Hi guys, I'm a noob at doing good dps on my druid. In a normal group grinding mobs what would be your spell rotation what do you do? If the tank is tanking fine do you bother with debuffs? In a normal group what do you hit when you burn a named?
What level are you and what server/era? At lower levels you may have fewer of these spells, but use whatever you can. I only debuff on nameds or if we are fighting mobs that are higher level. For normal mobs I just use damage spells stacked. I do the same routine on almost every mob: Blast of Hypergrowth Skin to Flora Sunsinge Nature's Searing Wrath Glaciating Crystals The Blast of Hypergrowth is a temporary pet that attacks just for that one fight. I got higher level versions of most of these spells now but I forgot the new names. So the pet does ok damage and I cast it at the start of the fight to get the most out of it. Then I do Skin to Flora to help other damage spells do more. Then those next 2 spells are DoT's. And the Glaciating Crystals is just a nuke that I use once or twice at the end, but the mob is often dead by then anyway. For weak mobs I just use one big spell. (I usually go with Nature's Searing Wrath because it does a lot of damage from 1 spell). For nameds I do that same routine, but I start with my best debuff for whatever level I am. My latest is called Argent Frost which lowers the mob's attack and AC. And it can also trigger a heal on the target of the mob (so usually my tank). At higher levels you get AA's that are great for burning a named. Stuff like Spirit of the Black Wolf which makes you a wolf that boosts your chance to crit on nukes, and also lowers mana costs. I also have a direct damage nuke spell that can heal the tank at the same time. And I have another dot that is really good, although fire based so I can't use it on fire mobs. My routine only started at higher levels once the mobs got strong and could last so long that it was worth using all those dots and pet. At low levels I usually just did 1 good DoT and that was it. If the mobs were dying too fast I would do 1 or 2 nukes instead. Always save mana for evac, emergency heals, and buffs. Also if there is no Mage in the group, make sure your tank always has thorns damage shield.
I happen use a completely different lineup from slayerofbats, so I guess that speaks to the versatility of our class. His first question is the most important: what level is your druid?
Level matters, group makeup matters and zone matters. So I will admit haven't actually grouped since level 100 probably, but molo'd a fair amount and has a pretty solid grasp on Druid DPS when I raided. For example, Druid's strongest Nukes (Roars) are magic based however in ROS group content mobs tend to have Resists scaled to the point where they assume Debuffs will happen. Meaning without an Enchanter or a Magician/Shaman for Tash or Malo, your Roar Nukes will resist occasionally. Not extremely often, but often enough to make going for fire Nukes a more preferable option based on feel. I've not actually parsed this though. In groups, at 110, I'd say Blessing of Ro or Vortex of Ro every mob. Its a free -130 FR and -270 ATK. They cast fast enough that they are easy to weave inbetween spell casts. Actual spell Debuffs aren't really worth it against regular trash in a higher DPS group. In a lower DPS group I could understand throwing on Skin to Sulmac. On named mobs I'd definitely throw Skin to Sulmac. Maintain Frostweave Aura, Group or Single Black Wolf AA, Dragonwrath Tonic (click). Wield a Sympathetic Hand of Holy Vengeance weapon and Tome of Obulus. I'd love to get a Boromas Belt myself, but I would need to get raid flags to buy it from the vendor :/. It's important you alternate single and group wolf forms, you should never not have Wolf form on. Use Twincast spell on cooldown whenever you will be able to use all 18seconds of it. Obviously don't use when there's 1 mob at 10% in camp. If I were in a group with a Magic debuffer like Enchanter/Shaman/Magician: Blessing of Ro (AA) Cyclonic Roar (108) Fire Storm (AA) Anabatic Roar (103) Remote Sunblaze (108) Winter's Wildblaze (108) Using Dichotomic Winds or Nature's Blistering Wrath whenever you get a GoM Proc. If you're in a group where there are no magic debuffers and you're fighting ROS+ content where it's mostly yellow con+, I'd say it's probably best to drop at the very least the lower level roar. Blessing of Ro (AA) Cyclonic Roar (108) Fire Storm (AA) Remote Sunblaze (108) Winter's Wildblaze (108) Summer Sunflame (109) For a named burn: AA Buffs - Improved Twincast, 1st Spire, Nature's Fury, Focus of Arcanum, Destructive Vortex AA Debuffs/Swarms - Season's Fury, Nature's Guardian, Spirits of Nature Skin to Sulmac (108) Blessing of Ro (AA) Nature's Blistering Wrath (110) Fire Storm (AA) Horde of Polybiads (108) Sunflame (109) Cyclonic Roar (108) Anabatic Roar (103) Remote Sunblaze (108) Winter's Wildblaze (108) Depending on where you are you may have to adjust your burn. Some mobs in Skyfire are fire immune for example. In those cases our damage falls off quite a bit.
My first rule for a group druid is, always be able and ready to emergency heal, either the tank or group heal. So you can never drop your 5 basic heal spells or not have them mem'd. But this is how to do dps, So always have bw on. For trash mobs, always debuff with AA Ro's, then do a single simple dot, like sunflame or horde, and start nuking. You're just trying to help with dps here. You will learn when and how often you can use Nature's blistering on trash; it's a matter of keeping your mana up. If you don't have mana buffs, then use clarity and BL potions. Be mounted if possible. For named, do Ro's , hit twincast AA, and vortex AA. Then do Nature's blistering, Sunflame, and Horde (those 3 dots will tear through your mana pool, but they provide the bulk of your dps, so always keep them refreshed). Then you can fill in with nukes. The lowest mana cost nuke pair is Summer Sunflame + Winter's Wildblaze. If you want your nukes to do a bit more damage, then rotate as others have said above - cyclone roar, anabatic roar, a remote, and summer sunflame. The issue is to balance your roles for debuffing, dps, and healing without having to drop or mem new spells too often.
