Balance Druid DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Midnight Season 1

At the start of combat or with each use of Celestial Alignment / Incarnation: Chosen of Elune, you choose between either Solar or Lunar Eclipse. Eclipse is chosen based on the previous spell you used. If you cast Wrath, you will be able to enter Solar Eclipse, if you cast Starfire, you will be able to enter Lunar Eclipse.

From there on, you build Astral Power using the appropriate filler. In Solar Eclipse, you cast Wrath to gain Astral Power and, in Lunar Eclipse, you cast Starfire. Each Eclipse lasts 15 seconds.

On single-target, you will use Starsurge, which costs 40 Astral Power. On multi-target, you want to be casting Starfall, which costs 50 Astral Power. Some spells reduce the cost of these abilities, such as Rattle the Stars and Elune's Guidance.

Keep your DoTs up on all targets as they deal efficient damage over their duration and have talent which further increase their damage or Astral Power generation.

If ever following the below priority lists would make you cap on Astral Power, remember that you should deviate from the priority list and spend your Astral Power instead.

Keeper of the Grove is currently the top simming pure single target build. It uses Convoke the Spirits but Incarnation: Chosen of Elune is extremely close and better for multi-target fights. These can be swapped out without change to the base rotation. The following is a standard priority list which should be generally followed but can be deviated from if circumstances require.

1. Apply and maintain Sunfire and Moonfire
2. Use Force of Nature when your next global is Celestial Alignment or Eclipse
3. Enter Solar Eclipse
4. Cast Fury of Elune on cooldown, pairing it with Force of Nature and Celestial Alignment
5. Cast Starsurge to stack Starlord or consume a Touch the Cosmos proc
6. Cast Wrath to build Astral Power and finish stacking Starlord
7. Before leaving Eclipse, try to build 60-80 Astral Power to instantly stack Starlord
8. If you will not have Eclipse off cooldown, spend all of your Astral Power before leaving Eclipse
9. Cast Wrath to build approximately 60-80 Astral Power
10. Cast Starsurge if you are unable to enter Eclipse and are about to cap on Astral Power or have a Touch the Cosmos proc
11. Continue casting Wrath and enter Solar Eclipse

Using Celestial Alignment or Incarnation: Chosen of Elune gives your Eclipse time to recharge allowing you to maintain higher uptime over the fight. It is a strong 2-minute cooldown when paired with Whirling Stars and you should save your other various cooldowns to combine with it.

Here is an example of your opener cast sequence which is similar to your cooldown priority list:

1. Pre-cast two Wraths on the boss at 4-seconds on the pull timer at max distance
2. Apply and maintain Sunfire and Moonfire
3. Enter Solar Eclipse
4. Use Potion or 30-second duration Trinket buffs
5. Cast Starsurge until you consume all three stacks of Ascendant Eclipses
6. Cast Wrath if you do not have the Astral Power to cast all three Starsurges
7. Cast Fury of Elune
8. Cast Force of Nature
9. Cast Celestial Alignment/ Incarnation: Chosen of Elune and 20-second trinket buffs
10. Cast an instant Starfire
11. Cast Convoke the Spirits if talented and under 40 Astral Power
12. Cast Starsurge to spend Astral Power and to consume a Touch the Cosmos proc
13. Cast your instant Starfire from Ascendant Eclipses
14. Cast Wrath to generate Astral Power
15. Continue with the standard rotation

When not in the opener, you will not need to delay entering Celestial Alignment as you should not be capped on Eclipse charges.

Elune's Chosen currently sims within 1% of Keeper of the Grove. Its single target build focuses on dealing consistent damage with large bursts while casting Convoke the Spirits.

1. Apply and maintain Sunfire and Moonfire.
2. Enter Lunar Eclipse
3. Cast Fury of Elune on cooldown pairing it with Celestial Alignment when possible
4. Cast Starsurge to stack Starlord and when you have a Touch the Cosmos proc
5. Cast Starfire to build Astral Power
6. Before leaving Eclipse, try to build 50-70 Astral Power to instantly stack Starlord if you have Eclipse off cooldown
7. If you will not have Eclipse off cooldown, spend all of your Astral Power before leaving Eclipse
8. Cast Wrath to build approximately 50-70 Astral Power
9. Cast Starsurge if you are unable to enter Eclipse and are about to cap on Astral Power or have a Touch the Cosmos proc
10. Enter Lunar Eclipse.

You will cast Wrath to build Astral power outside of Eclipse up to 5-targets.

Here is an example of your opener cast sequence which is similar to your cooldown priority list:

1. Pre-cast two Wrath on then one Starfire on the boss at 4-seconds on the pull timer at max distance
2. Apply and maintain Sunfire and Moonfire
3. Enter Lunar Eclipse.
4. Cast Starsurge until you consume all three stacks of Ascendant Eclipses
5. Cast Starfire if you do not have the Astral Power to cast all three Starsurges
6. Use Potion or 30-second duration Trinket buffs
7. Cast Celestial Alignment
8. Cast Convoke the Spirits if talented and under 40 Astral Power
9. Cast Fury of Elune
10. Cast Starsurge to spend Astral Power and to consume Touch the Cosmos procs
11. Cast Starfire as your primary filler spell
12. Continue with the standard rotation.

If you are entering cooldowns outside of your opener, you do need to precast a Lunar Eclipse unless you will cap on charges while inside Celestial Alignment.

Elune's Chosen is great for sustained multi-target making it a niche choice for some raid encounters as well as a good pick for heavy multi-target Mythic+ dungeons. The following is a standard priority list which should be followed generally but can be deviated from if circumstances require.

1. Apply and maintain Sunfire and Moonfire.
2. Cast Fury of Elune.
3. Cast Celestial Alignment
4. If you are not entering cooldowns, enter Lunar Eclipse.
5. Cast Starfall to spend Astral Power, maintain Starlord, or to spend Touch the Cosmos.
6. Cast Starsurge if you have a Starweaver proc and there are less than 7-targets.
7. Cast Starfire to generate Astral Power.
8. Build 60 to 80 Astral Power before getting into your next Eclipse.

Sunfire should be applied if the target will live approximately 5-seconds and Moonfire should be applied if the target will live 6-seconds.

Keeper of the Grove focuses on short bursts of multi-target damage as opposed to Elune's Chosens more sustained DPS approach. The following is a standard priority list which should be generally followed but can be deviated from if circumstances require.

You will want to enter Lunar Eclipse and Starfire on 4-targets and Solar Eclipse and cast Wrath on three targets or less while playing Keeper of the Grove. If inside Incarnation: Chosen of Elune, cast Starfire at 3-targets instead of Wrath.

1. Apply and maintain Sunfire and Moonfire.
2. Cast Force of Nature outside of Eclipse if you are about to enter Celestial Alignment.
3. Cast Fury of Elune outside of Eclipse if you are about to enter Celestial Alignment.
4. Cast Celestial Alignment if you have just cast Force of Nature and then cast Starfire to spend Dream Surge if you will not cap on Astral Power.
5. If you are not entering cooldowns, enter your regular Eclipse.
6. Cast Force of Nature.
7. Spend Dream Surge using Starfire unless you will cap on Astral Power.
8. Cast Starfall to spend Astral Power, maintain Starlord, or to spend Touch the Cosmos.
9. Cast Starsurge if you have a Starweaver proc and there are less than 7-targets.
10. Cast Starfire to generate Astral Power.

Sunfire should be applied if the target will live approximately 5-seconds and Moonfire should be applied if the target will live 6-seconds.

Force of Nature will apply upto 6- Moonfires while prioritizing enemies without Moonfire.

There are minimal rotational effects for all 3-ranks of the Apex Talents. They in fact, further strengthen the types of habits we already form by playing the class.

Ascendant Eclipses has two passives. The first grants an instant cast of your next filler. This is a great quality of life addition as any cast while moving passive normally is. It is especially beneficial with a harder hitting spell like Starfire. Starfire is also cast as the instant cast filler when you enter Celestial Alignment/ Incarnation: Chosen of Elune.

Additionally, the second feature buffs the first three casts of Starsurge and Starfall. We are already incentivized to cast these quickly as it stacks Starlord and synergizes with Balance of All Things. This is also prevalent in the opener where you want to maximize usage of this buff while also pooling Astral Power for your Celestial Alignment/ Incarnation: Chosen of Elune.

Ascendant Eclipses is completely passive and has not rotational application and is just additional damage. It does significantly increase the value of Critical Strike.

Ascendant Eclipses sends a damage proc at units based on your Eclipse type. The Lunar portion of the passive incentivizes you to wait until the mobs are stacked up before entering Eclipse. This is generally already happening as we need to apply DoTs before jumping into Eclipse and proceeding with the rotation. If you have two charges of Eclipse