by Tyler Caraway
this is going to be an introduction to balance PvP. I’ll examine talents, team comps, strategies, and gearing,. This isn’t the end all, be all of how to do balance PvP. There are lots of options, lots of things you can try or experiment with. PvP in and of itself is a very large experiment where you can test what can and cannot work. This may gloss over some topics, but I will try to provide as much information as I can. If you feel that there is anything of glaring importance that I missed, then leave a comment on the issue and I will correct it as soon as I am able to.
1. What is balance PvP?
The balance spec is the druid’s caster DPS tree. In PvP, the tree focuses on dealing damage, some control, and occasional healing.
2. Advantages of balance PvP
- Able to put out high levels of pressure if given the opportunity to free cast.
- Very solid levels of control against various targets, though more so against melee.
- A solid number of debuffs to act as a form of dispel protection.
- Solid synergy with multiple casters.
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by Allison Robert
1. What is bear?
Bear is a sub-spec of the feral tree allowing the druid to tank.
2. The bear’s advantages:
- The highest average health of all four tanking classes, and the highest average effective health before cooldowns.
- Excellent single-target threat and decent, spammable AoE threat.
- Traditionally a high-damage tank.
- The only tank with a cooldown usable while stunned or otherwise incapacitated (Barkskin).
- Fear immunity/break on a 3-minute cooldown (Berserk).
- Immune to polymorph, seduce, and disarm (more accurately, the worst effect of disarm).
- Able to supply an improved attack power reduction, Faerie Fire, Mangle’s bleed debuff, a debuff to boss/mob attack speed (Infected Wounds), and a raid healing buff (Improved Leader of the Pack).
- When not required to tank, can shift to cat to generate more damage.
- As with all druids, can supply Tranquility, Innervate, and a battle rez to the raid (although bears are generally the least able to do so at any given time).
- The tank of choice for thoroughly awesome people.
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by Tyler Caraway
Balance druids themselves are quite an amazing bunch, but balance druid alts are a completely different story. In all honesty though, even the veteran balance druids cannot agree on talents from time to time. I figured, after a few threats of maiming, that a beginner’s guide would actually be a really good thing; providing the caveat that some of the more controversial talents be explored more in-depth.
This is mostly going to be a post geared towards players that have limited knowledge of the balance spec but cannot resist the allure of having the single best dance in the game that other players can only dream of competing against. This is a light guide, not a Holy Bible for balance damage dealing. Although the basics of the balance rotation are not as complex as, say, a cat druid’s; there are intricacies within the play-style that can be used to boost DPS in very minor ways. If you happen to be a long standing balance druid, you will probably know most of this, or even have developed a differing way of doing things. That is fine, the one great thing about balance druids is that there are multiple ways to achieve the same goal, but please understand that some topics may just be glossed over.
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by Allison Robert
This is a cheat sheet, not an encyclopedia. Unfortunately, the truth is that cat DPS is less suited to this approach than any other druid spec, due to the complicated mechanics behind armor penetration and the sheer difficulty of the cat DPS “rotation.” An experienced cat is likely to notice a number of situational omissions from this article. I have tried to point out resources below that cover these in more detail. As always, if I’ve goofed or you think I’ve left out something really important, drop a comment and I’ll make sure it gets fixed/added.
Coldbear has an excellent (though at times hard to follow, and most assuredly NSFW!) video on how to DPS as a cat druid, and is also the primary author of the extensive Wowwiki entry on Feral DPS. You will also want to bookmark and use Elitist Jerks’ Cat DPS Guide for Dummies (which is essentially an extended and mathier version of this article). I’ve also been incredibly impressed by Alaron’s work on his blog, The Fluid Druid (although due to RL issues his posting will probably be light for a bit).
1. What is cat?
Cat is a sub-spec of the feral tree allowing the druid to perform competitive melee DPS.
2. The cat’s benefits:
- Competitive and potentially chart-topping damage in the hands of a good player.
- Provides a raid-wide 5% chance to crit for melee/ranged attacks (Leader of the Pack).
- Can provide passive healing for melee and ranged players (Improved Leader of the Pack) and a debuff slowing boss attack speed (Infected Wounds).
- Can provide the Mangle debuff, increasing bleed damage.
- Able to off-tank when necessary. The hallmark of a competent feral player is the ability to switch seamlessly between tanking and melee DPS, and with dual spec, players can be even better in both roles.
- As with all druid specs, can Innervate casters, pop Tranquility for emergencies, and battle-rez.
- Interesting, dynamic, and challenging rotation. The cat cannot be accused of “faceroll” DPS.
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by Allison Robert
A quick note on what I want to accomplish here: I’m addressing this to people with no prior knowledge of the spec who want the tools to become reasonably competent healers quickly. By necessity, that means we’re going to gloss over a few finer points; this is a cheat sheet, not an encyclopedia. When I say (for example) that Improved Tranquility needs to be dragged out behind a barn and killed with an axe, I’m not going to spend paragraphs explaining why that is, or examining situations where you could actually get some use from it.
1. What is restoration?
Restoration is the healing tree (pun!) available to the druid class.
2. Restoration’s benefits:
- The best array of Heal over Time (HoT) spells in the game.
- Tremendous mobility while healing.
- A specialized form (Tree of Life) available as a 41-point talent, providing a 6% healing received buff to the raid and boosting the druid’s healing efficiency and throughput.
- Arguably the most mana-efficient healer, with a choice over using Innervate for themselves or giving it to another player.
- Arguably the most annoying healer to kill in PvP (when specced and geared).
- Very little competition for gear if you stick with leather +spellpower pieces.
- In the hands of a skilled player, the best and most effective healer for fights with heavy and frequent raid damage.
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by Allison Robert
Lady Deathwhisper
General strategy: Wowwiki has a pretty decent one, as does TankSpot. Numerous comments both there and elsewhere have noted the fight’s resemblance to M’uru, which promises to be a jolly old time on heroic.
Apart from that:
Step one: Bind all keys to Remove Curse.
Step two: Roll face from left to right across the keyboard at a speed not exceeding 5 mm per second.
Step three: Mark your calendar for the 6th week in a row that she has failed to drop Ring of Maddening Whispers.
Step four: Wait while a squabble over some football team breaks out during loot distribution, with the raid leader ransoming gear until someone is forced to apologize for an insult made regarding the parentage of the quarterback.
Step five: Get on the elevator and ride up.
Step six: Get back on the elevator and ride down and resurrect whatever DPS fell off.
This accounts for most of the truly important features of the Deathwhisper encounter, but as always, there are some compelling minutiae:
Placement: You should stand in the middle of the room, or at least somewhere within decurse range of everyone in the raid (tanks are the most likely to duck in and out of range while grabbing adds).
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by Allison Robert
1. You can queue for dungeons as anything, but the process is a lot faster if you do so as a tank or healer.
If you’re geared to do whatever you like and simply want to enjoy LFG for its own sake, you’ll be fine queuing as anything. However, if your priority is amassing a huge pile of badges to get yourself equipped in full Tier 9 for your preferred spec/s, the most expedient means of doing this is to go as a tank or healer.
Of these, the barrier to entry for a tank is considerably higher, and the group much more likely to be a punishing experience if your fellow players outgear you. Of the two “I can’t even finish swigging my Pepsi before the queue pops” roles, it’s easiest to start off healing, not least because you don’t have any loot competition for a Need roll on leather +spellpower gear unless there’s another druid in the group.
Admittedly, the barrier to entry for a DPS player is lower than that of a healer, but on my battlegroup I see 3-second waits as a tank (no joke), 5 to 7-second waits as a healer (score!), and 4 to 17-minute waits as a DPS (consolation; you can finish your Pepsi).
2. Only queue as a tank or healer if you can tank or heal.
People have already noticed a rash of hybrid players popping into groups through the tank or healer option while not actually being specced or geared to do either. Don’t lie about your toon’s actual capabilities — despite the queue times, only go as DPS if that’s what you’re comfortable doing. Otherwise, you get situations like the one I had last night after wiping on a Drak’tharon Keep trash pull and then finally inspecting the tank:
Me: Um, I’m sorry to ask, but are you Prot full-time?
Paladin “tank”: No.
Me (eyeing his Mark of the War Prisoner and unenchanted, ungemmed “tanking gear”): I don’t think you’re defense-capped in your current gear.
Paladin: (silence)
Me: I’m pretty sure you need 535 +defense to tank this place.
Paladin: F**k no I don’t.
Me: (discovers she is out of schnapps)
Paladin: Hey, can we do Better Off Dred?
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by Allison Robert
We’ll start with Lord Marrowgar, who will probably be the most commonly-seen Icecrown Citadel boss due to his inclusion in the weekly raid quest. Experienced Burning Crusade raiders will recognize this encounter as an unholy mating of Leotheras, Mother Shahraz, and Naj’entus. It sounds complicated, but it’s really not.
LORD MARROWGAR
BEARS: Marrowgar is very simple to tank. Whether you’re main- or off-tanking him, you’ll need to stack up on your fellow tanks to mitigate damage from his Saber Lash, and keep him turned away from the raid. Stand there. Build threat. Build more threat. Swig your nightly cocoa. Check the stock reports. Because targets of Saber Lash can’t be targeted for Bone Spike Graveyard, that’s all you need to worry about for Marrowgar’s “phase one.”
Regrettably, you do need to move in this fight for his “phase 2,” which makes him considerably less relaxing to offtank than Mother Shahraz (for whom the off-tank(s) could set themselves to auto-attack while parked on top of the main tank and AFK to make a sandwich). As he transitions to phase 2, you will see Marrowgar emote that he’s beginning to spin. That’s your cue to take off in order to avoid his whirlwind damage. Truth be told, getting hit by Bone Storm is not generally life-threatening on the normal version of this encounter (we saw 2K/hit damage), but you should try to avoid it anyway because its heroic brother is considerably more potent. Going cat for this phase for the speed boost (assuming you have Feral Swiftness, and you do have Feral Swiftness, right?) can be helpful, but if Marrowgar has headed your way and you’ve backed yourself into a corner, hit Barkskin and shift to bear.
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by Allison Robert
LEVEL 71
Nothing new (awesomeness aside, Swift Flight Form is just a kicked-up version of Flight Form, strictly speaking — although I can already hear the howls of indignation erupting over this statement from druid herbalists and skinners), but between 71 and 80 your friendly local Druid trainer is going to soak you for massive amounts of gold. Keep questing.
- Swift Flight Form: You can train the 280% bonus speed flight form (or 310% bonus, if you manage to add a super-fast flying mount to your stable) at 71 if you didn’t do the questline at 70. To be frank, most new druids will reach 71 a lot faster than they’re likely to get a group for heroic Sethekk Halls these days, so I have resigned myself to the quite-likely possibility that the wonderfully-designed and hugely engaging epic flight form quest will remain undone by many players. Readers have doubtless noticed that swift flight form is without question my favorite photographic subject ingame, and that’s because: a). It’s almost impossible to take a bad picture with them, and: b). The form is thoroughly iconic to the class. As you’ve already noticed from the use of Flight Form, you’re able to skin and pick herbs in form, making the druid a superlative farmer for these professions. You’ll also be a few steps ahead of anyone else in your party no matter where you’re going. Insta-cast? Yes please.
- Demoralizing Roar, rank 7: standard upgrade.
- Regrowth, rank 11: standard upgrade.
- Rip, rank 8: standard upgrade.
- Tiger’s Fury, rank 5: standard upgrade.
LEVEL 72
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’…
LEVEL 73
- Claw, rank 7: standard upgrade. As always, there is no reason to have this on your bars if you’re feral.
- Lacerate, rank 2: standard upgrade.
- Maul, rank 9: standard upgrade.
- Ravage, rank 6: standard upgrade.
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by Allison Robert
levels 51 through 60 are more of the same old thing. However, they will go faster than previous levels (or at least seem to do so), as both Balance and Feral have some important damage and utility talents under their belts now.
LEVEL 52
- Cower, rank 2: standard upgrade. Again, you’re probably not going to find much use for this.
- Demoralizing Roar, rank 5: standard upgrade.
- Moonfire, rank 9: standard upgrade.
- Rejuvenation, rank 9: standard upgrade.
- Rip, rank 5: standard upgrade.
LEVEL 54
LEVEL 56:
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