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06-19-2010 #1
-Updates-
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07/02/10 - uploaded my UI
06/26/10 - added video section
06/24/10 - answered questions, xed some mistakes
06/21/10 - even more tips!
06/20/10 - added some macros in the UI & Keybinds section
06/20/10 - added alternative gear choices
06/20/10 - added some tips&tricks
06/20/10 - xed some minor mistakes in the text
Introduction
You probably ask yourself who I am. I'm a druid player who achieved Gladiator in 4 seasons on
different realmpools, with different comps, different partners and different druids. Regardless of the
combination I played with, we were always rank 1 worldwide (among our comp) from season 3 till
today. My highest rating in TBC was 2378 with 91% winratio with Druid Priest Rogue and my highest
rating in WotLK was 2854 with 82% winratio with DK Druid Mage (this comp was only 3 times above
2.2k worldwide, pretty exotic comp but STILL viable but this is a point I'll get later on).
Before we get started please don't expect that this is a bulletproof way to gladiator. This is just me
trying to help you to improve your gameplay, your overview and your situational awareness. I'm
probably giving you some tips you didn't know about, too.
#2 WLD (Warrior, A iction Lock, Resto Druid) - this is a very balanced combo, it's strong and was
very popular in TBC. Now it's even stronger, I guess
#3 MLD (Icemage, A iction Lock, Resto Druid) - this is a 'wizzardcleave'-comb, too. You will win your
games with coordinated cc's and some burst. strong and fun comp!
#4 Shadowcleave (A iction Lock, Deathknight, Resto Druid) - this is the comp I'm currently playing
and it's a balanced comp like WLD. You've got a lot of defensive cooldowns, you can control the
game and can even burst targets. fun comp nonetheless
#5 RLD, RSD and 'Frostcleave' (Shadowdance Rogue, A iction Lock, Druid / Rogue, Melee Shaman,
Resto Druid and Deathknight, Icemage, Druid) - played RLD and 'Frostcleave' this season and I think
that these comps (RSD too) are one of the weakest. They're still all viable and very strong but you
probably need some time to get it working.[/spoiler]
remember: bring the player, not the class
[spoiler] I suggest you to aim for atleast 120hit, 75 spell penetration and around 1.1k resilience while
maintaining 3200+ spellpower, 27k HP and 21k Mana. This gear-setup is nearly perfect and should
be your 'target' but it will be probably a long, strange trip.
At rst you should get the full arena set and the pvp offset pieces, after that you can complete your
gear. When you've got that, this is what you're going to do next.
Find a group for cc25 and loot the 'Solace of the Fallen' from Lord Jarraxus. (solace of the fallen -
Wowhead Search) OR go to ICC25 and get the 'Bauble of True Blood' (bauble of true blood -
Wowhead Search)
If you can't obtain these trinkets, get Puri ed Lunar Dust (Puri ed Lunar Dust - Item - World of
Warcraft) for 60 frost emblems.
These trinkets are gamebreaking
While you're in ICC25, don't forget the 'Professor's Bloodied Smock (professor's bloodied - Wowhead
Search) or, if you aren't lucky, get 'Circle of Ossus' for 80 frost emblems (Circle of Ossus - Item -
World of Warcraft) and 'Marrowgar's Frigid Eye' (marrowgar's frigid eye - Wowhead Search)
Now you should craft the 'Blessed Cenarion Boots' (Blessed Cenarion Boots - Item - World of
Warcraft) and farm your way to Ashen Verdict exalted
The weapon you need is the arena-haste-dagger (1800 version and 2200 version later) and the arena-
haste-offhand.
Tip: [spoiler] get the arena-spellpen-offhand, too. You will need it against mage-teams [/spoiler]
The idol you're going to wear is the 'Idol of the Black Willow' Idol of the Black Willow - Item - World of
Warcraft for 30 frost emblems.
When you've got everything from this list, your gear is perfect.[/spoiler]
Gems
[spoiler]
Meta: Insightful Earthsiege Diamond - Item - World of Warcraft
If you're JC, socket 43 spell penetration and enchant +35 spell pen to cloak.
Red/Blue: Runed Cardinal Ruby - Item - World of Warcraft
Yellow: Reckless Ametrine - Item - World of Warcraft, if you lack hit Veiled Ametrine - Item - World of
Warcraft or if you lack resilience Durable Ametrine - Item - World of Warcraft
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If you're engineer, socket 3x +25 spell penetration in blue, enchant +27 spell power on cloak and
pyro-rocket to hands. Usethethe
site,blue
you are agreeing
socket to our
in the Privacy
hands Policy.
for OK
+23 spell power.
Red: Runed Cardinal Ruby - Item - World of Warcraft
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Yellow: Reckless Ametrine - Item - World of Warcraft, if you lack hit Veiled Ametrine - Item - World of
Warcraft or if you lack resilience Durable Ametrine - Item - World of Warcraft
For every other profession I suggest you to base your gemming around the suggested stats as a
rule, if it's possible,...
Red gems ALWAYS: Runed Cardinal Ruby - Item - World of Warcraft
Yellow gems ALWAYS: Reckless Ametrine - Item - World of Warcraft, if you lack hit Veiled Ametrine -
Item - World of Warcraft or if you lack resilience Durable Ametrine - Item - World of Warcraft[/spoiler]
Enchants
[spoiler]
Head: Arcanum of Dominance - Item - World of Warcraft
Shoulders: Inscription of Dominance - Item - World of Warcraft
Cloak: Enchant Cloak - Spell Piercing - Spell - World of Warcraft , if you're engineer -> spellpower
Chest: Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats - Spell - World of Warcraft / Enchant Chest - Exceptional
Resilience - Spell - World of Warcraft
Bracers: Enchant Bracers - Superior Spellpower - Spell - World of Warcraft , if you're leatherworker ->
spellpower
Hands: Enchant Gloves - Exceptional Spellpower - Spell - World of Warcraft , if you're engineer -> pyro-
rocket
Legs: Sapphire Spellthread - Item - World of Warcraft
Boots: Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality - Spell - World of Warcraft
Rings: if you're enchanter -> spellpower.
Weapon: Enchant Weapon - Mighty Spellpower - Spell - World of Warcraft[/spoiler]
Glyphs
Major Glyphs:
- Glyph of Swiftmend
- Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation
- Glyph of Barskin
Minor Glyphs:
- Glyph of Dash
- Glyph of the Wild
- Glyph of Thorns
This is my current glyph-setup. You can swap some glyphs around (Glyph of Nourish/Innervate) but
with my gear I don't need them. Decide it for yourself
UI and Keybinds
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UI
Okay, let's talk about the user interface. The standard UI is okay, but I don't like the unit frames. They
don't give enough information. I can't see all debuffs, I'm not aware of all buffs my teammates got so
I'm using 'Shadowed Unit Frames'. Here's a screenshot of my UI (pally twink): [spoiler][/spoiler]
As you can see it's pretty 'clear'. You will need this, you just need the overview of the complete arena
situation. My UI is just an example so that you get the idea
You will see it later in action and I will give you a downloadlink if you like it.
Keybinds
Before you start doing arenas, you should keybind every ability. And not only this. You're the healer
and you need to target switch FAST. That's why you should keyind your partners, too. At the
beginning it will be hard to switch from clicking to binds but you will get used to it and it will improve
your gameplay A LOT. Also: download this addon, it will use the ability when you press the key.
Normally it would cyclone your target when you release your key. This makes your actions faster
AddonLink -> SnowfallKeyPress : Action Bar Mods : WoWInterface Downloads
Here are my keybinds to give you an idea how much it is.. (German Keyboard Layout)
[spoiler]
Code:
1 Barskin
2 Roots
3 Healing Touch
4 Regrowth
5 Rejuvenation
C Swiftmend
V Lifebloom
SQ Abolish
< Remove Curse
SE Moonfire
SR Wild Growth
^ Tranquility
B Nourish
SideM8 Nature's Swiftness
G Innervate
SV Cure Poison
S2 Wrath
S3 Starfire
R Cyclone
SC Hurricane
SF Hibernate
6 Drink
[/spoiler]
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Addons
Unit frames: Shadowed Unit Frames
Combat-Text: Scrolling Combat Text
Bars: Bartender 4
Arena frames: Gladius+Gladminish
Cooldowncount: fortexorcist
Cast bar: Quartz
Macros
Self-Innervate
[spoiler]
Code:
/cast [@player] Innervate
[/spoiler]
set Focus
[spoiler]
Code:
/focus
[/spoiler]
Focus Cyclone
[spoiler]
Code:
/cast [@focus] Cyclone
[/spoiler]
Focus Roots
[spoiler]
Code:
/cast [@focus] Entangling Roots
[/spoiler]
Focus Hibernate
[spoiler]
Code:
/cast [@focus] Hibernate
[/spoiler]
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Code:
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[/spoiler]
Spam-Dispell
[spoiler]
Code:
#showtooltip Abolish Poison
/castsequence reset=3/target Abolish Poison, Cure poison, Cure poiso
[/spoiler]
lock afterwards. I guess that the lock is a way better target than the druid if we can't make a perfect
switch."
Overview
You should always have the complete overview about the game. You need to see if your opponent is
drinking, you need to see when your lock is feared, you need to know where your mates are. I suggest
you to set raid target icons on your team mates. Using them will become very handy. Not only for
you. Your mates can easily see you too through pillars and anything.
Also: FOCUS the other cc'er. Always set your focus to the target. Even if you don't kill this target.
Example: Against an RMP (Rogue Mage Priest), focus the mage. You will see switches before the
rogue gets away from his current target and you win time to re-position/prehot yourself or to HoT a
mate.
Against LSD (Lock Ele Shaman Druid) ask yourself: What's more crucial? Where do you need to take
care the most? Switches, fears on you? Cyclones on you? I would personally choose the warlock. He
has longer CC than the druid and if you get caught by fear, you're going to be cycloned afterwards
95% of the games cause the other druid is free to do so.
Positioning
Positioning is, after communication, the most important thing for you. If you stand on open eld like
an idiot, you're probably gonna die in a split second against wizzardcleaves or you're going to eat the
cc-chain-of-death and your mate dies. I will show you a clip of our team now and you've got the
chance to see my UI in action and you can see that the opponent team hasn't got ANY chance to
switch on me, except when I made a wrong decision and decided to run trough my mates (@1:16).
In this clip is also an example what COMMUNICATION is good for. @2:16 I got seduced by the lock's
pet and my deathknight drops extremly low. BUT I don't trinket the seduce because the insignia is
way more gamebreaking then my instant theal and my DK is safe because he has Anti-Magic-Zone,
Ghoul Sacri ce and Insignia ready. You wouldn't know this if you don't talk and can easily lose a
game this way. If you're playing arenas you need to make decisions. You won't choose the best
decision all the time, but communication helps you to choose a better decision.
Clip: [spoiler]
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[/spoiler]
Healing
We are not in PvE, so I can't tell you something like "3x lifebloom + rejuvenation on offtank, 3x
lifebloom +rejuvenation +regrowth on maintank. You will get CC'ed or your hots get purged and you
often don't have the time cause it's not a static encounter. You need to play with LoS, you need to
stop someone from drinking etc. What I can give you here are tips.
#1 Don't use your swiftmend on a target affected by "Wound Poison".Try to save it if you got the time,
CC the Rogue and cleanse it or just try to cleanse it and use it in the split second where it isn't up.
BUT don't let your team mate die and say "sorry, couldn't swiftmend you cause you had wound
poison up." The same goes for warriors. If your teammate doesn't get raped by double melee or
something, try to root/cyclone the warrior and save your swiftmend to CAP your mate when MS runs
out and heal with nourish.
#2 Lifebloom > Rejuvenation! When you don't need to cap your mate with swiftmend, apply
Lifebloom before Rejuvenation. Sometimes you will apply 2x Lifebloom before Rejuvenation. You will
get the feeling for it
#3 Purge is our archenemy! Believe me. Nothing is more frustrating than seeing the other healer
spampurging your teammate with heroism up and you can't do shit about it. You need to try to get
rejuvenation on your target and swiftmend it before he purges rejuvenation. This won't work unless
you're really lucky because he's ~0.5s faster with heroism. Apply lifeblooms in between the
rejuvenations. If he purges lifeblooms, you will get small heals on your target and the chances of
getting swiftmend up are doubled. If you can't handle it anymore use your instant heal or heal your
target with Regrowth! Regrowth is a spell you're using rarely under normal circumstances BUT
against a spampurger it's golden. If you cast regrowth, your target gets the heal, nonetheless the
regrowth hot gets purged AND you don't have global cooldown after you've nished your cast
because the GCD went off while casting and you can instantly swiftmend before the shaman/priest
can purge your HoTs!
#4 Decide what's more important. Your instant heal or your insignia. Against some lineups you really
need to make
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barskin while deathcoiled/silenced and your OK instant heal is worthless,
too. The insignia would probably save your life. You could trinket the deathcoil, barskin and run
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behind the next pillar healing you up with bandages if you want too. This is the same thing that goes
for "HoT-Rotation" (#2) you will get the feeling
#5 prehot, prehot, prehot - prehotting is the most important thing while healing. You don't have oh-
shit-buttons like a priest where you just shield and then have time to heal your target while it absorbs
damage. You need to anticipiate switches and don't fall behind on time. You should keep yourself
hotted all the time with at least rejuvenation and always be ready to react to switches on your mates.
If you have 2x lifebloom&ejuvenation up on your mate before the melee gets to your mate, you've got
a great advantage
#6 CC > Heal? Yes, sometimes when not most of the time it is. 6-9seconds cyclone on a hunter stops
more damage than you could ever heal. Not only this. Your teammate can LoS the last second and
get MS-Shot off. For RMP it's the same. If you don't focus the mage, cc the shit out of him. You
should always cyclone/root the target you don't focus at the moment to stop damage and healers if
you're going for a kill.
Fakecasting
outplay or be outplayed
In the times of WotLK you're probably gonna die everytime you eat a full counter. You just can't eat it.
No!
In these 8 seconds every HoT on every mate is gone or, if they're on you, you can only watch yourself
dying. To prevent this there's a "mechanic" called fake casting. You've probably heard from it. What
you do is "fake" a cast and get the other casters to use their counter on you. If you watch my video
again you can see me fakecasting @0:25. I'll try to get the spell lock from the lock pet but he doesn't
counter me. This is the way you're going to do it. You start a cast and at 1/3 jump/cancel casting.
Against experienced players you should change that and should try to fake at 1/5 and after it at 1/2
or something like that You can easily practice this in duels.
remember: not every interrupt is the same AND YOU NEED TO FAKE CAST SPELLREFLECTS, TOO.
Don't spend your time faking shocks if you see the other shaman won't shock you. If you eat a shock,
it's 1 second you lose. But if you stand they're faking for like 3 seconds, you're fu***. But this counts
for SHAMANS ONLY
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everything. Don't save your target with your cyclone, try to kill it. I will give you some examples. Ring
of Valor, the opponent druid is on the middle of the map with rejuvenation (5s left) and 2x lifebloom
(3s left). If you cyclone him now, he's in the middle of the map without HoT's after your cyclone. If
you're playing with a silence class, you can beat him now. The same goes for cyclones like "oh, the
warrior used shield wall. going to cyclone him." He will stay at low hp and his shield wall runs out,
freekill.
Another example: If you're playing with a lock and your warlock manages to fear a druid fulltime and
your kill target (warrior for example) drops low, MOST DRUIDS will panic and INSTANLY use
swiftmend/natures swiftmend on the warrior. If you cyclone the warrior right after the fear runs out,
you probably "catch" the instant heal with your cyclone and then you just quickly cyclone the druid
and watch the warrior die.
All those things were examples. Cyclone is so versatile and you will feel it by time.
#6 Use your innervate when you're at about 50% mana. Don't use your Innervate too late! Since
Season 6 your innervate only has 3min CD and if you use it early, you will have it twice or even more
in one game without overmana'ing.
#7 If you're nigh telf protect your Innervate with Shadowmeld! Purgers can't get you that easy then
and have to run to you before they can purge and in most cases it's already done. If you are tauren or
shadowmeld is on CD and you don't play against meleecleaves OR don't need 'Natures Grasp' use it
to protect your Innervate and it doesn't cost any mana. Throw some HoT's on you, too. Nothing is
more frustrating than wasting an Innervate, believe me.
#8 For nightelfs again: You can use your shadowmeld to get out of the opponents focus and you can
"vanish" casts like a rogue. If you see, for example, a deathcoil you can try to shadowmeld it.
It can be also used as an "oh-shit-button" cause your opponents will lose their target for a split
second and casts will be interrupted then. Use it when you're @low hp and on open eld
#9 If you get a clearcast proc use lifebloom as you gain some mana back!
Videos!
Shadowcleave vs. LSD (@2550 on Live)
YouTube - Scleave vs. LSD@2550
Shadowcleave vs. RLS (@ATR)
YouTube - Shadowcleave vs RLS on ATR
Questions or Suggestions?
Feel free to post them here, this was my rst guide
Shoutout
SPECIAL THANKS to Arcádia aka Stan for helping me with the translation <3
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TL;DR
06-19-2010 #3
06-19-2010 #4
Very nice guide. Odd that you're reaching out to [B] for heals but nevertheless a nice compilation
of info. If I can bare levelling my druid I'm sure it will be useful so bookmarked and +rep
06-19-2010 #5
06-20-2010 #6
I Hypnotoad
This website I Contributor
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06-20-2010 #7
Really nice guide matey! Maybe I should roll again for my druid :P
+Rep
06-20-2010 #8
Unholyshaman ★ Elder ★
I honestly didn't read the full guide because I don't have a druid, but skimmed through it and it looks
like a good effort and well written guide.
06-20-2010 #9
This is a really well written guide, great job! Also make sure you don't tunnel vision in Arena, a
cyclone at the right moment can win games. +Rep
06-20-2010 #10
06-20-2010 #11
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Jeremiah Former Mod
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Very detailed and colorful guide! You did a great job putting this one together. I look forward to your
other guides in the future! +Rep
06-20-2010 #12
Anti-Christ Corporal
OMG you have no idea how long i have searched on google for an updated arena guide for resto
druids ... (not how to play but all the stats etc.) I love you and i hope i can give rep xD
06-22-2010 #13
Great guide. I noticed one of the main issues I have as a resto druid is that I get spam mana
burned. Obviously, shifting into bear form is preferrable, but then I feel like I'm stuck in bear while
my parnters are dying. Is this a case of my partners needing to take care of the priest so I can
heal, or is it that I'm not positioned well enough? I can't even count the number of times that I've
been playing priest/a ock/anything else and it's a constant fear->drain/burnfest. What is the best
way to counter this incredibly frustrating strat? Have my partners tunnel damage into the priest
and LoS the lock's fears so I can heal?
06-22-2010 #14
Dobbs Knight-Lieutenant
Nice guide, I also play druid, however i'm feral, can't seem to get into healing.
06-23-2010 #15
Man im also been working on a resto druid guide, guess we don't need it anymore .
When you talk about saving swiftmend until you cleansed the wound poision, my partner often have
wound, deadly x5 and crippling on him, do you only cast a abolish poisons or do you spam cleanse
poioson aswell
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