The Moonkin and the Innervate

Phaelia over at Resto4Life has written a great post regarding Mana-Management, and in suggested in the comments that I make a post on my blog from a moonkin perspective. As a good trained monkey I have delivered. Since she has already done a majority of the heavy lifting, I will focus on my mana regen philosophy and how I use my Innervate.

My Mana-Regen Philosophy:
If I have to choose between getting more spell damage or more mana regen I will choose more damage 99% of the time. My trinkets are for spell damage, and all of my consumables are for spell damage. When I finally had a chance to win my T5 Legs I seriously debated even bidding on them because I would lose a little damage if I equipped them even though I gained a ton of Mp5. I eventually picked them up because it brought me one piece closer to my T5 4 piece set bonus, and I thought I could sacrifice a little hit for crit since I was very close to the hit cap. I believe that mana-management is primarily a function of potions, buffs, special abilities, and spell rotation. I usually have no problem with mana during boss fights using these abilities and I usually don't run with a Shadow Priest or Shaman in my group.

The Moonkin Innervate:
If you ask some moonkin for their Innervate they will suddenly shape-shift into Charlton Heston and scream "From my Cold, dead hands." (Press ctrl+F7) While I don't agree with the notion that we should save our Innervate for healers all the time, I do believe it is one of the main reasons we are raid viable. Lets face it. If the healers have no mana then the raid will wipe. Lucky for us I think there is a compromise that allows benefit from our Innervate and make it available to the raid.

The trick is to try and get two Innervates off in a fight. Since I have yet to find a priest that can call for an Innervate early in a fight I use the first one on myself and save the second one for a healer.

Things to consider when using an Innervate on your self.
1. How much mana will the Innervate return? This will take a little math but isn't to hard to calculate. The druid spirit based OOC mana regen equation is ((Spirit/4.5) + 15) * 2.5. My total unbuffed spirit is 237 so my spirit based OOC regen is ((237/4.5) + 15) * 2.5 = 169. To determine how much mana my innervate will return to me I need to multiply that number by 16. Unbuffed I will receive 2704 mana from my innervate. Also, remember that you can cast while your Innervate ticks. Using a standard spell rotation a you will use around 2660 in that 20 seconds. So If your Innervate will return 2700, you can use it when very early in a fight. If it returns 4000 you may want to wait until you have used 1500 - 2000 mana.
2. How long is the fight?
7 minutes or less - I don't expect to use it on myself for any fight that is less than 7 minutes. Plus, I can usually last this long without it.
8 to 10 minutes - For fights like Hydross I try and get one off in the first minute or so. I may not get the full benefit of the innervate but it will be available again when the healers will need it most. Also if you are almost full on mana before innervate finishes you can switch to a less mana Efficient rotation like casting Wrath instead of Starfire for a little bit.
10+ minute fights - For longer fights like Tidewalker I wait a little longer to make sure I get the full benefit of the innervate.
3. Can I continue to cast after I use it? Try not to use it right before you get silenced or have some down time. If you cannot cast while innervate is ticking, it may return more mana then you have room for.
4 . If you have a shadow priest in your group cast it on him. Mana for a shadow priest means mana for every one in your group.

Things to consider when casting Innervate on others:
1. What class are they? Priests and Druids should be your primary targets for Innervate. These guys are the primary users of Spirit and will get the most benefit from your Innervate. Paladins and Shaman rely more on other stats to get mana and I will only innervate one of them if a Raid leader calls out for it.
2. Does the person know it is coming? Most quality raiders will have plan on how they will manage there mana. If they use a pot and you give them an innervate at the same time then one of the two is probably wasted. If I use an innervate on someone who hasn't asked for it I will generally say " Innervating John" wait a couple of seconds for objections and then do it.

The exceptions:
1. I will almost always innervate myself after a battle rez unless I have a shadow priest. Rebirth is a mana killer, and I need the mana to stay involved for the whole fight.
2. If the boss has a mana draining effect then I will save my innervate for a healer the whole fight. For example, the hunter in the Fathom-Lord fight has a viper sting that will drain a tone of your mana. It can take a healer out of the game very early in the fight. It is more important for the healer to have mana then for me to DPS.

Moonkin Melee for Mana:
As a side note I thought I would talk about this ability. This is one of the least useful abilities in the game, and can be very hazardous to your health since you have to get into melee range. If you use a proper spell rotation and chug pots regularly you shouldn't need this ability all that often. However, none of this means that it is useless, and it has come in handy for me a couple of times. Here are some general tips on how to use it.
1. Get a feral weapon. All those feral weapons say they increase attack power for Moonkin for a reason. The proc rate is based upon weapon speed so getting a quicker weapon does not help. It is also not a bad idea to get it enchanted with savagery to increase it's AP a little more.
2. Pick and choose the boss. Some bosses like Lurker and Leo are not friendly to melee and therefore this ability. Running in to melee when the healers aren't expecting it can get you killed quickly. Some bosses are very easy to use this ability on as long as you pick the right time. Tidewalker is perfect for this ability.
3. Take your time. Determine how much mana you think you need for the rest of the fight, generate it, and get out. Don't melee, cast, melee, cast. This will keep you in the 5 seconds rule. Get in, melee 15 - 20 seconds, and get out.

Guild Update:
I am in a new guild. The remaining WA officers decided that the best way to get back to raiding was to merge into another guild, so I am now a member of Musa. They are at the same point of progression that WA was but got their sooner and stalled out a little bit. The situation isn't ideal for me. The raid times are significantly earlier and I won't be able to make as many raids. Also, it may pick up later but raids have been going very slow lately. The time between pulls and attempts is much bigger than I am used to. Overall it works for now. I will stick with it at least a couple of weeks and see how I feel later.

Toon Update:
Graylo - I ran a little of ZA last night and picked up the [Amani Punisher]. I would prefer to have the [Wub's Cursed Hexblade] off of the dragonhawk, but the punisher is still and upgrade for now. Other than that it has been a little raiding, a few dailies, and a little fishing.
Graypal - He has done some leveling and is only 4 or 5 bars from level 65 now. I also got his enchanting up to 340, so I can make my own [Superior Wizard Oil].
Grayfel - Still just gaining rested xp. I will have to use it up this weekend.