Guardian Druid Tank Gear and Best in Slot — The War Within (11.0.5)

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.

2.

BiS Gear for Guardian Druid

Overall BiS List for Season 1 Nerub-ar Palace Gear BiS List Mythic+ Gear BiS List

3.

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	Key to the Unseeming (639)	The Bloodbound Horror in Nerub-ar Palace
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

3.

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	Key to the Unseeming (639)	The Bloodbound Horror in Nerub-ar Palace
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

3.

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	Experiment 08752's Band (639)	City of Threads (626), or Great Vault
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

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.

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.

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.

1. Weapons
2. Helm/Chest/Legs
3. Shoulders/Gloves/Belt/Boots
4. Trinkets
5. Rings and Necks
6. Cloaks and Bracers

You may only have 2 embellishments, present on equipped crafted gear at a time.

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.

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.

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.

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.

1. Mad Queen's Mandate
2. Void Reaper's Contract
3. Ara-Kara Sacbrood
4. Foul Behemoth's Chelicera
5. Swarmlord's Authority
6. Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj.
7. Dead-Eye Spyglass
8. 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.