Feral Rotation Assitance

[wingcommander]

Hi all,

Great wealth of information here, especially feral tanking, I've realised that my armor of 21k is seriously not cutting it for some encounters for 25man naxx. But at this this evening I will start trying to correct the issue!

What I'm really struggling with at the moment is my cat form rotation dps. I think my gear isn't bad, like 3-4 25man naxx drops + a few epix, but I'm only pulling around 1.4 to 1.7 DPS through the raid and bosses encounters which means I'm doing something. I got 3k+ DPS with bear on trash, but that doesn't count IMO since I had to pop beserk.

Note that I understand that because I have some tanking enchants I'm not really expecting to hit 4k DPS like other druids, but I think my current DPS is a little low since this was achieveable pre WotLK. So there has (hope) there is something wrong with my rotation.

I don't have imp shred and only glyph of mangle. I have rend and tear.

My Typical cycle is to
-> open with pounce for an extra bleed
-> Mangle -> SR
-> Pop TF then Rake -> Rip
-> Faerie Fire
-> Then begin repeating maintaining Mangle, Rake, SR (not always 5CP) and Rip (not always 5CP).

Mangle is my main combo point builder.

I normally SR wait for energy then pop trinket and spam shred / FB for a booast in damage, but I haven't hit 2k dps yet. I've haven't really used cower, I'm sure its there for reason, but I haven't had to use it yet .

Any tips to improving my DPS would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!!

[Baabinator]

First of all....try faerie fire right after you pounce..
I might not have a druid but seems logical dude :S
less armor -> more dmg eh?
anyways, i don't know anything bout druid rotation so you might have to wait for other peepz to reply ^^

[wingcommander]

I'm tending to bleeds because of rend and tear (might be where I am going wrong) and Bleeds ignore armor, so I usually only FF when i don't have energy for anything. It always up from there after, but it only takes 5 seconds or so to get FF up.

Now thinking about it I can't remember if rake is ticking for 1.4k or 1.7k, but I got a 10.7k FB in raid before, which was nice. Unfortunately dps was still overall low.

[Razac]

pounce ff mangle rip shred(if you need another combo point) SAVAGE RAAAWR TF to replenish your energy pop beserk if u want to then start spamming shred apply the mangle debuf when it runs out and the rip when it runs out when u get another 5 combo points rake then when savage rawr is up get a 34 sec rawr up

i noticed you havent got shred in your rotation...man shred does like double the damage mangle does....when i apply all the damage % increases to shred such as mangle debuff and if you got it talented, a bleed effect...and if glyphed, stunned...then my god shred is like a 5-6k mega hit....if you pop beserk with a full energy bar if you got all that shit going on you can spam like 4-5 shreds all 4 5 6k you will soon be making some serious damage.....

just remember keep all your bleeds rolling mangle debuf goind...and use shreds

[wingcommander]

Thanks for the replies.

Having just checked the shred I missed something crucial which you mentioned.

"Effects which increase Bleed damage also increase Shred damage."

This hints to me meaning only rend and tear and mangle buffing shred damage, or does actual bleeds like rake/rip help as well? I'll try changing to keeping mangle + rake (so imba ticking for 1.4k-1.7k) and using shred on spare attacks instead of mangle with Rip. Shred was only hitting for 2k non crit and didn't seem worth 60 energy. If i can find two points somewhere for imp shred for reduced cost this would definitely boast dps.

Cheers!!

[Alski]

just a few things for the OP

- 1-2 CP SR are the best (5cp is just a waste)
- dont ever do anything less than a 4cp rip (preferably 5cp)
- unless your tank is bad you can take cower off your bar

[sd78]

I like to open with Rake > Mangle > SR > TF/Shred > Shred to 5pt Rip

The most important thing is to keep Mangle, Rip Rake and SR up at all times (if possible). Mangle is better than Shred unless you have Imp. Shred and the Shred Idol, incidently.

Funnily enough I actually do seem to pull a lot of aggro, especially as Cat has a lot of burst at the beginning. I do around 3500dps on 10man Patches, which isn't a huge amount, so it may just be the DK tank.

PS: Shadowmeld full aggro and combat drop is broken as hell lol

[Alski]

I like to open with Mangle > SR > Rake > TF/Shred > Shred to 5pt Rip

Fixt for optimal dps :P

[Algroth]

(1.4-1.7k dps is really low...I think I was pulling 1.4k pre-3.0, with a 2.1k record on Gorefiend post 3.0 at 70)

At least for bosses this is my usual opening rotation (I have 2t6, http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...idas&n=algroth for spec reference):
FF, Mangle, SR, Rake, Mangle, TF, Mangle to 5cp, Rip, Berserk, Mangle to 5 cp while keeping Rake up, 5cp SR, Mangle.....

I usually make a judgment call on what finisher to use based on what my CDs/DOT timers are, but I always keep SR up. On average I am pulling 3-3.5k on bosses in Naxx25. After practicing on test dummies for a little while it becomes fairly easy to ballpark good times to hit SR and keep rip up.

[wingcommander]

Thanks for replies. I actually get to tank now since i got my 4th T7 and upgraded my other armor epix, so my hps is actually significantly higher now. Can reach 42k raid buffed before survival instincts.

I remember getting 2k dps on saff, but only because the MT was also a druid and i Didn't need to mangle .... So I got to shred a lot more. Haven't had a chance to test out new rotations with and without mangle, as it seems either can be used.

On a side note, some of our mages are pullilng 4.6k dps ... like preetty scary.

Many many thanks for replies all. Appreciate it!!

[Odmanex]

He was saying he's tank normaly?
So i guess shred would suck then

Mangle > shred with tank spec but i dont understand how you can't get pass 2k dps i get around 3k ish with tank spec and i dont have THAT good dps gear either. You're clearly doing something wrong.

[wingcommander]

Yeah I was definitely doing something wrong, not really sure what. I don't think I can hit as low as 1.4k any more. I was getting about 1.9 in cat (which is better). I'll need to try out the dummies and find out. I've got the 4 piece bonus now, so extra 3 seconds on bleed, is going to help until I can sort it.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the replies.

Having just checked the shred I missed something crucial which you mentioned.

"Effects which increase Bleed damage also increase Shred damage."

This hints to me meaning only rend and tear and mangle buffing shred damage, or does actual bleeds like rake/rip help as well? I'll try changing to keeping mangle + rake (so imba ticking for 1.4k-1.7k) and using shred on spare attacks instead of mangle with Rip. Shred was only hitting for 2k non crit and didn't seem worth 60 energy. If i can find two points somewhere for imp shred for reduced cost this would definitely boast dps.

Cheers!!

Don't shred unless you have Shredding Attacks.

[Schmikey]

i usually have a spec oriented for tanking, so i use mangle as my primary attack, and i still have quite decent dps. I really consider shred to be one of the lowest priorities. I have a prio list, that goes something like this:

1. Keep Savage Roar up 100% of the time, reapply SR when it's about 1 second left of the duration
2. Keep up Rip as much as possible. I prefer 5cp rips
3. Keep up Rake about 100%
4. Mangle
5. Reapply Fairie Fire

Since my main attack is Mangle, i don't have to think about the Mangle debuff, and i can ignore Shred most of the time (though i try to use it when i get a Omen of clarity proc), but I generally find this rotation very nice, since it's decent and simple. You do not want too many buttons and debuffs to think about while running around to avoid AoE and stuff. If you're not 100% comfortable with that rotation, your dps will go drastically down. But I would really recommend you to practice on dolls. They've helped my dps by like 600 from practicing my rotations, since I considered myself a tank through most of TBC, as my damage didn't scale too well back then

[Algroth]

Mangle > Shred because of the consistency of finishing moves that hails from the lower energy cost. Especially with T6 2-set bonus.

Mangle > Shred if and only if you have improved mangle and 2t6, otherwise shred (with shredding attacks) is better for dps.

Oh, and Schmikey does bring up a good point: try to shred on OOC procs.

[wingcommander]

Shred on OOC is definiately a great help, I have been listening out to that OOC noise. Problem is in naxx 10 the other day we had 5 druids, 2 feral, MT/OT, 2 Resto and one boomkin. So imagine that sound every 5 seconds

Again last night I only hit 1.4k dps on malrygos (Spelling again ^^) Only got him to 35%. Although I my DPS was low I was about 3-6 in damage done with bleeds and stuff. Even though all those ranged guys was in the spark and I wasn't because of placement.

I'm just keeping SR/Rake and 4/5CP Rip all the time and Shredding when I pop Berserk or hear the OoC proc. I'm pretty happy with this rotation. Maybe with dual spec thing, I can redo a proper fetal dps spec.

I just can't imagine a how much gear i needs. Tanking/Dps/Pvp Feral. PvP/PvE - Resto.

Anyway. Thanks for all your input. As usual there are lots of way to achieve the same result and I've think I've found one that works for me.

Time to look at a PvP Spec in one of the other threads.

[wingcommander]

Just an update. I've managed to hit 3k dps on some heroic bosses by respeccing kitty dps. Didn't get primal precision though. Will need to try it in naxx 25 if we still manage to get ppl tomorrow.

The key changes for me was shredding attacks and imp mangle. This significantly boasted my dps. 14.5k FB highest for me so far in heroics. Getting nearer to that 16k one.

I'm still not really finding enough points to 4-5 CP rip, most of the time and I'm still having rotation problems with SR dropping a few times, once I get that sorted, it will be a lot better.

Definitely good advice on this forum and thanks for replying.

[Ntrails]

Mangle > Shred if and only if you have improved mangle and 2t6, otherwise shred (with shredding attacks) is better for dps.

2 t6?

I thought that was nerfed to hell as you went above level 70?

[Stormrage]

2 t6?

I thought that was nerfed to hell as you went above level 70?

Thats 2pt4

It should also get nerfed imo.

But seriously the stat gains you can get by wearing other gear and using shred are far better, esp if you take into account not having to keep mangle up.