Wrath of the Lich King made a number of fundamental changes to the game, many of which went through so many iterations that it can be difficult to get the facts. You can find a summary of these changes as related to the Restoration Druid in this extensive FAQ!
Guest Post: Moonkin Mana Regeneration
Published on January 16, 2009 by Graylo 
Lunar Guidance, Spells and Talents 
9 Comments
Phaelia: This week, I bring you another fabulous guest post from Graylo of the Balance blog, Gray Matter. While some of the talents discussed here are more typically found in a Balance-oriented build, the analysis of their value is also relevant to a Restoration Druid and will no doubt come in handy with the release of dual-specs.
If you played a Balance Druid in vanilla WoW, you are very familiar with the term “Oomkin.” Our mana issues were so pervasive that this term survived through most of the Burning Crusade, even after most of our mana issues were fixed. In Wrath of the Lich King, our “Oomkin” days are far behind us, and anyone that uses the term is either uninformed or joking.
However, I still regularly receive question asking: How much mana regen do I need? Which talents are best? Can I give up Talent X to get more DPS talents? With that in mind I wanted to provide this little guide for Moonkin mana regen.
Talents
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MoonglowThis talent reduces the mana cost of your primary DPS spells. Due to how it works it does not scale well relative to the other talents available. It does improve with haste, because more casting means you will be saving more mana, but the affect is small. This talent is best for people with an entry level of gear (i.e. Leveling gear, preraiding gear), but it quickly gets out classed by Dreamstate and Intensity as your Spirit and Intelligence levels increase. Moonglow is also best in fights with near constant DPS casting. Note: You will see most Moonkin with at least one point in this talent because it is needed to get to the higher tiers of the Balance tree. |
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DreamstateThis talent increases your MP5 by 10% of your Intellect. Dreamstate scales very well with gear since almost all Moonkin gear will have Intellect on it, and we have other talents like Furor that increase our Intellect level. This talent continues to regenerate mana until your mana is full and shines in choppy fights that don’t allow for constant casting. |
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IntensityThis talent allows 30% of your out of combat mana regen to continue while in combat. Intensity also scales very well with gear since your out of combat mana regen is based upon Spirit and Intellect. This talent shines in fights where there is near constant casting and few breaks where you will exit the 5-Second Rule. |
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Omen of ClarityWith this talent each of your spells has a chance to reduce the mana cost of your next spell by 100%. I haven’t been able to find a definitive description of how this talent works, but most sources agree on a few points. The proc rate is normalized based upon the casting speed of spells. Therefore it doesn’t favor faster spells like Wrath. The proc rate seems to be about 2 procs per minute. Like Moonglow, this talent doesn’t scale well relative to the other talents, since the mana of each spell does not change. Some people suggest that you switch to a high mana spell when it does proc to maximize the benefit, but I recommend against it because you will loose DPS looking for the proc. Omen of Clarity is best in fights where there is near constant casting because it can proc off of any ability (including making bandages). What makes this talent really nice though is that it costs just 1 talent point. |
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Moonkin FormI don’t really think about this as a mana regen talent, but it should be listed. While in Moonkin Form a Druid has a chance to return 2% of total mana when they crit with a single target spell. Amazingly, I tended to get a majority of my mana regen from this talent even when I had all four of the other regen talents. The effect is huge, especially when you have crit -nhancing buffs like Improved Scorch. From here on out I am going to ignore Moonkin Form because I assume that you have it. If there is such a thing as a Balance Druid without it then they are probably beyond help. |
How much regen do I need?
This depend a lot on your group make up, but as a general rule you will need more regen as your group gets smaller and the fights get longer.
In 25-mans, I have absolutely no mana issues, and I have seen some high-end raiding Moonkin drop all of their mana regen talents without issue. In 10-mans, I have issues on the longer fights like Sarth-2D because my group doesn’t have a Mage, Shadow Priest or Ret Pally. In 5-mans I don’t have any issues because the fights are too short, but my experience may not be relevant to you. My gear level makes up for my low mana regen.
If your playstyle focuses on 5-mans and you don’t have a lot of gear, then you’re probably going to want as much regen as you can get. If you raid 10-man’s regularly, it’s going to depend on your group composition. If you regularly raid 25-mans, you probably have most of the buffs covered and can sacrifice some mana regen for some DPS talents. However, the best way to tell if you need more regen is if you’re consistently running out of mana on boss fights.
Ok, I need some regen, but which talents do I choose?
If you’ve looked around the various moonkin forums then you have probably seen this equation.
This equation was written with well-geared raiders in mind, but it is a pretty good guideline and fairly vague. Let’s see if I can put some numbers to it to explain it better.
The Numbers
Omen of Clarity
Numerically, this is a hard ability to nail down. It’s very random, you may get it but not use it, and it’s hard to determine which spell consumes it. To calculate its value I looked at several old WWS reports. Look at a couple of high-casting fights like Patchwerk and Razuvious, the proc rate does indeed seem to be about 2 times per minute but highly variable.
Next I tried to figure out what is the average mana cost of the spells I cast during a boss fight. Looking at the WWS report from the raid where I got the Undying achievement, I summed my total spell casts for a Naxx clear. (I know this is a 10-man instead of a 25-man. However, I don’t think my casting habits change much if at all from 10-mans to 25-mans.) I won’t give you the boring details but I cast a total of 1,326 during boss fights at an average mana cost of 458 per spell with one point in Moonglow.
Now, even though Omen of Clarity procs twice per minute on average, not all of those procs will be used and it is highly variable. So, to try and get a minimum value let’s assume that you only use Omen of Clarity one and a half times per minute.
We can get an MP5 equivalent by dividing the mana saved per minute by 12. Therefore the equivalent MP5 is equal to:
(458 * 1.5) / 12 = 57.40 MP5 equivalent (assuming one point in Moonglow)
This may not seem like much, but since it costs only one talent point, it is far ahead of what you would get by investing that point in Dreamstate or Intensity. Just for reference, if you invest a full 3 points into Moonglow, Omen of Clarity would be worth 54.10 MP5 equivalent under these conditions.
Moonglow
This talent was much easier to quantify, but it is very easy to present misleading information. If you look around the web, you may find a person or two that will indicate one point in Moonglow is equivalent to 45 – 50 MP5. Their numbers may be theoretically accurate, but here not practical because they are evaluating the talent under ideal circumstances. For Moonglow to reach those levels of mana savings, you have to be constantly casting with no breaks and no latency. In real life that isn’t going to happen.
So to accurately quantify the value of Moonglow, I will have to look at WWS reports again.
Looking at just the boss fights in my latest Naxx run I cast Starfire 488 times, Wrath 525 times, Moonfire 113 times, and Starfall ~10 times. All 15 boss fights took a total of 46 minutes and 6 seconds (2766 total seconds). For each spell cast I saved the following amount of mana:
Starfire: (3496 * 0.16) * 0.03 = 16.78
Wrath: (3496 * 0.11) * 0.03 = 11.54
Moonfire: (3496 * 0.24) * 0.03 = 25.17
Starfall: (3496 * 0.35) * 0.03 = 36.71
So, to get MP5 equivalent for the raid, you take the total mana saved and divide it by the time spent in combat times five.
MP5 Equivalent = (((488 * 16.78) + (525 * 11.54) + (113 + 25.17) + (10 * 36.71)) / 2766) * 5
MP5 Equivalent = ((8,189.03 + 6056.82 + 2844.35 + 367.08) / 2766) * 5
MP5 Equivalent = (17457.28 / 2766) * 5
MP5 Equivalent = 6.31 * 5 = 31.56 MP5
These numbers will vary from person to person and night to night, but I doubt it will vary much. In fact, I think my estimation of Moonglow’s value is a little high because I used Wrath a little too much.
Dreamstate
This one is really easy to quantify. All you need is your total Intellect fully raid-buffed. To calculate it, look at your armory and get your unbuffed Int. Then add 60 for Arcane Intellect and 51 for Improved Mark of the Wild. Then multiply that value by 1.1 for Blessing of Kings, and by 1.1 again for Furor. For me the equation works out like this:
Total Intellect = (889 + 60 + 51) * 1.1 * 1.1 = 1210 Intellect
When you have your fully raid-buffed Intellect, you multiply that value by 0.04 to find the value of the first point, and 0.03 to find the value of the second and third point. So, for me Dreamstate is worth:
Dreamstate Point 1 = 1210 * 0.04 = 48.4 MP5
DreamstatePoint 2 & 3 = 1210 * 0.03 = 36.3 MP5
Intensity
This one is a little more complicated to calculate. First, we need to find our out of combat mana regen. To do that we use this formula at level 80:
MP5 = 5 * (0.001 + sqrt(Int) * Spirit * 0.005575 )
I’ve already showed you how to find your raid-buffed total Intellect. Finding your raid buffed Spirit is very similar. Look at your armory and get your unbuffed Spirit. Then add 80 for Divine Spirit and 51 for Improved Mark of the Wild. Then multiply that value by 1.1 for Blessing of Kings. For me the equation works out like this:
Total Spirit = (371 + 80 + 51) * 1.1 = 552 Spirit
So my out of combat mana regen is:
MP5 = 5 * (0.001 + sqrt(1210) * 552 * 0.005575)
MP5 = 5 * (0.001 + 34.79 * 552 * 0.005575)
MP5 = 5 * (0.001 + 34.79 * 552 * 0.005575) = 535 MP5
Therefore, to get the value of each talent point, we just multiply this by 10%. So for me, each point I put in Intensity is worth:
Intensity(1pt) = 535 * 0.10 = 53.5 MP5
The TL:DR Version
As a general rule you can currently use this priority when evaluating mana regen talents:
Please remember though that Omen of Clarity and Moonglow are very static since they are based primarily upon the spell’s mana cost. This means that they favor relatively low levels of gear, but will be outpaced by Intensity and Dreamstate as your gear improves.
That said, Omen of Clarity is still the best mana regen talent currently because it only costs one talent point. I do not expect this to persist until the end of Wrath of the Lich King because Intensity and Dreamstate will improve significantly in Tier 8 and Tier 9.
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Fun fact! Omen of Clarity procs off cooking! Enter the arena boomkin furiously making spiced bread so they can open up with free casts!
I thought OoC did scale.. with Haste. At least that was the intent of the change in how it works for wrath to make it better for ferals ala combat potency. So wouldn’t more haste = more OOC procs = more free casts?
Or am I just misunderstanding how it works for spells?
@Sorayn
From what I can tell OoC does scale with haste, but not very well relative to Dreamstate and Intensity. The reason is the base mana cost of each spell does not change, and you would have to have a ton of haste to increase the proc frequency significantly.
Graylos last blog post..GC: "I was wrong" – Imp FF works with any FF
I don’t think I agree that OoC and Moonglow don’t scale. It’s true that the size of the benefit doesn’t change… but neither does the cost of your spells. The reason you want, say, a bigger mana pool is to cast more spells. Casting more spells gets you more OoC or Moonglow benefit.
Compare that to, say, MotW. It gets you the flat 51 points in your stats; that’s a much larger percentage benefit at 500 Int than it is at 1000 Int. As your stats go up, MotW has less and less impact. That’s a spell/talent that doesn’t scale; at some point it’s probably not worth the talent points to take IMotW.
But OoC and Moonglow will have the same impact no matter how much you add other stats. Or to say it differently, they scale based on how many spells you cast — which in turn scales based on your mana pool and MP5.
Please correct me if I’m being obtuse.
Alameins last blog post..Druid healing on Loatheb
I’ve read over the post a couple of times now. I may be missing something but I don’t think I say anywhere that Moonglow and Omen of Clarity don’t scale. I said they don’t scale well relative to Intensity and Dreamstate.
If I did say they don’t scale some where please point it out.
@Alamein
I think your missunderstanding what I mean by scaling. Generally when WoW theorycrafters talk about scaling we are talking about how an ability is affected by stats and therefore gear. For example, Resto Druids don’t scale well with crit, just like paladins don’t scale well with spirit.
In terms of the talents I listed in the post. Moonglow and OoC don’t scale well relative to stats as well as Intensity and Dreamstate do. As our gear improves the value of Intensity and Dreamstate will improve significantly. Moonglow and OoC will not improve as much as they will because the amount of mana they return is static. They only scale with haste and need a lot of it to significantly chance the amount of mana saved.
Graylos last blog post..Moonkin Mana Regen
@Graylo,
Great article. However I see Alemain’s point.
If Moonglow increased your mana by 9% and your mp5 by 9%, you’d probably say that it scales. Instead, it makes most (moonkin) abilities 9% cheaper.
Either way, whatever you could do before, you can now do 9% more. That is very much like a scaling ability.
Whether or not it scales, its certainly true that if a talent is currently woth 50 mp5, you should take it over a talent that is currently worth 40 mp5. When your gear changes significantly, you’d want to re-evaluate.
BTW this is a great post and is really helpful — shame on me for not saying that sooner. Thanks Graylo!
I do get where you’re coming from. Erdluf captures what I’m saying though. To put it another way, “not scaling” is only a problem if it makes a talent/spell/item less helpful as you gear up. OoC/Moonglow will never lose their value.
To be honest, I’m not sure how well Intensity/Dreamstate will ramp up with better gear. It’s possible that at some level, we’ll gain so much Int/Spirit that they’ll be crazy-good. I don’t think so, though. I don’t have the theory chops to figure it, but since MP5 scales as the square root of Int, I think the benefits will slow as we hit higher tiers. (Edit: I bet this is why pure MP5 on gear is so overvalued now in the item budget.)
All that is to say that I think your ranking is not only right, but will stay right longer than you think.
Alameins last blog post..Druid healing on Loatheb
We have 2 Boomkins in most raids. Both of us have found, that as our gear has improved, we don’t need any mana regen talents.
That is assuming we have 3 sources of Replenishment in the raid, and a Pally judging Wisdom. I am running with a mana pool about 21.5k. However, my crit is a bit lower than most. Still, even on fights like Thaddius, or Gluth (which seems to be a real mana burner with the AOE), I nearly never have to pot. More and more, I am seeing my mana not dip below 15k even for fairly long fights.
This is in very stark contrast to when we started Naxx. I would go dry ridiculously fast. I was using the nightmare potions instead of mana pots, and was wearing some spirit heavy heal gear at times. It was really rough!
Meuglys last blog post..New Hero Class Ideas