Guardian Druid Patch 9.1 Changes Analysis

Ursine Adept — This 10% damage reduction passive now only applies in Bear Form which will make shifting into other forms while tanking mildly more dangerous.

Guardian Druid currently has 2 brand new PvP talents and one old PvP talent has been removed.

• New — Emerald Slumber — Enter a deep slumber that causes all your cooldowns to recover 400% faster, and allies within 40 yards are healed over 8 seconds.
• New — Grove Protection — Summon a grove to protect allies in the area for 8 seconds, reducing damage taken by 40% from enemy players outside the grove.
• Removed — High Winds — Cyclone reduces the targets damage by 30% for 4 seconds.

Overall, these new PvP talents are both quite strong and will likely improve our performance in PvP and open-world content greatly in general; reducing cooldowns is incredibly powerful and a mass damage reduction is also fantastic.

Guardian Druid has 4 new Covenant-specific Legendaries in Patch 9.1.

• Unbridled Swarm — Adaptive Swarm has a 60% chance to split into two Swarms each time it jumps.
• Sinful Hysteria — Each time Ravenous Frenzy is applied its duration is increased by 0.2 seconds. Additionally, Ravenous Frenzy lingers and will not overcome you for 5 seconds after it ends.
• Celestial Spirits — The cooldown and duration of Convoke the Spirits is reduced by 50%. Convoke the Spirits has an increased chance to use an exceptional spell or ability.
• Kindred Affinity — You and your Kindred Spirit each gain a bonus secondary stat based on their Covenant. This bonus is doubled while the bond is empowered.

• Well-Honed Instincts Conduit — The coooldown has been increased by 50% at all ranks.

All Soulbind Trees for all Covenants will be getting new tiers added with new Soulbind abilities. These can have a significant impact on the best Soulbind, or even the best Covenant overall.

We have listed all of the abilities with a relevant impact below.

• Niya — Bonded Hearts — Causes your constantly-generated Grove Invigoration stacks to grant 50% increased Mastery if you are close to non-Night Fae allies when they are generated.
• Dreamweaver — Dream Delver — This is essentially just a 3% DPS buff to your current target.
• Dreamweaver — Waking Dreams — When you take damage below 80% HP, you gain a shield for 30% of your maximum health for 12 seconds.
• Korayn — Wild Hunt Strategem — When you hit a target above 75% health, you gain a 1-minute buff. If you then attack an enemy below 35% health, this buff will be consumed and increase your damage to sub-35% targets by 5% for 10 seconds.
• Forgelite Prime Mikanikos — Soulglow Spectrometer — Causes you to build a damage buff on the target you are hitting which stacks by 1% every 3 seconds, up to 5%. You cannot start another buff on a new target until you have expired one on the previous target.
• Forgelite Prime Mikanikos — Effusive Anima Accelerator — Causes your Kindred Spirits to instantly deal Arcane damage, split between all enemies within 12 yards. For every target hit, the cooldown of Kindred Spirits is reduced by 4 seconds, up to a maximum of 20 seconds at 5 or more targets hit.
• Pelagos — Better Together — Gives you a small amount of mastery for 1 minute when you move close to an ally. You can only be affected by one buff at a time. This will pretty much be up all of the time.
• Pelagos — Newfound Resolve — Occasionally spawns a "Doubt" unit near you while in combat. Facing it grants you 12% increased Agility and Stamina for 15 seconds. Depending on proc rate, this could be very strong.
• Kleia — Light the Path — Causes your Valiant Strikes Soulbind Ability buff to also grant 0.25% Critical Strike per stack. It also causes its heal effect to grant you 5% Critical Strike for 12 seconds. Given the 1-minute limit on Valiant Strikes, this is a bit weak.
• Emeni — Pustule Eruption — Causes Fleshcraft to grant you 9 pustule stacks. When you take damage or get healed, they blow up for 48% AP of damage on nearby enemies. This is quite a significant amount of damage making it pretty powerful for us.
• Bonesmith Heirmir — Carver's Eye — Grants you a Mastery buff when you hit a target above 90% health which lasts 5 seconds and stacks to 5, but refreshes its duration when you generate a new stack. There is a 10-second forced gap between initial applications of this buff.
• Bonesmith Heirmir — Mnemonic Equipment — Causes your attacks on targets below 35% health to deal 3% extra damage over 5 seconds.
• Plague Deviser Marileth — Kevin's Oozeling — Causes your Adaptive Swarm to spawn an Oozeling to attack your target. You also deal 6% increased damage to whatever he is targeting. He is up roughly 40-45% of the time.
• Nadjia the Mistblade — Fatal Flaw — Enhances Thrill Seeker by giving you a Critical Strike/Versatility buff when its Haste buff ends.
• Theotar the Mad Duke — Party Favors — Gives you a 3% primary or secondary stat buff for 1 hour each day.
• General Draven — Battlefield Presence — Increases your damage done and reduces damage taken by 1% for every enemy within 5 yards of you, up to 3%.

As you can see, there are a number of interesting new Abilities being added. Some highlights for each Covenant include Bonded Hearts which is a significant buff to the already very strong Grove Invigoration, Newfound Resolve which has a "Thing From Beyond"-esque flavour to it, but gives you a massive 12% Agility buff. Its proc rate will determine how good it is. Heirmir's Carver's Eye looks strong on paper, and Nadjia's Fatal Flaw looks strong as well.

There are no changes to Guardian Druid Anima Powers in Patch 9.1 so far.