Update: How the 5x Boomkins are doing

[Evilseed]

Hey guys!

Just an update on the 5x boomkin. Holy crap they are amazing. I was lucky to roll them prior to WOTLK w/o knowing they would be getting some extreme buffs.

I'll describe some typical situations with my 5x Boomkins;

AOE: They are masters at AOEing any type of mobs, safely, ranging from 20-50+ normal guys, or even 5-10 instance elites. Yes, they can aoe instance elites. To AOE I simply cast 5x renews on my lead druid, mount up, run and gather a billion mobs, then hit 5x boomkin form and stand still. I then instantly cast 5x hurricains which does AMAZING dps and has quite an awesome buff. The Boomkin armor here really shines, and thanks to owlkin frenzy and spell pushback changes, you don't have to worry about interrupts at all. Boomkins 5boxed are truly the best AOE class.

Instances: I can do pretty much every instance so far in Boomkin form with NO TANK and NO HEALERs. Huge armor, absolutely ridiculous healing power, and 5x roots, makes instancing fairly easy. Even boss fights are easy. For a boss fight, I simply toss massive HOTs on my main druid, have him attack first to get aggro (and he always maintains it), and then DPS down soo fast. For trash I just root them all and blast `em down 1 at a time. Elites with 35k hp take 2 volleys only which is fast. Not to mention I often just AOE them.

Trees: 15x trees is literally amazing. Every time I do it it brings tears to my eyes. I can automatically drop 15 trees and make them auto aggro and they seriously WRECK SHOP. To give you an idea, when I was level 73, my trees alone could kill a 200,000 hp quest elite.

World PVP: 5x boomkins is #1 imo simply because they can stealth to a group of unsuspecting alliance and open up with a starfire/typhoon and can instantly kill a group of 10 easily. I'm not joking, I have killed groups of 10 alliance instantly time and time again. 5x Boomkins can heal amazingly well, can rez, can stealth, HUGE dps.. what more can you ask for?

DOT dps power. 5x boomkins with insect wrath glphys are amazing, AMAZING dps'rs using DOTS. 1 5x volley of insect swarm, which is instant cast, right now does about 18,000 damage at level 75. You can simply run around DOTing everybody and wreck havok. Toss in some moonfires if you want to.

Combatting Fear: So far I really have no problems with fear. I don't even wear my PVP trinket. The reason is that Boomkins have such amazing healing power that I never have issues even when feared. I can easily move my guys together while casting instant HOT as well as instant DOTs.

Moonfire spam: Another thing that brings tears to my eyes is moonfire spamming. 1 5x moonfire volley will bring a guy down to 40% just like that. The DOT effect will finish them off. Priceless.

I feel like I'm the only 5x Boomkin group and I often wonder why

[Malekyth]

That's beautiful, man. I've never played a druid, even single-boxing, but they always looked like a lot of fun to play. This is inspiring!

[Quix]

Glad to see its working out for you. I used to AOE elites with clothies till I got to arena's/herocis. Then I started getting steamrolled.

I wish you the best of luck, hopefully it lasts for you.

[d0z3rr]

You seriously need to upload some videos! Plz.

[algol]

Mine are still low lowbies, but the burst is a little nicer than it was with lowbie shamans. This is mostly thanks to being able to moonfire while wrath is in flight. You can do this a bit with shocks, but moonfire doesn't go on cooldown if the mob decides to run off with a few HP left.

Roots are funny. I suspect I'll miss the totems later in the game, especially tremor and grounding. On the other side, I'm glad druids have a proper OOC res now.

[Evilseed]

Glad to see its working out for you. I used to AOE elites with clothies till I got to arena's/herocis. Then I started getting steamrolled.

I wish you the best of luck, hopefully it lasts for you.

The beauty of an all druid group is I can spec for any situation The dual spec patch is going to be a huuuge blessing when it comes.

I'm already saving up tank gear on one of my druids who will tank an difficult instance. Boomkin/Resto gear is pretty much the same so no probs making one a dedicated healer if need be.

5mans of any sort should be doable as far as heals/dps go (i think!).

[Boylston]

I think boomkins are like hunters-- some amazing capability if you play them well. The nice part about shamans is that they continue to have great resistance to fear, and they have a lot of "passive" advantages.

I agree that they will be even more awesome when you can utilize dual-spec and instantly convert them to Tank+Healer+3xBoomkin DPS for instances. That's really compelling.

Keep having fun! I know I am really enjoying my hunter squad, even if they aren't as uber as multi-shamans can be...

[algol]

Keep having fun! I know I am really enjoying my hunter squad, even if they aren't as uber as multi-shamans can be...

That's the thing about these abnormal PVE DPS groups. They can be loads of fun, they're just less robust than a shaman team.

[Chabs]

How are you instantly dropping all the trees? Im guessing you are going to each instance and doing it, possibly with 2 monitors? Id like to know exactly how you do it if you dont mind.

[Evilseed]

That's the thing about these abnormal PVE DPS groups. They can be loads of fun, they're just less robust than a shaman team.

That is the misnomer here. I don't think 5x druids are at much of a disadvantage compared to a shaman team. The only big thing I see shamans having is a totem to break fear, but I haven't had issues yet.

Back when I was 70 I ran into the typical shaman multiboxing group in AV and I honestly steamrolled them without fail every time. I just don't see the advantage as being that strong.

I had a typical cookie cutter shaman 5box/4box group before so hopefully I'm making some good comparisons based on what I know