Druid Guide

What the heck is a druid?

A druid is a class that can adapt to situations and fit the roles of other classes. We are not the "jack of all trades" class, that is the shaman. The druid is supposed to supplement other classes by filling their place. Though we are not as versatile, we are every bit as powerful! Here is blizzard's description:

The Druid gives players several play style options. A Druid in normal form is a caster that can fight with spells or weapons. In Bear form the Druid becomes a Warrior with Rage. While in Cat form the Druid becomes a Rogue with Energy and stealth. The Druid can also transform into two other special animal forms. With its ability to heal itself and fellow characters, the Druid can also take on the role of a Priest. A Druid is not as versatile in its abilities as a Priest is, lacking the spells Holy Word: Shield and Resurrection, but is otherwise a very capable healer.

What is the best race for a druid?

There is no "best" race for a druid, but Nightelves and Tauren do give different advantages.
Nightelves start off with 18 strength, 25 agility, 19 stamina, 22 intelligence, and 22 spirit.
Tauren start off with 26 strength, 15 agility, 22 stamina, 17 intelligence, and 24 spirit.
The most important stats for a druid tend to be spirit, intelligence, and stamina. Each of the two races has a healthy mix of these so this is pretty much personal preference. Tauren get warstomp (stuns nearby enemies for 2 seconds, 2 minute cooldown), endurance (5% more hp max), cultivation (+15 max herbalism), and nature resistance (+10 nature resist) for their racial abilities. Nightelves get shadowmeld (stealth while out of combat and immobile), quickness (dodge chance + 1%), wisp spirit (25% faster ghost speed), and nature resistance (+10 nature resist). Just remember that when picking a druid, pick the race that appeals most to you, and remember that Tauren are the Horde and Nightelves are the Alliance.

How do I get to the human lands as a Night Elf?

I see this question asked too many times. As a night elf, you start out on Teldrassil, a great tree growing in the ocean in North Western Kalimdor. To reach the lands of the Eastern Kingdoms, you will have to enter Darnassus, the capital city of the elves. Take the pink portal down to Rutherford Village (or whatever it is called), and take the boat to Auberdine. Then at Auberdine, take the boat to Menethil Harbor. Methithil is an alliance seaport in Eastern Kingdoms in the Wetlands. From here, follow the road east until you hit a crossroads and then go south, through Dun Algaz and into Dun Morogh. This is a very dangerous trip, so be careful. Once in Dun Morogh, head west until you reach the gates of Ironforge, the dwarf capital. Make sure you get the flight points at each of the cities you pass through. You are now in the dwarf lands, and if you want to get to human lands, simply take the train in Tinker Town inside of Ironforge.

What weapons can I use as a druid?

Druids can use staves, two handed maces, one handed maces, daggers, and fist weapons. When using a two handed weapon, we cannot hold anything in our offhand. When using a one handed weapon (dagger/fist weapon/mace), we can use an offhand item (not a weapon). Using a two handed weapon generally gives more dps, slower attack speed, and high ability bonuses. Using a one handed weapon + offhand gives faster attack speed, lower dps, and higher ability bonuses.

Can druids use ranged weapons?

No. Druids can only use the weapons described above. If you want to attack something from far away, use entangling roots, wrath, moonfire, or starfire.

What kind of armor can I use?

Druids can wear leather and cloth. Leather gives higher armor, so use it whenever possible.

Can I use a shield?

No.

Can I dual wield?

Never.

I mainly use restoration/balance/feral combat. Which stats are best for me?

Ideally, you want an even mix of all stats as a druid. If you are going to be healing more than anything else, high spirit and intelligence are agreat plus. Spirit increases your mana regeneration rate and intelligence increases your maximum mana. If you are going balance mainly, the same applies. If you are going feral, it is best to get a nice even mix of stats, with spirit and stamina taking priority.

What classes go well with the druid?

Pretty much any class can go well with us, because we are 4 classes rolled into one. Some of our best companions are rogues, shaman/pally, or really any class. With a rogue we can both stealth and get past creeps, and the Druid can always lay down a heal when needed, do damage in caster/cat, or tank in bear form. With a shaman, we have the jack of all trades helping us, and it makes for a powerful duo. Totems increase our effectiveness. We go well with any class because we can mold to situations.

How are druids in groups?

Druids are excellent in groups. We bring things that no other class can, but grouping can limit your options at times. Generally you will be expected to heal in a group, thanks to our excellent healing ability. At higher levels you will find yourself healing a large amount of the time in groups. Often the druid becomes the primary or secondary healer behind a priest. Using feral abilities tends to take a backseat to healing and casting in a dangerous 5 man situation, because of the added time it takes to shift out and heal. This is not to say that feral is not useable in high end 5 man instances, it just requires a lot of skill.

What are good professions for a druid?

1) Alchemy/Herbalism
With alchemy and herbalism you can cultivate herbs and make powerful potions. These potions can range from a simple healing potion to a potion that adds +2000 mana for 2 hours. There is generally less profit involved here and high competition for recipes. Alchemy allows you to live longer and do more damage in battle.

2) Herbalism/Skinning/Mining (two gathering skills)
Druids are the best gatherers in the game. We can use stealth, travel form, and soothe animal to get in close to resource nodes. If you take two gathering skills you will be able to make a lot of money, and can always drop one later.

3) Mining/Engineering
Engineering can be used by any class, and gives you the ability to make some pretty cool items. More information can be found here: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-professions&t=40&p=1&tmp=1#post40

4) Skinning/Leatherworking (Tribal Leatherworking/Elemental Leatherworking/Dragon Leatherworking)
Since we can wear leather, leatherworking is a great skill to have. Skinning is also great for making money. Leatherworking allows you to make many very useful items that will make character progression easier. It branches into tribal, elemental, and dragon leatherworking at 225+ skill. Tribal is best suited for druids, elemental for rogues, and dragon for shaman/hunter.

5) Other options
There are many other options, but I'm lazy! For a great Profession FAQ, see this thread:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-professions&t=40&p=1&tmp=1#post40

What about secondary skills?
Learn them all! There is no limit, so why aren't you learning them?

When do I get shapeshifting?

Druids get shapeshifting starting at level 10. Right now, only bear form and water form will require you to do a quest to get (details later). At level 16 you get water form (increased water speed), at level 20 you get cat form (increased dps), at level 30 you get travel form (40% increased movement), and at level 40 you get dire bear form (upgraded version of bear form). All of these with the exception of those rewarded via quests will be available at the druid trainer.

What are the hotkeys for shapeshifting?

The shapeshifting hotkeys, by default, are CTRL + F1, F2, F3, F4. Each F# corresponds to a form on your action bar, the one to the left being number 1 and going up by 1 each time it goes right.

How is damage determined in forms?

In shapeshifted forms your weapon's dps has no effect on your damage. It is a static base amount determined by your level. Strength is the only stat that will increase this damage in both cat and bear form. Agility will increase your chance to crit but will have no direct effect on your damage.

How is miss rate determined in forms?

Since your weapon has no affect on your feral abiliy other than stats/chance on hit, your miss rate in forms is independant of the weapon you are using. At every level, Shapeshifting will be maxed out in terms of melee attack (Imagine that your weapon skill is maxed out at every level). There is no way to raise your melee skill in shapeshifting, as it is always maxed out for your level, meaning that you have the same miss/hit chance as you would with a maxed out weapon.

How do items benefit me in forms?

Items can only benefit you in forms by raising stats and having various "on equip" effects. Weapon speed is irrelevent, as is "on use." Forms will still allow abilities from weapons that say "on equip," but "on use" and "chance on hit" will not work.

When should I use bear form?

Bear form gives increased armor, hit points and attack rating. It is best used for defensive purposes, and can be used to pull units off of other players with taunt (growl). It is very useful against fast attacking creeps, as they do little damage to begin with. This also goes for pvp, it is useful against a very fast attacking player. Bear form is also good for soloing, though cat form tends to be better in that respect.

How does rage work?

Rage (replaces mana in bear) increases when you do melee damage and when you take melee damage. Critical hits generate more rage. Your abilities in bear take rage to use so you rely heavily on hitting the enemy to use abiilties, or taking a lot of damage yourself (which bear is great for).

When should I use cat form?

Cat form gives greatly increased damage and stealth. It is best used whenever you are soloing and want to do more damage, when you want to sneak past enemies, and when you want to do something besides heal (and not tank) in a group.

When should I use travel/water form?

Whenever you want to move faster or escape from enemies.

How do combo points work?

In cat form, you will notice that some abilities add a 'combo point' when you use them. Combo points are represented next to the portrait of the creep you are attacking as little dots. There are five of them, and they change the damage that your finishing moves (currently just rip) does. If you check the tooltip, rip will do more damage depending on how many combo points you have built up. Combo points will be erased if you land a successful rip or if you deselect the unit you are attacking.

How does stealth work?

Stealth is sort of like a limited invisiblity, it makes it so you are very difficult to detect. When you are in front of another player and stealthed, you are easy to see. Go behind them, and they will not be able to see you at all. Level plays a big role in stealth, as each level your feral combat skill goes up by 5, and feral combat skill determines how well you can stealth. The more levels you have over an opponent the less likely you are to be spotted. The further away from them and the less you are in front of them the higher chance you will not be spotted. The improved prowl talent basically acts as +1 level when determining stealth, up to a maximum of +5.

ow do I do the bear form quest?

Tauren Version:
At level 10, Gennia Runetotem in Bloodhoof Village will have a druid quest for you. This quest will ask you to speak with Turak Runetotem on Elder Rise of Thunder Bluff. After you have completed this, you will get the next part of the quest.

You will now be given a spell that allows you to teleport to Moonglade. This spell will be in your spellbook under balance. Use this ability whenever you want to get to Moonglade. After you arrive in moonglade, you will have to talk with Dendrite Starblaze (who should be in the building right in front of you).

You will now have to seek out the great bear spirit, who is located in North-West moonglade. Speak with him, and return to Dendrite Starblaze (if you don't know your way back, just teleport and you will be in front of the building again). Speak with him again, and he will tell you that it is time to return to Mulgore. Find your way to about the center of Moonglade, and find the wyvern master. Take the free flight back to Thunder Bluff, then go to Elder Rise and complete this part of the quest.

You will be given some dust to summon Lunaclaw to receive your bear form ability. Luncalaw is just inside of the barrens and to the south, located here: http://www.thottbot.com/?m=2111. This a fairly tough fight, and you may want to have someone help you. The best strategy is to root Luna, then cast some spells before allowing him to get into melee with you. If you fail, abandon the quest and go get the dust again. If you succeed, go back to Elder Rise and you will be taught bear form! Now you will have a new bunch of bear form specefic abilities to choose from at the trainer at higher levels.

Night Elf Version:

Part 1: http://www.rpgexpert.com/3681.html

Part 2: http://www.rpgexpert.com/index.php?art/id:3682 (Thanks to Antropov for submitting link)

How do I do the cure poison quest?

Night Elf Version

Get quest in darnassus.
Port to moonglade, speak to npc.
Fly to auberdine, (speak to npc?).
Go to cave where clearbrook river starts, use bottle to collect water sample. Careful of aggro level 13-15 mobs.
Back to auberdine.
Collect 12 mushrooms, found in moonkin caves. As well as 5 earthroots, get with herbalism or just get them from another player or AH.
Back to auberdine, get cure.
Find 10 sickly deer and cure them, roams around outside auberdine.
Finish quest.
Get Velidust medecine bag + cure poison spell. (submitted by Annah)

How do I do the water form quest?

Tauren Version:
At level 16 your local druid trainer will have a quest for you that will once again take you to moonglade. Use your teleportation spell and speak with Dendrite Starblaze once again. He will ask you to retrieve a bauble from the lake in Moonglade. This is a very, very annoying quest and can take several triest to do. The bauble will be on the bottom of the lake somewhere, usually near the middle. It is very tiny and very hard to see, so look carefully.

After you find the bauble, you must quickly head over to the Shrine of Remulos (western Mooonglade) before the timer runs out. Speak with whomever here, and you will receive the next part of the quest.

You will be asked to speak with the "inhabitants" of Moonglade. These "inhabitants" are simply the flight masters located in the center of Nighthaven. I'll make this easier for you. One of the pendants is in Sludge Fen, Barrens in a tiny box. That is the easy one. The other is in Silverpine, on the North-West shore. Find a large broken boat on the shore, and get ready to swim. Go directly west from the boat, do not stray north or south. Swim down until you find a Bubbly fissure, which should be quite a ways out. You should be perpendicular to the T of the The Great Sea. The box should be near the fissure.

Return to Moonglade, go to the Shrine of Remulos, and combine the two pendants. Return to Dendrite Starblaze to hand in the quest, and you will then be able to get Water Form from you class trainer.

Alternate Tauren guide

http://www.wowguru.com/content/quests/horde/trial-of-the-sea-lion-2.php

Night Elf Version:
This was not written by me, but by someone else (Lucian?). First off, Westfall is in human lands. It's south, and a little west. of Stormwind Castle. From Auberdine, Darkshore, go out the back of the inn to the docks. Take the boat to Menethil. In Menethil follow the road up a little, east, and then south. Continue south through dwarven lands until you hit a gate where they say "Oh no, you need a key!" Then back track and go West. Continue going west until you see signs for IronForge, then follow them. They'll take you north and back east a little, but don't worry about that. From IronForge talk to a guard and get directions to TinkerTown. In Tinkertown the Tram will show up on your minimap. Take the Tram to Stormwind. From Stormwind go south through Elywnn Forest (Towards the town of Goldshire). Then go South-West to Westfall/Sentinel Hill. Once you're in Westfall, head west to the shore.

You could scour that shore all day and not find the stupid anchor (you did write down the clues they gave you, right?). To help you out, here are two screen shots.

This is where you're going to be when you find the anchor that leads to the shipwreck
http://www.silver-gryphon.net/images/wow/screenshots/maplocationsealionwestfall.jpg

And this is what the bubbly fissure they're talking about looks like:
http://www.silver-gryphon.net/images/wow/screenshots/bubblyfissure.jpg

The box will be near the fissure.

I would reccomend that you pick up the Flight Paths in Menethil (to the right from the docks), Ironfoge (get directions from a gaurd), Stormwind (Get directions from a gaurd), Westfall (Sentinel Hill, near the road). This way, if you ever want to come back to gropu with your friends, you can fly instead of walking.

In auberdine it shouldn't give you trouble. If you really really need help, it's located here:
http://www.silver-gryphon.net/images/wow/screenshots/maplocationsealiondarkshore.jpg

That should be enough to get you through this without too many problems.

Alternate Night Elf guide

http://www.wowguru.com/87.html

What spells can I learn as a druid?

The complete list is here: http://www.thottbot.com/?c=Druid

Can I ressurect other players?

Yes you can! We have a ressurection spell (rebirth) usable once every 30 minutes. It can be used in combat, unlike any other res in the game. It costs a lot of mana, takes 3 seconds to cast, and takes a seed reagent. The reagents are available at the reagent vendors located in each major city.

What can't I use indoors?

Indoors (as in not outside), you will not be able to use entangling roots, travel form, feline swiftness, or nature's grasp.

What is my role in a group?

Right form Blizzard:
The Druid has three potential roles in a group. When in their normal, biped form, they act well as a healer and can give support in the form of buffs and debuffs; they also have limited crowd control against dragons. Their Bear form gives them offensive and defensive power enough to step up to a monster and take the hits (we're looking into aggro management for the form). In Cat form, the Druid becomes a damage dealer. This trio of roles in one class gives the Druid a diverse feel and allows them to perform nearly any role perceived as "needed" in a party. We're not telling you how to play the game - one of the fascinating practices of this genre is the ingenuity exercised by the players every day!

Which of our spells are Nature Based? Arcane?

Our Arcane spells are as follows: Moonfire, Starfire.

Our Nature spells include wrath, faerie fire, entangling roots, all healing spells, mark of the wild, thorns, and anything else I haven't mentioned.

How does Entangling Roots work?

Entangling roots is one of our two crowd control (CC) spells. It is only useable outdoors and is a nature spell. It roots the target in place preventing movement and does damage over time. It is likely to break when you do damage to the target, and semi likely to break from its own damage.

What is Gift of the Wild?

Gift of the Wild is a druid only spell learned from a rare dropped item. It has a level requirement of level 50, and only drops from high level creeps in instances that level and higher. It buffs everyone in your group with an improved Mark of the Wild that lasts longer. Rank 1 tends to drop in instances level 50 and higher, like ST and BRD. Rank 2 tends to drop in instances much higher level, such as BRS.

Rank 1 costs 900 mana, lasts one hour, buffs your entire group, increases armor by 240, stats by 10, and resists by 15. Level requirement of 50.

Rank 2 costs 1200 mana, lasts one hour, buffs your entire group, increases armor by 285, stats by 12, and resists by 20. Level requirement of 60.

For a detailed FAQ on Gift of the Wild, see this post: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-druid&t=40997&s=new&tmp=1

What talents do we have available?

Druid talents are broken into three categories - restoration, balance, and feral combat. Restoration deals with healing and "restorative" type spells. This talent tree will help you be an very effective healer, with many useful upgrades. There are three talents here that will benefit shapeshifting: Furor, Improved Enrage, and Intesnity. The balance line deals with our "balance" spells, as in pretty much any spell we have that does damage. Balance also contains atalent that will direcly benefit shapeshifting. Swiftshifting lowers mana cost on quick shifts within 6 seconds, and is a great choice if you will be shapeshifting often. Finally, feral combat deals with our shapeshifting forms and has no talents that will overlap into other fields.

Here is an online talent calculator:
http://www.thottbot.com/?ti=Druid

And here is another:
http://wowvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Talents.View

When do I get talents? How can I unlearn them?

Starting at level 10 you will get one talent point per level until you reach the level cap (currently 60). To unlearn your talents talk to your local druid trainer. It costs money to unlearn talents, so choose wisely!

Which talents are popularily seen as "must haves?"

These are just general talent suggestions that are posted often. They are not actually "must haves," but many find them useful.

If you are using feral combat, very useful abilities include Ferocity (lowers energy/rage cost of abilities) and Primal Instinct (lowers mana cost 25%). These two talents will greatly increase your power as a shapeshifting druid. The path you take to putting 30 points in feral combat is up to your own discretion. In the balance line, many choose to get Nature's Grasp (instant roots) and Omen of Clarity (no mana cost). Nature's grasp will help you flee from enemies with ease, and Omen of Clarity will allow you to cast more spells with your existing mana pool. In the restoration line, some of the "must haves" include Nature's Swiftness, Innervate, and Gift of Nature. Nature's Swiftness gives you an instant cast nature based spell once every three minutes, and is great for healing in a pinch. Innervate gives 400% mana regen in combat for 20 seconds once every 6 minutes, and Gift of Nature increases your healing effect by 5%.

Remember that these opinions for "must have" talents, and there are many other choices that are entirely dependent on how you want to play your druid.

Can you explain Nature's Grasp? Nature's Swiftness? Omen of Clarity? Innervate? Etc?

Omen of clarity is a self buff that applies to your current weapon. Whenever you strike an enemy and hit, you have a chance of getting an Omen of Clarity buff to your character, making your next spell mana free. This will not apply to any channeled spell. Nature's Swiftness is a self buff useable once every three minutes. It makes any of your nature spells instant cast, and goes away as soon as you cast a nature spell. Lastly, Nature's Grasp is a self buff. It lasts 45 seconds, and will attempt to root any melee enemy who strikes you. It can be resisted, and fades once it is cast on an enemy (even if they resist).

The buff for Omen of Clarity is independant of weapon speed. It is set to go off a certain number of times per minute, and will go off as many times with a slow 3.8 speed mace as it will with a fast 1.3 speed dagger. This is of course, assuming you hit as often with your slow weapon!

Innervate gives you 400% mana regen in combat for 20 seconds once every 6 minutes. What this means, is that in combat while casting spells you will regenerate mana 4x faster than if you were NOT even in combat! This spell is directly benefited by spirit which increases your hp/mana regen.

Is Improved MoTW/Demoralizing Roar/Etc Working?

Yes, they are indeed working and you are getting your upgrade for the talent point. If you look at the tooltip (the window when you mouse over the spell in your spellbook), you will notice it is updated. Sometimes the bufftips (mouse over the buff on yourself or another character) do not update to the talents, but you are still getting the benefit from your talent.