Shadowlands: Balance Druid

The Shadowlands version of the Balance Druid is both very fun and incredibly powerful. As more people are giving the spec a try, many have asked questions about how to play one. In this guide, I’ll give an overview of how the class is played, what tools they have at their disposal, and teach you how to make your laser-chicken go BOOM!

This is not really a return to me actually blogging about WoW, but since I’ve been asked to write guides on how to play this spec in particular, I decided I might as well put it on the blog instead of just writing it up in Discord. 

Side Note: I threw this together in a few hours, because a couple of guildies had asked about it. I haven’t bothered proof-reading it, and I didn’t do much in the way of research to make sure I had all of my numbers right, so there may be a few minor mistakes of that variety floating around. 

 

Heirloom Updates

Patch 7.3 introduced an undocumented change to heirlooms, which is that they now change primary stats to match your spec just like all of the other armor does. For example if you’re in a healing spec on your Paladin, the primary stat on your ‘looms will be Int, and if you swap over to a melee spec, then the primary stat will swap over to Str without you having to change your gear at all.

If you’ve been playing this game for a long time and already have a full collection of the heirlooms, then this change means almost nothing, except that you don’t have to bother with carrying around multiple sets of heirlooms while you’re leveling if you’re one who swaps to one spec for questing and another for dungeons/PvP. If you’re new to the game and haven’t completed a collection yet, then this change means you just saved yourself a small fortune in heirloom and upgrade item purchases. Potentially.

Secondary Stats
This is the part that doesn’t change, so technically if you want to be optimized to the teeth in all situations then you would still need to buy all of the various heirlooms to make sure you can cover that for the different specs. How anal you want to be about optimization is up to you. If you’re trying to save gold and don’t want to buy a full set of heirlooms, then the secondary stat that I suggest you focus on most often is Haste. If you want to be optimized all the time, then buy all of the armor pieces out there.

The other half of the class-specific heirloom guides are nearly done and will be coming out soon™.

 

Rogue Heirlooms

Welcome to the Rogue Heirlooms Guide for Legion. This post will cover all three of the Rogue specs, including the optimal enchants. Please keep in mind that heirlooms are designed for leveling, and the choices of which pieces of gear to use as well as which enchants are designed towards leveling rather than raiding. In many cases the choices are the same, but if something seems odd then I’ve likely chosen it for a reason. Feel free to ask if you’re confused or care to offer other comments or suggestions. In the long run, as long as you’re wearing heirlooms with the right primary stats on it, it doesn’t necessarily matter which ones you choose.

Assassination (DPS)

Slot	Item Name	Enchant
Helm	Stained Shadowcraft Cap	N/A
Neck	Eternal Will of the Martyr	Gift of Critical Strike
Cloak	Inherited Cape of the Black Baron	Gift of Critical Strike
Shoulder	Stained Shadowcraft Spaulders	Greater Tiger Claw Inscription
Chest	Stained Shadowcraft Tunic	Peerless Stats
Legs	Stained Shadowcraft Pants	Shadowleather Leg Armor
Ring 1	Admiral Taylor’s Loyalty Ring	Gift of Critical Strike
Ring 2	Dread Pirate Ring	Gift of Critical Strike
Main Hand	Balanced Heartseeker	Elemental Force
Off Hand	Sharpened Scarlet Kris	Elemental Force
Trinket 1	Swift Hand of Justice	N/A
Trinket 2	Swift Hand of Justice	N/A

If you don’t have access to the enchants mentioned above, you may choose others. Your stat priorities are as follows (from Icy-Veins.com):

Agility > Mastery > Versatility > Critical Strike > Haste

Outlaw (DPS)

Slot	Item Name	Enchant
Helm	Stained Shadowcraft Cap	N/A
Neck	Eternal Will of the Martyr	Gift of Critical Strike
Cloak	Inherited Cape of the Black Baron	Gift of Critical Strike
Shoulder	Stained Shadowcraft Spaulders	Greater Tiger Claw Inscription
Chest	Stained Shadowcraft Tunic	Peerless Stats
Legs	Stained Shadowcraft Pants	Shadowleather Leg Armor
Ring 1	Admiral Taylor’s Loyalty Ring	Gift of Critical Strike
Ring 2	Dread Pirate Ring	Gift of Critical Strike
Main Hand	Venerable Dal’Rend’s Sacred Charge	Elemental Force
Off Hand	Venerable Dal’Rend’s Sacred Charge	Elemental Force
Trinket 1	Swift Hand of Justice	N/A
Trinket 2	Swift Hand of Justice	N/A

If you don’t have access to the enchants mentioned above, you may choose others. Your stat priorities are as follows (from Icy-Veins.com):

Agility > Versatility > Critical Strike > Mastery > Haste

Subtlety (DPS)

Slot	Item Name	Enchant
Helm	Stained Shadowcraft Cap	N/A
Neck	Eternal Will of the Martyr	Gift of Critical Strike
Cloak	Inherited Cape of the Black Baron	Gift of Critical Strike
Shoulder	Stained Shadowcraft Spaulders	Greater Tiger Claw Inscription
Chest	Stained Shadowcraft Tunic	Peerless Stats
Legs	Stained Shadowcraft Pants	Shadowleather Leg Armor
Ring 1	Admiral Taylor’s Loyalty Ring	Gift of Critical Strike
Ring 2	Dread Pirate Ring	Gift of Critical Strike
Main Hand	Balanced Heartseeker	Elemental Force
Off Hand	Sharpened Scarlet Kris	Elemental Force
Trinket 1	Swift Hand of Justice	N/A
Trinket 2	Swift Hand of Justice	N/A

If you don’t have access to the enchants mentioned above, you may choose others. Your stat priorities are as follows (from Icy-Veins.com):

Agility > Mastery > Versatility > Critical Strike > Haste

 

Shaman Heirlooms

Welcome to the Shaman Heirlooms Guide for Legion. This post will cover all three of the Shaman specs, including the optimal enchants. Please keep in mind that heirlooms are designed for leveling, and the choices of which pieces of gear to use as well as which enchants are designed towards leveling rather than raiding. In many cases the choices are the same, but if something seems odd then I’ve likely chosen it for a reason. Feel free to ask if you’re confused or care to offer other comments or suggestions. In the long run, as long as you’re wearing heirlooms with the right primary stats on it, it doesn’t necessarily matter which ones you choose.

Elemental (DPS)

Slot	Item Name	Enchant
Helm	Mystical Coif of Elements	N/A
Neck	Eternal Horizon Choker	Gift of Multistrike
Cloak	Ancient Bloodmoon Cloak	Gift of Multistrike
Shoulder	Aged Pauldrons of the Five Thunders	Greater Crane Wing Inscription
Chest	Mystic Vest of Elements	Peerless Stats
Legs	Mystical Kilt of Elements	Greater Cerulean Spellthread
Ring 1	Signet of the Third Fleet	Gift of Multistrike
Ring 2	Dread Pirate Ring	Gift of Multistrike
Main Hand	Blessed Hammer of Grace	Elemental Force
Off Hand	Weathered Observer’s Shield	Major Intellect
Trinket 1	Discerning Eye of the Beast	N/A
Trinket 2	Discerning Eye of the Beast	N/A

If you don’t have access to the enchants mentioned above, you may choose others. Your stat priorities are as follows (from Icy-Veins.com):

Intellect > Multistrike > Haste = Critical Strike > Mastery > Versatility

Haste is better for single target DPS, where Crit is better for your AoE DPS. If you’re going to run a lot of dungeons you may want to prioritize the crit, but I tend to lean towards haste for my casters as it allows me to cast more spells in less time which also improves mobility. Similarly, Multistrike is a higher priority than either Haste or Crit, but I would probably stick with Haste over even Multistrike personally just because that fits my playstyle more and I don’t really care much for multistrike overall.

Enhancement (DPS)

Slot	Item Name	Enchant
Helm	Tarnished Raging Berserker’s Helm	N/A
Neck	Eternal Will o the Martyr	Gift of Haste
Cloak	Inherited Cape of the Black Baron	Gift of Haste
Shoulder	Prized Beastmaster’s Mantle	Greater Tiger Claw Inscription
Chest	Champion’s Deathdealer Breastplate	Peerless Stats
Legs	Tarnished Leggings of Destruction	Shadowleather Leg Armor
Ring 1	Admiral Taylor’s Loyalty Ring	Gift of Haste
Ring 2	Dread Pirate Ring	Gift of Haste
Main Hand	Venerable Mace of McGowan	Elemental Force
Off Hand	Venerable Mace of McGowan	Elemental Force
Trinket 1	Swift Hand of Justice	N/A
Trinket 2	Swift Hand of Justice	N/A

If you don’t have access to the enchants mentioned above, you may choose others. Your stat priorities are as follows (from Icy-Veins.com):

Agility > Haste > Mastery > Multistrike > Versatility > Critical Strike

Another option I wanted to point out for weapon enchants is Landslide for one or both weapons. I recently leveled an Enhancement Shaman with dual Elemental Force and it was fantastic. I frequently did 30-100% more DPS than other people in dungeons, and often 300-400% higher than the second highest DPS in battlegrounds. Elemental Force procs often and its effect can crit. After a lot of testing, I’ve found Ele Force to be one of the most useful weapon enchants in the game for non-healers (and it’s even good for them if you’re going to do any amount of DPS while leveling).

Restoration (Healing)

Slot	Item Name	Enchant
Helm	Mystical Coif of Elements	N/A
Neck	Eternal Horizon Choker	Gift of Haste
Cloak	Ancient Bloodmoon Cloak	Gift of Haste
Shoulder	Aged Pauldrons of the Five Thunders	Greater Crane Wing Inscription
Chest	Mystic Vest of Elements	Peerless Stats
Legs	Mystical Kilt of Elements	Greater Cerulean Spellthread
Ring 1	Admiral Taylor’s Loyalty Ring	Gift of Haste
Ring 2	Dread Pirate Ring	Gift of Haste
Main Hand	Blessed Hammer of Grace	Jade Spirit*
Off Hand	Weathered Observer’s Shield	Major Intellect
Trinket 1	Discerning Eye of the Beast	N/A
Trinket 2	Discerning Eye of the Beast	N/A

If you don’t have access to the enchants mentioned above, you may choose others. Jade Spirit is one that’s particularly uncommon as it was locked behind a MoP rep grind that I found very few people had access to when I came back to the game in mid-WoD. My suggestions for replacements there would be Mark of Warsong > Major Spellpower > Elemental Force. Ele Force might seem like an odd enchant for a healer, but I found that with heals as powerful as they are I’m almost always doing some form of DPS as a healer, and I don’t really need more strength as a healer, so buffing my damage was handy.

Your stat priorities are as follows (from Icy-Veins.com):

Intellect > Spirit > Mastery > Haste > Multistrike = Critical Strike > Versatility

 

Mage Heirlooms

Welcome to the Mage Heirlooms Guide for Legion. This post will cover all three of the Mage specs, including the optimal enchants. Please keep in mind that heirlooms are designed for leveling, and the choices of which pieces of gear to use as well as which enchants are designed towards leveling rather than raiding. In many cases the choices are the same, but if something seems odd then I’ve likely chosen it for a reason. Feel free to ask if you’re confused or care to offer other comments or suggestions. In the long run, as long as you’re wearing heirlooms with the right primary stats on it, it doesn’t necessarily matter which ones you choose.

Arcane (DPS)

Slot	Item Name	Enchant
Helm	Tattered Dreadmist Mask	N/A
Neck	Eternal Horizon Choker	Gift of Critical Strike
Cloak	Ancient Bloodmoon Cloak	Gift of Critical Strike
Shoulder	Tattered Dreadmist Mantle	Greater Crane Wing Inscription
Chest	Tattered Dreadmist Robe	Peerless Stats
Legs	Tattered Dreadmist Leggings	Greater Cerulean Spellthread
Ring 1	Signet of the Third Fleet	Gift of Critical Strike
Ring 2	Dread Pirate Ring	Gift of Critical Strike
Main Hand	Dignified Headmaster’s Charge	Elemental Force
Trinket 1	Discerning Eye of the Beast	N/A
Trinket 2	Discerning Eye of the Beast	N/A

If you don’t have access to the enchants mentioned above, you may choose others. Choices made are based on info from Icy-Veins.com.

Fire (DPS)

Slot	Item Name	Enchant
Helm	Tattered Dreadmist Mask	N/A
Neck	Eternal Horizon Choker	Gift of Critical Strike
Cloak	Ancient Bloodmoon Cloak	Gift of Critical Strike
Shoulder	Tattered Dreadmist Mantle	Greater Crane Wing Inscription
Chest	Tattered Dreadmist Robe	Peerless Stats
Legs	Tattered Dreadmist Leggings	Greater Cerulean Spellthread
Ring 1	Signet of the Third Fleet	Gift of Critical Strike
Ring 2	Dread Pirate Ring	Gift of Critical Strike
Main Hand	Dignified Headmaster’s Charge	Elemental Force
Trinket 1	Discerning Eye of the Beast	N/A
Trinket 2	Discerning Eye of the Beast	N/A

If you don’t have access to the enchants mentioned above, you may choose others.If you don’t have access to the enchants mentioned above, you may choose others. Choices made are based on info from Icy-Veins.com.

Frost (DPS)

Slot	Item Name	Enchant
Helm	Tattered Dreadmist Mask	N/A
Neck	Eternal Horizon Choker	Gift of Critical Strike
Cloak	Ancient Bloodmoon Cloak	Gift of Critical Strike
Shoulder	Tattered Dreadmist Mantle	Greater Crane Wing Inscription
Chest	Tattered Dreadmist Robe	Peerless Stats
Legs	Tattered Dreadmist Leggings	Greater Cerulean Spellthread
Ring 1	Signet of the Third Fleet	Gift of Critical Strike
Ring 2	Dread Pirate Ring	Gift of Critical Strike
Main Hand	Dignified Headmaster’s Charge	Elemental Force
Trinket 1	Discerning Eye of the Beast	N/A
Trinket 2	Discerning Eye of the Beast	N/A

If you don’t have access to the enchants mentioned above, you may choose others. Stat priorities from Icy-Veins depend on what Tier 7 talent you decide to use, which of course doesn’t matter until you’re level 100. You can see their list here.