World of Warcraft: Forever Restoration Druid Leveling Guide

Druid has proven to be one of the more difficult classes to level early on - particularly spell damage variants. As a healing spec, Restoration will be even slower still, though in exchange you will feel safer than most of the DPS specs. If you want to speed to level 60, then we recommend leveling as Balance or Feral instead (you will still be able to heal dungeons). If you have your heart set on Restoration however, then the below guide will help you make the most of your slower leveling journey.

This page will update based on your level selection by using the Level-sliders below. This way you will find recommendations for every step on your journey to max level for your talents, gear, and what areas we recommend to level in. A lot will change once you reach Level 60, but there are many different ways to get there.

WoW Forever puts a lot of emphasis on the journey to maximum level, so if a particular zone really interests you, then I definitely encourage you to follow whatever quest threads look fun - even if they are a little slower. There is a ton to experience along the way and no rush to reach Level 60. Take your time, and enjoy the journey!

The build above is designed with leveling in mind, and you would make changes to the build at max level, chiefly moving points out of Improved Wrath, Insect Swarm and into talents like Heart of the Wild.

The early levels will be rough, and while we will put points in Improved Wrath right away, it doesn't necessarily do more damage than auto attacking in Bear Form until a bit later on.

As a quick discussion on a few points:

• The range increase portion of Nature's Reach is very good and you can grab it with your 6th and 7th points. The hit chance is noticeable, and it will greatly improve your ability to get the tag on enemies in bustling early leveling zones. Remember that whoever gets the first hit on an enemy gets credit for the kill. Let's make sure that person is you.
• Reflection makes a big difference for your downtime by providing a ton of mana regeneration.
• Your healing capabilities will skyrocket in dungeons once you pick up Gift of the Earthmother and Swiftmend.
• The final talent points are very flexible. Genesis is a decent damage and healing increase, so it is a reasonable choice. Heart of the Wild would also be a good alternative.

The Druid class focuses heavily on shapeshifting, though we will not be using a specia form to heal. That means that all of the forms listed below will end up with niche use-cases, but don't expect any of them to be used every combat.

• Bear Form: A tank form that uses Rage as a resource (which is generated when you deal or take damage). During early levels, auto attacking in Bear Form can be comparable to casting Wrath. Later on, you can use Bear Form if you need extra health and Armor to survive a mechanic.
• Cat Form: An Energy-based melee damage form. It can be used to Prowl to sneak around tough packs of enemies. You otherwise will not use it too much, unless you choose to level as Feral.
• Aquatic Form: Grants you a big movement speed increase and unlimited breath underwater.
• Travel Form: Greatly improves your movement speed. Can only be used outdoors.

Our offensive rotation will remain quite simple all the way to level 60, while we will slowly unlock additional and much stronger healing spells on our journey there.

You will be particularly good at healing dungeons, as there are not too many people leveling as a healing spec. This gives you the opportunity to really impress and make new friends on your way to max level.

• Make sure you put Mark of the Wild on the group! You should also maintain Thorns on the tank.
• Keep Rejuvenation active on the tank and cast it on other party members as necessary. It is quite a mana-efficient spell.
• Use Regrowth for stronger targeted healing when necessary. If the tank is taking sustained damage and Regrowth / Rejuvenation are already active, then you can cast Healing Touch, but it should not be necessary too often.
• Swiftmend is an excellent efficient healing spell once you unlock it. You can cast Rejuvenation followed by Swiftmend on someone taking unexpected damage to quickly heal them for a large amount. You can also cast it on the tank if they are taking sustained damage. It is too efficient to save it for emergencies only.
• Tranquility is quite strong in dungeon groups and can get you through tough AoE scenarios, though it is on a long cooldown.
• Maintain awareness of your mana and use Innervate (after Level 40) on cooldown. You should also aim to drink very often. You can usually get a few sips off between packs, even if the tank is pulling quickly.

For most of your leveling time you will maintain Moonfire, and eventually Insect Swarm, and then cast Wrath on the target.

You will also need to heal yourself a lot while leveling, though you will be particularly good at it as a healing spec. Cast Rejuvenation on yourself before engaging, and then Regrowth if you need further healing mid-fight. The heal-over-time buff it leaves on you lasts for a long time. If you accidentally pull multiple enemies, consider Nature's Grasp to root one in place.

Keep Mark of the Wild and Thorns active on yourself at all times.

• Open with Moonfire if your area is crowded, and Wrath if not. While it is useful to get a free uninterrupted cast off before the enemy starts hitting you, Moonfire is an instant-cast spell so it is a faster way to get the tag on enemies.
• Cast Insect Swarm when talented.
• Cast Wrath as your main filler spell.

Early in your journey, particularly around level 10 when you unlock Bear Form, you might find that you do better by just applying Moonfire and then auto attacking the enemy instead of casting Wrath. As you get more spell power on your gear, this will tilt back toward your spells.

We get our first real AoE spell, Hurricane, at Level 40. Before then your AoE rotation will look very similar to your single-target rotation. It can still be more efficient to pull multiple enemies at a time when you are higher level, since Moonfire and Thorns are both good in AoE situations.

• Apply Moonfire and eventually Insect Swarm to all enemies you are in combat with.
• (If level 40 and 3+ enemies) Cast Hurricane. This often deals more damage than the damage-over-time effects above, but you can still cast them while the enemies run toward you. Consider combining Hurricane with Barkskin to avoid having it cancelled by a few spell pushbacks almost immediately.
• Before Level 40, cast Wrath until the combat ends. Refresh damage-over-time effects on enemies that will live long enough for them to tick.

Beyond your healing and damaging spells, Druid is one of the classes with the widest array of utility and crown control spells. Mastering them all will allow you to truly shine, especially when things go awry and you end up saving a bad situation with the knowledge on how to use your entire class kit.

In both dungeons and the open world you will also be pressing a lot of your utility and crowd control abilities. These will save your life very often, while also making you a more valuable member of your team.

Click for Utility and Crowd Control Explanation

4.1.1.

Crowd Control

• Entangling Roots: Roots a target in place, preventing them from moving. If they are rooted outside of melee range then they will not melee attack either, though casters will continue casting. Entangling Roots will break when the target takes a certain amount of damage. This is limited to one target at a time without the Overgrowth talent, which we will not be taking. It is extremely good for breaking up a two-enemy pull into two single-target combats. Can be cast automatically when you are attacked via the Nature's Grasp ability.
• Bash (Requires Bear Form): A single-target stun ability. Requires 10 rage to cast, which means you need to be in Bear Form for a few seconds first.
• Hibernate: A single-target crowd control that is limited to Beast and Dragonkin targets. Any damage will break it, but it is still useful for multi-target pulls. You will run into a lot of beasts while leveling, and this can also be used on Hunter pets and even other Druids who have shapeshifted!

4.1.2.

Other Utility

• Mark of the Wild: A powerful buff that gives stat, resistance, and armor, to you and anyone you group with. You will eventually get an AoE version ( Gift of the Wild) which does the same thing, but to all party members at once. Make sure you have this active at all times while leveling.
• Thorns: A buff spell that causes anyone attacking the target to take damage every time they hit. Thorns damage scales with spell power on your gear, and does a surprisingly high amount of your damage. This is an essential buff when out in the world, and something you should always have active on your tank when you are in dungeon groups.
• Faerie Fire: A debuff that reduces the target's armor, which makes them take increased physical damage. You do not need to cast this while on your own, since your damage is magic, but you can consider doing so in dungeon groups that are heavy on physical classes like Rogues, Warriors, and Hunters - especially on bosses which will live for a while.
• Rebirth: An in-combat resurrection spell. Druid exclusive, and incredibly powerful.
• Revive: An out-of-combat resurrection spell that does not have a cooldown.
• Remove Curse & Abolish Poison: Dispel skills that remove Curse, Bane, and Poison debuffs from a friendly target. We are not able to remove Magic or Disease-type debuffs.

While at level 60, you will primarily look for gear with healing power on it, but when leveling you should also seek out Spell Power, since increasing your damage will speed up your leveling journey quite a bit.

1. Spell Power
   • Increases the damage your spells do, including Thorns. Each spell has something called a "spell power coefficient" which determines how much extra damage it gains for every point of spell power you have. Generally speaking, the longer the cast, the higher this coefficient will be. Priority Stat.
2. Healing Power
   • Increases the amount of healing your spells do. Priority Stat.
3. Intellect
   • Increases your mana pool, and increases your crit chance by a small amount. Exists on a lot of gear.
4. Critical Strike
   • Gives your spells (including damage-over-time and heal-over-time effects) a chance to deal more damage.
5. Haste
   • Reduces your spell cast times. Does not affect the healing or tick rate of your healing-over-time effects. Haste is a fairly rare find on gear though Skyborne Druid players will get 3% automatically.
6. Spirit
   • Increases your mana regeneration when you haven't been casting for five seconds. The Reflection talent allows some of this mana regeneration to continue at all times and we will grab that fairly early in our leveling journey. Also gives a little bit of health regeneration.
7. MP5 ("Mana per 5")
   • Restores mana every 5 seconds regardless of whether you are actively casting or not.

Be Efficient With Your Time

While leveling, you will be replacing items very frequently, which means you should not spend too much of your time seeking out specific items - especially if they are not guaranteed drops like quest rewards. Dungeons have powerful items in them, but it is not very efficient experience-wise to run them multiple times. Definitely aim to hit each dungeon once though, since the dungeon quest chains offer a ton of experience, and it will let you see all of the content as you level without wasting any of your time.

• Zones to Quest in:
  • Darkshore / Elwynn Forest
  • The Barrens
• Available Dungeons (ideally hold for later):
  • Hall of Thanes
  • Ragefire Chasm

• Zones to Quest in:
  • Westfall/Darkshore
  • Silverpine Forest
• Available Dungeons:
  • Hall of Thanes
  • Ragefire Chasm and Ruins of Lordaeron

• Zones to Quest in:
  • Westfall / Start Redridge Mountains
  • The Barrens/Stonetalon Mountains
• Available Dungeons:
  • Hall of Thanes and Deadmines
  • Wailing Caverns

• Zones to Quest in:
  • Redridge Mountains / Duskwood / Start Wetlands
  • Hillsbrad Foothills/Stonetalon Mountains
• Available Dungeons:
  • Deadmines
  • Shadowfang Keep and Wailing Caverns

• Zones to Quest in:
  • Ashenvale / Duskwood / Wetlands
  • Stonetalon Mountains
• Available Dungeons:
  • Blackfathom Deeps and The Stockade
  • Blackfathom Deeps and Shadowfang Keep

• Zones to Quest in:
  • Wetlands / Ashenvale / Finish Duskwood
  • Hillsbrad Foothills / Wetlands
• Available Dungeons:
  • Excavation Site: Wetlands and Blackfathom Deeps
  • Excavation Site: Wetlands and Blackfathom Deeps

• Zones to Quest in:
  • Wetlands / Ashenvale
  • Wetlands / Thousand Needles
• Available Dungeons:
  • Excavation Site: Wetlands and Gnomeregan
  • Excavation Site: Wetlands and Razorfen Kraul

Listed below are some important items to pick up during your journey, as they are items you might use for quite a few levels. Ultimately though, don't get too bogged down by chasing a specific item, since spending that time leveling instead is usually more efficient - particularly if it is a dungeon drop which might take multiple runs to obtain.

• Weapons
  • Golemheart Stave drops from Hall of Thanes.
  • Staff of Westfall from the Defias Brotherhood quest chain in Westfall. The quest will also require you to finish the Deadmines dungeon.
  • Gnarled Necromancer's Staff from the The Wrath of Rath'mael quest in Ruins of Lordaeron. I highly recommend getting your factions respective quest weapon here because alternatives often only drop from dungeons.
  • Odo's Ley Staff from the Shadowfang Keep dungeon.
• Other Key Slots
  • You can grab a very early Idol slot item in Idol of Shifting Tides. It isn't of massive value, but it is in a slot that will otherwise stay empty for quite a while. You will obtain it while doing the quest chain for Aquatic Form at level 16+.
  • Rings are quite rare at early levels. Horde can obtain Seal of Sylvanas via the Arugal Must Die quest in Shadowfang Keep. Alliance can pick up Seal of Wrynn via An Audience with the King which requires you are high enough level to complete The Stockade.
  • Necklaces are even harder to find early than rings, but the Hall of Thanes dungeon can drop Ephemeral Choker.

Keep multiple stacks of water on you at all times: Drinking restores mana out of combat, and you will need to drink every few enemies. Without water, it will take you a long time to regenerate enough mana for your next fight, so this is of utmost importance. You can buy water at any innkeeper and there is a new version available that restores more mana roughly every 5 levels.

Stop at campfires often: Once an hour you are able to rest at a campsite and get a collection of buffs that other players have left there for you via their professions. These buffs can greatly enhance up your leveling speed.

Log out in rested areas: Time spent in rested areas like cities or inns will grant you rested experience. This is bonus experience in the form of a blue bar that will double your experience gains until spent. You should make sure you maximize this gain whenever you are not actively playing.

Do every dungeon at least once for quests: Every dungeon has several quests associated with it and they will give you significantly more experience than regular quests. It is worth doing each dungeon once to complete all of these. It might also give you a nice piece of gear or two!

Obtain the Sleeping Bag: When you are level 14, you will get a quest to obtain the Cozy Sleeping Bag item which gives you a stacking experience buff. This will save you a few hours over your entire leveling journey. There is a full guide to obtaining the Sleeping Bag here.

Be careful with multi-enemy pulls: Pulling even two enemies at a time can be dangerous if you are not prepared for it - particularly at lower levels. Once your healing improves and you get some spell power, you will be able to do two enemy pulls quite comfortably, though you should still be careful. Use crowd control like Entangling Roots to split up tough groups or consider CCing them while you run away entirely.

Level	Important Unlocks
10	Bear Form Unlock
20	Cat Form Unlock Omen of Clarity Unlock
25	Legacy Systems Unlock
30	Travel Form Unlock
40	Wild Growth Possible Innervate Unlock

Professions in Forever are fairly flexible and if you particularly like the benefits offered by one of them, feel free to pick it. That said, Skinning and Leatherworking can be a useful combination while leveling. It will let you craft gear for yourself, and the Camp Tent item that Leatherworking lets you contribute to a Campfire is one of the most powerful ones, since it gives you bonus rested experience.

A Herbalism and Alchemy combination can also be very enticing since it will let you craft your own potions and elixirs while you level. This includes potions that restore mana, which can save a pull that has gone on for a bit longer than you expected, or because additional enemies entered the fight.

Engineering can also be quite appealing with its collection of gadgets. They will not be that useful while leveling so you could consider swapping to it when you are max level instead.

In addition to your two main professions, you are also able to pick up First Aid. You are unlikely to use many bandages as a spec with great healing, but it also lets you craft health potions which can be very useful in a pinch.

More WoW Forever Druid Guides

Balance Druid Ranged DPS Guide Balance Druid Ranged DPS Leveling Feral Druid Melee DPS and Tank Guide Feral Druid Melee DPS and Tank Leveling Restoration Druid Healer Guide

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