Guardian Druid Tank Easy Mode — Season 4

This page is intended for players who are new to the game or class, have no intentions of raiding Mythic difficulty or simply want a more straightforward way to play their specialization without being overwhelmed by the numerous subtleties and active abilities that need to be taken into consideration for optimal play.

Guardian Druids reduce incoming damage through their active mitigation Ironfur. Ironfur has a negligible cooldown and can stack, making it strong against incoming Physical damage and melee attacks. Their self-heal, Frenzied Regeneration, while not as strong as some other tank classes, provides a decent boost to self-sustain. Their combination of both short and long-cooldown defensive abilities helps them deal with Magic damage effectively.

In terms of utility, Guardians bring Stampeding Roar, a raid-wide movement speed boost, which is very powerful for many encounters where group-wide movement is a necessity. Guardians can also resurrect allies in Combat with Rebirth and will occasionally pulse an aoe heal around them with After the Wildfire.

The primary goal of a Guardian is to stay alive, using the tools at your disposal. This means generating and spending Rage on active mitigation, self-healing, and effectively using your defensive cooldowns to survive dangerous incoming damage. A secondary goal is to deal good damage; this is important to maintain a threat on your target and contribute to killing bosses faster. Luckily, this does not require much extra effort on your behalf — if you are performing your rotation well defensively, your damage will reflect that.

Below, we recommend two builds with different playstyles. The raiding build leans more on the Thorns of Iron talent as it easy to learn, while the M+ build revolves around Raze.

This is a general build that gets some great healing utility like Dream of Cenarius and After the Wildfire while also being able to output massive damage and absorbs Ursoc's Fury using Maul spam. You also won't lose as much damage pressing Ironfur as you did in patch 10.1 as you are able to talent Thorns of Iron comfortably.

Use the calculator's 'Copy Export String' to easily copy the build in-game.

This build removes all the arcane talents and focuses more on consistently generating massive Ursoc's Fury absorbs via Raze and Thrash. We also pick up all healing utility from Dream of Cenarius and After the Wildfire along with some CC in Typhoon and Ursol's Vortex.

Use the calculator's 'Copy Export String' to easily copy the build in-game.

If you want a more in-depth analysis of the best talents for each situation, check out our full talents page below.

You will want to prioritize item level over all else, as Armor, Stamina and Agility are far more valuable than any secondary stats.

On jewelry and other slots with no primary stats, you will prefer secondary stats in the following order:

1. Haste;
2. Versatility;
3. Mastery;
4. Critical Strike.

Stat priority can vary based on how much of each stat you have and whether you want to focus on a more defensive or offensive set-up. Head to our dedicated stats page below to see the full explanation of the stat priority.

For a better understanding of how each spell contributes to the It is highly recommended to browse through the Spells Summary page linked below for Guardian rotation and the benefits they provide.

1. Keep Moonfire up.
2. Use Thrash.
3. Use Mangle.
4. Use Maul ST, Raze on AoE, or Ironfur Defensively (to dump excess Rage).
5. Use Swipe as a lowest priority last resort button if you have nothing else to press.

This rotation maximizes Rage generation while maintaining reasonable damage.

While the above is a fantastic starting point for a Guardian Druid, it is recommended to look at our complete rotation guide to get a better grasp of how the abilities interact with each other and their other intricate synergies.

By executing your rotation, you will generate Rage. You can spend Rage in one of three ways: on your active mitigation spell Ironfur, on your self-heal Frenzied Regeneration, or on a hard-hitting attack Maul.

Deciding how to spend Rage can be boiled down to a few simple situations. If you are taking Physical damage or melee attacks, use Ironfur. If you are at low health or expect to be brought to low health, use Frenzied Regeneration. If you are not in danger of either, use Maul.

Ironfur is unique in that multiple spell applications can overlap, meaning you can simultaneously have two or more "stacks" of Ironfur. You can also pool Rage to spend on numerous stacks for dangerous moments in a fight. Keep in mind that every application has an independent duration, so adding a stack will not refresh the duration on other stacks.

Frenzied Regeneration heals you for a percentage of your maximum health over a short period. An important aspect of good Frenzied Regeneration use does not cause overhealing. This means you should be casting it when you are in low health or when the risk of being healed to full by a healer before your Frenzied Regeneration can finish ticking is low. You may also use this spell proactively if you expect to take a large amount of damage soon, but remember that a portion of the heal occurs instantly, so do not let that go to waste.

Maul should only be used when you are either not actively tanking or when you are taking so little damage that using Ironfur will not reduce your need for healing or increase your chances of living.

Guardians have three baseline cooldowns.

• Barkskin reduces all damage you take by 20% for 12 seconds on a 60-second cooldown. Barkskin is usable while stunned, incapacitated, or asleep. This will be your first line of defense against dangerous spike damage and your primary way of reducing magic damage or simply as risk mitigation to smooth your damage intake for your healers. It has a short cooldown, so use it often.
• Survival Instincts reduces all damage you take by 50% for 6 seconds. Survival Instincts has 2 charges and a 3-minute recharge time. This is your major defensive reduction, to be used against lethal spike damage or "tankbuster" mechanics. Its short duration and long cooldown mean it should be used sparingly.
• Berserk reduces the cooldown on Mangle, Thrash, Growl, and Frenzied Regeneration by 50%, also reduces the Rage cost of Ironfur by 50%. It is a huge boost to our defensive capabilities and an offensive power gain, too, allowing us to cast our best spells more often.