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Guardian Druid Tank Starter Guide - Shadowlands 9.2.5
By Pumps
Last Updated:
2022/11/28
Changelog
Patch: 10.1.7
Table of Contents
Rating: 4.5/5
(
8
Votes)
Guide Navigation
Rating: 4.5/5
(
8
Votes)
Welcome to our Guardian Druid starter guide, which covers everything you need to start playing a new character in Shadowlands. While our other guide pages go into more individual detail, this simple starter guide covers all the basics in one place, whether you're a new Guardian Druid, a returning player to Shadowlands, hardcore, or casual alike, it's the best place to get a beginners overview on the class. Included are basic talent builds, simplified rotations, stats, legendary recommendations, and more to get you started as quickly as possible.
Please keep in mind that this page is meant to get players started quickly as an introduction, and does not contain much in the way of detailed explanations, mechanics, competitive options, gearing, simulation comparisons, or nuance. For more in-depth information, including all those optimizations and more, check out the complete Guardian Druid Guide pages linked in the navigation on the left-hand side of the page, and if you're leveling up in Shadowlands, you can take a look at our
leveling tips
.
10.1.7 Season 2
10.1.7 Cheat Sheet
10.1.7 Primordial Stones
10.1.7 Mythic+
10.1.7 Raid Tips
10.1.7 Talent Builds
10.1.7 Rotation
10.1.7 Support Buffs
10.1.7 Gear
10.1.7 Tier Set Bonus
Overview
Abilities & Talents
Advanced Concepts
Stats
Consumables
Macros & Addons
WeakAuras
Common Terms
Mythic+
Common Questions
Leveling
Simulations
Hotfixes
PvP Overview
PvP Builds
Mage Tower
About the Author
This guide was written by
Pumps
! I raid in the guild
Honestly
on US - Frostmourne.
I am active in the
Dreamgrove discord
and always happy to answer questions i can.
I came 2nd place in the First World of Warcraft
Mythic Dungeon International
event. You can catch me streaming on
Twitch
during progression.
Best Covenants for Guardian Druids
Each covenant has their own strengths and weaknesses and are excel in different aspects of the game, but overall we suggest Night Fae as it is the one of the most flexible covenants and great for all 4 of the druid specs.
Here is a quick look reference table for each of the best Soulbinds for each Covenant.
Best Guardian Druid Covenants and Soulbinds for Raid
Single Legendary
Double Legendary
Kyrian
Mikanikos
]Mikanikos
Kyrian
Mikanikos
]Mikanikos
Necrolord
Marlieth
]Marileth
Necrolord
Marlieth
]Marileth
Night Fae
Niya
]Niya
Night Fae
Niya
]Niya
Venthyr
Theotar
]Theotar
Venthyr
Theotar
]Theotar
Best Guardian Druid Covenants and Soulbinds for Mythic+
Single Legendary
Double Legendary
Kyrian
Mikanikos
]Mikanikos
Kyrian
Mikanikos
]Mikanikos
Necrolord
Emeni
]Emeni
Necrolord
Emeni
]Emeni
Night Fae
Niya
]Niya
Night Fae
Niya
]Niya
Venthyr
Theotar
]Theotar
Venthyr
Theotar
]Theotar
Gameplay wise, there is not a huge difference between the 4 covenants, most of them revolve around a cooldown that you essentially just press off-cooldown for a boost in power, Night Fae is flexible in the way that you can choose whether to use it a dps/healing or tank cooldown based off the form that you cast it in.
Best Guardian Druid Covenant
Kyrian Guardian Druid GuideNecrolord Guardian Druid Guide
Night Fae Guardian Druid GuideVenthyr Guardian Druid Guide
Best Legendaries for Guardian Druid in Patch 9.2
Best Single Legendary for Guardian Druid in Patch 9.2
Your best legendary as a Guardian Druid will change depending on the fight as we have several viable options.
Legacy of the Sleeper
has risen in value significantly now that it increases the damage done from our 4 piece tier set bonus. (
Architect's Aligner
).
Best Single Legendaries
Raid Legendary
:
Legacy of the Sleeper
/
Draught of Deep Focus
/
Ursoc's Fury Remembered
/
The Natural Order's Will
Mythic+ Legendary
:
Ursoc's Fury Remembered
/
Legacy of the Sleeper
Best Double Legendaries for Guardian Druid in Patch 9.2
Eternity's End allows players to wear two legendary items, instead of one, with a restriction. One of the two legendaries must be your covenant legendary, making covenant choice now also impacted directly by the strength of Covenant Legendaries. Double Legendaries become available during week 5, after completing its story chapter.
Not much changes from our single legendary choices but now you can have the added benefit of a covenant specific legendary in addition to the regular legendaries.
Best Double Legendaries
Raid Legendary
:
Legacy of the Sleeper
(Pure Bear DPS) /
Draught of Deep Focus
(Catweaving) /
Ursoc's Fury Remembered
(Defensive AoE Bear) /
The Natural Order's Will
(Purely Defensive) - Any of these + a covenant legendary is a great combo depending on the fight.
Mythic+ Legendary
:
Ursoc's Fury Remembered
/
Legacy of the Sleeper
The Natural Order's Will
for a Defensive Raiding option.
Ursoc's Fury Remembered
for a balanced Raiding/Mythic+ option.
Draught of Deep Focus
for Offensive single target dps.
Legacy of the Sleeper
for PvP and Offensive AoE DPS.
Kindred Affinity
for Kyrian.
Sinful Indulgence
for Venthyr.
If you plan on making multiple, remember that you don't have to upgrade them at the same rate, focus on upgrading the legendary that suits your playstyle best and make sure to check out our legendary guide to learn more about the legendaries available to us as Guardian Druids, or our crafting guide to find all the materials you need to craft them.
Guardian Druid Legendaries Guide
Best Guardian Druid Talents
Guardian Druid changes talents based on the encounter, but below is a very standard build that will do well in all content, to further optimize and understand which talents excel where check out our, Guardian Druid Talent Guide that goes into more detail for each talent, as well as providing specific builds for questing, Mythic+, and Raids.
Guardian Druid Talents Guide
Guardian Druid Stat Priority
Unlike previous expansions, primary stats such as Agility are much more important than they used to be, and secondary stats are close enough together that item level is almost always the more important factor when it comes to choosing gear. You can find out more about how each stat benefits us in our Stats Guide, or get an overview of the best-in-slot gear to look for from dungeons and raids in the Guardian Druid Gear Guide.
Agility > Versatility > Haste > Mastery = Crit
Agility
: Increases all damage done by native class spells, abilities, and auto attacks. Previously out-scaled by secondaries but now back on top as primary stats should be.
Versatility
: Both increases our damage done and reduces our damage taken by half the amount, which is always a fantastic bonus as a tank.
Haste
: Speeds up our rotation by reducing both the GCD and the cooldown of the rotational abilities Thrash, Mangle, and Frenzied Regeneration. This helps our rotation flow more fluidly while also increasing our rage generation significantly. In addition to all these bonuses haste also increases the rate at which our Moonfire and Thrash ticks at and causes our auto attacks to happen more often for some extra rage.
Critical Strike
: Grants us some dodge rating on top of increasing the likelihood that we critical strike with our abilities, this is a significant DPS stat however the dodge granted is rather underwhelming from a defensive perspective and out-shined by the other secondaries.
Mastery
: Increases our maximum health and healing received, as well as increasing our Attack Power. This is a very decent defensive and even offensive stat and is quite well rounded.
Guardian Druid Stats Guide
Guardian Druid Enchants and Consumables
Cloak
: Increase stamina and tertiary bonuses, which are largely interchangeable. When in doubt, choose leech or movement speed -
Enchant Cloak - Fortified Avoidance
,
Enchant Cloak - Fortified Leech
,
Enchant Cloak - Fortified Speed
,
Enchant Cloak - Soul Vitality
Chest
: Agility and damage proc -
Enchant Chest - Eternal Skirmish
or 10 more stats
Enchant Chest - Eternal Stats
Wrists
: Hearth cooldown -
Enchant Bracers - Shaded Hearthing
Boots
: 15 Agility -
Enchant Boots - Eternal Agility
Rings
: Increased Vers -
Enchant Ring - Tenet of Versatility
Weapon
: Lightless Force -
Enchant Weapon - Lightless Force
or
Enchant Weapon - Ascended Vigor
for a defensive choice
Guardian Druid Enchants Guide
Best Guardian Druid Rotation
This is a standard Guardian Druid rotation, using the talents recommended above. More optimized rotations and a more in-depth look at our intricate dps rotation involving shapeshifting can be found on our Guardian Druid Rotation Guide.
Keep
Moonfire
ticking at all times for extra damage and threat
Keep
Thrash
on cooldown
Keep
Mangle
on cooldown
Use empowered
Galactic Guardian
procs for rage and to spread moonfire efficiently
Fill empty GCDs with
Swipe
Guardian Druid Rotation Guide
Back to Top
Our Guardian Druid guides are always updated with the latest information from in-game experience, simulations, and logs; make sure to check our changelog to this page, by clicking on
View Changelog
at the top of the page. If you are interested in more in-depth Guardian Druid guides for , make sure to browse the
Navigation Bar
below, and our list of
Related Guides
just beneath the
Table of Contents
.
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