How to Be a Successful PvP Arena Healing Druid in World of Warcraft

Last year, the wonderful patrons of Associated Content decided to grant me the award for the best video game-related article on the site with this article. I truly appreciate the prize and the recognition of my writing, and I figure that it's time for me to write a similar article since World of Warcraft has changed so much since the original was written. At the time of the original writing, I was new to level 60 (the then-level cap), and still relatively newbish as to what I was really doing. As WoW has progressed to 70 (and soon to 80 with Wrath of the Lich King), my interests in the game have evolved as well. I no longer PvE (raid or otherwise), and the majority of my playtime is spent in PvP combat, either in the Arena or a Battleground. I intend this piece to be the first of a two articles about the things I've learned being a PvP healer. This article will concern the Druid class in World of Warcraft while the second will concern the Priest.

This guide is going to work off of the assumption that you, my dearest readers, understand the base characteristics of the Druid class (e.g. shapeshifting and what the forms do) and what the effect of each spell is. Also, be aware that I am only going to be covering the basics of PvP Arena/Battleground combat. If you're consistently breaking 1600-1700 in the Arena, then there's a good chance that you already know almost everything that I can tell you in this. However, if you're a 10-game per week person who simply wants to get the most out of your team or you're new to the PvP scene as a whole, then this guide is for you. I am not going to be breaking down class vs. class matchups, but going over the general idea of what being a PvP Healing Druid in World of Warcraft entails.

The most important thing to understand when you enter PvP as a Restoration Druid is simple: you are a healer first and foremost. While Druids in World of Warcraft are able to Crowd Control (or CC; keep someone tied up and not controlling their character to its fullest extent) exceptionally well with Cyclone (more on that later), your first job is to keep yourself and your teammates alive. Keeping people out of the fight helps that, but if you're slacking off on heals to make sure you get that Cyclone/Entangling Roots off, then you need to get your priorities straight.

The Druid's real meat and utility as a healer is three-fold. You can run like mad, you don't really have to stop running to cast thanks to many of your healing spells being instant cast (no cast time), and you have crowd control (which unfortunately do have cast times, but share separate diminishing returns