Leveling a druid, having an absolute blast (have a few q's)

[CreativeInstitute]

I have an 80 mage and an 80 warrior, but the druid is far and away the most fun to level.

Pretty much 0 downtime, stealth through mobs like a rouge, pull too many? Meh, go bear and tank them. Low on health? Warstomp -> regrowth + rejuv. Things getting sticky? Travel form and run away. Snared? Shift again lol. I can't get over how fun this is. Mage was kill a mob, drink drink drink, kill a mob, drink drink drink. Warrior was kill a mob bandage, kill another, eat, kill another bandage, pull too many -> dead.

Anyway, on to the questions:

1. Now I've hit 40, got leader of the pack (another 5% crit for 1 talent point,, just wondering if I should get improved leader of the pack? Does it work if I'm just solo'ing or does it require me to be in a group?

2. I'm not entirely sure what I should be opening up with on a mob. Assuming I'm in stealth, my little rotation goes ravage -> rip -> claw -> claw -> ferocious bite then they usually die or they die very soon after that.

3. Pounce....I'm not sure what situation I'd use it in. I can open up with it, but won't stunning them for no reason be kinda pointless? AFAIK druids don't have a vanish, so I don't see this being used to stun a cast or something. Help me out here?

4. Dual speccing feral/resto at level 40, how does this resto tree look? http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?drui...0&version=9767

5. Weapons. Right now I'm using that bind-to-account staff (yes I know it's a spell staff) but how does the attack power thing work out? What is it based on exactly? Also, should I drop the staff once I hit BC content and start getting the "increases attack power by XXXX when in bear/cat form" stuff?


Thank you.

[archform]

1. yes imp helps and works solo *if im remebering what it does right now is right*
2.idk either just use your best burst since most mobs die fast
3.doesnt pounce do a bleed also?
4.idk
5.i think the feral atk pow is based on weap dmg not sure

[arel00]

1 - Yes it works even if you're not in group. Take it hands down, it will do wonders for your levelling both on self-healing side, both for the awesome mana return it gives.

2 - If you don't bother stealthing, then do Rake-Claw-Claw-Bite, that should do the trick most times. If you are bothering with stealth, then Pounce-Rake-Shred-Bite.

3 - Pounce basically gives you two big advantages, first, you don't take damage from a stunned mob, second, and most important, you can stay behind him while he's stunned. Shred is by far your best damaging ability, so as long as you can have the mob face away, do it and Shred. I suggest both Shredding Attacks and Brutal Impact in a levelling build.

4 - Looks good.

5- Feral AP is based upon weapon DPS. The formula is AP = (DPS-55)*14. That basically means that any weapon under 55dps won't give you any FAP, making it a stat-stick. The first weapons you'll see over 55dps will come with Outlands, so don't worry about it for now.

[pestra]

I had the same fun time while levelling my druid, who is currently sat at 74 waiting for me to finish this year at uni.

The other 2 posts should have pretty much answered your questions, but I thought i'd explain my personal use of pounce: I tended to use it as an opener as it meant the enemy was stunned, you got 2 Combopoints, pile in a shred while his backs turned, then maim (once you have it --> another stun, similar to a rogue's gouge) and basically I could keep an enemy cced for the entire time you are killing it =D

Though I must admit i have since respecced moonkin and resto dualspec... and not going back ;_;

..not anytime soon anyhow =(

[Dokoran]

I had the same fun time while levelling my druid, who is currently sat at 74 waiting for me to finish this year at uni.

The other 2 posts should have pretty much answered your questions, but I thought i'd explain my personal use of pounce: I tended to use it as an opener as it meant the enemy was stunned, you got 2 Combopoints, pile in a shred while his backs turned, then maim (once you have it --> another stun, similar to a rogue's gouge) and basically I could keep an enemy cced for the entire time you are killing it =D

Though I must admit i have since respecced moonkin and resto dualspec... and not going back ;_;

..not anytime soon anyhow =(

I just wanted to corret one thing, Maim is -not- like a rogues gouge, maim is like a rogues kidney shot but does damage as well as stun. Doing damage to a maimed target no longer breaks the maim, so you can in fact stunlock mobs as a feral druid now.

I suggest leveling as feral up to 80. Feral isn't NEARLY as gear dependant as boomkin and the dps is higher and the survivability is WAY higher than boomkin, plus there is no such thing as downtime for a feral druid.

I bounced between boomkin and feral for awhile, but feral is just a much faster leveling spec and the survivability is MUCH higher than boomkin. Also boomkins damage output is lacking, notice all the threads saying "nerf feral druids"? They're there for a reason

[Deleted]

Im gonna chip in aswell, although my answers might probably overlap a bit:

1: Improved leader of the pack is quite great. It will ensure that you get a steady stream of heals (at 80, its enough to keep me at full when im grinding). Even if its not enough to keep your health high, iLotP gives you mana back, so if you find yourself dropping low, you can pop out of cat form and throw a heal on yourself, and by the time you have to heal next time, you'll have full mana. iLotP also allows you to heal yourself up while taking down tough elite mobs in bear form, and it is, overall, quite nice to have. I wouldn't go without it.

2. I always open up with pounce, although ravage might be your best choice until you get mangle. See below.

3. Pounce stuns (less damage to you) and with mangle it will do more damage. Back in the old days, i used to open with pounce, mangle, shred, and i managed to do that before the mob turned on me if i timed my energy regen well enough - although these days we dont get energy every 2 seconds. Seeing as im a feral druid, i wont take shredding attacks - i dont know if you want to take it as leveling up, or what you plan on doing at 80, but should you go without shredding attacks, mangling works just fine.

When i grind at 80, i usually do pounce, mangle, rake and depending on my combo points i can usually finish them off with a bite. However, at level 80, i often use Savage Roar when i have done the first three attacks on the target - the damage increase is nice to have rolling, and with 3 points it will usually be up for the next mob, and then it will get refreshed. You dont have that yet, so as soon as you have enough combo points to more or less finish the mob off, bite it in the butt :P

4. Resto smesto..

5. The feral AP scales something like DPS * 10,5 (depends a bit on the weapon), so you can very well keep using the heirloom staff IF you can actually see the feral AP stat on it - i dont really know if the heirloom item will add FAP, but im sure it will. But should you stumble opon a mace or staff that has more DPS on it (which is what FAP scales with) and a bit of agility and stamina, it will be a lot better than the caster staff in most cases.

[Brightwings]

If you search an item in wowhead you can actually see the feral AP gain bonus

for example http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45256 has 2487 FAP bonus from the DPS but you'd have to factor the stats in it as well like the agi and AP

[Mordreas]

if you reach around lvl 40 it'll be easy to solo the auto pummeler boss in gnomereagen, who drop a manual crowd pummeler(30% drop chance) wich is prety good as a stat stick, 30str and some agi aswell and has an on use 300haste(3 charges) I used it till I first reached outlands simply because I didn't find anything with better stats on my journey's

[Solux]

I remember Blanchard's Stout being a nice BoE blue, but that's something of an investment, weapon wise. Try and find Maces or Polearms with the stats you need, because Feral Staves don't exist until level 57, when Outland gear kicks in.

[CreativeInstitute]

Cool, thanks for the replies guys. So I'll start using pounce then instead of ravage.

Really fun class to play. But when I hit 80 I think I'll go resto/balance.

[xebtria]

If you leveled 1-80 with feral, you won't spec balance/resto. at least, when you realize, that tanks are... kinda short.

[Nepenthes]

Try balance, you might like it more than feral.

Personally I hate balance, but I have a housemate that loves it.

[Toheart]

Pounce gives u enough time to use shred x2 b4 the mob turns to u