Well Patch 5.3 is just around the corner, with Realms going down at 3AM PST on 21st May, when we log back on, Patch 5.3 and all it’s glory will be available to us. Resto Shaman is the last of our healing classes to review for Patch 5.3, basically because there aren’t any direct changes. This is because Resto Shamans received a bit of love early in Patch 5.2 via hot-fixes, which is what we’ll be covering today. So read on for more!
First we’ll just quickly re-iterate what we’ve already covered in the General Healing changes for Patch 5.3 which effects shamans. You can read the full post on general healing changes for Patch 5.3 here.
Classes
Healing abilities and spells which automatically pick targets now follow consistent rules for targeting logic. Targets with lower % health will be preferred, and players are weighted more heavily than pets.
This will effect any smart heals that you use like your Healing Stream Totem. This will heal fellow party/raid member before healing their pets. Very much a welcome change, something that should have been implemented when smart heals were first introduced.
There have been a couple of changes to the way loot can be obtained, but instead of just repeating what’s already been said, you can just head over to our general healing Patch 5.3 post to get around it all. You could even take a look at how other classes will be effected as compared to the non-existent changes for us Resto Shamans.
Here we have the hotfixes (hotfixes are changes to the game that occur outside of any normal patch) that were applied soon after Patch 5.2 was released. There was a huge cry out for improvements to Resto Shaman as they weren’t performing nearly as well as other healing specs. These changes were definitely needed. Even now in the late stages of Patch 5.2, Resto Shaman are still struggling to match numbers with other healers, especially Holy Pally and Disc Priest.
Anyway here are the 5.2 hotfixes that were previously applied and were already on live:
General
Chain Heal now heals for 20% more.
This is a huge boost to one of our AoE spells by a straight forward 20%. A welcome change especially when combined with:
Healing Rain now heals for 20% more.
Again a huge boost to our other AoE spell by a massive 20%. This is a straight forward change and not too complicated to understand, but still worth knowing. During raids you should probably use this spell off cool down (cast it all the time). While your Healing Rain is active (on the ground healing) you can continue to cast Chain Heal which also received the boost.
Restoration
Earthliving Weapon now heals for 20% more.
An improvement to one of our single target heals which always seemed a bit lackluster to us. Now it’s quite effective as an instant heal and should continue to be used off cool down (all the time), especially before using a single target heal as it has a direct effect on them. If you’re not using this as often as possible before a single target heal, it’s a bit of a waste.
Well that’s it for Resto Shamans. I wish there was more I could write about for Patch 5.3 but unfortunately we received the healing love a long time ago now. But what do you think? Do you belive Resto Shaman still need to be buffed? Are you happy with where they sit? Why not let us know in the comments below! You don’t even need to sign up!