Moonkin profession choices 3 comments
updated 24th of Mar 2010
posted 11th of Nov 2009
by Aeiedil
WoW v.3.3.3
When you're leveling a character it makes sense to level a tradeskill or two also, especially now that they all provide a stat bonus at 400 skill. In general all the stat bonuses are pretty much equal, but one or two perhaps are just a little more equal than others when a Moonkin is concerned.
For the purposes of keeping this guide clear and to the point I will be ignoring financial impacts of different professions. I will concentrate on the effect of the profession with respect to Moonkin, and the flexibility of the profession with respect to Druids as a class. Most of the explanations will be short, as most of the bonuses are simple.
Alchemy
High level Alchemists have two benefits. The first is an item, [Flask of the North], craftable at 400 skill. This will give you 47 spell power which is a nice bonus. This does not stack with [Flask of the Frost Wyrm] but for reasons that will soon become clear, that doesn't matter.
The second benefit of Alchemy is the skill [Mixology]. The result of this is twofold, firstly the most obvious effect is that it doubles the duration of flasks (this also applies to Elixirs). This boils down to halving the cost of all those Frost Wyrm flasks you are probably being told to use. The second part of Mixology is that it increases the effect of your flasks. What this means with respect to Frost Wyrm flasks is that you will gain an additional 47 spell power over a non-Alchemist. Effectively it includes your Flask of the North
A side benefit of Alchemy with respect to druids as a whole is that the benefits are equally useful in any form be it Tree, Bear, or Cat. Unlike some of the other professions detailed, this skill really does work wonders for a class as flexible as the Druid.
[Blacksmithing]
I will keep Blacksmithing short. A Blacksmith may add an additional gem socket to their bracer and gloves. This in turn means that the maximum benefit from the Blacksmith is 46 spell power which in my view renders Blacksmithing undesirable as the same benefits can be gained from other professions at a lesser cost.
Enchanting
Enchanting offers a bonus of 46 spell power made due to the ability to enchant your rings with [Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower]. The cost of this compared to Blacksmithing by way of a cost associated with an item upgrade is lesser by a significant percentage (70%-80% upwards). It is also nice to be able to Disenchant old unwanted items instead of simply throwing them away.
Engineering
Engineering is a strange beast. Personally I used to adore its gadgets as I levelled, but that is a long time ago. At level 80 a Moonkin can see use from a boot, cloak, belt, and glove enchant.
The cloak enchant, [Springy Arachnoweave], offers a 27 spell power bonus at a cost of 23 haste. If you don't need the haste from the standard cloak enchant this can be nice, but in reality it feels like a partial tradeoff. 27 spell power is more beneficial than 23 haste, but really compared to other professions it's so close as to be ignorable.
The boot enchant, [Nitro Boosts], gives a 24 crit bonus compared to the standard enchant of 12 crit, 12 hit. This in my view is an outright loss unless you find yourself really not needing that 12 hit. It also gives you an additional sprint effectively, however again this item seems like more of a toy than anything.
The glove enchant on offer is a choice of [Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket] and the [Hyperspeed Accelerators]. If you take either of these then you will lose 28 spell power from your glove enchant. The benefits from the Hyperspeed Accelerators could be nice in certain circumstances so long as you hit it during a portion of your cycle where you are casting Starfire. When casting Wrath the effect will most likely be wasted. The pyro rocket gives an extra button to press for a little more damage which could be nice, but really it would account for under 1% of your damage most likely if not less.
The belt enchant I won't even go into because it only affects mechanicals. I remember waiting for a long time to use my gnomish remote control, and wouldn't hold out hope of coming up against enough mechanicals for this to be particularly valuable.
In summary, Engineering has some nice toys but as far as PvE is concerned is a bad choice. That being said, I do find the Engineer-specific flying mount pretty damn sweet.
Herbalism
Herbalism is not a good moonkin talent. You will gain the skill [Lifeblood]. This isn't bad, but when you take a look at your spell book and see [Rejuvenation] the reason for this being dismissed becomes pretty clear
Inscription
Inscription is a good tradeskill if you haven't raised your reputation with the Hodir on any characters. As of 3.3 you will be able to trade Hodir enchants between characters and so leveling Inscription simply to get a shoulder enchant on an alt is not really worthwhile any more.
[Master's Inscription of the Storm] is what you get for levelling up Inscription, which gives you a bonus of 46 spell power over the more common [Greater Inscription of the Storm]. Similar to Enchanting there are other shoulder enchants for other specs.
Jewelcrafting
Jewelcrafters find themselves being able to craft Dragon's Eye gems which are just like normal gems, but with higher stats. The only down side to this is that you can only have 3 equipped at a time. If you maintain multiple gearsets this means that you may find yourself regemming at times to allow different combinations of items
To get around this limitation I currently assign 1 to my weapon and 2 to my belt. This is the same for all of my Moonkin and Tree gear sets and so it enables them to be more interchangable.
The Dragon's Eye that a Moonkin should be using us [Runed Dragon's Eye]. When using 3 of these the Jewelcrafter will gain an additional 48 spell power. As with some other professions, the benefits from this transfer well to any Druid spec.
Leatherworking
Leatherworking is another profession that works well. The benefit gives you a special bracer enchant, [Fur Lining - Spell Power], which gives an additional 46 spell power over the standard [Enchant Bracers - Superior Spellpower]. It also has special enchants for increased stamina or attack power which again works well for our potential offspecs.
Mining
Mining, similar to Herbalism, is a pretty simple one to dismiss for a Moonkin. With Mining you gain the skill [Toughness] which will give you 60 stamina. This will not increase your DPS at all.
Skinning
As with other gathering professions, Skinning provides a somewhat less desirable bonus. Skinning will give you 40 crit through [Master of Anatomy]. It doesn't matter who you go to for comparision of stats, 46 spell power is more beneficial than 40 crit rating.
Tailoring
Tailors get themselves a cloak enchant, [Lightwave embroidery]. This gives a bonus of 295 spellpower for 15s periodically with a 60s cooldown. At best this does provide a greater benefit than other professions, but considering how much Moonkin rely on RNG already do you really want to add even more?
I love the Tailoring mount, and the effect isn't too bad, but considering that it is a proc and considering you lose 23 haste also I think that I wouldn't advise taking Tailoring as a Moonkin.
Conclusion
So, taking all of the above into account it is time to choose which 2 professions to take. As a raiding moonkin I would currently recommend Alchemy and Jewelcrafting for the following reasons
- You gain an additional 3 spell power compared to any other tradeskills (woo!)
- They are both able to be utilised to full effect in any Druid spec
- The products of both are able to be easily sold reducing raiding expenses
Blacksmithing, Leatherworking, and Inscription all make good second choices, with an option on Tailoring if you like the idea of the proc.
Comments
Your not correct when it comes to Leather working. - your comparing a bracer enchant with a leg enchant!
the difference is 46-47spellpower compared to the normal enchant bracer spell power. anyway i recomend Alchemy / Herbalising my self due to the fact that they are very very speedy to level and cost almost nothing and you get good synergi effects if you switch between specs. due to the Trinkets witch are good for all 3 types of specs. and it takes no effort to make em and you will be selfsufficent with portions as you will gain enough herbs by just picking em while Questing. and picking in Flightform .......
Hi Finarfin,
Thank you for correcting me on Leatherworking, I have made changes to the article and that does make more sense. Leatherworking is now down in my second choice profession list as it confers a 46 spell power boost and works well with offspecs.
The reason against Herbalism is that the bonus does not do anything particularly useful from the perspective of a raiding Moonkin. True it does help making money, but that is it. There are other ways to make money and other professions will boost your damage output marginally. Every little helps!
Engineering is the best + lunar eclipse