Druid tactics/Balance

General
As a balance druid you can perform a number of roles with a number of aims. Central to these is the Moonkin Form.

Moonkin Form
Moonkin Form is a form available to druids with 30 points invested into the balance talent tree. Moonkins are often affectionately referred to as boomkins, oomkins, doomkins, crit chickens, or laser chickens. Almost everyone is familiar with the distinctive 'moon lasers' (Starfire and Moonfire) which are its signature attack visuals.

Due to several BC and WOTLK changes, their previous serious threat and mana issues have been resolved. In a similar way to the (now often deadly) Retribution Paladin (A Loladin) the names persist, more in reference to the past than any real current issues...

In Moonkin Form you get
 * A percent bonus to armor rating from items. Armor rating from enchantments and agility is not multiplied. Note that this is comparable to the Bear Form bonus, and gives a Moonkin a great survivability advantage to other casters. Be aware that most likely you will not have defence oriented stats, so care is still recommended.
 * An aura granting all party or raid members additional spell haste chance.
 * The Moonkin can effectively only cast Balance spells while shapeshifted, with the notable important exceptions below:
 * In various patches leading up to WOTLK, Gift or Mark of the Wild, Remove curse and Abolish Poison were all allowed to be cast in Moonkin form. These are vital in PvE combat. In a raid situation, preserving mana is often a major consideration, and shapeshifting is a massive mana drain. Ensuring curses, poisons and GoTW is restored to killed players is often the responsibility of a balance druid.

=Notable Spells and Abilities=

Balance spells are primarily oriented around doing magic damage to enemies and crowd control.

Within the Cast Cycle
An example PvE cast cycle would be Faerie Fire, Moonfire, Insect Swarm, Starsurge and either Starfire or Wrath depending on where the druid is in the Eclipse rotation. A druid would use these same spells in PvP to a good extent, though with different a talent investment and cast cycle.

Faerie Fire
This is a vital spell in boss encounters, causing an armor debuff. This spell should almost definitely be the first used on a raid boss and should be reapplied following any form of dispelling.

In PvP, in addition to its useful armor debuff this spell allows druids to keep Rogues from vanishing in PvP. This reduces their ability to stunlock and DPS, and also makes it harder for them to escape, unless they use Cloak of Shadows to remove the effect before using Vanish.

Insect Swarm
This is the Moonkin's secondary damage over time effect. As of Patch 4.0.1, it no longer decreases the targets chance to hit, but it still provides a good amount of damage per mana. Despite being a slightly less powerful spell, it is usually cast before Moonfire in the Moonkin cast-cycle as the lack of a burst section of damage reduces threat issues.

Moonfire
Moonfire plays a dual role in the druid's arsenal. First, if the druid allows the DoT to run its course it provides a steady reasonably mana efficient supplement to DPS. Secondly, it is the only instant cast damage spell with a Cooldown less than 6 seconds, and the druid can Spam it, producing relatively large DPS at the cost of mana efficiency. In long fights (i.e. most boss fights), balance druids should generally avoid Moonfire spam, unless they are confident that they have sufficient mana regeneration that they will effectively have spare mana at the end of the fight. In PvP, moonfire spam is often used to kill off a fleeing opponent.

In PvE, when used for spam-style burst damage, Moonfire is the least mana-efficient of the druid's damage spells, providing the lowest damage per point of mana spent (DPM).

Moonfire should generally be used by allowing the DoT to run to completion. When used in this way, it gives the highest DPM. With the Glyph of Starfire this spell is a mana efficient and effective DoT essential for a raiding Moonkin.

Wrath
Wrath is one of the cornerstones of a standard Moonkin damage cycle. It has a shorter casting time than Starfire and, unlike Starsurge, has no cooldown. Due to this, it is a powerful and relatively quick spell to cast, making it ideal of PvP or PvE. It causes nature damage.

It is predominantly used in as part of the Eclipse cycle; see the Eclipse page for more information.

Starfire
Starfire is the other half of the Eclipse cycle and a big part of moonkin dps. The Starlight Wrath talent should be fully filled out for all Balance Druids, and gives Starfire a 3s cast time. It is the hardest single hitting druid spell, but also has a long cast time. This makes it generally a PvE spell, though when effectively used in PvP its high damage can make it lethal.

Starsurge
Added in Patch 4.0.1, this spell counts as its own damage type, benefits from both Solar Eclipse and Lunar Eclipse, and contributes the appropriate energy to both of them. It has a shorter cast time than Wrath and does more damage than Starfire. The only reason a moonkin doesn't spam this spell is because it has a cooldown.

Other important Spells
This page is currently being re-written: It will include sections on Cyclone, Abolish Poison, Decurse, Thorns, Starfall and Hurricane.

Cyclone
This is a crowd controlling spell that makes an enemy invulnerable and unable to cast for up to 6 seconds. Unlike Polymorph, the health of the enemy is not increased, but it does not have the duration of similar spells like Banish. Cyclone is subject to diminishing returns in both PvE and PvP, lasting for 6 seconds on the first cast to a single target, 3 seconds on the second cast, and 1.5 seconds on the third. After the third cast a target is granted immunity to this spell.

This is an exceptional raid spell for neutralising mind-controlled characters. While it does not have the duration of sheep, it offers immunity to damage. This makes a quick reacting Moonkin a vital raid addition in fights such as Lady Deathwhisper.

=Attributes= The following stats are relevant to moonkin dps.
 * Each point of Intellect gives mana and increases your chance for a spell critical strike, and spell power. This is probably the most important stat for balance druids.
 * Each point of Spirit increases your health regeneration while out of combat and mana regeneration while not casting. As of Patch 4.0.1, it is also a moonkin's main source of spell hit, with the Balance of Power talent.
 * Spellpower increases the damage of your spells.
 * Haste decreases the casting time of your spells and the global cooldown, increasing the speed.
 * Critical strike rating improves your chance to critically hit with spells. Due to old talent trees, this used to be vital for mana regeneration in Moonkin form, but after Patch 4.0.1 that is no longer the case.
 * Mastery is relatively unimportant to balance druids. Total Eclipse increases the damage bonus from Eclipse, but a druid is only in an Eclipse state about half the time and while in an Eclipse state, only about half their spells benefit from it. Smart casting can increase those percentages, but druids still benefit from Mastery less than most casters.

What to gear and spec precisely is open to debate and, like for all classes, changed a great deal in Patch 4.0.1. Ultimately, the following rules should be followed for a PvE Boomkin:


 * Achieve spell hit cap.
 * Maximise spell power.
 * Maximise haste.
 * Maximise crit.

Caps in hit rating and haste rating (the number at which increases in that stat give reduced benefit, or no benefit at all) used to be important to moonkins, but Patch 4.0.1 greatly reduced that. While hit rating is still very important to dps, Reforging now makes it much easier to get. As for haste, Patch 4.0.1 increased the casting time of Wrath, which made the haste soft cap almost impossible to reach with gear levels at 85.

There are similar approaches for the various PvP Moonkin Builds. Usually some value of desired spell penetration is aimed for, then spell power, crit and haste are maximised depending on the aims and objectives of the build.

Please note that the above is a loose guide as even within the Balance tree, there are many different approaches and specs.

=Soloing= Druids work well as a soloing class. It's generally a good idea to pull targets to draw them away from other creatures that would gang up on you. Use spells with high damage and long casting time for pulling (Starsurge if it is off cooldown, Starfire if not); they are harder to use in combat, but before combat there's no reason you can't. Learn the maximum distance of your spells, and be in the habit of casting from there. Follow this with Entangling Roots if the target is likely to be dangerous. Move back to the limit of your Wrath spell and repeat. Do not be tempted to switch to Bear form - you have comparable armour bonuses in Moonkin form, as well as crowd control available. Should you be taking heavy damage or being interrupted, a Barkskin can turn the tide, reducing damage taken and stopping casting interruption, particularly if you shapeshift to heal.

If you run out of mana while soloing a creature, Entangling Roots can save your life. Root the creature and then just stand back and wait for your mana to regenerate. Once you have enough mana, cast Entangling Roots again. If it is not resisted or immediately removed, heal yourself. Otherwise cast it again. Repeat the process. Entangling Roots does a small amount of damage. When you feel comfortable with your health vs the creatures health, go back to damaging it. Note: This trick might not work if your spirit is very low.

Druids with mana problems may want to train First Aid and/or Cooking for healing between fights in order to save mana and maintain the highest efficiency. Do not forget about your ability Innervate, which is very useful since it has been changed to a 3 minute base cooldown.

As you become more powerful, you will find killing mobs relatively simple. A very standard technique for appropriately levelled or geared boomkins is to pre-load themselves with a rejuvenation and maybe lifebloom, jump to Moonkin form, then DOT 4-7 enemies with moonfire and insect swarm. Your increased armour, combined with a slight healing should mean that you will survive fighting multiple opponents. Draw these adds together, pop a Barkskin and then aoe them down with Hurricane. This method makes levelling, questing and grinding very efficient.

=Grouping= Some people may believe that hybrid classes like druids can't match the DPS of pure DPS classes, but before and during the Wrath of the Lich King expansion Blizzard developers stated that they want hybrid classes to approach the DPS of pure classes more closely than before. Although a warlock or mage has a larger arsenal of DPS spells, a moonkin can match or exceed the DPS of pure DPS classes depending on situation, specialization, gear and player skill.

Raiding Spells and Cast Cycle
The Boomkin endgame raiding approach is affected by a number of aims and approaches. General fundamentals include:


 * As with all casters, the player is advised to spend talents to increase the chance to hit. Gear should chosen and reforging should be used to ensure that this hitcap is reached but not overshot - there is no advantage to surpassing this.
 * Spell power should be maximised, and raiding foodbuffs and flasks chosen should reflect this.
 * Some talents are considered mandatory for end-game raiding; see the Druid builds page or other guides for more information.

Your initial priority, as per other dps casters, should be to gear to the hitcap and then maximise spell power. As a second, but very important, set of concerns the following should be considered:


 * A moonkin's main method of mana regeneration is the Euphoria talent. When Solar or Lunar Energy reaches 100, a moonkin with this talent instantly regains 16 percent of their total mana. Since a moonkin should almost always be casting something while raiding, they will rarely gain mana from spirit. While a moonkin can cast Innervate on themselves, healers will generally need it cast on them more. That leaves Euphoria.


 * In previous patches, critting was the pivotal aim for moonkins, but as of Patch 4.0.1 that is no longer the case. Instead, crit is roughly as important or even less than haste, and definitely less important than intellect.

=Extra PvP Tricks=

In PvP, balance druids are able to use their moonkin form to absorb large amounts of damage, and with recent talent additions suffer little knockback with many of their abilities. This has made a balance druid (specced correctly) a very exceptional class in PvP. However, due to the inability to use restoration spells in moonkin form the sometimes necessary tactic of dropping form and healing means a large mana cost and can be cumbersome.