Druid Class Overview
Druids are masters of Nature and can transform into various animals and even a treant in order to perform their roles. They are also the only class which can perform all four roles by themselves (Tank, Healer, Melee DPS, Ranged DPS), which makes them extremely versatile and a great starting class if you are not sure of what role you would like to perform at maximum level.
Druid Specializations
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.
Are Druids Viable at 80?
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.
Are Druids Strong Levelers?
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.
Races For Druids
In Wrath Classic Druids can be Night Elf if you are playing Alliance or Tauren if you are Horde.
FAQ
Are Druids good in Wrath?
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.
What are the biggest changes from TBC for Druids?
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.
What is the best Druid spec in Wrath?
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.
How many Druids should be in a raid?
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.
What race is best for Druids?
Druids have no racial options: if you are Alliance then you must be a Night Elf and Horde Druids can only be Taurens.
Gearing a Druid
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.
Armor
Druids are able to wear Cloth and Leather armor.
Weapons
Druids can use a large variety of weapons, including Daggers, Fist Weapons, Staves, Maces, and also Polearms in Wrath.
Druid Addons and Macros
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.
Druid Guides for Wrath of the Lich King Classic
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!
Changelog
- 28 Aug. 2022: Page added.
This guide has been written by Seksi, original vanilla player and multi-class player, currently playing on Gehennas Horde. You can find him on the Classic Shaman and Druid, as well as the Icy Veins Discord.
- Wrath Classic Patch 3.4.2 PTR Notes: May 18th
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