Druid starts slowly in WoW Forever and gets faster with every new form. The first ten levels are a caster grind with Wrath and Moonfire, Bear Form at 10 makes you tough, Cat Form at 20 makes you quick, and Travel Form at 30 cuts the walking. In Forever both forms come from class quests, Bear Form got stronger AoE, and Tiger's Fury was replaced with Shifting Power, a 31-point Feral talent that costs mana and is a poor fit for leveling.
This guide covers levels 1 to 30 as tested on the beta, and 31 to 60 as planned for the November 4 launch; the late levels will be updated once the full game is out. You will find Feral builds in our talent calculator, the Cat and Bear rotations and when to switch between them, the class quests for every form, the best race for each faction, a route for Horde and Alliance, and the tips that save you the most time.
Feral is the best leveling spec. In Cat Form and Bear Form you fight with energy or rage, so your mana keeps regenerating and goes into heals and shapeshifts between fights. A Balance Druid spends the same mana on damage and on healing, so it has to drink far more often. Feral also lets you tank dungeons, which gets you into groups instantly.
Inside Feral, Cat and Bear are closer than ever. In beta tests at level 30, both forms killed one or two mobs at about the same speed, but Bear killed packs of five green mobs about 23% faster. Bear got three buffs in Forever: more rage from critical hits, Swipe now scales with Attack Power, and Primal Bite, the 31-point Feral capstone since the October 30 hotfixes, hits hard every 6 seconds from level 40. Cat stays the best choice for single mobs and travel.
Balance is a slower but valid alternative if you prefer to play a caster. Entangling Roots now works indoors, and with Improved Entangling Roots and Overgrowth you can keep three rooted mobs burning with DoTs, which makes a Balance Druid very good at killing elites alone.
Until level 10 you have no talents, so use Wrath and Moonfire and keep Mark of the Wild and Thorns up. Every build below is ready to open in our talent calculator; points from the Talented Legacy talent are not included.
Druid Leveling Builds
Pick a build to open it in the talent calculator
Feral Build to Level 30
Cat and Bear · Questing and AoE pulls
This build works for both Cat and Bear and adds Swipe damage for AoE pulls:
Feral Druid, level 30
Skip Shredding Attacks while leveling: it mainly makes Shred cheaper, and you rarely use Shred when the mob faces you. Primal Bite and Lacerate are not in this build either. Since the October 30 hotfixes Primal Bite is the 31-point Feral capstone and opens at 40, and Lacerate is a fourth-row talent that the build reaches after 30. Shifting Power, the replacement for Tiger's Fury, is now a 31-point talent too and still costs 55% of your base mana for 40 Energy, so leave it for later.
Feral Build to Level 60
Full Feral with Restoration talents · Updated after launch
From 31 to 39, take Thick Hide, 3/3 Predatory Strikes, Lacerate and 2/2 Blood Frenzy, so that Primal Bite is ready at 40: since the October 30 hotfixes it is the 31-point Feral capstone and hits harder than before. Berserk, which used to let Primal Bite hit three targets in Bear Form, was removed from the tree. Then finish Feral with Natural Instinct and Rend and Tear. The last 13 points go into Restoration: Heart of the Wild, which now opens the Restoration tree and adds Stamina in Bear Form and Strength in Cat Form, Naturalist and Natural Shapeshifter for cheaper shifts. This build will be updated after launch.
Feral Druid, level 60
Our WoW Forever Druid talents guide explains every talent in all three trees.
Your rotation changes with each new form. Before every fight, keep Mark of the Wild and Thorns on yourself; Thorns does a lot of damage in Forever, especially when several mobs hit you.
Cast Wrath from maximum range, then Moonfire, and keep casting Wrath while the mob walks to you. Wrath is your cheapest damage per mana. If a mob gets close, root it with Entangling Roots and step back. Heal between fights with Rejuvenation.
Open with two Wraths and a Moonfire, then shift to Bear Form as the mob reaches you. Use Enrage from 12 for rage, Demoralizing Roar to weaken the mob, and spend rage on Maul. For two or three mobs, Swipe instead of Maul. Before a hard pull, cast Regrowth and Rejuvenation on yourself first: the heal keeps ticking in Bear Form.
Cat Form is your main form for single mobs:
Combo points no longer disappear when you switch targets, but they stay on the mob you built them on.
When a quest sends you to a camp of green mobs, Bear is faster than Cat. Put Thorns, Rejuvenation and Regrowth on yourself, tag three to five mobs with Moonfire, shift to Bear and Swipe until they die. Swipe hits up to three targets; from 40, use Primal Bite once two or fewer are left. Pick melee mobs for this, and use Feral Charge to interrupt a caster.
Shapeshifting is expensive: Cat Form and Bear Form each cost 55% of your base mana. Shift back to caster form only when you need a heal, and go Cat to Bear only when you have to. Without Furor, switching to Bear Form loses your Energy; with 5/5 Furor from the build above, you get all of it back when you return to Cat Form and gain 10 Rage every time you enter Bear Form. Turn on the personal resource display in the game options to see your mana while in form.
In Forever, Feral damage depends on your weapon, so a weapon upgrade is a damage upgrade even in Cat and Bear Form. Run the dungeons on your way for weapon drops, and replace your weapon before your armor. For stats, look for Agility first, then Strength and Stamina; a little Spirit and Intellect helps you heal between fights. If you like big Bear pulls, leather with Strength and spell power makes Thorns and Moonfire hit much harder.
These class quests unlock your forms, and you should do each one as soon as you reach its level:
| Level | Unlocks | Where it starts |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Bear Form | Darnassus for Night Elves, Thunder Bluff for Tauren, Zephras Isle for Skyborne |
| 14 | Cure Poison | Darnassus or Thunder Bluff |
| 16 | Aquatic Form | Darnassus or Thunder Bluff |
| 20 | Cat Form | Darnassus or Thunder Bluff, then Moonglade; Skyborne do it in Moonglade with the Avatar of Saeyleenan |
| 30 | Travel Form | Your class trainer |
Each quest chain, the Skyborne versions and what changed for every form are covered step by step in our WoW Forever druid forms guide.
Two macros make Druid play much smoother:
Also put your heals on the Cat and Bear action bars, so you can heal without hunting for buttons after leaving form.
Druid is open to Night Elves and Tauren, and to both branches of the new Skyborne race: High Order on the Alliance side and Windshaper on the Horde side. For a Feral Druid the differences are small, so pick the look you like most.
| Race | Faction | Why it works for a Druid |
|---|---|---|
| Night Elf | Alliance | Elune's Light adds 10% crit for 15 seconds; Quickness adds dodge, movement speed that stacks with Travel Form, and better stealth; Shadowmeld drops you out of a fight |
| Skyborne (High Order) | Alliance | Wind Blessed adds 2% Haste; Read Leyline raises health and mana regeneration by 50% for 15 seconds, or by 100% while Attuned, and can be cast on the move, but not while Innervate is active |
| Tauren | Horde | Endurance adds 5% health; War Stomp stuns up to five enemies every 90 seconds; Plainsrunning speeds you up between quests by up to 60% but no longer works on a mount; Cultivation gives a free herb every 15 minutes |
| Skyborne (Windshaper) | Horde | Wind Blessed adds 2% Haste; Skysight adds 15% movement speed for 15 seconds, or 30% while Charged, and can be cast on the move; Walk on Air lets you glide down cliffs |
As of the October 26 update, Read Leyline and Skysight last 15 seconds anywhere. Cast them at a ley line or an elemental convergence to get Attuned or Charged for 1 hour, which doubles the effect and stays through death, but there are just a few of these spots per zone. Our WoW Forever Skyborne race guide covers both branches in detail.
Forever keeps the Classic experience curve but pushes players into the open world. Since the October 1 beta build, dungeon quests give half their old bonus experience, and dungeon mobs give far less than in Classic even after the 20% increase on October 8. Low-level mobs were trimmed on purpose too, so once a zone turns green, move on. Plan trips around your class quests: Darnassus, Thunder Bluff or Zephras Isle at 10, and Moonglade at 16 and 20.
| Levels | Horde | Alliance |
|---|---|---|
| 1–10 | Mulgore, Skyborne starting zone | Teldrassil, Skyborne starting zone |
| 10–20 | The Barrens, Silverpine Forest | Darkshore, Westfall, Loch Modan |
| 20–30 | Stonetalon Mountains, Ashenvale, Hillsbrad Foothills | Ashenvale, Redridge Mountains, Duskwood, Wetlands |
| 30–40 | Thousand Needles, Desolace, Arathi Highlands, Stranglethorn Vale | Arathi Highlands, Desolace, Stranglethorn Vale |
| 35–45 | Riverglades (new in Forever) | Riverglades (new in Forever) |
| 40–50 | Tanaris, Feralas, The Hinterlands, Badlands | Tanaris, Feralas, The Hinterlands, Badlands |
| 50–60 | Un'Goro Crater, Felwood, Burning Steppes, Winterspring, Eastern Plaguelands | Un'Goro Crater, Felwood, Burning Steppes, Winterspring, Eastern Plaguelands |
To follow the route quest by quest, use the interactive guide below. Pick your faction and starting zone, and it loads every step for your class with a map for each stage. Tick steps off as you go: your progress stays saved in this browser, and if you are already partway through, the search box takes you straight to your current step. The step-by-step routes cover all four Druid starts, Night Elf, Tauren and both Skyborne branches, from level 1 to 60.
The levels from 30 to 60 follow the Classic flow and will be updated after the November 4 launch. On the way to 30, the dungeons worth a clear are Ragefire Chasm or The Deadmines, the new Ruins of Lordaeron, Wailing Caverns, Shadowfang Keep, Blackfathom Deeps, and the new Excavation Site and City of Dalaran. As a Feral tank you will find groups for all of them quickly. Our WoW Forever dungeons overview lists every dungeon with its level range.
If you would rather skip the climb, our WoW Forever leveling service can take a Druid to 60 while you focus on the endgame.
Druid wears leather and needs a lot of gold for spell ranks, so gathering pays off. Every crafting profession also awards a Legacy point at 150, 225 and 300 skill.
Our WoW Forever professions guide covers every recipe path from 1 to 300.
Thrill of Adventure is the best first pick: at 5/5 every non-trivial kill outside dungeons, raids and battlegrounds restores 5% of your health and mana over 10 seconds, which pays for a lot of shapeshifts. On an alt, Talented gives five extra talent points early and gets you to Leader of the Pack sooner, with spare points for Lacerate before 30.
We explain where every Legacy point comes from in our WoW Forever Legacy Points guide.
A Feral Druid can tank every leveling dungeon in Bear Form, and tanks always find groups first. Leveling dungeons up to the 50s are forgiving, so you do not need a dedicated tank build:
If the group needs a healer, any Druid can heal leveling dungeons with Rejuvenation, Regrowth and Healing Touch, as long as you carry gear with some Intellect and Spirit. Rebirth brings a dead player back during a fight.
These habits make the biggest difference on a Druid:
Our WoW Forever bag guide covers every free and crafted bag, including the two Wailing Caverns bags.
These are the questions players ask most often about leveling a Druid in Forever.
What is the best Druid spec for leveling in WoW Forever? Feral. Cat Form and Bear Form use energy and rage, so your mana goes into heals and shapeshifts and you rarely need to drink.
Is Bear Form better than Cat Form for leveling? On single mobs they are about even. On packs of three to five weaker mobs, Bear with Swipe and Thorns is clearly faster.
When does a Druid get Cat Form in WoW Forever? At 20, from a class quest. Bear Form comes at 10 and Travel Form at 30.
What happened to Tiger's Fury? It was replaced with Shifting Power, a 31-point Feral talent that turns mana into 40 energy. It costs too much mana to be worth it while leveling.
Can Druids tank dungeons while leveling? Yes. Bear Form can tank every leveling dungeon, and with the Swipe and Primal Bite changes it holds packs better than in Classic.
Once you reach 60, these guides take your Druid further:
