Unbearably HoT

While the previous guides I wrote can be utilized by anyone, I rolled through the quests with relative ease. Then again, all I had to do was tag a group of mobs and swipe them all down. Using the exact same strategy on my paladin was tedious, and not just because I have a slow mount. Many of these mobs, especially those on the Isle of Quel’danas, aren’t so friendly to mana users (as is fitting for creatures feeding off magical powers). If you’re trying to farm all of these quests while Restoration specced, it’s not impossible—it’s just annoying. Phaelia already mentioned that the Unbound Ethereals in Blade’s Edge Mountains are immune to arcane damage (denying Boomkins and Restos the Moonfire and Starfire staples), but here are a couple things to look out for:

The Wretched 

Wretched Devourers have two “abilities” besides their unimpressive melee attacks: Mana Tap and Nether Shock. If you’ve ever played a Blood Elf you probably know what Mana Tap does, but for those who haven’t, it does exactly what it says: taps your mana and charges the caster with arcane power. Nether Shock instantly inflicts Shadow based damage, but does little else.

Wretched Fiends have two different abilities: Bitter Withdrawal and Sunder Armor. Bitter Withdrawal is a cleansable, channeled spell that drains health and mana from the target and transfers it to the caster. Obviously if you can interrupt this in some fashion or kill your Fiend before he casts it, all the better. Sunder Armor explains itself, and if you’re standing close enough to get more than one application as a caster, you’re doing it wrong.

Erratic Sentries 

The Erratic Sentries have four separate “specials” at their cybernetic fingertips: Crystal Strike, Electrical Overload, Stun and Suppression. Crystal Strike is an arcane based melee attack, and Electrical Overload, similarly, deals AOE damage in a confined radius around itself. I haven’t ever been stunned by one of these, but Suppression’s a pain in the ass on my holy paladin. Suppression is a three second silence effect that can be interrupted.

Because of all the aforementioned abilities, I gave up on farming in my holy gear and switched over to the ret set I’ve been collecting.  Despite the fact that I had even less mana, I picked up some STA and a weapon that could hit for more than 40 damage a swing. I haven’t tried to do any of these with a Resto build, but for the trees who might be a little undergeared, you might do better putting on some trash feral gear and wearing your mobs down.