Shifting Perspectives: Balance 101, part 3
by Tyler Caraway 
Feb 12th 2010 at 6:00PM
9. Basic balance game play:
Sadly, balance does not have an awesome flow chart like cat druids have. It almost makes me sad at times. We do, however, have something of a priority system in place of an actual rotation. Here is essentially how the balance system works:
- Apply Faerie Fire to the boss.
- If there is no Unholy Death Knight, cast a single Wrath to get Earth and Moon up.
- Apply Insect Swarm and then Moonfire.
- Unless your boss strategy is very strange, use Force of Nature and Starfall.
- Cast Wrath until you proc a Lunar Eclipse.
- Cast Starfire until you proc a Solar Eclipse.
- Reapply DoTs as they fall off.
- Use Force of Nature and Starfall as they come off cooldown.
Now, as I said earlier, there are a few tricks that you can utilize in order to maximize your DPS. The first trick to use is to try and time Starfall with either Lunar Eclipse falling off or a Solar Eclipse proccing. The main benefit of Starfall is not the increased damage, even though that is a very good perk, but it is also the vast increase in Nature's Grace uptime while Starfall is active. Since Nature's Grace should be up 100% of the time during a Lunar Eclipse anyway, it is mostly worthless to use Starfall during this period. That is why you want to wait a few seconds to make use of this perk.
As with any other DPS class that has any long cooldowns, try and time using Force of Nature with Bloodlust. Making sure you know when Bloodlust is going to be used is very important for this because Force of Nature has to already be active in order for your Treants to benefit from it.
There are times when staggering the reapplication of Moonfire can result in a DPS gain. Moonfire has a 15 second duration, as does each Eclipse proc. If Moonfire drops off right as you get a Solar Eclipse proc, and you instantly refresh it, then you will not be able to benefit from the Glyph of Starfire. Due to this, try to wait a few seconds to reapply Moonfire on the boss. Depending on RNG, you may not always get Lunar Eclipse up before Moonfire falls off, but the risk of not getting because of RNG is always better than knowing that you will never get it.
If you are going to be using a potion during the encounter, then use a Potion of Speed and try your very best to time it with a good Lunar Eclipse - that is, one in which you do not expect to have to move. If you know there is a high probability that you will have to move during that Lunar Eclipse, then wait to use your potion. You only get one per encounter and it isn't going anywhere. If you are planning on using the 'two potion' trick then you will want to use a Potion of Wild Magic before the encounter starts. Wild Magic is better than Speed at the start of the encounter because you'll be applying DoTs, using long cooldowns, and casting Wrath in order to proc Lunar Eclipse. None of those options benefit very much from Haste.
When it comes to add-ons, balance druids got lucky in not really being required to use any. Using the add-on Squawk and Awe is very beneficial but not a requirement. SaA tracks your DoTs (including extensions on Moonfire,) your long cooldowns, procs, and, most importantly, Eclipse. Beyond that Quartz is a good add-on for any casting class.
10. Gems:
Gem choices for balance druids are rather straight forward. There are not too many traps to fall into.
Meta: Chaotic Skyflare Diamond is the only option to go with, no questions asked.
Red Sockets: All red sockets should be gemmed with Runed Cardinal Ruby.
Yellow Sockets: Yellow sockets offer a little bit of a choice. If it is an item in which you are going for the socket bonus, and in most cases you will on items that have these sockets, then the choice is either Potent Ametrine or Reckless Ametrine. If you are under the 400 Haste mark, then the latter option is going to be your best choice. If you are over the 400 Haste mark, then go with the former. Now, if you happen to be under the Hit Cap, then you will want to use either Veiled Ametrine or Rigid King's Amber depending on how much Hit you need. Use Veileds for all odd multiples of 10 and Rigids for all even multiples of 10 - rounding how much you need as applicable.
Blue Sockets: This is the place where players generally have the most trouble. For a balance druid, you only want to use two, and no more than two, Purified Dreadstones within your gear. You always want to put Purified Dreadstones into the pieces of gear that will net you the highest socket bonus. If you have three blue sockets, then find those two items that give the highest bonus and socket those with your Purifieds. After all of your Purified gems are set, socket all remaining blue sockets with Runed Cardinal Rubies.
Socket Bonuses: I brushed up on this for each specific gem, but I'll give some more specific information here. Socket bonuses can be very hit or miss when it comes to balance druids.
As with any other DPS class that has any long cooldowns, try and time using Force of Nature with Bloodlust. Making sure you know when Bloodlust is going to be used is very important for this because Force of Nature has to already be active in order for your Treants to benefit from it.
There are times when staggering the reapplication of Moonfire can result in a DPS gain. Moonfire has a 15 second duration, as does each Eclipse proc. If Moonfire drops off right as you get a Solar Eclipse proc, and you instantly refresh it, then you will not be able to benefit from the Glyph of Starfire. Due to this, try to wait a few seconds to reapply Moonfire on the boss. Depending on RNG, you may not always get Lunar Eclipse up before Moonfire falls off, but the risk of not getting because of RNG is always better than knowing that you will never get it.
If you are going to be using a potion during the encounter, then use a Potion of Speed and try your very best to time it with a good Lunar Eclipse - that is, one in which you do not expect to have to move. If you know there is a high probability that you will have to move during that Lunar Eclipse, then wait to use your potion. You only get one per encounter and it isn't going anywhere. If you are planning on using the 'two potion' trick then you will want to use a Potion of Wild Magic before the encounter starts. Wild Magic is better than Speed at the start of the encounter because you'll be applying DoTs, using long cooldowns, and casting Wrath in order to proc Lunar Eclipse. None of those options benefit very much from Haste.
When it comes to add-ons, balance druids got lucky in not really being required to use any. Using the add-on Squawk and Awe is very beneficial but not a requirement. SaA tracks your DoTs (including extensions on Moonfire,) your long cooldowns, procs, and, most importantly, Eclipse. Beyond that Quartz is a good add-on for any casting class.
10. Gems:
Gem choices for balance druids are rather straight forward. There are not too many traps to fall into.
Meta: Chaotic Skyflare Diamond is the only option to go with, no questions asked.
Red Sockets: All red sockets should be gemmed with Runed Cardinal Ruby.
Yellow Sockets: Yellow sockets offer a little bit of a choice. If it is an item in which you are going for the socket bonus, and in most cases you will on items that have these sockets, then the choice is either Potent Ametrine or Reckless Ametrine. If you are under the 400 Haste mark, then the latter option is going to be your best choice. If you are over the 400 Haste mark, then go with the former. Now, if you happen to be under the Hit Cap, then you will want to use either Veiled Ametrine or Rigid King's Amber depending on how much Hit you need. Use Veileds for all odd multiples of 10 and Rigids for all even multiples of 10 - rounding how much you need as applicable.
Blue Sockets: This is the place where players generally have the most trouble. For a balance druid, you only want to use two, and no more than two, Purified Dreadstones within your gear. You always want to put Purified Dreadstones into the pieces of gear that will net you the highest socket bonus. If you have three blue sockets, then find those two items that give the highest bonus and socket those with your Purifieds. After all of your Purified gems are set, socket all remaining blue sockets with Runed Cardinal Rubies.
Socket Bonuses: I brushed up on this for each specific gem, but I'll give some more specific information here. Socket bonuses can be very hit or miss when it comes to balance druids.
- If the item has all red sockets, then go for the bonus.
- If the item has all yellow sockets, then go for the bonus.
- If the item has all blue sockets, then go for the bonus - the aforementioned caveat withstanding.
- If the item has red/yellow sockets, then go for the bonus.
- If the item has red/blue sockets, then go for the bonus - the aforementioned caveat withstanding.
- If the item has blue/yellow sockets, then go for the bonus if, and only if, this is one of the best places to use one of your Purified Dreadstones. If you are not going to use a Purified Dreadstone in the blue socket, then use another Runed Cardinal Ruby in the yellow socket.
- If the item has red/blue/yellow sockets, then go for the bonus only if you are using one of your Purifieds in this slot. Otherwise, socket everything with Runed Cardinal Rubies.
11. Glyphs:
There are three primary choices for balance druid glyphs.
There are three primary choices for balance druid glyphs.
These choices are standard and there really is not much else for you to use. The only optional choices here is with the Glyph of Insect Swarm. If your guild wishes for you to not use the Glyph of Insect Swarm so that you are able to provide the chance to hit debuff on a boss, then you should replace it with the Glyph of Starfall. Do not use Glyph of Focus. Starfall's damage, save in AoE situations, is very terrible and it does not scale very well. The primary benefit of using Starfall in a single target situation is for Nature's Grace. Reducing the cooldown on Starfall helps with this, increasing the damage of Starfall does not.
Never use Glyph of Innervate. If you are having mana issues, then move your two floater points into mana regeneration talents. If you are still having mana issues at that point, either you are doing something wrong or you are missing some crucial raid buffs. This glyph will not solve any of those problems. Glyph of Wrath, Glyph of Hurricane, and Glyph of Monsoon are all also terrible choices for PvE.
For minor glyphs, there aren't really any options that will impact your DPS at all, so you are pretty much free to choose whatever you want here. I would suggest Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth, and Glyph of the Wild. Really, though, you can take anything that makes you happy. There isn't really a right or wrong with minor glyphs.
12. Endgame Enchants:
Which enchants to get is pretty much a cut and dry choice:
Helm: Arcanum of Burning Mysteries (Kirin Tor quartermaster)
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of the Storm (Sons of Hodir quartermaster), or the Inscription equivalent.
Cloak: Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed or the Engineering/Tailoring equivalent.
Chest: Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats
Bracers: Enchant Bracers - Superior Spellpower or Leatherworking equivalent.
Gloves: Enchant Gloves - Exceptional Spellpower or Hyperspeed Accelerators (Engineering)
Belt: Eternal Belt Buckle
Legs: Brilliant Spellthread
Boots: Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality
Weapon: Enchant Weapon - Might Spellpower or Enchant Staff - Greater Spellpower
Never use Glyph of Innervate. If you are having mana issues, then move your two floater points into mana regeneration talents. If you are still having mana issues at that point, either you are doing something wrong or you are missing some crucial raid buffs. This glyph will not solve any of those problems. Glyph of Wrath, Glyph of Hurricane, and Glyph of Monsoon are all also terrible choices for PvE.
For minor glyphs, there aren't really any options that will impact your DPS at all, so you are pretty much free to choose whatever you want here. I would suggest Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth, and Glyph of the Wild. Really, though, you can take anything that makes you happy. There isn't really a right or wrong with minor glyphs.
12. Endgame Enchants:
Which enchants to get is pretty much a cut and dry choice:
Helm: Arcanum of Burning Mysteries (Kirin Tor quartermaster)
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of the Storm (Sons of Hodir quartermaster), or the Inscription equivalent.
Cloak: Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed or the Engineering/Tailoring equivalent.
Chest: Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats
Bracers: Enchant Bracers - Superior Spellpower or Leatherworking equivalent.
Gloves: Enchant Gloves - Exceptional Spellpower or Hyperspeed Accelerators (Engineering)
Belt: Eternal Belt Buckle
Legs: Brilliant Spellthread
Boots: Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality
Weapon: Enchant Weapon - Might Spellpower or Enchant Staff - Greater Spellpower
Every week, Shifting Perspectives treks across Azeroth in pursuit of truth, beauty, and insight concerning the druid class. Sometimes it finds the latter, or something good enough for government work. Whether you're a Bear, Cat, Moonkin, Tree, or stuck in caster form, we've got the skinny on druid changes in patch 3.3, a look at the disappearance of the bear tank, and thoughts on why you should be playing the class (or why not).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Lissanna Feb 12th 2010 6:09PM
Why do we spec boomkin? It's for the dance!
/moonkin form
/dance
Wildcard Feb 12th 2010 6:48PM
I feel that spirit is really not a bad thing for us (Boomkins) since we do get additional spell power out of it. If we start stacking the haste too far over the soft cap then we will have continuous clipping of the gcd when using wrath. Sure, starfire is nice having it go off a little faster but you're stuck using wrath during solar eclipse.
Saise Feb 12th 2010 6:18PM
i would've been satisfied with a lil pvp tip here or there
Tyler Caraway Feb 12th 2010 6:23PM
Alas, there simply wasn't room for it. I would like to discuss PvP soon, especially since the season is still in the earlier stages, but I couldn't really fit it into this. While there aren't too many talent differences, mostly because a lack of talents more than anything, gearing, gemming, and game play are drastically different - then there's comp to discuss.
Lissanna Feb 12th 2010 6:35PM
PvP moonkin are really their own sort of... beast.
Pyromelter Feb 12th 2010 6:38PM
Here's a quick rundown of pvp for balance:
Unfortunately moonkin pvp is next to worthless in arenas, due to poor survivability, poor mobility, and crowd control. Pretty sure it was just last week how we were talking about how moonkin are the absolutely worst dps spec when they have to move. However, if you can find someone to stand behind in a BG, you can be super effective, and Typhoon is absolutely money in AV, EoTS, and the AB lumber mill. Use Cyclone on healers, especially tree druids in BG's for max effectiveness. Pop trees every chance you get, and the same with starfall, and keep up Nature's Grasp.
You can use Hibernate on hunter pets. Your healers and ranged casters will be very appreciative of you.
Finally, the mastery of druids in BG's is really using all abilities. Hide out at the LM in cat form behind the saw, and when your enemy approaches, dash out and typhoon them. Use aquatic form to swim from the BS to farm/stables. HoT yourself up with lifebloom/regrowth/rejuv and keep barkskin/grasp up as you run the flag in WG in travel form. Pop into cat and dash in the tunnel. If you are taking heavy fire but feel you can survive, go bear and frenzied regen yourself. The druids that I have seen that have been absolute monsters in BG's are using spells from all 3 of their disciplines, while mastering their main discipline. There may be some specifics out there but you get the gist... being a great moonkin pvp is really about being a great druid in pvp, and unloading your rotation when you have the opening to do that.
Pyromelter Feb 12th 2010 6:25PM
"Anyway, balance leveling is certainly viable, it doesn't have nearly as much downtime as people might think it does, and, most importantly, it is beyond fun."
/sigh. I wish this were true. In the 20s, in full BoA leather caster gear and boomkin spec, I do more damage as a cat than I do in caster form. I am a spellcaster at heart, and love the type of rotation that balance brings at endgame, but I'm sorry Tyler, this just isn't true. Leveling as a balance druid, at least up until you get Moonkin form, is nothing more than episodes in frustration. It is by far the worst spec in the entire game to level. I know you love your class and spec, and I respect that, and yes, your leveling prowess is certainly leet. But this is Moonkin 101, not Moonkin Hall of Fame.
(On the other hand, I have learned to stance dance like an absolute madman, so leveling balance is a real challenge that can teach you a lot about all druid specs if you choose to take that challenge.)
Once you hit 40 and get moonkin form, you are good to go, and outland and northrend are great for the boomchickies out there... but yeah, up until then, it is just painful.
Lissanna Feb 12th 2010 6:45PM
My original leveling guide only had feral, because I inherited it from someone else. I had to add in moonkin leveling because sooo many people wanted to know how to level as moonkin. While my blog reader numbers show that my feral guide is by far more popular, I think you'd be surprised at the large # of people reading the blog version of my moonkin leveling posts every day. Some people just love playing ranged caster druids, so it's okay to support them.
Tyler Caraway Feb 12th 2010 6:48PM
I have to disagree. Getting Moonkin Form really doesn't do anything for our DPS - it adds 5% Crit, but that's a rather nominal difference while leveling.
I will say this much though, it may be best to do early leveling as Feral for one reason; the LFG tool. As a tank, it is much, much faster to get into instances, even faster than a healer since low level tanks are so much more rare. However, the damage out-put of Feral and Balance are very, very similar, especially while Cat is stuck using Claw.
The only thing that Feral has going for it in early levels versus Balance is the Feral Aggression talent which increases Claw damage by 20%, which you get at level 16, while Balance doesn't have much of a comparison towards that until level 36.
Previously, I might have agreed that leveling Balance was a bit of a disadvantage because low level gearing favors melee far more than casting - melee scaling better off of raw stats which are always on gear while casters only really scaling off of Spell Power which is more difficult to find - but a good portion of that has been fixed. There are a good number of quest rewards and crafted items for lower level characters now which increase Spell Power.
I have a character slot left that I was saving for a Worgen, but I'll temporarily use it to snag a level 20-ish Druid and post some DPS accounts of Feral vs Balance.
ResumeMan Feb 12th 2010 7:18PM
I leveled feral till around 30 or 31. Then I switched to balance because I thought I was gonna be leveling with a tank friend and thought casting would be more effective (the duo thing didn't really end up working). From about 31 to about 37 or 38 was P-A-I-N-F-U-L. Not because of dps but because I was going oom about every third mob, so I was spending as much time on my ass as I was casting.
Around that level though, I was able to start getting some talent or other -- I guess it must have been Dreamstate? -- that vastly improved my mana efficiency, and then things started to move a lot easier. And then when I got innervate I rarely had to stop and drink, since when my mana ran low I could pop the Innerv, and it typically took at least the 3 minute cooldown to go oom again.
So in a nutshell, that's why it seems to me to be best to wait till mid-levels to go balance.
dkhar Feb 13th 2010 1:09PM
I've leveled feral and balance, and I had far more fun leveling balance. As feral was constantly shifting out to heal myself, as balance I didn't have to worry about it. And moonkin form isn't at all needed to level as balance. If you are leveling balance, you are going to be using spell gear, so you are not hurting yourself, unlike feral when you get jumped by more than one mob, or elite, and you need to pop out to heal yourself only to find you are OOM. I tend to think people all theorycraft this stuff when they speak of it, cause when I do it I find their so called 'findings' to be false most of the time.
Silversol Feb 12th 2010 6:28PM
Where's Allison?!
(and don't take this the wrong way, was just used to seeing her write the druid column)
Lissanna Feb 12th 2010 6:36PM
Allison posts on Tuesdays about feral/resto. Murmurs is our new boomkin that is going to ALSO post on Fridays. 2 druid posts each week? Yes!
Wild Colors Feb 12th 2010 6:32PM
Good to see a boomkin 101!
Quick question...anecdotally, I seem to get higher dps during heroism if I just spam starfire (assuming that the cast time is down to a max of 1.5 seconds) and refesh DoTs, rather than switching for eclipse. When the wrath cast time is that far below the GCD, it seems to be a waste, even to try and use it to proc a lunar eclipse.
This could just be luck on my part (lucky crits), or a complete misinterpretation (I enjoy spamming starfires so much I may ignore numbers that go against me).
But do you have any suggestions for what to do during heroism (other than get treants out just before it), or would you suggest sticking with the normal rotation?
Lissanna Feb 12th 2010 6:38PM
I've seen things posted around that starfire spam can be higher during Heroism than casting Eclipsed wrath. I personally have tried it both ways, and I tend to try to avoid casting wrath unless I'm using it to proc me some Lunar Eclipse.
Tyler Caraway Feb 12th 2010 6:53PM
A valid question.
Previous testing during ToC gearing showed that sticking to the normal rotation resulted in higher DPS, however, with the gain of far more Crit/Haste items against Spirit items found in ICC, things might have changed.
It will be difficult for me to test, but I shall try to bribe a Shaman guildmate to be a Heroism bot long enough to get some valid results. I can do some math on the matter as well, but it may not be quite as accurate.
Given, though, that, personally, my Heroism'ed Starfires cast at 1.4 during Nature's Grace and that Wrath casts at 0.8 without Nature's Grace, it seems very likely that pure Starfire casting would result in higher DPS. You would still want to go for a Lunar Eclipse proc whenever possible though, especially if you are Crit capped.
Viper007Bond Feb 12th 2010 7:14PM
Thanks for this. I'll be making a Boomkin alt in Cataclysm and will def be holding onto this guide so I can pick up the basics (yes, I realize talents will no longer apply, but it's still a handy guide).
Kylenne Feb 12th 2010 7:26PM
I hate to be the one to break this to you, but no druid will have the best /dance in the game until Cataclysm, and female Trolls can be them. ;)
nelk Feb 12th 2010 7:27PM
One thing I would add is that hitting that haste soft cap is very important. Until you do, haste gives around the same benefit as Spell power does, and is thus more important than crit. Additionally, the 400 (or 401) haste is only applicable with a wrath of air totem out. Without, you will need 585 haste to reach the soft cap.
Tyler Caraway Feb 12th 2010 7:38PM
This is partially true.
Spell Power is far better than Haste, even under the 400 mark, until you hit around the ToC 10 level of gearing.
If you are a fresh 80 Balance Druid with only 1,800 Spell Power, then Haste is not going to be worth more than Spell Power to you.
I want to say the mark for around which Haste under 400 is worth more than Spell Power is about 3,000 - but there are so many different break-points I'm trying to remember off the top of my head right now that I could very easily be confusing that value with something else.