Feral and pve DPS

[vdub31905]

So I very very rarely see a feral druid in raids these days and I was wondering how they fair against the rest of the melee dps. The feral's I do see usually have really bad gear so I cant really pull info from people ingame because they are dusting off their ferals as well.

[Phildozer]

ferals properly using advanced rotation are currently the highest dps in the game at heroic gear levels.

[vdub31905]

Well thats good to hear =D....but what about normals and flex?

[dashflash890]

So I very very rarely see a feral druid in raids these days and I was wondering how they fair against the rest of the melee dps. The feral's I do see usually have really bad gear so I cant really pull info from people ingame because they are dusting off their ferals as well.

I skilled feral can top the meters. A bad feral (even slightly below average one) you're better off doing another spec.

[teddabear]

ferals properly using advanced rotation are currently the highest dps in the game at heroic gear levels.

Feral is the top target dummy DPS but it is so bad at multi-target fights that it ends up just above the middle. Warlocks are so good at multi-target while also being very good at single target that they end up way above Feral.

[mmokri]

http://www.warcraftlogs.com/rankings...sdps&boss=1623

Check boss dps. Feral has few talents which increase power of combo points.

[Unproven]

Feral is the top target dummy DPS but it is so bad at multi-target fights that it ends up just above the middle. Warlocks are so good at multi-target while also being very good at single target that they end up way above Feral.

- as we are a 25 man guild with only 1 feral, due to the statement above we always park him on the boss and let others cleave/target adds,
tho, probably is harder to do that if you are only a 10 man guild

[Tehterokkar]

Doing retaded amount of DPS like on the top logs rely on RNG mostly, Feral still does amazing DPS if played properly. If you want to do 600k DPS like Fragnance did on IJ, you need that RNG for trinkets to line up at the exact right time(Rip lasts until 35%)

[Terridon]

So I very very rarely see a feral druid in raids these days and I was wondering how they fair against the rest of the melee dps. The feral's I do see usually have really bad gear so I cant really pull info from people ingame because they are dusting off their ferals as well.

Most ferals you've seen is probably pretty bad too, so you can't compare much with them. At least i've only once met a good feral in lfr/flex, and i run that a lot. That was all the way back in tot.
But as people say. They're really strong singletarget. Going for being the strongest singletarget dps currently.
In SoO the only 2 fights that feels bad for me is gala and spoils, and to some degree paragons, if you're not just cheesing the dps.

[exochaft]

- as we are a 25 man guild with only 1 feral, due to the statement above we always park him on the boss and let others cleave/target adds,
tho, probably is harder to do that if you are only a 10 man guild

We have quite the similar situation in my guild, as well. Our Ferals are great players, but equally great players behind classes/specs that work better for SoO make them an easy target for trimming. Add on top the classes with similar DPS output with more raid-oriented cooldowns, and the problem may be exacerbated (for example, warriors with all their banners, Rallying Cry, Vigilance, etc.). However, our guild has a very strong sense of min/maxing when it comes to raid comps and progression, so Ferals were generally sat in the name of such min/maxing progression even if we could've done it with them in. Sadly, I think a Feral's greatest boon to a raid in SoO is Stampeding Roar, as we only seriously considered them over other classes if we wanted the mobility.

Let me be clear, though, Ferals perform very well in SoO, and by themselves they shouldn't hold a raid back from progression.

[teddabear]

SoO is more Feral friendly that ToT was but Galakras, Spoils and Protectors are still pretty bad fights for Feral and in addition you don't really have the option to tunnel. When trying for that first kill in Heroic it's hard to pull your weight as Feral on those bosses. Spoils is especially problematic since it is a DPS check for most guilds.

[Thandorr]

Most ferals you've seen is probably pretty bad too, so you can't compare much with them. At least i've only once met a good feral in lfr/flex, and i run that a lot. That was all the way back in tot.
But as people say. They're really strong singletarget. Going for being the strongest singletarget dps currently.
In SoO the only 2 fights that feels bad for me is gala and spoils, and to some degree paragons, if you're not just cheesing the dps.

This. On fights like Norushen, sha of pride and Malkorok, I find that I am on top of the meters most of the time, but I am dead last on spoils. I think come WoD bloody thrash will be a great option for multi-target fights.

[Tammer59]

I can only speak from my own experiences as a feral druid in relation to my raid team. We are all similarly geared in the 560's. The other DPS is WW monk, BM/surv hunter, Mage, then various others who have come and gone.



Fights that I am unchallenged on:
Immerseus
Sha of Pride
Iron Jugg
Dark Shamans (100% on Haromm)
Malkorok
Siegecrafter (if I am not on belt duty)



Fights that I get challenged for the top damage:
Nazgrim
Thok
Siegecrafter (if I am on belt duty)
Garrosh



Fights that I can never get top damage:
Protectors
Galakras
Spoils



Fights that meters fail:
Norushen
Paragons


Most fights my damage is great and a couple not so great but I think that can be said for every spec other than warlocks.

[Pennoyer]

Feral is doing very well when you consider max-DPS. The knock on it is that it can be more complicated to play to its potential than some of the ez-mode classes that also offer competitive damage, so you have to play more skillfully to do well.

[Thandorr]

No doubt about it, Feral has a high skill-cap, but despite the skill that any individual player might have, Feral is gimped to a great degree on fights with any requirement of sustained AoE DPS or fights that require a great amount of target switching.

[aggixx]

In SoO the only 2 fights that feels bad for me is gala and spoils, and to some degree paragons, if you're not just cheesing the dps.

The playstyle on those fights is not our strong suit and you may think it feels bad because of it, but that's not the same thing as putting out poor damage. Feral can do more than acceptable damage on those fights played correctly.

This. On fights like Norushen, sha of pride and Malkorok, I find that I am on top of the meters most of the time, but I am dead last on spoils. I think come WoD bloody thrash will be a great option for multi-target fights.

Either you're raiding 10 man in a comp that's more or less engineered to make you look bad, or you're not doing as well as you could be doing on Spoils.

- - - Updated - - -

Fights that I can never get top damage:
Protectors
Galakras
Spoils

I'm sure you're aware of this but others keep in mind "never get top damage" isn't the same as performing poorly. Nobody can touch a skilled affliction lock on Protectors, but aside from that we're middle of the pack on that fight at the very least.

[Agartha]

SoO was a very good tier for ferals, however, WoD is removing DoT snapshotting, so what is now one of the most dynamic and interesting specs with a considerable learning curve and skill cap will become one of the most hilariously linear and simplistic. I'd hold off.

[Thandorr]

Either you're raiding 10 man in a comp that's more or less engineered to make you look bad, or you're not doing as well as you could be doing on Spoils.

I'm not sure what 10man comp would make me look bad necessarily bit this is our dps makeup:

WW Monk
Destro/Aff Warlock
Hunter
Enhancement Shaman
Fire/Frost Mage
Me the Feral Druid

[exochaft]

I'm not sure what 10man comp would make me look bad necessarily bit this is our dps makeup:

WW Monk
Destro/Aff Warlock
Hunter
Enhancement Shaman
Fire/Frost Mage
Me the Feral Druid

While the strats may vary from raid to raid (and the comp may leave out some raid buffs), there's enough cleave/AoE potential in the classes you mentioned to give a Feral a run for their money. Especially when viewing the ranged classes you have, they basically have no single-target penalty to cleave (which many of the encounters are, regardless if the cleave damage may be useless or not). Warlocks, while even considered too good all around by Blizz, should pretty much dominate or be fighting for top damage if they are skilled... our Ferals can never come close to our warlocks, except on Iron Juggernaut.

Hopefully Blizz does follow through with toning down instant casts and cast-while-moving for ranged for WoD. Seemless cleave/AoE built into single-target rotations may be another discussion, but I'm sure it will be looked at for WoD, as well. Again, I want to stress that Ferals are perfectly fine for SoO, but certain classes/specs are better, or admittedly too powerful, for the encounter designs. However, with a good player behind the Feral, there's no reason that Feral would hold back progression.

[aggixx]

The monk and the warlock beating you is reasonable but the other specs you should be able to compete with on some level. If they're all consistently beating you're getting significantly outskilled on that fight (or have a really really awkward strat I guess). It is kind of a weird fight to farm, if your box openers aren't adjusting well as your raid gets more geared then the dynamic of the fight will change a lot.