Druid PvE

Rotations & Guide · PvE · PvP · Builds · Abilities · Talent Calculator · Changes vs Classic

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 with Lacerate, Primal Bite and a trainable Feral Charge, and gives Restoration Wild Growth and the out-of-combat Revive. Insect Swarm is still a Restoration talent.

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 the level 20 cap there's no area damage and no Moonkin Form yet, 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 later with Vengeance and Nature's Grace. 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 the level 20 cap, and a cat damage dealer once Shred and Rake arrive. Forever teaches Feral Charge at the trainer at 20, which closes the gap and interrupts, and Brutal Impact now halves Bash's cooldown. The new bear tools come later: Lacerate at 42, and no trainer teaches Primal Bite (Blizzard's new name for Mangle) in the current client.

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 Feral Charge, 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 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 the level 20 cap, 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. Wild Growth, the new group heal, and Swiftmend arrive at 40, so for now 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 50% of your mana regeneration going while you cast. Crit is a bonus now that Rejuvenation can crit.

Tips

Checked against WoW Forever beta build 1.60.1.70009.

Druid abilities