Moonkin enchant selection 6 comments
posted 15th of Oct 2010
by Aeiedil
WoW v.4.0.1
If you are a raiding Moonkin then you will have some nice shiny epics. You may be sat wondering, of all the options for enchantments out there, what are my best options? If so, please read on. If you are looking for a cheat-sheet then just jump to the end of this post. If you are looking for information on Mookin gem choices for sockets please view this post instead, Moonkin gemming.
Prices will not be included in this post, as a Moonkin seeking to make the best of themselves should find a way to pay for the best! Where possible I have included some cheapskate alternatives. For sake of clarity I will also not include any profession-specific enchants such as the Enchanter-only ring enchants.
Enchanter enchants
These enchants all come from your friendly(ish) neighbourhood enchanter.
Back (cloak) [Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed] gives a nice haste boost, and also comes in a cheaper flavour [Enchant Cloak - Speed]. There aren't really any other alternatives so this choice should really be quite straightforward. If you are really sure you don't need haste, which honestly should be noone, and are finding yourself with threat problems then [Enchant Cloak - Wisdom] offers a good alternative that gives you a little bit of spirit along with some threat reduction. If you are having threat problems then please take a look at Moonkin and threat management.
Chest [Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats] is the best choice for your chest. It will give you a little more damage, a little more crit, a little more mana, a little more of everything. Compared to the alternative, [Enchant Chest - Exceptional Mana], this should be seen as a clear choice. Mana is not normally a concern for a raiding Moonkin, and adding more mana does not directly increase your DPS unlike the stat increases. For those on a tighter budget, [Enchant Chest - Super Stats] is available.
Feet (boots) [Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality] is commonly considered to be the best option for raiding Moonkin at present on boots, with [Enchant Boots - Boar's Speed] being the cheaper option. This will give you a speed increase which is important for times where movement is required, and a little more stamina may make the difference between a pewpew machine and a dead pile of feathers. With the current trends in raid instances movement is becoming more and more common, so don't expect this to change any time soon. A viable alternative (and the one I currently use) is [Enchant Boots - Icewalker]. This is partially because it helps get to the hit cap precisely and a little more crit is always nice. At the end of the day though swapping a Cardinal Ruby for an Ametrine would address any hit deficiency equally well. Both are viable options for raiding Moonkin, so it's down to your own views really. Personally I intend to change my enchant back to Tuskarr's Vitality as soon as I upgrade my boots.
Hands (gloves) On your hands there is a hit enchant available, however hit is easily obtainable elsewhere. Also keep in mind that this is a 20 hit buff in place of a 28 spell power enchant, compared to if you swap out a Runed gem where you only lose 23 spell power to gain 20 hit. This makes the choice here clear, [Enchant Gloves - Exceptional Spellpower]. The little brother of this enchant is [Enchant Gloves - Major Spellpower]. The critical strike enchantments also should not be considered because the benefit from spell power will be greater to you.
Weapon (1H) There is only one choice here for similar reasons as with the gloves. [Enchant Weapon - Mighty Spellpower] gives a really nice spellpower increase along with its cheaper version, [Enchant Weapon - Exceptional Spellpower].
Weapon (2H) As with the 1-handed weapons, 2-handed weapon enchant is a pretty simple choice to make too. Spell power enchants all out. By 2H weapon, as a caster druid, you really should be thinking of a staff. There aren't any 2H maces to speak of in endgame raiding for a Moonkin at present. Your choices here are limited, [Enchant Staff - Greater Spellpower], and for the cheaper version [Enchant Staff - Spellpower]
Wrist (bracer) The common theme recurs here. Spellpower enchants are very much order of the day. The only alternative really is [Enchant Bracers - Major Spirit]. Whatever way you work it out though, 18 spirit is no compensation for the benefit of 30 spellpower. For this reason the choices here are simple, [Enchant Bracers - Superior Spellpower] and [Enchant Bracers - Greater Spellpower]
Tailoring enchant
There is only one enchant that comes from a Tailor that should interest a Moonkin, and that is for your trousers.
Legs [Brilliant Spellthread] is the best choice hands-down for this slot. While [Sapphire Spellthread] is also good, it doesn't have the addition of spirit which of course boils down to more spell power for Moonkin. A cheaper alternative is [Shining Spellthread]. If you are looking for a cheaper way to get this I would advise gathering the materials yourself. Tailors seem to like using this to make a lot of money, so if you have a friendly Tailor that will put it together for you for a reasonable fee then that would be advisable.
Reputation (vendor) enchants
These enchantments require a certain reputation with factions to obtain. As of 3.3 these items are Bind to Account and so there is no excuse for not having at least one character with the required reputation. If you do not already have any that are Exalted with the required factions then make this a priority.
Head For the head enchants you will need Revered reputation with the Wyrmrest Accord, [Arcanum of Blissful Mending]. The Spirit on it is preferable to the Critical Strike on [Arcanum of Burning Mysteries]. If you for some reason don't have the required reputation with Wyrmrest, but do with Kirin Tor, then the [Arcanum of Burning Mysteries] is still a good second-choice option.
Shoulder For the shoulder enchants you will need reputation with the Hodir. Both choices here requires Exalted with The Sons of Hodir, but realistically this isn't hard to achieve on at least one character. First up is going to be [Greater Inscription of the Crag]. The second choice, if you have more than enough hit already, will be the old first-choice, [Greater Inscription of the Storm]. As before if you are on a budget or haven't the reputation then the lesser inscriptions are better than nothing.
Summary
So there is all my explanation, now here is the summary cheat-sheet. Please remember that crafters often spend a lot of money levelling their professions, so don't go insisting on freebies. If you want them to continue crafting then a small tip is the least you can do.
As a final note. If you are a raiding Moonkin and really want to be the best you can be then please please please do not try and just save money on these by getting the cheaper options. The differences may seem insignificant, but added up they can all boost your dps nicely. As a veteran of many wipes, some at under 50k hp remaining, I can honestly say that every little helps.
Comments
It seems that the Tailoring cloak enchant is not mentioned on this page at all.
Hi Evgeny, that is intentional. For the purposes of this post I have kept intentionally ignored professions which are covered in another post :)
Hi Aeiedil, I enjoy reading your guide and I think it is very helpful. I'm gearing my moonkin as an offspec DPS. A note in this section is that you missed the waist (belt) part which of course, enchanted with Eternal Belt Buckle. Thanks
Hi there,
A valid point however I didn't really consider that as an enchant, more an additional socket. I guess it could be seen as an enchant, but even so it's not like there's any other choice for most people :)
Have you looked into Black Magic as a weapon enchant for 1H? I only ask because there was som buzz at the Moonkin Repository over it. I believe it's showing up in WrathCalcs as the better, but I am really not getting why. Thoughts?
Interesting. Indications are about a 25-30% uptime, so effectively 70 haste compared to the spell power. I would be doubtful as to whether it, in the long run, proves better than the SP weapon enchant. I'll certainly play around with it later on though and see.