Balance Druid Leveling Guide from 1 to 80 — The War Within (11.0.7)

Last updated on Dec 15, 2024 at 16:00 by Bora 111 comments

On this page, you will find our Level by Level Balance Druid leveling guide for The War Within. Make sure to use the slider to make the guide adapt to your level. For more general leveling information, please refer to our Druid leveling guide.

Move the slider below to make the guide update to your level!

Level: 70
1.

Gear Options

When you are leveling, equip the highest item level gear. You will be replacing your gear often enough that you can indiscriminately equip based on item level without worrying about other stats.

2.

Balance Druid Mechanics

When leveling in open-world or dungeons, Balance Druid is a very basic builder-spender rotation priority. The basic idea is to rotate between Eclipse Icon Eclipses, which lasts 15 seconds and takes two spells to enter the next one after the previous one expires. Apply your DoTs (Moonfire Icon Moonfire and Sunfire Icon Sunfire) to your target and cast the Eclipse-appropriate filler (Wrath Icon Wrath for Solar and Starfire Icon Starfire for Lunar). When you have enough Astral Power, you can cast a spender (Starsurge Icon Starsurge on a single target and Starfall Icon Starfall on multiple targets).

Here are some explanations for some of the phrases inside the guide that may help you understand it more:

  • A DoT refers to Damage over Time spells such as Moonfire Icon Moonfire and Sunfire Icon Sunfire.
  • Fillers refer to spells that generate your main resource, which is Astral Power. Fillers should always be cast when there is nothing else we can do. Our fillers are Wrath Icon Wrath and Starfire Icon Starfire.
  • A spender is an ability that consumes our main resource. These are powerful abilities that a crucial to damage dealing. Starsurge Icon Starsurge is spent on single or priority targets, and Starfall Icon Starfall on multiple targets.
2.1.

Balance Druid Cooldowns

Balance Druid cooldowns all come from the talent tree. Celestial Alignment Icon Celestial Alignment is your big cooldown and provides the benefit of both Eclipse Icon Eclipse states, allowing you to cast whatever you want as well as buffing all of your spells. On a single target, you will still be casting Wrath Icon Wrath, and on multiple targets, you will want to cast Starfire Icon Starfire.

3.

Level by Level Rotation and Talents

3.1.

Talents to Level Up as Balance Druid

Tier 1 Talents are as follows:

  1. Eclipse Icon Eclipse
  2. Shooting Stars Icon Shooting Stars
  3. Solstice Icon Solstice
  4. Solar Beam Icon Solar Beam
  5. Nature's Grace Icon Nature's Grace
  6. Twin Moons Icon Twin Moons
  7. Force of Nature Icon Force of Nature
  8. Wild Surges Icon Wild Surges

>We skip Aetherial Kindling Icon Aetherial Kindling, but you can take this talent if you are leveling through dungeons.

Throughout these levels, focus on fewer enemies, as you do not have all the tools to deal with big pulls if you are not geared. DoT up one or two enemies and focus them down using Starsurge Icon Starsurge.

Tier 2 Talents are as follows:

  1. Celestial Alignment Icon Celestial Alignment
  2. Whirling Stars Icon Whirling Stars
  3. Umbral Intensity Icon Umbral Intensity x2
  4. Astronomical Impact Icon Astronomical Impact
  5. Starlord Icon Starlord x2
  6. Soul of the Forest Icon Soul of the Forest
  7. Cosmic Rapidity Icon Cosmic Rapidity x2
  8. Sunseeker Mushroom Icon Sunseeker Mushroom
  9. Astral Smolder Icon Astral Smolder
  10. Umbral Embrace Icon Umbral Embrace

At this point, you are going to have some good utility talents to help you run away from enemies, as well as a fair amount of cleave damage.

Use Celestial Alignment Icon Celestial Alignment and Whirling Stars Icon Whirling Stars liberally as they boost your damage significantly, and you can speed up the leveling process by doing big pulls to finish whole quests instantly.

Remember to keep your targets fully DoTed up to deal maximum damage.

Tier 3 Talents are as follows:

  1. Rattle the Stars Icon Rattle the Stars
  2. Waning Twilight Icon Waning Twilight
  3. Radiant Moonlight Icon Radiant Moonlight
  4. Umbral Inspiration Icon Umbral Inspiration
  5. Convoke the Spirits Icon Convoke the Spirits
  6. Orbital Strike Icon Orbital Strike
  7. Balance of All Things Icon Balance of All Things x2
  8. Harmony of the Heavens Icon Harmony of the Heavens

You should have all of the tools you need to make sizeable pulls while leveling. Use Force of Nature Icon Force of Nature with Celestial Alignment Icon Celestial Alignment and Convoke the Spirits Icon Convoke the Spirits to do large pulls or kill dangerous enemies or rares.

class="balance_level_71">We recommend Keeper of the Grove for The War Within leveling as it is a fast paced rotation which focuses more on short bursts making it good for leveling. You can even take Durability of Nature Icon Durability of Nature to keep your treants tanking.

3.2.

Rotation to Level Up as a Balance Druid

Due to Balance only being unlocked as a talent specialization at Level 10, you should make use of the abilities provided to you in the intro quests until you are presented with the option.

  1. Enter Moonkin Form Icon Moonkin Form and be in this form at all times.
  2. Apply Moonfire Icon Moonfire to the target.
  3. Apply Sunfire Icon Sunfire to the target.
  4. Cast Celestial Alignment Icon Celestial Alignment on cooldown.
  5. Enter LunarEclipse Icon Eclipse by casting two Wrath Icon Wraths if Celestial Alignment Icon Celestial Alignment is on cooldown.
  6. Cast Starsurge Icon Starsurge when available on a single target and inside Eclipse Icon Eclipse.
  7. Cast Starfall Icon Starfall on more than one target.
  8. Cast Wrath Icon Wrath or Starfire Icon Starfire as a filler to build Astral Power inside Eclipse Icon Eclipse.

When talenting any Cooldowns such as Wild Mushroom Icon Wild Mushroom or Convoke the Spirits Icon Convoke the Spirits, you should use them as they come up. Most enemies, while leveling, will not pose much of a threat or have extended battles. Use these cooldowns to help speed things up as you level.

3.3.

Balance Druid War Mode Talents for Leveling

In this section, we will rank the PvP talents best for leveling and doing solo / small group PvE content. Below is a ranking balance of Druid-specific PvE talents.

3.3.1.

Balance Druid PvP Talents for Leveling

In this section, we will list the PvP talents best for leveling and doing solo / small group PvE content. Note that these may not be optimal in actual PvP situations.

  • Star Burst Icon Star Burst is a passive effect that calls down falling stars on enemies during Starfall Icon Starfall. Enemies who run into this take damage and get knocked up. Allies can pick these up and run into enemies to detonate them.
  • Moonkin Aura Icon Moonkin Aura is amazing for group combat and strong for solo content as well. This can buff all members in your party and help finish quests and rares faster. We would recommend this for all group content.
  • Thorns Icon Thorns can provide minimal peel or damage in open-world content.
  • Malorne's Swiftness Icon Malorne's Swiftness will let you move at 100% Movement Speed even while in combat. Great for open-world content.
4.

Congratulations!

Congratulations on reaching level 80! Now that you have hit Level 80, we recommend looking at our Easy Mode page to get a good overview of the class!

5.

Changelog

  • 15 Dec. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.7.
  • 21 Oct. 2024: Updated for Patch 11.0.5 talent rework.
  • 09 Sep. 2024: Reviewed for Season 1.
  • 21 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within.
  • 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within PrePatch.
  • 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
  • 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 4.
  • 25 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
  • 09 Nov. 2023: Fixed Class Talent Selection Tree.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2.0.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.5.
  • 08 May 2023: Updated for May 9th Hotfixes.
  • 01 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
  • 28 Jan. 2023: Updated broken talent link.
  • 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
  • 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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