Understanding Darkmoon Sigils & Cards: Weapon Enhancements in Season 1

In "The War Within," Darkmoon sigils have been completely revamped. During the Dragonflight period, these sigils were used to adjust the shuffling of your Darkmoon Deck trinkets. Now, scribes who possess at least one point in a Darkmoon Sigil specialization can transform the corresponding Darkmoon Deck into an embellishment, which can be applied to weapons and off-hand items.To craft these sigils, you must consume the Darkmoon Deck, allowing you to create the sigil embellishment. To gain the desired effect on your crafted weapon or off-hand, simply incorporate the Darkmoon Sigil into the optional embellishment reagent during the crafting process.

Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension – Excellent choice for Raids, but average for Mythic+
Darkmoon Sigil: Radiance – Not recommended
Darkmoon Sigil: Symbiosis – Solid option
Darkmoon Sigil: Vivacity – Fairly average

Darkmoon Sigil: Vivacity

The Vivacity sigil grants a stat boost based on the school of magic or healing that activates its effect. Let’s delve into each associated buff and its benefits:

Each buff operates independently, allowing you to trigger multiple effects simultaneously! This makes the sigil particularly powerful for specializations that frequently use multiple schools of damage (though not multi-school combinations like Frostfire, which will activate Vivacity of the Faire). What sets this effect apart is its ability to trigger from other proc effects, meaning items like Ara-Kara Sacbrood can activate Vivacity of Nature for you. Vivacity stands out as the most intriguing among the four new Darkmoon Deck effects. Before its proc rate was reduced from 20 RPPM to 2 RPPM, it promised to be an effect players could strategize around, optimizing gear, enchants, and other elements to maximize these buffs. This made it an engaging mechanic. However, with its current proc rate, this level of strategic play is no longer viable. I would have preferred a reduction in stat value rather than its proc rate, but the change is irreversible. Consequently, this embellishment often doesn't measure up to other alternatives, especially considering the weapon item level reduction it entails.

Darkmoon Sigil: Symbiosis

The Symbiosis sigil offers a straightforward trade-off: sacrifice 1% of your maximum health every 10 seconds to gain a stacking versatility buff known as Symbiosis. This effect is intriguing because it features a Nerubian embellishment, which presents a unique risk and reward dynamic. By using Writhing Armor Banding, you can double the versatility boost, but you'll then lose 2% of your health every 10 seconds. Determining whether the increased versatility is worth the extra health loss is a personal decision.

When evaluating effects like this, it's crucial to consider the context in which you'll be using them. For specializations with strong passive self-healing, the health cost may go unnoticed, whereas those without such healing capabilities might find it problematic. This makes recommending the Symbiosis sigil challenging, as its usefulness is highly situational. With the current tuning, opting for Ascension might be more appealing, except in cases where the 50-second ramp-up time of Symbiosis is more advantageous than the 80-second ramp-up of Ascension, or if your specialization particularly benefits from increased versatility.

Darkmoon Sigil: Radiance

The Radiance sigil challenges you to inflict as much damage as possible within a 15-second window, aiming for a target of approximately 1.9 million damage. The closer you get to this target, the more it enhances your highest secondary stat. If you surpass this target before the debuff wears off, you'll instantly receive the maximum stat boost without waiting for the full 15 seconds. Unfortunately, Radiance appears to be significantly underpowered, with a cap of 782 for your highest secondary stat, a proc rate of around 2 times per minute, and a 15-second duration. This results in a stat boost that is, on average, less than half of what Symbiosis or Ascension provides.While reaching the 1.9 million damage mark may seem challenging initially, it becomes more achievable as you acquire better gear. However, even when consistently hitting the maximum value, this embellishment remains suboptimal and is generally advisable to avoid.

Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension

The Ascension sigil closely resembles the Symbiosis sigil, but without the negative effects. There are two key differences between the two: firstly, Ascension stacks faster, at one stack every 8 seconds, but it requires twice as many stacks to reach its full potential. Secondly, while Symbiosis grants only versatility, Ascension randomly provides a secondary stat every 8 seconds. Regardless of the stat provided, each trigger grants a stack, leading to an 80-second ramp-up time from the start of combat to the maximum buff. Classified as a Nerubian embellishment, its effects can be doubled using Writhing Armor Banding. Without any drawbacks, Ascension presents a safer alternative to Symbiosis while still offering significant benefits. Ascension has the potential to be one of the top embellishments for most specializations in raids. However, it’s quite challenging to recommend it for Mythic+ scenarios. There’s a brief window to re-engage in combat before losing all stacks, but in Mythic+, stacks tend to drop frequently. Make sure to consider this factor if you choose this embellishment.