Healing Touch

Before the mana changes come in patch 3.1 I want to try a sort of Healing Touch build. It focuses on Healing Touch and Nourish. So more on direct heals than on HoTs, which is an interesting concept for a druid healer. However HoTs are not to be excluded entirely. I plan on still using rejuvenation and swiftmend and the AoE heal Wild Growth. Yet so much of druid healing is HoT based, so anything like this pre-Wrath wouldn't even be worth looking at.

But with changes to the Tree of Life allowing Healing Touch and Nourish to be cast in tree form it now may seem viable. Also the resto druid's four set bounus buffs Nourish so that your Nourish heals an additional 5% for each of your heal over time effects present on the target. Currently I never touch Nourish and this build will let me get some mileage out of it and see how I could possibly work it into my healing rotation, hence even if the build is a FAIL I can still learn more about Nourish.

In exploring a build like this I am also going to take a hard look at the Glyph of Healing Touch which decreases the cast time of Healing Touch by 1.5 sec., the mana cost by 25%, and the amount healed by 50%. First off should I even use this glyph? I mean my build is focused on HT, but is the glyph benefical to the build. Or should I leave HT as is and use it more as a greater heal?

Before jumping into field testing this build and the HT glyph lets do some theorycrafting. First lets look at Healing Touch unglyphed. Its a three second cast that heals for 3750 to 4428. This is very similar to Greater Heal, that is also a three second cast that heals for roughly the same amount (3950 to 4590) but a hits a little harder.

Now lets look at Nourish, which is a 1.5 sec cast that heals for 1883 to 2187 plus some for HoTs. This is similar to Flash Heal, with a 1.5 sec cast and healing for 1887 to 2193.

I needed to talk to a priest and after doing so I don't know if this build will even work. Priests have a talent that lets them dally with the 5 sec rule, which is a common healer rule for utilizing out of casting regen. Druids use HoTs to get out of casting regen. This may not be prefect but I am willing to try this build. Mana regen is changing so who knows what will happen. Expect a post some time later about the results of this experiment hopefully I can get it done and field testing in naxx this weekend or next.