Druid 101 - A primer

Druid Role
Wouldn’t you know that starting alphabetically gives us one of the only classes which has up to four possible roles. Druids can do it all. They just need to (usually) only do one of those things at a time.

The druid is the rare class that can tank, heal, provide damage from range and provide damage from melee. Of these four roles, only two of them share a talent tree. And for both tanking and melee damage production, different selections may be made within the tree.

The best advice there is for druids is plan ahead by knowing what you want to “be when you grow up.” That way you can be practicing and honing your skills as you level. The only caveat here is I would not ever level as restoration unless I was paired with another player - it would just be too slow.

Possible Druid Trees
The Balance tree contains mostly skills for providing ranged magical damage. This tree contains such bombs as a debuff that causes enemies to hit less often, casting time reductions, access to a new form (with its own aura) and the summoning of three short-lived combat pets to help out.

The Feral tree contains, amazingly enough, mostly attacks and things that help with tanking and DPSing. This tree covers both the melee damage and tanking roles, so your choices in this tree will differ slightly based on what you want to do.

The Restoration tree has mostly healing goodness in it. Of the four one-point talents, one is actually most used for feral. The other three however, allow instant cast nature spells, heals that consume a heal-over-time for instant healing, and the slow-moving tree for increased healing.

Druid Defining Skills
When you’re looking for someone to bring you back to life in the middle of combat a druid is your only choice. The downside is this ability has a longish cool-down (20 minutes); once it’s been used, it’ll be a fair amount of time before it can be used again.

Innervate allows a druid to give a raid member, party member or themselves, a short buff that radically increases mana regeneration rates. Again, this has a cool-down (6 minutes), so it’ll have to be used strategically.

What other class can change their form altogether? The answer is only one (Shaman) and only to a single form. Druids, by the end game, will have at least six forms. They’ll have seven if specced deeply enough into balance for moonkin form or restoration for tree of life form. And we even pick up one more if we’ve completed the epic flight form quest.
For healing, druids are considered the HOTtest. In fact, most druid heals only work over time. Of the other healing classes, only the priest has a HOT. HOT healing is a druid skill.

What makes you a good Druid
As cool as some of your class-defining skills are, a good druid saves them. In fact, many end-game players consider those cool-downs to belong to the raid instead of to the druid. Most druids won’t innervate or battle resurrect unless instructed to by the raid leader.

As a true hybrid, druids can often fulfill a role where no other class can. Need your tank to turn into a damage guy or even off-healer? Druids can do this. If your tank dies and you need a damage dealer to step up and take a few hits for the team, you better hope you have a druid. Need a little extra healing from one of your casters? Druids come through with flying colors.

Little-Used Druid Skills that you must master
While druids don’t have a lot of crowd control, they can put both dragonkin and beasts to sleep by using the Hibernate skill. There are so few dragonkin in WoW and BC that the druid crowd-control is nearly forgotten many times. But think of hounds, bats, or rays for beasts, and you’ll see that druid CC is still alive.

Druid Skills You Should Always Use
For a long time Mark of the Wild (and of course the big sister Gift of the Wild) were considered the most awesome buffs in the game. They are still pretty awesome

Additionally for characters who are meant to keep an enemies attention (tanks, either others or themselves in bear form), druids should cast thorns. Thorns returns a little damage to an attacker, microscopically increasing threat.

Emergency Druid Skills
Barkskin is a self-buff that prevents spell pushback and is usable in all sorts of normally incapacitating states (stunned, feared, frozen, etc.) As an emergency, a druid can cast Barkskin and for twelve seconds do some uninterrupted casting.

In the case where an entire party needs some emergency healing, druids can cast an area heal in the form of Tranquility. Druids should be aware, however, that like all area healing spells, Tranquility can generate a lot of threat.

Advanced Druid Skills
If things go so far wrong, the druid has a number of escape mechanisms. Entangling Roots (currently usable only outside) can hold an enemy in place while the druid withdraws. Quick form changes (to travel form or cat form plus dash) can help you escape on land. If you need to get past water, aquatic form can be a boon as well. Just be aware of using water as an escape with aquatic creatures. Naga can swim faster than you do.

If you’re casting and run out of mana, swapping to a feral form allows your mana to regenerate as you continue to dish out damage.

Stereotypes with which Druids Live
The stereotypes for druids have actually gotten a lot better with the Burning Crusade. Prior to the 2.0 patch in preparation for BC, the only really raid viable tree for druids was restoration. With 2.0 and the BC, both feral and balance became more realistic. However, some bad itemization for balance led to the balance druids (Boomkins) being called Out-of-Mana-kins or OOMKins.

While not truly a stereotype, a druid that goes deeply enough into any of the three skill trees to get a “form” will rarely see any changes in gear as they advance. Players just beginning a druid should expect to see the same model for their character for a very long time.

Again, not strictly a stereotype of druids, only Night Elves (Alliance) and Tauren (Horde) can be druids. Thus you should like one of those two races before considering a druid.

Finally, there is the perception that as a feral or resto druid, you’re not good enough at tanking or healing to serve in that role for a five man instance. Your ability to perform that role is much more about your skill as a druid rather than an inherent weakness in either of those areas of the class. This stereotype is likely left over from pre-BC where these statements were truer.

Professional Considerations for the Druid
As wearers of leather, many druids go for leatherworking and skinning. There is a specialization tree in leatherworking that will increase either melee damage or spell damage & healing. . Leatherworking also allows the creation of armor kits which can increase armor on four locations. At high skill levels, these armor kits can increase elemental resistances, increase mana regeneration and even attack power.

Alchemy (and its companion herbalism) is also a popular choice for any character. Tauren druids also get a racial bonus to herbalism.

PVP Tips & Tricks - Druid

Today I’m starting a mini-series of PVP from the viewpoint of the Marksman Hunter. During the series, I’ll cover each class and what you should look for each of them to do. We start today with Druids.

Druid
A battle with a druid will almost never be boring. Druids as a class are used to adapting their play style to the situation. They know when to go to bear and tank three mobs. They know when to pop out of animal form and entangle. As such, the fight will never feel scripted or formulaic. Expect a druid to react to what you do. If you don’t react to them, the battle will be over shortly and you’ll be the one waiting on the AOE rez near the Mage Tower.

Things to watch for:

• Druids can hibernate your pet. While a MM doesn't have a huge reliance on pet damage, any kind of interruption they offer can help. A druid can take your pet out of the game for 12 seconds.
• Druids will cast Entangling Roots on you or your pet. This will be to either neutralize the interruption from the pet or lock you in place to get inside your range.
• You can kite a bear druid with your various slowing abilities. Most druids don't fall for this as long as other melee counterparts will
• A pet on aggressive will often detect a prowling druid before you do.
• Both of the Druid HOTs are buffs and strippable with arcane shot.
• Feral druids won’t have as much mana as resto druids. Keeping a Serpent Sting up will consume their mana if they dispel it and their health if they don’t.
• Many druids are masters of switching forms in PVP. The bear, dire bear, cat and travel forms of druids are considered beasts and are vulnerable to Fear Beast.
• Feral druids will want to be in melee with you. Use your movement impairing abilities (Wing Clip, Frost Trap, Scatter Shot, and Concussive Shot) and get back to range.
• Druids in Moonkin form will be busy little casters. Interrupt their casts with your abilities and get the pet on them. Moonkin will have deeper mana pools than feral types, but with less than ideal itemization may wind up wearing a bunch of cloth pieces. This lowers their armor and can make beating them a little easier.
• Druids in cat form can Track Humanoids. If you suspect this, you can switch to Aspect of the Beast.
• Cyclone will take your pet, or more likely you, out of the battle for six seconds. Cyclone has diminishing returns if continually applied to the same target.
• If a druid is healing someone, you can interrupt with Scatter Shot or Silencing Shot (unless it’s an instant).
• When the battle is going against them, most druids will run. Look for the shift to travel form or cat form. A concussive shot can allow a dashing raptor or cat to catch up.
• Feigning death sometimes fools the druid allowing you to get up and freezing trap them. Druids tend to fall for this gimmick less than other melee classes.
• Leader of the Pack cannot be removed by Arcane Shot. If a feral druid crits you with this buff, they will heal.
• Druids have no good way of removing Hunter’s Mark. They cannot stealth while marked.
• If a feral druid does manage to close to melee, switch your aspect to Aspect of the Monkey for the increased dodge.
• Pounce is an opening move from stealth that stuns. Generally the druid uses the stun to set up a high damage attack from behind. If you trinket out of the stun, you can eliminate the high damage attack that is planned.
• A feral druid can also use Feral Charge to close the gap with you. This ability also has a root effect. This is a good candidate for using your trinket.
  

Sermon on the Mount

Today I pick up on a topic I started on Tuesday. We had discussed then the mount options up to (and including) the level 60 mounts for all classes. This time we will look at the level 70 mounts (better known as "flying mounts").

This time, the love train for Warlocks & Paladins has derailed. There are no "free" riding skills for either of these classes. They'll have to pay the 800 Gold (no discount for honored) fee to learn the skill just like everyone else.

Oh. Wait. Not like everyone else because Druids, jump on the Riding Skill Love Train. At level 68 druids can train "Flight Form" from their trainers and get the 225 riding skill for free.

Sidebar: Does it really make much sense that you train Flight Form in the "Old World" from Druid Trainers in Moonglade or other places that, ostensibly, have NEVER USED THE FORM since it can only be used in the Outlands. Isn't it great when lore continuity and technical issues clash head to head?

So, for a full two levels, druids are flitting about going where no sub-70 can. Yes, this means they can run all the Tempest Keep instances, can pick mana thistle, abuse the landscape to reach that just slightly too high Khorium vein or Dreaming Glory. In short doing the things that only level 70's can normally do. And did I mention the 225 riding skill is free?

For the great majority of the rest of us, one of the first things we do upon reaching level 70 is head over to Shadowmoon Valley and buy both the flight skill and the epic mount of our choice. (Total cost of mount & training 900G). Of course the druids that have been flying for two levels can also head over and buy their own flying mount for a measly 100G.

The only other mount "stuff" to do after this is scrimp, save, beg, steal, and instance your way to 5200 Gold. Yes. Five thousand two hundred. When you have that amount saved up you can buy your 300 riding skill (5000 Gold) and epic flying mount (200 Gold).

The only other mount related topics are Netherwings, Druid Epic Flight Form, and collecting dropped mounts.

• I can't speak to Netherwing-I've not done it and I have nothing useful to add.
• I can't really speak to Swift Flight Form either. I understand there are a number of quests that can (generally) be soloed. This all culminates in the Heroic Run of Sethekk Halls where the final quest in that line is completed. Hope you saved up on your Lower City Reputation.
• In all my time playing I've never seen a mount drop. No skeletal warhorse from the Baron, no raptor from Bloodlord Mandokir, no Swift Zulian tiger, nothing. Let's just say the drop rate is small.

So, that's all on mounts.