Guardian Druid Class Guide - MoP Classic

Welcome to our Mists of Pandaria Classic (MoP Classic) Guardian Druid Class Guide for Phase 1, it focuses on getting you up to speed with the Spec for PvE content, Dungeons and Raiding. The guide includes key information for what has changed going into MoP, the best Talent builds, Major Glyphs, your Rotation, Gearing and Consumables for Guardian Druid.

Table of Content:

• Changes from Cataclysm to MoP
• Talents
• Rotation & Abilities
• Gearing & Consumables

What’s New for Guardian Druids in Mists of Pandaria Classic

Druid as a class is receiving a lot of changes going from Cataclysm to MoP. For the most part, Feral is changing deeply. Feral Tank is now called Guardian, and Feral DPS is now simply called Feral. This change won’t change the basic idea of Guardian: it’s still a big bear, with a lot HP, self-heal, armor and dodge. Bears now have a bit more active mitigation, making it funnier to play. Here are some other changes:

• Spells like Dash and Stampeding Roar now activate the desired form automatically, without macros.
• Sunfire isn’t replacing Moonfire anymore, and is a separate DoT.
• Insect Swarm has been deleted.
• Might of Ursoc is a new defensive cooldown.
• Symbiosis, one of the only MoP exclusive spells (it will be deleted in WoD), gives a copy of one of your spells to a friendly target while copying one of their spells.

Is Guardian Druid Good?

Guardian Druids in Mists of Pandaria are the same as every extension before that, despite the name change: they are a good basic tank, they won’t die, they are easy to play, but they might not perform as well as other tanks in the first phases. It’s still a very valuable specialization because of the Druid toolkit, so if you want to play a bear, you will find a place in a lot of groups.

Best Talents & Glyphs for Guardian Druid in MoP Classic

In this part of the guide, we will provide 2 talent builds, one for Raiding and one for Dungeons. But don’t forget to change your talents depending on each encounter, not only the type of content you are doing.

Guardian Druid Raiding Talent Build

Guardian Druids have a lot of options when it comes to a Raid Talent Build. It’s one of the specializations in the game with the most flexibility, as only Ysera’s Gift is locked in.

• Move Feline Swiftness and Wild Charge around depending on the movement requirements. If you need to move constantly, Feline Swiftness is better. If you need a quick dash, take Wild Charge.
• Typhoon, Faerie Swarm and Mass Entanglement are all good choices depending on the encounter and what you need, swap depending on the fight.
• Soul of the Forest is the preferred option for raiding, but if you need help to quickly burst a target, Incarnation is better. Incarnation is also a more offensive option, if you don’t feel in danger anymore, you can pick Incarnation all the time.
• Like the level 45 row, the level 75 row choice depends on the encounter. Mighty Bash is a good default choice, but both Disorienting Roar and Ursol’s Vortex can be very, very strong.
• Finally, the last row provides three great options. Dream of Cenarius is the overall best, giving a lot of passive advantage. Heart of Wild and Nature’s Vigil are both good DPS options, with Heart of the Wild being better in raids.

Best Guardian Druid Raid Glyphs

Regarding Major Glyphs, you will want to obtain Glyph of Stampeding Roar, Glyph of Rebirth and Glyph of Maul. You can consider Glyph of Might of Ursoc for a stronger mitigation with a longer cooldown, or Glyph of Survival Instincts, to have a shorter duration but more often.

Minor Glyphs for Guardian Druids are all pretty bad, so just take the ones you like the most.

Guardian Druid Dungeons & Challenge Mode Build

In Dungeons, a more bursty Dungeon Talent Build can be interesting. With Incarnation and Nature’s Vigil, you can do very, very big pulls in dungeon

Best Guardian Druid Dungeon Glyphs

Regarding Major Glyphs, you will want to obtain Glyph of Stampeding Roar, Glyph of Rebirth and Glyph of Maul.

Minor Glyphs for Guardian Druids are all pretty bad, so just take the ones you like the most.

Rotation for Guardian Druid in MoP Classic

Guardian Druids use Rage, like Warriors!

Single Target Rotation & Priority

1. Maintain Faerie Fire.
2. Use Berserk on Cooldown.
3. Maintain Thrash.
4. Use Mangle on Cooldown.
5. Use Maul with Tooth and Claw.
6. Use Lacerate.
7. Use Maul as filler if you are about to cap out on rage.

Regarding your mitigation tools, use Healing touch with Dream of Cenarius every time you get a proc to heal yourself or an ally. Use Savage Defense to mitigate incoming damage, and Frenzied Generation to help with damage that can’t be mitigated. For dangerous situations, use Might of Ursoc, Survival Instincts and Barkskin.

AoE Rotation & Priority

In heavy AoE, just keep Thrash on all targets, and spam Mangle and Swipe while still using Berserk on Cooldown.

Best Gear & Stats for Guardian Druid in MoP Classic

Best in Slot (BiS Gear) aren’t as big in Mists of Pandaria Classic. Reforging is the new hype, so you can tailor your gear better than before.

The gear you should aim for are: Trinkets, Tier Sets and Weapons.

The best weapons you can find pre-raid in the first phase are:

• Blazeguard, Reborn, from Blacksmithing.
• Ka’eng, Breath of the Shadow, from Taran Zhu”s Personal Stash in Shado-pan Monastery.
• Siege-Captain’s Scimitar, a bit lower in iLvL, from Commander Vo’jak in Siege of Niuzao.

The best pre-raid trinkets for Guardian Druid are:

• Relic of Xuen if you have Inscription.
• Searing Words, Darkmaster Gandling, Scholomance.
• Quilen Statuette, from Archeology.
• Windswept Pages, from Temple of the Jade Serpent.

MoP Classic Guardian Druid Stat Priority

Reach your Hit cap, so 7.5% and then your Expertise cap, so around 15%. Then, Agility and Stamina are your best stats.

Regarding the other stats, you want to find a lot of Critical Strike Chance to increase your Rage generation. Rage is turned into mitigation through Savage Defense and Frenzied Regeneration. After that, Haste is also a good way of getting more Rage. Mastery is the least favored stat.

Best Consumables, Enchants & Gems for Guardian Druid in MoP Classic

The following tables outline the recommended Consumables, Enchants and Gems for Guardian Druid in Raiding and Dungeon content.

Consumables

Enchants

Gems

We hope this guide helped you improve your Guardian Druid Gameplay and better understand the spec. To check out all of our MoP Classic content, such as Class Guides, Tier Lists and more, you can browse our full library of MoP Classic Guides.