Need help with Druid Talents....

[Captain Insano]

I'm now level 10 and at a complete loss where to put my talents...

I know you can rearrange them later on...

But for now I could use some advice.


I have always played high, sustained damage classes. I really don't care much for playing a supporting role.

My goal in my mmorg life is to unleash longterm, high damage cans of whoopass.

I am really thinking about leaning to putting most points into my feral talents.

A few questions... Can the shapeshifting forms be used inside in dungeons etc?

Are the shapeshifting forms a good way to unleash the pain?

Can someone briefly describe the different forms and what class they emulate? (cat is rogue, bear is warrior etc.)

Should I put more points into one form or another?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[KaiineTN]

None of the Druids I've raided with have ever done anything besides support, a little dps here sure, and there but mostly spot healing and buffs. Most if not all of them have their talents spent accordingly.

Yes you can shapeshift in instances. But expect to be a backup role more than anything else in groups. Backup as in healing, not as in an offtank or rogue. Many instances require more than one healer, that or really good crowd control and well equiped players. Would be weird to have 2 priests in a group, so most people go for a Druid or Paladin for that extra bit of support.

Hurricane is pretty useful though... But in end game raiding situations you'll probably be healing warlocks and mages when they're AE'ing more than you'd use hurricane to join in on the fun.

Talents mean jack shit until 60 anyways, so unless you're planning on spending 3+ months leveling up, I wouldn't worry about planning it out too much. You can reset your talents later and experiment with different builds once you have a good amount of points available. I strongly suggest waiting until 50-60 though (when grouping really starts to matter), because the cost starts to hurt after a couple resets.

[Captain Insano]

Hmm...

Thats food for thought. My favorite and most played class in original EQ was the necro. It was a class usually looked down on because it was usually played by prepubescent 12 year old assclowns. BUT if played well was a damage machine that could also crowd control and heal. I felt that the WoW druid had the level of complexity and versatility I was looking for. I was very accustomed to multi-tasking, meaning damage, heal, control the flow of battle etc. That being said maybe just trying to kick out DPS isn't the best strategy...

While I enjoy putting out the pain, I guess if healing will be a primary role in the end game I should spend at least some of my talents accordingly.

Further thoughts are welcome. I plan on staying in "The Nameless" as long as everyone else does, so some guild perspective would be good too. In other words what are we lacking? Healers? Damage?

[Arlos]

I found in playing a druid in Beta that there was really never any reason for me to go to bear or cat form, unless I needed to sneak somewhere. With the proper talent spec, I could put out just as much damage in caster form as I could in Cat form. Bear form is more useful now that it actually has a real armor value, so that might be something to look at. So, anyway, I never put any points into feral at all, because I was never shifting, so my druid advice is going to be based on not going feral. (I am sure someone else can give you feral advice)

I found that the 2 most important talents to me were the one that gave me a 60% chance to avoid interrupts when casting heals, and Nature's Swiftness. Obviously, getting Nature's Swiftness means skipping Hurricane, so if you REALLY want an AOE spell, you can probably somewhat get by with the weaker version of NS in the balance line. Still, the ability to, once every 3 minutes, make your big 3.5s cast heal insta-cast was insanely nice. Also near tops in utility was Omen of Clarity, which lets you put a proc on your weapon that lets you cast your next damage or healing spell for free. I don't think I need to give reasons for how niec that is.

Anyway, here's the build I used:

Balance Talents (26 points)

Nature's Grasp - 1/1 point
While active, any time an enemy strikes the caster, they have a 35% chance to become afflicted by Entangling Roots (Rank 1). Only usable outdoors. 1 charge. Lasts 45 seconds.

Improved Nature's Grasp - 4/4 points
Increases the chance for your Nature's Grasp to entangle an enemy by 65%.

Improved Moonfire - 5/5 points
Increases the damage and critical strike chance of your Moonfire spell by 10%.

Omen of Clarity - 1/1 point
Imbue the Druid's weapon with natural energy. Each hit has a chance of causing the caster to enter a Clearcasting state. The Clearcasting state reduces the Mana cost of your next damage or healing spell by 100%. The Omen of Clarity enchantment lasts 5 minutes.

Improved Starfire - 5/5 points
Gives your Starfire spell a 15% chance to stun the target for 3 seconds.

Moonglow - 4/5 points
Reduces the Mana cost of your Moonfire and Starfire spells by 8%.

Weapon Balance - 5/5 points
Increases the damage you deal with melee weapons by 10%.

Nature's Grace - 1/1 point
Your critical strikes with the Wrath, Starfire, and Moonfire spells grace you with a blessing of nature, reducing the casting time of your next Regrowth or Healing Touch spell by 1 second.


Feral Combat Talents (0 points)

None


Restoration Talents (25 points)

Improved Mark of the Wild - 5/5 points
Increases the effects of your Mark of the Wild spell by 35%.

Nature's Focus - 5/5 points
Gives you a 60% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting the Healing Touch or Regrowth spells.

Improved Healing Touch - 4/5 points
Reduces the mana cost of your Healing Touch spell by 12%.

Gift of Nature - 1/1 point
Increases the effect of your Healing Touch, Rejuvenation, Regrowth, and Tranquility spells by 5%.

Improved Rejuvenation - 5/5 points
Increases the effect of your Rejuvenation spell by 15%.

Nature's Swiftness - 1/1 point
When activated, your next Nature spell becomes an instant cast spell.

Subtlety - 4/5 points
Reduces the threat generated by your healing spells by 16%.

This build will up your damage output a fair bit, and at the same time set you up to be a reasonably effective primary healer for instances and groups. I'd suggest sticking with using a staff, to get the most out of the melee enhancer talent.

If I was dead set on getting hurricane, for the AOE goodness, and wanted to do nearly as much damage as possible, I'd probably do something like this:

Balance Talents (37 points)

Nature's Grasp - 1/1 point
While active, any time an enemy strikes the caster, they have a 35% chance to become afflicted by Entangling Roots (Rank 1). Only usable outdoors. 1 charge. Lasts 45 seconds.

Improved Nature's Grasp - 4/4 points
Increases the chance for your Nature's Grasp to entangle an enemy by 65%.

Improved Moonfire - 5/5 points
Increases the damage and critical strike chance of your Moonfire spell by 10%.

Omen of Clarity - 1/1 point
Imbue the Druid's weapon with natural energy. Each hit has a chance of causing the caster to enter a Clearcasting state. The Clearcasting state reduces the Mana cost of your next damage or healing spell by 100%. The Omen of Clarity enchantment lasts 5 minutes.

Improved Starfire - 5/5 points
Gives your Starfire spell a 15% chance to stun the target for 3 seconds.

Moonglow - 4/5 points
Reduces the Mana cost of your Moonfire and Starfire spells by 8%.

Weapon Balance - 5/5 points
Increases the damage you deal with melee weapons by 10%.

Nature's Grace - 1/1 point
Your critical strikes with the Wrath, Starfire, and Moonfire spells grace you with a blessing of nature, reducing the casting time of your next Regrowth or Healing Touch spell by 1 second.

Moonfury - 5/5 points
Increases the damage done by your Starfire and Moonfire spells by 10%.

Vengeance - 5/5 points
Increases the critical strike damage of your Starfire, Moonfire, and Wrath spells by 100%.

Hurricane - 1/1 point
Creates a violent storm in the area surrounding the caster, causing 53 Nature damage to all nearby enemies every 1 second, and reducing the attack speed of all nearby enemies by 20%. Lasts 10 seconds.


Feral Combat Talents (0 points)

None


Restoration Talents (14 points)

Improved Mark of the Wild - 5/5 points
Increases the effects of your Mark of the Wild spell by 35%.

Nature's Focus - 5/5 points
Gives you a 60% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting the Healing Touch or Regrowth spells.

Improved Healing Touch - 3/5 points
Reduces the mana cost of your Healing Touch spell by 9%.

Gift of Nature - 1/1 point
Increases the effect of your Healing Touch, Rejuvenation, Regrowth, and Tranquility spells by 5%.

With this build, you may not be able to be a primary healer in the tougher instances, because you lack any flash healing capability, which the first build gives you with Nature's Swiftness. However, you'll do quite a bit more damage, especially when you crit with spells, and you may be better at soloing.

If you want a build to be best at healing, try this:

Balance Talents (16 points)

Nature's Grasp - 1/1 point
While active, any time an enemy strikes the caster, they have a 35% chance to become afflicted by Entangling Roots (Rank 1). Only usable outdoors. 1 charge. Lasts 45 seconds.

Improved Nature's Grasp - 4/4 points
Increases the chance for your Nature's Grasp to entangle an enemy by 65%.

Improved Moonfire - 5/5 points
Increases the damage and critical strike chance of your Moonfire spell by 10%.

Omen of Clarity - 1/1 point
Imbue the Druid's weapon with natural energy. Each hit has a chance of causing the caster to enter a Clearcasting state. The Clearcasting state reduces the Mana cost of your next damage or healing spell by 100%. The Omen of Clarity enchantment lasts 5 minutes.

Improved Starfire - 5/5 points
Gives your Starfire spell a 15% chance to stun the target for 3 seconds.


Feral Combat Talents (0 points)

None


Restoration Talents (35 points)

Improved Mark of the Wild - 5/5 points
Increases the effects of your Mark of the Wild spell by 35%.

Nature's Focus - 5/5 points
Gives you a 60% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting the Healing Touch or Regrowth spells.

Improved Healing Touch - 5/5 points
Reduces the mana cost of your Healing Touch spell by 15%.

Gift of Nature - 1/1 point
Increases the effect of your Healing Touch, Rejuvenation, Regrowth, and Tranquility spells by 5%.

Improved Rejuvenation - 5/5 points
Increases the effect of your Rejuvenation spell by 15%.

Reflection - 5/5 points
Allows 15% of your Mana regeneration to continue while casting.

Nature's Swiftness - 1/1 point
When activated, your next Nature spell becomes an instant cast spell.

Subtlety - 5/5 points
Reduces the threat generated by your healing spells by 20%.

Improved Tranquility - 2/2 points
Gives you a 80% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting your Tranquility spell.

Innervate - 1/1 point
Increases the target's Mana regeneration by 400% and allows 100% of the target's Mana regeneration to continue while casting. Lasts 20 seconds.


-Arlos

[Blondie]

I'm playing a druid in WoW right now (KungMoo - lev. 35). I've found much more use for going animal forms now that the game is live than what I did in beta. I just tanked an elite (party required) area in bear form for a group and didn't have many probs at all, although I was about 3 levs higher than some of the mobs. And that's with no points in feral talents, because I didnt' think I'd be using them much.

Do this with your talents no matter what type of druid you plan to be:
- Max out Improved Mark of the Wild
- Get Omen of Clarity in Balance tree (much of your time will be spent in Tauren form and this is great)
- Toss some points into reducing chance of interruption on healing spells.

Most of my time is spent as the healer & support for groups, but most of my points are in Balance becaus I wanted some offensive abilities too. I have very few probs being only healer for groups, especially now that they gave us IN-COMBAT rez capabilities (which was our big drawback in beta), and haven't had any complaints. In a weak moment, Taxx even said I played druid well. Shh! Don't tell!!! Give me a holler in-game if you want help or advice with druid stuff (especially with finding the second part of the sealion pendant for aquatic form quest which I couldn't have done without Aryylas' help)

- KungMoo

[Adivina]

Talk to Aryylas about shapeshifting talents, he has a sick build going on and solos just about anything he wants.

[Blondie]

One more thing - It's very cool to be able to go cat form and prowl though dungeons with humanoid tracking on to find the bosses we're looking for. Love cat form.

And travel form rocks at lev. 30!

[Shneider]

Only level 16 currently but as a tauren druid I prefer being in caster form the majority of the time simply for the occasional warstomp. Most of the time when I do shapeshift something has gone horribly wrong, like losing connection and coming back or some such; but I generally elect to warstomp>Regrowth or Rejuvenation> Bear then run away or fight my way out depending on the scenario. Currently I've selected 5 points in Improved Mark of the Wild since equipment thus far is pretty sparse in the stats area and Nature's Grasp which is nice when soloing.

Here is the template I'm leaning towards:

Balance Talents (16 points)

# Nature's Grasp - 1/1 point
While active, any time an enemy strikes the caster, they have a 35% chance to become afflicted by Entangling Roots (Rank 1). Only usable outdoors. 1 charge. Lasts 45 seconds.

# Improved Nature's Grasp - 4/4 points
Increases the chance for your Nature's Grasp to entangle an enemy by 65%.

# Swiftshifting - 3/3 points
Reduces the delay before using spells and abilities by 1.5 seconds after having shapeshifted.

# Nature's Reach - 2/2 points
Increases the range of your Wrath, Entangling Roots, Faerie Fire (caster form only), Moonfire, and Starfire spells by 20%.

# Omen of Clarity - 1/1 point
Imbue the Druid's weapon with natural energy. Each hit has a chance of causing the caster to enter a Clearcasting state. The Clearcasting state reduces the Mana cost of your next damage or healing spell by 100%. The Omen of Clarity enchantment lasts 5 minutes.

# Improved Starfire - 5/5 points
Gives your Starfire spell a 15% chance to stun the target for 3 seconds.



Feral Combat Talents (0 points)

# None


Restoration Talents (35 points)

# Improved Mark of the Wild - 5/5 points
Increases the effects of your Mark of the Wild spell by 35%.

# Nature's Focus - 5/5 points
Gives you a 60% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting the Healing Touch or Regrowth spells.

# Gift of Nature - 1/1 point
Increases the effect of your Healing Touch, Rejuvenation, Regrowth, and Tranquility spells by 5%.

# Intensity - 5/5 points
Gives you a 100% chance to gain 40 Energy when you shapeshift into Cat form.

# Reflection - 5/5 points
Allows 15% of your Mana regeneration to continue while casting.

# Nature's Swiftness - 1/1 point
When activated, your next Nature spell becomes an instant cast spell.

# Subtlety - 5/5 points
Reduces the threat generated by your healing spells by 20%.

# Improved Tranquility - 2/2 points
Gives you a 80% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting your Tranquility spell.

# Improved Regrowth - 5/5 points
Increases the critical effect chance of your Regrowth spell by 50%.

# Innervate - 1/1 point
Increases the target's Mana regeneration by 400% and allows 100% of the target's Mana regeneration to continue while casting. Lasts 20 seconds.

[Captain Insano]

Those were all great points. Thanks. I'll probably stay away from the feral talents at least to some degree since I am seeing a continuing pattern of people not using them.

[Adivina]

You should really consider them, unless you want to be a support class and primarily heal. Here this is Aryy's template:

http://wowvault.ign.com/View.php?view=T ... l&id=17178

He has filled the role of primary tank, rogue, and main healer on different occasions with us and I have always been amazed. The other day he and I were doing a group quest that was higher than us with ease while others were failing.

[chanteez]

I'm primarily a restoration/healing druid so listing what i would do wouldnt be useful to you but arlos pretty much nails most points...

however... i have found bear form, not so useful for me...

however... Cat form is very useful at times... I was doing captains in sv and they are 44, i'm 38 atm.. in caster form, my spells mostly resisted, and i hit him for 1. I could effectively hit them and others on ship in cat form, which helped tons. Of course we had a priest for healing, but because same level and got nice aggro as me, i had to pop out of cat to do heals when it was needed.

[Captain Insano]

Thanks Chanteez and Adivina.... Aryy's template looks real nice.... I think I will follow that one pretty closely.

Chanteez are you in the nameless? I haven't seen you online.

[Arlos]

Aryy's looks decent for feral, but I have one BIG disagreement with his template: He's taking Improved Healing Touch over Nature's Focus. I don't care if you're mostly in a animal form, there will be times when you're in caster form and need to heal, and there's mobs hitting you. If there's more than 1 of them, without Nature's Focus you will NEVER get the heal off, especially Healing Touch, which is the only worthwhile one. (Regrowth is insanely mana inefficient by comparison.)

A few other minor disagreements: 1) I think I'd take Ferocity 5/5 over Improved Demoralizing Roar 5/5, as especially in bear form, lowering rage costs for basic special attacks means you get to a) do them more often, and b) have more rage available for the big ones. 2) I am really not at all sold on Primal Instinct. This only helps if you constantly shift around, as if you're in a form for any length of time, you regen the mana spent to shift anyway. 25% discount is only at best about a 1-200 pt reduction, which is half of 1 heal, and you'll regen it anyway if you stay in a form for 20 seconds longer. I'd replace it with Feral Charge, which is really useful, just watch how often Warriors charge if you doubt. If you really are shifting that often that it matters, then you should take Swiftshifting 3/3 from Balance, so there's no downtime for spells/abilities after each shift. 3) Not sure what you'd take out for it, but the Restoration talent, Furor, is insanely nice if you're going to go to bear a lot, auto-10 rage on entering the form gets you a charge and a growl at the very least.

Also, be prepared to have issues finding groups, unless you always group with friends. Primary healer-capable classes are at an extreme premium, so when people invite a druid to a group, it's usually with the expectation that they're going to heal, and indeed sometimes will take one as the only healer when there's no priest available. If you have to be the sole healer in a group, the feral talents aren't going to help you a whole lot. Also, warriors and rogues aren't exactly that uncommon, and both have abilities you don't, even feral specced, especially rogues (Hi, Sap.) So, few people actually seek a druid out to take the place of a rogue or warrior. The warrior part may have changed somewhat, given the druid armor change though. Still, with no parry and no block, you're going to take damage faster, regardless.

-Arlos

[chanteez]

i'm on hyjal server, Honorbound is guild, lead by few of us from nameless.

and arlos is very right about getting the talent so you get less interrupts when casting. It has save myself and others mega times. that is main one i aim for asap.

If i wasnt a primary healing type of druid, tho i do melee, casting as well. I would aim more for balance/restoration combo.

balancing the two is wise for grouping, if secondary healer it allows you to cast/melee and still heal when emergency.

if you go other way.. be sure groups know your not a restoration talent druid. in case they are expecting u to heal.

[KaiineTN]

Innervate is a huge lifesaver, fyi