Friday, June 25, 2010

The Major Moonkin Problem - Moving

As my guild is getting into 25 man HMs, there seems to be one overriding fact that I'm getting in each of the fights. Movement. More specific, how to move and keep DPS high. This is somewhere moonkins do not shine. We can hit huge crits with our Starfire during a Lunar Eclipse, but if we move, we can not cast at all. Sure we have IS and MF, but we are not suppose to clip those unless we get an Omen of Clarity proc with 2T10 to get a stronger version of the DoT on the boss. We have Starfall, but since we use it on cooldown, it is likely on cooldown. Treants are another option, but again, long cooldown.



I have not solved this problem by any stretch and I'm hoping Cataclysm will be the full answer to how we deal with this. However, here are just a few things I have started trying to do.

1) Use Gift of the Wild to proc an Omen of Clarity - This helps me refresh my DoTs while I'm moving since it has a 15% higher critical strike chance thanks to the 2T10 moonkin bonus.  Of course, when your moving, your thinking about getting to your next spot and think less about using GotW so it is really easy to overlook.

2) If you can, move immediately after procing an Eclipse - Now this seems a little weird, but here is my thought about it.  Sometimes, you proc Eclipse immediately after finishing an Eclipse.  This is the perfect time to move to refresh your DoTs and be ready 2 seconds later to cast either Wrath or Starfire depending on which is needed.

3) Deliberate Minimized Movements - If you have to move, move to where you need to as quickly as you can and as minimally as you can.  This can be tough in some fights.  For example, the LK normal fight has it where you spread out and then move back in.  However, you also have to think about not dropping defiles in the middle of the valkyrie path when you are thinking about your minimized movements.

4) Fight Familiarity - One of the tough things about HMs is you are basically having to relearn these fights.  Some of the mechanics are the same and some are completely different.  This is the same as when you first face bosses.  As you continue to down the bosses and get more familiarity with the fights,  DPS will increase naturally.  You learn to move minimally and deliberately based on the fight mechanics.

5) Cooldown Management - If you know your Starfall is about to come up, that is a good time to move.  If you see your IS or MF about to drop off, that is a good time to move.  If your treants are up, it is a good time to move.  When your instant stuff is ready, you can move and cast those at the same time.

I would love to hear from some other moonkins and caster DPS about how they are keeping DPS high during fights with heavy movement.  As I said, this is the major problem for moonkins, but I think a lot of casters will face very similar situations.

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