Moonkin 4.0.1 temporary guide (v1) post comment

First of all, a disclaimer. This guide is not intended to be 100% true, it is not proven thoroughly and theorycrafted to the end of the world and back. I have put this together intended as a temporary guide for use while a lot of things are still in a state of change. I arrived at the conclusions presented within firstly by following advice from other moonkin such as Graylo, and those over at Elitist Jerks. I then adjusted that based on my own tests in-game and some napkin maths.

Enchants

I have already updated my Enchant write-up here. There are no real changes. Shoulder and head enchant has changed slightly, and there is some talk about [Enchant Weapon - Black Magic] being superior to [Enchant Weapon - Mighty Spellpower] on one-handed weapons. At present there doesn't seem to be a consensus though, so for now I will be sticking with +63 spell power.

Gems

Nice and simple for now here. Until better maths is available I will be using Brilliant Cardinal Ruby in red sockets, and Reckless Ametrine in yellow sockets. In one blue socket I will now be using a Nightmare Tear, because that provides the 10 Spirit / 10 Intellect of a Purified Dreadstone, but with a bit of Stamina too. In remaining blue sockets I will be putting Purified Dreadstones.

Later on there will be some maths in here I expect for when it is more beneficial to use straight-Brilliant Cardinal Rubies instead of hitting socket bonuses, but this will do for now.

Stats and Reforging

Rightio, stats. As of 4.0.1, 1 point of Spirit now provides 1 point of Hit. This resulted in my Moonkin having some 24% hit. Which was nice. Now you can't reforge to Intellect, so the first priorities on gear are simple. Firstly, make sure it's Leather due to the armour type bonus if you wear full Leather. Cloth is no longer a good option.

Secondly, aim for the highest item level (and so, usually, highest Intellect) gear that you can. Spirit is preferred to Hit rating, but hey just keep piling it up. Slot in gems and Enchants as detailed above, and then you're ready to get reforging.

The first aim for stats should be 17% hit rating which is (I think) 446 hit. Both Spirit and Hit on gear contribute towards this, however spirit also provices mana regen. Of your remaining stats, Haste is preferred to Crit rating. The theorycrafters rate Mastery lower than Crit, but personally I am seeing some benefit to Mastery.

To this end I would recommend the following. If you are below the hit cap, then reforge Crit rating into Spirit. If you are still under the cap (somehow) then reforge Haste. Realistically it would probably take some effort to be under the hit cap, but thought I'd include this for sake of completion.

If you are over the hit cap, then start reforging Hit rating into Haste. If you can't reforge to haste (because the item already has haste on), then reforge it into Mastery. When you run out of Hit, do the same to Spirit. Try and get as close as possible to 17% hit rating without going under. If it gets you closer to the cap then feel free to reforge spirit instead of hit.

Haste shouldn't be reforged away where possible. Critical Strike rating I currently am reforging to Mastery as napkin maths indicated it may be a positive improvement, however this may be due to my higher gearing level. All in all it's probably not too big a deal one way or the other at this stage, so do whatever you like!

As with gemming, once the spells have stabilised some and the maths is more proven I'll do a more concise write-up to replace the old WotLK version, but for now this rough guide seems to work well enough.

Talents

Ignore my druids talents for now, I might be playing with other talents at present. My current favoured talent build is this.

Mana isn't really a problem at 80, hence missing out Dreamstate and Moonglow. Split 5 points between Owlkin Frenzy / Gale Winds / Solar Beam as you see fit. I quite like Solar Beam, so for a 1 pointer it's handy. I chose to dump 3 into Owlkin Frenzy for the few situations where it increases boss DPS. Gale Winds gets 1 point just because it was either that or useless mana regen.

There is some talk about skipping Sunfire at the moment, but then you lose Lunar Shower which is nice when you are having to move around a lot. Personally I'd just take Sunfire, because chances are it will get fixed sooner rather than later (as at present it only ticks every 3 seconds instead of every 2, but because it only procs during eclipse it's about on a par with Moonfire. When fixed it'll be an undisputable dps gain).

Over in the resto tree, Heart of the Wild is kind of a no-brainer also. 6% extra Intellect = 6% extra Spell power, pewpew. Blessing of the Grove is kind of another couple of points that you could put there or anywhere else, but that will at least increase your DPS a bit. At 85 you'll be looking more at Natural Shapeshifter for Master Shapeshifter, but at 80 you don't have enough points.

Glyphs

Ok so Major glyphs you should use Glyph of Starfall. Glyph of Rebirth is a good second choice as it helps prevent the freshly rezzed person being dead. Glyph of Innervate is handy, and really there's not a great 3rd choice so I've shoved this in place for now. I also use the Solar Beam glyph, but that is only applicable if you chose to spec for it.

Minor glyphs, all rubbish really. Unburdened Rebirth is a no-brainer to remove the reagent, the others just put in whatever you want!

Prime glyphs are kinda fun. Moonfire, Insect Swarm, Wrath, Starsurge are the 4 I am toying with at present. Napkin maths is showing Insect Swarm, Wrath, and Starsurge to be the strongest 3. In my tests and napkin maths, Moonfire seemed to come in at about a 20-30% lower damage increase than Starsurge. Insect Swarm glyph seemed to be the winner, but Wrath, Moonfire, and Starsurge all seemed to be quite close. It's hard to tell from tests how much was due to RNG.

Rotation

The rotation is quite simple now. Maintain DoTs, pop spells on cooldown, pewpew. On pull I tend to cast Force of Nature -> Moonfire -> Insect Swarm -> Starfall -> Starsurge -> Wrath/Starfire.

Force of Nature is kinda cast pre-pull because the positioning of it on the ground can still be annoying. Moonfire is cast before Insect Swarm but I can't remember why offhand. Starfall I cast before Starsurge simply because I use the Starsurge glyph, so that cuts 5 seconds off the cooldown right away.

Once you've got cooldowns and DoTs out of the way, just cast whichever of Starfire or Wrath moves the eclipse bar. As it stands I prioritise cooldowns over DoTs, and priotise DoTs over direct damage spells.

On heavily-aoe fights (i.e. Faction Champions when noone is CC'ing, or ICC trash) I tend to just kinda spam tab, Insect Swarm, Moonfire, Starfall, casting instant Starsurge when it procs. A more controlled approach would be to use Hurricane, but where's the fun in that.

Addons

Rightio, the basics. You need some kind of boss mods, a threat meter, and then something for class abilities. For the more generic addons, I use Bartender (to give more flexible bars), Omen (threat meter), Deady Boss Mods.

Class-specific I use Balance Power Bars at present to give a more adaptable Eclipse bar. It can be moved to be more noticable, and gives warnings when your current spell will proc Eclipse which is helpful. I also use Power Auras to track the timer on Insect Swarm and Moonfire, and to notify when the cooldown on Starfall or Starsurge is up.

Summary

There's still some hit and miss on what is actually best, but the guidelines above should at least point you in the right direction. At present it's best not to rely on anything, even this guide, as an undisputable truth. Until the spells have stopped changing then it's hard to be able to say with undeniable certainty that x is better than y.

I'll tidy this post up more a bit later on and put in more links, but for now enjoy!