Druid Leveling Guide (Level 1-30)

Overview

This guide takes a Druid from level 1 to 30 in WoW Forever, with a talent plan for Feral, Balance and Restoration. Ability levels, costs and talent values come from the beta client (build 1.60.1) and can still change before launch.

Why Feral comes first

• Two resource bars. You fight with Rage or Energy and heal with mana. A caster Druid has to pay for both out of the same pool.
• Fast travel from level 20. Feral Swiftness gives Cat Form 30% movement speed, long before Travel Form at level 30.
• Every role in one build. Bear Form tanks leveling dungeons, Cat Form deals damage, and you can still step out of form to heal.
• Weapons matter now. In Forever, Bear and Cat attacks scale with the damage of your equipped weapon, so a Feral Druid finally gets stronger from a weapon upgrade.

The honest trade-offs: levels 1 to 9 are a caster with a short mana bar, shapeshifting costs more than half of your base mana each time, and in Cat Form you fight one enemy at a time.

The three specializations at a glance

Talents

You earn one talent point per level from level 10, which gives 21 points at level 30.

Whichever tree you choose, the pattern is the same: sneak or charge in, kill quickly, and reset your Health with a heal over time while you move to the next enemy.

Gameplay & Main Abilities

A Druid changes playstyle several times before level 30. Each stage has its own feel.

• Levels 1-3: Wrath until the mana runs out, then the staff. Keep Mark of the Wild on yourself.
• Level 4, Moonfire and Rejuvenation: an instant damage spell and an instant heal over time. You can now fight while moving, and take on two enemies with Moonfire on each and Rejuvenation on yourself.
• Level 6, Thorns: everything that hits you takes damage. Refresh it every 10 minutes; against two enemies it does real work.
• Level 8, Entangling Roots: root an enemy outdoors and cast freely, or use it to walk away from a bad pull.
• Level 10, Bear Form: a class quest gives you a form with far more armor and Health that fights with Rage. Pulls of two enemies become comfortable.
• Level 20, Cat Form: Energy, combo points, Prowl and much higher damage on a single target. From here you choose your fights, kill fast and heal between them.
• Level 30, Travel Form: 40% movement speed outdoors, with or without Feral talents.

Two other class quests are worth doing on time: Cure Poison at level 14 and Aquatic Form at level 16.

Major Changes

The Druid is among the most reworked classes in Forever. If you played one in Classic, this is what to relearn:

1. Forms use your weapon. Bear and Cat attacks now scale with the damage of the weapon you have equipped. Look at weapon damage when you compare upgrades, not only at stats.
2. Polearms. Druids can equip them, which widens the list of useful two-handers.
3. Baseline spells. Nature's Grasp (level 10), Faerie Fire (level 18) and Omen of Clarity (level 20, now a passive) are trained instead of costing talent points.
4. Tiger's Fury is gone. The Feral tree offers Shifting Power in its place: mana converted into Energy while in Cat Form.
5. Claw hits from the front for 110% of normal damage plus a flat amount, so Cat Form no longer depends on getting behind the enemy.
6. Feral Charge works in Cat Form as a leap behind the target, and Feral Swiftness gives its dodge in every form.
7. Combo points are kinder. Changing target no longer wipes the points you have built, and Energy regenerates continuously instead of in ticks.
8. A normal resurrection. Revive (level 12) brings a player back out of combat with no cooldown. Rebirth (level 20) remains the in-combat one, on a 30-minute cooldown.
9. Two races per faction: the Skyborne join Night Elves and Tauren.

Rotation

Pick the tab for your level. At every stage, keep Mark of the Wild on your party and Thorns on whoever is being hit. Both also work on pets.

MoonfireRejuvenationWrathAuto-attack

Spells and a staff. Mana is short, so let instant spells and melee swings do part of the work.

1. Open with Wrath from range, twice if the enemy is far enough.
2. Moonfire (level 4) as it arrives, and on the second enemy if there is one.
3. Rejuvenation on yourself as soon as you are being hit. A heal over time started early is worth more than a big heal started late.
4. Finish with melee swings. With two enemies on you, swinging is better than Wrath, which gets pushed back by every hit.

WrathMoonfireBear FormEnrageDemoralizing RoarMaulSwipe

Much sturdier, with decent damage on one or two enemies. Shifting costs 55% of your base mana, so decide before the pull whether this is a Bear fight or a caster fight, and do not shift back and forth.

1. Heal up first: Rejuvenation, or Regrowth (level 12) if you are low.
2. Open with Wrath and Moonfire as the enemy runs in, then shift to Bear Form.
3. Enrage (level 12) for Rage. It lowers your armor while it lasts, so skip it on large pulls.
4. Demoralizing Roar against two or more melee enemies. Skip it on casters and on quick kills.
5. Maul on a single enemy; Swipe (level 16) when two or three are on you.
6. Bash (level 14) stuns for 2 seconds: interrupt a heal, or shift out and cast Healing Touch.

ProwlShredRakeClawRip

High damage on one enemy at a time. Use Prowl to choose your fights, and heal between them, not during them.

1. Top yourself up with Rejuvenation or Regrowth, then shift. Being in Cat Form a few seconds early lets your Energy fill.
2. Prowl behind the enemy. Before level 22, open with Claw. From level 22, open with Shred, which must be used from behind.
3. Feral Charge in Cat Form puts you behind the target: use it for a second Shred, or to close the distance on a caster.
4. Rake (level 24) on enemies that will live through its 9-second bleed.
5. Claw to build combo points.
6. Rip at 3 or more points on anything that will last most of its 12 seconds. On enemies that are about to die, keep using Claw instead: Ferocious Bite, the instant finisher, is not learned until level 32.
7. Faerie Fire from caster form before you shift, on tough enemies only: it lowers armor for 40 seconds.

Two enemies? Shift to Bear Form, Swipe and Demoralizing Roar. Cat Form is not built for it.

StarfireMoonfireWrathWrath

1. From level 20, open with Starfire at maximum range. Before that, open with Wrath.
2. Moonfire right after.
3. Wrath until the enemy dies. With Improved Wrath it is a 1.5-second cast at half price.
4. Entangling Roots (outdoors only) when the enemy reaches you: step back and cast two more.
5. Nature's Grasp (level 10) before a fight you expect to take hits in: the first enemy that strikes you is rooted for free.
6. Shift to Bear Form to finish a fight when you are out of mana. Rage costs nothing.

Ability milestones

• Level 1: Wrath, Healing Touch, Mark of the Wild. Level 4: Moonfire and Rejuvenation. Level 6: Thorns. Level 8: Entangling Roots.
• Level 10: Bear Form (class quest) with Maul, Demoralizing Roar and Growl, Nature's Grasp, Teleport: Moonglade and your first talent point.
• Level 12: Regrowth, Enrage, Revive. Level 14: Bash and Cure Poison. Level 16: Swipe and Aquatic Form. Level 18: Faerie Fire and Hibernate.
• Level 20: Cat Form with Claw, Rip and Prowl, Starfire, Rebirth, Omen of Clarity.
• Levels 22-28: Shred and Soothe Animal (22), Rake and Remove Curse (24), Dash and Abolish Poison (26), Challenging Roar and Cower (28).
• Level 30: Travel Form and Tranquility.

Races

Classic had one Druid race per faction. Forever has two: the Skyborne exist on both sides, with one racial that differs.

Horde

Alliance

For leveling as Feral, Tauren is the sturdier pick on the Horde and Night Elf the better one on the Alliance. The Skyborne are perfectly playable and suit casters a little more.

Tips & Tricks

• Respect the five-second rule. Mana regeneration from Spirit stops for five seconds each time you spend mana, and shifting counts. Cast your heals and buffs together, shift, and let the mana come back while you fight with Rage or Energy.
• Heal before you shift, not after. A Rejuvenation cast in caster form keeps ticking in Cat or Bear Form.
• Shifting frees you. Changing form removes roots, snares and Polymorph. Keep enough mana for one shift when you fight casters.
• Nature's Grasp works in forms. It can be cast while shapeshifted, and a rooted enemy is a free bandage or a free escape.
• Hibernate and Entangling Roots are your crowd control: one puts a Beast or Dragonkin to sleep for 20 seconds, the other roots anything, outdoors.
• Train every two levels. New abilities and ranks arrive at each even level.
• Keep a food buff active. In Forever, food that grants a buff also gives 5% extra experience.

In dungeons

Between levels 13 and 30 you can run Ragefire Chasm, The Hall of Thanes, Ruins of Lordaeron, Wailing Caverns, the Deadmines, Shadowfang Keep, the Stockade, Excavation Site: Wetlands and Blackfathom Deeps (see the dungeon guide). A Druid can fill any role in them.

• Tank (Bear Form): Swipe on packs, Maul on the kill target, Demoralizing Roar once everything is on you, Growl to take back a loose enemy. Put Thorns on yourself: it generates threat on everything that hits you.
• Healer: Rejuvenation on the tank at all times, Regrowth for bigger damage, Healing Touch for emergencies. Cure Poison and, from level 24, Remove Curse are yours to handle.
• Damage (Cat Form): stay behind the target for Shred, and be ready to shift out for an emergency heal or a Rebirth.

Stat priority

1. Weapon damage — new in Forever for Feral: your forms hit harder with a better weapon.
2. Strength — Attack Power in both forms. The best Feral stat.
3. Agility — critical strikes and dodge, and Attack Power in Cat Form.
4. Stamina — fewer stops between fights, and what makes Bear Form a tank.
5. Intellect — a mana pool for heals and shifts. The first stat for Balance and Restoration.
6. Spirit — regeneration between fights. Useful for casters, minor for Feral.