The Moonkin Repository

DPS Guide

Welcome to the DPS Discussion forum! If you are reading this, you probably have some questions with regard to your gear, rotation or spec. This guide is to help you figure out your problems before creating a thread so traffic can remain limited in this section.

This FAQ will be updated as the game and popular opinion about Moonkin DPS change.

Last edit: 07 23 2009

Let’s get started!

IF YOU DO NOT SEE THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION HERE, THEN YOU ARE WELCOME TO POST IN THE DPS DISCUSSION FORUM.

FAQ:

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I'm having mana issues, what do I do?

There are several answers to this. First thing you look at is your spec. Do you have any mana regen talents? Our core mana regen talents are Moonglow, Dreamstate, Intensity (resto tree) and Omen of Clarity (resto tree). Changing your spec to accommodate more of these talents will often clear-up mana issues.

If you are using Eclipse and having mana issues, check your crit and gear. A large mana pool, mana regen talents and high crit are what make this talent shine. This doesn't mean you need to stack crit, which is generally inadvisable in PvE, but if you are trying to use eclipse with only 12% crit and no T7 4-piece bonus, then you will go OOM from spamming wrath too much. The easiest solution here is to spec out of Eclipse until your gear improves. The highest DPS non-Eclipse rotation is the following:

MF, SFx3, IS,Wrath x N (N= until MF dot runs out)

If you are still having mana issues, look at your raid. Do you have replenishers? A shadow priest, a retribution paladin or a survival hunter? If you do not, then prolonged boss fights will be difficult because you have no mana return except from crits. This more usually happens in 10mans, when there is less chance of class diversity. In this situation, you can a) plan your raid composition better or b) revert to a non-Eclipse rotation on longer boss fights.

Another trick is to keep a high-spirit ‘Innervate weapon’. The staff from H Occulus is an example of an easily obtainable one. Keep this weapon in your bags, enchant it with greater spirit and create a macro to equip it as you cast Innervate. This can significantly boost your mana return, just remember to change back to your main caster weapon when innervate fades.

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My DPS is low, please help me!

Firstly look at your gear. Are you gemmed and enchanted correctly? Remember, you always need to be hit-capped!

Currently the hit cap is as follows:

With BOP: 341
With BOP and a Draenai (alliance only): 314
With BOP and a SPriest or IFF: 262-263
With BOP, Spriest or IFF and a Draenai (alliance only): 236

If you are not hitting these numbers, this is probably the reason behind low dps. Resist/misses waste mana and hurt your DPS a lot more than you think. Before being hit-capped, becoming so should be your top priority, more so than improving spell-damage.

As for gems; spell-damage are the recommended gems (after reaching hit-cap). MP5, spirit, intellect and crit gems are never recommended. The only spirit gems that are an exception to this are two 8spell/6spirit purple gems used to activate your meta (your meta should be a Chaotic Skyflare Diamond).

For enchants you want Icewalker on your boots, Sapphire Spellthread on your legs, spell-power or hit on your gloves, the Sons of Hodir exalted shoulder enchant, the Kirn Tor helm enchant, spell-power on your bracers, haste on your cloak and either +8/10 stats on your chest.

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Do I need to gem for crit? My crit is low!

No. While people say our talents are based on crit, and to a point this is true, that does not mean mass stacking it will help your DPS. Stacking spelldamage will always be better overall. With the recent changes with Solar now becoming viable, going pure spelldamage or spell/hybrid is the best choice since its our best scaling stat. Pick up crit from gear!

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I have no idea how to moonkin, please teach me!

Our current sticky on Moonkin basics is Wisprunner’s raiding guide. Check this out before asking any questions that are probably dealt with here:

http://themoonkinrepository.com/level-80-raiding-basics-t867.html

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What Rotation should I be using?

If you have the mana pool to support it, Eclipse going for the Starfire proc is the highest DPS rotation at the moment.

This rotation is as follows:

IS, MF, Wrath x ? (until proc), SF (until proc ends)

At the end of the SF proc, its suggested to continue to spam SF (usually keeping MF up) until the Eclipse cooldown wears off (use Squawk and Awe addon or similar to monitor this), then revert back to the start of the cycle.

For Solar you:

Is, MF, Starfire x? (until proc), Wrath (until proc ends)

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What is better? ‘Idol of Steadfast Renewal’ or ‘Idol of the Shooting Star’?

The Shooting Star Idol has been fixed and is applying its numbers according to your starfire. This idol is the best in game for an eclipse starfire rotation.

If you are trying to proc Solar with your eclipse, Steadfast Renewal is the best!

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How should I spec?

The basic Moonkin spec is 55/0/16, however this varies depending on your raid. Many people who raid with replenishers take no regen talents so it becomes 58/0/13. Typhoon, while fun, is not a PVE spell. It has horrible damage to mana return.

This could be considered a base raiding Moonkin spec:

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0xG0uiIscdIVhouZbxczb
The unspent points are generally split between mana regen talents, Moonkin Frenzy, IFF and Gale Winds depending on your specific requirements.

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Is there a Mod that tracks Eclipse?

http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info11436-SquawkAndAwe.html
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Is Starfall good?

Starfall with the change in the cooldown timer is now a great talent to pick up for one point. The change in NG allows us to use this talent as a mini bloodlust as if can chain proc and give us a 20% increased casting speed. The timer is now 1 minute and 30 seconds which allows us to pop it 2-3 times in a fight instead of 1. Dps increase for sure!

How does Nature's Grace work now?

Nature's Grace originally used to be a one time proc. You'd get one cast off with it. However in 3.1, it was changed to give a timer to allow more than one cast to be released with the buff. NG is a natural talent and a huge part in the Solar rotation. So now instead of getting one cast off and the buff being removed, you can now get 2-3 casts off depending on the rotation.

Solar Rotation or Lunar?

This all depends on your gear and which fight you are working on. Solar comes out on top on some fights while Lunar still wins on others. Lunar is a stationary rotation meaning if you have to constantly move, your dps will feel it. Solar is more of a fast action packed rotation which allows for quick burst with movement.

If you go solar, you need to gear for crit and gem directly for spelldamage. The soft haste cap for this rotation is 400 haste. If you go lunar, going over 400 haste and getting haste gear over crit (though you don't want to gimp yourself to much) will be better as you will be using starfire as your main spell. Which itself has a long cast time without haste as is.