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, which 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 the new Primal Bite talent hits hard every 6 seconds. 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 and Shifting Power while leveling. Shifting Power replaced Tiger's Fury, costs a large share of your mana and needs three points in a talent for Shred, which you rarely use when the mob faces you.
Feral Build to Level 60
Full Feral with Restoration talents · Updated after launch
After 30, finish the Feral tree with Heart of the Wild, Thick Hide, Natural Instinct, Rend and Tear and the Berserk capstone, which lets Primal Bite hit three targets in Bear Form. The last 13 points go into Restoration: Furor, which lets you regenerate energy while out of 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; 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, because switching to Bear Form loses all your energy. 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; Zephras Isle for Skyborne |
| 30 | Travel Form | Your class trainer |
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 and better stealth; Shadowmeld drops you out of a fight |
| Skyborne (High Order) | Alliance | Wind Blessed adds 1% Haste; Read Ley Line doubles health and mana regeneration |
| Tauren | Horde | Endurance adds 5% health and 1% hit; War Stomp stuns up to five enemies; Plainsrunning speeds you up between quests; Cultivation gives free herbs |
| Skyborne (Windshaper) | Horde | Wind Blessed adds 1% Haste; Skysight boosts movement speed; Walk on Air lets you glide down cliffs |
The Skyborne regeneration and speed buffs last 15 minutes only near an elemental convergence or ley line, and there are just a few of them 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 to Darnassus, Thunder Bluff or Zephras Isle around your class quests at 10, 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 |
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 Primal Bite and Leader of the Pack sooner.
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:
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, which 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:
