Balance Druid Class Guide - MoP Classic

Welcome to our Mists of Pandaria Classic (MoP Classic) Balance Druid Class Guide for Phase 1, it focuses on getting you up to speed with the Spec for PvE content, Dungeons and Raiding. The guide includes key information for what has changed going into MoP, the best Talent builds, Major Glyphs, your Rotation, Gearing and Consumables for Balance Druid.

Table of Content:

• Changes from Cataclysm to MoP
• Talents
• Rotation & Abilities
• Gearing & Consumables

What’s New for Balance Druids in Mists of Pandaria Classic

Druid as a class is receiving a lot of changes going from Classic Cataclysm to MoP. Overall, Feral is the spec changing the most, with now a true separation between Feral DPS and Feral Tank, now called Guardian. Restoration also has a few changes, but Balance won’t be changed dramatically. There are some nice QoL changes and some new ways to deal damage, but nothing truly game breaking (regarding rotation & damage). Here are the most important changes:

• Spells like Dash and Stampeding Roar now activate the desired form automatically, without macros.
• Sunfire isn’t replacing Moonfire anymore, and is a separate DoT.
• Insect Swarm has been deleted.
• Might of Ursoc is a new defensive cooldown.
• Celestial Alignment and Astral Communion are two new offensive cooldowns.
• Symbiosis, one of the only MoP exclusive spells (it will be deleted in WoD), gives a copy of one of your spells to a friendly target while copying one of their spells.

Is Balance Druid Good?

Druid is a good class to pick. Feral and Balance are both viable DPS options, but Mists of Pandaria is one of the few expansions where Feral actually has a throughput advantage on Balance. As a Balance Druid, you will struggle a bit with damage at the start of the expansion but you will most likely be one of the best casters in the later tiers. Regarding class design and fun, this is the most fun Balance Druid should be since the start of the game, so if you are a Balance main, be happy it’s a good time for Balance (compared to some other expansions).

Best Talents & Glyphs for Balance Druid in MoP Classic

With the new revamped talents, we will provide you with 2 talent builds, one for Dungeons and one for raiding. Don’t forget that, with the new talents, a lot of utility options can change depending on fights.

Balance Druid Raiding Talent Build

This is a standard Talent set up for raiding as a Balance Druid. There is a lot of choices you can make depending on the situation, but the bigger one is Force of Nature vs Incarnation. Force of nature is better only in pure Single Target fights (and it’s still debatable). If you want to just have a default set up for everything, you should pick Incarnation.

Regarding DPS, Heart of the Wild is always the best option with the increased Intellect.

The other choices will be moved around depending on the fight. Feline Swiftness can be swapped for Displacer Beast or Wild Charge depending on the type of movement you need (more speed all the time, burst movement or a disengage). Ysera’s Gift will heal more overall but Renewal is better if you need instant burst healing. Take Mass entanglement if you need a mass root.

Best Balance Druid Raid Glyphs

Regarding Major Glyphs, you will want to obtain Glyph of Stampede, Glyph of Stampeding Roar and Glyph of Rebirth.

Minor Glyphs for Balance Druids are all pretty bad, so just take the ones you like the most.

Balance Druid Dungeons & Challenge Mode Talent Build

The Dungeon Talent Build is very similar to the Raid Build. And the same logic applies to every choice here. Change choices if the dungeon has different movement, healing and crowd control requirements.

Best Balance Druid Dungeon Glyphs

Regarding Major Glyphs, you will want to obtain Glyph of Stampede, Glyph of Stampeding Roar and Glyph of Rebirth.

Minor Glyphs for Balance Druids are all pretty bad, so just take the ones you like the most.

Rotation for Balance Druid in MoP Classic

Balance Druid is a very unique specialization. You have a very unique ressource, called Lunar or Solar Energy. Getting Lunar or Solar Energy will trigger a special state called Eclipse. The goal of the rotation is to stay as much as possible in Eclipse, swapping between Solar Eclipse and Lunar Eclipse depending on the spells you are using.

Single Target Rotation & Priority

1. Maintain Sunfire and Moonfire during the fight.
2. Cast Starfall as much as possible.
3. Cast Incarnation on Cooldown, just after getting into an Eclipse.
4. Cast Celestial Alignment on Cooldown, just an Eclipse stops.
5. Cast Starsurge on Cooldown, if Shooting stars procs, cast Starsurge instantly.
6. Cast Wrath during and after Solar Eclipse.
7. Cast Starfire during and after Lunar Eclipse.
8. When entering Lunar eclipse, Cast Sunfire into Moonfire.
9. When entering Solar eclipse, cast Moonfire into Sunfire.

AoE Rotation & Priority

AoE Prioirty is very similar, with a few tweeks:

1. Maintain Sunfire on all targets during Solar Eclipse and Moonfire on all targets during Lunar Eclipse.
2. Cast Hurricane in Solar Eclipse.
3. Continue with single target priorty

Balance Druid Opener

Regarding Openers, you want to first get your different buff and debuffs running : use Astral Communion until you are one cast away from Lunar Eclipse, then cast Starfall, Starfire to enter Lunar Eclipse, Incarnation, Sunfire and Moonfire, Starsurge, then a second Starfall, and then process with the normal rotation, pressing Celestial Alignment when you get out of Lunar Eclipse.

Best Gear & Stats for Balance Druid in MoP Classic

Best in Slot (BiS Gear) aren’t as big in Mists of Pandaria Classic. Reforging is the new hype, so you can tailor your gear better than before.

The gear you should aim for are: Trinkets, Tier Sets and Weapons.

Balance Druid Best in Slot (BiS) Gear in MoP Classic (Pre-Raid)

The best weapons you can find pre-raid in the first phase are:

• Inscribed Crane Staff, from Inscription.
• Je’lyu, Spirit of the Serpent, from Sha of Doubt, Temple of the Jade Serpent.
• Firescribe Dagger, from Xin the Weaponmaster, Mogu’shan Palace.

The best off-hands you can find pre-raid in the first phase are:

• Inscribed Red Fan, from Inscription.
• Bottle of potent potables, from Hoptallus in Stormstout Brewery.
• Scroll of Whispered Secrets, a BoE.

The best pre-raid trinkets for Balance Druid are:

• Relic of Yu’lon, from Inscription.
• Vision of the Predator, from Striker Gad’ok, Gate of the Setting Sun.
• Ghost Iron Dragonling, from Engineering.
• Flashfrozen Resin Globule, from Vizier Jin’bak, Siege of Niuzao Temple.

Balance Druid Best in Slot (BiS) Gear in MoP Classic (Tier 14)

Upgrading your character with the best gear is an important part of increasing your damage, healing and tanking.

Below is a BiS Gear List containing your theoretical Best in Slot (BiS) Gear for Balance Druid. This information is based on the MoP original release and PTR data, and so is subject to change. But this list should give you a good target for gearing.

There can be some key stat breakpoints and targets that you need to hit for maximum performance. You can find those in the Stats Section below, and use reforging to adjust your gear stats to achieve them.

MoP Classic Balance Druid Stat Priority

Your best stat is Intellect, which should be your first priority. Then, Hit Rating, Expertise and / or Spirit to reach a 15% chance to hit.

After that, secondary stats are a bit tricky. Haste is only valuable if you manage to reach some very precise soft caps to increase the number of ticks from Moonfire and Sunfire. The first 2 caps you should try and reach are 5273 and 8089 in the first phase. After those 2 caps, Critical strike is the best stat, followed by Haste and Mastery.

Best Consumables, Enchants & Gems for Balance Druid in MoP Classic

The following tables outline the recommended Consumables, Enchants and Gems for Balance Druid in Raiding and Dungeon content.

Consumables

Enchants

Gems

We hope this guide helped you improve your Balance Druid Gameplay and better understand the spec. To check out all of our MoP Classic content, such as Class Guides, Tier Lists and more, you can browse our full library of MoP Classic Guides.