This is a boss-by-boss guide to the Uldir raid, specifically aimed at Guardian Druids. In the guide we will cover recommended talents, notable encounter info and tips and tricks for each boss in the raid.

Note that these suggestions are tailored towards a progression-oriented mindset — that is, the setups recommended will prioritize survivability first, while not trying to sacrifice too much DPS output in the process. These recommendations are aimed at players who are progressing these fights for the first time; once you are more comfortable with the encounters, you may elect to swap some of the more defensive options for offensive ones in order to improve your DPS output. It is always recommended to play safe during progression: staying alive is far more important than a few hundred DPS.

Also note that this guide is a work in progress. Boss encounters and tuning often change during the first few weeks of progression, and new strategies will be uncovered as the weeks go by. I will update this guide with relevant new information as it appears, and I welcome feedback, corrections, and suggestions in Discord.

These are not general encounter guides; if you want a more detailed look at each boss and its mechanics, check out TankNotes.

Where are the trinket recommendations?

Trinkets in the first tier of Uldir are notoriously terrible for survivability. As such, there aren’t really opportunities to leverage trinkets to help you deal with mechanics, the way there were in previous tiers like Antorus. Therefore, unless otherwise specified, I recommend that you run standard defensive-oriented trinkets in all situations. Lustrous Golden Plumage and Darkmoon Deck: Blockades are two very strong options. For more information, refer to the Defensive Trinkets overview.

What azerite traits are best for raiding?

For outer traits, you want one of each of the following:

1. Layered Mane
2. Twisted Claws
3. Archive of the Titans (in order to take advantage of Reorigination Array)

For more information and for middle/inner ring trait recommendations, refer to the Azerite Analysis.

Will Guardian be viable on every boss?

Yes, Guardian will be more than fine on every boss. Aside from Monks, Guardians have some of the best damage smoothing capabilities of all tanks, thanks to our very reliable and high-uptime active mitigation spell Ironfur and strong defensive cooldowns. We also bring Stampeding Roar, arguably one of the strongest raid cooldowns in the game.

Should I catweave?

You may have noticed that I’ve noted on each boss page whether it is technically possible to catweave on the encounter. This takes into account the tank swap mechanic (or lack thereof), the damage profile, and the presence of any adds that need to be tanked, for each encounter to determine whether you can realistically perform a catweaving rotation while not tanking.

As mentioned above, I always recommend playing it safe when you are progressing a boss and that includes not catweaving. Catweaving significantly increases your risk of death if done improperly or without consideration for a fight’s mechanics and damage profile, and compromising the raid’s success for a slight DPS gain is not a good idea.

That being said, if you are extremely comfortable with an encounter and you are deep into farm on a boss, catweaving can introduce a bit of variety and complexity into the rotation that you may find interesting, as well as boost your DPS and help get kills faster.