Jashkidonga
03-23-2008, 04:26 AM
General Information
Restoration Druid / Rogue combo is a seemingly weak team at first, but when huge amounts of time, coordination, and strategy are coupled together it is one of the strongest combinations in all 2v2 arena.
One of the main strengths is the fact that both of these classes have huge amounts of control that can be used to take an opponent of out combat for huge amounts of time. Another is their ability to re-stealth mid match if things are not going well.
Killing pets is a crucial strategy that must be used against certain teams. Hunter and Warlock teams are extremely hard to beat and often mean killing their pets multiple times per match. Drinking will be your friend as the druid and re-stealthing will be yours as the rogue. Matches can go on for 15+ minutes, meaning to bring a lot of water and flash powder into each game (I've used easily 30 water in one single match).
In general, this team loses to nothing the majority of time (besides hunter/druid, of course) and usually still has a chance if played perfectly against the worst of counter comps. Which makes it strong in a constantly changing small scale player vs. player environment.
With practice and good knowledge of your class, it is easy to become very competitive with this elusively fierce setup.
Spec Choices: DRUID
8/11/42 - This standard spec is overall very good. It gives feral charge, strong healing talents, and Control of Nature. Not a lot of offensive power but good for survivability. I would recommend this spec to new resto druids.
11/11/39 - This has both survivability and a bit of offensive power with insect swarm. It loses a few decent restoration talents such as a point in Empowered Rejuv, but it is my personal choice since I believe a strong offensive for the druid at crucial moments is the difference between winning and losing a match.
13/11/37 - This spec is often used for strong offensive spell casting and long range CC. This spec includes Nature's Reach which allows you to cyclone 20 yards farther away. It also helps to DPS from farther away. The negative effect is that you must lose a decent amount of points in restoration talents, making people who have low amounts of healing already, even more gimped.
For veterans only.
Note[/B: I don't believe Dreamstate spec is a restoration build. It is viable, but is mainly an outlasting / strong damage spec. It is used, but not much in high rated playing. It is though, becoming more popular.
[B]Spec Choices: ROGUE
41/0/20: Mutilate is a strong spec, though it has a lot of trouble against Warrior Druid in general. It is stronger though against caster type teams. This burst is ridiculous with Cold blood and the ZG trinket. I played this Season 2 to gladiator and it was fantastic, it hasn't lost its shine in Season 3, and should be even more powerful in the 2.4 patch.
20/0/41: This is the standard Shadowstep build, IMO the other and only other viable spec for this combo. It has great mobility and damage output. It also has huge amounts of cool downs through preparation. It is my rogues choice of spec and preferable for me in Season 3.
<<<<<<<<
Strong Points
- Huge amounts of CC.
- Re-stealthing.
- Large amounts of mobility.
- Overpowered cool downs.
Weak Points
- Leather armor makes you weak to heavy melee teams.
- Pretty weak to very well played double DPS teams with rogues.
- Fairly hard learning curve.
>>>>>>>>
Matchups:
(As a general rule, having a human rogue on your time is preferred. Being able to open on other rogues and druids is priceless in some matches)
Warrior/Druid:
This set up destroys midrange to lowrange druid rogue teams, though in the high ratings, druid/rogue has the advantage. If the warrior goes on you, the druid, you are almost guaranteed the win. Having a human rogue really helps, by being able to open on the druid while in cat form.
Your rogue should be on the druid the entire time. Kicking, deadly throwing and stunning any types of CC. As the druid your job is to CC the warrior down allowing your rogue to go for him.
Separating the warrior from the druid is extremely important. Later in the match you can root the warrior far away from the druid, then travel form to the druid and help by assisting with dps, charges, and stuns.
An important idea is that you are needed for help in DPS and control over the druid. If he gets away from your rogue you should cyclone the druid to help regen the rogues energy and to lower the distance between them. Try your hardest to keep the warrior from hamstringing your rogue!
If you are lower on mana than the druid and your rogue is out of cooldowns, a strong option is to re-stealth and literally restart the match.
Drink when you can!
Rogue/Mage:
This team if played correctly, is definitely a counter comp (tho it is better for rogue/druid than warrior/druid). Sapping the rogue and getting on the mage is important. You strongly help your chances of winning by doing this.
Make sure to not let the mage sheep the rogue, this almost definitely results in a long CC chain which can end in the swift kill on the druid. If the rogue can stay on the mage and help cripple the rogue a bit it makes it only a short period of time before the mage runs of of gas and dies.
If the rogue trinkets CC throw the blind on him asap. This will ensure the druid is de-poisoned and full of hots for a possible burst.
Watch out against bloodelves in general. Their CC + silence means the druid probably won't last long against one burst, especially in caster form. If the rogue sees this happening it is important to try and disrupt this. Since it means almost imminent death, for your healer and then you.
Make sure to stay defensive at all times and stop any hard shatter / stun combos.
Rogue/Warlock:
Played nearly the same as rogue/mage. This team has less burst, but more disruption. Fears are as deadly as polymorph, though you cannot be sapped after a long sheep.
I find this team to be a bit easier since there is no IB and a warlock is very easily CC'd by the rogue through kicks, stuns, and cloak. The rogue will probably have to be 100% on your rogue. Making it necessary to watch his HP at all times.
Priest/Warrior:
If played correctly it can give you a very hard time. Your rogue must be smart about evading fear since he will be on the priest 100%. If he is feared, this can end in drinking thanks to the warrior being on your squishy rogue and the priest being far away. Make sure to stay on the priest, as the druid, so this doesn't happen!
Covering your roots through rank 1 moonfire and faerie fire is a good way to waste the priests mana, and keep the warrior away from your rogue longer. Say the blind for after a cyclone trinket by the warrior.
Watch out for mana burns on the druid, they often can sneak up on you and turn the tide in their favor.
Be aggressive!
Warrior/Paladin (Holy):
Our strategy is to stay mainly on the warrior. Blessing of freedom and dispels make keeping the warrior off the rogue and keeping the rogue on the paladin quite hard.
Cyclone, feral charge, and stun the pally to make the paladin bubble. During this time he may blessing of protection the warrior, but just cyclone him and reheal your rogue.
After the bubble is down you can take 2 routes. Go on the paladin or on the warrior. My personal preference is to go on the warrior and CC the paladin. Make sure to save some mana so you can offensively damage the warrior during the 6 second cyclone. Also try to get your rogue to blind the paladin right out of bubble, giving you even more time to take down the warrior. Once again, if the warrior gets low and the paladin is out of CC's on him, just cyclone the warrior a few times to regen your rogues energy, and to take away the diminishing returns of your spells.
From this point on just make sure you don't run out of mana, and you are golden. This is one of the matchups newer rogue druid teams have trouble with, but in the end is free points.
Holy Priest/Rogue:
A fairly easy team before the 1800's, once you get a bit higher their coordination becomes stronger and your chances of winning start to diminish. Generally, you should stay on the priest the majority of the match (if the rogue is shadowstep!). Mana burns and fears on you can ruin this match for you. Though, if you do decide on killing the rogue, you will need to kite the priest as the druid the entire time to stop him from dispelling you and fearing -> mana burning.
Assist the rogue as much as possible with feral charges bashes and even roots covered by rank 1 faerie fire, moonfire and insect swarm. Making him dispel two or three times helps your rogue take him down faster.
If the rogue is mutilate, stay on him. Mutilate rogues, though they can burst generally get wrecked by equally skilled shadowstep rogues. They also can get taken down to 0 without the annoyance of cheat death.
Druid/Hunter:
Stay as offensive as possible. Have the druid stay in bear form 90% of the time putting pressure on the hunter while the rogue attacks him as well. The druid should eat all traps he tries to put down. When you have a chance to kill him have the rogue blind the druid or cyclone him and lay on the dps through wrath and moonfire.
It is important to stay with stress on them as much as possible. If you don't they will be able to drain the druid down over time due to the pet and viper sting.
If the hunter is not specced for improve revive pet then killing the pet is a possibility, which will give you the advantage. Just make sure the druid is watching for when the rogue gets CC'd, to stop the revive pet.
Alternate Strategy: Have the rogue stay on the druid the entire time. The druid should be offensive and take all the traps. Most likely the rogue will be scatter shotted and pushed through frost traps, so shadowstep really helps. If the druid stays in bear form the whole match the viper stings do a lot less, and also helps to mitigate the damage of the hunter. Just watch out for scare beast! With help in druid CC, you have a chance to take him down before the hunter takes away all mana mana, then you and your partner.
Druid/Warlock:
Killing the pet once, even twice, is pretty important. Once it is dead, make sure the rogue tries to kick and prevent the fel domination from resolving, once this happens you'll probably have to kill it again or just lose.
Once it is dead you should make sure that it is not revived, so keep aware if the rogue is CC'd, it will be the druids job to stop him from getting another one out.
Keep the rogue on the warlock and drink when you can, help to take him down by CC'ing the druid then dps'ing when you have the mana.
This fight overall is hard, but possible. Experience proves itself here.
-----
I will keep on adding new teams, any feedback would be appreciated.
Restoration Druid / Rogue combo is a seemingly weak team at first, but when huge amounts of time, coordination, and strategy are coupled together it is one of the strongest combinations in all 2v2 arena.
One of the main strengths is the fact that both of these classes have huge amounts of control that can be used to take an opponent of out combat for huge amounts of time. Another is their ability to re-stealth mid match if things are not going well.
Killing pets is a crucial strategy that must be used against certain teams. Hunter and Warlock teams are extremely hard to beat and often mean killing their pets multiple times per match. Drinking will be your friend as the druid and re-stealthing will be yours as the rogue. Matches can go on for 15+ minutes, meaning to bring a lot of water and flash powder into each game (I've used easily 30 water in one single match).
In general, this team loses to nothing the majority of time (besides hunter/druid, of course) and usually still has a chance if played perfectly against the worst of counter comps. Which makes it strong in a constantly changing small scale player vs. player environment.
With practice and good knowledge of your class, it is easy to become very competitive with this elusively fierce setup.
Spec Choices: DRUID
8/11/42 - This standard spec is overall very good. It gives feral charge, strong healing talents, and Control of Nature. Not a lot of offensive power but good for survivability. I would recommend this spec to new resto druids.
11/11/39 - This has both survivability and a bit of offensive power with insect swarm. It loses a few decent restoration talents such as a point in Empowered Rejuv, but it is my personal choice since I believe a strong offensive for the druid at crucial moments is the difference between winning and losing a match.
13/11/37 - This spec is often used for strong offensive spell casting and long range CC. This spec includes Nature's Reach which allows you to cyclone 20 yards farther away. It also helps to DPS from farther away. The negative effect is that you must lose a decent amount of points in restoration talents, making people who have low amounts of healing already, even more gimped.
For veterans only.
Note[/B: I don't believe Dreamstate spec is a restoration build. It is viable, but is mainly an outlasting / strong damage spec. It is used, but not much in high rated playing. It is though, becoming more popular.
[B]Spec Choices: ROGUE
41/0/20: Mutilate is a strong spec, though it has a lot of trouble against Warrior Druid in general. It is stronger though against caster type teams. This burst is ridiculous with Cold blood and the ZG trinket. I played this Season 2 to gladiator and it was fantastic, it hasn't lost its shine in Season 3, and should be even more powerful in the 2.4 patch.
20/0/41: This is the standard Shadowstep build, IMO the other and only other viable spec for this combo. It has great mobility and damage output. It also has huge amounts of cool downs through preparation. It is my rogues choice of spec and preferable for me in Season 3.
<<<<<<<<
Strong Points
- Huge amounts of CC.
- Re-stealthing.
- Large amounts of mobility.
- Overpowered cool downs.
Weak Points
- Leather armor makes you weak to heavy melee teams.
- Pretty weak to very well played double DPS teams with rogues.
- Fairly hard learning curve.
>>>>>>>>
Matchups:
(As a general rule, having a human rogue on your time is preferred. Being able to open on other rogues and druids is priceless in some matches)
Warrior/Druid:
This set up destroys midrange to lowrange druid rogue teams, though in the high ratings, druid/rogue has the advantage. If the warrior goes on you, the druid, you are almost guaranteed the win. Having a human rogue really helps, by being able to open on the druid while in cat form.
Your rogue should be on the druid the entire time. Kicking, deadly throwing and stunning any types of CC. As the druid your job is to CC the warrior down allowing your rogue to go for him.
Separating the warrior from the druid is extremely important. Later in the match you can root the warrior far away from the druid, then travel form to the druid and help by assisting with dps, charges, and stuns.
An important idea is that you are needed for help in DPS and control over the druid. If he gets away from your rogue you should cyclone the druid to help regen the rogues energy and to lower the distance between them. Try your hardest to keep the warrior from hamstringing your rogue!
If you are lower on mana than the druid and your rogue is out of cooldowns, a strong option is to re-stealth and literally restart the match.
Drink when you can!
Rogue/Mage:
This team if played correctly, is definitely a counter comp (tho it is better for rogue/druid than warrior/druid). Sapping the rogue and getting on the mage is important. You strongly help your chances of winning by doing this.
Make sure to not let the mage sheep the rogue, this almost definitely results in a long CC chain which can end in the swift kill on the druid. If the rogue can stay on the mage and help cripple the rogue a bit it makes it only a short period of time before the mage runs of of gas and dies.
If the rogue trinkets CC throw the blind on him asap. This will ensure the druid is de-poisoned and full of hots for a possible burst.
Watch out against bloodelves in general. Their CC + silence means the druid probably won't last long against one burst, especially in caster form. If the rogue sees this happening it is important to try and disrupt this. Since it means almost imminent death, for your healer and then you.
Make sure to stay defensive at all times and stop any hard shatter / stun combos.
Rogue/Warlock:
Played nearly the same as rogue/mage. This team has less burst, but more disruption. Fears are as deadly as polymorph, though you cannot be sapped after a long sheep.
I find this team to be a bit easier since there is no IB and a warlock is very easily CC'd by the rogue through kicks, stuns, and cloak. The rogue will probably have to be 100% on your rogue. Making it necessary to watch his HP at all times.
Priest/Warrior:
If played correctly it can give you a very hard time. Your rogue must be smart about evading fear since he will be on the priest 100%. If he is feared, this can end in drinking thanks to the warrior being on your squishy rogue and the priest being far away. Make sure to stay on the priest, as the druid, so this doesn't happen!
Covering your roots through rank 1 moonfire and faerie fire is a good way to waste the priests mana, and keep the warrior away from your rogue longer. Say the blind for after a cyclone trinket by the warrior.
Watch out for mana burns on the druid, they often can sneak up on you and turn the tide in their favor.
Be aggressive!
Warrior/Paladin (Holy):
Our strategy is to stay mainly on the warrior. Blessing of freedom and dispels make keeping the warrior off the rogue and keeping the rogue on the paladin quite hard.
Cyclone, feral charge, and stun the pally to make the paladin bubble. During this time he may blessing of protection the warrior, but just cyclone him and reheal your rogue.
After the bubble is down you can take 2 routes. Go on the paladin or on the warrior. My personal preference is to go on the warrior and CC the paladin. Make sure to save some mana so you can offensively damage the warrior during the 6 second cyclone. Also try to get your rogue to blind the paladin right out of bubble, giving you even more time to take down the warrior. Once again, if the warrior gets low and the paladin is out of CC's on him, just cyclone the warrior a few times to regen your rogues energy, and to take away the diminishing returns of your spells.
From this point on just make sure you don't run out of mana, and you are golden. This is one of the matchups newer rogue druid teams have trouble with, but in the end is free points.
Holy Priest/Rogue:
A fairly easy team before the 1800's, once you get a bit higher their coordination becomes stronger and your chances of winning start to diminish. Generally, you should stay on the priest the majority of the match (if the rogue is shadowstep!). Mana burns and fears on you can ruin this match for you. Though, if you do decide on killing the rogue, you will need to kite the priest as the druid the entire time to stop him from dispelling you and fearing -> mana burning.
Assist the rogue as much as possible with feral charges bashes and even roots covered by rank 1 faerie fire, moonfire and insect swarm. Making him dispel two or three times helps your rogue take him down faster.
If the rogue is mutilate, stay on him. Mutilate rogues, though they can burst generally get wrecked by equally skilled shadowstep rogues. They also can get taken down to 0 without the annoyance of cheat death.
Druid/Hunter:
Stay as offensive as possible. Have the druid stay in bear form 90% of the time putting pressure on the hunter while the rogue attacks him as well. The druid should eat all traps he tries to put down. When you have a chance to kill him have the rogue blind the druid or cyclone him and lay on the dps through wrath and moonfire.
It is important to stay with stress on them as much as possible. If you don't they will be able to drain the druid down over time due to the pet and viper sting.
If the hunter is not specced for improve revive pet then killing the pet is a possibility, which will give you the advantage. Just make sure the druid is watching for when the rogue gets CC'd, to stop the revive pet.
Alternate Strategy: Have the rogue stay on the druid the entire time. The druid should be offensive and take all the traps. Most likely the rogue will be scatter shotted and pushed through frost traps, so shadowstep really helps. If the druid stays in bear form the whole match the viper stings do a lot less, and also helps to mitigate the damage of the hunter. Just watch out for scare beast! With help in druid CC, you have a chance to take him down before the hunter takes away all mana mana, then you and your partner.
Druid/Warlock:
Killing the pet once, even twice, is pretty important. Once it is dead, make sure the rogue tries to kick and prevent the fel domination from resolving, once this happens you'll probably have to kill it again or just lose.
Once it is dead you should make sure that it is not revived, so keep aware if the rogue is CC'd, it will be the druids job to stop him from getting another one out.
Keep the rogue on the warlock and drink when you can, help to take him down by CC'ing the druid then dps'ing when you have the mana.
This fight overall is hard, but possible. Experience proves itself here.
-----
I will keep on adding new teams, any feedback would be appreciated.