http://wowhead.com/?talent=0tcrziIsguVZZxxcz

Anyone have any feedback on this build? I am thinking about useing it for a DPS Caster build for Kara.

A little background:

721 Bonus Damage
70 Hit
14.55% Crit
190 Mana Regen
1564 Armor

I still need to do a little bit of work on my Balance gear, but I was thinking this should be able to get me started - right?

Thanks!

One of the hardest things about being Balance spec is gear. There is jack s* out there for Balance druids. However, with the guild, I would suggest trying to at least get the treants. They are a big source of DPS and usable multiple times during long boss fights.

How about dropping one point from Nature's Reach (if you can) and putting it in there. Trust me, the extra distance isn't all that awesome. It is nice, but very situational. Most all encounters you'll have no problems remaining in the range you require for casting.

I just pulled the point out to do as you waid and realized I forgot Subtlety!!! SO here is a (somewhat) minor rework.

http://wowhead.com/?talent=0xcrzickguVoZxbIt

I initially pulled the point out of Reach and put it into Treants. Then I went to look at the corresponding talent on the Restor Side(My main is a Warlock... force of habit) - and noticed that I missed Subtlety!!!

So I looked to see where I could trim the fat to pick it back up without giving up Intensity or OOC.

I decided I can give up Nature's Grasp and Celestial Focus(who needs to farm...) while I was at it, I trimmed another two points from Moonglow(I am keeping OOC for Emergency Mana Regen) and that allowed me to keep Nature's Reach while adding the points to Subtlety. Hopefully this will allow me to run in to the target and swing my staff a few times when I go OOMkin...

I would love to take the points back out of Nature's Reach to add in to Moonglow, but I need them to get me to 15 so I can have Vengeance... :(

That seems to be the best you can get. I would move the three points form Natural Shapeshifter back into Naturalist. Unless you plan to do a lot of shifting (rare), it's not of much use.

Would be nice to put more into Moonglow, but given it's just mana cost reduction, you should be fine.

That seems to be the best you can get. I would move the three points form Natural Shapeshifter back into Naturalist. Unless you plan to do a lot of shifting (rare), it's not of much use.

Would be nice to put more into Moonglow, but given it's just mana cost reduction, you should be fine.

You may be right... but I don't expect to be casting healing touch all that often vs. my HoT Spells - I was mostly putting the points there because I have to use up 5 Points in that tier to get to the good stuff! I picked Naturalist because of the buff to Melee Damage - it is my hope that would help provide me more damage whiel I am swinging for the OOC Proc.

I was also reconsidering my role as raid support(and possibly my own DPS) - Improved Faerie Fire gives me - and the rest of the raid - 3% bonus to hit!!! That is huge... I don't know how I missed the significance of it... With Imp FF and Balence of Power I am 7/16 of the way to reaching my Hit cap! SO I am tweaking a bit again... I hate to pull the points out of Subtlety, but they gotta come from somewhere...

http://wowhead.com/?talent=0xcrzickguAoZxbId

PS - Thanks for Humoring me - I would rather thoerycraft for a while here than spend my WoW Gold Respeccing constantly - my Warlock's Respec fee is already up to 50g, and I don't want my Druid's to get that hight right away!!! :biggrin:

haha, true that. The only reason I suggested moving over the points from Shifting to Naturalist was because of the melee buff. That's really the only reason for druids to get that talent. The HT bonus is actually the "bonus" on that talent. It's pointless, even for restro druids. A restro druid should never be using HT as their primary means of healing. It's only good with Nature's Swiftness; even then I'd rather cast Regrowth (especially since that's all I can cast in tree form with a cast time).

The FF buff is great for raids, no so much solo. When I was balance spec, I was full balance; I only had a few points in Restro to get Omen. I used Imp. Thorns and Imp. FF all the time. I always wonder what Feral druids thought when they got "can't overwrite stronger spell" (or what ever that message is).

iFF is only melee and ranged, so it won't go towards upping your spell hit rating. altho it certainly should. get it anyway though, cause as long as your raid leader knows about it, they will be grateful. but make sure you let everyone else in the raid know that you have it and not to overwrite (unless they have it). get a timer to keep track of when it needs to be refreshed, as well as with insect swarm (which the RL will also be grateful for).

Subtlety is awesome, and really helps you pump out that dps non-stop, or jump over to back-up healing if things get crazy. i was a strong proponent of Shifter, but hopefully the change to decurse in the next patch will make it unnecessary for druids (only time you will be rapid shifting as a balance druid is to decurse/depoison, if you need to heal, you probably wont be going back to moonkin). one of the biggest problems you will have, at least until your gear starts to allow for high int, is with mana. So i would suggest keeping as much of Moonglow as possible, as it goes toward making your casting spells more mana efficient.

if you can, get some ppl to farm MC with you so you can get the T1 set bonus, it makes thorns a 15 minute buff and adds a bit of damage. i still have it, and have a set in itemrack for when im buffing. with imp thorns you can get up around 50+ dmg reflection.

if you'd like to see how changing your gear and/or talents directly affects your dps, get DrDamage. its a great addon that uses ace and can show your gear/talents correlates to a variety of measures (greatest/least hit, dps, etc.).

if you can, get some ppl to farm MC with you so you can get the T1 set bonus, it makes thorns a 15 minute buff and adds a bit of damage.
I'd advise against that. Teir1 armor is all +healing. Okay, there is some +dmg, but not nearly enough to make any significant different. You're better off with post70 Balance gear and just casting thorns every 10 mins. It's too much of a trade off, loosing 3 balance pieces for just 5 more minutes on thorns (and a few extra points).

im not saying for actual wearing.

you generally buff before going into a fight, so switching gear is still possible.

I would NEVER get omen of clarity as being a balance druid, you just don't need it. This is currently my spec at the moment:

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=0xzrdicsguVoZxxcL

I would suggest something very similar. If you are going to be raiding then you need 3/3 Moonglow and 2/2 Balance of Power. Since you only have 70 hit rating that should be something you work on ASAP. I would also suggest getting girlde of ruination, spellstrike hood and spellstrike pants made.

I would NEVER get omen of clarity as being a balance druid, you just don't need it.
Ah, but it's fun! :(
I'm restro, and I use it. I jump in to melee all the time. It's fun. :D

The rest is good advice, however. Hit rating is important as a nuker.

Ah, but it's fun! :(
I'm restro, and I use it. I jump in to melee all the time. It's fun. :D

The rest is good advice, however. Hit rating is important as a nuker.

Phase 3 of Prince in Karazhan, one of our resto druids was OOM, and ran in to melee hoping for OOC procs. I wish I had that on fraps. It was completely amusing. It did help though, Prince died :)

OOC works based on procs per minute, so if you have a really slow weapon then taking a single hit on a target between spellcasts gives you a good chance to get a clearcast.
With sufficient mp5 a druid can keep 3 stacks of lifebloom up on a tank indefinitely, whilst also meleeing the boss and using the OOC procs for expensive spells like tranquility and regrowth. So it can be useful - situationally. I agree with the gist of what you're saying though, I personally wouldn't bother with it for anything other than a deep feral or hybrid build.


-Annikk

OOC is good for play in any tree other than Feral. If you're Feral or melee for any good point of time, I'd definitely go for it. Else, I would get it only if you had the spare points to get it. It's not worth getting if you have to loose something else more useful, like Force of Nature.

I agree; for any balance druid, trees are better than OOC.
It's a shame it can't proc from spell casts too, like the mage version does.


-Annikk

I got a 45/0/16 (http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=0xzrdicsguNZZxxch) build for 25 man raids.
depending on your gear you can remove some subtlety and add more dmg with Wrath of cenarius and Force of nature.

Imp FF is really usefull in 25-mans but a little less at 10-mans but still melee and hunters will love you for it.

I would recommend taking a few points out of Sublety untill you get to around +750 damage.