So, you decided to go with a druid? That’s great – because druids are one of the most versatile classes you can choose from. Not only that, but playing with druid requires using your brain, and in return, it will provide an unforgettable WoW experience. 

We have a new Leveling Guide which is actual for the Dragonflight.

These hybrids possess extraordinary abilities, most notably their shapeshifting feature – which allows you to perform every out of 3 group roles. Therefore, will you play as a TANK, HEALER or DPS is up to you, and you can even change your role in the battle. What’s more, they are great for fast leveling, but they require much more work and focus to play most efficiently. 

Certainly, you won’t regret putting an effort into them, as they are really “hybrid-kings” in WoW.

Everything you need to know about leveling a Druid will be shown in this guide. Hence, we will cover all the necessary pieces to get to level 60 effectively and efficiently. You will get advice on the best talent builds for Druid, their weakness and strengths and how to utilize them to the max, and many more.

Also, the info you are going to acquire here comes from the in-game experience of many players, who shaped their skills by trial and error. 

Well, let’s get started, shall we? – tempestuous path to the level 60 awaits!

Hear me out fellow Druid

Druids resemble guardians of nature and they aim to preserve balance and empower life. They are deeply connected with nature and they harness its raw energy – that’s why they can also heal while being able to attack and defend. 

Likewise, using this symbiosis with nature, they can shapeshift by taking the form of primeval beasts or exerting restorative features to aid others while in the group.

Actually, you can choose your style of playing, which is influenced by the specs you choose. Hence, you can take on of the three specs for a Druid:

  1. Feral 
  2. Balance
  3. Restoration

Now, we will start by explaining how to level with each of these three specs.

Wow Classic Druid Leveling Guide 1-60

Feral Druid leveling

Firstly, this is the most used spec when soloing as a Druid. The accent is on dealing more damage and still being able to regenerate mana passively.

Next, you’ll acquire your first talent at level 10 – the Bear Form, and until that moment, leveling can be quite slow, so don’t get discouraged. To fast things up, we advise you to find someone to level with and to use as much mana as you can.

Moving further, you’ll unlock Cat Form at level 20 and gain the first point in Feline Swiftness spell. This spell will increase your movement speed by 15% in Cat Form at level 20, which is significant, as the moving speed is directly connected with fast-leveling. Furthermore, we will focus on how to maximize the damage while in cat form, in this section.

When it comes to skills, here is the list of skills to get as you are leveling. However, make sure to save more than enough money for your mount, that’s available at level 40. 

  • Moonfire – available only in level 10
  • Wrath – available only in level 10
  • Thorns
  • Entangling Roots
  • Hibernate
  • Barkskin
  • Demoralizing Roar
  • Enrage
  • Bash
  • Swipe
  • Maul
  • Cat Form
  • Claw
  • Prowl
  • Shred
  • Rake
  • Rip
  • Dash
  • Challenging Roar
  • Travel Form
  • Ferocious Bite
  • Ravage
  • Track Humanoids
  • Pounce
  • Dire Bear Form
  • Feline Grace
  • Mark of the Wild
  • Rejuvenation
  • Regrowth
  •  Healing Touch
  • Innervate
  1. Choosing Feral Druid gear

We all know that gear is important, and a good balance will determine your weakness and strengths, and thus, the way you’ll act in combat. Since we are leveling as Feral, our top priority is to get Agility and Strength, when we have a choice.

 Further, we suggest prioritizing the gear like this:

  • Agility>Strength>Spirit>Stamina>Intellect

Therefore, Agility and Strength will increase the damage of your attacks, while Spirit will be your primary source of regeneration. Spirit increases health and mana regeneration time and our goal is to decrease downtime as much as we can.

  1. Choosing Feral Druid weapons

While playing as Feral Druid, you can look at weapons the same as you look at the gear. Meaning, they are only useful in boosting the stats. To be precise, Druids cannot use ranged weapons and wands, which only leaves melee weapons available.

But, as we mentioned, melee weapons will only be as useful as the stats they carry on them! In that light, Cat and Bear Form use normalized auto attacks, depending on their attack power, not weapon damage they wield. Simply said, you use your paws and claws, not the weapons you carry, to hit your enemies. 

  1. How to do rotations as Feral Druid

The best advice is to equip your character with Mark of the Wild and Thorns. What’s more, with a Travel Form which you’ll gain at level 30 you’ll increase your movement speed by 40%. Also, Travel Form will help you obtain an Aquatic Form faster because the quest to get it is long and require a lot of travel.

Additionally, you can get Dash at level 26, which will further increase your speed by 50% for 15 seconds in the Cat Form. Now, let’s check how to do rotations as Feral in all the three roles.

DPS Rotation 

  • Bear Form and Maul will be your available forms until you acquire Cat From at level 20. 
  • You’ll learn Bear form in a quest and will talk about them later in more detail.
  • At level 20, you have obtained Cat Form. At this point, Claw and Ferocious Bite are going to be your main means of generating combo points and spending them, respectively. 
  • Always keep Faerie Fire on your enemies.
  • If you are low on energy, use Tiger’s Fury, but do not replace a Claw with it.

Healing Rotation

  • You can heal as Feral while you do the dungeons
  • An Intellect gear, coupled with some healing power pieces is best to use
  • As a Feral Druid, you will drain your mana fast, especially in the dungeons after level 40
  • Don’t forget to always take enough drinks before entering the dungeons

General strategy:

  • Always use Rejuvenation on Tank 
  • Heal your group with Rank 1 Healing Touch
  • Use Regrowth if your group suffers serious damage

Tank Rotation

General strategy:

  • Maul
  • Swipe 
  • Faerie Fire

Use these Tank utilities to your advantage:

  • Growl – Directs attention of nearby targets on you by taunting them
  • Challenging Roar – Taunts all nearby targets to attack you for 6 seconds
  • Frenzied Regeneration – Converts rage to self-healing. One point of rage equals 10 health
  • Barskin – Lasts 15 seconds and it reduces all damage you suffer by 20%

So, that’s it for the Feral Druid. Make sure to follow these instructions and you’ll end up hitting that level 60 without any complications. 

Wow Classic Druid Leveling Guide 1-60

Balance Druid Leveling 

Balance is a challenging spec and you can expect leveling to be slow because Balance requires a high amount of mana. So, you’ll always need to drink to replenish it and be ready to the fact that you’ll be dealing much less damage than Feral when doing dungeons. 

Even more, this also applies to tanking in dungeons. On the bright side, you’ll be able to heal noticeably easier and you’ll be better set for finding groups. Yeah and also, as a Balance Druid, past level 30, dungeons will become much more efficient in comparison to questing. 

Maybe most importantly, to speed up your leveling, find someone to level with until level 20 – you won’t regret it!

Balance is ranged and it takes your nature and arcane spells to kill the mobs. Furthermore, you should decide which spell you want to use Wrath or Starfire. We advise using Wrath in your early stages and Starfire later. You can also keep them both in their Improved form, but we advise you to stick with only the one you prefer.

To be precise, advancing as a Balance Druid is very logical, so focus primarily on increasing your damage and take Improved Wrath. When you start as Balance, you’ll have 11 points to spend on what you want, and we advise going in this direction.

  • Start with Improved Wrath for increasing your damage
  • Keep in mind that Nature’s Gasp is great for utility
  • Increase your range with Nature’s Reach
  • Invest in Vengeance as soon as possible, as it is incredible for increased damage. With Moonkin Form, you’ll get thick armor together with added damage for you and your group
  • For PvP and five-man dungeon party, Insect Swarm is an awesome rotational spell to have
  • Don’t forget on Reflection, as it will increase your passive mana regeneration to continue by 15% when in battle

Here is the list of skills to choose as Balance Druid, but preserve enough gold and money for your mount at level 40:

  • Moonfire 
  • Wrath Icon Wrath
  • Thorns Icon Thorns
  • Entangling Roots 
  • Hibernate 
  • Barkskin 
  • Bash 
  • Starfire 
  • Cat Form 
  • Prowl 
  • Dash 
  • Challenging Roar 
  • Travel Form 
  • Track Humanoids 
  • Pounce 
  • Dire Bear Form 
  • Feline Grace 
  • Mark of the Wild 
  • Hurricane 
  • Rejuvenation 
  • Regrowth 
  • Healing 
  • Innervate 
  1. Choosing Balance Druid gear

As with a Feral Druid, choosing which gear to wear is pretty much logical and you don’t need to bump your head to the wall to figure it out. Anyhow, when you need to decide, we advise you to choose Nature Damage or Arcane Damage. 

These two will be your primary means of dealing damage and, besides, directly benefit your spells point-blank. Therefore, we recommend that you prioritize your gear like this:

  • Nature Damage = Arcane Damage > Intellect > Spirit > Stamina

Nature and Arcane damage (depending on if you use Wrath or Starfire, both of which we talked about above) are damage dealers. Next, Intellect gives you more mana and spell critical strike – spell crit, Spirit provides faster rates of regeneration and Stamina allows for more health points. 

Besides, Spirit is a great reducer of time required to eat and it will aid in regaining health out of battle.

  1. Choosing Balance Druid weapons

As with a Feral Druids, Balance Druids won’t benefit directly from weapons, because they are only useful as their stats. 

Particularly, Balance Druids should aim to select weapons that increase the strength of their damaging spells and will also focus on the ones that buff Intellect and hit rating.

  1. How to do rotations as Balance Druid

Some basic recommendations are to buff Mark of the Wild and Thorns. Already mentioned, Travel Form available at level 30 will help you travel, and Dash will increase your movement speed by 50%. 

DPS rotation

  • Choose Wrath or Starfire – Wrath is more useful at the early stages.
  • Focus Moonfire and Insect Swarm on your targets
  • When it comes to spellcasting, keep casting Wrath/Starfire until the enemy is dead 
  • In case you need to quickly escape from the mobs, cast Entangling Roots
  • As you advance to the 60, Starfire will start to become stronger than Improved Wrath
  • How much of Nature Damage or Arcane damage you have will directly influence damage of Wrath and Starfire, respectively

Healing rotation

  • Focus Rejuvenation on the tank which will help him heal.
  • Heal your group using Rank 1 Healing Touch.
  • If your team suffers serious damage, use Regrowth to effectively heal them.

Tank rotation

Druids are applicable as Tanks in Bear Form, Swipe and Maul while leveling in dungeons. Particularly, Bear Form is pretty strong so you can tank in dungeons with it, along with utilizing Balance or Restoration talents. However, around 30 and later, you’ll see other classes dealing better cleavage damage and AoE.

Besides, you can simply change to Feral if you want to do tanking mostly. In case you opt for this, then carry gear that is high in Strength and Agility with you.

Druids are applicable as Tanks in Bear Form, Swipe and Maul while leveling in dungeons. Particularly, Bear Form is pretty strong so you can tank in dungeons with it, along with utilizing Balance or Restoration talents.

And, with that on your mind, you’ll be set to start leveling as a Balance Druid. However, make sure to get everything in order and follow your path as you go. 

Wow Classic Druid Leveling Guide 1-60

Restoration Druid Leveling 

So, we can compare Restoration with Balance in terms of leveling, with a difference that as a Restoration you primarily look to utilize healing over the damage. Nevertheless, prepare for tough times when solo, and much easier group play. Therefore, Restoration is the best choice if you opt for group leveling, as your main role will be to heal groups in dungeons. What’s more, we don’t recommend playing Restoration if you want to do solo, and we will proceed with advice on group play as Restoration.

Logically, Restoration’s main objective is to heal and ensure that your group survives. Restoration is encompassed with mostly providing healing talents while expanding into some handy talents to deal damage. This is ideal for times when healing isn’t needed as much, so you can bring some damage to the mobs with the rest of your group.

Finally, we recommend playing as Restoration before moving to Balance and here are some important talents you should get:

  • We mentioned Insect Swarm – it is a great rotational spell to have while leveling, dungeon parties of 5 and PvP.
  • Use Reflection to regenerate mana passively while in combat – you’ll need it.
  • Nature Swiftness is one of the most notable talents – it will make every Nature spell an instant cast spell. It is critical for healing.
  • Gift of Nature will increase the effectiveness of every healing spell you cast by 10%.
  • Swiftmend is something you’ll definitely use if you need healing-burst, preferably on a tank.
  • Improved Wrath is your number one damage increaser and it lowers the cast time too.
  • Nature’s Grasp will help you defend yourself and is useful to have.

Finally, invest in these skills as you are leveling but don’t forget to save money and gold for your mount at level 40:

  • Moonfire 
  • Wrath 
  • Thorns 
  • Entangling Roots 
  • Hibernate 
  • Barkskin 
  • Bash 
  • Cat Form 
  • Prowl 
  • Dash 
  • Challenging Roar 
  • Travel Form 
  • Track Humanoids 
  • Pounce 
  • Dire Bear Form 
  • Feline Grace 
  • Mark of the Wild 
  • Hurricane 
  • Rejuvenation 
  • Regrowth 
  • Healing Touch 
  • Innervate 
  1. Choosing Restoration Druid gear

As with the other two types, choosing gear as Restoration Druid is intuitive and logical. Still, we suggest sticking to this path and prioritizing your gear in a next manner:

  • Nature Damage>Intellect>Spirit>Stamina

The main means of damage increase will be, logically, Nature Damage. Next, you’ll aim for Intellect that will give more mana and spell crit. Spirit will increase regeneration rates and Stamina will allow for more health points. Additionally, it’s a good idea to bring some Healing Power pieces as you are leveling in dungeons, but this is most important after 60. To sum it, focus on increasing the efficiency of your mana instead of heals while you rush to 60.

  1. Choosing Restoration Druid weapons

As with the former, weapons are valuable as much as the stats they have on them. That’s why you should follow these directions to maximize your Restoration Druid. In that light, you’ll need items that will enhance your healing spells. Furthermore, look for items with high stats in Intellect and Spirit, like Wild of Arlokk which is best when combined with Innervate ability.

  1. How to do rotations as Balance Druid

As usual, buff Mark of the Wild and Thorns and expect your Travel Form at level 30. Dash will assist in additional movement speed increase and cooldown.

DPS rotation

  • Moonfire and Insect Swarm should always be on your enemies
  • Keep casting Wrath or Starfire until the enemy dies
  • To quickly step away from the enemies use Entangling Roots
  • Already said, Travel Form will be your option to travel at 30, and you’ll use it until the mount 

Heal rotation

  • Keep Rejuvenation on the tank
  • To do the group healing use Rank 1 Healing Touch
  • When your group suffers from serious damage, use Regrowth to replenish their health

Tank rotation

The same applies to Balance Druid. Bear Form is strong enough to do tanking in dungeons, and you’ll notice a drop in strength when compared to other classes after 30.

Moreover, it’s best to stick with Feral if you want to do tanking in dungeons. Just swap to it.

General strategy:

  • Use Maul to increase the next attack by 18 damage 
  • Swipe will help you avoid multiple targets or capping rage while inflicting 18 damage
  • Faerie Fire will decrease the target’s armor by 175 for the 40 seconds  

Use these Tank utilities to your advantage:

  • Growl – Directs attention of nearby targets on you by taunting them.
  • Challenging Roar – Taunts all nearby targets to attack you for 6 seconds.
  • Frenzied Regeneration – Converts rage to self-healing. One point of rage equals 10 health.
  • Barskin – Lasts 15 seconds and it reduces all damage you suffer by 20%.

Conclusion 

We hope you’ll have much fun playing as Druid, whether you’ll choose Feral, Balance or Restoration. Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages, but nonetheless, you’ll have a great experience while playing.

Furthermore, you’ll see which style suits you the best, so as you level, you’ll start to get better and better at it. Final advice, make sure you tried all of them, and for that, carefully follow information from this guide and feel free to improvise as you see fit.