Druid Talent Templates
9/11/31 Talent Template
As of WoW patch 1.6.0, this is a common template, very popular in particular on PvP realms.
Balance Talents (9 points).
Main goal for me here is Nature's Reach, other talents are just gravy. However, some swear by Nature's Grasp and cannot imagine playing a druid without it.
Nature's Grasp - 1/1 point
While active, any time an enemy strikes the caster, they have a 35% chance to become afflicted by Entangling Roots.
Improved Nature's Grasp - 4/4 points
Increases the chance for your Nature's Grasp to entangle an enemy by 65%.
Nature's Reach - 2/2 points
Increases the range of your Wrath, Entangling Roots, Faerie Fire (caster form only), Moonfire, and Starfire spells by 20%. This is a great talent. After you spec to it once, you will find it very hard to consider any build that doesn't include this.
Swiftshifting - 2/3 points
After leaving a shapeshift form, reduces the casting cost of the next shapeshift by 40% if used with 6 seconds. Leftover two points go here. Depending on how often you shift, you may want these points elsewhere.
Feral Combat Talents (11 points).
We want to get Imp. Bash and Feral Charge in this tree.
Ferocity - 5/5 points
Reduces the cost of your Maul, Swipe, Claw, and Rake abilities by 5 Rage or Energy. This is not a big help for Cat, but very noticable for Bear abilities.
Improved Bash - 2/2 points
Increases the stun duration of your Bash ability by 1 second. Trust me, this second matters a LOT.
Sharpened Claws - 3/5 points
Increases your critical strike chance while in Bear, Dire Bear or Cat form by 3%. Filler. More crits are nice, but what we really want is to get to the next tier.
Feral Charge - 1/1 point
Causes you to charge an enemy, stopping its movement and interrupting any spell being cast for 4 seconds. This is somewhat useful in PvE but mostly shines in PvP, giving you an anti-kiting tool and another spell interrupt (Druids badly lack abilities that interrupt enemy casting). Four second root is a bonus.
Restoration Talents (31 points).
The gems in this tree are Furor, Nature's Swiftness and Innervate.
Improved Mark of the Wild - 5/5 points
Increases the effects of your Mark of the Wild spell by 35%. You don't need this until you get to about level 30, but it does make a nice improvement for the higher ranks of MotW.
Furor - 5/5 points
Gives you a 100% chance to gain 10 Rage when you shapeshift into Bear and Dire Bear form. This is huge. In fact, I suggest you put your first 5 talent points here. This allows you to shift-bash and shift-charge to interrupt healer mobs. I'm sure that you will discover other important tactics that will crucially depend on this talent.
Nature's Focus - 5/5 points
Gives you a 60% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting the Healing Touch or Regrowth spells. Not bad in itself, and required for Nature's Swiftness.
Gift of Nature - 1/1 point
Increases the effect of your Healing Touch, Rejuvenation, Regrowth, and Tranquility spells by 5%. Show me another talent with better returns for one point.
Reflection - 5/5 points
Allows 15% of your Mana regeneration to continue while casting. Pre-requisite for Innervate. Otherwise you probably won't notice it until you get to Molten Core raids.
Improved Rejuvenation - 5/5 points
Improved Regrowth - 3/5 points
Improved Healing Touch - 0/5 points
Subtlety - 0/5 points
These are mostly fillers. Put eight points where they will augment your play style. The above allocation is what I currently use.
Nature's Swiftness - 1/1 point
When activated, your next Nature spell becomes an instant cast spell. This is your "Oh CRAP!!!" button, normally used in conjunction with Healing Touch or Regrowth to give you "instant" large heal, which you can also cast on the run if needed. 3 min cooldown.
Innervate - 1/1 point
Increases the target's Mana regeneration by 400% and allows 100% of the target's Mana regeneration to continue while casting. Lasts 20 seconds. Dispellable by priests and mobs that dispel magic buffs. Also purgeable by Shamans, I think. Cooldown 6 minutes. You can cast it on yourself or on another character (some have been known to cast it on rogues and main tanks). This can give you 3000 mana with modest equipment at level 60.