Balance Druid DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Dragonflight 10.0.7
On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Balance Druid in both single-target and multiple-target situations. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc. in order to minmax your DPS. All our content is updated for World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.0.7.
If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Balance Druid rotation.
Balance Druid Rotation Introduction
Balance Druid gameplay is a standard build and spend class with a predictable cadence to their rotation.
At the start of combat or with each use or proc of
Celestial Alignment /
Incarnation: Chosen of Elune, you choose
between either Solar or Lunar
Eclipse. To enter Solar Eclipse, you must
cast two
Starfires, and to enter Lunar Eclipse, you need to cast two
Wrath.Currently, we prioritize Lunar Eclipse and
Wrath for all phases.
From there on, you build Astral Power using the appropriate filler. In Solar
Eclipse, you cast
Wrath to gain Astral Power and, in
Lunar Eclipse, you cast
Starfire. Each Eclipse lasts 15 seconds.
Eclipse
uptime is incredibly important and you should aim to be inside Eclipse as often
as you can.
On single-target, you will use Starsurge, which costs 40 Astral
Power.
On multi-target, you want to be casting
Starfall which costs 50 Astral
Power. Some spells reduce the cost of these abilities such as
Rattle the Stars and
Elune's Guidance.
Keep your DoTs up on all targets to activate your Mastery bonus. Use cooldowns optimally, either on cooldown or when there is a better moment.
In this guide, when we refer to our standard rotation or priority list, the priority below is what is being referred back to.
Use the buttons below to select how a talent changes your basic rotation:
- Show
Force of Nature
- Show
Stellar Flare
- Show
Wild Mushroom
- Show
Astral Communion
- Show
Warrior of Elune
- Show
Convoke the Spirits
- Show
New Moon
- Show
Fury of Elune
Additionally, your rotation changes when you aquire the Balance Druid 4-piece:
- Show
Touch the Cosmos (4-piece)
- Show No Tier
- Apply or maintain your
Moonfire and
Sunfire. Reapply these DoTs when they have 30% remaining on their duration. The target should live for 6-seconds.
- Use
Celestial Alignment or
Incarnation: Chosen of Elune to put this spell on cooldown.During these cooldowns, cast
Wrath.
- Spend your Astral Power on
Starsurge (single target) or
Starfall (multi-target).
- Cast
Wrath on single target and
Starfire on multi-target.
- Cast two
Wrath to enter Lunar Eclipse.
With Umbral Intensity you can go into Solar Eclipse on single target
only. This is only relevant on multi-target fights or dungeons.
Balance Druid Opener
Below we will go over the Balance Druid Opening Rotation. This can also be
used as a cooldown priority list. Please note that from max range,
Wrath has a 4-second travel time.
Use the buttons below to select how a talent changes your basic rotation:
- Show
Force of Nature
- Show
Stellar Flare
- Show
Wild Mushroom
- Show
Astral Communion
- Show
Warrior of Elune
- Show
Convoke the Spirits
- Show
New Moon
- Show
Fury of Elune
Additionally, your rotation changes when you aquire the Balance Druid 4-piece:
- Show
Touch the Cosmos (4-piece)
- At 2 seconds on the pull timer, start pre-casting two
Wraths.
- Apply or maintain your
Moonfire and
Sunfire. Reapply these DoTs when they have 30% remaining on their duration.
- Use
Celestial Alignment or
Incarnation: Chosen of Elune.
- Drink your Potion
- Cast
Starsurge on single target and
Starfall on multiple targets. Do not cap Astral Power.
- Cast
Wrath on single target and
Starfire on multi-target.
With Umbral Intensity you can go into Solar Eclipse on single target
only. This is only relevant on multi-target fights or dungeons.
Optimizing Talent Choices
Balance Druid is more of a priority system rather than a hard set rotation. Making active decisions as to when you want to use each talent and what you want to focus on in each encounter can affect how you play. This section will dive into some things of note for several important talents.
Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
Primordial Arcanic Pulsar plays a largr role in the Balance Druid
rotation and is not difficult to play around. You always want to proc Pulsar
with
Starfall if you are not already in your cooldowns. You get a fully
buffed Starfall instead of a weaker
Starsurge.
Additionally, try to maximize Eclipses with 4-piece. Track
Primordial Arcanic Pulsar and spend Astral Power appropriately to get as
many free and buffed spenders as possible.
Umbral Embrace and Tier 29
Sometimes the monotony of casting Wrath will be broken up by
tier or
Umbral Embrace.
On single target, cast Starfire if you have 2-stacks of
Gathering Starstuff or
Umbral Embrace and will not cap Astral
Power.
On multi target, cast Starfire if you have 3 stacks of
Gathering Starstuff or
Umbral Embrace and will not cap Astral
Power.
Rattle the Stars and Starlord
These two independent buffs both stack by using Starsurge or
Starfall. They have different stack amounts, different timers, and
even different methods of timing out. Out of the two buffs, it is more important
to prioritize good
Starlord uptime.
Get your first stack of Starlord up immediately and then pivot into
keeping up
Rattle the Stars. Weave filler spells and also generate
Astral Power and try to maximize your 2-stack uptime after Starlord is up.
As you get to the end of your Starlord cycle, max sure you get
enough Astral Power for either
Starfall or
Starsurge. You want
to immediately recontinue the buff even at the cost of losing
Rattle the Stars.
4-Piece Tier 29 and Starweaver
When casting free spells, there is an order of operations to ensure that you
are casting the right thing at the right time. If you enter an Eclipse and get
a Touch the Cosmos proc alongside a
Starweaver proc, you always
want to use your 4-piece proc first.
Solstice, Balance of All Things, and Nature's Grace
Solstice and
Balance of All Things trigger their effects at
the start of the Eclipse and
Nature's Grace triggers at the end of
each
Eclipse. Here are some tips on how to play around with these talents:
- Cast a
Wrath to finish as your current Eclipse ends. This lets you get immediately into the next Eclipse.
Solstice generates a good amount of Astral Power at the start of an Eclipse. Try to go into each Eclipse with between 70 and 80 Astral Power to not overcap to excess
Shooting Stars procs.
Balance of All Things does not need to be prioritized over other buffs such as
Starlord and
Rattle the Stars.
Convoke the Spirits
Always try to overlap Convoke the Spirits with
Celestial Alignment /
Incarnation: Chosen of Elune as well as the
buff from
Balance of All Things.
Convoke the Spirits has a 45-yard range from the center of any targets
hit box. This means for larger bosses, max range Convoke the Spirits may end up
whiffing all Balance spells if you are too far away.
With Elune's Guidance talented, melee
Convoke the Spirits is
less
consistent than ranged Convoke. Avoid being in melee if possible or you are
more likely to lose a Balance-specific catch. This is a minor point but something
to avoid if possible.
If you are using Convoke the Spirits on multiple targets, cast Convoke
before casting other
Starfalls to raise the chance that you will cast
a free Starfall.
Cooldown Usage for Balance Druids
Balance Druid has quite a few cooldown options in Dragonflight. The main
cooldown that we refer to in this guide is Celestial Alignment which can
be upgraded by another talent called
Incarnation: Chosen of Elune. You
often want to use these immediately every time they come off cooldown as you
want
to get as many usages as possible.
Cooldowns should be stacked together. If you can use
Celestial Alignment and other cooldowns such as
Convoke the Spirits or
Fury of Elune at the same time, it will
make those other cooldowns stronger as well. These buttons are supposed to do
the most damage per press compared to the spells you can always cast.
Some cooldowns come in the form of charge-based spells such as
Wild Mushroom and
New Moon. You should not let these cap
their charges as that is the same as another spell being off cooldown and not
being used. Keep their charges rolling even if it is not the most efficient
use of your time.
Changelog
- 20 Mar. 2023: Updated some sections to maintain consistency. Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed and updated for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for T29 Tier Set.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 15 Nov. 2022: Updated talent recommendations.
- 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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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