Are boomkins viable in PvP?

[Timun]

Topic. I'm debating rolling an alt for kicks, and maybe seeing if I can actually become a legitimate benefit to some random RBG pickups.

[Mudkiper]

As far as RBG's go (since it seem's to be your main goal), boomkin's are extremely viable and can literally decide whether you win or lose a battle. That been said, the majority of high rated teams (2.4k+) will have a priority list and boomkin's will be very high on that list to be controlled and killed as soon as possible, perhaps behind arcane mages and priest's burning the healers. One of the big benefit's I personally found when playing RBG's as balance is the ability to change into PvE gear perhaps before a battle or drop combat mid battle and change if they arn't focusing me in previous battles, using Boomkin Form obviously hides the PvE armor and you can try and stay behind your team. Keep cyclone up on someone all the time - preferably a healer, if your going for a kill on a healer then time your Solar Beam's well - perhaps you can silence 2-3 or more together, especially using root's.

Keep your dot's rolling on all the targets, even if your team is focusing one target the amount of pressure you can put on the enemy healer's in terms of damage and having to dispel will drain their mana extremely fast and if the CC is good on them then the entire enemy team will start to drop below 70% making it easier to pick them off.

The other obvious benefit's are stealth - sending a 'stealth team' to attack a FC or capture a flag can be a big game changer, also Typhoon is amazing for Arathi Basin, coupled with stealth I've personally knocked multiple people off LM and capped solo just because they are foolish enough to view the battle from the edge.

So, that's about it for RBG's... as for Arena, just go feral.

[pomterri]

Im playing moonking my self and. 2v2 and 3v3 is death for moonkins(3v3 maybe you can get 2.7k with team dodge but its hard) in 5v5 and in rbg's its really good and I believe it is best class in RBG. I have legendery and doing over 10m dmg in our RBGs. (not really high rate tho 2.1k+ rating atm)

[Feranor]

If you really want to play Moonkin in RBG, make sure you have an Affliction Warlock and maybe a Shadow Priest with you for Dispel protection.

But if it's going to be a new toon anyways, and you want to play a caster, just roll Mage. It has been Blizz's pet class since forever and will most likely always be very strong in group PvP and completely overpowered in 1v1.

[Deleted]

I started out PvP as balance but a week ago so thought I'd share my experiences since I've had to learn it all very recently.

First of all, don't be all too disheartened when you first try it. Balance can be VERY frustrating to play compared to other casters in PvP and, especially when you lack the resilience needed to take a punch, you will go down like a sack of bones. Moonkin form is a giant 'Kill meh' signal so expect every enemy to focus on you in the hope of an easy kill.

But here are the good news: precisely because moonkin aren't the most powerful of casters they are underestimated and that can play in your favour. Yes, they will target you and yes, they will expect an easy kill. But precisely because of that, they will be impatient and try and rush a kill using everything they've got. To survive that, you need to go defensive. To escape people, I use two macros:

1) One that pops Nature's Grasp, Barkskin and Thorns alltogether. They hit you and they get rooted. Most are impatient enough to use trinket to break these roots so that allows for an easy Cyclone later on.
2) A /cast !Travel Form one. Why the '!' before 'Travel Form'? Because that allows you to spam it to continuously break snares (not roots, though) without shifting out of Travel Form. I also recommend a /cast !Moonkin Form one. This second macro DOES allow for root breaks (not just snares) and is awesome when playing against a frost mage.

Ok, so now you are running away, the enemy will still try to get to you. Remember to keep both dots on him to wear him down as he chases you and hope for an instant Starsurge proc. If they get close, I either:

1) Drop a mushroom (just 1) quickly just behind me and make it go boom the second is down. That will create a snaring circle they'll need to cross to get to you.
2) Jump, quickly turn back (using mouse) so you face the enemy, Typhoon him, turn back again, travel form, run. Be aware: Typhoon is sort of bugged right now, so that when you try to cast it but can't (silenced, stunned, gcd still not over) the animation will go off even if the spell doesn't.

Ok, so now you've fled for a while they most likely have used up loads of their abilities or trinket so what I usually do is Cyclone them, lay three shrooms quickly on their feet, start powering up a Starsurge so it hits just as Cyclone wears off and then explode the shrooms. That usually takes 1/3 of their HP easily so now it's time to go offensive: pop Starfall, Treants, dot him, get a cast or two if possible, otherwise spam Moonfire. While spamming Moonfire may seem brainless to some people, it is the only means we have to deal damage on the move right now other than dots and procs (actually, in arena that's all Moonkin do from what I read).
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So we've covered the basics for surviving when someone is on you, what about when there's 3-4 of your bg teammates coming up against 3-4-5 of them? This is when a Moonkin truly shines, when it comes to spreading havoc in big groups. First of all, dot everybody up, it's insane pressure on the offensive dispellers and you will be drowning in instant Starsurge procs. Look for the enemy healer, focus on him and keep him Cycloned all the time. Pop Starfall, Treants, use Typhoon to interrupt casts and peel the melee off your healer, use Solar Beam on a healer (if you root him before doing so, it's immense pressure: either he trinkets or he can't dispel himself). If after all the above, you still have room to breathe, I like to drop 3 x shrooms where the thick of the battle is and explode them for further chaos :P

I hope the frigging bible I've typed will be of some use to somebody!

[Puddinpop]

Boomkins are just lacking in every department in the way our mechanics are delivered. Magic mushrooms takes too long to plant. We don't have fast cc's to get away. Typhoon is too buggy to work. And there are tones of other mechanics that need fixing like thorns. Moonkin need a ranged stun of some sorts and not the shift to bear and stun which misses 50% of the time. It should be a class that stands on its own not a class that requires you to dip into restro or feral. Moonkin plays very defencively which a spellcaster shouldn't have to do 100% of the time. You wont gain quick kills like other classes.

Reroll a different class imo.

[Sunfyre]

You wont gain quick kills like other classes.

Reroll a different class imo.

That's funny. I am consistently #1 in damage and kills in random and rated battlegrounds.

[axxey]

Boomkin puts out a rediculous amount of pressure in an aids spread when you have shadow priest and affliction lock to give some dispell protection. They're a higher mix of burst and sustained(dot) output but annoying reliance on where your eclipse is sitting to burst well. Weaker to melee lockdown focus but even just typhoon by itself can make a huge difference offence or defence working flagrooms not on ground floor.

[Shruikah]

Smokebomb/Solar Beam, the silent RBG FC killer.

[Nest]

Smokebomb/Solar Beam, the silent RBG FC killer.

This.
Boomkins shine in rBG's and normal BG's, typhooning people off ledges is kewl.
They ain't that weak in arena, Disc Priest / Mage / Boomkin is awesome and the ol' good LSD2 (Lock / Resto Shaman / Boomkin) works fine. Facerolled to 2,2k in 3s as Boomkin / DK / Disc Priest last season so Boomkins really aren't as bad as people think. ;>

E: It's still desperate to play arenas as Boomkin, spec feels so broken compared to other casters. Finding partners for anything serious is slooooow.