Balance mythic+ 8.3 struggle

[oneclosetothesun]

Hi
I play balance for about 3 weeks now.
I am doing 15 key times, but always at least about 10k-15k dps behind pretty much any melee class. Like 45k-50k me and 60k them.
Some say they got op corruptions, but it feels such a big difference, that I think I just play potato despite having done extensive research on how to balance m+ and playing m+ myself since Legion.
My gear is pretty much same comparing to top rank and similar rank balance players. (I only can't get my hand on strife yet)

Do you guys have any similar experience since 8.3 and is there any advice you would give to make up for that missing DPS?

You still find more than few stacking expedient, so you could say, it's up to you. And then of course gushing wound or honed mind as filler, if no better(I find GW more appealing than striketrough).

[Xirrohon]

You will never be able to keep up with the melee classes as Balance in overall dmg unless they pull around your CDs. Still it would be difficult. Watch some of Tettles YT videos, you see they always pull around his Incarn. As Boomy, youre mainly being brought to keys for utility and ST target damage. I swapped from Resto Dru to Holy Paladin and started bringing a Boomy for the Brez, roots, Trees.

[oneclosetothesun]

Oh ye, I saw some of his videos. I am gonna try what he says in guide and keep practice. Guess I am just salty after 2 seasons playing rog.

[Athonel]

Assuming skill and gear is relatively equal, you are not going to consistently beat most melee in m+. Our aoe dps is just not as good as theirs.

[kubuntu]

Balance is about single target and utility, Feral have better aoe and can pull more overal dps then balance but lack aoe silence and trees

[cparle87]

I've played druid ever since classic. Only did kitty and bear until Legion when I got the artifact and thought "what the heck, might as well try kitty and boomy." In Legion boomy was this aoe machine. Felt really weird going into BFA they completely switched things around with the changes to starfall and our dots. Has any other class or spec had this happen to them before? Going from awesome in aoe and average in ST and just switching it around?

[oneclosetothesun]

So far none has complained, that I do my 50k, when them DHs roll 70k overall, I even asked but feelsbadman I tell you what.

[Fartoo]

Whats your gear like ? I don't do too many 15s, but the ones I do I'm always above 60k overall. I don't even have the best corruptions, just two crit buff ones and one rank 2 tendril.

[szandos]

As a tank I'm super happy to get a good boomie in, for treants, silence and bres. They are also beast on single target. Get infinite stars and dominate dps on boss fights.

[oneclosetothesun]

Ye that kinda thing, my loot was very bad, like my alts getting bis gear first try, but dudu no luck. Besides I rarely get to see tanks, whom would need treants, unless literally necro afix. I can imagine he still good at very high key pushing, but at my mediocore 15-20 keys, it's meh.

PS: gear a bit broke this patch, like my alt, that I do literally 1 dung a week for chest and then never login, surpassed the druid whom I played daily

[huth]

Ye that kinda thing, my loot was very bad, like my alts getting bis gear first try, but dudu no luck. Besides I rarely get to see tanks, whom would need treants, unless literally necro afix. I can imagine he still good at very high key pushing, but at my mediocore 15-20 keys, it's meh.

Treants are only useful if the tank actually understands what they do. I've also seen some smartypants drag everything out of Solar Beam like it's evil. Apparently they like getting blasted with magic.

Personally, i prefer Gushing Wounds over Stars, though.

[oneclosetothesun]

So I am just experimenting.

Tried twilight devastation as oppose to what guides suggest and what players use on raider io.
100 corruption twilight = 24% hp proc
manage to pull 77k overall, 17k more than usual (twisted apendange 66 + 2xgushing wound)
with bala having already good st, bossing dps was no problem
that said, procs can get awkward

Tried incarn
Have some intense tyranical boss dps, due to chaining proc and getting really long incarn stacked (it has longer duration with talent)
could go as far as 100k st for majority of boss fight (but still 60k ish overall)
also I suspect it might be more useful for proc that deal spell dmg? since they don't scale with haste (gushing wound? appendage?)

Will have to do some more testing, because having big aoe smashers in grp like war and DH might render twilight proc more difficult to land and not boost the lacking aoe as much.

Edit: So yeah, twilight is so inconsistent, one dung I destroy the dps metter, other barely average. Not to mention as ranged not landing a proc is very costly. Still due to lack of druid aoe, I personally like it in certain dungeons.

[Yhcti]

Boomkin is really picked up for ST damage, brezz and treats for certain affixes. Not a huuuugely desirable spec as everyone would rather a Fire Mage, but in general Mele outperforms ranged in M+.. exceptions being Fire Mage and BM Hunter. I'm actually gearing my druid up now but he's mastery > haste as will be resto mostly.

[Yhcti]

i always queue with specs that are heavy on aoe like, dh or rogue, so i can monster the boss fights whilst they keep up on trash

[Profligate]

Treants are OP at high keys.

I played boomy in M+ 15+ keys and always use treants on CD. never have wipes because generally each pack time-to-kill plus the time to run to the next pack is about 60 seconds and so you can use the trees at the start of each pull. This allows the tank to pull more, allows him to save CDs, allows him to do more dps.

The higher the key the more useful treants become.

As much as I played boomy in M+ I have played Gdruid much more. Finished pretty high last season, before quitting this season. I can tell you that most boomkins don't play correctly and it irritates me. A good portion of them do not even spec treants in 5-mans. This is just wrong. Treants are the only reason I bring boomies. Tanking with treants is waaaaay easier than without them, in high keys. Also, if you are using treants on CD they don't lower your overall dps much, if at all. because you are getting a burst every 60 seconds, but some of that CD is during the time to run from one pack to the next, and so effectively the CD is shorter than 60 seconds since you are not fighting during the time it takes to run from one pack to the next.

The other mistake I see is people taking treants, but not using it on CD. They use it like 3 times in dungeon or only on bosses. This makes no sense. Sure treants will boost your boss dps, but the treant taunt doesn't work on bosses and so you are losing the advantage of treants by not using them on trash.

If you time it right you could use treants on every pull, depending how big the tank is pulling and how long it takes for things to die. If things are dying a bit too fast, because you out gear the key, then don't use treants on the pull before the boss, if the pull before the boss is small/easy. That way you can still have them up for the boss.

[deenman]

Hi
I play balance for about 3 weeks now.
I am doing 15 key times, but always at least about 10k-15k dps behind pretty much any melee class. Like 45k-50k me and 60k them.
Some say they got op corruptions, but it feels such a big difference, that I think I just play potato despite having done extensive research on how to balance m+ and playing m+ myself since Legion.
My gear is pretty much same comparing to top rank and similar rank balance players. (I only can't get my hand on strife yet)

Do you guys have any similar experience since 8.3 and is there any advice you would give to make up for that missing DPS?

good coruption is easily 15k dps,melee with some good devastation and some luck will tear you in aoe,but boomies have a pretty easy life as range and are always wanted for combat res and treants

[Kaver]

Balance is the only ranged spec (maybe also SP) which actually needs Twilight Devastation. Without it you will not be able to do any AOE compared to other classes. So you have 2 options: reroll to another ranged class or get some Twilight Devastation on your gear.

- - - Updated - - -

So far none has complained, that I do my 50k, when them DHs roll 70k overall, I even asked but feelsbadman I tell you what.

Most people know what to expect when they invite a boomy. So they cannot complain.

[huth]

Balance is the only ranged spec (maybe also SP) which actually needs Twilight Devastation. Without it you will not be able to do any AOE compared to other classes. So you have 2 options: reroll to another ranged class or get some Twilight Devastation on your gear.

If you're taking a Moonkin for AoE, you're doing something wrong.

[exochaft]

Balance is the only ranged spec (maybe also SP) which actually needs Twilight Devastation. Without it you will not be able to do any AOE compared to other classes. So you have 2 options: reroll to another ranged class or get some Twilight Devastation on your gear.

I've found TD rather hit-or-miss as Moonkin, as the corruption only is reliable in melee range. Even standing at the max hit range can have wild effects due to the zig-zag plus launching the direction you're face. If you have to play as a melee to use the corruption, you basically give up any advantage of being a ranged... and you'd be better off going Feral at that point.

I tend to run Honed Mind and Expedient for M+, which still offers great ST sustained/burst with moderate AoE capabilities. You're not going to beat a melee stacking TD on the trash, but your damage won't be meaningless either (especially on bosses). In the +16 to +20 range, my overall DPS at the end of a run is between 75-90k depending upon the dungeon because my DoT's can actually do work. If I do anything between +10 to +15 with a competent group, my DPS plummets drastically to the 55-65k range since mobs just don't live very long in AoE scenarios. The trend is that moonkin damage gets better when things live longer, so you'll experience higher DPS output in higher keys compared to lower keys.

If you have the corruptions, try messing around with HM/Expedient gear setups to see how they play out (HM/Severe might work out, too). I typically run the equivalents HM rank 6-7 and Expedient rank 5-7, with the total combination being less than 40 net corruption. That level of expedient has my haste hover around 40% static, and with HM roughly averages 50% uptime, the damage amp from my mastery goes from about 33% to 72% at R6 (83% at R7). For a level of reference, it's quite common for my Starsurges to crit for 250k with a mastery proc up. Heck, I even track the proc and play around it like CA/Inc to maximize the Starsurge burst I can put out. While you're still at the mercy of a mastery proc, I find it much more reliable than a TD proc due to much higher uptime/PPM while having better output on ST/priority damage.

Regardless, you aren't going to beat an equally geared/skilled BM hunter no matter what, that's just how the scaling works right now when it comes to ranged. As a moonkin, you play to your strengths, which includes your utility. Having treants, b-rez, or CC/silences more than makes up for the damage difference between us and other classes in most scenarios. I've lost track of how many times treants/b-rez/well-timed CC and interrupts on my behalf has saved my group from a full wipe and a walk of shame, which (depending upon the dungeon) can cost you minutes. In general, moonkins aren't bad for M+, we just have to work a lot harder than some classes/specs, and our benefits aren't necessarily tangible on the DPS meters.

[Puri]

I agree that for m+ TD is pretty much required to do any meaningful trash damage, while not gimping down your ST damage too much - at the most annoying cost at constantly staying in TD range, watch for your heading and praying for procs at the right time.

Gushing wounds - even after the nerf - is probably still one of the strongest corruptions available as it boosts both AoE as well as ST damage. But I assume it will cost quite some echoes to get a full gear, and most will probably get their haste/crit stats increases first, not even talking about getting gear with the right stats (again) for a m+ set.

In the end it breaks down to your group's composition, and the affixes obviously. On tyrannical I tend to use a stat build (also depending on the dungeon), but for example in the current fortified/teeming week I even chose to use a lvl 5 TD on trash heavy dungeons.