Guardian Druid Tank Stat Priority — Dragonflight 10.2.5

Last updated on Jan 15, 2024 at 15:00 by Pumps 35 comments
General Information

On this page, you will find out the optimal stat priority for your Guardian Druid. We first present the stat priority, before delving into more complex explanations. Our content is updated for World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.2.5.

If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Feral Tank Druid stat priority.

1.

The Basics of Stats for Guardian Druid

The stat priority for a Guardian Druid differs depending on whether you are aiming for survivability or damage output.

Regardless of what you are prioritizing, an item 10 or more item levels above another will almost always be an upgrade due to the sheer increase in stats.

1.1.

Survivability

  1. Item Level;
  2. Armor/Agility/Stamina;
  3. Haste;
  4. Versatility;
  5. Mastery;
  6. Critical Strike.

Armor, Agility, and Stamina are grouped together because they typically appear together on gear, but any one of the "main" stats will be stronger point-for-point than secondary stats.

1.2.

Damage Output

It is important to note that all secondary stats are very close together in value. This is a rough estimation, as your stat order might slightly differ depending on how much of each stat you currently have. Agility is also very important for damage output and will often make the highest item level piece the best one to choose. If you want a truly accurate evaluation of which stats are best for you, you should sim your character for stat weights.

  1. Versatility = Haste = Critical Strike > Mastery.
1.3.

Diminishing Returns on Stats

Once you are reaching the highest item level gear, you may find yourself being affected by diminishing returns or DR for short. This happens when you reach 30% of a specific stat and then begin to reduce the amount of that stat you gain by 10-50%, depending on how far you are over the DR cap. It is generally a good idea to balance your stats evenly as Guardian so you are not ever in DR range, as all our stats are very close in strength.

2.

Getting a Better Understanding of Guardian Druid Stats

Agility is your primary stat. It increases your Attack Power, grants you a a small amount of Dodge, and converts into Armor due to Ironfur Icon Ironfur.

Armor reduces the Physical damage you take. Guardians gain increased Armor (and Stamina) from Bear Form Icon Bear Form. It is important to note that "Bonus Armor" (typically armor granted by trinket effects or enchants/potions) is not increased by Bear Form.

Versatility reduces your damage taken, increases your damage and healing done, and increases the size of your absorbs. Versatility is the most effective stat for pure damage reduction, as well as having benefits to your damage output and boosting your self-healing abilities like Frenzied Regeneration Icon Frenzied Regeneration.

Mastery (Mastery: Nature's Guardian Icon Mastery: Nature's Guardian) increases your maximum health and your healing received, which effectively functions like a damage reduction in practice (damage reductions increase the amount of damage you can take before you die, just like health increases). It also increases your Attack Power and therefore your damage, but it does not scale as well offensively as the other stats.

Haste does many things for Guardian. It increases your melee attack speed, increases the rate at which Thrash Icon Thrash and Moonfire Icon Moonfire (and Feral Affinity Icon Feral Affinity bleeds Rake Icon Rake and Rip Icon Rip) tick, reduces the global cooldown, and reduces the cooldown on Mangle Icon Mangle, Thrash Icon Thrash, and Frenzied Regeneration Icon Frenzied Regeneration. All of this results in increased Rage generation and damage output, making Haste your best stat offensively and also a decent stat defensively.

Critical Strike, while being good for dealing damage, does not do much defensively. It does increase dodge chance, but that dodge chance is subject to heavy diminishing returns and is generally an unreliable stat for survivability. Other stats increase your survivability far more reliably.

Most encounters have abilities that cannot be mitigated or avoided. Also, you need to have a decent amount of health, in order to give yourself the chance to be healed before a subsequent attack kills you. As such, you need a minimum amount of Stamina. This amount will, in most cases, simply come from the Stamina found innately on your gear. Therefore, item level is the determining factor in keeping your health pool growing.

3.

Gems, Enchants, and Consumables

All gems, enchants, and consumables are directly related to your stat priority , and you can find advice on this topic on the dedicated page linked below.

4.

Changelog

  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.5.
  • 01 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
  • 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight launch.
  • 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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