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Druid Class Guide

Druids are a shape shifting “hybrid” class (no they don’t run on electric power, it means they can specialize to fill any role in the game - Tank, Healer or DPS). Druids are restricted to cloth or leather armor, leather being the preferred type that is most suited to and itemized for the class. Druids may wield staves, daggers, one and two handed maces, fist weapons and introduced in patch 3.08; pole-arms (ed. note: as of the writing of this article, this has not yet been patched in). Druids are unique in many ways but one of the most striking things one notices about the class is that it is restricted to merely two of Azeroths 10 races; the Tauren and the Night Elves.

The druid learns through both advancement and from various quests the ability to shift into several animal forms - Bear and Dire Bear for tanking, Cat form for melee DPS that is similar to a rogue and allows for stealth movement. Travel form, which is also in the form of a cat, enables a 40% increase in run speed, aquatic form that allows for water breathing and 50% increased swim speed and lastly the flight form for soaring through the skies of Outland and Northrend. There are two other forms a druid may take through talents: a Boomkin form for ranged magic DPS and the Tree form for increased healing abilities to the restoration druid.

Each form of druid specialization produces a drastically different style of game play and vastly different role in raids and groups. Few other classes can give the player such a range of styles and completely unique experiences, making the druid the perfect class for those that yearn for change and would be inclined to create alternate characters. The best druid players are ones who have the knack for managing many abilities and roles and mimic the class in the ability to shift between them quickly; this is defiantly not an auto attack and AFK class.

The Druid is like having four completely different characters all rolled into one, but be forewarned; you will need lots of bag space to fit all your various types of armor to accommodate your ever changing roles. The greatest strength of this class is simply its versatility. Druids are very self sufficient early on in the game. All classes in WoW can solo virtually the entire level range, but some classes find it much easier to do so and the druid is definitely in that category.

In PvE the druid can fill all roles in a group or raid as long as there is the willingness to change your specialization to fill that missing role. They are in high demand in raid environments for their amazing healing abilities, much needed tanking and off tanking abilities and the ever popular and class unique ability to resurrect other players in combat. With recent patches and updates to the class, druid caster DPS is also formidable. However the recent addition of the Death Knight class has had the effect of pigeon-holing other hybrids into one or two primary roles.

PvP is an area where top notch druid players can really shine, in both battlegrounds and arenas a good druid is a fearsome opponent or a highly valued ally.

Defining Spells and Abilities

The druid’s ability to free itself from most forms of crowd control along with the abilities to instantly increase run speed and the ability to stealth as well as the ability to incapacitate an opponent can make a druid a very hard target to eliminate. The aforementioned abilities are routinely employed by the druid in arena battles , coupling the escape artist nature of the class with their very mana efficient heal over time abilities is a combo that requires quick reaction time and highly coordinated team work to overcome.