Thoughts on talents.

Come patch time we got some really really really nice talents in the restoration tree, many of which allowed us to be a lot less of a one trick pony. Here's my thoughts on these changes =) As an added bonus, click the image of the talent for a link! I know, I'm considerate like that =)


Cleanse Spirit:



7% base mana; Cleanse the spirit of a friendly target, removing 1 poison effect, 1 disease effect, and 1 curse effect.

This is made of win. It takes care of 3 of the 4 debuffs in the game and costs the same as remove disease and cleanse poison, but with the added benefit of decursing too! Hot damn, if you are resto, and not taking this…. Re-roll. This gives us a way to help priests/druids/mages out and it helps eliminate 2 buttons that you can use on your bars for something else. Plus for the cost is the same as casting either remove poison or remove disease, so this removes 3 things for the cost of one. WIN!

Tidal Waves:

(at rank 5)You have a 100% chance after you cast Chain Heal or Riptide to lower the cast time of your next 2 Lesser Healing Wave or Healing Wave spells by 30%. In addition, your Healing Wave gains an additional 20% of your bonus healing effects and your Lesser Healing Wave gains an additional 10% of your bonus healing effects.

This is really made by someone who plays a Shaman healer. You’re going around spamming chain heal or tossing around some riptide lovin, suddenly someone takes a ton of damage that looks like its gonna kill them. In the past if natures swiftness was gone then you’ve got nothing left but to watch in vain as they die horribly as you wind up some 2.5 second heal. Not so anymore, this talent pushes the cast time on HW down to 1.6 secs for me, and LHW down to 1.0. Add in a heroism and yeah. .6 cast on LHW and 1.1 on HW makes for some sexy sexy healing. Using this talent I made one hunter in our guild very very happy =)

Tidal Force:

Increases the critical effect chance of your Healing Wave, Lesser Healing Wave and Chain Heal by 60%. Each critical heal reduces the chance by 20%. Lasts 20 sec.

This is one talent point, no reason not to take it. Think of it this way, right now in t6 I’m rolling with a bout 22% crit after the patch when some lovely mage gives me a buff, or I have a boomkin I’m at 27%... That’s a lot for a healer, and it’s damn good. Combine that with the talent above. 87% chance to crit? Hot damn, I’ll take that with gusto! I think that pretty much says it all.

Riptide:

(at rank 2)Heals a friendly target for 849 to 919 and another 885 over 15 sec. Your next Chain Heal cast on that primary target within 15 sec will consume the healing over time effect and increase the amount of the Chain Heal by 25%.

Some shamans don’t like this talent but for them I don’t have anything I can say to them except BAH!. This talent (which just got some buffed lovin) is really really nice. It’s an instant heal for close to 2k when you factor in your spell power. It can crit. It turns into a HoT for 15 seconds and it buffs chain heal. Using it in a 5 man, 10 man or 25 man can save everyone a lot of time, hassle, oh and can help keep people from dying. That’s always a plus right? Since its instant cast it gives us an awesome heal on the move talent. Great for when your MT goes charging in snap the heal off and it will apply a HoT for 15 seconds. You can also use it on a member of melee whose taking some damage and let it tick a few times before tossing in a chain heal. Oh And it buffs chain heal! Sweet deal huh? I love me some shaman swift mend.

Now look at those 4 talents. They just scream synergy. All of them go together very very very well and allow you to have more complex spell rotation other then just spamming one damn button. Each has generic and situational applications allowing us to effectively use all of the heals in our arsenals. I love no longer being a one trick pony!

Another interesting talent is Improved water shield.

(rank3) When you gain a critical effect from your Healing Wave, Lesser Healing Wave or Riptide spells, you have a 100% chance to instantly consume a Water Shield Orb.

I'm not 100% fond of this because I'm of the camp that the most precious commodity shamans have now as a healer is our Global Cool Down and I hate having to recast water shield and waste the 1.5 seconds to be able to heal again. I should say that this talent is amazing for 5 mans, especially with multiple pack pulls and things that don't give you a lot of time to sit and drink or that don't let you spend enough time out of the 5 second rule. In a 5 man heroic, it's well worth the GCD as, when glyhped and if you talent spec to improved shields this is a free 800+ mana as it's consumed. Not shabby when you don't have another healer to rely on or much downtime.

Thats my thoughts for now on that. Thanks for tuning in. =)

~Lodur