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Druid PvE guide

Rotations & Guide · PvE guide · PvP guide · Talent builds · Abilities · Talent Calculator · Macros · Changes vs Classic

Other classes: Warrior, Paladin, Hunter, Rogue, Priest, Shaman, Mage, Warlock

Druids are shapeshifting hybrids that can heal, tank in bear form, fight in cat form or cast as Moonkin. Forever adds a real bear toolkit, and the new talent tree adds Lacerate, Feral Charge and Primal Bite for Feral and Wild Growth for Restoration, plus the out-of-combat Revive. Insect Swarm is now a Balance talent, and Omen of Clarity a trainer ability at 20.

Speculation: gear rankings and rotation advice are provisional. Launch availability and results may differ; player observations will refine these recommendations.

Balance Druid PvE guide

Balance is the Druid's ranged caster: Moonfire, Starfire and Wrath from range, plus Mark of the Wild, Thorns and Rebirth for the group. At 20, and still at 30, there's no area damage and no Moonkin Form yet (Hurricane and Moonkin Form both need level 40), so you bring steady single-target damage and crowd control. Blizzard's patch notes say Wrath's base damage went up by about 50%, though the client tooltips don't show that yet.

Your job in a group

At 20 you're a single-target caster: Moonfire the kill target, then Starfire, with Wrath as the cheap filler. You have no area damage before Hurricane at 40, so on multi-mob pulls your job is crowd control: Hibernate a Beast or Dragonkin, or root one melee mob away from the group with Entangling Roots (only 1 target can be rooted at a time). You also bring Mark of the Wild for everyone, Thorns for the tank, Faerie Fire on the boss when you have melee or hunters, Rebirth to raise someone mid-fight, and backup heals, since you have no Moonkin Form to shift out of. You don't pull or hold threat, and you have no interrupt outside Bear Form.

Opener

Cooldowns

Stats

Hit, Spell Power, Critical Strike, Intellect, Spirit. Hit comes first because a miss wastes a whole Starfire against bosses a level or two above you, but hit is rare on gear this low; Nature's Reach covers part of it. Spell Power raises every spell, and Starfire's coefficient of 1.0 means it gets the full amount. Crit gains value with Nature's Majesty now and Nature's Grace at 30. Intellect and Spirit keep you casting through a long dungeon.

Tips

Feral Combat Druid PvE guide

Feral Combat is the Druid's melee tree: a bear tank at 20, and a cat damage dealer once Rake and Ferocious Bite (24) join Claw, Shred and Rip. Feral Charge, which closes the gap and interrupts, is a tier 3 Feral talent you can take at 20 once you have 10 points in Feral Combat. The new bear tools come later: Lacerate, a stacking bleed with high threat, is a tier 4 talent from 25 that needs Savage Fury at 2/2, and Primal Bite (Blizzard's new name for Mangle) replaced Berserk as the bear capstone at 40.

Your job in a group

You tank. Bear Form adds 180% armor from items and extra health, Maul turns spare Rage into damage on one target, and Swipe hits 3 nearby enemies for pack threat. Demoralizing Roar lowers the melee attack power of everything around you, Growl takes back a mob that runs to the healer, and Challenging Roar at 28 pulls every nearby enemy onto you in an emergency. For interrupts you have the Feral Charge talent, which stops a cast from range, and Bash, which stuns. You set the pace and pull. You also bring Mark of the Wild, Thorns and Rebirth. If the group already has a tank, the cat build deals melee damage instead, but at 20 the cat only has Claw, Shred and Rip.

Opener

Cooldowns

Stats

Stamina, Armor, Agility, Defense, Strength, Hit, Dodge. Stamina and armor keep you alive. Bear Form raises the armor from your items by 180%, so armor on gear counts for more in form. Agility helps both forms, and in Cat Form it adds straight to your attack power. Defense matters twice: it reduces hits and Thick Hide adds base armor for each point of defense skill above five times your level. Strength and hit make Maul and Swipe land harder and more often.

Tips

Restoration Druid PvE guide

Restoration is the Druid's healer: Rejuvenation, Regrowth and Healing Touch at 20, with Cure Poison, Rebirth and the new out-of-combat Revive. Blizzard's notes say Rejuvenation, Tranquility and Wild Growth can now land critical heals. Swiftmend is a tier 4 talent from 25 and Wild Growth, the new group heal, is the Restoration capstone at 40, so at 20 you heal one target at a time.

Your job in a group

You heal the group. Keep Rejuvenation on the tank, add Regrowth for big hits, and use Healing Touch for steady damage when you can start the cast early. You have no group heal before Tranquility at 30, so when several players take damage, spread Rejuvenation. Cure Poison removes damaging poisons, Rebirth raises someone mid-fight on a long cooldown, and Revive raises the dead after a fight. You also bring Mark of the Wild for everyone and Thorns for the tank, and in a pinch you can Hibernate a Beast or Dragonkin or root a melee mob on a big pull. Mana is your limit: stay out of melee and drink between pulls.

Opener

Cooldowns

Stats

Healing Power, Spirit, Intellect, Mana per 5 sec, Critical Strike, Stamina. Healing Power makes every heal bigger, and Healing Touch rank 4 gets a large share of it with a coefficient of 0.857. Mana is what runs out first, so Spirit, Intellect and Mana per 5 sec come next; Reflection keeps 17% of your mana regeneration going while you cast at 20, and 50% at 30. Crit is a bonus now that Rejuvenation can crit.

Tips

Checked against WoW Forever build 1.60.1.70862.

Tips & tricks: what ForeverDB learned

Balance

Updated 11 November 2026 for build 1.60.1.70888 · From the DPS simulator, the game client

Learning from players: DPS. Collecting comparable fights before publishing observed cast patterns.

Observed cast patterns, not a proven optimal rotation. Gear, buffs, healing assignments and incoming damage can explain performance differences. HPS is effective healing; overhealing does not increase it. HPS counts effective healing, APS counts recorded shield absorption, and EHPS is their combined rate. Shield application sizes and overhealing do not increase EHPS. Healing assignments and incoming damage still limit healer comparisons. Build groups use the version reported by the log; some logs omit the hotfix build number.

How to play it at level 60: priority, procs and cooldowns

What to press, in order. Cast the first one that is ready and whose condition holds.

  1. Insect Swarm: When it's missing from the target: Keep it on the target: up 91% of the sim's fight; worth 4.7% of your DPS (Simulator, Forever client, ForeverDB guide)
  2. Starfire: Fill the gaps with it: Your filler: cast it when nothing above is ready; worth 68% of your DPS (Simulator, Forever client, ForeverDB guide)

React to:

Keep up:

Before the pull:

Avoid:

Latest changes:

Feral Combat

Updated 11 November 2026 for build 1.60.1.70888 · From the game client

Learning from players: DPS. Collecting comparable fights before publishing observed cast patterns.

Observed cast patterns, not a proven optimal rotation. Gear, buffs, healing assignments and incoming damage can explain performance differences. HPS is effective healing; overhealing does not increase it. HPS counts effective healing, APS counts recorded shield absorption, and EHPS is their combined rate. Shield application sizes and overhealing do not increase EHPS. Healing assignments and incoming damage still limit healer comparisons. Build groups use the version reported by the log; some logs omit the hotfix build number.

How to play it at level 60: priority, procs and cooldowns

What to press, in order. Cast the first one that is ready and whose condition holds.

  1. Feral Charge: Whenever it's ready: Talent: charge a caster to interrupt it. (ForeverDB guide, Forever client)
  2. Lacerate: When it's missing from the target: Talent, rank 5 at 58: stack it to 5 on the boss and keep it up. (ForeverDB guide, Forever client)
  3. Primal Bite: Whenever it's ready: Talent: whenever it's off cooldown. Rank 3 at 60. (ForeverDB guide, Forever client)
  4. Maul: Whenever it's ready: With spare Rage; rank 7 at 58. (ForeverDB guide, Forever client)
  5. Demoralizing Roar: When it's missing from the target: Keep it up on the boss; rank 5 at 52. (ForeverDB guide, Forever client)

React to:

Keep up:

Cooldowns:

Latest changes:

Restoration

Updated 11 November 2026 for build 1.60.1.70888 · From the game client

Learning from players: Healing + absorbs/s (EHPS). Collecting comparable fights before publishing observed cast patterns.

Observed cast patterns, not a proven optimal rotation. Gear, buffs, healing assignments and incoming damage can explain performance differences. HPS is effective healing; overhealing does not increase it. HPS counts effective healing, APS counts recorded shield absorption, and EHPS is their combined rate. Shield application sizes and overhealing do not increase EHPS. Healing assignments and incoming damage still limit healer comparisons. Build groups use the version reported by the log; some logs omit the hotfix build number.

How to play it at level 60: priority, procs and cooldowns

What to press, in order. Cast the first one that is ready and whose condition holds.

  1. Rejuvenation: When it's missing from you: Keep it on the tank; rank 11 at 60. (ForeverDB guide, Forever client)
  2. Regrowth: When it's missing from you: For big hits; rank 9 at 60. (ForeverDB guide, Forever client)
  3. Swiftmend: Whenever it's ready: Talent: instant heal on a target with your Rejuvenation or Regrowth on it. (ForeverDB guide, Forever client)
  4. Healing Touch: Whenever it's ready: Rank 11 at 60; lower ranks when the full heal would overheal. (ForeverDB guide, Forever client)
  5. Abolish Poison: When it's missing from you: On the tank against poison mobs. (ForeverDB guide, Forever client)
  6. Remove Curse: Whenever it's ready: Clear harmful curses, tank and healer first. (ForeverDB guide, Forever client)

React to:

Keep up:

Cooldowns:

Latest changes:

Every spec's latest changes. Re-studied every week and after each new game build.

Best in slot gear at any level: Balance, Feral Combat, Restoration

Druid abilities

No longer trainer abilities in the live client

Data from the WoW Forever client, build 1.60.1.70888, extracted .