Patch 3.2 Moonkin Spell Rotation
The best part of 3.2 is the change to the moonkin spell rotation. The benefits of the Eclipse changes in 3.2 are three-fold:
- Increased Eclipse uptime = DPS increase
- No more “accidentally” proc’ing the wrong Eclipse
- No more debate as to Solar v. Lunar
What does the new Moonkin Spell Rotation look like?
Faerie Fire –> Insect Swarm –> Moonfire –> Wrath (till Eclipse proc) –> Starfire (during Eclipse and its CD) –> Starfire (till Eclipse), and so on.
A couple of points to touch on:
- It does not appear to matter which Eclipse you proc first — you are going to proc the other one next anyways, and on paper, I recall the DPS value for both Eclipse’s to be near the same (I think Solar was a tad bit better).
- The jury seems to still be out on when is the best time to refresh your DoTs. For the most part, I think I’m either going to a) refresh them whenever needed, disregarding Eclipse procs, b) refresh the DoT for the Eclipse that is proc’ed (ie – IS for Wrath, MF for Starfire), or c) refresh DoTs near the end of the Eclipse cooldowns.
- Still plan on keeping SquawkandAwe (or equivalent) — it is very helpful to remember which Eclipse you are proc’ing, especially on fights that are not tank & spank. I still think it is necessary to have this addon.
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I would love to make a recommendation for spell twisting. Start by casting Wrath. Since it only has a 60% chance on crit to proc Eclipse, here is what I recommend. We use to have to wait until the actual Eclipse proc triggered (on impact) in order to switch spells. That generally led to one and possible two extra Wrath casts and some time lost off of Eclipse.
Now, I would recommend switching the instant you get a Nature's Grace buff as you are opening your rotation. If you don't proc Eclipse, meh, whatever, looks like you're gonna start with Solar. If you DO proc Eclipse, you will get extra time casting Starfire under the Eclipse effect. You might, in fact, squeeze in one extra Eclipse.
If we keep hold of Squawk and Awe to track the individual internal cooldowns, it might also answer the question of how long to stick with a Lunar Eclipse precasting phase. I.e. if both Eclipses are off cooldown (or will be in ~2 seconds) then it is worthwhile to "anticipate the Eclipse" by doing a premature spell switch on a crit wrath prior to its impact and subsequent possible proc on the boss.
Hell you can even switch back to Wrath after that one Starfire (since you will have used all of the Nature's Grace time anyway) and continue attempting to proc your Lunar Eclipse. Good stuff eh? I need to post this crap on my blog and not in your comments Macbook!
Recall that the highest DPS rotation (disregarding Eclipse) is MF, SFx3, IS, Wrath-spam until MF wears off. I plan on taking full advantage of that to start my rotation. If I get an Eclipse proc before completing that rotation, I'll immediately start casting the appropriate spell.
Other than that, it's basically exactly what Rel said — switch spells as soon as you see Nature's Grace proc. It's actually something that I started doing about three weeks ago and it can save 1-2 GCDs of Eclipse. If it was a "false alarm" — ie, Wrath crit but didn't proc Nature's Grace — you just go back to spamming Wrath again.
This actually takes care of two things: 1) it keeps you on rotation, and 2) it allows you to already be casting Wrath if that Starfire procced (though this factor is far less important in 3.2, where you hope to never be out of the Eclipse cooldown).
As for the Squawk and Awe question… definitely keep it. Your two Eclipse procs use the same bar, so it *really* helps *a lot* with being able to tell which Eclipse you're on or which Eclipse you should be trying to proc. I know, it seems like that should be easy, but let's hear you claim that when you're dodge icicles and trying to get Storm Power and Moonbeam buffs.
I decided to try out the new heroic last night (highly recommend) and on the first boss battle (where you fight three mobs at once) I was able to proc eclipse four times in a row! That means for almost the entire fight I had eclipse up!! I LOVE what Blizz did with this.
I only wish the fight had lasted longer so I could see how long I could keep it up.
As for knowing which eclipse proc'd (solar or lunar) how is that hard for people? Don't you know what key your hitting? As for knowing when it hits, just pan out and have an eye on your moonkin.
Yeah. When I am actually focused on doing max DPS, I usually do swap out on the first NG proc. Even though its only a 60% to proc Eclipse on Wrath crit, I swear I have good luck and it always results in Eclipse
I still have some work to do in terms of actually executing my rotation perfectly — I sometimes phase out and start spamming Wrath on the Lunar Eclipse CD, or vice versa.
Its a little more tough than that if you are trying to maintain your situational awareness in raids, or call stuff out, etc.
[...] the new “twisting” spell rotation that we have had only have a few days to play around with, you can immediately see some changes [...]
Even with SquawkandAwe I still phase out on and spam the wrong spell during Eclipse until I think "D'oh!" and go back to the correct rotation only to find it fading out, but it is a lot to concentrate on especially if your on Mimiron who's about to start up his Assault Cannon and you have to get your fat feathery ass on the move
Keeping up rotations requires a lot of watching bars and a lot of thinking on your toes, but at least we Boomkins are thinking and not just facerolling – lol.
Becky
Oh for sure, calling things out in ANY raid makes paying attention to my Eclipse procs (and keeping track of them) alot harder. Just found this blog by the way, real happy with it.
in my rotation i use and starfall every one min
One add on I have been using is called "eventalert". I started using this add on for my fury warrior before the nerf and LOVED IT! I have been restro/feral tank for awhile and decided to drop my tank spec for boomkin. I am having a blast with my boomkin but I was getting pissed and watching my bar and moving around bosses etc…. so i turned on this add on and things couldn't be better. This add on pops a bigger picture of what has proc'ed and you are able to place this picture anywhere on your screen. I highly reccommend it.
Hey I'm new to Druid and wanted to know what is the best talent spec, rotation, and glyphs…anyone willing to help?
Regarding the listed rotation, would it be best to start with MF or IS before FF? It would seem that starting those first would allow damage to start and go during the 1-1.5sec GCD til the next spell. Cuz if you start with FF then there is 1-1.5sec of no damage, i would suggest MF,IS,FF then rotation. MF first for me due to the idol of procing spell power, however once that idol is replaced, i doubt i would change it because although glyphed the inital damage of MF is little, its still there so you start and immediately have dmg then the dot starts and continues to damage while you are casting your other spells to get started.
Depends on your talents and/or raid composition on this one. If you need to make use of the improved FF talent to hitcap then you almost certainly want to pop FF first or you stand more chance of following spells missing. Additionally you're losing out on 3% crit chance if you have improved FF and don't use it first. Only for a couple of spells mind, but remember you aren't going to be refreshing those for at least 12 seconds.
But I don't use FF at all except on bosses as there's no real point. Most trash goes down way too fast for anything other than wrath spam or hurricane to be an option.
Hey guys, well. In my rotation I only use MF due to having 2 piece bonus of tier 9, 3.5k moonfire crits are a blessing. So my rotation looks like this – IFF -> MF -> SF till Solar Eclipse -> Wrath untill Lunar Eclipse -> and so on.
I would highly recommend this as soon as you get your 2 piece bonus of tier 9, IS is just a wasted CD then, tbh.
Now that I skipped IS out of my rotations – Of course when I'm moving I throw it and refreshing my MF – I switched my Glyph of Insect Swarm out with the Glyph of Starfall to get a 30 sec less CD on it, it works really well for me, popping around 6.5k -> 7k dps, depending on the fight, fight with no gimmicks that is.
And Mack have you done any math on the tier 9 4 piece bonus yet?
Don't know wether to get it ASAP or wait to I get full ToC 25/10 heroic/25 heroic and then go for it, because our tier 8 2 piece bonus is definetly not one you just drop.
And, btw, as soon as you get 25 emblems of triumph get the new Idol it has a 100% uptime if you keep your MF up and 4-5% crit is just pure awesome.
Am I crazy or isn't the plus 13% damage to all spells from SF worth starting with? My rotation is: SF-MF-IS-Wrath, I'm lvl 68 so should I think about changing my rotation when I get older? Thanks for all the comments this has been very helpful
Is it still the case that if you have IFF talent and a feral druid applying FFF you still recieve the Crit bonus portion of the talent but not the hit? so if you are hitcapped without needing the 3% from IFF there is no need to apply FF as the Bear will do it for you and you still gain the crit bonus?
wow quick reply
hmm… yeah you probably right. Haven't really thought too much about it till now tbh. I guess if you can cap with a GCD any extra SP is going to help your dps.
My (probably wrong) understanding was that the IFF talent doesn't actually alter the spell itself but rather adds to your benefit gained by having it up while you have points in it. Therfore it won't stop it being overwritten by a feral (he'd never get "a more powerful spell is active" or anything like that) so i'd have to keep refreshing IFF if he casts his or i'd lose my 3% hit and that was why i just got 13% hit. It's all on gear, T8.5 and now the cloth Hit shoulders from Ignis 25, and 1 trinket so no enchants or gems. I just ended up taking it off my bar. I guess i should try and get him to test it on a target dummy with me to see whether he does in fact overwrite it.
Heh. Its easy to reply fast from email (I get an email on every new comment).
If I'm not mistaken, iFF from the balance tree is more "powerful" than a feral FF, and your spell will override theirs, and will not be overriden if they cast FF again.
Give it a shot again and test if you like, I'm nearly 100% positive a feral FF cannot remove your FF. Im sure you will see a slight DPS increase if you drop that extra 3% +hit and use that extra itemization elsewhere.
Trinkets are the last places I like to get +hit from because you can grab some amazing trinkets with awesome Equip effects to really do some damage
Thought i'd follow up after raiding last night. Seems like the Feral FF and my IFF were both on the target at the same time as 2 seperate debuffs. I highly doubt the effects were stacking but the important part is that my IFF was not overwritten. DPS up a bit in ToC 10 man but unsure if that is due to increased framerates (was previously raiding with 8 – 11 fps) or dropping the hit trinket. Ppicked up some upgrades last night too so will have to go and play on the dummies with the old kit and work it out without framerate issues.
Thanks for the advice and time
Zim
I had a question about certain fights. With the release of WoTLK, Blizzard has decided to put in more fights where the raid has to move… a LOT. I was wondering how/if this affects moonkin dps. If it does lower dps, what would you recommend doing to keep up the dps and still "stay out of the fire?" Does having your haste soft capped help in a moving fight at all? I find myself getting stuck refreshing my DoTs more than any of my other spells in fights like Faction Champs, Lord Jaraxx, The Magnutar, The Worm Twins, etc. etc. Any info on moving fights would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your time and advice
Nightbird
In my rotation I drop my treants and starfall the ff mf spam wrath until eclipse procs starfire until eclipse procs and refresh my DoTs when I switch after an eclipse proc ( the idol of lunar fury gives a crit buff on periodic strikes may wanna keep that on em) I'm bursting at 7k dps initially and leveling out to 5.8k – 6.5k average dps….
Nightbird
moving and being boomkins does not go well for our dps, that is why were so big and fat, we don't like to move..but the only thing i can think of is find equal ground… for example in lord jaraxx you can post ur self on one of the small tip of the star and hit both portals/ mistresses when they spawn, as far as FC.. ur just gonna have to move, no helping in that fight.
I have no idea how iu get passed 3800 dps unbuffed on dummy. I have been reading way to many forums and done exactly as people say, but i still lack dps improvements. Im standing in front of a dummy in IF each day and doing my lunar rotation, and only 1 time i reached 4k dps. During my last raid in Totc25 Hc i was at 3400 dps. Im kind a lost, and im not sure what to do anylonger. Im hitcapped, soft capped in haste, and having 30%+ crit. Using Squawk and Awe addon for timers – And yet it seems like there is no improvement – I actually lost 300 dps when i started use the SaA..
I start with MF, Wrath until eclipse and then spam SF during eclipse, keep spamming SF while the Cd is running. About 3 secs before CD ends i refresh MF and start spammin wrath til eclipse for SF..
This is the funny part. I've seen moonkins with crappy spec and gear out dps me. I hate this, and i cant figure out what im doing wrong. I can post my stats if thats needed for you'r advices.
And i do know about IS but i dont have that talent build in, cause my dps have been increased since i removed it and used points in Owlkin Frenzy instead.
Been trying several specs and done several tryes on dummy and calculated my average dps. Im tired of trying to improve my dps when its going the opposit direction.
i spam every eclipse cast needed but not refresh the dots during SFeclipse so i am able to cast 5 or 6 during one procc then refresh my MF and IS spamming SF till W Eclipse proccs
I think starfire is best to begin with coz of its long casting time, so if its a mob that I don't rape with 2-4 starfires i use almost same as u:
Starfire->FaerieFire->InsectSwarm->MoonFire->Wrath/Starfire
You and me both
…I have a pretty good gearscore and got PWNED by someone with a much lower one….I follow the rotations but don't know how to increase it during raids 
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