Solo DruidFollow

Anyone have tips soloing as a 1st time druid? Thanks.

Speaking from experience, put your talents into the Feral tree first.

Here is a link to my Druid's WOW Armory page Rozez, my ultimate build was to do a Feral/Balanced mix, so I am still on track for my "final" build, but I have found that I really should have been putting the points into Feral first.

I'm a NE thru and thru, but chose NE or Tauren based on your usually play style.

Sure. Pull up a cookie.

First thing to do: read the sticky here, labeled Druid 101.

Spec: As others have mentioned, Feral is a fun and efficient way to level. Personally, I like the Feral tree to Feral Swiftness (5 Ferocity, 3 Feral Instinct, 2 Brutal Impact, 2 Feral Swiftness), then over to the Resto tree for Omen of Clarity, then back to Feral. You may choose another method, but whatever you do, if you're leveling Feral and haven't gone straight down to it, respec at 50 for Mangle.

There are lots of great builds in the sticky. This is mine for solo PVE. It's great for that, but not necessarily the optimum build for other stuff. (And I'll probably switch out Thick Hide for Nurturing Instinct since the change, but haven't gotten around to trying it yet.)

All my other advice assumes you're leveling Feral.

Gear: Look for agility, stamina, and strength, in that order, but without neglecting any of them. A little intellect for self-healing won't hurt either. Balancing your gear for soloing can be tough, especially at lower levels. Just work with what you can get, and don't go crazy spending money.

Hanging in there: It gets better when you get bear form, but it really doesn't start to shine until you get cat. Most druids will tell you that you have to give this class 35 levels to see what it's really like. But the payoff is worth it.

Very Basic Playstyle: Take single mobs in cat form. Same with doubles of "yellow" level. More than that and you go bear.

Prowl, Pounce, Feral Faerie Fire, Mangle, Shred, Rip will get you through 90% of situations. Some of those abilities take a while to get; meanwhile you fill in with what you have.

Save your mana for healing. Getting Regrowth/Rejuvenation ticking before the fight is preferable to healing during the fight, if possible. As a general rule, I usually change forms to heal at about 30% health, if it gets that far.

As you get used to the playstyle, you may want to look into some macros and add-ons to make things easier. The Druid Resources sticky here is a great, well, resource.


(edited again for links)

Edited, Jun 1st 2008 10:51pm by teacake

Don't worry about thick hide. It's mainly an endgame tanking talent. Becomes more useful the higher you go so you can always come back and fill it.

Well, I lvled my druid from 0-42ish as Balance. I found it really slow as I was drinking for mana after every second kill.

I then respeced to feral and haven't looked back. I am currently lvl65 and loving every second of it.

I strongly suggest you go feral and follow the sticky. I also agree that you should put talent points where you need them now and respec at later times (lvl50 to get mangle).

I love being able to dps and tank (I have 2 sets of gear). I am always needed for instancing and can solo like nothing else.

Good luck out there and if you have any more questions, feel free to ask.


Haksu
Fenris Realm

I totally leveled my Night Elf with thick hide, then repeced to get mangle. >..>
Leveling my Tauren now without it, I really don't notice any diffrent.

^^ So it won't kill you to do it, sometimes there are just better ways of doing things that you might not know during your first go around. <..<;;

Your panic buttons are roots, heals, hots and a quick swap to plate armor. You still have them, they're just totally different from a rogue's.