Balance Druid DPS Spell Summary — Shadowlands 9.0.2

If you are new to Balance, this is a great place to start to get an understanding of how the spec works. On this page we will discuss what abilities you have, what they are used for within the specialisation, how they interact with each other and also with important cooldowns. If you already have experience with Balance and are comfortable with it in Legion, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

Aside from using Mana, Balance Druids rely on generating Astral Power and then spending it on an important spell ( Starsurge). Maximizing Astral Power and using it efficiently is very important.

These are your core skills that are available regardless of talents, and form the core gameplay of the specialization.

Moonfire is an Arcane damage DoT that should always be active on the target.

Sunfire is a Nature damage DoT that should also always be active on the target. When applied, the DoT is placed on the primary target as well as any other targets within 8 yards.

Wrath deals Nature damage to the target, and generates Astral Power.

Starfire deals Arcane damage to the target and any other enemies within 8 yards, and it also generates Astral Power.

Starsurge costs Astral Power to cast and deals damage to the target. Casting Starsurge inside an Eclipse further improves your spenders for the remaining duration of the buff.

Starfall costs Astral Power to surround yourself with a wide-radius damaging aura for 8-seconds.

Celestial Alignment is the only cooldown Balance Druids have by default. It has a 3-minute cooldown and for 20 seconds, you have 10% Haste and are granted the benefits of both Eclipse states. This also resets your Eclipse timer allowing you to choose your next Eclipse state.

There are several useful macros for the above spells on the macro page which can greatly increase your quality of life.

Eclipse reduces the cast time of the approprite filler by 15% and increases the damage dealt by Wrath by 20% and increases the Critical Strike chance of Starfire by 20%. Every Starsurge in this window further increases this bonus by 4%.

Shooting Stars is a strong passive which generates Astral Power from your DoT ticks. Every tick has a chance to generate 3 Astral Power but this does have diminishing returns making it proc less on more targets.

Innervate is a buff you can place on an allied healer, which allows them to cast spells free of Mana cost for 12 seconds.

Barkskin is the main defensive cooldown for Balance Druids. It provides us with a 20% damage reduction for 12 seconds on a 1-minute cooldown.

Dash activates Cat Form and increases your movement speed by 60% for 10-seconds. It has a 3-minute cooldown and is particularly useful for crossing large distances quickly.

Soothe removes one enrage effect off your target. Druids are one of two classes with this ability.

Solar Beam is the silencing ability for Balance Druids. It creates a zone of light around your target which will silence all enemies inside for up to 8 seconds.

Typhoon is now a baseline spell and can be used to push back mobs possibly interrupting their casts or just allowing you to kite them.