Playing the Druid class offensively… without feral charge.

As classic druid play gets stale and warrior warlock druid matchups become more common, I’ve been trying to think of a way to switch things up. I run the classic Druid Mage Rogue composition both on the ESL realm and on Shadowburn, and what with its versatility we can change our strategy entirely if necessary. Recently I’ve tried a new talent build: 24 / 0 / 37. Shios has dubbed it “reverse dreamstate,” others call it the “grace-growth build.” In essence you are dropping your feral talents for balance talents. Why? There are many reasons.

Reason One: Equivalent healing, with the improved spell range! Now you can root at 36 yards and cyclone at 24 yards without the mess of having crappy lifebloom ticks. Want to root that warrior out of intercept range? No problem! Want to get a cyclone off without getting feared? Don’t worry, you’re reverse dreamstate! This build is an excellent solution to the classic druid dilemma concerning nature’s reach versus empowered rejuvenation. You really can get both! But Sodah, you say, you only have 2/5 in empowered rejuvenation. What do you mean EQUIVALENT healing? Well, Lunar Guidance makes up almost entirely for the lost healing coefficient.

Your lifeblooms will heal for just about the same as before.

Bam.

Reason Two: Get your rocks off DPSing like you’ve always wanted. Is your kill target in a kidney shot, the enemy healer polymorphed, and the third opponent sitting in a root? Have you got nothing to do but sit around with a stupid look on your face? Problem solved: just wrath ball them! Your wraths will hit for 850 damage. They’re fast, and they hit hard. I like it; you’ll love it.

Reason Three: Feral charge is so last year. Wrath of the Lich King is introducing an entirely changed druid talent tree featuring Feral Charge as a 21 point talent. That’s right, you don’t get to use your favorite ability in the entire game anymore in the 3.0.1 patch. Why not get ahead of the competition and learn to live without it? I personally deeply miss feral charge, but your new lack of spell interrupt / free get away is really the single downside to this build. Thick hide and Brutal impact are both minor talents in comparison to the gains you get with Grace-Growth. The main reason I did not use 24 / 0 / 37 formerly is because one can argue that Feral Charge is just as offensive as Lunar Guidance / Nature’s Grace / Nature’s Reach. Well, this is actually true in some cases; but recently, not always.

When should I spec 24/0/37 over 8/11/42? Or how about over 34/0/27 (Dreamstate)?

I could write 8 pages about which spec you should pick for which situation. Since 3v3 is the big thing at the moment, I’m sticking to only a few 3v3 compositions for this discussion. Firstly: why go 24/0/37 over dreamstate? Because you literally cannot out heal the damage of a Warrior Warlock Druid team, nor the burst of a Rogue Mage Priest. You want big heals, and you want swiftmend. Shatters will out damage your heals, and dispels will frustrate you to no end as you waste globals on pitiful single lifeblooms. Okay, so dreamstate has weak healing. Why go 24/0/37 over the very powerful 8/11/42 against either of these killer comps? For warrior gibbing, druid switching, and for the fast kills you will need especially if you’re playing with a mage. My composition (Druid Mage Rogue) cannot outlast another team; you’re dependent on cooldowns, and your mage has a fragile mana pool. You want to get a kill during those kidneys, so you NEED an offensive druid. While feral charging a Warlock’s fear which could stop your mage’s shatter is super helpful, it’s much more efficient in terms of damage and mana to save your cyclone for the warlock instead, following up with assisting on damage.

It's your choice between the extra point in nature's grasp or the point in improved moonfire.

Before I wrap up this lengthy discussion on druid speccing, I’d also like to give an honorable mention to Nature’s Grace. Let me state that I’ve yet to be counter-spelled during a Nature’s Grace cyclone cast. I’m sure that some of this is due to the surprise factor in not expecting a 0.9 second cast, while the other factor is the sheer speed of it. 60% of the time after casting Regrowth, you will get a Nature’s Grace proc. Think of this as an opportunity for uninterruptible Crowd Control! I think you’ll love it, because I do.

And remember: warriors in berserker stance are your best friends.