Druid PvP in WoW Forever: Cat, Bear, Moonkin and healer builds and rotations against every class

Druid is the most flexible class in the game. You can become a Cat, Bear, Moonkin, travel beast or ordinary caster, and every shapeshift removes roots, slows and Polymorph. That makes Druids hard to catch: while you have mana for shifting, enemies cannot hold you in place; while you are alive, you can retreat and heal.

Mana is a PvP Druid's main resource. Cat or Bear Form costs 55% of base mana, and every escape from a root costs another shift. Once mana runs out, you become an ordinary fighter without escapes. The first rule is therefore to shift when it genuinely saves you, not for every minor slow.

In animal form, the game treats you as a beast. You cannot be Sapped, Mind Controlled, Seduced or Polymorphed, but another Druid's Hibernate and a Hunter's Scare Beast work on you. Forms do not free you from stuns, fear, Sap or Blind: you simply cannot activate them while controlled.

Druids have three roles, each viable in battlegrounds, world PvP and duels. Feral Combat means a Cat hunting from stealth and a Bear carrying flags and absorbing damage. Balance is a Moonkin dealing ranged damage and spreading roots. Restoration, or Resto, is a healer and the classic Warsong flag carrier. Each role's plan for each setting is detailed below.

Since October 8, damage absorbed by shields still generates Bear rage, critical hits generate 100% more rage, and Bear's threat bonus is 50%. Since October 15, Moonkin Aura grants spell critical strike chance raid-wide, while Leader of the Pack grants melee and ranged critical strike chance to the entire raid. This does not make Innervate or personal effects raid-wide.

Restoration was the most common Classic PvP Druid: the best Warsong Gulch flag carrier and an irritating Arathi Basin defender. Wowhead's standard 7/13/31 build took Nature's Grasp, Feral Charge, Nature's Swiftness and Swiftmend. Icy Veins praised the 1/29/21 hybrid, giving Cat and Bear an instant heal. Moonkin 38/0/13 relied on Starfire crits but was less common. Druids were considered a niche duel class: Warrior was favourable, while Priest, Shaman and Warlock were difficult.

Forever freed roughly 11 points for hybrids. Nature's Grasp is now baseline at level 10 and always triggers; Omen of Clarity is baseline too, and Faerie Fire is free in forms. Swiftmend moved from Restoration's 31st point to its 16th and no longer consumes a HoT. Feral gained the Berserk capstone, a Cat leap behind the target and Bash every 30 seconds.

Since October 15, Furor preserves Cat energy when entering Bear Form and shifting back. Energy does not regenerate in Bear, so shifting for a stun or interrupt no longer empties your reserve, but does not build a new one either. Shifting Power cannot be used at full energy; Wolfshead Helm grants an additional 5 energy when it is used.

Assessments from before the October 15 update: on the level 30 beta, Mobalytics' duel tier list puts Druid in B. Strengths are mobility, healing and Swiftmend; good matchups are Rogue and Mage, difficult ones Priest, Hunter and other Druids. RankedBoost's talent-tree assessment places Feral in S, Balance in A and Restoration in B. At 60, we expect Cat to lead world PvP and duel damage, hybrid Bear and Restoration to carry flags, Restoration to heal battlegrounds, and Balance to remain the most disputed spec in need of adjustments. These rankings predate the latest patch and are not an up-to-date class comparison.

Spec	In Classic	In Forever	Use
Cat	Stealth ganking; mana is the main problem	Bear preserves Cat energy but pauses its regeneration.	World PvP, duels, hunting healers
Bear flag carrier	Deep Restoration with Feral Charge	Barkskin in forms, Frenzied Regeneration up to 100% health, forms immune to disarm	Flags and base defence
Cat/Restoration hybrid	1/29/21 Heart of the Wild + Nature's Swiftness	Heart of the Wild requires 5 points instead of 26, leaving more room	World PvP, fighting casters
Restoration	Healer and flag carrier 8/11/32	Swiftmend does not consume a HoT; Wild Growth heals the group	Battleground healing
Moonkin	Starfire critical burst, 38/0/13	Can do everything in form except heal; Hurricane has no cooldown, but base damage is lower	Battlegrounds and kiting

Four races can be Druids in Forever: Night Elf for the Alliance, Tauren for the Horde, and Skyborne for both factions. Race is not decisive in PvP, so choose the appearance and lore you enjoy. Each has its own form appearances, and you will spend a long time looking at your Druid.

The good news in Forever is that racials work in forms. Tauren can stun in Bear Form, Night Elves can Shadowmeld in combat, and Skyborne can glide off a cliff. To maximize performance, choose Tauren for the Horde for the stun and +5% health, or Night Elf for the Alliance for critical strikes and in-combat Shadowmeld.

Race	What matters in PvP	Summary
Night Elf	Elune's Light: +10% critical strike chance for 15 seconds. Shadowmeld works in combat and in forms. Quickness: the Druid's stealth is one level stronger.	Best Alliance choice for Cat
Tauren	War Stomp: a 2-second stun with a 90-second cooldown; works in Druid forms. +5% health and +2% critical damage and healing.	Best Horde choice, especially for flag carrying
Skyborne (Alliance)	+3% attack and casting speed. Walk on Air every 90 seconds; the racial's speed or recovery effect can be activated while moving.	For fun and gliding
Skyborne (Horde)	+3% attack and casting speed. Walk on Air every 90 seconds; the racial's speed or recovery effect can be activated while moving.	For fun and gliding

Almost everything in Druid PvP revolves around shapeshifting, so it deserves its own explanation.

• Removes: roots, slows and Polymorph. This is stated in every form's tooltip, including Moonkin.
• Does not remove: stuns, fear, sleep, Sap (the Rogue’s out-of-combat incapacitate), Gouge (a short incapacitate that breaks on damage), Blind, Freezing Trap or silence. You cannot activate a form while affected.
• Cost: Cat and Bear cost 55% of base mana, Moonkin 35%, Travel and Aquatic Form 20%. Natural Shapeshifter reduces the cost by 30%. Every form triggers a 1.5-second global cooldown.
• Animal forms count as beasts. Cats and Bears cannot be Sapped, Mind Controlled, Seduced or Polymorphed, but Hibernate and Hunter Scare Beast work on them. Moonkin appears to remain a humanoid, but this has not yet been verified.
• Since October 15, Furor preserves Cat energy when entering Bear Form and shifting back. Energy does not regenerate in Bear, so shifting for a stun or interrupt no longer empties your reserve, but does not build a new one either. Shifting Power cannot be used at full energy; Wolfshead Helm grants an additional 5 energy when it is used.
• Consumables in forms. Mana, healing and Free Action potions and Thistle Tea can be used in forms; only the new Engineering grenades work there. You no longer need to leave a form to drink a potion.
• Cannot be disarmed. Since October 1, forms are immune to disarm. Cat and Bear damage now derives from weapon damage, so sharpening stones and weapon enchants work.

The following sections cover PvP-relevant Druid buttons by form. Figures for the highest ranks at level 60 come from Forever tooltips and may still change before release.

A combo is a sequence of buttons you repeat in almost every fight. The main Druid rule is to change form to escape control or perform an important action, not out of habit. Every shift costs mana.

• Cat from stealth. Prowl, Pounce from behind, Shred or Claw to five combo points, then Rip for a long fight or Ferocious Bite to finish. Against cloth, open with Ravage; Night Elves use Light of Elune first.
• Cat and healing. Retreat, leave form, apply Rejuvenation and Swiftmend, then return to Cat. Since October 15, Furor also preserves your stored Cat energy when you enter Bear and shift back, but energy does not regenerate in Bear. You can shift for Bash or an interrupt without losing stored energy, but cannot generate new energy that way.
• Bear against a caster. Feral Charge interrupts casting for 4 seconds, followed by Bash. While the enemy is stunned, you can leave form and heal. War Stomp and Bash share diminishing returns: do not chain them.
• Caster kiting. Roots, Moonfire and Insect Swarm, Travel Form, retreat, then roots again. Players report that Sodapoppin duelled this way in the beta: almost no Cat Form, just attrition.
• Nature's Swiftness. An instant Healing Touch for 2-2.5 thousand when you or the flag carrier is nearly dead. You can also use it for instant roots or Hibernate.
• Against a Rogue. Pre-apply Nature's Grasp, use Faerie Fire after the first hit, stay Bear for stuns, use Barkskin for Kidney Shot and pre-apply Abolish Poison against Blind.
• Against a Mage. Shift out of Frost Nova immediately, before Ice Lance. You cannot be Polymorphed in form, and Bear Charge interrupts casting.
• Against Warlocks and Priests. Berserk removes fear and grants 15 seconds of fear immunity; Remove Curse clears curses and banes.

Repeated control of the same type on one enemy lasts less time until the counter resets (after 15-20 seconds in Classic). These categories matter for Druids.

Category	Druid effects	Shared with	Practical meaning
Stuns	Bash, Pounce, Tauren War Stomp	Cheap Shot, Hammer of Justice, Warrior Charge and Intercept, grenades	Do not Bash immediately after Pounce or War Stomp
Kidney Shot	-	Only Kidney Shot	Rogue Kidney Shot does not shorten your stuns, or vice versa
Roots	Entangling Roots, Nature's Grasp roots	Frost Nova, Hunter Entrapment	Roots after Frost Nova last less time
Incapacitate	Hibernate	Polymorph, Sap, Gouge, Repentance, Freezing Trap	Hibernate immediately after someone else's Polymorph is shorter
Random stuns	Starfire stun	Priest Blackout, procs	Does not share with ordinary stuns
No diminishing returns	Feral Charge immobilization	Blind, Death Coil	Charge always holds for the full 4 seconds

Below are six level 60 builds: Cat, Cat with instant healing, Bear flag carrier, healer, Moonkin and a niche Balance/Restoration hybrid. Each includes an in-game-style talent tree, an explanation of every talent and a levelling order. The number in an icon's upper-left corner is the level at which you take its first point.

There are no published level 60 Forever Druid PvP builds yet, so these are our interpretation of the talent tree and Classic equivalents. Talents unlock at level 10 and reset at a class trainer; dual specialization becomes available at 40. If talents change before the November 4 release, we will update the builds. The talent tree uses official English names.

Three numbers such as 20/0/31 show talent points in the three trees, from left to right: Balance, Feral Combat, Restoration. They are not character levels.

Cat and Bear are two sides of one tree. Cat chooses a target and kills quickly; Bear takes hits and carries flags. Switching between them became more expensive in Forever, so decide in advance which role you will play in a fight.

Moonkin only unlocks at level 40, so it is scarcely seen on the level 30 beta. In battlegrounds, it thrives when enemies cluster together. It has cooldown-free Hurricane for objectives and chokepoints, roots for three enemies at once, occasional Starfire stuns and a raid-wide +3% spell critical strike aura. The Islands' open centre and strong ranged combat also favour it.

Moonkin's weaknesses are clear too. Healing requires leaving form and paying another 35% of base mana to return. Balance base damage is below Classic, Eclipse requires standing still and casting, and Druids lack protection against HoT dispels. In world PvP, Moonkin kites well; in duels against melee, it relies on roots, Barkskin and Polymorph immunity.

Restoration Druid is among Forever's most resilient healers. You heal on the move with HoTs, shapeshift out of roots and shelter in Bear when melee attackers jump you.

Below is a plan against every class at level 60. Assessments come from Classic guides, Forever data and beta tier lists, not level 60 hands-on experience. Each matchup separately covers Cat or Bear, Moonkin and healer play.

Class	Feral	Moonkin	Healer	Key point
Warrior	Favourable or even	Even	Even	Nature's Grasp and disarm-immune forms; Mortal Strike reduces HoTs
Paladin	Even	Even	Even	Repentance cannot affect animal forms; 6-second Hammer; cannot dispel HoTs
Hunter	Difficult or even	Even or difficult	Difficult	In-combat traps and Scare Beast; you can remove Viper Sting
Rogue	Favourable	Even	Even	Abolish Poison, Faerie Fire; Sap cannot affect animal forms
Mage	Favourable or even	Even	Even	Shift out of Frost Nova before Ice Lance
Warlock	Even or difficult	Difficult	Difficult	Berserk against fear; remove curses and banes
Shaman	Even	Even	Even or difficult	Purge removes your HoTs; Grounding Totem
Priest	Difficult	Difficult	Difficult	Mana Burn, dispels two HoTs, Plague cannot be cleansed
Druid	Even	Even	Even	Hibernate on forms, mana, catching the opponent in caster form first

In the world, Druid is both hunter and escape artist. Cat stalks isolated players from stealth; Track Humanoids in Cat Form shows players on the minimap. If the fight goes badly, you have more escape routes than anyone: shifting removes slows, Travel Form crosses open ground, Dash accelerates Cat, and Aquatic Form takes to the water.

• Water is your friend. Lordamere Lake in Hillsbrad, Ashenvale's rivers, Stranglethorn's coast: if you lose a fight near water, Bash, root, Dash to the shore and shift Aquatic.
• Moonglade. It is contested under PvP rules, and both factions' Druid quests pass through it. Testers reported being killed immediately after teleporting there.
• Faerie Fire against stealth. It prevents Rogue stealth, Night Elf Shadowmeld and Invisibility Potions.
• Ships and Mind Control. Animal forms cannot be Mind Controlled and thrown overboard. If you fall into the water anyway, Aquatic Form helps.
• Druid flag carrier. The classic Warsong joke: a pug with a Druid and two Mages beats a premade. A flag-carrying Bear with 3.6-times armour symbolizes the role.
• Boomkin, Oomkin and Panzerkin. Players' names for a high-damage Moonkin, an out-of-mana Moonkin and a tank Moonkin. In Forever, Wrath is weak but cheap, so Wrath no longer threatens to make you an Oomkin.
• Powershifting. In Classic, Cat left form and immediately returned for 40 energy from Furor and Wolfshead Helm. Forever replaced this with Shifting Power; Feral forum players disagree over whether it is an improvement.
• Since October 15, Furor preserves Cat energy when entering Bear Form and shifting back. Energy does not regenerate in Bear, so shifting for a stun or interrupt no longer empties your reserve, but does not build a new one either. Shifting Power cannot be used at full energy; Wolfshead Helm grants an additional 5 energy when it is used.
• Placeholder cheetah. Players complain that cheetah Travel Form looks like a temporary model. Skyborne Travel Form is a bird.
• Hibernate other forms. Druid forms and the Shaman's Ghost Wolf count as beasts, so Hibernate puts them to sleep for up to 20 seconds. Catching another feral who didn't shift out in time is especially satisfying. And if a Hunter steers a pet at you with Eyes of the Beast, put the pet to sleep.
• The Gurubashi chest. In Classic, a stealthed Druid waited for a Rogue to open the chest in the Gurubashi Arena and hit the Rogue with a Goblin Rocket Helmet. The helmet knocked both of them out for 30 seconds, the Rogue woke up first and killed the Druid. The moral is simple: the helmet hits you too.
• Moonkin dance. /dance in Moonkin Form has been a meme since vanilla, and on the Forever beta players already ask for more dancing Moonkins.

In Forever, you can drink everything in forms. Potions share a 2-minute cooldown; Thistle Tea, runes and Healthstones share a separate 2-minute cooldown. Tea and Dark Rune therefore lock each other out.

Druids remove slows and roots by shifting, so Free Action Potion is mainly for Rogue, Warrior and Paladin stuns. See the Rogue guide for a table of First Aid poison, disease and bleed removal.

Item	Effect	Note
Major Mana Potion	1350-2250 mana	Mana for shifts and healing; usable in forms since October 8
Major Healing Potion	1050-1750 health	Shared cooldown with mana potions
Free Action Potion	30 seconds of immunity to stuns and slows	Use in advance against Rogues and Warriors
Living Action Potion	Removes stuns and slows; 5 seconds of immunity	Escape Cheap Shot and Kidney Shot
Restorative Potion	Removes one magic effect, curse, poison or disease every 5 seconds for 30 seconds	Covers what Druids cannot cleanse: Polymorph, Fear, Plague
Swiftness Potion	+50% movement speed for 15 seconds	For flag carriers
Mighty Rage Potion	45-75 rage	New for Druids: fuels Bear Frenzied Regeneration
Thistle Tea	+100 energy	Now available to Druids, but shares a cooldown with runes
Dark Rune	900-1500 mana for 600-1000 health	Shares a cooldown with tea
Greater Insignia of the Horde, Greater Insignia of the Alliance	Removes slows and loss-of-control effects; 5-minute cooldown	Rank 2 reward; present in game files, but the launch reward is still unknown

Macros are especially useful for Druids: one button can do different things in different forms, and shifting out to heal can be combined into one press. Below are popular PvP macros from Classic and Forever guides.

Commands and bracketed conditions use English; spell and item names must match the English client exactly. Open your spellbook and Shift-click a spell into the macro window to insert its name. Form conditions are [form:1] for Bear and [form:3] for Cat. These macros use only Shift and Ctrl because Alt defaults to self-casting.

Focus is a separately saved target: select an enemy and type /focus before using a focus macro. An @focus macro acts on that saved enemy without changing your current target.

Mouseover means the unit under your cursor, including its unit frame. Hover over the intended target before pressing an @mouseover macro.

The main PvP Druid changes compared with Classic.

• Forms are fully functional: potions, almost all consumables, racials and doors work in forms; forms cannot be disarmed, and Cat and Bear damage derives from weapons.
• Barkskin is free, works in forms without penalties, and Frenzied Regeneration heals up to 100% health.
• Nature's Grasp, Omen of Clarity and free Faerie Fire in forms became baseline.
• Roots work indoors, as does Feral Swiftness.
• Cat gained a leap behind the target and Berserk with fear immunity; Bear gained Bash every 30 seconds with the talent.
• Bear preserves Cat energy but pauses its regeneration.
• Swiftmend requires the 16th point and does not consume a HoT; Wild Growth was added; HoTs can crit.
• Hurricane has no cooldown; Moonkin can do everything except heal, but Balance base damage is lower than Classic.
• Remove Curse also removes banes.
• Night Elves, Tauren and both factions' Skyborne can be Druids; racials work in forms.
• Since October 8, PvP crits are no longer reduced, and the rank 2 trinket removes all control for every class.

Almost every Druid has made these mistakes, so do not be discouraged if you recognize yourself.

• Shifting for every minor slow and running out of mana when it matters.
• Bear preserves Cat energy but pauses its regeneration.
• Using Shifting Power when you need mana for healing or escaping roots.
• Bashing immediately after Pounce or War Stomp: the second stun lasts half as long.
• Casting Hibernate on a Rogue, Warrior or Moonkin: it only works on beasts.
• Rooting or Hibernating a target carrying your DoTs.
• Expecting Cat Charge to interrupt: only Bear Charge does.
• Trying to heal in Moonkin Form: you must leave form.
• Standing beside water on Darkspear Islands: fear sends you to the sharks.