Category:Druid

Druids in World of Warcraft are a hybrid class, able to transform into various forms to suit a variety of tasks.

Information

 * Available to: Night Elf and Tauren.
 * Available equipment: Leather and Cloth armor.
 * Available weapons: Daggers, One-handed Maces (with training), Two-handed Maces (with training), Staves, Fist weapon
 * Talent trees: Balance, Feral, Restoration.
 * Recommended professions: Skinning/Leatherworking, Enchanting, Herbalism/Alchemy.

Druids are a flexible class. As shape-shifters they are able to change rapidly from one form to another. In normal form, the Druid 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 and while in Moonkin form the Druid becomes a Mage which can cast offensive spells at opponents from a distance. The Druid also has two "travel" forms, listed below. 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 healing abilities as a Priest is, but given proper talent specs, can often heal on par with most priests.

Shapeshifting
Druids are able to transform into a Bear, Cat, Sea Lion, Cheetah, and Moonkin (with talents in the Balance tree). While transformed, the Druid cannot cast spells or drink potions, but regains mana normally. The only exception to this is Moonkin form which is considered a humanoid and is allowed to use potions, spells, and can eat/drink. Shapeshifting also has the benefit of breaking roots, snares, freeze and polymorph effects. While transformed, the Druid is considered a beast, making them especially vulnerable to Hunters and skills that target beasts, as well as the Druid's own Hibernate ability, which persists even through shapeshifting back into a caster form.


 * As of the 1.10 patch, Druids can activate equipped items which have an "Use:" ability (e.g. the class specific PVP trinket's) while shapeshifted.



Bear Form
Obtainable through a quest at level 10, Bear Form dramatically increases armor and hit points, and adds to the Druid's melee attack power. Bear form also offers 180% greater effect from armour-supporting items. At level 40 this becomes Dire Bear form, which increases armor contribution from items by 360%. Bear form also allows you to use warrior like abilities including Swipe, Bash, and Growl. High level Druids with good equipment can attain armor classes greater than Warriors with shields. Bear form druids have tanked nearly every major boss in the game. However, Bear Form does not offer the same range of abilities in controlling the attention of enemy monsters (aggro). The warrior remains the best class for tanking, while a Bear Form Druid can serve as a good "off-tank". Bear Form utilizes a Rage bar identical to Warriors for certain abilities; however, Warriors are able to accumulate rage much faster than Druids. In PVP, Bear Form is often the most utilized form, having a great deal of survivability as compared to the Druid's caster or cat form. They can however be immobilized by opposing druids who use Hibernate, which does not break when a Druid reverts to caster form.



Cat Form
Trainable at level 20, Cat Form dramatically increases the Druid's attack speed and power. In addition to adding high damage Cat abilities including Rip and Ravage, Cat Form adds the ability to Stealth, letting the Druid sneak by enemies just like Rogues. Cat Form utilizes combo points identical to Rogues for certain abilities. Cat form stealth is as powerful as a Rogue's stealth and, like its counterpart, can be improved by talents. Unlike rogues however, druids gain 2 points of attack power like warriors for every 1 point of strength. Overall cat form DPS is nowhere near that of a rogue, and druids lack the stuns and other control mechanisms of the rogue class; however, cat form represents a viable source of DPS in groups, and an extremely efficient source of DPS for solo grinding.



Aquatic Form
Obtainable through a quest at level 16, Aquatic Form increases the Druid's swim speed by 50% while granting underwater breathing. The Druid can attack in this form, but cannot perform spells. Aquatic Form is only usable while swimming.



Travel Form
Trainable at level 30, Travel Form increases the Druid's speed on land by 40%. The Druid has no special attacks in this form but can defeat equal or lower level monsters in melee combat. Travel Form is only usable outdoors. In the Battleground, Warsong Gulch, Druids are often given flag carrying responsibilities using their fleeing capabilities. The most common of which is to use its cat form to stealth onto the flag, capture it in caster form, revert to cat form (as travel form cannot be used indoors), use dash until outside, and then change to travel form. This strategy is often "flamed" on forums, but an opposing Druid can quite effectively put another Druid to sleep if it is in any of its animal forms.



Moonkin Form
This new form, that was released in the new Druid talent tree in Patch 1.8, can be unlocked by putting 31 points in the Balance talent tree. The form gives the Druid 360% armor and an aura that gives party members an additional 3% critical strike chance with spells. However, the Druid cannot use Restoration spells while in this form. Weapon Procs do occur in this form. The druid can use potions in Moonkin form, unlike the animal forms. Druids can also talk to NPCs in this form. Druids cannot be sleeped while in this form.

Strengths
Druids can do just about any job they can be given, as they are very versatile. However, to specialize in one of these "trades" such as healing, spell casting, damage dealing, etc, the player must specialize talents in addition to utilizing the proper equipment for the desired role and maximum effectiveness. For instance, using the entirety of the Restoration tree will yield healing close to a priest's ability level, but a priest does not have to specialize into healing to heal as well as you. The same is true for tanking in bear form against warriors, damage dealing in cat form with rogues, spellcasting in moonkin form with mages/warlocks, and healing with priests.


 * Flexibility. A Druid can substitute for a healer, damage dealer, or tank, when one is not available.  This makes them extremely valuable in combat when a party member dies, is disabled, or is low on mana.


 * Survivability. Druids possess an excellent collection of abilities to help them survive in and flee from combat.  By utilizing abilities like Entangling Roots, Nature's Grasp in the Balance talent tree, Nature's Swiftness in the Restoration talent tree, Aquatic Form, and Travel Form, it is possible for a clever Druid to escape encounters with enemies 10 to 15 levels higher. Also, when escaping from beasts or dragonkin, the Druid can cast Hibernate to give them time to run.


 * Healing. In normal form, the Druid is capable of being an excellent healer.  This allows the Druid to play the role as a substitute or secondary Priest in a party.  In addition, it offers the powerful ability to switch out of an animal form and quickly recover life as many times as their mana permits.  Healing abilities can be improved greatly by adding talent points to the Restoration talent tree. Properly equipped, a Druid is capable of serving as main healer in group play.


 * Ranged supplemental damage. Druids, in humanoid form, with proper talents points placed in the balance tree (many recommend at least 35-38 points,) can do an excellent amount of ranged damage with spells, fairly close to that of a Mage or Warlock. Druids can also leverage their ranged damage to take down an enemies hit points considerably before engaging them in melee combat with an animal form.  Ranged spells can be improved greatly by adding talent points to the Balance talent tree.


 * Stealth. The ability to stealth (in cat-form) makes it possible for a Druid to accompany a group of Rogues sneaking past enemies and act as a tank or healer that wouldn't otherwise be available.  It also lets a solo Druid avoid enemies or go AFK when not otherwise possible.


 * Resurrection. With the ability to resurrect a player every thirty minutes, it's possible for a Druid to sneak past enemy units and resurrect a Priest or Paladin who can then resurrect the rest of the party.  This can often be the difference between a failed raid and one that continues.  Unlike Priests, Shamans, and Paladins, the Druid's Rebirth ability can be cast during battle; however, its long cooldown means that a party with a druid should have a Priest, Shaman or Paladin to provide routine resurrection.


 * Travel Form. Travel Form offers Druids the enormous benefit of a 40% speed increase at level 30 -- ten levels before mounts become available.  In addition to making travel by foot much more efficient, it offers an easy way to outrun or avoid enemies especially since like all druid forms it is an instant cast that can be used in battle as opposed to a mount.  It is also possible to gather herbs in travel form, which is much more convenient than dismount/gather/remount.


 * Mark of the Wild. Druids have access to the most powerful buff in the game from level 1.  Initially, Mark of the Wild only raises armor.  At higher ranks it also boosts attributes and magic resistance considerably.  Mark of the Wild can be improved by up to 35% by putting talent points into Improved Mark of the Wild in Tier 1 of the Restoration Tree.

Weaknesses

 * Mana Inefficiency. Ranged spells have a tendency to exhaust a Druid's mana although coming close to the ranged damage capable by Mages or Warlocks.  While a Druid can generally handle a close level enemy with ranged attacks alone, it will sometimes cost close to a full mana bar.  This makes it difficult for a Druid to handle multiple enemies with ranged attacks alone. This can be countered however with gear that implements mana regeneration and extra spell damage. With patch 1.11, all druids receive Innervate at level 40, so this issue is primarily limited to Balance-spec druids in long raid encounters.


 * Creature Form Weaknesses. When a Druid enters a form, it becomes classified as a beast, this leaves it open to several key Hunters spells such as Scare Beast and Beast Lore. These spells would not normally be effective on a player.


 * Warlocks. Warlocks are the bane of the Druid class, and are considered by many to be one of the hardest classes for Druids to defeat, mainly due to Druids lacking spell interrupts and silence abilities. An interrupt spell talent is available through Feral Charge in Feral Combat talent tree, but most druids spec for Restoration at level 60 for PvE.

It's very important to note that the best Druid is the one that can adapt and conquer every situation. "Locking" a Druid into a specific role or form only enhances the weaknesses of the specific role. This makes the Druid among the hardest classes to play well. Druids are best played with an open and adaptive mind; changing tactics and shifting forms in battle is essential, especially while soloing.

Conclusion
The Druid's flexibility makes them excellent in both solo and party situations. The multiple play styles make the class extremely enjoyable to play, and their ability to fill multiple roles in a group make them as desirable to parties as Priests. Because the Druid does not excel in any particular area, their challenge is learning to use combinations of their abilities and forms effectively. Because of this, some view the Druid as a slightly more difficult class to play than others. Whether or not this is the case, the flexibility and uniqueness of the Druid make their challenges well worth the effort. With proper placement of the talents available to the Druid, it's fully possible to emulate a warrior, rogue, mage or priest, though they often lack some key abilities. This trade off is compensated by having access to their other abilities (e.g. a warrior cannot heal in combat) within seconds. The key lies in being able to switch rapidly between roles and as such, the druid requires a steady hand and quick thinking to maximise your usefulness to a party. Because of the micromanagement skill needed to do this effectively, druid remains alongside warlock as one of the least played classes in the game.

Recent changes
When the 1.11 patch went live, the druid ability "Innervate" was made available at level 40 to all druids, instead of being a 31 point talent in the Restoration tree. The ability was replaced with a spell called Swiftmend. Swiftmend remove one Heal-Over-Time spell from the target and heal the target for the amount remaining on that spell instantly.

This change was welcomed by the Player-versus-Environment community, as it allows more flexibility in druid spec and brings a greater number of Innervates into raids.