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The Druid is
one of the most dynamic and interestingclasses in all of
Azeroth, Druids are truly the jacks of all trades. A twist on
the old adage, however, is that the druid is not the master of none,
but
a master of all. The Druid from World
of Warcraft’s
lore prospective
is a guardian of nature, caretaker of the balance of all living things,
including the world itself. Don’t be fooled though, these
tree huggers are no pushover.

Flavor

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

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

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

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

In PvE the druid can fill all roles in a group or raid as long as there
is the willingness to change your specialization to fill that missing
role. They are in high demand in raid environments for their amazing
healing abilities, much needed tanking and off tanking abilities and
the ever popular and class unique ability to resurrect other players in
combat. With recent patches and updates to the class, druid caster DPS
is also formidable. However the recent addition of the href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61352" target="_blank">Death
Knight
class has had the effect of pigeon-holing other hybrids into one or two
primary roles.

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

Druid Strengths

  • Excellent healers and tanks.
  • Fearsome opponent or valued ally in PvP.
  • Highly resistant to crowd control.
  • Abilty to stealth.
  • Instant run speed boosting buff.
  • The only class that can resurrect during battle.


Druid
Weaknesses

  • Not as strong as tanks or melee or caster
    dps classes dedicated to the role.
  • Can only wear leather.
  • Among the most difficult classes to master.
  • Needs multiple sets of armor to function well in all
    roles.


Defining
Spells and
Abilities

The druid’s ability to free itself from
most forms of crowd control along with the abilities to instantly
increase run speed and the ability to stealth as well as the ability to
incapacitate an opponent can make a druid a very hard target to
eliminate. The aforementioned abilities are routinely employed by the
druid in arena battles , coupling the escape artist nature of the class
with their very mana efficient heal over time abilities is a combo that
requires quick reaction time and highly coordinated team work to
overcome. In most battlegrounds druids rely on stealth and speed to
help capture objectives, their travel form facilitates the ability to
transport the flag in Warsong Gulch that is second to none when coupled
with their ability of being able to shrug off crowd control measures,
while their stealth and crowd control abilities of root and whirlwind
make them very capable at capturing nodes in Arathi Basin, Alterec
Valley and Eye of the Storm.

The master of all trades of Azeroth is a fun and rewarding class that
can provide the player with infinite hours of gaming , allowing the
feel of having virtually every class rolled into one character with
some of the most unique and sought after abilities in the game.



To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our World of Warcraft Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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