Balance Druid DPS Nerub-ar Palace Raid Guide — The War Within (Season 1)
On this page, you will find tips, tricks, and strategies tailored to your Balance Druid for each boss of the following raid: Nerub-ar Palace. All our content is updated for World of Warcraft — The War Within (Season 1).
Introduction
Below, you can find class and spec-specific advice for every fight in Nerub-ar Palace. If you are looking for a general overview of the Raid that is not spec-specific, check out our dedicated Nerub-ar Palace guides.
On this page, you will find information specific to Balance Druid assuming you already understand the key mechanics of each encounter, which you can find in the link above. Use this as a quick reference guide for talent builds and quick tips on how to navigate the Season 1 raid. As Balance Druid has two Hero Talent trees that are close enough that they both may see play depending on the boss.
All recommendations are progression-based tips and will not necessarily be the best for an overall DPS ranking.
Please note that, for the first few weeks of the season, each section will be more generic while we wait to see how encounters play out on live servers. This is due to the amount of time since testing last happened.
Nerub'ar Palace Boss Guides for Balance Druid
Nerub'ar Palace Raid Builds, Tips, and Tricks for Balance Druid
Tips for Ulgrax the Devourer for Balance Druid
Ulgrax is a two-phase encounter with periodic spread add damage in both of its phases. While boss damage should be prioritized, this is a good opportunity to take advantage of both spread multi-target to free players from cocoons as well as control and kill adds to progress the boss out of the intermission. If the adds are not relevant, play Keeper of the Grove.
Defensive Tips
- Use Barkskin whenever you are targeted by Digestive Acid.
Cooldown Usage
- Celestial Alignment should be used on pull and then on cooldown. If adds are dying quickly or the boss damage is necessary, save your uses for the second phase 1.
Fight Specific Tips
- Use Typhoon and Ursol's Vortex to help keep adds away from yourself and others and controlled for your raid to DPS. You can also shapeshift out of Stalker's Netting.
Mythic Mode
Ulgrax on Mythic is extremely similar to its Heroic counterpart and all previous advice applies. The main difference is that the raid soak pull in is extremely strong. You will normally Warlock Gate this, but still save Astral Power to make the most of your forced movement.
Best Talents
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Tips for Bloodbound Horror for Balance Druid
The Bloodbound Horror is a two-sided encounter with adds in one phase and the boss in the other phase. While killing the adds quickly is important, those phases do end quickly. We recommend more single target oriented talents while also taking Starfall and some cleave talents.
Defensive Tips
- Use Barkskin after Goresplatter and you can pair this with Renewal or use that to help clear Crimson Rain.
Cooldown Usage
- If you are in group 1, you should use Celestial Alignment on pull and then on cooldown, and if you are in group 2, use cooldowns on pull but try to save some damage for the adds such as Force of Nature.
Fight Specific Tips
- Use Orbital Strike to line up damage on the whole add line in the downstairs phases.
- Ursol's Vortex can keep all any small adds which spawn from the casters from reaching the boss.
Mythic Mode
On Mythic, the add phases have much tighter timings. Even if you are in the second group, it may be wise to save your cooldowns for your down phase as that is biggest thing that can wipe your raid. If add killing is not a problem, cooldown the fight as you normally would.
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Tips for Sikran for Balance Druid
Sikran is a pure single-target boss burn encounter that rotates your raid group around the platform over the one-phase fight. Use mobility spells to get in position quickly, as it directly impacts how much space you will have in the arena to move.
Defensive Tips
- If targeted by Phase Blades, use Barkskin or Bear Form in emergencies as it is about to hit to reduce both the up-front damage and the follow-up DoT.
- Use Renewal when you are overlapping the Cosmic Simulacrum DoT with any other mechanic.
Cooldown Usage
- Use Celestial Alignment on pull and on cooldown after.
Fight Specific Tips
- Wild Charge can get you into position easily for Phase Blades and Decimate.
Mythic Mode
Sikran on Mythic is also quite similar to its Heroic counterpart and all previous advice applies. Try to save defensive cooldowns for the high stack Decimate debuffs as it is more dangerous than on Heroic.
Best Talents
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Tips for Rasha'nan for Balance Druid
Rasha'nan is a single target boss with periodic burst add damage. Due to the nature of the adds, it may be difficult to ramp consistently into them before they are killed by more suitable classes. While we will not ignore these adds, we should prioritize our build towards single target unless add damage is needed.
Defensive Tips
- Use Barkskin for Infested Spawn casts especially if overlapping other mechanics.
- Renewal can be used on the Erosive Spray DoT to help top off.
Cooldown Usage
- Use cooldowns as they come up and then on cooldown after. If the boss is about to transition, hold until you are settled at your new location on the platform.
- Smaller cooldowns such as Force of Nature or Fury of Elune should be saved for each Infested Spawn cast to maximize DPS on these targets.
Fight Specific Tips
- Ursol's Vortex and Typhoon can be used to help control adds.
- Stampeding Roar can be used when the boss flies away to get your raid over to the boss more quickly.
Mythic Mode
The big difference on Rasha'nan is the amount of movement. You are traveling across the platform about once every minute so make sure you have a some form of mobility and try to cheat if you know what side the boss is going.
Try to line up Force of Nature with Infested Spawn casts if your group needs help with adds but you most other classes have better tools to deal with these.
Best Talents
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Tips for Broodtwister Ovi'nax for Balance Druid
Broodtwister Ovi'nax is a heavy multi-target encounter that revolves around the controlled breaking of various eggs around the room to spawn adds. We will be focusing on multi-target this fight, but try to cleave off the boss where you can.
Defensive Tips
- Use Barkskin as Experimental Dosage is expiring to keep your health up while the healing absorb is removed.
Cooldown Usage
- Celestial Alignment should be saved when you can properly cleave adds with Orbital Strike, but you should try to use it on cooldown.
Fight Specific Tips
- Typhoon and Ursol's Vortex are good crowd control for Blood Parasites.
Mythic Mode
On Mythic, consider swapping to Leech enchants to help heal off the numerous healing absorbs on the boss.
Boomkins are considered a reliable source of knockback along with Evokers on this boss. When you are going to knock, let the adds spawn, take a few steps back, and knock them forward. This should get the adds close enough to the tanks to allow them to be gripped.
Best Talents
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Tips for Nexus-Princess Ky'veza for Balance Druid
Nexus-Princess Ky'veza is a full single-target fight focusing on proper positioning and good DPS to beat the boss enrage.
Defensive Tips
- Renewal and Barkskin should be used liberally to stay healthy as you have less health on this boss than you usually do. There are not many high-damage dangerous hits, but there are a lot of mechanics to dodge, and it is better to be prepared.
Cooldown Usage
- Use Celestial Alignment on pull and then on cooldown after.
Fight Specific Tips
- Dash can be used to bring Assassination out of the raid. You can then Bear Form if you are low on the way back.
Best Talents
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Tips for The Silken Court for Balance Druid
The Silken Court is a two-target encounter with some small adds and multiple single target burst windows requiring a flexible talents to make the most of both scenarios.
Defensive Tips
- Use Barkskin and Renewal on each intermission, prioritizing the latter half to maximize the effectiveness of your damage reduction on the ramping pulse damage.
Cooldown Usage
- Cooldowns should be used on pull and either on the intermission shields or on cooldown, as you can hit both targets reliably.
- Anub'arash takes double damage following Reckless Charge, save small cooldowns like Force of Nature or Fury of Elune for these windows..
Fight Specific Tips
- Use Ursol's Vortex to keep adds in one place and talent Typhoon if you need additional crowd control.
- Wild Charge and Dash can be used to quickly reposition Binding Webs to stop Reckless Charge.
Best Talents
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Tips for Queen Ansurek for Balance Druid
Unfortunately, Queen Ansurek was not tested on the Beta realms at all, so exactly how the fight plays out and what is most important is unknown. This page will be updated upon testing of the boss.
Defensive Tips
- Rotate cooldowns during each soak of Reactive Toxin.
- Barkskin add casts in phase 3 or when targeted with Royal Condemnation.
Cooldown Usage
- Cooldowns should be used on pull, on the first intermission, and at the start of phase 3. If intermission damage is not needed, use on cooldown in phase 1.
- Time uses of Force of Nature with adds like webs in phase 1 and spiders in phase 3.
Fight Specific Tips
- Wild Charge can be used on each cast of Wrest to negate the pull in, even on the edge of platforms.
- Phase 1 roots can be shifted out of. Just make sure to move away afterwards.
- Ursol's Vortex can be used to control the spiderlings in phase 3.
Best Talents
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General Defensive Usage Notes
Balance Druid has a handful of defensive tools with different cooldowns to tackle dangerous situations if you are proactive. Your active tools are:
- Barkskin (1 minute cooldown)
- Renewal (90-second cooldown)
- Bear Form
Due to the low-cooldown nature of our defensive skills, you can have some sort of defensive up for most bad overlaps in fights, and then you also have Bear Form, Healing Potions, and Healthstones for other nasty timings.
Bear Form is a powerful tool used best as a deliberate response to damage as you retain more percent Health when swapping your form. You are not able to cast any meaningful damaging spells in Bear Form, so it is best used quickly. If you are sitting in Bear Form for a long time, consider rearranging your defensives or asking for an external if one is available.
General Cooldown Usage
Celestial Alignment is your primary cooldown, and the talent you run with it is Orbital Strike. It is your main damage-dealing window and should be used well to maximize damage. Always try to layer cooldowns on top of each other, especially with Celestial Alignment.
Convoke the Spirits is taken on single-target fights. Best used when you need to burst a target shield or a quick add spawn. If this is not the case, it should be used on cooldown with Celestial Alignment.
Fury of Elune and Force of Nature are some of the lower cooldown spells that provide a high damage output. Fury of Elune is used on multi-target, and if cast on adds, you should try to guarantee that Boundless Moonlight procs. Force of Nature buffs you with Dream Burst allowing for more single target burst. As with Convoke the Spirits, if there is an amplify damage or important burst window, try to save these spells for those windows; otherwise, get the most uses out of them as you can.
Changelog
- 07 Oct. 2024: Updated boss guides.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Guide added.
More Druid Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This was written by Borabank, a Balance Druid theorycrafter and raider in Muscle Memory. You can watch him on his Twitch channel or in the Dreamgrove Discord server.
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