Guardian Druid Tank Easy Mode — 12.0.5

This is a great beginner raiding build. It is a very simplified version of Bear where you spend your rage defensively on Ironfur and Frenzied Regeneration and spend your rage offensively on Maul.

Use the calculator's 'Export Talents' to easily copy the build in-game.

This build ramps up the arcane talents and focuses on consistently generating massive healing via Elune's Favored with Thrash and the Lunation hero talent. We also pick up some extra self-healing with Reinvigoration and group healing with After the Wildfire, alongside some CC in Typhoon and Ursol's Vortex.

Use the calculator's 'Export Talents' to easily copy the build in-game.

1. Keep Moonfire up.
2. Use Thrash as often as possible.
3. Use Mangle as often as possible.
4. Spend rage on Ironfur.
5. Use Maul with 60+ rage if possible.
6. Use Swipe as the lowest priority last resort button if you have nothing else to press.

This rotation maximizes Rage generation while maintaining reasonable damage.

The Guardian Druid tier set is mostly passive, but has a chance for a proc from your moonfire damage ticks to allow your next Maul/Raze/Ravage to Echo again at 100% effectiveness. If you are playing Druid of the Claw you should try to make this a Ravage as often as possible. As Elune's Chosen you can ignore it largely.

Guardians have three baseline cooldowns.

• Barkskin reduces all damage you take by 20% for 12 seconds on a 60-second cooldown. Barkskin is usable while stunned, incapacitated, or asleep. This will be your first line of defense against dangerous spike damage and your primary way of reducing magic damage or simply as risk mitigation to smooth your damage intake for your healers. It has a short cooldown, so use it often.
• Survival Instincts reduces all damage you take by 50% for 6 seconds. Survival Instincts has two charges and a 3-minute recharge time. This is your major defensive reduction, to be used against lethal spike damage or "tankbuster" mechanics. Its short duration and long cooldown mean it should be used sparingly.
• Berserk reduces the cooldown on Mangle, Thrash and Growl by 50%.

The Apex talents for Guardian have no effect on your rotation and passively increase the damage done via Maul/ Raze.

By executing your rotation, you will generate Rage. You can spend Rage in one of three ways: on your active mitigation spell Ironfur, on your self-heal Frenzied Regeneration, or on a hard-hitting attack Maul.

Deciding how to spend Rage can be boiled down to a few simple situations. If you are taking Physical damage or melee attacks, use Ironfur. If you are at low health or expect to be brought to low health, use Frenzied Regeneration. If you are not in danger of either, use Maul.

Ironfur is unique in that multiple spell applications can overlap, meaning you can simultaneously have two or more "stacks" of Ironfur. You can also pool Rage to spend on numerous stacks for dangerous moments in a fight. Keep in mind that every application has an independent duration, so adding a stack will not refresh the duration on other stacks.

Frenzied Regeneration heals you for a percentage of your maximum health over a short period. If you are talented into Natural Resilience, Frenzied Regeneration overhealing grants us an absorb shield, this can be really handy walking into a pack.

Maul should only be used when you are either not actively tanking or when you are taking so little damage that using Ironfur will not reduce your need for healing or increase your chances of living.

You will want to prioritize item level over all else, as Armor, Stamina and Agility are far more valuable than any secondary stats. On jewelry and other slots with no primary stats, you will prefer secondary stats in the following order.

For more information on what's presented on this page, check out our main Stat Priority page.

1. Haste
2. Versatility
3. Mastery
4. Critical Strike

This is a new feature introduced in Patch 11.1.7 which is oriented at helping new players with their rotations. While this feature can be useful for some it is generally around a 40% DPS loss to solely follow it for Guardian. Also as a tank, it does not have much emphasis on the importance of proper defensive usage. Use this tool at your own discretion, but it would be extremely suboptimal currently to follow it blindly.