Max DPS in Boomkin?

[Gathami-Ettrig]

Okay so I have a few questions,

I've been playing a druid for quite some time now and I think I'm right on the money, but could use a little improvement to base stats/rotation to give me the best dps possible.

My rotation consists on the following:
Farie Fire
Insect Swarm
Moonfire
Wrath, Wrath, Wrath until I get Eclipse crit buff...
Then Starfire until it goes away. I renew DoTs every time I need to and rinse and repeat the Wrath deal.

Now:
My hit should be capped but what is the cap? I've never really put the time to finding out lol. I just know I have enough.
One more thing..could you tell me how much hit, spell power, and crit rating I should have?

Sorry SOOO much info in one thing
Thanks in advance

[Krayzz]

Armory link?

And your doing both eclipses right? Lunar - Solar - Lunar - Solar

[starvethedead]

I don't understand why people do Wrath Wrath Wrath and wait for Eclipse.

I do Wrath, SF, Wrath, SF until one of them Eclipses. That way when it triggers I am already about to fire off the spell that's now affected by it, so I then just keep firing off that spell until it expires, then go back to alternating. That way I get maximum results from Eclipse.

[fabian]

I don't understand why people do Wrath Wrath Wrath and wait for Eclipse.

I do Wrath, SF, Wrath, SF until one of them Eclipses. That way when it triggers I am already about to fire off the spell that's now affected by it, so I then just keep firing off that spell until it expires, then go back to alternating. That way I get maximum results from Eclipse.

You do know that the eclipse buffs have separate CD's now, right? I can understand alternating at the start but once one goes off, you're pretty much set on the rotation for the rest of the fight.

[Ciege]

Soft Cap: 14% Spell hit (13% with draenai racial in effect)
Hard Cap: 17% Spell Hit (16% with draenai racial in effect)

Other than that... No clue on your stats / preferences. Check ej forums they should have what you need.

[starvethedead]

You do know that the eclipse buffs have separate CD's now, right? I can understand alternating at the start but once one goes off, you're pretty much set on the rotation for the rest of the fight.

Yes I do know that, but that doesn't automatically make it trigger just because I want it to. Sometimes it expires and it's not active so I go back to alternating until it activates again.

[Gathami-Ettrig]

Armory link?

And your doing both eclipses right? Lunar - Solar - Lunar - Solar

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...gg&n=Alagaseia

There's my armory

[ElAmigo]

Soft Cap: 14% Spell hit (13% with draenai racial in effect)
Hard Cap: 17% Spell Hit (16% with draenai racial in effect)

Other than that... No clue on your stats / preferences. Check ej forums they should have what you need.

wrong
you should only have 10% hit from gear, 9% if you have a dranei to rely on.
you get 4% from talents and another 3% from improved faire fire.

and to the OP: fix your spec and your glyphs if you dont seem to be having mana issues with the spec that you are atm then your build should be somewhat like this http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0xRbu...VhRuZbxczb:urf

[Gathami-Ettrig]

Okay so my hit rating should be around what number? Right now it's at like 13% but I have the talents too so I'm over hit. Right? lol

[ElAmigo]

Okay so my hit rating should be around what number? Right now it's at like 13% but I have the talents too so I'm over hit. Right? lol

get it to 10% and you're set

[Boomkindance]

263 hit rating (horde) is what you want to get before getting haste

400 haste is what you want to get before you gem for SP/Crit

after 400 haste you only want to gear for spell power and crit (haste isnt useless at this point, but both sp and crit yield significantly higher gains.

Rough estimates (I lost my exact numbers sheet atm) are that:

haste: 1.1 dps per point
crit: 1.45 dps per point
SP: 1.57 dps per point
Spirit: 0.50 dps per point

So multiply the stats on your gear by those numbers to give you an idea of what piece is better (those numbers assume 263 hit and 400 haste)

[Azyoulike]

Yes I do know that, but that doesn't automatically make it trigger just because I want it to. Sometimes it expires and it's not active so I go back to alternating until it activates again.

No but it means that once your past the initial setup one of your eclipses is on CD and you'll thus spend approximately twice as long out of eclipse your way because only half of your casts are going to be able to proc the one that isn't on CD.

So no, it won't automatically trigger 'just because you want it to', but it will definitely not trigger if you're casting the wrong nuke!

[Comprise]

Change 20 hit rating on gloves to 28 sp, and boot enchant to 15stamina / run speed.

[Retreat]

I was recently asked by my guild to switch to Boomkin for raid buffs. And I've been curious if anyone has or knows the location of good math or experience on the tier 8 2pc and tier 9 2 pc versus full tier 9 4pc debate. As my guild has cleared all available content I have access to the best quality gear, excluding maybe 258 tier pieces (as we're gearing our tanks first), and I hate being forced to use the horrible tier 8 gear. While my general experience and what I've heard suggests that 2pc tier 8 is the strongest option some druids have told me that, with full 245 tier pieces and the 245 boomkin pants off Anub, 4pc can win out.

Here's my armory if that makes any difference:
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...e&n=Delectable

Thanks.

[Aluana]

i think the only scenario where 4pc T9 wins out is in 258 gear... at least thats all i've been reading across EJ anyway...

pretty sure the general 2/2 setup is helm and chest T9.25, gloves and pants T8.5 and the heroic 10 shoulders from beasts

i too would like clarification from this, as i have trophies and a multitude of badges available right now that i will spend on resto T9.25 if 4pc boomkin isnt viable till 258 gear...

my armory is http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...Thul&n=Davyyon

edit: in pvp gear till i get home and change to boomkin spec/gear xD

[Deleted]

Ive been testing 2pt8 vs 4pt9 the other day. I am writing my findings here by memory, mind you.

Doing 5-7 runs on dummies with both setups, with the same opening rotation. I then took the three best tries from both pools and found an average. It seems the damage difference is between 50-150 on a *target dummy*. I could very easely note how some starfires did not crit, and i sometimes didn't go straight from lunar into solar with WiseEclipse, as often as i would with 2pt8. It also felt like it was a lot easier to maintain a high DPS with 2pt8, where as i was completely tounge-in-cheek when i tried to reach it with 4pt9. It seemed like 2pt8 started out high and stayed there, and 4pt9 sort of had to build up to reach the higher levels.

The only place i can suggest 4pt9 is on fights where you wouldn't rely on Eclipse, but where you would enjoy the extra bonuses - Anub Arak 25 heroic, for example, where you AOE most of the time, and can benefit from the extra SP (i got another 100 from 4pt9 with the other gear i switched in to even out my caps).

[Deleted]

I've been testing this myself as I've got 4 pieces of T9 with jarax hc shoulders , and helm and chest of 8.5 , it's minimal but 2 piece 8.5 wins out by about 150 DPS or so ! Altho I've noticed outside of eclipse T9 wins but who cares about that :P

[Deleted]

Thats because you shouldn't have kept chest and head for T8.5. T9 chest and head are arguably the best pieces because they have no spirit.

[FourofaKind]

Thats because you shouldn't have kept chest and head for T8.5. T9 chest and head are arguably the best pieces because they have no spirit. outwieght gloves and pants.

fixt

[Pascal]

I skimmed over the other replies, but I'm just going to throw some info your way and you do what you want with it.

Hit cap is 17%. However, obviously, you get hit from talents. You should have Balance of Power and Improved Faerie Fire, which makes the hit necessary from gear to be capped 10%. (4% BoP, 3% IFF = 7%; 10% remaining.) I hope this is more clear than some of the other responses.

Not to sound stuck up, but I'm pretty good at what I do. It might just be that my guild is terrible, but I always find myself in the top 5 on most encounters. I've been dpsing as balance since Sunwell and adjusting with the changes as they come.

Before I give you some rotation advice, I'm sorry but as a concerned citizen I'm going to have to give you gearing advice.

Idol of the Crying Wind is very...um...inadvisable. IS, especially without t7 2pc, is not a significant source of damage. You should work on getting the Idol of Lunar Fury from Triumph Badges ASAP. I got it before even worrying about getting t9 pieces. It procs nearly constantly, which basically means you get a constant 4.3% crit. Even if you can't get Idol of Lunar Fury, Idol of the Shooting Star (affects Starfire) is better than Idol of the Crying Wind. Even Idol of Steadfast Renewal (affects Wrath) is better than Crying Wind, but Shooting Star increases the spell power of Starfire, while Steadfast Renewal only increases the damage dealt by Wrath, making the benefits from Shooting Star better.

Nightmare tears are not very useful gems for balance druids. They give +10 all stats, which means you gain (of significance) 10 int and 10 spi, which translates into 4.2 spell power (12% of int goes to sp; 30% of spi goes to sp). If you're using a nightmare tear to meet your Chaotic meta requirement, don't. 12 SP 10 spi gives 15 SP and is purple, so just use two of those. While we're on that subject, try to meet socket bonuses that grant SP when you're using your blue gems. Your stormrage blue socket for the 8int is fine, but try to think of stats like int and spi in regards to SP. SP is THE best stat you can get and gem for. Crit, on the other hand, has a high allocation cost and is not very wise to gem for. On your chestpiece, I'd replace the 20 crit with 23 sp. If you really want the 6 haste, gem it with 12 SP 10 haste.

Considering you're 3% over hit cap, you could replace your boots enchant with Tuskarr's Vitality. This is mostly a personal choice, but let me give you the rundown: Tuskarr's Vitality increases your movement speed. When you have to move in a fight, the faster you move (out of charge, out of fire, toward Icehowl after he charged out of range), the sooner you get to your destination and can continue DPSing. I personally do not have the math skills to calculate this movement speed into terms of actual DPS, but I consider it far more useful than a few crit rating. In addition, change your 20 hit on gloves to 28 SP.

Other than that, I'd only be nitpicking and getting redundant if I kept bugging you. Your gear is otherwise pretty good except for having no actual set bonuses. 2pct8 and 2pct9 are a good combo (as you can see, I use it). I don't know how soon you'll be getting your hands on any 258 ilvl t9, but the stat benefits from 258ilvl t9 over t8 are probably better than the set bonus. I don't know, I haven't tested it, I don't have 258 ilvl t9 don't take this part too close to heart.

Moving on, a balance druid rotation is obviously easy to adjust to, but difficult to master. It's very important to have your shaman announce BL at least a few seconds before in order to cast treants right before it. They gain BL and deal significantly more damage under its effects. My shaman are douchebags and say BL after casting it; try to keep them from forming this habit.

Starfall is good to use during Eclipse downtime and when (obviously) there are many mobs around to get pelted by stars. I use starfall glyph in order to pop SF as much as possible, but it's not wrong to have Starfire glyph to increase your moonfire duration. I actually carry a stack of both glyphs to switch back and forth for fights where I shouldn't pop Starfall too much (Vezax hard mode - wouldn't want to kill any saronite and fuck over the entire attempt now would we?), or when starfall just isn't as useful as lengthening my MF.

Now, when to cast dots can be tricky. I honestly only cast IS when I'm moving, or when I have to face away from Yogg, or when I'm about to get stunned by Icehowl, or a worm is about to go underground, etc. I cast MF as often as possible, but try to avoid casting it during Eclipse by any means necessary.

It's kind of hard to explain when to cast dots because there are literally just tons of little situations that should be handled differently.

For instance - Your MF runs out about 4 seconds before Wrath Eclipse is over, and your Starfire Eclipse procs right after. Now, you don't want to cast MF instead of critting for massive SF damage, but you don't want your 4.3% crit from Idol of Lunar Fury to fall off in the middle of Eclipse. It is arguably better to cast MF right at the beginning of your Starfire Eclipse proc to keep the crit buff up, or you might find Nature's Grace falling off in the middle of eclipse (especially because you in particular don't have a t8 2pc currently).

Honestly, I tend to just blow off the "When to cast dots" question with the following: You'll learn when a good time to cast your dots is the longer you play.

Obviously, that's not very informative, but I find that to be the case. I almost have a second sense about my eclipse procs. It's obviously not completely accurate, if it were I'd be the best balance druid in the entire world, but you kind of get a feel for them. As long as you remember a few important things, you can learn to react to your own specific eclipse-dot interference situations on your own.

IS is your least important dot.
MF (with idol of lunar fury) is important to keep up, but not necessary to have up 100% of the time. (The proc from the idol will actually tend to happen several times during the duration of MF, not uncommonly right before MF fades, leaving lots of spare time to finish eclipse procs.)
Definitely don't cast IS during eclipse; MF is sometimes okay to cast during eclipse.
If MF is going to run out within the first few seconds of eclipse, it's not incorrect to recast it after a few wraths/starfires.

Unfortunately, understanding the best time to cast dots is kind of a live and learn situation.

In regards to Eclipse, it's not incorrect to cast wrath and wait for SF eclipse. It's also not incorrect to spell twist (SF > W > SF > W > SF > W until something procs). I tend to cast wrath until it crits, then cast Starfire. If eclipse didn't proc, I cast wrath some more until wrath crits, then cast SF.

The reason for this is that the haste cap is about 400, which leaves your starfire casts at an extremely lazy, long, annoying to watch cast time. Mine's about 2.4 without NG, which seriously just irks the crap out of me to watch it cruise by so slowly. I cast wrath until I see that its cast time has gone from 1.3 to 1.0, then cast Starfire. If starfire eclipse didn't proc, I tend to go back to wrath until I see the cast time go down to 1.0 again. If wrath eclipse happened to proc, I obviously just start casting wrath. During eclipse cooldown, you should definitely cast whichever spell is necessary to proc eclipse fastest. If eclipse cooldown goes away without a new proc, I go back to my twist-after-a-crit method.

An especially good time to cast Starfall is after starfire eclipse where wrath eclipse did not happen immediately. This casuses your non-crit starfires to cast with NG (starfall crits proc NG) and if wrath procs sooner, NG will still usually persist, causing your noncrit harder hitting wraths to cast faster as well.

I could go on, but I think I've been typing enough.