Starting a druid

So, you're thinking of playing a druid? This page is intended to give a short overview of what to do over the first 10 levels or so, just to get you started on the right path. If you're looking for more of an overview of the class's abilities, see the main druid page. For more advanced topics, see druid tactics.

For a guide to leveling a druid further, see leveling a druid

For a more general overview on starting out playing WoW, see the newbie guide

Introduction
The Druid is a shape-shifting hybrid class, one of the most versatile classes in the game. Like other hybrids they primarily play their active talent specialisation, and can switch to other roles mid-fight or mid-raid, to adapt to changing situations. They have a unique set of shape-shift forms they transform into to carry out those roles effectively.

Heirlooms
The type of heirlooms items you can use will depend on what spec you would like to level as. All items with resistance are purchasable with Justice Points or Champion's Seals and PVP gear can be purchasable with honor.

At level 50, Druids gain Leather Specialization, a 5% damage increase if they wear leather in every slot. Well itemized cloth items might cause you to break that bonus.

Race selection
Race selection used to be a moot point for druids, as there was only the choice between the Alliance (Night Elves) or the Horde (Tauren). However, in the Cataclysm expansion, Trolls (Horde) and Worgen (Alliance) became playable as druids. For most people, the most important choice will simply be flavor, appearance, and personal preference. Would you rather be a bull-person, a purple elf, a werewolf or a troll? A new race/class combination or one that has been available from the start, with a long history? For many, though, racial traits will be the deciding factor.

Shadowmeld is a stealth ability. It can be useful in aggro management for dps and a method for escaping combat. Being aware, the ability does not drop aggro but temporary removal from the aggro table.

Elusiveness (night elf racial) will greatly help your stealth, since this trait stacks with Prowl (druid ability).

Quickness is an increase in dodge and makes it harder for enemies to hit you. This is very useful in feral tanking.

Wisp Spirit minimizes downtime after death.

Nature Resistance (racial) grants resistance to harmful nature effects.

In terms of max/min, Night Elf racials due to Quickness is best for tanking for the Alliance side.

Viciousness gives worgen a +1% chance to crit on all attacks and is wonderful for dps.

Darkflight, a sprint ability with a 3 minute cooldown that can be useful in PvP or PvE. In combination with Dash (druid ability) and Stampeding Roar (Cat Form), Worgen Druids have the most mobility.

Aberration increases your resistance to harmful Nature and Shadow effects.

Flayer increases by skinning skill by 15 and allows faster skinning.

Two Forms a cosmetic ability to change into human form for non-combat only.

In terms of max/min, Worgen racials due to Viciousness is best for dps for the Alliance side.

War Stomp can stun enemies, which is available to use in form.

Endurance increases base health by 5%.

Nature Resistance (racial) grants resistance to harmful nature effects.

Cultivation increase herbalism skill by 15 and allows faster gathering of herbs.

In terms of max/min, Tauren racials due to Endurance are best for feral tanking for the Horde side.

Berserking will gives you a 20% speed buff every 3 minutes.

Da Voodoo Shuffle reduces the duration of all movement impairing effects by 15%.

Regeneration (racial) increases health regeneration rate by 10% of total health and may continue during combat.

In terms of max/min, Troll racials due to Bererking is best for dps for the Horde side.

Early leveling
The easiest way to progress through the early levels is to simply do any and all of the quests you can find. Not only will you breeze through the first 5 to 10 levels, but you'll get useful gear and precious money. Money is particularly important so you can purchase your spells.

You will spend levels 1 to 5 in your starting town. Make sure you get all the spells you can from your trainer. Between level 5 and 6 you'll find yourself heading off to your second town and a new trainer who can teach you various things. At the second town, repeat the process - do each and every quest you can find. It's important to keep up with your abilities and your gear. Now is also an appropriate time to start training in your chosen professions.

At early levels, a druid will mostly use their Wrath DD spell and Moonfire DoT spell to kill mobs intermixed with melee attacks. Use Thorns as often as possible, when you get it. When you get Entangling Roots, hit mobs with that first and cast a few ranged damage spells before resorting to melee combat. Use Rejuvenation HoT spell early on to keep your health up and Nourish for when you get really low.

Levels 1 - 3
Initially, you're equipped with only a ranged attack. At level 3, you can learn your first healing spell, Rejuvenation, a heal over time spell. Use this when you're running low on health.

Begin combat at maximum range with Wrath, spamming it until the mob comes into melee range. Since Wrath is a missile attack, combat may not actually begin until the missile strikes, giving you the opportunity to cast another bolt while the first one is in flight. While up close, switch to your melee attack. Heal when necessary. For tauren, you can War Stomp a mob at melee range to stun it, buying you time to cast spells or heal.

For ranged mobs, try to out-spam them at maximum range. If you run out of mana, wait, or run up to engage in melee. If the mob runs out of mana, it will often run to you, giving you the opportunity to engage or increase distance to spam again.

Levels 4 - 5
At Level 4, you can learn Moonfire, a damage over time spell. Continue to open combat with Wrath, throwing in a periodic Moonfire to land the debuff, walking backwards or strafing to increase distance. Even at melee range, throw in a Moonfire when necessary, since as an instant cast, it isn't susceptible to spell interruption. Moonfire is also good at tagging the last blow when a mob is weak or running. Keep the Moonfire debuff active at all times during combat.

Use Rejuvenation to supplement your direct healing.

Levels 6 - 7
At Level 6, you can learn Thorns, an offensive buff. Use this when you are in melee combat, to supplement your damage.

At Level 7, you can learn your first crowd-control spell, Entangling Roots. Continue to open combat with two Wraths and a Moonfire. When the mob comes running towards you, root it in place. Now, you have many options. You can run away, rebuff yourself, or increase distance to help spam spells. As you fight mobs, try to keep them rooted at all times and away from you. Use Entangling Roots to halt runners from calling more mobs.

Levels 8 - 9
At Level 8, you learn six new skills, and some of the druid's versatility is accessible.

You have two options at this level, continue as a spell caster, in which case Starfire and Nourish will be usful. Starfire has a long casting time than Wrath, so makes a great spell to open with, but is not as useful in solo combat, when the push back can build up, and interruption will be more common. Use Nourish for large, time-critical gaps in health.

Your second option is to make use of Cat Form, and change your playstyle completely. Instead of the ranged spells you've been using, you'll now find a set of melee abilities Claw (druid ability), Ferocious Bite, and Rake.

Cat Form uses energy instead of mana, as it's primary resource. You will have 100 energy, which refills at a constant rate.

Claw (druid ability) is a Direct Damage apility, whereas Rake is a Damage over Time ability. Ferocious Bite is a Finishing Move, which does direct damage, based on the number of Combo Points you have built up. You accumulate combo points by using skills such as Rake or Claw (druid ability), up to a maximum of five.

Instead of opening at range, move into melee range, and open with Rake. Continue to auto-attack while useing Claw (druid ability). When you have built up combo-point (two or three should do), use Ferocious Bite to finish the enemy.

It should be noted that when you shift to Cat Form, you start with no energy, and you can not cast any spells, including healing spells. doing so will take you out of Cat Form.

Notable early quests
'' The intention is to link into the Quests page here with a few low-level quests once they are added, with particular emphasis on including quests with nice druid rewards, and any Class-specific quests. No real need to include the very basic starting quests as everybody will see those easily enough -- Goldark''

It is interesting to note that there is a druid trainer in Silvermoon City as well as one near the Exodar. It is therefore possible for druids to train in those zones, instead of in their native ones.

Druid flexibility
A hallmark of the druid class is extreme flexibility. While talents will tailor a druid towards a certain specialization, it is not the only factor to consider. Gear sets specialized for different uses and shapeshifting into the alternate forms can go a long way towards allowing a druid of one talent spec to function in an off-spec role. A feral druid with a set of caster gear will be able to do a fairly competent job of healing or DPS spellcasting in caster form. Likewise, a balance or restoration spec druid in feral form with a feral gear set should be able to DPS or even tank in many cases. This is particularly true at the lower levels where players of all classes have incomplete talent selections making talents less of a factor. As levels increase and talent selections are filled in, the ability to play off-spec will diminish. For example, Moonkin Form becomes available to balance druids with 11 talent points (level 29). This is a game changing talent that significantly enhances the balance druid as a caster over off-spec casting druids.

Leveling specs
While it is possible to level using balance or restoration, you will probably not level as fast as a feral druid. In cat form, you have talents and abilities that increase movement speed, and Prowl will let you bypass enemies without a fight if it wouldn't be worth your time. If you do get in trouble, bear form will make you very hard to kill. And both forms rely on resources other than Mana to do their dps - Energy like rogues while in cat form, Rage like warriors while in bear form - which means your mana should be full at the end of almost every fight, which means you can heal yourself as needed and go on to the next enemy or quest without sitting down to drink.

Leveling as balance is not recommended from the start, but it becomes feasible between levels 29 and 35, when you can get Moonkin Form, Typhoon and Euphoria. Moonkin Form, an ability that defines the spec, gives you flat increases to spell damage and haste and also increases your armor, greatly increasing your survivability as enemies beat on you. Typhoon gives you a knockback ability that can get you out of tight spots. Euphoria helps you reach Eclipse more quickly, and gives you mana when you do, making up for the mana you spend in fights.

Leveling as resto is not recommended. You have very few talents that improve damage, most of which are procs. However, the dungeon finder system makes it much easier than it used to be to find a group for a dungeon. Healers are always in demand, so if you enjoy healing you could theoretically level entirely through dungeons. Before trying this, see other guides on this site for more information on healing strategies.

Soloing
Even at very early levels, the soloing druid acts as the versatile character he or she is supposed to be. Typical fights will include a Direct Damage spell (Starfire or Wrath) to start, a Damage over Time spell (Moonfire), a Healing over Time spell (Rejuvenation), and some melee attacks.

Thorns is a damage shield and should Used whenever needed in melee combat.

These spells are all available at level 4; Thorns is a available at level 6.

Grouping
The druid is one of the most versatile classes in WoW, because you can be almost any part of a 5-man dungeon/raid. It can be quite hard to learn to play all the roles a druid is capable of, but the versatility and ease of finding a group is worth it. No tank? Use your bear form. No healer? Keep an eye on the party's health bars, and heal when they're injured. Need a scout? Use your cat form. Communicate! Ask the others what they plan to do, what they expect from you.

Don't forget your crowd control spells, Entangling Roots and later Hibernate, can be useful if the group gets more enemies than expected.

If you're dpsing a group, remember to attack the same target as the other dpsers. This is most easily achieved through the /assist command, causing you to target the same target as the one you assist. It might not be all that important at early levels, but its an important habit to get used to for later levels.

If you are the Tank, use your Bear form, and remind your group to always assist you in battle, to ensure you focus your party's firepower on one mob. They can do this by selecting you (use the F1-F5 keys to target group members) and then pressing "F". This way, mobs will die faster.

The druid is a very versatile class. Especially when acting as a dpser, you have the ability to offheal, offtank, combat rez and Innervate if needed, saving the group from what would otherwise be a wipe. It can be done if acting as a tank or healer as well, but is much harder to pull off.

Tip: Don't cast Thorns on someone who isn't supposed to be hit in a fight (generally, everyone but the tank). It causes relatively little damage, and will cause the mobs to generate threat towards them.

Useful professions
The druid can benefit directly and indirectly from many of the professions available.

Primary professions

 * Skinning and Leatherworking
 * This combination will be immediately useful to the druid. Expect to wear a combination of found items and items you make yourself as your leatherworking keeps pace with your level. Skinning will increase naturally (you can actually max out at 300 while still in your 40's) but you will spend a lot of money levelling your leatherworking skill. Also, a lot of leatherwork items will sell for less than the cost of the raw materials (because there are a lot of other people out there trying to level their skills too and they will flood the market) - it is only when you hit on the niche items that you can make a profit (things like the Gem-Studded Leather Belt, Feathered Breastplate, Ironfeather items, etc.) Furthermore, leatherworking allows you to create Armor Kits which will increase the armor value of Chest, Hands, Legs, and Feet armor items.


 * Herbalism and Alchemy
 * Even though, as a caster, the druid can rely on his own abilities to heal and buff himself, additional potions are always welcome ( though notably, they can't be used in feral forms ). It is especially notable that night elves and tauren are both particularly suited to a career in herbalism, and thus alchemy as well. Tauren receive +15 levels of Herbalism skill and the elven zones are remarkably abundant in flowers to pick.
 * The ability to stealth in Cat Form can also prove quite useful, as it allows you to search for herbs (or other gathering professions) without having to fight mobs in the area. Note that you will shift out of stealth when you gather, and the cooldown will prevent you from stealthing for a few seconds when you are done, so use with caution.


 * Herbalism and Skinning
 * A mix of the two above, this is very good for players who don't care so much for making things themselves, but would rather sell the raw materials for money. Another benefit with this combo is that you can often find a Leatherworker or Alchemist willing to make the item/potion you want if you supply the materials, possibly with a small fee if the recipe is rare.

Start your profession early! It's usually not too expensive, and you want to ensure that anything you create with your skills is applicable to your druid's level.

Secondary professions

 * Cooking
 * Fishing
 * First Aid

Cooking is always useful for any class, as it provides food that affects your stats. Fishing supports this profesion. As for First-Aid, it is certainly less beneficial for you than it is for other classes, but not entirely. Not only do bandages not use your mana, they also don't trigger the 5-second rule (even your instant-cast heals stops your mana regeneration for next 5 seconds).