Thanks to their thick fur, the bears among the druids are the first to rush into battle and protect the group.
If you want to play a druid in WoW as a tank, you should choose the guardian druid. Alternatively, you can use the Balance Druid and the Feral Druid to deal damage. Healers play a Restoration Druid.
The most important changes
Guardian druids have access to the Wild Bite and Whirlwind abilities again. Also the ability Berserker is back again. It reduces the cooldown of Mangle, Hit, Growl, and Frenzied Regeneration by 75%.
It also reduces the cost of Ironskin by 50%. Frenetic Regeneration now heals by 24% instead of 18% Health and also increases the healing received by 20%. The passive ability Infected Wounds reduces the movement speed of the target by 50% instead of 20%.
Renewal is back as a level 25 talent, replacing Ursol’s Vortex. This in turn is now only available to guardian druids when they select Restoration Affinity at level 30. Heart of the Wild, which temporarily increases the affinity selected at level 30, replaces the talent Typhoon at level 35, which is only available through the Balance Affinity.
The Talent Incarnation: Guardian of Ursoc has been revised. It now grants all of the benefits of Berserker for 30 seconds, allows Mangle to hit three targets and increases maximum health by 30%.
At level 50, the new talent Teeth and Claws replaces the talent Moonbeam. The talent ensures that automatic attacks have a chance to increase Mash. The increased Crushing does 40% more damage and reduces the target’s damage to you by 15% for six seconds.
To play the bear
The priority of your attributes should look like this for the guardian druid:
- Mobility
- Versatility
- Championship
- Tempo
- Critical hit chance
Keep moonfire running on your target. Use Hitting if your target does not have three stacks of the Bleed Effect on it. After that, Mangle and Hit (regardless of the stacks) have priority.
Pay particular attention to the passive Impalementation effect, which resets the cooldown of Mangle and causes additional rage. Use Moonfire when the Galactic Guardian effect occurs.
Crushing is used to remove excess rage. If no other ability is available, you can use Paw Slash. You can do the same against multiple targets. To survive as a tank, you have a few strong defensive cooldowns.
| Level | Talent | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | Brambles | Sharp thorny tendrils protect you by absorbing and reflecting up to 54 damage from each attack. While tree bark is active, Sharp Thorn Trees also deals 29 nature damage to all nearby enemies every second. |
| 25 | Wild Charge | Attacks an enemy and immobilizes him for four seconds |
| 30 | Restoration Affinity | Heal every five seconds by 3% of your maximum health. You will also learn Rejuvenation, Rapid Healing, Wild Growth and Ursol’s Vortex. |
| 35 | Mass Entanglement | Disables the target and all enemies within 15 meters for 30 seconds. Damage can cancel the effect prematurely. Can be used in all shapes. |
| 40 | Galactic Guardian | If you deal damage, there is a 5% chance that you will automatically apply the Moonfire effect to the target for free. In this case, your next use of Moonfire generates eight rage and deals 300% more direct damage. |
| 45 | Earthwarden | Direct damage with hitting grants a charge of Earth Guardian, which reduces the damage of your next auto attack by 30%. Earth Guardian can have up to three charges. |
| 50 | Rend and Tear | Each stack of hits reduces the target’s damage to you by 2% and increases your damage to the target by 2% |
Iron Skin temporarily increases your armor massively. With bark you can temporarily reduce incoming damage by 20%, with survival instincts even by 50%. Raging Regeneration is a powerful self-healing with two charges.
