Or is it annoying and will take me forever to kill stuff? I just want to try something new…
I’ve lvld three Druids in guardian spec, it’s all I play when Druiding.
The pace can be slower but kill questing is a breeze…people love to hop in and burn large packs to move on.
If you’re starting at lvl 10, do all the ‘opening’ expax sequences and you will hit mid 40’s in short time.
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I quest and level as bear druid a lot. I think just make sure to pick up all the dmg oriented talents and pick up crit / mastery items rather than versatility. That’s what I do at least. Oh and spam maul instead of your defensive rage spenders.
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Once you get AoE, it’s the fastest leveling spec.
Gather up all the mobs, kill them all without a worry to dying, collect what you need in the area, rinse and repeat.
And instant dungeon queue.
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It’s slower per mob, sure, but you can pull 5-10 mobs at once and AoE them all down.
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Thanks all, that’s what I figured… There is just something about guardian druid and mindless leveling fun. I’m glad that’s still the case!
Plus you can take balance affinity to Sunfire mobs as well!
That mixed with travel form and the almost invincibility makes it a great leveling spec.
Plus near instant dungeon queues is always nice!
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Viable? Yes.
Fun? Unlikely.
Fun is subjective obviously. But Guardian is basically the simplest tank, and people often complain about it being boring. That’s why I say “unlikely” rather than just “no”.
I never understood questing or doing world content in a tank spec. People will say they can pull bigger and AOE. Well any decent player can pull bigger, AOE harder and kill faster on almost any dps spec.
Let alone with guardian with its low burst damage and basically no AOE resource dump, lol.
So imo it’s just a crutch for poor players who die a lot as dps.
Dungeons for instant ques? Sure, different story.
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Viable, sure but fun I guess its depend.
personaly I find it boring to play guardian while leveling or solo questing. but it might be due to my main being a vengence DH.
I find guardian weak in compared to DH for solo questing. I can just pull way more and AoE burst mobs down on my DH and druid will requiert more CD to pull even less.
Rotation is slow paced and boring while soloing IMO.
I’ve got my Druid up to level 57 so obviously have not done any endgame content with her but…
I’ve been levelling primarily as guardian spec. It’s definitely a bit slow, but it’s been a breeze. As others have said, yes, it takes longer to kill individual mobs but you can AoE down great numbers easily.
And I’ve taken on 2 or 3 elites at a time (in open world, dungeons are completely different), and not even gotten below half health. That’s been nice.
Big Oof. Not true at all. I <3 bears and enjoy leveling/questing as guardian. It’s a lot of fun. Maybe I should never do it again tho since someone on the internet thinks it means u r potentially a poor player…
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You do you, mate. I’m just saying that it’s only poor players that think tanks can AOE mobs faster.
Depends on the scenario.
Feral vs Guardian: 5 mob scenario
Fresh 60, ilvl 150, questing greens: being able to face tank all 5 without fear of dying with Guardian is faster than needing to kite/root/pick one apart/dot to death with Feral
Ilvl 200: Feral will have the mobs dying before youre able to fully round up all 5 mobs.
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On every dps character i’ve played in shadowlands, I could kill stuff faster than I could pull it.
From lvl 50 through to ilvl 220+.
It’s not just a thing that suddenly happens at 200ilvl, if you know how to pump on your class. That’s my point.
Well I know that as a fresh 60, my Feral wouldn’t be able to kill 5 mobs with them beating on me before they killed me.
Ranged has it indefinitely better. And I’m not sure how plate stacks up. But of the DPS I’ve leveled up (this guy, feral, monk, DH), aside from the DH most of them would struggle to kill 5 at a time before they killed me. And I’d like to consider myself a bit above the average player.
50-56 wasn’t too bad. 57-59 was a bit tougher, and then it started going up Again at 60
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Okie. No hope for you. But, keep your mindset and delusions. Its fun to play guardian periodt.
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I’m currently taking my time and levelling through Shadowlands as Guardian (just finished Bastion story and started Maldraxxus). It is easy mode, but as others have said definitely a little bit slower where you are just 1v1.
I have solo’d every rare, 3-man wanted quests, and multiple elites in cruddy gear. Normal mobs just gather up as many as you can and tank them down easy-peasy. Doing the same content with my dps Shaman was MUCH more difficult.
Look, as already stated multiple times: if you enjoy it because it’s fun - go for it of course.
Just stop telling people it’s faster than dps. That’s only true if you’re very unskilled and just sit there face tanking everything.
Every dps spec i’ve played in SL (6 of them) i’ve literally run around slaughtering everything before it can do much.
I’ve tried lvling as guardian and i’ve played it at KSM level, so I know what i’m doing. It’s much slower. However, if you’re a pretty basic player and just want to pull 5 mobs and sit there letting them wail on you…yes, for those types of players it’s going to be “easier”.
Extremely strong level spec. Slightly lower single target dps than Feral or Balance, but you can take on multiple enemies much easier. If you are in an area with many mobs you can take them all on at once and actually go faster than the dps specs due to your aoe dps and survivability.
Fun factor: TBH Guardian is one of the most boring tanks in the game and I don’t think this has changed much since BFA (any other tanks can chime in here) but it is decent with warmode on. I use the Frenzied Regen talent which grants 60 rage with every Frenzied Regen, the Sharpened Claws talent which increases Thrash/Swipe damage with every Maul and…can’t remember the last one I use. The Galactic Guardian talent really spices up the rotation also.
-vomits explosively-