mendax.org

v 2.0

The Druid, since his inception, has been referred to as a “Jack of all trades, master of none.” The truth in this lies in the fact that the Druid is the “king of hybrids”, for though other classes exert flexibility in the manner in which they are played, the Druid alone maximizes each area in his arsenal like no other class can.

The Druid has six basic forms he can take. Three of these forms are for travel purposes, while the other three are forms that reflect the abilities of the Warrior, Rogue, and Mage/Priest. The Druid is unique in that he has rage, energy, and mana for each of his respective forms, and is fairly flexible in the roll he can play in a group setting as a result.

Offerings

The Druid, unlike other classes, can alter the manner in which he is played, more considerably than even other “hybrid” classes. The Druid can, in humanoid form, cast offensive spells, and heal himself and others. He can enter bear form which roughly increases his armor to that of plate, or turn into a cat to issue fast and hard-hitting attacks like a Rogue. Finally, the Druid can turn into a sea lion to increase his travel speed in water, turn into a cheetah to run across land at a faster pace than most unmounted characters, and turn into a bird to fly around in Outland.

In bear form, the druid is one of only three classes capable of tanking, and in caster form is the second-best dedicated healer in the game. This flexibility allows groups to be formed when a warrior or a priest is missing, giving smaller guilds or pickup-groups more options. By way of spending talent points, the Druid can maximize the one area he chooses to excel in (tanking, DPS, healing), though will still be able to fill in for another area temporarily should it be required. At end-game, a Druid’s talent spec will determine which roll is is capable of playing in serious instances and raids, but regardless of spec, a Druid will always be able to off-tank and off-heal.

Survivability & Crowd Control

The Druid has, since the game’s release, been one of the best survivors of all the classes. Like a Rogue, the Druid can stealth past mobs and quickly run from enemies, and in bear form has the armor to match a Warrior or Paladin. The Druid can, while in bear form, issue a stun to break up casting, and can even heal himself by spending rage points. Given his miraculous healing abilities in caster form, the Druid can draw out a fight like only a Paladin can.

The Druid has the ability to reduce the aggro radius around a targeted enemy, allowing the Druid’s allies a better chance to sneak by mobs. Additionally, the Druid has the ability to put beasts to sleep using his Hibernate spell, which also works on other Druids who are in their forms, and Shamans who have assumed the form of a Ghost Wolf. In PvP, Hibernate is great for putting one enemy out of play until his allies can be dealt with.

Outdoors, the Druid’s survivability is increased by his ability to ensnare opponents, and can run away from enemies by instantly turning into a cheetah or sea lion. Thus, even if one manages to bring a Druid to very low health, the Druid can frustrate attackers by escaping at the last minute, healing, and returning if he so chooses.

Specializations

There are three talent builds that are workable, with some room for tweaking. The feral build maximizes a Druid’s melee combat, giving the Druid better overall DPS. Unless the Druid intends to neglect the Balance and Restoration trees, however, a Druid needs to determine if he intends to maximize his cat form, or his bear form. Specific talents in the feral tree allow the Druid to increase threat from attacks made in bear form, to generate more rage, and even to increase his armor. On the other hand, the Druid may make his cat form attacks more potent, which is ideal if the Druid expects to have a Warrior on hand for group play.

The Restoration tree is what most Druids end-game have focused on, if only because the Druid’s role in a group towards the end-game, as of the game’s release, was to be a healer akin to a Priest. As such, the Restoration tree allows the Druid to be a very capable healer, outmatched only by holy Priests. Unlike other healing classes, the Druid is considered a “maintenance healer”, as his healing abilities consist of heal-over-time (HoT) spells, which may or may not include a “surge” of health before the HoT portion kicks in. If the Druid specs to the bottom of the Restoration tree, they gain the Tree of Life form, which Druids can shift into to increase their survivability, at the expense of their movement speed and restriction to casting healing spells.

The Balance tree is generally seen as a poor choice for Druids to focus too many talent points on. Focusing on this tree makes the Druid a more capable ranged damage dealer, akin to a Mage. At the base of this tree is the ability for a Druid to shape-shift into Moonkin form, which increases the chance for the Druid to gain a critical strike from a spell. Moonkin form also gives the Druid an increase in his armor, equivalent to that of the Druid’s bear form. While a Moonkin Druid can do a lot of damage with his spells, he must leave Moonkin form to cast healing spells. As such, while the concept of a “battle Mage” is appealing, in practice it cripples the Druid’s healing factor, which is vital unless the Druid expects to travel with a surplus of healing classes.

Professions

Skinning/leatherworking is a good combination for Druids to craft their own gear. Given the range of leather armor that can be crafted, the Druid can put together item sets to supplement his ability to use spells, or his ability to deal damage.

Since a Druid cannot use non-equipped items in his forms, alchemy and engineering are poor choices. Furthermore, since weapons are only worth equipping for their attribute bonuses (their DPS is not factored into a druid’s DPS in forms), there is little need to take blacksmithing either.

Races

There are only two choices, and if you’re set on playing for a particular side (Horde or Alliance), the choice has already been made for you. If you don’t care which side you’ll be on, the Tauren’s increase to health, as well as their Warstomp ability, makes them a more practical choice than Night Elves, whose increased stealth and dodge chance is poor in comparison.

LF1M

A Druid is a solid character to have along. Properly specced, they can serve as a group’s main tank for most all instances, and similarly, can act as a group’s main healer. A feral Druid’s DPS can also reach heights close to that of a Rogue or Mage, and all feral Druids will conserve mana while in their feral forms, such that they can immediately take on the roll of a healer should the group’s main healer be out of mana. In essence, Druids are safety nets, providing a backup to the group should more tanking, more healing, or more DPS be needed at any given time. The pitfall many Druids encounter is that they refuse to shift forms when appropriate, in which case the character becomes little more than a weak version of a Warrior, Rogue, Mage, or Priest.

When tanking, the Druid should use Growl as much as possible, and Swipe whenever there are more than two enemies being fought. When in cat form, the Druid should use Cower when appropriate, to lose aggro, and always strike from behind using Shred. As a healer, spells need to be timed better than a Priest’s healing spells might, since the casting time is longer, and Regrowth has a HoT effect.

Druids are also a necessary class for making “stealth runs” in end-game instances. A Druid that heals, and a Druid that tanks, can accompany three Rogues to quickly pass by most enemies in an instance, allowing the group to go straight for the bosses and farm the loot the bosses drop.

One final note is the Druid’s buffs; Mark of the Wild (MotW) is considered one of, if not the best buff in the game, increasing a target’s armor, attributes, and resistances. A Druid should always ensure that MotW is on every character in his group. It is also a good idea to keep Thorns up on any Warriors and Paladins, since it will increase their ability to hold aggro.

Raid!

Playing in Battlegrounds is usually a different beast for feral Druids than playing PvE. Throwing on healing/casting-oriented gear may be preferred, since healing the Warriors in the party is often more beneficial than attempting to deal damage from cat form, which has a much lower survivability. When not healing, using Faerie Fire on Rogues, or using Moonfire, will keep the Druid alive longer than jumping right into the fray, and everyone will appreciate getting heals.

The Druid also serves as a great support class for Rogues making stealth runs past enemy lines. With a healer to support a group of Rogues, such “special ops” groups can take out defensive points with ease, surprising the enemy who did not expect to have you bypass their front line.

Conclusion

A well-played Druid is an invaluable asset in a group setting, providing better survivability to the party. In solo play, the Druid is a great survivor on his own, though does not have the range of abilities the classes his forms are modeled after possess. As such, if a player prefers one form over all others and does not make full use of all Druid forms, they are better off playing the respective class that form is modeled after.

A final note is that while most classes start coming into their own around level 20, a Druid doesn’t start becoming an effective multi-form beast until level 30; a Druid is unable to shift forms until level 10 (when they get bear form), and doesn’t gain cat form until level 20, whereupon they can finally begin to grind more effectively. Given the slow rate of gaining abilities for each form, a Druid doesn’t really come into their own until around level 40.

Popularity: 8% [?]