Theorycrafting: Druids' Talents

Theorycrafting: Druids' Talents

by Lufhtrae » Mon Jul 13, 2015 1:17 am

As a fan of theorycrafting, I am here to help the community in creating helpful content for selecting the right talents as a druid. Vanilla offers so much flexibility when it comes to talent trees but it is very expensive to change talents to switch between roles so it's optimal to focus on one talent for a long run. Min-maxing is a great point to consider as well when it comes to leveling and raiding efficiency. There is many niches we want to consider when it comes to talent selections. This post serves to help you to select the right talents.

If you feel that I can add something to this post, send me a PM of your suggestion to what I can add or tweak. I want this thread to be as informative and accurate as possible.


Gearing Up: Pre-Raid & BiS
Credits goes to Lorilay

Theorycrafting: Druids' Stats
Credits goes to me.

Leveling
Feral Combat
Pros: Feral does not run out of energy, can handle up to three mobs at once, and is capable of tanking in dungeons.
Cons: Small mana pool.
Recommended Talents:
Code: Select all
Select each talent in descending order...
1. Ferocity [5/5]
2. Thick Hide [5/5]
3. Feline Swiftness [3/3]
4. Sharpened Claws [3/3
5. Blood Frenzy [2/2]
6. Predatory Strikes [3/3]
7. Savage Fury [2/2]
8. Brutal Impact [2/2]
9. Faerie Fire [1/1]
10. Heart of the Wild [5/5]
11. Leader of the Pack [1/1]
12. Nature's Grasp [1/1] ----- Cannot be used while shapeshifted.
13. Improved Nature's Grasp [4/4]
14. Natural Weapons [5/5]
15. Omen of Clarity [1/1]
16. Feral Aggression [5/5]
Remaining 4 talent points is up to you for leveling.


Balance
Pros: Balance is great when fighting single mobs with high damage output, and you will be able to heal for dungeons.
Cons: Requires drinking for mana every 1-2 pull, and may run out of mana quickly when handling multiple mobs.
Recommended Talents:
Code: Select all
Select each talent in descending order...
1. Improved Wrath [5/5]
2. Nature's Grasp [1/1]
3. Improved Nature's Grasp [4/4]
4. Improved Entangling Roots [3/3]
5. Nature's Reach [2/2]
6. Improved Starfire [5/5]
7. Moonglow [3/3]
8. Nature's Grace [1/1]
9. Improved Moonfire [5/5]
10. Vengeance [1/5]
11. Moonkin Form [1/1]
12. Vengeance [5/5]
13. Moonfury [5/5]
Remaining 11 talent points is up to you for leveling.






Raiding
Feral Combat --- Tanking
Pros: Tanks is always in high demand and is great at entry level tanking such as dungeons or small raids like UBRS. You are capable of off-tanking in raids and can switch to cat for DPS easily compared to warrior and paladin tanks with more restrictive talent tree.
Cons: Feral tanks has difficulty keeping aggro with multiple mobs but is manageable, and will struggle with tanking in more difficult against bosses in raids efficiently due to limited gear options.
Code: Select all
Feral Combat (40 points)
Ferocity - Rank 5/5
Feral Aggression - Rank 5/5
Feral Instinct - Rank 5/5
Brutal Impact - Rank 2/2
Thick Hide - Rank 5/5
Feral Charge - Rank 1/1
Sharpened Claws - Rank 3/3
Predatory Strikes - Rank 3/3
Primal Fury - Rank 2/2
Savage Fury - Rank 2/2
Faerie Fire (Feral) - Rank 1/1
Heart of the Wild - Rank 5/5
Leader of the Pack - Rank 1/1

Restoration (7 points)
Furor - Rank 5/5
Improved Enrage - Rank 2/2

Remaining 4 points is up to you to choose.


Feral Combat --- DPS
Pros: Feral offers a high damage output in dungeons or small raids like UBRS.
Cons: Due to limited gear options in end-game content for Ferals, you may struggle to keep up in DPS with rest of the raiding core.
Code: Select all
Balance (13 points)
Nature's Grasp - Rank 1/1
Improved Nature's Grasp - Rank 4/4
Natural Weapons - Rank 5/5
Omen of Clarity - Rank 1/1
Nature's Reach - Rank 2/2

Feral Combat (38 points)
Ferocity - Rank 5/5
Feral Aggression - Rank 5/5
Brutal Impact - Rank 2/2
Thick Hide - Rank 5/5
Feline Swiftness - Rank 2/2
Sharpened Claws - Rank 3/3
Improved Shred - Rank 2/2
Predatory Strikes - Rank 3/3
Blood Frenzy - Rank 2/2
Savage Fury - Rank 2/2
Faerie Fire (Feral) - Rank 1/1
Heart of the Wild - Rank 5/5
Leader of the Pack - Rank 1/1


Balance
Pros: Balance deals a very high damage output and can provide insane dps bursts when needed.
Cons: Nicknamed "Oomkin" which is self-explanatory, requires frequent use of mana potions and innervates to maintain a healthy mana pool.
Code: Select all
Balance (35 points)
Improved Wrath - Rank 5/5
Improved Moonfire - Rank 5/5
Natural Shapeshifter - Rank 3/3
Nature's Reach - Rank 2/2
Vengeance - Rank 5/5
Improved Starfire - Rank 5/5
Nature's Grace - Rank 1/1
Moonglow - Rank 3/3
Moonfury - Rank 5/5
Moonkin Form - Rank 1/1

Restoration (14 points)
Improved Mark of the Wild - Rank 5/5
Nature's Focus - Rank 5/5
Reflection - Rank 3/3
Insect Swarm - Rank 1/1


Restoration
Pros: Restoration has a healthy demand so you will always be in raids and invited to dungeons but that's all to it. Who doesn't love to wave their hands in air, though?
Cons: More difficult to grind mobs due to a low damage output.
Code: Select all
Restoration (46 points)
Improved Mark of the Wild - Rank 5/5
Improved Healing Touch - Rank 5/5
Nature's Focus - Rank 5/5
Reflection - Rank 3/3
Insect Swarm - Rank 1/1
Subtlety - Rank 5/5
Tranquil Spirit - Rank 5/5
Improved Rejuvenation - Rank 3/3
Nature's Swiftness - Rank 1/1
Gift of Nature - Rank 5/5
Improved Tranquility - Rank 2/2
Improved Regrowth - Rank 5/5
Swiftmend - Rank 1/1

You have an extra 5 talents of your choice!






PvP
In PvP there is multiple roles for druids to choose from; flag carrier, healer, DPS as Feral or Balance. As of now, I have no recommendations when it comes to PvP. If you have a suggestion, ideas, or want to share your talent tree for PvP then post it on this tread!
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Re: Theorycrafting: Druids' Talents

by Lufhtrae » Mon Jul 13, 2015 4:44 am

Great Read:
Project: Moonkin
Credit goes to Liebe
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Re: Theorycrafting: Druids' Talents

by Shango » Tue Jul 14, 2015 11:44 am

Great thread, thank you. :)
You might want to consider using http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent to show off talents. ;)

This is what I personally would want to try when I reach 60 for pvp: http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#0zL ... cMzZVEb0co

It's a bear form (solo) survival build with some capable off-healing.
The last 2 points I'm not sure where I want to put em, either blood frenzy, savage fury or natural shapeshifter and feline swiftness for that extra mobility while stealthed. :P

I know heart of the wild is a really strong talent, but if the health bonus doesn't stay the same % as before shapeshifting I don't see the real use, (can anyone that have gotten to that talent clear this up for me?) I would rather much have the extra tools from nature swiftness and nature's grasp. And shapeshifting costs a ton of mana :P

Do you know how mana regeneration work in combat? does it stop a few sec as soon as you cast a spell? even instant casts?

Edit: I'm still not sure how some of the talents work as I'm still low level, so I'm just speculating with what I remember from that time. I'll probably change around as soon as I know 100% sure how the talents calculates and work.
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Re: Theorycrafting: Druids' Talents

by Repulsive » Tue Jul 14, 2015 7:50 pm

http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#0zLVhoZE0MsfbdtV
I think this is better for pve dps kitty - you need to get some potions to work out and shapeshift a lot - if you are good at it u can pull 40 energy without problems (without even losing energy (20)). Yes the problem is that u don`t have 10% armor, but if u are dps and need to be tank in combat (Mt is dead) u won`t change gear so 10% armor isn`t much. 1s stun is not so important as dps kitty since u will mostly do ravage (u are with atleast 5 rougs in raid so .. :D) for dungs it can be helpfull. And charge, this is the talent that saves more healers than anything else.
Tank is busy? Healer is almost dead ? Charge, taunt - u save the day!
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Re: Theorycrafting: Druids' Talents

by Lufhtrae » Wed Jul 15, 2015 1:58 am

All of your suggestions is great. Talents is very flexible to our demands and unique situations, and there is many different kind of paths you could take so there's no perfect talent tree!q
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Re: Theorycrafting: Druids' Talents

by Daedalos » Wed Jul 22, 2015 9:25 am

I'd love to bring up a discussion about the variety Druids bring to the field. No other class is able to place down talent-points, which will allow them to be either a- tank, dps, supporter or healer. My goal is to achieve high-tier as a bear tank, and when Ahn'Qiraj is released my talents will obviously appear different.

But for the time being, I'd love to primarily tank dungeons and occasionally heal and dps. For this I will require a hybrid tree of talents -- And I was hoping you guys would build it with me.

Image
( http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#0ZeGxoc0dxqxcoxo )

This is what I've come up with. I'm struggling with 'Faerie Fire (Feral)' as I would normally initiate from caster-form. Most of my pulls goes: Regrowth -> Faerie Fire -> Bear but could in theory be replaced with Regrowth -> Insect Swarm -> Bear for further damage reduction due to -hit.

Also, you could replace 'Nature's Swiftness' with 'Leader of the pack'
Last edited by Daedalos on Wed Jul 22, 2015 12:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Theorycrafting: Druids' Talents

by Daedalos » Thu Jul 23, 2015 7:45 am

Daedalos wrote:I'd love to bring up a discussion about the variety Druids bring to the field. No other class is able to place down talent-points, which will allow them to be either a- tank, dps, supporter or healer. My goal is to achieve high-tier as a bear tank, and when Ahn'Qiraj is released my talents will obviously appear different.

But for the time being, I'd love to primarily tank dungeons and occasionally heal and dps. For this I will require a hybrid tree of talents -- And I was hoping you guys would build it with me.

Image
( http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#0ZeGxoc0dxqxcoxo )

This is what I've come up with. I'm struggling with 'Faerie Fire (Feral)' as I would normally initiate from caster-form. Most of my pulls goes: Regrowth -> Faerie Fire -> Bear but could in theory be replaced with Regrowth -> Insect Swarm -> Bear for further damage reduction due to -hit.

Also, you could replace 'Nature's Swiftness' with 'Leader of the pack'


Nobody wants do discuss the ultimate all-around druid spec?
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Re: Theorycrafting: Druids' Talents

by Doofoos » Thu Jul 23, 2015 10:02 am

Daedalos wrote:Nobody wants do discuss the ultimate all-around druid spec?

1) If you are planning to tank in such build, why did you choose 3\5 Feral Aggression + 2\2 Brutal Impact instead of 3\3 Sharpened Claws + 2\2 Primal fury? It's makes no sense at all :? You will rage starve all the time.
2) Can you explain exact bonus stats value from 1\5 Improved Mark of the Wild? :lol: Putting this talent point in 1\2 Improved Enrage will give you a one free Maul, which will help you to get more aggro in rage-starving situations, which happens very often.
Despite the fact that 0/30/21 build does indeed provide the variety of tanking\healing for a druid, you won't be able to heal your group properly in some hard instances like Strat Live, DM West\North Tribute.
PS And forget about dpsing without 3\3 Sharpening Claws + 2\2 Blood Frenzy + 2\2 Improved Shred (well, thats pretty obvious isn't it? ;))
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Re: Theorycrafting: Druids' Talents

by Daedalos » Thu Jul 23, 2015 2:24 pm

Doofoos wrote:
Daedalos wrote:Nobody wants do discuss the ultimate all-around druid spec?

1) If you are planning to tank in such build, why did you choose 3\5 Feral Aggression + 2\2 Brutal Impact instead of 3\3 Sharpened Claws + 2\2 Primal fury? It's makes no sense at all :? You will rage starve all the time.
2) Can you explain exact bonus stats value from 1\5 Improved Mark of the Wild? :lol: Putting this talent point in 1\2 Improved Enrage will give you a one free Maul, which will help you to get more aggro in rage-starving situations, which happens very often.
Despite the fact that 0/30/21 build does indeed provide the variety of tanking\healing for a druid, you won't be able to heal your group properly in some hard instances like Strat Live, DM West\North Tribute.
PS And forget about dpsing without 3\3 Sharpening Claws + 2\2 Blood Frenzy + 2\2 Improved Shred (well, thats pretty obvious isn't it? ;))


This is what I need.

Could you try and place down talent-points in what you think could be the all-time hybrid?

Maybe we're looking at something like this?

Image

You have to remember that Heart of the Wild gives +20% Intelligence. I find that superior to almost any of the resto talents. Why couldn't this spec heal Tribute or StratLive? What talent would be needed to do so?
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