TBC Classic Balance Druid Spell Summary

While not all abilities in your spellbook have the same degree of importance, they all have their uses, which we will try to quickly explain in the following sections.

• Starfire is a casted ability that will deal a higher burst of Arcane damage. This is the ability you will be using the most, and the largest part of your DPS in any fight.
• Moonfire is an instant cast, damage over time effect.
• Insect Swarm is an instant cast, damage over time effect. It deals less damage than Moonfire, but reduces the chance to hit of its target by 2%.
• Wrath is a casted ability that will deal some Nature damage. Use this if cast pushback is a problem.
• Hurricane deals damage to targets in an area for every second while you channel. This ability has a 1-minute cooldown.
• Force of Nature creates three uncontrollable treants that attack nearby targets for 30 seconds. While usually used for extra DPS, it can also be used as a distraction.
• Faerie Fire curses the target, lowering their armor and making them unable to turn invisible or stealth while active. With Improved Faerie Fire, it will also provide 3% physical hit to everyone attacking the target, making it a must-have raid debuff.

While in Cat Form, you will have two resources to deal with: combo points and Energy. Energy automatically regenerates over time and is used for abilities such as Mangle, which generates combo points.

Combo points can be accumulated up to 5 and are spent on finisher abilities that use all combo points at once for an especially powerful effect (such as Rip).

Powershifting is the act of using Furor and Wolfshead Helm to gain a lot of Energy each time you shapeshift into cat form. Because you can shapeshift from cat into cat for the cost of Mana, you can continually repeat this when at 0 Energy to gain free Energy, allowing you to use your abilities continuously!

These abilities use Energy and generate combo points:

• Claw uses Energy to generate a combo point and deal extra damage. It is a weak ability, but due to its lack of positional requirements and caveats, also one of the most used abilities until Mangle replaces it down the line.
• Rake is similar to Claw but deals less upfront damage while bleeding your target to deal some extra damage over time. Because the bleed cannot crit, this is generally weaker than Claw.
• Mangle (Cat) is also very similar to Claw but deals a lot more damage and leaves a debuff increasing bleed damage taken by 30% on the target, which is helpful for your follow up abilities.
• Shred is your strongest attack once you have its support talents, but can only be used from behind the target, which prevents it from being used much while soloing.
• Ravage can only be used while stealthed and behind the target and deals a lot of damage to the target, as well as generating a combo point. This is the favored way to open until Pounce is unlocked.
• Pounce is also only usable from stealth but stuns the target and deals bleed damage instead of doing direct damage. This is the favored way to open on most targets due to the lack of positional requirements and the stun can help mitigate damage taken.

These abilities use combo points for a powerful attack:

• Rip is a powerful bleed that consumes combo points and Energy to put a damage over time effect on your target. Against targets that will live through its full duration, this is one of your main damage dealers.
• Ferocious Bite is similar to Rip but deals its damage instantly. However, it generally does lower damage than the bleed over its full duration, especially when heavily reduced by target armor.

These are other utility abilities that are only usable while in Cat Form.

• Prowl allows you to go into stealth. This drastically lowers the range at which enemies can see and attack you, and gives you access to some abilities that can only be used while in stealth. You can only go into stealth while not in combat, and being attacked or using any ability while stealthed will bring you out of it.
• Tiger's Fury consumes some Energy to give you a 6-second buff that increases your damage done. This is not particularly strong and is mostly used for extra burst on the opening, as it is one of the few abilities that does not bring you out of stealth when used.
• Dash increases your movement speed by 50% for 15 seconds on a 3-minute cooldown. A useful mobility cooldown.
• Cower lowers your threat against your current target.
• Feline Grace is a passive that makes you take less fall damage.

While in Bear Form or Dire Bear Form you will use Rage instead of Mana or Energy. When you deal auto attack damage or take damage you will generate Rage, which can then be spent on attacks.

• Bear Form and Dire Bear Form turn you into a bear, drastically increasing your armor and health. This is the form you will want to assume when under heavy pressure, as well as while tanking.
• Growl taunts the target to attack you. This is a critical tanking ability, which can save the lives of your teammates.
• Challenging Roar growls every nearby target to attack you for 6 seconds. While it has a large cooldown, this is invaluable for AoE tanking in emergencies.
• Mangle (Bear) is a strong attack that costs Rage and has a small cooldown. It also debuffs the target with 30% increased bleed damage taken. Use it whenever available.
• Lacerate causes bleed damage over time on the target and stacks up to 5 applications. Its high amount of threat makes it a strong tanking ability.
• Maul a strong attack that empowers your next auto attack but makes it cost Rage instead of granting Rage, so should only be used when you have excess Rage.
• Swipe swipes in front of you, dealing damage to all targets. This is meant to be used against 3 or more targets.
• Demoralizing Roar decreases the attack power of all enemies around you.
• Bash stuns your target for a few seconds.
• Frenzied Regeneration is a cooldown that converts Rage into health, healing you over a few seconds.
• Feral Charge charges your target, rooting them for 4 seconds and interrupting any spell cast.
• Enrage generates Rage but also lowers your armor for a short time.

These are other abilities that all Druids possess and which are part of your utility package. We will list the most important ones at the top, but you can read about all of them if you want to learn more about being a Druid.

Every ability below will take you out of form when used, making them very dangerous to use while actively tanking anything in bear form!

• Flight Form and Swift Flight Form are unique Druid flying forms which allow for instant air travel. They cannot be cast while in combat.
• Mark of the Wild is a unique Druid buff that increases your target's stats, armor, and resistances while active for 30 minutes. Keep this up on everyone in your group.
• Thorns buffs the target for 10 minutes, causing enemies who attack the target to take a small amount of Nature damage for each attack. You should always have this active on the tanks.
• Omen of Clarity is a 10-minute buff that causes your melee attacks to have a chance to make your next ability free. If you can stand in melee, this is a good way to convert downtime into Mana-free DPS!
• Barkskin is a defensive cooldown that reduces your physical damage taken by 20% for 15 seconds on a 1-minute cooldown. This is usable while stunned.
• Innervate greatly increases the target's Mana regeneration for a short time, making it especially good when used on targets with high Spirit.
• Rebirth allows you to resurrect a group member while in combat.
• Remove Curse removes a curse from your target.
• Abolish Poison removes a poison from your target every 2 seconds, for 8 seconds.
• Hibernate is a crowd control ability that puts a beast to sleep for 30 seconds. This is usable on enemy Druids while they are in animal forms.
• Entangling Roots is a crowd control ability that roots the target in place for up to 27 seconds depending on the rank.
• Cyclone is a short cast that stuns its target and makes it immune to damage and healing. It has multiple PvP uses and is one of the most powerful additions to the Druid kit in TBC.
• Nature's Grasp is a low-level talent in the Balance tree that puts a 45 second buff on you. While active, the next target to damage you will have Entangling Roots cast on them. This is a great ability to use when trying to run away!
• Nature's Swiftness is a Restoration talented ability that, when used, causes your next cast to be instant. This has a 3-minute cooldown.
• Lifebloom is an instant cast that heals the target over a period and stacks up to three times on the same target. When it ends or is dispelled, it bursts, instantly healing the target for a large amount. This is an extremely Mana efficient heal that also has dispel protection, making it a superb PvP ability.
• Rejuvenation is a heal over time effect you can cast on yourself or allies to heal them every few seconds for a while.
• Regrowth is a heal with a shorter cast time that does a burst of healing and puts a healing over time effect on the target.
• Healing Touch is a powerful heal with a longer cast.
• Tranquility is a powerful healing cooldown that, while channeled, heals party members every 2 seconds for 10 seconds on a 5-minute cooldown.
• Soothe Animal reduces the range at which a beast will attack you.
• Track Humanoids allows you to track nearby humanoids, including players, on your mini-map.