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Druid Combat Systems

Druids have 3 main forms you can actively fight with, including default (caster), consisting of your heals and damage spells, bear form, including your tanking abilities, and cat form, including your rogue like DPS abilities. I will explain each of the druid spells in detail below and how they all come together.

Green denotes learned from trainer; Blue denotes talent.

Caster Form

Caster form is home to your heals, buffs, debuffs, resurrection, and nukes. Caster form uses mana. You use mana to cast spells. You always start with full mana and every time you cast something, your mana goes down. Your mana does regenerate during and out of combat and the regeneration rate depends on your spirit.

- Heals:

You have 4 available healing spells (all learned from trainer):
-Rejuvenation: Heals x amount over 12 seconds, in 3 second intervals. 10 Ranks. Instant cast.
-Regrowth: Heals x amount up front plus y amount over 21 seconds in 3 second intervals. 9 Ranks. 2 second cast.
-Healing Touch: Heals x amount up front. 3.5 second cast (3.0 with talents).
-Tranquility: Heals x amount over 10 seconds to nearby group members, 2 second intervals, must be channeled. 5 minute cooldown.

Basically, two of your heals have a HoT (Heal over time) component to it, so utilize them well. Healing Touch is your big heal and due to its lengthy cast time, must be carefully timed. Remember that the HoT's of rejuv and regrowth stack, so even if your target isn't at full health after you use both of these abilities, he or she will be soon unless actively taking damage. Tranquility is not reliable due to its long cooldown, but is still great. Make sure you use it in conjunction with barkskin for no interruptions.

- Buffs:

You have 3 buffs that you can cast on other people and yourself (2 learned from trainer, 1 talent), and 3 self-buffs (all talent):
-Mark of the Wild: Arguably the best buff in the game. Increases armor by x, all stats by y, and all resistances by z. Even more effective with talent. Lasts 30 minutes and is instant cast.
-Thorns: The target of this buff will do x damage to attackers on each successful hit. This buff is good for helping you hold aggro while you tank, and versus rogues and dual-wielding warriors who strike frequently, the 18 damage/hit adds up. Lasts 10 minutes.
-Innervate: 31 talent points in the Restoration tree. The target regenerates mana at 400% of normal rate, in combat or not, and regenerates mana at 100% of normal rate while casting. Basically, if your target isn't casting, he or she restores ~75% of his or her mana bar. A little less when casting and varies from person to person depending on spirit, but you get the general idea. Lasts 20 seconds, 6 minute cooldown.
-Nature's Grasp: This is a 1 talent point buff on the Balance tree. It is a self buff that gives you a 35% to cast Entangling Roots on a target if/when they land a successful melee hit. 4 more points (first tier) will improve the chance to root to 100%. Lasts 45 seconds, 1 minute cooldown.
-Omen of Clarity: 11 point talent on the balance tree, each of the druid's melee attacks has a chance of giving the druid clearcasting state, letting the next ability used cost 0 rage, energy or mana. Lasts 5 minutes.
-Nature's Swiftness: Self buff that allows your next nature-based spell to become instant cast. This means an instant Healing Touch, very useful. 3 minute cooldown.

- Debuffs:

Druids have 3 debuffs, 3 learned from trainer and 1 from talent.
-Entangling Roots: Roots target in place and does x damage over y seconds. Damage can break roots. Can only be used outdoors. This is the druid's only PVP crowd control spell. Note that targets with long range spells/weapons can still use them while rooted.
-Hibernate: Puts target beast or dragonkin to sleep for x seconds. Works for pvp hunter pets unless the hunter has 31 points in Beast Mastery.
-Insect Swarm: 11 talent point ability in the restoration tree. Does x damage over y seconds and reduces chance on hit of the target by 2% for the duration of the DoT.
-Soothe Animal: Reduces of the aggro range of target beast by 10 yards for 15 seconds.

- Resurrection:

Druids only get one resurrection spell, Rebirth, and it is on a 30 minute cooldown. It also requires a reagent to use (different one for each rank). The unique thing about Rebirth is that it's only a 2 second cast and can be used in combat. Druid is the only class with combat resurrection and this can come in handy in many situations.

- Nukes:

-Moonfire: Somehow druids became famous for this spell. You often hear of druids spamming moonfire, etc. Moonfire is a spell that does x arcane damage up front and y damage over 12 seconds in 3 second intervals. It is instant and no cooldown, which makes it spammable. But moonfire costs a lot of mana and has the worst damage to mana ratio if spammed, so spamming it is not recommended for most situations.
-Wrath: Does x amount of nature damage to the target, 2 second cast (1.5 with talent).
-Starfire: The highest damage spell for druids. Does x amount of arcane damage to the target, 3.5 second cast (3.0 with talents).
-Hurricane: This is the druid AoE, with a targetable area. It does x damage every second for 10 seconds total. It also reduces the attack speed of targets within the range for 10 seconds. This is a channeled spell and has a 1 minute cooldown. It also costs a buttload of mana so it should be used sparingly.

Bear Form/Dire Bear Form

Bear form includes your tanking abilities; many of these abilities are similar to those of a warrior's. Bear form has 10 abilities total, 8 of which are learned from trainer and 2 are talents. You receive normal bear form at level 10 via a quest. Regular bear form gives you 180% armor value from items, +x attack power, and +y health (scales as you level). At level 40 you will receive Dire Bear form, which replaces regular bear form and gives you 360% armor value from items, +x attack power and +y health.

Bear form uses the rage system. You have 100 rage total from level 10-60 in bear form. This does not change. You generate rage with any damage you deal or receive, plus any abilities/talents which generates rage (enrage, furor, primal fury). Rage decays when you are not actively fighting. All bear form abilities other than auto-attack, enrage, growl, and FF uses rage, including the ones which hold aggro for you in PVE (such as maul/swipe) and saves your ass in PVP (frenzied regeneration/feral charge), so building and managing rage is an important learning step for all druids.

-Maul: Like heroic strike for warriors, this move increases the damage of your next melee attack by x and causes threat for PVE mobs. You will be using this a lot in pvp and pve simply because druids have less ways to convert rage to damage output compared to warriors.
-Demoralizing Roar: Decreases the attack power of all nearby enemies by x for 30 seconds. This will help you gain and hold aggro, especially for mobs that no one has touched yet. It also takes nearby targets out of stealth in pvp.
-Growl: Like warrior's taunt, taunts target to attack you with a 10 second cooldown. It has no pvp use.
-Feral Charge: 11 point talent in the feral tree. Charges at an enemy from 8-25 yards range, interrupts spells and immobilizes the target for 4 seconds. Excellent skill for catching runners
-Bash: Stuns the target for x seconds. Lets you interrupt a spell and/or pull off a heal unscathed. Great for both PVE and PVP.
-Challenging Roar: Like warrior's challenging shout, taunts all nearby enemies to attack you for 6 seconds. 10 minute cooldown. Due to the lengthy cooldown this ability should only be used in emergencies when you have a lot of adds, or the aggro from your cloth and leather wearers is getting out of control. This is like an "oh crap" button for tanks.
-Enrage: Generates 20 rage over 10 seconds, but reduces -base- armor by 75%. Base armor is your armor before any armor from items are considered; it's typically a very small amount. You are also in combat for the duration. With talents you also generate 5-10 rage up front. This spell is good when used in conjunction with frenzied regeneration, as more rage equals more health.
-Faerie Fire (Feral): 21 talent points in the feral tree. Decreases armor of target by x for y seconds. Target cannot stealth or turn invisible in that duration. Usable in cat/bear forms and is on a 6 second cooldown, but no rage or energy cost. Great versus rogues, and priests and paladins will most likely waste mana to remove it, while it costs you nothing to cast it. If you have this talent I would use it on every cooldown in 1 on 1s or against rogues and warriors in group pvp.
-Frenzied Regeneration: Converts 10 rage to x health per second for 10 seconds total. 3 minute cooldown. This is your bear form self heal. It cannot be purged or dispelled which makes it very valuable.
-Swipe: Kind of like the warrior's cleave, but does way less damage and up to 3 targets. It is great for holding aggro on more than 1 target.

Cat Form

Cat form includes your damage dealing abilities; many of these abilities are similar to those of a rogues's. Cat form has 13 abilities total, 12 of which are learned from trainer and 1 is talent. You receive cat form at level 20 via the trainer. Cat form gives you +x attack power (scales to level) + agility.

Cat form uses the energy system. You have 100 rage total from level 20-60 in bear form. This does not change. When you shapeshift into cat form you start out with 0 energy (unless you have furor), and your energy will regenerate to full as long as you stay in cat form and not abilities. All of your cat form abilities other than auto-attack, stealth, FF, and track humanoids use energy. Energy restores fast, however.

Cat form also uses the combo point system. You'll notice that some of your cat abilities will say "Awards one combo point when used". You can rack up combo points and use what's called finishing moves. Finishing moves are very powerful and the damage done depends on how many points you have. Combo points are collected on a "per target" basis. They disappear if the target dies and do not transfer to new targets. You keep your combo points if you shapeshift out of cat form, however, so save those combo points and don't be in a hurry to click on a finisher.

-Claw: Like rogue's sinister strike, it is an attack causing normal damage + x. Awards one combo point. This is the primary damage attack for cat form while building combo points.
-Dash: Increases your speed by x% for 15 seconds and does not break prowling. 5 minute cooldown. Good for running away from opponents.
-Cower: Causes no damage but lowers your threat. PVE ability to lose aggro.
-Faerie Fire (Feral): 21 talent points in the feral tree. Decreases armor of target by x for y seconds. Target cannot stealth or turn invisible in that duration. Usable in cat/bear forms and is on a 6 second cooldown, but no rage or energy cost. Great versus rogues, and priests and paladins will most likely waste mana to remove it, while it costs you nothing to cast it. If you have this talent I would use it on every cooldown in 1 on 1s or against rogues and warriors in group pvp.
-Feline Grace: (PASSIVE) Reduces fall damage.
-Ferocious Bite: Your direct damage finisher. Does direct damage to the target depending on how many combo points you have collected. Note that the target will only suffer the set damage minus whatever damage reduction from armor they have. Most of the time your target will not take full damage unless they have 0 armor.
-Ravage: Stealth opener, like rogue's ambush. Causing x% dmg + y to the target, must be prowling and behind the target. This is a very powerful opener and does great damage. Also awards 1 combo point.
-Pounce: Stealth opener. Stuns target for x seconds and causes y damage over 18 seconds. Must be stealth and behind target. Awards 1 combo point. As of right now this ability is hardly worth using due to Ravage being much better, but it's ok for interrupting someone that's currently casting. Awards 1 combo point.
-Prowl: Basically Stealth, with movement decreased to x% of normal.
-Rake: Does x damage to the target and an additional y damage over 9 seconds. Awards 1 combo point. This ability causes less energy than claw, so is good for building combo points and the DoT. Use this to start and then use Claw during the 9 second DoT this move provides.
-Shred: Like rogue's backstab. Does x% damage + y. A weaker version of ravage and you do not have to be stealth to use it. You just have to be behind the target. This ability has limited uses in solo PVE because druids have no gouge-like ability, but you can get behind targets if someone else is tanking. Also useful in PVP for good damage. Awards 1 combo point.
-Rip: Damage over time finisher. Does x damage over 12 seconds depending on how many combo points you have collected. The good thing about Rip is that the damage is not negated by armor and your target will always suffer full damage. Good to use against plate users who is not yet low on life.
-Tiger's Fury: Increase damage done (per attack) by x for 6 seconds. This ability will increase your dps significantly because it increases the damage of each attack (cat form has 1.0 attack speed modifier) by x amount.
-Track Humanoids: A hunter's ability; allows you to track humanoids in cat form. Great for PVP or finding specific mobs for PVE. Unfortunately it only works for cat form.

Since each of the druid's forms is a "lesser" version of whatever class it's trying to mock, you must learn to use them at the right times. Typically it's not a good idea to stay in 1 form for a long period of time due to restrictions in each form, and it's also a bad idea to shapeshift a lot considering the high mana costs. That's why finding a balance between these forms is a major challenge of the druid class. But the basic idea is to heal and nuke in caster form, take hits in bear form, and melee damage in cat form, whatever is more appropriate for the play setting that you are in.