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Patch 5.2 changes for Resto Shaman

Resto Shamans may have the least changes coming to them in patch 5.2, but the changes that are coming are mostly of positive value, so it’s good to see some Shaman love coming our way! There are other changes coming to the Shaman as a whole, but here we’ll some up the changes that matter to the Restoration spec only. Remember these are PTR patch notes only and could be changed at any time.

Patch 5.2 will be released on March 5th 2013. For our analysis of each change: 

For a quick & easy summary head to ‘What you need to know as a healer for Patch 5.2‘.

Elemental Mastery now has a 90 second cooldown (was 2 minutes).

A slight buff(30 second reduction to the cool down) to Elemental Mastery, meaning you can use it more often. Increasing your Haste more often will allow you to cast healing spells faster and more often. This will help you during heavy damage phases, but remember faster spell casts means more mana used.

Conductivity no longer requires that the target be within the area of effect of Healing Rain.

Currently on live, Conductivity is activated by using particular spells on a target that had to be within your healing rain. In 5.2, if you have allies standing within your Healing Rain spell, this talent will be activated no matter who you use those particular spells on. So if you have Healing Rain down under the melee DPS and you heal yourself, those melee DPS inside the Healing Rain share 20% of the initial heal. A welcome change.

Glyph of Purge now adds a 6-second cooldown to Purge.

This Glyph on live currently changes your purge spell to remove 1 additional magic effect, unfortunately this Glyph on patch 5.2 will also add a 6 second cool down to your Purge spell, while still removing 2 magic effects in total.

Stone Bulwark Totem now absorbs 25% more damage.

A simple increase to to the amount absorbed by this talent. As we recommend this talent in our Resto Shaman Talents & Specs, this is a welcome change.

The talent Totemic Restoration now has an additional effect. Any totems that have been destroyed or replaced behave as if the totem had been active for at least 1 second.

This is mostly a PvP talent as described on our Resto Shaman Talents and Specs page, and we still recommend taking another talent for your PvE healing.

When summoned, the Stone Bulwark Totem has health equal to 10% of the casting Shaman’s health.

This change could be quite significant for both PvE and PvP. Now instead of having 5 health, it will have 10% of the casting Shaman’s health, which at the maximum level of 90, would be at approx. 35,000+ hp – a big difference as it has a higher chance of not being hit by an enemy and instantly being destroyed.

The talent Nature’s Guardian now preserves the player’s health percentage when its maximum health boosting effect expires.

Basically, while Nature’s Guardian currently removes the health percentage gained when it expires on live, this change will see you preserve the health percentage gained when this is activated. A 25% heal every 10 seconds (if you’re below 30% total health) is a welcome change for any Resto Shaman.

Ancestral Guidance now copies 60% (was 40%) of the amount healed.

A flat 20% increase to this tier 5 talent means when you use this talent/ability, for the next 10 seconds, any direct heals to your party/raid members will heal 3 nearby injured party/raid members for 60% of that first direct heal rather than 40% like it does on live. A welcome change for group healing. This increase to Ancestral Guidance is a welcome change to bring it more in line with what we believe to be the best talent in this tier, Healing Tide Totem.

Conductivity now shares 30% (was 20%) of the healing received from Healing Wave, Greater Healing Wave, or Healing Surge.

If you can get your head around this talent and you’ve chosen to go with it, then this is good news for you! If you’re un sure how this talent works, basically, when you heal with one of the spells listed, that initial heal will be duplicated and shared amongst those standing within your Healing Rain. In 5.2 instead of the duplicate heal that is shared being 20% of the initial heal, it will be 30%. To sum up: Buff. Along with the change to Conductivity outlined above, it’s a double Buff.

Healing Rain – mana cost reduced 10%

That’s pretty much it for changes to the Resto Shaman in patch 5.2. There are other specialization and class changes available which you can read about on the official 5.2 patch notes. Remember all these changes are PTR patch notes only and could be removed or changed at any time before going live.

So what do you think of these changes? Let us know in the comments below!

Originally published on February 24th, 2013 by on HealingWoW.com, Last modified: in the Resto Shaman category/s.

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