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Druid 101
This guide is directed largely at new players, either to
WoW or MMOs in general. I do not intend to cover endgame content, but I will do
the best I can to provide accurate information from personal experience and
research. If you have additional input, please don't hesitate to give it. I'm
hoping this will be a large enough source of information, people will be able to
find answers to most of their questions here, and we can eliminate some of the
repeat questions that keep popping up.
a. Index
1. Race Choice
2. Quest Walkthroughs
3. Feral Forms
4. Talents
5. Talent Placement
6. Trade Skills
7. Equipment
8. Gift of the Wild
3/24: Added a skill to the notable Feral talents; I can't
believe I did not realize it wasn't there sooner. I will probably be updating
this guide in the near future to be more in-line with patch changes, but for now
I'm going to hold off and see what tweaks they make.
2/28: Added a section concerning the 50-60 item-taught spell,
Gift of the Wild. We got a sticky over the weekend as well.
2/21: Added some links to other points of interest.
2/14: Fixed some incorrect numbers in the talent section.
2/08: Finally done! I have done the best I can to 'finalize'
this, but if you spot any errors or have something you'd like to add, please
post here or drop me a pm.
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b. Other Resources
I have no problems with admitting I can't do it all. There are other extremely
helpful Druid resources out there; please send me a PM with any additional URLs
you'd like to see here.
-
Talent Tree How-To by Raikuken
-
Macros for Druids by Ashnod
-
PvP Survival Tips by Quor
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1. Race Choice
I expect a lot of people have already created and played their Druids or are
locked into a particular faction by other characters; those that have or are,
please disregard this section. Race does not play a huge role in the development
of your character, but chances are, it will change the style of your gameplay to
an extent. As a Druid, you are faced with only two options, and many players
probably know which one they want before they ever roll their character. This is
aimed at the minority that may be indecisive, or might want to know the
advantages and disadvantages between the two.
Starting Stats
Str Agi Stam Int Spir Hp Mana
- Night Elf 18 25 19 22 22 53 100
- Tauren 26 15 22 17 24 74 67
The numerical difference
isn't particularly noticable after you get started (as in, you won't notice if
you try playing both), and I don't consider starting numbers a good point to
base your decision off, but here they are anyway for the curious.
Racial Traits
The real defining qualities between the two races - other than the obvious
visual ones. Racial traits are starting 'skills' unique to your chosen race.
Each has an active skill, a stat or skill increase, a random ability, and a
'fun' trait.
Night Elf -
Shadowmeld: enter stealth mode while immobile and out of combat
Quickness: dodge chance is increased by 1%
Wisp Spirit: turns into a wisp on death for a 50% speed increase
Nature Resistance: boosts nature resists by 10
Tauren -
War Stomp: 0.5 second cast; stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds
Endurance: total hp increased by 5%
Cultivation: increases herbalism by 15
Nature Resistance: boosts nature resists by 10
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2. Quest Walkthroughs
Druids are among the few classes that have skill quests (although not many).
While some of them are fairly straightforward, others aren't quite so obvious,
and more than a few people have struggled to finish them. So, here's an index of
the skills, levels you obtain them at, and links to walkthroughs on how to
compelte them.
Bear Form: 10 [A] [H]
Remove Poison: 14 [A] [H]
Sealion Form: 16 [A] [H]
I couldn't find a walkthrough for the Remove Poison quest
on the Horde side. If anyone is aware of one, please link me.
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3. Feral Forms
So, you already know about shapeshifting. That was what made you want to play a
Druid to begin with, right? There's a little more to it than cosmetics -
shapeshifting takes away some skills and adds others, enabling Druids to adapt
to multiple roles depending on the form they use. You cannot cast, use items, or
speak with NPCs while shapeshifted. However, the act of shifting clears
"movement impairing effects" like Entangling Roots and Frost Nova, and protects
against Polymorph effects.
We gain access three combat forms over our leveling career. One is quested, the
other two are purchased from your trainer. Part of being an effective Druid is
understanding your forms and the purpose they serve; you're going to need to
know their mechanics.
While shifted, weapon enchants (procs), weapon proficiency, and weapon DPS are
irrelavent. None of these aspects transfer to your feral forms, so you can
disregard them when trying to select a weapon. The parts that are
important are the bonuses; +atk and +str on weapons will impact your damage per
second (DPS) while shapeshifted. Choose a weapon with stat bonuses appropriate
to the form you're focusing on, which I will try to explain in further detail
below.
[lvl 10] Bear Form
- Increases attack power by 30, armor contribution from items by 180%, and
health by 20.
- Emulates the warrior in skills and uses rage instead of mana.
The first building block of shapeshifting. It may look a little silly, but this
form is going to be your friend from 10 to 40, so try not to hate too hard. Bear
will allow you to kill two or three monsters (of a similar level) at the same
time without too much trouble. It can be used defensively to tank unexpected
adds, or for general purpose soloing, but regardless - When you're in bear form,
you are a warrior; a tank. Well, in a loose sense.
With this in mind, equipping your bear like a spell caster won't do much to
assist you or your party. If you expect to be spending the majority of your
leveling time as a bear, it's worthwhile to invest in gear that boosts
appropriate stats. +Stam and +str should probably be your focus, with a little
agi thrown in as you progress in levels. Str will boost the raw damage you deal
while in feral form, while stam will boost hp and buff your tanking ability.
Properly equipped, bear is a viable option for main tanking and off tanking; try
not to underestimate its usefulness.
[lvl 20] Cat Form
- Increases attack power by 40
- Emulates rogue skills and uses energy instead of mana.
This is our secondary damage dealing (DD) staple for a while. It's probably the
'twitchiest' of our forms, involving quite a bit of button mashing to be
effective. One on one with low def mobs, cat can be a good choice. High attack
speed jams casters and a combination of skills and dots rips through squishy
monsters pretty quickly. While cat form will never have the utility of a rogue,
it can be nice to hop into feline form and provide some additional damage for
your party.
There is one major difference though. Rogues can rely on agi as a primary stat,
because it boosts both their dodge and crit rate substantially. Druids aren't so
fortunate though. +Str will still be our biggest boost in damage output, while +agi
pumps crit rate and dodge minorly. I chose to use my bear equipment for both
forms, but +str/+agi should be the focus for someone that wants sets for each.
A note: Cat form puts rogue combo points to use. You can recognize them as
'dots' around your target's profile. Special attacks like claw and shred create
combo points you can use on rip. More points, more damage. Be careful not to
change targets after you've built up points; doing so will clear them.
[lvl 40] Dire Bear Form
- Increases attack power by 120, armor contribution from items by 360%, and
health by 600.
- Upgrade to Bear Form; they are otherwise identical.
Our level 40 'armor upgrade' comes in this form. Paladins and warriors get
plate, we get Dire Bear. Though it looks exactly like our level 10 bear form,
Dire Bear will help keep you on par with a warrior's tanking ability. There
aren't any drastic changes to be aware of; just be sure to keep your bear skills
upgraded if you intend to use this actively.
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4. Talents
Ah, the core of intimidation and confusion for many a Druid. Have you decided
what play style you would like to cater your Druid to? Are you familiar with our
talent trees? Wow Vault has a good
talent calculator if you're not familiar with the available skills. While
it's a good idea to have some direction in mind, you can always reset your
talents if you hit a point you don't like - Don't be afraid to expirament.
So, like all classes, we have three trees. I'm going to assume you've read up
and know the names and functions of the talents mentioned.
Balance
- The nuke branch, for offensive Druids.
Sometimes considered the PvP and solo tree, it focuses mainly on buffing our
attack spells, either by reducing cast time or adding damage and procs. Want to
see high damage crits on offensive spells? Balance is the one for you. You won't
heal as well as someone that specced Restoration, but will maintain higher DPS.
Notable skills include:
- Nature's Grasp
- Improved Entangling Roots
- Nature's Reach
- Improved Moonfire
- Omen of Clarity
- Nature's Grace
- Vengeance
Feral
- The tank and solo branch.
This build can function well for people that need to play tank for their group
of friends, or just want to melee their way through levels. Currently though,
this is the Druid's most underpowered tree. It lacks the 'bang for buck' of
Balance and Restoration, and has lackluster skills for "final tier" talents.
With that said, Feral still has some talents that are worth picking up, and the
Devs have been looking into the balance issues. It may yet be worth fully
investing in.
For now, notable skills include:
- Ferocity
- Sharpened Claws
- Improved Bash
- Feral Charge
- Fearie Fire (bear and cat)
- Feline Swiftness
Restoration
- The support tree, for group oriented Druids.
Arguably, this tree has the "best" of the three final tier skills. After 40,
Innervate is esentially a requirement for any Druid that claims to be an
Instance healer. Speccing in this tree will lower you solo exp/h, but boosts
your healing capability. Because Druids are expected to support endgame, this is
the most common tree over level 40.
Notable skills include:
- Improved Mark of the Wild
- Nature's Focus
- Nature's Swiftness
- Innervate
- Improved Regrowth
- Improved Healing Touch
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5. Talent Placement
At this point, you're familiar with the different talent lines and have a pretty
good idea of what skills you want to get, right? Now it's just a matter of
establishing which ones are most important, and what order you're going to get
them in. While it's impossible for me to direct every playstyle, I can try to
give you a few ideas as to which talents you'll want to pick up first.
This is organized by talent tiers, not trees. I don't want to limit options as
far as placement order, so hopefully this setup will make it easier for everyone
to pick and choose.
[1st Tier]
Improved Mark of the Wild
- Restoration, 5 ranks
A staple talent. We already have the best buff in the game; don't be afraid to
make it better. You will want to have a full five points in this, regardless of
your talent build. It is worth picking up with your first five points if you
don't want to go straight for Omen of Clarity in the Balance tree.
Nature's Grasp
- Balance, 1 rank
This is a general 'must have' talent. It's heplful for running away when the
situation turns hairy, or just getting off a root when you can't afford to be
cast jammed. Balance specs should probably pick this up within their first six
points.
Ferocity
- Feral, 5 ranks
If you want to go Feral early, this is an important skill. Let's face it; rage
builds slowly. Cutting the cost of maul in half is nothing to skip over.
[2nd Tier]
Nature's Focus
- Restoration, 5 ranks
60% interrupt resist on healing spells is vital; Restoration Druids should get
this early.
Improved Entangling Roots
- Balance, 3 ranks
Interrupt immunity while casting Engtangle is handy for pretty much everything.
Great in PvP and PvE; Balance Druids will probably want to get this as soon as
2nd tier skills become available.
Sharpened Claws
- Feral, 5 ranks
5% crit boost is the closest you will get to a talent DPS boost in feral forms
at this level.
Improved Healing Touch
- Restoration, 5 ranks
15% mana reduction is more beneficial than the 5% effect increase you could pick
up at the same level. Putting 20 talents in Restoration will open 4th tier
abilities at this point.
[3rd Tier]
Omen of Clarity
- Balance, 1 rank
This won't be available if you've only picked up the skills I mentioned above.
Finish putting 10 points in Balance and you're free to grab this one. This is
our only 'clearcasting' proc; it's a great skill for both Balance and
Restoration Druids. A lot of people recommend getting it as soon as possible.
[5th Tier]
Nature's Swiftness
- Restoration, 1 rank
Restoration specs should pick this up as soon as possible; Balance Druids will
probably want to get it eventually. An instant heal every 3 minutes? Yes please.
No, I didn't mention enough talents here to unlock some others I listed. These
are the important ones that apply to most people; fill in the blanks with
talents you feel are appropriate to your play style. If you have any additional
questions, please post.
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6. Trade Skills
Trade skills are among those things that, when it comes down to it, depend
entirely on personal perference. While there are only a few trade combinations I
consider useful and viable for a Druid, someone else may feel Blacksmithing is
great for him. It's great to see people expiramenting with new trades, but I'm
only going to cover 'tried and true' combinations here. If you want to pick up
something else, by all means, go for it! And be sure to let us know how it works
out.
Skinning/Leatherworking
Possibly the "tried and true" trade combination. Leatherworking allows
you to provide armor for your feral forms early on, and once you progress a bit,
will enable you to make some caster leather too. You won't be able to craft a
lot that you can't get something comprable from drops, but it's often a cheaper
alternative. Both professions can provide a comfortable source of income if
you're willing to research the market and see what sells.
Herbalism/Alchemy
A less common combination, but solid nonetheless. Most herbs don't sell well on
the market, and potions are low profit, so these two are primarily for personal
and party benefit. Anything from mana and health restoration, to armor and stat
boosts can be crafted, making these a good choice regardless of what you intend
to do with your character.
Skinning/Mining
This is gradually becoming more and more common throughout WoW, but for now, is
the 'profit monger' combination. Two gathering and no production skills means
you can pour all of your resources into profit without worrying about spending
money on skilling up your trades.
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7. Equipment
I've already listed a few melee equipment suggestions in the Feral section, so
I'm not going to recap it here. What I am going to try to do? is give a
complete explanation behind the "owl vs. eagle" debate, as well as cover various
weapon types we can use. Like most things, it's very subjective, but there is at
least some reasoning behind both preferences.
Armor [of the Owl]
- Int and Spirit bonuses
We're a primarily caster class; int is a given. Spirit is a little hazier
though. It's not one of those stats you can have a little of and still reap a
good benefit from. The regen bonuses aren't particularly noticable until 200+
spirit, but at that point, it's very noticable. Especially outside of medding,
or when stacked with a regen spell like Innervate. Weak spirit means weak
Innervate, and is essentially wasteful for 40+ Restoration Druids. So, spirit
extends overall combat endurance. It's possible to go longer without
stopping to rest. In early levels though - Until 30 or so, spirit is relatively
pointless. It's nice, but there isn't a huge benefit to packing spirit at that
point.
Armor [of the Eagle]
- Int and Stam bonuses
So, eagle is a logical choice for starter Druids. You get 10 hp for 1 point in
stam regardless of level; that's a pretty good tradeoff. People still pack stam
over 40 though; some Druids favor it over spirit. When you get down to it,
spirit isn't going to do a whole lot for you in PvP encounters. Max HP is where
it's at. The longer you can take hits, the better your chance is to kill the
other guy. Then there is the issue of stam for PvE use. I've noticed most of the
people that equip this way are Balance. They don't have to worry about taking
advantage of Innervate; that's a big reason to equip spirit to begin with. That,
and some people just don't mind medding every fight or two. Immediate combat
endurance may be longer, but pauses are more frequent. It comes down to
preference.
Weapons
"Why does it matter?" Well, it doesn't. I mean, it really doesn't. There
is no reason to favor staves, or maces, or your chair's left leg. We can equip a
variety of weapons, there is no excuse whatsoever not to take advantage of
whichever is most appropriate at the time. Go train maces, at least. We can use
fist weapons too, but I've only seen one drop ever, so you're not missing out on
much if you decide to skip that proficiency. Having said that, different weapon
types tend to fall into particular categories.
1h Maces -
A few 1h maces are rogue oriented, with procs and +str or +agi. Some however,
clearly target mace wielding casters (like Druids). The
Fist of Stone and the
Hand of Edward the Odd, for example. Paired with +stat offhand items, this
can make for a pretty mean caster setup. Omen of Clarity and a +mana proc? I'd
take it.
2h Maces -
You won't find many (if any?) 2h maces with really good caster stats. In
general, they have heavy str and stam bonuses, with minor or no procs. I used
Mograine's Might for a while, even in caster form, but the big 'payoff'
comes with feral forms; bear particularly. The +20 str and +15 stam on
Blanchard's Stout does carry over shapeshifting, making it an
excellent weapon for tanking or soloing in bear form.
Daggers -
Daggers are almost rogue exclusive. Almost. There are a few good caster daggers
out there, and there's nothing wrong with using one if you happen to get the
drop. The
Hypnotic Blade,
Charstone Dirk, and
Gift of the Elven Magi are a few. Daggers tend to have procs and weak stat
bonuses though, making them inappropriate for feral combat.
Staves -
This is a no-brainer, right? Staves are built for casters, there isn't much hit
and miss involved here. While they are almost always a good choice, staves are
not the only choice. Don't forget to look into other options before busting 50g
on that kickass staff.
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8. Gift of the Wild
Gift of the Wild is a group version of the buff Mark of the Wild. It is learned
from a drop item , and comes in two ranks (Book:
Gift of the Wild, and
Book: Gift of the Wild II).
[lvl 50] Rank 1 -
Increases party members armor by 240, all attributes by 10 and all resistances
by 15 for 60 minutes.
Consumes 900 mana & Wild Berry x1
[lvl 60] Rank 2 -
Increases party members armor by 285, all attributes by 12 and all resistances
by 20 for 60 minutes.
Consumes 1200 mana & Wild Thornroot x1
When cast, all party members within a 30 yard radius are buffed. It does not
effect raid members outside of the Druid's party. Each cast requires a reagent
(listed above, stackable to 20) which can be purchased from any reagent vendor.
As for whether or not it's worth it, that (like most things), depends entirely
on personal opinion. As far as I'm concerned, if you find it - Use it! Rank 1
isn't particularly dire; at that point you're in 5 man parties pretty much
exclusively, and it's not difficult to keep everybody buffed. After 60 though,
there's a lot of raiding. As in, most of your time with other players will be
spent in raids. At that point, Gift is a lifesaver. You do have to ask your raid
leader to move you into the individual raid parties, but it takes far less time
than Marking somewhere between 10 and 20 people. (On the off chance you're a
lone Druid in a MC raid, you could be buffing up to 39 other people!)
Let's say you're in a 15 man raid. That's 13350 mana for Mark of the Wild 7, and
3600 mana for Gift of the Wild 2 to keep everybody buffed for a full hour (in an
ideal situation with no deaths). No contest, right?
You will probably want rank 2 at some point. Personally, I used rank 1 in raid
situations until I got rank 2 from a drop. I consider Gift on of those must-have
spells; it's a huge timesaver.
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Well, I think that's that. I've covered just about everything I could think of
to put in a general purpose guide, and I hope I managed to at least help a
little. Please feel free to leave feedback or questions; I'll see what else I
can do to help out. And good luck to the adventurers of Azeroth!
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