Guardian Druid Gearing Guide

Tier Set

• 2p - When you take damage, Mangle and Thrash damage and Rage generation are increased by 15% for 8s and you heal for 6% of damage taken over 8s
• 4p - Raze/Maul damage increased by 20% and casting Ironfur or Raze/Maul increases your maximum health by 3% for 12s, stacking 5 times

In season 4 Guardians are seeing the return of their Abberus tier set, a powerful albeit boring bonus that passively boosted your damage, health, and rage generation by playing the spec as you would normally. This also has fantastic synergy with the Ursoc’s Fury talent, as the damage increases result in higher shield amounts created per global, and the health increase results in a higher total shield cap.

The main thing to remember to get full value out of this tier set is to not over ironfur, instead only maintaining 1-2 stacks when actively tanking, then dumping the rest of your rage into Raze or Maul, only ironfuring past that to not cap on rage. Also be aware of the duration of your health increase, and do your best to maintain it between pulls in M+.

Guardian Druid Best in Slot Gear

The tables below aim to give you a general list of gear that is good for Guardian Druid, these lists are not a perfect replacement for simming your character.

Guardian Druid Best Gear from Mythic+

The gear listed below is the best gear available for M+ dungeons in Dragonflight Season 4.

Guardian Druid Best Gear from Raiding

The gear listed below is the best gear available for the Awakened raids in Dragonflight Season 4.

Embellished Gear

In Dragonflight you’re able to equip 2 pieces of Crafted “Embellished” Gear, and for Guardian druids there are a few standout options.

Elemental Lariat (neck) - At the beginning of the patch when you have no sockets this will be underwhelming, however once you build them up over the course of the patch this will likely be a very competitive embellishment considering a lot of the flat damage procs have been nerfed going into patch 10.2. Note that this selects the lower secondary of elemental gems only, so as an example if you’re using Energized Ysemerald it will proc versatility.

Toxic Thorn Footwraps (boots) - The top damage option in season 2, this is seeing significant nerfs in patch 10.2, potentially knocking it out of the top embellishment spot for Guardian druids. This item also comes with the minor downside of reducing your stamina slightly, but overall you won’t notice this cost. Also note that some of your damage procs will turn into healing procs due to your own healing abilities, resulting in a slight damage decrease compared to if you did no healing whatsoever.

Toxified Armor Patch (any armor slot) - Available to be put on any slot, this amps the value of Toxic Thorn Footwraps when used together. While running the boots isn’t guaranteed, if you do end up using them you will likely pair them with one of these armor patches.

Infurious Footwraps of Indemnity (boots) - These PvP boots have a Sephuz-like effect, granting you 10s of an agility buff whenever you successfully interrupt, dispel, or CC an enemy on a 30s CD. In M+ situations or just in general when you’re able to get this proc as close to on CD as possible this is a decent option that provides a nice mix of damage and durability, however during pulls or boss fights where you cannot proc it you essentially are playing down an embellishment.

Ideal Setup: Toxic Thorn Footwraps + Toxified Armor Patch on Bracers.

Defensive Option: Elemental Lariat

Trinkets and Special Items

Seal of Diurna’s Chosen (Vault) - Very rare ring that has a chance to DoT your target when you deal fire damage. This ring also has a full stat budget, so it’s essentially free extra damage in the ring slot. There are plenty of source of fire damage available, including the helmet enchant available to everyone, so you should be able to proc this effect relatively close to the ICD despite having no actual fire damage in the bear kit.

Seal of Filial Duty (Vault) - Very rare ring that has a chance to give you an absorb shield when you deal fire damage. Like the Eranog ring, this also has a full stat budget so the proc is just a pure bonus, and Guardian should have no issues getting the effect to proc relatively close to the ICD.

Djaruun, Pillar of the Elder Flame (Abberus) - Very rare 2H Polearm with an on-use that causes your attacks to deal additional fire damage for 10s. This will likely be the best damage option if you are looking for burst damage to kill priority targets or on fights that have a damage amp. Note that the fire damage is split between all targets hit, so on AoE pulls it loses the priority target value.

Rashon, the Immortal Blaze (Amirdrassil) - 2H Polearm with a passive shadowflame damage proc. This deals high fire damage with some consistency, allowing you to more easily proc the fire rings on their ICD, while also putting out damage competitive with Djaruun.

Ouroboreal Necklet (Amirdrassil) - Very rare neck that grants a fire shield when dealing nature damage and a nature shield when dealing fire damage on a 1min CD. Overall this is a pretty minor gain since it isn’t a general absorb and not super impactful.

Whispering Incarnate Icon (Vault) - Very rare trinket that passively gives you a large amount of versatility, and will also give you a haste and/or crit proc depending on if players of other roles are also wearing the trinket. One of the best stat sticks available, competing with the Ominous Chromatic Essence, depending on how many group members are using each.

Fyrakk’s Tainted Rageheart (Amirdrassil) - Very rare trinket with a 1.5min on-use that provides a massive shield that also deals damage to nearby targets. On top of this, the trinket also just does passive damage while in combat, making it a very powerful option in M+.

Augury of the Primal Flame (Amirdrassil) - Very rare trinket, this proc deals high damage in both ST and AoE, currently looking to be one of the top pure damage options available in both categories while being entirely passive.

Manic Grieftorch (Vault) - A powerful single target on-use damage trinket that gets massive CDR if a player dies near you. One of the best pure damage options in both raid and M+, especially now that you can move while channeling it!

Storm-Eater’s Boon (Vault) - A powerful AoE on-use damage trinket, however this is quite dangerous to use as it does root you in place for the duration. If you’re looking for uncapped AoE damage, this is the best option available this patch if you’re willing to take the risk!

Ominous Chromatic Essence (Abberus) - Stat stick trinket that allows you to pick which secondary you want and provides a small passive stat boost from other players who picked a different stat. This is competitive with Whispering Incarnate Icon, depending on how many group members are using each.

Enduring Dreadplate (Abberus) - This trinket got some significant buffs in Season 4, now making it a competitive damage option that also has defensive upside. This is particularly good against groups of mobs that hit you with many small damage events to get the most out of the damage reduction it provides. Be aware as the damage proc is a frontal line attack which you’ll need to aim properly to get full value out of.

Ward of Faceless Ire (Abberus) - This trinket saw some adjustments going into the new season, now providing a smaller absorb but also being reduced to a 1min CD, making it extremely powerful if your group is having trouble surviving certain mechanics.

Elementium Pocket Anvil (Abberus) - An on-use trinket that doesn’t share a CD with other on-use trinkets, this is a solid damage option assuming fights are long enough that you can stack it up, and you don’t drops stacks by being out of combat for 15s.

Cataclysmic Signet Brand (Amirdrassil) - Another proc trinket, similar to the Elementium Pocket Anvil this trinket will get better in situations where you’re in combat long enough to stack it up, however it will decay quickly out of combat which will significantly hurt its value in some M+ dungeons. Regardless, this is looking to be one of the best damage options currently in all content, just be aware of the self-damage that occurs while above 5 stacks.

Granyth’s Enduring Scale (Nokhud Offensive) - This trinket saw a full rework going into Season 4, now becoming an on-use that creates quite a large shield while also dealing a minor amount of damage when broken. In general this feels like a worse version of Rageheart, as the shield is smaller and on a longer CD, however it gives a better passive boost thanks to it providing Agility instead of versatility.

Prophetic Stonescales (Dawn of the Infinites) - While DotI is no longer part of the M+ pool, the dungeon is still available on Mythic 0 difficulty, which rewards champion track ilvl gear by default and potentially even hero track gear on hardmode, allowing you to still get this powerful cheat death trinket at a competitive ilvl. This will likely be a very popular trinket for players pushing for the 0.1% M+ title where 1 small mistake could mean death.

Trinket Setups

• Ideal Raid Setup - Elementium Pocket Anvil + Cataclysmic Signet Brand
• Ideal M+ Setup - Fyrakk’s Tainted Rageheart + Whispering Incarnate Icon or Ominous Chromatic Essence, depending on what your group is using
• Alternative Offensive Options - Manic Grieftorch, Augury of the Primal Flame or Storm-Eater’s Boon
• Alternative Defensive Options - Prophetic Stonescales, Enduring Dreadplate or Ward of Faceless Ire