WoW Druid Guide

The Druid class in WoW is the master of shapeshifting as well as one of the more vesatile class as it is able to take on any role in a raid or in PvP depending on it’s spec. Druids have one of the easiest and most efficient healing specializations as well as a DPS form (cat) that is sort of like a rogue. In addition to all of that they also have a tanking form, although this is by far one of the harder classes to tank as and people do sometime prefer a class like a warrior or a paladin it still can be used as an effective tanking class.

I’m going to discuss the pros of being a druid and some of these I meantioned in the above paragraph but I’m just going to cut right to it here. Druids are excellent healers and preffered by a lot of raid leaders (not to have all druid healers but at least one) because of their heal over time spells and also they are the only class that is able to resurrect other players during battle. Druids are also good for PvP because they are able to switch forms when they are being polymorphed or hex’d. They have the ability to tank which is a bonus, and in their DPS cat form they have the ability to go stealth and sprint just like a rogue. They also have a casting form that they can spec into if they would rather be a caster DPS.

There are a few cons to being a druid however. The tanking form is rather hard because you do not get a very good AoE threat builder like the Warrior’s thunderclap, the DKs Death and Decay, or the Paladin’s consecration. You are restricted to cloth and leather but your forms do give you added defence. If you plan on being dual spec’d you will need to have other sets of armor for the only forms you want to take. This class is also very difficult to fully master and be good at, it’s very complicated and requires a lot of research if you truly wish to be the best you can at it. One thing I dislike about playing a druid is you get really cool looking tier gear and you don’t really get to show it off because you’re always in a different form

What Racial Abilites are good for Druids?

Unfortunately the druid is restricted to two races, one on each faction. So you really have no choice unless you are starting on a new server in which case the Night Elves higher ability to dodge attacks is good for tanking and PvP as well as the tauren’s 5% health increase is good for tanking as well as PvP.

Which talent spec should I choose as a Druid?

The three available talent specializations for the Druid is Balance, Feral Combat, and Restoration. I’m going to start with Resto, this is obviously the healing spec and quite a healing spec it is. Later in the spec you will be able to add a talent point into tree of life and then 3 into improved tree of life. This is the most important for a resto druid, tree of life will transform you into a tree and while in this form you will have increased healing received by 25% of your total spirit for all party/raid members within 45 yards. You can only cast healing spells, cleansing spells, swiftmend, innervate, and Nature’s Swiftness in this form but the mana cost is reduced by 20%, also, your movement speed is reduced by 20%. The improved tree of life talent will increase armor contribution while in tree form by 100% and healing spellpower by 15% if three points are put into it. The last talent you learn in resto is Wild Growth which heals up to 5 friendly party/raid members within 15 yards of the target for 1442 over 7 seconds. This ability is VERY useful in parties and raids especially in the malygos raid which is why people love druid healers.

The next spec I will discuss is Feral. You can go three different ways with this talent spec which makes it very versatile. You can either choose to spec it into leveling which is ideal if you are in-fact leveling, and once you’ve reached 80 you can respec it to a cat-form DPS which will do a high amount of damage in raids/pvp if played correctly. You can also use your talent points in this spec to make an efficient bear form tank. Some talents you will come accross in here that will be useful is Shredding Attacks which reduces the energy cost of your shred ability by 9/18 and the rage cost of lacerate by 1/2. Also predatory instincts if you are going to be Cat DPS which will increase your critical strike rating by 3/7/10% while in cat form and reduce damge taken from AoE attacks by 10/20/30%. Infected wounds is nice for bear tanks because it causes your shred, maul, and mangle attacks to cause an infected wound on the target which will reduce movement speed by 8/17/25% and attack speed by 4/7/10% and stacks two times which will allow you to receive less damage while tanking. King of the Jungle is also a nice talent because while you are enraged in Bear Form your damage is increased by 5/10/15% and your tiger’s fury ability also instantly restores 20/40/60 energy which is great for Cat form DPS. You will also learn Mangle/Improved Mangle which is an attack inflicting damage and casuing the target to take addition bleeding damage for 12 seconds and is usable in both cat and bear form. Rend and Tear will increase damage done by mail and shred attacks on bleeding targets by an additional 3/6/12/16/20% and increases the critical strike chance of ferocious bite ability on bleeding targets by 10/20/30/40/50%. The last talent you learn is Berserk which will cause your Mangle ability to hit up to 3 targets and have no cooldown in bear form when activated. When used in cat form it will reduce the energy cost of any abilities by 50%. Although you will not be able to use Tiger’s Fury while Berserk is active. It will also clear any fear effects from you and make you immune to fear for the duration of the effect.

The last is Balance which won’t be as lengthy as Feral since it doesn’t go into two different roles. Balance focuses on the moonkin form which is the caster DPS form for a druid. This is arguably the highest DPS you can do as a druid but it’s all about how you play it. Balance has a few nice talents that you will pick up when speccing into this, one of which being the Moonkin form itself which will transform the druid into moonkin and while in this form armor is increased by 370% and all party and raid members within 45 yards get the moonkin aura which increases spell critical chance by 5%. Along with this single target spell critical strikes have a chance to instantly regenerate 2% of your total mana while in moonkin form. While in this form you can only cast balance spells and remove curse. The last talent you learn in this specialization is Starfall which will summon a flurry of stars from the sky on all targets within 30 yards of the caster, each of these doing 111 to 129 Arcane Damge, this also causes 20 arcane damage to any other enemies within five yards with a a maximum of 20 stars and will last 10 seconds.

What stats are important for a Druid?

This is going to depend on what form you will be using. If you decide to go with cat form DPS you will want a lot of agility, AP, haste, and some strength and stamina as well as critical strike rating and being hit capped. This is basically the same gear as being a rogue and you are both restricted to leather. If you decide to go with bear tank you will want the regular tanking stats on your gear such as dodge and defense and then a lot of stamina as well as agility. If you decide to go balance DPS you will want a lot of spell power, spirit, intellect, and some stamina as well as being hit capped and also critical strike. And finally tree form restoration, you will want spell power, critical strike, haste, spirit, intellect and mp5.

What professions should I choose as a Druid

This is also going to depend on which spec and forms you are going to choose. Leatherworking is nice since you will be using leather no matter what but if you are going to spec more into spell power items you may want to stay away from things like blacksmithing and things like that. Enchanting is always nice to have as well as some gathering professions to try and make some quick cash since being a druid you will need a lot of different gear sets for shapeshifting so you arent stuck doing heals with cat form DPS gear.