This site makes extensive use of JavaScript.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser.
Live
PTR
11.0.2
PTR
11.0.5
Beta
Needed: Help from an Experienced Balance Raider
Post Reply
Return to board index
Post by
TheFallen
Hello fellow Wowheaders,
I am currently in the process of gearing up for raiding, and I've noticed something about my play style. I have been playing WoW for quite a while, and have always just enjoyed the occasional heroic and attempted a few raids with a guild that i've been a member of for a few months now. Recently however, I have noticed that my DPS is somewhat low for my class. I'm generally running between 4-6k, but i've had people tell me they are able to get closer to 8-10k with comparable gear. Oh and I forgot to mention, I've always been a number button guy, never used key bindings. I've heard that key bindings can help DPS greatly, and I was wondering if someone could tell me a few things. Before I get told to do so, I've read the stickies and a few other topics, but I would like a more in depth explanation about a few things:
1. The Correct Rotation for Boomkin. (Including best times to use CDs and such)
2. How you guys have your keys bound, and how you have set your screen up.
Thanks a lot!
The Fallen
Post by
pelf
That second question is a can of worms and usually you end up with a list of abilities and buttons and no rationale. Where's that thread about keybinding...
http://www.wowhead.com/forums&topic=163909/how-to-keybindings
Check these out. Xzilend did a pretty good job going through how to figure out a keybinding setup specific to your play.
Post by
CodisJ1286
By no means am I an expert Balance raider, but I can share some resources with you that I've found.
The sticky post here:
http://www.wowhead.com/forums&topic=169671
Is a very good resource that will show you rotations, as well as the rationale for choosing those rotations.
Keybindings can sometimes be a "duh" sort of thing. I realized that I wasn't using my herbalism Lifeblood CD at all, and I should have that bound to Wrath and Starfire, so that whenever it's avail, it's being activated ... that's a significant amount of haste.
If you think of things like that, specifically of "what do I forget to click" like the aforementioned example, keybindings can be your friend.
My DPS isn't super impressive either, but I don't know what's standard. I'm at hit cap, so that's not a problem, and I can pull a little above 7K, pretty decent I guess.
Good luck!
Post by
Kotama
If you're starting from neutral (0 solar/lunar):
Insect Swarm
Moonfire
Starsurge
Starfire until either A: Starsurge procs (then use Starsurge) or B: Solar Eclipse.
Refresh Insect Swarm
Refresh (Sun)Moonfire
Wrath until either A: Starsurge procs (then use Starsurge) or B: Lunar Eclipse.
Refresh Insect Swarm and (Sun)Moonfire when you get to around 10 Energy before you lose Eclipse. This will guarantee you'll never run out of the empowered DoT.
The best time for Starfall is immediately after a Lunar Eclipse, and with good procs, you should be able to hit it most Lunar Eclipses.
The best time for Treants is when they're off CD.
The best time for item procs is immediately after either Eclipse, but to be honest, I like to macro trinkets to Wrath so they are used automatically every time they are available.
For AoE (4+ enemies)
Insect Swarm / Moonfire one enemy for Nature's Grace
Wild Mushroom x3
Detonate
Starfall
Wild Mushroom X3
Hurricane until Detonate is off CD
Repeat
Starsurge every time it is off CD, regardless of your current position in Eclipses. It has the same cast time as Wrath and hits harder than Starfire.
Following these instructions, in mostly 346 gear, you'll hit around 11k DPS during most fights, with AoE pulls being higher.
Post by
146485
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Raleandris
@Kotama: You're close, but you forgot about using Treants off the pull (neutral or otherwise). Also, refreshing dots at the bottom end of eclipse is a can of worms in and of itself. (Just saw your mention of Treants; probably should put that in the opening priorities)
You have to think about whether the damage you lose in those 2 GCDs instead of casting nukes, and from clipping your dots is worth having your dots run all the way to the next eclipse (and they'll get clipped there too). In the end, it's usually a DPS loss to keep 100% uptime on your dots in this way, as by the time you've casted your way out of an eclipse, you'll still have a good 5-6 seconds left on your dots (dependant on your haste of course). This means you'll only have at most 2-3 nuke casts once your dots drop off before entering the next eclipse. Basically, it's not worth clipping your dots or reapplying them unless you either forsee or are actively moving around a lot.
As far as AoE goes, Solar Eclipse -> Starfall -> Sunfire -> Insect Swarm -> <Tab>
For reference, I'll give you my armory, so you can see my gear and spec. I personally do about 16-17k dps on standstill fights, and slightly less on movement/target switching fights.
Mathaldron
my druid. Apparently I'm in resto spec from last night, but that IS my boomkin gear.
Also for reference is a log from our Maloriak kill on Monday:
here
.
Hope this helped.
Post by
146485
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
616871
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Raleandris
Also, you're Boomkin gear is Bear gear? :P Errr.... yeah. Did a BH last night and forgot to change back for this thread. Oh well.
Post by
340332
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
curlymon
Keybindings can sometimes be a "duh" sort of thing. I realized that I wasn't using my herbalism Lifeblood CD at all, and I should have that bound to Wrath and Starfire, so that whenever it's avail, it's being activated ... that's a significant amount of haste.
It's good that you are thinking forward and binding abilities and trinkets to specific spells! however i feel you might find that Binding it to insect swarm will show the greatest result as you should only be fireing that off at the top of an eclipse and that will focus the value of those buffs by quite a lot.
Refresh Insect Swarm and (Sun)Moonfire when you get to around 10 Energy before you lose Eclipse. This will guarantee you'll never run out of the empowered DoT.
If used single target you push back the next eclipse AND most likely lose the 15% haste buff from Nature's Grace. In the end this is a slight dps loss on a single target fight. This is only a strategy you will want to use on multi-dot fights (multiple valid DoT targets), but happily abuse this method on fights like Omnitron(non shielded) and Valiona and Theralion type fights. Depending on your guild strat for Halfus you can use this there as well.
Just wanted to clarify Kotama, you are not wrong but not completely correct either :P
The best time for Starfall is immediately after a Lunar Eclipse, and with good procs, you should be able to hit it most Lunar Eclipses.
The best time for Treants is when they're off CD.
Starfall is indeed used right as Lunar procs, but just as a reminder you want to use this BEFORE you reapply your DoTs as it cannot be hasted.
Treants at the top of an eclipse is best but they rarely line up super perfectly.
Besides keybinds, you should really work towards getting your 4 piece tier bonus. It adds approximately 2k dps even though you will have to change your rotation a little bit.
It also adds a whole heap of changes to the rotation over what I have listed as well as being beyond the scope of the OPs questions at this time.
@OP, if you do indeed acquire the 4T11 set bonus in the near future, drop a comment here and I can chat you through the changes needed to take full advantage of it.
As far as rotation goes, on trash: if you can set 3 Shrooms before the pull do, then: IS, MF on up to 4 targets, then Starfall, pop Shrooms, dot any targets left without dots and start nuking. More Shrooms is nice damage but for the cost of 4 global cooldowns, not usually worth the time more than once.
Actually Les, the shrooms are pretty damn powerful and should be worked into any Rotation that they can be placed to hit 2 or more targets even if you are running a single target rotation (place while Starfall is going and you can gain a slightly larger boost to DPS by keeping Starfall within Lunar AND you will be set for the major rotation changes once you get 4T11).
@OP, everything else Les has said is absolutely dead on, the above comment is just a nitpick between colleagues :P
Edit: The AoE rotations being suggested by peeps in this thread are simply not correct.
AoE:
Solar eclipse
Wild Mushroom
- as long as 3 mushrooms are out.
Wild Mushroom
- place 3 times.
Sunfire
Tab
THIS is the AoE rotation now guys... trust me... I'm still top 50 boomkin in the world on Halfus for a reason :P
Post by
340332
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
curlymon
THIS is the AoE rotation now guys... trust me... I'm still top 50 boomkin in the world on Halfus for a reason :P
Damn I wish I had the time to dedicate to giving u a run for your money Curly! Damn you vegetarian food products! (random I know but if youve followed me in my tenure youll understand! ;D)
No worries, I'm sure they will learn their place sometime soon :P
"Solar Shenanigans" are a lot of fun :P
Post by
Sparqt
Hey Boomkin brother XD
Uncle Spar is here to help :)
Here is a little background on me so you know my info will be helpful.
Raided Icc only on my boomy from day 1 of its release.
Carried my guild for 11/12HM +12/12N.
I averaged 15-21k Sustained dps at my peak and burst of 27-30k.
Raided 4 times a week from day 1 of Icc till Cata was released, and am still at 80 (just because I am 80 doesn't mean my info is not valuable)
SPEC: Your spec is going to dictate how much each ability will be boosted. Make sure your spec is aimed towards maximizing dps, I am assuming your 85 so the best spec for you would be a 31/2/8 spec. (
http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0IfrdRh0kouMZrcz
)
Hopefully that link works for you.
ROTATION: Rotation is a big play here.
Moonfire > Insect Swarm > Starsurge > wrath or starfire depending on which way your LP is going.
Your cd's should be time with events during the boss fight in order to maximize not only your dps but the use of them.
BINDS OR NO BINDS? I never used binds and I was perfect at it. Even though I was in the top 50 for boomkins on Jubei'Thos I still managed to out dps some of my servers best raiders, on more than one occasion and in the couple of raids I did where 85's were present I carried their dps as well.
Its all about skill and knowledge of class > binds.
If you are good at clicking or pressing stick with it, binds I found are only good for PVP, where the speed is crucial. But as for raiding without binds i found it much easier to link my series of rotations together more smoother. You can argue all you want about how good binds are but trust me, if your good at clicking and pressing, you dont need binds.
SCREEN/ACTION BARS/ KEYS:
Me personally I used no modified UI or action bar mods. I kept it simple in order to reduce the strain from addons.
my keys were set up as such
1) Wrath
2) Starfire
3) Starsurge
4) Moonfire
5) Insect Swarm
Cant remember the rest but this set up is easy to press/click with.
When I get back onto wow I can give you tips in game but other than that, thats all I can help with from here. But just remember practice is the key, the more you practice the better you will get :)
Post by
curlymon
ROTATION: Rotation is a big play here.
Moonfire > Insect Swarm > Starsurge > wrath or starfire depending on which way your LP is going.
Try again...
Insect Swarm > Moonfire
You want IS first to proc NG as MF is MUCH stronger.
Post by
Sparqt
Yeah should of noticed that and corrected it. Been a while since I have been on my boomy :)
Post Reply
You are not logged in. Please
log in
to post a reply or
register
if you don't already have an account.