Eclipse Basics & Rotations for Beginner Moonkin

Based on request, here’s what the basics of the Moonkin’s Eclipse rotation looks like with pictures. This is the rotation for a level 80 moonkin doing single-target damage to a raid/instance boss. This is updated for the 3.3.3 content patch for Wrath of the Lich King. For more info on the basics of moonkin, please see my previous “how to moonkin raid PvE” post here.

First, lets look at Murmur’s Recommended rotation from the Balance 101 thread: I’ll copy & paste it from his guide to here, and then go through it step by step with pictures & explanations.

Apply Faerie Fire to the boss.

If there is no Unholy Death Knight, cast a single Wrath to get Earth and Moon up.

Apply Insect Swarm and then Moonfire.

Unless your boss strategy is very strange, use Force of Nature and Starfall.

Cast Wrath until you proc a Lunar Eclipse.

Cast Starfire until you proc a Solar Eclipse.

Reapply DoTs as they fall off.

Use Force of Nature and Starfall as they come off cooldown.

Now, lets break it down.

1. Apply Faerie Fire to the boss. This debuff lowers armor, and if you spec for Improved Faerie fire (which you should do in a raiding build), it gives your whole raid a 3% hit buff, and gives you 3% to crit with spells.

2. Next, apply a single wrath to get earth & moon up (you can skip this step if you are casting your DOTs as you run into the room and get into position, since you can’t cast wrath on the move). This is what the Earth & Moon debuff looks like:

3. Apply Insect Swarm and then Moonfire: DOTs will always be a damage increase for a beginner moonkin.

4A. Force of Nature summons 3 treants to beat up on your target, on a 3 minute cooldown. I can sometimes cast it twice in a fight if I use it towards the beginning of a pull.

4B. Starfall has about a 35 yard radius (After talents, without the glyph of focus), so be careful that you don’t aggro things to the side or behind you. However, it is going to do substantial damage to a single target in the next patch, so it’s an important tool that you need to learn how to use appropriately. Starfall is a buff that is applied to you, but hits things all around you. The buff icon shows up in your buff list, and it puts a faint moon over your head:

5. Cast wrath until you proc a Lunar Eclipse. You can tell that you get a Lunar Eclipse proc for several reasons. First, Lunar Eclipse is the Blue icon that shows up over your head. There is also the Blue circular icon on your buff bar. So, when you see a Blue-colored Eclipse, you switch to casting Starfire.

When you Download Squawk and Awe, it also shows up as a blue icon next to the words Eclipse (starfire). Since S&A is basically a required addon for new moonkin, you should be able to know that you switch from wrath to starfire when the words Eclipse (starfire) show up on your S&A mod. S&A will show up as Eclipse (Starfire) cooldown after Eclipse ends, and you keep casting starfire when it says that. Basically, the word that S&A says on that line is the spell you should be casting at any point in time.

You should NEVER just try to watch for the buff, as you won’t always see it (especially if there are multiple moonkin). You should have some type of mod to alert you when you need to switch.

6. Cast Starfire until Solar Eclipse. This is an orange Eclipse icon. When you see an orange-colored eclipse, you switch to Wrath. Squawk & Awe notes this as an orange icon next to the words: Eclipse (Wrath). When you see Eclipse (Wrath) on your S&A mod, it’s time to switch back to casting wrath.

7 & 8. When your DOTs fall off, or your cooldowns fall off, then re-cast them. Squawk and Awe will also show your DOTs & cooldown timers. It also gives you timers for your Eclipse. So, in the following picture, you should be casting wrath because you are on a lunar Eclipse for another 13 seconds, and you have 5.4 seconds until Insect swarm falls off and you should recast it. The number 2 next to moonfire means that I refreshed it 2 times with starfire because of my starfire glyph. It will stop at 3 starfires, since that is the max that the duration can be extended. This also shows that I have 49 seconds before my starfall is off cooldown. The one blank spot is where my Omen of Clarity procs show up. I turn off ALL the other tracking from the mod, as these are the only things I really care about seeing here.

It’s as simple as that! Have fun being a moonkin!