So i’ve played Resto up to 62 during Legion. I’m trying my hand at Balance now, and so far, level 40.
Do any of you experienced boomies know which method of DPS works better, building as close to max Astral Power with Solar Wrath before popping off Starsurges, or just Starsurge any time you have 40+ Astral Power?
Just use starsurges as you get the AP to do so. You’re only leveling so using them sooner = killing the mob faster. Plus it empowers your next solar wrath and lunar strike which also means more damage.
Yeah for trash it doesn’t matter, and the empowerments carry over between kills. Just use it when it lights up.
Once you get into sustained boss damage, it starts getting interesting. For raw DPS purposes it doesn’t matter when you SS as long as it doesn’t overcap empowerments (and if you’re about to overcap AP you SS anyway). But most fights require you to move, so unless you know you can turret freely you usually want to float between 40-80 so you can move on the GCD at a moment’s notice.
At low levels I wouldn’t worry about playing around your ap bar too much, just Starsurge at 40.
At max level with essences and azerite, you’ll want to consider pooling to deal with movement and other mechanics while keeping in mind that incarn/ca (including procs from gear/essence) will generate ap that can overcap you if you pool too much.