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  1. #1

    [Feral] Pawkets' PvE Guide / FAQ - 6.2

    Welcome to my Feral DPS Guide and FAQ! The guide is separated into three parts: a "crash course" section that has all you need to know to pick up feral and be successful, an advanced section for those that want to improve their game to the absolute max, and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section.

    This guide is currently up to date for Patch 6.2.3.

    If you have any questions or comments on the content provided in this guide, feel free to leave a post and let me know! You can also try asking your question in Dreamgrove chat and somebody may be able to help you out.

    Index
    [101] CAT DURID IS 4 FITE! (The Basics)
    • [110] Priority List
      • [111] Uptimes
      • [112] Cooldowns
      • [113] Opener
    • [120] Gearing
      • [121] Stat Priority
      • [122] Gems & Enchants
      • [123] Set Bonuses
    • [130] Spec Recommendations
      • [131] Cheat
      • [132] Talents
      • [133] Talent Simulations
      • [134] Glyphs

    [201] King of the Jungle (Advanced Tactics)
    • [210] Best in Slot
    • [220] Trinket Rankings
    • [230] Snapshotting & Clipping
    • [240] Late Refresh

    [301] Frequently Asked Questions
    • Which item is better?
    • Which trinket should I use? / Should I break my set bonus? etc.
    • How can I simulate my character?
    • When should I use my trinkets?
    • Help! I have a question about how to use finishers.
    To jump to a specific section of the guide, press CTRL+F and type the section number (eg: "[131]").

    CAT DURID IS 4 FITE! (The Basics) - [101]


    Priority List - [110]

    Here I will list the bare bones of the rotation: this is the absolute minimum you need to know to put out decent DPS. Make sure you read the other sections of this post for important details.

    In addition, there are more advanced tactics that are not reflected in this post as they will be covered later in the guide in King of the Jungle (Advanced Tactics).

    1. Tiger's Fury when on low energy.
    2. Berserk on cooldown, stack with Tiger's Fury when possible.
    3. Maintain Savage Roar.
    4. Ferocious Bite with 5 combo points and 50 energy to refresh Rip if the target is at or below 25% health.
    5. Maintain Rip with 5 combo points.
    6. Ferocious Bite with 5 combo points and 50 energy if Rip and Savage Roar are managed.
    7. Maintain Rake.
    8. Shred for combo points.
    In general, you should aim to waste as little energy or combo points to overcapping as possible.

    On multiple targets: Add in maintaining Thrash, maintain Rake on as many targets as possible, and use Swipe in place of Shred. Swipe is extremely weak, and as such you should only use it when you have all of your bleeds, including Rake, rolling on all of the targets, or if there is a very large amount of targets that will die before you can DoT them.

    Uptimes - [111]

    First off, in Warlords of Draenor all damage over time effects now have a mechanic called Pandemic. Pandemic allows you to carry over up to 30% of the base duration of the new effect from the old one's duration. For example, if you apply a Rake to a target that has a Rake with 4 seconds remaining already on it, the duration of the new Rake will be 15 (base duration) + 4 (remaining duration, <= 30% of 15) = 19 seconds. It is important to take advantage of this mechanic for optimal DPS, the main takeaway being that all DoTs can be refreshed as soon as they have <= 30% of the base duration remaining. The sooner you reapply a DoT, the less chance you stand of letting it fall off, which means higher uptime and more damage. This mechanic allows for significantly easier maintenance of our bleeds and Savage Roar compared to 5.4.

    Feral has 4 (de)buffs it should maintain for optimal DPS:

    Savage Roar: This should be your #1 concern. When Savage Roar is down or about to end, the only thing you should cast is Savage Roar (or if you don't have any combo points, get one then Savage Roar). If you do this, you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting 99% or higher uptime on it, which is what you should aim for.

    Savage Roar's pandemic threshold is a bit weird because of the specifics of the mechanic, but just keep in mind that when you're applying a 5 combo point roar you can refresh as soon as 12.6 seconds. The threshold is lower if you're applying a fewer combo point roar, but generally you shouldn't be applying a roar of less than 5 combo points unless is your current roar is about to run out (~3 seconds or less, roughly). This is not to say that <5 combo point Roars are bad, though; you should use however many combo points best allows you to maintain Rip.

    Rake: You should have this up near 100% of the time just like Savage Roar. Its a CP generator that just costs energy, so when Rake is down or about to end just swap a single Shred out for Rake. Simple. Rake has a Pandemic threshold of 4.5 seconds, so refresh it as soon as its remaining duration reaches that threshold.

    Rip: This costs energy and combo points so this is where maintenance starts to get a little bit complicated. You always want to cast it with 5 combo points and should aim to have its uptime as high as possible. 90%+ is good, but close to 95% is ideal (given you have full uptime on the target). Rip has a Pandemic threshold of 7.2 seconds, so refresh it as soon as its remaining duration reaches that threshold.

    Thrash: If you’re attacking more than one target you generally want to keep this up all the time. The more targets, the more important it is, so when you're fighting a large number of targets this should be your top priority after Savage Roar. Thrash has a Pandemic threshold of 4.5 seconds, so refresh it as soon as its remaining duration reaches that threshold.

    In Warlords of Draenor, using Thrash on a single target is no longer a significant gain. At level 90 it is a small gain due to the higher levels of mastery available with Siege of Orgrimmar, but at level 100 the gain becomes of no significance and is not worth bothering with. In both cases, if there are secondary or tertiary targets who are useful to damage but not a priority Thrash can be maintained with little to no damage loss to the primary target.

    Cooldowns - [112]

    As a feral druid you have two main cooldowns: Tiger's Fury and Berserk; with Incarnation being a third if you choose to spec into it. Tiger’s Fury should be used as close to every 30 seconds as you possibly can; think of it as more of a part of your rotation than a cooldown. It is a very rare occasion where you would consider not using it on cooldown as long as you have something to attack, basically the only time you do this is if you know there’s a big pack of adds about to spawn and you know your TF won’t line up to burst on them unless you save it for it.

    Berserk is your big cooldown. It should always be used with Tiger’s Fury, the only exception being if Tiger’s Fury won’t be off cooldown again before the encounter is over. If you specialize into Incarnation, you should generally always use it together with Berserk.

    You can use a macro like this to trigger Berserk with your Tiger’s Fury (you can add racial cooldowns, too):
    Code:
    #showtooltip Berserk
    /cast Incarnation: King of the Jungle
    /cast Berserk
    /cast Tiger's Fury
    You may also wish to trigger Incarnation seperately prior to Berserk to prevent unnecessarily losing 1 second of the Berserk buff, but this is a small gain.

    Opener - [113]

    Like other specializations, Feral's opener is primarily a practical application of the normal priority list: if you understand your abilities' interactions and how to use them then you will understand the opener, and vice versa. Of significant note is when specifically to activate your cooldowns and in what order, as you find yourself in circumstances that typically do not occur during the thick of an encounter, such as a significant threat of energy capping.

    Bloodtalons
    Healing Touch
    Prowl
    Pot
    Incarnation
    Pull (Incarnation GCD ends)
    Use Trinkets
    Rake
    Use Trinkets (after Incarnation GCD ends)
    Shred to 5 CP
    Berserk, TF (use these earlier if you run out of energy)
    Rip
    Shred to 4+ CP
    Healing Touch
    Rake if at 4 CP
    Ferocious Bite
    Rake if you didn't before the FB
    On to normal rotation
    Claws of Shirvallah
    Prowl
    Pot
    Incarnation
    Pull (Incarnation GCD ends)
    Use Trinkets
    Rake
    Shred to 5 CP
    Berserk, TF (use these earlier if you run out of energy)
    Rip
    Rake
    Shred to 5 CP
    Ferocious Bite
    On to normal rotation
    Lunar Inspiration
    Prowl
    Pot
    Incarnation
    Pull (Incarnation GCD ends)
    Use Trinkets
    Rake
    Moonfire
    Shred to 5 CP
    Berserk, TF (use these earlier if you run out of energy)
    Rip
    Rake
    Shred to 5 CP
    Ferocious Bite
    On to normal rotation
    For any talent, if your group uses Bloodlust or Heroism on pull then you should be able to Ferocious Bite 3 times before having to refresh Rip. Without Bloodlust/Heroism a judgement call must be made to determine if a third bite can be fit in without causing a Rip downtime of more than a few seconds.

    Gearing - [120]


    Stat Priority - [121]

    There are too many different scenarios of gear, encounters, and talents to describe every possible gearing scenario, but I can emphasize on some major points. In general, stat priority for Patchwerk-style encounters will look something like this for all talent combinations:
    Crit > Multistrike >= Versatility >= Mastery > Haste
    In any situation with multiple targets or reduced target uptime, the priority tends to shift to something like the following:
    Mastery > Crit > Multistrike >= Versatility > Haste

    It is important to consider that a true Patchwerk-style scenario is relatively rare compared to add fights, AoE fights, and council fights. Often these sorts of encounters still put significant emphasis on single target damage during parts of the encounter so it is also unwise to completely forsake Crit for Mastery. In general, the best gearing strategy is:
    Crit > Mastery > Multistrike >= Versatility > Haste
    this sort of setup will sacrifice a small portion of your single target damage to become close to proficient as possible in multi-target scenarios.

    Here's an example of the sort of single target damage loss I'm talking about in full heroic BRF gear:



    Of course, it should go without saying that this suggestion should not be followed blindly, and you should pickup any spare pieces you can get your hands on for the sake of selecting the right gear for the right situation.

    Finally, while if you want the most accurate weights possible you should really simulate your own character, here are some example stat weights. These are generated with a character in full heroic tier 18 gear using Incarnation & Bloodtalons in 3 different scenarios: Patchwerk, 2 target Council-style fight, and HecticAddCleave (a SimulationCraft fight style similar to Horridon from Throne of Thunder).

    Patchwerk
    2 Target
    HecticAddCleave

    Gems, Enchants - [122]

    In Warlords of Draenor, both and enchants and gems are a much scarcer modification to worry about compared to previous expansions and your selection is very plentiful. For enchants you can pick between most any stat you want, and for gems socket bonuses are gone and all sockets are now prismatic. Simply put, for general use you should use these customizations to stack as much Critical Strike rating as possible; this means flat crit enchants and Greater Critical Strike Taladites in any sockets you happen to acquire.

    For weapon enchants, Mark of the Shattered Hand is a viable alternative in dungeon gear, but once you've picked up a bit of raid gear Mark of Thunderlord should pull ahead indefinitely.

    If progressing on a multi-target focused encounter (as described in the previous section), you may instead consider stacking Mastery rating via Mark of the Bleeding Hollow, flat mastery enchants, and Greater Mastery Taladites.

    Set Bonuses - [123]

    Living Wood Battlegear (Tier 17)
    • The 2 set is a great bonus for multiple targets, but a bit weak on single target. Thrash becomes a lot more enticing to use since it quickly pays for itself on many targets, and can be applied more aggressively starting at 2 targets.
    • Using the 4 set you should aim to deal as much damage during your Berserk as possible. In your opener, by delaying the use of your Berserk until the GCD following Rip you can fit 3 Ferocious Bites into Berserk for maximum damage.

    Oathclaw Wargarb (Tier 18)
    • With the 2 set you want to use a finisher instantly whenever Omen procs (making sure you have the energy needed for maximum bite damage). Also note that you can use TF at 60 or less energy instead of 40 or less, which means you can use TF instantly when it comes off cooldown every time except for when you get chain Omen procs.
    • With the 4 set, you want to stop pooling for finishers entirely except to make sure FB is doing max damage. Thrash on Omen of Clarity to keep the DoT up, but don't let it steal BT charges from your damaging finishers. Using Predatory Swiftness at 5 CP instead of 4 if you're not going to use 1 of the charges on Rake, allows you to use thrash more often (otherwise you wouldn't be able to thrash when at 4 or 5 combo points).
    • Tier 17 bonuses are generally worth dropping for Tier 18 bonuses with any combination/item level of items.

    Spec Recommendations - [130]

    Cheatsheet - [131]
    Bloodtalons and Incarnation are generally the best DPS options for all situations, but Claws of Shirvallah is a good choice for beginners. The other tiers are all generally preference or situational (either due to talents having different strengths or the whole tier generally not being useful).

    For level 60 talents, Incarnation is the all around stronger choice. Soul of the Forest is an alternative for players who would prefer a passive option but is weaker in almost every regard. For level 100 talents, Bloodtalons is generally the highest DPS option but Claws of Shirvallah is a great option for beginners. Lunar Inspiration is competive for sustained multitarget (eg: 2-3 target "Council" fights) but can be avoided entirely. Most players will want to use Glyph of Savage Roar for the free Savage Roar on pull and either Glyph of Cat Form or Glyph of the Ninth Life for survivability (depending on the encounter). The third glyph slot is relatively open and can be used for whatever is appropriate.

    Talents - [132]

    Incarnation: King of the Jungle
    A 3 minute cooldown which stacks wonderfully with Berserk, enables us to take advantage of our Improved Rake perk mid-fight, and allows us to trigger Glyph of Savage Roar; what's not to like? This is what makes us great burst DPS.

    Soul of the Forest Force of Nature
    Never take these talents, there is no situation where they are competitive with Incarnation. They also look far less cool.

    Claws of Shirvallah
    The worst talent in regards to DPS value in the tier, but it also comes with no added complexity. This is a good choice if you feel like you're still learning the basics of the rotation, just remember to give Bloodtalons a shot when you're ready to step it up.

    Lunar Inspiration
    This talent is strongest when it comes to sustained damage on 2 to 3 targets. It is mediocre on single target when compared to Bloodtalons, and pitiful on AoE as you don't have enough energy or GCDs to maintain both Moonfire and Rake on many targets. Unfortunately with the buffs to Thrash, Rip, and Rake in 6.2 this talent is no longer the best in even its strongest situation so I cannot recommend it. It is also significantly more taxing to use on 2-3 targets than Bloodtalons due to the extremely excessive timer tracking-oriented gameplay it promotes.

    Bloodtalons
    The best talent in the 100 tier when used correctly. When you spend combo points on your finishing moves, you have a chance (100% with 5 combo points) to trigger Predatory Swiftness which allows you to cast one free Healing Touch in form; in turn your next two abilities will deal 30% more damage. While the optimal usage may not be obvious at first glance, it follows a fairly simple and consistent rule in all situations. Spend your Predatory Swiftness via Healing Touch when:
    • You're at 4 or more combo points.
    • Predatory Swiftness is about to expire.
    Since your finishers are your highest damage-dealing abilities, you want to try to always have a charge for them which using Healing Touch at 4 or 5 combo points allows you to achieve. The other charge can be used to cast a buffed Rake, a Thrash for AoE situations, or simply a Shred if nothing else needs to be buffed. To maximize your ability to reach 4 combo points before Predatory Swiftness expires you should pool energy before your finishers (when possible, don't waste energy or delay Tiger's Fury) which allows you to get a head start into your next combo point cycle.

    Talent Simulations - [133]

    Patchwerk:

    2 target:

    HecticAddCleave (Horridon-like encounter):

    Glyphs - [134]

    Glyph of Savage Roar and Glyph of Savagery: These two glyphs are mutually exclusive but everybody should use at least one or the other. If you're struggling keeping Savage Roar active (or for levelling or similar activities with high downtime) then Savagery is a good choice but is otherwise intended to be a damage loss. If you're not interested in using Savagery you should take Savage Roar as it is one of the few glyphs we have that gives us a damage benefit, and a rather nice one too. Savagery's damage loss is pretty small (around 4% at most, depending on talents) but finds some optimal use in situations where the druid has a plentiful number of targets to apply Rip to.

    Glyph of Cat Form and Glyph of the Ninth Life: Another exclusive set of glyphs where everybody should have at least one. Cat Form grants 20% increased healing taken, and Ninth Life gives 10% damage reduction; use whichever seems more appropriate for the encounter. If in doubt, go with Cat Form.

    Glyph of Stampeding Roar: A solid choice for your third major glyph slot. Almost every fight where Stampeding Roar is used this is a very strong option since it allows your whole raid to benefit from it.

    Glyph of Survival Instincts: Good for fights with frequent, instant, choreographed raid damage. Half duration is of course the big drawback, so if there's little sustained damage of any consequence then this is a good choice.

    Glyph of Rebirth: If you don't have any Balance or Resto druids in your group you might want to consider this if you find yourself casting Rebirth frequently. If you do then make them use this glyph instead since its far easier for more effective for them to be the one resurrecting.

    King of the Jungle (Advanced Tactics) - [201]


    Best in Slot - [210]

    Its probably best to think of the information in this section as "gearing lists" rather than "Best in Slot" because in general piece selection is situational depending on what suites the encounter you're attempting, most notably with the value of mastery. To account for this, the links below will have a main set that recommends the best all-around pieces, and 2 specialized sets intended for single target and AoE-focused encounters respectively.

    http://summonstone.com/druid/feral/#gear

    Trinkets are situational because of their various strengths and weaknesses, so the trinkets in the above profile should be considered placeholders.

    Trinket Rankings - [220]

    Below are two different styles of comparisons intended to give you an idea of trinkets stack up to each other. The 2 trinket comparison is generally more accurate, so you should use it if the trinkets you're comparing are on there, but it is much less inclusive because doing pairs for every trinket available would generate a truly ridiculous number of combinations. The single trinket comparison is less exact because it does not handle trinket (a)synergy at all so it should be used as fallback.

    It is highly recommended that you do your own 2 trinket comparisons using your gear when choosing between trinkets you have at your disposal because results will vary depending on your gear and stat balance; these comparisons are done with only one set of gear (Heroic HFC) and as such is only truly reflective of their value when used with that exact set of gear.

    Both comparisons are a Patchwerk-style simulation so mastery trinkets are undervalued in most practical contexts.

    Single Trinket:



    Dual Trinket:
    Snapshotting & Clipping - [230]

    Bleeds use the damage multipliers you had at the time of application for the whole duration of the bleed (called “snapshotting“); Feral is one of the only specializations to have several of these modifiers which adds a bit more depth to its rotation. The following buffs are snapshotted by bleeds:

    There are two scenarios where "clipping" a bleed (refreshing it earlier than you normally would) is a damage gain:
    • You can apply a stronger Rake via some combination of the above buffs: The cost to reapply a Rake is fairly negligible, and over the duration of that Rake you will net more damage than you would if you use a Shred instead. Note that Improved Rake is active during Incarnation.
    • You can apply a stronger Rip during Tiger's Fury and the target is at or below 25% health: When you refresh Rip on a target that has less than 25% health with Ferocious Bite the damage multiplier on the Rip is maintained when it is refreshed. This means you should aim to stack both Savage Roar and Tiger's Fury (and also Bloodtalons if you are specialized in it) onto your execute Rip as those modifiers will add up to a lot of extra damage over the last few minutes of the encounter. In a short encounter, such as that of a 5 man heroic boss, this can be mostly disregarded.

    It is important to note that these are the only circumstances where it is a DPS gain to refresh a DoT any significant amount of time before it progresses to its Pandemic level. Rip does not do enough damage to justify trading away potential Ferocious Bite damage prior to execute, Thrash doesn't do enough damage in general, and Moonfire does not snapshot any buffs.

    While bleed clipping is certainly something that can be tracked manually, you may find it helpful to use a WeakAura or similar addon to track snapshotting information for you.

    Late Refresh - [240]

    When a bleed that has a higher snapshotted damage multiplier is about to end, it can be a small gain to let that bleed tick out instead of immediately refreshing it at the Pandemic threshold.

    For example, lets say you have a Rake on the target that was applied with Tiger's Fury and it is now down to 4.5 seconds remaining. If you were to refresh it at exactly 4.5s (Rake's Pandemic threshold) then the 4.5 seconds of the Rake that is added to the new Rake benefits from the modifiers at the time the new Rake was applied, not the old one. If you instead wait until the 3.0s mark (or even until 0 seconds), this allows Tiger's Fury's damage multiplier to take effect for 1 or 2 additional ticks that it would not have otherwise.

    Now of course you should be very careful about how you take advantage of this. If delaying the reapplication of the bleed causes the bleed to drop for more than a fraction of a second, then all the damage gained is lost and you would've been better off refreshing normally. This generally it is not a method you should apply with high latency, when you're about to leave the target, or just in general when there's a lot going on and you don't have the attention to devote to such a trivial gain.

    Frequently Asked Questions - [301]

    For questions about changes in 6.0, please see Alaron's post here. I won't be covering that information as it would just be regurgitating the same things he wrote.

    Which item is better? (item level vs better stats, item level vs sockets, etc)

    A great way to answer these questions is to use the addon Pawn. You can input your own custom weights and it will score each item and tell you when you find an upgrade. For best results, considering simulating stat weights for your own character (see the section below), but you may also use these import strings as a substitute:

    With Seed of Creation:
    Balanced -- For general use:
    Code:
    ( Pawn: v1: "Balanced": Agility=15.95, Ap=14.38, CritRating=10.5, HasteRating=4.91, MasteryRating=9.49, Multistrike=8.75, Versatility=8.21, Dps=11.88, IsOffHand=-1000000, IsFist=-1000000, IsMace=-1000000, IsCrossbow=-1000000, IsDagger=-1000000, IsGun=-1000000, IsFrill=-1000000, Is2HAxe=-1000000, IsBow=-1000000, IsSword=-1000000, IsWand=-1000000, Is2HSword=-1000000, IsAxe=-1000000 )
    AoE -- For encounters constant or near-constant multiple targets:
    Code:
    ( Pawn: v1: "AoE": Agility=15.96, Ap=14.39, CritRating=10.43, HasteRating=5, MasteryRating=9.66, Multistrike=8.74, Versatility=8.19, Dps=11.59, IsOffHand=-1000000, IsFist=-1000000, IsMace=-1000000, IsCrossbow=-1000000, IsDagger=-1000000, IsGun=-1000000, IsFrill=-1000000, Is2HAxe=-1000000, IsBow=-1000000, IsSword=-1000000, IsWand=-1000000, Is2HSword=-1000000, IsAxe=-1000000 )
    Single Target -- For pure single target encounters:
    Code:
    ( Pawn: v1: "Single Target": Agility=15.99, Ap=14.39, CritRating=10.83, HasteRating=5.17, MasteryRating=8.03, Multistrike=8.87, Versatility=8.3566, Dps=13.84, IsOffHand=-1000000, IsFist=-1000000, IsMace=-1000000, IsCrossbow=-1000000, IsDagger=-1000000, IsGun=-1000000, IsFrill=-1000000, Is2HAxe=-1000000, IsBow=-1000000, IsSword=-1000000, IsWand=-1000000, Is2HSword=-1000000, IsAxe=-1000000 )
    Without Seed of Creation:
    Balanced -- For general use:
    Code:
    ( Pawn: v1: "Balanced": Agility=14.37, Ap=13.07, CritRating=10.46, HasteRating=6.08, MasteryRating=9.79, Multistrike=8.4, Versatility=8.16, Dps=10.37, IsOffHand=-1000000, IsFist=-1000000, IsMace=-1000000, IsCrossbow=-1000000, IsDagger=-1000000, IsGun=-1000000, IsFrill=-1000000, Is2HAxe=-1000000, IsBow=-1000000, IsSword=-1000000, IsWand=-1000000, Is2HSword=-1000000, IsAxe=-1000000 )
    AoE -- For encounters constant or near-constant multiple targets:
    Code:
    ( Pawn: v1: "AoE": Agility=14.41, Ap=13, CritRating=10.31, HasteRating=6.1, MasteryRating=9.94, Multistrike=8.38, Versatility=8.17, Dps=10.19, IsOffHand=-1000000, IsFist=-1000000, IsMace=-1000000, IsCrossbow=-1000000, IsDagger=-1000000, IsGun=-1000000, IsFrill=-1000000, Is2HAxe=-1000000, IsBow=-1000000, IsSword=-1000000, IsWand=-1000000, Is2HSword=-1000000, IsAxe=-1000000 )
    Single Target -- For pure single target encounters:
    Code:
    ( Pawn: v1: "Single Target": Agility=14.44, Ap=13.22, CritRating=10.89, HasteRating=6.52, MasteryRating=8.32, Multistrike=8.58, Versatility=8.30, Dps=11.68, IsOffHand=-1000000, IsFist=-1000000, IsMace=-1000000, IsCrossbow=-1000000, IsDagger=-1000000, IsGun=-1000000, IsFrill=-1000000, Is2HAxe=-1000000, IsBow=-1000000, IsSword=-1000000, IsWand=-1000000, Is2HSword=-1000000, IsAxe=-1000000 )
    I like to keep the best item for each set of weights so I can swap pieces accordingly for each raid encounter. Notably, Pawn does not handle procs such as those on trinkets; for that see the next section.

    Which trinket should I use? Should I break my set bonus? etc.

    In most cases the answer to your question will be specific to your own character and you'll have to determine the answer yourself using SimulationCraft (check the next section in this FAQ for information on how to do this).

    If you're having troubles getting one of these programs to work, feel free to post your question in this thread and someone may help you out. If you do ask for help, make sure you include a link to your armory (or character name and realm)! If you don't do this, 90% of the time we won't be able to tell you the answer for sure.

    How can I simulate my character?

    You'll have to download and install SimulationCraft, a free open source WoW combat simulator. There's a great starters guide for getting the program setup and basics on how to use it here, and there's also a guide for how to do some basic comparisons by Mendenbarr here.

    When should I use my trinkets?

    Trinkets should be used with cooldowns and other procs as often as possible without losing usages in the fight duration. For example, lets say you're doing a 4 minute fight, proper usage of a 2 minute trinket would look like this (timestamps are approximate):
    0:00 - Incarnation, Berserk, Trinket
    3:00 - Incarnation, Berserk, Trinket
    In this example you're still getting the maximum amount of Berserks and trinket usages, but everything is aligned perfectly for maximum effect.

    An opposite example would be a 5 minute fight:
    0:00 - Incarnation, Berserk, Trinket
    2:00 - Trinket
    4:00 - Incarnation, Berserk, Trinket
    In this case you're holding your 2nd Berserk to go with your last trinket.

    Typically, you should use everything on cooldown until the end of the fight where you only have 1 use left of each cooldown, then hold them so that you can use them all together.

    Help! I have a question about how to use finishers.

    99% of finisher situations will resolve themselves if you follow these simple guidelines:
    • Only use Ferocious Bite at high energy (or during Berserk) and when Savage Roar and Rip are both outside of their pandemic window.
    • Always prioritize refreshing Rip over SR as long as SR as active.
    Last edited by aggixx; 2015-11-23 at 05:08 AM.


    Druid / Demon Hunter SimulationCraft Maintainer

  2. #2
    Deleted
    Thanks for Posting this, good job. I take it this will be updated once we hit 100?

  3. #3
    Alright, transcription from the Fluid Druid guide is done. Feel free to read it over now if you'd like and you won't be missing anything

    Quote Originally Posted by Tachyne View Post
    Thanks for Posting this, good job. I take it this will be updated once we hit 100?
    Yes, I plan to update it within the week prior to launch.


    Druid / Demon Hunter SimulationCraft Maintainer

  4. #4
    2 questions

    About the pandemic feature; once we hit each threshold should we clip our dots? So once our rip is <= 7.2 we should automatically refresh it?

    Also about snapshotting if we have a Rake thats enhanced by Savage roar and tiger's fury rolling, if we clip it early at the threshold (4.5 seconds) without Tiger's fury how will that interact with our enhanced rake?

    thanks

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Mooninites View Post
    About the pandemic feature; once we hit each threshold should we clip our dots? So once our rip is <= 7.2 we should automatically refresh it?
    Yes you can refresh it any time after it reaches 7.2 seconds and no duration will be lost. That isn't to say that you always want to immediately, more on that below.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mooninites View Post
    Also about snapshotting if we have a Rake thats enhanced by Savage roar and tiger's fury rolling, if we clip it early at the threshold (4.5 seconds) without Tiger's fury how will that interact with our enhanced rake?
    As soon as you refresh the bleed its damage multipliers change to the new ones, not when it would've "normally" ended, so by refreshing at 4.5 seconds you lose the 15% damage bonus from TF on the 2nd to last and last tick of the Rake. You can abuse this mechanic to eek out a little bit of damage which is explained in the "Late Refresh" section of the guide (section [240]). I updated the section to be a bit more thorough how the mechanic works and when to use it.

    It is worth noting that this is high risk low reward option, hence why it is in the advanced section of the guide. Its not something I would recommend using without a fair bit of practice (and caution).

    - - - Updated - - -

    I've removed the stuff about enchants and consumables from old expansions per Watcher's tweet here.
    Last edited by aggixx; 2014-10-13 at 06:01 PM.


    Druid / Demon Hunter SimulationCraft Maintainer

  6. #6
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  7. #7
    I cant understand why Savage Roar is affected by 'Pandemic' mechanic.

  8. #8
    Im not too good at feral, ive Heard that maintaining trash debuff single target is considered a dps increase, is this true?

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Spoonman View Post
    Im not too good at feral, ive Heard that maintaining trash debuff single target is considered a dps increase, is this true?
    My math says that thrash is slightly better than shred to cast on clearcast (and only on clearcast), but only if you don't have bloodtalons or soul of the forest.

  10. #10
    Now, this was a fresh breath. You might possibly want to change the links to WoWDB for tooltips, at least for Warlords.

  11. #11
    Sweet. Thanks so much for this, Pawkets. Really informative and helpful.

  12. #12
    Armories are being updated for the squish but it doesn't look as though they have fixed TBC enchants Vs. MoP versions despite Watcher saying they were working on it. Anyone know an ETA on when that bug will be fixed?
    Last edited by Kioga; 2014-10-14 at 03:55 PM.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by mmokri View Post
    I cant understand why Savage Roar is affected by 'Pandemic' mechanic.
    Same reason it also refreshed like a DoT for all of MoP, for quality of life reasons. If was just a "normal" buff then you would be incentivized to wait to refresh it as late as possible without it falling off which would make gameplay a bit more difficult, not only because you have a smaller window but because it would cause increased collision with Rip.

    Quote Originally Posted by Spoonman View Post
    Im not too good at feral, ive Heard that maintaining trash debuff single target is considered a dps increase, is this true?
    Its explained in the guide in the Uptimes section. Its a very small gain at level 90 and about breakeven at level 100. You certainly don't need to worry about it on a single target at level 90 but you can if you want to, the important thing about it is that you can take advantage of the fact that maintaining it is not a DPS loss to get free damage on other targets (ex: The adds on heroic Malkorok).

    It may also be advantageous to use as an energy dump to aid keeping TF on cooldown with Assurance of Consequence, but that's something I need to look into a bit when I get home.

    Quote Originally Posted by Arctagon View Post
    Now, this was a fresh breath. You might possibly want to change the links to WoWDB for tooltips, at least for Warlords.
    Hmm, I suppose I could do that but I'd have to write up a quick conversion script since all the links need to be to Wowhead in the Fluid Druid guide.

    Quote Originally Posted by Valqt View Post
    Sweet. Thanks so much for this, Pawkets. Really informative and helpful.
    No problem, glad you found it helpful.

    Quote Originally Posted by Kioga View Post
    Armories are being updated for the squish but it doesn't look as though they have fixed TBC enchants Vs. MoP versions despite Watcher saying they were working on it. Anyone know an ETA on when that bug will be fixed?
    Don't think there's an ETA. Personally I'll be keeping all my old world enchants on (since I had already applied them prior to the announcement) until I see they for sure nerfed them.


    Druid / Demon Hunter SimulationCraft Maintainer

  14. #14
    I'm in the same boat so the delay pleases me. I was annoyed i was gonna have to waste mats redoing DS on my weapon after reading Watcher's tweet. On the plus side, I was able to make a nice bit of gold selling the enchants/consumables I had made for my alts.

  15. #15
    Deleted
    aggixx, i know its early but if you had to guess what type of fight would you think we would take lunar inspiration for? blood talons just seems to be plain better on beta from what ive seen? and if you had to guess, how many targets would you think is required for SoTF to be better than Incarn? @100

    Edit:
    You can apply a 15% stronger Rip during Tiger's Fury and the target is at or below 25% health
    if the target is above 25% and TF is up, do we re apply rip then?
    Last edited by mmoc424a42f312; 2014-10-14 at 06:39 PM.

  16. #16
    Lunar Inspiration had a good niche on 2-4 targets, but when they nerfed Rake and buffed Swipe the balance got pretty messed up. Its still good on 2-4 targets but its not compelling enough to give any reason to not just use Bloodtalons all the time.

    SoTF is never better than Incarnation at 100 because of Improved Rake. Incarnation is the best talent in pretty much every situation (again, at 100).

    Perhaps I oversimplified the snapshotting section a bit too much. You can still apply Rip with TF above 25%, but its not a significant damage gain; don't know the figures off the top of my head.

    PS: In general take any level 100 information with a grain of salt. Not only is it subject to change, but because of that its not like I've put a ton of time in analyzing these things yet.
    Last edited by aggixx; 2014-10-14 at 06:24 PM.


    Druid / Demon Hunter SimulationCraft Maintainer

  17. #17
    Deleted
    thanks for getting back to me. Heres a link to the new thread on Fluidruid with the WOD Weak aura Snap shoting Strings http://fluiddruid.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5020 just in case you need it for your guide.
    Last edited by mmoc424a42f312; 2014-10-14 at 06:42 PM.

  18. #18
    I have classes for a bit more so I can't test it. Besides, I'll be using a very different setup that I've been working on over the past few days instead of Sten's auras.


    Druid / Demon Hunter SimulationCraft Maintainer

  19. #19
    Deleted
    When yours in done , share it with the rest of us wink wink

  20. #20
    I plan to, but it will involve downloading some custom textures as well, unfortunately.


    Druid / Demon Hunter SimulationCraft Maintainer

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