We break down all the reasons you should consider playing Balance Druid in Patch 10.1 and even throw in a few reasons of why you might not. From all the changes since launch to the new tier set bonuses coming in 10.1, join us as we explore Dragonflight Season 2 Balance Druid!
Why You Should Play a Spec in Dragonflight Season 2 Series
Blood DK
Havoc DH
Feral Druid
Guardian Druid
Preservation Evoker
Beast Mastery Hunter
Arcane Mage
Fire Mage
Frost Mage
Mistweaver Monk
Windwalker Monk
Holy Paladin
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Retribution Paladin
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Assassination Rogue
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Subtlety Rogue
Elemental Shaman
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Affliction Warlock
Demonology Warlock
Destruction Warlock
Arms Warrior
Fury Warrior
Protection Warrior
Dragonflight Season 2 Druid Tier Set
Why You Should Play Balance Druid in Dragonflight Season 2 (and Why You Shouldn’t)
In this article, I am trying to show you the reasons why you (yes you) should be playing Balance Druid in Dragonflight Season 2. Even if you started playing Balance Druid at the beginning of the expansion, the spec has changed a decent amount. This version of Balance Druid has been pretty well liked by many members of the Druid community. A lot will be changing coming into Season 2 in regards to spell changes and tier changes, so lets talk about the reasons you should (and shouldn’t) play Balance Druid.
| Why You Should | Why You Shouldn’t |
Why You Should Play Balance Druid in Dragonflight Season 2
Cool Utility
Druid has always had some of the best Dungeon and Raid utility in the game. That will still be the case going into Season 2 as a Balance Druid. I have always loved the Druid utility and makes the class and spec feel unique.
Notable Raid Utility
- Mark of the Wild – is back and nearly guarantees a Druid at least one slot in raid. 3% Versatility while not actively noticable is a very powerful buff.
- Stampeding Roar – Group wide speed is always useful in raid. From getting out of mechanics on bosses like Terros to just a personal speed buff, Stampeding Roar is very good. You can also talent it down to a 1 minute cooldown.
- Nature’s Vigil – Is an incredibly powerful healing ability on a 1.5 minute cooldown. Super fun to press as well.
- Innervate – While never mandatory is always nice to bring for your healers. You can get it virtually for free as well since you path towards Nature’s Vigil.
Notable M+ Utility
In addition to the stuff we have for raid our M+ suite is still strong relative to a lot of other specs.
- Personal Defensiveness – While not one ability specifically, Balance Druid still has some of the better personal defesiveness against one shots. Against sustained AOE damage Moonkin can be a bit weak though.
- Ursol’s Vortex and Typhoon – The ability to keep mobs grouped in some capacity is very useful.
- Incapacitating Roar – The ability to talent Incap Roar and have another AOE stop is not something that should be overlooked.
- Rebirth – While you do have Engineering Brez, having access to a slightly better rez is not awful.
- Force of Nature – Depending on the state of tanks can be one of the most powerful buttons in all the lands.
- Solar Beam – Solar Beam is either really good or the worst interrupt in the game depending on what mob you use it on. It’s sad that it is locked behind so many talent points, but it still is pretty solid.
Season 2 Changes
A significant portion of the Season 2 changes help accelerate Astral Power generation to similar levels that you would have had with the Season 1 4-set. This makes the base spec have a larger portion of spender to builder casts. If you played Balance Druid in Season 1 before getting your 4-Set you understand how bad these issues would have been in Season 2, but it has been alleviated a bunch.
There is still some stuff that is left unaddressed such as going into Lunar Eclipse on Single Target, but I personally do not mind going into Lunar Eclipse on Single Target.
Season 2 Changes
Multi-Speccing and Fantasy
Druid class fantasy is some of the strongest across the game. With this you have the ability to play multiple specs and multiple roles. While this is a downside for viability, if you are somebody who is non-comittal to a specific role or want to be able to flex into whatever role your group needs for the night then Druid is a really solid option for you.
On top of this just the Balance Druid fantasy is really cool. You run around as a large chicken, have some of the sickest spell effects, and make the funniest jokes. As stated above too you also have some of the sickest utility in the game which helps really feel like you are in tune with your class. You are also able to shapeshift into other forms on command to use specific abilities from time to time. While it is not required to do DPS, it is normally useful for utility.
Well Designed for M+
The spec is one that is historically well designed for M+. With the utility and the way that Balance does AOE DPS, the spec is typically very desirable in M+. Now this is contengient on meta swings and tuning passes, but normally the spec is pretty solid in M+. This isn’t to say that it always is good, but the design of the spec lends itself to shining in dungeon scenarios.
The utility that is listed above is some of the stronger utility that is availalbe to any spec. The AOE stops are quite potent.
Why You Shouldn’t Play Balance Druid in Dragonflight Season 2
Balance Druid is a spec that has gone through many iterations over the course of time. If you are familiar with one design of Balance or enjoy one very specific playstyle of Moonkin, this one might be very different than the one you previously played. With that being said, there are definitely some reasons you should not play Balance Druid.
If you care about being FOTM
Being the absolute best AKA Flavor of the Month is something many people want to be. At the same point, Balance Druid is typically very strong, but rarely the best spec in the game. In addition to that, Balance as a singular spec in isolation is very susceptible to tuning swings that make it good or bad. If you compare it to pure DPS classes like Mage or Warlock, you are more vulnerable to tuning passes, thus have a harder time being FOTM. I find Balance Druid to be quite a fun spec, but if you care about being the absolute best I would recommend either rerolling once the meta settles or picking something with more flexibility.
Long Ramp-Up time with Weak Cooldowns
One of the large changes to Balance Druid coming into Dragonflight was the changes to Mastery: Astral Invocation. With these changes our ramp-up time is historically high, especially on AOE. This is going to continue into Season 2 but to a lesser degree. Stellar Flare has fortunately fallen out of the meta, but the time it takes to DOT mobs is really tough.
Additionally, Balance Druid has very little burst potential with our cooldowns. Now this can be seen as positive in some situations where we have strong sustain, but Balance certainly has an absence of very strong offensive CDs.
If you’re looking for a caster with strong burst DPS and a fast playstyle, this is certainly not the spec for you.
About the Author
Hello, my name is Tettles, and I am currently a Balance Expert in the Dreamgrove. I am a top Mythic+ player, competed in MDI #2, and am a raider in one of the top NA guilds, Vesper – Area 52- Horde – NA. You can find me in the Dreamgrove Discord, on Youtube, or on my Twitch.
Watch live video from Tettles on www.twitch.tv
For more information on playing Balance Druid, please see our class guide updated for Dragonflight:
Balance Druid Guide
