Guardian Druid Tank Gear and Best in Slot — The War Within (11.0.7)
On this page, you will find the best gear and best in slot items for your Guardian Druid in World of Warcraft The War Within (11.0.7).
If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Feral Tank Druid gear and best in slot.
Best in Slot Gear Guide for Guardian Druid
Welcome to our Gear and BiS Page for Guardian Druid for The War Within Season 1. Check this page to learn everything you need to know about gearing a Guardian Druid, including the BiS Gear from all sources, Raiding, and Mythic+, information on the best Trinkets, Tier Sets, and much more.
For discussion and information on Stats specifically, check out our Stats page below.
BiS Gear for Guardian Druid
The War Within Season 1 Overall BiS List for Guardian Druid
This list contains the Best in Slot Gear for Guardian Druid in The War Within Season 1 from all sources, including Raiding, Mythic+, Delves, The Great Vault, and Crafted.
Note that there is no such thing as a singular, all-encompassing "BiS". The best items vary per character and situation, and there are many items that are essentially equivalent in terms of DPS, namely when we are just shuffling secondary stats around. I will list one "BiS" item per slot, sometimes two if I feel there is a significant difference between Raiding and Mythic+, but ultimately, BiS lists are not very practically useful, and you should be simming your character to find out what gear to equip next. Nonetheless, there is a huge demand for this list, and thus, despite my not thinking you should really care much about it, it is here for your perusal.
Slot | Item | Source/Note |
---|---|---|
Weapon | Harvester's Interdiction (639) | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes (626), or Great Vault |
Helm | Beyond's Dark Visage (639) | The Bloodbound Horror in Nerub-ar Palace |
Neck | Sureki Zealot's Insignia (639) | Sikran in Nerub-ar Palace |
Shoulder | Maw of the Greatlynx (639) | Rasha'nan/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Cloak | Wings of Shattered Sorrow (639) | Rasha'nan in Nerub-ar Palace |
Chest | Hide of the Greatlynx (639) | Broodtwister Ovi'nax/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Bracers | Sanguine Experiment's Bandages (639) | Broodtwister Ovi'nax in Nerub-ar Palace |
Gloves | Eviscerators of the Greatlynx (639) | Sikran/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Belt | Devourer's Taut Innards (639) | Ulgrax the Devourer in Nerub-ar Palace |
Legs | Leggings of the Greatlynx (639) | Nexus Princess Ky'veza/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Boots | Fleeting Massacre Footpads (639) | Nexus Princess Ky'veza in Nerub-ar Palace |
Ring #1 | Seal of the Poisoned Pact (639) | Queen Ansurek in Nerub-ar Palace |
Ring #2 | Cyrce's Circlet | Siren Isle |
Trinket #1 | Ara-Kara Sacbrood (639) | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes (626), or Great Vault |
Trinket #2 | Mad Queen's Mandate (639) | Queen Ansurek in Nerub-ar Palace |
Nerub-ar Palace Raid Gear BiS List for Guardian Druid
This list contains the Best in Slot Gear for Guardian Druid in The War Within Season 1 from the Nerub-ar Palace Raid.
Note that this BiS List is for items from the Raid. I am separating the BiS lists by gear sources. This is what you send to your Raid Leader/Loot Council when they ask you what your BiS gear is from the Raid.
Note that there is no such thing as a singular, all-encompassing "BiS". The best items vary per character and situation, and there are many items that are essentially equivalent in terms of DPS, namely when we are just shuffling secondary stats around. I will list one "BiS" item per slot, sometimes two if I feel there is a significant difference between Raiding and Mythic+, but ultimately, BiS lists are not very practically useful, and you should be simming your character to find out what gear to equip next. Nonetheless, there is a huge demand for this list, and thus, despite my not thinking you should really care much about it, it is here for your perusal.
Slot | Item | Source/Note |
---|---|---|
Weapon | Honored Executioner's Perforator (639) | Broodtwister Ovi'nax in Nerub-ar Palace |
Helm | Beyond's Dark Visage (639) | The Bloodbound Horror in Nerub-ar Palace |
Neck | Sureki Zealot's Insignia | Sikran in Nerub-ar Palace |
Shoulder | Maw of the Greatlynx (639) | Rasha'nan/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Cloak | Wings of Shattered Sorrow (639) | Rasha'nan in Nerub-ar Palace |
Chest | Hide of the Greatlynx (639) | Broodtwister Ovi'nax/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Bracers | Sanguine Experiment's Bandages (639) | Broodtwister Ovi'nax in Nerub-ar Palace |
Gloves | Eviscerators of the Greatlynx (639) | Sikran/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Belt | Devourer's Taut Innards (639) | Ulgrax the Devourer in Nerub-ar Palace |
Legs | Leggings of the Greatlynx (639) | Nexus Princess Ky'veza/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Boots | Fleeting Massacre Footpads (639) | Nexus Princess Ky'veza in Nerub-ar Palace |
Ring #1 | Seal of the Poisoned Pact (639) | Queen Ansurek in Nerub-ar Palace |
Ring #2 | Cyrce's Circlet | Siren Isle |
Trinket #1 | Void Reaper's Contract (639) | Nexus Princess Ky'veza in Nerub-ar Palace |
Trinket #2 | Mad Queen's Mandate (639) | Queen Ansurek in Nerub-ar Palace |
The War Within Season 1 Mythic+ Gear BiS List for Guardian Druid
This list contains the Best in Slot Gear for Guardian Druid from The War Within Season 1 Mythic+.
Note that this BiS List is for items from Mythic+. I am separating the BiS lists by gear sources. This is the list you can chase when you want to improve your gear by farming Mythic+ dungeons.
Note that there is no such thing as a singular, all-encompassing "BiS". The best items vary per character and situation, and there are many items that are essentially equivalent in terms of DPS, namely when we are just shuffling secondary stats around. I will list one "BiS" item per slot, sometimes two if I feel there is a significant difference between Raiding and Mythic+, but ultimately, BiS lists are not very practically useful, and you should be simming your character to find out what gear to equip next. Nonetheless, there is a huge demand for this list, and thus, despite my not thinking you should really care much about it, it is here for your perusal.
Slot | Item | Source/Note |
---|---|---|
Weapon | Harvester's Interdiction (639) | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes (626), or Great Vault |
Helm | Hood of the Hidden Path (639) | Mists of Tirna Scithe (626), or Great Vault |
Neck | Elder's Hemolymphal Periapt (639) | City of Threads (626), or Great Vault |
Shoulder | Maw of the Greatlynx (639) | Any Shoulders turn into Tier/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Cloak | Swarmcaller's Shroud (639) | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes (626), or Great Vault |
Chest | Hide of the Greatlynx (639) | Any Chest turn into Tier/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Bracers | Risen Monstrosity Cuffs (639) | The Necrotic Wake (626), or Great Vault |
Gloves | Eviscerators of the Greatlynx (639) | Any Gloves turn into Tier/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Belt | Sapgorger Belt (639) | Mists of Tirna Scithe (626), or Great Vault |
Legs | Leggings of the Greatlynx (639) | Any Legs turn into Tier/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Boots | Viscera-Stitched Footpads (639) | The Necrotic Wake (626), or Great Vault |
Ring #1 | Stitchflesh's Misplaced Signet (639) | The Necrotic Wake (626), or Great Vault |
Ring #2 | Cyrce's Circlet | Siren Isle |
Trinket #1 | Bottled Flayedwing Toxin (639) | The Necrotic Wake (626), or Great Vault |
Trinket #2 | Ara-Kara Sacbrood (639) | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes (626), or Great Vault |
Best Cyrce's Circlet Gems for Guardian Druid
Cyrce's Circlet is a new ring introduced in Patch 11.0.7 is acquired by completing several activities on the Siren Isle. The ring has 3 sockets, which can fit a different kind of gem each. There are four different gems available for each color of the three sockets, for a total of 12 gems, so there is quite a bit of flexibility on what you can choose to socket.
As for the state of the system on the release of Patch 11.0.7, you will likely continue running your current ring setup until you can build and upgrade all three of the Singing Gems that you want, and upgrade the ring to ilvl 639. Until then it is best advised to stick with whatever setup you currently have, since the gems scale in power as you acquire and upgrade them, and they are only an improvement over higher level gear once you have collected and upgraded all of them a couple of times.
These are generally considered to be the best DPS gems, but it is highly recommended to sim yourself to figure out the best choices and combinations for your specific gear and the specific gems and other rings you already own:
- For raid, you will want to play Thunderlord's Crackling Citrine, Squall Sailor's Citrine and either Fathomdweller's Runed Citrine or Undersea Overseer's Citrine.
- For Mythic+/AoE, you will want to play Thunderlord's Crackling Citrine, Undersea Overseer's Citrine and Windsinger's Runed Citrine
For more information on how to get the ring, as well as acquiring all of the different gems that you can possibly socket into it, check out our Cyrce's Circlet guide below!
Best Trinkets for Guardian Druid in The War Within Season 1
Raiding Trinket Tier List for Guardian Druid
This Trinket Tier List is single-target biased, as this tends to be the most important aspect of Raiding. When Trinkets are equal on single-target, I will "break the tie" by looking into which Trinket performs better in AoE/mixed scenarios.
A "Tier" as defined by this list is around 0.5% DPS, meaning that S-Tier Trinkets are around 0.5% better than A-Tier Trinkets, and so on. Any trinket not on this list should be considered below the C tier.
S-Tier
- Mad Queen's Mandate
- Ara-Kara Sacbrood
- Void Reaper's Contract
- Foul Behemoth's Chelicera
- Swarmlord's Authority
A-Tier
- Dead-Eye Spyglass
- Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj.
- Bottled Flayedwing Toxin
- Shadow-Binding Ritual Knife
B-Tier
- Mistcaller Ocarina — Not great for yourself, but when its effect is multiplied onto all of your hopefully powerful allies, it is a solid Trinket.
- Ovi'nax's Mercurial Egg
- Sikran's Endless Arsenal
C-Tier
- Harvester's Edict
- Imperfect Ascendancy Serum
- Twin Fang Instruments
- Abyssal Trap
- Everburning Lantern
- Concoction: Kiss of Death
- Scroll of Momentum
Mythic+ Trinket Tier List for Guardian Druid
This Trinket Tier List is AoE-biased for Mythic+, as this tends to be the most important aspect of Mythic+.
A "Tier" as defined by this list is around 0.5% DPS, meaning that S-Tier Trinkets are around 0.5% better than A-Tier Trinkets, and so on. Any trinket not on this list should be considered below the C tier.
S-Tier
- Mad Queen's Mandate
- Ara-Kara Sacbrood
- Void Reaper's Contract
- Foul Behemoth's Chelicera
- Swarmlord's Authority
A-Tier
- Skardyn's Grace
- Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj.
- Ovi'nax's Mercurial Egg
- Bottled Flayedwing Toxin
- Shadow-Binding Ritual Knife
B-Tier
- Mistcaller Ocarina — Not great for yourself, but when its effect is multiplied onto all of your hopefully powerful allies, it is a solid Trinket.
- Dead-Eye Spyglass
- Treacherous Transmitter
- Sikran's Endless Arsenal
C-Tier
- Harvester's Edict
- Imperfect Ascendancy Serum
- Twin Fang Instruments
- Abyssal Trap
- Everburning Lantern
- Concoction: Kiss of Death
- Scroll of Momentum
"Simming" Yourself as a Guardian Druid
Throughout this page, we regularly refer to the importance of simming yourself on Raidbots, as it is an indispensable aspect of optimizing your character.
While we do offer generic sim charts for Trinkets, this should not be a replacement for simming yourself, at least not if you want to minmax sub-1%!
If you are new to simming and Raidbots, check out our detailed guide below.
Season 1 Tier Set for Guardian Druid
The Tier Set is comprised of 5 items, all carrying the of the Greatlynx name. Unique DPS bonuses are unlocked when wearing 2 or 4 pieces from the set:
- Druid Guardian Season 1 2pc — Thrash and Moonfire increase your damage done and reduce your damage taken by 1%, stacking 3 times. A passive 3% damage taken and reduction for doing your standard rotation.
- Druid Guardian Season 1 4pc — Arcane damage you deal is increased by 5% and bleed damage you deal is increased by 8%. Another passive effect that you don't need to track or play around.
The Tier Set Bonus is absolutely mandatory for competitive play, and you should prioritize obtaining it. You can use the Matrix Catalyst to convert regular items (from Mythic+, for example) into Tier Items.
You only need 4 pieces out of 5 to get both set bonuses. We recommend you get all items except for the Head, due to their high Crit. But any combination of the 5 pieces is perfectly acceptable, as Guardian stats are all quite similar in value. Check out the BiS List for more information.
Best Gear Crest Upgrades for Guardian Druid
You will be able to upgrade your items via Crests, such as Gilded Harbinger Crest. Once you have upgraded a slot to a certain item level, upgrading other items of that slot to that item level is free.
When you upgrade with Crests, you should think of it as upgrading slots and not items.
Additionally, since Crests are a limited resource, you will want to obtain the highest item-level possible before upgrading a given slot, as this means you will spend fewer Crests on that slot in total. If you are at all capable of doing a +9 Dungeon, for example, it would be a VERY bad idea to upgrade an item from a +8 Dungeon, as those are wasted Crests you may not get back for a very long time.
We see a ton of players, even at a high level, mess up their upgrade priorities, and upgrading prematurely. Getting this right will put you far ahead of most players.
Below is the slot priority you should upgrade your items in. If you ever want to deviate from this, you should have a very good reason.
- Weapons
- Helm/Chest/Legs
- Shoulders/Gloves/Belt/Boots
- Trinkets
- Rings and Necks
- Cloaks and Bracers
Recommended Crafted Gear and Embellishments
You may only have 2 embellishments, present on equipped crafted gear at a time.
Ideal Gear to Craft
Guardian generally prefers to craft low stat budget, flexible items that can easily be swapped to another embellishment at will.
- The Charged Halberd with the Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension embellishment is a great initial craft unless you have easy access to the first 5 bosses on mythic and can naturally loot one without hindering your groups progression.
- Flexible armor slots — such as Rune-Branded Armbands and Rune-Branded Kickers — These can be incredibly useful as they are great items on their own that can have a multitude of embellishments applied to them, allowing you to swap and try things out frequently. Applying a simple proc embellishment like Elemental Focusing Lens to these makes them quite competitive.
- Adrenal Surge Clasp — crafted by Leatherworkers, the Adrenal Surge Clasp is a tank belt with primary stat proc from damage taken. This effect can be doubled with the Writhing Armor Banding, consuming both of your embellishment slots.
Inspiration Catalyst
The Matrix Catalyst is a feature that allows you to convert any piece into "Tier" while retaining item level, socket, and tertiary perks. This can help you to optimize your gear further, similar to the old reforging system.
Enchants and Gems
Whenever you get a new piece of gear, enchant it or gem it, if possible. In The War Within, sockets can come with or be put on: Head, Belt, Wrists, Rings, and Necks. The optimal enchants and gems for Guardian Druids are on the page linked below.
Trinkets for Guardian Druids
The following is a list of the most noteworthy trinkets available overall, ranked in order of power assuming equivalent item level. If you do not have any of these, your best bet will be to use a stat proc trinket with a reasonably high item level. This list only has our most powerful trinkets, any trinket not listed here is considerably weaker.
- Mad Queen's Mandate
- Void Reaper's Contract
- Ara-Kara Sacbrood
- Foul Behemoth's Chelicera
- Swarmlord's Authority
- Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj.
- Dead-Eye Spyglass
- Skardyn's Grace
Offensively, you can refer to the chart below (courtesy of Bloodmallet.com). Note that these are only recommendations based on general sims; you should sim yourself for the most accurate results.
Changelog
- 18 Dec. 2024: Updated Cyrces Circlet suggestions and added to bis lists.
- 15 Dec. 2024: Added Cyrces Circlet section for Patch 11.0.5.
- 21 Oct. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.5.
- 17 Sep. 2024: Updated trinket and gear list post buffs and nerfs.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Updated for Season 1 TWW Launch.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for TWW pre-patch.
- 09 May 2024: Updated Gear list.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 23 Apr. 2024: Updated Raze link.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Updated for Season 4.
- 20 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed and Updated for Patch 10.2.5.
- 23 Nov. 2023: Updated Trinket List.
- 21 Nov. 2023: Updated BiS Lists.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated BiS lists for Patch 10.2.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Added new BiS Lists Gear block.
- 25 Jul. 2023: Updated Borrowed Time link.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.5.
- 26 May 2023: Added timewalking gear.
- 18 May 2023: Updated trinket list.
- 06 May 2023: Updated BiS list after trinket tuning.
- 01 May 2023: Updated new trinkets and gear for patch 10.1.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.5.
- 13 Jan. 2023: Added Embellishment section.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Druid Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Pumps who has played since Vanilla and has tanked in Honestly, the #1 Oceanic raiding guild, since Mists of Pandaria. He also played in the first MDI Mythic+ Dungeon Tournament, where his team placed second. His mindset on tanking has always been taking the utility and damage one can bring to the raid to the next level. He was the #1 Rank DPS Guardian Druid for 5 tiers in a row and top the 1-6 for the last 12 tiers, playing Guardian Druid, Brewmaster Monk and Protection Warrior mainly based on what is the strongest for progression at the time. You can find him on discord — Pumps#0734 — and on Twitch.
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