Guardian Druid Tank Spec, Builds, and Talents — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0)

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

This is our recommended build for AoE scenarios. Primarily for Mythic+.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

Delves are a type of content first introduced in TWW, that you can engage with solo or with up to five friends (and the help of a follower!). They are very short ~3-15 minute scenarios, and as a Guardian Druid, you'll be able to bypass some of the stages almost entirely thanks to being able to Prowl to objectives instead of having to fight.

Surviving can be tough in these for non-tank players in your group, as the enemies hit hard, especially when you are undergeared and your follower's heals aren't that strong just yet. That's why this talent build takes multiple off-healing talents so you can help your group survive comfortably. Remember that there is no time limit, so you are free to wait for cooldowns or heal up to full HP, and most enemies are kitable.

Both of our Hero Talent Trees are fantastic and viable in both Mythic+ and Raid alike.

Druid of the Claw excels on smaller pulls in Mythic+, 3-5 targets. It also can deal incredibly high single-target damage to bosses, which makes it ideal for Raiding.

Elune's Chosen has the power of Lunar Beam on an extremely short cooldown in Mythic+. This ability is often up at the start of a pull, which helps generate aggro quickly and keeps you relatively safe while you start to ramp. Elune's Chosen also scales incredibly well the more targets you pull, as your Moonfire's spread rapidly and your self healing ramps quickly with both Ursoc's Fury and Elune's Favored.

Mythic+ can require a mix of AoE and Single-Target talents, depending on affixes and other variables. You should check out our page below if you want advice specific to Mythic+.

Some talents will require you to play in a particular way to get the most out of them. You can find more information on how your rotation will look after selecting your talents on our rotation page below.

Note that we do not explain every Talent in the tree on this page. We only explain Talents that are part of our optimal builds for single-target and AoE. For full details and explanations of every Talent, please visit our Spells page via the button below.

Rake	is your one of the Cat bleeds that generates combo points.
Frenzied Regeneration	heals you for 24% of your health over 3 seconds.
Rejuvenation	is a heal over time that cannot be cast in Bear Form.
Starfire	is a ranged balance spell that we do not use.
Grievous Wounds	increases the damage of Rake, Rip and Thrash.
Swipe	a small AoE damaging ability.
Ursoc's Spirit	grants increased stamina and an additional stamina increase in Bear Form.
Wild Growth	a heal over time, applied to 5 people.
Starsurge	a powerful ranged balance spell.
Rip	the strongest Cat bleed. Costs 1-5 combo points.
Verdant Heart	increases healing taken while either Frenzied Regeneration or Barkskin are active.
Remove Corruption	dispels poisons and curse effects. Great for Mythic+ is less useful for raids.
Moonkin Form	a shapeshift ability that enhances spell damage.
Maim	a Cat ability that stuns the target and costs combo points.
Killer Instinct	increases your physical damage and armor by 6%.
Ironfur	is your main active mitigation ability. Increases your armor temporarily at the cost of Rage.
Improved Barkskin	increases the duration of Barkskin by 4 seconds.
Hibernate	can be used on Beasts or Dragonkins to sleep them for a long time.
Nurturing Instinct	increases magic damage and healing by 6%. Very valuable, with Moonfire being a relevant amount of our breakdown.
Sunfire	an AoE balance DoT that Guardian does not make use of.

Primal Fury	increases the critical strike damage of Mangle.
Thick Hide	is a passive 6% damage taken reduction.
Skull Bash	is your interrupt and also works as a small charge if you ever get knocked back.
Natural Recovery	increases healing received by 4%.
Astral Influence	increases the range of all your caster spells by 5 yards. No longer works on melee abilities.
Wild Charge and Tiger Dash	are mobility tools on a choice node.
Soothe or Cyclone	are picked to progress further in the tree.
Aessina's Renewal	a passive heal proc.
Feline Swiftness	increases movement speed.
Well-Honed Instincts	automatically applies a Frenzied Regeneration to us when we drop below 40%. Has a 2 minute cooldown.
Matted Fur	is a small absorb when you cast Barkskin and Survival Instincts.
Stampeding Roar	is your raid utility, which increases your and your group's movement speed by 60% for 8 seconds.
Lingering Healing increases the duration of Rejuvenation by 3 seconds.
Typhoon	is a useful knockback ability that can be used to reposition mobs or interrupt them momentarily.
Ursol's Vortex	keeps mobs in the same place for a short period. A useful mob control tool on certain encounters/dungeons.
Mass Entanglement	can be used to apply Entangling Roots to multiple targets in a small area.

Oakskin	reduces damage taken by an additional 10% when affected by Barkskin or Survival Instincts.
Perfectly-Honed Instincts	reduces the internal cooldown of Well-Honed Instincts by 30 seconds.
Instincts of the Claw	increases damage of Ferocious Bite and Maul.
Lycara's Teachings	increases your Versatility by 6% in Bear Form.
Lore of the Grove	increase damage of Moonfire.
Gale Winds	increases the range and radius of Typhoon.
Incessant Tempest	reduces the cooldown of Typhoon.
Gift of the Wild	increases the effect of Mark of the Wild on yourself by 100%.
Incapacitating Roar	an AoE disorient effect.
Mighty Bash	a single targe stun.
Incapacitating Roar	an AoE disorient effect.
Ursine Vigor	increases your health and armor for 4 seconds after shifting into Bear Form.
Improved Stampeding Roar	reduces the cooldown of your Stampeding Roar by 1 minute.
Circle of the Wild	increases Physical damage dealt by 5%.
Circle of the Heavens	increases Magical damage dealt by 5%.
Lycara's Inspiration	you gain a bonus while in each form. Bear form grants 5% movement speed.
Symbiotic Relationship	forms a bond with an ally transferring 10% of self-healing to that target.
Forestwalk	casting a Regrowth increases movement speed and healing taken.
Fluid Form	Shred and Rake can be used in any form and shift you into Cat Form. Mangle can be used in any form and shifts you into Bear Form.
Heart of the Wild	increases your non-Bear spells significantly. Primarily, it increases Moonfire and auto-attack damage done by 30% for 45 seconds.
Innervate	can be cast on a healer to reduce their Mana cost by 100% for 8 seconds. Handy utility and can save the day if used at the right time. Bonus, your healers will greatly appreciate it and heal you more.

Maul	is a high damage-dealing Rage spender.
Gore	gives your abilities a chance to reset the cooldown on Mangle.
Survival Instincts	is your biggest defensive on a long cooldown.
Front of the Pack	Stampeding Roar radius increased by 30% and your movement speed increased by 5%.
Persistence	retain slowly decaying armour and health bonuses from Bear Form for 8 seconds.
Dream Guide	a passive heal proc on your friendlies when they drop below 40%.
Dream of Cenarius	chance on nonperiodic damage taken to proc a buff that allows you to cast Regrowth in bear form and be instant and free.
Infected Wounds	adds a slow to Mangle and Maul.
Innate Resolve	gives you a second charge of Frenzied Regeneration and increases the healing it does by up to 150% based on your missing health.
Berserk	reduces the cooldown of Mangle, Thrash and Growl by 50% and Frenzied Regeneration by 100%.
Vulnerable Flesh	increases Maul and Raze damage by 30%.

Survival of the Fittest	reduces the cooldown of Barkskin and Survival Instincts.
Reinvigoration	causes Frenzied Regeneration to heal over an additional second and casts Regrowth and Rejuvenation on you.
After the Wildfire	Causes a massive burst of AoE healing around you each time you use 300 rages.
Memory of Ysera	Heals you for a small % of your health each time you spend 80 rage.
Scintillating Moonlight	makes targets affected by Moonfire deal 10% less damage to you.
Brambles	deals damage to attacking enemies and pulses AoE damage when Barkskin is active.
Ward of the Forest	Barkskin increases your max health but duration is decreased.
Soul of the Forest	causes Mangle to deal 25% increased damage and generate 5 extra rage.
Natural Resilience	causes 80% of Frenzied Regeneration overhealing to become an absorb shield instead.
Reinforced Fur	Ironfur increases armor by an additional 15% and Barkskin reduces damage taken by an extra 10%.
Bristling Fur	causes you to generate extra rage based on damage taken.
Gift of an Ancient Guardian	Ironfur increases your Mastery by 5%.
Gory Fur	gives Mangle a 15% chance to reduce the Rage of your next Ironfur by 25%. Some minor Rage economy.
Ursoc's Endurance	increases the duration of Barkskin and Ironfur by 2 seconds.
Ursol's Warding	gain magical damage reduction equal to 5% of your damage reduction from armor.
Rend and Tear	makes targets affected by Thrash take an additional 2% damage and deal 2% less damage to you per stack of Thrash.
Untamed Savagery	Increases damage and radius of Thrash.
Raze	Is an Aoe version of Maul.
Lunar Beam	Drops a beam that increases our Mastery, heals us and deals damage to enemies.

Ursoc's Fury	makes Thrash and Maul grant an absorb shield for 25% of the damage they deal. Another self-sustain booster.
Flashing Claws	gives Thrash a 20% chance to trigger an additional Thrash. This can proc multiple times off itself, sometimes leading to 4+ casts.
Blood Frenzy	causes Thrash to generate 2 rage each time it deals damage. That means on both DoT ticks and initial application. This is a massive amount of Rage on multiple targets.
Moonless Night	causes all single target abilities on targets afflicted with Moonfire to deal 20% extra arcane damage.
Fury of Nature	increases your Arcane damage done by 15% in Bear Form.
Twin Moonfire	makes Moonfire deal 8% increased damage and also hits another target nearby. This helps the spread of Moonfire on multiple mobs like in Mythic+. Combined with Galactic Guardian, you rarely have to cast Moonfire, as it will just automatically spread to every target via the procs of Galactic Guardian.
Harnessed Rage	Mangle has 1 additional charge and Maul has 100% increased chance to activate Gore when cast above 80 rage.
Incarnation: Guardian of Ursoc	turns your Berserk and all its perks into a new ability that lasts 30 seconds instead of 15, increases health by 30%, and causes your Mangle to hit 3 targets. This is a great ability as all the Berserk talents you chose earlier in the tree get added to it, extending their duration by 15 seconds while also boosting your health pool by so much, making this our strongest offensive cooldown by far.
Convoke the Spirits	rapidly cast 16 spells over 4 seconds based on your current form.
Elune's Favored	Heal for 25% of Arcane damage you deal in Bear Form.
Killing Blow	Maul and Raze deal up to 75% more damage but consume up to 20 extra rage.
Sundering Roar	short cooldown that allows Thrash to stack 5 additional times and then explode for remaining excess stack damage.
Ursoc's Guidance	makes every 25 Rage you spend reduce the cooldown of Incarnation: Guardian of Ursoc by 1 second. Reducing the cooldown of an integral cooldown for us speeds up our rotation and fun even further.
Waking Nightmare	causes shades to spawn and cast Thrash.
Galactic Guardian	gives your damaging abilities a chance to trigger a free Moonfire and cause the next Moonfire cast to be empowered, increasing its damage done by 300%.