Balance Druid gearing guide

Patch 10.1 Last Updated: 26th May, 2023
Stove Balance Druid Author
Stove

Gear

Tier Sets

  • 2pc - Sunfire radius increased by 3 yds. Sunfire, Moonfire and Shooting Stars damage increased by 18%.
  • 4pc - Shooting Stars has a 20% chance to instead call down a Crashing Star, dealing (72% of Spell power) Astral damage to the target and generating 5 Astral Power.

Our new 2p is mostly a quality of life change, giving us 3 yards extra on sunfire and about a 3.5-5% dps increase. The new 4p’s crashing star adds 60% to shooting stars and about 30% more astral power generation. It’s also roughly a 3.5-5% dps increase.

Trinkets

The strongest trinkets are Neltharion’s Call to Suffering and ominous chromatic essence.

But some other good options are: Vessel of Searing Shadow, Screaming Black Dragonscale, beacon to the beyond and Irideus Fragment.

Sarkareth Cloak

The special cloak from Scalecommander Sarkareth, Voice of the silent star is currently simming higher than any other cloak. However, be careful as it doesn’t give any stamina, making you squishier.

Emeblishments

Currently the best simming embellishments are Toxic Thorn Footwraps and the Toxified Armor Patch (applied to a crafted leather item) to empower the boots further.

Onyx Annulet and Primordial Stones

A new ring called the Onyx Annulet was released in Patch 10.0.7. The ring can be upgraded to 424 item level, however, it doesn’t have any secondary stats and the Primordial Stone effects are not enough to counter the drop in stats. Because of this, unfortunately, in most cases it is a downgrade compared to a 418 crafted ring.

Keep in mind that the suggestions below could change, as the Primordial Stones have already seen a number of buffs applied to them since the release of the Patch.

Currently, compared to a 418 crafted ring, the Onyx Annulet is only a slight DPS increase for pure single target. The following stone combination at 424 item level provides roughly a 1% DPS increase in single target, but a significant DPS loss in AoE.

Primordial Stones: Desirous Blood Stone + Prophetic Twilight Stone + Storm Infused Stone

Be aware that when using the Storm Infused Stone, until fixed, it has sometimes been pulling extra mobs in dungeons. If this becomes an issue, or you prefer an alternative, you can swap the Storm Infused Stone with the Freezing Ice Stone. In single target it is closely behind the Storm Infused Stone on sims.

If you have no better option for rings, and you want to use the Onyx Annulet in Mythic+, you can use the stone combination above, or swap the Storm Infused Stone with the Freezing Ice Stone or the Flame Licked Stone.