Class Guide Druid

Druid Class Guide:

Index:
1.0 - Ode to ye wilds
2.0 - Leveling
3.0 - PvP
4.0 - Dungeoning, Raiding, etc.
5.0 - Arena
6.0 - Talent Builds(Under Construction)
7.0 - Gear Guide

1.0 - Ode to ye wilds

The druid class, one of those I most recently experienced on a run from 1-70 after the release of the expansion. Possessing a number of animal forms, the number varying depending on where you spend your talent points, as well as a good amount of direct nuking/healing capabilities whilst in human form.

It's somewhat funny how the number of druids has practically sky-rocketed from it's almost nonexistant state on all the servers pre burning crusade, this would proabably be due to the immense improvements and amount of gear avaliable 60+ due to Outland.

Thusly the time is now for all those perhaps put-off by the seemingly gimped status of the druid pre-BC expansion, hell even the moonkin form can do quite well if you gear it correctly, a large improvement over it's previous laughability in power compared to feral druids. Truly what with druids becoming main-tanks for the high end raid instances and maintaining top positions in DPS it might well be considered the druids golden age at the moment.

So yes, should you be considering rolling a druid I would highly suggest you do it now, never been a better time.

2.0 - Leveling

Leveling as a druid can either be quite fun and interesting or an insidious continually growing migraine, I leave the choice to you. You might be wondering what these two extreme represent, well that would be the main difference between a pre-40 or so balance druid and a feral druid, the feral is the fun and interesting one just so you know, and you'll be wanting to choose feral lest you suffer the impending mental pains of running out of mana, dieing, unable to kill two mobs or more at a time, and so on.

I'll continue this speaking from a feral perspective, It's almost universally the fastest and most efficient leveling build from 1-60 at least if not continuing on to 70. First things first, you're going to sadly be forced into bear-form from 10-20, though it is nicer than the first 10 levels at the very least, and once you hit 20 and obtain cat form the real killing will start.

up untill this point grinding is a painful slow-fest, cat-form thankfully speeds this all up and makes us one of the better levelers in the game.

Gear-wise you'll want agility, int, stam, some str, and thats pretty much it, of the monkey and of the eagle gear is your friend as they provide all the good stats you need besides the str, throw on a few pieces of the bear gear for that.

As a basic routine, shift into cat-form, sneak up on/beat on something, shift out and heal/buff if needed during or after combat, repeat, yes it becomes boring, still at least you're faster than alot of people due to the druids quite capable healing abilities and such.

3.0 - PvP

PvP, well this topic/subject will really vary depending on what path you take, druids are one of the more famous/infamous multi-ability classes, hybrids, thusly the exact playstyle will change immensely whether you be restoration, balance, feral, or any combination of two/three that you choose to pick.

The overall guidelines of druid combat remain relatively similar however, such as always making macro's to switch in and out of forms for healing, buffing, etc. as well as utilizing cat form for stealth and a strategic advantage, this applies whether you're specced for cat form or not.

Another example would be using bash in bear-form before switching out of shapeshift mode and healing, anyone can do this regardless of what specialization you happen to have chosen, even moonkin or diehard full feral druids need to utilize all forms/spells and abilities to be truly effective, at it's heart the class is a hybrid of healing, offensive spellcasting, and melee combat/feral forms, failure to play it as such leads to hapless performance PvP-wise.

As for gear this will obviously change greatly depending on your build, int and stam are useful regardless though, HP is a major factor in not being one/two/three shotted by any given opponent, especially mages/warlocks, as well as being able to handle mortal strikes 50% healing debuff or the somewhat comparable rogues wounding poison.

Prepare yourself to be ganged up on by anywhere from 2-4 opponents, anything past that is as good as lost and almost always impossible to escape as well, gear quality, meaning rare-epic-legendary and such will also factor alot into this equation, if you out-gear them you should be able to take down 2-3 average players at the least.

4.0 Dungeoning, Raiding, etc.

Dungeoning as a druid has actually come quite a ways since our original almost always required role of healers a while before burning cruasde, what with how effective almost any build of druid can be should you have the proper tactics and gear I'd say that in a decent group you'll be able to utilize all your healing, damage, and if you so wish it, tanking, capabilities. Intelligent groups will obviously be accepting of your tanking or damage dealing capacity should you help them as well by hopefully shapeshifting out and healing as needed.

Due to the new gear options avaliable post-burning crusade druids are now capable of practically matching, sometimes even surpassing, warriors as tanks except on raid bosses. Due to our high armor reduction percentage as well as extremely high stamina druids really come in handy on hard-hitting group pulls/boss encounters as well as large 5-10+ mob fights.

When raiding things actually stay much the same, the only change being that we'll only fulfill what we spec for rather than doing much of the whole hyrbid-utility play. Whether it be tanking, healing, or even a bit more rarely, moonkin damage, and more commmonly, feral DPS builds, raids don't really have the room for multi-roles thing.

5.0 - Arena

Arena... well thankfully druids are actually quite useful arena wise, due to the numerous options we possess for any given combat situation, much like I talked about earlier, a druid or even two can be a solid addition to practically any arena team. Due to our stealth, healing, and both ranged/melee damage capabilities, theres no real reason *not* to take at least one druid, also we possess the survivability of bear form in an instant should you get jumped as if often the case of healer classes.

A good strategy to always implement is either keep someone, prefferably capable of stealth/hiding, at your back at all times to prevent you from getting killed by any rogues/other druids before you can shift into bear-form for the increased armor/health. Always be ready to quick-shift in and out to counter various enemies/spells as they come, if you keep up to speed you should be able to take on and at the very least stalemate almost anyone.

It's funny how many and how well 2v2-2 person druid teams can do, as you increase in number such as 3v3/5v5 the other classes such as warrior, paladin, etc. become more important to have at least one of, still I've seen alot of druid heavy teams do quite well so experiment, enjoy.

6.0 - Talent Builds

7.0 - Gear Guide