Guardian Druid Tank Simulations in Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.0.1

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 8.0.1 Changes for Guardian Druid
    • 2.1. Added/Removed Spells
    • 2.2. Changed Spells
  • 3. Contents
  • 4. Changelog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. Foreword
  • 2. The Basics of Guardian Druids
  • 3. Talent Choice for Guardian Druids
  • 4. Stat Choice
  • 5. Basic Rotation for Guardian Druids
  • 6. Active Mitigation Abilities for Guardian Druids
  • 7. Cooldown Usage for Guardian Druids
  • 8. Changelog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Main Resource of Guardian Druids
  • 3. Basic Abilities for Guardian Druids
  • 4. Important Procs for Guardian Druids
  • 5. Active Mitigation for Guardian Druids
  • 6. Cooldowns for Guardian Druids
  • 7. Additional Utility for Guardian Druids
  • 8. Changelog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices for Guardian Druid
  • 2. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents for Guardian Druids
  • 3. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents for Guardian Druids
  • 4. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents for Guardian Druids
  • 5. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents for Guardian Druids
  • 6. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents for Guardian Druids
  • 7. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents for Guardian Druids
  • 8. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents for Guardian Druids
  • 9. PvP Talents (War Mode)
    • 9.1. PvP Talents for Guardian Druids
      • 9.1.1. General PvP Talents
      • 9.1.2. Guardian Druid PvP Talents
  • 10. Changelog
• +Azerite Traits and Armor
  • 1. Choosing Azerite Gear as a Guardian Druid
  • 2. Choosing Azerite Traits as a Guardian Druid
    • 2.1. How to Use this List
    • 2.2. Outer Ring Traits for Guardian Druid
    • 2.3. S Tier
      • 2.3.1. A Tier
      • 2.3.2. B Tier
      • 2.3.3. C Tier
    • 2.4. Middle Ring Traits for Guardian Druid
      • 2.4.1. S Tier
      • 2.4.2. A Tier
      • 2.4.3. B Tier
      • 2.4.4. C Tier
    • 2.5. Inner Ring Traits for Guardian Druid
      • 2.5.1. S Tier
      • 2.5.2. A Tier
      • 2.5.3. B Tier
      • 2.5.4. C Tier
  • 3. Azerite Traits Details and Rotation Changes for Guardian Druid
  • 4. Azerite Gear
  • 5. Find Azerite Armor By Trait/Power
  • 6. Changelog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Single Target Rotation for Guardian Druids
  • 2. Multiple Target Rotation for Guardian Druids
  • 3. Active Mitigation for Guardian Druids
    • 3.1. Ironfur
    • 3.2. Frenzied Regeneration
  • 4. Taunting
  • 5. Cooldowns for Guardian Druids
  • 6. Optional Read: Mastering Your Guardian Druid
    • 6.1. Rage Generation
    • 6.2. Mastery: Nature's Guardian
    • 6.3. Gore Procs
    • 6.4. Detailed Cooldown Usage for Guardian Druids
      • 6.4.1. Barkskin
      • 6.4.2. Survival Instincts
    • 6.5. Abilities and Cooldowns from Talents
      • 6.5.1. Tier 1 Talents
      • 6.5.2. Tier 5 Talents
      • 6.5.3. Tier 6 Talents
      • 6.5.4. Tier 7 Talents
    • 6.6. Catweaving
  • 7. Changelog
• +Mythic+ Tips
  • 1. Guardian Druid in Mythic+
    • 1.1. Guardian Druid Mythic+ Rotation
    • 1.2. Guardian Druid Utility
    • 1.3. Mythic+ Talents for Guardian Druids
  • 2. Mythic+ Affixes
    • 2.1. Tier One Affixes
    • 2.2. Tier Two Affixes
    • 2.3. Tier Three Affixes
    • 2.4. Seasonal Affix
  • 3. Mythic+ Azerite Traits
  • 4. Changelog
• +Common and Worst Mistakes
  • 1. Casting Too Many Swipes
  • 2. Not Casting Enough
  • 3. Facing Away From Enemies
  • 4. Using Defensive Cooldowns Reactively
  • 5. Not Using Cooldowns Enough
  • 6. Using Frenzied Regeneration Inefficiently
  • 7. Thinking Damage Does Not Matter
  • 8. Changelog
• +Frequently Asked Questions
  • 1. Frequently Asked Questions
    • 1.1. Should I Play Defensively or Offensively?
    • 1.2. Should I Catweave?
    • 1.3. What Piece is Better, X or Y?
  • 2. How Much of X Stat Should I Have?
  • 3. Can I Sim Myself?
  • 4. Changelog
• +Boss by Boss Strategies
  • 1. Introduction for Guardian Druid Boss Advice in Uldir
    • 1.1. Talent Cheatsheet
  • 2. Taloc
  • 3. M.O.T.H.E.R.
  • 4. Fetid Devourer
  • 5. Zek'voz, Herald of N'Zoth
  • 6. Vectis
  • 7. Zul, Reborn
  • 8. Mythrax the Unraveler
  • 9. G'huun
  • 10. Changelog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. The Basics of Stats for Guardian Druid
    • 1.1. Survivability
    • 1.2. Damage Output
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding of Guardian Druid Stats
  • 3. Changelog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems for Guardian Druids
  • 2. Enchants for Guardian Druids
  • 3. Consumables for Guardian Druids
  • 4. Changelog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Macros
    • 1.1. Generic Macros for Druids
      • 1.1.1. Rebirth
      • 1.1.2. Remove Corruption
    • 1.2. Specific Macros for Guardian Druids
      • 1.2.1. Blessing of Protection Cancelaura Macro
      • 1.2.2. Useful Mouseover Macros
  • 2. Addons
    • 2.1. Generic Addons for Druids
      • 2.1.1. ElvUI
      • 2.1.2. Boss Mods: Deadly Boss Mods or Bigwigs
      • 2.1.3. GTFO
      • 2.1.4. Parrot or Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 2.1.5. Weak Auras
      • 2.1.6. Details!
      • 2.1.7. Grid and GridClickSets (Optional)
    • 2.2. Specific Addons for Guardian Druids
      • 2.2.1. Omen Threat Meter
      • 2.2.2. Tidy Plates: Threat Plates
• +Gear and Best in Slot
  • 1. Best in Slot List for Guardian Druids
  • 2. Azerite Gear for Guardian Druid
  • 3. Trinkets for Guardian Druids
  • 4. Changelog
• ×Simulations
  • 1. Simulations for Tanks?
  • 2. Combat Logs
  • 3. Changelog

General Information

On this page, we present you with various simulations results for Guardian Druid in World of Warcraft Battle for Azeroth 8.0.1.

The other pages of our Guardian Druid guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Author

This guide has been written by Faide, a Guardian Druid theorycrafter, moderator for the Dreamgrove Druid discord, and owner of Dreamgrove.gg, a Druid community website. He raids in Synergy on Bleeding Hollow US. You can follow him on Twitter.

1. Simulations for Tanks?

Simulation programs such as SimulationCraft (and its web-based front end Raid Bots) are incredibly useful programs for World of Warcraft players. They can suggest to you what talents to use, what gear you have is best for you, or what stats you should prioritize. With the addition of Titanforging on gear, "simming" has become more and more widespread throughout the WoW community.

Does this work for tanks? The answer is yes and no. You can simulate DPS gains for most tanks currently to a reasonable degree. This will have similar rules to simming damage dealing specs. The difference for tanks is that you cannot simulate for survivability. There are several factors and metrics for tanking and different situations will weigh things differently. So the short version of this answer is, you can simulate for DPS gains, however ignore the survival side of simulations as there are too many factors that come into play to get an accurate depiction of what constitutes a survivability upgrade from simulations.

2. Combat Logs

Combat Logs are a recording of all actions in a dungeon or raid which are then formatted in an easy to read way. Websites such as Warcraft Logs serve as a directory where you can upload your own logs, or examine those of other players. You can use logs of yourself, or others of your class and specialization, to help improve your play.

WoW Analyzer is an exceptionally powerful and easy to use tool for analyzing a combat log. Even if you are inexperienced with combat logs, WoW Analyzer will quickly provide a wide variety of suggestions to improve your play, including stat weights.

To get the best results we recommend using combat logs, the discord communities and programs like WoW Analyzer together to make the best choices for talents and gear.

3. Changelog

• 13 Aug. 2018: Updated for Battle for Azeroth launch.
• 11 Aug. 2018: Page added.