Guardian Druid Guide

WoW The War Within Guardian Druid is a great tank for beginners because all of his abilities are intuitive and rotation is quite simple. In addition, in any season it takes the place of a strong middle peasant, so if you are afraid of not guessing with the patch 11.0 meta, then Guardian spec is an excellent choice. In this WoW Guardian Druid guide, we will tell you about the rotation, specialization skills, builds, and BiS gear, and provide leveling tips and profession options. Also, check out our Protection Paladin Guide to learn about another strong The War Within tank.

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Guardian Druid Overview

Bear Druid has an excellent ability to gather a huge crowd of trash and hold them back for quite a long time. Ironfur, decent health pool, and excellent self-healing allow us to call this tank self-sufficient in many ways, which makes it reminiscent of the Blood Death Knight. His ability to resurrect allies during battle brings him even closer to BDK, however, their tanking mechanics are different. WoW The War Within Guardian Druid has the largest amount of armor in the game, which simply neutralizes most of the damage against him. For now, Guardian Druid is one of the strongest damage tank specs in The War Within.

Guardian Druid Strengths and Weaknesses

Though Guardian Druid often takes place at the top of tank tier lists, this spec has its strengths and weaknesses:

Guardian Druid Season 3 Changes

There’s a minor change in the Guardian Druid aura as it received a 12% buff in The War Within Season 3. Additionally, Lycara’s Inspiration now provides bonus movespeed.

Guardian Druid Season 2 Changes

In Season 2 of WoW TWW Guardian Druid received significant and impactful changes, particularly to talents that alter the gameplay of this specialization. Additionally, a new tier set, Roots of Reclaiming Blight, has been introduced alongside the new raid, Liberation of Undermine.

Guardian Druid Specialization Ability Changes

Guardian Druid did not receive any changes to its specialization abilities in Patch 11.1.

Guardian Druid Talent Changes

Guardian Druid received significant changes in WoW TWW Season 2, which will substantially alter the gameplay of this class. These changes aim to make playing this specialization deeper and more engaging.

• Layered Mane — Removed.
• Maul — damage reduced by 8%.
• Raze — damage reduced by 8% and Raze now replaces Maul.
• New Talent: Ursol’s Warding — Gain magical damage reduction equal to 5/10% of your damage reduction from armor.
• Reinvigoration — Frenzied Regeneration heals over 1/2 additional seconds, and casts Rejuvenation and Regrowth on you at 100/200% effectiveness.
• Mangle — damage increased by 10%

Guardian Druid Hero Talents Changes

For Guardian Druid, there is only one change to Heroic Talents in Patch 11.1.

Druid of the Claw:

• Ravage — Damage reduced.

Guardian Druid Changes in The War Within

The Guardian Druid has seen few changes in the current update; these changes are located in the overall Druid class tree, and the spec tree remains untouched. They provide some advantages of getting abilities like Remove Corruption and Feline Swiftness easier for increasing utility and mobility respectively. Furthermore, a new talent has appeared; namely, Fluid Form. These changes are minor but offer quite a bit more play-a-bility when it comes to playing a Guardian Druid.

One of the essential changes, that is related not only to Guardian Druids but to all the classes, is the rework of the Great Vault Rewards. Those of you who enjoyed PvP activities and spent numerous hours finding the best PvP build wouldn’t be afraid — though these activities were removed from the Vault, you now have other options to obtain the best gear. And if you want to test the new system, but don’t want to spend your free time on it, our team offers Great Vault Rewards, which will be obtained with the help of our pro players.

Guardian Druid Hero Talents

• Druid of the Claw: This tree offers enhancements and more interactions with Ravage ability.
• Elune’s Chosen: This tree is all about Arcane abilities like Lunar Beam or Moonfire.

Changes to The Existing Abilities And Talents

Some of the changes to WoW Guardian Druid talents are considered negative. The mobility has been substantially reduced with the Astral Influence talent no longer lengthening the range of melee attacks and abilities. Additionally, players have to make significant detainees to the Stampeding Roar. This is because it has become difficult to acquire Stampeding Roar as compared to how it previously was. Such changes can force a player to reconsider who is on his roster and what the objectives of the team are.

Basics of Guardian Druid Gameplay

Mastery of Guardian Druid involves efficiently spreading Moonfires and maximizing Rage generation using abilities like Mangle and Thrash. This accumulated Rage is key for both defense, using utility spells like Ironfur and Frenzied Regeneration, and offense, through the use of Maul.

As you see, Rage is the essential resource for a Guardian Druid. In Bear Form, the management of the Rage is critical to effective tanking, utilizing Rage-generating spells like Mangle and Thrash to empower key tanking spells such as Ironfur and Frenzied Regeneration for mitigation. Offensive prowess is demonstrated through damage-over-time spells Moonfire and Thrash, along with the AoE filler Swipe. Single-target capabilities hinge on Mangle for Rage generation and Maul for excess Rage utilization.

Guardian Druid Rotation

The main task of the tank is not to die. However, when we talk about WoW Guardian Druid rotation and aims, we take into account that the more damage it deals, the more damage it can withstand due to the shield, which directly depends on the damage it deals. In this guide, we provide an overview of rotational abilities and essential Druid spells, which you will prioritize during combat.

Guardian Druid Single-Target Rotation Objectives

1. Maximize Maul Usage: The basic objective of a tank, as a class is that you are supposed to stay alive. Then for defense as needed use the Ironfur. However, if you want to deal the most amount of damage possible, it is recommended to spend most of the available Rage in Maul.
2. Rage Management: DO NOT ‘overcharge’ your Rage but also DO NOT save up all of your Rage just to cast Maul or Ironfur when the time is right.
3. Thrash Stacking: Try to have 5 stacks of Thrash at hand. Do not cast Thrash whenever it is off the CD, incorporate Tooth and Claw procs with it, and keep the Rage for back-to-back Maul.
4. Constant Moonfire: Ensure that at all times Moonfire’s duration is being applied to the target. Although Galactic Guardian usually does it, it may be required to cast by hand sometimes. Moonfire increases your damage by a good margin as compared to your normal damage rate.
5. Frequent Mangle and Thrash: Constantly cast Mangle and Thrash to have a constant supply of Rage needed for the execution of the attacks.

Guardian Druid AoE Rotation Goals

1. Prioritize Raze Over Maul: The usage of Raze in AoE situations is essential because of these minor but very important changes, you should replace Maul with Raze as your primary spell.
2. Raze Usage: When the player finds himself or herself in a situation where there are two targets or more, it is advisable to use Raze frequently. Ironfur should be maintained in 1-3 stacks depending on the amount of damage taken.
3. Reduced Focus on Moonfire: Moonfire is rather irrelevant in AoE setups, especially if you have not selected the Moonfire-related talents. You can use it mostly for pulling or for targeting one particular enemy.

Specialization Skills

Here we have gathered a table with the core spells to familiarize you with the key abilities of a Guardian Druid.

Offensive Cooldowns

Defensive Cooldowns

Guardian Druid Build

Here you can find the best WoW Guardian Druid builds. Depending on your content, you can change the builds, as Raid environments and Mythic+ encounters usually differ, not to mention that Open World activities also need special attention.

Ripweaving Raid Single Target Build

Raid & Council EC Build Build

EC Mythic+Build

Open-World Build

Delves Build

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If you don’t want to inspect either the class talent tree or spec talent tree in an attempt to figure out the best talent combo, use our guide as a source of information. Below you can copy the required build, which includes talent layouts for both WoW Guardian Druid Talent trees and Hero Tree Talents:

Guardian Druid Stats

Here’s WoW Guardian Druid stat priority that you should stick to, as it’s both good for gearing and maximizes the power of your abilities:

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

WoW Guardian Druid has several secondary stats to consider:

• Haste increases your melee attack speed, revs the frequency of Thrash for Blood damage and Moonfire for Magic damage (as well as Feral Affinity bleeds like Rake and Rip), shortens the GCD, and reduces the CDs of Thrash, and Frenzied Regeneration.
• Versatility is a key stat to reduce the damage taken, enhance damage and healing output, and increase the effectiveness of absorption shields.
• Mastery raises the amount of health a player can have and the amount of health replenishment they gain, which is very similar to damage mitigation.
• Critical Strike is a source of effective damage increase, as it provides a chance to double damage. But it is less impactful for defense.

Guardian Druid Leveling

Guardian Druid leveling is not different from other tanks wherein the task is to pull several mobs and then use AoE abilities. Unquestionably, Druids have a strong self-healing capability, which enables them to control a large number of enemies for questing or grinding. The best strategy for leveling is to combine the participation in Quests or Dungeons.

If you plan to stick to Questing, focus on areas that include several quest hubs where a number of quests are located. For instance, the best expansions for leveling are Draenor and Legion.

Or try Dungeons, where the strategy is just to queue back-to-back for Random or Timewalking Dungeons. Tanks have the benefit of having less wait time in a dungeon and Guardian Druid falls under this category. As the guardian druid, many quests will involve the killing of groups of enemies which your AoE abilities will allow you to do quickly and efficiently thus increasing the speed at which the level is gained.

Guardian Druid Leveling Tips for The War Within

Guardian Druid is an excellent choice for leveling. As a tank class, you have the resilience to handle multiple mobs without significant risk. Your strength lies in dealing consistent AoE (Area of Effect) damage.

It’s generally more efficient to gather a large number of mobs using Moonfire, which has the advantage of being an instant cast with a long range. Once the mobs are gathered, you can use your AoE abilities to take them down collectively. Since Guardian Druids are less effective in single-target situations, it’s advisable to avoid engaging with one mob at a time whenever possible.

One of the things to pay special attention to during the leveling is the issue of how one handles the positioning of foes. One common mistake is that when pulls involve many mobs, you don’t want them to escape and go back to their spawn points. So try to move in the area, where you pulled them. You can also entrust the Power Leveling of your character to our professionals so as not to waste your time on it.

How to Gear Up Guardian Druid

In The War Within, acquiring the Best in Slot (BiS) gear for a Guardian Druid can be a complex task. To simplify this process, we have compiled a BiS list specifically for Guardian Druids, emphasizing equipment from Mythic+ Dungeons and Raid. If you want to skip the gearing phase, our team can get the BiS Gear for your Druid, and you won’t have to spend hours on all these activities.

Best Gear for Guardian Druid

When gathering your WoW Guardian Druid BiS gear, balance high item level gear with secondary stats. Key points include:

1. Item Level Priority: Prioritize higher item level gear for better performance, even over minor secondary stat differences.
2. Secondary Stats: While focusing on item level, still consider the benefits of secondary stats. Select gear with useful secondary stats, but don’t overly prioritize them.
3. Essential Stats: Agility, Stamina, and Armor are vital. Balance these with item level and secondary stats for optimal performance.

Slot	Item	Source
Head	Skymane of the Mother Eagle	Forgeweaver Araz / Catalyst
Neck	Duskblaze’s Desperation	The Soul Hunters
Shoulders	Ritual Pauldrons of the Mother Eagle	The Soul Hunters / Catalyst
Cloak	Reshii Wraps	Patch 11.2 Questline
Chest	Vest of the Mother Eagle	Fractillus / Catalyst
Wrist	Rune-Branded Armbands	Crafting
Gloves	Winged Gamma Handlers	Dimensius
Belt	Adrenal Surge Clasp	Crafting
Legs	Breeches of the Mother Eagle	Loom’ithar / Catalyst
Boots	Interloper’s Reinforced Sandals	The Soul Hunters
Ring 1	Band of the Shattered Soul	Dimensius
Ring 2	Ring of the Panoply	Tazavesh (Streets of Wonder)
Trinket 1	Tome of Light’s Devotion	Priory of the Sacred Flame
Trinket 2	Improvised Seaforium Pacemaker	Operation: Floodgate
Weapon	Harvester’s Interdiction	Ara-Kara, City of Echoes

Best Guardian Druid Trinkets

Trinkets are probably the items that have the largest impact on your performance. Here’s the list of WoW Guardian Druid Trinkets that you can find in The War Within:

S Tier

•  Void Reaper’s Contract;
•  Mad Queen’s Mandate;
•  Bottled Flayedwing Toxin;
•  Foul Behemoth’s Chelicera;

A Tier

•  Ara-Kara Sacbrood;
•  Dead-Eye Spyglass;
•  Ovi’nax’s Mercurial Egg;

B Tier

•  Harvester’s Edict;
•  Swarmlord’s Authority;
• Treacherous Transmitter.

Tier Set Bonuses for Guardian Druid

Guardian Druid Season 3 Tier Set Elite

Guardian Druid Season 3 Tier Set Gladiator

Guardian Druid Season 3 Tier Set Heroic

Guardian Druid Season 3 Tier Set Mythic

Guardian Druid Season 3 Tier Set Normal

Guardian Druid Season 3 Tier Set Raid Finder

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Guardian Druids receives an Ornaments of the Mother Eagle tier set in WoW TWW Season 3. The tier set bonuses depend on the Hero talents tree of your choice.

Guardian Druid Druid of the Claw Tier Set Bonuses:

Guardian Druid Elune’s Chosen Tier Set Bonuses:

Guardian Druid Season 2 Tier Set Bonuses

Guardian Druid PvP 2 Tier Set

Guardian Druid PvP 1 Tier Set

Guardian Druid Mythic Tier Set

Guardian Druid Heroic Tier Set

Guardian Druid Normal Tier Set

Guardian Druid LFG Tier Set

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With the new Season 2 of The War Within Guardian Druid received a new tier set Roots of Reclaiming Blight designed to enhance your tanking experience. It can be obtained from the raid or the Great Vault.

Guardian Druid Season 1 Tier Set Bonuses

Guardian Druid Normal Set

Guardian Druid Heroic Set

Guardian Druid Mythic Set

Guardian Druid PvP 1 Set

Guardian Druid PvP 2 Set

Guardian Druid Raid Finder Set

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The Mane of the Greatlynx Tier Set bonuses specific to Guardian Druid are a nice addition to your gear build. In TWW Season 1 they seem to be really useful and impactful:

If you want to get this Tier Set and take advantage of the bonuses, use our service. Our pro players have a lot of experience in acquiring Tier Sets and will do it as fast as possible. 

Best Crafted Gear for Guardian Druid

After obtaining the Spark of Omens, concentrate on creating top-tier items at the highest possible item level. Remember, the recrafting system allows for later item level upgrades. Once you craft your ideal gear, use additional sparks to enhance lower item level pieces.

• Rune-Branded Kickers;
• Rune-Branded Armbands;
• Low-Level Items with Spark of Omens.

Best Consumables for Guardian Druid

Consumables are all the flasks and potions, runes, and weapon buffs that you can use to perform better or to heal yourself in Raids and M+. The usage is up to you, but make sure to always have a few of the required bottles at hand. Don’t forget that supplying yourself with consumables can be costly, especially if you appreciate Raids and Dungeons, so make sure to get some WoW Gold to be able to afford everything you need.

Type	Best	Options
Flask	Flask of Alchemical Chaos	Flask of Tempered Swiftness
Combat Potion	Tempered Potion	—
Health Potion	Invigorating Healing Potion	—
Weapon Buff	Algari Mana Oil	—
Augment Rune	Crystallized Augment Rune	Ethereal Augment Rune
Food	Feast of the Midnight Masquerade	Everything Stew
Diamond	Culminating Blasphemite	—
Other Gems	Versatile Emerald	—

Best Guardian Druid Enchants

Slot	Best Enchant	Options
Weapon	Enchant Weapon – Authority of the Depths	Enchant Weapon – Authority of Radiant Power
Cloak	Enchant Cloak – Chant of Leeching Fangs	Enchant Cloak – Chant of Burrowing Rapidity
Chest	Enchant Chest – Crystalline Radiance	—
Bracers	Enchant Bracer – Chant of Armored Leech	Enchant Bracer – Chant of Armored Speed
Legs	Defender’s Armor Kit	Stormbound Armor Kit
Boots	Enchant Boots – Defender’s March	Enchant Boots – Scout’s March
Ring – Regular	Enchant Ring – Radiant Haste	Enchant Ring – Radiant Versatility
Ring – Cursed	Enchant Ring – Cursed Haste	—

Guardian Druid End-Game

End-game content, which includes activities like raiding, Mythic+, and PvP, presents the most fun and unique challenges. Also, World Quests now provide Great Vault Rewards. So, there’s a wide range of interesting, engaging activities in The War Within.

You can explore this world yourself, examining every corner of Dornogal or Ringing Deeps. You can also quickly get the Manaforge Omega Heroic 2+1 Bundle, and our pro players will ensure that you get all the rewards.

Best Races for Guardian Druids

In World of Warcraft, Guardian Druids can be of many races, but we’ll list the most popular ones below. If you struggle with choosing the best race for Guardian Druid WoW The War Within, rely on the racial abilities, and you’ll find the real gem.

Alliance

The Kul Tirans are thus suitable for Alliance Players. They have special skills like the mighty Haymaker, which can cause a shift in battle in a team’s favor. For resistance, use Rime of the Ancient Mariner and for more survivability, use Brush It Off.

Horde

In the part of the horde, Highmountain Tauren is worth noticing because of Rugged Tenacity which decreases damage taken. Also, you have Bull Rush for a powerful charge and Mountaineer for the purpose of versatility. On the other hand, Trolls are a good alternative with the Berserking ability. It also provides a rather high haste boost which can turn out to be very helpful in a number of cases.

Best Profession for Guardian Druid

It is worth noting that choosing WoW Best Guardian Druid Profession is a matter of preference. With the current profession upgrade system, you can have crafting of items for your use or craft orders for gold. Therefore, you can choose any pair of Crafting + Gathering professions that you like most: Leatherworking + Skinning, Alchemy + Herbalism Blacksmithing + Mining, etc. Or take Engineering and you will be able to craft cool unique items and mounts. For your convenience, you can obtain TWW Professions Kits from our team.

Improving as Guardian Druid

If you want to optimize your Guardian Druid WoW gameplay, consider the following tips and tricks that we describe in our guide. But remember, that constant training is key.

Optimize Frenzied Regeneration

If you use Frenzied Regeneration do not cast it when at full HP or when the healer is actively healing you. This results in an overhealing condition and is not cost-effective. Use it when healers are occupied or any time coordinated interruption is desirable. Also, it is advised not to use two Frenzied Regenerations one after the other since this overwrites the first heal and hence wastes the healing ticks. Charge both only if needed, wait for the first cast to fully heal before casting the second one.

Stay Facing Your Enemies

There’s a way to avoid attacks when retreating: instead of moving forward, you should strafe at 90 degrees. This helps to avoid turning your back to the enemy and minimizes damage and even deaths. It is also important to note that the manner of attacks which includes physical attacks can be dodged in a horizontal arc of 180 degrees in front of the character.

Don’t Spam Swipes

Make sure that as soon as possible after the Mangle/Thrash CD is up you use them. The Swipe can hardly be used more than two times at once unless you need it for AoE damage. Still, even in such situations, it is limited to three of the Swipes before Thrash resets.

Deal Maximum Damage

First of all, when you attack, the more consistent damage you cause, the greater the focus (or potential threats) enemies will have on you. If your fellow tank is pulling enemies from you in Raid or other situations, probably they are dealing more threat. The lack of an effort to not be beaten in damage means that you may actually decrease their damage as they adapt.

Second, any kind of harm matters in a fight regardless of who inflicts that harm — a tank, a DPS, or a healer. By not pushing enough on the DPS in Raids or M+ you are in fact hindering the team’s advancement towards defeating the boss. It even shows that the boon from emphasizing attack power overshadows any conceivable penalties toward endurance.

Guardian Druid Macros

Macros are gaming tools that allow you to sequence spells, personalize names and icons. You can use abilities based on target hostility, specify targeting criteria, and execute other actions for smoother gameplay.

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So, The War Within Season 1 did not bring big changes for Guardian Druid. It allowed him to remain a strong middling tank as always. However, in this Guardian Druid WoW guide, we took a closer look at the Bear’s weaknesses and understood how to offset them with his strengths. The rest is a matter of practice. But be sure that Guardian Druid is an excellent tank capable of finishing any keys and Raids.