This is part one in a series on the possible Moonkin Rotations, the two different Eclipse Procs, DoT uptimes, and anything else that creeps into this abysmal place between my ears.

If you couldn't tell already, I am looking extensively into the viability of the Solar rotation (an eclipse procced by Starfire). In general, I find that the Solar rotation is more fun to play. It seems to move at a faster pace during the fights. I find that a Solar rotation is a little more forgiving if you need to move.

This post will rely heavily on Graylo's previous look at the Eclipse mechanism and his calculations of the Lunar rotation. If you haven't seen this post yet, I recommend that you head on over and take a look.

I will be using my same theoretical druid primed for a Solar rotation at 3000 spellpower, 45% crit, and 389 haste. A side note to my theoretical druid: I have reduced the crit percentage from ~50 to 45% to account for the fact that many raids do not have every crit buff, especially in the 10 man world.

There are essentially three portions of the rotation. There is the precast, where we are attempting to proc the eclipse buff. Next is the eclipse portion of the rotation. This includes all of the spells that are cast while under the eclipse buff. Finally, there is the cooldown, while we wait for the internal cooldown of the eclipse buff to expire.

Assumptions: Beneficial DoT is up while corresponding spell is cast. Idol of Steadfast Renewal is used. Precasting period starts with both DoTs up. I chose to use Starfire's Nature's Grace Uptime for all non-Wrath casts since it was smaller and presented a more conservative view.

Precasting

Eclipse

Cooldown (Wrath Filler)

DoTs

I sorta gave these a hand-waving assumption that they would always be up and this is strictly FALSE. So to semi-rectify the problem, I will be including them in the damage and adding two global cooldowns to the front of the Precasting phase. I intentionally included a refresh period for my DoT’s in the Cooldown phase. However, at some point IS fell off during the eclipse proc. I would have to choose when/if to reapply the DoT. I shall be looking into this a little closer when I talk about DoT uptime.

Total Damage/DPS

TL:DR

The Solar cycle is putting out approximately 5185.4602 DPS. This is excluding any starfall or treant damage. I am also not accounting for any BL or any other type of haste buff.

Before you run off and tell your guild that you can do x DPS, keep in mind there are MANY flaws in this calculation. For instance, I calculated average Starfire damage, knowing full well that only 1 (and possibly two) Starfire crit. I assumed that the IS DoT was applied throughout the Eclipse proc without calculating the cast time involved for that. I made assumptions about glyphs and specs that aren’t universally true (but are pretty darn close). This is theorycrafting, folks. Take it with a grain of salt because it really only gives you an idea of what the moonkin arsenal can look like. That said, the following is a breakdown of the percentage contribution of each spell.
Which is not drastically far from what I experience when I am able to "stand and deliver". I'm much happier overall with these results than with the others.