Druid changes in Mists of Pandaria

I’ve been looking through the druid-related posts about Mists of Pandaria on the forums and Blizzard blogs for a while now, but have waited to post anything here until more was known. With the recent class design and balance live Q&A held with Blizzard developers there has been quite a bit of new information provided about druids. Other than the major change to talents that all classes get, the biggest change to druids is the splitting of the Feral spec into a cat and bear (Guardian) specializations.

The new talents are live now too, and can be seen here: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/mists-of-pandaria/feature/talent-specification

Here’s a summary of the druid specs and the things that are known about them:

All druids

• Specs will contain core rotational mechanics and the tools needed to perform your role. Talents complement that with various forms of utility.
• Many old talents are now core spells or spells that are specific to one spec.
• A spec will be chosen at level 10.
• All druids get access to two new abilities:
  • Might of Ursoc
  • Symbiosis

Here’s the list of spells that are available to all specs, along with the level that each spell is available. Specialization specific spells can be found later in the post.

1: Wrath	26: Healing Touch
3: Moonfire	28: Faerie Fire
4: Rejuvenation	32: Pounce
6: Feline Grace	36: Track Humanoids
6: Cat Form	42: Hurricane
6: Prowl	44: Barkskin
6: Rake	52: Nature’s Grasp
6: Ferocious Bite	54: Innervate
6: Mangle	56: Rebirth
8: Bear Form	58: Flight Form
8: Growl	62: Mark of the Wild
8: Maul	66: Hibernate
10: Entangling Roots	68: Soothe
12: Revive	68: Frenzied Regeneration
14: Teleport: Moonglade	70: Swift Flight Form
16: Travel Form	72: Might of Ursoc
18: Aquatic Form	74: Tranquility
18: Lacerate	78: Cyclone
22: Remove Corruption	82: Maim
22: Swipe	84: Stampeding Roar
24: Dash	87: Symbiosis

Balance

• Sunfire, basically replaces the Insect Swarm dot.
• Celestial Alignment, a 3 minute dps cooldown.
• Killer Instinct makes cat and bear forms more useful.
• Euphoria lets you move from Eclipse to Eclipse faster.
• Astral Communion lets you start a fight in an eclipse state, reducing ramp up time.
• Moonfire and Sunfire dots have their duration extended by Wrath and Starfire crits.
• Hurricane now has an arcane equivalent, Astral Storm.

Here’s a list of the Balance specific spells:

10: Eclipse	34: Killer Instinct
10: Natural Insight	38: Euphoria
10: Starfire	48: Owlkin Frenzy
12: Starsurge	50: Leather Specialization
14: Celestial Focus	64: Balance of Power
16: Moonkin Form	68: Celestial Alignment
18: Sunfire	76: Starfall
20: Astral Communion	80: Mastery: Total Eclipse
26: Shooting Stars	82: Lunar Shower
28: Solar Beam	84: Wild Mushroom, Detonate

Restoration

• Ironbark is a new healing cooldown.
• Wild Mushroom: Bloom is a new mechanic.
• Swiftmend includes Efflorescence by default.
• Lifebloom and Mastery: Harmony have a longer duration now, making it easier to maintain them.
• Killer Instinct makes cat and bear forms more useful.
• Loss of bear form defensive cooldowns.

Here’s the list of Restoration specific spells:

10: Swiftmend	44: Ironbark
10: Natural Insight	46: Swift Rejuvenation
12: Nourish	50: Leather Specialization
14: Meditation	64: Lifebloom
16: Nature’s Focus	76: Wild Growth
18: Regrowth	80: Mastery: Harmony
22: Nature’s Cure	82: Malfurion’s Gift
28: Living Seed	84: Wild Mushroom
34: Killer Instinct	84: Wild Mushroom: Bloom
38: Omen of Clarity

Feral

Key changes:

• Loss of the ability to tank effectively in bear form.
• Predatory Swiftness allows heals/rebirth without shifting.
• Thrash works in cat form.
• Savage Roar is more significant than in Cataclysm.
• Mangle applies a 50% movement speed debuff, Infected Wounds.

Here’s the list of Feral specific spells:

10: Tiger’s Fury	38: Infected Wounds
14: Feral Instinct	42: Primal Fury
16: Shred	46: Leader of the Pack
18: Savage Roar	48: Berserk
22: Rip	50: Leather Specialization
26: Predatory Swiftness	54: Ravage
28: Thrash	64: Skull Bash
34: Nurturing Instinct	80: Mastery: Razor Claws
38: Omen of Clarity

Guardian

Key changes:

• Rage is generated by Mangle and auto attack hits, with more for critical strikes. It is used for defence and AoE attacks.
• Savage Defense and Frenzied Regeneration cause a different playstyle, requiring players to press buttons to gain avoidance and heal themselves.
• Cat form now does minimal damage, due to the loss of Shred and Savage Roar.
• Bear Hug is new.
• Mastery increases armour.
• Pulverize, Demoralizing Roar and Challenging Roar were all removed. The debuff from Demoralizing Roar is now baked into Thrash.

Here’s the list of Guardian specific spells:

10: Savage Defense	42: Primal Fury
10: Vengeance	46: Leader of the Pack
14: Thick Hide	48: Berserk
22: Bear Hug	50: Leather Specialization
22: Rip	54: Survival Instincts
28: Thrash	64: Skull Bash
34: Nurturing Instinct	76: Enrage
38: Infected Wounds	80: Mastery: Nature’s Guardian

Talents

Here’s my current preference for Guardian talents: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/mists-of-pandaria/feature/talent-specification#Ub!212120!ZYSNqH

This may change over time, especially the glyphs. I think I’ll be keeping the Stag glyph though, it looks really cool.