[Balance] WoD 6.0 Guide: When the Stars Align

[Kazistrasz 216]

WoD Balance 6.0 Guide: When the Stars Align

 

By: Kazistrasz

 

Edit: Since Kaz is no longer playing WoW any more, all changes made after Jan 11th 2015 are not accounted for in this guide.  On Jan 12th, there was a small change to haste (90 haste per 1%) and a small buff to mastery.  Most of what is said here is still true, but take the haste ratings with a grain of salt.

-Krazyito

 

This guide is written and will be maintained to reflect the best practices of Balance druid (boomkin) in Warlords of Draenor. It is the result of a combination of much work play testing, calculating in spreadsheets, and simulations through SimulationCraft.

 

Updated for Patch 6.0.3/Highmaul release

 

Table of Contents

I. Specialization Overview/What Has Changed

-->Ability Pruning

-->All About the DoTs

-->New Eclipse System

-->Core Spell Changes

II. Racial Perks Evaluated

-->Comparison

III. Talents & Glyphs Explained

-->Talents

-->Glyphs

IV. Stat Analysis

-->List of Stats

-->Stat Priority

V. Gear Acquisition & Tier 17 Bonuses

-->Tier 17 Bonuses

-->Best in Slot List

VI. Trinket Breakdown

-->Trinket by Trinket

-->Master List Ranking

VII. Gameplay Tips and Tricks

-->DoT Usage

-->Starsurge Usage

-->Cooldown Usage

-->General Raid Utility

-->AoE and Multi-Target Priority

-->Single Target Priority

-->Opening Rotation

VIII. Credits, Thanks, & Feedback

IX. Changelog

 

I. Specialization Overview/What Has Changed

 

In 6.0, the Balance spec was given a major overhaul to its Eclipse system, as well as various other changes. Let's start with the miscellaneous, smaller changes:

 

Ability Pruning:

• Faerie Fire is now Guardian and Feral only.
• Innervate is gone.
• Might of Ursoc is gone.
• Symbiosis is gone.
• Nature's Swiftness and Tranquility are now Restoration only.
• Lacerate and Maul are now Guardian only.
• Mangle (Cat Form) and Swipe are now Feral only.
• Thrash is now available (so useful).

Blizzard finally decided to address the idea that people were running out of places to put things on their bars without special mice, tons of modifiers, and tons of macros. So, basically, we've lost a little bit of our healing utility and defensive abilities both as a spec and as a class. Oh, and we can do less stuff while we're in Bear Form and Cat Form, because we spend a lot of time in either of those.

 

All About the DoTs

 

Pandemic was originally a passive ability for warlocks in Mists of Pandaria, but has since become a core mechanic in the game. When you refresh Moonfire and Sunfire, you add their current duration at the next tick, up to 30% of the base duration. In short, refreshing Moonfire up to 12 seconds early or Sunfire up to 7 seconds early does not clip any of the duration. Additionally, DoTs no longer add entire ticks to their duration. Instead, the game simply adds a "partial" tick at the end of the DoT for the portion of a full tick leftover at the end. 

 

However, the single most important change to DoTs is the removal of snapshotting. Previously, when you cast a DoT, it took a "snapshot" of all of your stats and buffs at the moment you cast it and applied all of that across the DoT's entire duration. Meaning, if you had a 5-second buff that made you do double damage when you cast a 20-second DoT, it maintained that double damage for all 20 seconds. DoTs no longer do this and update with your current stats every tick.

 

New Eclipse System

 

Our Eclipse energy is now fully automated and no longer based on our spell-spellcasting. For the mathematically inclined, we gain and lose energy as a sine curve. For everyone else, the close to 0 our energy is, the faster we gain and lose it. The closer to 100 we are, the slower it goes. When our energy reaches 100, it pauses briefly. For a visual reference, a graph of our energy over time, with positive representing lunar energy and negative representing solar energy:

 

 

For the purposes of add-ons and WeakAuras, it's important to know that the game actually counts lunar energy as negative. 

 

When combat starts, we begin at 0 and gain lunar energy. Once combat ends, the cycle continues on for 30 seconds and then resets.

 

With this ever-changing, automatically-cycling Eclipse, our damage bonus has changed. We no longer reach 100 energy and get a monster buff until we reach 0 again. Instead, we always have some amount of bonus to our spells. At 100 lunar energy, we have maximum bonus to our lunar spells, base 30% and increased by mastery, but no bonus at all to solar spells. At 100 solar energy, our solar spells have our maximum bonus with no bonus for lunar spells. When we're perfectly balanced at 0 energy, we have half of our bonus (base 15%) to both spells together.

 

For a visual, here's a graph of our damage bonus for lunar and solar spells, assuming only the base bonus:

 

 

This will have significant implications on our rotation, to be explained later.

 

Core Spell Changes

 

Starfire remains a single-target spell with a base cast time of 3 seconds. It benefits from lunar energy bonus.

 

Wrath is another single-target spell with a base cast time of 2 seconds. It benefits from solar energy bonus. Wrath has a lower Damage Per Execution Time than Starfire.

 

Starsurge is an instant cast ability that gives either two stacks of Lunar Empowerment or three stacks of Solar Empowerment, matching your current energy type. Both buff your next Starfire or Wrath, respectively, by 30%. It benefits from your highest eclipse bonus. Starsurge has a very high Damage Per Execution time in its own right, increased further when considering the bonus you'll add over your next few spells. Starsurge now works on a charge system, having 3 charges and a recharge time of 30 seconds.

 

Moonfire is now very lengthy, single-target DoT, lasting a whopping 40 seconds. The base tick speed for Moonfire is 2 seconds. It benefits from lunar energy bonus and may only be cast during lunar energy (sharing a button with Sunfire). In addition, it has a 5% chance on tick (or 10% chance on critical tick) to proc Shooting Stars, granting another charge of Starsurge. Upon reaching 100 lunar energy, you gain a 5-second Buff called Lunar Peak that doubles the initial damage component of Moonfire.

 

Sunfire is a less lengthy DoT that lasts for 24 seconds. While the initial damage is single-target, the DoT itself is then applied to every enemy within 5 yards of your target. The base tick speed for Sunfire is also 2 seconds. It benefits from solar energy bonus and may only be cast during solar energy (sharing a button with Moonfire). Like Moonfire, Sunfire also has a 5%/10% chance on tick to proc Shooting Stars. Upon reaching 100 solar energy, you gain a 5-second buff called Solar Peak that doubles the initial damage component of Sunfire.

 

Starfall gives you a buff for 10 seconds that causes you to deal damage to all targets within 40 yards of you.  It benefits from lunar eclipse bonus and shares charges with Starsurge.

 

Because Blizzard thinks we have nostalgia about the most hated part of the spec's history, Starfall now damages all targets within 40 yards, even if they are not in combat. Use caution when activating Starfall when there is something nearby that needs to not be pulled. It is some of the difficulty can be alleviated by taking Glyph of the Solstice and using Sunfire's new cleave function to quickly spread designate targets for Starfall.

 

Hurricane is an area-of-effect (AoE) ability that must be channeled to deal damage. It benefits from solar eclipse bonus, but is currently very weak and rarely worth using.

 

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II. Racial Perks Evaluated

 

For quite some time, we have complained about the imbalance of racials, and finally Blizzard has seen to fixing it. Whereas Night Elves have long had no impact on DPS and Trolls have reigned supreme, we'll now see a very minor difference from one race to another.

 

Alliance Perks

• Night Elf: Touch of Elune = 1% haste at night and 1% crit chance during day. Yes, it seems silly, and we sort of expect them to change it before it goes live.
• Worgen: Viciousness = 1% crit chance.

Horde Perks

• Tauren: Brawn = 2% crit damage and healing bonus.
• Troll: Berserking = 15% haste for 10 seconds on a 3-minute CD.

Comparison

Simulated through SimCraft, these evaluate as follows at  level:

1. Troll - 37,242 DPS
2. Night Elf - 37,239 DPS
3. Worgen - 37,181 DPS
4. Tauren - 37,151 DPS

*evaluated with a 0.08% margine of error

 

What this means is that your choice of race does not matter at all from a DPS perspective. The difference between the highest and lowest simming races is 0.24%. You should choose your race based on utility and usefulness. A few things to consider:

 

• Night Elves have Shadowmeld, which can occasionally help recover after wipes or even provide a temporary threat dump. Additionally, Quickness can be useful if there are adds that must be tanked by DPS for any reason.
• Tauren have War Stomp, which is incredibly useful for controlling and limiting adds.
• Trolls have Da Voodoo Shuffle, which can be useful if content has a significant amount of movement impairing effects.
• Worgen have Darkflight, which can be extremely useful in case Dash and Stampeding Roar are inadequate.

Or, you can simply pick the race that you like the looks of best. How you decide is up to you, but what race you pick doesn't actually matter.

 

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III. Talents & Glyphs Explained

 

Tier 1 (Level 15)

• Feline Swiftness is just a passive movement speed boost.
• Displacer Beast gives a short teleport and a burst of movement, but shifts you into Cat Form.
• Ysera’s Gift changes based on form, but is essentially a hunter's Deterrence as Boomkin.

Feline Swiftness should be the default choice, as Displacer Beast requires two GCDs (one to use, and one to shift back into Moonkin Form). Displacer Beast should be considered when you need to cover a long distance that would require two GCDs to move normally.

 

Tier 2 (Level 30)

• Ysera's Gift passively heals you every 5 seconds or heals other raid members if you're full.
• Renewal essentially replaces the Mists of Pandaria version of Healthstone.
• Cenarion Ward will heal its target the next time they take damage.

Ysera's Gift is a good source of constant healing against constant damage and requires no attention. Renewal is good for situations where raid damage is heavily centered in single hits or short bursts to help be one less person healers need to catch up. Cenarion Ward should never be used.

 

Tier 3 (Level 45)

• Faerie Swarm simply gives you a single target slow.
• Mass Entanglement is an AoE root ability.
• Typhoon is a conal knockback.
• Your choice here depends on the fight. If you need a good, single-target slow, take Faerie Swarm. If you need to hold a lot of enemies in one place, use Mass Entanglement. Typhoon is good when you need another knockback in your raid, or just for general defensive purposes when stuns are not enough to limit an add's melee.

 

Tier 4 (Level 60)

• Soul of the Forest makes Lunar Empowerment and Solar Empowerment further buff your Starfire and Wrath.
• Incarnation: Chosen of Elune is a flat, 15% damage buff for 30 seconds every 3 minutes. It requires a GCD to activate, as it is a shapeshift.
• Force of Nature has three charges that summon Treants that cast Wrath at your target. Force of Nature is best used during trinket procs.

Soul of the Forest is the talent of choice for single target situations, being a 0.7% to 1.5% over other choices depending on your Tier 7 (Level 100) talent choice.

 

Incarnation: Chosen of Elune is the choice for fights with two or more targets the majority of the time, being an increase over other talent choices by 2% or more, based on number of targets and Tier 4 (Level 60) talent choice.

 

Tier 5 (Level 75)

• Incapacitating Roar is an AoE disorient every 30 seconds.
• Ursol’s Vortex is a targeted AoE slow that grips enemies back into it every minute.
• Mighty Bash is a 5-second, single-target stun every 50 seconds.

This tier is completely based around the fight. Where an extra stun is needed (assuming your raid somehow doesn't have enough baseline stuns), you can take Mighty Bash. Most of the time that you're dealing with adds, Ursol’s Vortex will be the talent of choice to help kite since Incapacitating Roar does not always work on many adds and is broken by any damage.

 

Tier 6 (Level 90)

• Heart of the Wild gives you a 45 second buff every 6 minutes that allows you to ghetto tank, ghetto melee, or ghetto heal effectively.
• Dream of Cenarius causes refreshing your DoTs at 100 energy (or shortly thereafter) to do heal a nearby raid member.
• Nature’s Vigil causes your single-target spells to copy 30% of their damage as healing to nearby raid members.

Nature’s Vigil should be your default choice here. Dream of Cenarius is incredibly weak healing, which you may not even get to use much of if your DoTs don't need to be refreshed at peak. Heart of the Wild should only be taken for a fight where the healing demanded in one phase is high enough to merit having a DPS completely stop DPSing to help heal.

 

Tier 7 (Level 100)

• Euphoria doubles the speed of your Eclipse cycle and reduces the cast time of your empowered Starfire and Wrath casts.
• Stellar Flare is an extra DoT that does more damage (both initial damage and DoT damage) when you're at 0 energy than at either end of the cycle.
• Balance of Power is a talent that makes your DoTs tick harder and removes the need to refresh them.

 

Euphoria is the talent of choice for single target encounters, leading by 4% to 5% over other choices depending on your Tier 4 (Level 60) talent choice.

 

Stellar Flare is the choice for fights with two or more targets the majority of the time, being an increase over other talent choices by 7% or more, based on number of targets and Tier 4 (Level 60) talent choice.

 

Major Glyphs

 

We don't have much in terms of significant glyphs as Boomkin. None of our spec-specific glyphs are particularly useful. Note that Glyph of Celestial Alignment is a DPS loss unless there were to be some mechanic to prevent you from casting 8 spells in 15 seconds. That said, I recommend the following:

• Glyph of Rebirth helps prevent raid members from dying again and saves healer mana when rezzed in combat.
• Glyph of Stampeding Roar is especially useful in any fight where you will be using Stampeding Roar (in addition to range, it saves a GCD of having to shift back to Moonkin Form)
• Glyph of Moonwarding is increased survivability for any fight where the damage you will be taking is not mitigated by armor (which is most mechanics).
• Glyph of Dash can be useful for fights requiring a lot of movement.

Minor Glyphs

 

Minor glyphs have no affect on DPS and almost no increase on survivability.

• Glyph of Grace should be taken for any fight where you can suffer fall damage, otherwise:
• Glyph of the Flapping Owl is freaking sweet.
• Glyph of the Orca is hilarious if a lot of your raid has Ai-Li's Skymirror
• Glyph of the Solstice changes your Starfall into Sunfall and Hurricane into Astral Storm. This has no effect on DPS but simply reverses their lunar/solar alignment.

 

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IV. Stat Analysis

 

With 6.0 comes the removal of Hit and Expertise as stats and the addition of Multistrike and Versatility. Including Haste, Crit, and Mastery, we now have five secondary stats. Additionally, gear will have a chance to roll additional, tertiary stats. These are varied, from things like movement speed to sockets to bonus item levels (a la Thunderforged/Warforged in Mists of Pandaria). Note that all Mastery Rating is increased by 5% (rounding up) by Lunar Guidance.

 

Haste

 

Haste reduces our cast times, shortens our Global Cooldown, and makes our DoTs tick faster. As a side effect of making Moonfire and Sunfire tick faster, this increases how quickly we generate Starsurge charges via Shooting Stars.

 

Critical Strike

 

Crit gives all of our spells and DoTs a chance to deal double damage. It also gives our healing spells a chance to restore twice as much health, in circumstances when we need to help off-heal. In addition to the base function of crit, it also gives us more Starsurge charges. When Moonfire or Sunfire ticks crit, their chance to proc Shooting Stars doubles. 

 

Mastery

 

Mastery: Total Eclipse

 increases our bonus Eclipse damage. With 0 mastery rating, we have a base 30% damage bonus. This means Mastery is an increase in damage to every spell that we cast.

 

Multistrike

 

Multistrike is a new stat that gives all of our abilities a chance to cast again. When we cast a spell or when a DoT ticks, two rolls are made by the game. Each roll has our Multistrike chance to repeat the spell/tick for 30%. These occur shortly after the initial hit and show a second (or third), smaller spell cast graphic. Note that only the damage is repeated. Moonfire and Sunfire do not apply additional "mini-DoTs" when their initial cast Multistrikes, and Starsurge Multistrikes do not give any extra stacks of Lunar Empowerment or Solar Empowerment.  Multistrikes crit independently of the original spell and are based on the non-critical damage of the spell. So, a Starfire that crits for 60,000 and Multistrikes will only deal 9,000 (30% of the 30,000 the spell would have done on a non-crit).  Similarly, a Starfire that crits for 30,000 and Multistrike crits will deal 18,000 damage.

 

Versatility

 

Versatility is a new stat that just provides a flat increase to damage and healing done as well as a flat reduction in damage taken.

 

Stat Priority

 

Upon hitting 100, and gearing up through normal gear levels (655 item  level), our stats are relatively close, with versatility being garbage. At  this point, a single point of int is worth more a little more than 2 of any other stat. You'll want to go with:

 

Int >>>> Haste >= Mastery >= Crit > Multistrike >> Versatility

 

Again, the gap between haste, mastery, and crit is very small, with the gap between crit and multistrike and then the gap between multistrike and versatility widening.

 

As we gear up and start heading towards mythic gear levels (685 and higher), our stats equalize a lot more. Mastery pulls ever so slightly ahead, but haste and crit essentially become equal. One point of int is now worth ever so slightly less than 2 points of secondary stats (except still worth more than 2 versatility). You'll roll with:

 

Int >>>> Mastery >= Haste = Crit > Multistrike >> Versatility

 

As gear increases, multistrike and versatility still lag behind. Again, the difference between mastery and haste is tiny, and the difference between haste and crit is indistinguishable. You could change stacking mastery, haste, and crit on enchants and see DPS differences of less than 100 out of 40k DPS. It's insignificant.

 

I can't say this enough: You're going to be using the item with the highest item level or with a socket, regardless of secondary stats. If you're putting more than 10 seconds of thought into your stats in regards to your DPS, you need to start focusing on logs and how you're playing. Stats aren't going to make a significant difference.

 

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[Kazistrasz 216]

V. Gear Acquisition & Tier 17 Bonuses

 

In WoD, gem sockets will be rare and enchants will be limited to weapons, rings, necks, and cloaks. This means that, for the most part, you won't have any options with your gear: you're stuck with whatever drops. You'll be using the highest item level piece you have for each slot while you gear up. Once you start getting multiple pieces of gear for a slot, you can start choosing the pieces you want to use.

 

Tier 17 Bonuses

 

Our tier is called Living Wood Battlegear:

 

• Living Wood Headpiece
• Living Wood Spaulders
• Living Wood Raiment
• Living Wood Grips
• Living Wood Legguards

The two-piece bonus reduces the cast time of our Starfire and Wrath by 12%. The four-piece bonus causes our Wrath and Starfire casts to take 3 seconds off the cooldown of Celestial Alignment. Both of these bonuses are significant gains in DPS and should be met where possible. The piece to drop is the gloves, here. Let me be clear: It is more important that you get four pieces than you get the "correct" four pieces. Worry about which off-piece to use when you're nearly done gearing and can freely choose.

 

Best in Slot List

 

The following, specific set of gear provides the highest-simming DPS using crit-focused Enchants in Simulation Craft:

 

• Living Wood Headpiece
• Gruul's Lip Ring
• Living Wood Spaulders
• Runefrenzy Greatcloak
• Living Wood Raiment
• Bracers of Shattered Stalactites
• Cannonball Loader's Grips
• Conductor's Multi-Pocket Girdle
• Living Wood Legguards
• Iron-Flecked Sandals
• Spellbound Runic Band of the All-Seeing Eye
• Uk'urogg's Corrupted Seal
•  Goren Soul Repository
• Darmac’s Unstable Talisman
• Blackhand Doomstaff

 

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VI. Trinket Breakdown

 

In the first tier of Warlords, there are eight trinkets for us to choose from. Due to the nature of trinkets and how they vary in effect from one to the next, they are the most complicated gear to choose. For these slots alone, a higher item level does not guarantee a better item. Luckily, I've gone through and done all the simulation work for you. When given the choice, take Darmac's Unstable Talisman and Goren Soul Repository. Now, here are all trinkets, in order of awesomeness, with DPS per item level, followed by a mastery list of all trinkets at all item levels normal and above.

 

Darmac's Unstable Talisman

 

Darmac’s Unstable Talisman gives a static amount of Intellect and procs a sizable amount of Haste for 10 seconds. Here are its stats by item level:

• Normal (665): +220 Intellect; 1,913 Haste proc
• Heroic (680): +253 Intellect; 2,200 Haste proc
• Mythic (695): +291 Intellect; 2,530 Haste proc
• Mythic Warforged (701): +308 Intellect; 2,676 Haste proc

When simulated using SimCraft, these are the DPS numbers using these version of Darmac’s Unstable Talisman, against a base of 30,980 DPS with no trinket equipped:

• Normal (665): 33,300 DPS
• Heroic (680): 33,618 DPS
• Mythic (695): 33,973 DPS
• Mythic Warforged (701): 34,133 DPS

Goren Soul Repository

 

Goren Soul Repository gives a static amount of Intellect and procs a sizable amount of Crit for 10 seconds. Here are its stats by item level:

• Normal (665): +220 Intellect; 1,913 Crit proc
• Heroic (680): +253 Intellect; 2,200 Crit proc
• Mythic (695): +291 Intellect; 2,530 Crit proc
• Mythic Warforged (701): +308 Intellect; 2,676 Crit proc

When simulated using SimCraft, these are the DPS numbers using these version of Goren Soul Repository, against a base of 30,980 DPS with no trinket equipped:

• Normal (665): 33,275 DPS
• Heroic (680): 33,596 DPS
• Mythic (695): 33,926 DPS
• Mythic Warforged (701): 34,102 DPS

Formidable Orb of Putrescence

 

 Formidable Orb of Putrescence gives a static amount of Intellect and procs a sizable amount of Mastery for 10 seconds. Here are its stats by item level:

• Normal (655): +201 Intellect; 1,743 Mastery proc
• Heroic (670): +231 Intellect; 2,004 Mastery proc
• Mythic (685): +265 Intellect; 2,304 Mastery proc
• Mythic Warforged (691): +280 Intellect; 2,437 Mastery proc

When simulated using SimCraft, these are the DPS numbers using these version of  Formidable Orb of Putrescence, against a base of 30,980 DPS with no trinket equipped:

• Normal (655): 33,117 DPS
• Heroic (670): 33,399 DPS
• Mythic (685): 33,734 DPS
• Mythic Warforged (691): 33,886 DPS

Furyheart Talisman

 

Furyheart Talisman gives a static amount of Intellect and procs a sizable amount of Haste for 10 seconds. Here are its stats by item level:

• Normal (650): +191 Intellect; 1,665 Haste proc
• Heroic (665): +220 Intellect; 1,913 Haste proc
• Mythic (680): +253 Intellect; 2,200 Haste proc
• Mythic Warforged (686): +268 Intellect; 2,326 Haste proc

When simulated using SimCraft, these are the DPS numbers using these version of Furyheart Talisman, against a base of 30,980 DPS with no trinket equipped:

• Normal (650): 33,024 DPS
• Heroic (665): 33,299 DPS
• Mythic (680): 33,604 DPS
• Mythic Warforged (686): 33,770 DPS

Blackiron Micro Crucible

 

Blackiron Micro Crucible gives a static amount of Intellect and has a stacking Multistrike proc for 10 seconds. Here are its stats by item level:

• Normal (665): +220 Intellect; 131 Multistrike per stack, max 2,620 proc
• Heroic (680): +253 Intellect; 150 Multistrike per stack, max 3,000 proc
• Mythic (695): +291 Intellect; 173 Multistrike per stack, max 3,460 proc
• Mythic Warforged (701): +308 Intellect; 183 Multistrike per stack, max 3,660 proc

When simulated using SimCraft, these are the DPS numbers using these version of Blackiron Micro Crucible, against a base of 30,980 DPS with no trinket equipped:

• Normal (665): 32,996 DPS
• Heroic (680): 33,274 DPS
• Mythic (695): 33,580 DPS
• Mythic Warforged (701): 33,716 DPS

Quiescent Runestone

 

Quiescent Runestone gives a static amount of Intellect, Haste, and Multistrike. Here are its stats by item level:

• Normal (655): +201 Intellect; +134 Haste; +134 Multistrike
• Heroic (670): +231 Intellect; +154 Haste; +154 Multistrike
• Mythic (685): +265 Intellect; +177 Haste; +177 Multistrike
• Mythic Warforged (691): +280 Intellect; +187 Haste; +187 Multistrike

When simulated using SimCraft, these are the DPS numbers using these versions of Quiescent Runestone, against a base of 30,980 DPS with no trinket equipped:

• Normal (655): 32,945 DPS
• Heroic (670): 33,194 DPS
• Mythic (685): 33,510 DPS
• Mythic Warforged (691): 33,643 DPS

Copeland's Clarity

 

Copeland’s Clarity gives a static amount of Intellect, and a sizable amount of Spell Power on use. Here are its stats by item level:

• Normal (665): +220 Intellect; 1,467 Spell Power on use
• Heroic (680): +253 Intellect; 1,687 Spell Power on use
• Mythic (695): +291 Intellect; 1,940 Spell Power on use
• Mythic Warforged (701): +308 Intellect; 2,052 Spell Power on use

When simulated using SimCraft, these are the DPS numbers using these versions of Copeland’s Clarity, against a base of 30,980 DPS with no trinket equipped:

• Normal (665): 32,268 DPS
• Heroic (680): 32,439 DPS
• Mythic (695): 32,653 DPS
• Mythic Warforged (701): 32,721 DPS

Shards of Nothing

 

Shards of Nothing gives a static amount of Intellect, and a sizable amount of Haste on use. Here are its stats by item level:

• Normal (655): +201 Intellect; 1,337 Haste on use
• Heroic (670): +231 Intellect; 1,537 Spell Power on use
• Mythic (685): +265 Intellect; 1,767 Spell Power on use
• Mythic Warforged (691): +280 Intellect; 1,869 Spell Power on use

When simulated using SimCraft, these are the DPS numbers using these versions of Shards of Nothing, against a base of 30,980 DPS with no trinket equipped:

• Normal (655): 32,201 DPS
• Heroic (670): 32,335 DPS
• Mythic (685): 32,518 DPS
• Mythic Warforged (691): 32,565 DPS

Master List Ranking

 

Here are all of the trinkets, ranked by DPS:

• Darmac’s Unstable Talisman (Mythic Warforged): 34,133 DPS
• Goren Soul Repository (Mythic Warforged): 34,102 DPS
• Darmac’s Unstable Talisman (Mythic): 33,973 DPS
• Goren Soul Repository (Mythic): 33,926 DPS
• Formidable Orb of Putrescence (Mythic Warforged): 33,886 DPS
• Furyheart Talisman (Mythic Warforged): 33,770 DPS
• Formidable Orb of Putrescence (Mythic): 33,734 DPS
• Blackiron Micro Crucible (Mythic Warforged): 33,716 DPS
• Quiescent Runestone (Mythic Warforged): 33,643 DPS
• Darmac’s Unstable Talisman (Heroic): 33,618 DPS
• Furyheart Talisman (Mythic): 33,604 DPS)
• Goren Soul Repository (Heroic): 33,596 DPS
• Blackiron Micro Crucible (Mythic): 33,580 DPS
• Quiescent Runestone (Mythic): 33,510 DPS
• Formidable Orb of Putrescence (Heroic): 33,399 DPS
• Quiescent Runestone (Heroic): 33,194 DPS
• Darmac’s Unstable Talisman (Normal): 33,300 DPS
• Furyheart Talisman (Heroic): 33,299 DPS
• Goren Soul Repository (Normal): 33,275 DPS
• Blackiron Micro Crucible (Heroic): 33,274 DPS
• Formidable Orb of Putrescence (Normal): 33,117 DPS
• Furyheart Talisman (Normal): 33,024 DPS
• Blackiron Micro Crucible (Normal): 32,996 DPS
• Quiescent Runestone (Normal): 32,945 DPS
• Copeland’s Clarity (Mythic Warforged): 32,721 DPS
• Copeland’s Clarity (Mythic): 32,653 DPS
• Shards of Nothing (Mythic Warforged): 32,565 DPS
• Shards of Nothing (Mythic): 32,518 DPS
• Copeland’s Clarity (Heroic): 32,439 DPS
• Shards of Nothing (Heroic): 32,335 DPS
• Copeland’s Clarity (Normal): 32,268 DPS
• Shards of Nothing (Normal): 32,201 DPS

 

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Gameplay Tips and Tricks

 

So now that we've covered everything about setting up, here's how to play the damn thing:

 

DoT Usage

 

You need to maintain a high DoT uptime. You should apply Moonfire and Sunfire to every target available that will live for at least 12 seconds. For Stellar Flare, you're going to need to apply it to any target that will live for its full duration.

 

Be careful when applying DoTs to multiple targets: only your most recent Moonfire and Sunfire can proc Shooting Stars. If your most recent target you applied them to dies, you'll need to get them back up on another target. When you put DoTs on a target, pay attention to it to know if it dies so you can quickly refresh DoTs on another target. When applying Sunfire to multiple mobs via its AoE cleave from Astral Showers, the "most recent" DoT is counted as the target you actually cast Sunfire at.

 

Using Celestial Alignment can be tricky and throw off your DoT uptime. If, when activating Celestial Alignment, your Sunfire would fall off before your next solar phase, use the very last GCD during Celestial Alignment to refresh your DoTS with Moonfire.

 

Starsurge Usage

 

You need to spend Starsurge charges often. Remember that you have two sources of charges for Starsurge:

• Starsurge naturally recharges one charge every thirty seconds.
• Shooting Stars procs from Moonfire and Sunfire refresh one charge each.
• If Shooting Stars procs and caps you at three charges, your natural recharge stops and resets when you cast Starsurge again. You want to keep yourself at one charge by:
• Casting Starsurge right before natural recharge puts you at two, if you do not have Lunar Empowerment or Solar Empowerment active.
• Casting Starsurge when you proc Shooting Stars but do not have Lunar Empowerment or Solar Empowerment.
• If you do cap on Starsurge, immediately cast it if you have no empowerments.
• If you cap on Starsurge but have either Lunar Empowerment or Solar Empowerment active, you'll instead want to cast Starfall.
• If at any time you should cast Starsurge but cannot, use Starfall in its place.

Going beyond this, you'll want to maximize Starsurge usage during Celestial Alignment and trinket procs, like so:

• Let yourself reach two charges of Starsurge right before you have Celestial Alignment off cooldown during a lunar phase. This means you may be waiting on Celestial Alignment to come off or you may simply be waiting to get out of solar. Dump all charges on Starfire.
• Dump all Starsurge charges during trinkets, unless Celestial Alignment is going to come off Cooldown (see above). This is unnecessary for a haste proc. Mastery or Spell Power procs should be preferred.

 

Cooldown Usage

 

How and when you use your cooldowns varies slightly by your gear. If you have the 4-piece bonus, your Celestial Alignment will have a dynamic cooldown that decreases as you cast Starfire and Wrath. You may also have Incarnation: Chosen of Elune available if a fight calls for it.

 

When using Incarnation: Chosen of Elune, you need to pay attention to fight length. If a fight has a duration where Incarnation: Chosen of Elune will not be able to finish its recharge again (for example, a 5-minute fight where you can use Incarnation: Chosen of Elune on the pull and 3 minutes in, but only those two times), you can and should delay it in favor of waiting for your next Celestial Alignment (if you have the 4-piece bonus).

 

If you know you, based on fight duration, that you will not see another use of Incarnation: Chosen of Elune and Celestial Alignment, it is acceptable to hold them until your next trinket proc.

 

If and when Incarnation: Chosen of Elune and Celestial Alignment line up, you must cast Incarnation: Chosen of Elune first and wait until your next spell to cast Celestial Alignment. If you macro/use them both together, you will waste precious time of Celestial Alignment during Incarnation: Chosen of Elune's GCD.

 

General Raid Utility

 

We have some raid utility left after pruning, namely:

 

• Cyclone can be used as a temporary crowd control for targets that don't need to be attacked.
• Entangling Roots can similarly be used to crowd control a target that doesn't need to be attacked.
• Mark of the Wild gives all raid members 5% extra Strength, Agility, and Intellect as well as 3% Versatility.
• Remove Corruption can be used to cleanse Curse and Poison effects from raid members.
• Rebirth is a (now instant cast) combat rez that works on the new charge-system. Only use with raid leader approval.
• Solar Beam is a persistent AoE interrupt and silence for 8 seconds, incredibly useful for locking down spellcaster adds in a tight group.
• Soothe removes enrage effects from enemies.
• Stampeding Roar is an AoE movement speed boost that can be used anytime the raid needs to cover a sizable distance quickly.
• Wild Mushroom now slows targets in its 5-yard area by 50% for 20 seconds. Only three can be placed at a time.
• Remember, our Tier 3 (level 45), Tier 5 (level 75), and Tier 6 (level 90) talents also provide various forms of utility, as covered in the talents section.

AoE and Multi-Target Priority

 

1. Starfall* for two or more targets.
2. Apply Moonfire and Sunfire to every available target.
3. Apply Stellar Flare to every available target.
4. Starsurge as normal
5. Starfire/Wrath as normal.

Because Blizzard thinks we have nostalgia about the most hated part of the spec's history, Starfall now damages all targets within 40 yards, even if they are not in combat. Use caution when activating Starfall when there is something nearby that needs to not be pulled. It is some of the difficulty can be alleviated by taking Glyph of the Solstice and using Sunfire's new cleave function to quickly spread designate targets for Starfall.

 

Single Target Priority

 

1. Starsurge if capped on charges and do not have Lunar Empowerment/Solar Empowerment up.
2. Starfall if you're capped on charges and have Lunar Empowerment/Solar Empowerment up.
3. Refresh Sunfire with Solar Peak if it will fall off before the next solar phase.
4. Refresh Moonfire with Lunar Peak if it will fall off before the next lunar phase.
5. Starsurge if at two charges or shortly before reaching two charges and Lunar Empowerment/Solar Empowerment are down and you are not about to be in lunar phase with Celestial Alignment up.
6. Starfall if at two charges or shortly before reaching two charges and Lunar Empowerment/Solar Empowerment are down and you are not about to be in lunar phase with Celestial Alignment up. and you are for some reason unable to cast Starsurge.
7. Starsurge if Lunar Empowerment/Solar Empowerment are down and you have a non-haste trinket proc and you are not about to be in lunar phase with Celestial Alignment up.
8. Starfire or Wrath

Opening Rotation

 

For Single Target:

1. Pre-pot
2. Starfire
3. Celestial Alignment and any other cooldowns (racials, etc.)
4. Moonfire (also applies Sunfire)
5. Starsurge
6. Starfire
7. Starfire
8. Repeat 6-8 until Celestial Alignment is about to fall off
9. Moonfire (also refreshes Sunfire) with your last GCD during Celestial Alignment
10. Begin regular priority rotation

For Multi-Target:

1. Pre-cast Incarnation: Chosen of Elune
2. Pre-pot
3. Pre-cast Stellar Flare at primary Target
4. Celestial Alignment and any other cooldowns (racials, etc.)
5. Starfall and again when it expires
6. Moonfire (also applies Sunfire) to all available targets
7. Stellar Flare to all available targets
8. Hurricane if 8 or more targets or Starsurge and Starfall until Celestial Alignment ends
9. Being regular priority rotation

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VIII. Credits, Thanks, & Feedback

 

First, thanks to Gahhda, Eein, and the rest of the Simulation Craft team for keeping SimC up to date with every minor change Blizzard makes and tiny bits of feedback on improving the default Balance profile. Thanks to Zagam for letting me copy his format from his Demonology guide for warlocks and providing some assistance in playing with gear in SimC profiles. Thanks to Krazyito for helping me with some of the earliest testing of stuff in the beta.

 

If anything needs fixing or changing, post a reply here or send me a PM! For questions, you can reply here, make a post, or ask me in game (Kazistrasz#1988).

 

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IX. Change Log

 

10/20/14: Guide finished and posted.

10/21/14: Fixed a tooltip error.

10/22/14: Fixed tooltips for Wrath. Fixed Force of Nature to reflect Blizzard abandoning their casts being buffed by eclipse damage.

10/30/14: Made changes around recent super-buff of Starfall.

12/3/14: Changes made to update stat priority and talent selection.

12/5/14: Rotation section updated to reflect new talent choices.

12/6/14: Rotation and talent sections re-fixed in regards to SimC change.

 

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[Krazyito 521]

I told you.

 

https://twitter.com/Celestalon/status/472231980902264832

 

 

Also I disagree with crit over mastery in most situations. Crit was pretty essential before becasue of starsurge procs and the crit damage, but with starsurge not being something we're looking to proc as often as possible mastery should buff our damage much more than crit in pretty much every situation.

 

I can see how keeping them close together is beneficial, but IMO mastery is better if you had to choose.

[Kazistrasz 216]

I told you.

 

https://twitter.com/Celestalon/status/472231980902264832

 

 

Also I disagree with crit over mastery in most situations. Crit was pretty essential before becasue of starsurge procs and the crit damage, but with starsurge not being something we're looking to proc as often as possible mastery should buff our damage much more than crit in pretty much every situation.

 

I can see how keeping them close together is beneficial, but IMO mastery is better if you had to choose.

 

I stand corrected. I stand firmly on my position that they have brought back the single most-hated feature of the spec's entire history with that change.

 

Crit over mastery isn't an opinion-based thing. I've ran the sims. Switching from their Mastery before Crit build to Crit before Mastery was a 3% difference in DPS. They're close in the sense that the gap between them is significantly less than the leap from Mastery to Haste, but they're not so close that you can simply say, "I think Mastery should be better," out of opinion. Mastery is better right now at 90, but this isn't written for 90.

[Athleticsol 0]

Thank you for writing all this. I like the WoD changes. One thing that kinda worries me is the current Simcraft charts and how low Balance is. Though obviously everything is still in flux and the next build could buff or nerf any spec. I'm in a semi-hardcore raiding guild, and if I have to change dps mains I'm ok with that. The WoD changes are fun though and I'm liking my druid a lot more than my other characters!

 

Here are some spelling/formatting/grammar errors I noticed in section III. Talents & Glyphs Explained. 

 

Tier 1 (Level 15)

• Ysera’s Gift changes based on form, but is essentially a hunter's Deterrence as Boomkin.

 

Tier 6 (Level 90)

• Dream of Cenarius causes refreshing your DoTs at 100 energy (or shortly thereafter) to do heal a nearby raid member.

Edited October 26, 2014 by Athleticsol

[Kazistrasz 216]

Hmmm... one's a tooltip error, and the other is just me being bad. Thanks!

 

It's not really worth swapping mains based on sims. First, the Sims you're seeing are all single-target. Boomkins increase in DPS better than most specs when multiple targets are added. More fights are multi-target than single-target. Also, you're going to perform better with the spec you're comfortable with. And as you said, they're not done with tuning at all. They'll be doing more with tuning as we get into WoD. What's going on right now isn't anything worth talking about.

[Astynax 24]

It's not really worth swapping mains based on sims. First, the Sims you're seeing are all single-target. Boomkins increase in DPS better than most specs when multiple targets are added. More fights are multi-target than single-target. Also, you're going to perform better with the spec you're comfortable with. And as you said, they're not done with tuning at all. They'll be doing more with tuning as we get into WoD. What's going on right now isn't anything worth talking about.

 

 

Relevant image....

 

http://imgur.com/3bkCqHj

 

(wouldn't let me insert as just image?)

[Kazistrasz 216]

Jiminy Cricket! I'm down with them wanting to make Balance more competitive, but Star fall is an over buff I think. At that point, our AOL is going to be just stupid, and it's also coming dangerously close to being worth it on Single Target before I run some numbers to really check.

[Astynax 24]

Jiminy Cricket! I'm down with them wanting to make Balance more competitive, but Star fall is an over buff I think. At that point, our AOL is going to be just stupid, and it's also coming dangerously close to being worth it on Single Target before I run some numbers to really check.

 

I was always more of an MSN man myself. 

 

Seriously though, I knew balance wasn't showing super well, but... Daaayyyyyuum.

[Krazyito 521]

Wasn't that the previous 6.0 buffs going into it? I don't remember

[Wakefield 3]

Thanks for the write up, nice work!

 

That is a pretty crazy buff. We needed more damage, but the Starfall buff does seem extraordinary. 

[Astynax 24]

Not as far as I know. These were in a blue post on the 29th along with some other tuning things: frostbolt damage reduction, warrior bullshit stoppage.... slight hunter buffs/tweaks. According to the post, they could be live now, although I don't think they are, but I didn't read every blue post on the thread. 

 

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/15006811541?page=1

[Kazistrasz 216]

Krazy - this is a new wave of tuning.

 

We really haven't been as behind as most people think. Most of the poor representation in logs right is due to most people still not having figured out how to play the spec with the changes. I went in with my guild last week and was almost always top 4 in our guild (even was the top DPS on a few of them) excepting Spoils. Of those that I wasn't, one is Thok which can't count since we can't cast jack when screeches speed up during Lunar unless we go stack a good bit of haste. In our guild, it's saying something. It'll be a huge jump in DPS now with this added - even if other classes/specs got buffs as well, they don't get near as big of a buff as we are.

 

TL;DR - Boomkins weren't as weak as people think, and they're going to be OP now.

 

Oh, and Starfall buffed by 75% is just silly. That's going to be more OP than Fire Nova. PvP will be even worse. Imagine two or three Boomkins going into IoC and letting Starfall go - That alone could come close to wiping the other team with such a huge buff.

[Astynax 24]

I meant weaker @ lv 100. Although I think this was partially movement based too. Our boomkins were doing well last night. I think one even topped it on Nazgrim. Then again, anything I say relating to WoD is purely hearsay based, as I never got a beta invite. =(

[Kazistrasz 216]

There was never any serious live data coming out of the beta. The opportunity to even attempt any sort of legitimate DPS testing in a semi-realistic raid environment was heavily limited. Most of the data for 100 was sim-based.

 

While I understand that this is a buff largely with WoD in mind, it's at least partially based on where they see the spec right now since that's where they have a massive amount of "useful" player data.

[Wakefield 3]

Krazy - this is a new wave of tuning.

 

We really haven't been as behind as most people think. Most of the poor representation in logs right is due to most people still not having figured out how to play the spec with the changes. I went in with my guild last week and was almost always top 4 in our guild (even was the top DPS on a few of them) excepting Spoils. Of those that I wasn't, one is Thok which can't count since we can't cast jack when screeches speed up during Lunar unless we go stack a good bit of haste. In our guild, it's saying something. It'll be a huge jump in DPS now with this added - even if other classes/specs got buffs as well, they don't get near as big of a buff as we are.

 

TL;DR - Boomkins weren't as weak as people think, and they're going to be OP now.

 

Oh, and Starfall buffed by 75% is just silly. That's going to be more OP than Fire Nova. PvP will be even worse. Imagine two or three Boomkins going into IoC and letting Starfall go - That alone could come close to wiping the other team with such a huge buff.

Ya I was also talking about WoD, and not level 90 damage. I'm doing fine currently in live raids. But in beta I was brutally behind a couple of days ago when my guild was doing some testing. Granted, the raid was on a whim and I wasn't nearly optimized stat wise (was all hasted out with random shit I threw on months ago), but I still didn't expect to be so far behind.

 

That kind of Starfall damage will be game breaking in certain fights.

[Krazyito 521]

I'm so far behind on changes now =(

[Nodotnowin 0]

Although from your guide it isn't stated specifically, but it is sub intended that CA should only be used in lunar phase. I'm a bit new to boomkin, I understand that starfire has a higher DPET than wrath, but why does CA need to be used during lunar phase, if CA makes all spells benefit from maximum eclipse?

[Kazistrasz 216]

Your Starsurge will still empower Starfire if you use CA during Lunar. It's a non-negligible DPS gain to use it during Lunar instead of Solar unless it will cost you a CA use toward the end of the fight. Your DoTs and your Starfall and your Starsurge so the same damage regardless of Lunar/Solar usage for CA. It's that difference of Starfire doing more DPS than Wrath that makes it matter.

Blizzard's intention is never important when compared to what actually gets the best results out of the spec.

[dudas92 1]

Hello mate and thank your very much for this post.

There's only one thing i need to ask about the boomkin rotation.  When you choose the Euphoria talent (http://www.wowdb.com/spells/152222-euphoria), your balance cycle duration changes from 40 secs to 20, which means that your moonfire DoT will be up on the target (considering that you refresh it on a lunar peak) for 2 full cycles. Should I refresh it anyways on a lunar peak even when there are still 20 secs to go on the DoT duration or just refresh it when it is about to expire (on a lunar peak every 2 cycles)? 

Best regards

[Eend 0]

Hi there. Thanks for the extremely informative post!

 

I'm wondering for a clarification on the stat priorities. I read your comment about simming our stats, and how crit is our best at higher gear levels. Does this still stand? And does this apply to both stellar flare and euphoria builds?

 

I only ask because it conflicts the official Icy Veins balance guide, and BOTH of these guides conflict with Ask Mr. Robot. I know some buffs were made to balance after you wrote this guide, so I just want to make sure this is still completely accurate.

 

Lastly, do you have approximate stat weights I could use for Ask Mr. Robot, with everything above considered?

 

Thanks so much.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Eend

[Kazistrasz 216]

#1: Ignore Ask Mr. Robot completely. There's no reforging, so really no point in even bothering with using their website these days. Gemming is just pick your best stat.

 

#2: I haven't re-simmed it yet, because we're not yet at the point of raiding, and it's on my to-do list. I obtained mine by seeing what gave the highest DPS in SimC, and Cyous (who reviewed and provided the info for the class guide) got his from WrathCalcs. The difference? SimC is more of "in practice" while WC is more of "in theory". 

[Eend 0]

Thanks so much for the informative answer. I mained shadow priest in BC/LK and it was great having a large active theorycrafting community. Glad to see people putting some time into optimising their boomkins.

 

I'll be checking back for updates frequently. Thanks again!

[BrunoGuerra 0]

Hello Kazistrasz! Nice guide!

 

Just a few questions, What do you think about the Darkmoon Trinket ? Sandman's Pouch

Should i keep upgrading him ?

For a fight with 2 targets like Twin Ogron, Should i use Starflare + Starfall all the time ?

 

Thanks for the amazing work! Keep it up!

[Kazistrasz 216]

I'm planning to rerun all the sims tomorrow to come up with more answers for where we're at now and going forward in terms of gearing, stats, etc.

 

Right now, the sheer mat cost to upgrade those things makes it unfeasible and expensive. While we're getting ready to start raiding, it's not particularly better or worse than the other options we can get simply as drops.

 

Also, any time you're going to have two targets throughout the fight, you go to multi-target set-up.