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 mitigation.
• Improved Barkskin - Duration increase on Barkskin, your most commonly used defensive CD.
• Grievous Wounds - Passive Rake, Rip, and Thrash damage increase.
• Killer Instinct - Passive physical damage and armor increase.
• Ursoc’s Spirit - A passive stamina increase while in bear form.
• Remove Corruption - A Curse and Poison dispel, required to path down the tree.
• Nurturing Instinct - Passive magic damage and healing increase.
• Thick Hide - Passive damage reduction.
• 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), choice node with situational talent Tiger Dash, required to path down the tree.
• Stampeding Roar - A group movement speed cooldown.
• Renewal - 30% health self-heal that is off the global cooldown.
• Instincts of the Claw - Passive Ferocious Bite and Maul damage increase.
• Lore of the Grove - Passive Moonfire damage increase.
• Oakskin - 10% damage reduction increase when using Survival Instincts or Barkskin.
• Circle of the Wild - Passive damage increase to Guardian spec abilities.

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.

• Feline Swiftness - Passive 15% movement speed increase.
• Primal Fury - Passive Mangle crit damage increase and minor catweaving benefit.
• Natural Recovery - Small healing taken increase.
• Improved Stampeding Roar - Reduces the cooldown of Stampeding Roar.
• Well-Honed Instincts - Frenzied Regeneration proc at low health.
• Perfectly-Honed Instincts - Reduces the CD of Well-Honed Instincts by 30s.
• Lycara’s Inspiration - Passive 5% movement speed increase while in bear form.
• Heart of the Wild - A personal cooldown that will buff your Moonfire, Rake, Rip, and auto attack damage.
• Symbiotic Relationship - Transfers a portion of your self-healing as bonus healing to a player.
• 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 weave
• Maim - If a short CD stun is needed and you are playing Druid of the Claw with plans to weave.
• Moonkin Form - If flap is useful to reduce your fall speed for some mechanic or skip
• Starlight Conduit - For Elune’s Chosen to slightly buff the damage of the Starsurges created by their tier bonus
• 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.
• Ursol’s Vortex - Useful for grouping up and delaying the movement of large groups of mobs.
• Ursine Vigor - Potential to be a small defensive boost for Druid of the Claw when weaving while actively tanking.
• Lingering Healing - Potential to be a minor self-healing increase if also talented into Dream of Cenarius and the reworked Reinvigoration.
• Mass Entanglement - Useful for keeping large groups of mobs CC’d away from the action.
• 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 and also costs a capstone point.
• Fluid Form - Powerful talent if playing Druid of the Claw to save globals while weaving.
• Innervate - Great on long raid 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 outside of pathing requirements.

• Starfire, Starsurge, and Sunfire - Balance related talents that do not benefit Guardian.
• Rejuvenation and Wild Growth - 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.
• Matted Fur - A tiny absorb shield when using Barkskin or Survival Instincts.
• Gale Winds/Incessant Tempest - A choice node where both options offer extremely minor gains to an already situational talent in Typhoon, making it almost never worth the investment.
• 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.
• Innate Resolve - Significantly boosts the power of Frenzied Regeneration and gives it an additional charge.
• Berserk: Ravage - A relatively weak CD node on its own, but combines with other Berserk and Incarnation nodes in the tree.
• 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.
• Incarnation: Guardian of Ursoc - The final Berserk empowerment, increasing the duration and causing it to also grant max HP.
• Lunar Beam - Specifically for Elune’s Chosen as it significantly empowers this 1min CD which boosts your mastery along with dealing minor damage to mobs and healing you while in the circle it drops.

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.
• Gory Fury - Gives Mangle a chance to reduce the rage cost of your next Ironfur.
• Ursoc’s Endurance - Increases the duration of Barkskin and Ironfur, in some builds you have to choose between this talent and Innate Resolve.
• Survival of the Fittest and After the Wildfire/Guardian of Elune - This line of talents reduces the cooldown of Barkskin and Survival Instincts and allows you to choose between healing nearby allies after spending 300 rage or having mangle empower your next Ironfur or Frenzied Regen cast. Note that you will have to choose between this talent column and the Layered Mane/Reinforced Fur talent column to path down the right side of the tree
• Ursol’s Warding and Reinforced Fur - This line of talents grants you some additional magic damage reduction based on armor, while also increasing the DR on barkskin. Note that you will have to choose between this talent column and the Survival of the Fittest/After the Wildfire talent column to path down the right side of the tree.
• Thorns of Iron - Causes your Ironfur to also deal some damage split between nearby enemies.
• Vulnerable Flesh and Tooth and Claw- This line of talents significantly increases the damage of both your Maul and Raze and gives your auto attacks a chance to empower those abilities to cost 0 rage put a 12% DR on targets hit. Note that you will have to choose between this talent column and the Reinvigoration/Earthwarden talent column to path down the left side of the tree.
• Reinvigoration and Earthwarden - This line of talents gives a moderate increase to the potency of Frenzied Regeneration and causes Thrash to give you a stacking buff that reduces the damage of a single melee attack. Note that you will have to choose between this talent column and the Vulnerable Flesh/Tooth and Claw column to path down the left side of the tree.
• Vicious Cycle - Causes Mangle and Maul/Raze to increase the damage of the other by up to 45%, resulting in a large damage increase if used correctly.
• 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 in some builds.
• 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.
• Ursoc’s Guidance - Reduces the cooldown of Incarnation for every 25 rage spent, this tends to grant significantly more CDR in AoE compared to Single Target due to other talent choices.
• Rage of the Sleeper - A short 1min CD with both offensive and defensive boosts.

Situational Talents

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

• Bristling Fur - Causes you to generate rage based on damage taken for 8s, good if taking heavy amounts of physical damage for 10-12s every 40 seconds, however it also competes with Brambles and fills a similar role as Barkskin, reducing its 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.
• 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.
• Ursoc’s Fury - Causes Thrash, Maul, and Raze to give an absorb based on damage dealt, however the value of this shield is currently quite small relative to player health pools making it only worthwhile in AoE builds for Druid of the Claw
• 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.

• 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.
• Scintillating Moonlight - Adds a damage reduction to your Moonfire, though it is quite costly to take due to being a 2 point node in the capstone area.

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/Raze into Ravage, a 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.