WoW: level druid to level 70 – level guide with talent selection, rotation & more
Like all other WoW classes in the new Dragonflight expansion, druids have access to new talent trees and use them to fight their way to the new maximum level of 70. But which spec works best? In our level guide you will find out which spec and which talents will take you carefree into the endgame of the Dragon Islands. We recommend a way of playing that will certainly raise eyebrows in some people – but still works great!
More on WoW: Dragonflight: All important information in the large overview!
Level as a Feral Druid
While the druid is the only class with access to four specializations, only a few are really worth it. Resto Druids take a long time to progress, as killing enemies isn’t their forte. While owls initially plow through weak groups of enemies, they struggle when item scaling wears off and stronger enemies appear. That’s why two ways of playing are worthwhile: bear and cat! While the former can withstand a lot and can also easily find dungeon groups to level up, the cat is really quick on the move and shines with great AoE damage, which makes small wood out of groups.
Revamping the Ferocious talent tree with ways to deal damage faster and in a larger area makes us shine a light on the underrated Ferocious spec for our leveling guide. However, you can also use the tank style of play, which we will also cover at the end of the article.
Your Feral build for the level phase
The picture to the right of these lines shows you our level build for wildness druids at level 60. Of course, we want to be quick on the move, fight as many enemies as possible at once and, on top of that, unleash strong burst attacks. The entire series of healing talents, which are primarily intended for the recovery druid, is therefore negligible for us in the general talent tree. The bears’ defensive talents are also of secondary importance, we only get Eisenfell. Finally, we want to shred the quest mobs in the Dragon Isles before they even get to us!
As a ferocity druid, you have mobility, strong AoE skills, but also burst potential. This is great for the level phase where the fast cats can scurry from quest mob to quest mob.
Source: buffed
Although we can’t do without healing completely, because we get the cooldown nature’s guard in the last row, which gives us life points even in larger groups of opponents, since the skill can heal a nearby target based on damage – including us! The general talent tree also provides us with two handy CC abilities: Skull Bash and Ursol’s Vortex. The latter keeps enemies in place, while you can interrupt annoying spells with Skull Bash.
We use the ferocity talent tree itself with a wide distribution of talent points. Essential is the activation of Primal Fury, with which we assign the DoT effect Shred to all enemies in a radius of 14 meters. So that Primal Rage is really worthwhile for the level phase, you get open wounds two rows down. This immediately consumes some of the shred effect on targets and triggers it in the form of direct damage! Rip is further strengthened by the nearby talent Terrible Bleeding, but also Saber Tooth on the left side. Underneath this talent is Unbridled Ferocity, which makes Rip even more worthwhile: any enemy affected by the DoT will be hit when Ferocious Bite activates. This essentially makes this skill an AoE attack, but gaining single-target damage bonuses like Nature’s Guard’s heal.
For the level build, you secure a series of cooldowns that you use as often as possible and therefore do not cancel: berserker, convocation of the spirits and survival instincts, with the latter of course making the most sense in tricky situations. If you also get Berserker: Heart of the Lion and Berserker: Frenzy on the left and right of the tree, the cooldown will then be even stronger and get a smaller cooldown.
Using Rend Wounds, Primal Fury immediately unleashes a portion of the Rend damage. This way you don’t have to let the entire effect tick and, above all, eliminate weak opponents more quickly.
Source: buffed
Living dangerously in war mode
In the level phase, it is of course also about getting as many experience points as possible. The war mode, which increases the experience gained, also helps in this. There are also three PvP talent slots as an incentive. If you’re up for the risk of open-world PvP, fill these slots like this: Freedom of the Herd amplifies your Stirring Roar, freeing you from effects that slow your movement. On top of that, the cooldown time is reduced by one minute. As another PvP talent, you get King of the Jungle, which extends your healing received and movement speed based on the amount of enemies with shred on it. Ideal combination with our focus on Primal Wrath and AoE Shred! The third slot isn’t that important anymore, but we filled it with Fresh Wound because it provides higher crit chance for the first cast of Rake.
Ferocity: talent choice on the way to 70
In the level phase, there are still more talent points to get as you gradually reach the new maximum level. You alternately receive new points for the druid talent tree and then again in the feral tree, which you then use directly – so you get five more talent points per tree on the way to level 70.
In the general tree you can also choose Improved Spurring Roar, Mighty Slash, Sharpened Instincts and Tireless Pursuit or Typhoon. To do this, use the Carnivore Instinct talent in the Feral tree, which increases the damage bonus of Tiger’s Fury. On top of that, Cycle of Life and Death is great for nimble leveling with its faster DoTs, as is Lion’s Strength with more powerful Shred applications. The remaining points can then be put into cat-like curiosity at the end, which improves your energy balance
Rotation as a Feral Druid while leveling
- Tiger’s Fury (constant use, available very often in level phase thanks to predator)
- Rake (grab on all targets)
- Primal Wrath (consumes combo points and applies Shred to targets)
- Ferocious Bite (when Rip is active, AoE attack, thanks to Feral Feral)
- Convocation of Spirits (on cooldown if you have no combo points)
- Berserker (on cooldown)
- Shred (Generates combo points on single targets, otherwise swipe)
In general, you don’t want to run out of claws on all targets with the Feral in the level phase. Apart from that, you always use Primal Fury to shred opponents. You save yourself the classic shredding activation, unless an enemy lives extremely long – most should already bite the dust before the end of the twelve-second primal rage DoT. Thanks to this fact and the Predator talent, you can always use Tiger’s Fury, which provides you with a damage buff and valuable energy. Also, never forget that the Feral’s strengths are actually DoTs: you can dash between enemies while mobile and let them die of bleeding. To generate combo points, you always use a swipe for two or more targets.
Level as a Guardian Druid
If you prefer to rely on the strength of the bear when leveling, you can do that too! The tank nature of the spec ensures that you can throw yourself into masses of enemies without any worries, which is of course also an advantage when completing various quests. In the image below you can find our suggested build for tanks in the leveling phase. The general talent tree is similar to that of the Feral Druid, but you’ll get more defensive talents like Improved Tree Bark, Verdant Heart, Thick Hide, and Guardian Instinct for more healing.
Defensive instead of offensive: The bear is not as quick on the move as the cat, but can fight with many more opponents at the same time and thus get the level phase over with without any worries.
Source: buffed
We also skill the guardian tree in a broad constellation, whereby we want to fight our way back to the middle of the last row. There we don’t resort to convocation of spirits, but use Incarnation: Guardian of Ursoc for an improved bear form, which we – like all cooldowns – simply activate as often as possible. The actual defensive cooldown tree bark is even an attack thanks to our thorn tendril spec.
The DoT effect Moonfire receives strong bonuses via various talents such as Nature’s Fury and Elune’s Minion (both give extra arcane damage), as well as Sparkling Moonlight, Twin Moonfire (cast affects two targets) and Galactic Guardian, which is why you use the spell in combat as much as possible want to keep many opponents active. Apart from that, you use Mangle and Thrash on cooldown. Once these three skills are checked, use your swipe as a filler attack. The use of the Rage resource can be put into two skills – Ironfur or Crush, depending on the need.
Reference-www.buffed.de