Balance Druid: Midnight Expansion Preview

Welcome to our Midnight expansion guide for Balance Druid. Ahead of launch, this page will contain everything you need to know about the Balance Druid spec in the forthcoming expansion, including changes, new Hero Talents, and some light predictions on the state of the spec going into the expansion.

This page is a constantly evolving work in progress, with regular changes expected as updates hit the Midnight Beta. This is not meant to be a launch guide for Balance Druid, but instead serves as a resource for you to keep up to date with how the spec is evolving, and what you can expect from its playstyle and feel on launch.

Before we go into the list of other changes, the largest change for anyone who has played Balance Druid is this:

• Casting Starfire and Wrath no longer enters Eclipse.

Eclipse is now its own spell which places you in the Eclipse state, which you then choose based on your follow-up cast of either Wrath or Starfire. This is a 30-second cooldown and lasts 15 seconds. It can also be further modified by other talents which will affect and improve its functionality.

Some other notable mentions:

• Mastery has been reworked and now directly buffs Nature and Arcane spell damage without requiring Moonfire and Sunfire
• Moonfire, Sunfire, and Shooting Stars damage increased by 50%.
• Starfire deals 50% damage to secondary targets as all secondary target talents have been removed or reworked.
• Heart of the Wild now grants additional bonuses to your form when activated such as max Health bonuses in Bear form and a free Wild Growth cast when you are formless.

• Talents being added, removed, or moved elsewhere:
  • Gift of the Wild has been added and makes Mark of the Wild more effective on yourself.
  • Renewal has been removed.
  • Nature's Vigil has been removed.
  • Innervate has been moved to a capstone.
• Modified talents:
  • Heart of the Wild now grants additional bonuses to your form when activated such as max Health bonuses in Bear form and a free Wild Growth cast when you are formless.
  • Matted Fur now provides a stronger shield and has two ranks.
  • Forestwalk now has two ranks.

These changes provide some much needed additional survivability and at little cost to the rest of the tree. The class tree was reworked heavily recently so it makes sense that there are not many changes on this side of the talent tree.

Additional ranks of Matted Fur and additional free Versatility from Gift of the Wild are welcome survivability buffs while Heart of the Wild can be used as a small group Heal or an extra defensive cooldown.

• Apex talents are a new set of talents within your Spec tree that focus on buffing the new Eclipse system. These are considered major gameplay improving talents.
  1. Rank 1 — Activating an Eclipse makes your next Wrath or Starfire instant. The first three Starsurge or Starfall you cast during each Eclipse deal 20% increased damage.
  2. Rank 2 — Critical Strikes dealt during an Eclipse cause their victims to burn for an additional 20/40% of damage dealt for 6 seconds.
  3. Rank 3 — Activating an Eclipse also launches either a single Solar or multiple Lunar Bolts at nearby enemies that always critically strike. The Solar Bolt targets one enemy and deals Nature damage, while the Lunar Bolts launch at three enemies, dealing Arcane damage in AoE.
• New talents being added:
  • Improved Eclipse — Lunar Eclipse and Solar Eclipse have one additional charge.
  • Meteor Storm — Starfall deals its damage 100% faster. Choice node with Aetherial Kindling.
  • Sculpt the Stars — The cooldowns of Lunar Eclipse and Solar Eclipse are reduced by 2-seconds.
  • Total Eclipse — Entering any Eclipse has a 10/20% chance to grant the benefits of both Lunar and Solar Eclipse.
  • Elune's Challenge — When you exit Eclipse with less than 40 Astral Power, Wrath and Starfire's cast times are reduced by 25% for 15 seconds or until you enter an Eclipse. Choice node with Nature's Grace.
  • Meteorites — Every time Starfall deals damage, a meteorite falls on a target in its range, dealing Astral damage.
  • Celestial Fire — Moonfire, Sunfire, and Shooting Stars damage increased by 15%.
• Talents being removed
  • Astral Smolder
  • Astronomical Impact
  • Stellar Flare
  • Umbral Inspiration
  • Waning Twilight
  • Warrior of Elune
• Modified talents:
  • Eclipse — Now a spell instead of a passive. You may draw the sun and moon into alignment for 15 seconds, empowering either your Nature or Arcane spells. Casting Wrath or Starfire changes what mode of Eclipse will be entered, and the two modes of Eclipse share a button and 32-second cooldown.
  • Umbral Intensity no longer increases Starfire's secondary target damage and is a smaller buff to each Wrath and Starfire. This has been moved upwards on the tree.
  • Soul of the Forest now provides a flat 50% increase to Astral Power generation of both Wrath and Starfire. This has been moved to the right side of the tree.
  • Starlord now grants the Haste buff for 20-seconds or until Eclipse ends.
  • Touch of the Cosmos now can trigger outside of Eclipse.
  • Orbital Strike has had its Stellar Flare buffed.

The Eclipse rework goes to streamline the rotation. No longer needing to immediately apply DoTs to activate mastery, the Apex talents, and some of the spec tree talents make the ramp time to start doing damage and your rotation on single target and multi-target. With reduced ramp time does also make the class easier to play out as it takes out some of the core decision making when playing real encounters with the different variables they all bring such as movement, duration, and the mechanics you are dealing with.

Balance Druid expansion abilities tend to be the first to be announced and are often subject to substantial changes down the line. This rework does seem to be solving some of the previous version's shortcomings but with thousands of hours of future testing, we may discover more things we like or do not like.

• Only the new Keeper of the Grove talents have been added:
  • Sylvan Beckoning — Entering an Eclipse summons a Dryad to assist you for 8 seconds, casting Starsurge dealing Astral Damage and Starfall at 300% effectiveness.
  • Dryad's Dance — Dryads cause most of your Astral Power generation to be increased by 10%.
  • Spirit of the Thicket — Your Starfall damage is increased by 8% and your Starsurge damage also increases by 8%.
• Modified Talents:
  • Lunar Calling — No longer affects Eclipse states. Now increases damage dealt to Starfire's primary target by 100% (was 160%).

Only Keeper of the Grove talents have really been worked on at this time and they also tie directly to the new Eclipse system. These reflect much of the current Manaforge Omega Balance Druid tier set. The new abilities do not impact your playstyle but they all provide useful damage passives either directly or indirectly.