Coming Back to Feral: SR and AoE help, please

[Jingshui]

I played a feral from BC through Cata, and then fell in love with my WW Monk. I'm strongly considering switching back for Legion. My feral is now 107, and I ran DT with her last night.

The Recount-by-pull was hilarious. On bosses, I was competing with a DK for top place. On AoE, I plummeted to the bottom and stayed there.

I'm currently talented for Savage Roar,and I'm not excited a) to have to deal with it again, and b) by its current incarnation. At ALL.

So, my first questions are for SR. I know it's the optimal talent. How much would I be gimping myself if I took something else in that tier? I'm trying to determine what an acceptable amount of gimping is, heh. I get especially frustrated because SR delays getting Rip up, which in turn delays the ignore-armor debuff from the artifact. Too many things that NEED to be up - that's part of what drove me to my monk...

In regards to AoE: I feel torn between Thrash/Swipe, and spreading Rake and Moonfire (and Rip?) around. What are the priorities??

If I dropped SR, what is the next-best talent in that tier, and is there a way to smooth out the difference between ST and AoE?

Big, fundamental questions. Thanks for reading this far, and thanks for any insight you can share.

EDIT: On ST I guess I'm okay with SR, it's AoE where I just fall apart. And AoE is a Big Deal these days, unfortunately.

[danji]

If I dropped SR, what is the next-best talent in that tier, and is there a way to smooth out the difference between ST and AoE?

Switch Savage Roar to SotF. Xanxara suggested it for me in the Feral discord. I'm definitely not a top tier raider or anything, but I can say that I like it and feel capable of managing and competing with that build (JW/BT/LI/SotF).

My max dps is lower (bosses) but still very strong, and more importantly i can keep up on trash. Just moonfire and rake on everything with rips when you hit 5cp. You can usually dot 4 things like this and have room for a thrash + 2 swipes once you get the artifact trait that lowers the cost of swipe, i've noticed. Also don't be afraid of using your cooldowns as often as they're up unless you're within sight of a boss. Going SotF I now have enough energy to keep up on trash.

Honestly you will still only be top on trash even with this setup if you're silly lucky with crits or at a higher gear level than the others, but it's much better, and doesn't ruin your boss dps that much.

Only downside I have felt on this spec is during berserk I can't keep from capping energy.

[Jingshui]

That is a TOTALLY bearable downside, heh! Thank you so much for that outline!!!!

[danji]

Yup... Xanzara's guide is awesome, you should look it up.

Also ... be careful in Maw of Souls ... you can moonfire through walls. :|

[Jingshui]

I've pulled up the guide, and it is indeed fabulous - thank you! I hope the Maw of Souls discovery was at least funny ;p