WoW Classic Druid Leveling Guide 1-60
Welcome to our Classic leveling guide for Druids. Here, you will learn how to efficiently level your Druid all the way to Level 60.
If you were looking for TBC Classic advice, please refer to our TBC Classic Druid leveling guide.
Foreword
Druids are exceptionally fast levelers, only slightly falling behind Hunters
in speed. However, Druids also require much more work and finesse to play at peak
efficiency. With multiple forms, healing spells, utility spells, and damaging
spells, Druids have the largest toolkit out of any class, allowing you to adapt
to any situation. Feral is the best Druid leveling spec, and allows Druids to use
different animal forms, such as Cat Form and
Bear Form, to use
Energy and Rage to deal heavy melee damage while letting their Mana regenerate,
allowing them to make heavier use of natural Mana regeneration than any other
Mana user. This natural efficiency is what gives Druids their leveling speed,
allowing them to heal quickly, pull new mobs, and keep regenerating Mana, with
very little downtime required.
Spec Options
Druids have many potential specs, but Feral will be your fastest leveling spec
if you plan to play solo. Feral allows you to regenerate Mana passively while efficiently
killing enemies in Bear Form and
Cat Form.
Balance allows you to level as a caster, focusing on using your nature and arcane damage spells to kill enemies. Balance is slower than Feral, but the gearing will allow you to easily heal dungeons while leveling, which can be better in a group.
Druids can also level as Restoration, but it is by far the worst option, if you plan to level alone. In groups Restoration will do quite well, but you do not need the Restoration talents to heal; Balance will serve you better while allowing you to also quest and do damage when needed.
Weapons and Quests for Leveling Druids in WoW Classic
To guide you in your weapon upgrades and the class-specific quests you can do while leveling up, we have two guides that you might find useful.
Leveling in a Group as a Druid
Contrary to popular belief, leveling in a group can be extremely efficient, even better than solo leveling in some cases. While Druids are one of the faster solo leveling classes, they also perform very well with a partner or with a group. Druids in duos typically will level faster than playing solo, as Druids are exceptional at supporting other DPS. Druids do very well when paired with high DPS classes like Warriors or Warlocks. Druids also can level through dungeons, and are able to tank and heal dungeons quite well.
Leveling Strategy as a Druid
As a Druid, your goal is to spend Mana in bursts before swapping into either
Bear Form or
Cat Form to finish enemies off. While in a form,
your Mana will continue to regenerate, allowing you to swap out once enemies are
dead and use it to heal, buff, or cast
Moonfire or
Wrath to
pull new enemies from range.
Basic Leveling Strategy
For Levels 1 through 10, you will be mainly focused on using Moonfire,
Wrath, and melee attacks. Keep in mind the 5 second rule, where your Mana
only starts regenerating after not casting for 5 seconds. This means you should
always try to front load your spells and finish enemies off with melee attacks.
Once you hit Level 10, you get Bear Form, which is your largest power
spike that you will experience on your journey to 60. Once you have Bear Form,
you now have a way to deal damage without using Mana. This is important because
it allows you to front load your Mana to either do damage or heal yourself before
switching into Bear Form to finish enemies off. You will be naturally resilient
enough in Bear Form to tank multiple enemies, so do not be scared about pulling
2-3 enemies at a time, but any more and you will run into problems.
At Level 20, you get Cat Form, which is the form you will spend most
of your time in up to 60. You will want to focus on using
Claw and
Rake to generate combo points before using
Ferocious Bite to
finish enemies off.
Prowl is also a powerful tool and should be utilized
whenever possible to sneak past enemies you do not want to fight.
Even past Level 20, do not be afraid to use Bear Form sometimes
whenever you feel like you might need to take less damage. While Bear Form is
less damage than
Cat Form, you take way less damage and will be at a lower
risk of dying. In general, try to go Bear Form if you are dealing with multiple enemies
at once, but use Cat Form for when you are only attacking one target. You can
also make use of your crowd control abilities like
Entangling Roots and
Hibernate if too many enemies are being pulled to limit the number you
need to deal with.
Other Tips
Teleport: Moonglade - get used to using this ability whenever you need to train, vendor, or repair your gear. If you set your hearthstone to the inn closest to where you are currently questing, then you can teleport to Moonglade to take care of whatever you need before hearthing back to wherever you are questing.
- Once you get your mount at Level 40, do not underestimate how valuable
Travel Form and
Cat Form can be when moving. Specifically, you need to be moving for more than 20 seconds for it to be worth using your mount and not just casting Travel Form, since it is an instant cast.
- If you plan to do dungeons at all, keep a set of Intellect/Spirit gear in your bags. With some good pieces, you can heal through most dungeons while still having Feral talents, which could help you get into a dungeon group, since healers are harder to come by while leveling.
- Only use
Swipe when you are attacking 3+ targets, which should only be happening if you are leveling in a group as more of a tank.
Professions While Leveling
If your goal is to hit Level 60 as fast as possible, it is not recommended to pick up professions while leveling. However, some professions are very useful for either leveling or at Level 60, and can be worth the time investment while leveling. First Aid is a must have profession at max level due to the no Mana cost healing it provides, and learning it early on can be useful while leveling. Herbalism, Mining, and Skinning all are great choices for making gold towards your first mount, and can also be useful for helping to level other important professions later on, such as taking Mining to help level Engineering.
If you are going Restoration at Level 60, it might be advisable to take professions that you can level without needing to kill enemies, such as Herbalism and Alchemy.
How to advance as a Druid at Level 60
Well done on hitting maximum level in WoW Classic! Now that leveling is over, you can learn more about level 60 gameplay by reading one of our Druid PvE guides. Check out our guides for all four roles: Feral DPS Guide, Feral Tank Guide, Balance Guide, and our Restoration Guide. All of these cover every facet of gameplay at 60 in detail.
In addition, you can also read the following guides.
- Our PvP Druid guide is where you can find PvP builds for all 3 specializations, as well as various tricks and tips for PvP combat.
- Goldmaking Guide for Druids is a page with details on where / how to farm gold quickly as a Druid when you are Level 60.
Changelog
- 02 Sep. 2019: Improved description of Bear Form questline.
- 29 Aug. 2019: Improved presentation of talent picks by level.
- 15 Jul. 2019: Page added.
More Classic Druid Guides
Classic Leveling Dungeon Guides
Classic Profession Guides
Classic Reputation Guides
This guide has been written by Impakt, an Officer in BDGG, the #2 North American guild on retail. In addition to live WoW, he has also been a classic theorycrafter and enthusiast for many years. You can watch him stream on Twitch, or follow him on Twitter.
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