Hi I played a mage for the first month of BfA and then stopped playing.
I just resubbed and I’m trying to decide between leveling my Druid or Monk. I do casual content but I like tanking and healing in groups. A dps spec is nice for solo stuff.
How do these 2 classes match up for someone who wants to play 1 character and change specs to fill roles?
Thanks!
monk
#1 tank in game
Top tier healer
mid tier dps
Druid
…lol are druid tanks a thing?
healer is decent
dps decent.
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Just hit 120 on my Monk and been playing Druid on and off throughout the years (mostly casual). Before Monks existed, Druid was the only swiss army knife class, so that was my reason for playing them. Right now, Monks are in a better place with certain competitive end game content, but for everything below the toughest Mythics… both are extremely viable.
I really like the shapeshifting aspect of Druid, the HoTs of Resto, and the speed of attacks with Feral. +1
On the other hand, Monks have some very fun animations, serious mobility, and I wanted to roll a Panda so it seemed like the natural choice. +1
Also, don’t listen to the dumb dumb who thinks Druids can’t tank. It’s a boring rotation, but it’s perfectly viable (especially for casual players). You will easily be able to handle dungeons, heroics, raids, and most mythic content up until the highest tier. Even then, you can do high-end mythics, but you’ll need a guild or people that know you to overcome the stigma.
Worth noting that if you’re going to solo instances, you can save a lot of time in mythics by skipping the trash in stealth with a Druid.
Monk. Resto is good if your team doesn’t suck, MW is a flat out stronger healer.
Brew is a stronger tank, more complicated but stronger by a noticeable margin.
Windwalker vs feral. I don’t know. I don’t care.
Boomkin is in a good place.
I have both at 120. Tanking and melle dps I like better on the monk. I can’t seem to get decent dps on the feral druid although i admit it may be just me. The monk i find has very bad soloability compared to most other classes. This bothers me abit as I like being able to just do whatever i want sometimes without others.
WW also feels rather incomplete without warmode on. Your self healing is pretty bad compared to pretty much every other melle so your going to be a drain on healers outside of when your using karma. WW can be really fun in pvp though. Good mobility and burst.
For casting i think restore is better and balance is surprisingly good as well. You’ll have abit more more to do as a druid. Balance and restore are also great in groups and decent in pvp. Druids may be the worst tanks but at any given time there is almost always groups looking for tanks so its probably not that bad.
Paladins are also decent depending on what you want to do and they are better at soloing than monks.
I have both.
BRM is flat out stronger than Guardian in everything but pvp.
Resto is generally better than MW in dungeons but the opposite is true in raids. Druids can heal better on the move, have better spread healing, and generally better utility but single target healing is significantly worse. They’re about equal in pvp with different strengths and weaknesses.
WW is better than feral in dungeons and pvp. Feral is a bit better in raids.
Boomkin is Boomkin
If you are willing to forego the meme that bears are garbage tanks because they’re nowhere near what they were in Legion, they are fine outside of cutting edge Mythic raiding or the highest M+. They can perform similarly to stronger tanks (including BRM), minus a key or two. It’s just that they have a reputation for a lower barrier to entry, attracting a certain type of player, and a higher skill cap than people appreciate.
I personally find resto druid to be stronger than MW monk at this point in time, but both are among the strongest healers for M+ and raiding.
But seriously, unless you’re pushing for the top tier of PVE gameplay, just play whichever class suits your fancy, whichever rotation you enjoy, etc. Only difference you will find is that bears have a harder time pugging due to their reputation.
Deff not monk lol
Feral feels a lot more survivable to me than monk, plus stealth is nice. I love WW monk, it’s really fun, but since legion I feel like they are WAY squishier. You take a lot of damage with not much ability to heal or mitigate that damage, and unlike a caster you can’t kite, so you’re forced to run away a lot. Feral can just heal through everything, and can bleed and rip everything in sight as they slowly die.
Until WW monks get some better survivability, I think feral might be a better overall choice for a casual player.
As has been said already, but I will add:
Mistweaver Monk:
Resto Druid:
Tank wise, I’ll just paraphrase, Brewmaster is one of the top tank specs in Mythic+ and Raiding. Guardian druid tanking has been subpar this entire expansion. If you pug, Monk is definitely the way to go, if you are in an organized group, it doesn’t really matter.
DPS wise, Windwalker is in a better place than Feral (although Feral got buffed )and has been for the entire expansion comparing the melee specs. With that being said, WW is a middle of the pack dps in raids and not that much better in Mythic+, although there are some very good Mythic+ WW that push very high keys. Then again Boomkin is a very good DPS spec that has amazing utility in Mythic+ and does very good range DPS in raids too.
Bottom line, this is a very hard decision since both classes have many viable specs to play. I think the choice boils down to what you enjoy the most. If you prefer Tanking > Healing > DPS, I’d probably go Monk, if you prefer Healing > DPS > Tanking, I’d probably go Druid. If you prefer DPS, I’d go Druid for flexibility (ranged/melee)
In the end I’d roll both and enjoy the best of both worlds, but then again, I’m actively playing 6 classes at the moment since I hate choosing.
Thanks everyone. I went with Monk for now but once flying is added I’m going to level my Druid too.
I’ve been mostly healing in dungeons and raids and MW feels a bit clunky to play. There’s not much reason to use soothing mist (at least for my content). Often in raids I’ve been the only monk and sometimes I forget to debuff the boss.
BrM is still fun to play and I still think stagger is a really cool mechanic.
WW has cool animations and good mobility.
I think I found the greatest reason to play MW tho. The toy “Big Red Raygun” turns crackbird into a giant red crack bird, it’s great.