Balance druid guide 7.1.5
Table Of Content
1. Introduction
2. Spell Sumarry
3. Talent Tree
4. Artifact
5. Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
6. Stats Priority
7. Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
8. Legendary items
9. Macros and Addons
- In Legion, Balance Druids had their play style reworked altogether, moving from
a rhythm based rotation to one that revolves around building up a new resource
- Astral Power - via base spells, before using it to unleash Astral spells that deal
increased damage and boost the next base spell’s damage.
- The vast majority of good DPS performance comes from the player themselves. Actions like reacting fast and
intelligently in encounters, executing rotations flawlessly, having good FPS, low latency, and timing cooldowns
and consumables optimally are large factors for performing well.
- Players love to emphasize the value of stats, talents etc. They are important, but unless you are performing at
a very high level already, they will not make as much a difference as you yourself. This guide will give you that
extra 5%, but the other 95% is up to you.
2.1 Main Resources
Aside from using Mana, Balance Druids rely on generating Astral Power and then spending it on an important spell
(Starsurge), Maximising Astral Power and using it efficiently is very important.
2.2 Basic Abilities
These are your core skills that are available regardless of talents, and form the core gameplay of the specialisation.
Moonfire is an Arcane damage DoT that should essentially be always active on the target.
Sunfire is a Nature damage DoT that should also always be active on the target. When applied, the DoT is placed
on the primary target as well as any other targets within 5 yards.
Starsurge costs Astral Power to cast and deals damage to the target. Casting Starsurge also grants you 1 stack of
Solar Empowerment and
Lunar Empowerment
Starfall costs Astral Power to cast and creates a damaging zone that lasts for 8 seconds. Any enemies damaged by
Starfall are also afflicted within
Stellar Empowerment
Solar Wrath deals Nature damage to the target, and generates Astral Power. Except when fighting 3+ targets, this
will typically be your primary means of Astral Power generation.
Lunar Strike deals Arcane damage to the target and any other enemies within 5 yards, and it also generates Astral
Power.
Solar Empowerment and
Lunar Empowerment are buffs you gain 1 stack of (capping at 3 stacks each)
whenever you cast
Starsurge. Solar Empowerment increases the damage of your next
Solar Empowerment by 20%
while Lunar Empowerment does the same for
Lunar Strike.
Stellar Empowerment causes targets afflicted by this debuff to take 20% increased periodic damage from
Sunfire and
Moonfire.
Innervate is a buff you can place on an allied healer, which allows them to cast spells free of Mana cost for 10
seconds.
2.3 Cooldowns
Celestial Alignment is the only cooldown Balance Druids have by default. It has a 3-minute cooldown and for 15
seconds, you deal 30% increased damage and generate 50% increased Astral Power through
Solar Wrath
and
Lunar Strike
If you take the
Incarnation-Chosen of Elune talent, this cooldown is improved, lasting 30 seconds and increasing
damage done by 35%.
Tier 1(Level 15) Talents
- Force of Nature - This ability summons 3 Treants for 10 seconds, on a 1-minute cooldown. The treants will taunt and attack targets.
- Warrior of Elune - This his 45-second cooldown causes the next 3 Lunar Strikes to be instant casts.
- Starlord - This upgrades your Lunar Empowerment and Solar Empowerment temporary buffs, making them reduce the cast time of their affected spells Lunar Strike and Solar Wrath by 20%.
Starlord is the default choice in raiding and dungeon content, since it provides the higher amount of damage.
Force of Nature can be a viable choice in Mythic+ to deal with Necrotic and Skittish affixes.
Warrior of Elune is
not taken in raid or dungeon environments, as it is not particularly useful.
Tier 2(Level 30) Talents
- Renewal - Heals you for 30% of your maximum health and it is usable in all shapeshift forms.
- Displacer Beast - Teleports you forward, activating Cat Form while granting you a 50% increase in movement speed for 4 seconds.
- Wild Charge - Wild Charge - This differs based on the shapeshift form you are in. Directly related to our spec is Moonkin Form, in which activating this ability will make you leap backwards.
Typically it is more beneficial to have an ability to help with movement than a self-heal, so
Renewal should not be
taken.
For movement increase,
Wild Charge is usually better than
Displacer Beast, since it has a lower cooldown and
allows you to keep casting while on the move, and should generally be the default choice. Displacer Beast has
usefulness on certain encounters, where you may need a blink-type ability to either ignore a mechanic or for fast
movement.
Tier 3(Level 45) Talents
- Feral Affinity - Increases your movement speed and grants you access to key Feral Combat abilities while in Cat form, as well as increases Energy regeneration to best make use of them.
- Guardian Affinity - Grants you a passive ability which reduces all your damage taken by 6%. Also you gain acces to guardian only spells.
- Restoration Affinity - Has you regenerate 3% of your health every 5 seconds, passing on this benefit to a party member if you’re at full health. Additionally, grants you free access to several Restoration healing spells.
As the go-to talent choice I recommend is
Guardian Affinity, since the
Frenzied Regeneration is very
useful during hard hitting mechanics. While
Restoration Affinity
provides you with a steady stream of healing, it is worse overall than Guardian Affinity, so should not be
picked as a defensive talent.
Feral Affinity should be used whenever you can make sure survivability will not be a problem,
as it provides you with a small movement buff that is, in the long run, beneficial to damage. Being
non-defensive, it is not advised in high damage progression encounters.
Tier 4(Level 60) Talents
- Mighty Bash - is an active ability with a 50-second cooldown, which stuns the target for 5 seconds. It is usable in all shapeshift forms.
- Mass Entanglement - is an active ability with a 30-second cooldown, which roots the target and all enemies
within 15 yards of them in place for 30 seconds. Damage done to rooted targets may break the effect. Mass
Entanglement is usable in all shapeshift forms.
- Typhoon - is an active ability with a 30-second cooldown. It knocks back all targets within 15-yards in a cone
in front of you, dazing them for 6 seconds. It is usable in all shapeshift forms
The choice in this tier is largely irrelevant in terms of DPS performance. You will simply choose the one which you
prefer most, or which best suits the encounter mechanics. That said,
Typhoon will probably be the most useful
talent in the majority of fights. It is worth noticing that, when using
Sephuz's Secret,
Mass Entanglement is the
best talent to proc it, even more so since the cooldowns match.
Tier 5(Level 75) Talents
- Soul of the Forest - Offers a passive 20% increase to the damage bonus from Lunar Empowerment and Solar Empowerment, while reducing the cost of Starfall by 20 Astral Power.
- Incarnation-Chosen of Elune - Is an upgrade to Celestial Alignment, doubling its duration and further increasing its spell damage bonus by 5%.
- Stellar Flare - Adds a new Astral damage DoT to your spell repertoire, one that behaves as your other DoTs and that can be stacked with them.
The best choice in this tier is
Incarnation-Chosen of Elune, in all situations except when moderate to heavy AoE
damage is required, in which case you should take
Soul of the Forest. Using Soul of the Forest will result in a single
target DPS loss compared to using Incarnation, though, so you need to determine if it is really worth it, based on
every fight style and your raid or group composition.
Stellar Flare should not be used, as its damage is not worth the cast time and Astral Power loss.
Tier 6(Level 90) Talents
- Shooting Stars - Gives your DoT spells Moonfire and Starfire a 10% chance to strike its targets with a falling star each time they deal damage. This star deals Astral damage to the target and generates 4 Astral Power.
- Astral Communion - is an active ability with an 80-second cooldown, which generates 75 Astral Power.
- Blessing of the Ancients - is an active ability with a 15-second cooldown that allows you to switch between the
Blessing of Elune and Blessing of An'she buffs. It is important to note that you will always have one of
these buffs active if you have the Blessing of the Ancients talent
- Blessing of Elune increases the Astral Power generated by Solar Wrath and Lunar Strike by 25%.
- Blessing of An'she grants you 2 Astral Power every 3 seconds.
Blessing of the Ancients is the default choice for mainly single target fights where you will be casting
Solar Wrath and
Lunar Strike often. When using this talent, you should always have
Blessing of Elune active.
Shooting Stars is the best choice for extended multi-target cleave damage against 2+ targets for the majority of the
fight.
Astral Communion is not recommended, as it does not scale with Haste and therefore ends up lagging
behind the other two talents.
Tier 7(Level 100) Talents
- Fury of Elune - is an active ability with a 1-minute cooldown. It deals Astral damage in a small radius every
second, and costs 6 Astral Power to cast and 12 Astral Power per second after that, and lasting until you run out
of Astral Power. You can re-cast Fury of Elune while it is active in order to change its location, free of cost.
- Stellar drift - Upgrades your Starfall, increasing its radius by 30%, its damage by 60%, and allowing you to
cast while moving as long as you are inside its radius.
- Nature's Balance - Upgrades your Wrath spells (Solar Wrath and Lunar Strike) making them prolong the duration of your DoT spells.
Nature's Balance is the recommended talent against a single target, while against multiple targets you should use
Stellar drift. In a heavy movement single target situation, while using
Oneth's Intuition,
Stellar drift is also a
viable choice. Currently, there is no situation in which you should take
Fury of Elune.
Scythe of Elune will be your primary weapon in Legion, allowing you to unlock traits to boost your abilities and customize its appearance with numerous styles and tints.
After completing an introductory questline, you can add traits to your Artifact by spending Artifact
Power. Many of these traits have several ranks, and some can be buffed more via socketing relics.
- Traits are, for the most part, passive abilities which enhance your spec's abilities. All artifact weapons will have at least one active ability that is quite powerful.
- Most traits have three basic ranks. Spending more Artifact Power to unlock a new rank for a trait increases the strength of that trait.
- Several traits have a gold dragon border, these traits boost your class abilities in powerful ways, usually with distinctive visuals as well.
- The amount of trait ranks you have purchased increases the amount of Stamina all classes have, and for healers, DPS as well.
4.1 Artifact Progression
The Balance Druid progression path is very straightforward.
1.
New Moon
2.
Skywrath
3.
Falling Star
4.
Light of the sun
5.
Touch of the moon
6.
Power of Goldrinn
7.
Dark side of the moon
8.
Twilight glow
9.
Sunfire burns
10.
Moon and stars
11.
Scythe of the Stars
12.
Sunblind
13.
Rapid Innervation
14.
Solar Stabbing
15.
Echoing stars
16.
Empowerment
17.
Bladed Feathers
18.
Goldinn's fury
4.2 Artifact Relics
4.2.1 Single Target
1.
Scythe of the Stars
2.
Dark side of the moon and
Solar Stabbing
3.
Falling Star,
Twilight glow,
Sunfire burns,
Empowerment
4.2.2 Multiple Target
1.
Falling Star
2.
Sunfire burns
3.
Twilight glow
4.
Dark side of the moon
5.1 Single Target
The Balance Druid rotation is based on the following priority list:
1.Apply and maintain
Moonfire,
Sunfire on the target.
2.Cast
Starsurge to consume Astral Power.
3.Cast
New Moon(and its other versions) to generate Astral Power. Make sure its charges are always rolling.
4.Use
Solar Wrath while you have
Solar Empowerment.
5.Cast Lunar Strike
Lunar Strike while you have
Lunar Empowerment up
5.2 Multiple Target
The multiple target rotation is very similar to the single target rotation, with a few differences.
You should keep
Moonfire, and
Sunfire up on any targets that will live longer than 6 seconds. Also use
New Moon(and its other versions) as you would against a single target.
You should still use Solar Wrath Icon Solar Wrath to generate Astral Power, as a rule. Against 3+ targets, a Lunar Strike that
benefits from Lunar Empowerment Icon Lunar Empowerment is preferable to a Solar Wrath that is empowered, while against 4+ targets,
even unempowered Lunar Strikes are better than empowered Solar Wrath.
To consume Astral Power, use
Starfall if you are fighting 2 or more enemies, and
Starsurge otherwise.
NOTE: Note that you can stack Starfall, but you can only have one Stellar Empowerment debuff up at a time, so some
of the damage from the extra Starfalls is wasted. This is still best to do when you are AoEing.
5.3 Opening Rotation
1.Shortly before the pull, use your potion and pre-cast
Solar Wrath
2.Cast
New Moon
3.Apply
Moonfire and
Sunfire to the target.
4.Cast
Celestial Alignment (or
Incarnation-Chosen of Elune, if you have taken this talent).
5.Cast
Half Moon and
Full Moon
6.Continue your normal rotation.
5.4 Mitigating Movement DPS
Maintaining your DPS on the move is one of the harder parts to playing Balance. The important thing to note for
movement is that you can still cast your instant cast spells, like
Moonfire,
Sunfire,
Starsurge, and
Starfall. Therefore, whenever you anticipate movement you want to be able to use these spells.
For single target, you should practice what is called "Astral Power pooling" or "Astral Power floating". This is where you
purposefully do not use
Starsurge until you have a large amount of Astral Power saved up.
This way, when you need to move, you have enough Astral Power to cast at
least two Starsurges, giving you about 2 seconds of movement without any penalty to your DPS.
For multiple targets, Astral Power pooling is still important, but not as much. In this scenario, you can take advantage
of
Stellar drift's casting while on-the-move. This is extremely important if you want to maintain your AoE DPS while
dodging mechanics, and you can safely generate enough Astral Power to always have a
Starfall up.
The stat priority for a Balance Druid is as follows.
1.Haste;
2.Mastery;
3.Intellect;
4.Critical Strike;
5.Versatility.
Keep in mind that this priority is only a guideline. Under no circumstances should you forsake large item level
upgrades just because the piece has less Haste or Mastery (unless it is a piece of jewelry). Also, do not fall into the trap
of stacking nothing but Haste and Mastery. As with all classes, the values of secondary stats rise and fall depending on
how much you have of them. Try to maximise your Haste and Mastery on your gear, but remember that you still want a little
Critical Strike and Versatility as well.
7.1 Gems
You should use
Saber's Eye of Intellect in one socket, and
Quick Dawnlight in all other sockets.
7.2 Enchants
7.3 Consumables
Flask of the Whispered Pact should be used for raids along with
Potion of Prolonged Power as your potion of choice.
If you can afford it, you should also use augment runes (which work in both raids and Mythic+ dungeons).
Defiled Augment Rune is the cheap rune with a one-time use.
The legendaries rankings is as follows:
1.
Impeccable Fel Essence a very strong and versatile legendary. Use this when you take
Incarnation-Chosen of Elune, to significantly boost your cooldown usage. Additionally, it has very good stats.
2.
Oneth's Intuition Solid boost on average, potential to get crazy chain-procs. Not fantastic for Multi-Target
unless it's combined with Lady and the Child.
3.
Lady and the Child Very strong multi-target in Multi-target raid encounters and Mythic+ dungeons. (Not good for single-target.)
4.
The Emerald Dreamcatcher Very strong Single-target option when utilized. Offers a huge amount of stats as well.
5.
Kil'jaeden's Burning Wish Great for Mythic+ dungeons.
NOTE: In matter of dps the other legendaries are zero
Macros
1. Rebirth
This macro casts
Rebirth on your mouseover target, if they are a friendly player. Otherwise, it casts Rebirth on your current target.
2.Starfall
This macro allows you to cast
Starfall at the location of your cursor without requiring you to also click with your mouse.
Addons
1.Weak Auras
WeakAuras is an extremely useful addon that allows you to have visual effects on your screen, helping you track your buffs, debuffs and cooldowns. It is highly customisable and it can make it much,
much easier to keep track of your procs and play your spec more proficiently. It can also be used for a variety of other functions.
2.ElvUI
This addon is a complete replacement of the default User Interface. It comes with almost everything you need to perform properly: action bars, cooldown timers, proc display, etc.
3.Recount / Skada / Details!
Recount is a well known addon that most people use for displaying current DPS or HPS (Healing Per Second). This add-on is not really lightweight, and provides a very high amount of information (and it can sometimes cause issues with performance). It is generally a good option to use Recount for checking what you take damage from and if the share of damage/healing you do with each of your abilities is similar to that of other players of your class.
An alternative to Recount (similar in function, so the choice is personal preference) is Details!.
A lightweight alternative to Recount and Details! is Skada Damage Meter.
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