This site makes extensive use of JavaScript.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser.
Live
PTR
10.2.7
PTR
10.2.6
Beta
Gearing up a druid - level 45-60
Post Reply
Return to board index
Post by
mikar
Greetings,
I am starting to learn how to play WoW and in particular my lvl 45 resto druid in 5-man instances - so now I am ready to start figuring out which gear is actually good and which is so-so.
With respect to stats I assume I should look for:
1. Spell haste (casting faster means saving someone from dying)
2. Spirit/intellect (mana and mana regen - but which should I value higher?)
3. Sta/AC (staying alive is nice)
4. Agi/Str (these dont matter for me as a healer)
Would that be a reasonable priority at my level (45 currently) - or am I overlooking something?
Is there such a thing as too much haste or is more always better?
Any other stats I should look for - now or later?
Should I use leather only or is using a mix of leather and cloth reasonable if the cloth piece has better stats apart from AC?
Thanks for any advice
Post by
skribs
Primary stats:
Intellect - Caster stat, it gives you mana, SP, spell crit, and boosts your spirit-based regen. This is your primary stat as resto/balance.
Agility - Leather/Mail physical stat, use this if you're feral, ignore it if you're resto/balance.
Strength - Plate physical stat, ignore this for the most part. Exception is if you're a bear tank AND you don't have a similar-level (or better) agility piece for that slot.
Stamina/Armor - Will be on all gear, ignore this number unless you're tanking or PvPing.
Note that once you get armor class specialization, you will want to use all leather gear for the 5% bonus to Int (or agility/stam if feral). Your primary stat is always your primary concern - higher ilvl is almost always a good thing (so long as you get the right primary stat).
Secondary stats:
Spirit - This is your mana regen as resto and your hit as balance. I'm not going into detail, but there is a hit cap (you can tell where you are on this cap by looking at your tooltip in-game).
Haste/Crit/Mastery - These will provide their various benefits regardless of spec, and have varying degrees of power depending on spec and patch.
Hit/Expertise - These are mainly used for feral, although hit can apply to balance (replacing spirit).
Dodge - This is a tank-only stat, which you actually will not find on agility gear (but will reforge to if you are tanking).
Parry - This is a plate-tank only stat, druids cannot parry.
Resistances - These aren't going to be on most gear you get, except for gear designed for specific fights.
Resilience - This reduces the damage you take in PvP and does nothing in PvE (cannot reforge from/to resilience).
Spell Penetration - This only matters in PvP, it reduces the target's resistances.
Your secondary stats are inferior to your primary stats. Intellect does more for mana longevity than spirit, and it does more for throughput than the other stats (haste/mastery/crit).
Your best bet is to find the highest ilvl PvE leather gear with intellect on it, and then worry about the other stats that are on it. Min/maxing your gear isn't important until 85, but getting the maximum Int that you can (without spending gold on enchants, as you'll replace the gear soon, excepting BoAs) is important.
Post by
mikar
Thanks for the advice. I assume that BoA is bind on account? Why should I not expect to replace that kind of gear soon as well?
Post by
curlymon
Thanks for the advice. I assume that BoA is bind on account? Why should I not expect to replace that kind of gear soon as well?
It scales to your level, every level you gain it is ~equal to that levels blues.
Post by
zkreso
While leveling, just take the item with the highest item level. All healer items come with INT and STA, and their amount is directly determined by item level. STA you don't need to worry about, you won't be taking much damage as a healer, unless someone messes up.
Since all items will have INT, the tradeoff will be between spirit, crit, haste, and later on, mastery. If you are comparing two items with the same item level, you should prioritize spirit > haste ~ mastery >> crit. If you find that you keep running out of mana, prioritize spirit. If you find that you have enough mana but just can't heal through damage fast enough prioritize the other stats. But don't take all deaths as a sign of not enough healing output. Most unhealable situations are a result of people standing in fires.
In reality, you will be replacing gear at a fast enough rate while leveling for the choice between secondary stats not to matter very much.
If you are questing as moonkin for your dual spec, try to get a lot of gear with spirit since you can use it both for healing and dealing damage due to the spirit to hit rating talent. Generally stay away from gear with hit rating on it as it won't be useful at all for healing (you can't miss spells on friendly players), but even here, a higher item level piece with hit rating on it is probably better than a lower level one without.
I hope this helps. You've chosen the most challenging role in the game for your first character. It's also the most unpraised, generally only getting blame for when things go wrong and barely a mention if things go right. On the flipside, it's also the most rewarding role to play and most sought after (at least in my guild good healers are more sought after than tanks)
Post by
mikar
Thanks again - I do have many years of experience playing a healer though - a cleric in EQ to be specific - so I know what I have got myself into :)
Post by
751472
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post Reply
You are not logged in. Please
log in
to post a reply or
register
if you don't already have an account.