Tidal Waves

Tidal Waves is a Restoration shaman talent. It causes your Riptide to grant a buff that reduces the cast time of Healing Wave and Chain Heal, and increase the critical strike chance of Healing Surge. This effect stacks up to 2 times.

Tidal Waves is a staple of restoration healing, and allows you to significantly reduce the otherwise fairly long casting times of Healing Wave, while also providing a bonus to Healing Surge. The Healing Surge bonus is very rarely useful, however, as the main benefit of the spell is its short casting time; something that is only relevant when you don't have Tidal Waves active. The casting time reduction can be used to mitigate the main drawback of Healing Wave, namely it's low healing per second. Managing the buff and knowing when you'll be able to refresh it next can be tricky, but is necessary for getting the most out of your healing spells.

• When using Chain Heal to heal a raid group, Tidal Waves allows you to cast a quick Healing Wave on a target that needs immediate healing. The reduced casting time of the heals not only means that a potentially life-saving heal can land faster, but also that you can get back to casting Chain Heal sooner.
• The reverse of the above is also true: if you are chain-casting Healing Wave on a target, using Chain Heal will increase the casting time of your next two heals, allowing you to "sneak in" an occasional Chain Heal without losing much time on your main target. This can be useful if a tank is taking heavy damage while other players nearby also need healing.