Guardian Druid Mythic+ Guide
Welcome to the Guardian Druid Mythic+ guide for the World of Warcraft patch 11.1! 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
Hero Talents
- 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.
- 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
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 deal a burst of physical damage when used.
- 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.
- Perfectly-Honed Instincts reduces the cooldown to 90 seconds
- 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
Tier Set
- 2-Set: Each time you take damage you have a chance to activate Luck of the Draw! causing you to cast Survival Instincts for 4 seconds. Your damage done is increased by 15% for 8 seconds after Luck of the Draw! activates.
- 4-Set: After you gain Luck of the Draw! your next 10 Druid abilities cast another Druid ability at 125% effectiveness.
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 a bad idea 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
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, 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 is relatively low 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
← Scroll for more Bosses →
Boss Tips
Brew Master Aldryr
- Keg Smash is the tank mechanic. It does physical damage and leaves pools of Hot Honey on the ground.
- In the intermission Happy Hour make sure to bring the Cinderbrew infront of the boss to the Thirsty Patrons across the room.
I'pa
- This fight contains two mechanics you'll have to pay attention to as a tank. Firstly Bottoms Uppercut does physical damage and knocks you back.
- Secondly, when the boss starts casting Spouting Stout you should try to move him away from any Brew Drops.
- Be careful to not get knocked into the direction of any Brew Drops, as the boss will follow you and most likely consume a Brew Drop, resulting into an immediate wipe.
- Ursol's Vortex and Typhoon are excellent tools against the approaching Brew Drops, making sure they never reach the boss.
Benk Buzzbee
- As a tank you will be targeted by Honey Marinade, make sure to place the residual Flaming honey on the edges of the room, so you and your group have an easier time guiding Ravenous Cinderbee's through these Flaming honey pools.
Goldie Baronbottom
- Aim the Cash Cannon towards barrels on the ground, make to only hit one volatile barrel at the time, but feel free to hit multiple barrels without a glow.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Venture Co. Pyromaniac - Boiling Flames
- Royal Jelly Purveyor - Honey Volley
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Venture Co. Patron - Mean Mug
- Stacking bleed debuff, make sure to start kiting early enough.
- Worker Bee - Final Sting
- If too many are being casted on you, make sure to use a defensive cooldown.
- Venture Co. Patron - Mean Mug
Boss Tips
Ol' Waxbeard
- Rock Buster is the tank mechanic. It does physical damage and leaves a 25% increased physical damage taken debuff for 6 seconds.
Blazikon
- This boss is very simple, just make sure to always be in melee range of the boss, otherwise he will start casting Blazing Storms dealing groupwide fatal damage.
The Candle King
- Make sure to interrupt Paranoid Mind.
The Darkness
- On this fight it is important to always stand in Candlelight but make sure to not pick the candle up as a tank as it makes you unable to perform any action while lifting.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Blazing Fiends - Explosive Flame
- Shuffling Horror - Drain Light
- Royal Wicklighter - Flashpoint
- Sootsnout - Flaming Tether
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Rank Overseer - Overpowering Roar
- This cast will knock you and any enemies without it's radius, spreading out the pull, make sure to leave beforehand.
- Corridor Creeper - Eater of the Dead
- Do not tank these mobs near enemy corpses, as they will devourer them and gain a stacking damage increase.
- Rank Overseer - Overpowering Roar
Boss Tips
Captain Dailcry
- Before engaging this boss, you and your group have the choice to make which mini-boss to fight alongside the boss. Depending on which mini-boss you decide on, this fight will contain different mechanics.
- The boss itself will always have his abilites, that will not change depending on which mini-boss, but the mini-boss themself have different abilites to deal with.
- Pierce Armor is the bosses tank mechanic, it does phyiscal damage and leaves behind a bleed for 10 seconds.
- The boss will cast Battle Cry make sure to interrupt it.
- Elaena Emberlanz alive:
- Casts Repentance, make sure to interrupt.
- Adds another tank ability with Divine Judgment.
- Holy Radiance deals groupwide AoE damage.
- Sergeant Shaynemail alive:
- Make sure to dodge Brutal Smash on the ground as it stuns you and does fatal damage when hit.
- Do not stack with other people because of Lunging Strike.
- Taener Duelmal alive:
- This mini-boss adds a lot of additional kicks to the fight, firstly Cinderblast and secondly Fireball.
- On top he starts casting Ember Storm, watch out and dodge fire swirlies on the ground.
- Elaena Emberlanz alive:
Baron Braunpyke
- Make sure to interrupt Burning Light.
- While the boss has Vindictive Wrath active, make sure to counter with defensive abilites as he has increased physical damage done.
Prioress Murrpray
- During the bosses Blinding Light cast, make sure to stand with your back towards the boss so you do not get disoriented.
- Use your interrupts against Holy Smite.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Devout Priest - Inner Fire
- Devout Priest - Greater Heal
- Forge Master Damian - Heat Wave
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Guard Captain Suleyman - Shield Slam
- This ability knocks you back and does huge amount of physical damage.
- Ardent Paladin - Consecration
- Make sure to always move the mobs out of Consecration.
- Sir Braunpyke - Blazing Strike
- Guard Captain Suleyman - Shield Slam
Boss Tips
Kyrioss
- Dodge Grounding Bolt on the ground.
Stormguard Gorren
- Run away from the boss while he casts Dark Gravity.
- After the boss has casted Chaotic Corruption make sure to stand close to the player that has been targeted by this ability, so its debuff jumps to you at least twice during its existence.
Voidstone Monstrosity
- This fight contains two tank mechanics. Firstly Oblivion Wave which is a frontal so make sure to not aim it towards your group and secondly do not leave the bosses melee range as he will start casting Entropy dealing fatal groupwide damage.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Cursed Thunderer - Lightning Bolt
- Unruly Stormrook - Energized Barrage
- Cursed Rooktender - Lightning Surge
- Void Ascendant - Feasting Void
Boss Tips
Big M.O.M.M.A.
- Electrocrush is the tank mechanic. It deals nature damage and leaves a debuff for 10 seconds dealing additional nature damage every 1 second.
- Make sure to dodge Sonic Boom as it drags you further away from the boss and silences.
- Use your interrupt against the Darkfuse Mechadrone's cast Maximum Distortion.
Demolition Duo
- Use defensives against Bront's Wallop.
- While targeted by Barreling Charge make sure to hit as many Bombs on the ground as possible.
Swampface
- Sludge Claws does a small amount of magical damage on top of a huge amount of physical damage. It also leaves a big healing absorb on you, so make sure to use a defensive.
Geezle Gigazap
- This bosses tank ability is Thunder Punch, knocking you back and inflicting you with a huge amount of physical damage over 4 seconds.
- While being fixated by Leaping Sparks make sure to kite it through Dam Water pools on the ground.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Mechadrone Sniper - Trickshot
- Venture Co. Diver - Harpoon
- Disturbed Kelp - Restorative Algae
- Darkfuse Bloodwarper - Blood Blast
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Shreddinator 3000 - Shreddation
- Make sure to start moving at the end of this cast so you do not get hit by the blades spawning.
- Disturbed Kelp - Jettison Kelp
- Use Incapacitating Roar to interrupt this cast.
- Shreddinator 3000 - Shreddation
Boss Tips
An Affort of Challengers
- Dessia will occasionally cast Mortal Strike which deals physical damage and leaves a dot behind reducing healing taken by 50% for 5 seconds.
- Use your interrupt against Sathel's Necrotic Bolt.
- Dodge green swirlies on the ground caused by Paceran's Noxious Spores cast.
Gorechop
- Hateful Strike is the tank mechanic. It deals a large amount of physical damage, make sure to use a defensive against it.
- Do not get caught by Meat Hooks crossing the arena.
Xav the Unfallen
- This boss will cast Brutal Combo as its tank ability, it's a 2.5 second long cast inflicting multiple physical damage hits in a short time.
- During Might of Maldraxxus the boss will cast 3 different abilities that you should dodge.
Kul'tharok
- Make sure to not aim this bosses tank abilty Necrotic Eruption towards your group and use a defensive for it.
- While afflicted by Draw Soul stack up with your group to spawn all Lost Souls together and use Ursol's Vortex and Typhoon so the adds do not reach the boss as it does fatal group wide damage.
Mordretha, the Endless Empress
- Reaping Scythe is a huge tank buster, make sure to have a defensive up or be ready to purify the stagger after.
- Use your interrupt or Incapacitating Roar to interrupt Death Bolt casted by Deathwalker.
- After the boss reaches 50% HP, he will occasionally summon Ghostly Combatants which cast Ghostly Charge, running from one side of the room towards the other, make sure to dodge them.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Blighted Sludge-Spewer - Withering Discharge
- Maniacal Soulbinder - Necrotic Bolt Volley
- Bone Magus - Bone Spear
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Putrid Butcher - Devour Flesh
- Use a defensive for this ability to reduce the Butcher self healing.
- Putrid Butcher - Devour Flesh
Boss Tips
Tussle Tonks
- While being targeted by Platinum Pummel try not minimize movement and use a defensive ability.
- When The Platinum Pummeler gains a stack of Platinum Plating bring him near a Piston Smasher and make sure you active it when the boss is underneath, so it smashes and removes the stack of Platinum Plating.
- When Gnomercy 4.U. reaches 100 energy make sure to aim his Maximum Thrust towards a nearby wall.
- The boss will occasionally spawn B.4.T.T.L.3. Mine, feel free to move away from mines when too many have spawned.
K.U.-J.O.
- Before the boss casts Venting Flames make sure to move him towards a box to stand behind.
Machinist's Garden
- When the boss spawns a Inconspicuous Plant, make sure to move him on top, meanwhile try to dodge the rest of the boss abilities.
King Mechagon
- In Phase 1, make sure to dodge Plasma Orb.
- While the boss is casting Take Off! make sure to not stand directely underneath him as it does fatal damage.
- In Phase 2, if targeted by Mega-Zap make sure to use a defensives.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Bomb Tonk - Detonate
- Mechagon Tinkerer - Giga-Wallop
- Mechagon Mechanic - Tune Up
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Waste Processing Unit - Puncture
- Physical damage taken hit and leaves a bleed for 6 seconds dealing damage, make sure to use a defensive.
- Waste Processing Unit - Puncture
Boss Tips
Coin-Operated Crowd Pummler
- While the boss casts Coin Magnet make sure to not be near any coins on the ground.
Azerokk
- Make sure to tank the boss near Earthrager and help your team with Ursol's Vortex and Typhoon.
Rixxa Fluxflame
- Do not stand in front of the boss while he casts Propellant Blast.
Mogul Razdunk
- In the intermission while being targeted by Drill Smash make sure to stand next to a Drill.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Refreshment Vendor - Iced Spritzer
- Hired Assassin - Toxic Blades
- Venture Co. Earthshaper - Rock Lance
- Stonefury - Furious Quake
- Venture Co. Alchemist - Transmute: Enemy to Goo
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Azerite Extractor - Puncture
- Physical damage taken hit and leaves a bleed for 6 seconds dealing damage, make sure to use a defensive.
- Hired Assassin - Fan of Knives
- Use Incapacitating Roar to interrupt this cast.
- Azerite Extractor - Puncture
Affixes
The Affix system got changed 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.
- +4 Affixes -- Rotates on weekly basis
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Pulsar
- +7 Affix -- Alternates between each other on a weekly basis
- Tyrannical
- Fortified
- +10 Affixes -- Alternates between each other on a weekly basis, is always the opposite of the +7 Affix
- Tyrannical
- Fortified
- +12 Affix
- Xal'atath's Guile -- Replaces the +4 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: Devour
- Remove Corruption yourself whenever its applied to yourself.
Stat Priority
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
Slot | Item | Location |
---|---|---|
Head | Branches of Reclaiming Blight | The One-Armed Bandit Tier / Catalyst |
Neck | Semi-Charmed Amulet | Rik Reverb |
Shoulder | Fireproof Cinderbee Perch | Cinderbrew Meadery |
Cloak | Consecrated Cloak | Crafting |
Chest | Robes of Reclaiming Blight | Sprocketmonger Lockenstock Tier / Catalyst |
Wrist | Servo-Arm Bindings | The MOTHERLODE!! |
Gloves | Grips of Reclaiming Blight | Cauldron of Carnage Tier / Catalyst |
Belt | Adrenal Surge Clasp | Crafting |
Legs | Moccasins of Reclaiming Blight | Stix Bunkjunker Tier / Catalyst |
Boots | Dragster's Last Stride | Vexie and the Geargrinders |
Ring 1 | Wick's Golden Loop | Darkflame Cleft |
Ring 2 | Bloodoath Signet | Theater of Pain |
Trinket 1 | Improvised Seaforium Pacemaker | Operation: Floodgate |
Trinket 2 | Chromebustible Bomb Suit | Chrome King Gallywix |
Weapon | Best-in-Slots | The One-Armed Bandit |
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 | Mekgineer's Mindbending Headgear | Operation: Mechagon |
Neck | Strapped Rescue-Keg | Cinderbrew Meadery |
Shoulder | Fireproof Cinderbee Perch | Cinderbrew Meadery |
Cloak | Cloak of Questionable Intent | The MOTHERLODE!! |
Chest | Seraphic Wraps of the Ordained | Priory of the Sacred Flame |
Wrist | Servo-Arm Bindings | The MOTHERLODE!! |
Gloves | Shimmering Glimclaws | Darkflame Cleft |
Belt | Brewery Toiler's Waistband | Cinderbrew Meadery |
Legs | Shadowspawn Leggings | Darkflame Cleft |
Boots | Mercenary Miner's Boots | The MOTHERLODE!! |
Ring 1 | Wick's Golden Loop | Darkflame Cleft |
Ring 2 | Bloodoath Signet | Theater of Pain |
Trinket 1 | Improvised Seaforium Pacemaker | Operation: Floodgate |
Trinket 2 | Ringing Ritual Mud | Operation: Floodgate |
Weapon | Xav's Pike of Authority | Theater of Pain |
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
- Ringing Ritual Mud
- A great alternative to Chromebustible Bomb Suit.
- Signet of the Priory
- Provides you your highest secondary stat for 20 seconds which can be used in combination with Incarnation: Guardian of Ursoc since it shares an almost similar cooldown.
Passive Trinket alternatives
- Cinderbrew Stein
- A defensive trinket that will passively give you absorb shields, as well as primary stat to you and your allies. Comes with a downside of giving a lot less primary stat in comparison to other trinkets of the same item level.
- Eye of Kezan
- A good passive trinket that loses a lot of value in mythic+ because its stacks drop of from leaving combat which often occurs in dungeons.
- Tome of Light's Devotion
- Passive trinket that has its biggest value offensively, make sure to always have the "The 50 Verses of Radiance" buff up.
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.
A good option for early season is crafting a 675 weapon with Darkmoon Sigil: Symbiosis. As soon as you get access to a 678 weapon this option loses value compared to Adrenal Surge Clasp.
- Darkmoon Sigil: Symbiosis
- Passive secondary stats with almost 100% uptime.
- Has to be crafted on a weapon.
- Writhing Armor Banding
- Empowering your Darkmoon Sigil: Symbiosis.
- On Wrists, Boots, Waist or Cloak depending on your available gear.
Remaining Sparks
- Crafted items are 675 item level and regular items are 678 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
- Phials
- Flask of Tempered Versatility
- Food
- Feast of the Divine Day
- Feast of the Midnight Masquerade
- Combat Potion
- Tempered Potion
- 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 | S.A.D. |
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 S.A.D. |
Belt | S.A.D. |
Legs | Stormbound Armor Kit |
Boots | Enchant Boots - Defender'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 S.A.D. from the Great Vault Vendor to add sockets to your Helm, Wrists and Belt.
Races
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
Discover recommended macros for Guardian Druid for Mythic+ and watch a quick video guide on creating simple macros for your character.
Taunt Macro --- This macro either casts Growl at your target or your mouseover (very handy to pick up mobs)
#showtooltip Growl
/cast [@mouseover,exists,harm][@target,exists,harm] Growl
Boss 1 Taunt --- Casts Growl on Boss1
/cast [@boss1] Growl
Boss 2 Taunt --- Casts Growl on Boss2
/cast [@boss2] Growl
Mouseover Ursol's Vortex/Mass Entanglement --- Casts Ursol's Vortex at your cursor if talented and Mass Entanglement at your mouseover, if no mouseover is available it instead casts it on your target.
/cast [@cursor] Ursol's Vortex
/cast [@mouseover,exists] [] Mass Entanglement
Mouseover Remove Corruption --- Cast it on target if no mouseover is available, casts it on yourself if no target is available.
#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][] Remove Corruption
Mouseover Regrowth --- Casts Regrowth on mouseover or yourself.
#showtooltip Regrowth
/cast [@mouseover,exists][] Regrowth
Mouseover Innervate
/cast [@mouseover] Innervate
Mouseover Wild Charge --- Casts Wild Charge on mouseover or target.
#showtooltip Wild Charge
/cast [@Mouseover][] Wild Charge
Mouseover Soothe --- Casts Soothe on mouseover or target.
#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Soothe
Mouseover Battle Res --- This makes it so you can use Rebirth as mouseover on your frames
#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover,help,dead][] Rebirth
Focus Kick --- Casts Skull Bash at your focus target
/cast [@focus] Skull Bash
Mouseover Focus --- This macro sets your mouseover as your focus
/focus [@mouseover]
Cancelaura BoP --- This cancelaura's Blessing of Protection on you very useful to have when playing with a paladin ever
/cancelaura Blessing of Protection
Addons
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.

- Shadowed Unit Frames (SUF) -- Full User Interface replacement
- Addon to replace your Unitframes and other UI Elements with a more clean look. Takes quite some time to configure but there are plenty of pre-done profiles that you can easily import and check out.
- BigWigs -- Generic Boss Mod
- BigWigs is a boss encounter add-on. It consists of many individual encounter scripts, or boss modules; mini add-ons that are designed to trigger alert messages, timer bars, sounds, and so forth, for one specific raid encounter.
- Weakauras -- Jack of all trades
- WeakAuras is a powerful and flexible framework that allows the display of highly customizable graphics on World of Warcraft's user interface to indicate buffs, debuffs, and other relevant information. This addon was created to be a lightweight replacement for Power Auras but has since introduced more functionalities while remaining efficient and easy to use.
- Plater -- Advanced Nameplates
- Plater is a nameplate addon with an extraordinary amount of settings, out of the box debuff tracking, threat coloring, and support for scripting similar to WeakAuras and wago.io + the WeakAuras-Companion for Mod/Script/Profile updates.
- Details -- In-depth Damage Meter
- Most powerful, reliable, handsome, damage meter for World of Warcraft.
- MRT -- Notes, Raid cooldowns, and more
- Helpful addon for raiders, especially for raid leaders and officers.
- Echo Raid Tools -- Notes, Raid cooldowns, and more
- Echo Raid Tools is a World of Warcraft addon designed by Echo Esports to enhance raiding efficiency. It offers "Echo Approved" WeakAuras for each raid boss accessible through an in-game Dungeon Journal interface, allowing easy import and customization.
- Bartender -- Action Bar Changer
- Bartender4 is a comprehensive action bar replacement addon for World of Warcraft. It allows full customization of action bars, including scaling, alpha settings, and visibility based on macro conditions.
Ironfur Bar
This aura shows the number of stacks of Ironfur you plus how they are overlapping with each other.

Changes this Patch
Druid
- Many talents have changed position in the talent tree.
- New Talent: Grievous Wounds – Rake, Rip, and Thrash damage increased by 10%.
- New Talent: Gale Winds – Increases Typhoon’s radius by 20% and its range by 5 yards.
- New Talent: Incessant Tempest – Reduces the cooldown of Typhoon by 5 seconds.
- New Talent: Circle of the Wild – Physical damage dealt by your abilities increased by 5% (25% for Restoration Druids).
- New Talent: Circle of the Heavens – Magical damage dealt by your spells increased by 5% (25% for Restoration Druids).
- New Talent: Lycara’s Meditation – You retain Lycara’s Teachings’ bonus from your most recent form for 5 seconds after shifting out of it.
- New Talent: Symbiotic Relationship – Form a bond with an ally. Your self-healing also heals your bonded ally for 10% of the amount healed. Your healing to your bonded ally also heals you for 8% of the amount healed.
- New Talent: Aessina ’s Renewal – When a hit deals more than 12% of your maximum health, instantly heal for 10% of your health. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds.
- New Talent: Perfectly-Honed Instincts – Well-Honed Instincts can trigger up to once every 90 seconds.
- Ursoc’s Spirit has been updated – Stamina increased by 4%. Stamina in Bear Form is increased by an additional 5%.Developers’ notes: These bonuses multiply together, so Druids’ health in Bear Form remains unchanged.
- Light of the Sun replaces Skull Bash for Balance Druids only – The remaining cooldown of Solar Beam is reduced by 15 seconds when it interrupts its primary target.
- Improved Rejuvenation has been changed to Lingering Healing – Rejuvenation’s duration is increased by 3 seconds. Regrowth’s duration is increased by 3 seconds when cast on yourself.
- Instincts of the Claw is now a 1-point talent (was 2) and has been updated – Ferocious Bite and Maul damage increased by 8%.
- Lore of the Grove is now a 1-point talent (was 2) and has been updated – Moonfire and Sunfire damage increased by 10%.
- Fluid Form has been updated – Skull Bash can now be used in any form and shifts you into Cat Form if necessary.
- Rejuvenation healing increased by 5%.
- Wild Growth healing increased by 5%.
- Rip damage reduced by 9%.
- Shred damage increased by 10%.
- Swipe damage increased by 10%.
- Ferocious Bite damage reduced by 8%.
- Cyclone duration is now 5 seconds (was 6 seconds).
- Disorienting Roar now breaks based on a small damage threshold instead of any damage.
- Rising Light, Falling Night has been removed.
- Moonkin Form has been added to the Class talent tree in Sunfire’s previous position.
- Developers’ notes: Restoring Moonkin Form to the class talent tree empowers Restoration Druids to use Convoke the Spirits for magic damage, like they can currently use Cat Form for physical damage.
- Sunfire moved to Improved Sunfire’s position. Improved Sunfire’s effect is now included in Sunfire.
- Fluid Form causes Wrath and Starfire to transform you into Moonkin Form at the end of their casts, instead of at their starts.
- Developers’ notes: It should always take a global cooldown to transform to a shapeshift form, either from a direct transformation or a Fluid Form ability. Starting a Wrath or Starfire cast and cancelling it allowed Druids to transform into Moonkin without a global cooldown.
- Lycara’s Meditation now only retains bonuses from your shapeshift forms. The Haste bonus from humanoid form is not retained.
- Developers’ notes: Druids can revert to humanoid form instantly and, with Fluid Form, transform back to role forms without losing a GCD. This is only the case for humanoid form – shifting to and from shapeshift forms incurs some cost. We are making this change because it is not intended gameplay for Druids to shift to humanoid form frequently to maintain its Haste bonus from Lycara’s Teachings.
- Druid of the Claw
- Ravage damage reduced by 8%.
- Elune's Chosen
- Fury of Elune damage increased by 80%.
Guardian
- New Talent: Ursol’s Warding – Gain magical damage reduction equal to 5/10% of your damage reduction from armor.
- Reinvigoration has been updated – Frenzied Regeneration heals over 1/2 additional seconds, and casts Rejuvenation and Regrowth on you at 100/200% effectiveness.
- Verdant Heart now learned at level 10 (was a talent).
- Mangle damage increased by 10%.
- Maul damage reduced by 8%.
- Raze damage reduced by 8%.
- Raze now replaces Maul.
- Layered Mane has been removed.
- Guardian Druids now learn Verdant Heart in the Class talent tree upon reaching level 10.
- Raze has been updated – Strike with the might of Ursoc, dealing Physical damage to your target and to all other enemies in front of you. Damage reduced beyond multiple targets.
- Developers’ notes: This change causes Raze to always deal increased damage to the primary target, even if other targets exist.
- All ability damage increased by 5%.
- Moonfire damage increased by 20%.
FAQ
A: You most likely left Bear Form by pressing a button that brings you out of form, most common mistakes are pressing Entangling Roots and Regrowth without a Dream of Cenarius proc.
Credits
Written By: Tief
Reviewed By: Canexx