The semi-scrubnub Feral Pvp Guide 4.0.1

[Deleted]

Hello everyone!
After quite some time, I finally decided to create an MMO account and to post on these great and helpful forums.
I apologize in advance for any possible spelling/grammar mistake.

I decided to write this short Feral PvP Guide not because I think to be the best Feral around (I surely am not), but only because I
have been looking for a similar guide for a long time now, and haven't been able to find one that would satisfy my needs.

I have to admit (title says it all), that I know that wPvP and BGs are not "the PvP that matters", but "Hey! Who cares?".
As long as us Ferals are able to take down opponents 1v1, 1v2, 1v3 and to escape from situations where other classes would just be screwed up, I think
it is worth giving it a try.
It's gonna be a long read, but I'm sure it will be helpful for -at least- some of you.

Table of contents

1. Abbreviations
2. Gear/Gemming/Enchanting/Reforging/Talents
3. The real Guide
4. General tips
5. Useful links


1. Abbreviations I will use:
HT: Healing Touch
RG: Regrowth
RJ: Rejuvenation
LB: Lifebloom
SR: Savage Roar
PS: Predatory Strikes (always referring to the instant-cast)
TF: Tiger's Fury
FB: Ferocious Bite
SI: Survival Instincts
CD: Cooldown
CP: Combo Point(s)
FR: Frenzied Regeneration
AE: Area of Effect
DPE: Damage per Energy
DoT: Damage-over-Time
FF/FFF: Faerie Fire/Feral Faerie Fire
BS: Blacksmith
LW: Leatherworker
w/e: whatever
OP: overpowerpowered
FotM: Flavor of the Month
PvP: you're not serious, are you?

Please notice, I have alway hated when people write [insert random name here]'s as a plural. As far as I know, "apostrophe-s" means genitive. Plurals are simply "-s", no apostrophe needed. Blacksmiths will be BSs, Combo Points will be CPs.


Let's start with some basics. Keep in mind though, that this is not intended as a gear/gemming/enchanting/etc guide, these are just some tips and hints I give you. You can always do w/e you like best with the gearing of your toon..



2. Gear.
Go for full PvP gear, you really need that resilience (at least till Cata hits, who knows).
Right now, you can buy 4/5 Wrathful Gladiator set and the T1 weapon, which is just great.
I chose to go with a Corroded Skeleton Key, although many would argue that a Battlemaster's trinket would be great (the absorb is not affected by resilience, whereas +health is), but the extra Stamina is simply great, imho.
The PvP trinket is just mandatory, go for the highest iLvl possible (264).



2.1 Gemming/Enchants/Reforging
Go for full +20 Agility gems (Delicate Cardinal Ruby) plus one Nightmare Tear in order to activate the meta gem from your helm (our usual Relentless Earthsiege Diamond). I find myself comfortable like this. Bleeds, which currently are our main source of damage scale from Agility, as do our Shreds. You'll find that the more Agi you have, the harder you will be hitting. I have to point out (thanks to the fellow druid contributors!) that it can be a real lifesaver to gem for SpellPenetration (it used to be at least +75 due to Druids' MOTW, now it should be lowered to +55 (MOTW got nerfed in regard to REsistances), but I'll have to check that number); sometimes, when you really need that Cyclone to land, it can be resisted. Gemmin (or enchanting) for SpellPen will avoid this.

Go with our usual PvE enchants, they do rather well in PvP, too. I won't list them again (it would be overkill), since "The-Cat-Guide-4.0.1-edition" lists them up much better than I could ever do.
You might find yourself more comfortable by switching some of them with more PvP-oriented ones, e.g. Enchant Cloak - Shadow Armor (the extra stealth is great against rogues). Note that from the moment the Cataclysm hits Azeroth and our HDDs, current gear will simply be replaced in the matter of hours/days. I am not enchanting new gear that I acquire, it would simply be wasted gold, imho.

LWs, Engineers, BSs, w/e you are, feel free to add your profession-specific enchants to your gear.

Atm, I feel like it is quite useless to reforge items to Mastery. Our bleeds (unmitigated by armor) already hit like trucks in PvP. Imho, it would all be wasted gold. Bare in mind, though, that Resilience does not affect the possibility to be critically hit anymore. This is quite a nice buff, since now we can reach 5CP in a single Pounce stun, without needing to reach crazy amounts of Crit (around 50% is more than enough). Feel free to Reforge your gear, though, you will see some really crazy numbers from those bleeds.


2.2 Spec/Glyphs.
I chose this spec. It resembles very much my old 0/59/12 spec. I tend to consider it the best available in terms of damage, survivabilty and utilty talents.
What I will write afterwards refers to this particular spec, in some aspects. http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0ZfrMsRurz0fz0c:qMzsimm0z

I agree that those 3 points in Thick Hide might be wasted, but you'll find it useful when you find yourself in AV and no tank shows up. You can really save the day on Galvangar and Drek'Thar (or Balinda and Vanndar, for you Horde folks out there ). If you think that they're plainly wasted, just rearrange them into:
-2/2 Feral Aggression (more FB burst is always welcome)
-1/2 or 2/2 Endless Carnage (Rake duration extended is only a bit useful, imho; Savage Roar duration extended is pretty useless in PvP atm)
-Primal Madness. Love it or hate it. Personally, I hate it, i have found myself energy-starved at the end of a TF, when a Skull Bash could save your life. Do w/e you think is best for you.
-Pulverize. I find it quite useless in PvP (probably because Lacerate keeps getting parried/dodged: is it just me?), mainly because time spent in Bear Form should be close to 0.

Some glyphs are simply mandatory, others are those I feel best with.
-Berserk and Rip are just incredible, I would really take them. Shred can be changed with Mangle (+10dmg, ok, fine, but remember you should only mangle once, and then keep shredding) or TF (CD reduced by 3 seconds, it doesn't mess with your "rotation" in PvP for obvious reasons).
-Instant Entangling Roots ftw. No more chasing a mounted player just to find out that you finished your cast 2 yards too late. Feral Charges' CD lowered is VERY useful, I recommend it very highly. Innervate is for some utilty in group PvP (remember we're still more of a support class, although we currently can solo pretty much everything), but feel free to change it with Barkskin (good against melees), Thorns (I should use this spell more often, it's great for some additional burst, but it unshifts you, sadly) or Faerie Fire (is it useful in any way?!).
-Dash and Aquatic Form are pretty much mandatory (remember, we're talking about wPvP and Bgs, not Arenas!), whereas Unburdened Rebirth is quite useless most of the time. You can go with Wild if you prefer, but you get rebuffed constantly by other Druids/Pallies, so mana is not really a problem for buffing. Having some more free bag space is better, imho.



3. And now, the real guide.


We made it, finally we can move onto the interesting part of this write-up.
I have to admit, in Arenas i pretty much always sucked donkey-balls. I don't know why, I understand its mechanics, know other classes and their spells/CDs/etc quite well, but I really can't get it going. Im going to repeat once more: Arena PvP'ers, you surely do our job much better than me, so please don't flame. I'm just trying to be useful to other fellow Ferals.

Do not listen to those who say "Feral is CURRENTLY in a good shape". We are simply OVERPOWERED. I've seen 6-7k Rip ticks. We're gonna get nerfed, it's just a matter of time. We were fine just before 4.0.1, and now we're even better (Skull Bash ftw). Until 3.3.5 we just couldn't solo healers, now we can. That's pretty much the difference. We were able to kill anything before 4.0.1 (save said healers), now we tear through anything like a warm knife through warm butter. Especially those classes that can't self-heal. You'll see how.

Let's begin with a basic opener/opening sequence:
Let's say you get the jump on your opponent, e.g. you start in stealth. You move close to him (do NOT charge: Charge is a gap closer (and a free Ravage, ofc) for when things get difficult, while in stealth you can move your #*" with your own four legs, lawl), and get to his back. This is where the game starts.

Pounce, Mangle, [Insert TF when under 35 Energy, at best] Shred> 5CP Rip [possibly buffed by TF]

This is the first thing you must set up. Pounce will give you a bleed which will boost your Shreds' damage, as will your ONCE-applied Mangle do. People, getting behind your foes ain't that diffcult. Once you'll have learned that, you'll the big numbers coming from Shred. Now that Rip has started tearing your enemy's health, you can safely follow this rule of thumb:

Keep up Rip, keep up Rake, Shred as much as possible. Forget SR, who cares for 50% more white-attack-damage.
Once your enemy's health reaches <25% forget Rip (as long as it is already applied), and keep FB'ing. This will reset your Rip's duration to full (granted you follow my epic-win Talent Spec ).

And now, let's say you were unlucky. Your enemy has seen you regardless of your stealth, has knocked you out of it, has AE'd you out of it, w/e.
OK, it would have been better not to get caught, but, "Hey! Who cares!" we're one of the most versatile classes around, and we don't even rely on CDs.
Get some CPs on him, possibly 5. Do this by hitting these abilities:

Mangle, Rake, Shred> Finisher

Many of you will now say "What????!!!!!! omfgn00bl2pkthxbye", but, guess what, your best move is to either cast Rip or SR. Not casting Maim will NOT start DRs on your target, not waste your precious 15-sec CD. Casting Rip will be some how a DPE loss (you'll soon see why), casting SR will buff your auto-attack damage (I know, I just said it's not worth a penny in PvP, but listen now). You'll now cast Cyclone. Thanks to your (mandatory) talent Predatory Strikes, it will be an instant cast. He will be immune to EVERYTHING (including your Rip, which is why that finisher is kinda wasted in these cases) for 6 seconds, assuming no DRs are up on him. That gives you the time to run to a safe distance, get out of combat (the famous 5-second-rule), maybe get one or two heals off. Then, simply go Cat Form-Prowl (assuming your Prowl ability got off-CD in the meantime) and start as if you were stealthed from the beginning.
You will now say "Hey, in the meantime, that #*"hole dotted me up, I can't restealth". Yes, he dotted you up, but you CAN restealth. Pro-tip incoming: stand next to him, heal up as much as possible, and then go Cat-Prowl the moment your Cyclone wears off: you will be able to get that Pounce off, if you're lucky enough to not get unstealthed by that dot the same moment you go stealth. Timing is everything, in this case. Due to server lag, human reaction and so on, you might even be able to Pounce 1ms AFTER you got unstealthed. Bare in mind, though, to disable your auto-attack while he's cycloned, or you'll remain in combat, thus not allowing a restealth. This can be done via a macro (useless keybinding) or by simply clicking somewhere on the floor.

And now, let's go on with some class-specific match-ups.

I. Death Knights
They come in two principal varieties, Tanks and non-Tanks, but the strat is pretty much the same for all three specs.
Usually, they're not a big problem for us to counter. Remember though, a big portion of their damage is magical (Diseases, Blood Boil, Frost/Scourge Strike), and we're pretty much unmitigated, which is why you still need to pay attention.
Use Barksin asap, DoT him (stick to the opening sequence), keep it close and personal. Use your PS to HT yourself (when your health is under 60%), otherwise RG yourself. When he gets low, he's gonna pop his Ghoul for the 40% heal. Use your instant cast to Cyclone the ghoul, he won't be able to Blood Pact it.
Remember, he can be stun immune. When you see some ice coming out of his feet (Icebound Fortitude), you won't be able to stun him, thus wasting your abilities. Stun him just before that (if he's around 35% health, that's when he'll use it), or right after it.
Trinket: not really necessary here. If you're just duelling, or you want to waste your precious trinket, then use it on Gnaw (his pet's stun) or Hungering Cold.
CDs: barkskin as soon as his diseases are up, it might get off CD soon enough to be used twice (shouldn't really, you're a fast killer ). SI and Berserk only if necessary for a safe/bursty kill.

II. Druids
A pretty messy class
They come in 3/4 specs. Boomkins, Ferals (pvp/pve geared/oriented), and Resto.
-Balance Druids: they'll usually try to have Thorns up, if they know you're around. Just wait until it wears off and attack asap. Save Barkskin and SI for when he pops Treants. Stun him (a 1CP Maim or a Bash) when he casts Starfall. It ain't OP, it's just a "purgeable" spell, you only need to make him lose control of his character (Cylcone is fine, too). Same old opening sequence, bleed him to death. Do not waste your Skull Bash on Arcane school spells (Starfire, Starsurge in a sense), just interrupt his heals. that'll lock out his Nature school too (yay!, no more Wrath spamming either!).
-Feral Druids: there are a lot of new Ferals around these days. They think it's the FotM spec. Lol. You can recognise a new Feral from the way he moves. A real Feral will move and jump as much as possible to always face his enemy or to only be behind him. Those new ones will just Mangle spam you, thus irritating you with its awful sound. Do as usual. Bleed him to death, before he does the same. Save Skull Bash for his healing spells, pretty straight forward fight. Can last minutes, hours and even days, if both know what they're doing.
That said: Live by the Old Code. If you meet another Feral, don't attack him. If he's an Old-School Dudu, he won't do it either. If he isn't but he still doesn't attack you, then he does not deserve to die. If he still isn't an Old-School-Dudu, but still attacks you, then he really deserves his death, and probably it will be an easy fight for you. (Sorry I had to do it, I live by the Code.)
-Resto Druids: same as Boomkins, Skull Bash their heals when they get low on health. DoT them asap, Cyclone when you see the LBs about to wear off. This will neutralize the "Bloom" effect (usually around 17-18k heals in pvp gear). Once DoTs are applied, he is low on health, and no LBs are rolling, Bash him and burst for the kill. Save Berserk for this particular moment.
Trinket: Cyclone. I won't list Hibernate here, because it can only happen once every new moon that a REAL Feral gets hibernated by another druid. You ONLY have to unshift to caster form.
CDs: Barkskin/SI for Treants and Thorns. Berserk should only be used on Restos when the above requirements are met and you're going for the kill. Use only with a (near to) full Energy Bar (after the Cyclone that neutralized his LBs is perfect).

III. Hunters
Lol. OK, sorry, fellow hunters, I find your class really really fun, but there's few you can do against us.
Just DoT 'em up asap, and then go /afk. What I really like to do is a little macro i created especially for 1v1 against hunters, which goes as follows:

/pat
/dance
/bye
This will show that you're not trolling, because you know that atm he's in a pretty bad state, that you're a funny and social guy and that you're well-mannered when it comes to say goodbye.

On a more serious note: DoT him up, Hibernate his pet (through the PS) as long as it is not BIG AND RED. In that case, just Cyclone it, because he'll be on a Bestial Wrath, hitting very hard and being immune to many CC effects.
Trinket: not really necessary. If you really want to waste it, go for Intimidation (the pet stun). If you get feared by his Scare Beast ability, then the planets must have aligned anew. Just unshift when you see the cast going off.
CDs: save your Feral Charge (Cat) for when he Disengages.

IV. Mages
Things get harsh here. They're really, reallly tough atm. They are indeed the one and only true challenge WoW offers to us in terms of PvP.
-Arcane: not much to fear. Save your Barkskin/SI for when his Arcane Blast buff gets high. He could crit up to 40k in pvp gear, don't let him get that far in casting.
Remember to Faerie Fire him asap, since that will prevent Invisibility.
-Fire: DoT them up. When they get low, be sure to only use Rip, even if you're sure that your FB would kill them. They have a new ability called Cauterize, which will act as an Argent Defender, although it will kill them unless healed. Remember though, it can't happen more than once per minute. This means that if you get to kill the same fire Mage two times in less than one minute (e.g. you're good/he's bad, or if you're sure that Combustion has already been triggered) then go for a sure kill through FB.
-Frost: THE Kiters (capitals intended). Frankly, either you feel really sure about your skills/gear (and his, too), or you better just stay away. If I'm not in the mood, I'll stay away from them, too. Anyways, if you feel heroic, or you want a challenge, try like this: DoT him up, powershift every root/snare he gets on you. Use Barkskin on the Deep Freeze-Shatter combo. Only heal through PS or you'll get silenced in no time.
General notes on Mages: They have a really annoying ability called Iceblock. That will clear all your debuffs. If they're close to death, FFF'd (no Invisibility), just stay close, prepare to Feral Charge to their Blink direction (they will wait in the iceblock until some CD's are up) or to powershift the Nova. If they IceBlocked just to clear you initial 5CP Rip, then they know what they're doing. Pop your defensive CDs, stun them with Bash once Blink has been used, Rip them anew. If you're high on health, Cyclone the Elemental. Don't bother with those Mirror Images if the Mage is low on health, keep it personal on him. If, however, he's on full health, with both pets up, kill at least one of the two; Swipe (both forms) can help with those pesky Mirror Images.
Trinket: Deep Freeze. Don't even think about trinketing a Poly if he catches you in caster form. you just deserve to die.
CDs: all of 'em. Only use Berserk when he's sitting in a full stun (bash, maim, w/e), chain ALL of your defensive CDs. Play proactively with mages, prevent their damage, it's gonna be a hard job to heal it (ice lance, instant cast hitting 6-7k for their win).

V. Paladins
Pretty tough lucky bastards these days.
-Holy: treat them like every healer you face. Dot them, save your Skull Bash for when they're low on health. Stun them right after it and use a full-energy-bar-Berserk for the kill.
-Protection: OMFG. They're really OP atm. DoT them, go Bear to restore Energy in Cat. Go back to Cat after 6 secs ca. and shred them. Once you'll have got them to <25%, start spamming FB. Remember, when they Divine Shield, just run away, heal up, reset the fight. If they Hand of Protection, same story.
Remember, you'll see their health going up constantly through Word of GLory. Don't desist, eventually you'll be able to down them.
-Retribution: same as above with Protection. One little note: when they pop Avenging Wrath (the big golden wings), you pop SI. AT ALL COSTS. You don't want to get 2/3 shotted by 20k-Hammers of Wrath.
Trinket: Hammer of Justice. Please, don't get Repentance'd by Rets. It has a low range, so only unshift to heal when at >20 yards.
CDs: SI on a Ret's Avenging Wrath, Berserk on low health (possibly when he's in a full stun).
Important Tip: never get below 20% health. Stun and run-->heal. They'll be able to hit you with Hammer of Wrath. In that case, pop any defensive CD you have left.

VI. Priests
Kind of a hard class to counter, imho.
-Discipline: try to open on them if/when their shield is down/when they're afftected by their own Weakened Soul debuff. This will allow for some damage. Only interrupt Penance/Flash Heal. Lock out their Holy school when low on health, as usual. Not really much to do. Just burst through their shields asap, stun them when the shield fades. Hope to have some backup, lolz.
-Holy: same as above, just bear in mind shields won't be that hard, but heals will top them off nearly everytime. Look for something better to do, rather than wasting time on this kind of people.
-Shadow: This is where things get interesting. They're in a pretty good shape atm. Remember, they're taking 15% less damage while in shadowform. Only Rake/Rip when you're buffed by TF. Berserk after your TF, thus being immune to their Psychic Scream. This will disorient most of them. They will then try to Psychic Horror you. It's up to you, now. If you feel you can save your trinket, then do so. You will thank yourself on their second Psychic Scream, although you will have to face their powerful Dots and possibly a Mind Blast. If you get out of the Horror soon enough, Skull Bash the Mind Blast, it hits like a truck. This will lock out their Shadow school, leaving them open to heal themselves up, but they will usually be still high enough on health not to heal themselves yet; your Skull Bash (you have talented it, right??) will be up again to interrupt their Holy school when they're low on health. Then again, full stun (if possible) and tear through them. If they Disperse (wich they will at some point), do not use any ability. Pool your Energy, heal up (you'll need it, trust me).
Trinket: try to save your Trinket for the 2nd Psychic Scream. Psychic Horror should be their only window to dot you up, thus not being trinket-worthy.
CDs: all of 'em. Chain them as much as possible. Barkskin asap, SI, Frenzied Regeneration. Cyclone them if you need a big heal. Do not risk getting Silenced when low on health.

VII. Rogues
Sorry, I have to say it. We pretty much roflstomp you, fellow stealthers.
There shouldn't be any need to distinguish between the specs. You just try to get the jump on them and dot them as usual. Don't go /afk in this case, though (like with hunters), they are the Kings of CC, and now, with their new Recuperate ability, they can reset and get to full health in no time. Once you Ripped them (possibly buffed by TF), go Bear, FF them, Lacerate, Mangle, w/e. Pool your Energy and get back to Cat. If they're already low on health (which is very probable), Bash them first, go behind them (as you should always do). Don't bother with hitting them while Evasion is up, just FFF them to avoid the restealth. Remember though, they can Cloak of Shadows>Vanish. what to do in order to avoid that? Simple. Only hit them with bleeds (Lacerate/Rake) to apply the (physical, unremovable) DoT.
Trinket: please, be serious. Don't trinket Cheap Shot/Kidney Shot/Gouge. Please. If you do that, you really deserve what you will get. Only trinket a full 6-second-Kidney Shot if you know for sure that Blind is on CD and if you're really low on health. Moral of the story: save your precious trinket for the Blind.
CDs: not really necessary if you played well. Use Barkskin if they open on you. Use the rest (Berserk, SI, FR) only if REALLY needed.

VIII. Shamans
Interesting. Not because you need much skill/awareness, but rather because sometimes, and you really can't figure out why, they still manage to win.
-Elemental: pretty straight forward fight. Whoever gets more hits off, wins. Only Skull Bash their healing spells, especially Healing Surge. I don't know why, but they all get healed to full, even when really low on health. Must be a real badass spell, but I never played a Shaman (and surely don't want to). Remember to save Feral Charge for their Thnderstorm. They almost always use it on our Pounce, but we easily neutralise it like that. Guess what, we even gain 1-2 CPs through the free Ravage afterwards.
-Enhancement: same as above, heal whenever possible through instant-cast-PS-procs. Not much to say.
-Restoration: same as all other healers. Rip asap, use Skull Bash when they're low, Berserk when they sit in your full stun. When they trinket, just Cyclone and reset the fight. You may have not have your Berserk up, but they won't have a trinket.
Trinket: lol.
CDs: yes, you got it. Barkskin when you see that Lava Burst coming directly to your face. Remember, your fur might catch fire. (omg, I wrote that for real).
Interesting note: If you want to reset the fight, you do no only have Cyclone at your disposal. If/when they go Ghost Wolf, Hibernate them. That does not occur very often to them, they kinda dob't even know that the spell exists. In addition to that, remember, many scrubnubs rerolled Shaman only because they were FotM in 3.3.5, so they know really little of the game's mechanics.


IX. Warlocks
Things are really hard here. Once, you only had to berserk once to get a kill, but lately, they seem not to die very light-heartedly.
Pretty much the same fight for every spec here. Today I went for some wPvP today, met 3 locks, one for each spec. I fought them all the same way, but I must admit that I had the jump on each one of them.
Use our standard opening sequence, but Berserk right after the TF. That will make you immune to their Fear/Howl of Terror (if Affliction); they won't expect it, trust me. That will confuse them a bit, even though they're good PvP'ers. They do not face that many Ferals, after all. They will Death Coil you. 100% sure. Don't trinket it. JUST DON'T! They'll get one/two DoT's on you, not a problem. Once your Berserk will be over, you'll have eaten pretty much half their health away. Use your PSs to HT/RG yourself. Once you see the next Fear being cast, Skull Bash it. Be aware of their fake-casting! Locks tend to all know how to do it, at least in my experience (ofc I'm joking, you must always be aware of fake casts!). Burst them down, you can pretty much forget their pet, unless they're Demonology-specced. In that case, you should try to Cyclone it with your first PS. Why? Because if he got the opener on you, he will already have used his Felguard's CDs (Axe Toss, Whirlwind) to get up on you. In the other case, he'll try to use them as soon as he gets out of the Pounce-stun. He won't do it earlier in most cases, you're always a bit surprised when a big beautiful cat stuns you with his great paws (omfg, that was just pathetic).
Trinket: only trinket a Fear if you have Berserk on CD, NEVER trinket Death Coil.
CDs: Berserk after TF, Barkskin as usual, SI if needed.


X. Warrior
Very funny encounters, usually. At least there's something to do since 4.0.1, when they got so many self-heals.
-Arms/Fury: Dot them, go Bear. Lacerate 3 times, you'll have plenty of time. Their only physical damage won't even touch you (if you specced like I did...). Then, stun them, go Cat again, Berserk if they don't trinket. If they do, save your CD. If not, dps them like mad. If they get to <25%, start FBing.
-Protection: tough one. you'll have to outlast the most outlasting, non-healing class of the game. They stun like mad, parry/dodge like fools, reduce your Shreds to peanuts. Always Rip/Rake them (possibly when buffed by TF), then go Bear and Lacerate them. Only Shred when they're stunned, if possible. Remember, stun/Cyclone them before healing yourself.
Trinket: only Throwdown should be trinketed (means only think about your trinket if you're fighting an Arms warrior). Please note that Knockback effects can't be trinketed, i.e. trinketing won't put you back on your feet. The stun effect should be cleared, though. Further investigation will be made.
CDs: well, not really that many needed. Go with Berserk if you think you can use wisely.


There we go! We managed to create a complete match-up guide for pretty much every class/spec in the game. Of course, sometimes, you will have to adapt. PvP is nothing else than reacting, proacting, judging your opponent's skill/gear/CDs and so on, after all. You have to find your way to rip enemies apart, and this guide is only intended to give you a fresh start if you're new to the spec, or if you'd like to have another point of view on PvP.
Now I'm going to give you some general "pro-tips". Lawl, they're not really pro, they just worked out so many times for me, that I can only be grateful to those epic Ferals that taught me these tricks. I will list them in the end.


4. General Tips.

Night Elf only
-Shadowmeld: simply epic.
In a close quarters combat, use this to let your target drop you as a target. If you use while you're low on health, it may even work as a Feign Death (hunter-like ability), if your foe is stupid enough not to see HK: [insert random pvp rank here] flashing on his screen. If you've been even more wise, you can drink an Invisibility Potion right after shadowmelding, thus allowing you to walk away some safe 20 yards before going Cat-Prowl. Remember, shifting will cause you to lose the invisibility buff from the pot!
In a flyable area, even while heavily dot'ed and close to you enemy, just press this once, and then immediately cast your Swift Flight Form. Hit your jump key for a quick move out of the enemies' range. Remember, Dots will continue ticking, that's why you must very quickly heal yourself, if you're low.

Tauren only
-War Stomp: not bad.
When fighting vs a single target, you can rely on your War Stomp-->Cyclone combo. If, say, you're low on health and need 6 seconds of breath, just cast one after the other, the former's duration will cover exactly the latter's cast time (almost, after 4.0.1).
When fighting against a group of mobs/players and things somehow are goin wrong, just cast this, co Cat and run away like hell.

Druid specific, no race difference
When you need to escape from a difficult situation, remember your CDs. Go Cat, cast Nature's Grasp (simply awesome from the moment they buffed it to 3 charges), cast Dash. Then, just chain your defensive CDs to avoid damage taken from behind and to avoid DoTs to kill you while running. If you manage to escape, you should still have enough time to cast some heals. Once out of combat in a flyable area, just go Swift Flight Form and fly away. If in a noflyable area, wait until all DoTs are gone, then Prowl, even if low on health. Just get the heck out of your enemies' eyes as fast as possible. If you're really really low, DoTs on you, no time to heal, just go Bear and pop FR. That will give you another 30% health--> breathing time.

Heals priority
If you're around 30% health and in a safe place/situation, just cast a simple RJ/LBx3 combo. The "bloom" will heal you for around 8-12k health, depending on whether it will crit or not.
If you're DoT'ed, about to die, chased by some enemies (consider the above situation where you have just escaped from a group of enemies), cast a quick RG (it will usually give you enough time for a HT), then go for the usual RJ/LBx3 combo just before the restealth/Swift Flight Form.

Barkskin
Don't underestimate this. You can cast it while stunned, feared, horrored, pretty much everytime you wish. Use it whenever it can chunk off a good amount of damage (20% is more than fair on a 1-min-CD).

Swift Flight Form
Do yourself a favor. Buy/earn the 5k gold Master Riding. Instant-cast flying at 310% speed has no price. It will help you catching up on that miner whom you want to kill, or escaping from that #*"hole who wants to knock you back, thus letting you fall to you your death.
Today, for instance, I was having fun with some kind of a nab Balance druid in Wintergrasp. They had control over it, I was just above their keep, when I decide to have some fun. I begin killing one enemy player at a time, immediately restealthing/flying away right after, depending on Shadowmeld CD. I manage to kill him a few times. The 3rd time, he gets me really low, I manage to escape with my Shadowmeld>Swift Flight Form combo. He chases me, DoT's me mid-air and falls to his death. I just couldn't believe my eyes, so i flew down (he hadn't released yet, must have been wondered by himself, the nab) and /facepalm emoted on his corpse. He must have been really really angry. He decided to have his revenge. How? He unmounted me off Swift Flight Form near a tower in Central Bridge while I was at low health after his DoTs, and Feline Grace didnìt save me. I /facepalmed myself, because I didn't remember of the knockback effect Typhoon had on druids, too.


I have surely forgot something. If you happen to have questions, remarks, critics, just point them out! I will gladly correct my "guide" if anything I have written turns out to be imprecise/wrong/utterly stupid.
If you are wondering about something I didn't cover here, just ask it! I will try to answer to your doubts.


I must also apologize, I do not know how to create links to items/spells/talents/etc, so please forgive me. If someone will tell me how to do it, I will gladly edit my post in order to clarify it even further.

5. Recommended links to follow/guides to read/videos to watch/people to adore:

YouTube - ZybakTV
YouTube - Aphelleon
WoW Forums - Hmmnaatz's 3.3 Feral PvP Guide http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread....Id=13200792516
WoW Forums - Vaeil's 4.0.1 Feral Cat Guide http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread....Id=15042264079
MMO Forums - Mihir's 4.0.1 Feral Cat Guide http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-4.0.1-edition

[gollie]

You seem to rely on PS a lot. Do you have any special addon to track its uptime?

[Deleted]

Of course! You can download Droodfocus, it is higly configurable.

Did you find my guide useful?

[Zheryn]

If you are VERY rich, though, and can afford it, then go for Mastery. You'll pretty much 3-shot everything with Rake and Rip crits, lawl.

cool trolling bro.

You move close to him (do NOT charge

cool trolling bro.

This will reset your Rip's duration to full (granted you follow my epic-win Talent Spec ).

cool trolling bro.

Primal Madness. Love it or hate it. Personally, I hate it, i have found myself energy-starved at the end of a TF

cool trolling bro.

They have a new ability called Combustion, which will act as an Argent Defender

cool trolling bro.

I could continue this if I wanted to read anymore, but hopefully the new ferals get the point, don't take this guide seriously.

For those of you new to feral, all you need to know to pwn anyone in 4.lol is: Pick up Primal Madness, Reforge full mastery, stealth -> feral charge -> pounce -> ravage -> mangle -> TF -> rake -> rip and then either go afk or mangle/shred them if you want to kill them faster.

[Dangerjoe]

a link to ur spec would be nice.. in chapter/part 2.

reforging is kinda cheap, like 10-14 gold pr item? dont need to be rich to do those.. u can do like your entiere set for the price of 1 epic gem

enchants can be harsh.. id rather do a 85ap for 20gold than no enchant thou... the mongoose 400gold seems overkill so close to the expansion for me thou

[gollie]

cool trolling bro. x10

For those of you new to feral, all you need to know to pwn anyone in 4.lol is: Pick up Primal Madness, Reforge full mastery, stealth -> feral charge -> pounce -> ravage -> mangle -> TF -> rake -> rip and then either go afk or mangle/shred them if you want to kill them faster.

Could you do some proper replying instead of spamming "cool trolling bro". Since you appear to know everything, tell us what is so wrong with what he wrote.

[Deleted]

Dangerjoe, this is my spec: http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0ZfrMsRurz0fz0c:qMzsimm0z
Unfortunately I had not enough posts to be able to post any link. Thank you for reminding me to add it!
In fact I think you're right about enchantments. I will now add the tip to do a cheap Enchant on one's weapon, 85AP is always better than nothing!
I also corrected the part about Reforging. It now states that is surely a good think to do, although our bleeds already are OP, and I deleted the parte where I said that you need to be Croesus or Midas to reforge your gear. Thanks again on that, for letting me notice my mistakes.


Zheryn, I'm sorry that my guide did not match your requirements. To me, though, it seems like the one who is trolling is YOU.
Your way of posting goes against the forum rules, just so that you know.
Speaking about Feral, you clearly have no clue what you're talking about. I am referring to the the lines you quoted from my guide. You are simply wrong.
-As far as Reforging, indeed it is not very expensive. Still, it is not necessary atm, since we our bleeds already are OP.
-Feral Charge can/must be saved for a later moment in a fight, when the opponent, especially if a caster, gets some range. Otherwise, when fighting a melee, just wait until you're low on Energy, get some distance and Charge. You'll grant yourself 1-2 CPs at the cost of only 10 Energy, while the CPs you need for the initial Rip can be gained through a simple Pounce-Mangle-TF-Shred>Rip combo.
-"Blood in the Water", Feral talent in the 6th Tier grants your FB a 100% chance to refresh your Rip on targets below 25% health.
-Primal Madness: I said it, love it or hate it. I hate it, everyone's free to do what they want. Still, it does not grant you 20 free Energy. THat amount of Energy will be taken away once the duration of TF/Berserk has expired, thus leaving you Energy-starved.
-Combustion: My bad, it's called Cauterize, I probably was daydreaming. I'll fix it right away. Still, it acts as an Argent Defender (refer to my guide for additional information on how to deal with it).

gollie, thank you for your support! I hope you didn't find my guide too bad.

That said, if any useful information can be added to the guide, please let me notice. Every constructive post is always welcome.
I will try to keep the guide updated as much as possible.

---------- Post added 2010-11-03 at 02:14 PM ----------

I am new to these forums (and to forums in general). Could anyone teach me how to write words which show a tooltip? Like saying "After a Feral Charge (CAT) [and you see the tooltip of FC:C when hovering over the word] you can perform a free Ravage [and you see Ravage's tooltip when hovering over the word] ."

Thank you!

[emni]

Go for full +20 Agility gems (Delicate Cardinal Ruby), one +30 Stamina gem (Solid Majestic Zircon) plus one Nightmare Tear in a yellow/prismatic socket (I used the one from the additional belt socket BSs can sell), in order to activate the meta gem in your helm (our usual Relentless Earthsiege Diamond).

Nightmare Tear alone should be enough to activate the meta. Or did they change this recently?

[Deleted]

In fact I'm not sure about that, either.
I have that Nightmare Tear in my belt's Prismatic Socket and I think it counts as a yellow gem, while that +30 Stamina gem sits in a blue socket.
I found this on WowHead: http://www.wowhead.com/item=41398
I think we need those three different colors to activate it. Any feedback would be really appreciated.
Thanks for the support, emni!

We got to the Front Page!
Please, does anybody know how to create words with a tooltip on them? Check my above post to better get what I mean. Thanks!

[Dangerjoe]

nice to see a feral pvp guide keep up the good work.. hope more ppl throw in CONSTRUCTIVE feedback

[VirtuousX]

I've got a Nightmare Tear in my weapon's blue socket and it does count as a yellow one. I have no other yellow gems.

Edit: Also, I personally love this topic although I could have made one by myself too *bragging*. This is very comprehensive for new Feral PvPers. I'd love to see this topic to be a sticky ^^

[Deleted]

Hehe, thank you again Dangerjoe... Seems like somebody crossed the line with his many "cool trolling, bro". ;-)

I hope many people get to see it and read it, I'd really love to be helpful in some way.

---------- Post added 2010-11-03 at 02:57 PM ----------

Thanks to VirtuousX for his feedback, too. I'm updating that part of the guide at this very moment.

[jaimelannister]

Nightmare Tear counts for all gem colors, so you just need one to activate your meta.

[Deleted]

Thank you, too, jaimelannister.

I fixed that part in the guide, it now states that one should "Go for full +20 Agility gems (Delicate Cardinal Ruby) plus one Nightmare Tear in order to activate the meta gem from your helm (our usual Relentless Earthsiege Diamond)."

Keep up the feedback, and please, teach me about adding tooltips to words!

[Autumn xD]

For the Key vs Battlemasters, absorbs allow you to stealth with dots on you.
And AMS absorbs (e)bleeds? Are you sure?

Well written guide tho(:

(e2) At the moment, knockdowns are untrinketable, I.e. Warriors and Felguards. Im sure they're gonna fix that, but just as a 'btw'

[Deleted]

Heya first post !

AMS works against spells only.
Bleed are physical even tho' they seem to bypass armor atm.

Got a question : some druids put some spell penetration gems (up to 110~ with cloak enchant too) to be sure to land cyclones and the new thorns.
Whats your thoughts on this ?

Thanks for helping and nice guide will help me a lot on my druid alt !

[commanderbeatdown]

This guide makes me want to respec feral.

[theborges]

Good initiative, nice guide. All ferals should help to improve it. As for me i'd use at least 75 spell penetration (gems or gems + back enchant). Not good to have some insta cyclones resisted. Believe me.

[Deleted]

THanks everyone for these kind and interesting replies!
I'll try to answer to each one of you, correcting my guide accordignly.

@Autumnqt: You are completely right, if you're sure DoT's won't unstealth you, you can safely activate the trinket and prowl without any risk. Or even only stealth to make your foes lose targets. Atm I've been able to at least get out of the stun from Throwdown and Axe Toss, I'll look around for some further information. THank you!

@Infuriate: Gz for your first post! You are indeed right, AMS and AMZ only absorb spells. It MAY be that they absorb elemental damage (such as poisons), but that would not interest us ferals anyways. Thank you for your correction! In regard to bleeds, they aren't mitigated by armor, and I sincerely hope they never will.


@theborges: I'll add the section regarding spellpen right away. Idk why, I was sure that they removed spellpen gems, along with arpen ones. Kinda noobish by my side. I must specify, in relation to 1v1, 1v2, wPvP and BGs, landing a PS Cyclone is not as serious a problem as it is in Arenas, but it still makes the difference, indeed. I've died some times to Mages who resisted my Cyclone when I needed to heal. THank you, too!

---------- Post added 2010-11-04 at 08:46 AM ----------

How can one bump a thread up?

Just want this to be read by some more people...

Thank you!

[MomsBasement]

thanks for the guide im bumping this so you can update it more