When it comes to dealing damage with spells as a Druid in the World of Warcraft you’ve got many options to consider. Your moment to moment choice for which spell to use will depend on your style of play, the situation you’re dealing with, the specific opponent or opponents you’ve got to take down, the amount of mana you have available to you at that moment, your talent build, gear specifications and probably a dozen other factors.
One of the most mundane yet effective damage spells is going to be your Druids Wrath spell. Your Druid will earn this spell right off the bat at level one and that green glowing orb of destruction should and will become your best friend. What tends to happen however is that as you level your Druid up you’ll get shiny new spells with cool sounding names and fancy graphic effects like Starfire, Hurricane, Typhoon and Starfall. These all sound and look great, and they certainly have their uses, but to run an effective and high DPS Druid you can’t forget about your trusty Wrath spell.
When in combat, be it in a PvP situation or in a PvE scenario, the typical decision that’s got to be made when it comes to using Wrath is deciding between Wrath and Starfire, right? Starfire takes longer to cast but it can pack a bigger wallop. Wrath tends to hit for less but you can fire them off quite a bit quicker. So what should you choose and when?
The easy answer is Wrath in many or most situations. Now I can hear you groaning and I understand…there are few things more satisfying than dropping a well timed Starfire on an enemy, having it crit and watching your opponent fall to the ground in a heap. I know that feeling and I love it. However, to be more effective, get your DPS up and generally be more lethal in general in my opinion Wrath is going to be the way to go.
As you level your Druid, especially if you invest heavily in the Balance Talent Tree, there are many ways to enhance your Wrath spell and really turn it into a nasty little spell. Through talents you are able to increase not only the damage but also the critical strike percentage of the Wrath spell significantly. With the added ability to drastically shorten the casting time (down to a 1.5 second cast!) and extend the effective range of the spell by up to 20% your Wrath becomes a thing to be feared.
Be sure to really examine the Balance talents to see which will do you the most good when it comes to enhancing your Wrath DPS. Pay special attention to Starlight Wrath and Natures Swiftness which shorten the casting time, Natures Majesty and Vengeance which improve the critical strike, and Natures Majesty which increases the distance you can shoot your Wrath by up to 20%. There are several more hidden gems in your talents so be sure to study the whole tree!
I’ll confess that I got sucked into relying on Starfire to be my main DPS spell. Why? Well it seemed like more fun, it’s a bit more mana effecient and, well, it’s a nuke! After some thought and a look into the numbers I’ve gone back to relying on Wrath and my overall effectiveness as a Balance spec Druid has greatly improved.
It’s even possible to steer your Druid Gear build to a more effective Wrath spell. Wrath will benefit from a setup with a higher spell crit number over a higher bonus damage number. Use this information when choosing your trinkets, gear, weapons, Glyphs and so on. Keep in mind that when you’re peppering other casters with your Wrath spell you’re not only going to do some serious damage but you’ll be interrupting their casting as well!
Take some time to look at Wrath again if you’ve not used it lately to it’s full potential. One last little tip: The Wrath spell is a “chaser” so if your target runs out of range after you cast it the Wrath will follow and hit them every time. This is especially handy against Mages and their Blink spell. Thanks for reading!
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