Guardian Druid Raid Guide
Last Updated:August 26, 2024|Change Log|FAQ
Welcome to the Guardian Druid raid guide for the World of Warcraft patch 11.0! This guide covers everything you need to know to understand your character! Are you starting out and leveling up from 70? Check out the leveling guide!
Overview
Hero Talents
- Druid of the Claw and Elune's Chosen offer 2 different ways on how to play Guardian Druid.
- Elune's Chosen is making use of Lunar Beam as a cooldown buffing your arcane damage while having a higher rage generation and cooldown flexibility.
- Druid of the Claw makes use of the bleed Dreadful Wound as a defensive with lower rage generation while providing the option to pursue 2 different talent and gameplay builds.
- High ST damage option of playing Wildpower Surge together with Fluid Form, Rake and Rip makes cat-weave a smoother experience.
- Overall balanced option without any cat-weave focusing on just utilizing the passives offered and Dreadful Wound.
- In Raid Elune's Chosen is easier to play and offers more cooldown usage while Druid of the Claw is more ST damage and reliant on the bleed damage for maximum output.
- Boundless Moonlight
- Makes it important to tank all enemies inside the Lunar Beam zone.
- Atmospheric Exposure
- This effect is permanently refreshed while enemies are in your Lunar Beam zone, this means it lingers after it ends or they walk out for another 6seconds.
- Moondust
- Since Moonfire is more or less up all the time on enemies this is a nice convenient passive slow.
- Lunar Calling + Lunation
- This talent combination enables Thrash to contribute cooldown reduction on Lunar Beam increasing the usage rate a lot.
- The Light of Elune
- The proced Fury of Elune has no internal cooldown and also applies Atmospheric Exposure to targets hit.
- The Eternal Moon
- The Lunar Beam buff on yourself does not depend on the zone and provides you both with healing and mastery increase even if you leave the zone on the ground.
- Other benefits like the talents mentioned above only apply when enemies are within the zone.
- Ravage
- When it procs Ravage replaces your Maul for 15 seconds or until used.
- Fount of Strength
- The health increase is only active during the Frenzied Regeneration buff.
- Dreadful Wound + Aggravate Wounds
- Dreadful Wound is applied to all targets hit by Ravage and provides you with 10% damage reduction.
- With this talent combination Aggravate Wounds extends this bleed and damage reduction passively by just pressing your normal rotation.
- Wildshape Mastery
- Wildshape Mastery provides health and armor when shifting into Cat Form.
- This buff gets canceled when shifting back into Bear Form.
- The same concept of buff canceling applies to the Wildshape Mastery healing for damage taken buff.
- Both Frenzied Regeneration and Ironfur does not vanish when swapping between Bear Form and Cat Form.
- Wildshape Mastery provides health and armor when shifting into Cat Form.
- Ruthless Aggression
- This bonus agility and armor is buffing your Thorns of Iron damage.
- Empowered Shapeshifting or Wildpower Surge
- Wildpower Surge enables smooth usage of Cat Form together with Rake and Rip.
- Empowered Shapeshifting is the passive option if cat-weaving is not wanted.
- Claw Rampage
- The tooltip is misleading, every target hit with the initial damage has a 25% chance to proc Ravage. Meaning on bigger pulls you most likely receive a proc after each ability.
Talents
When to use this spec
This is the default loadout going into any boss unless specified otherwise. You have to adjust the class talent tree based on the utility needed for the encounter. To make your life easier, boss-specific talent loadouts are available in the Raids section.
Gameplay Altering Talents
Discover all talents that significantly alter your gameplay within the Spec and Class Talent trees. This section gives a concise overview of these talents and their applications but for a more detailed look check out the Rotation and Deep Dive sections below.
Spec Tree
- Dream of Cenarius
- This proc makes it so your Regrowth can be cast in Bear Form and heals for 200% more. A Dream of Cenarius proc is very effective for healing yourself and others. You should be tracking this.
- Improved Survival Instincts
- Grants you another charge of Survival Instincts giving you more cooldown opportunities.
- Innate Resolve
- Grants you another charge of Frenzied Regeneration and increases the healing based on your missing health. This is amazing for both cooldown management and bonus healing.
- Infected Wounds
- Makes it so your Mangle or Raze slows targets hit by 50%, an amazing utility tool.
- Tooth and Claw
- Empowers your Raze or Maul to be way more valuable and act as a defensive cooldown.
- Thorns of Iron
- Makes it so your Ironfur deals a burst of physical damage when used.
- After the Wildfire
- A very strong heal around you whenever you spend 200 Rage, this is incredibly helpful to the whole group.
- Rend and Tear
- Makes maintaining your Thrash stacks grant defensive value.
- Ursoc's Guidance
- Grants huge cooldown reduction for Incarnation: Guardian of Ursoc when you spam spend Rage.
- Galactic Guardian
- Keeping track of this buff and utilizing Moonfire with it is high value for damage and Rage generation.
- Twin Moonfire
- Moonfire now hits 2 targets close to each other making multi-dotting easier and way better. This tool helps when pulling or getting aggro on multiple mobs.
Class Tree
- Well-Honed Instincts
- With a 120 second cooldown, you proc a Frenzied Regeneration when falling below 45% HP. What's important to note is that this overwrites any current active Frenzied Regeneration can also can be overwritten by any newly applied Frenzied Regeneration.
- Keeping track of the cooldown and not overlapping it is very important.
- With a 120 second cooldown, you proc a Frenzied Regeneration when falling below 45% HP. What's important to note is that this overwrites any current active Frenzied Regeneration can also can be overwritten by any newly applied Frenzied Regeneration.
Hero Talents
- Killing Strikes
- Provides a nice Agility and Armor bonus.
- Wildpower Surge
- Makes the whole cat-weave even possible.
- Strike for the Heart
When to use this spec
This is the Elune's Chosen version of the Raid Build that does a lot less damage but is passive and easy to play.
To make your life easier, boss-specific talent loadouts are available in the Raids section.
Talent Adjustments
Listing all the changes within the Class and Spec tree compared to the default build.
Class Tree
- Added
- Astral Influence
- Innervate
- 1x Lore of the Grove
- Verdant Heart
- Removed
- Rake
- Feline Swiftness
- Rip
- Fluid Form
Spec Tree
- Added
- 1x Fury of Nature
- Lunar Beam
- Twin Moonfire
- Removed
- Gory Fur
- Pulverize
- Blood Frenzy
Hero Talents
Changed to Elune's Chosen for more info visit the Hero Talent section above.
- Elune's Grace
- Lunar Calling
- Thrash now counts towards any arcane damage multiplier or cooldown reduction.
- The Light of Elune
- Bonus rage generation, without an internal cooldown.
- Lunation
- Provides massive cooldown reduction for Lunar Beam
Rotation
Tier Set
- 2-Set: Thrash and Moonfire increase your damage done and reduce damage you take by 1% for 8 sec, stacking 3 times.
- 4-Set: Arcane damage you deal is increased by 5% and bleed damage you deal is increased by 8%.
Opener
- The Goal of the opener is to get all major cooldowns going while also dealing the most damage possible. This is achieved by casting Moonfire and Thrash as early as possible and getting everything rolling while generating Rage to spend it later on Ironfur and Maul or Raze.
- Generally opener rotations for tanks work very well when it's all planned and not much defensive usage is needed. Keep in mind that this can be changed up without any issues if needed.
Priority List
Make sure to keep this list in mind, unless some bosses or scenarios require you to hold some abilities listed here
- Make sure to be in Bear Form, if you ever leave it while tanking you most likely die.
- Keep Rage of the Sleeper,Lunar Beam, Heart of the Wild, Incarnation: Guardian of Ursoc on cooldown only hold them if needed later on.
- Keep Moonfire up on the target 100% of the time.
- Spend your rage on Ironfur.
- With Thorns of Iron Ironfur is your main rage spender.
- Consume your Tooth and Claw with Maul/Raze
- Maul for the Single Target damage.
- Raze in AoE scenarios with 2+ targets
- Keep Thrash on cooldown.
- Keep Mangle on cooldown.
Opener
- The Goal of the opener is to put up all the needed debuffs on the target, while also doing the highest DPS possible. This is achieved by casting Moonfire and Thrash as early as possible and getting everything rolling while generating Rage to spend it later on Ravage procs with Maul or Ironfur.
- Generally opener rotations for tanks work very well when it's all planned and not much defensive usage is needed. Keep in mind that this can be changed up without any issues if needed.
Priority List
Make sure to keep this list in mind, unless some bosses or scenarios require you to hold some abilities listed here
- Make sure to be in Bear Form, if you ever leave it while tanking you most likely die.
- Keep Rage of the Sleeper,Heart of the Wild,Incarnation: Guardian of Ursoc and cooldown only hold them if needed later on.
- Keep Moonfire up on the target 100% of the time
- Consume your Ravage proc with Maul.
- On Single Target apply Rake and Rip to the target.
- Only with 6 stacks of Wildpower Surge.
- After applying shift back into Bear Form with Mangle.
- Keep Thrash on cooldown.
- Keep Mangle on cooldown.
- Spend your rage on Ironfur.
- With Thorns of Iron Ironfur is your main rage spender.
- Consume your Tooth and Claw with Maul/Raze
- Maul for the Single Target damage.
- Raze in AoE scenarios with 2+ targets
Defensive Cooldowns
- Barkskin
- This is your go-to defensive with a short cooldown. Activating it when walking into the boss, trash or anything that does damage is never super bad and due to the short cooldown, it is the first defensive you press if you need a cooldown.
- Rage of the Sleeper
- Generally you should keep this on cooldown as much as possible since it also increases your damage. Remember to hold it for the defensive value on encounters where you need the additional cooldown.
- Survival Instincts
- Your strongest (granting 50% damage reduction) and also the shortest defensive due to having a duration of 6 seconds. Choose wisely when to use this defensive but also don't sit on 2 charges when playing Improved Survival Instincts. Having 1 charge ready for an emergency is always nice but sitting on 2 is a big waste.
- Frenzied Regeneration
- Your big self-healing button. You can either use it proactively or reactively, the only important part is that you want to use its full potential to the best of your ability. Don't use it when taking some damage only just because it's ready. The Spell has a short cooldown, yes, but if you tend to use it all the time when taking any damage you might run into the situation of not having any charges after taking a big tank hit. Overall using this after any tank mechanic or when gathering mobs is the way to go just because it helps you get your HP up before your other defensives and Ironfur gets rolling.
- Ironfur
- Your active mitigation and your Rage spender. For more details check out the Deep Dive.
Incarnation: Guardian of Ursoc
- Incarnation: Guardian of Ursoc or Berserk can have a lot of applications as either be a DPS cooldown or a defensive cooldown. Therefore, you normally use it on cooldown. Holding it is only needed in special cases since it loses you a lot of value.
- It is a strong defensive and can carry you through a burst of damage.
- Holding it causes the CDR from Ursoc's Guidance to be wasted even more, so make sure to press the button.
- The offensive portion of it should not be underestimated.
Offensive Cooldowns
- Heart of the Wild increases the damage of Moonfire and your auto attacks. So press it on cooldown and gain bonus damage.
- Rage of the Sleeper, generally you should keep this on cooldown as much as possible since it increases your damage done, but in certain scenarios, it should be held for the defensive value.
- Lunar Beam increases your mastery and does damage. Make sure to use it on cooldown.
Deep Dive
This Deep Dive explains special mechanics that are important to a Guardian Druid it also goes more in detail when it comes to certain cooldown-windows that you want to min max.
Optimizing Ironfur
Ironfur is your Rage spender and active mitigation. It increases your armor based on your Agility for 7 seconds when pressed. Important to note is that multiple applications of Ironfur overlap and stack together while the duration does not increase, get refreshed or extend.
- 1. Ironfur is pressed at 0 seconds
- 2. Ironfur at 3 seconds
- 3. Ironfur at 5 seconds
- Now you have 3 Stacks of Ironfur up all 3 with different durations and they expire at different times as shown on the timeline with the icons below.
- After 12 Seconds you are left without any stacks of Ironfur even though you pressed it 3x in the first 5 seconds of the fight.
- It is crucial to understand how Guardian Druid's active mitigation works since your armor value and your associated damage reduction changes all the time with the amount of Ironfur stacks you have active.
- On top of that Ironfur does not heal you or anything. It needs to be used 100% proactively so knowing when you take damage and using it before the damage is crucial.
Here is a picture showing how Ironfur works.
Ironfur Armor
- Ironfur's armor is reducing your physical damage intake which in most cases is only melee swings. Bleeds and magical DoTs are not affected by armor.
- There is a hard cap of 85% on physical damage reduction. This would equal to around 7-8 stacks of Ironfur at a time (around 4 with Blistering Scales) which makes it useless to spam Ironfur after reaching this amount.
- But due to a lot of other factors such as Ursoc's Guidance and Thorns of Iron you do not stop pressing it in huge AoE pulls just because you reached 4 Stacks.
- However, due to how armor scaling works it is more overall defensive value to keep 1 stack of Ironfur rolling all the time than using 3 stacks instantly and then not having any at all after. The more armor you stack, the less effective each new layer becomes.
- Because you have high physical damage reduction, you struggle a lot more with magical damage, bleeds, and other DoTs. For those, it's important to use Frenzied Regeneration correctly.
Frenzied Regeneration
- Frenzied Regeneration is your only self-heal as a Guardian Druid and is very important to stay alive.
- Generally, the cooldown of Frenzied Regeneration with 36 seconds (reduced by haste) which makes it very tempting to press any time you take damage. This often leads to problems when you take damage later on that is too big for your healer to cover or you need a fast way to heal up. Keeping an eye on future scenarios is important when using it.
- On top of that, you also need to decide how you use Frenzied Regeneration either proactively to stay topped for any mechanic or reactively after the mechanic to top yourself back up to stay stable. Oftentimes this fully comes down to the amount of damage you take from anything. Knowing what to do comes with playing the game and knowledge of the situation.
- When playing Innate Resolve you have 2 charges of Frenzied Regeneration and it's generally really nice to always keep one ready for the emergency and use the other charge when you need to just so you don't waste the cooldown recovery.
- Noteworthy things with Frenzied Regeneration:
- Well-Honed Instincts does not consume a charge of your Frenzied Regeneration but it overwrites your current one if you press it right before it procced + If you use Frenzied Regeneration and it procs after your proc overwrites the one you pressed before basically wasting a lot of value.
- Berserk: Persistence reduces the cooldown of Frenzied Regeneration by 100% making it just have no cooldown at all. When this is talented pressing Incarnation: Guardian of Ursoc refunds you both charges of Frenzied Regeneration and makes it useable instantly. Keep this in mind since it can be a lifesaver.
Understanding Mechanics
Rotational min-maxing is just one aspect of mastering a specialization, but there are numerous other key mechanics that influence your performance. Use the following guides to improve them.
Nerub-ar Palace
The following tips are mainly applicable to Heroic Bosses. Mythic tips are going to be released after our progression concludes.
← Scroll for more Bosses →
Tank mechanics
- Brutal Crush
- After being hit you receive 20 applications of Tenderized which results in a 200% healing reduction.
- Every second, you lose one application stack which fully clears your debuff after 20 seconds.
- The boss casts this mechanic roughly every 15 to 20 seconds.
- As the inactive tank, taunt when the cast succeeds.
- After being hit you receive 20 applications of Tenderized which results in a 200% healing reduction.
- After Hulking Crash the Boss transitions into the intermission.
- Ravenous Spawn appears in a cocoon on one side of the room, make sure to move there.
- These cocoons break staggered after some time spawning Ravenous Spawn pick them up and watch aggro since they are spread out.
- Disembowel is cast on the target that has aggro so watch your DPS and Healer players if they are getting attacked.
- Disembowel is a bleed which can be removed by Cauterizing Flame.
- These cocoons break staggered after some time spawning Ravenous Spawn pick them up and watch aggro since they are spread out.
Boss Tips and Tricks
- At the start of the fight, bring the Boss to a corner as this makes Stalkers Webbing easier to clear.
- During Carnivorous Contest, use Stampeding Roar while soaking to not get sucked to the boss.
- Do not walk under the boss Devour, it kills you almost instantly.
- Utilize your Moonfire to pick up aggro in the intermission.
Tank mechanics
- Gruesome Disgorge is both a tank mechanic and a raid mechanic.
- Gruesome Disgorge is cast at the active tank and shows a huge cone that faces and moves with you.
- As the inactive tank, taunt when the cast succeeds.
- When hit by Gruesome Disgorge you and anyone inside the cone is sent into a different phase, Baneful Shift.
- During the phase, you need to kill the Lost Watcher and Forgotten Harbingers while preventing Blood Horrors from reaching the boss
- Lost Watcher is your tank target, make sure to taunt it.
- Black Bulwark needs to be interrupted.
- Spectral Slam is cast on you doing moderate damage.
- Position the Lost Watcher between or close to Forgotten Harbingers.
- Spewing Hemorrhage.
- Spewing Hemorrhage creates two beams on each side of the boss while being cast.
- Boss facing determines where the beams are.
- The active boss tank can move accordingly to adjust final beam positions during the cast.
- Your goal is to place the beams as far away as possible from the inside group with Baneful Shift.
- These Beams always turn clockwise so keep that in mind.
Boss Tips and Tricks
- Use Stampeding Roar when running away from Goresplatter you can jump over the "water" and not take any damage.
- Utilize Ursol's Vortex for the inside phase Baneful Shift to slow and grip the small adds back they are spawned from Manifest Horror.
Tank mechanics
- Captain's Flourish is the tank combo mechanic during this fight.
- Sikran starts with 2x Expose followed by 1x Phase Lunge.
- Taunting during any of these casts changes the destination target to the taunter. Watch out when to taunt here.
- Managing Captain's Flourish:
- The active tank takes two hits of Expose increasing his physical damage taken.
- The Inactive tank taunts during Phase Lunge increasing his damage taken by the next Phase Lunge.
- After this combo, the tanks swap roles meaning the tank who took Phase Lunge now takes the next two Expose.
- While the previous Expose tank now takes Phase Lunge.
Boss Tips and Tricks
- Move the boss to be lined up with the Phase Blades images. This makes it easier for Decimate targets to hit them.
- Use Barkskin right before Decimate goes off to have a nice damage reduction for the Cosmic Shards debuff.
- Use Stampeding Roar whenever Shattering Sweep happens.
Tank mechanic
- Savage Assault is the only tank mechanic in this fight.
- As the inactive tank, taunt when the cast succeeds.
- The mechanic does a high amount of damage and applies a dot based on 60% of unmitigated damage done to you, meaning you need to mitigate the damage as much as possible.
- The damage is split into magic and physical damage.
- Both instances are calculated separately when it comes to the dot application. If you only have a physical absorb, you receive the full magic dot + the unmitigated physical one.
Boss Tips and Tricks
- Use Skull Bash to counter the knockback if you stand too close to the boss.
- Stampeding Roar the raid team whenever the boss phases and flies away.
- During Savage Assault make sure to have a few Ironfur stacks and Barkskin active.
Tank mechanics
- Volatile Concoction is the very short duration tank mechanic.
- It's very important that the inactive tank taunts when the cast succeeds.
- When you have Volatile Concoction on you it's very important to stay at the highest HP possible.
- The debuff is a big magic dot and only 8 seconds long.
- After the debuff runs out, you explode on the whole raid and the damage is reduced based on your current health percent when the debuffs drops. Staying healthy and as close as possible to 100% is your goal.
- Volatile Concoction also applies a +damage taken debuff to you preventing you from taking 2 hits back to back so make sure to taunt of your tank partner.
- Experimental Dosage spawns different add types throughout the fight. Your main concern is the Colossal Spider.
- Whenever they spawn be ready to taunt or attack them to pick up the aggro.
- They cast Vicious Bite at the target with aggro, this does magic damage to you.
- At 25% health they enrage and start stacking up a damage done increase.
- Whenever you have Volatile Concoction be extra careful of your HP.
Boss Tips and Tricks
- During this fight make sure to position the boss next to the eggs you want to break next.
- Here you want to make sure that the boss model is not covering the eggs. If it is covering the eggs, it is substantially harder for other players to break them.
- Barkskin and a late Frenzied Regeneration are amazing tools to counter Volatile Concoction.
- Utilize Ursol's Vortex for the Voracious Worm adds.
- Use Stampeding Roar whenever you move to the next section of the room.
Tank mechanics
- Void Shredders
- This ability consists of 4 hits each dealing damage and applying one stack of Chasmal Gash to the active tank.
- As the inactive tank, you can taunt at any point during the cast or after it is over as it does not change targets.
- This mechanic is just a regular tank swap mechanic and there is nothing more to it.
- Sometimes it can be paired with a good amount of raid damage which can be dangerous.
Boss Tips and Tricks
- Use Stampeding Roar during Nether Rift.
- During Void Shredders make sure to have a few Ironfur stacks and Barkskin active.
Tank mechanics
- This council boss consists of two bosses: Anub'arash and Skeinspinner Takazj.
- Both tanks want to preemptively decide on one boss to start on so make sure that is clear.
- Anub'arash casts Piercing Strike.
- Skeinspinner Takazj casts Poison Bolt and Void Bolt[/wow-spell which are both magic casts that leave a dispellable dot behind.
- [wow-spell id=438218]Piercing Strike deals a decent amount of physical damage to the active tank and leaves an increased damage taken debuff.
- As the inactive tank, taunt after the cast succeeded.
- Skeinspinner Takazj casts either of her "Bolt" spells whenever she is not casting any encounter-related mechanic.
- Both bolts are quite harmless on low stacks, but become dangerous fast when reaching higher stacks.
- Poison Bolt is a poison only dispel mechanic.
- Make sure to get dispelled by your fellow Paladins, Evokers, Monks, and Druids.
- In Phase 2 Poison Bolt changes to Void Bolt and becomes a magic dispel that can be dispelled by any healer.
- The goal is to keep the bosses stacked as much as possible while swapping tanking roles after each Piercing Strike.
Boss Tips and Tricks
- During Call of the Swarm use Ursol's Vortex to prevent Shattershell Scarab from reaching players they fixate.
- Use Remove Corruption to dispel yourself while tanking Poison Bolt whenever ready.
- Help Remove Corruption your tank partner while they are tanking Skeinspinner Takazj.
- Use Stampeding Roar whenever Reckless Charge happens so the raid team can reposition.
Stat Priority
Understand your secondary stat priority and the tertiary stats needed for optimal performance during Raid boss fights as a Guardian Druid. For more detailed information, visit the Stats and Attributes guide.
Higher Item level items are better in most scenarios. For an accurate representation of what item to equip you should use Simcraft! A static "Stat Priority" is just a starting point and can easily shift depending on your individual gear.
All secondary stats are affected by diminishing returns. Click here to learn more!
Tertiary
- Avoidance - Great stat to reduce the damage intake of "Area of Effect" abilities.
- Leech - Provides additional healing through damage dealing.
- Speed - Niche tertiary that can be very useful and has been proven useful in the past. This makes managing certain mechanics a lot easier.
In general, Leech is really strong for tanks, especially in AoE scenarios it can be by far the best stat you can have.
Avoidance is great but most of the time tanks are not struggling to survive the typical Area of Effect abilities.
Gear
Slot | Item | Location |
---|---|---|
Head | Mask of the Greatlynx | Silken Court Tier / Catalyst |
Neck | Sureki Zealot's Insignia | Sikran |
Shoulder | Maw of the Greatlynx | Rasha'nan Tier / Catalyst |
Cloak | Wings of Shattered Sorrow | Rasha'nan |
Chest | Rainshadow Hauberk | Mists of Tirna Scithe |
Wrist | Rune-Branded Armbands | Crafting |
Gloves | Eviscerators of the Greatlynx | Sikran Tier / Catalyst |
Belt | Adrenal Surge Clasp | Crafting |
Legs | Leggings of the Greatlynx | Ky'veza Tier / Catalyst |
Boots | Viscera-Stitched Footpads | The Necrotic Wake |
Ring 1 | Seal of the Poisoned Pact | Queen Ansurek |
Ring 2 | Stitchflesh's Misplaced Signet | Necrotic Wake |
Trinket 1 | Ara-Kara Sacbrood | Ara'kara, City of Echos |
Trinket 2 | Bottled Flayedwing Toxin | Necrotic Wake |
Weapon | Harvester's Interdiction | Ara'kara, City of Echos |
Below you are presented with a good list of farmable alternatives that are obtainable outside of WoW’s weekly lockout system. While replaced in time as you progress, these offer immediate character power.
Slot | Item | Location |
---|---|---|
Head | Guise of the Construct | The Stonevault |
Neck | Elder's Hemolymphal Periapt | City of Threads |
Shoulder | Shadowchill Amice | City of Threads |
Cloak | Swarmcaller's Shroud | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes |
Chest | Rainshadow Hauberk | Mists of Tirna Scithe |
Wrist | Risen Monstrosity Cuffs | Necrotic Wake |
Gloves | Gorebound Stranglers | City of Threads |
Belt | Sapgorger Belt | Mists of Tirna Scithe |
Legs | Glimmerthread Pantaloons | Grim Batol |
Boots | Viscera-Stitched Footpads | Necrotic Wake |
Ring 1 | Stitchflesh's Misplaced Signet | Necrotic Wake |
Ring 2 | Experiment 08752's Band | City of Threads |
Trinket 1 | Bottled Flayedwing Toxin | Necrotic Wake |
Trinket 2 | Ara-Kara Sacbrood | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes |
Weapon | Harvester's Interdiction | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes |
Trinkets
Below you can find active and passive alternatives to our recommended trinkets. Do note that some trinkets are better than others depending on the raid boss.
Active Trinket alternatives
- Foul Behemoth's Chelicera
- Strong trinket for both defensive and offensive value.
- Ovi'nax's Mercurial Egg
- A trinket that grants mainstat while standing still and highest secondary when moving.
- 2minute on use with which you can walk around without losing the mainstat.
- Swarmlord's Authority
- Haste statstick, that gives a good all-around absorb on use every 1 min.
- Due to having only haste as a stat, only recommended if the absorb is needed.
Passive Trinket alternatives
- Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj
- RNG stat proc trinket.
- Dead-Eye Spyglass
- Great passive crit stat stick, important to hit the marked target.
- Void Reaper's Contract
- Damage proc trinket that performs pretty decent.
- Ceaseless Swarmgland
- Another passive trinket that does damage and provides little damage reduction.
Embellishments
It's recommended to hold your Spark of Omens craft and wait for further tuning.
- Adrenal Surge Clasp
- Provides good passive Agility for the loss of some mastery.
- Writhing Armor Banding
- Empowering your Adrenal Surge Clasp.
- On Wrists, Boots, Waist, or Cloak depending on your available gear.
Remaining Sparks
- Crafted items are 636 item level and regular items are 639 on max item level, therefore, it's a small loss to equip crafted items outside of your 2x Embellishments unless you don't have access to other high item level gear on that slot.
Simcraft
To find the best combination of gear available to you or identify the best possible upgrades, visit our Simcraft guide to learn how to utilize Simcraft easily and effectively.
Consumables
- Phials
- Flask of Tempered Swiftness -- maximum DPS.
- Flask of Tempered Versatility -- less DPS but more survivability.
- Food
- Feast of the Divine Day
- Feast of the Midnight Masquerade
- Combat Potion
- Tempered Potion
- Potion Bomb of Power -- group potion, this is a DPS loss for you.
- Health Potion
- Algari Healing Potion
- Weapon Stones
- Ironclaw Whetstone -- usable on Polearm.
- Ironclaw Weightstone -- usable on Mace, Staff.
- Augment Rune
- Crystallized Augment Rune
- Sockets
- Versatile Emerald
- Culminating Blasphemite -- Unique, use one of each gem colour to enhance your Blasphemite.
- Quick Ruby
- Quick Onyx
- Quick Sapphire
Enchantments
Head | Nerubian Gemweaver |
Neck | Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
Cloak | Enchant Cloak - Chant of Winged Grace |
Chest | Enchant Chest - Crystalline Radiance |
Wrist | Enchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Leech Nerubian Gemweaver |
Belt | Nerubian Gemweaver |
Legs | Stormbound Armor Kit |
Boots | Enchant Boots - Scout's March |
Ring 1 | Enchant Ring - Radiant Haste Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
Ring 2 | Enchant Ring - Radiant Haste Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
Weapon | Enchant Weapon - Authority of Radiant Power |
You buy Nerubian Gemweaver from the Great Vault Vendor to add sockets to your Helm, Wrists and Belt.
Races
For min-maxing a Guardian Druid in Raids, different racial traits can provide a tremendous benefit to your characters. If this is not your top goal, picking a race that fits your style works just as well.
- Bull Rush -- Highmountain Tauren
- Bull Rush can be used to stun a pack, even when on stun DR since it counts as a knockdown making it very useful for those cases.
- Strong passives for survival with Rugged Tenacity and Mountaineer.
- Haymaker -- Kul Tirans
- Haymaker can be moved to knock enemies out of bad positions but has limited uses.
- Very good defensive passives with Brush It Off and Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
- War Stomp -- Tauren
- War Stomp can be strong since you don't have any other source to stun enemies. Sadly it only hits up to 5 targets though so keep that in mind.
- On top of that you also get decent passive effects Endurance, Brawn and Nature Resistance.
- Berserking -- Troll
- Troll is by far the best for burst damage since you can just use Berserking during incarnation for the extra haste, if you want to survive this is the worst option compared to the others.
Recommendation
- Highmountain Tauren and Kul Tiran aren't the overall best racials in terms of DPS but their survivability abilities are decent in Raiding as a Guardian Druid.
- Night Elf is very good for DPS but doesn't have any other useful benefits in Raid as Guardian Druid.
Macros
Discover recommended macros for Guardian Druid for Raids and watch a quick video guide on creating simple macros for your character.
Taunt Macros
Taunt Macro --- This macro either casts Growl at your target or your mouseover (very handy to pick up mobs)
#showtooltip Growl
/cast [@mouseover,exists,harm][@target,exists,harm] Growl
Boss 1 Taunt --- Casts Growl on Boss1
/cast [@boss1] Growl
Boss 2 Taunt --- Casts Growl on Boss2
/cast [@boss2] Growl
Mouseover Macros
Focus Macros
Utility Macros
Addons
Below, you see a screenshot of the author's User Interface for their Guardian Druid, outlining which addons are used and how they are utilized in Raids to make your life easier.
Addons
Weakauras
Changes this Patch
Patch 11.0.2
Patch 11.0.1
FAQ
Q: Why do I randomly get one-shot?
Credits
Written By: Meeres
Reviewed By: Canexx