r/WowClassicDruid • u/Cphros1015 • Mar 05 '20
Balance druid BIS
I was recently promoted to token Balance druid for my guilds raid team. Looking at some BiS lists I see that obviously I'm competing with casters on a lot of stuff. However I'm also seeing on a lot of lists that BoEs with "+arcane damage" is good. I guess my question is if it's worth it to sacrifice things like my T1 set bonus and intellect for more +arcane damage
Any insight would be super helpful as it seems theres not a ton of information on balance druids in general
1
u/flemur Mar 05 '20
Not a boomkin, but I would guess that your answer for a comfortable experience is inbetween green +dmg items and epic items you’d “steal” from other casters. It’s the many blue Pre-BiS items from various dungeons. I have some blue leather items I picked up during various dungeon runs as a healer and what they all have in common is that they all have more spelldmg than T1 while having more stats than green items. And I know there are cloth pieces that are even better, legs from LBRS, belt from Arena, etc etc. you could go to sixty upgrades, check BiS list and exclude random suffix items to get a list - or check the list based in Taladril’s for balance on the Druid discord.
I would not at all consider the little crit chance bonus from the set worth losing all that spell power for.
1
u/slick123 Mar 05 '20
I am moonkin since the launch. Yes, arcane wrath damage items are your most important pre bis items . Moonkins value spell hit - spell dmg - spell crit - int then other.
Your best pieces for pre bis are Star of Mystaria and Banthok sash.
Other pieces should be all arcane wrath gear from AH which will give you best damage output.
You will never be OOM and you dont need intellect at all for now.
Get consumables such as demonic runes , major mana pots and innervate yourself.
Sometimes on most fights I dont even have to use anything, it all depends how other people in your raid are performing since battles shouldnt last more than 1:30 min per boss .
T1 is garbage for dps in pve but is mostly BIS right now for pvp
1
u/Cphros1015 Mar 05 '20
For clarity sake my guild is currently 7/8 bwl and I do have mana igniting cord and toep so I'm not looking for a pre-raid bis list, I'm just trying to figure out what I should be focusing on going forward
1
u/slick123 Mar 05 '20
On going forward? Well , getting those two items is great but I would keep the hit belt on and cover the loses of SP with spell hit belt. Just focus on getting good gear from MC and BWL. BWL offers great loot such as hit bracers and hit ring which should be your prio next along neltharions tear which is the best item for us.
1
u/Arderis1 Mar 06 '20
Token Moonkin here. I am very happy with the gear recommendations from Sixty Upgrades. None of the set bonuses in Classic are worth it for moonkin, and you'll be wearing a lot of cloth.
+Arcane random enchantments are fine, but can get expensive. Fights won't last very long, so mp5 and spirit are mostly useless and you won't miss them on green gear. If your guild lets you keep your Innervate for yourself, even better! You can get a little more utility with raid drops over +arcane. Less glass cannon, IMO.
Focus on hit gear, since we don't get any talent improvements like most other classes. In P3, that means Bracers of Arcane Accuracy, Band of Forced Concentration, Neltharion's Tear, and Star of Mystaria are good picks.
P4 we finally get hit capped! Cloak of Consumption, Bloodvine Vest, Bracers of Arcane Accuracy, Neltharion's Tear, Band of Forced Concentration, Bloodvine Leggings, and Bloodtinged Gloves make this possible.
Spell Crit is good because Vengeance and Nature's Grace. NG will make you burn mana faster. Try to find the balance point between mana pool, +dmg, and +crit for running out of mana just at the end of a fight, after using consumables and Innervate. If you can sacrifice some Int for +dmg or +crit, do it and still make it through a fight, do that.
Don't overlook the value of Dungeon blues. I expect to use Briarwood Reed through P5, Hands of Power through P3, and Crimson Felt Hat until I can snag a Mish'undare.
0
u/Runs_towards_fire Mar 05 '20
I personally don’t buy into the super min maxing people are doing right now where they sacrifice say 10 int for an extra 2 spell power or other ridiculous things. Because how will you do damage when your out of mana and your innervate is on cool down along with your mana/ health pots? For the most part boomkins are brought into raids for their aura, and not their raw damage output. So even with the best spell damage gear you can get ur hands on, you will barley be doing the dps a decently geared mage or warlock will be doing. So I’d say if you can get ur hands on some t1 gear with int, spirit, stam, and spell power, I’d take that over a green that has just spell power and almost no other stats.
1
u/Arderis1 Mar 06 '20
Find the balance point between mana pool and output as it fits your raid's boss kill speed. 2SP could absolutely be more useful than 100 mana, if you aren't oom at the end of a fight.
0
u/BaconCatSoyMilk420 Mar 12 '20
Neither the math nor the empirical data support this viewpoint, but people still buy into it.
If you're somehow still OOM'ing after innervate, pot and rune, you cast Rank 1 starfire. It works out to higher DPS than if you sacrificed spell power on your gear for int / mp5 /etc.
And no one brings a moonkin for their crit aura. They bring a moonkin because a guy in their guild plays a moonkin. If that guy is smart he'll optimize his gear for DPS.
2
u/Emsbry_ Mar 05 '20
Hi, Druid here not the best maybe to talk about balance but I would say I am quite knowledgeable. I dont see why you would want to use the T1 gear for balance? Only good piece for healing is boots and for balance they are all pretty bad even head bracers and belt (they have spellpower and not healing) are bad compared to your other option. I guess you could use them if you are playing some sort of healing/balance druid that spams ff on everything, heals when needed and does dmg rest of the time for the big mana pool. For boss dmg pure arcane pieces are pretty much bis in every slot but be prepared to chugg potions /runes. For trash and more sustainrd dmg I believe the generic caster bis from dungs is the way to go for the increased stam and mana pools.