Moonkin Leveling Specs for 3.3
Looking for a good spec to get your druid into her eighties, but not interested in the oft-recommended Feral specs? Well this is the right article for you. This Moonkin leveling spec will give you all the information you need to level up a Balance druid, from talent options and explanations to Glyph options.
And because things change so often: This spec is up to date as of patch 3.3
First, a note: at low levels you will need to kite using Entangling Roots and the Glyph of Entangling Roots, or take the glyph of Wrath and 2/3 Focus of Rest Nature. Otherwise, the knockback will mess up your damage and you’ll spend all your mana on healing.
5/5 Starlight Wrath – Our main spells, faster? Obviously forced.
3/3 Moonglow: As a healing class, mana is our only limiting factor; improved mana efficiency is improved leveling speed
2/2 Improved Moonfire: A little more damage on Moonfire isn’t bad.
2/2 Nature’s Reach – More space before you need Entangling Roots/start taking damage
3/3 Brambles – More damage if you are tanking OR using ER. And more effects later!
3/3 Celestial Focus – Done, now you don’t need Nature’s Focus to tank and cast.
2/5 Vengeance – Just mediocre for now, but we need to get to the next level and eventually this will be great
Insect Swarm 1/1 – More damage done, less damage taken
3/3 Lunar Guidance – The first of many talents that improves Int value for Balance druids
3/5 Vengeance – Using this as filler again
3/3 Dreamstate – More goodness Int; some reduced downtime
2/3 Moonfury – Typical boring but good talent. Stop to grab something much better first…
Moonkin Form 1/1 – Woot, we’re really a Moonkin leveling spec now!
3/3 taxes Moonkin Form – Makes the spirit worth something, along with a basic haste buff. Beautiful.
3/3 Moonfury – Okay, you can finish this now.
3/3 Owlkin Frenzy – Completely AMAZING to level up. (And PvP.)
5/5 Revenge – Let’s wrap this up now, because we’re getting a talent soon that will result in TONS of crits.
1/1 Typhoon – Decent cone AoE attack with a stun effect…more valuable for its combination with Starfall.
Force of Nature 1/1: The last levels of Balance are full of good cooldowns, aren’t they?
3/3 Eclipse – This talent makes Boomkin infinitely more dynamic to play and makes Vengeance completely awesome. It may be his biggest single damage hit.
3/3 Earth and Moon – Boring but good
2/5 The Wrath of Cenarius – Filler; if you want more than just a boring damage buff, feel free to get it.
Starfall 1/1 – Combine this with Typhoon and Force of Nature to take down a ton of mobs safely.
We’re going to move on to the Restoration tree for the rest of our Moonkin leveling spec, though deviations at this point won’t matter much.
3/3 Nature’s Focus: When you need to get out of moonkin form to heal, knockback is the last thing you want.
5/5 Furor – As valuable as Int is, this is pretty good
2/2 imp. Mark of the Wild – Makes a good buff better.
3/3 Natural Shapeshifter – Mediocre but necessary for Master
2/2 Master Shapeshifter – A nice damage boost
1/1 Omen of Clarity – Mana Efficiency Talent
If you’re not ready to honor a real endgame spec at this point, feel free to take whatever; it will not affect leveling speed in any significant way. But remember this is a Moonkin leveling spec, not a PvP or DPS spec; eventually you will have to change, and getting used to it beforehand can be a good idea. Either way, here are the glyphs you should consider when leveling up:
Wrath – You NEED this, or the Glyph of Entangling Roots and decent kite skills at low levels
Starfall: This is your best spell by far; Why would you NOT want to use it more often?
Entangling Roots – Very impressive, though you won’t need it much later on (and Owkin Frenzy means it could be a damage drain eventually)
Insect Swarm – Trades the minor survivability aspect for a massive damage buff; a large glyph
Minor glyphs are less important AND simpler; Aquatic shape, spines and rebirth for maximum comfort.