Classic Balance Druid Ranged DPS Guide

Druids are most often described as, "the jack of all trades, but master of none". This is quite accurate since, Druids are the only class in the game capable of fulling all four roles: tank, healer, ranged DPS, and melee DPS. However, every Druid specialization and build is considered sub-par for PvE and is outclassed by other classes that share the role.

Strengths

• Versatile in PvP.
• Strong off-healing.
• Strong survivability.
• Strong utility through Innervate and Rebirth.

Weaknesses

• Low damage.
• Runs out of Mana easily.
• Hard to gear - you will want spell damage, which really only exists on cloth pieces. This means you will be competing with Mage and Warlock for limited gear.
• Extremely hard to find a raid spot.

Balance Druids, commonly referred to as "Boomkins", are arguably the least desirable specialization for PvE in WoW Classic. They bring extremely low damage, run out of Mana quickly, and simply do not offer enough to make them worth a raid spot.

While they do offer some nice utility spells, such as Innervate, the spot could be filled by a Mage or Warlock who would do much more damage without the danger of running out of Mana. If you choose to play Balance for raiding, know that you are fighting an uphill battle, and you will need to work harder, use more consumables, and play perfectly just to even have a chance at being invited to a raid.

While Balance Druids are considered to be non-viable in PvE, they can be quite fun and strong in PvP. With the versatility that Druid offers as a class through its different forms and abilities to adapt to any situation, Balance Druids are able to control enemies, kite when needed, and dish out consistent or burst damage when required.

One unique characteristic of Druid is the access to animal forms: Dire Bear Form allows for tanking, Cat Form enables melee DPS, Aquatic Form provides water breathing and faster movement speed while swimming, Travel Form allows for quick land transportation while outdoors, and Moonkin Form is for Balance Druids only and helps with caster DPS.

All of these forms have their unique appearances and shapeshifting into a form costs Mana, but also frees you of any movement impairing effects or roots when used, as does shapeshifting back out of the form.

Mana is a Balance Druid's main resource. Despite having talents which interact with the Spirit stat, such as Reflection, and also Innervate to help with Mana, you will still run out of Mana quite quickly when using maximum rank DPS spells, forcing you to use lower ranks in long fights and thus lowering your damage potential.

The best profession to have as a Balance Druid is Engineering. It provides powerful items that you can use in both PvE and PvP content to either deal damage or help you get out of a tough spot. You also will be able to make Green Lens, which is your pre-raid BiS head piece.

While Engineering is a great profession, the more important thing to think about is how you plan to make gold. Gold is incredibly important in WoW Classic for a number of reasons and will be quite hard to come by, especially at the start. Check out the Druid Goldmaking section for more information on other potential professions for making gold.

Find our new guides for Druid in WoW Classic Season of Discovery below! The new game mode will have players find and utilize Runes that can then be engraved onto their gear to provide them special bonuses that augment already existing abilities or allow the class to use entirely new spells.

While Druid was already incredibly flexible in WoW Classic, the Season of Discovery will make new builds possible, and increase the power of already existing builds.