Felxprod's Guide for Balance Druid PVP patch 5.4.8

sandwitch · October 31, 2015

Ladies and gentlemen, i am proud to announce you a Balance Druid guide specifically for PandaWoW. Alot of people HAVEN'T asked me about a guide, but since i don't care about what you guys think, i thought it'd be a good idea to share my knowledge with you.

Let me first introduce myself. I am known as "Felxprod" in pandawow.(Felxprodx now since i sold my main to a guy who doesn't wanna change name.) I am a casual druid player since 2010. I have achieved 2.3k on s14 as Balance/Frost mage, 2.5k+ as Balance/Affli Lock and 2.2k+ several times with random people, such as rogue/balance - warr/balance - lock/balance, and 2.6k+ as resto, as rdru/warr(fury - arms)I may not be one of the best druids around PandaWoW, but i have roughly 6 years of experience with druids in general. So let's begin ! :)

http://i.imgur.com/nYbNGMb.jpg

TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Getting to know Balance

1.1 Races

1.2 Rotation

2. Talents & Glyphs

3. Gearing up

4. Reforge, Gem, Enchant & Professions

5. Viable arena comps

6. Tricks

6.1 Strategies

6.2 Different builts

7. Addons & Macros

1. GETTING TO KNOW BALANCE

[spoiler=Pros & Cons]Positives:

Balance is one of the most entertaining, easiest and strongest specs in the game. It has powerful dot (damage over time) pressure, when in-need it can toss some heals to party members, large amount of CC (Crowd Control)and peels and the best, getting out of roots by quickly shapeshifting forms.

- High Survivability

- Hybrid Class

Negatives: The pressure can be easily countered, since our main damage and procs comes from dots (Moonfire & Sunfire) and our main heal is Rejuvenation (spamable), dispelling them can lead to low damage/lose and getting outplayed.

Castings. We can't do damage with only spamming two buttons; Moonfire and Sunfire. We need to cast in order to get our eclipses, and we need to know when it is the right moment to cast and when is not.

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1.1 RACES

[spoiler=Different benefits for balance]- Alliance

:nightelf1: Night Elf: http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=58984/shadowmeld , good racial talent. Being able to absorb a 250k Chaos Bolt, dodging a Cyclone, Mind Control or Fear gives this race a huge advantage in PvP.

:worgen1: Worgen: http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=68992/darkflight , increases your movement speed by an additional 40% for 10sec. A good choice if your enemy likes to run from you too often, and you don't have a Bash, Stamp. Roar or Displacer Beast avaible.

- Horde

:troll1: Troll: http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=26297/berserking , Increased haste by 20% for 10sec. Honestly, the best racial for horde druids. Gives extra dot ticks, can be used deffensively and offensively. Faster rejuvenation & cenarion ward ticks, faster healing touch, and faster damaging casts such as Starsurge, Wrath and Starfire. Combined with burst (Celestial Alignment + trink), it can be deadly.

:tauren1: Tauren: http://www.db.pandawow.me?spell=20549/war-stomp , a 2sec stun up to 5 people within 8yards. Who doesn't want a second Disorienting Roar? It can be used to interrupt casts or for a safe cast by you, like Cyclone and any other casting damage spell, without being scared to get silenced.

[Endurance], provides passive health increase by 5%. Wouldn't consider it a good racial for PvP, but if you're a PvE hero, it's an amazing racial.

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1.2 ROTATION

[spoiler=You don't know the basic balance opener?]Naturally, the rotation is very situational.

Before getting in fight, try atleast to be in an eclipse, Lunar eclipse is prefered, for the simple fact that you'll want to have a strong opener without any cd.

Cast Astral Communion (AC) till 75% (never to 100% before fight, since you'll waste the haste bonus)

You'll always want to start with Prowl, followed by a Pounce, and here our true rotation starts.

Start with summoning a treant, ATTENTION, a single one, not all of 3 at once.

(Here's a simple trick. If your enemy isn't attacking you at the beginning, the treant will ONLY root him, and not cast a Wrath. To fix that simple problem all you have to do is right click to enemy.)

Follow with 2x dots, Moonfire & Sunfire. (If it's a melee, prioritize a Cenarion Ward or rejuvenation before dots)

Situational (Warriors)

I'll simply represent the melee classes with a Warrior, and ranged with a Mage. I'll get in details for other classes at Strategies tab.

If you're facing a warrior, summon a 2nd treant right after your pounce ends, to complete your rotation before he Charges you. Very often the warr will Spell reflect after the pounce, so before rooting him again try to Soothe his reflect, and then summon the 2nd treant.

What i suggest you to do when you have your 2x dots, and the warr is still rooted is to apply Faerie Fire/Swarm(FF/FS) and if he is still rooted (roots shouldn't break fast here from treants and dot ticks), put Cenarion Ward(CW) and rejuvenation on you. Right after that Starfall. (Quick tip: if in any case the roots break and he starts to attack you before beginning the rotation, use starfall OVER everything, since his attacks will make you enter full 100% Lunar Eclipse and you will waste your 1st Starfall.)

Charge won't interrupt Starfall so you're okay, but in any case if he is dumb enough to waste his fear only to stop opener Starfall, you'll get a huge advantage in game, and when he is attacking you while you're feared, you'll enter full eclipse and your Starfall's CD will reset, so you can Starfall AGAIN right after his CC chain ends. Always try to keep between maximum (not too far, not too near, by the simple fact that if you stay at max. distance he will try to run.) Counter his reck & on use trinket with HotW if you can't kite his burst. If you don't need a NS + Healing Touch, you can NS + Cyclone to force his trinket (most warriors will trinket when you cyclone their burst), and again, throw a quick treant to root his trinket, fake cast Cyclone, soothe his reflect and Cyclone again. Free cast a Healing Touch, and here you're free to burst with Celestial Alignment + trinket (or eng gloves), refresh dots, full treants, starfall and yolo.

VS mages don't starfall right at the opener because the 99% of the mages will blink + Counterspell you (which is wrong but top kek) and that CS will stop Starfall.Try not to get nova'd when you're using Starfall, because you'll want to shift his nova to prevend Deep Freeze, and shifting will cancel Starfall. Burst after Ice Block, use Beam defensively, which is rooting in beam his Alter Time and try to use rejuv as rare as possible to prevend Spellsteal. For the burst, it's the same for all the enemies.

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2. TALENTS & GLYPHS

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GLYPHS

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3. GEARING UP

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4. Reforge, Gem, Enchant & Professions

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5. VIABLE ARENA COMPS

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Diminishing Returns list:

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6. TRICKS

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Keep in mind that, if you wanna deal high damage when you have a Starsurge proc, you should be in an eclipse. Optional: If you wanna deal 10% more (my little secret) you should wait for Owlkin Frenzy to proc (15% chance from your enemies attack to trigger it, and it gives you 10% more damage for 10sec.) and then release the proc.

Never Starfall a mage in the opener, since he'll blink + CS you in the 99% of the cases. You can Starfall him if you wanna force CD's though.

Soothe warriors reflect.

Put mushrooms near arena pillars and pop them when the enemy team starts to eat.

Bear Form + CW at the starter, when dueling a stealthie. (Rogue/Mage/Hunter)

- Rogues opener can take you from 100% to 50% hp in just one opener if you're not in Bear Form.

- Mage can Dragon's Breath into Ring of Frost you and burst you.

- Hunters can trap you and Power Shot you (most of the cases, it hits for a huge amount)

If you wanna get a Cyclone when a melee is on you, cast Starfire, and since this isn't retail they will kick your cast no matter which spell it is. After getting kicked you'll be able to cast Cyclone, because Cyclone and Starfire are from two different school of spells.

Don't waste HotW while bursting. I've often seen new druids popping it while bursting. For balance, it's nothing but a deffensive spell with 6min. of CD.

Run with Wild Charge talent VS hunters in arena. (3v3)

Common tricks:

Try staying in Moonkin form 99% of the times. It provides you haste for you and your party members. And huge armor in pvp. (Ret can do +100k on caster form, ~70k in moonkin form)

Always shift any kind of slowing effects.

You can use Cenarion Ward when you're silenced !

Don't forget, you can shift when you're CC'd too ! If you're in a cat/bear form and you're cc'ed by a hunter, shift to caster form to prevend Scare Beast.

If the mage Dragon's Breath you and starts casting Frostjaw, shift when he is about to finish the cast.

Always Faerie Fire rogues to prevend vanish, and priests to prevend their Spectral Disguise.

ALWAYS Cyclone two times in a row. So if they trinket the 1st one, they will be cycloned right after trinket. (Do this tricks always in arenas, people always trinket the very first Cyclone if they play double dps comps.)

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6.1 STRATEGIES

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[table=width: 1000, class: grid]

[tr]

[td] :rogue: Rogue [/td]

[td] - Don't burst them if they have Cloak of Shadows on.

- Faerie Fire + Root them. This should force the 70% of the rogues in this server to cloak very early.

- Have 1x treant on him 24/7. If they Blind you and try to run, the treant will keep him in combat.

-Do not pop burst if you don't have a trinket or he has Blind/Cloak CD on.

Faerie fire 24/7, and if he cloaks, bash him. Mighty Bash is a melee and not a magic spell, so it will stun the rogue through Cloak of Shadows. When the CoS is off, faerie fire and you're free to burst him.

[/td]

[/tr]

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[td] :mage: Mage [/td]

[td]ALWAYS try to kil their pet. 2x dot it when you have time, and hard cast when the mage is cycloned.

Try to heal with Cenarion Ward most of the times, use rejuv only when you're not in his line of sigh, to prevend spellsteal. (cancel rejuv when he is in your line of sigh)

Again, when you see him bursting, displacer beast and shadowmeld, or if they're in CD, root+beam / run / sit in bear form.

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[td] :hunter: Hunter [/td]

[td]Again, dot their pet. Don't try to kill his pet unless he is BM. Dotting the pet gives you more procs and little bit pressure.

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[td] :deathknight: Deathknight [/td]

[td]Pay attention to their burst. Most of the times the DK will Dark Simulacrum you, since he knows you will pop a deffensive cooldown to counter his burst. Soothe it, and run from his Gargoyle. Again, dot his pet His damage will visibly reduce when he has no pet on.

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[td] :warlock: Warlock [/td]

[td]In my opinion, boomys hardest counter. Winning a good lock is nearly impossible. Try to play very deffensively while hugging pillars. If no pillars around he will fear spam, into full burst chaos bolt. Imagine you dodge the 1st CB with Shadowmeld, then it's even worse. You'll wont be able to dodge his fears and next CB. Typhoon talent is prefered VS locks. Always NS + Cyclone (2x clone) their burst. It's the 2nd most deadly burst, after rogues.

- Try to stop their Dark Bargain or heals with Cyclone (2x)

- Remove corruption when their dot has 10x stack.

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[td] :priest: Priest [/td]

[td]Faerie Fire, or just Typhoon their Spectral Disguise to get them out of stealth, and prevend a 8sec fear on you.

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Warrior: Whenever he is bursting, root him, Displacer Beast into shadowmeld. Why? 100% of the times, when you Displacer Beast, the warrior will intervene banner + Charge, or just Charge you (treants + your dots break your roots in 3-4sec). With Shadowmeld, he will lose target and it will give you more time to heal/damage yourself/him. Whenever you can, always Soothe their procs/spells.

Boomies: ALWAYS Soothe their [Owlkin Frenzy] proc to reduce damage by 10%. This proc combined with burst is deadly.

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6.2 Different builts

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7. Addons & Macros

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Other Balance guides to check:

- http://www.arenajunkies.com/strategy/druid/65-guide-moonkin-hints-and-tricks-season-15/

- http://www.arenajunkies.com/topic/237530-how-to-lazer-chicken/

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Symbiosis:

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I'll constantly try to edit this post in the future, to make it more detailed. Thanks for having the time to read my guide. :)

If you have ANY questions about the guide, or want me to ask something, feel free to PM me on my main forum account called "Felxprod". :)

Edited May 31, 2016 by sandwitch
More info on Tricks / Strageties / Reforge and more

Fizxxzif · October 31, 2015

Nice guide dude,didn't knew about these tricks!

Nsp70rus · October 31, 2015

:good::good::good:

Garodar · October 31, 2015

Gr8 guide, m8. My boomkin just hit 550. I'll try to improve with these tricks and start pushing soon. :)

NyOoXx · November 1, 2015

wow this is was so good nice job man so many details very easy to read amd so helpful

NyOoXx · November 1, 2015

i am waiting for a yt guide now ;)

sandwitch · November 1, 2015

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Source: http://www.arenajunkies.com/topic/237530-how-to-lazer-chicken/

Edited November 1, 2015 by sandwitch

sandwitch · November 1, 2015

Edited the main post, not it's Polymorph & RoF & Hibernate.

Added more Diminishing Returns spells on the list.

Congratulations, you have spotted the very 1st misleading information in the whole guide.

Can i now gently please you to stop spamming my guide? :) I don't want this thread end up getting locked because of you. You have your own resto guide, how the fuck would you feel if someone like you came in and did the same thing you doing to me right now?

Please, do not answer to this.

Edited November 20, 2015 by sandwitch

Cencation · November 1, 2015

i like guide much and yes noneed stop be mean. u never talk good u only much find wrong things! u only talk noobs to ppl its not nice bit -,-

Flow · August 1, 2017

I see in the "strategies" part you said doting mroe targets increases you proc chance it actually doesn't the more targets you dot the lesser the chance u get a proc i reported it awhile ago but its prolly still bugged and doesn't decrease ur chance

Nemifest · August 3, 2017

Flow said:
I see in the "strategies" part you said doting mroe targets increases you proc chance it actually doesn't the more targets you dot the lesser the chance u get a proc i reported it awhile ago but its prolly still bugged and doesn't decrease ur chance

How does it exactly not increase the chance of getting a proc when you've got multiple targets dotted up?

Repitchx · August 3, 2017

Nemifest said:
How does it exactly not increase the chance of getting a proc when you've got multiple targets dotted up?

More dots = less proc chance, thats all.

1 sunfire = 30% proc chance

2 = 25/20%

3=15% i think

Same with moonfire

Flow · August 5, 2017

I think it was a hotfix just to prevent or try to prevent boomkins from just spamming dots on as many targets as possible and just get dumb amount of procs

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Felxprod's Guide for Balance Druid PVP patch 5.4.8

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