Balance Druid DPS Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot (Legion 7.3.2)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.3 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2.5 Changes
  • 4. Patch 7.2 Changes
  • 5. Contents
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Rotation
  • 5. Cooldowns
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Main Resources
  • 3. Basic Abilities
  • 4. Cooldowns
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
  • 3. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents
  • 4. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents
  • 5. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 6. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 7. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 8. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
  • 9. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression
  • 2. Relic Choice
    • 2.1. Single Target
    • 2.2. Multiple Target
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Netherlight Crucible Relic Paths
  • 1. General Optimization Advice
  • 2. Tier 2 Upgrade Priority
    • 2.1. Single Target
    • 2.2. Multiple Target
  • 3. Tier 3 Upgrade Priority
    • 3.1. Single Target
    • 3.2. Multiple Target
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Single Target Rotation
    • 1.1. Opening Rotation
  • 2. Multiple Target Rotation
  • 3. Cooldown Usage
  • 4. Optional Read: Mastering Your Balance Druid
    • 4.1. Mastery: Starlight
    • 4.2. Artifact Ability
    • 4.3. Lunar, Solar, and Stellar Empowerments
    • 4.4. Mitigating Movement DPS
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
    • 2.1. Statistics Priority
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems
  • 2. Enchants
  • 3. Consumables
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Macros
    • 1.1. Generic Macros for Druids
      • 1.1.1. Rebirth
      • 1.1.2. Remove Corruption
    • 1.2. Specific Macros for Balance Druids
      • 1.2.1. Starfall Cursor Macro
  • 2. Addons
    • 2.1. Generic Addons for Druids
      • 2.1.1. ElvUI
      • 2.1.2. Boss Mods: Deadly Boss Mods or Bigwigs
      • 2.1.3. GTFO
      • 2.1.4. Omen Threat Meter
      • 2.1.5. Parrot or Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 2.1.6. Weak Auras
      • 2.1.7. Recount / Skada / Details!
      • 2.1.8. Grid and GridClickSets (Optional)
      • 2.1.9. TellMeWhen
    • 2.2. Specific Addons for Balance Druids
  • 3. ChangeLog
• ×Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Best in Slot List
  • 2. Tier 20 Set Bonuses
  • 3. Legendary Items
  • 4. Loot Competition
  • 5. ChangeLog

General Information

This page is a gear reference for Balance Druids. It lists your best items and Legendaries, gives you gearing advice, and shows you how you will be competing for loot with other classes.

The other pages of our Balance Druid guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Reviewer

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Slippykins, long-time Balance Druid theorycrafter and moderator at MMO-Champion and the Druid discord. You can catch him in his theorycrafting thread, or on Discord.

1. Best in Slot List

Best in Slot lists became somewhat redundant when the Titanforging system was introduced. The following sections will instead guide you through choosing set bonuses and legendaries in Legion. However, if you want a general "items to aim for" list in Tomb of Sargeras, you can find one here.

2. Tier 20 Set Bonuses

The 2-piece Tier 20 Set Bonus provides a decent boost to your single target damage. The 4-piece Bonus, however, is very strong, and something you want to obtain as soon as possible.

Your ideal set-up will be to use the Tier 20 4-piece Bonus together with the Tier 19 2-piece Bonus, if you have high item level pieces from Nighthold (905-925 item level). Note that this is only for single target.

3. Legendary Items

Legendary items have a high item level of 970, which makes them extremely strong. They are so strong, in fact, that a legendary item is always going to be worth equipping over any other item you might have in that slot.

However, there is a limitation on the number of legendary items you can have equipped at any one time (by default 1, but by now most players should be able to equip 2). Since some legendary items are better than others, if you have more items than the limit, you will have to choose which ones to equip.

Below, we will do our best to guide you through this process, as well as provide any other relevant information.

Of the legendaries available to Balance Druids, there are 3 in particular we should be looking out for. We list all legendaries below in order of standalone power.

1. Impeccable Fel Essence: a very strong and versatile legendary. Use this when you take Incarnation: Chosen of Elune, to significantly boost your cooldown usage. Additionally, it has very good stats.
2. Lady and the Child: a powerhouse legendary, and the best choice for AoE. The extra Moonfire cast on an additional target can save a lot of time, with the Moonfire damage increase being a huge bonus.
3. Oneth's Intuition: one of the best single target legendaries because of how strong Stellar Empowerment is with high Mastery. This is not as useful for multiple targets, however you can hold a Starfall proc for upcoming cleave to get huge benefit out of this legendary.
4. Soul of the Archdruid: a strong AoE choice that allows you to take Incarnation: Chosen of Elune on cleave fights, since you get Soul of the Forest for free.
5. The Emerald Dreamcatcher: this is technically the best single target legendary we have, however you cannot equip this legendary along with the Tier 19 2-piece set bonus. If you do not have this set bonus, this legendary is extremely good.
6. Radiant Moonlight: this legendary is decent, and provides you with a lot more Astral Power. It is not too bad for single and multiple targets.
7. Sephuz's Secret: while this legendary is not useful in raids, it is exceptional in Mythic+, where it can be the best legendary to take. In those situations, it is advised to take Mass Entanglement to proc Sephuz on cooldown.
8. Promise of Elune, the Moon Goddess: a decent legendary for single target, but still quite weak. You essentially get a free Lay on Hands a couple of times throughout the fight, which can be useful.
9. Ekowraith, Creator of Worlds@: an additional 5% flat damage reduction when taking Guardian Affinity.
10. Prydaz, Xavaric's Magnum Opus: a strong self-shield every 30 seconds, very useful for raid progression.
11. Cinidaria, the Symbiote: not very useful for Balance, as we do not have particularly strong burst damage.
12. Kil'jaeden's Burning Wish: strong for burst cleave but very lacklustre otherwise.

4. Loot Competition

Regarding the loot you will get from raid or dungeon bosses, you will compete with other classes in the following cases:

5. ChangeLog

• 11 Jul. 2017: Updated set bonus recommendations and legendary item ranking.
• 12 Jun. 2017: Updated Set Bonus recommendations and legendary item ranking.
• 28 Mar. 2017: Removed BiS list.
• 27 Mar. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 09 Jan. 2017: Updated legendary item recommendations, added new legendary items, and added Tier 19 Set Bonus recommendation.
• 02 Oct. 2016: Greatly improved the legendary item section and updated the BiS trinkets.
• 12 Sep. 2016: Added BiS recommendations.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 28 Jul. 2016: Updated trinket and set bonus recommendations.
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.