Know Your Buffs or How Many Druids Does a Raid Need? Part 1

Maybe you've heard about the mantra "Bring the player, not the class", which is supposed to illustrate the intention of Blizzard's game design that the individual skill of a player should matter more than their class/spec, when deciding who to bring to a raid/guild.

This mantra, however, does not apply equally to all classes, and druids are one class to which it applies least.

Before I go into the details of all the buffs which druids bring to a raid, I'll give the short (and incomplete) answer to this article's question: Usually, you want at least three druids in a raid, a feral, a boomkin, and a resto druid.

Now, let's look at the Boomkin buffs in detail.

Balance

Earth and Moon - 13% more spell damage taken - debuff

This is the big one. Any raid absolutely always wants to have this debuff on all targets that are currently being damaged, if dps matters at all for the fight. The debuff is applied/refreshed whenever Wrath or Starfire hit the target, and lasts for 12 seconds.

Alternatives:
- Ebon Plague (Unholy Deathknight)
- Curse of the Elements (Warlock)

Curse of the Elements has a much longer duration, which makes it more practical for fights with multiple targets in which the Boomkin has to swap targets and/or fulfil special roles (rooting etc.). Curse of the Elements however comes at a loss of personal dps for the Warlock, so sticking the Boomkin on the (main) target is always the preferable choice.

Ebon Plague has the distinct advantage of being easy to apply to multiple targets, so it is much more useful than the alternatives in multi-target fights. However, in the absence of an Unholy Deathknight, I have found myself being assigned to keeping Earth and Moon up on multiple targets (e.g. Mimiron).

Moonkin Form - 5% spell crit - buff

Another big buff to the raid, not only for dps, but also for healers. The buff is applied by simply standing within 45 yards of the Boomkin.

Alternatives:
- Elemental Oath (Elemental Shaman)

Elemental Oath requires that the Elemental Shaman is dpsing, and critting, and is then applied for 15 seconds. If there is something to dps at all times, the uptime of Elemental Oath will be close to 100%. However, in fights with periods of "nothing to hit", Elemental Oath might drop off. On the other hand, Elemental Oath has a range of 100 yards, which is a significant advantage. You may often find it hard to position everyone within 45 yards of the Boomkin at all times, but it is virtually impossible to be more than 100 yards away from the Elemental Shaman.

Improved Moonkin Form - 3% haste - buff

It's not such a big buff, but it applies to everyone, melee, casters, healers, making it quite valuable. Again, the buff is applied by standing within 45 yards of the Boomkin.

Alternatives:
- Swift Retribution (Retribution Paladin)

The two alternatives here are pretty much the same, constant uptime, with Swift Retribution having the slightly lower range of 40 yards. If possible, bring both, so that the buff is always on ranged and melee.

Improved Fairie Fire - +3% chance to be hit by spells - debuff

This debuff is again a huge dps boost for casters. Most casters will select their gear based the assumption that this debuff is always present when fighting a boss, therefore not having this debuff is a huge dps loss.

Alternatives:
- Misery (Shadow Priest)

The alternative, Misery, is automatically applied when a Shadow Priest dpses a target, so it's rather easy to have (and this is what makes it so practical for all casters to assume the debuff is always present). However, since Fairie Fire also buffs melee dps (see next), and to prevent the debuff from falling off should the Shadow Priest die or have to swap targets, the Boomkin should always apply it. And since it lasts for 5 minutes these days, it's only a minor inconvenience.

Fairie Fire - 5% reduced armor - debuff

This is a pretty good boost for melee dps, who probably select their gear based on the assumption that Fairie Fire (or alternative) and Sunder (or alternative) are always present on their target.

Alternatives:
- Curse of Weakness (Warlock)
- Sting (Hunter pet)

The chances of a hunter raiding with a pet that casts Sting are virtually nil, and the chances of a Warlock sacrificing personal damage for Curse of Weakness are about the same, so it falls to druids to apply Fairie Fire. The Boomkin is usually the spec who can do this most easily (in a multi-target fight), unless there is a dedicated cat in the raid.

Summary

So, in order to effectively replace a Boomkin in a raid, one would have to bring:

- an Unholy Deathknight
- an Elemental Shaman
- a Retribution Paladin
- a Shadow Priest
- a Feral Druid (preferably dps)

Pretty tough, eh? Right!