[Feral] PvE Opening

[Deleted]

Hello fellow Kitties.

I've been playing Feral for quite a while now, but I still have some issues with energy-capping in the first seconds of a fight. I think my opening is standard, but even if I spam FB every 5CP , the GCD used to trigger the first manual DoC (when DoC spec'd, ofc) is enough to cap my energy, and I don't know what to do to.

My opening (assuming I use DoC):
• Pre-HT
• Pre-SR
• Pre-Pot

• Charge + FF
• Rake
• Shred
• SR (Maybe not optimal because I still have some time on it, but in average I have 3CP at this point, which gives me time)
• TF + Berserk (If Heroism is used at pull, I sometime cap here)
• Shred to 5CP
• NS + HT (Heroism or not, I always hit 100 energy here)
• Rip + refresh Rake

Any advice?
Thanks in advance!

[Deleted]

Reading what you have put i tend to do things a little differently but then again it could be im in the wrong and your correct (lol)

so..

Pre HT
Pre SR
Pre POT

Charge, FF... or sprint FF.
Tigers fury, Zerk.
Rake
thrash
shred to 5
NS, HT RIP
shred , HT , Shred rake shred to 5 and SR

then as per.

Valk

[Elunedra]

Reading what you have put i tend to do things a little differently but then again it could be im in the wrong and your correct (lol)

so..

Pre HT
Pre SR
Pre POT

Charge, FF... or sprint FF.
Tigers fury, Zerk.
Rake
thrash
shred to 5
NS, HT RIP
shred , HT , Shred rake shred to 5 and SR

then as per.

Valk

yep this is not optimal as you waste the 60 energy gained from TF

[Deleted]

ok, what would you suggest as a fix to that then?

[Elunedra]

i am not entirely sure on the DoC opening rotation, as i use HotW myzelf, but for me its a matter of popping in a Rake and a Shred to dump some excess energy before i use TF/ Zerg

[Fuzzyh]

my usual opener is:

HT pot and SR before 1 sec before pull (ask your tank to follow the timer and if he doesnt yell at him untill he does) healing touch ofc casted way earlier than pot.

then i run in and rake with first hit and then shred to 5 combos. usually takes me 2 shreds maybe 3 and then its no biggie... i use natures swiftness to get DoC buff up for my first rip which usually will have pot + RoR trinket and some of renetakis trinket going for it and i pop TF + berserk right before i apply the first rip. After the rip i use the second stack of DoC buff to reapply rake because the one i apply there is way more powerfull than my starter.
If we used BL at start i usually trash one time to get my energy a little low and i start spamming shred and FB.
depending on my energy i can use the instant healing touch to buff my attacks, but i often find me energy capping and then ill rather get ekstra shreds in than buff 2 attacks with 20%. thats just what my napkin math tells me is right.
with troll berserk BL and berserk going you ARE going to energy cap and you shouldnt use your instant healing touch before you are not energy capping anymore by using it.

hmm ill try to write it in less text:
1. HT, pot, SR (prepull)
2. rake
3. shred to 5 combos
4. nature swiftness healing touch at low energy
5. TF berserk (and hopefully all trinkets popped cause they love you and pot is still up)
6. Rip (that was first DoC buff)
7. overwrite rake with a super OP mega insane one (second DoC buff)
8. spam shred and FB and use Instant healing touch if you can do so while not capping energy (With BL that will be hard so spam shred and FB)

i think thats how my opener usually goes but its not smt i really notice anymore so hard to explain!

[Deleted]

*snip*

Your opening seems good, but there's one point bugging me: is the prepull SR enough?

I mean, if we SR with 0 CP we have 12s (14s if you spend 2 GCD), and in the worst case scenario you will spend 11 GCD's between step 1 and 7, so that's quite tricky, since you have "only" 1 to 3 seconds to apply another SR. Have you ever had some issues with SR fading before the super-mega-insane DoT refresh?

Anyway, I'm starting to look at HotW since 6% agi starts to be worth the loss of boosted DoTs at my ilvl imo. And even if I only play in 25-man, a full-power tranquility may save the raid. I'll give it a try.

Thanks for the answers!

[Fuzzyh]

Your opening seems good, but there's one point bugging me: is the prepull SR enough?

I mean, if we SR with 0 CP we have 12s (14s if you spend 2 GCD), and in the worst case scenario you will spend 11 GCD's between step 1 and 7, so that's quite tricky, since you have "only" 1 to 3 seconds to apply another SR. Have you ever had some issues with SR fading before the super-mega-insane DoT refresh?

Anyway, I'm starting to look at HotW since 6% agi starts to be worth the loss of boosted DoTs at my ilvl imo. And even if I only play in 25-man, a full-power tranquility may save the raid. I'll give it a try.

Thanks for the answers!

I cant recall any raids ive had problems with not making the good rip before my first SR is over. i might have 1-3 sec left on it. but i always make it. ofc really unlucky with no crits can fuck you up, but in 522 or close to i cant recall the last raid/pull i didnt make it.

[exochaft]

I cant recall any raids ive had problems with not making the good rip before my first SR is over. i might have 1-3 sec left on it. but i always make it. ofc really unlucky with no crits can fuck you up, but in 522 or close to i cant recall the last raid/pull i didnt make it.

The joy of having multiple druids allows me to see the variance between item levels constantly. If you have an ilvl closer to normal ToT, you'll likely never have an issue with being able to have a strong opening with DoC before SR expires (especially with Time Warp/Bloodlust/Heroism). If your ilvl is closer to beginning raids ilvls or normal MSV/HoF, you might have an issue or two with lower crit levels. Push comes to shove, if you constantly have SR expire before you're able to put up an opening Rip, use your first combo point(s) to make it longer.

With respect to energy capping, my best geared druid only goes DPS on heroic Tortos, and I moved away from DoC based on what I do during the fight and how I use my heals with respect to the bubbles. However, barring OoC procs, I tend to manually apply Thrash to help lower my energy levels to keep it from capping. I'd imagine with DoC, since healing ourselves risks energy capping even more, manually applying Thrash would still be an ideal way to help prevent energy capping.

[Absolucion]

i am not entirely sure on the DoC opening rotation, as i use HotW myzelf, but for me its a matter of popping in a Rake and a Shred to dump some excess energy before i use TF/ Zerg

Hardcast a heal on yourself before pull. Also get something to track PS and DoC so that you can get the best usage on Rips/Rakes/FB and so on. Weak auras is excellent.

[Jeire]

for myself this seems to work the best-

pre pull - ht , sr , pot

ff as reaching boss
rake
shred to 5
NW+ HT
tigers fury rip (you will be around 90 energy here)
rake
berserk
savage roar with 2/3 pts with 2pc t15
shred to 5
refresh using HT when needed and weave in a bite
All important make sure as rip is falling off you hold a lil so you can use you next empowered buffs on a rake and rip
continue as usual keeping all up and weaving in empowered bleeds as you can.

this generaly seems good enough to get on ranks as an opener. The main points are

1/ making sure your 1st bleed is as powerful as you can with pot- empowered bleeds and tigers fury all in the mix

2/ quickly brining up a good duration savage roar asap so you can worry only on dpsing during berserk

/3 finishing off berserk with an empowered bleed buff - you probably will have to wait/hang back a little before you apply it but its well worth it to keep good dmg rolling.

/4 if you feel like overwriting rake with the buffs/ you feels its stronger or just prolonging duration with same buffs up- dont be afraid to.

Hope it helps- (sidepoint) dunno if anyone else noticed it feels so weird to have that bonus point from 2pc t15 until you get used to it. When you do its awesomesauce

[Fuzzyh]

The joy of having multiple druids allows me to see the variance between item levels constantly. If you have an ilvl closer to normal ToT, you'll likely never have an issue with being able to have a strong opening with DoC before SR expires (especially with Time Warp/Bloodlust/Heroism). If your ilvl is closer to beginning raids ilvls or normal MSV/HoF, you might have an issue or two with lower crit levels. Push comes to shove, if you constantly have SR expire before you're able to put up an opening Rip, use your first combo point(s) to make it longer.

With respect to energy capping, my best geared druid only goes DPS on heroic Tortos, and I moved away from DoC based on what I do during the fight and how I use my heals with respect to the bubbles. However, barring OoC procs, I tend to manually apply Thrash to help lower my energy levels to keep it from capping. I'd imagine with DoC, since healing ourselves risks energy capping even more, manually applying Thrash would still be an ideal way to help prevent energy capping.

yea i wrote it in the text part but not in the listed part. I usually do a non CC trash aswell to get the high bleed going and not energy capping. feels worth it atleast.
really really really dislike energycapping

[Dysheki]

If you're having trouble getting the opener going use mangle instead of shred as your initial CP builder. Mangle is a more efficient CP builder and if you can get bleeds up quicker it's worth it. I always use mangle at the start to make sure I can get to 4+ CPs quickly for the NS+HT > TF > Berserk as soon as possible to not waste much pre-pot time.

[chryo]

I kinda just skimmed the answers so if someone already said this sorry for the repost.. but my open is hard cast HT>pre pot> stealth>SR>charge+FF> ravage>TF+zerk+ns>shred to 4 cps> insta HT> rake>rip and if i get a clearcast proc throw a thrash in as long as it doesnt use DoC on it

[Deleted]

If you're having trouble getting the opener going use mangle instead of shred as your initial CP builder. Mangle is a more efficient CP builder and if you can get bleeds up quicker it's worth it. I always use mangle at the start to make sure I can get to 4+ CPs quickly for the NS+HT > TF > Berserk as soon as possible to not waste much pre-pot time.

This is true, Atm if i'm not mistaken the SimC build for ferals are only using Shred when OoC is up, Berserk is up or if we'r close to energy caping. '
This is taken from the t15 HC profile

Shred count: 22.3
Mangle count: 64.7

And also as you can see in the profile it is maintaining Thrash uptime of 82% with Heroic gear. http://simulationcraft.org/520/Raid_T15H.html#player5

As for openers i usually goes like

Pre HT (Without a weapon so i don't proc Dancing Steel)
Pre SR
Pre PoT

FF
Rake
Shred to 4-5 CPs
TF+Zerk+NS+HT
Rip/Rake- Depending on what CP i'm on.

Then i continue with normal rotation... Since i've Tail back. Synapse Springs Dancing Steel Pre Pot and my both Trinkets i usually try to get 1 Bites of and then a Rip again before Renataki's duruation weres off that leads it to me using SR on low CPs.