Druid Hero Talent Overview

By Tonarin with Nation of Dragons

                I will be giving my opinion on the new Hero Talents that have shown off as all the Druid Hero Talents are now available to read.  As you might already know the Druid class is the only class with four specializations in WoW (World of Warcraft.  This also means that the Druid will be the only class with four Hero Talent trees to pick from to keep up with the two per specialization choice that Blizzard is offering players.  In the order of early look by Blizzard we have the following Hero Talent tree names, Keeper of the Grove, Elune’s Chosen, Wildstalker, and Druid of the Claw.  Balance specialization has the option to pick one of the following for their Hero Talents: Keeper of the Grove, or Elune’s Chosen. Guardian specialization has the option to pick one of the following for their Hero Talents: Elune’s Chosen, or Druid of the Claw. Feral specialization has the option to pick one of the following for their Hero Talents: Druid of the Claw, or Wildstalker. Restoration specialization has the option to pick one of the following: Wildstalker, or Keeper of the Grove.

Balance Druid

                Balance Druids have the option to pick one of the following: Keeper of the Grove, or Elune’s Chosen. I will be doing an overview of both then explaining why in my opinion that one has the advantage over the other.

                Keeper of the Grove for Balance Druid specialization is centralized around the idea of the Druid using the Force of Nature talent, a one-minute cooldown ability, that is available for Balance Druid on the third row as a choice node with the Warrior of Elune talent.  Pathing to this node is easy as it is off all row 2 nodes that all Balance Druids must take.  The first node that you get when picking the Hero Talent tree is Dream Surge which adds an AOE damage to both Wrath and Starfire after you cast Force of Nature for your next three casts.  This extra damage is considered Nature Damage, which seems to be a pattern in this Hero Tree.  This extra damage is nice for Wrath but for Starfire which is already AOE damaging seems a bit pointless but is still nice to see.

                The second row of this Hero tree is more about different utility for the Druid as it will either affect them of modify spells they use.  The left most node is Treants of the Moon which allows your treants you summon from the talent Force of Nature to cast the spell Moonfire every 6 seconds. Now the question is, will this DoT (damage over time) count as a spell the Druid themselves cast or not.  This will make a difference as if it counts as a spell from the Druid then only one of the DoT affects that comes from that spell will be on the target, but if this is not counted as a spell from the Druid then we have the chance of seeing a total of four Moonfire DoTs on the target. The middle node is Expansiveness which just increases the maximum amount of Mana and Astral Power the Druid has access to.  Overall, this is not a bad talent as it will allow Balance Druids to heal more and to cast their spenders more if they stock up on their Astral Power.  The right most node is called Protective Growth which reduces the damage the Druid takes but only while they have their own Regrowth spell on them.

                The third row of this Hero tree has two choice nodes and another node but all nodes on this just increase the overall power of a few of the Druid’s spells.  The first-choice node on the left gives you the option between Power of Nature, which increases the damage your treants do at the cost of not being able to taunt, or Durability of Nature, which increases the health of the treants you summon.  The more popular choice will be the Power of Nature allowing you to do more damage while you have your treants out.  But I will say giving both your tanks and healer a little rest using your treants is not a bad thing but that would need to be talked about with the group and if you are just pugging then sticking with the increase damage will be the way to go. The middle node increases the damage of the Druids two spenders, Starsurge and Starfall, by 10% stacking but losing the effect if you cast a different spell other than Starsurge or Starfall.  This can be useful if you can stock up on your Astral Power before using your spenders and as said above, with the increase in maximum Astral Power allowed the one of the Hero tree talents and another talent in the Balance specialization tree you could build up a for a nice spike of damage if timed correctly. The second-choice node on the right gives you the option between Grove’s Inspiration, just raw 12% increase in the damage that Wrath and Starfire do, or Persistent Enchantments, which has Orbital Strike apply Stellar Flare for 20 seconds, which it already does, and has Arcanic Pulsar grant two additional seconds of Celestial Alignment.  Between these two the increase in damage would outweigh the extra two seconds you could get.

                The fourth row of the Hero tree has another two choice nodes and another node.  This row of talents augmenting the second row of talents even more.  With the first-choice node on the left giving you the choice of Bounteous Bloom, having you generate three Astral Power every two seconds while your treants are alive, or Early Spring, which reduces the cooldown of Force of Nature by 10 seconds.  Both talents I can see very useful as getting an extra 15 Astral Power over 10 seconds is nice, but so is the ability to call your treants every 50 seconds could mean you could use it on almost every trash pack in higher keys.   The second-choice node that is in the middle of the tree give you the option between Power of the Dream, granting you an additional stack of Dream Burst, the free node at the top, and having the talent Cenarius’ Might increase your spell damage by an additional 5%, or Control of the Dream which decreases the cooldown of a few major abilities if you don’t use them right away, up to 5 seconds decrease cooldown if you wait.  I can see Power of the Dream being used more often as even though getting five seconds off major cooldown abilities is nice, the increase damage that you get from Power of the Dream from the extra Dream Burst and Cenarius’ Might will out play those five seconds. The node on the right is not a choice node but has two parts that are always relative.  The first part of this talent gives you increases 100% damage and makes the following instant cast, Wrath, Starfire, or Entangling Roots. Now why would that be nice for a Balance Druid, because the second part of this talent makes you cast Regrowth, or Entangling Root as instant spells after 5 Starsurges or Starfalls.  This talent plays into itself with no extra help.

                The last node gives you even more power while you have your treants out.  Not much to talk about for this node as it is the last node and only one on the fifth row.  I came up with a three layout for this Hero tree and I do have to say when I first saw this tree, I thought of it a lot less because I do know how much people do not like the talent Force of Nature, so Balance Druids don’t normally take it.  But the option of changing how the treants act might bring it back to the table as a playable talent.

                Elune’s Chosen Hero tree for Druid Balance specialization is all about your Arcane and Astral damage with one of two Spells.  The Astral damage spells that this Hero tree care about are Full Moon and Fury of Elune.  Right now, both share a node on row 9 of the Balance specialization tree.  But this Hero tree also cares about all the Arcane damage you are doing.  The first node you get when selecting this Hero tree is called Boundless Moonlight.  When you cast Full Moon, you also call down two minor moons that deal Astral damage and generate Astral Power.  Now this talent also gives both specializations that can take this Hero tree the following: Fury of Elune ends with a flash of energy damaging enemies.  More on this later when I get to the Guardian specialization.

                Row 2 of this tree see three nodes, Moon Guardian, which increases both Moonfire and Starfire Astral Power generation by 2, Lunar Insight which increases Moonfire’s damage by 10%, and Glistening Fur, which reduces the damage you take from Arcane by 6% and all other magic type by 3% while in Moonkin form.  The increase damage for one of your DoT attacks is not that bad but over all this row has a long way to go if anything.  Yes, taking less damage is nice but as a DPS you try not to take damage, and yes there are times where you make a mistake, but this will not overall help with that.

                Now row 3 of this tree gives us some nice talents like in Lunar Amplication, which causes your non-Arcane damage to increase your next Arcane damage by 3% and stacking three times.  Now right now when you enter an Eclipse you want to use that spell over any other, but this could help change that.  Rotation three Wraths in either at the start of the trash pull or to get back into Lunar Eclipse, which takes two Wraths right now, will make Balance a bit more interesting. The middle node, Atmospheric Exposure increases damage you do to enemies hit by Fury of Elune or Full Moon by 4% for six seconds. The last node on this row is a choice node giving you the option to pick between Moondust, which slows enemies affected by Moonfire, or Elune’s Grace, which reduces the cooldown of the talent Wild Charge if used in Moonkin form.  The best of these will be Moondust and Wild Charge jumps you back in Moonkin form.

                Row 4of this tree gives you three choice nodes. The node on the left gives you the option between Stellar Command, Increasing the damage of the Full Moon talent and increasing the damage of the Fury of Elune Talent, or Lunar Calling, which increases Starfire’s damage by 40% but makes you not able to go into Solar Eclipse which is normally used as your single target spell on bosses.  Most people will go for Stellar Command as the go to talent, but I can see usefulness of Lunar Calling.  With a few talents picks from the Balance tree I can see this doing some good damage. The second-choice node in the middle gives the option between Light of Elune, which gives your Moonfire damage a chance to call down a Fury of Elune for 3 seconds generating 18 Astral Power.  This idea of getting a free spell from doing something else is nice but when compared to Astral Insight, making Incarnation: Chosen of Elune increases your Arcane damage by 10% a bit less great.  One of Balance Druid’s go to talents is Incarnation plus Primordial Arcane Pulsar, which activates Incarnation after spending 600 Astral Power. That may seem like a lot but that goes by fast and in a normal key run you tend to be in Incarnation almost one-third of the time, making Astral Insight the pick for this choice node.  The third-choice node on the right gives you the option between Arcane Affinity, which just always increases all Arcane damage by 3%, or Lunation, which causes your Arcane abilities to reduce the cooldown of Fury of Elune by 2 seconds and reducing New Moon, Half Moon, and Full Moon by 1 second.  The easy pick would be the raw increase in damage but if you are able to manage your spells well then Lunation would be the go-to pick for you as both the spells mentioned will do more damage overall.

                The final node further increases the first node’s power by having New Moon and Half Moon call 1 Minor Moon down and the final flash of Fury of Elune now generating Astral Power and increasing the damage.  I can see the talents now being used to stay but also some small changes to happen when this Hero tree is selected.

                Please note that the talent trees I have pictured are just ideas and I cannot at this time confirm what will be the normal pathing that will happen.  The current path for Balance Druids is never well done and would be hard to change it up unless things change big next expansion.  Now between the two new Hero talents trees I do believe that Elune’s Chosen will be the go-to pick and not Keeper of the Grove.  The raw damage increase you get with Elune’s Chosen will outweigh the potential burst damage you will get with Keeper of the Grove.

Guardian Druids

                Guardian Druids have the option to pick one of the following: Elune’s Chosen or Druid of the Claw. I will be doing an overview of both then explaining why in my opinion that one has the advantage over the other.

                Like Balance Druids, Guardian Druids can pick the Hero tree called Elune’s Chosen and like Balance Druids it empowers their Arcane damage they do.  The talent you get for selecting this tree makes the talent Lunar Beam for Guardian Druids leech life equal to 10% of all damage you do while in the beam, which doubles up on the healing that Lunar Beam does anyways.  It also has Fury of Elune explode at the end of it’s up time.  At first, I couldn’t see how Guardian Druid would get Fury of Elune, but I found it and will get to that later.

                Row 2 of this tree Modifies two spells and gives you a bit more protection.  On the left node Guardian Druids free automatic Moonfires from the talent Galactic Guardian will now generate five rage.  Giving Guardian Druids a bit more rage generation.  The middle node, Lunar Insight, increases Moonfires damage just like it does for Balance. The right node, Glistening Fur, also does the same thing for Balance as it does for Guardian, which decreases damage you take from Arcane by 6% and other spells by 3%.

                Row 3 of this tree gives you the same benefits as it gives Balance Druids but helps a bit more.  Lunar Aplification, on the left node, increases the damage your next Arcane ability by 3% stacking three times for a total of 9% increase.  Normally this is one of two spells, but I will come back to this. Atmospheric Exposure and you do more damage to enemies that have been damaged by the Lunar Beam.  The right node is your first-choice node, giving you the option to pick either Moondust, which slows enemies that are affected by Moonfire, or Elune’s Grace, which reduces the cooldown of the talent Wild Charge while in Bear form.  Elune’s Grace is the better pick are we have a lot of ways to reduce the speed of enemies through other spells.

                Row 4 of this tree is all choice nodes currently. The left most node gives you the option between Stellar Command, which increases the damage of Lunar Beam by 30%, or Lunar Calling, which makes Thrash deal Arcane damage and increases the damage of Thrash by 12%.  I believe that Lunar Calling will be the way to go for this node.  Paring this up with Lunar Amplification right above it will further increase the damage of Thrash by 9%.  Thrash is normally applied only with the damage over time effect is close to expiring or when you need to add stacks to the DoT.  This also means you could easily get three non-Arcane damage abilities off before returning to Thrash.  The middle node gives you the choice between The Light of Elune, which like Balance gives Moonfire damage a chance to call a Fury of Elune down for 3 seconds and generating 18 rage, or Astral Insight, which makes Incarnation: Guardian of Ursoc increases Arcane damage by 10%.  The better choice here is Astral Insight with the raw burst damage you can do. The right node gives you the option to pick between Arcane Affinity, which like Balance increases all Arcane damage by 3%, or Lunation, which makes all Arcane abilities reduce the cooldown of Lunar Beam by 3 seconds.  Now after thinking about this node, I would have to say I would pick Lunation to reduce the cooldown of Lunar Beam for a quick rotation you could get between 12 to 30 seconds reduced cooldown which makes this talent better than Arcane Affinity for Guardian.

                The last node you get is The Eternal Moon, which makes Lunar Beam increase your Mastery stat by 8%, deal 30% more damage, and last 3 seconds longer.  Making the building around Lunar Beam and Arcane for Guardian more worth it.

                The second Hero tree that Guardian Druids can pick is Druid of the Claw.  A throwback to Warcraft 3 for that didn’t know.  Unlike Elune’s Chosen, Druid of the Claws is all about the physical damage it can do.  The talent you get when selecting this Hero tree is called Massive Attack, which gives your auto-attacks a chance to make Maul into a Massive Attack.  A Maul that is turned into a Massive Attack goes from a single target ability to a frontal AOE ability.  Not bad as Maul hits very hard.

                Row 2 like we have been seeing modifies either you directly or your abilities.  The left node called, Fount of Strength, increases your maximum Rage and Energy by 20 and Frenzied Regeneration increases your maximum health by 10% while you have it on.  The increase in health is always a nice thing for Guardian Druids as that is their main thing as a tank.  The middle node called, Dreadful Wound, makes Massive Attack inflict a bleed that deals damage over six seconds but also makes enemies deal less damage to you.  There is a note that this bleed is not affected by the talent Circle of Life and Death.  The Node on the right called, Bestial Strength, increases the damage of Maul and Raze by 10%.

                Row 3 has two normal nodes and a choice node. The node on the left is going to test your macro abilities.  As this talent is called, Wildshape Mastery, which does a lot. First off Ironfur and Frenzied Regeneration both persist in Car Form if you used it in Bear Form before changing.  Second, when you transform from Bear to Cat you retain 80% of your armor that you had in Bear form for six seconds, this will allow you a bit more speed and Car Form is faster than Bear Form.  Lastly this talent also will 10% of the damage you take after going into Bear Form from Cat Form over 8 seconds.  That is a lot of healing you can do if timed currectly.  The middle node, your first-choice node, let you pick between Ruthless Aggression, which makes your Massive Attack increase your auto-attack speed by 20% for six seconds, or Killing Strikes, which make Massive Attack increase your Agility by 5% and armor you get from Ironfur by 20% for six seconds.  This talent also makes your first Mangle in combat transform Maul into a Massive Attack.  The node on the right called, Pack’s Endurance, increases the duration of Stampeding Roar by 25% making the party move faster overall.

                Row 4 has two choice nodes and a normal node.  The first-choice node on the left gives you the option between Empowered Shapeshifting, which while in Bear Form reduces magic damage you take by 4% and increases the damage of Swipe and Mangle by 5%, or Wildpower Surge, which like the node above will have players become macro masters.  Well maybe raider only as that is the only place I can see this talent being used as this talent does the following, Mangle grants Feline Potential which at 6 stacks and the next time you transform into Cat Form your next Ferocious Bite or Rip deals 50% increased damage.  Empowered Shapshifting will be the main go-to talent here.  The middle talent called, Aggravate Wounds has your Maul, Raze, Mangle, Thrash, and Swipe extend the duration of Dreadful Wounds by 0.4 seconds, but not to extend more than six extra seconds.  Not a bad talent as it plays into an earlier talent.  The node on the right is your second-choice node giving you options between, Strike for the Heart, which increases the Critical Strike chance and damage for Swipe and Mangle by 8%, or Tear Down the Mighty, which reduces the cooldown of Pulverize.  The addition of Pulverize here makes no sense to me as it doesn’t interact which anything else in this tree.  All it does is make a cooldown of 45 seconds into 40 seconds.  Strike for the Heart will be better.

                The final node in the tree is Claw Rampage, in which during Berserk your Mangle, Swipe, and Thrash have a 25% chance to make Maul into a Massive Attack.  This seems a little weak for it doesn’t increase the damage of anything but gives you additional ways of getting a Massive Attack, which leads me to believe the damage this ability will do will be massive.

                Between Elune’s Chosen and Druid of the Claw for Guardian Druids both offer different styles of play.  There has always been a divide between Guardian Druid players, on one hand you have the players that build for offensive power and the other hand builds more defensive.  Both Hero trees offer a bit of both without changing much of the survivability Guardian Druids have.  Both will be good picks, but I do see Druid of the Claw become the favorite over Elune’s Chosen. Please note that the talent trees I have pictured are just ideas and I cannot at this time confirm what will be the normal pathing that will happen.  The current path for Balance Druids is never well done and would be hard to change it up unless things change big next expansion.

Feral Druids

                Feral Druids have the option to pick one of the following: Druid of the Claw, or Wildstalker. I will be doing an overview of both then explaining why in my opinion that one has the advantage over the other.

                Druid of the Claw Hero tree for Feral Druid plays around the same idea as Druid of the Claw did for Guardian.  Make one attack even stronger via the first node you get when picking this Hero tree, Massive Attack.  Massive attack for Feral Druid has your auto-attacks turn Ferocious Bite into your Massive Attack.  For Feral the power of this attack is dependent on two extra things. First the amount of combo points you use for the attack, between 1 and 5, and if you use any extra Energy, up-to 25 Energy.  If you clear both then the attack will deal 100% damage.

                Row 2 does almost the same thing with all the nodes.  Fount of Strength is the same for Feral as Guardian, increasing your maximum Energy and Rage by 20 while also having Frenzied Regeneration increases your health by 10%.  Dreadful Wound makes Massive Attack inflict a bleed that causes damage over six seconds and reduces the damage the enemy deals to you by 5%. The damage over time affect is not reduced by Circle of Life and Death.  For Feral, Dreadful Wound benefits from Tiger’s Fury. This talent will shine when you have Tiger’s Fury active. Bestial Strength increases Ferocious Bite’s damage by 5% and the direct damage of Primal Wrath by 100%.  Just raw buff to damage.

                Row 3 it the same as above but with one change. The node on the left is going to test your macro abilities.  As this talent is called, Wildshape Mastery, which does a lot. First off Ironfur and Frenzied Regeneration both persist in Car Form if you used it in Bear Form before changing.  Second, when you transform from Bear to Cat you retain 80% of your armor that you had in Bear form for six seconds, this will allow you a bit more speed and Car Form is faster than Bear Form.  Lastly this talent also will 10% of the damage you take after going into Bear Form from Cat Form over 8 seconds.  That is a lot of healing you can do if timed currectly.  The middle node, your first-choice node, let you pick between Ruthless Aggression, which makes your Massive Attack increase your auto-attack speed by 20% for six seconds, or Killing Strikes, which make Massive Attack increase your Agility by 5% and armor you get from Ironfur by 20% for six seconds.  This talent also has your first Tiger’s Fury after entering combat make your next Ferocious Bite become a Massive Attack.  The node on the right called, Pack’s Endurance, increases the duration of Stampeding Roar by 25% making the party move faster overall.

                Row 4 has two choice nodes and a normal node.  The first-choice node on the left gives you the option between Empowered Shapeshifting, which allows you to use Frenzied Regeneration in Cat Form for 40 Energy and increases the damage of Shred and Swipe by 5%, or Wildpower Surge, which like the node above will have players become macro masters.  Shred and Swipe grant Ursine Potential, which at 8 stacks and you transform into Bear Form increases the damage of Mangle or Swipe by 100% and generates 15 Rage. Empowered Shapshifting will be the main go-to talent here.  The middle talent called, Aggravate Wounds has your Finishing Moves, Shred, Thrash, and Swipe extend the duration of Dreadful Wounds by 0.4 seconds, but not to extend more than six extra seconds.  Not a bad talent as it plays into an earlier talent.  The node on the right is your second-choice node giving you options between, Strike for the Heart, which increases the Critical Strike chance and damage for Swipe and Shred by 8%, or Tear Down the Mighty, which reduces the cooldown of Feral Frenzy.  The addition of Feral Frenzy here makes no sense to me as it doesn’t interact which anything else in this tree.  All it does is make a cooldown of 45 seconds into 40 seconds.  Strike for the Heart will be better.

                The final node in the tree is Claw Rampage, in which during Berserk your Shred, Swipe, and Thrash have a 25% chance to make Ferocious Bite into a Massive Attack.  This seems a little weak for it doesn’t increase the damage of anything but gives you additional ways of getting a Massive Attack, which leads me to believe the damage this ability will do will be massive.  This Hero tree wants to give the upfront damage to Feral Druid and right now they need a build time to have their Bleeds really work.  It is a bit underwhelming.

                Wildstalker is the second Hero tree available to Feral Druids. Unlike Druid of the Claw Hero tree this Hero tree introduces a new bleed to the Feral Drud with the first node of the tree called, Thriving Growth.  Thriving Growth gives Rip and Rake damage a chance to cause Bloodseeker Vines that deal damage over six seconds.  It also affects Regrowth for Feral Druids but instead of damaging it heals the target of the Regrowth over 6 seconds.  Multiple effects can happen and overlap.

                On row 2 there are three talents, with the left most node being Beneath the Open Skies, which increases your damage and healing in Cat Form by 5% and increases Moonfire and Sunfire damage by 10%.  The increase damage you get from this talent helps bring Feral Druids in line with other melee classes before they get their talents. The middle node gives you Strategic Infusion, which increases Shred, Rake, and Brutal Slash critically strike by 8% when you use Tiger’s Fury and attack from Prowl.  It also gives the cast of Regrowth to increase the critically healing chance periodic heals by 10%.  This is nice as casting a Regrowth on yourself as Feral is your main way of keeping yourself alive.  The last node on the right gives you Wildstalker’s Power, increased damage and healing of a few abilities.  Both Rip and Ferocious Bite damage is increased while Rejuvenation, Efflorescence, and Lifebloom have increased healing.  Raw power increase on the second row of talents is the same as we have seen many times over the rest of the Druids Hero trees.

                The third row of talents gives us more modifications to our abilities.  With Wildstalker’s Prescene on the left node making both Wild Growth and Rake last 20% longer.  This gives the bleed more up time and countering another talent that is taken to reduce the length of bleeds.  The middle node gives us a choice node offering us the option between Entangling Vortex, which after enemies are pulled in by Ursol’s Vortex they get rooted in place for six seconds, or Flower Walk, which increases our movement during Barkskin by 10% and has flowers grow beneath our feet that heals nearby injured allies.  Between these two the most likely used one might be Flower Walk for the passive healing it provides as Barkskin should be used when available in combat. The node on the right gives us a second-choice node with the options of Bond with Nature, which increases the healing you receive by 10%, or Harmonious Constitution, which increases your own Regrowth when used on yourself by 50%.  Both are good options but one gives your healers a bit of a helping hand and the other makes it easier for you to heal yourself.

                Row 4 modifies the new ability you got with this Hero tree. The Left most node is a choice node, with the first option being Resilient Flourishing, which extends the duration of Bloodseeker Vines by 2 seconds.  Also, when an enemy dies with the bleed on the bleed will jump to an enemy that doesn’t have the bleed on it already, or Root Network, which increases damage of your abilities by 2% for each active Bloodseeker Vines. Both are great for long prolong fights in the middle node we get Bursting Growth makes Bloodseeker Vines expire it explodes dealing damage to all nearby enemies and having the healing side to grow flowers and heal you and allies.  The node on the right is another choice node with the option between Twin Sprouts, which give a 10% chance for Bloodseeker Vines or the healing side grow to also cause the effect on another nearby target of the correct type, or Implant, which causes Feral Frenzy to immediately causes a Bloodseeker Vine to grow on the target.  This choice node will be interesting for if the 10% chance from Twin Sprouts proc rate is enough to proc at least twice in 45 or even 60 seconds then it will beat out Implant which will only proc off a 45 second cooldown ability.

                The final node gives you an increased 10% to all damage you deal to any enemies affected by Bloodseeker Vines.  With six seconds up time an increase to all damage for that time gives you a small burst window that you will not be able to control.  I fore see the build for this being the same as it is now with the stress of more bleeds the better.

                Between Druid of the Claw and Wildstalker for Feral Druids, I believe that Wildstalker will take the popular spot as it plays into the current build and play style of Feral Druids now.  It also plays into their mastery which cares for bleeds you do.  That is not to say Druid of the Claw may not be good, but the Ferocious Bite build right now is about 15,000 DPS behind the top build.  It can even fall further behind if the player messes up on either procs or rotation.

Restoration Druids

                Restoration Druids have the option to pick one of the following: Wildstalker or Keeper of the Grove. I will be doing an overview of both then explaining why in my opinion that one has the advantage over the other.

                The first Hero tree I will go over for Restoration Druid will be the Wildstalker Hero tree. In similar fashion to Feral Druid this Hero tree is all about an extra heal over time that is applied through the talent Thriving Growth and is applied from Wild Growth, Regrowth, and Efflorescence.  This heal over time lasts for six seconds, but more than one can be applied to one target.

                On row 2 there are three talents, with the left most node being Beneath the Open Skies, which increases your damage and healing in Cat Form by 5% and increases Moonfire and Sunfire damage by 10%.  The increase damage you get from this talent plays into the idea of what is known as feralweaving, or the act of transforming into Cat Form to help with DPS when you are not in need to heal. The middle node gives you Strategic Infusion, which increases Shred, and Rake critically strike by 8% when you attack from Prowl.  It also gives the cast of Regrowth to increase the critically healing chance periodic heals by 10%.  The increase to your critical strike damage abilities is pointless as you will not get a chance to Prowl before combat most of the time, but the increase to your periodic healing effects is nice.  The last node on the right gives you Wildstalker’s Power, increased damage and healing of a few abilities.  Both Rip and Ferocious Bite damage is increased while Rejuvenation, Efflorescence, and Lifebloom have increased healing.  Raw power increase on the second row of talents is the same as we have seen many times over the rest of the Druids Hero trees.

                The third row of talents gives us more modifications to our abilities.  With Wildstalker’s Prescene on the left node making both Wild Growth and Rake last 20% longer.  This gives Wild Growth more up time and countering another talent that is taken to reduce the length of heals over time.  The middle node gives us a choice node offering us the option between Entangling Vortex, which after enemies are pulled in by Ursol’s Vortex they get rooted in place for six seconds, or Flower Walk, which increases our movement during Barkskin by 10% and has flowers grow beneath our feet that heals nearby injured allies.  Between these two the most likely used one might be Flower Walk for the passive healing it provides as Barkskin should be used when available in combat. The node on the right gives us a second-choice node with the options of Bond with Nature, which increases the healing you receive by 10%, or Harmonious Constitution, which increases your own Regrowth when used on yourself by 50%.  Both are good options but as you most likely be the only healer in Mythic plus, which is the end game I play the most, taking Bond with Nature will less likely be taken as it only pairs with Paladin tanks that can heal you.

                Row 4 has two choice nodes along with one normal node.  The left most node is a choice node that lets you pick between Resilient Flourishing, which makes both Bloodseeker Vines and Symbiotic Blooms last 2 additional seconds and have Bloodseeker Vines jump to another target if the enemy dies that had it on it, or Root Network which increases your damage for each Bloodseeker Vines and increases your Healing of Lifebloom and Wild Growth for each active Symbiotic Blooms.  For Restoration Druids it will be easier to manage Root Network healing side and Root Network also provides some nice increase to your healing.  The middle node has Bursting Growth, which makes both Bloodseeker Vine and Symbiotic Bloom explode for either damage or healing after they expire. The node on the right is the other choice node giving you the option between Twin Sprouts, which when either Bloodseeker Vines or Symbiotic Blooms grow they can spread to another target as a 10% chance of spreading, or Implant which when casting Regrowth as an instant via the talent Nature’s Swiftness to cause a Symbiotic Bloom on the target.  I believe that Twin Sprouts will be more useful as the number of Symbiotic Blooms that a Restoration Druid can have will be limited to how well the Druid manages their healing over time spells.

                The final node gives you an increase of 10% damage and 8% healing while your Bloodseeker Vines or Symbiotic Blooms are active.  These short burst windows will help the Restoration Druid out.

                The second Hero tree that Restoration Druids have access to is Keeper of the Grove, which gives your Grove Guardians to cause your next targeted heal to create two Dream Petals close to the target, which heal up to three allies.  Stackable to three charges.  Like the Balance build for this Hero tree, this Tree requires you to take and use the summon talent in the Restoration tree called Grove Guardians, a 20 second recharge ability that summons a treant that heals your target right away then will heal anyone that is damaged for 15 seconds. This talent has three charges which allow you to stagger the use of them or pop off giving you a major increase in healing.

                On row 2 you are given Treants of the Moon on the left node, which has your treants cast Moonfire every six seconds on nearby enemies.  This will passively increase your DPS as you will not need to do anything. The middle node gives you Expansiveness, which increases your maximum mana by 5% and increases your maximum Astral Power by 20.  The more mana you have the more healing you can get off before needing mana and this Hero tree also swings you to play as a range caster with this talent and others later. Protective Growth is your right node on this row, which causes your Regrowth cast on yourself to reduce all damage done to you by 8%, giving you another way to reduce damage coming at you.

                There are two choice nodes and one normal node on row 3. The first-choice node is on the left side and gives you the option between Power of Nature, which has your Grove Guardians increase the healing of Rejuvenation, Efflorescence, and Lifebloom by 5% while active, or your Grove Guardians’ Nourish and Swiftmend spells also apply a minor Cenarion Ward that heals the target over eight seconds after they take damage. Appling a minor version of Cenarion Ward will be better then just increasing three spells healing as your Cenarion Ward spell you can talent into is a 30 second cooldown ability and counts as a heal over time affecting your Mastery. Cenarius’ Might is the middle node talent you get, which when casting Regrowth, Wild Growth, or Swiftmend increases the healing of those spells by 10% stacking two time giving you a total of 20% increase to healing for those spells, and casting Starsurge increases the damage of Starsurge by 10% stacking two time.  Casting another spell besides one of the spells that increase the healing, for the healing side, or Starsurge, for the increase to damage, will cancel the effect.  This is a nice burst of healing or damage if you time it right. The second-choice node is on the right giving you the option between Grove Inspiration, which increases the damage of Wrath and Starfire by 12%, and increases the healing of Regrowth, Wild Growth, and Swiftmend by 6%, or Persistent Enchantments, which has Reforestation grant Tree of Life for two additional seconds.  Between these two I believe Grove’s Inspiration will pull ahead. The raw damage and healing increase will be great for Restoration Druids as they can get a few more attacks off because of the passive style of healing they do.

                Row 4 left node is a choice node giving you the option between Bounteous Bloom, which increases the healing from your Grove Guardians by 20%, or Early Spring, which reduces the cooldown of Grove Guardians by 3 seconds.  On one hand you have a talent the takes your 20 seconds re-charge down to 18 seconds re-charge allowing you to stagger the treants out while having them up for over all longer time, but on the other hand you just increase the healing of your treants.  Both are good choices, but I can see Early Spring being used a bit more often. The middle node is another choice node that gives you the option between Power of the Dream, which generates an additional Dream Petal with healing spells cast with Dream Surge, and Cenarius’s Might increases all damage and healing by an additional 5%, or Control of the Dream, which reduces the cooldown of major spells to up five seconds if you don’t use them.  With how fast Mythic plus is I don’t see Control of the Dream being that useful as only five seconds off any cooldown that is one minute or longer isn’t that great if you must wait to use your cooldown, but just raw increase in damage and healing will make a difference. Blooming Infusion has every five Regrowths make Wrath, Starfire, or Entangling Roots instant and increases the damage they do by 100%, and Every five Starsurge making your next Regrowth, or Entangling Roots instants.  Over the course of a run this will just play out and help the Restoration Druid.

                The last node is Harmony of the Grove, which increases your healing by 3% per Grove Guardians while they are active.  A nice interaction for a spell you are going to be casting anyways.  This Hero tree makes you build your Restoration Druid with Balance side abilities to fully bring out the full power of the tree.  This will help keep you safe from damage more.

                Between Wildstalker and Keeper of the Grove I believe that Keeper of the Grove will be taken more often.  When Grove Guardians was first introduced, they have had two nerfs to them that brought their power down but it still performs well and Keeper of the Grove will just make the talent feel as strong as it was when first introduced and maybe even better for some of the interactions that are on the tree will make playing Restoration Druids feel really nice.