I first switched to a resto spec to get geared out. I’ve touched on it before, but I thought it was high time for something in-depth with concrete ANSWERS.
What I will give you is this: for each slot, I will give you my recommendation for what to get based on two factors. Overall usefulness, and ease of acquisition. I intend this to be a cheat sheet for you lazy types who just want to get a decent healing item in each slot, pronto. For more detailed guides, check out the great lists on 4haelz and A Tale of Two Druids. Here goes!
Weapon
I bought this mace for a whopping 27 gold when I first turned to the resto spec. It’s got a great +heal number, and they seem to drop like mad as they can be had for a song on the AH. This served me quite well until I moved up to the [Shard of the Virtuous] from Kara.
Off Hand
A nice off hand with both some +heal and even some MP5. The best thing is it comes as a quest reward. I sure hope you didn’t do it already and pick something else! It comes from Escaping the Tomb.
Idol
This is a no brainer. I’m still using this idol, and unless I get my act together and do the Epic Flight Form stuff, I’ll be using it for the forseeable future. Go to Shadow Lab. Farm the first boss till it drops. Trust me.
Head
Honestly, the head slot is tough, IMO. I’m recommending this piece for three reasons. First, it drops from Botanica, where I will send you for other drops, so you can kill two or more birds with one stone in this instance. The second reason is that you can also work on your Sha’tar rep in here, and therefore if you can’t get this to drop, at Honored with Sha’tar you can pick up [Kodohide Helm]. The third reason is that you might want to pick up two pieces of Moonglade early, as the 2 piece bonus is pretty nice to your tanks.
Shoulders
This is one of the other pieces I was talking about. We’re multi tasking by going for stuff out of Botanica. There are better shoulders out there, but this is a good place to start.
Chest
Here’s where we go in a bit of a different direction. I HIGHLY recommend you pick up leatherworking, if you haven’t already. In my opinion, the Windhawk set is FANTASTIC for a resto druid, and all it takes is 375 skill and some mat farming. (The total mats for the whole set, Chest, Belt and Bracers, is 18 Heavy Knothide Leather, 48 Wind Scales, 36 Primal Air, 6 Primal Might and 3 Primal Nether. Steep, but worth it!) Also keep in mind that the +heal and +spell damage stacks for +heal, so this chest gives a base of +74 heal before gemming.
Getting the set also covers three slots, so it’s a multi tasker as well. You end up with a chest that’s better than Tier 4, without having to take down Magtheridon. I’m still wearing this in SSC, and may keep it even beyond that. If you absolutely cannot take up LW, go grab the [Lifewarden's Breastplate] from Destroy Naberius. It’s from a quest chain, but not an altogether difficult one.
Bracers
We’ve gone over this, right? Awesome bracers, some of the best you can get, period. The non-LW alternative are the [Goldenvine Wraps] which come from Lost in Action.
Hands
[Prismatic Mittens of Mending]
Look at that! Another Botanica drop! Sure, they’re cloth and not leather, but that doesn’t matter so much, trust me. Even all decked out in leather, a tree goes down about as fast as any clothy under duress. These are nice gaunts, and we get that whole multi tasking thing going. Was Botanica invented for Resto Druids??
Belt
Have I sold you on Leatherworking yet? Because there are many other nice patterns besides the Windhawk set, like the [Hood of Primal Life] and [Gloves of the Living Touch]. Come on, take LW already! If you insist against, pick up [The Sleeper's Cord] from the Arcatraz.
Legs
[Moonglade Pants] from the Black Morass will work here. It’s also a good slot to use for that set bonus I mentioned earlier. If you’re not into running this one instance for pants, there is a nice quest reward from Special Delivery to Shattrath City in the [Pants of the Naaru]. I must warn you, they make you look like you’re not wearing any pants, especially if you’re a Night Elf.
Boots
Boots are another kind of tough slot. There are some green quest rewards, and various drops from instances. I’m listing these due to both their quality and the fact that they are a quest reward from the Fel Embers quest.
Cloak
Hey! More opportunities to Multi Task! Another Shattered Halls Quest, Turning the Tide, will net you this nice cloak.
Rings
There are about a million rings that would suit. Plus, you’ll get a nice one as soon as you start Kara. But if you must have a couple right away, grab a [Brilliant Pearl Band] from a jewelcrafter and maybe the [Celestial Jewel Ring] from Hitting the Motherlode quest.
Neck
That works. Again, there’s about a million choices. There’s a good chance you have something from an earlier quest anyhow.
Trinkets
There are many, many routes to take with trinkets. I had the hardest time personally with this, as I didn’t even have a second healing trinket until I was able to pick up the [Lower City Prayerbook] when I hit revered with Lower City. Up until that point, I only carried around the [Oshu'gun Relic] from the Gava’xi quest in Nagrand. Go ahead and pick that up and perhaps, in all of our Botanica runs, the [Bangle of Endless Blessings] dropped.
So, there you have it! I must say, this seemed as if it would be easy when I started, but it turned into quite a production! I hope this helps you not only gear up your freshly 70 healer, but do it quickly and efficiently. I’m sure I’ve missed a few good items along the way, but I wasn’t going for an exhaustive list, just a good starting point. Thanks for reading!
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Thank you so much for this! I leveled my druid with the idea of going resto to give my guild another healer. I’ve been reluctant because I’ve pretty much made a career out of melee (protection warrior) and dps (huntard). Healing scares me – mostly because I’m ignorant of the mechanics and gear requirements. Thank you for the enlightenment! Great stuff here.
Seconded. I just hit 70 and have been playing Feral (DPS) druid for leveling purposes. But now that I’m 70 I switched to resto and had no clue where to start! Luckily for me, I’ve been leveling LW this whole time, so I only need about 25 more levels until I can make the Windhawk stuff
Sounds like that + running Botanica a bunch and I’ll be nearly all set. Thanks a bunch!
I’m glad you’ve found it helpful. I was basically lost when I first made the switch. I had never main healed anything, and had only chipped in here and there by popping out of cat form. Thanks for reading!
Very useful– I’m using this as my guide right now. I was even more pleased when I found out I already had a lot of the things on here.
I was resto to 60, switched to Feral for leveling, and at 70 am now resto again. Unfortunately, I didn’t anticipate switching back so I took Feral quest rewards.
My dilemma is that my +healing is not high enough that I feel comfortable main healing for groups, and I’m not a leatherworker. Can you suggest some Reputation or BoE items that I could use to boost my stats that don’t require an instance?
@anonymous–
With a resto spec, your healing doesn’t have to be astronomically high to main heal instances, at least normal ones. What I did when I made the switch was just hit up the AH for all the +heal gear I could get. Of healing, of the heirophant, etc. You could also look into the destroying naberius quest, it has a nice blue healing chest reward.
Pummra – I’ve seen your guide linked on the Druid class forums before but never checked it out – pretty nice stuff there. I’d like to add a suggestion:
For those who don’t want to suffer through skilling up leatherworking, the Hallowed Raiment priest dungeon set are some pretty fantastic healing pieces (better than Moonglade, although the 2-set bonus for Moonglade is great). The chestpiece would make a better alternative than the Lifewarden’s for those who don’t mind cloth… always bearing in mind that it’s rude to take healing cloth from a priest if they’re actually the one healing the instance >.<
Definitely beyond the “fresh 70″ level, the healing gear in normal Magister’s Terrace fills in some of those gaps that didn’t have a lot of great options before (bracers, for instance… and a fantastic leather healing robe if you can make it through and kill the last boss. I do understand why you wouldn’t have put that in your cheat sheet though – Magister’s is a really tough instance and requires a bit better gear than a new level 70 could manage.
@Kiliani–
Thanks for the kind words, first of all. Yes, the Hallowed dungeon set is a good alternative that I should have listed. Heck, I wore the Hallowed Crown myself for a LONG time until I got my T4 helm.
Also, I did leave Magisters’ Terrace stuff out by design. I equate that instance, even on normal mode, as almost a heroic. It didn’t really fit the overall slant of the post. Sometime in the future I may look at Heroic and MagT drops.
Thanks for reading!
As a druid going resto with an eye towards preparing for Kara and heroics, I’d appreciate your opinion on 2 ways to gear a fresh resto druid :
1. Tailoring for the PMC and Whitemend set
2. Grinding BGs for the S2 arena Kodohide set
What are your thoughts? Recommended? Bad idea? I’ve seen so many different opinions I’m pretty confused over this.
I’m not a big fan of the PMC set. Sure, it will be just fine for Kara and Heroics, but I wouldn’t want to use it much beyond that. Why? The lack of stamina, and the lack of armor.
Yes, I know stamina and armor are further down the list in terms of what you should look for on your gear, but Druid healers don’t have the same survivability tricks as do priests. You know the best way to boost your overall healing numbers? Stay alive. We don’t have power word: shield or even fade to give us those few extra seconds if we get aggro or an add or whatnot. We have to rely on Barkskin and Bear form, maybe make a last ditch attempt at Cat Form and cower. For that reason, stamina and armor IS important for a restoration druid.
I’m also not a big fan of PvP gear for PvE. It does have a LOT of survivability, of course, but you will replace it VERY quickly as you progress into PvE content.
I’ve said it in many a post, take leatherworking, make the Windhawk set. I’m still wearing the Windhawk hauberk, and I’m well into T5 content. I’ve even gotten the leather chest drop from Morogrim, and I’m still wearing the windhawk. It’s a very strong crafted set, and the beauty of it is it will actually help a bit for soloing, and once you DO upgrade out of it, you can regem it for DPS very easily.
Great guide, always wanted to make a resto druid and am currently lvling as a boomkin so i can keep my +spelldamage/healing gear and either dps or heal.
One suggestion though, some of the quests you linked for gear are obviously alliance quests. Are there Horde equivalents for all of them? And if so what are they?
Not every druid is a nelf! <3
Also, great profession for any class is Alchemy, but especially nice to resto druids for the redemers alchemist stone, and all the nice pots and flasks you can make yourself to buff your healing. And taurens get the +15 to herbalism, so why not?
@Willowhorn
Great question, I just never think much about the Horde. It turns out all but ONE of the quests has a horde equivalent, or is a quest for both sides. The one quest that has no horde equivalant is the Fel Embers quest, which nets you the boots. I’ll try to find a horde equivalent to add to the post.
PTD
I checked into the quest items you listed for their Horde counterparts. BEAR with me (har har har), this might be a long post.
For the cloak, its called Vicar’s Cloak and its from a quest called The Will of the Warchief. You still do the same thing (turn in Kargath’s fist) and it gives the same exact stats.
For boots, all I did was look up possible instance drops, and found a few that might work. One is Boots of Resuscitation that drop from Vexallus in MgT (not saying that once you hit 70 you’ll fully be able to heal for it but if your group is solid enough it can be done) or Boots of the Glade-Keeper that drop from Cache of the Legion in Mechanar. Those are leather boots.
If you dont mind wearing cloth, Warbringer O’mrogg in Shattered Halls drops Jeweled Boots of Sanctification, or you can snag the Light Woven Slippers off of Darkweaver Syth in Sethekk Halls. Seeing as how you’ll end up doing Sethekk Halls for your flight form quest, if you’re like my buddies who farm it for the mount and don’t turn in the quest right away, you’ll probably have a few chances to see that one.
One thing I’ve usually done as soon as I hit 70 on a character is grind the crud out of the SSO dailies until I’m exalted. For a resto druid this has 2 benefits: Shattered Sun Pendant of Restoration, and if you haven’t gotten The Essence Focuser that was listed above, when you hit revered with SSO, you can snag K’iru’s Presage. It has one, a whole ONE more +healing on it, and about 5 less mp5, but unlike The Essence Focuser, it has stats (16 stamina, 13 intellect, 8 spirit). Keep in mind though you’ll probably replace it with Light’s Justice once you get to Kara (drops off the Prince).
Thanks again for this great guide! Let me know if I can help you out with anything else regarding Horde resto druids.
Willowhorn – Thorium Brotherhood