Balance Druid DPS Castle Nathria Raid Guide — Shadowlands 9.0.5

This page is currently undergoing preparation for the release of Castle Nathria. It will be filled with information on how best to play against each boss of the raid, as well as talent advice for each fight.

This section will go over the talent choices, encounter tips and Legendary selection that are specific to Balance Druid. For a more general idea of how the bosses function, head over to our Castle Nathria overview.

We advise you to use the following talents against Shriekwing.

• Level 15: Nature's Balance (or Force of Nature, situationally)
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Restoration Affinity
• Level 35: Heart of the Wild
• Level 40: Starlord
• Level 45: Stellar Flare
• Level 50: Solstice

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Shriekwing: Balance of All Things.

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. If you are Night Fae, stack your cooldowns together as, even if there is a third phase, you will get your third Convoke the Spirits.

For more information, please refer to our Shriekwing guide.

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

• Level 15: Nature's Balance
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Restoration Affinity
• Level 35: Heart of the Wild
• Level 40: Soul of the Forest or Starlord
• Level 45: Twin Moons
• Level 50: Solstice

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Huntsman Altimor: Balance of All Things.

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. Save your Celestial Alignment for the third Convoke the Spirits and use your second Convoke on cooldown.

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

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

• Level 15: Nature's Balance (or Force of Nature, situationally)
• Level 25: Tiger Dash or Wild Charge
• Level 30: Guardian Affinity or Restoration Affinity
• Level 35: Heart of the Wild
• Level 40: Starlord
• Level 45: Stellar Flare
• Level 50: Solstice

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Hungering Destroyer: Balance of All Things.

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 talents against Artificer Xy'Mox.

• Level 15: Nature's Balance (or Force of Nature, situationally)
• Level 25: Tiger Dash or Wild Charge
• Level 30: Restoration Affinity
• Level 35: Heart of the Wild
• Level 40: Starlord
• Level 45: Stellar Flare
• Level 50: Solstice

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Artificer Xy'Mox: Balance of All Things.

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.

Cooldowns on the fight can be hit or miss. On progression, this fight will take roughly 6-minutes, so you can try to get three Celestial Alignments in. If you are not using double on use, slam Convoke the Spirits on cooldown and it will line up with your third cooldown set. If you are worried you will only get two Celestial Alignments, hold it until your third Convoke.

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

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

• Level 15: Nature's Balance
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Restoration Affinity
• Level 35: Heart of the Wild
• Level 40: Soul of the Forest (or Incarnation: Chosen of Elune, situationally)
• Level 45: Twin Moons
• Level 50: Solstice

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Sun King's Salvation: Balance of All Things.

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 talents against Lady Inerva Darkvein.

• Level 15: Nature's Balance
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Restoration Affinity
• Level 35: Heart of the Wild
• Level 40: Starlord
• Level 45: Stellar Flare
• Level 50: Solstice

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Lady Inerva Darkvein: Balance of All Things.

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 talents against The Council of Blood.

• Level 15: Nature's Balance
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Restoration Affinity
• Level 35: Heart of the Wild
• Level 40: Starlord
• Level 45: Twin Moons
• Level 50: Solstice

We advise you to use the following Legendary against The Council of Blood: Balance of All Things.

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. Try to hold the Balance of All Things window if it does not delay you too much. 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 talents against Sludgefist.

• Level 15: Nature's Balance
• Level 25: Renewal
• Level 30: Guardian Affinity
• Level 35: Heart of the Wild
• Level 40: Starlord
• Level 45: Stellar Flare
• Level 50: Solstice

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Sludgefist: Balance of All Things.

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. If your Balance of All Things window will not line up with a slam, it is essential that you try to save that window for the slam to take advantage of the vulnerability. Since the vulnerability is 10-seconds and Eclipse is 15-seconds, you will rarely have to hold it longer than 5-seconds.

This is the best fight to use double on-use. A good way to remember when to use your Empyreal Ordnance is to use it directly after the Chain Slam.

For more information, please refer to our Sludgefist guide.

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

• Level 15: Nature's Balance
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Guardian Affinity (or Restoration Affinity, situationally)
• Level 35: Heart of the Wild
• Level 40: Soul of the Forest
• Level 45: Twin Moons
• Level 50: Solstice

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Stone Legion Generals: Balance of All Things.

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. If possible, play to your strength of keeping your burst damage in the Balance of All Things window, but you may not always be able to play like that because the alternative is wiping.

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 talents against Sire Denathrius.

• Level 15: Nature's Balance or Warrior of Elune
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Guardian Affinity (or Restoration Affinity, situationally)
• Level 35: Heart of the Wild
• Level 40: Soul of the Forest or Starlord
• Level 45: Twin Moons
• Level 50: Solstice

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Sire Denathrius: Balance of All Things.

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.