Druid Changes in Warlords of Draenor

Wow. Lots of Druid changes, especially Balance, arrived with Warlords of Draenor. Then a couple more came with patch 6.1.

Various changes are across the board. All classes are losing various abilities and others are being restricted to one or another spec. Occasionally new abilities will be replacing old ones, but no one is going to gain abilities.

The “new” level 91+ abilities are “perks.” These are actually enhancements to existing abilities, not new ones..

Feel free to add your thoughts in the comment form at the bottom of the page or share this page and add them there.

Now, read on:

Skip to: All Druids — Balance — Guardian — Feral — Restoration — Talents — Glyphs — Perks — 6.1 Changes

 

WoD Druid Changes, in General

About Those Stats

Bliz is introducing (for now) “Secondary Stat Attunements.” These take the form of a passive ability that grants a 5% increase to the amount of a specific secondary stat gained from all sources. Perhaps this is to make it easier to choose correct gearing for your Druid. It will be interesting to see if any of the non-favored stats turn out to be “better” anyway. These are all level 90 passive abilities.

• Balance: Mastery, through your level 90 Lunar Guidance ability.
• Feral: Critical Strike, via Sharpened Claws
• Guardian: Mastery, via Survival of the Fittest
• Restoration: Haste, via Naturalist

There is a new passive, named Critical Strikes, which increases chance to critically strike by 10%. Among various other classes it is also learned by Feral and Guardian Druids. Most classes and specs will have a base 5% chance to crit, Ferals and Guardians will have 15% total (plus any racial or gear bonuses.)

In addition there are a couple of new secondary stats, Versatility & Multistrike, and a few tertiary ones: Bonus Armor, Leech, Avoidance, Speed, and Indestructible.

Dead Stats are Resilience, PvP Power, Hit, and Expertise. Reforging is also dead.

Changes to Abilities

All classes are losing something, with the intent that this will “clean up” an excess of abilities. The idea is that you might be able to get by, and be happier, with a few less slots on a way overcrowded action bar.

• Bear Hug has been removed.
• Enrage has been removed.
• Nourish has been removed.
• Pounce has been removed. Abilities which modified Pounce now modify Rake instead. Rake now also stuns the target for 4 seconds when used while stealthed.
• Ravage has been removed and its effects have been incorporated into Shred.
• Symbiosis has been removed.
• Swift Rejuvenation has been removed.
• Innervate has been removed (again).
• Hibernate has been removed.
• Nature’s Grasp has been removed.
• Owlkin Frenzy has been removed.
• Might of Ursoc has been removed.
• Infected Wounds has been removed, but both Shred and Mangle now naturally apply the Infected Wounds snare for Feral and Guardian Druids
• Thick Hide has been removed (But see the Guardian section below.)
• Track Humanoids has been removed, but Cat Form now naturally includes the ability to track humanoids.

A number of Abilities Have Been Restricted to Certain Specs:

• Swipe (Bear Form) has been removed.
• Swipe (Cat Form) remains unchanged and is only usable in Cat Form and requires Feral spec.
• Mangle (Cat Form) has been removed. Mangle (Bear Form) remains unchanged. So Cats Swipe and Bears Mangle.
• Everyone gets to Shred: Shred is now available to all Druid specializations and now deals an additional 35% damage in addition to having twice the normal chance to critically strike while stealthed. Shred also no longer requires the Druid to be behind the target
• Additionally, both Shred and Mangle now naturally apply the Infected Wounds snare for Feral and Guardian Druids
• Barkskin is now available to Balance, Guardian, and Restoration Druids, not Feral, and no longer provides pushback protection, but its base cooldown in now 1 minute.
• Maul is now available only to Guardian Druids.
• Rejuvenation is no longer available to Guardian Druids.
• Lacerate is now available only to Guardian Druids.
• Leader of the Pack is now only available to Feral Druids, and no longer restores Mana.
• Rake is now only available to Feral Druids and also stuns the target for 4 seconds when used while stealthed.
• Maim is now available only to Feral Druids.
• Rip is now available only to Feral Druids and now has a duration of 24 seconds (up from 16 seconds), but its duration is no longer extended by Shred.
• Faerie Fire is now available only to Feral and Guardian Druids and it no longer applies Weakened Armor.
• Hurricane is now available only to Balance and Restoration Druids and now has a range of 35 yards.
• Nature’s Swiftness is now available only to Restoration Druids, in addition it can no longer turn Cyclone into an instant-cast spell.
• Tranquility is now available only to Restoration Druids.
• Survival Instincts is now available only to Feral and Guardian Druids and no longer requires or forces the Druid into Cat or Bear Form, and now reduces damage taken by 50% with a 3-minute cooldown and can have up to 2 charges (up from 1 charge.)
• Thrash is now available to all Druid specializations (was Feral and Guardian only).

Several Modified Abilities, but not Restricted to a Spec:

• Skull Bash no longer increases the mana cost of the victim’s spells.
• Bear Form now increases armor by 250% for all Druid specializations. and no longer increases Haste and Critical Strike from items by 50%, but instead causes Haste to reduce the global cooldown. It also increases Stamina by 20% (down from 40%.)
  • For Guardian Druids, it also naturally reduces magical damage taken by 25%, reduces the chance to be critically hit by 6%, and reduces the chance for attacks to be parried by 3%.
• Travel Form now automatically transitions between Aquatic, Land, and Flight versions, as is appropriate to the Druid’s location.
• Glyph of the Stag now teaches the Druid a separate shapeshift ability, Stag Form. Stag Form will not switch between different Travel Forms, and allows the Druid to act as a mount for other players.
• Mana regeneration for Feral and Guardian Druids has been increased by 100%.
• Revive’s mana cost has been reduced by 87%.
• Cyclone now shares Diminishing Returns with Fears, and can be canceled by immunity effects (i.e. Divine Shield, Ice Block, etc.), and can be dispelled by Mass Dispel.
• Typhoon now has a range of 15 yards (down from 30 yards.)
• Disorienting Roar has been renamed to Incapacitating Roar, incapacitates enemies instead of disorienting them, and its effect now shares Diminishing Returns with other Mesmerize effects.
• Cat Form now increases movement speed by 30% (up from 25%.)
• Wild Mushrooms (Bal, Resto) no longer become invisible.

 

Balance Druids

One of the issues that Bliz has with Balance Druids is that they fall into a “hard to learn, easy to master” category, when it should be the reverse. So they’re making a few changes…

• Astral Storm has been removed.
• Wild Mushroom: Detonate has been removed.
• Euphoria has been removed and a level 100 talent now has that name.

Here’s the Balance rotation as is stands in early Warlords:

• Balance Energy is a bar that automatically cycles back and forth between Lunar and Solar sides, like night and day. The closer to one end that the bar is, the more damage that side’s spells do.
• Balance Druids now have four rotational spells:
  1. Starfire: Lunar direct damage spell – Cast when the Lunar side is stronger
  2. Wrath: Solar direct damage spell – Cast when the Solar side is stronger
  3. Moonfire: Lunar periodic damage spell. While closer to Solar, this button is replaced with Sunfire, a Solar periodic damage spell. Sunfire is no longer its own spell. Sunfire replaces Moonfire on the action bar whenever Balance Energy is on the Solar side. Enemies may still suffer from both Moonfire and Sunfire’s periodic damage components simultaneously. Maintain both effects where possible.
  4. Starsurge: Direct damage spell that benefits from whichever side is stronger. Has up to 3 charges, and buffs the damage of the next few Wraths or Starfires. Cast when able to follow up with a few strong Wraths or Starfires.

That’s the basics of the new Moonkin rotation. There’s room for improvement beyond that, learning to optimally maintain both periodic damage effects with the strongest Eclipse effect, timing Starsurges to optimize the benefit of its buff, make use of Starfall and Hurricane for area damage, and taking advantage of the strengths of each side (such as Moonfire and Sunfire having significant differences now). Here are the full details of the changes.

• Balance Energy system has been redesigned. Balance Energy is a bar that cycles back and forth between Lunar and Solar sides, like night and day, with a 40 second cycle time (from Lunar to Solar and back to Lunar).Balance Energy is no longer generated through spells, talents, or other effects anymore.
• Eclipse has been redesigned. Eclipse inspires the Druid with the power of the moon and the sun, causing the damage of Lunar and Solar spells to be increased by up to 30% based on how close Balance Energy levels are to the appropriate side. Example: With 0 Balance Energy, the damage bonus is evenly split between Lunar and Solar, and the Druid receives a 15% increase to damage for both spell types. With 80 Solar Energy, the Druid receives a 27% damage increase to Solar spells and a 3% damage increase to Lunar spells.
  • Mastery: Total Eclipse now increases the maximum damage bonus of Eclipse by 16%.
  • The damage of damage-over-time effects changes dynamically as Eclipse changes.
• Celestial Alignment has been redesigned. Celestial Alignment causes the Druid to enter Celestial Alignment, a state where Balance Energy cycle is paused, all damage done is increased by 20%, and all Lunar and Solar spells benefit from the maximum Eclipse bonus. While in Celestial Alignment, Moonfire and Sunfire will also apply the other spell’s periodic damage effect. Lasts 15 seconds with a 3 minute cooldown..
• Starfire now has a 3 second cast time (up from 2.7 seconds).
• Moonfire now has a 20 second base duration (up from 14 seconds), but is no longer extended by Starfire and Starsurge critical strikes. The Astral Showers ability (below) increases Moonfire duration by 100%. Upon reaching 100 Lunar Energy, the next Moonfire deals 100% additional initial damage.
• Lunar Shower has been redesigned and renamed Astral Showers. this ability calls upon greater Lunar and Solar energy to permanently empower the Druid’s Moonfire and Sunfire spells.
• Sunfire now has a 20 second base duration (up from 14 seconds), but is no longer extended by Wrath and Starsurge critical strikes. Additionally, Sunfire is no longer its own spell. Sunfire replaces Moonfire on the action bar whenever Balance Energy is on the Solar side. Enemies may still suffer from both Moonfire and Sunfire’s periodic damage components simultaneously. Additionally Sunfire’s periodic damage effect is now applied to all enemies within 5 yards of the target, due to the Astral Showers effect.
• Starsurge now has 3 charges and a 30 second recharge time (instead of a 15 second cooldown). Starsurge now also grants Lunar or Solar Empowerment.
  • Lunar Empowerment causes the next 2 Starfires to deal 30% more damage.
  • Solar Empowerment causes the next 3 Wraths to deal 30% more damage.
• Starfall now shares charges with Starsurge, and has no cooldown of its own. It also now hits all nearby enemies (up from 2 nearby enemies.) It no longer cancels when mounting. However, it can no longer hit stealthed or invisible targets.
• Shooting Stars now adds 1 full charge of Starsurge and Starfall when it triggers, and now has a 2.5% chance to trigger on Moonfire and Sunfire periodic damage. This chance is doubled on critical strikes.
• Astral Communion now increases the rate that Balance Energy cycles by 300% while channeled.
• Hurricane‘s range has been increased to 35 yards (up from 30 yards,) but is only available to Balance and Restoration Druids.
• Wild Mushroom (Balance) now begins snaring enemies immediately when summoned, lasts 20 seconds, and can no longer be detonated to deal damage. Wild Mushroom: Detonate has been removed.
• Insect Swarm has been redesigned and renamed Stellar Flare, which is a powerful spell benefiting from both Lunar and Solar Eclipses, dealing the most damage when they are equal. Burns the target for Spellstorm damage and cause additional damage over 15 seconds. The ability has a cast time of 1.5 seconds.
• Equinox has been replaced with a new level 100 talent: Balance of Power – this causes Wrath to extend the duration of Sunfire by 4 seconds and Starfire to extend the duration of Moonfire by 6 seconds.
• The level 38 ability Euphoria has been removed and is now a level 100 talent, replacing an earlier level 100 talent: Sunfall. This grants the Druid a deeper connection to the stars, causing Balance Energy to cycle 50% faster. Additionally, Lunar and Solar Empowerments also reduce the cast time of affected spells by 20%.
• Healing Touch now heals for 50% more when cast on self for Balance Druids (cancelled in 6.1.)
• Solar Beam no longer Silences a target again more than once per cast. Additionally, the Silence effect from this spell now shares Diminishing Returns with other Silences.
• Soul of the Forest (Balance) now increases the damage bonus from Lunar and Solar Empowerment by an additional 15%.

 

Guardian Druids

Vengeance has been removed and replaced with a new passive ability, Resolve: This increases your healing and absorption done to yourself, based on Stamina and damage taken (before avoidance and mitigation) in the last 10 seconds.

Bladed armor adds Attack Power equal to 100% of your bonus armor (one of the new tertiary stats.)

All tanking stances and similar effects now increase threat generated by 900% (up from 600%). Retaining aggro should be a complete non-issue. Loss of it will be more likely due to boss mechanics or napping than anything else.

Guardian Druids’ Mastery (Nature’s Guardian) has been replaced with a new Mastery: Primal Tenacity. This causes the Druid to gain a Physical absorb shield equal to 16% of the attack’s damage when they are hit by a Physical attack. Attacks which this effect fully or partially absorbs cannot trigger Primal Tenacity (I assume this means that the shield will not be reinforced by subsequent attacks?)  Magical attacks will need other defenses. Your Primal Tenacity now also passively increases Attack Power by 8% (percentage increased by Mastery), in addition to its current effects.

• Bear Form no longer increases Haste and Critical Strike from items by 50%, but instead causes Haste to reduce the global cooldown.
• Maul now costs 20 Rage (down from 30 Rage.)
• Mangle now generates 10 Rage (down from 15 Rage.)
• Mark of the Wild now also provides 3% Versatility. (Versatility is a new stat that grants a 1% increase to your damage, healing, and absorbs, and reduces the damage you take by 0.5%)
• Ursa Major is a new passive ability for Guardian Druids. Lacerate periodic damage, and Mangle, grants the Druid the Ursa Major effect. Ursa Major increases maximum health by 2% for 30 seconds. When the effect is refreshed, the remaining portion is added to the new effect.
• Auto-attacks now generate 5 Rage (down from 10.9 Rage.)
• Lacerate now generates 2 Rage, has no cooldown (down from a 3-second cooldown), and the periodic bleed effect triggers every 1 second (down from 3 seconds.)
• Primal Fury now generates 8 Rage (down from 15 Rage) from non-periodic critical strikes (up from only Auto Attacks and Mangle.)
• Thrash now generates 1 Rage every time it deals direct or periodic damage, has no cooldown (down from a 6-second cooldown), and  no longer has a chance to reset Mangle’s cooldown.
• Bear Form no longer increases Haste and Crit from items by 50%, but instead causes Haste to reduce the global cooldown.
• Faerie Fire no longer has a chance to reset Mangle’s cooldown.
• Savage Defense can now accumulate 2 charges (down from 3 charges,) and regenerates a charge every 12 seconds (up from 9 seconds).
• Tooth and Claw can now accumulate 2 charges, its effects stack on the target, and are affected by Resolve.
• Soul of the Forest (Guardian) now increases Mangle’s Rage generation by 5 (down from 10.)

 

Feral Druids

Feral Druids received one major change, and few tweaks beyond what’s been mentioned above in Ability Pruning and Facing Requirements, and that change is to their combo points:

• Combo Points (as with Rogues) are now stored “on the player”, meaning that when you switch targets, any accumulated Combo Points remain with you. Combo Points for Feral Druids are now shared across all targets, and are no longer lost when switching targets.

And in the Other Feral Abilities: 

• Tiger’s Fury is now usable during Berserk and now lasts 8 seconds.
• Pounce has been removed. Abilities which modified Pounce now modify Rake instead. Rake now also stuns the target for 4 seconds when used while stealthed. It is also only available to Feral Druids.
• Primal Fury was changed to let it affect area attacks as well and also grants a combo point for area attacks that critically strike the Druid’s primary target.
• The Critical strike chance of Ferocious Bite was changed in order to increase the value of Critical Strike: Ferocious Bite now has double the normal chance to critically strike against bleeding targets (instead of having an additional 25% chance to critically strike).
• Omen of Clarity (Feral) now affects all Druid spells and abilities.
• Glyph of Savage Roar was reworked to better achieve its intended effect: Glyph of Savagery has been renamed Glyph of Savage Roar, and now grants a free 5 Combo Point Savage Roar when leaving Prowl, instead of allowing Savage Roar to be used with zero Combo Points.
• Predatory Swiftness now also increases the healing done by Healing Touch by 50%.

 

Restoration Druids

Restoration Druids got a few changes as well.

Bliz is making some changes to healers in general. As gear increases healing becomes very strong. With burst damage that can drop a player to zero very quickly there’s a need for strong heals. It looks like they want to get away from the “Mighty Heal” spell and also from the “Oh s***, I have to get to him NOW” approach. They feel that players should be able to spend more time at less than 100% without feeling that sudden death is imminent. (more here.)

Smart and Passive heals are also being tweaked: “…we’re reducing the healing of many passive and auto-targeted heals, and making smart heals a little less smart. Smart heals will now randomly pick any injured target within range instead of always picking the most injured target. Priority will still be given to players over pets, of course.”

They want, in general, for players to have “more interesting” gameplay. They want us to make decisions and think a bit. To this effect certain low level spells, such as Nourish, are being removed. They want “to give players a choice between spells with lower throughput and lower cost versus spells with higher throughput and higher costs.”

Here are a couple of examples:

• Druid Higher Efficiency: Healing Touch, Rejuvenation, Efflorescence
• Druid Higher Throughput: Regrowth, Wild Growth

Moved, Changes, and Altered Abilities

• Glyph of Efflourescence has been removed, but the Efflorescence effect is now baked in permanently to Wild Mushroom.
• Swiftmend no longer causes Efflorescence. Instead, Wild Mushroom (Restoration) now causes Efflorescence to appear at the mushroom’s location.
• The Swift Rejuvenation passive has been removed, to encourage using other spells more, but still allow Rejuvenation blanketing as a playstyle choice.
• Omen of Clarity has been changed to not trigger more often with Tree of Life; it was too strong in our new healing model.
• Living Seed now heals for 50% of the critical heal (up from 30%.)
• Tranquility has an amazingly strong effect and was simplified. Tranquility now heals every Party and Raid member within range every 2 seconds for 8 seconds. It no longer places a periodic effect on each target. The total amount of healing it generates in Raids should be approximately the same as before this change.
• Genesis has been redesigned. Genesis now consumes all of the Druid’s Rejuvenation effects on party or raid members within 60 yards and applies the Genesis effect to them instead. Genesis heals the target for an amount equal to the remaining healing from the consumed Rejuvenation effects over 3 seconds. Healing from Genesis counts toward Wild Mushroom as if it was from Rejuvenation.
• Omen of Clarity (Restoration) can now only be triggered by the most recently applied Lifebloom.
• Soul of the Forest was also redesigned for Restoration and Genesis to fit better with the new design for periodic effects. When casting Swiftmend, the Druid gains Soul of the Forest, reducing the cast time of the next Healing Touch by 50%, or increases the healing of the next Regrowth, Rejuvenation, or Wild Growth by 100%.
• Wild Growth (Restoration) now has a 1.5-second cast time (up from instant cast).
• Regrowth now has a duration of 12 seconds (up from 6 second), but no longer refreshes itself on targets below 50% health.
• Lifebloom can no longer stack. Its healing has been increased to compensate.
• Force of Nature Treant’s healing now benefits from Mastery.
• Wild Mushroom (Restoration) now has a 30-second cooldown, lasts for 30 seconds, provides periodic healing to nearby allies, and no longer collects Rejuvenation overhealing.
• Wild Mushroom: Bloom has been removed.

 

New Talents and Changed Talents

Only the talents that had major changes are shown here, small changes are not. Also note the patch 6.1 changes.

Level 60:

• Soul of the Forest (Restoration:) when casting Swiftmend, the Druid gains Soul of the Forest. Soul of the Forest reduces the cast time of the next Healing Touch by 50%, or increases the healing of the next Regrowth or Rejuvenation by 100%, or increases the healing of the next Wild Growth by 50%.
• Incarnation is broken out into four separate talents, instead on one talent doing four separate things. Each of the new talents has changes from the old version.
  • Balance – Incarnation: Chosen of Elune: Nice boost to spell damage every three min.
  • Feral – Incarnation: King of the Jungle: Use prowl while in Combat, and your Shred and Rake function as if Stealth were active.
  • Guardian – Incarnation: Son of Ursoc: reduces the cooldown on all melee damage abilities and Growl to 1.5 sec, for 30 sec.
  • Restoration – Incarnation: Tree of Life: improves healing, armor, and provides various immunities for 30 seconds. Tree of Life no longer enhances Lifebloom. Instead, it also enhances Rejuvenation, increasing its healing by 50%, and reducing its cost by 30%.

Level 75:

• Disorienting roar is replaced with Incapacitating roar (for all specs.) Pretty much the same effect, though. It just “incapacitates” instead of “disorients.”

Level 90 Talents:

• Dream of Cenarius now has four separate versions, all with the same name. The effects have changes from the Mists versions.
  • Balance: Lunar Peak and Solar Peak also cause your Moonfire and Sunfire to heal an injured ally
  • Feral: Increases the healing of Healing Touch and Rejuvenation by 20%, and causes them to also heal the Druid when cast on allies. Casting Healing Touch no longer increases the damage of the Druid’s next 2 melee abilities, or increases the healing of Rejuvenation.
  • Guardian: Increases healing from Healing Touch by 20%, increases the critical strike chance of Mangle by 10%, and your Mangle critical strikes have a 40% chance to make your next Healing Touch or Rebirth instant, free, and castable in all forms, and to benefit from Attack Power instead of Spell Power.
  • Resto: Increases Wrath damage by 20% and your Wrath spell causes a nearby ally to be healed for 150% of the damage done.
• Heart of the Wild is also broken out into four versions. Any boosts to Hit or Expertise, Stamina, Agility, and Intellect has been removed. Lasts 45 seconds on a 6 min cooldown. Tanking etc. still requires the appropriate form.
  • Balance: dramatically improves the Druid’s ability to tank, deal melee damage, and heal. 
  • Feral: dramatically improves the Druid’s ability to tank, deal melee damage, and heal. 
  • Guardian: dramatically improves the Druid’s ability to deal melee damage in Cat Form, cast spells, and heal.
  • Restoration: When activated, increases all healing done by 35% and dramatically improves the Druid’s ability to tank, deal melee damage, and cast spells.
• Nature’s Vigil, while active, increases single-target damage and healing caused by healing spells by 30% (up from 25%), and all single-target damage spells also heal a nearby friendly target for 40% of the damage done (up from 25%). Its healing now targets allies within 40 yards of the Druid (instead of within 40 yards of the target.)

Your 1st level 100 Talent choice:

• Balance – “Euphoria: “You feel a deeper connection to the stars, reducing your Balance Energy cycle time. Additionally, your Lunar and Solar Empowerments also reduce the cast time of the affected spells by 20%.
• Feral – “Lunar Inspiration: ”Moonfire is now usable while in Cat form, adds 1 combo point and costs 30 energy.
• Guardian – “Guardian of Elune: ”Your Savage Defense now lasts 4 seconds and increases your chance to dodge by 100%.
• Restoration – “Moment of Clarity: ”Omen of Clarity now lasts 5 seconds, instead of one cast. Sounds pretty nice. It can now only be triggered by the most recently applied Lifebloom, and now causes the next Regrowth to be free.

2nd Talent

• Balance – “Stellar Flare:” A powerful spell which benefits from both Lunar and Solar Eclipses, dealing the most damage when they are balanced. Burns the target for Spellstorm damage, and then additional damage spread over 20 sec.
• Feral – “Bloodtalons:” Casting Healing Touch causes your next two melee abilities to deal 30% additional damage. I can see this being of some interest…
• Guardian – “Pulverize:” Smash the target using three stacks of Lacerate to deal extra damage and reduce incoming damage by 15% for 12 seconds.
• Restoration – “Germination:” You can apply two rejuvenations to the same target and the duration is increased by 3 seconds. Tanks and PvP allies, and anyone else you’re healing, will love you.

3rd Talent

• Balance – “Balance of Power:” You align to the power of the Moon and Stars so your direct damage spells reenergize your damage over time effects. Your Starfires extend the duration of Moonfire by 6 sec and your Wraths extend the duration of Sunfire by 4 sec. In addition it also increases the damage over time of your Moonfire and Sunfire by 10%.
• Feral – Claws of Shirvallah: shapeshift into a creature half man and half cat. This alternate Cat Form allows the use of all non-damaging Druid spells while shapeshifted, and increases Versatility by 5%. 
  
• Guardian – “Bristling Fur:” this 3 seconds effect, 1 min cooldown, reduces all damage by 40%.
• Restoration – “Rampant Growth:” Your Swiftmend now consumes your own Rejuvenation or Regrowth, but has no cooldown.

 

New Glyphs and Slain Glyphs

A bunch of major glyphs are being slain, a very few are new, and a few have changed. There are no additions or deletions to the minor glyphs, yet.

Some Glyphs are automatically learned as you level, just like your abilities and talents. They are learned at level 25, 50, and 75; the same times your glyph slots open up. While you won’t get a full set, far from it, you will get enough to work with. You will still have to hit the Auction House or a Scribe to get additional glyphs. Note that all of these are Major glyphs.

Note that some of the glyphs learned are specific to a spec, such as Glyph of Healing Touch being resto.

Glyph of Stampede has been removed. Its effects have been merged into Glyph of Stampeding Roar.

These Glyphs are all learned Automatically (see right column) Glyph of Cat Form* Glyph of Dash* Glyph of Entangling Roots* Glyph of Fae Silence* Glyph of Faerie Fire* Glyph of Ferocious Bite* Glyph of Healing Touch* Glyph of Master Shapeshifter* Glyph of Maul* Glyph of Might of Ursoc* Glyph of Nature’s Grasp* Glyph of Rebirth* Glyph of Rejuvenation* Dead Glyphs Glyph of Efflorescence (baked in permanently to Wild Mushroom.) Glyph of Frenzied Regeneration Glyph of Innervate Glyph of Omens Glyph of Pounce Glyph of Prowl Glyph of Savagery Glyph of Shred Glyph of Stampede

New Glyphs, Major Glyph of Rake – added range to Rake while prowling. Glyph of Savage Roar – using Rake or Shred while prowling grants Savage Roar (with 5 combo points.) Glyphs Learned at level 25 Glyph of Entangling Roots – small reduction in cast time. Glyph of Fae Silence – Faerie Fire (in bear form) silences the target and adds a cooldown. Glyph of Ferocious Bite – heals you for a small amount. Glyph of Maul – hits an additional target. Glyph of Cat Form – increases healing done to you. Learned at level 50 Glyph of Rebirth – reborn with 100% health Glyph of Rejuvenation – Healing Touch cast time reduced with multiple Rejuvs running. Glyph of Savage Roar – using Rake or Shred while prowling grants Savage Roar (with 5 combo points.) Learned at level 75 Glyph of Dash – reduces the cooldown Glyph of Faerie Fire -Increases range Glyph of Healing Touch -can reduce Nature’s Swiftness cooldown. Glyph of Master Shapeshifter – eliminates man cost for shapeshifts.

 

Druid Perks

Instead of gaining new abilities once you pass 90 you will receive Perks. These are enhancements to existing abilities. Blizzard figures that our action bars are too complicated already and adding even more abilities would just add to the problem. As an answer they’ve pruned various abilities (above) and added the perks instead of new abilities.

One other thing about the perks, as of now, anyway, is they they are added randomly. You’ll have four perks, gained from 92 to 100, but which one you get will be random. Two Druids at level 95 may well have no perks in common, though by 100 all Druids will have the same ones.

That said, here they are as the stand now. Earlier there were nine perk each, now it’s four.

Balance	Feral
Empowered Moonkin – Single target attacks against you have a chance to make your next damaging cast instant. Enhanced Moonkin Form – 100% more armor Enhanced Rebirth – no more cast time. Enhanced Starsurge – it’s now insta-cast	Enhanced Berserk – more energy while berserk. Enhanced Prowl – normal speed while prowling. Enhanced Rejuvenation – can cast Rejuv in cat or bear form. Improved Rake – 100% more damage while stealthed.
Guardian	Restoration
Empowered Bear Form – 10% more stam. Empowered Berserk – increased duration. Enhanced Faerie Fire – no more cooldown and 100% increased damage while in bear form. Enhanced Tooth and Claw – T&C can now accumulate one addition charge.	Empowered Ironbark – target gets more healing. Empowered Rejuvenation lasts three seconds longer. Enhanced Lifebloom adds 20% crit chance to to healing touch on your Lifebloom targets. Enhanced Rebirth no longer has a cast time.

Druids in Patch 6.1

More riping, tearing, and chomping damage, plus misc other buffs and changes. They didn’t exactly redesign the class, but you should quickly notice the changes.

Druids can now keep cosmetic transforms while shapeshifting. In addition, many Druid shapeshift forms now have attachment points on the head and back for cosmetic toy effects such as Blazing Wings or Pepe. Additional shapeshift forms may receive attachment points in the future.

General

• Ferocious Bite damage increased by 5%.
• Mangle damage increased by 27%.
• Shred damage increased by 20%.
• Thrash (Cat Form) damage increased by 20%.
• Moonfire‘s mana cost has been reduced by 55%.
• Healing Touch no longer for 50% more when cast-on-self for Balance Druids.

Talents

Level 15:  Displacer Beast is now classified as an Arcane School ability and can no longer be used while silenced.

Level 30: Renewal now instantly heals for 30% of max health (up from 22%.)

Level 60: Force of Nature‘s Treants (the talent no one takes) have been buffed with a 35% increase to their health and spellpower, and an 80% increase to their armor and attack power. Will you be taking it now?

Level 90: Heart of the Wild (Restoration) now increases spell damage by 150% (downfrom 200%), and Agility in Cat Form by 75% (down from 110%.)

Level 100:

• Bristling Fur (Guardian) now has a 30-second cooldown (down from 1 minute.)
• Guardian of Elune (Guardian) now also reduces the rage cost of Savage Defense by the Druid’s base dodge chance percentage. Lots of Dodge, cheaper Savage Defense.
• Moment of Clarity (Restoration) now lasts 7 seconds (up from 5 seconds.)
• Rampant Growth (Restoration) now also increases the healing of Swiftmend by 20%.
• Stellar Flare (Balance) damage has been increased by 16%, and now has a duration of 24 seconds (up from 20 seconds.)

Balance

• Balance Druids now learn a new passive ability at level 38, Nature’s Bounty. which causes your Healing Touches to be Critical Strikes for 8 seconds after killing an enemy that yields experience or honor.
• Starfall damage decreased by 16.6%.
• Starfall and Sunfall now only hits targets affected with Moonfire or Sunfire by default.
• Glyph of Untamed Stars has been renamed to Glyph of Untamed Stars and is now a Minor glyph. Glyph of Untamed Starsexpands Starfall and Sunfall to hit all targets within range.

Feral

• Moonfire (Feral) damage increased by 5%.
• Rake damage increased by 5%.
• Rip damage increased by 5%.
• Swipe damage increased by 20%.

Restoration

• Natural Healing now also increases the damage of (Resto) Druid spells and abilities by 15%. Previously it only increased Healing by 10%.
• Genesis no longer requires a target.
• Ironbark is no longer usable while silenced.
• Nature’s Cure can no longer be cast while in a shapeshift form and is now classified as a Nature School ability.

Armor Sets

1. PvP 2-piece set bonus for Balance Druids now has a visual effect to indicate when the Druid is unable to generate a Starsurge charge from Entangling Roots.
2. PvP 4-piece set bonus for Balance Druids has been redesigned. When Starsurge hits a player, the cast time of Starfire is reduced by 30%, and the damage of Wrath is increased by 30% for 6 seconds.

 

The Fast Druid Leveling Guide

Leveling your Feral or another alt? Looking at yet another 90 (or 100) levels to go? Want to save yourself many days of in-game time and wandering about, looking for the faster path to level?

The solution is Zygor’s Guide. Zygor’s automates the whole leveling path, automatically updating as you complete tasks and quests, and is like having an expert helping you every step of the way. Pick your starting point, regardless of your level, and the guide automatically updates and advances as you complete quests, sets a waypoint arrow automatically, and includes all the important quest info.

You’ll never again wonder about where to go or what to do. You can focus on the tasks and tearing things to pieces and Zygor will show you everything you need to know to maximize your leveling speed.

Sure you can just buy a level 90, but then you have to spend time learning that character and work through those last ten levels anyway.

Want to step away from questing to dungeon level or PvP? No problem. Zygor’s is smart enough to detect your level and update appropriately. It’ll even clean up your obsolete quests.

You will probably never need to look at your quest log again! Grab your copy of Zygor’s Leveling Guide, here