News

Current Bugs

There are currently some bugs in mythic+ that you should be weary about.

If your raid wipes within 15 seconds of you using Celestial Alignment/Incarnation, Force of Natureor Convoke the Spirits, then Control of the Dreamwill not provide the correct amount of reduction to these talents, effectively desyncing your cooldowns for the next pull.

Tier set

2-piece

Starsurgedamage increased by 10%. Starfalldamage increased by 14%.

This is a ~3.0% dmg increase from having no set.

4-piece

Lunar Eclipse and Solar Eclipse each increase the Astral Power Wrathgenerates by 2 and Starfiregenerates by 5.

This is a ~4.7% dmg increase from having no set.

Sim for tier set

Rotation

Precasting

Keeper of the Grove

Elune's Chosen

You want to cancel Nature's Graceif you have any stacks before pulling a raid boss, either by clicking off the buff or using the macro specified in the "Macros" section. This allows you to do the following opener, and still keep any stacks of Nature's Gracerolling into your cooldowns.

Use Wrath.
Use Wrath.
Use Regrowth

You can precast at max range, 3 seconds before a boss is pulled.

16th October 2024 update: Added Regrowthinto the opener. Casting Regrowthbefore combat so that the cast finishes after combat start is a tiny DPS increase by starting to stack Blooming Infusion, and also provides DR. The alternative is casting Wrathtwo times and waiting for the boss to be pulled.

Keeper Explanation: When playing Keeper of the Grove, your opener can vary depending on your distance to the target. The general rule is, you want both casts of Wrathto hit the boss before you use Force of Nature, since Wrathconsumes stacks of Dream Surgeon impact. Usually this means using a global on Moonfirebefore Force of Nature.

What is a priority list?

When reading the priority lists below, you should not think of these as steps to be followed in a specific order. At any given point in combat, you should cast the first ability on the list that you are able to cast, provided the conditions for its use are met.

Single Target Priority

Keeper of the Grove - ST

Keep up Sunfire, refresh within pandemic (30% of base duration shown in the tooltip).
Keep up Moonfire, refresh within pandemic (30% of base duration shown in the tooltip) unless your next GCD is Force of Nature.
Use Force of Natureoff cooldown or if Celestial Alignment/Incarnation and Convoke the Spiritsis available.
Use Force of Natureif your Solar Eclipse has more than 6 seconds left or if Celestial Alignment/Incarnation and Convoke the Spiritsis available.
Keep up Stellar Flareand refresh within pandemic (30% of base duration shown in the tooltip) if you will not overcap on AP.
Use Celestial Alignment/Incarnation if:
- You just used Force of Nature.
- The cooldown on Force of Natureis longer than 25 seconds.
Cast 2 Starfireto enter Solar Eclipse. It is optimal to start casting Starfireright before your current Eclipse will end, so that you carry a stack of Nature's Graceinto your new Solar Eclipse.
Use Convoke the Spiritswhen you are below 40 AP and both scenarios are true:
- You just used Force of Nature.
- CA/Incarnation will last for more than 4 seconds or your next CA/Incarnation is more than 30 seconds away.
Use Fury of Elune.
Use Starsurgeif Starlordhas less than 3 stacks.
Use Starsurgeif one of the following conditions is met:
- Starlordhas less than 3 stacks.
- You are about to overcap on AP.
- You need to move.
- You have a Starweaver's Weftproc.
- You have a Touch the Cosmosproc.
Use New-,Half- and Full Moonif all of the following conditions are met:
- You will not overcap on AP.
- You can finish the cast before your current Eclipse ends.
- You are in CA/Incarnation or you're about to cap on charges and the cooldown of CA/Incarnation is longer than 10 seconds.
Use Starsurgeif one of the following conditions is met:
- You are about to overcap on AP.
- You need to move.
- You have a Starweaver's Weftproc.
- You have a Touch the Cosmosproc.
Use Starfallif you have a Starweaver's Warpproc.
Use Starfallif you have a Touch the Cosmosproc.
Use Wild Mushroomas a movement GCD.
Use Wrath.

AoE Priority (2+ targets)

Keeper of the Grove - AoE

Use Sunfireif the target will live for at least 5.5 seconds. Subtract 0.5 seconds for each additional target beyond the first. Wait until all targets are gathered.
Use Moonfireif the targets will live for 6 or more seconds and you will not overcap on AP. Remember Force of Naturealso spreads Moonfire
Use Stellar Flareif all of the following conditions is met:
- The target will live for at least 8s+1s per target that Starfirecan hit.
- You will not overcap on AP.
Use Starfallif you would overcap Astral Power with your next cast.
Use Force of Natureif one of the following conditions is met:
- Your current Eclipse has more than 3 seconds left.
- Your next GCD is CA/Incarnation.
Use Celestial Alignment/Incarnation if one of the following conditions is met:
- You just used Force of Nature.
- The cooldown on Force of Natureis longer than 25 seconds.
Use Wrathto enter Lunar Eclipse.
Use Fury of Elune.
Use Starfallif:
- Starlordis below 3 stacks.
- You have a Starweaver's Warpproc.
- You have a Touch the Cosmosproc.
Use Starfireto consume any stacks of Nature's Graceand Umbral Embrace.
Use Wild Mushroomif you will not overcap on AP and Waning Twilightis not up on your targets.
Use Full Moonif all of the following conditions are met:
- You will not overcap on AP.
- You can finish the cast before your current eclipse ends.
- You are in CA/Inc or you're about to cap on charges and the cooldown of Celestial Alignment/Incarnation is longer than 10 seconds.
Use New Moonif you will not overcap on AP.
Use Half Moonif you will not overcap on AP and you can finish the cast before your current eclipse ends.
Use Convoke the Spiritsif you are fighting less than 7 targets and Umbral Embraceor Nature's Graceare not up.
Use Starsurgeif:
- You have a Starweaver's Weftproc.
- You have a Touch the Cosmosproc.
Use Starfire.

Elune's Chosen - AoE

Use Sunfireif the target will live for at least 5.5 seconds. Subtract 0.5 seconds for each additional target beyond the first. Wait until all targets are gathered.
Use Moonfireif the targets will live for 6 or more seconds and you will not overcap on AP.
Use Stellar Flareif all of the following conditions is met:
- The target will live for at least 8s+1s per target that Starfirecan hit.
- You will not overcap on AP.
Use Starfallif you would overcap Astral Power with your next cast.
Use Fury of Elune.
Use CA/Incarnation.
Use Warrior of Eluneif available.
Use Wrathto enter Lunar Eclipse.
Use Wild Mushroomif you will not overcap on AP and Waning Twilightis not up on your targets.
Use Starfallif one of the following conditions is met:
- Starlordis below 3 stacks.
- You have a Starweaver's Warpproc.
- You have a Touch the Cosmosproc.
Use Full Moonif all of the following conditions are met:
- You will not overcap on AP.
- You can finish the cast before your current eclipse ends.
- You are in CA/Inc or you're about to cap on charges and the cooldown of CA/Incarnation is longer than 10 seconds.
Use New Moonif you will not overcap on AP.
Use Half Moonif you will not overcap on AP and you can finish the cast before your current eclipse ends.
Use Starfireto consume any stacks of Nature's Graceand Umbral Embrace.
Use Convoke the Spiritsif you are fighting less than 7 targets and Umbral Embraceor Nature's Graceare not up.
Use Starsurgeif:
- You have a Starweaver's Weftproc.
- You have a Touch the Cosmosproc.
Use Force of Natureif you will not overcap on AP.
Use Starfire.

Rotational Details

Eclipses and Fillers

Enter Solar Eclipseand cast Wrathif Starfirecan only hit 1 target.
Enter Lunar Eclipseand cast Starfireif Starfirecan hit 2 targets and more.
If talented into Lunar Calling, enter Lunar Eclipseon all target counts.
Use Starsurgeon 1 target.
Use Starfallon 2 targets and more.

How to Use Warrior of Elune

Warrior of Eluneis an off-gcd ability, making your next 3 Starfireinstant for 25 seconds. The ability has a 45s cooldown that starts once you've pressed it. It should be used on cooldown while talented into Lunar Calling, or you can hold for a few seconds to line up with CA/Incarnation.

When not talented into Lunar Calling, use Warrior of Elunecharges to enter Solar Eclipse.

How to use Owlkin Frenzy procs

Use Owlkin Frenzyprocs to enter Solar Eclipse, inside Lunar Eclipse or inside CA/Incarnation if Starfire will hit 2 or more targets. Keep in mind that Warrior of Elunecharges are consumed before Owlkin Frenzyprocs.

Talents

Raid

Raid Talents

Single Target (Sikran, Rasha'nan, Nexus Princess Kyveza, Queen Ansurek)

Single Target Cleave (Ulgrax, Bloodbound Horror)

Broodtwister Ovi'nax

Silken Court

Elune's Chosen Single Target

Mythic+

The following are dungeon talent builds that will always serve you well but mind that there can be some variations based on your group comp or affixes. Do not be afraid of swapping some talents out if you think it can help your group.

Both hero trees are viable and perform very close to each other. Feel free to choose the one you prefer.

Keeper of the Grove build

Elune's Chosen build

In-Depth Talent Explanations

Keeper of the Grove has generally performed better in all content since release. It provides a good burst window on a 30-45s cooldown, while also synergizing well with Convoke the Spirits, being less taxing on your talent page than Elune's Chosen and allowing for more variety in talents from the spec tree. Elune's Chosen requires you to take the Fury of Eluneand Radiant Moonlight, talent points both at the bottom of your tree, effectively locking you out of other options. Keeper of the Grove also has a stronger defensive option with Protective Growthcompared to Glistening Furin the Elune's Chosen tree.

Both of these talents are seeing a lot of play in Mythic+ this season when using Keeper of the Grove. Incarnation: Chosen of Eluneis at times very strong in AoE encounters and in keys where you're playing with a coordinated group that's pulling at times catered to your cooldowns. Convoke the Spiritsin return gives you a lot of boss damage, and/or damage on high priority mobs that have to die. When using Convoke the Spiritsin Mythic+, you should use the spell in AoE as long as the conditions laid out in the AoE priority section are met.

Control of the Dreamlets you hold on to either Celestial Alignment/Incarnation, Convoke the Spiritsor Force of Naturefor up to 15 seconds without losing a use, subtracting the amount of time you held the ability from its cooldown.

Depending on the timer, this talent is stronger than Power of the Dreamwhich it shares a choice node with. As always, you should research the fight you are preparing for on warcraftlogs or sim your character to make an educated guess.

In general, the Druid class tree leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to variety and how many points you have left to spend after taking talents that are mandatory for the content you're doing. Listed below are some talents that you can opt into based on preference, comp or what content you're doing.

Feline Swiftnessis a strong node in raid. A 15% passive movement speed increase for a 2 point investment is very good for handling sudden movement. This node is not as good to take in mythic+ when there are more mandatory talents to choose there. For a pure single target fight you can also drop Improved Sunfireto have another talent point to spend.

Remove Corruptionis a good node for mythic+ if the content you are doing requires a Poison or Curse dispel. Some people are opting to not play Verdant Heartin order to access this, while others are removing points spent in CC talents like Typhoonor Incapacitating Roar.

Matted Fur, Ursine Vigorand Ursoc's Spiritare all defensive nodes. Both Ursine Vigorand Ursoc's Spiritprovides more health while in Bear Form, where Matted Furgives you a tiny absorb shield when using Barkskin. Assuming you are using Bear Formdefensively, both those talents are stronger than Matted Fur. Most top players are opting in to using Ursine Vigor, with Matted Furbeing an option to consider only if you never use Bear Form.

Oakskinand Well-Honed Instinctsare both good defensive nodes that you should take in basically every scenario. Accessing these two talents forces you to route through Instincts of the Clawwhich is useless for Balance Druid, but taking the talent also allows you to access Incapacitating Roarwhich is a good node for mythic+ where AoE stops are sometimes mandatory.

Typhoonis a talent that lets you knock back adds to stop them from casting or to reposition mobs that are standing outside of the pack. This talent is taken in most mythic+ scenarios, but you can remove it depending on your comp or what dungeon you're doing. This is best used when paired with Ursol's Vortexso the mobs don't get spread too far out. Tanks will call you out on using this poorly since they won't be able to parry hits from behind them, use at your own discretion.

Fluid Formis a very strong talent if used right. Most players are sacrificing points elsewhere in order to take this. It allows you to save a GCD every time you want to cycle back into Moonkin Form. It's very strong against mechanics that root you, allowing you to cancel your form in the middle of casting a Wrathand break the roots when shifting back with your next Wrath.

Innervateis a good node for raid, but not as easy to take in mythic+. Communicate with your raid leader and healers on the best use for this on a particular fight.

Forestwalkis a situationally good node giving you increased movement speed and healing recieved after casting Regrowth. This can be strong when paired with Blooming Infusionand Protective Growthfor fights that require good defensive value. Some top players are opting in to play this talent as an alternative when they don't want to route through Instincts of the Claw.

Nature's Vigilis not an easy node to take, but could be situationally helpful for your guild. Talk to your raid leader and make a decision that's best for your raid.

Improved Stampeding Roaris an option for fights with mechanics where your raid can benefit from a movement speed increase, like Rasha'nan intermission or spreading out for charges on Nexus Princess Kyveza. Talk to your raid leader and make a decision that's best for your raid.

Consumables:

Potions

Tempered Potion

Food

Feast of the Midnight Masquerade or The Sushi Special

Flasks

Flask of Alchemical Chaos or Flask of Tempered Mastery

Weapon Rune

Algari Mana Oil

Gearing:

Stat Priority:

Sim yourself using Raidbots Top Gear. Do not follow any stat priorities.

Gems and Enchants

Gems - 1x Elusive Blasphemite or Culminating Blasphemite mixed with whatever gems sim the highest for your character.

Weapon - Authority of the Depths for single target and raid, Authority of Radiant Power for AoE and m+

Chest - Crystalline Radiance

Cloak - Chant of Winged Grace

Legs - Sunset Spellthread

Wrist - Chant of Armored Avoidance

Boots - Scout's March or Defender's March

Ring - You should always sim your own character to determine what enchant to use in this slot.

Embellishments & Crafted Items

Embellishments for this season don't offer a substantial gain, so it's important that you always sim your character using Raidbots Top Gear before making any gearing decision, but here are some guidelines:

Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension and Writhing Armor Banding

This is a solid all-round choice for both single target and AoE. The Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension can be crafted on any weapon. If you go this route, you should aim to craft this on a two-handed weapon early, and crafting the Writhing Armor Banding on a low stat budget slot, preferably on the cloak, belt or wrist slot. Keep in mind that this embellishment only stacks during combat, making it a lot less valuable in mythic+. For later in the season when you acquire a 639 weapon, you should recraft the Ascension embellishment on an off-hand.

Elemental Focusing Lens

This is a solid all-round choice for single target and mythic+. It's a random damage proc effect, where the type of damage is determined based on what kind of gems you are wearing. Equipping more gems or changing the type does not matter for the damage output. If you go for this choice, you should aim to craft two of them on low stat budget slots, notably the cloak, belt or wrist slots.

Duskthread Lining or Dawnthread Lining

These are buffs that give you versatility or critical strike when you're above 80% hp. They are decent choices for mythic+, depending on the uptime you can get. They're similiar to the Blue Silken Lining embellishment from Dragonflight. If you go for this choice, you should aim to craft them on two low stat budget slots, notably the cloak, wrist or belt slots.

Remember that you will acquire an enchanted heroic crest early in the season as a quest reward, allowing you to craft a 619 item without spending any of your crests.

Trinkets

Spymaster's Web is a trinket with a passively stacking intellect buff, capping at 40 stacks and an on-use effect that gives you intellect based on the amount of stacks you've accumulated. Ideally this means you should save it for your 3rd or 2nd use of Celestial Alignment/Incarnation, depending on fight timer.

Please use Top Gear on Raidbots in order to decide what trinkets to use/farm, but the following list should give you a good idea of some of the trinkets you will want to look out for. The list is in roughly power-level order assuming the highest item level versions of the trinkets.

FAQ

Why can't I enter Solar Eclipse?

Because you are talented into Lunar Calling.

How can I proc Waning Twilightwithout Wild Mushroomor Stellar Flare?

With Astral Smolder.

I've read the priority list and I think my rotation looks correct but I'm still doing very low damage. What could be the reason?

Log one of your fights and check it with warcraftlogs and wowanalyzer. The main thing to check is if you're always casting: the timeline should have no downtime and, as close to zero as possible, cancelled casts. Another common issue is incorrectly planning your movement and wasting casts on dots: you should always have enough AP to cover some distance just by using spenders.

What is Astral damage?

Astral damage is both Arcane and Nature damage. Effects that buff Nature spells also applies to Astral spells, and effects that buff Arcane spells likewise also applies to Astral spells. For example, Solar Eclipse multiplies the damage of all Nature & Astral spells by 1.15x, and Lunar Eclipse multiplies the damage of all Arcane & Astral spells by 1.15x. If you have both eclipses, Astral spells get 1.15 * 1.15 = 1.3225x multiplier, while Nature & Arcane spells get 1.15x.
Mind that class buffs only affect class spells so if a trinket does nature or arcane damage they are not affected by our buffs to these spell schools.

Is there a target count where spreading Sunfire or Moonfire is not worth it?

No, having your DoT effects up increases your damage done to the target. The conditions for spreading Sunfire and Moonfire are tied to how long the target will live, and not how many targets there are.

How do I sim for AoE?

It is generally recommended that you steer away from simming unrealistic scenarios like "5 target 40 seconds" as they are likely to give skewed results. Balance Druid stats don't really change much depending on target count either, so you will be perfectly fine just using the default "1 target 5 minute patchwerk" options. If your intention is to sim for mythic+, you can use the MDT Sim WeakAura which allows you to sim dungeon routes. Please keep in mind that ST damage is still a big part of mythic+.

I'm doing really low damage in Mythic+, what am I doing wrong?

If you double-checked your rotation and still feel like you're underperforming you could just be playing low keys, together with classes that have very bursty damage profiles. When playing a Balance Druid, mobs need to live long enough for you to actually start doing damage, which is something that doesn't really happen in keys lower than 12+. Consider focusing a bit more on ST or trying another spec, but take into account the fact that DPS isn't everything in a key.

I've seen a lot of people running build X instead of Y in Mythic+, is X better?

Try them out and make an informed decision! Most differences between builds are based on variables like target count, comps, combat timer or utility needed.

Why are some top players running different embellishments from the ones mentioned in the Compendium

The DPS gain provided by the embellishments can vary significantly because of many external factors such as gear, type of content and group composition. Some of the top players might also happen to use niche embellishments for the same reasons. If you don't have any specific requirements then your best option is to just sim your character and choose the embellishments that provide the highest DPS upgrade.

Do our dots snapshot?

No, all of our periodic damage (like Moonfire, Sunfire, Stellar Flare) do NOT snapshot, everything is dynamic. That means any dots gain/lose the damage bonus upon entering/leaving the Eclipse that buffs them and whenever any other stat/damage increases are applied/expire.

Additional Resources

Macros

Orbital Strike macro:

#showtooltip
/cast [@cursor] Celestial Alignment

Force of Nature macro:

#showtooltip
/cast [@cursor] Force of Nature

Trinket macro:

If you are using an on-use trinket that should go along with your cooldowns, use the following macro (/13 for top trinket slot, and /14 for bottom trinket slot)

#showtooltip
/use 13
/use 14
/cast [@cursor] Celestial Alignment

Cancelaura Macros

Cancelling Dreamstate

This macro lets you cancel your Nature's Gracestacks while pre-casting before combat starts. This is entirely optional, but lets you skip the step of clicking away your buff.

#showtooltip
/cancelaura [nocombat] Dreamstate
/cast Wrath

Cancelling Starlord

Cancelling Starlord is entirely optional and is neither a DPS gain nor loss.

If you want to engage in this entirely optional method without incurring a DPS loss, you should aim to cancel Starlord at any point in an Eclipse window where the buff is currently at less than two seconds, and you are about to use Starsurgeto prevent overcapping.

#showtooltip
/cancelaura Starlord

Useful WeakAuras and Other Profiles

Balance WeakAura Packs

The following links lead to various Balance Druid WeakAura packs. These contain everything that's recommended to track to play at a high level. None of these are particular better or more useful than others, and which one you should use is up to your personal preference.

Jundies Plater Profile

This profile for Plater is among the most used and asked about public nameplate profiles for moonkins, since it changes the color of a mobs nameplate based on what DoT effects are currently active on the target, being very helpful to more accurately spread your Sunfire and Moonfire when fighting multiple mobs at the same time.

Regrowth Tracker for Blooming Infusion

This weakaura tracks your number of casts of Regrowth before you get the Blooming Infusion buff that increases the damage of your next Wrath/Starfire and makes them instant cast, and also tracks your number of Starsurge casts before you proc an instant Regrowth.

Casts until you can cast Starfire

Starfire Alerter: See the description of the WA for more details. This is not a required WA but will make it easier to not get into situations where you are wasting a Starfire cast inside Solar Eclipse.

Item Strings for Simming

Race Sim

Current APL