Druid

The druid is a guardian of nature who changes shape to suit the fight: a bear to tank, a cat to strike from the shadows, a seal to swim, a cheetah to travel, or its own form to heal and cast. In Classic (patch 1.12) druids were the game's most flexible class, able to fill every role in a group, and they were above all raid healers. Only night elves and tauren could be druids.

Role and identity

In its own form, a druid is a caster. It heals with Healing Touch, Rejuvenation and Regrowth, attacks with Wrath, Moonfire and Starfire, roots enemies with Entangling Roots, and buffs its allies with Mark of the Wild and Thorns. It can also bring a fallen ally back to life in the middle of a fight with Rebirth, which no other class could do in Classic.

Shapeshifting turns the druid into something else entirely. In Bear Form it uses rage like a warrior and tanks with Maul, Growl and Swipe. In Cat Form it uses energy and combo points like a rogue, with Prowl, Shred and Rip. Aquatic Form lets it breathe and swim fast underwater, and Travel Form runs faster on land. Every change of form frees the druid from slows and roots, but costs mana, and the druid cannot cast its healing spells while shifted.

Races

Night elves on the Alliance and tauren on the Horde were the only druids in Classic. Both races were taught by the Cenarion Circle, and both visit Moonglade, the druids' sacred grove, for their form quests. Tauren druids have more health from Endurance, which helps bears, while night elves' Shadowmeld suits cats.

Talent trees

Druids earn 51 talent points by level 60. They can be planned with our talent calculator.

• Balance improves the druid's damage spells and Entangling Roots. Its 31-point talent is Moonkin Form, which raises the spell critical strike chance of the druid's party but stops the druid from healing.
• Feral Combat improves Bear and Cat Form. It has Feral Charge, which leaps to an enemy and interrupts it, and its 31-point talent is Leader of the Pack, which raises the critical strike chance of the druid's party.
• Restoration improves healing and has Nature's Swiftness, which makes the next nature spell instant. Its 31-point talent is Innervate, an instant heal that consumes a Rejuvenation or Regrowth.

Leveling

Most druids leveled as Feral. Cat Form deals solid damage and Bear Form is tough, and the druid can heal itself between fights by shifting back. Travel Form at level 30 makes moving between quests fast, years before the druid needs a mount. The price is mana: every shift costs some, and a druid that shifts too often runs dry.

Key spells by level

Class quests

The druid's class quests teach its forms, and each sends the druid to a different part of the world.

• Bear Form (level 10). Heeding the Call or a similar quest sends the druid to Moonglade, where it speaks with the Great Bear Spirit and returns to its trainer for Body and Heart or Body and Heart, which teaches Bear Form.
• Cure Poison (level 14). A chain ending in Power over Poison or Power over Poison teaches the druid to cure poison.
• Aquatic Form (level 16). The Trial of the Lake and the Trial of the Sea Lion send the druid diving for pieces of an artifact, ending in Aquatic Form or Aquatic Form, which teaches Aquatic Form and rewards the [Aquarius Belt].
• A Better Ingredient (level 52). A chain starting with [[forever:quest:9063]] in Un'Goro Crater ends in [[forever:quest:9053]] and rewards a choice of druid items.
• Atiesh. In Naxxramas, druids could assemble the legendary Atiesh through [[forever:quest:9269]].

In raids

Druids in Classic raids were almost always Restoration healers. Their Rejuvenation and Regrowth were efficient for keeping many players topped up, and they removed curses and poisons. Two spells made them indispensable: Innervate, which gives a healer or caster a burst of mana regeneration, and Rebirth, the only way to bring back a player who died during a fight without a soulstone.

Feral druids could tank, and some served as off-tanks for helpers and trash, but few guilds used them as main tanks: they had no way to avoid critical hits as well as a warrior with a shield. Balance druids were rare, since the tree lacked the mana efficiency to last through long fights. Leader of the Pack and the Moonkin aura still found a place in some melee and caster groups.

In PvP

Druids are slippery opponents. Shifting breaks roots and slows, so a druid in Travel Form is hard to catch, and druids became the classic flag carriers of Warsong Gulch, healing themselves in human form and shifting back to bear to absorb damage. Entangling Roots holds an enemy in place, Hibernate puts another druid in an animal form to sleep, and Feral Charge interrupts a caster. A Restoration druid with Nature's Swiftness could heal a teammate from near death in an instant.

Tier sets

See Tier Sets for how each set drops.

• Tier 0: Wildheart Raiment, such as [Wildheart Kilt].
• Tier 1: Cenarion Raiment from Molten Core, such as [Cenarion Leggings].
• Tier 2: Stormrage Raiment from Blackwing Lair, such as [Stormrage Legguards].
• Tier 3: Dreamwalker Raiment from Naxxramas, such as [[forever:item:22488]].

Trivia

• The Tier 2 set is named after Malfurion Stormrage, the first mortal druid in the lore, who learned the craft from the demigod Cenarius.
• Teleport: Moonglade let druids reach the grove at any time, and many used it together with Moonglade's flight paths as a shortcut across Kalimdor.
• The druid is the only class in Classic that can tank, heal and deal both melee and spell damage.

Later history

The Burning Crusade turned the druid into a full hybrid. Feral bears became true main tanks, Moonkin became a common raid damage role, and Restoration gained Tree of Life form and Lifebloom. Druids also learned Flight Form, letting them fly at will in Outland, and Cyclone for PvP. Later expansions split Feral into separate Guardian and Feral specializations and opened the class to trolls, worgen and other races.

Sources

• Druid (Classic) on Warcraft Wiki
• Aquatic Form on Warcraft Wiki