Druid Talent Ratings

This page describes the Druid class' Talents as of Patch 1.8.

Balance Talents

Tier 1 - Improved Wrath/Nature's Grasp/Improved Nature's Grasp

Improved Wrath - 5 points
Reduces the cast time of your Wrath spell by 0.1 seconds per point.
The base Talent for a Moonkin Druid.

Nature's Grasp - 1 point
While active, any time an enemy strikes the caster, they have a 35% chance to become afflicted by Entangling Roots (Rank 1). Only usable outdoors. 1 charge. Lasts 45 seconds.
Very useful for PvP. Some builds take 1 point in Balance just to get this Talent.

Improved Nature's Grasp - 4 points
Increases the chance for your Nature's Grasp to entangle an enemy by 15% per point.
A decent way to spend points to get you to tier 2.

Tier 2 - Improved Entangling Roots/Improved Moonfire/Natural Weapons/Natural Shapeshifter

Improved Entangling Roots - 3 points
Prereqs: 5 points Balance

Gives you a 40/70/100% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting Entangling Roots.
Limited viability as Moonkin take Improved Moonfire and Feral Druids go with Natural Weapons. This Talent is clearly the runt of tier 2.

Improved Moonfire - 5 points
Prereqs: 5 points Balance

Increases the damage and critical strike chance of your Moonfire spell by 2% per point.
The obvious Talent for Moonkin Druids.

Natural Weapons - 5 points
Prereqs: 5 points Balance

Increases the damage you deal with physical attacks in all forms by 2% per point.
A must have Talent for Feral Druids. 10% more damage on every attack cannot be passed up.

Natural Shapeshifter - 3 points
Prereqs: 5 points Balance

Reduces the mana cost of shapeshifting by 10% per point.
A very useful Talent for Feral Druids who like to be flexible. Has great use in PvP to escape from roots/snares.

Tier 3 - Improved Thorns/Omen of Clarity/Nature's Reach

Improved Thorns - 3 points
Prereqs: 10 points in Balance

Increases damage caused by your Thorns spell by 25% per point. A decent filler Talent.

Omen of Clarity - 1 point
Prereqs: 10 points Balance

Imbue the Druid's weapon with natural energy. Each hit has a chance of causing the caster to enter a Clearcasting state. The Clearcasting state reduces the Mana cost of your next damage or healing spell by 100%. Lasts 5 minutes.
Very useful for Feral Druids to produce damage spikes by making more Energy/Rage available.

Nature's Reach - 3 points
Prereqs: 10 points Balance

Increases the range of your Wrath, Entangling Roots, Faerie Fire, Moonfire, Starfire and Hurricane spells by 10% per point. All Moonkin will take this Talent.

Tier 4 - Vengeance/Improved Starfire

Vengeance - 5 points
Prereqs: 15 points Balance, 5 points Improved Moonfire

Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Starfire, Moonfire and Wrath spells by 20% per point.
It is a tossup between this and Imp Starfire.

Improved Starfire - 5 points
Prereqs: 15 points Balance

Reduces the cast time of Starfire by .1 and has a 3% chance to stun the target for 3 sec. per point.
Effectively a half second reduction to Starfire in PvE as most top end mobs are immune to stun. Gives a decent DPS boost to Starfire.

Tier 5 - Nature's Grace/Moonglow

Nature's Grace - 1 point
Prereqs: 20 points Balance

All spells criticals grace you with a blessing of nature, reducing the casting time of your next spell by .5 seconds.
This is a must have for Moonkin as it can give a good sized DPS boost to their damage spells. For a 24B/27R Druid it can be used to trigger faster cast heals as well.

Moonglow - 3 points
Prereqs: 20 points Balance, 5 points Improved Moonfire

Reduces the Mana cost of your Moonfire, Starfire, Wrath, Healing Touch, Regrowth and Rejuvenation spells by 3% per point.
9% more mana efficient damage and healing spells. Combine this with Tranquil Spirit and you can cast Healing Touch for 19% less Mana.

Tier 6 - Moonfury

Moonfury - 5 points
Prereqs: 25 points Balance, 1 point Nature's Grace

Increases the damage done by your Starfire, Moonfire and Wrath spells by 2% per point.
10% more damage for all spells. Very nice! Moonkin need to get this one.

Tier 7 - Moonkin Form

Moonkin Form - 1 point
Prereqs: 30 points Balance

Transforms the druid into Moonkin Form. While in this form armor is increased by 360% and all party members within 30 yards have their spell critical chance increased by 3%. The Moonkin can only cast Balance spells while shapeshifted.
The Moonkin Talent. Increase a caster group's crit rate by 15%. Great utility when matched with Mages, Paladins, Elemental Shaman and Warlocks.

Feral Combat Talents

Tier 1 - Ferocity/Feral Aggression

Ferocity - 5 points
Reduces the cost of your Maul, Swipe, Claw, and Rake abilities by 1 Rage or Energy per point.
Feral bread and butter.

Feral Aggression - 5 points
Increases the Attack Power reduction of your Demoralizing Roar by 8% and the damage caused by your Ferocious Bite by 3% per point.
Doesn't have the boost to include in most builds.

Tier 2 - Feral Instinct/Brutal Impact/Thick Hide

Feral Instinct - 5 points
Prereqs: 5 points Feral Combat

Increases threat caused in Bear and Dire Bear Form by 3% per point and reduces the chance enemies have to detect you while Prowling
Key Talent for Bear Tanks. Nice to have for stealthing in Cat form.

Brutal Impact - 2 points
Prereqs: 5 points Feral Combat

Increases the stun duration of your Bash ability by 0.5 seconds per point.
Very useful to a Druid in Bear form.

Thick Hide - 5 points
Prereqs: 5 points Feral Combat

Increases your Armor contribution from items by 2% per point.
Very useful to a Bear Druid when tanking. Often not enough points to go around and this gets skipped.

Tier 3 - Feline Swiftness/Feral Charge/Sharpened Claws

Feline Swiftness - 2 points
Prereqs: 10 points Feral Combat

Increases your movement speed by 15% while outdoors in Cat Form and increases your chance to dodge while in Cat Form by 2% per point.
This is very, very nice to have as a Druid. Stealth at 95% of normal run speed is nice to have.

Feral Charge - 1 point
Prereqs: 10 points Feral Combat

Causes you to charge an enemy, immobilizing and interrupting any spell being cast for 4 seconds.
This adds an in-combat charge/intercept ability to the Bear form Druid. There are many applications to the usefulness of this ability.

Sharpened Claws - 3 points
Prereqs: 10 points Feral Combat

Increases your critical strike chance while in Bear, Dire Bear or Cat form by 2% per point.
6% crit for 3 Talent points! If you are going Feral, get this one.

Tier 4 - Improved Shred/Predatory Strikes/Blood Frenzy/Primal Fury

Improved Shred - 2 points
Prereqs: 15 points Feral Combat

Reduces the Energy cost of your Shred ability by 6 per point.
This is a two point Talent, either take both points or none. Take this if you are looking to be a cat form specialist.

Predatory Strikes - 3 points
Prereqs: 15 points Feral Combat

Increases the Attack Power in Cat, Bear and Dire Bear forms by 50% of your level per point.
This is a necessary evil in order to get Heart of the Wild. This Talent translates to +90 attack power at level 60.

Blood Frenzy - 2 points
Prereqs: 15 points Feral Combat, 5 points in Sharpened Claws

Your critical strikes from Cat Form abilities that add combo points have a 50% chance to add an additional combo point.
This is a 17 talent point Seal Fate for the Feral Druid. For cat form specialists this is a must have.

Primal Fury - 5 points
Prereqs: 15 points Feral Combat, 5 points Sharpened Claws

Gives you a 50% chance to gain an additional 5 Rage anytime you get a critical strike while in Bear or Dire Bear form.
This Talent effectively makes Maul a 5 rage skill when it crits. This helps a bear druid to rapidly build hatred on a mob. Must have for a tanking Druid.

Tier 5 - Savage Fury/Faerie Fire (feral)

Savage Fury - 2 points
Prereqs: 20 points Feral Combat

Increases the damage caused by your Claw, Rake, Maul and Swipe abilities by 10% per point.
20% more damage to four of the most used feral Druid skills. Must have for all Feral Druids.

Faerie Fire (Feral) - 1 point
Prereqs: 20 points Feral Combat

Decrease the armor of the target by 175 for 40 seconds. While affected, the target cannot stealth or turn invisible.
This Talent gives a free (no Energy, no Rage, no Mana) faerie fire ability for use when shapeshifted. This ability adds 100 damage worth of hate to the target when used. The hate is added even if the target is already debuffed. This is almost a must have skill for tanking feral Druids and very useful for cat specialists.

Tier 6 - Heart of the Wild

Heart of the Wild - 5 points
Prereqs: 25 points Feral Combat, 3 points Predatory Strikes

Increases your Intellect by 4%. In addition, while in Bear or Dire Bear Form your Stamina is increased by 4% and while in Cat Form your Strength is incresed while in Bear or Cat form by 3% per point.
20% increase to your most important stat in each of your forms. This is arguably the best Talent in the Tree. Potentially 120+ more attack power, 1200 mana or 600+ more health. This Talent continually scales up as does your equipment.

Tier 7 - Leader of the Pack

Leader of the Pack - 1 point
Prereqs: 30 points Feral Combat

While in Cat, Bear or Dire Bear Form, the Leader of the Pack increases ranged and melee critical change of all party members within 45 yards by 3% per point.
This talent has the abililty to add 15% more melee damage to a group in a raid situation. In 5 man group situations there will almost certainly be non-melee types for whom the bonus is wasted. This Talent leverages the group member's attack power by adding 3% more group member damage.

Restoration Talents

Tier 1 - Improved Mark of the Wild/Furor

Improved Mark of the Wild - 5 points
Increases the effects of your Mark of the Wild and Gift of the Wild spells by 7% per point.
This is the base Talent to get for non-Feral Druids. Someone has to buff the raid.

Furor - 5 points
Gives you a 20% chance per point to gain 10 Rage when you shapeshift into Bear and Dire Bear form or 40 Energy when you shapeshift into Cat Form.
This is nearly a must have for Feral Druids. The abiltity to use abilities right after a shape shift is huge for the adaptive Druid.

Tier 2 - Improved Healing Touch/Nature's Focus/Improved Enrage

Improved Healing Touch - 5 points
Prereqs: 5 points Restoration

Reduces the cast time of your Healing Touch spell by 0.1 sec per point.
Pre-req for Nature's Swiftness. As such it is a must have.

Nature's Focus - 5 points
Prereqs: 5 points Restoration

Gives you a 14% chance per point to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting the Healing Touch, Regrowth and Tranquility spells.
Nice to have Talent. Good for PvP and AoE intensive fights, e.g. Vael.

Improved Enrage - 2 points
Prereqs: 5 points Restoration

The Enrage ability now instantly generates 5 Rage per point.
This is very useful for Tanking Druids. Infrequently obtained due to a need for Talent points in other trees.

Tier 3 - Reflection/Insect Swarm/Subtlety

Reflection - 3 points
Prereqs: 10 points Restoration

Allows 5% of your Mana regeneration to continue while casting per point.
Increases a Druid's mana efficiency.

Insect Swarm - 1 point
Prereqs: 10 points Restoration

The enemy target is swarmed by insects, decreasing their chance to hit by 2% and causing 66 Nature damage over 12 sec.
Must have due to the fact that it is a pre-req for Gift of Nature.

Subtlety - 5 points
Prereqs: 10 points Restoration

Reduces the threat generated by your Healing spells by 4% per point.
Very useful PvE application due to a Druid have no way to shed aggro during a fight.

Tier 4 - Tranquil Spirit/Improved Rejuvenation

Tranquil Spirit - 5 points
Prereqs: 15 points Restoration

Reduces the mana cost of your Healing Touch and Tranquilitiy spells by 2% per point.
Usefulness limited due to the cooldown on Tranquility and the lack of use of long casting Heals.

Improved Rejuvenation - 5 points
Prereqs: 15 points Restoration

Increases the effect of your Rejuvenation spell by 5% per point.
25% improvement to a basically static healing value makes this a marginal Talent. Rejuvenation get ~40 of your +healing gear's affect making it scale poorly.

Tier 5 - Nature's Swiftness/Gift of Nature/Improved Tranquility

Nature's Swiftness - 1 point
Prereqs: 20 points Restoration, 5 points Improved Healing Touch

When activated, your next Nature spell becomes an instant cast spell.
Arguably the strongest Talent in the Druid Restoration Tree. Allows a 2500+ health instant cast heal.

Gift of Nature - 5 points
Prereqs: 20 points Restoration, 1 point Insect Swarm

Increases the effect of all healing spells by 2% per point.
+10% to all healing. Must have talent.

Improved Tranquility - 2 points
Prereqs: 20 points Restoration

Reduces threat caused by Tranquility by 40% per point.
Greatly reduces the threat generated by Tranquility, to 0%???.

Tier 6 - Improved Regrowth

Improved Regrowth - 1/5 points
Prereqs: 25 points Restoration

Increases the critical effect chance of your Regrowth spell by 10% per point.
This 50% chance to increase healing by 25%.

Tier 7 - Innervate

Innervate - 1 point
Prereqs: 30 points Restoration, 5 points Tranquil Spirit

Increases the target's Mana regeneration by 400% and allows 100% of the target's Mana regeneration to continue while casting. Lasts 20 seconds.