Druid guide: tank, healer and damage dealer in one hero — talents, build, PvE and PvP

The Druid is one of Zarhold’s two most flexible classes. Together with the Lightbringer it’s the only class open to all three roles: it takes hits, heals allies and deals damage — all from one deck. Which role a Druid plays is decided by talents. If you want to be useful to any group and don’t like choosing once and for all, this is your class. Here’s how to play a Druid: cards and Class Power, talent trees early on and at level 60, gear, and how to play in dungeons, raids and the arena.

The Druid at a glance

• Group roles: tank, healer or damage dealer.
• Armour: leather; cloth can be worn too.
• Resource: Focus. It’s the same Crystals everyone has: 1 on your first turn, one more each turn up to 10, and whatever you don’t spend is lost.
• Health at level 60 without gear: 446 — in the middle: more than cloth classes, less than plate wearers.
• Cards: 22 of their own and 5 from talents — two in the tank tree, one in the attacking tree and two in the healing tree.
• Difficulty: medium. The deck is broad, and in every role you need to know which of its cards matter most.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths:

• three roles in one hero: from level 20 you can keep two specialisations and switch roles with one button outside combat;
• the deck has everything: healing, shields, damage over time, strikes on all enemies, control;
• the attacking Class Power hits all enemies at once — and it’s the default power before level 10;
• two cards that make the enemy lose a turn;
• strikes that heal you and a defensive card for −30% damage taken.

Weaknesses:

• as a tank the Druid has less Health than plate wearers, no shield in the off hand and no taunt card — only the Class Power;
• as a healer there’s no card that removes harmful effects from allies;
• cards for every role share one deck, so in any role part of your hand is cards for another.

The Druid’s deck: key cards

All 22 class cards and the cards of your learned talents go into battle; if you have fewer than thirty, the deck is topped up with copies of cheap cards. Every card with its description is in the Druid’s Spellbook.

Damage

• a cheap strike for 2 Crystals and a heavy one for 4;
• a 1-Crystal strike that returns 4 Crystals — fuel for expensive cards;
• three damage-over-time cards on a single target (damage at the end of each of the enemy’s turns for 3 turns) and a bleed;
• a card after which the target takes 20% more damage for 3 turns;
• a strike on all enemies for 5 Crystals and damage over time on all enemies for 3 turns;
• an 8-Crystal finisher.

Healing and defence

• a heal over time for 3 turns, a 10 heal and a big 18 heal (base);
• two strikes that deal damage and heal you;
• two shields — 18 (for only 2 Crystals) and 20;
• a defensive card: −30% damage taken for 3 turns.

Healing cards can be aimed at an ally: F1 makes you the healing target, F2–F5 your allies. Healing beyond full Health turns into a shield.

Control and buffs

Two cards make the enemy lose a turn — roots and a cyclone. Another card adds 30% damage for 3 turns. Base card numbers grow with Power: the more a card costs, the bigger the share of Power it gets.

The Druid’s Class Power

Your Class Power is the round button that costs 1 Crystal, once per turn. Each Druid tree has its own:

• the first tree — Taunt: bonus armour, and in a party against creatures enemies attack you right away and for 2 of their turns, dealing 40% less damage to you; ready again after 3 turns. One-on-one and in PvP — armour only;
• the second tree (and no specialisation, before level 10) — damage to all enemies;
• the third tree — a healing power: on an ally it heals, on an enemy it deals damage at the end of their turn for 2 turns.

In dungeons, raids and world boss fights the healing power heals the whole party: the chosen ally gets the full effect, everyone else a small top-up, and the Druid’s chosen target also gets 2 turns of healing over time. Details are in the knowledge base article Class Power and racial ability, numbers in the Class Power reference.

Druid talents: three trees

Talents unlock at level 10 and you get a point for every level — 51 by level 60. Each row of a tree opens for every 5 points in it, the top talent needs 20 points in its own tree, and a hero has only one per loadout. The Druid’s trees hold 26, 22 and 27 ranks — 75 in total.

1. The first tree — feral strength and defence. The tanking tree: only it grants Taunt. Two talent cards — strikes that deal damage at the end of each of the enemy’s turns: in the second row (from level 15) and in the fifth (from level 30).
2. The second tree — damage. Its power hits all enemies. Talent card in the second row: a strike, damage over time for 3 turns and +15% damage taken by the target for 3 turns.
3. The third tree — healing. The class’s only healing tree. Talent cards: a 3-turn heal over time in the second row and a quick heal with a shield for 2 Crystals in the fifth.

Every tree with its talent and rank counts is in the Talent trees reference.

What to take early on

For open-world quests the second tree is handy: its power hits all enemies, and that’s the power a Druid has before level 10 too. The healing tree works solo as well — its power can hit an enemy with damage over time. Put your points into one tree in a row: its first talent card arrives as early as level 15.

A level 60 build

From level 20 a hero has two specialisations — so a Druid can keep two of their three roles:

• Spec A — the tree for your group role: tanking or healing;
• Spec B — the attacking tree for quests, events and the arena (or your second group role, if you want to both tank and heal).

Put 21 points into your main tree (20 to reach the top talent plus the top talent itself) and the other 30 into bonuses from the neighbouring trees. Remember that only the talent cards of your active specialisation go into battle. Switching, loadouts and talent resets are free; how to build is covered in “Talents in a card RPG”. To check your damage or healing after changing talents, use the training dummy — the Try out button in the talents window.

Druid gear and weapons

• Armour: leather (and cloth).
• Weapons: staff, mace, dagger, fist weapon or polearm.
• Off hand: tome or orb; the Druid doesn’t use a shield.
• Two-handed: staff, polearm and a two-handed mace. No dual wielding.
• Relic: in the ranged slot the Druid has a class relic of their own that only Druids can wear.

Hands are equal for every class: a one-hander plus an off-hand item carry as many stats as a two-hander. At level 60 the Druid’s goal is the Tier 1 set Mantle of the Living Grove: eight pieces of item level 232 from heroic raids and world bosses. The 2-, 4-, 6- and 8-piece bonuses depend on your active tree — they differ for a tank, a healer and a damage dealer — and don’t work in PvP. Details are in “Tier sets in an MMORPG”, every class’s weapons in the Armour and weapons reference.

Which race to choose for a Druid

Any race can be a Druid. Pick the permanent bonus for your main role:

• for a tank — Health: the Gartan +10%, the Durgar +8%, the Grumak and the Vaerin +5% each;
• for a healer or damage dealer — Power: it boosts damage, healing and shields alike. The Kogran, Nakar and Shaydar get +6% each, the Velion +5%;
• for the arena — the Morven: no crowd control makes them lose a turn; while stunned they simply have 1 Crystal.

Every bonus is in the All races reference.

The Druid in PvE: dungeons and raids

A dungeon takes a tank, a healer and a damage dealer; a raid or a world boss takes a tank, a healer and three damage dealers. A Druid can take any of these slots — but the role only works if the right tree is active.

As a tank

• Queue as a tank only in the first tree: only it has Taunt.
• A boss attacks whoever has dealt it the most damage. Taunt pulls enemies onto you for 2 of their turns, then there’s a rest turn — and it’s ready again after 3 turns; a tank’s damage makes triple threat.
• The Druid has no taunt card in the deck — use the button carefully and watch the enemy target markers on the board. If the boss isn’t aiming at you and Taunt is ready, the game will prompt you: “Use Taunt!”.
• Hold on with shields, the −30% damage card and strikes that heal you.

As a healer

• Queue as a healer only in the third tree: only it has the healing power.
• Heal whoever the boss is targeting — the line and marker on the board show it in advance. Put up healing over time early: it works while you’re busy with other cards.
• Healing beyond full Health isn’t wasted — it turns into a shield.
• A Druid can’t remove harmful effects from an ally — keep that in mind if there’s no other class with a cleanse in the group.

As a damage dealer

The second tree’s power hits all enemies — strong against groups. Don’t pull the boss off the tank, and remember that a long fight is dangerous: every stage of the boss’s enrage adds 18% to its damage.

Raid prep is in “Your first MMORPG raid”, roles in the knowledge base article Group roles.

The Druid in PvP: arena and duels

In the arena (1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and 5v5), on the battleground and in duels Taunt doesn’t hold opponents and only gives armour, so in PvP the Druid plays the attacking or healing tree.

• The attacking tree is good in team fights: the power hits every opponent at once, and damage over time can go on all of them too.
• The healing tree keeps allies standing in 2v2, 3v3 and 5v5, and its power can hit as well.
• Healing is weaker in PvP. From your 10th turn healing and shields weaken by 10% a turn, the third and later heals in a turn are halved, and a card shield lasts 2 turns and can’t exceed 30% of your Health.
• Control. Two turn-skipping cards; after a stun your opponent has 2 turns of protection, and a Morven never loses a turn.
• The round cap and fatigue. Nobody can lose more than 60% of their Health in a round, and the deck isn’t reshuffled — once it runs out, fatigue begins.
• Defence in PvP is Resilience from PvP gear; Hardiness doesn’t work in the arena.

All the rules are in the knowledge base article Special PvP combat rules, modes in “PvP in a card game”.

Common beginner mistakes as a Druid

1. Queueing in the wrong tree. A tank needs the first tree, a healer the third. Check your active specialisation before the queue.
2. Expecting to shapeshift. Your role is decided by your active talent tree and its Class Power, not by a form.
3. Tanking without a buffer. A Druid has less Health than plate wearers: keep shields and the defensive card at hand.
4. Healing only after the hit. Healing over time put up in advance gets more done.
5. Wearing Hardiness gear in the arena. In PvP only Resilience protects you.

Druid FAQ

Can a Druid be both a tank and a healer?

Yes, but not at the same time. Your active specialisation decides the role: the first tree tanks, the third heals, the second deals damage. From level 20 you can keep two specialisations and switch between them with one button outside combat.

Which Druid tree is best for solo play?

The second: its power hits all enemies at once. The healing tree copes too — its power can deal damage.

Does the Druid shapeshift in combat?

No. There’s no separate shapeshifting mechanic in the game: beast forms only appear in card descriptions. What your hero can do is decided by cards, talents and the active tree.

What weapons does a Druid use?

Staff, mace, dagger, fist weapon or polearm, plus a tome or orb in the off hand. No shield and no dual wielding.

How many cards does a Druid have?

22 class cards and 5 talent cards. Only the talent cards learned in your active specialisation go into battle.

The bottom line

The Druid is the pick for anyone who wants to try everything: today you hold the boss, tomorrow you heal the group, and on quests you hit every enemy at once. Start with the attacking tree, add a group role at level 20 — and there’ll be a place for you in any group. Create a Druid and choose your role. And if you’re still choosing a class, see “Which class to choose”.