Druid Class Guide
Excellent Druid Cat Form DPS Guide (Created by Demoneater)
Excellent Druid Restoration/Healing Guide (Created by Lissanna)
Excellent Druid Tanking Guide (Created by Vindictive)
Druids are usually known as a Jack of all Trades class and a master of none. This is true to some extent, but I will disagree. A druid is arguably the best tank and healer in some situations. Blizzard puts a very interesting twist on the druid class in World of Warcraft. In WoW Druids have the ability to shape shift into other creatures, such as a cat, bear and seal. With the ability to shape shift they are able to assume more then one roll, healer, tank or DPS.
Druids have many different forms to choose from, below is a quick run down of each form and what it does.
Bear Form: Bear form is the first form all druids get. After completing a quest for it at level 10 it will become available to you. Bear form is the druids warrior form, as such this is the form you will be using for tanking. At level 40 you'll get Dire Bear form which is a improve bear form that gives a greater armor value increase.
Aquatic Form: Aquatic form is the second form you'll get as a druid. You get Aquatic form at level 16. You used to have to do a long quest line to get Aquatic form until patch 3.0.8, now you can train it at level 16 at your trainer.
Cat Form: Cat form is the third form you will acquire as a druid. Cat form can be acquired at level 20 after completing a quest. Cat form will increase your melee Attack power and allow agility contribute towards attack power.
Travel Form: Travel form is the fourth form druids will acquire. You can train this at a trainer at level 20. Travel form increases your movement speed by 40%. It is also the form that costs the least amount of mana to shift into.
Moonkin Form: Moonkin form can be acquired by going 31 points into the balance tree. Moonkin form gives you and your group 5% chance to crit with all spells. In addition while in this form you gain 370% more armor value from your items and when you crit with a spell you have a chance to instantly restore 2% of your total mana. The downside to this form is you can only cast balance and De-curse while in it.
Tree Form: Tree form can be acquired by going 41 points into Restoration. Tree form increases all healing received by 6% for you and your party members. Also while in tree form the mana cost for your HoT's are reduced by 20%. The downside to tree form is that you can only cast restoration spells, Innervate and Barkskin while in tree form. Also while you are in Tree form you are counted as an Elemental, thus being susceptible to Banish.
Flight Form: Flight form is the final form druids can acquire. You can get this form at level 68 by training it at your trainer. Flight form allows you to fly but only at 60% runspeed.
Each form that a druid can shape shift into offers a completely different play style and has its own unique characteristics. For example try typing "/dance" while in each form, for a unique dance, Now go out there and bust a move! Back to a more serious note, few other classes can give a player as much of a unique play style as a druid. In order to really shine as a druid you will need to learn when is the right time to use each form and how to use the abilities in that form to your advantage.
The Druids biggest strength is the ability to be versatile. One day you can tank, the next day you can heal and if that gets boring the next day you can DPS as a caster or melee! The only downside to all of this versatility is having to carry around all of the gear for each spec. Druids also have a very unique ability that no one else has, this ability is Battle Rez. Battle Rez allows the druid to Resurrect someone while he is still in combat. This ability is a life saver in many situations.
If you enjoy being able to play a versatile class and filling every roll almost as good as the other then you'll love the druid.
Druid Strengths:
- Excellent healers and tanks; Since you're a great healer and tank you're in high demand for groups!
- Since your ability to Shape shift removes all snares and polymorphs you're very resistant to any form of Crowd Control
- Able to Stealth, although not as good as a rogues.
- Travel form, what's better then instantly being able to run 40% faster?
- Battle Rez, you're the only class that can do it and trust me you're gonna be doing it!
- Best Flag runner in Eye of the Storm and Warsong Gulch
Druid Weaknesses:
- You're not the best tank, Melee DPS or Caster DPS.
- Druids are a very difficult class to master since they have so many different forms
- Having to spend so much bag space on armor is a pita.
The druid is best known for it's ability to quickly escape almost any form of Crowd Control. They are also known for their perseverance since they are able to put many HoT's on themselves, instantly shift into travel form, Stealth, turn into a tank and don't forget they can stun and root you. Since druids are masters at surviving and escaping they've become well known for being the best flag runners in Eye of the Storm and Warsong Gulch.
Druids will provide the player with an unbelievable amount of different play styles. This class is a must for those people out there that always want to create new characters, now all you have to do is respec!
Recommended Specs
Confused on how to spec your druid? Don't want to gimp yourself? Take a look at my recommended specs, maybe you will see one that you like!
PvE Druid Specs:
Raid/Instance Tank Build
Feral DPS Spec
Balance DPS Spec
11/0/60 Resto Build
PvE Resto Build
If you would like to learn more about Druids in the arena click here.