Home World of Warcraft Classes Balance Druid 9.0.5 Guide

Balance Druid 9.0.5 Guide

Updated Author: ~35 min

Balance Druid in Shadowlands

Balance Druid — one of 24 fighter specs in World of Warcraft. The key feature of this spec is it’s balancing of arcane and nature magic, which allows them to deal significant damage to single targets or groups of enemies. Like all the other Druids, they specialize in shapeshifting that lets them transform into various animals, increasing mobility and survivability. In each section of this guide you’ll find enough information to learn all the ins and outs of this spec: how to use all abilities, which gear to choose, which talents perform best in certain situations, and what role will your choice of covenant play.

Balance Druids use Astral Power as their main resource and Mana as a secondary one. Astral Power accumulates in combat when you cast spells and used for your strongest abilities. Mana is spent on spells that generate Astral Power or heal you and your allies.

Since Druids can change forms, they also have such secondary resources like rage and energy.

Pros

  • High single-target damage.
  • Unlimited multi-target potential with Starfall and Starfire talents.
  • Powerful bursts.
  • A wide range of control abilities, both single-target and AoE.
  • Affinity with other specs

Cons

  • Slight movements greatly affect the overall DPS.
  • Requires time to deal max damage, which is especially problematic in dungeons.
  • Wrong use of Eclipse can lead to DPS loss. 

About the author

The author of this guide is Llounal. I’ve been playing World of Warcraft for a relatively short time, but managed to experiment with all the classes and got used to them. RIO score 3189. Took part in epic BfA raids and got Cutting Edge: Jaina and N’Zoth.

Main Abilities

Talents

General information. On reaching several levels, you will open new Talent tiers. In each tier, you can choose one Talent at a time. Talents can affect your abilities in different ways: add new ones, replace old ones, passively modify various effects and spells. You can change Talents while you’re in Sanctums or in rest areas, but if there are no such places nearby, you can use Tome of the Quiet Mind, which allows you to change Talents within a minute. Note that Talents can’t be changed in combat. Also, if a Talent selected in a certain tier is on cooldown, you’ll have to wait for it to recharge in order to change it.

Tier 1 — 15 lvl. DPS TalentsBalance Druid 9.0.5 Guide

  • Nature’s Balance — While in combat you generate 1 Astral Power every 2 sec. While out of combat your Astral Power rebalances to 50 instead of depleting.
  • Warrior of Elune — Your next 3 Starfires are instant cast and generate 40% increased Astral Power.
  • Force of Nature — Summons 3 Treants for 10 sec which immediately taunt and attack enemies in the targeted area. Generates 20 Astral Power.

* Nature’s Balance is the best talent in this tier due to the Astral Power bonus that gives an edge at the beginning of combat. 

Nature’s Balance — best choice against a single target and a couple of far away enemies. Allows you to quickly jump into the fight with the starting 50 Astral Power.

Warrior of Elune — good against 2 or more targets. Useful against Sire Denathrius.

Force of Nature — worst choice for damage, but you can take it in M+ if the tank needs help on the Necrotic affix. 

Tier 2 — 25 lvl. Mobility and survivabilityBalance Druid 9.0.5 Guide

  • Tiger Dash (replaces Dash). Shift into Cat Form and increase your movement speed by 200%, reducing gradually over 5 sec.
  • Renewal. Instantly heals you for 30% of maximum health. Usable in all shapeshift forms.
  • Wild Charge. A special move that depends on the form. Non-shapeshifted — fly to an ally’s position. Bear Form — charge the enemy, immobilizing them for 4 sec. Cat Form — leap behind an enemy, dazing them for 3 sec. Travel Form — leap forward 20 yds. Aquatic Form — increases swim speed by an additional 150% for 5 sec.

* This tier doesn’t affect DPS, thus the choice depends on the situation. Most players pick Renewal for extra survivability.   

Tiger Dash — increases movement speed, useful when you need to move quickly.

Renewal — a good talent, increases the druid’s survivability. Costs no mana, which is a plus.  

Wild Charge — grants more mobility.

Tier 3 — 30 lvl. Utility talentsBalance Druid 9.0.5 Guide

Feral Affinity (passive). You gain a passive skill Feline Swiftness and learn: Rake, Rip, Swipe, Maim. Increases energy regen by 35%.

* The choice in this tier depends on your preference, but usually it’s between Guardian Affinity or Restoration Affinity, while Feral Affinity is ignored since it doesn’t give any significant bonuses to the Balance Druid. 

Feral Affinity — weakest in the tier, due to the lack of significant bonuses for the spec. 

Guardian Affinity — a good talent, increases the druid’s survivability. Mostly picked for raids, but can be useful in epic dungeons for increased survivability.

Restoration Affinity — a good talent, increases the druid’s and party’s survivability thanks to passive healing from Ysera’s Gift. 

Tier 4 — 35 lvl. Control Balance Druid 9.0.5 Guide

  • Mighty Bash. Invokes the spirit of Ursoc to stun the target for 4 sec. Usable in all shapeshift forms.
  • Mass Entanglement. Roots the target and all enemies within 15 yards in place for 30 sec. Damage may interrupt the effect. Usable in all shapeshift forms.
  • Heart of the Wild. Abilities associated with your chosen Affinity are substantially empowered for 45 sec. Balance: damage of your Balance abilities increased by 30%, and Starsurge is instant. Feral: Damage of your Feral abilities increased by 30%, and critical strikes with combo generating attacks grant an additional combo point. Guardian: Bear Form has 20% more stamina, multiple uses of Ironfur may overlap, and Frenzied Regeneration has 2 charges

* They are all good, but Heart of the Wild is considered to be the strongest in the tier. Other talents depend on the specifics of the combat and whether you need more control.  

Mighty Bash — provides control of one target in a group.

Mass Entanglement — controls a group of enemies, preventing their movement.

Heart of the Wild — regarded as the strongest talent in this tier due to bonuses for a chosen affinity.

Tier 5 — 40 lvl. DPS TalentsBalance Druid 9.0.5 Guide

* Overall a good tier. Pick Soul of the Forest for Mythic+ and 2+ targets and Starlord for ST fights. 

Soul of the Forest — best choice against 2+ targets. 

Starlord — best choice for ST fights. Can be cancelled with /cancelaura Starlord at the start of Eclipse. It’s effective, but you can play without cancellation when you’re unsure if you can pull it off or just don’t wanna bother. It’s not a huge DPS loss. You’ll lose more if you fail to cancel.

Incarnation: Chosen of Elune — weakest in the tier, lowest DPS bonus. 

Tier 6 — 45 lvl. DPS TalentsBalance Druid 9.0.5 Guide

Stellar Drift — Increases Starfall duration by 2 sec, its damage by 15%, and allows you to cast while moving while it’s active.

Twin Moons — Moonfire deals 10% increased damage and also hits another nearby enemy within 15 yds of the target.

Stellar Flare — Instantly deals Astral damage and then an additional DoT for 24 sec. Generates 8 Astral Power.

* All of these talents are good, but for different situations. Stellar Drift is good in AoE and for encounters where you move a lot, since it allows to cast while moving. Twin Moons is good in AoE only with the “Circle of Life and Death” legendary. Stellar Flare is a strong talent against a single target. 

Stellar Drift — good in AoE and for encounters where you move a lot. 

Twin Moons — for AoE if you have “Circle of Life and Death”. This allows you to start using Starfire more quickly due to reduced GCD.

Stellar Flare — good only in ST fights. 

Tier 7 — 50 lvl. DPS TalentsBalance Druid 9.0.5 Guide

  • Solstice — During the first 6 sec of every Eclipse, Shooting Stars fall 300% more often.
  • Fury of Elune — Calls down a beam of pure celestial energy that follows the enemy, dealing Astral damage over 8 sec within its area. Damage reduced on secondary targets. Generates 40 Astral Power over its duration.
  • New Moon — Deals Astral damage to the target and empowers New Moon to become Half Moon. Generates 10 Astral Power.

* Solstice is the best talent in this tier for pretty much every fight. The only exceptions are very short encounters. 

Solstice — best talent in the tier. Picked for M+ and raids. 

Fury of Elune — good for quick AoE damage when the targets are clustered together. 

New Moon — weakest in the tier.

Here are your common builds

ST: 

    1. Nature’s Balance 
    2. Doesn’t affect DPS. The choice depends on preference. 
  • Doesn’t affect DPS. The choice depends on preference. Just don’t pick Feral Affinity, since it’s the most useless talent for a Balance Druid. 
  1. Doesn’t affect DPS. The choice depends on preference. But it’s best to pick Heart of the Wild, as it boosts Affinity powers and is generally stronger than other talents. 
  2. Starlord
  3. Stellar Flare
  4. Solstice

AoE: 

  1. Nature’s Balance
  2. Doesn’t affect DPS. The choice depends on preference. 
  3. Doesn’t affect DPS. The choice depends on preference. Just don’t pick Feral Affinity, since it’s the most useless talent for a Balance Druid. 
  4. Doesn’t affect DPS. The choice depends on preference. But it’s best to pick Heart of the Wild, as it boosts Affinity powers and is generally stronger than other talents.  
  5. Soul of the Forest
  6. Stellar Drift or Twin Moons
  7. Solstice

Covenants

Covenant rating

Raid: Night Fae >/= Venthyr >/= Kyrian > Necrolord

Mythic+: Night Fae >/= Venthyr >/= Kyrian > Necrolord

Kyrian

Signature ability — Summon Steward: Call your steward to bring you a Phial of Serenity that can be consumed to restore health and remove all Curse, Disease, Poison, and Bleed effects. The steward also provides a number of useful services, but each is available only once a day.

Class ability — Kindred Spirits: Form a bond with an ally. Upon cooldown, you may empower the bond, granting you an effect based on your partner’s role, and granting them an effect based on your role.

Night Fae

Signature ability — Soulshape: Turn into a Vulpin, increasing your movement speed. Reactivating Soulshape teleports you forward a certain distance. It’s possible to change this form’s appearance with cosmetics. This effect is relatively short-lived, but lasts indefinitely while in a rest area.

Class ability — Convoke the Spirits: Call upon the Night Fae for an eruption of energy, channeling a rapid flurry of 12 Druid spells and abilities over 4 sec. You cast Moonfire, Wrath, Regrowth, Rejuvenation, Thrash, Rake, Shred, or Ironfur on appropriate nearby targets, favoring your current shapeshift form.

Necrolord

Signature ability — Fleshcraft: You form a shield of flesh and bone that absorbs damage equal to 20% of your maximum health. Channeling near a corpse makes the shield stronger.

Class ability — Adaptive Swarm: Command a swarm that heals or deals shadow damage to a target, and increases the effectiveness of your periodic effects on them. Upon expiration, jumps to a different target, alternating between friend and foe up to 3 times.

Venthyr

Signature ability — Door of Shadows: Wend through the shadows, appearing at the targeted location.

Class ability — Ravenous Frenzy: For a period of time, Druid spells you cast increase your damage, healing, and haste, stacking. If you’re idle for a couple of seconds, Frenzy consumes a portion of your health per stack, stuns you, and then ends.

Choosing a Covenant

3 (Kyrian, Night Fae, Venthyr) out of 4 Covenants for a Balance Druid are practically equal.  

Night Fae is suitable for other Druid specs, its ability is quite easy to use, which makes this Covenant a good default choice. Night Fae is best for ST and optimal in raids. However, it’s slightly weaker than Kyrian in AoE and M+ keys, but easier to use (you don’t have to keep an eye on the buff, collect spheres, don’t need a partner, etc.). Can also be taken into the arena on low rating.

Kyrian is optimal in raids, keys, and AoE, but requires more attention to gameplay. 

Venthyr is good for both raids and Mythic+. 

Necrolord is the worst Covenant, useful only in PvP. 

Soulbinds

Upon joining a Covenant, the player character may bind their soul with one of the special members — Soulbinds, that bestow unique talents related to their Covenant.

On top of that, during their adventures in Shadowlands, the character will receive a variety of items that provide bonuses unrelated to the Soulbind’s talents. 

Soulbind priority

Kyrian

Raid: Pelagos > Kleia  > Mikanikos  

M+: Pelagos > Kleia  > Mikanikos 

Night Fae 

Raid: Niya > Dreamweaver > Korayn

M+: Niya > Dreamweaver > Korayn

Necrolord 

Raid: Emeni > Heirmir > Marileth

M+: Emeni > Heirmir > Marileth

Venthyr

Raid: Nadjia > Theotar > Draven

M+: Theotar >/= Nadjia > Draven

Abilities overview:

Kyrian

Pelagos: 

  • Combat Meditation — Activating your Kyrian class ability increases your Mastery for 10 sec and occasionally expels Sorrowful Memories. Walking through Sorrowful Memories extends this effect by 3 sec. May only occur once every 1 min.
  • Let Go of the Past — Using a spell or ability reduces your magic damage taken by 1% for 6 sec. Using another spell or ability increases this amount by 1% when it is not a repeat of the previous spell or ability, stacking to 3%.

Kleia 

  • Valiant Strikes — Your critical strikes grant you stacks of Valiant Strikes, up to 20. If a nearby party member drops below 50% health, you consume these stacks to heal them for 1% of their maximum health per stack. After healing this way, you may not benefit from Valiant Strikes for 1 min.
  • Pointed Courage — Crit chance is increased by 1% for every nearby enemy or ally, up to 5%. 
  • Resonant Accolades — When receiving healing while above 70% health or healing an ally that’s above 70% health, 4% of the healing done is repeated on the target over 5 sec.

Mikanikos

  • Bron’s Call to Action — After using 90 damaging or healing spells and abilities, your next spell or ability summons Bron, who knocks enemies back on arrival and then attacks and heals your targets for 30 sec.
  • Hammer of Genesis — Damaging a new enemy grants you 3% Haste for 10 sec, up to 5 stacks.
  • Sparkling Driftglobe Core — When reduced below 35% health, you stun nearby enemies for 3 sec. This effect may only occur once every 45 sec.

Night Fae 

Niya

  • Grove Invigoration — Approximately 2 procs per minute. Healing or dealing damage has a chance to grant you a stack of Redirected Anima. Redirected Anima increases your maximum health by 1% and your Mastery by 25 for 30 sec, and stacks overlap. Activating your Night Fae class ability grants you 8 stacks of Redirected Anima.
  • Niya’s Tools: Herbs — Your healing spells and abilities have a chance to apply Niya’s Invigorating Herbs, increasing the target’s Haste by 5% for 10 sec.
  • Niya’s Tools: Poison — Your interrupts apply Niya’s Paralytic Poison to your target, dealing nature damage over 30 sec. Targets with Niya’s Paralytic Poison take additional nature damage if interrupted once more.
  • Niya’s Tools: Burrs — Your damaging attacks and spells have a chance to toss Niya’s Spiked Burrs under your target. The burrs latch onto the first enemy to cross them, reducing movement speed by 20% and inflicting nature damage over 6 sec.

Dreamweaver

  • Podtender — When you take damage that would kill you, instead rejuvenate within a wildseed, regaining 30% of HP over 10 sec. If the wildseed takes more damage during this time, you die. This effect may only occur once every 10 min.
  • Social Butterfly — When at least 2 allies are within 8 yds, your Versatility increases by 3% for 5 sec. When this expires, 2 nearby allies gain 33% of this effect for 5 sec before passing it back to you.
  • Empowered Chrysalis — 10% of your overhealing received or done remains as a shield on the target up to 10% of the caster’s health, lasting for 5 sec.
  • Field of Blossoms — Activating your Night Fae class ability puts flowers at your feet for 10 sec that increase your Haste by 12% while you stand with them.

Korayn

  • Wild Hunt Tactics — Your damage to targets above 75% health and healing to targets below 35% health is increased by 10%. When your spells and abilities are enhanced this way, you gain 15% increased movement speed for 5 sec.
  • Face Your Foes — When in front of your target, your spells and abilities decrease the damage they inflict on you by 3% for 2 sec.
  • First Strike — Damaging an enemy before they damage you increases your chance to critical strike by 25% for 5 sec.

Necrolord 

Plague Deviser Marileth

  • Volatile Solvent — Using Fleshcraft near corpses consumes their essence, granting a benefit based on the creature’s type.
  • Plaguey’s Preemptive Strike — Your first attack or spell cast on an enemy increases your damage done to them by 10% for 10 sec. Limit 1.
  • Ultimate Form — While channeling Fleshcraft, you are immune to crowd control and you regenerate 2% health every 1 sec. If you finish the full channel, you gain 4 sec of crowd control immunity, during which you regenerate 2% health every 1 sec.

Emeni 

  • Lead by Example — Activating your Necrolord class ability increases your primary stat by 5% and up to 4 nearby allies’ primary stat by 2% for 10 sec. You gain 2% additional primary stat for each ally affected.
  • Emeni’s Ambulatory Flesh — You may channel Fleshcraft while moving.
  • Gnashing Chompers — Gain 3% Haste for 10 sec after defeating an enemy, up to 15%.

Bonesmith Heirmir

  • Forgeborne Reveries — Your primary stat and armor are increased by 1% for each enchantment on your armor, up to 3%. Upon death your armor anchors your soul, allowing you to fight for an additional 10 sec. During this time, your damage and healing done is reduced by 50% and you cannot receive healing.
  • Serrated Spaulders — Inflict Shadow damage to your attacker over 5 sec when hit at melee range.
  • Heirmir’s Arsenal: Marrowed Gemstone — After landing 10 critical strikes, you gain 18% increased crit chance for 10 sec. May only occur once per 60 sec.

Venthyr

Nadjia the Mistblade

  • Thrill Seeker — While in combat, you gain a stack of Thrill Seeker every 2 sec, or 4 stacks on killing an enemy. At 40 stacks Thrill Seeker is consumed to grant you Euphoria, increasing your Haste by 20% for 10 sec. Thrill Seeker decays rapidly while you are not in combat.
  • Exacting Preparation — The benefits of Well Fed, Flask, and weapon enchant effects are increased by 20%.
  • Dauntless Duelist — The first enemy you damage in combat is marked as your Adversary. You deal 3% more damage to them, and they deal 1.5% less damage to you. You may only have one Adversary at a time.

Theotar the Mad Duke 

  • Soothing Shade — Your spells and abilities have a chance to call Tubbins and Gubbins to your side for 12 sec, parasol in hand. Standing in the shaded area increases your Mastery.
  • Token of Appreciation — Grant a shield that absorbs damage to allies who aid you with healing or beneficial magic effects. You will only shield each ally once every 20 sec.
  • Refined Palate — The effects of combat potions last 100% to 200% longer.
  • Wasteland Propriety — Activating your Venthyr class ability signals the start of tea time, granting 6% Versatility to you and 3% Versatility to up to 4 nearby allies. Lasts 10 sec.

General Draven

  • Service In Stone — Damage taken below 40% health is reduced by 10%. Upon death you leave a stone husk behind which shatters after 3 sec, inflicting 100% of your maximum health in damage split among nearby enemies, and healing for 100% of your maximum health split among nearby allies.
  • Hold Your Ground — Standing still for at least 4 sec grants you 10% increased Stamina, and 4% increased healing done. This effect persists for 6 sec after you start moving.
  • Superior Tactics — Successfully interrupting an enemy or dispelling an ally increases your critical strike chance by 10% for 10 sec. This may only occur once every 30 sec.
  • Built for War — While you are above 80% health you gain 1% primary stat every 3 sec, stacking up to 4 times. If you fall below 50% health, this effect is lost.

Conduits

Conduits are obtained in a multitude of ways. Some are universal, some are unique to each class.

Conduits come in 3 types: 

  • Finesse
  • Endurance
  • Potency

Best Potency Conduits

Best Finesse Conduits

Best Endurance Conduits

Other

Potency: 

Endurance: 

Finesse: 

Legendaries

In Shadowlands you can get legendaries from various sources and then apply them to base items via Runecarver in Torghast. Each legendary effect can be applied to only two equipment slots (for example, only cloak and pants). Each legendary item has 4 levels. The level only affects its ilvl, the effect itself is not enhanced.

To craft a legendary item you need:

  • Soul Ash (obtainable in Torghast)
  • A base item. Craft or buy at the auction.
  • 2 Missives which will define the secondary stats that the legendary will have. Be careful — you can’t’ change them later
  • A legendary recipe. Press Shift+J and open the “Powers” tab. There you can see which effects you already have, as well as the sources for the ones you don’t.

Legendary items can be crafted at any level, as long as you have enough Soul Ash. Already created legendary items can be enhanced by infusing additional ash.

  • Rank 1 — 190 ilvl (1250 ash)
  • Rank 2 — 210 ilvl (2000 ash when crafted immediately)
  • Rank 3 — 225 ilvl (3200 ash when crafted immediately)
  • Rank 4 — 235 ilvl (5150 ash when crafted immediately)

When upgrading a legendary, simply subtract the amount of ash already spent on previous ranks. Example: you have a tier 2 legendary and want to upgrade it to tier 4. 5150-2000=3150 — that’s how much ash you’ll need to spend.

If you added a socket to your legendary, it won’t be lost after an upgrade.

A total of 16 Legendaries are available to a Balance Druid. 

Best legendaries

Balance of All Things (legs/feet) — Eclipse increases your critical strike chance with Arcane or Nature spells by 40%, decreasing by 8% every 1 sec. A pretty flexible legendary, good for both raids and M+. Your first priority.

For AoE and Cleave you can craft 2 of these next legendaries, but it’s not necessary, although they’ll serve you well:

  • Circle of Life and Death (head/finger) — Your damage over time effects deal their damage 25% faster, and your healing over time effects 15% faster.

Other Legendaries 

  • Timeworn Dreambinder (chest/finger) — Starsurge and Starfall reduce the cost of Starsurge and Starfall by 10% and increase their damage by 10% for 5 sec, stacking up to 2 times.
  • Lycara’s Fleeting Glimpse (waist/feet) — Every 45 sec while in combat, cast a spell based on your form. No Form: Wild Growth. Cat Form: Primal Wrath. Bear Form: Barkskin. Moonkin Form: Starfall. Travel Form: Stampeding Roar.
  • Draught of Deep Focus (neck/chest) — When Moonfire, Rake, Rip, or Rejuvenation are active on a single target, their effects are increased 30%.
  • Oath of the Elder Druid (shoulder/wrist) — Effects of Thick Hide, Astral Influence, Feline Swiftness, and Ysera’s Gift increased by 75%. When you shift into your Affinity’s form, you gain Heart of the Wild for 10 sec, once every 1 min.
  • Oneth’s Clear Vision (feet/back) — Starsurge a 20% chance to make Starfall free. Starfall has a 40% chance to make Starsurge free.
  • Echo of Eonar (waist/wrist/finger) — Your spells and abilities have a low chance to summon a spirit familiar to your side, increasing your damage by 10%, healing by 10% or damage reduction by 10% for 10 sec based on your role. This effect is duplicated on up to 3 allies at 50% effectiveness, preferring allies with the same role. 
  • Judgment of the Arbiter (wrist/hands/finger) — Dealing damage has a chance to release a blast of spiritual energy for shadow damage. If another ally who bears the Judgment of the Arbiter is within 5-20 yds of you, the blast will also arc to them, dealing shadow damage to enemies in the arc. 
  • Maw Rattle (legs/feet/hands) — Killing an enemy has a chance to summon an Explosive Mawrat at the corpse’s location. After 6 sec the mawrat will explode, dealing nature damage to all nearby enemies, poisoning them and decreasing their damage done by 5% for 10 sec. 
  • Norgannon’s Sagacity (legs/feet/back) — Casting a spell grants Sagacity, stacking up to 10 times. You are able to cast while moving for 0.5 sec for each stack of Sagacity. 
  • Sephuz’s Proclamation (neck/shoulder/chest) — Reduce the effectiveness of crowd controlling effects by 10%. Successfully applying a loss of control effect to an enemy, interrupting an enemy, or dispelling any target will increase all your secondary stats for 15 sec. May only occur once every 30 seconds.
  • Stable Phantasma Lure (neck/wrist/back) — Increases Phantasma earned by 25%. Looting Phantasma from enemies has a chance to summon a Phantasma Demon which will begin running in a random direction. Killing it increases Phantasma earned for the entire party by an additional 10% for 1 min.
  • Third Eye of the Jailer (head/shoulder/waist) — Killing an enemy grants you the Third Eye, increasing your primary stat by 1% for 10 sec, stacking up to 7 and increasing the duration by 1 sec for each additional stack. The duration of the Third Eye is increased by 50% while in the Maw.
  • Vitality Sacrifice (head/shoulder/chest) — Taking significant damage from a player or Elite enemy increases your damage and healing by 3% of the damage taken, up to a maximum of 9% for 20 sec. May only occur once every 30 sec.

Rotation

Base priorities:

Rotation is cyclical, keep repeating to trigger Eclipse as often as possible and maintain its effect.

Use Celestial Alignment on cooldown, sometimes saving it for an important moment, but no longer than 15-20 sec. Same with your Covenant ability, try to synchronize it with Celestial Alignment.

AoE

Maintain Starfall on 2+ targets with Stellar Drift, 3+ without. If there’s no need to refresh Starfall and you have 70-80 Astral Power, cast Starsurge on a priority target. Refresh Starfall 2-3 sec before expiring. Under Lunar Eclipse cast Sunfire and Starfall, enter Eclipse and use Starfire. Under Solar Eclipse cast Sunfire and Moonfire on a target that’s gonna live for 10-15 sec. Then activate Starfall and Wrath (to generate resources). 

When fighting 6 targets, cast Starfire with any Eclipse active. Use Moonfire on all targets with the Twin Moons talent. Eclipse alternates and you cannot enter two of the same Eclipses in a row. Don’t delay Eclipse unless the situation requires it.

Openers

Start casting Wrath around ~3 sec before the fight starts. 

After that, openers differ depending on your Covenant. 

Kyrian

With the Balance of All Things legendary and without, with Nature’s Balance talent. 

Night Fae

With the Balance of All Things legendary and Nature’s Balance talent. 

Without the Balance of All Things legendary, but with Nature’s Balance talent.

If you’ve picked Venthyr (Ravenous Frenzy), use it during burst, same as Convoke the Spirits. 

Choosing a race
Balance Druid 9.0.5 Guide

Racial bonuses have a minor effect on the druid, so the race can be chosen according to your preference.

The Alliance

Night Elf, Worgen, Kul Tiran.

The Horde

Tauren, Troll, Highmountain Tauren, Zandalari Troll.

Stats

Basic stat priority looks like this:

Intellect > Mastery > Haste = Crit = Versatility

*Suitable for both raids and epic dungeons

Despite the outlined stat priority, you shouldn’t adhere to it at all times. Everything depends on your current gear.

Upon obtaining new gear it’s highly recommended to use Simcraft or Raidbots.com. Simulations are the most reliable way to see which stat you should pay attention to.

Reasoning for this priority:

Intellect

Intellect is the Druid’s main stat that affects the power of your spells.

Mastery

Since the Druid’s core mechanic is alternating Eclipses, Mastery grants the highest damage increase.

Haste

Haste is the next most important stat for a Druid. It increases DoT procs, cast speed, and cooldowns. 

Crit

Increases crit chance of all spells, boosting damage output.

Versatility

This stat just affects all damage and healing you deal, and lowers incoming damage. 

Based on the priorities above and simulations of your character you can choose gems, enchants, and consumables.

Additional ways to increase stats

Gems: Masterful Jewel Cluster 

Enchants

Alchemy

Oils:  Shadowcore Oil

Flasks: Spectral Flask of Power

Pots: Potion of Spectral Intellect

Best gear

Trinkets
Balance Druid 9.0.5 Guide

Best choice: 

Plus one of these: 

Weapon and off-hand items: 

Or 

Mystic Anima Spherule (Castle Nathria), — choose according to the stats you need, use simcraft to determine which + Thaumaturgic Anima Bead (Castle Nathria). 

Rings: 

Other: 

Macros

Innervate on a specific healer. Instead of @ you can type “focus” in the brackets (cast on the focused target).

/cast [@nickname] Innervate

Interrupt with modifiers, hold Shift to cast it on the focused target, otherwise — on the current one

/cast Wind Shear [mod:shift,@focus][]

Macro on mouseover (uses abilities on the mouse pointer) with Moonfire as an example. You can use it with any other ability.

#showtooltip

/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead] Moonfire; Moonfire

Addons

Simulationcraft — a small addon that simplifies the process of creating a Simulationcraft profile for your character.

Raider.IO Mythic Plus and Raid Progress — allows you to view ranking information about you or another player in Mythic+ and Raid without leaving the game. This info is also available on https://raider.io.

Deadly Boss Mods (DBM) — helps you keep track of mechanics in a boss fight.

Mythic Dungeon Tools — helps you plan your M+ progression and view affixes. 

Angry Keystones — automatically inserts the keystones for epic dungeons, tracks dungeon timers, and shows the exact percentage of defeated enemy forces.

ElvUI — lets you customize the UI to your liking, if you don’t like the vanilla one.

BigDebuffs — sets the scale of debuff icons.

Decursive — makes it easier to detect and remove harmful effects from allies. 

Astral Keys — tracks M+ keys available to your characters and friends, sends it in chat, and displays your best weekly clear.

Exorsus Raid Tools — useful for raids. Displays info on a raid party, combat notes, and tracks all raid’s cooldowns. Also shows required addons and records fight logs.

Hekili — an assistant that recommends rotation changes several steps ahead. Works by gathering information about the current state of the game, using an Action Priority List (APL), similar to SimulationCraft, to recommend a sequence of abilities to use.

GTFO — provides an audible alert when you’re standing in something you’re not supposed to be standing in. In some cases, you’ll be warned before you start taking damage. This mod improves your situational awareness and is recommended for M+ and raids.

WeakAuras — allows you to add and customize additional interface panels. Very handy for keeping track of cooldown, items, procs, and your resources. Customize everything on your own or use presets on https://wago.io/. 

Pro tips

  • Solar Beam one of the most powerful interrupts in the game, as it affects targets in an area. Don’t hesitate to use it if there are a lot of enemy spellcasters. 
  • Use Ursol’s Vortex to help your tanks when he needs to step away from mobs. 
  • Pick Force of Nature talent on the Necrotic affix to make the tank’s life easier. 
  • Typhoon is a great ability that knocks back enemies in a direction your character is looking. Use it on the Sanguine affix to push enemies out of it. 
  • Soothe is useful in dungeons. It removes all enrage effects from enemies. Don’t forget to use it when you see an enraged mob. 
  • Cast Innervate on a raid/party healer. It’ll help them save some mana.

This concludes our guide. Best of luck in the world of Azeroth!

Share to Telegram
Share to Reddit
Copy Link to Clipboard

Related items

Hallow’s End World Event Guide
Heritage Armor Sets
Timewalking Dungeons Guide
table of contents
Balance Druid in Shadowlands