[Balance] Switching to Druid. Need help!

[Demindar]

So, I am switching to my Boomkin from my Mage.
ARMORY: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...Nervine/simple

I have a few questions:
1) Is SimC good to use with Druids? I know for Mages its kinda shitty, specially with arcane and not counting our 4p, etc.

2) Whats the "rotation"? I used SimC and it says I should be pulling roughly 503k. I maybe get up to 400k. I dont think I am doing things right.

3) What stat breakpoints should I go for right away? I heard haste to 30%, then all into crit / mastery. Ive also heard get crit to 30% first. So I am asking you as the community!

4) What pieces of tier am I looking for? I know its not the chest, but what is the ideal 4p to aim for?

5) Whisper + Metranome BiS as it is for nearly every other caster?

6) Legendaries: Ring > Helm > Bracers?


Please and thank you!

[-aiko-]

1. Yes, always sim yourself for proper weights and upgrades.

2. Take SimC dps with a grain of salt. It assumes full buffs, patchwerk fights and perfect gameplay. As for the rotation, depends on if you have the Dreamcatcher legendary or not. If you don't have it, the rotation is simply is to keep up dots, keep New Moon charges rolling, use empowerments and spend resources on starsurge. Avoid capping on AP or wasting empowerment stacks. To minmax, you can cast starsurge/moonfire/sunfire more wisely (e.g. when you have a CD or trinket buff up) but don't go out of your way to do this or you'll likely lose dps.

3. You'll need to sim yourself. 30-33% haste is only really necessary with the Dreamcatcher. For example, I don't have it yet (grr) and haste is valued less for me. I have barely 24% haste.

4. Kind of depends on what you have and your current stat weights, I'm honestly not sure if there is an ideal setup. Get any pieces you can and sim away. I would imagine the 3 best will always be the haste pieces, then whatever other piece has stats you desire.

5. Probably, but kiss Gebuz and Tunderer for this gem: clicky

6. In general yup.

[Deleted]

4. IMHO the ideal setup (which I use) is tier chest, shoulders, legs and cloak with the legendary helmet and chronomatic anomaly gloves. If you don't have the helmet, use tier helmet or chest, whichever you have a better replacement for.

[Demindar]

1. Yes, always sim yourself for proper weights and upgrades.

2. Take SimC dps with a grain of salt. It assumes full buffs, patchwerk fights and perfect gameplay. As for the rotation, depends on if you have the Dreamcatcher legendary or not. If you don't have it, the rotation is simply is to keep up dots, keep New Moon charges rolling, use empowerments and spend resources on starsurge. Avoid capping on AP or wasting empowerment stacks. To minmax, you can cast starsurge/moonfire/sunfire more wisely (e.g. when you have a CD or trinket buff up) but don't go out of your way to do this or you'll likely lose dps.

3. You'll need to sim yourself. 30-33% haste is only really necessary with the Dreamcatcher. For example, I don't have it yet (grr) and haste is valued less for me. I have barely 24% haste.

4. Kind of depends on what you have and your current stat weights, I'm honestly not sure if there is an ideal setup. Get any pieces you can and sim away. I would imagine the 3 best will always be the haste pieces, then whatever other piece has stats you desire.

5. Probably, but kiss Gebuz and Tunderer for this gem: clicky

6. In general yup.

Awesome! Thank you for the response! I wasnt sure if SimC was bugged with stat weights or not for druids. Since it isnt, I will for sure use the stat weights the provide! I thought it was doing it wrong cause it was valuing Mastery and Crit really high!

[Mewseph]

Balance stat weights are relatively close anyway at base values compared to other classes/specs, the biggest gap being Haste being worth about 20% more than versatility and then Mastery/Crit in between. Most gear choices are made with either the ED haste break points in mind or just keep their haste > mastery > crit > vers.

You should keep in mind that in AoE/Clease situations ie most of NH and Mythic+ content, Haste and Mastery are significantly stronger than crit/vers. Generally speaking, I try to have Haste on every non-trinket gear piece where its unavoidable ie Tier chest. Usually though higher ilvl wins out unless you lose a significant amount of haste (I also have a strong hatred for Versatility, the most boring stat ever).

4) What pieces of tier am I looking for? I know its not the chest, but what is the ideal 4p to aim for?

Depends on your other gear, but you'll be wanting to use cloak + legs + shoulders and whatever else, but differing ilvls complicate things. Currently I'm using helm + chest + legs + shoulders because my helm titanforged to 915 + socket, I only have a 875 tier cloak (900 non-tier with socket equipped) and I use Jacens set.

Remember that ilvl is more important (they give more stats) on Helm/Legs/Pants and least important on cloak. Optimising your +stats.

6) Legendaries: Ring > Helm > Bracers?

It depends on your legendaries, talents, gear and what you're doing, for example shoulders and bracers are strong in M+, but ring and helm are best for Pure ST raid encounters and of course the ED breakpoints help ssubstantially. In most fights in NH though where there is significant or important periods of cleave/AoE, the ring and bracers are usually the best performing legendaries. Also the bracers and helm don't combo the best as you'll often waste bracer procs during the ED rotation.

If you're trying to target a specific legendary from relentless tokens then I would suggest trying for the ring first as you already have the bracers, it's easier to take advantage of and is just as useful as the helm.