Druid Shapeshifting

Shapeshifting

When do I get shapeshifting

Druids get shapeshifting starting at level 10. Right now, only bear form, water form, and swift flight form will require you to do a quest to get (details later). At level 16 you get water form (increased water speed), at level 20 you get cat form (increased dps), at level 30 you get travel form (40% increased movement), at level 40 you get dire bear form (upgraded version of bear form), and at level 68 you get flight form (60% increased movement in Outlands only). At level 70 you can get swift flight form (280% increased movement in Outlands only). All of these with the exception of those rewarded via quests will be available at the druid trainer.

If you use your talent points to spec balance, you have the chance to get Moonkin form (increased armor and spell crit) at level 40 at the earliest.

If you use your talent points to spec restoration, you have the chance to get Tree of Life form (increased healing done to party, lowered mana cost of healing over time spells, limited spellcasts at level 50 at the earliest.

What are the hotkeys for shapeshifting

The shapeshifting hotkeys, by default, are CTRL + F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6. Each F# corresponds to a form on your action bar, the one to the left being number 1 and going up by 1 each time it goes right. You can change these in Key Bindings section of the in game options menu.

How is damage determined in forms

In shapeshifted forms your weapon's dps has no effect on your damage. It is a static base amount determined by your level. Strength is the only stat that will increase this damage in both cat and bear form. Strength increases attack power, so any items that add attack power will also increase your damage. Agility will increase your chance to crit and will increase your attack power in cat form only.

NOTE: THIS INFORMATION IS FOR LEVEL 60. LEVEL 70 DATA COMING SOON.

One strength = 2 attack power in all forms.
One agility = .05 crit, .05 dodge, and 2 armor in all forms and 1 attack power in cat.

How is miss rate determined in forms

Since your weapon has no affect on your feral ability other than stats/on use, your miss rate in forms is independant of the weapon you are using. At every level, Shapeshifting will be maxed out in terms of melee attack (Imagine that your weapon skill is maxed out at every level). There is no way to raise your melee skill in shapeshifting, as it is always maxed out for your level, meaning that you have the same miss/hit chance as you would with a maxed out weapon. You can, however, get +hit gear that will reduce your chance to miss an opponent. You can also use +feral skill items to increase your chance of hitting high level opponents.

How do items benefit me in forms

Items can only benefit you in forms by raising stats and having various "on equip" effects. Weapon speed is irrelevent. Forms will still allow abilities from weapons that say "on equip," but "chance on hit" will not work. "On Use" will work only if you have them equipped. You cannot use "on use" items that you are not wearing.

All of the darkmoon cards will work while shapeshifted, as well as anything else with "on equip" or "on use" (barring the restriction mentioned above).

What's so good about shapeshifting

Shapeshifting allows you to take on the role of a warrior or rogue, and also allows you to move faster on land or sea. Shapeshifting makes you immune to polymorph and breaks all movement imparing effects.

When should I use bear form

Bear form gives increased armor, hit points and attack rating. It is best used for defensive purposes, and can be used to pull units off of other players with taunt (growl). Bear form gives 30% more threat than your other forms. Your attacks in bear form cause additional threat/agro. It is very useful against fast attacking creeps, as they do little damage to begin with. This also goes for pvp, it is useful against a very fast attacking or hard hitting player. Bear form is also good for soloing, though cat form tends to be better in that respect. Bear also gives you two interupts in pvp, which can be very useful - bash and feral charge (with talents).

When should I use cat form

Cat form gives greatly increased damage and stealth. It is best used whenever you are soloing and want to do more damage, when you want to sneak past enemies, and when you want to do something besides heal (and not tank) in a group. Cat form does 29% less threat (threat determines when you pull agro) than your other forms.

When should I use travel/water/flight form

Whenever you want to move faster or escape from enemies. Flight form requrise you be ot of combat so use it in conjunction with your other movement increasing forms.

When should I use Moonkin form

If you have spent the talents to earn this form, you should use it as much as possible. Remember that moonkin cannot cast anything but offensive spells, and remember that you always have the ability to shift out into caster form. If you can afford to not heal, you might as well be in moonkin for the increased survivability and crit chance. It only takes a second to shift out and cast a heal on yourself, so always remember you have that option.

When should I use Tree of Life form

This is a very situational form and is tricky to use. It suffers from a movement speed penalty and can be banished, but it does give a very powerful aura to your party increasing healing taken, and makes your instant cast spells cheaper. Only use this form if you think you will be in it long enough to gain some benefit from it to outweigh the shifting cost. It's very good for non mobile encounters or fights where your party needs a lot of healing. Remember that you don't have to use it all the time if you get it - and that you can always shift out whenever you need to.

How does rage work

Rage (replaces mana in bear) increases when you do melee damage and when you take melee damage. Critical hits generate more rage. Your abilities in bear take rage to use so you rely heavily on hitting the enemy to use abiilties, or taking a lot of damage yourself (which bear is great for).

How does enrage work

Enrage gives you 20 rage over 10 seconds while reducing your base armor amount by 75%. This means that your armor before bear form bonus armor is calculated is reduced, resulting in a small change in bear form armor.

How does energy work

In cat form you get an energy bar instead of a mana bar. Energy has a maximum of 100 and regenerates 20 every 2 seconds. Using abilities subtracts from your existing energy amount. If you time your opening attacks well, you can get the energy "tick" right after you use a move, resulting in less downtime before your next special attack.

How do combo points work

In cat form, you will notice that some abilities add a 'combo point' when you use them. Combo points are represented next to the portrait of the creep you are attacking as little dots. There are five of them, and they change the damage that your finishing moves (currently rip, ferocious bite, and maim) does. If you check the tooltip, rip, ferocious bite, and maim will do more damage depending on how many combo points you have built up. Maim will last longer with more combo points. Combo points will be erased if you land a successful rip, ferocious bite, or maim or if you begin building combo points on another target.

How does stealth work

Stealth is sort of like a limited invisiblity, it makes it so you are very difficult to detect. When you are in front of another player and stealthed, you are easy to see. Go behind them, and they will not be able to see you at all. Level plays a big role in stealth, as each level your innate stealth ability goes up by 5. The more levels you have over an opponent the less likely you are to be spotted. The further away from them and the less you are in front of them the higher chance you will not be spotted. The feral instinct talent basically acts as +1.67 level when determining stealth, up to a maximum of +5.

Is my Ferioucious Bite doing enough damage What about Swipe, etc

The damage listed for all of your moves in any form is before armor mitigation. Depending on the armor of your enemy, your moves will do significantly less than the listed damage.