Stats are the core of your character and how you choose to balance those stats will greatly impact the effectiveness of your Feral Druid. Use this guide to select the stats that are the most important for your Druid and learn how to prioritize those stats to optimize your performance.
Stat Priority
Melee Hit (3%) > PvP Power > Agility > PvP Resilience > Mastery > Crit > Haste > Expertise (3%+)
Stat Summaries
Melee Hit (3%) The Hit cap of 3% (1020 Rating) will eliminate the chance for any special ability to miss against other players. To check your Hit, open your character panel and then look under the Melee tab for "Hit Chance" and make sure it is at or just above 3% for your weapon(s).
PvP Power Increases all damage done to players and their pets or minions.
Agility Increases all damage dealt and slightly increases critical chance.
PvP Resilience Provides damage reduction against all damage done by players and their pets or minions. You start with a base PvP Resilience of 40%. PvP Resilience is more effective than raw Stamina for mitigating damage received in PvP environments. The choice of how much PvP Resilience to stack entirely depends on how much damage you want to mitigate versus how much damage you would like to deal to your targets. If you find yourself dying too frequently, try adding more PvP Resilience.
Mastery Mastery: Razor Claws increases the damage done by your bleeds.
Crit Increases the chance for your attacks to critically hit for 200% damage.
Haste Increases attack speed and Energy regeneration.
Expertise (3%) The Expertise cap of 3% (1020 Rating) will eliminate your attacks from being dodged or parried by caster specs/classes. To check your Expertise, open your character panel and then look under the Melee tab for "Expertise" and make sure it is at or just above 3% for your weapon(s). Expertise beyond 3% reduces the chance for your attacks to be dodged or parried, but this amount of Expertise comes at the cost of other stats and is often not worth the investment.
Reforging
Reforging allows you to modify the secondary stats on your gear. Use this guide to determine the best strategy for reforging your stats so that you can optimize the performance of your Feral Druid.
Melee Hit (3%) > PvP Power > Agility > PvP Resilience > Mastery > Crit > Haste > Expertise (3%+)
1. Check for 3% Melee Hit
If you are below 3% Melee Hit, you should reforge your weakest stats (see priority) into Hit Rating. Do this until you reach the 3% cap.
2. Optimize Secondary Stats
On any items without Mastery or Crit, reforge the weakest stat (see priority) into Mastery or Crit as available.
GEMS
Gems and Enchants allow you to customize your stats and choosing the right gems and enchants is critical to developing an effective Feral Druid. Use this guide to view the selected best gems, enchants, and profession perks to use for your Druid.
5.1 Gems
Shoulders [Greater Tiger Claw Inscription]
Cloak [Enchant Cloak - Superior Critical Strike]
Chest [Enchant Chest - Super Resilience]
Bracers [Enchant Bracer - Greater Agility]
Gloves [Enchant Gloves - Superior Mastery]
Belt [Living Steel Belt Buckle]
Legs [Shadowleather Leg Armor]
Boots [Enchant Boots - Blurred Speed]
Weapon [Enchant Weapon - Dancing Steel]
5.1 Profession Perks
The recommended profession bonuses for Feral Druids are provided by Blacksmithing + Engineering. Blacksmithing provides two additional gem slots that can be used to help balance your stats. Engineering provides a strong on-use Agility boost in addition to other useful items.
Talents and Glyphs give you the flexibility to tweak your Feral Druid for a variety of encounters. Use this guide to view the selected talents and glyphs to include in your build and under which circumstances you might need to change your build to increase your effectiveness.
Spec Build 5.1
This is the base PvP spec for Feral Druids. Wild Charge, Faerie Swarm, and Mighty Bash provide great utility, but may be swapped for other talents in the same tier. Nature's Swiftness boosts your survivability. Incarnation: King of the Jungle and Nature's Vigil provide a strong burst DPS combo.
Major Glyphs 5.1
Major Glyphs are all highly situational. Your Glyph choices will largely depend on your team and class composition.
[Glyph of Barkskin] Recommended. Moderate boost to survivability.
[Glyph of Cat Form] Recommended. Moderate boost to survivability.
[Glyph of Prowl] Recommended. Solid mobility boost when in Prowl.
[Glyph of Savagery] Recommended. Greatly increased utility for Savage Roar.
[Glyph of Dash] Optional. Strong boost to mobility.
[Glyph of Faerie Fire] Optional. Slight boost to crowd control.
[Glyph of Fae Silence] Optional. Improved utility against casters.
[Glyph of Ferocious Bite] Optional. Very small boost to survivability.
[Glyph of Master Shapeshifter] Optional. Small boost to utility.
[Glyph of Nature's Grasp] Optional. Improved utility against melee.
[Glyph of Rebirth] Optional. Strong glyph for group or world PvP.
Minor Glyphs 5.1
[Glyph of the Stag] Optional. Slight boost to team mobility.
Rotation - Prio lists - Mainly PvE but some good info
1. Single Target Rotation
The Feral Druid DPS rotation revolves around keeping up various buffs and debuffs, while generating Combo Points and using them on Finishing Moves.
Combo Point builders (by order of priority)
Use Shred as your default Combo Point builder.
If you cannot attack the boss from behind, Mangle Icon Mangle becomes your default Combo Point builder.
Use Rake only to keep 100% uptime on the bleed effect that it applies (every 15 seconds).
Finishing Moves (by order of priority)
Apply and maintain Savage Roar (preferably with 5 Combo Points).
Apply and maintain Rip (with 5 Combo Points).
When the target is below 25% health use Ferocious Bite to refresh Rip. Use Ferocious Bite with 5 Combo Points preferably, unless Rip is about to wear off.
While this rotation is correct and, for the most part, complete, putting it into practice takes a slightly deeper understanding. For this, we strongly suggest that you read our detailed section.
2. Multiple Target Rotation
When you are facing 2 targets, simply perform a single-target rotation on one of them. You can try to maintain Rake up on both of them.
If you are facing 3 or more targets, keep up your Savage Roar buff at all times, keep up the bleed effect from Thrash , and use use Swipe on cooldown. Use your remaining Combo Points to weave in Rip on the main target, if there is one.
3. Faerie Fire
If no one else is providing the armor Weakened Armor debuff granted by Faerie Fire , then you should keep this debuff up yourself. Weakened Armor lasts 30 seconds.
4. Cooldowns
You have two DPS cooldown.
Tiger's Fury increases your physical damage done by 15% for 6 seconds, on a 30-second cooldown. Additionally, it instantly restores 60 energy. It should be used on cooldown.
Berserk reduces the cost of your abilities by 50% for 15 seconds, on a 3-minute cooldown. It should be used as many times as possible during the encounter.
Additionally, your talents have the potential to provide you with an additional two active DPS cooldowns. We discuss this, as well as the proper timing and usage of your default cooldowns in a subsequent section.
4.1. Abilities Granted by Symbiosis
Symbiosis is a buff that you can place on one party or raid member. The buff lasts for 1 hour, and grants you an ability belonging to the target's class, depending on what your specialisation is. At the same time, the target receives one of your spells. Both of these spells come in a slightly modified version (less powerful than the original). You can see the full list of spells here, but the spells useful to you as a
Feral Druid are:
Redirect allows you to move your existing Combo Points to a new target. This is very useful for maintaining your DPS when switching targets. It is gained from Rogues.
Soul SwapSwap allows you to move your two main bleed effects (Rip Icon Rip and Rake Icon Rake) to a new target. This is very useful for maintaining your DPS when switching targets. It is gained from Warlocks.
Feral Spirit summons two Spirit Wolves that deal (a very small amount of) damage to the target, for 30 seconds. It is gained from Shamans.
Shattering Blow reduces the target's armor by 20% for 10 seconds. This is a very useful raid cooldown. It is gained from Warriors.
Play Dead , Divine Shield Icon Divine Shield, and Dispersion Icon Dispersion all help you survive in various ways. These are gained from Hunters, Paladins, and Priests, respectively.
5. Optional Read: Mastering Your Feral Druid↑top
The above information tells you everything you need to know in order to have highly competitive DPS as a Feral Druid. However, in order for you to truly master the spec, there are more things that you need to understand in detail.
5.1. Combo Points and Energy
As a DPS Feral Druid, most of your abilities need Energy to be used. Your Energy bar has a capacity of 100 Energy and refills at a rate of 10 Energy per second. Your energy regeneration is increased by your melee haste (Haste Rating + haste-enhancing buffs).
Some abilities add one or several Combo Points on your target, up to a maximum of 5 Combo Points. Other abilities, called Finishing Moves, consume the Combo Points on your target. The more Combo Points a Finishing Move consumes, the more powerful its effect is. Your Combo Point generation is increased by Primal Fury Icon Primal Fury, which causes your Combo Point generating abilities to generate two Combo Points any time they are critical strikes.
5.2. Single Target Rotation in Detail
The DPS Feral Druid rotation is a balance of keeping up several debuffs and bleeds on the target as well as keeping up Savage Roar on yourself, while continuously generating Combo Points.
5.2.1. Debuffs and Bleeds
The first debuff you must keep up on the target is Faerie Fire . Note that this debuff has equivalents from other classes, so if it is already being provided, you do not need to worry about it.
An equivalent of Faerie Fire is provided by any other Druids, Warriors, Rogues and Hunters. Note that Feral Druids' Faerie Fire is slightly better than other classes' because it is instantly applied at full strength (normally, it needs to stack up to 3 times), but this benefit is very minor and hardly worth considering.
Once this debuff is taken care of, you have two other bleed effects that you must try to have 100% uptime on the target with. They are Rake and Rip.
Rake only costs Energy to apply, making it quite simple to manage.
Rip costs Energy but its potency is also dependant on how many Combo Points it is applied with. You must always make sure that you are applying Rip with 5 Combo Points.
5.2.2. Savage Roar
Savage Roar Roar is a self-buff that increases your physical damage done by 30%. It costs Energy to apply, and its duration (but not its potency) depends on how many Combo Points it is applied with. Essentially, it makes no difference how many Combo Points you use it with, but if you can apply it with a high number of Combo Points, it will ease the pressure on maintaining your rotation.
You must always have this buff active on yourself.
Note that, if you are using Glyph of Savagery , you can apply Savage Roar (with a 12-second duration) without having any Combo Points. This is very useful in case you make a mistake in your rotation and your Savage Roar expires or if you are finding it difficult to generate Combo Points steadily for some reason. Also, it is ideal for the start of the encounter, allowing you to use your first Combo Points on setting up Rip .
5.2.3. What to do the Rest of the Time
When your debuff, bleeds and self-buff are all up and do not need to be refreshed, you will essentially be filling the time with casts of Shred , generating Combo Points.
In addition to Shred, some Combo Points will also be generated by your casts of Rake Icon Rake, although this number is much smaller.
5.2.4. When to Refresh DoTs and Savage Roar
You should try to refresh Rip when there are 2 or fewer seconds remaining on the current Rip. When the existing Rip is stronger (it was applied at a time when your attack power was higher than it currently is), you will get an error message and you will not be allowed to refresh it. In this case, simply wait until it expires fully before reapplying it.
In a similar fashion, you should try to refresh Rake when there are 3 or fewer seconds remaining on the current Rake. The exception to this is mentioned in the Tiger's Fury section.
The timing for refreshing Savage Roar is not very strict, but you should still try to refresh it right as it is about to expire.
5.2.5. Ferocious Bite
Ferocious Bite is a finishing move that costs 25 Energy and deals damage based on how many Combo Points you use it with. Its damage is increased, by up to 100%, at the cost of extra Energy, up to 25. That is to say, if you use Ferocious Bite with 25 Energy, it will deal its base damage (based on how many Combo Points you have). If you use it with 50 Energy, then its damage will be increased by 100%.
Whenever you use Ferocious Bite on a target that is below 25% health, your Rip on the target will be refreshed. This makes it a much more efficient way of maintaining Rip on the target, since you are dealing damage while also refreshing Rip, for the same amount of Combo Points. A Rip that is refreshed in this manner will have the same power as its original application (determined by how many Combo Points you applied it with).
You should use Ferocious Bite with 5 Combo Points, unless Rip will expire before you have time to reach 5. In this case, you should just use it with however many Combo Points you have, in order to refresh Rip.
It will prove to be a DPS gain to pool Energy to 50 before using Ferocious Bite (provided that it does not cause your Rip to fall off), boosting its damage.
5.3. Detailed Cooldown Usage
How you use your two DPS cooldowns is very important to your performance as a Feral Druid.
5.3.1. Tiger's Fury
There are several things to consider when using Tiger's Fury :
It should always be used on cooldown.
Before using Tiger's Fury, make sure you have 35 or less Energy (to avoid becoming capped thanks to the 60 Energy it provides you with).
Use any other damage-increasing spells or abilities at the same time as Tiger's Fury (Potion of the Tol'vir, Synapse Springs , on-use trinkets, etc.).
Bleed effects cast while Tiger's Fury is active will benefit from the damage increase for their entire duration (even if Tiger's Fury runs out in the meanwhile). As a result, you should refresh Rake while Tiger's Fury is active, unless the current Rake has more than 9 seconds left on its duration. It is a DPS increase to refresh Rip while Tiger's Fury is active, but do not go out of your way to do this and simply refresh it before it is about to expire.
Keep in mind that Tiger's Fury cannot be used while Berserk active, but Berserk can be used while Tiger's Fury is active. In most cases, you will want to use Berserk immediately after using Tiger's Fury.
5.3.2. Berserk
Berserk reduces the Energy cost of all your abilities by 50% while it is active. It is a very strong DPS cooldown, allowing you to cast your abilities more often.
You will want to use Berserk as many times as possible during the fight. Ideally, you should pool Energy before using Berserk, so that you can use more abilities throughout its duration, thus "saving" more Energy. Of course, you must take the reduced Energy cost into account when making sure that you do not cap your Energy.
Whenever possible, you should use Berserk immediately after using Tiger's Fury.
Last edited by mmoc55372315f4; 2013-01-08 at 09:47 AM.
Its a guide i found else where, i use mmo champ alot and there is no feral pvp guide so i wanted to get it on here for the members, maybe a moderator can clean it up and repost it i dunno, i just wante the info out there for new ferals
I see you tried to edit it, however the ability uses you've listed are simply how they should be used in PvE, and don't necessarily reflect how they should be used in PvP.
One thing that severely stuck out just from skimming: You should never use Tiger's Fury and Berserk on cooldown in Arena; you need to use them at a coordinated time with your partners to force CDs/Trinkets or even kills.
For example: You pop Tiger's Fury on a Resto Shaman that's at full HP with no coordination from your teammates and the shaman heals back to full with no effort since you didn't coordinate the damage with your teammates. A few seconds later your partner tells you he wants to burst the mage but you just wasted that Tiger's Fury on the shaman so you've only got whatever energy you may have pooled to put into the mage.
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