Gear
Tier Set
- 2p - When you take damage, Mangle and Thrash damage and Rage generation are increased by 15%, and you heal for 6% of damage taken over 8s.
- 4p - Maul/Raze damage increased by 20%, and casting Ironfur or Maul/Raze increases your maximum health by 3% for 12s, stacking 5 times.
This is a pretty strong tier set bonus for Guardian druids, however it is quite boring in the sense that it will easily be maintained at all times just playing the spec normally, and it doesn’t impact any talent or rotation choices.
The HoT from the 2p is relatively unnoticeable given it’s low value, however the damage boosts to both thrash and maul synergize nicely with Ursoc’s Fury. In addition to this, having 15% increased max health at all times helps to put bears back near the top when it comes to overall health pool, which helps to boost their baseline defensiveness a bit compared to season 1, especially when combined with buffs they received to their mastery.
Something worth noting is that, if you’re looking to maximize your damage, in scenarios where the target count is 4 or more it’s actually a decent dps increase to use your Vault of the Incarnates 2p bonus alongside the Aberrus 2p, as opposed to using the Aberrus 4p. This does of course mean you’re sacrificing quite a bit of stats in the process, potentially making this damage gain not worthwhile in dangerous content.
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.
Flaring Cowl (helm) - A staple embellishment in Season 1, this is now being outclassed by some of our other options, and is likely something you’ll look to replace. It also occupies a tier slot, forcing you to wear the other 4 pieces.
Elemental Lariat (neck) - Lariat is getting some decent nerfs for the beginning of 10.1, as it’s being changed to scale off the number of sockets on your gear. This means when you have no sockets the proc will be quite weak, however once you have a full set of sockets this will get to the same power level it was in 10.0. That being said, many other embellishments have received significant buffs, resulting in them surpassing Lariat even in this situation, making it unlikely you’ll use it in Season 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) - A decent damage option in Season 1, this is seeing significant buffs in patch 10.1, making it the best option when it comes to damage in ST scenarios. This comes with the minor downside of reducing your stamina slightly, but overall you won’t notice this cost.
Toxified Armor Patch (any slot) - Available to be put on any slot, this amps the value of Toxic Thorn Footwraps when used together. As mentioned above, with the buffs to the boots in 10.1, if you’re looking to maximize ST damage you’ll want to run them combined with this patch to amplify the effect.
Infurious Footwraps of Indemnity (boots) - These PvP boots are also seeing changes in 10.1, turning them into 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 an extremely powerful option, likely being the go-to in dungeon content.
Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch (any slot) - A new embellishment coming in 10.1, this causes your attacks to sometimes apply a stacking shadowflame DoT. While this doesn’t beat out the Toxic Footwraps in ST, it does begin to pull ahead in AoE, with the added benefit of being able to proc the Eranog ring if you have it for some additional fire damage.
Potion Absorption Inhibitor (any slot) - This gives a solid boost to both damage and defensiveness assuming you are using potions relatively close to on cooldown, and has the added benefit of being a good general embellishment for all of the other druid specs in case you play multiple specs. While it may not be the best option on this list, it’s much more flexible.
Undulating Sporecloak (cape) - A new embellishment coming in 10.1, this gives you passive healing while above 70% health, and when pushed below 30% health will proc an absorb shield on a 2min CD. This has no offensive value but is likely to be quite strong defensively if it’s needed.
Ideal Setups:
- Raid: Toxic Thorn Footwraps + Toxified Armor Patch
- Mythic+: Infurious Footwraps of Indemnity + Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch
- Defensive Option: Undulating Sporecloak
Trinkets and Very Rare Items
Seal of Diurna’s Chosen (Eranog) - Yes, this is a ring from Vault of the Incarnates, however it remains a powerful damage option for Guardian druids, who can proc it through embellishments, trinkets, enchants, or even the weapon next on this list. For single target damage this will likely be BiS, however it gets outclassed by the higher ilvl rings in AoE.
Djaruun, Pillar of the Elder Flame (Rashok, the Elder) - Very Rare 2h Polearm with a 2.5min on-use effect to deal additional fire damage when attacking. Likely the best weapon available for Guardians this season.
Voice of the Silent Star (Scalecommander Sarkareth) - Very Rare cape that will steal a small amount of 4 nearby allies' lowest secondary stat in order to give you a large amount of your highest secondary stat. Overall net gain in stats but the proc uptime is quite low and you give up a decent chunk of stamina for an inconsistent stat boost.
Neltharion’s Call to Suffering (Echo of Neltharion) - Very rare proc trinket that gives a ton of primary stat but comes with a small self dot. A decent in-between of offensive and defensive value, however it being a random proc reduces the defensive value slightly as it lacks control.
Screaming Black Dragonscale (Kazzara) - Very Rare proc trinket that gives Crit and Leech. Decent passive stat option, though again comes with the downside of being a random proc instead of being controlled or completely passive.
Beacon of the Beyond (Scalecommander Sarkareth) - Powerful on-use offensive trinket that does a ton of burst damage, likely the best pure offensive option this season. Also does healing if talented into Elune’s Favored.
Dragonfire Bomb Dispenser (Zskarn) - Another solid pure offensive option for ST, despite being an on-use this doesn’t share a CD with other trinkets allowing for a double on-use trinket situation without worrying about the hassle.
Ominous Chromatic Essence (Forgotten Experiments) - Stat stick trinket that you get to pick the secondary of and is buffed by having other allies choose different stats. Very good passive option.
Enduring Dreadplate (Kazzara) - Solid defensive option when taking a lot of attacks in a short amount of time, potentially good damage as well if taking hits big enough to consistently proc the uncapped AoE damage.
Treemouth’s Festering Splinter (Brackenhide Hollow) - Large absorb shield on-use with a 1.5min CD, likely the best defensive trinket available in season 2, though it has no offensive upside.
Harlan’s Loaded Dice (Freehold) - Powerful passive trinket that can proc Mastery, Haste, and Crit. Generally strong, but again lacks control and consistency.
Mutated Magmammoth Scale (Neltharus) - Passive damage proc trinket with no defensive upside. Not the best option but a good “set it and forget it” one.
Erupting Spear Fragment (Neltharus) - On-use AoE damage effect that gives you crit based on the number of targets hit. Can be solid in multi target scenarios especially if you time the crit buff with your personal damage amp in Rage of the Sleeper.
Shard of Rokmora (Neltharion’s Lair) - Untested on PTR, potentially a good defensive option that reduces incoming damage for 30s or until you hit a certain cap on a 2min CD that does not share a CD with other on-use trinkets. Would be used to help mitigate many smaller hits over a long period of time.
Talisman of the Cragshaper (Neltharion’s Lair) - Untested on PTR, potentially a good defensive option that gives a large absorb shield for 50% of damage intake on an extremely short 1min CD. Could potentially be as strong as Treemouth’s listed above, depending on final tuning. Slight downside of giving passive vers instead of primary stat.
Mark of Dargrul (Neltharion’s Lair) - Untested on PTR, potentially a good pure offensive choice depending on the range of the effect and final tuning. Slight downside of giving passive crit instead of primary stat.
Heart of Thunder (Vortex Pinnacle) - Untested on PTR, this trinket seems to be quite good in M+ as it procs off damage taken and is affected by haste. It also does a nice chunk of healing if talented into Elune’s Favored, and despite having passive vers instead of primary is looking to be one of the better M+ trinkets this patch.
Trinket Setups
Ideal Raid Setup - Beacon of the Beyond + Dragonfire Bomb Dispenser
Ideal M+ Setup - Beacon of the Beyond + Heart of Thunder
Defensive Options - Treemouth’s Festing Splinter or Shard of Rokmora
The Onyx Annulet
New with patch 10.0.7 is the Onyx Annulet ring, which can be upgraded up to 424 item level and socketed with 3 unique primordial stones. There is currently an extremely powerful combination of stones for pretty much all tanks in Single Target scenarios, consistent of the following:
You can read more about the Onyx Annulet in Method's Primordial Stones, Onyx Annulet Ring and the Zskera Vaults in Patch 10.0.7 article.