Guardian Druid Talents Guide

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Lock-In Talents

These are talents that are either powerful and useful in the vast majority of cases, or are positioned such that you must path through them in order to get to such talents, making them nodes you always want to take.

Ironfur - Your main form of physical damage mitigationImproved Barkskin - Duration increase on Barkskin, your most commonly used defensive CDKiller Instinct - Passive physical damage and armor increase

Rejuvenation - Required to path down the tree, you will never use this ability

Remove Corruption - A Curse and Poison dispel, required to path down the tree

Nurturing Instinct - Passive magic damage and healing increaseThick Hide - Passive damage reduction

Ursol’s Vortex - AoE slow that snaps mobs back to the centre if they try and leave, required to path down the tree

Soothe - Removes all enrage effects from the target, required to path down the tree

Wild Charge - Movement ability that varies depending on your form (Charge when in bear form)

Rising Light, Falling Night - Passive damage and healing OR versatility increase

Stampeding Roar - A group movement speed cooldown

Ursoc’s Spirit - 10% Stamina increase while in bear form

Matted Fur - Small absorb shield when using Barkskin or Survival Instincts

Renewal - 30% health self-heal that is off the global cooldown

Lycara’s Teachings - Passive versatility increase in bear form

Instincts of the Claw - 10% Swipe, Mangle, Thrash, and Rake damage increase

Oakskin - 10% damage reduction increase when using Survival Instincts or Barkskin

Nice-to-Haves

Talents you would be happy to have in most/all situations but have bonuses you’d be willing to give up due to pathing or point constraints.

Verdant Heart - Healing increase during Barkskin and Frenzied Regeneration, note this doesn’t increase your own healing

Feline Swiftness - Passive 15% movement speed increase

Primal Fury - 20% Mangle crit damage increase and minor catweaving benefit

Natural Recovery - Small healing taken increase, note this doesn’t increase your own healing

Improved Stampeding Roar - Reduces the cooldown of Stampeding Roar

Lore of the Grove - 10% Moonfire damage increase

Well-Honed Instincts - Frenzied Regeneration proc at low health

Heart of the Wild - A personal cooldown that will buff your Moonfire, Rake, Rip, and auto attack damage

Nature’s Vigil - A group healing cooldown based on your single target damage done

Situational Talents

Talents that are very good in niche situations but otherwise have minimal value.

Rake and Rip - Only used if you are playing Druid of the Claw and plan to weaveMaim - Potential if a short CD stun is needed and you are playing Druid of the Claw with plans to weave

Hibernate - If a Dragonkin or Beast CC is required

Tiger Dash - Useful mobility tool for when you aren’t actively tanking or for Druid of the Claw, choice node with Wild Charge

Cyclone - If a damage immune CC is needed for when you aren’t actively tanking

Skull Bash - If an interrupt or additional mobility tool is needed

Typhoon - If a knockback is required on a fight, to create space to kite, or as a last resort AoE stop in dungeons

Ursine Vigor - Potential to be a small defensive boost for Druid of the Claw when weaving while actively tanking

Mass Entanglement - Useful for delaying the movement of large groups of mobs, however this had its duration slashed in TWW making it much weaker compared to its alternative Ursol's Vortex

Incapacitating Roar - Great in dungeons and some boss fights as an AoE stop on a short CD

Mighty Bash - Nice if a single target stun is needed, however this competes on a choice node with Incapacitating Roar which is generally better

Fluid Form - Powerful talent if playing Druid of the Claw to save globals if you are weaving

Innervate - Great on long fights or dungeons where healers don't get time to replenish their mana

Talents to Avoid

These talents provide little to no value and should not be taken in any situation.

Starfire, Starsurge, Sunfire, Improved Sunfire, and Starlight Conduit - Balance related talents that do not benefit Guardian

Wild Growth and Improved Rejuvenation - Restoration related talents that do not benefit Guardian

Astral Influence - This range increase no longer effects melee abilities like Thrash and Mangle, leaving little reason to take it

Forestwalk - A very small benefit that only has a low uptime if you specifically run the Dream of Cenarius spec talent, otherwise it does nothing at all

Lock-In Talents

These are talents that are either powerful and useful in the vast majority of cases, or are positioned such that you must path through them in order to get to such talents, making them nodes you always want to take.

Maul - Your main offensive spender in single target

Gore - Gives your rotational abilities a chance to reset Mangle

Survival Instincts - A powerful defensive cooldown

Improved Mangle - Increases the damage of Mangle against bleeding targets

Gory Fury - Gives Mangle a chance to reduce the rage cost of your next Ironfur

Berserk: Ravage - A relatively weak CD node on its own, but combines with other Berserk and Incarnation nodes in the tree

Vulnerable Flesh - A significant increase to your crit chance for both Maul and Raze that allows you to path further down the tree

Tooth and Claw - Gives your auto attacks a chance to empower your next Maul/Raze, increasing damage, reducing rage cost, and causing it to apply a 12% DR to targets hit

Vicious Cycle - Causes Mangle and Maul/Raze to increase the damage of the other by up to 45%, resulting in a massive damage increase if used correctly

Soul of the Forest - Increases the rage generation and damage of Mangle

Berserk: Unchecked Aggression - Adds on a haste bonus and Maul/Raze rage cost reduction to Berserk and Incarnation

Rend and Tear - Adds a damage increase and damage taken reduction to your Thrash stacks

Circle of Life and Death - Causes your DoTs to tick faster, drastically increasing their damage

Galactic Guardian - Gives your damage a chance to automatically shoot a Moonfire at your target and empower your next Moonfire cast, resulting in a significant rage generation increase

Rage of the Sleeper - A short 1min CD with both offensive and defensive boosts

Nice-to-Haves

Talents you would be happy to have in most/all situations but have bonuses you’d be willing to give up due to pathing or point constraints.

Brambles - A small passive absorb and damage increase that also adds pulsing damage to Barkskin, often you have to choose between this talent and Dream of Cenarius

Dream of Cenarius - A chance to proc an empowered Regrowth on taking damage, can be solid at off-healing in M+ but is niche in raids fights where you aren’t always actively tanking, often you have to choose between this talent and Brambles

Innate Resolve - Significantly boosts the power of Frenzied Regeneration and gives it an additional charge, in some builds you have to choose between this talent and Ursoc’s Endurance

Ursoc’s Endurance - Increases the duration of Barkskin and Ironfur, in some builds you have to choose between this talent and Innate Resolve

Thorns of Iron - Causes your Ironfur to also deal some damage split between nearby enemiesLayered Mane and Reinforced Fur - This line of talents drastically increases the damage output of Thorns of Iron, while also increasing your average physical mitigation and the DR on barkskin, you will have to choose between this talent column and the Survival of the Fittest/After the Wildfire talent column

Survival of the Fittest and After the Wildfire - This line of talents reduces the cooldown of Barkskin and Survival Instincts and causes you to heal nearby allies every time you spend 300 rage, you will have to choose between this talent column and the Layered Mane/Reinforced Fur talent column

Berserk: Persistence - Adds some Ironfur cost reduction and Frenzied Regeneration cooldown reduction into Berserk and Incarnation, in some builds you have to choose between this talent and After the Wildfire

Fury of Nature - Increases your Arcane damage while in bear form, has more value for Elune’s Chosen players compared to Druid of the Claw

Elune’s Favored - Increases your Arcane damage and causes it to heal you, has more value for Elune’s Chosen players compared to Druid of the Claw

Moonless Night - Causes your abilities to deal additional damage against targets with Moonfire, this is an extremely significant damage increase but is hard to path to/afford

Flashing Claws - Gives your Thrash casts a chance to proc additional Thrashes, plus allows it to stack 2 additional times, has great synergy with the Rend and Tear talent

Incarnation: Guardian of Ursoc - Empowers Berserk, increasing the duration and causing it to also grant max HP

Ursoc’s Guidance - Reduces the cooldown of Incarnation for every 25 rage spent, this tends to be significantly more impactful in AoE compared to Single Target due to other talent choices

Scintillating Moonlight - Adds a damage reduction to your Moonfire

Lunar Beam - A short 1min CD that drastically increases your mastery along with dealing minor damage to mobs and healing you while in the circle it drops, this talent is required for Elune’s Chosen but optional for Druid of the Claw

Situational Talents

Talents that are very good in niche situations but otherwise have minimal value.

Improved Survival Instincts - Provides a second charge of Survival Instincts, this is only really worthwhile if you absolutely need another large DR to survive a hit that you would not already have coverage for with Barkskin, Rage of the Sleeper, Incarnation, Lunar Beam, or your existing charge of Survival Instincts

Infected Wounds - Adds a large slow to Mangle, Maul, and Raze that you can easily maintain 100% uptime on in all target counts

Guardian of Elune - Causes Mangle to empower your next Ironfur or Frenzied Regeneration, but shares a choice node with After the Wildfire, it is the weaker option in AoE and the positioning is a bit awkward for Thorns of Iron builds, making it a hard choice despite being an OK talent

Ursoc’s Fury - Causes Thrash, Maul, and Raze to give an absorb based on damage dealt, this has been nerfed going into The War Within and is now a niche choice in M+ depending on your build, has more value for Druid of the Claw players compared to Elune’s Chosen

Blood Frenzy - Causes Thrash to generate more rage based on targets hit, this is a massive rage increase in multi target situations but does little in single target

Raze - Your main offensive spender in AoE but has no use in single target

Twin Moonfire - Increases Moonfire damage and causes it to hit a second nearby target, when combined with Galactic Guardian this also triggers additional rage generation without spending a global but this only works if there is more than one target

Talents to Avoid

These talents provide little to no value and should not be taken in any situation.

Reinvigoration and Earthwarden - This line of talents gives a moderate reduction to the cooldown of Frenzied Regeneration and causes Thrash to give you a buff that reduces auto attack damage taken, however the bonuses are weaker compared to your other options in this area, as you’d have to choose between this talent column and either Layered Mane/Reinforced Fur or Survival of the Fittest/After the Wildfire

Pulverize - A 45s CD that consumes 2 Thrash stacks to apply a single target DR, this is both expensive to get and a DPS loss to use, and with Guardian having so many defensive CD options already is something you will never want to take

Convoke the Spirits - Casts 16 druid spells over 4s based on your current form, this is extremely weak offensively and unreliable defensively when cast in bear form, plus it competes with Incarnation as a choice node, meaning it is never worth it to take this talent

Elune’s Chosen

This hero tree focuses on amplifying the arcane abilities of Guardian druid, so if you’re a fan of the laser bear playstyle you’ll be a big fan of Elune’s Chosen. This tree turns Lunar Beam into a very powerful cooldown, drastically increasing the output thanks to Boundless Moonlight and The Eternal Moon, while also allowing you to reduce the cooldown with the Lunation choice node. On top of this, you can also turn Thrash into an arcane ability with Lunar Calling, allowing it to synergize with other hero and spec talents that amplify arcane damage. The Light of Elune talent is also very impactful, allowing your moonfires to call down Fury of Elune, which also benefits from the other bonuses in the tree and gives a nice boost to rage generation.

As of now the choice nodes in this tree are fairly locked in, with Lunar Calling, The Light of Elune, and Lunation being selected in all situations, whereas your choice between Moondust and Elune’s Grace is more situational but relatively low impact. Overall this spec tree feels very smooth to play, gives Guardian an additional short CD with significant offensive and defensive potential, plus it has more rage generation than Druid of the Claw, making it a solid choice.

Druid of the Claw

Contrasting Elune’s Chosen, this hero tree instead puts an emphasis on bleeds and physical attacks, giving your auto attacks a chance to transform Maul into Ravage, and powerful AoE attack that debuffs mobs hit with Dreadful Wound, which you can then extend thanks to Aggravate Wounds. It also gives a significant defensive and offensive boost to Incarnation, as the capstone Claw Rampage gives your physical abilities a 25% chance to proc Ravage instead of just auto attacks, essentially giving you 100% uptime on Dreadful Wound during this window.

Catweaving is a small, optional part of this tree, as you gain defensiveness in Cat Form from the Wildshape Mastery talent, as well as a reason to actually shift and use feral abilities with the Wildpower Surge choice node, however currently you only take this talent in pure ST situations. If taking this hero talent you’ll want to make sure to also talent into Fluid Form in the class tree, as this saves you multiple globals when making use of Feline Potential.

There is also a very competitive choice node in the middle of the tree, where players can choose between Ruthless Aggression and Killing Strikes. Currently it seems like you’ll take the former in a raid environment to try and fish for more Ravage procs, particularly when you can synergize with the shaman Skyfury buff. On the other hand, Killing Strikes is looking very powerful in M+, allowing you to enter every pull with a Ravage proc to immediately help with threat and apply an AoE DR.

In general this hero tree provides Guardians with a familiar playstyle to what they had during Dragonflight, while also increasing the power of Incarnation, giving you access to an additional DR that has a relatively high uptime, as well as opening up the ability to catweave in raids for those interested.