WoW Forever — Druid Plan

Overview Setup

Skyborne Druid on the Alliance Normal (PvE) ruleset, fourth on the account. Level as Feral, heal or tank dungeons with a second spec, and turn the account's herbs into potions and flasks. When the Hunter drops Herbalism for Engineering, the Druid becomes the herb gatherer too.

Skyborne racials (after the Oct 26 beta changes)

• Wind Blessed (passive): +2% haste (cut from 3%).
• Read Ley Line (active): +50% health and mana regeneration for 15 seconds. Used at a ley line, it becomes +100% for 1 hour and stays through death. Can't be used with Innervate.
• Walk on Air (active): slow fall; 90-second cooldown.
• Elemental Insight (passive): bonus damage against Elementals.

Why Druid works for this role

• Travel Form (instant, 40% faster outdoors, from 30) makes herb routes fast, and Forever reportedly lets you pick herbs without shifting out.
• Heals in every situation: almost no downtime.
• Dual Talent Specialization: level as Feral, heal or tank dungeons without paying to respec.

Pre-launch to-dos Checklist

Buy the right pack, set up the form-swapping action bar, and practice the layout before launch.

• Buy an upgrade pack that includes the Skyborne race
• Install addons (see Addons & resources); pick the Forever file on CurseForge
• Read Icy Veins' Forever Feral Druid guide once it covers launch talents
• Practice the keybind layout on a retail Druid (retail also swaps the main bar per form)
• October 27 – November 3: reserve character name (have a backup)
• When you create it, pick High Order (the Alliance Skyborne)
• Train Herbalism and Alchemy as soon as you reach a trainer
• Turn on GatherWise Databank so herb nodes are recorded from day one

Forms: when to use each How the class works

You'll spend most of your time in Cat Form, switch to Bear when a fight gets dangerous, drop to caster form to heal and buff, and use Travel Form to move.

Which form, fight by fight

1. One normal mob: Cat. Open from stealth, kill it, move on.
2. Two or more mobs, or an elite: Bear. Swipe hits all of them and you take far less damage.
3. A Cat fight going badly (below about 40% health): switch to Bear and finish it there.
4. After the fight: caster form. Rejuvenation or Regrowth if hurt; Read Ley Line for mana; rebuff if needed.
5. Moving: Travel Form outdoors (30+), Cat with Prowl and Dash before that or in dangerous areas.

Keybinds 16 keys total

The main action bar swaps automatically when you change form. Keys 1–6 and Q, E, R, F live on that bar, so each key does the same kind of job in every form. Six other keys never change.

Setup (once)

1. Game Menu → Options → Keybindings → Action Bars. Bind Action Button 7 → Q, 8 → E, 9 → R, 10 → F. Keys 1–6 are already Action Buttons 1–6.
2. Move strafe off Q and E (to A and D, or remove it).
3. Put the six fixed keys (Z, X, C, V, T, G) on a second action bar, which doesn't change with forms.
4. In EllesmereUI (or any bar addon), make sure the main bar has form paging turned on. Blizzard's default bar does this already.
5. In each form, drag the spells into the slots below. The bar remembers each form separately.

Main bar: changes with each form

Fixed keys: same in every form

Forever lets you use potions and other consumables while shapeshifted, so G works in any form.

Macros

C: Travel or Aquatic, whichever fits

#showtooltip
/cast [swimming] Aquatic Form; Travel Form

T: drop out of form and heal (use Healing Touch until you learn Regrowth around 12)

#showtooltip Regrowth
/cancelform
/cast [@player] Regrowth

Cat opener: Prowl, then Pounce (optional, replaces two presses with one)

#showtooltip
/cast [nostealth] Prowl; Pounce

Talents & training Build

Feral talents for leveling. Forever reworked the trees, so follow Icy Veins' Forever Feral guide for exact points.

Talent milestones (Forever beta guides)

• 25: Shifting Power, which replaces Classic's powershifting without making you shift.
• 30: Leader of the Pack (crit for your group).
• 40: Berserk (Feral capstone; 3-minute cooldown, boosts whichever form you're in).
• Also new or changed: Natural Reaction (Bear dodge and rage), Rend and Tear (rewards keeping bleeds up). Omen of Clarity, Faerie Fire and Nature's Grasp are baseline now.

Training plan

Always buy new ranks of your Cat and Bear attacks, Rejuvenation, Regrowth and Mark of the Wild. Skip caster damage ranks (Wrath, Starfire) while Feral; you rarely cast them.

Levels from the Forever beta guides: Bear 10, Aquatic 16, Faerie Fire 18, Cat/Prowl/Claw/Rip/Shred 20, Rake 24, Dash 26, Travel 30, Berserk/Moonkin/Innervate 40. Everything else is Classic's approximate level.

Second spec

• Restoration for healing dungeons: Wild Growth (group heal-over-time), stacking heal-over-time effects that can crit, Swiftmend that no longer eats your heal. Groups always need healers, so you'll find dungeons fastest this way.
• Bear if you'd rather tank. Bears still can't block or parry; they rely on armor, dodge and health.

Rotations By level

• 1–10 (caster): Wrath (1) to pull, Moonfire (2), Wrath until it reaches you, then melee. Rejuvenation (E) and Regrowth (T) between fights. This stretch is slow; that's normal.
• 10–20 (Bear): Faerie Fire (5) or Moonfire to pull before shifting, then Bear (X): Maul (1), Demoralizing Roar on packs, Swipe (3) on two or more. Out of combat, caster heal.
• 20–30 (Cat): Prowl (Q), sneak up, Rake (2) or Pounce (R) to open, Claw/Shred (1) to build combo points, Ferocious Bite (3) at 4–5 points. Rip (4) only on mobs that will live a while. Tiger's Fury (6) on tougher mobs.
• 30–40: same Cat rotation; Travel Form between quests; Bear for anything with friends.
• 40–60: Berserk (F) on hard fights; keep Rake and Rip up when Rend and Tear rewards bleeds; Dire Bear for packs and elites.

PvP Battlegrounds or when you flag

On a Normal ruleset you only fight players in battlegrounds or when you flag. The same kit also gets you out of a bad pull.

1. Before they see you: Cat Form, Prowl (Q), and walk away.
2. Melee on you: Entangling Roots (caster Q) or Nature's Grasp (caster F, roots the next melee hitter), then Travel Form (C) and run.
3. Caught in Cat: Dash (E) and run; Bash (Bear E) to stun and buy a second if needed.
4. Taking heavy damage: Bear (X), Barkskin, Frenzied Regeneration (R).
5. Near a cliff: Walk on Air (Skyborne racial) and jump.
6. Once clear: Regrowth (T), Read Ley Line, then Prowl and leave.

In Classic, shifting form also broke slows and roots. Check whether Forever keeps that; if it does, pressing C while slowed is your best escape.

Leveling route Zones

Normal (PvE) ruleset: world PvP only happens when both players opt in, so take the fastest zones, not the safest. Zone ranges are Classic-based; Forever's new quests may shift them, so follow RestedXP or Journey where they differ.

Leveling habits

• Run each dungeon once, with its quests; Forever cut dungeon mob XP and raised dungeon quest XP.
• Eat crafted food for the XP bonus; log out in inns for rested XP; use campfires and the Cozy Sleeping Bag.
• Launch week is crowded: group up for kill quests instead of competing for the same mobs.
• Pick every herb on your route; Travel Form from 30 makes it nearly free.

Priorities for levels 1–40 Order of operations

1. Form quests: Bear at 10, Aquatic at 16, Cat at 20. They're your power spikes.
2. Leveling pace: quest-led; each dungeon once for its quests; food XP buffs, rested XP, campfires, Cozy Sleeping Bag.
3. Weapon: a staff, mace or (from 20) polearm with Strength or Agility.
4. Herbalism on every route; keep its skill at the zone's herbs.
5. Alchemy with herbs the Hunter mails plus your own; potions for yourself first.
6. Travel Form at 30: buy it the moment you hit 30.
7. Gold: the Hunter funds most of it; Travel Form covers outdoor travel, so the mount can wait a few levels if gold is tight.

Levels 40–60 plan Mid–late game

• Zones: Riverglades, Tanaris, Feralas, Hinterlands, Un'Goro, Felwood, Winterspring, Plaguelands, Burning Steppes, Hyjal.
• Dungeons: once each for quests, healing as Restoration with your second spec.
• Professions: high-level herbs for flasks; catch Alchemy up to your level.
• Raids open December 9: flask and elixir demand will already be running; sell into it whatever your level.

At level 60 End game

• Alchemy to 300: earns an account-wide certification title.

Professions Economy

Herbalism + Alchemy: you gather the herbs Alchemy uses, and the Hunter's herbs top it up until it switches to Engineering.

• Healing Potions moved to First Aid in Forever. Alchemy keeps elixirs, flasks and mana potions, and fewer players will compete for that market.
• Cooking: food XP bonus. First Aid: Healing Potions and bandages.
• Fishing: skip; the Shaman fishes.

Gold priorities Spending order

1. Form quests and core ranks every trainer visit; skip caster damage ranks while Feral.
2. Bags: free quest bags first; don't buy in the first few days.
3. Profession training as needed.
4. Mount fund from 30. Travel Form handles outdoor travel, so the mount mainly helps indoors and with speed. A Druid can let this slip a few levels if gold is tight.
5. Market trading once the mount fund is on track.

Epic mount: buy when gold ≥ mount cost + trading capital + 4 × weekly raid supply spend + repair buffer

Bags Storage

Send everything you're holding for later to your bank alt instead of filling your own bank.

Addons & resources Tooling

Open questions to verify at launch Unresolved

• Which upgrade pack includes Skyborne, and its price
• Does shifting form still break roots and slows?
• Can you pick herbs in Travel Form?
• Exact Feral talent tree and spell levels above 30
• Does casting a heal drop your form automatically?
• Does Dual Talent Specialization cost gold, and at what level?
• Where Zephras Isle hands Alliance Skyborne off after 12
• Riding and epic riding costs