Druid Class Overview

Druids are able to choose from 3 specializations: Balance, Feral Combat, and Restoration. All three specializations play very differently from each other, focusing on Ranged DPS, Tanking / Melee DPS, and Healing, respectively.

• Balance is a Ranged DPS specialization with powerful area-of-effect damage and a simple damage rotation which mostly alternates between two nuke spells.
• Feral Combat can be either a Tanking or a Melee DPS specialization, depending on the specific talents you take. Feral Tanks are sturdy and easy to play, although they have less tools than the tanks of other specializations, while Feral DPS have high potential but also one of the toughest rotations to master.
• Restoration is a Healer specialization that focuses on applying a variety of heals-over-time to your allies in order to keep them healthy and energized through Revitalize.

Druid is the only class in the game which can perform all four main roles (Tank, Healer, Melee DPS, and Ranged DPS), making them extremely versatile and a great class to learn all aspects of the game with. They also make for great farmers and have an excellent leveling experience due to their multiple forms, which include an instant-cast flying form!

Balance is the most likely Druid specialization to be stacked in raids, as strong ranged DPS classes are rare and highly needed in raids. Their strong AoE profile also combines well with world and leveling content, allowing you to pull multiple enemies with damage-over-time effects and simply run around until they eventually die. They have a few decent PvP compositions, but are not a strong PvP class at the highest level.

Restoration is a solid healer, and one that you are likely to want to have in your raid group for its unique heal-over time-profile, which smooths out raid and tank damage, and for Revitalize, which can have significant DPS value when it procs on Energy / Runic Power / Rage classes. They also have a few good PvP compositions, making them a great all-round healer.

Feral Combat tanking is one of the easiest ways to begin tanking in Wrath, as their rotation and gearing process are both very simple. While they also have less tools than other tanks to help the raid with, they are very sturdy and hard to kill, even at low gear levels. These characteristics along with their stealth and mobility ability makes them one of the best PvP base defenders and flag carriers in Battlegrounds.

Feral Combat DPS have one of the most complex rotations in Wrath, and are adequately rewarded for performing it well with one of the highest single-target DPS potentials, especially as Armor Penetration gear becomes more common in later phases. In PvP they are absolute terrors with excellent mobility, damage, and instant cast spells after using finishers due to Predatory Strikes, and they are also part of some of the best Arena compositions in the game.

Druids are excellent at leveling, whether solo or in a party. Balance Druids can pull whole zones with dots and Starfall and just run around until everything is dead, while Feral DPS Druids have 0 downtime and simply move from mob to mob while instantly self-healing on the way. Restoration Druid and Feral Tank Druids are more specialized, raid-oriented specializations, and provide the tools to heal or tank in the end-game.

In Wrath Classic Druids can be Night Elf if you are playing Alliance or Tauren if you are Horde.

Druids are one of the most represented classes in Wrath due to being the only class that can cover all roles with its 4 sub-specializations. While Feral Tank is not as relatively strong as it was in TBCC, it is still a strong tank and Balance becomes a truly strong ranged DPS, brought for its damage and not just the group buffs. Restoration and Feral DPS continue to be very solid specs that you are likely to see in your groups.

Balance gains Starfall, Eclipse, and a reworked, much stronger Hurricane. Restoration's Lifebloom loses most of its TBCC power but other heals-over-time such as Rejuvenation are now much stronger, and the new Nourish spell provides a strong direct heal. Feral Tanks lose their traditionally high avoidance scaling due to diminishing returns but are now immune to Crits from talents alone. Finally, Feral DPS gains instant casts after finishers and a strong DPS cooldown in Berserk.

Due to their very different roles there is no best spec for Druids in Wrath, but Balance is likely to be the most popular and stacked in PvE raids, while Feral DPS should be very popular for PvP.

You will usually see 3-4 Druids in most 25m raids. The most important thing for 25m raids is ensuring you have all raid buffs covered, which one Druid of each specialization tree can help with, but bringing two or more Balance Druids is a great way to make use of Spell Power leather gear and Vanquisher tokens, while also covering AoE needs and ensuring a healthy amount of ranged DPS.

Druids have no racial options: if you are Alliance then you must be a Night Elf and Horde Druids can only be Taurens.

Druids are relatively easy to gear due to a lack of competition for most pieces, along with multiple important pieces coming from crafting professions. You will still face high competition for some of the more rare trinkets and jewelry pieces, however.

Druids are able to wear Cloth and Leather armor.

Druids can use a large variety of weapons, including Daggers, Fist Weapons, Staves, Maces, and also Polearms in Wrath.

Addons and Macros can greatly improve your quality of life: below are some of our recommendations to help get the most out of your time playing the game.

Listed below are guides filled with information to help you play your Druid optimally in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion for Classic WoW.

• Druid Leveling Guide
• Balance Druid Leveling Guide
• Feral Druid Leveling Guide
• Restoration Druid Leveling Guide

You might also want to check out our full class guides, which teach you how to play your class at the new Level 80 cap!

• Balance Druid Guide
• Feral DPS Druid Guide
• Feral Tank Druid Guide
• Restoration Druid Guide