Druids in the World of Warcraft earn the Moonfire spell at level 4 and, for many, it seems that’s the only spell they use from that day forward. Moonfire is an instant cast spell that deals direct damage immediately and then deals damage over time (dot) for the next 12 seconds. It’s a handy spell that does some good damage, is great to open a fight with and can be used in a pinch to wack a mob while you’re on the run.
There are few spells in the game that seem to really rile players up more than Moonfire and it’s basically due to their annoyance factor with Druids spamming this spell. The term “spamming” when talking about spell casting in the World of Warcraft does not always have a negative bent to it. For example a Druid spamming the spell Wrath can be a very effective method of dishing out serious damage per second. The annoyance of other players with Moonfire spamming is for two main reasons:
Reason one: It’s a really inefficient use of mana for the Druid. As mentioned before Moonfire has an up front direct damage followed by 12 seconds of damage over time. That 12 seconds of damage over time actually does more damage than the direct damage (for example the spell may hit for a direct damage of 100 points and then cause an additional 200 points of damage over the next 12 seconds). When this spell is cast again on the same target, before the first spell has run its course, the damage over time component does not stack. It other words the second spell erases the remaining effect of the first spell therefore wasting the mana you used to cast it. So by spamming this spell you are wasting over half the mana on each cast.
Why would other players care about how you use your mana? Well, for one, as a hybrid class they’d rather see you conserve some mana and maybe use it to heal them. Secondly by wasting mana you’ll be slowing down game play when you’ve got to stop and drink to regenerate. And thirdly other players would simply much rather have you effectively and quickly take down the enemies. Imagine in a fight you and other players almost have an enemy killed and all it needs is a few more hits yet you’re out of mana and can’t get the job done. Or image that your groups main healer is in trouble, you need to keep the party alive yet you’ve blown half your mana spamming Moonfire. As a part of a group you’re expected to handle your share of the workload.
Reason two: When a Druid accidentally hits a mob that has been crowd controlled (CC’d) by another player chances are they used Moonfire to do it. This really irks players to no end. As a fight is raging the groups hunter CC’s a monster, usually one that is causing problems. However the next second a brilliant flash of white light hits it and that mob is back to causing havoc! This will often get you a friendly reminder such as “Stop spamming moonfire noob!”
There can be a few cases where spamming this spell is actually beneficial. For example if you’re chasing down a runner that you must stop before they aggro another mob a couple quick Moonfires might be called for. In PvP Druids will sometimes shoot this spell off several times right before they die in an attempt to take out an enemy. Once a Druid dies and re-spawns they come back with a full mana pool be default.
Overall the best and most efficient use of Moonfire is to let it run its full 12 seconds course. The damage over time can be considerable and, when combined with another similar spell such as Insect Swarm, can take down an enemy surprisingly fast. Use this spell either to pull mobs or when starting out a fight. Thanks for reading!
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