Feral Druid (Cat) vs Moonkin - Tier 11 DPS Tests

[Class Not Skill]

With the recent premades in Cataclysm Beta I've been asked by several people, "how will my dps look like in tier 11?" I'm not an "elitist jerk" or a numbers type of person, but I've decided to create a video and answer that question.

[HD] Feral Druid (Cat) vs Moonkin - Tier 11 DPS Tests (Cataclysm Beta 13316)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nKiz52Gh2Q

I'm more confident in my ability to play a Moonkin, but I have a strong understanding with Feral (Cat) as well. Concluding my tests, I found that Moonkin outputted more DPS than feral. These tests were based on a ~1,000,000 damage sample.

Has anyone else tried to compare the two? What were your results? O_o

[bigjohnburger]

wtf are you doing here pikachu?!? - ya boonkin is better from what i hear, plus they require less movement.

[Dangerjoe]

i have 2 questions thou

1. Starfall is hitting a lot of targets in that video and i really see ur dps jumping when u pop that, cat dps test didnt seem to include AoE damage.. if u remove the starfall AoE damage does moonkin still win singletarget.

2. wich leads to my next question, i was told from beta guys if u pop starfall in a quest zone ull aggro everything within 40 yards and die.. true/ false?


I like many other druids have the same dilemma, cat or moonkin when cata comes for leveling :S

[Xeonic]

i have 2 questions thou

1. Starfall is hitting a lot of targets in that video and i really see ur dps jumping when u pop that, cat dps test didnt seem to include AoE damage.. if u remove the starfall AoE damage does moonkin still win singletarget.

2. wich leads to my next question, i was told from beta guys if u pop starfall in a quest zone ull aggro everything within 40 yards and die.. true/ false?


I like many other druids have the same dilemma, cat or moonkin when cata comes for leveling :S

When it comes to leveling I've always felt that feral is the way to go. You just get so much more utility than as balance.

As for raiding, I'm probably also gonna go feral, only because I played as balance for quite a while in the beginning of wrath so I wanna try feral a bit.

[Shornaal]

Please take my post as constructive suggestions, i enjoyed your video and thank you for uploading it, but there are a few things i'd like to point out.

First is obviously starfall, your dps went from 10k to 20k in a few seconds, you can't compare moonkin and feral if you use it. I noticed a starfall crit that was almost 9k, considering you were hitting... how many, six dummies? Eight? Plus the splash damage...

Second, 1 million damage is definitely not enough to give relevant values. When i do rotation tests to see if i can improve on my actual main (ret paladin, but probably switching to cat druid that's why i'm here ^^) i usually hit the dummy for 5 million. On live, with dps that is well below 10k. I feel 5 millions is long enough to have results that are less affected from RNG.

Third, cooldowns. This is probably a more personal thing, but i usually don't use long cooldowns when testing dps. I don't pop wings and zealotry for example, i wouldn't pop berserk as a cat and starfall/trees as a moonkin. That's mainly because cooldowns are different between each other, and can modify your dps test too much or not enough. Starfall/berserk is the perfect example of what i mean, with berserk being a relevant cooldown on single target while starfall isn't (it's still a dps increase afaik but probably less than berserk), but at the same time starfall inflates your damage A LOT because of the dummies. And testing with only one million damage emphasizes (spelling?) this difference even more.

Sorry if these were already taken in consideration in your video comment, my laptop has some serious problems playing any sound, i could hear one word or two every phrase, no more :S

[shags the penguin]

Please take my post as constructive suggestions, i enjoyed your video and thank you for uploading it, but there are a few things i'd like to point out.

First is obviously starfall, your dps went from 10k to 20k in a few seconds, you can't compare moonkin and feral if you use it. I noticed a starfall crit that was almost 9k, considering you were hitting... how many, six dummies? Eight? Plus the splash damage...

Second, 1 million damage is definitely not enough to give relevant values. When i do rotation tests to see if i can improve on my actual main (ret paladin, but probably switching to cat druid that's why i'm here ^^) i usually hit the dummy for 5 million. On live, with dps that is well below 10k. I feel 5 millions is long enough to have results that are less affected from RNG.

Third, cooldowns. This is probably a more personal thing, but i usually don't use long cooldowns when testing dps. I don't pop wings and zealotry for example, i wouldn't pop berserk as a cat and starfall/trees as a moonkin. That's mainly because cooldowns are different between each other, and can modify your dps test too much or not enough. Starfall/berserk is the perfect example of what i mean, with berserk being a relevant cooldown on single target while starfall isn't (it's still a dps increase afaik but probably less than berserk), but at the same time starfall inflates your damage A LOT because of the dummies. And testing with only one million damage emphasizes (spelling?) this difference even more.

Sorry if these were already taken in consideration in your video comment, my laptop has some serious problems playing any sound, i could hear one word or two every phrase, no more :S

Agree Starfall on mass dummies is a little silly also sample size i aim for about 5 mins.

However not using CDs :O you use them on a boss fight you should always use them after all a dummy is just practice for a real boss fight.
ofc don't pop everything then once they go down end combat :P

[Rudy]

well if moonkin does more or less dps than feral....i ll continue to play my chicken

[Casseille]

I enjoyed your video, but you haven't convinced me that Balance does more DPS than Feral in T11 at all. You've only convinced me that you, as a player, are quite a bit better at the Balance rotation over the Feral rotation.

[Jon]

1M damage is nothing, way too much variance with such a small sample size. And like others have pointed out, if you're using aoe abilities on your moonkin that makes your "tests" even less reliable.

[Khanjin]

I enjoyed your video, but you haven't convinced me that Balance does more DPS than Feral in T11 at all. You've only convinced me that you, as a player, are quite a bit better at the Balance rotation over the Feral rotation.

This. You screwed the feral rotation up pretty severely and you popped starfall with a number of targets around you. The video is not a reliable source at all. Not discouraging you to make more videos, just saying that this test was not proper.

[Kep22]

Starfall is good....
I don't know which is stronger atm but I prefer feral. Idk :S Just personal opinion atm.

[Dubalazi]

Starfall dont do splash dmg anymore.... and it is limited to MAX 20 stars - it does the same dmg to 2 targets or 50 targets

[Sunfyre]

Starfall dont do splash dmg anymore.... and it is limited to MAX 20 stars - it does the same dmg to 2 targets or 50 targets

^^^ This.

Also, yes, I prefer 5 million damage tests as well. It starts to even out the burst. But, in the end, I think it depends on what you're better geared for and better at.

[scorch109]

But the rate stars come down on multiple targets is far higher which causes a larger dps spike then single target.

[Wogglefek]

As far as I was aware starfall only does 10 stars on single target and 20 max if its more than one(changed maybe?), as well as others have said before me, no more splash damage.

[Wiggfield]

As far as I was aware starfall only does 10 stars on single target and 20 max if its more than one(changed maybe?), as well as others have said before me, no more splash damage.

This is correct. On a single target, starfall only does 10 stars, which is half the damage.

[Wogglefek]

This is correct. On a single target, starfall only does 10 stars, which is half the damage.

Yeah, cleared up for the guy above. So your numbers are pretty off, op. :S

[boomcan]

1 million is by no means a way to compare. What i would do if i were you is do a dps parse is compare feral and moonkin at the same time. Go until moonkin is out of mana. Repeat that about 50 times. Average it out.

Also...you do not want to be doing 1 million damage parses at level 85. In my current gear as a moonkin, i can push out 1 million damage in approximately 1 minute and some change. When it comes to doing a dps discussion on which spec to take, you really do need to be a "numbers" kind of person, otherwise just go on your preference of play style.

Personally, i am boomcan. I love it. Completely. In its entirety. Cat is for fite, but moonkin is for moonstufs and moonfare spam.

[Lyndonm33]

feral for life.....

[Chrolank]

I agree with the post, you can not include a AoE to damage input. To get a valide results, use single target spells with both for a certain time frame. Do not use any buffs just start raw damage rotations. With doing it this way I see feral the way to go.

Troll Druid kitty is the way I'm going.