Sunday, February 3, 2008

Successful Rebirthing for All

One of the most critical moments for a Druid of any spec is the moment we're asked to combat rez (Rebirth) someone...which can lead to one of the most frustrating and heart-wrenching moments for a Druid, when the newly rebirthed person dies soon after. It's enough to make a Druid cry big cow tears...even the Night Elf ones. Successful Rebirths are a synergistic process; both the rebirther and the rebirthee must work together to ensure the rez is quick and successful.

Typically, when a Rebirth is requested by the Raid Leader, it is because the person who died is integral to the success of the encounter; such as a healer, off-tank, or one of the top DPSers. It's important that the Rebirth happens quickly, efficiently, and successfully so that the deceased person and the Druid can both get back to their assigned tasks.

Location, location, location...

All too often I'm asked to rez someone and I end up running all over the room just looking for them. Sadly, I seemed to have missed the real life talent 'Improved Directionality' as I always run in the opposite direction from where they are located. This is bad as it means I'm not adding to DPS or available to tank or heal during the time I'm running around like a chicken with no head. This problem has only gotten worse as we've progressed into 25 man content as the 'boss rooms' are larger and have more line of site issues than the ones in 5 mans, Karazhan, or Zul' Aman.

The first step to a successful Rebirth, then, is letting the Druid know where you lie dead. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked to rez someone during The Lurker Below encounter and when I ask them where they are, the response is "Way in the back."

Ok...way in the back where? There is about 360 degrees of 'way in the back' and if I run 'way in the back' in one direction and you're 'way in the back' in the other direction then it's even further for me to run 'way in the back' in the opposite direction to get to you 'way in the back.' /sigh and end rant.

This can easily be solved by pinging the map. It's so simple. You just hover your mouse over your location on the map and click! No, seriously.

Ping. The. Map.

So, when the raid leader says, "Rez So-and-so." So-and-so should respond with, "Pinging location" along with a simple ping. This will ensure that the Druid heads straight for you and does not waste time running around trying to find you. It also gives more time for the Druid to position themselves out of AoE areas so the newly rebirthed person has less of a chance to die. This brings us to the second ping...errr...thing on location. As the Druid is casting their rez, they should...

Ping the map.

This will give the person who is being rebirthed an opportunity to maneuver their camera to get a visual on where they will spawn once they accept and, more importantly, what is going on in that area.

Along with pinging, when possible, the Druid should find as safe a location as possible to rez them into. If the Druid is off-tanking and performing the rez between hateful stricks, this isn't an option. If the Druid is the main healer on the main tank, they are limited to how far they can go to find a safe spot as they still have to keep their HoTs on the tank. But, when possible, try to find an area away from the boss or mobs and out of range of AoE or damage effects.

Assessing Before Accepting

Accepting your Rebirth is the most critical part. Even though Rebirth rezzes a person with more health and mana than any of the other resurrection spells, it's still a nominal amount. On the highest ranked Rebirth, it's only 3200 health and 3200 mana. If you accept and spawn into a Cave-In in Gruul's Lair, you will die. If you accept right as Lurker's Spout is happening, you will die. If you accept right before a sacrifice is due on Illhoof, you run the risk of a fast death if you are chosen. I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea.

Too often, the rebirthee is anxious to get back in and DPS, heal, or whatever and they quickly click that accept button with no idea of where or what or when they will spawn. Before you accept your rez, assess the situation in the area where the Druid was standing when they cast their spell.

Sadly, I still hear, "Don't accept, you're in [insert damage effect here]." When the danger is on the person's corpse and the area I have rezzed them to is safe. Just in case you have forgotten...

When a person is rezzed, they pop up at the rezzer's location.

Which is why it's important for the Druid to ping their location while they are casting the rez...it's a 2 second cast...you have time for a quick ping.

So, before hitting that accept button:

  1. Check out the area where the Druid is standing to see if any damage effects are in play.
  2. Check out the area to see if any mobs who might cleave you, etc. are nearby.
  3. Check out Boss Mob timers for any upcoming events that would kill you with low health.

If the area is clear and no events you should avoid are about to happen then accept, otherwise, wait until it is safe.

The Newly Rebirthed

As soon as you've accepted your Rebirth is when you are the most vulnerable. You spawn with 3200 health and mana, no buffs, and in a completely different location. However, if you have assessed the area prior to accepting, you've overcome one of the hurdles to survival.

Ideally, the Druid who rezzed you should, at least, toss a few HoTs your way as well as a baby MotW. However, the other healing classes should be aware of who is being rezzed and who is rezzing them. If the rezzer is a Resto Druid on 'raid healing' duty, then they should be able to restore the newly rebirthed member to full health. However, if the rezzor was a Feral Druid squeezing the task in between hateful strikes, then a quick heal from one of the healers is necessary. Also, buffing classes should be ready to toss some baby buffs on the newly rebirthed.

If, by chance, you don’t get enough heals, bandage. Ultimately, it is your responsibility to ensure you are in the best possible shape before entering back into combat.

Tag-Team Rebirthing

If more than one Druid is in the raid and multiple people have died, including one of the Druids, then they will do what I call ‘tag-team’ rezzing. The remaining Druid will rez the deceased Druid and then the newly rebirthed Druid will rez another member.

This ‘tag-team’ rezzing works very well. However, the initial Druid as well as the other healers will need to help bring both the newly rebirthed people up to full health. Rebirth consumes 68% of the Druid’s base mana. Since the rebirth Druid spawns with only 3200 mana, it’s likely, especially if they are feral, that they will not have enough mana to HoT and baby buff themselves and the person they rez. In fact, I can say definitely that it can not be done!

We did a ‘tag-team’ rez in the Lurker encounter the other day and I slapped a Rejuv on myself and the person I rezzed as well as baby MotWs and did not have enough mana to go back into form. Oops. Thank Elune for Omen of Clarity!

Multiple Druids

If there is more than one Druid in the raid and a rez is requested, one of the Druids should speak up and say, "Mooire is rezzing So-and-so!" This helps to ensure that two Druids aren't running around looking for the person and trying to rez them. The goal of a combat rez it to get people back into combat. If multiple Druids are attempting the same rez, then that's at least 5 seconds that 3 or more people are out of combat. A simple announcement can alliviate that.

In Summary
  1. Both the rebirther and the rebirthee should ping the map with their locations.
  2. The Rebirthee should assess the situation of the raid and spawn location prior to accepting.
  3. After accepting, it's a raid team effort to get the person back into raid viability. However, the rebirthee should bandage if they aren't healed.
  4. Tag-team rezzes need extra healing help.
  5. Druid should announce if they are taking the rez task when more than one Druid is in the raid.

If all these steps are followed, then you and the person you're rezzing should survive the process of Rebirth enabling you to rejoin the raid and contribute to it's success.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

An excellent post, very useful. Thanks FB!

Anonymous said...

I've always wondered this, but do you rez out of combat, cause then it make sense to sit and drink/eat then go to your duties. As a paladin, I never get battle rezzs, so I'm just curious. My rogue got one or two in his time, but drinking wasn't an issue. I just poppd a healpot or stone and headed back in.

Unknown said...

I can verify . . . as a night elf druid, I do cry big cow tears if I battle rez someone and they instantly die . . . just in case you all thought Mooire was exaggerating.

TheBigBearButt said...

Very, very nice post, awesome job. This is the first time I've seen someone talk about this.

I love your post, and I learned a lot. I just haven't given much tactical thought to Rebirth before, and I am very glad that YOU have.

Great job!

Maerdred said...

Ome thing I feel you have left out about 25-mans is this: Don't Just Rez the first person who dies. It's the Raid Leader's job to choose who and when the Battle Rez gets used. Also, Let the RL choose who does the Rezzing. At least that's how we do it. We generally have assigned locations in most boss fights by group number. So if a member in group 4 dies, the RL knows not to ask the druid in group 2, Across the room, to rez him. Though we're lucky enough to have more than one druid most nights.

Don't just take it upon yourself to rez anyone you see. Let the RL make that decision.

Ferocious Bite said...

@ Saladfork

Thanks! It was nice to have some time to actually write an informative post! Things at work are gradually slowing down again. So, in another few weeks, I should be back to my pre-December posting quality.

@ Taldonlol

I do not rez out of combat unless specifically asked by the raid leader. A Druid's rez has a 20 minute cooldown and should be saved for emergancies. I also do not rez on trash pulls. I only rez in boss fight and only at request of the Raid Leader.

As for you Paladin...it would depend on his spec and his level of quality. Most often, I only rez healers...and even then, if one of our lower healers dies, I don't rez them and save it in the event one of the higher skilled healers dies.

@ Nasirah

Thanks and /hugs

@ BBB

Thanks! :) I tend to over think things...thankfully in WoW strat and tactics, that's a good thing. ;p

@ Maerdred

Good points. In my second paragraph I stated 'when a Rebirth is requested by the Raid Leader' but, you're right, more emphasis should have been given to that.

Good idea on having the Raid Leader determine which Druid...or, IMO, the Druid Leader should make that call. Our Raid Leader is the MT and as I'm the OT, he tends to forget what other Druids are in our raids. LOL

Anonymous said...

Favorite Rebirth moment:

Moroes. Killing trash with 1 shackle and the MH/shackler drops while Moroes is beating on me. I immediately target her and wait for Moroes to disappear. Moroes disappears at the exact second the Priest goes out of Spirit of Redemption. I nail her with a Rebirth and Innervate, then drop back into bear form right before Moroes comes back out. After the fight my roommate told me, "The timing on that was totally perfect. It was like she was never dead. She dropped, healed for free for 10 seconds, and as soon as the SoR was over she was alive again."

That kind of stuff is why you bring Druids to raids.

Anonymous said...

@mooire

i totally worded my question wrong. /facepalm. ok, here it is again: we're fighting some boss and healer 1 goes down, and the fight goes on and it looks like we can get it if we have one more healer alive so the druids coordinates to rez the healer. when the healer rezzs do they go straight into combat or do they rez out of combat and have .5 second, or a GCD tick to start drinking? does that make sense? i kno sometimes during an extended fight ive droppd out and then came back into combat for half a second or somethin like that... idk.

Ferocious Bite said...

@ Taldonlol

Ok, let me see if I understand your question. You're asking if, when combat rezzed, if you have a split second after accepting where you are 'out of combat' and can drink.

Honestly, I've never looked to see if I had the combat flag after accepting a Rebirth. I've always assumed I was considered 'in combat' and would not be able to drink. I will make a point of looking next time. However, I am 98% certain that when the rez is accepted you are immediately in combat and have to rely on heals, pots, and bandages to regain health. But, I will make a point to check and besure that is the case.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the 'when to accept' section

had a couple morons in my guild accept laying at Leo's feet during whirlwind and then promptly squish

Galliano said...

@Taldonlol

To answer your question, no one is out of combat when Rebirthed on a boss fight. All bosses send out a zone-wide pulse that puts all players into combat. There is no time between accepting and being alive to drink/eat. From what I have seen the Rebirth itself carries a pulse with it that immediately puts the recipeint into combat.

As for the original post, very nice writeup. There are a few more things about rebirth coordination that were not mentioned, but these are more involved than what was mentioned. One crucial point you didn't mention is calling out if your rebirth is down (or they didn't notice your dead) and a rebirth was called for so they know.

@maedred
There is a point in raid experience that a druid should know when a rebirth should happen without any call for it and when a rebirth should never happen unless called for. Some encounters are completely hot and the healers must know that a rebirth is incoming or that person will simply die. Black Temple has several of these fights: Na'jentus, Reliquary of Souls - phase 3, and Shahraz are the most notable fights. If its somewhere between ask.

History lesson:
During the early days of World of Warcraft raiding the weakest/worst healer was required to stand a large distance from the boss and perform out of combat ressing. Blizzard frowned on this practice and eventually implemented the raid boss zone pulse that is not usually noticed by present day raiders. A subsequent change also made it impossible to zone into a raid instance while the encounter is in progress.



A macro I use:
#showtooltip Rebirth();
/run if UnitExists("mouseover") and UnitIsDeadOrGhost("mouseover") and CheckInteractDistance("mouseover", 4) then SendChatMessage("Ressing soon. Accept when safe.", "WHISPER", nil, UnitName("mouseover")) end;
/cast [help][target=mouseover,dead]Rebirth


The basic function of this is to allow you to res someone and let them know they are being res'd by you. The difference is this will work if you have your mouse over their body or their raid/party frame as well as directly targetted. This macro ignores enemy units and the living. There is a recently added range check for the messaging which is untested for specific behavior. This is a personal macro, mind you. The message was changed from its original warning for appropriateness. >.>

Galliano said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Galliano said...

This is the corrected macro, the other exceeded the 255 character limitation.

#showtooltip Rebirth
/run p="mouseover" if UnitExists(p) and UnitIsDeadOrGhost(p) and CheckInteractDistance(p,1) then SendChatMessage("Ressing soon. Accept when safe.", "WHISPER", nil, UnitName(p)) end;
/cast [help][target=mouseover,dead]Rebirth


Some things to note:
The range check for the message is shorter than the spell's range. You can cast the spell without sending the message if you are at max range.
If the person you are ressing is targetted no message will be sent to them. The macro size limitations make it difficult to sned to all possible targetting methods (focus, mouseover, target, etc.)

WARNING!!! If the person you are trying to res has released this macro will not work!!