1. #1

    So, you want to be a Kitty? (Guide)

    In this guide, I’ll be discussing Spec, Feral DPS Priority Listings, Gear, Professions, Glyphs, Gemming, Enchants, Add-ons, I will be giving calculation numbers, and external links to other sites of information as well as crediting my sources. This will be a ton of information pulled from External links, theory crafting, and personal experience. The discussion will go as follows:
    1. Spec
    2. Feral Priority List
    3. Gear
    4. Professions/Glyphs/Enchants/Gems
    5. Add-ons
    6. Facts, Stats and Numbers
    7. External Links and Credits


    Terminology that will be used
    Agi - Agility
    AP - Attack Power
    ArP - Armor penetration rating
    BiS - Best in Slot
    CP - Combo Point
    iLotP - Improved Leader of the Pack
    FB - Ferocious Bite
    SR - Savage Roar
    Str - Strength
    TF - Tiger's Fury


    1. Speccing your Cat

    For choosing the feral tree you get Mangle, Aggression (increases your AP by 25%), Feral Instinct (makes you harder to detect while Prowling), and your mastery (increases bleed damage by 40%, plus an additional 3.1% per point of Mastery).

    http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0Zf0GfRzMbbfzMcz:fzM is probably your base spec as a cat for now, this leaves 4 points floating as “free” points. What I mean by this, is this will allow you to put points in other areas to customize your cat to a better play for yourself. Such as Picking up Survival Instincts, Picking up points in Brutal Impact for extra stuns, or picking up points in nurturing instincts to be a better hybrid class and toss heals when needed. It is really up to you at this point

    2. Feral (DPS) Priority List

    Luckily for us cats our Priority list has changed very little to what we have become used too in Wrath. There really is only one big change and that is Savage Roar is no longer our top priority since it only affects our white attacks and not all attacks.
    1. Keep up Mangle
    2. Keep up Rake
    3. When at 5 CP and Rip is not up, use Rip
    4. Use shred for CP regeneration (remember, that points 1 and 2 are more important)
    5. Keep up Savage Roar
    6. When below 30 Energy, use TF
    7. Use Clearcast Proccs for Shred
    8. When at 5 CP and Rip and SR are running with 8 seconds (might be longer, depending on your gear) or longer each, use FB
    9. When Rip and SR will drop at nearly the same time (with less than 3 seconds difference), try to recognize it early. Then use SR with a small amount of CP to desynchronize both timers.
    10. Use Berserk only at high energy, (but not higher than 85) not directly after TF and as often as possible. If you will be getting a damage multiplier (some boss fights do this) it is best to save Berserk for this time.


    This priority list is quite hard to maintain. Cat DPS is the most complicated DPs spec in PvE WoW. Try to remember these rules:

    Remember:
    1. Mangle buffs bleeds and shred; Bleeds buff shred. That means, never shred without applying mangle and at least one bleeding.
    2. Use Rip and FB only with 5 CP
    3. It is very tricky to squeeze in FB's in your rotation. At first you should try to maximize Mangle, Rip and Rake up-time (in this order). When you get more experienced, try to FB more. You need to guess how much time is needed for building up 5 CP's - this depends on your crit chance. Usually, a FB is worth dropping Rip for 4 Ticks approx (8 seconds).
    4. FB is most efficient when used at 35 energy. It gets worse when you spend more, thus making it least efficient when using with 65 energy.
    5. A 5 CP FB is always more efficient than a shred, even when used at 65 energy.
    6. When using the shred glyph: When rake and rip are about to expire and you could shred to extend the rip duration for 2 more seconds at the cost of letting rake drop for 1-2 seconds - do it.


    3. OMG what GEAR should I get?

    Gear design has been substantially changed. In short, Armor Penetration, Defense, and Attack Power will no longer appear on gear. A new stat called Mastery is being added, which is tied into your main talent tree. All classes of gear will have 4 stats, similar to plate in today's world, and Stamina will show up in higher quantities. Combat ratings in general will be more difficult to cap, and it is possible that players will have reduces chances to hit or crit bosses in later tiers. To make up for the lack of Attack Power on gear we will now receive 2 AP per point of Agility. It is unclear if this is intended, but as of now we also receive 2 AP per point of Strength (in both forms).

    One point that bears special mention is weapons. Feral weapons will no longer carry Feral Attack Power. Instead, weapon damage and speed will be translated directly to our paw damage. The exact mechanics of this are just as one would expect, but to clarify: Both the minimum and maximum damage from the weapon are divided by its attack speed. These values are multiplied by the base swing speed of the form you're in (1 for cats, 2.5 for bears), and those values are then added to your minimum and maximum damage without a weapon equipped.

    I am not including any trade specific items since those would likely be better in slot (engineering helm, Alchemist trinkets, etc). Also it is not optimal to leveling crafting when our goal is 85 so I'll only concentrate on level 85 gear. Nor am I including Tier and 359 Raid gear or BoE world drops

    BiS Weapons for Cats:

    Helm:


    Shoulders:


    Chest:


    Wrists:

    Hands:


    Belt:

    Legs:


    Feet:


    Relic:

    Back:


    Rings:


    Neck:


    Trinkets:


    REMEMBER!

    BiS lists are not perfect. There may be items, which are bigger upgrades for you than items listed in this BiS list, because the rest of your gear looks different. Also some may consider Hit/Expertise more important and will gem for them in the yellow slots.
    Don't stick to this list without adjusting them for your own situation...

    4. Professions/Glyphs/Enchants/Gems

    Professions
    Alchemy: +80 Agi through mixology, when using Flask of the Winds
    Blacksmithing: 2 more sockets.
    Enchanting: 2x +40 Agi ring enchant. Bonus: +80 Agility
    Engineering: On use 240 Haste Rating for 12 seconds, 1 min CD. Averages out to 68 Haste Rating. Otherwise you would enchant +20 Agi. Epic Helm with customizable sockets
    Inscription: +80 Agi over the Exalted Therazane enchant
    Jewelcrafting: 3x +67 Agi gems instead of +45 Agi. So +81 more agility.
    Leatherworking: +130 Agility Enchant over the 65 Crit Enchant
    Tailoring: Swordguard Embroidery grants 1000 AP for 15 seconds, roughly once a minute.

    Overall Ranking (Raiding):
    1. Leatherworking (+110 agi) — BiS profession for feral tanks and DPS
    2. Alchemy/Blacksmithing/Enchanting/Inscription/Jewelcrafting/Tailoring (+80 agi) — All pretty equal, tailoring still semi-TBD
    3. Engineering (TBD) — They made a new caster tinker, so I imagine they’ll make a new melee tinker…pretty bad until then
    4. Herbalism/Skinning (~23 agi) — If you must. Skinning provides mats to power LW, and Druids are great Herbalists in flight form.
    5. Mining (0 agi) — great for tanks; 0 DPS value, until you survive a raid AOE with 100HP.


    Glyphs
    There are now 3 types of glyphs: Prime, Major, Minor. You can have up to 3 of each type of glyph at a time.
    Prime Glyphs

    The best 3 glyphs as we can tell right now are Rip, Shred, and Tiger's Fury. It is possible that with more haste Glyph of Savage Roar will be viable but not at this point in time

    Major Glyphs

    Minor Glyphs

    Not much to say here, pick what you like.

    Enchants
    Head - Arcanum of the Ramkahen
    Shoulder - Swiftsteel Inscription> Greater Inscription of Shattered Crystal
    Back - 22 Agility (Yes the LK Enchant is better for cats than the new 65 Crit Rating enchant)
    Chest - +20 Stats
    Wrist - Draconic Embossment> 65 Crit Rating
    Hands - Greater Mastery
    Legs – Dragonbone Leg Armor
    Feet - Major Agility (35 Agi)
    Finger - +40 Agi
    Weapon – 130 Agility

    Gemming
    Agility (red) > Mastery (yellow) > rest
    Make sure to gem to fit the requirement of your crit mod meta.
    Relentless Earthsiege Diamond (yes the level 80 one since it has AGI)
    Note that Blizzard has announced they are changing the "more blue than red" requirement on the crit mod metas. However, this has not happened yet

    Reforging to mastery is what most ferals will do since this makes our bleeds tick for significant damage, however if you have an item with mastery on it already you will want to reforge to crit if you are under the soft cap for crit and the item doesn't have it already.

    5. Add-ons

    BadKitty: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-a.../badkitty.aspx
    BadKitty is a debuff tracker for Feral Druids. Originally designed to accurately track Mangle's remaining time regardless of how many Ferals or Arms Warriors were in the raid, it has grown to track all buffs, debuffs, and cooldowns important to every cat (and bear) who cares about their damage output.
    Savage Roar, Mangle (Trauma included), Faerie Fire, Rip, Rake, Tiger's Fury, Berserk, Glyph of Shred charges, Omen of Clarity, Predator's Swiftness, Demoralizing Roar (Demo Shout, CoW, Vindication included), Lacerate, Barkskin, trinkets, idols, and enchants are all tracked and take into account any overlapping debuffs that may exist in your group or raid.

    In both Cat and Bear Forms, two options are available for you. A small bar frame akin to many simliar mods, and a unique 'warning' frame that displays on your screen images of any buff or debuff that will soon need your attention. These two options can be used independently or simultaneously. Color, texture, and opacity options are available for these as well.

    Hear Kitty: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-a...ear-kitty.aspx
    Hear Kitty plays soothing and distinct orchestral sounds as you gain and spend your combat resources. It's like having your own theme music! Rogues and feral druids hear tones as they gain and spend combo points, enhancement shamans hear their maelstrom weapon charges, and paladins hear their holy power build up. When you hear the final note played, you'll know it's time for a finishing move, and you won't have to watch for red combo dots or buff stacks anymore. (I have not personally used this but having looked further into it I might try it)

    Need To Know: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-a...d-to-know.aspx
    NeedToKnow lets you monitor specific buffs, debuffs, and totems as timer bars that always appear in a consistent place on your screen.
    NeedToKnow is especially useful for monitoring frequently used short-duration buffs and debuffs. For example, a rogue could configure NeedToKnow to show timer bars for Slice and Dice, Rupture, and their own stack of Deadly Poison VII. A death knight could use it to track their own diseases on a mob.

    MEW: http://elitistjerks.com/f73/t110356-...mew_simulator/
    Using Mew is very simple; the interface is based off of Toskk’s. Plug in your character’s stats (unbuffed caster form) and proceed through the windows, selecting your set bonuses, any trinket procs, talents, glyphs, consumables, and raid buffs. Once done, click “Calculate.” The program will take your inputs and spit back what it considers to be your estimated DPS, plus loads of stats if that’s your thing.

    RAWR: http://rawr.codeplex.com/
    Rawr is a program for comparing and exploring gear for Bears, Cats, Moonkin, Healadins, Retadins, Mages, DPS Warriors, Protection Warriors, Trees, Hunters, Protection Paladins, Healing Priests, Shadow Priests, Enhancement Shamans, Warlocks, Rogues, Restoration Shamans, Elementals, and DPS & Tank Death Knights, in the MMORPG, World of Warcraft. Rawr has been designed from the start to be fun to use, and helpful in finding better combinations of gear, and what gear to obtain.


    6. Facts, Stats and Numbers

    Mangle: (Weapon Dmg) * 3.6 + 1017
    Shred: (Weapon Dmg) * 3.5 + 1036
    Rake Direct: 272 + 0.023 * AP
    Rake DoT: Rake DoT: 555 + 0.14 * AP (Per tick)
    Rip: 57 + 144 * nrCPs + AP * 0.023 * nrCPs (Per tick)

    Relative Stat Values (generated by Mew, 85 values still fluid):
    Lvl 85, blues
    Weapon DPS - 3.91
    Agility - 2.59
    Strength - 2.03
    Attack Power - 0.96
    Mastery - 0.94
    Crit - 0.76
    Haste - 0.72
    Hit - 0.66
    Expertise - 0.66

    If you don’t know what this means, each “point” of Agility, or Mastery, or whatever, is worth X DPS. Due to scaling effects from gear and raid buffs, numbers get bigger, but their relative order stays the same.


    7. External Links and Credits

    http://fluiddruid.net The Fluid Druid, great site for tons of druid information not specifically feral

    http://elitistjerks.com/f73/ Druid Forums from EJ, again fantastic site for tons of information. EJ also does a lot of number crunching and gives formulas for almost everything.

    http://www.mmo-champion.com/forums/270-Druid MMO Champion’s Druid Forums. Good place to search for information and possible questions asked by other druids.


    A special thanks to Alaron of Fluid Druid, Carebear of EJ, Melthu of Vodka, Mihir from Cráb People, and every druid out there that has asked questions, needed answers to questions, and gave number crunchers something to do.

  2. #2
    Not bad at all. Problem with stuff like this is each new patch changes some things. Alaron now writes a weekly thing for Wow Insider and still runs his blog. And there's good to decent guides like this all over different forums here and there. Which is great until the person writing gets tired of it or doesn't update very often.

    I really wish people would start collaborating on this stuff in a wiki format someplace that didn't result in single point failure organization.

    That said, nice guide. Might need updating for 4.0.6. And then again next patch.

  3. #3
    Nice guide for dps rly liked it i was playing wit kitty for quite a while and this talent tree was not quite similar to mine (of course it wasnt such a stupid from me :P) it is much better choise than mine talent tree i reseted several of times and i guess i will need to do it agan >.<. Bdw can u make So u whant to be a Teddy bear always wanted to learn tanking . Plzz ;D

  4. #4
    Nice guild. Thanks. Now I can start building up a cat

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