Level 10 Balance Druid Guide

[sti]

Last Edited 5.4.7

Table of Contents
1. Intro
2. Races
3. Spec pros/cons
4. Profs
5. Gear
6. My experience in duels/pvp

1. Introduction
Everything that is listed below is from my personal experience as a level 10 balance druid and from theory crafting with others. I am not stating that I am some rank 1 druid and have 3000 rating in pvp. I do make mistakes like all humans, but this is what I have found to work at level 10 and is a guide to start your own 10 twink balance druid.

2. Races
Alliance:
Night elf: Definitely my favourite race for an alliance druid. Shadowmeld is a great tool to help you heal up, dodge spells and reopen on a target. They also get that extra 2% dodge.
Worgen: This race allows us to kite even better than we currently can. The sprint can help you get away and heal up, and the crit isn’t bad either.

Horde:
Tauren: Great FC with the bonus 5% hp, as well as an aoe stun, which gives us a way to stop other casters.
Troll: Berserk acts like a second lifeblood which is really nice when we need to burst a target, or keep ourselves up.

3. Pros and cons of playing balance
Pros:
- Able to kite by swapping in and out of cat form
- Able to heal and dot damage while kiting (rejuv, moonfire)
- Huge burst with starfire and weapon procs
Cons:
- No burst healing (rejuv spam and pray)
-if you can’t kite or Line of Sight you will probably die

4. Professions
Herbalism (225): Lifeblood is 94 haste (aprox 300%), which is a MUST since it helps your healing and damage.
Skinning (225): Master of Anatomy gives 9 crit at max which is around 16% crit. This is nice for balance because it allows us to prioritize more haste for other enchants.
Mining (225): If you want some more hp. Not much else.
Engineering: A nice stun/interrupt since our class doesn’t come with any built in at this level.

5. Gear and enchants
As a balance druid, haste is your best friend to a point. On my druid I have 7 different sets of gear, each of which is used in different situations. More hp for more bursty classes, more damage for other hybrids, etc. You only want around 85% haste unbuffed since more than that makes wrath faster than your gcd. The first enchants listed under each item are in my opinion the BiS.

Helm:
Tattered Dreadmist Mask - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS)
Lucky Fishing Hat - Item - World of Warcraft (stam set)

Neck:
Voice Amplification Modulator - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS)

Shoulders:
Majestic Ironfeather Shoulders - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS)
Enchant: Greater Inscription of Discipline - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS)
Greater Inscription of the Orb - Item - World of Warcraft or Greater Inscription of the Storm - Item - World of Warcraft (alt)
Heavy Borean Armor Kit - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Stam)

Cloak:
Ancient Bloodmoon Cloak - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS)
Enchant: Formula: Enchant Cloak - PvP Power - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS pvp)
Formula: Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Haste)
Formula: Enchant Cloak - Greater Critical Strike - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Crit)
Formula: Enchant Cloak - Mighty Stamina - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Stam)
Enchant Cloak - Accuracy - Spell - World of Warcraft (BiS Hit)

Chest:
Preened Ironfeather Breastplate - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS)
Enchant: Enchant Chest - Greater Stats - Spell - World of Warcraft (BiS)
Heavy Borean Armor Kit - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Stam)

Bracers:
Bard's Bracers - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS, +2 int)
Bard's Bracers - Item - World of Warcraft (alt, +1 int/stam)
Enchant: Formula: Enchant Bracer - Greater Speed - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Haste)
Formula: Enchant Bracer - Greater Critical Strike - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Crit)
Enchant Bracer - Major Intellect - Spell - World of Warcraft (BiS Int)
Formula: Enchant Bracer - Major Stamina - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Stam) + Light Leather Bracers - Item - World of Warcraft
Formula: Enchant Bracer - Healing Power - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Spell power)
Enchant Bracer - Precision - Spell - World of Warcraft (BiS Hit)

Gloves:
Fine Leather Gloves - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS)
Enchant: Enchant Gloves - Minor Haste - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Haste)
Glove Reinforcements - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Stam)
Enchant Gloves - Blasting - Spell - World of Warcraft (BiS Crit)
Formula: Enchant Gloves - Healing Power - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Spell power)
Formula: Enchant Gloves - Precise Strikes - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Hit)

Belt:
Kessel's Cinch Wrap - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS)
Bard's Belt - Item - World of Warcraft (alt, +3 int)

Legs:
Tattered Dreadmist Leggings - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS)
Enchant: Sapphire Spellthread - Item - World of Warcraft (Bis)

Feet:
Silver Embossed Boots - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS)
Willow Boots - Item - World of Warcraft (alt)
Enchant: Formula: Enchant Boots - Surefooted - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Crit/hit)
Enchant Boots - Haste - Spell - World of Warcraft (BiS Haste)
Heavy Borean Armor Kit - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Stam)

Rings:
The 1 Ring - Item - World of Warcraft and Invoker's Signet - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS)
Dread Pirate Ring - Item - World of Warcraft (alt)

Trinket:
Discerning Eye of the Beast - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Int)
Swift Hand of Justice - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Haste)
Arena Grand Master - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Stam)

Weapon:
Devout Aurastone Hammer - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS)
Enchant: Enchant Weapon - Hurricane - Spell - World of Warcraft (BiS Haste)
Formula: Enchant Weapon - Black Magic - Item - World of Warcraft (alt)
Formula: Enchant Weapon - Power Torrent - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Int)

Off-Hand:
Musty Tome of the Lost - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS dps)
Furbolg Medicine Pouch - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS Stam)
Enchant: Enchant Off-Hand - Major Intellect - Item - World of Warcraft (BiS)

Side notes:
I chose cloth boa over leather in some situations because the leather gave spirit instead of haste. This is a bad trade because spirit only gives minor hit and mana regeneration which is not as useful at this level. I prioritized intellect trinkets over haste because at this point my haste is around 88% and going any higher would be less efficient. You can change haste and crit enchants to your liking and also change the trinkets. I did not include an insignia because I found most cc to be minor since we have HoTs and DoTs and can kite through most silences. I might be missing some horde items. I also priorities Hurricane over Black Magic since it can double, even triple proc.

Personal PvP experiences on the level 10:
Keep in mind I am not a god at pvp, this is just what I have noticed in duels and wargames. Against any class except rogues and druids you want to start stealth. Getting the opener is key in duels as it can put your opponent in a more defensive state. I prefer using a lot more haste and intellect against casters, while reverting to more stamina against melee. Against any melee you want to play like a chicken. You should be kiting them with cat form till they die, using moonfire as your primary damage and keeping rejuv on yourself at all times. Against casters you sometimes have to play defensive till you get a hurricane proc, then pop herb and destroy them. Finally, don’t forget to change the amount of hit to have to match the level you are dueling, you don’t want to be missing .

Conclusion
In my opinion level 10 balance druids are the hardest hitting class at the moment, and have the best kiting potential. Hopefully you found this guide helpful and if you have any questions leave a comment below or pm me in game. My armory can be found in my sig. Enjoy

As another side note, Wowhead stats are wrong at the moment, i am not sure why, but the most of the values you see here are incorrect.

 

[Sponsor]

very useful! I get a lot of people asking me how to gear druids and I never really knew what to tell them. Now I'll just point them towards your guide!

I have added your guide to the 10-14 guide list hope you dont mind!

 

[sti]

No problem, thanks for letting me use your format

 

[Oliks]

You should clean this up and make some different enchanting sets.
For example you shouldn't write "enchant gloves: minor haste (BiS). You should write "(BIS for haste build)" and then add some others such as spellpower on gloves etc.

Overall nice guide, but those things should be fixed and then i'll "accept" it

 

[sti]

As I stated in my guide, you want approximately 85% haste to maximize damage output. The enchants I labelled as BiS are such because they put you towards that haste %. Not trying to sound like a dick, but the spell power enchant just isn't as effective for druids, or at least doesn't come close to the output from the crit and haste. But I will add the other enchants.

 

[wrathwow]

really helpfull! thanks a lot for this

 

[KuRsK]

interesting guide

 

[Zethax]

As I stated in my guide, you want approximately 85% haste to maximize damage output. The enchants I labelled as BiS are such because they put you towards that haste %. Not trying to sound like a dick, but the spell power enchant just isn't as effective for druids, or at least doesn't come close to the output from the crit and haste. But I will add the other enchants.

Ive looked into making a 10 balance, as Ive heard the 2.2k weapon chains pvp power scales very good at level 10, but you dont mention it at all in your guide, any reason for this?

 

[Garregish]

Just wanted to note, re the "cons", fully twinked at level 10, my rejuvenate heals me for 330+ every tick, since I have over 107% crit stacked, every heal is a crit. Likewise, every spell is a crit. I could go for more spell power, but that would lower my crit to about 80%, I may be wrong, but I am thinking that the loss of 20% crits would not justify the extra spell power I could get. (not to mention, the additional hit I get vs mobs up to level 43. (100% hit on lv43 beasts-players are a bit different)

In case anyone is wondering about spell hit at level 10.. I worked this out:

spell hit of 2 = 100% hit vs level 10
spell hit of 3 = 100% hit vs level 11
spell hit of 4 = 100% hit vs level 12

SO

Spell hit of X = 100% hit vs level X +8

Example:

X (spell hit) = 20, then 100% hit = vs Lev 28

I didn't use any fancy algorithms.. LOL.. I did it by adding gear to increase spell hit by 1 until I established a pattern.

 

[supersimme]

Ty for this!

 

[Vantalimxx]

Very nice guide, thanks!