Druid Guide, Part Two

World of Warcraft: Druid Guide, Part Two

MMORPG.com World of Warcraft Correspondent James Wood writes this guide to playing a Druid in Blizzard's World of Warcraft. Today, we present Part Two.

Moonkin Form

Acquisition Requirement: 30 points in Balance Talents, 1 point in Moonkin Form

Mana Cost: 22% of base mana Casting Time: Instant Special: Only Balance spells and Remove Curse can be casted. Shapeshifting removes Polymorph and Movement Impairing Effects

Acquisition and Effect Table

Level	Effect
40	Armor * 3.7, party and raid members within 45 yards get +5% spell critical chance, your spell critical strikes regenerate 2% of your mana

If you took the Balance tree, missing this spell will cripple your combat ability. The extra armor means you could be a choice for tanking at times, though holding aggro could be trouble.

Since you'll be using Starfire and Wrath often in this form, having a higher critical strike chance with those spells could very well mean killing an enemy with two good shots of Starfire.

Make a fat joke and I'll peck you.

Nature's Grasp

Usage Requirement: Cat Form, Bear Form, Dire Bear Form, Moonkin Form Range: Self Duration: 45 seconds Charges: 1 Cooldown: 1 minute  

Acquisition and Effect Table

Level	Effect
10	Chance on attacker's hit to retaliate with Entangling Roots (Rank 1)
18	Chance on attacker's hit to retaliate with Entangling Roots (Rank 2)
28	Chance on attacker's hit to retaliate with Entangling Roots (Rank 3)
38	Chance on attacker's hit to retaliate with Entangling Roots (Rank 4)
48	Chance on attacker's hit to retaliate with Entangling Roots (Rank 5)
58	Chance on attacker's hit to retaliate with Entangling Roots (Rank 6)
68	Chance on attacker's hit to retaliate with Entangling Roots (Rank 7)
78	Chance on attacker's hit to retaliate with Entangling Roots (Rank 8)

Compared to TBC, you no longer need a talent point to gain this, it seems. Right now, Blizzard's logic seems flawed on this, but it's been claimed to at least be castable in Moonkin form. We'll have to wait until WotLK is released to be sure.

Soothe Animal

Casting Time: Instant Target: Enemy Beast or Dragonkin Range: 40 yards Duration: 15 seconds  

Acquisition, Mana Cost and Effect Table

Level	Mana Cost (STR)	Effect
22	7% of base mana	Reduces target's aggro range by 10 yards. Effective on level 40 or lower.
38	7% of base mana	Reduces target's aggro range by 10 yards. Effective on level 55 or lower.
54	7% of base mana	Reduces target's aggro range by 10 yards. Effective on level 70 or lower.
70	6% of base mana	Reduces target's aggro range by 10 yards. Effective on level 85 or lower.

If you don't like having to fight through hordes of animals or want to reduce the chance that they'll chase you as you're fighting other enemies, this skill has some worth. Considering there are several zones that have more Beast or Dragonkin monsters than Humanoids, this spell could keep some of those hordes far, far away from you. Save this spell for enemies that have a level that's yellow, orange or red to you, though.

Starfall

Acquisition Requirement: 50 points in Balance Talents, 1 point in Starfall Talent

Mana Cost: 35% of base mana Target: Area, Enemies Only Range: 30 yards Duration: 10 seconds or 20 stars Cooldown: 3 minutes

Acquisition and Effect Table

Level	Effect
60	111 - 129 Arcane damage to targets within 30 yards, 20 extra Arcane damage to targets within 5 yards
70	250 - 290 Arcane damage to targets within 30 yards, 45 extra Arcane damage to targets within 5 yards
75	366 - 424 Arcane damage to targets within 30 yards, 66 extra Arcane damage to targets within 5 yards
80	433 - 503 Arcane damage to targets within 30 yards, 78 extra Arcane damage to targets within 5 yards

The further down the Balance tree you go, the nastier the Druid AoEs become. While this doesn't have the knockback of Typhoon, this does have a guaranteed hit against targets within 30 yards. No fuss, no muss, just shoot and watch the stars fall.

Starfire

Casting Time: 3.5 seconds Target: Enemy Range: 30 yards

Acquisition, Mana Cost and Effect Table

Level	Mana Cost (STR)	Effect
20	18% of base mana	121 - 149 Arcane Damage
26	18% of base mana	189 - 231 Arcane Damage
34	18% of base mana	272 - 328 Arcane Damage
42	18% of base mana	370 - 442 Arcane Damage
50	18% of base mana	485 - 575 Arcane Damage
58	18% of base mana	615 - 725 Arcane Damage
60	18% of base mana	693 - 817 Arcane Damage
67	16% of base mana	854 - 1006 Arcane Damage
78	16% of base mana	1028 - 1212 Arcane Damage

Wrath is your machinegun, Starfire is your cannon. Coupled with decent gear, even green armor, the damage this does if uninterrupted is astounding. But let's face it, Starfire alone is interruptible and can be delayed by damage. Combo this with Entangling Roots and if you're lucky, the damage won't break the root on the first hit.

Teleport: Moonglade

Mana Cost: 120 mana Casting Time: 10 seconds Target: Self

Acquisition and Effect Table

Level	Effect
10	Teleport to Moonglade

Your Druid trainers give you this to teleport you to the Moonglade, a place for Druids to learn new feral forms.

Think of this as your second fixed Hearthstone. The Moonglade is positioned close to two Horde cities and two Alliance cities, so if you don't have access to the portals in Shattrath City yet, this taxi spell will save you a lot of time getting back to your trainers. It will also spare a lot of mages from the frustration at players calling out "portal plx".

It's really the Holiday Inn for Druids.

Thorns

Mana Cost: 19% of base mana Casting Time: Instant Range: 30 yards Duration: 10 minutes Target: Friendly Target

Acquisition and Damage Table

Level	Damage
6	3 Nature damage to attackers when hit
14	6 Nature damage to attackers when hit
24	9 Nature damage to attackers when hit
34	12 Nature damage to attackers when hit
44	15 Nature damage to attackers when hit
54	18 Nature damage to attackers when hit
64	25 Nature damage to attackers when hit
74	73 Nature damage to attackers when hit

Typhoon

Acquisition Requirement: 1 point in Moonkin Form, 40 points in Balance Talents

Casting Time: Instant Range: 30 yards Cooldown: 20 seconds Target: Area of Effect Special: Knocks enemies back 5 yards

Acquisition, Mana Cost and Effect Table

Level	Mana Cost	Effect
50	36% of base mana	400 Nature damage
60	36% of base mana	550 Nature damage
70	32% of base mana	735 Nature damage
75	32% of base mana	1010 Nature damage
80	32% of base mana	1190 Nature damage

There's nothing worse than being tossed off a cliff and falling to your death. Now, Typhoon can make that happen to any poor sap that gets between a Druid and a cliff.

Wrath

Mana Cost: 13% of base mana Range: 30 yards Target: Enemy

Acquisition, Damage and Casting Time Table

Level	Damage	Casting Time
1	17 - 19 Nature	1.5 seconds
6	32 - 36 Nature	1.7 seconds
14	49 - 57 Nature	2 seconds
22	68 - 78 Nature	2 seconds
30	130 - 148 Nature	2 seconds
38	169 - 191 Nature	2 seconds
46	215 - 241 Nature	2 seconds
54	306 - 344 Nature	2 seconds
61	397 - 447 Nature	2 seconds
69	431 - 485 Nature	2 seconds
74	504 - 568 Nature	2 seconds
79	553 -623 Nature	2 seconds

If you're a Balance Druid, you'll see this spell used a lot in combat. Its casting time is lower than Starfire and if you don't use Entangling Roots often, you'll put out more damage with this spell because of all the interruptions caused by taking damage. And it just so happens to be the first offensive spell you get, so if you plan on being Balance from the start, you'll have to rely on this for quite a while.