Balance Druid Guide — Class Guides · WoW Classic

Ranged nature and arcane damage with Wrath, Starfire and Moonfire, and Moonkin Form.

A leather-wearing shapeshifter who heals in caster form, tanks in Bear Form, deals melee damage in Cat Form, and casts Balance spells. Druids can fill any role in a group. More about the druid

Class: Druid
Roles: Damage
Used for: Raids and dungeons
Top talent: Moonkin Form
Popular builds: 1
Version: WoW Classic

How to play

Balance is the casting tree: Moonkin Form gives armour and a spell crit aura to your party, Nature's Grace makes your next spell faster after a crit, and Moonfury raises the damage of Starfire, Moonfire and Wrath.

Starfire is the big nuke, Wrath the quick one, and Moonfire and Insect Swarm (from Restoration) the damage over time. Mana is the hard limit in Classic: Balance druids run out quickly, so lower ranks and Innervate on yourself are part of the plan.

Raids bring one Balance druid for the aura and Faerie Fire. In battlegrounds Moonkins are tough, hit hard with Starfire crits, and can Entangling Roots and Hibernate.

At a glance

Single-target damage
Damage to groups
Survivability
Utility for the group
Solo play and leveling
Ease of play

Rated 1 to 5 against the other specs in WoW Classic.

Rotation and priorities

1Moonkin Form for the aura and armour.
2Faerie Fire on the boss if no feral druid keeps it up.
3Moonfire and Insect Swarm on targets that will live; Starfire as your main spell.
4Wrath on adds and when mana is tight.
5Innervate yourself when mana runs low.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Moonkin aura raises your party's spell crit.
Tough for a caster: Moonkin armour and Barkskin.
Roots and Hibernate for control.

Weaknesses

Severe mana problems in long fights.
Few raid spots in Classic.
Competes with other casters for the same gear.

Stats and gear

Stat priority

Most valuable first. Bars compare each stat with the best one; a cap in the note means the stat drops off once you reach it.

1
Spell damagearcane and nature damage count
2
Critical striketriggers Nature's Grace
3
Hitto 16% against bosses
4
Intellect
5
Mana per 5 sec
6
Spirit

What to look for

Spell damage and crit; cloth and leather caster pieces both work.
Mana per 5 seconds and Intellect to last longer fights.
A staff, or a mace or dagger with an off-hand.

Items worth chasing

Talisman of Ephemeral PowerA burst of spell damage on use.
Briarwood ReedSpell damage and healing in a trinket.
Mana Igniting CordA cloth belt with spell damage and crit.

Builds

Each bar splits the build's talent points by tree.

Balance
Feral Combat
Restoration

Moonkin Aura-Bearer
DamagePvE
3714
37/0/14
Raid Balance: Moonkin Form's crit aura for casters, Vengeance and Moonfury for Starfire crits, and Insect Swarm from Restoration.
- Nature's Grace 1/1
- Moonglow 3/3
- Moonfury 5/5
- Moonkin Form 1/1
- Insect Swarm 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level

Key talents

Moonkin Form · top talent, up to 1
Transforms the Druid into Moonkin Form. While in this form the armor contribution from items is increased by 360% and all party members within 30 yards have their spell critical chance increased by 3%. The Moonkin can only cast Balance spells while shapeshifted. The act of shapeshifting frees the caster of Polymorph and Movement Impairing effects.
Improved Moonfire · tier 2, up to 5
Increases the damage and critical strike chance of your Moonfire spell by 10%.
Natural Shapeshifter · tier 2, up to 3
Reduces the mana cost of all shapeshifting by 30%.
Improved Thorns · tier 3, up to 3
Increases damage caused by your Thorns spell by 75%.
Nature's Reach · tier 3, up to 2
Increases the range of your Wrath, Entangling Roots, Faerie Fire, Moonfire, Starfire, and Hurricane spells by 20%.
Vengeance · tier 4, up to 5
Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Starfire, Moonfire, and Wrath spells by 100%.
Improved Starfire · tier 4, up to 5
Reduces the cast time of Starfire by 0.5 sec and has a 15% chance to stun the target for 3 sec.
Nature's Grace · tier 5, up to 1
All spell criticals grace you with a blessing of nature, reducing the casting time of your next spell by 0.5 sec.
Moonglow · tier 5, up to 3
Reduces the Mana cost of your Moonfire, Starfire, Wrath, Healing Touch, Regrowth and Rejuvenation spells by 9%.
Moonfury · tier 6, up to 5
Increases the damage done by your Starfire, Moonfire and Wrath spells by 10%.

Balance abilities by level

When each ability arrives: trained abilities at the level a trainer first teaches them, talent abilities (gold frame) at the first level the talent can be taken.