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Moonkin Tips & Tricks

Source thread here (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=75492740&sid=1).

Veteran balance druid here (note it's balance not moonkin). I have been playing balance pretty much from the time I became 60 back on 0ct of 2005 and have been playing on and off for quite some time. What I can tell you right now is that I current have about 613 spell damage and 16.5% spell crit (21.5% in moonkin form.

Here is what I am currently seeing for damage.

Starfire = 1400-1500 (2800-3100 crit)
Wrath = 900-1000 (1500-2000 crit)
Moonfire = 500 with 200-300 ticks (crits for 900-1000 frequently)
Insect swarm = 200-300 per tick

This is the average damage I am seeing between buffs and other items. Obviously any trinkets that boost your spell damage temporarily help. I have gotten 3500 crits with Starfire because of these trinkets.

Now comparing that to a mage? Well lets just say I was in a 5 man with a guy who was playing a mage alt and he saw his highest fireball crit at 6300 dmg! but most mages that I talk too average a firebale crit of 3500-4500. And most of them have another 100 spell damage compared to me using some of the same trinkets that I do.

The balance side of a druid is one I consider to be used well with restoration. I find me most rewarding moments to be when I am dpsing down a mob, see that the healer is almost out of mana, innervate them, throw out some heals and other life saving spells (maybe even a tranquility) and then continue doing damage. It make my job a lot more involved and a lot more interesting.

I have played full restoration before, and unless you have a really crappy group or you are going into Kharazan, you will be yawning your way to the end of the instance as you rarely have to do more then throw out a regrowth and either rejuv of Lifebloom. Restoration is too easy in some cases and doesn't really provide enough challange unless you are put into those situations where people don't know how to handle their damage mitigation and crowd control

Something to note is our agro control. We don't have any real natural ways to drop agro besides cowering in cat form which can get tricky. Currently I have an item called the Hypnotist's watch that I use regularly on 5 mans. It's a 30 yard AOE fade, similar to what priests use. It's saved my but many times.

When you are playing balance solo, critical strikes are your friend. The balance tree has a talent called Nature's Grace which will reduce the cast time of your next spell by .5 seconds. This is a huge bonus as it increase your damage significantly and if you keep critting then you will find yourself pretty much insta-casting wrath. The cast reduction is just one time so if you crit again you will still only get a .5 second reduction. But when you are throwing 2 or 3 wraths in a row that hit for 1500+, and doing so with one second cast times you will find those mobs dieing quickly.

In a group context spell critcals are your enemy, as mentioned before we don't have a lot that can reduce our threat and crits increase your threat horribly quick. So I would reccomend staying out of moonkin form in a group and working as a utility, both for healing and dps. This keeps your agro down and allows the group more flexibility. I would reccomend using fairie fire and insect swarm on the mobs as well. They provide a HUGE bonus to melee and ranged. Stick to using starfire primarly. It will do big damage but you will crit less and there will be more time between damage. If you do the whole, 2-3 crits in a row with wrath you will find yourself quickly pulling agro and consequently dead.

Barkskin is a nice little buff used in Moonkin. You can use it in conjunction with Hurricane to provide sustained AOE dps. Hurricane is ticking for about 250 damage per mob for me right now. Barkskin will make sure you are able to use your hurricane completely and more importantly it mitigates physical damage taken so you will be easier to keep alive then a mage.

Improved thorns is nice too. I use that on myself when farming or AOEing. in groups I put it on Warriors, rogues, and hunter pets. Also any fellow druids that are tanking of pallies.

Moonfire makes a nice burst damage to be used in conjuction with wrath. When you are done casting wrath follow it up with a moonfire. That will guarentee at least 1400 -2000 dmg in 2 seconds which is more then your starfire. However, again you will be dealing with major agro issues and also mana efficiency issues. You will burn down your mana quicker by using that combo. But if you are using in a solo context that doesn't matter much.

CYCLONE! this is a nice new spell and I am still learning how to use it effectively in group situations. Cyclone is not just a root, it is also a spell interrupt and silence for the duration of the spell. Any mob you cast it on will be rooted and silenced. It's like a warlock banish. The downside, is diminishing returns. The spell only last 6 seconds to begins with, Second cast is more like 3 seconds. and the last cast is only 1 second. After that the mob becomes immune until the diminishing return goes away after 15 seconds. It's not the ultimate crowd control but it does provide yet one more option for groups/raids and gives druids greater viability for end game content.

So there is my little speel, there is more that I could talk about but at the risk of hurting your eyes further I'll end here. Feel free to message me in game if you have any other questions. I play on Ysera late night. Usually after 12am. Good luck to you, and whatever your choose just make sure that you are having fun with it.

This is great. I really want to try out moonkin/balance sometime in the future. =o

Sound like pretty solid tips, thanks for posting :)

I've got a level 35 balance druid besides my level 70 feral, I really wanna get him to 60 so I start getting the niice looking BC balance gear, but it's a bit slow, lol.

Any chance you could post a/some Balance talent specs?

This is great. I really want to try out moonkin/balance sometime in the future. =o

Go to Test Realm Set Up Page (http://test.worldofwarcraft.com/ptr/), copy your druid over to test, then respec to Moonkin and give it a try. That's what I did. I had so much fun, I respecced to Moonkin on my regular server the next night and haven't regretted it since.

Any chance you could post a/some Balance talent specs?

There are a couple of popular Balance builds:

(47/0/14) - This is a full DPS build. The important Restoration talents are Omen of Clarity and Reflection. Both of those help the mana efficiency of a Balance spec. This is great solo grind build and plays well in 5 mans as well.

(34/0/27) - This is 1 of the 2 popular Balance/Restoration specs. The important Balance talent here is Dreamstate (allows for greater mana regen while in combat) and still allows for Nature's Swiftness and increasing your healing capacity.

(30/0/31) - This is the other popular Balance/Restoration spec. It gives up the mana regen boost of Dreamstate for the panic heal Swiftmend. You will still retain Moonglow (reduces mana cost of healing and damage spells) and Lunar Guidance (increases damage and healing). Good all around build for main healing those Heroic instances.

(20/0/41) - This is a solid build that allows you to raid heal while still giving you increased damage talents (faster casting Wrath and Starfire, increased crit chance, Insect Swarm, double the crit damage, etc.)

Great basic Moonkin question and answer in this thread (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=75433476&sid=1). I've consolidated it here.

I have the following questions:

1.) Consumables: usable in Moonkin form? I know potions can't be used in Feral forms and weapon procs don't work in Feral forms, but is Moonkin different?
Potions, scrolls, food, drinks, quest items, weapon procs, Warstomp (Tauren racial) and Shadowmeld (Night Elf racial) are all useable in Moonkin form. So is First Aid (no need to shift out to heal.)
2.) Itemization: I understand that intellect, stamina, spirit, spell damage / healing, mp/5, and spell crit are all very important, but is there a conversion between each to show equivalency between the stats?
Until you start getting up around 60 you're going to be frustrated since not alot of leather sets have good Int or spell damage. You'll likely end up mixing and matching greens rather than going for whole sets, since most of the pre 61 druid sets are mostly healing bonuses. Once you get to outland though you'll be seeing alot of leather geared for balance druids. Most will have decent +spell damage, but most importantly they'll have lots of +spell crit rateing. As a Moonkin crit chance is just as important as +spell damage. Since you should have the talent where crits make your next spell a faster cast it will equal much higher dps.
Once you get into your 50's and 60's, spell damage and spell crit become more important. Which are more important is based on how you play? Want to get involved in melee? Get Stam. What consistant damage? Get Int and +spells. What lots of valuable crits? Get +spell crit.
When I'm comparing gear for straight burst dmg I use the formula of 22 (1% at 70) crit rating = +12 dmg. With Lunar Guidance 4 int = +1 dmg but i weight Int more because mana pool is important. For instances or raiding, mana/5 and int increases in importance.

Note: There are no leather moonkin drops in high level instances (less than 5 total).
3.) Professions: If consumables are usable in Moonkin form, is Alchemy perhaps the best profession? It seems Leatherworking is rather lackluster for a Balance Druid, Jewelcrafting and Engineering are incredible money dumps, Blacksmithing has no real visible benefits, and tailoring has limited benefits.
Alchemy: Potions are not used very often. If you have a guild alchemist, best to rely on them and choose gathering professions for steady cash. But if you do go the Alchemy route you will be able to make money off primal transmutes and you will be able to make this BoP item:

Alchemist's Stone
Binds when picked up
Unique
Trinket
+15 Strength
+15 Agility
+15 Stamina
+15 Intellect
+15 Spirit
Requires Alchemy (350)
Equip: Increases the effect that healing and mana potions have on the wearer by 40%.

Leatherworking: Not much will help you until you get to the high end. Then you get access to two of *the best* Balance leather items in the game:

Windhawk Belt
Binds when picked up
Waist Leather
188 Armor
+16 Stamina
+18 Intellect
+18 Spirit
Blue Socket
Yellow Socket
Socket Bonus: +3 Agility
Durability 40 / 40
Requires Level 70
Requires Tribal Leatherworking
Equip: Improves spell critical strike rating by 10.
Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 21.
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 37.

Windhawk Bracers
Binds when picked up
Wrist Leather
146 Armor
+21 Stamina
+16 Intellect
+6 Spirit
Yellow Socket
Socket Bonus: +2 Agility
Durability 40 / 40
Requires Level 70
Requires Tribal Leatherworking
Equip: Improves spell critical strike rating by 14.
Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 15.
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 29.

Also, you get access to the Drums items (2 sec ae fear, group health/mana regen, group atk haste, etc.)

Tailoring: There is no gathering profession involved and a few nice +damage items to be made. At the high end, the BoP Spellfire set is mega damage for Starlight spamming in raids if you don't mind the low ac.

Vest: +28 crit, +72 arcane dmg
Gloves: +23 crit, +50 arcane dmg
Belt: +18 crit, +50 arcane dmg
Set bonus (for all three): spell damage increased by +7% of your Int

Enchanting: +12 dmg to your rings that only the enchanter can wear.

Smithing: Nothing for Balance druids.

Engineering: Some PvP items.

Jewelrycrafting: Two BoP items:

Figurine - Living Ruby Serpent
Binds when picked up
Unique
Trinket
+33 Stamina
+23 Intellect
Requires Level 70
Use: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 150 for 20 sec.
Cooldown: 5 min
(Note: Many easily obtainable trinkets in BC do exactly this and they are all linked to the same cooldown timer.)

Figurine - Talasite Owl
Binds when picked up
Unique
Trinket
Requires Level 70
Equip: Restores 14 mana per 5 sec.
Use: Restores 900 mana over 12 sec.
Cooldown: 5 min

4.) First Aid / Fishing / Cooking: Worth picking up? I'm under the impression that they are (less mana for healing = more mana for damage = less downtime).
First Aid: Absolutely. Heal out of combat without shifting out of Moonkin.

Fishing/Cooking: There are some very good recipes for Balance druids, but you can always buy the food from the AH or have a guildmate make it for you. Be on the look out for:

Sagefish Delight: 6 mana every 5 secs
Blackened Basilisk: +23 spell damage/+20 spirit
Poached Bluefish: +23 spell damage/+20 spirit
Crunch Serpent: +23 spell damage/+20 spirit

(Basilisk meat can be farmed in most Outland zones.)
5.) PvP: How has it been for the Moonkins?
For Moonkin? Not that good. For Balance Druids? Excellent. Moonkin is not only a big fluffy target, but you lose access to heals while gaining 5% crit and a bit of an advantage over physical attacks. When fighting casters, -never- be in Moonkin form.

Quote:For Moonkin? Not that good. For Balance Druids? Excellent.

My GF had insane amounts of fun as moonkin in pvp, she was often among top 5 on kills in AB.

Thanks to the OP for finding this information and answering questions. Apologies in advance if this has been covered, but I am curious about Balance Mana regeneration issues (i.e. the fabled "OOmkin").

1. What options do we have for non-combat mana regen, other than Innervate, pots, and purchased water/juice?

2. Is there a level threshold after which the mana burn rate becomes better/worse? (In other words, when we become more efficient).

TIA for any Balance guidance!

Oak'Meister

Once you get oomkin form, you get the ability to regen mana by hitting a mob for melee damage, much like the blessing a pally can do. The amount of mana you gain back is based on your AP, so technically you could go as far as having a "mana regen" gear set that has more AP just to switch to when you're low on mana when grinding. You could even use a faster hitting dagger or something to get more hits in.

I haven't tried it myself yet to see how good it really is (my drood's 36 now, 4 levels left >.>), but hopefully it's nice, because honestly so far his mana regen kind of sucks, I have to drink after every 3 mobs seems like and it annoys me lol.

Dreamstate is also looking quite promising, again, not sure how great it is, but it looks nice. :)

Oh, question, do dreamstate and intensity (in the resto tree) stack? I just recently tried intensity on my feral and have to say I love it for the times I have to heal in a 5 man, would like to get it on the oomkin too ideally.

Oh, question, do dreamstate and intensity (in the resto tree) stack? I just recently tried intensity on my feral and have to say I love it for the times I have to heal in a 5 man, would like to get it on the oomkin too ideally.

I'm pretty sure they stack. For me, when I switched over to Doomkin, and killed my first solo mob, I was surprised to find that I was still at 80% mana. By the time I loot, target new mob and attack, I'm at 100% again. That's with both Dreamstate and Intensity.

Side note, for anyone L60+ switching to Balance: Go to the AH and search the leather armor listing for "of the invoker." Its INT/CRIT/+DMG & +HEAL gear. It lacks stamina and mp5, but its not for grouping or raiding, just for grinding. I was able to buy +400dmg and 20% crit chance (in Moonkin form) in three days of searching the auction house for about 75g. Also search the Miscellaneous armor for rings/necklaces and Cloth/back armor for cloaks.

Just remember to switch back to more stamina/less crit gear for instancing.

Oooohh lots of info, very nice on the tradeskills. But your forgetting 1 of the best balance spells out there Force of Nature. 125 mana for 30sec of treant fury,(at 60 they are doing bout 120dmg a swing and then crit for 200+)that can't be beat seriously they really lay some hurt down. As for pvp, i stay outta moonkin form(too big a target too the eye). Fear the treant.

I love my treants. I let them loose on caster mobs. With 3 trees hitting them, the caster mob can't get a spell off. They also save my bacon when I get too many adds while soloing. They don't tank well, but they buy me some time.

The only downside to trees is they arent controllable. Last night I was doing an escort quest solo, used them to deal with an add, and when the mob died, my trees ran off in the wrong direction to attack another mob who wasn't even in my way.

Situational, but highly useful.

WOW I must say I might try Balance, I've been feral for so long. Would the full teir 2 set be good for Balance?
I have it in the bank!

Windsaber

thanks for all the info. I too was a Feral to Restoration to Feral and now Doomkin =) So far have + 475 spell damage unbuffed. I find grinding fun and very easy. I rarely run out of mana and dreamstate and intensity I feel is a must for a Doomkin build. And so far, healing duties hasen't been a problem. Fooled some thinking I was.

I'm a 68 Moonkin. I've never been any other spec. I'm spected 12 in Feral, the rest in Balance.

For me I value Int, Spell damage, stam, and then armor. Its a little quirk, but I don't wear any peices of cloth, even when there is a clear benifit.

I'm at ~400 int, 450 spell damage 550 Healing,I have 6700 mana, 6200 hp, and 2300 armor. In Moonkin I have 7200 armor. My to crit is about 15%, and 20% in moonkin. I use two + damage trinkets, the Vengence of Illidian, and a green one I got from a quest in Zmarsh. They add around 120 spell damage for 15, or 20 seconds.

I can spam alot of Starfires that will do between 1100-1400 normal damage. Crits are between 2200-2800. Moonfire pew pews for 300-400 none crit hit, and crits from 700-800. Wrath is around 600-750, and my wrath crits are ~1300-1500.

My Treants will pwn people for ~120 a hit. I've seen one crit for 310. They can solo a 66 ogre, if I fairy Fire it, and Insect swarm it. They killed a 70 rogue that I fairy fired, Insect swarmned, and rooted. Additionally the treants are very good at seeing through Stealth. If you see a rogue stealth, you can drop them right where he did it they have a good chance of seeing him and beating him down.

My solo tactic is +damage trinket, Starfire, Starfire, Moonfire, Wrath-Wrath-Wrath. Hopefully the first starfire or second will crit, and the moonfire has almost a 30% chance to crit, to speed up with wraths.

I'll use that for ussualy 4-5 pulls, and then pop the treants to solo one while I regen some mana, or invinerate. I have to drink very rarely.

In instance, if I'm not the healer I save Invinerate and just go all out on Starfire if I'm close to the top of the threat, or Wrath if I'm low on threat. If it looks close at all, I'll dump invin on the Healer. If the healer does down I'll drop form and go into healing mode.

Most of the time I am the healer though, so I just concintrate on getting the heals out.

In raids I'm ussualy DPSing trash in Cat form, and Healing on bosses, with the exception that I am in charge of keeping the raid boss Imp FFed, and Insect Swarmed.

I'm Balance because its the weakest aspect of our forms without spec help. Although a resto druid is alot better healer than me, with the few helps for healing from the Balance tree, and some + healing gear, I can easily mainheal a instance, and be a effective healer in a Raid. The same with Feral, with the 12 points in it, I can easily tank a 5 man, and act as a emergency off tank in a raid although that tends to get me killed.

In Bear I have 8K hp, and 10.8 AC, and 20% dodge.

Moonkin seems like a very awesome spec for healing on the side, a lot of the benefits nicely go both ways, which is one of the reasons I wanted to give it a try. And thanks, I'll definitely grab intensity now. :)

I tried moonkin the other day, and i respecced within 1 hour to feral again =\
The reason being oom. I was lvl 58 and my gear really sucked for balance, so I had to drink almost after every mob =\
Guess ill have a try when ive gathered some more gear from Outland.

Yes, I would hold off on Moonkin spec until you hit Outland. You very quickly (by the time you finish the first zone) have gear that makes it worthwhile.

Well not if I keep on choosing the feral alternative for quest rewards. I where in Outland from lvl 58 though. =P

You can start the quests in Hellfire Penninsula at L58. One of the early quests has you choosing between a phenomenal Feral chest and a phenomenal Moonkin vest. So decide early. :)

I always choose the feral choice over the oomkin, but if the feral upgrade is only slight ill choose the oomkin instead, mainly cos it will do for healing gear as well ><

i went moonkin for a while after i reached lvl70. after running instances as a healer and a caster dps'er on the side, i was amazingly bored with dps'ing. i actually asked if i can take the healer role for some runs. wrath seems like the most efficient nuke, so all i did was spam wrath. after a while, i decided to go feral again to grind quests for my epic flying mount. i'm still spec'd feral now, and i am enjoying the perks of being feral when instancing.

lately i've been acting as a 2nd tank in heroic instances, and cat dps'ing when i'm not needed as an off-tank. of course, there is the healer role, which any druid would understand.

if i do decide to spec out of feral, i'll either go full resto, or maybe resto with with 4-5 tiers of balance.

>snip>
if i do decide to spec out of feral, i'll either go full resto, or maybe resto with with 4-5 tiers of balance.

Ya, same. From what I've seen of moonkin it's not at all comparable to other casters.. and yes, I know we are not supposed to be able to mimic our roles fully.. but if you've seen a moonkin a mage and a lock of equal gear and skilllevel stand next to each other nuking.. the oomkin looks kinda sad tbh. :/

Cats actually look decent next to rogues and bears look MORE than decent next to prot-wars (but they got nerfed now, so I guess wars will own now).

I'm still waiting for the melee-moonkin! :D

I'm still waiting for the melee-moonkin! :D

I have to think thats the idea blizz has with moonkins armor getting buffed.

Seems that a moonkin could get himself a really nice epic weapon, pick up naturalist and ooc in resto, and play the role pretty well.

Start out with a Starfire, then IS MF FF, cast NG, then head in for a quick melee hit or two, cast a couple wraths / starfires while the mob is rooted, then to back to beating it with a weapon until its dead.

Kind of the type of moonkin that GWMort used to promote. Unfortunatley most moonkins I see are afraid of getting hit.

But yeah, comparing a moonkin to a lock or mage isn't really fair. The lock / mage is going to blow the moonkin's dps away.

If I go resto again, I'm thinking of going either 0/30/31 or 27/0/34

Well, got new gear, 3 items that are cloth and now have +550 spells, 20% crit, 6200hp, 7400 mana, 6400 armor in moonkin. Yesterday, fully buffed did a first 3800 crit in a row!! Yeah, it is a totally different style of play but people that I group with like the fact I'm a range DPS that can take a beating. Also the fact that I can still pop out of Moonkin form and heal makes the party happy. (was raid healer before). With word of us Moonkin getting more armor makes me excited. Your right, we might not match up with true mages/warlocks damage, but I have made a lot of believers that Moonkin "Does" have a place in a group. Get the gear, hopefully all leather, and see what a Moonkin can really do.

Great post, that is really relevant for me as I prepare for the nerf bat in the morning with my full feral druid. Now that moonkin armor is being buffed to 400% I'm considering balance, the only spec I haven't played, and I have some questions. I've leveled to 69 and 2/3 in Hellfire, Zangar, Terokkar, Nagrand and a little in Shadowmoon. I have Staff of Beasts from Ring of Blood. Now I'm wondering what items are available on quests I haven't yet done that would facilitate making the transition, especially what weapon is still out there that I can get.

How tough are we in moonkin form? The numbers being posted above for health and AC are pretty impressive, and that will get better tomorrow. How much beating will I be able to take?

Moonkin seems like it would be fun for PvP with the armor increase, but there were some negative comments. I know being in a BG in feral form was the equivalent of painting a big target on my chest before BC. Will the armor buff offset that, or will it still be better to stay out of moonkin form?

Playing a balance/resto hybrid in instances/raids seems like it would REALLY deplete mana to me, but the above posts don't mention that much. If you're not primary healer, how far do you drop your mana doing DPS, or how much mana do you reserve for healing? I know this is HIGHLY situational, but I'm just trying to get a feel here.

Will I FEEL as cool as I look doing the moonkin dance? Cat dance is lame.

Any help would be appreciated.

What you have to look forward to, is that I've got 601 + healing and + damage, with 7.4K armor at 70. I'm wearing all leather. I don't have any of my gear enchanted. My mana pool is about 7400. I can swap easy to get +800 Healing, by weapon and trinket swaps.

THe Moonkin form isn't very tough at all. Although I have 7300 armor, I still have only 6500 hp. When something hits you, it hurts. Most bosses will 2-3 shot you, where they would have 2 shotted a mage or priest. So it "buys" you a extra couple of seconds at most ussualy. On trash its alot more effective. In BM the other night, I seemed to spend alot of time in each fight with a trash mob on me.

In BG's I'm ussualy in caster form. Healing is just so usefull, that I ussualy only use Boomkin when I'm assaulting a spot, or using my Hurricane to clear the flag, or something like that.

So items I have that were very easy to get...

Cypher of Damnation quest in Shadow Moon gave me a cloak, Chest, and a Staff that I'll be using for a while yet. Cloak of the torn heart, Gromtor's brother' friends tunic, and staff of onorouk (sp might be bad on those, this is from memory)

The Killing Ghosts in Shadowmoon valley gives you the Druidic helm of second sight. Best helm you can get, without getting malorne, or noddrisil. Looks like a stormrage cover.

Belt of the black Whelp from a pretty easy quest in blade's edge mountains.

Gloves from area 52, but I forget the names of them also.

Go directly to the AH and search for any leather armor, rings and necklaces with the search words "of the invoker". They have +spell damage and +spell crit. That's what I did when I switched from Feral to Balance at L65 and I think I ended up with +350 spell damage just from AH items.