Moonkin Talents

I said a while ago that I would do a talent analysis for Graylo and moonkin in general so I thought I would do it know. Since I will be kind of long I am putting the Toon update first.

Toon update:
Graylo – I didn’t play a ton over the weekend but Graylo was my main focus. I would describe my weekend play as clean up. I did a lot of farming, dailies, and completed some old quests.
On a strange note, I completed my Elixirs mastery a few weeks ago, but I have yet to get a double proc on items that I make for my self. I have made 11 Flasks of Blinding Light with no procs. On Friday night I made atleast 10 or so Adept’s Elixirs and Elixirs of Drainic Wisdom each but no procs. I have made tons of stuff for other people with tons of procs, but none for myself.
I also ran a normal Shattered Halls this weekend and I finally got the [Ivory Idol of the Moongoddess]. I have to say it is about time. Now I need to figure out which idol is best for me to use in raids.
Graypal – He didn’t get much action this weekend but I did do a few quests in Searing Gorge. Thanks to a little help from a guildie I was able to do the Overseer group quest. I remember trying that quest with Graylo when I was leveling and having a lot of trouble with it even with a lvl 60+ in the group. So her help is greatly appreciated.

Talent Analysis:
This is purely a raid spec analysis. I don’t know much about PvP and some of what I say doesn’t necessarily hold true for PvP, Soloing or even 5-man instances.

Here is my current spec: Link

Here is what I think is the optimal spec for SSC raiding: Link

The differences will be explained below and the reason I am not in the optimal spec has a little to do with solo and PvP viability and a little to do with me being cheap and not wanting to respect a lot.

To optimize a moonkin you have to have points put in both the Balance and Resto trees. The feral tree doesn’t offer anything of value for raiding. I think moonkin talents fall into three categories. The first is the no-brainers. If you don’t have these talents as a raiding moonkin then you’re an idiot. The second is the “Unuseful Required” talents, and the third are the debatable/optional talents.

No Brainers – Balance talents: Starlight Wrath, Focused Starlight, Improved Moonfire, Insect Swarm, Nature’s Reach, Vengeance, Lunar Guidance, Nature’s Grace, Moonglow, Moonfury, Balance of Power, Dreamstate, Moonkin Form, Wrath of Cenarius. Resto Talents: Improved Mark of the Wild, Naturalist, Intensity

“Unuseful Required” talents – Natures Grasp, Control of Nature, & Brambles.
As you know to get to the Tier 4 talents on the balance tree you have to invest 15 points in the first three tiers. Unfortunately, in the first three tiers there are only 5 talents of any real use to a Raiding moonkin and they only use 12 points. So to get to the tier 4 talents you have to invest three points in these talents.

• Natures Grasp – It only works outdoors and if you are getting hit. Since most raids are indoors and you shouldn’t be getting hit this talent is useless for raids. It is great for PvP though.
• Control of Nature – Roots only work outdoors and Cyclone isn’t a viable CC. This talent is slightly better than Natures Grasp because Cyclone can be used in a raid, but I haven’t yet. I have this talent because it is useful in PvP and while soloing. It can also help me get of a heal if I pull agro in an instance.
• Brambles – From a raid perspective this is the best talent of the three. It improves your thorns and helps the tank generate agro. However its contribution is very small and the points would be better spent elsewhere, if it where possible.

Debatable/Optional talents: These are talents that are useful but not necessarily required for a raiding Moonkin.

• Celestial Focus - This is a great talent but is only situational useful. The stun won’t work on bosses and is unreliable. The push back resistance is great but as a caster you shouldn’t be getting hit. Most raiders give this talent up, but it is useful if you tank the Shaman in the High King fight.
• Improved Fairy Fire – A good talent that helps the raid but not the moonkin at all. The 3% chance to hit for melee is huge if they are not hit capped and you have a lot of melee in raid. It will also improve the tanks threat generation if they are not hit capped. However, as you get to higher levels of raiding more and more people are hit capped. This talent is often given up for Subtlety in the Resto tree.
• Force of Nature – Situational useful but doesn’t help a lot since most bosses have an AOE or Cleave attack that will kill the trents quickly. A lot of people keep it because it is only one point and very cool. It is also very useful in PvP and when soloing. However , it can be easily sacrificed for a more useful talent.
• Subtlety (Resto) – The need for this talent is really more dependent on your level of progression and your usual group make up. With a good tank and a paladin in the raid you generally won’t need it. I’ve made it through Kara, Gruul’s, Mag, and some of SSC without it being an issue. However, I am finding that threat becomes more of an issue with some of the higher level fights like Tidewalker and VR. Since by this point a lot of Melee are hit capped it is easy to sacrifice Improved Fairy Fire for Subtlety.