Balance Druid DPS Guide — The War Within (11.1.5)

The Balance specialization provides a simple but rewarding rotation, making it great for new players while still maintaining a level of depth to keep older, more experienced players engaged and competitive. It performs well on multiple target encounters and decently on single target fights but has other skill sets and a raid buff it brings to balance out some of its less viable encounter types.

Balance Druids shine on multiple target fights due to their ability to multi-DoT and hit every target. However, while Balance Druid multi-target is strong, it still requires some set-up/ramp-up time and is not considered burst damage. This can lead to Balance Druids being less optimal when your group needs to burst many targets.

For single-target, Balance Druids do not do great damage over a long period of time, making them weaker for single-target-oriented bosses. The rotation for single-target is more linear than that of multi-target, requiring less prep time and less knowledge of the fight. You cast generator abilities to gain Astral Power and then spend your resources on spells depending on the type of encounter you are in.

The other main goal of the rotation is to cycle through Eclipse, your main buff. There are several talents influenced by entering or leaving Eclipse, which incentivizes you to always be in an Eclipse state.

Strengths

• Excels on hybrid and multi-target encounters without sacrificing priority damage
• Easy to play, hard to master
• Great utility using Heals and numerous single and multi-target crowd control
• Great spread damage

Weaknesses

• Some ramp time on multiple target encounters
• Can struggle to do damage on the move
• Can be difficult to play some encounter types for newer players
• Lower single target damage

While not tied to the actual 11.1.5 Patch, Balance Druid has recently recieved a few buffs:

• All spell damage increased by 3%.
• Starsurge and Power of Goldrinn damage increase by 3%.
• Starfall damage reduced by 10%.
• Boundless Moonlight recieved 10% nerfs to both Fury of Elune and New Moon components.

Leveling a Balance Druid in The War Within is a good choice for players who enjoy a mix of ranged damage dealing and utility. Balance Druid's spells allow them to deal consistent damage from a safe distance while also being able to provide crowd control and healing to themselves and their allies.

With a moderate level of gear, Balance Druid can use its 45-yard range and Starfall spell to pull and then kite a large group of mobs, allowing for faster kill and collect quests. They can also remain in Travel, Aquatic, and Flight form while collecting many items for quests. Cat Form also allows access to Stealth which can be used in some of Azeroth's many caves.

If you want to play a Balance Druid but currently do not have one at max level, you can check out our leveling guide for tips on your journey.

At max level, you can start to focus on sharpening your skills, and one good way to do that is by using the right tools. Our add-ons and macro page goes over several useful macros to enhance your gameplay as well as suggestions on how to search for the right Balance Bar.

Balance Druid has a single target and multi-target rotation, which both require good DoT uptime and proper building and spending of Astral Power. Cooldowns should be used as they come up unless they can be used at a better opportunity without losing a use over the period.

Balance Druid has an Eclipse cycle-based gameplay loop. Your main Eclipse will depend on how many targets you can hit. Enter Solar Eclipse on 1 and 2 targets and Lunar Eclipse on the rest. Wrath is cast in Solar Eclipse, and Starfire in Lunar Eclipse. During Celestial Alignment, you will be affected by both Solar and Lunar Eclipse, and you will cast Wrath. On more than 3 targets, you will cast Starfire.

On a single target, you will use your cooldowns as they come up or when you can stack multiple cooldowns together. You will use Starsurge as your way of spending Astral Power. On multiple targets, you will instead cast Starfall as your main way to spend Astral Power.

If you are a beginner, you should head over to the Easy Mode page as well as the Spell Summary page to brush up on the basics. There, you will learn what each spell does and how you can start learning your rotation.

If you are pretty familiar with the basics and want to learn to min-max more with your talent selection and rotation, head over to the appropriate pages at the link below.

As you gear up, be sure to prioritize items with higher item levels from Dungeons, Raids, World Quests, Professions, and even PvP. Gear of higher item levels is generally better than gear of lower item levels.

Use Raidbots to sim your character and find what gear is best out of all the viable options. Using our knowledge of the class, we should be able to rule out downgrades quickly. Lower item level pieces, socketed vs. non-socketed, does it have our premium stat? These are all questions to consider when sifting through our gear. Learn more about simming on our simulations page.

Once you are brushed up on the basics and gearing up well, you want to further boost your numbers. Using the proper foods, enchants and gems will give you a sizeable damage boost.

Balance Druid does take a fair amount of skill and prep work to excel in raids and Mythic+. Planning out long cooldowns as well as movement in relation to boss mechanics and dungeon routes takes both practice and information. The Raid, mythic+, and pvp guides will go over those nuances and more.

If you are struggling to pull the numbers you want or dealing with mechanics, you can check out some of our resources on how to improve, as well as other frequently asked questions that can come even after reading the guide.