Changes in the new build for druids

[Malfuron]

Balance

* Starfall - Now has a 30 yard range. Instant cast.
* Nature's Splendor - Now increases the duration of your Insect Swarm by 2.0 sec (down from 3.0)
* Typhoon - Rank 4 now does 1010 Nature damage (formerly bugged at 1 damage).

Feral

* Rake - DoT damage increased fopr all ranks.
* Swipe - No longer has a target limit. Now: (Rank 1) Swipe nearby enemies, inflicting 9 damage. Damage increased by attack power.
* Mangle (Cat) - Now does 200% normal damage (up from 160%). Additional damage increased for all ranks.
* Protector of the Pack - Now reduced damage per party member by 1/2/3% instead of a flat 3% for all ranks.

http://wotlkwiki.info/index.php/Main_Page

[Evermorph]

Good for balance and feral.


On the Resto druid side.

GC says, <fancy gestures> 'There are no jedis here....move along. You are fine.'


Riiiiiiighhhht.



*sigh*


Evermorph *

[Tygroen]

I'm really hoping they make rake a pvp viable skill, especially with Rend and Tear.

[jur]

I'm really hoping they make rake a pvp viable skill, especially with Rend and Tear.

You mean other than against plate and rogues? As well as prevention of bandages and such? It would be more viable, so to speak, if Rend and Tear effected Mangle too.

[Tygroen]

Bah, I am sorry, I meant pve >.< I know it is useful in pvp, hehe, it was a mistype, woops.

[Zenko]

~25% more damage on Mangle-Cat.... that's ridiculous

[Malfuron]

Isn't it ~40% damage increase from 160 to 200, and in addition to that, the talents that increase it (Savage Fury i think by +20%), hm looks like shred MIGHT have some competition..

[Zenko]

After Savage Fury its 240% from 192%.

Still doesn't compare to Shred, because it shouldn't.

Edit: Going from 160 to 200 is still a 25% increase haha

[Malfuron]

After Savage Fury its 240% from 192%.

Still doesn't compare to Shred, because it shouldn't.

Edit: Going from 160 to 200 is still a 25% increase haha

Ah sorry you're correct, at least it'll be slightly more useful for PVP

[Malfuron]

Wow just noticed a massive boost in the rake damage:

Rake damage has been increased. (from [ 6% of AP + 387 ] to [ 18% of AP + 1161 ] for Rank 7)

If you had 4000 AP

the old rake: 627 damage
the new rake: 1881 damage

[Tygroen]

Isn't that basically the damage of a non crit shred now? So I guess it is sorta viable now in pve, maybe with talents it'll be upped more (and mangle, since it doesnt affect shred any more!!!)

[Malfuron]

Mangle does effect shred...

[Tygroen]

Not any more, I was fairly certain they took that away pretty recently. I'll look for the post again.

[Seraphk]

Not any more, I was fairly certain they took that away pretty recently. I'll look for the post again.

Maul and Shred now do additional damage to bleeding targets. Mangle only increases bleed damage done.

No need to looks it up. You're right.

[Malfuron]

Maul and Shred now do additional damage to bleeding targets. Mangle only increases bleed damage done.

No need to looks it up. You're right.

Actually it'd be better if you looked it up:

Shred Rank 9
60 Energy Melee Range
Instant
Requires Cat Form
Shred the target, causing 225% damage plus 742.5 to the target. Must be behind the target. Awards 1 combo point. Effects which increase Bleed damage also increase Shred damage.

Mangle -

Mangle the target for 200% normal damage plus 634 and causes the target to take 30% additional damage from bleed effects for 12 sec. Awards 1 combo point.

[Tygroen]

Ahh, ok, my mistake ^_^.

Still doesn't affect my excitement over Rake.

[mgp84]

So now... we keep Rake & Mangle (If no other Bleed Modifier is present) up at all times, 5pt Savage Roar, Cast Rips, and do an occassional FB when all these other effects aren't up? Kitty DPS is sounding exciting.

[Seraphk]

Actually it'd be better if you looked it up:

Shred Rank 9
60 Energy Melee Range
Instant
Requires Cat Form
Shred the target, causing 225% damage plus 742.5 to the target. Must be behind the target. Awards 1 combo point. Effects which increase Bleed damage also increase Shred damage.

Mangle -

Mangle the target for 200% normal damage plus 634 and causes the target to take 30% additional damage from bleed effects for 12 sec. Awards 1 combo point.

Ahh.. Must of happened in a recent build. I've been playing my DK more than my Druid in Beta & never once saw the notification in any of the builds that changed it.

And here I was wondering why posts regarding Feral DRuid DPS rotation changes were missing from the Beta Forums suggesting how difficult it was to keep Rip up while Rake did not deal decent enough damage to put into the cycle merely for the bleed debuff.

I thought the Rake buff was simply so it would be more viable but glad they decided to deal with it this way.

[Malfuron]

Ahh, ok, my mistake ^_^.

Still doesn't affect my excitement over Rake.

Agreed at level 70 (for reference), with a base damage per hit of 300 and say 3500 AP:

All without any +dmg boosting talents:

Mangle (w/ savage fury) will hit for 1116 normal and 2455 crit (w/pred instincts)

Shred (w/o Mangle) will hit for 1080 normal and 2268 crit
Shred (w/mangle) will hit for 1404 normal and 2948 crit
Shred (w/mangle + bleed) will hit for 1685 normal and 3539 crit

Rake (w/o Mangle) will hit for 125 bleed damage and then 1044 over 9 seconds
Rake (w/ Mangle) will hit for 163 bleed damage and then 1357 over 9 seconds

Talented Mangle cost = 34 energy (32.82 DPE)
Shred = 42 energy (25.71 DPE w/o mangle and 33.43 DPE w/ mangle and 40.11 DPE w/ R&T)
Rake = 35 energy (33.4 DPE w/o mangle and 43.43 DPE w/ mangle)

Wow...so it looks like shred barely outpaces mangle (and only when mangle is up) and Rake really outpaces both in terms of DPE

Edit: For my rotation I'd go with something like:

Mangle --> Rake --> SR --> Shred to 5 CP (refresh mangle if necessary or throw in a rake if really pressed to beat the SR duration) --> Rip

The REALLY important thing is to get the Rend and Tear bonus to work by having a rake constantly on the target (or rip) since it gives a +20% damage boost to shred.

[Tygroen]

Yeah, Mangle, Shred Shred Shred, Rip and powershifting was getting boring, we now have cooldowns and debuff timers to be responsible for and we don't just use 1 button to dps with. Very exciting.


EDIT:

Did you make sure to see what happens to shred when you have a bleeding affect up?