PvE Restoration Druid Best Professions

Restoration Druids in Mists of Pandaria will benefit the most from professions that increase their primary stat, which is Intellect. Some professions can also provide easy access to gear and consumables that may otherwise be difficult or expensive to obtain.

Best Professions

All crafting professions in Mists of Pandaria offer very similar stat bonuses equal to about 320 Intellect for Restoration Druids. These bonuses are a bit stronger than the ones that you will gain from gathering professions, so having two crafting professions will be the most optimal choice for min-maxing as a Resto Druid. Your choice of professions may also depend upon what professions you have access to through your alts, friends, or guild.

Although it does not give the best stats for min/maxing in endgame content, Herb Gathering is a very popular profession for Druids for other reasons which we’ll cover in a later section. If you choose to go that route, Alchemy or Inscription will allow you to take advantage of the herbs you will be gathering.

Alchemy

• Mixology
  You’ll get an extra 320 Intellect from your flasks, and they’ll last twice as long.
• Alchemist’s Flask
  A nice little reusable consumable item for farm and solo content where you won’t otherwise be able to benefit from your Mixology perk.
• Crafted Items
  You can make all of your own potions and elixirs. You’ll also be able to transmute gems and ore. You can make a Zen Alchemist Stone trinket which increases the effect of health and mana potions by 40% along with its flat 809 Mastery and an Intellect proc, but you will quickly replace it with something better.

Blacksmithing

• Socket Bracer & Socket Gloves
  You’ll be able to add gem sockets to your bracers and gloves, which will allow you to slot in 2 additional Intellect gems for 320 Intellect total.
• Crafted Items
  Most of what you can craft as a Blacksmith will not be useful to you as a Druid, including plate armor, weapon chains, and shield spikes. You’ll be able to make your own belt buckles as well as an early weapon, but that’s about it.

Enchanting

• Enchant Ring – Greater Intellect
  You can enchant your rings for 160 Intellect each, 320 total.
• Crafted Items
  You’ll be able to enchant your own gear, and disenchant Bind-on-Pickup items that you acquire for valuable enchanting materials.

Engineering

• Synapse Springs
  You’ll be able to apply these to your gloves, giving you a 1920 Intellect buff that lasts for 10 seconds on a 1 minute cooldown. This averages out over the course of its effect and cooldown period to be about 320 Intellect, but only if you remember to use it and only if you use it whenever it’s available. For some players that’s a huge downside while others will like having the extra oomph when they need it most.
• Camouflage Retinal Armor
  A powerful piece of early equipment for your head, which you can socket with special Cogwheel Gems. Loses its relevance eventually when you get better gear from raids.
• Crafted Items
  You can make your own bombs and lots of Engineer-exclusive gadgets that don’t necessarily help you in dungeons and raids, but which can be useful in the open world.

Inscription

• Secret Crane Wing Inscription
  You’ll get this inscription for your shoulders, which gives 320 Intellect more than the next best shoulder enchantment.
• Crafted Items
  Scribes can make their own glyphs. They can also craft Darkmoon Cards that can be combined to make a solid early expansion trinket, Relic of Chi-Ji, but you don’t need to have Inscription to get or use this item. You’ll also be able to make some upgradeable staves and offhands, including Inscribed Crane Staff and Inscribed Red Fan, and these items are Bind-on-Account and can be shared with your alts.

Jewelcrafting

• Brilliant Serpent’s Eye
  You’ll be able to cut these special gems, which give you double the Intellect of the next best option. You can use two of these gems at a time, amounting to 320 bonus Intellect total.
• Crafted Items
  Jewelcrafters can cut their own gems. They can also craft some pre-raid rings and amulets, but those are BoE and don’t require Jewelcrafting to use.

Leatherworking

• Fur Lining – Intellect
  You’ll be able to apply this special enchantment to your bracers, which gives 320 more Intellect than the next best bracer enchantment.
• Crafted Items
  As a Leatherworker you’ll be able to make your own leather armor, although none of it requires Leatherworking to equip, so you could also buy it from other crafters. You’ll also be able to make armor kits, which will only be useful if you have a Feral or Guardian offspec.

Tailoring

• Darkglow Embroidery & Lightweave Embrodery
  Tailors can apply these special enchantments to their cloaks. Lightweave gives 2000 Intellect for 15 seconds every 1 minute, averaging to 320 Intellect above the next best cloak enchant. Darkglow gives 3000 Spirit instead, averaging to 480 Spirit.
• Crafted Items
  You’ll be able to craft all sorts of cloth gear, which isn’t really useful to you. You can also make your own bags as well as spellthreads for your pants.

Useful Professions

Druids have some advantages with gathering skills that make Herb Gathering particularly appealing, despite the fact that it offers a suboptimal stat bonus. With Travel Form and Flight Form, you don’t need to dismount and re-mount every time you find a node. Stealth can also be convenient for avoiding combat. There’s even an Herbalism Trainer within easy reach thanks to your Teleport: Moonglade spell. While it’s not as strong as an Intellect bonus, Herbalism’s bonus is still more competitive than Mining or Skinning.

Herbalism

• Lifeblood
  You’ll gain this cooldown that gives a small heal and also grants 2880 Haste for 20 seconds.
• Gathering
  In addition to herbs that can be used in Alchemy and Inscription, you’ll be able to collect Life Spirit and Water Spirit from herb nodes, but these share a cooldown with health and mana potions respectively, which makes them much less useful than they could be.

Sub-Par Professions

The bonuses from the other two gathering professions aren’t as strong as those from crafting professions or even the bonus from Herb Gathering.

Skinning

• Master of Anatomy
  Maxing out your Skinning nets you a passive 480 Critical Strike buff, which isn’t as good for you as the Intellect buffs offered by crafting professions.
• Gathering
  You’ll be able to skin mobs for leather, hide, and scales to be used in Leatherworking. As a Druid, you can skin without leaving Travel Form and Flight Form.

Mining

• Toughness
  For maxing out your Mining skill you get a passive 480 Stamina buff, which isn’t that useful to you as a healer.
• Gathering
  You’ll be able to collect and smelt ore for use in Blacksmithing or Engineering, and gems for use in Jewelcrafting. You won’t be able to mine in Travel Form and Flight Form, but since both forms are instant, you still have an advantage over other classes who must summon a mount each time they mine a node.

Cooking Specializations

In Mists of Pandaria, the Cooking profession offers some benefits to endgame characters through the new specializations that are available. Characters with the appropriate specialization will receive additional stats when they eat from a Banquet of that specialization. You’ll also be able to make your own food, with the best food options only being craftable by cooks of the appropriate specialization.

Restoration Druids will want to prioritize Way of the Steamer for Spirit food or Way of the Pot for Intellect food.