Balance Druid DPS Castle Nathria Raid Guide — Dragonflight 10.2.5

During the Dragonflight Pre-Patch, Castle Nathria, Sanctum of Domination, and Sepulcher of the First Ones will be simultaneously featured as Fated Raids. During this time encounters within each specific raid will include an additional mechanic and items will drop at increased item levels. If you would like to learn more general information about the Fated Raids system as a whole, please see our overview below. Otherwise, continue to use this page for specialization-specific tips.

With the Dragonflight Pre-Patch, all three raids will be available on Fated Mode at the same time. Given the state of the Pre-Patch, we recommend using the Venthyr Covenant for all content as it synergizes best with the new talent tree as well as the loss of the tier bonus which was much better for Night Fae.

The Venthyr Covenant can be paired with Primordial Arcanic Pulsar and Unity. The following talents are the framework of most talent layouts in this raid. Note that you can directly import the trees below into the game with the following string:

• BYGAGX1kx6Mci9Zl2t+S+sRoPCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAoAQiICJJESSQCgWCJJhWCiDkDAlkWIESDgA

These are the basic single target talents and general talents for most raid encounters. You can also go down the Restoration section of the tree for bosses that you can help healing on.

Typhoon, Hibernate, Remove Corruption, and Cyclone can be used on situational bosses and should be grabbed if it is a part of your strategy.

The following talents can be removed if you need multi-target talents:

• Astral Communion
• Waning Twilight
• Umbral Embrace
• Balance of All Things

These talents can be substituted in if you are prioritizing multi-target:

• Wild Mushroom
• Fungal Growth
• Aetherial Kindling
• Circle of Life and Death

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Shriekwing.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

Shriekwing is a single-target fight with little movement if played right. Position yourself close to a pillar in the center area if possible allowing you to easily dodge rings as well as line of sight when needed. Use Stampeding Roar too move between pillars during the intermission when needed.

There are no major additional tips for Mythic Shriekwing; just focus on your single-target rotation and use mobility to quickly move around and in between pillars so you can have high uptime on the boss.

For more information, please refer to our Shriekwing guide.

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Huntsman Altimor.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

All three dogs share Health with the main Boss, so use Starfall whenever you are not at risk of breaking Crowd Control. The only other time it would be wise to save Astral Power is to triple- Starsurge the Shades of Bargast as they take increased damage.

On progression, you will still only get two full cooldown usages. If you feel you are killing the boss quickly, do not pair your cooldowns unless you are using double on-use, as you will lose a usage.

For more information, please refer to our Huntsman Altimor guide.

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Hungering Destroyer.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

This is another single-target encounter with very little Balance specific tips. Look to save mobility to come back in to the group to help soak or be soaked. Use instant cast globals to soak orbs to clear the room up. We do not recommend running Well-Honed Instincts on this fight, as it will often proc when healing immune. This goes the same for Restoration Affinity, which can be almost useless on some pulls, but the off-healing can still be useful.

Maximize uptime on the boss by making good use of your mobility and pooling. Preparing Astral Power and sometimes even delaying (only a few seconds) an Eclipse so that it lines up with the very predictable movement on this fight and then using Wild Charge to get back in afterwards.

For more information, please refer to our Hungering Destroyer guide.

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Artificer Xy'Mox.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

There is a good amount of single-target at the start of this raid and this fight is no exception. Balance Druid's mobility will help carry mechanics such as Seeds of Extinction or the portals from Dimensional Tear to the far end of the room from your raid. Use Barkskin on Withering Touch, as it will kill you quickly if left unattended.

In the last phase, you can use Dash or Tiger Dash to easily escape the pull of Edge of Annihilation, which can make it easier to dodge any additional mechanics instead of taking the portal.

Balance Druid is very good at running the seeds on this boss and will likely be filling that role. If you are Night Fae, you will also have access to Soulshape, which will play a vital role on tough overlaps.

When positioning on this boss, place yourself opposite to the Dimensional Tear to give you time to kite your fixated spirit and save your other mobility.

For more information, please refer to our Artificer Xy'Mox guide.

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Sun King's Salvation.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

This is the first boss that will really make use of our uncapped and spread multi-target potential. Starfall and Stellar Drift are mandatory for both damage and mobility during the intermission. Try to get far kicks with Solar Beam as well as using Heart of the Wild to burst heal the boss if necessary.

Try to get permission to use your cooldowns on the first damage shield of the fight so that you can have it up for the second shield of the second shade phase.

Use Heart of the Wild to help burst heal the boss in the second healing phase and even using three Regrowths and one Swiftmend on the shields that you can assist with. Typhoon and Ursol's Vortex can be used to help kite the Phoenixes.

For more information, please refer to our Sun King's Salvation guide.

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Lady Inerva Darkvein.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

Make use of your plethora of movement abilities to make the far soaks, so that others can DPS.

On Mythic, we should swap over to Stellar Drift as add damage is much more prevalent in this difficulty. Not much changes on this boss from our perspective otherwise. This boss will normally die in under 6-minutes, so, much like the other bosses, pair your cooldown usages as you see fit depending on what you are running.

For more information, please refer to our Lady Inerva Darkvein guide.

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against The Council of Blood.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

While this is a council-style fight where when one add dies the rest regain Health, there is still enough adds to warrant taking Stellar Drift. Those adds are spreading out often so we are also going to be taking Starlord.

The cast-while-moving perk is great to handle the mechanics of Lord Stavros, who has you dodging and could have you pairing up with allies and be unable to stay still.

Attendants are priority number one on this boss and should be killed as quickly as possible. If other members of your raid can handle them, it is preferred to only hit these with Starsurge inside that window.

We will spend two-thirds of this fight multi-dotting and casting Starfalling. Attempt to spread Sunfire as best you can, but it will not really get much value from maybe only two or three targets. Try to not get turned around during Dark Recital; always know where you are going.

For more information, please refer to our The Council of Blood guide.

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Sludgefist.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

Sludgefist is a single-target encounter with a damage amplifier every minute of the fight. Save your cooldowns for the first and fourth pillar of the fight.

As a high armor class, you will be one of the prime targets for Chain Slam, so save Barkskin for the initial hit and the following bleed.

Damage amplification phases start at 0:56, 2:04, 3:12, and 4:20. 1-minute cooldowns should be saved for every pillar as well as Primordial Arcanic Pulsar. 3-minute cooldowns should be used on the first and last damage amplification phases.

For more information, please refer to our Sludgefist guide.

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Stone Legion Generals.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

Use Wild Charge to negate the number of knockbacks in this encounter. Use Barkskin when targeted with Wicked Blade as it does a good amount of initial damage.

During the intermission, use your mobility to get far out orbs and bring them to the Prince. You can generally position directly in the middle during this phase, but make sure to avoid Wicked Blade. You must apply DoTs to the flying mobs as they must have taken damage to be hit by Starfall.

This is a pretty difficult fight for Balance Druid to play optimally and on progression ultimately relies on moments of sacrifice to make the right decisions and use the right spells.

For the most part, Starfall can be rolling most of the fight. During intermissions where you are focusing Commandos and in the regular phases with the Skirmishers, you will find yourself needing to send Starsurge on these priority targets to help kill them.

Cooldown usage is also largely up to what you need during the fight. Normally, you will be using it on just the boss, or the boss and the Goliath. If your group needs Skirmisher damage you can use it there as well, but as the damage is not predictable, it may be unreliable.

For more information, please refer to our Stone Legion Generals guide.

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Sire Denathrius.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

During Phase 1, pre-cast Starfall before every cleave to maximize damage on the little adds. Druids can use Dash and only need to take two cleaves and easily make it into the center. Stampeding Roar can save other allies if cast with the Front of the Pack that have 3-stacks as well, but it will be very close.

In Phase 2, you should slam your cooldown as soon as you can so it is up in Phase 3. Keep both boss targets DoTed up and focus on the outside Cabalists.

Use your Stampeding Roar to help with soaking or running out of the explosion. Position yourself well to avoid falling off during the knockback as Wild Charge will be unlikely to save you given the speed and angle it knocks you. Otherwise, just focus on your boss uptime even through the heavy movement, as the last phase is a single-target burn.

This fight is pretty linear as far as Balance cooldowns go. You instantly cooldown after DoTs and then again on Sinseer in Phase Two. You also want to cooldown instantly in Phase Three so you can get a second one.

Warrior of Elune finds some use on this boss for Phase One and Two cleave and Phase Three movement. Phase Three has a large amount of movement, as you are constantly getting knocked, baiting, and running to soaks. You will often be using Starfall on some of the broader movements to continue casting and Warrior of Elune can fill that mobility gap.