Guardian Druid Mythic+ Guide
Guardian Druid Mythic+ Guide
11.0.5 - The War Within
Welcome to the Guardian Druid Mythic+ 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
Guardian Druid
Guardian DruidMythic+
Hero Talents
Guardian Druid
- 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.
- Elune's Chosen is more stable and flexiable for Mythic+ hence this guide is currently recommending it.
Elune's Chosen
Druid of the Claw
- 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 20 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
Guardian Druid
Elune's Chosen Mythic+
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 Dungeons 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
- 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.
- Thorns of Iron
- Makes 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 here is that this overwrites any current active Frenzied Regeneration can also 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 here is that this overwrites any current active Frenzied Regeneration can also be overwritten by any newly applied Frenzied Regeneration.
Hero Talents
- Moondust
- Nice 20% slow on targets affected by Moonfire.
- 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
Guardian Druid
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%.
Elune's Chosen
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.
- 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.
- Keep Thrash on cooldown.
- Keep Mangle on cooldown.
- Use Moonfire as filler do not use Swipe.
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 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
Guardian Druid
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.
Dungeons
Guardian Druid
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Ara-Kara, City of Echoes
City of Threads
The Stonevault
The Dawnbreaker
Mists of Tirna Scithe
The Necrotic Wake
Siege of Boralus
Grim Batol
Boss Tips
Avanoxx
- Alerting Shrill does a good amount of AoE damage and summons 4 eggs stacked in a corner of the room. These eggs hatch into Starved Crawler, who then cast Hunger and fixate on the other players in your group.
- Your goal is to keep the boss away from them because if Avanoxx gets close she eats them and gets a stack of Insatiable per Crawler eaten.
- The boss receiving any stack of Insatiable likely results in a wipe.
- Ursol's Vortex is strong for keeping the Crawlers away from the boss as well as slowed and stacked.
- Your goal is to keep the boss away from them because if Avanoxx gets close she eats them and gets a stack of Insatiable per Crawler eaten.
- Gossamer Onslaught spawns Vile Webbing under every player while being cast so stacking up with your group or melee friend is recommended to conserve space.
- Voracious Bite is the tank mechanic, hitting you for 3 strikes back to back inflicting a 50% damage taken increase per stack which ends up being a 150% damage taken increase for the following melee swings.
- Using Barkskin for every single one is recommended.
Anub'zekt
- Impale is aimed at you while tanking the boss, resulting in a huge frontal cone that you can aim. You don't need to tank this mechanic but you need to aim it away from the team as best as possible.
- Burrow Charge
- The boss targets a player in your group and proceeds to go underground and charge that player, immediately afterwards he casts Impale so make sure to aim that frontal well.
- During Eye of the Swarm the boss creates a zone in front of the boss that is a "safe space". It moves together with the bosses' facing, so you are responsible for moving the zone around.
- Impale is being cast during the phase making the "safe zone" even smaller. Make sure you aim it at either side of the safe zone and not in the middle.
- Throughout the fight Bloodstained Webmage spawn casting Silken Restraints at someone random during the fight.
- Make sure to drag the boss close to them to cleave them down.
- Use Typhoon to interrupt and get them under the boss to cleave them down easily.
Ki'katal the Harvester
- Cosmic Singularity requires you to stand in Grasping Blood while the cast is finishing.
- After Cosmic Singularity finished use Incapacitating Roar to break yourself free of Grasping Blood.
- Cultivated Poisons does a lot of damage to you while also shooting out waves to dodge when it expires.
- Use Remove Corruption to dispel this debuff either from you or a weaker group member.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Trilling Attendant - Resonant Barrage
- Ixin - Horrifying Shrill
- Bloodstained Webmage - Revolting Volley
- Blood Overseer - Venom Volley
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Sentry Stagshell - Alarm Shrill
- A long cast that needs to get disrupted.
- Nerubian Hauler and Hulking Bloodguard - Massive Slam
- A short stun that ramps in damage done per cast.
- Sentry Stagshell - Alarm Shrill
Boss Tips
Orator Krix'vizk
- Chains of Oppression creates a circle around the boss preventing anyone from moving more than 10 yards away from the boss. You are responsible for dragging the boss and the team around so keep that in mind.
- Subjugate is a big magical tank hit that reduces your movement speed by 30% for 10 seconds after being hit.
- Use Barkskin whenever possible.
- Terrorize is not a tank frontal so you can dodge it when it happens.
- Shadows of Doubt creates balls to dodge when dispelled, make sure to dodge these.
- Vociferous Indoctrination is a big group AoE mechanic that creates Lingering Influence after being cast.
- Move the boss quickly after this cast is finished to guarantee no one stands in the pool on the ground afterwards.
Fangs of the Queen
- The first tank mechanic, Shade Slash from Nx, deals damage to you and leaves behind an echo of the boss. You want to move the boss out of this echo as Duskbringer creates a big circle AoE around the boss and any echo left behind.
- Synergic Step happens at 100 Energy. The 2 bosses jump away and swap their ability sets.
- After Vx becomes the attacker, the other tank mechanic Rime Dagger activates. It does a bigger hit to you and applies Freezing Blood which makes stacking together with your group mandatory to remove this debuff.
- Use Barkskin to tank this mechanic.
The Coaglamation
- Viscous Darkness summons orbs around the room that need to be soaked before they touch the boss.
- Corrupted Coating gets applied by soaking an orb.
- Oozing Smash is a magic tank hit that slows you.
- Blood Surge
- Position the Boss at the edge of the room to maximize the amount of usable space as Blood Surge creates a pool under the boss.
Izo, the Grand Splicer
- Shifting Anomalies shoots 3 orbs towards players for this mechanic. Make sure to keep the boss together with the whole group and dodge as a group when needed.
- Tremor Slam
- This mechanic requires you to run out of melee and be ready to pick up aggro on the Ravenous Scarab spawning afterwards.
- Umbral Weave
- Applies webs to all players in the group, rooting them unless destroyed. As with Shifting Anomalies, keep the boss close to your group.
- Process of Elimination
- This mechanic creates a big circle around you that can not hit anyone but yourself. Step away from the team to not hit them while tanking this mechanic.
- Use Barkskin on every single one.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Sureki Silkbinder - Silk Binding
- Herald of Ansurek - Twist Thoughts
- Covert Webmancer - Mending Web
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Eye of the Queen - Void Rush
- Royal Venomshell - Venomous Spray
Boss Tips
E.D.N.A.
- Seismic Smash does massive physical damage to you and is very dangerous.
- Seismic Reverberation is applied after tanking the hit.
- This debuff is a magic dot that can be dispelled.
- When dispelled you gain Stone Shield.
- The goal is to tank the first Seismic Smash and get dispelled to receive Stone Shield for the following one.
- Make sure to have Ironfur stacks up and Barkskin running when tanking the first hit of every rotation.
- Volatile Spike spawns spikes under 3 random players. For this stack up with your group.
- Refracting Beam targets random players which can then clear the Volatile Spikes.
- Position the boss in a line towards the spikes to make clearing easy.
Skarmorak
- Crystalline Smash summons 3 Crystal Shards around the room.
- Move the boss from Crystal Shard to Crystal Shard and kill them one after another while letting the Crystalline Eruption debuff fall off between kills.
- Unstable Crash summons Unstable Energy per player.
- Don't soak these as a tank, leave them for your DPS and Healer.
Master Machinists Brokk and Dorlita
- Activate Ventilation
- Creates flame pools on the ground. Check early for a safe space for Scrap Song.
- Molten Metal
- Help interrupt this mechanic.
- Scrap Song
- Move the boss to the side of the room to avoid the cube in the middle of the room.
- Blazing Crescendo
- Similar to Scrap Song, position the boss at one of the tips of the cube to avoid the lava waves.
- Igneous Hammer
- Use Barkskin on as many of these as possible.
Void Speaker Eirich
- Void Corruption
- Applies a debuff to you that you need to clear with Void Rift.
- Use Stampeding Roar to help yourself and the group deliver this debuff.
- Entropic Reckoning
- Drop a zone when the cast is finished so be sure to place your circle at the edge of the room.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Ghastly Voidsoul - Howling Fear
- Void Bound Howler - Piercing Wail
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Void Bound Despoiler - Void Storm
- Forge Loader - Molten Mortar
- Rock Smasher - Smash Rock
- Cursedforge Honor Guard - Shield Stampede
- Cursedforge Stoneshaper - Earth Burst Totem
- Earth Burst Totem casts Earth Burst which needs to be killed before it goes off.
Boss Tips
Speaker Shadowcrown
- Darkness Comes
- When flying out and coming back be ready to interrupt Shadow Bolt.
- Obsidian Beam
- This mechanic's initial hit always hits you as a tank.
- It deals a lot of damage so make sure you press a defensive here.
- Collapsing Night
- Targets 2 ranged players if available and spawns void zones under them.
- Tank the boss towards the edge of the platform and rotate whenever this happens to min-max the room.
Anub'ikkaj
- Dark Orb
- Tank the boss in an open space so the orb can be aimed as far away as possible.
- Terrifying Slam
- Find a corner to stand against so the knock-up is prevented as much as possible.
- Use Skull Bash to charge back to the boss after the knock-up.
- Animate Shadows
- Spawns Animate Shadows that cast Congealed Darkness.
- Use Incapacitating Roar to interrupt the casts.
- Be ready to pick up the aggro and interrupt them if needed.
- Spawns Animate Shadows that cast Congealed Darkness.
Rasha'nan
- Erosive Spray
- Use Barkskin to tank Lingering Erosion after.
- Acidic Eruption
- Interrupt this after flying to the boss to start stage 2.
- Tacky Burst
- This prevents you from moving away from the boss. Make sure you always stick to the boss and never leave melee.
- Spinneret's Strands
- Stampeding Roar can help slower teammates use it when they get this debuff.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Nightfall Shadowmage - Ensnaring Shadows
- Nightfall Commander - Abyssal Howl
- Nightfall Darkcaster - Tormenting Beam
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Anub'ikkaj and Ixkreten the Unbreakable - Terrifying Slam
- Nightfall Dark Architect - Usher Reinforcements
- Anub'ikkaj and Deathscreamer Iken'tak - Dark Orb
- Anub'ikkaj and Ascendant Vis'coxria - Shadowy Decay
Boss Tips
Ingra Maloch
- Spirit Bolt
- Interrupt this cast whenever possible.
- Repulsive Visage
- After the fear, use Wild Charge to get back to the boss.
- Embrace Darkness
- Forces you to hit Droman Oulfarran.
- Bewildering Pollen
- This frontal is aimed at you so don't aim it at the ranged team.
- Droman's Wrath
- Save damage abilities for this phase.
Mistcaller
- Patty Cake
- This cast is solely for you and needs to be interrupted by you.
- Freeze Tag
- Summons Illusionary Vulpin fixating Freeze Tag Fixation on a player.
- Use Ursol's Vortex on it to slow it.
Tred'ova
- Consumption
- Interrupt this after breaking the shield on the boss.
- Accelerated Incubation
- Summons Gormling Larva, make sure to pick them up and bring them under the boss for cleave damage.
- Marked Prey makes them fixate on a player so support them with Typhoon and Ursol's Vortex.
- Mind Link
- Utilize Stampeding Roar to run away and break the link.
- Coalescing Poison
- This creates a big circle around the boss while sucking you in. Run against it to not die.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Drust Harvester - Harvest Essence
- Spinemaw Staghorn - Stimulate Resistance
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Drust Spiteclaw - Dying Breath
- This debuffs enemies as well as players.
- Tirnenn Villager - Overgrowth
- Drust Boughbreaker - Furious Thrashing
- Triggers at 50% HP of the Drust Boughbreaker.
- Mistveil Defender - Mist Ward
- Big zone to move the enemies out of.
- Mistveil Stalker - Mistveil Bite
- Mistveil Stinger - Anima Injection
- Spinemaw Staghorn - Acid Nova
- Drust Spiteclaw - Dying Breath
Boss Tips
Blightbone
- Heaving Retch
- Spawns Carrion Worm, utilize your slows while killing these.
- Typhoon when they are on low HP since they spawn a pool when they die.
- Fetid Gas
- Position the boss close to other pools to maximize room usage as Fetid Gas creates a pool under the boss.
- Crunch
- Physical tank hit. Use Barkskin.
Amarth, The Harvester
- Land of the Dead
- Move the boss close to the Reanimated Crosbowman while interrupting the Reanimated Mage.
- Use Typhoon to get any far away adds closer to each other.
- Unholy Frenzy
- Use Soothe on the boss whenever he is enraged.
- Necrotic Bolt
- Interrupt this as much as possible.
Surgeon Stitchflesh
- Awaken Creation
- Always make sure to pick up Stitchflesh's Creation. They spawn in one of the back corners of the room looking at the boss.
- Position the Stitchflesh's Creation in the middle of the room to make aiming Meat Hook easy.
- Sever Flesh
- Physical tank hit. Use Barkskin.
- Escape
- After this is cast position Stitchflesh's Creation in the middle.
Nalthor the Rimebinder
- Comet Storm
- Stack up with your melees to dodge this mechanic together.
- Icy Shard
- This tank hit is being cast at you all the time and does high physical damage to you.
- Frozen Binds
- If you are hit by this you can shapeshift out of this root, watch out for the boss cast.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Corpse Harvester - Drain Fluids
- Stitched Vanguard - Meat Shield
- Skeletal Marauder - Rasping Scream
- Corpse Collector - Goresplatter
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Zolramus Necromancer - Grim Fate
- Skeletal Marauder - Gruesome Cleave
- Fast frontal cast.
- Flesh Crafter - Throw Cleaver
- This spell also does damage to enemies and should be aimed at any enemy to deal extra damage.
- Help with this by positioning the mobs in front of the Flesh Crafter.
- This spell also does damage to enemies and should be aimed at any enemy to deal extra damage.
- Loyal Creation - Spine Crush
- A big circle cast that can't be disrupted as it recasts until the cast is finished once.
Boss Tips
Chopper Redhook
- On the Hook
- The boss is fixating on players and is not tankable. You are responsible for the adds.
- Every 25% boss HP he calls in 1 Irontide Cleaver and 1 Irontide Powdershot
- Irontide Cleaver
- Heavy Slash
- Aim this frontal away from any team member and any Heavy Ordnance.
- Heavy Slash
- Irontide Powdershot
- Use Typhoon to prevent them from walking into a Heavy Ordnance.
- Is standing still most of the time casting Molten Slug
- Drag the Irontide Cleaver close and focus them down.
Dread Captain Lockwood
- Mass Bombardment
- Applies Sighted Artillery, move with your melee team.
- Fiery Ricochet
- Avoid stacking up on this mechanic.
- Clear the Deck
- This is a very fast frontal so aim it away from any players.
- Withdraw - Be ready to pick up the following adds:
- Ashvane Deckhand
- Crimson Swipe
- Another fast frontal to aim away.
- Crimson Swipe
- Ashvane Cannoneer
- Broadside
- Long cast frontal that should be aimed away from the group.
- Unstable Ordnance
- Pick this up and use the ExtraActionButton to shoot the boss down.
- Broadside
- Ashvane Deckhand
Hadal Darkfathom
- Crashing Tide
- A frontal that needs to be aimed away from the group whenever possible.
- Break Water
- Bait the water pools away from the statue in the middle.
- Tidal Surge
- Summons 2 waves that need to be dodged back to back. Be ready to move the boss to a safe spot and aim Crashing Tide away from the group when it is about to be cast as this can be a deadly overlap.
Viq'Goth
- Putrid Waters
- Use Barkskin when tanking this since the magical damage is high.
- Demolishing Terror
- Hull Cracker
- Don't leave melee of the Demolishing Terror.
- Slam
- This knocks you back. Use Skull Bash to charge back to the Demolishing Terror afterwards.
- Hull Cracker
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Ashvane Commander - Bolstering Shout
- Bilge Rat Tempest - Choking Waters
- Bilge Rat Pillager - Stinky Vomit
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Scrimshaw Enforcer - Slobber Knocker
- Casted frontal cone that is hard to see.
- Irontide Raider - Iron Hook into Savage Tempest
- Blacktar Bomber - Fire Bomb
- Ashvane Commander - Azerite Charge
- Irontide Powdershot - Molten Slug
- Ashvane Spotter - Sighted Artillery
- Bilge Rat Demolisher - Crushing Slam
- Scrimshaw Enforcer - Slobber Knocker
Boss Tips
General Umbriss
- Skullsplitter
- Deals 2 instances of physical damage over 2 seconds, while also applying a bleed to you.
- Commanding Roar
- Summons Shadow Breath so make sure to position the boss in the safe lane.
Forgemaster Throngus
- Forge Weapon - Summons one of the following 3 weapons:
- Molten Mace
- Kite the boss during this duration, don't tank him.
- While walking he leaves behind Molten Pool so kite him at the edge of the room.
- Molten Flurry
- Physical damage cast while applying Molten Spark to party members.
- Fiery Cleave
- This frontal can be baited by anyone in the group. Bait this into a wall if possible.
- Molten Mace
Drahga Shadowburner
- Invocation of Shadowflame
- Invoked Shadowflame Spirit casts Flaming Fixate.
- Slow it with Ursol's Vortex or knock it away from the fixated target with Typhoon.
- Shadowflame Bolt
- This cast is always on you, interrupt when it is ready.
- Twilight Buffet
- Position the boss in a new corner whenever Twilight Buffet is coming up.
- Twilight Wind spawns after, drag away from them to make it easy for the group.
- Outplay the knockback by using Skull Bash after the cast finishes.
- Devouring Flame
- This frontal breath is always aimed at you, position it away from the group into a wall if possible.
Erudax, the Duke of Below
- Shadow Gale
- Position the boss in the middle of this circle and adjust when it starts shrinking.
- Void Surge
- Summons Void Tendril
- Don't run into them since Depth's Grasp will stun you.
- Summons Void Tendril
- Void Infusion
- Summons Twilight Hatchling
- When killed they explode with Shadow Wound.
- Summons Twilight Hatchling
- Crush
- Physical and magical damage hit. This knocks you back so watch out for Void Tendrils.
- Outplay the knockback with Skull Bash after the cast finishes.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Twilight Earthcaller - Mass Tremor
- Twilight Beguiler - Sear Mind
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Twilight Destroyer - Umbral Wind
- You can LoS this cast.
- Twilight Overseer - Reckless Tactic
- Purge it if needed.
- Molten Giant - Molten Wake
- Twilight Lavabender - Ascension and Dark Eruption
- Ascension triggers at 50% HP and starts pulsing Scorching Heat group damage.
- Twilight Warlock - Enveloping Shadowflame
- Twilight Enforcer - Ramping Rage
- Mutated Hatchling - Shadow Wound
- Faceless Corruptor - Corrupt and Mind Piercer
- Twilight Destroyer - Umbral Wind
Affixes
The Affix system got revamped going into The War Within Season 1 retiring most Affixes as well as introducing new kiss-curse ones while also changing on which key level these appear.
- +2 Affixes -- Rotates on a weekly basis
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Oblivion
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour
- +4 Affixes -- Alternates between each other on a weekly basis
- Tyrannical
- Fortified
- +7 Affix
- Challenger's Peril
- +10 Affixes -- Alternates between each other on a weekly basis, is always the opposite of the +4 Affix
- Tyrannical
- Fortified
- +12 Affix
- Xal'atath's Guile -- Replaces the +2 Affix
Following you get some useful tips for handling different Mythic+ Affixes as a Guardian Druid.
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant
- Incapacitating Roar as many orbs as possible.
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound
- The Void Emissary follows you, keep it close to cleave and target it whenever its up.
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Oblivion
- Watch behind you and collect any orbs flying into melee, intercept them before they hit any enemies.
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour
- Remove Corruption yourself whenever its applied to yourself.
Stat Priority
Guardian Druid
Understand your secondary stat priority and the tertiary stats needed for optimal performance during Dungeons 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
Guardian Druid
Overall BiS
Farmable Alternatives
| 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 | Swarmlord's Authority | Queen's Court |
| 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 mythic+ dungeon.
Active Trinket alternatives
- Mad Queen's Mandate
- Strong on use trinket if you want more damage.
- Skardyn's Grace
- Huge amount of mastery on use every 2min, can be good when paired with cooldowns.
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 quite well.
Embellishments
- 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
Guardian Druid
- Phials
- Flask of Alchemical Chaos -- 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
- Mana Oil
- Algari Mana Oil
- 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
- Culminating Blasphemite is the best raw output option but using Elusive Blasphemite can help you maintain uptime and dodge mechanics easier. This is an extremely minor dps gain in exchange for a valuable 10% movement speed.
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
Guardian Druid
For min-maxing a Guardian Druid in Mythic+ Dungeons, 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 limited use rate tho
- 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 tho 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 abilities have a decent impact on your Mythic+ experience and survivability as a Guardian Druid.
- Night Elf is very good for DPS and can be useful in certain skips during any Mythic+ as a Guardian Druid but doesn't offer too much in the way of survivability benefits.
Macros
Guardian Druid
Discover recommended macros for Guardian Druid for Mythic+ and watch a quick video guide on creating simple macros for your character.
Taunt Macros
Mouseover Macros
Focus Macros
Utility Macros
Addons
Guardian Druid
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 Mythic+ to make your life easier.
Addons
Weakauras
Changes this Patch
Guardian Druid
Patch 11.0.5
Patch 11.0.2
Patch 11.0.1
FAQ
Guardian Druid
Q: Why do I randomly get one-shot?
Credits
Written By: Meeres
Reviewed By: Canexx