XXL Guide to Feral PvP: Cataclysm Edition

[Balduvian]

Table of contents.

1. Prologue.
1.1 About me and why I write this guide.
1.2 Feral. Why should you play it?

2. Common knowledge.
2.1 Commonly used abbreviations.
2.2 Feral: Pros and Cons.

3. Getting your character “PvP-ready”.
3.1 Talents & Glyphs.
3.2 Stats & Caps.
3.3 Gemming, Enchanting & Reforging.
3.4 Professions.
3.5 Trinkets.
3.6 Gear List.
3.7 Min/Maxing + Chardev Profiler(s).

4. Critty Kitty unleashed: Entering Combat.
4.1 Strategies: 1v1.
4.2 Arena Setups.
4.3 Macro’s
4.4 Addons.

5. Links.

6. Updates.

--> 2011-02-13: Guide fully up to date for 4.0.6.
--> 2011-05-31: Guide fully up to date for 4.1.
--> 2011-07-02: Guide fully up to date for 4.2.


1. Prologue


1.1 About me and why I write this guide.
First off, if you want a guide which will help you skyrocket to incredible ratings, you've come to the wrong place. I'm not a person that has 2.9k ratings and 8 different Gladiator Mounts. That doesn’t change the fact that I read a lot, learned a lot and do pretty well if I may say so myself. (2.2k+ Arena, 2.2k+ RBG as a raidleader) This guide isn’t to make you a Gladiator right away, it’s meant as a first steppingstone for Feral PvP.

1.2 Feral. Why should you play it?
Because you can do anything. From beating someone up in a few seconds, to surviving huge amounts of damage. From keeping someone CC'd for quite a long time, to saving someone’s ass with Instant Heals, HoT’s and peels.

Feral became one of those "Flavour of the month" -specs at 4.0. They got some buffs and it was suddenly a pretty popular spec. A lot of rerollers have already rolled something else again, which is probably because we got nerfed back again quite fast. However, I still feel like Feral is more populated than it has ever been. That’s one of the reasons why I made this guide. Another reason is that Feral PvP Guides are extremely rare. I've seen one for patch 4.0.3 which was pretty nice, but it left out a lot of important information. The latest one I've seen besides that one was from patch 3.3, and that one is both very outdated and lacking a lot of info as well. A third reason for me to do this was that some people in game asked me to make one and it often happens that other Feral Druids ask me about Feral PvP.

This guide will hopefully help you to get better at Feral PvP. I also hope you’ll all enjoy reading this and comment on whatever you think is wrong or disagree with. Please /poke me if you notice something is outdated/wrong/whatever, I appreciate it! In fact, if you don’t, it’s a loss for the guide!

Prepare for a huge wall of text.



2. Common knowledge.


2.1. Commonly used abbreviations.
Most of you will already know these abbreviations and terms, but I’ll explain them for the ones who don’t:


General (PvP) abbreviations.

LoS: Line of Sight. Running behind a pillar or another object makes you go “out of LoS”. You can LoS defensively (running out of your enemies sight), and you can LoS offensively (running out of your teammates sight while chasing an enemy - risky).

CC: Crowd Control. Cyclone, Fear, Hex, Polymorph, Stuns etc. are all forms of CC. CC makes you lose control over your character. Slows, Snares and Roots are usually also seen as CC, although they don’t actually make you lose control over your character. Certain forms of CC share DR with other CC’s.

There will always be those games where you get completely locked out due to CC. For a Feral Druid it’s as important to put up a good CC chain as it is for say, Warlocks and Mages (and probably a little tougher as well). Putting up a good CC Chain on one target while another target is bleeding is the winning factor in a lot of games for Feral Druids, especially in arena.

DR: Diminishing Returns. When you frequently CC one target, the CC will last less long every time it’s used. In the case of Cyclone it goes from 6 sec on the first Cyclone to 3 on the second and 1.5 on the third. (100% --> 50% --> 25%) After your third Cyclone, the target will be immune to it for 15 seconds. After those 15 seconds your Cyclone will last for its full duration again. (Entangling Roots and Hibernate: 8 --> 4 --> 2 --> immune.)

At the moment, Cyclone doesn’t share DR with any CC other than (obviously) Cyclone itself. Entangling Roots shares DR with all other snares such as Frost Nova and the Crab/Spider Hunter pet abilities etc. Your Pounce, Maim and Bash all share DR with each other as well as with other stuns. (Pounce and Maim share DR since a hot fix in December 2010.)

Peeling. Peeling means using your abilities to give someone else some free time to heal up, run away, get out of LoS etc. Druids got a whole arsenal of weapons to peel with. After Frost Mage they’re probably the best peeling-class together with Rogues.

RNG. Literally means “random number generation”. Basically anything you can’t/don’t control is RNG. (procs, chance on hits etc.)

ICD. Internal Cooldown. Stuff like trinkets or enchants sometimes have this. It means that it can’t proc more often than say, once a minute, or once per 8 sec etc.

DPS & DPE. DPS means damage per sec, I guess everyone knows that. If you use Shred once every 2 sec and it does 12k damage every time, your Shred’s DPS is 12:2=6k. Plain and simple. DPE means damage per energy. For example, Shred does more damage than Mangle and only costs a bit more energy. Shred’s DPE is higher than Mangle’s DPE.

BiS. Probably another well-known term. Best-In-Slot. Simply means that an item, enchant, gem etc. is the best you can get at that moment.


General Feral (and other Druid) abbreviations.

FB. Ferocious Bite.
HT. Healing Touch.
SB. Skull Bash.
TF. Tiger’s Fury.
MotW. Mark of the Wild.
SR. Savage Roar.
StR. Stampeding Roar.
LotP. Leader of the Pack.
SI. Survival Instincts.
FF(F). Faerie Fire (Feral).
CP. Combo Points.
PS. Predator’s Swiftness.
AP. Attack Power.


2.2. Feral: Pros and Cons.


Feral Pros:
- Great damage and burst.
- Great survivability against melee.
- Decent self healing (Instant and over time).
- Awesome peels and other abilities to assist teammates with.
- Moving faster than anyone else when in combat.
- Great CC and escape possibilities.

Feral Cons:
- Chance on running out of energy for a bit. It can happen that your bleeds run out, your TF is on CD and you’re on <20 energy. At least you got HoT's, CC and Bear Form to spend your time with meanwhile.
- Abilities usually HAVE TO critically hit in order to put up pressure. Getting 5 CP up for a 8k FB isn’t funny on 120k+ HP pools.
- Usually really dependant on a good CC chain. Going into the Arena with classes that have another form of CC (Fear, Stun etc.) are therefore usually your best choice. (more on that later!)
- Highly vulnerable against good Casters and Caster teams! 1v1 they’re all doable though.
- Highly vulnerable against CC (especially since 4.0.6.) We're now vulnerable to Roots and Fears a lot more then we used to be. Decent Mages and (Resto) Druids can completely lock you out of the game nowadays.


3. Getting your character “PvP-ready”.


3.1 Talents & Glyphs.
Playing Feral means you’ll have 2 Mastery bonuses. Those 2 are:

- Savage Defender for Bear Form
- Razor Claws for Cat Form.


Currently, there are several viable Feral PvP specs, depending on the role you want to fill in but they all have the same basic points in them:

0/31/6 + 4 floater points

In my personal opinion, we only have 4 floater points (down from 6) since 4.2. Natural Reaction is way to good to ignore anymore, so you got 4 points left to put somewhere. They usually go into 2/2 Primal Madness and 2/2 Feral Aggression, however, 2/3 Fury Swipes is a viable option as well, in which case Primal Madness should be left out.

Here are the most commonly seen and used specs:

0/35/6.
This is the basic Feral spec + 2/2 Primal Madness and 2/2 Feral Aggression as mentioned. Feral Aggression for faster FF applications and some more FB damage. Also taking 2 points in Primal Madness for some extra energy/rage regen. This spec is mostly focused on Arena and RBG. (My current spec)

0/35/6.
Okay, back to Natural Reaction. It's awesome yes, and to be honest it's a must-have for PvP since 4.2, but if you really want to do PvP AND PvE with the same spec, this is probably your way to go. Don't expect to much from Rated Arena and BG PvP with this spec though, it's really lacking. You can switch around between 2/3 Fury Swipes and 2/2 Natural Instincts if your focus lies a bit more with PvP though.

0/35/6.
Most defensive spec against Melee. Mostly useful for 3v3 and 5v5 arena if you're having troubles against Meleecleaves. Depends on your own setup as well.

0/32/9.
Most deffensive spec against Casters. Mostly useful for 3v3 and 5v5 arena if you're having troubles against Wizardcleaves. Depends on your own setup as well.


Best Glyphs to take for any of those specs are:


Prime Glyphs:.
Berserk, Rip, Mangle OR Shred OR Tiger's Fury.
Always take Berserk and Rip and choose 1 of the other 3. It’s up to you whether you take Shred, Mangle or TF. Most people seem to prefer Mangle > Shred > TF, but in my opinion, take whatever you feel most comfortable with. (I would never give up on the Mangle Glyph myself.)

Major Glyphs:
These are your 3 best Major Glyphs nowadays:

Feral Charge, Barkskin, Pounce.

The other Major Glyphs are all kinda "meh". None of them are really good imo but you might want to try them out and see for yourself:

Ferocious Bite. At least it's better at 4.2 than it used to be, but the 3 above-mentioned Glyphs are still ahead of this one. What this Glyph does is that it basically heals you for 2.5-5% of your max HP whenever you use FB. Seems decent, but if you look up on the ammount of FB's you do in an average arena or even BG, you'll notice it's not going to be a huge help. Not to mention that the heal is pretty minor.

Maul. Yes, Glyph of Maul. Not really any good for Arena, but it can be good in (Rated) BG where your team is fighting to take a flag, or AoE'ing to keep the enemies of the AB/BfG flag instead. Not to mention that it's pretty decent when you're playing as FC, when you're sitting in Bear Form 95% of the time.

In short: ever been in that situation where you were just Mangle/Maul spamming in Bear Form with Berserk on? This Glyph is for that situation.

Thorns. I don't know about this. It sounds decent to have a 25 sec CD on Thorns with a duration of 20 sec, but I just don't find myself using it every 45 sec at all. In fact, I rarely use it outside of BG's and World PvP and I don't think it's worth it, but if you find yourself using it a lot, go give it a try.

Faerie Fire. 10 more yards range on Faerie Fire. Kinda "meh". It's not really great, but well...can be handy against Rogues that are trying to run away. Depending on your role it might be useful, but in 99% of the cases you should always run with the above-mentioned 3 glyphs.

Minor Glyphs:
Dash is obviously a must-have in any spec. I’m using Aquatic Form and MotW as well but it doesn’t really matter. (Aquatic Form can come in handy in AB sometimes, and in arena you might want to re-apply MotW a few times, but honestly… /care).



3.2 Stats & Caps.


Weapon Damage.
Some people still don’t know this, but Weapon Damage affects Feral as well since 4.0 (Instead of Feral Attack Power, which got removed). Weapon DPS isn’t something you can increase by gemming or enchanting, but it’s still our highest DPS stat, which makes it VERY important to have a good weapon. Always get a good weapon first before you get gear (if you got the option to choose). The abilities that are directly affected by weapon-damage are Mangle (Cat), Shred, Ravage, Mangle (Bear), Swipe (Cat). Especially the first 3 are interesting for Feral PvP.

People often think FB (and Swipe (Bear)) are affected by weapon-damage too but no, they aren't.


Agility.
First off, every single point you have in Agility will get a small extra boost because of MotW (5%). Agility gives you 2 attack power per point. Since Heart of the Wild increases your AP by 10% and Aggression by another 25%, Agility basically gives you 2.75 AP per point.

Agility gives you Crit Rating as well, and you'll need ~325 Agility for 1% Crit. The more Crit you have, the faster your CP's will stack up and the faster and more often you can use Rip, Maim, FB and SR. That eventually leads to more instant Cyclones, Roots and Heals. AP and Crit both affect all of your damage, bleeds AND physical damage.

Agility also directly affects your heals, since 100% of your Agility also gives Spell Healing through Nurturing Instinct.

- As of 4.0 Agility no longer gives bonus Armor.
- Agility still gives some bonus Dodge.

I think it's pretty clear why Agility is your best stat. It basically affects everything you do.

Mastery rating.
Mastery does nothing more than increasing Bleed Damage for Kitties, but for Bear Form it also works defensively as it also increases damage absorbed by Savage Defense. For now, Mastery is our best stat to reforge and it’s our 2nd best stat on the priority list, right after Agility. (Agility is A LOT better though). Mastery got an indirect nerf at 4.0.6. because of the bleed nerfs, but damage/dps wise it's still our 2nd stat.

Crit rating.
Crit Rating is just a bit behind Mastery on the priority list damage/dps wise. Though, the faster CP generation can be really useful for PvP. There's some theorycrafting on what's better for PvP atm, but it seems Mastery will remain the way to go for now. You need 179.28 Crit Rating for 1% Crit.

Haste rating.
Haste Rating is currently still 4th on the priority list, even after 4.2. It increases energy regeneration and also increases auto-attack speed. You need 128.05 Haste Rating for 1% Haste.

So, Haste in its current form is still not worth it, Crit and Mastery are both a LOT better. This is mainly because you don't have enough uptime to see a difference in white hits, nor does it affect your biggest damage source: Bleeds. Crit and Mastery both do.

It's also no good if you're sitting in a CC-chain or you're getting kited/peeled. Crit and Mastery however, will still affect your bleeds if you got them running, so in the end it results in a lot more damage.

Hit rating.
The soft cap on Hit Rating for melee classes is 5%. The best way to get Hit Rating is by getting all the Hit offset pieces, followed by reforging. (more on that later!) You’ll automatically get soft capped on Spell Hit as well while you’re getting Hit Rating, as you only need 4% for that. You need 120.1 Hit Rating for 1% Melee Hit so you’ll need about 600 Hit Rating for the soft cap.

Expertise.
Just not worth it. Don’t take it. ( Sadly Blizzard screwed up on our shoulders and gave us Expertise. Sigh! )

Spell Penetration.
Last but certainly not least. Spell Penetration is probably as important as the Hit soft cap is. The soft cap on Spell Penetration is 97. (due to MotW, BoK etc. having 97 resistance.) Mages can reach up to 141 resistance and Shamans up to 195. Mage Armor and Resistance Totem DO stack, but 97+ SpellPen seems to be the way to go for now. Most Feral Druids tend to go for the Cloak Enchant (70) and 2 gems (2x 50).

What about Strength?
Strenght used to be kinda decent before 4.2, although still far behind Agility. Now, since 4.2 it only gives ~1.375 AP per point down from 2.75, not to mention that it doesn't give Crit and all the other minor benefits of Agility. Strength gets beaten by Mastery/Crit and even Haste for PvP nowadays.

Defensive Stats: Stamina and resilience.
Stamina and Resilience are very important for Feral as well nowadays. Back in Season 8, you could still run around with 5-6 pieces of high-end PvE gear in 2v2 (not in 3v3 or 5v5), but nowadays you’ll want to get as much Resilience as possible (with up to 2 PvE items max: second trinket and a PvE item instead of 1/5 setpieces, but even this isn't recommended) for any bracket. Don’t gem or enchant for Resilience/Stamina though, Agility is always better in this case.


Priority List.
Remember Weapon DPS still gives you the biggest buff out of all stats. Not counting that one it gives us the following priority list:

1. Spell Pen Cap (97 soft cap).
2. Hit Cap (600 Rating = 5% soft cap).

After capping Spell Pen and Hit:

3. Agility.
4. Mastery.
5. Crit Rating.
6. Haste Rating.

Don’t take resilience and stamina into account. The only thing you got to do for these stats is just wearing as much PvP gear as you can. (Again, this is unless you got a PvE item that is way better.)



3.3 Gemming, Enchanting & Reforging.


Gemming
Red: Delicate Inferno Ruby. (40 Agility).
Yellow: Adept Ember Topaz. (20 Agility / 20 Mastery)
Blue: Stormy Ocean Sapphire. (50 Spell Pen).

2 SpellPen gems + Cloak Enchant is the best way to go. Mages can get up to 141 resistance, Shamans can get up to 195 but they rarely use their resistance totem. Gemming/Enchanting just to negate MotW and BoK (97+) seems a viable option as well.

If you still got blue sockets left after this, gem for: Glinting Demonseye. (20 Agility / 20 Hit), and if you got blue sockets left and are already hit capped as well just gem a single: Shifting Demonseye (20 Agility / 30 Stamina).


Meta Gems:

There are a few viable options. Take whatever you prefer:
- Agile Shadowspirit Diamond (54 Agility + 3% Critical Damage)
- Destructive Shadowspirit Diamond (54 Crit Rating / 1% Spell Reflect).
- Impassive Shadowspirit Diamond (54 Crit Rating / 10% reduced Fear duration).
- Effulgent Shadowspirit Diamond (81 Stamina / 2% less SpellDamage taken).

I’d say the Agi / Crit Damage or the Crit / Reduced Fear duration ones are the best. Most Feral Druids, including me are running the Agility one.

Reforging.
Before you reforge, make sure you have all the offset pieces with Hit on it. After taking these parts and fully gemming your gear you'll still need some more hit to get to the 5% (600 hit rating) soft cap. (unless you gemmed for Agi / Hit and Mastery / Hit) Reforge "bad" stats such as Expertise (on shoulders) and Haste (on legs) first, in case you're using the PvP items. If you still won't make it to 600 Hit Rating this way, you'll need to reforge some Crit Rating as well. Just look for yourself to see which item is best to be reforged. (Reforge as few Crit as possible while still reaching the soft cap.)


Enchanting
Note: These are only the basic enchants. The profession enchants are always better:

- Head: Arcanum of Vicious Agility. (60 Agi / 35 Resilience). Can be bought for 1,000 Honor Points or 40 Tol'Barad Commendations. The Agi/Haste one from Ramkahen isn't nearly as good as this one.
- Shoulder: Greater Inscription of Vicious Agility (50 Agi / 25 Resilience). There's also this one: Greater Inscription of Shattered Crystal. (50 Agi / 25 Mastery). Requires you to be exalted with Therazane. In this case they're pretty much equal in my opinion. It's either 25 Mastery or 25 Resilience.
- Cloak: Greater Spell Piercing. (70 SpellPen) if you’re using 2 SpellPen gems. Greater Critical Strike (65 Crit Rating) or Major Agility (22 Agility) if you are using 3 SpellPen gems. Yep, this WotLK cloak enchant is about equally as good as the Cataclysm Crit Rating enchant.
- Chest: Peerless Stats (20 All Stats) or Mighty Resilience (40 Resilience). 20 stats for 2v2 and/or if you're an offensive kind of player, 40 Resilience for 3v3/5v5 and/or if you're a defensive kind of player.
- Wrist: Agility (50 Agility).
- Weapon: Mighty Agility (130 Agility).
- Gloves: Greater Mastery (65 Mastery). OR Mighty Strength (50 Strength). The Strength one gives more DPS, but it's mostly useful when you're actually hitting the target, while the Mastery one is useful as long as your bleeds are ticking, even if you can't reach the target at that given moment.
- Legs: Charscale Leg Armor (145 Stamina / 55 Agility). This one is actually way better than Dragonscale Leg Armor. 55 Agility gives you 121 AP and 0,17% Crit. This means you lose (209 - 121 =) 88 AP and (0,31 - 0,17 =) 0,14% Crit, but you gain some Dodge, Armor and Healing. That's just as far as the Agility VS. Dragonscale Leg Armor goes, but in addition you get a pretty big amount of 145 Stamina as well.
- Boots: Major Agility (35 Agility) or Assassin's Step (25 Agility + Movement Speed Increase).



3.4 Professions.


Engineering gives you Tazik Shocker (4800 damage on use, 2 minutes CD, stacks with the normal Gloves Enchant.) OR Synapse Springs (480 Agility for 10 seconds, 1 minute CD, stacks with the normal Gloves Enchant.)

In my opinion they're pretty even, I personally prefer the on use Synapse Springs for arena. You can bind it in a macro with Tiger's Fury / Berserk / an on-use Trinket.

It also gives Nitro Boost on belt (150% movement speed for 5 seconds but has a chance to fail, can’t be used in Arena’s and Rated BG) and Flexweave Underlay on cloak! (Slows falling speed for 30 seconds, 1 minute CD, can't be used in Arena's and Rated BG). They won't help in any way other then World PvP, PvE and Unrated BG, but they're awesome fun and can save your ass in a lot of cases, like when you get Thunderstormed off LM --> Parachute, or use Nitro + Parachute to escape etc. Lots of things you can use it for!

If you don't want the Nitro Boost for whatever reason (Flagcarrying in Random BG for example) you could take: Frag Belt (small radius AoE stun, ~600 damage, 6 minutes CD) instead or you can go for the Grounded Plasma Shield (16.2k – 19.8k damage absorb on use). They’re of course depending on the role you want to fill in and what fits your playstyle best.

Leatherworking gives you Draconic Embossment - Agility (130 Agility). You’ll lose 50 Agility from the normal enchant so in total you get +80 Agility.

Jewelcrafting gives you 3x Delicate Chimera's Eye(67 Agility gems) You’ll gain 81 Agility compared to the normal gems.

Blacksmithing gives you 2 extra sockets: Socket Bracer and Socket Gloves. (+40 Agility in both sockets = +80).

Enchanting gives you 2x Agility (+40 Agility on both rings = +80).

Alchemy gives you Flask of Enhancement. (Usable Arena Flask +80 Agility)

Inscription gives you Swiftsteel Inscription (130 Agility +25 Mastery Shoulder enchant). You’ll gain 80 Agility compared to the normal shoulder enchant.

Herbalism gives you Lifeblood (+480 Haste on use for 20 sec and a very minor heal. No more than 2.3k according to various sources). 2 minutes CD. Comparable to 80 Haste.

Skinning gives you Master of Anatomy (80 Crit Rating).

Tailoring gives youSwordguard Embroidery (1000 Attack Power proc on cloak for 15 sec. ~25% uptime with a 45 sec internal CD according to various sources). Comparable to +250 AP. Losing 65 Crit Rating, 22 Agility or 70 Spell Penetration from the normal Cloak enchant.

Mining gives you Toughness (120 Stamina).


Best Professions for Arena (any bracket and with any setup), Rated BG and World PvP:
For arena and Rated BG, Engineering should be your number one profession. To activate your Nitro Boost with a macro, the following command is needed: /use 6

If you choose to use Tazik Shocker over Synapse Springs, use it as an ability on its own and DO NOT put this together with other spells in a macro. Where this was a viable option for the Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket, it is NOT for the Shocker. The 4800 damage (seen it crit for up to ~7k) can really be the last shot that kills someone. That combined with the fact that it has a 2 minute CD, which is decently long, you don’t just want to use it randomly. To activate your Shocker with a macro, the following command is needed: /use 10

To activate the Flexweave Underlay with a macro, the following command is needed: /use 15

Your second profession can be basically anything. Either go for Leatherworking, Enchanting, Blacksmithing, Jewelcrafting, Alchemy or Inscription. They all give 80 Agility bonuses. Out of those, Enchanting is probably the easiest to skill up together with Engi since you'll need a gathering proffesion for the others ones (or you can buy your way up).



3.5 Trinkets.


Note: I left out the HC raid ones since only a small percentage of the people reading this will be able to get them. Also note that for every “ruthless” item I link, there’s a “vicious” version available for honor as well.

Arena. (any bracket, any setup)
Ruthless Gladiator's Medallion of Tenacity (406 Resilience). Standard PvP Trinket.

There's one with Crit as well, but 406 Resilience should always be picked over 406 Crit.

2v2 (any setup), BG, World PvP.
Ruthless Gladiator's Insignia of Conquest. I don’t like the RNG proc, but it has a pretty nice uptime of ~33% with a 15% proc chance and a 1 minute ICD. It’s comparable to roughly ~402 passive Agility.

Ruthless Gladiator's Emblem of Tenacity. Could be a real lifesaver. Decent trinket but I wouldn’t take this trinket over the Insignia of Conquest.

Ruthless Gladiator's Badge of Conquest. On use Agility instead of a proc. With this trinket, you can control your burst a lot better. Using this in combination with Berserk is awesome. This one is far preferable over the other above-mentioned trinkets.

Unsolvable Riddle. Same story as the Badge of Conquest, this trinket is mostly good for controlled burst. Overall, you’ll gain less from it than the other abovementioned trinkets but the big amount of passive Mastery makes it a very decent trinket to start out with.

Darkmoon Card: Hurricane. Still quite expensive, but pretty nice. The actual in game version shows that it does 5k damage, rather than 3750-6250. I have to say the numbers I'm about to give are not tested by myself, I've never tried this trinket as I didn't find it appealing enough, so take the numbers with a grain of salt.

Crits seem to go up to 8-9k according to various sources, and it procs about once every 12-15 seconds on dummies, but in PvP it will obviously proc less often because you'll have less uptime. It seems to have no IDC. If you got the money for this trinket, you'll probably also have the money for the next one up though (Unheeded Warning), and even after the nerf it's still a bit better.

Mirror of Broken Images.
This trinket is basically a second Barkskin for spells. 400 resistance means you’ll take about 40% less damage from spells (minus SpellPen). Most casters will have or sit close to the hard cap but even if they do, that’s still a good ~18-22% less spelldamage taken for 10 sec on a 1 minute CD. Pretty amazing trinket against Casterteams, but pretty useless against melee teams. If you feel like your defense is low against casters at that moment, it's a decent trinket.

Ricket's Magnetic Fireball. A passive 340 Agility is awesome, and the 9.5% crit on-use lasts 20 seconds, making it can be a pretty good trinket. It's also pretty easy to obtain, since it's obtainable through daily Q's from Firelands. It can be bought at this NPC: Damek Bloombeard.

Unheeded Warning. After a hotfix in 4.2, this trinket has gone from BiS to an average trinket. Easy to obtain if you have some gold though, and 321 Passive Agility is still quite good. The proc isn't all that bad now though, as it gives you 2648 AP which is still a pretty big boost to your damage. However, it still has the same chance to proc as it had before the nerf, which is really low and usually pops on the wrong moments.

Quicksilver Alchemist Stone. This one is really good to start with if you're an Alchemist. 351 passive Agility (when gemmed), and passive Crit (which should be reforged to Mastery). Having trouble getting any of the other ones? No worries, this one works fine for a while, although the lack of an equip/on-use effect makes it a bit lackluster.


Note: there are quite some more awesome trinkets out there, but most of them require high-end raiding. Here are a few of them:

HC Matrix Restabilizer. The really high ammount of passive Agility and the mastery-proc makes it one hell of an impressive trinket to have. Seems to last 30 seconds with a 105 second ICD, which makes it comparable to roughly ~494 passive Mastery.
There's also a normal version of this trinket: Matrix Restabilizer.

HC Ancient Petrified Seed. No passive Agility sadly, but Mastery instead. On the other hand, what's so nice about this trinket is, that it gives you only a 1 minute CD on 1441 on-use Agility. With this trinket, you'll be able to put up really nice burst on command once every minute. If you use it every CD, it should be comparable to roughly ~360 passive Agility, but remember that you'll basically never reach that. There's also a normal version of this trinket: Ancient Petrified Seed. If you get to choose, Matrix Restabilizer is much better though.

HC The Hungerer. Again, a really high ammount of passive Agility, which is the best stat you can have on your second trinket. Sadly the other effect of the trinket is both a proc and it gives you Haste. Those are 2 really big downsides on this trinket. There's also a normal version of this trinket: The Hungerer. Again, if you get to choose, both trinkets mentioned above are better than this one, even the normal versions of those trinkets are.

3v3 and 5v5. (any setup)
The earlier mentioned trinkets for “2v2, BG and World PvP” are all viable for 3v3 and 5v5 as well. A lot of Feral Druids tend to run with an extra Resilience trinket over another.


3.6 Gear List.
Note: The ones ranked first (Ruthless) are the ones obtainable with Conquest Points (Arena/RBG) and the ones ranked second (Vicious) are obtainable through Honor Points.

Head.
1. Ruthless Gladiator's Dragonhide Helm
2. Vicious Gladiator's Dragonhide Helm

Shoulders.
1. Rutless Gladiator's Dragonhide Spaulders
2. Vicious Gladiator's Dragonhide Spaulders

Chest.
1. Ruthless Gladiator's Dragonhide Robes
2. Vicious Gladiator's Dragonhide Robes

Gloves.
1. Ruthless Gladiator's Dragonhide Gloves
2. Vicious Gladiator's Dragonhide Gloves

Legs.
1. Ruthless Gladiator's Dragonhide Legguards
2. Vicious Gladiator's Dragonhide Legguards


Note: You don’t NEED TO have 5/5 of this set. You can drop one for a PvE part of equal or higher Ilvl if you feel like your survivability is fine. This HIGHLY depends on your situation and what form of PvP you're in. It's usually recommended to stick with 5/5. If you do drop 1 part, I’d suggest dropping the Shoulders or Legs as these give you the worst stats out of the 5.


Neck.
1. Ruthless Gladiator's Necklace of Prowess
2. Vicious Gladiator's Necklace of Prowess

Cloak.
1. Ruthless Gladiator's Cape of Prowess
2. Vicious Gladiator's Cape of Prowess

Wrist.
1. Ruthless Gladiator's Armwraps of Accuracy
2. Vicious Gladiator's Armwraps of Accuracy

Relic.
1. Ruthless Gladiator's Relic of Triumph
2. Vicious Gladiator's Relic of Triumph

Waist.
1. Ruthless Gladiator's Waistband of Accuracy
2. Vicious Gladiator's Waistband of Accuracy

Boots.
1. Ruthless Gladiator's Boost of Cruelty
2. Vicious Gladiator's Boots of Cruelty

Ring 1.
1. Ruthless Gladiator's Ring of Accuracy
2. Vicious Gladiator's Ring of Accuracy

Ring 2.
1. Ruthless Gladiator's Ring of Cruelty
2. Vicious Gladiator's Ring of Cruelty

Weapon.
1. Ruthless Gladiator's Pike or Ruthless Gladiator's Staff. Obtained through Conquest Points and requires a 2200+ Rating in 3v3/5v5/RBG.

2. Ruthless Gladiator's Pike or Ruthless Gladiator's Staff. Obtained through Conquest Points, no rating requirement.

3. Vicious Gladiator's Pike or Vicious Gladiator's Staff. Obtained through Honor Points, no rating requirement.

There are several good PvE/BoE weapons available as well. When you're having the option to choose between 2 weapons it's really simple:

- Pick the one with the highest Itemlevel, disregarding of stats (only Agility-weapons of course). If, for example, you can choose between an Ilvl 378 PvP weapon and an Ilvl 391 PvE weapon, take the PvE one.
- If you got both a PvE and a PvP weapon of the same Ilvl, go with the PvP one. Resilience is awesome, and making up for everything you'll get otherwise.


Note: Trinkets can be found in the previous section: 3.5 Trinkets.



3.7 Min/Maxing + Chardev Profiler(s).

What is min/maxing?
Min/maxing is getting the most out of everything you can. For example, when you need 5% hit rating, you try to get as close to that number as you can without gimping other stats too much.

When looking at the stats-priority list for Feral Druids, you will see that Agility ends up being first, followed by Mastery and Crit. This is important to know when you're min/maxing your gear, since you'll want to get as much Agility as possible, and when you can't get Agility for whatever reason, you'll want Mastery.

Min/maxing while reforging.
The best stat you can get with reforging is Mastery. This is of course, after you made sure you reached the 5% hit cap, so you'll need to reforge some items to Hit Rating first. Reforging for hit is a better option than enchanting or gemming for Hit. This is because you can both enchant and gem for Agility while you can't reforge to Agility. In other words, when you're reforging for Hit you kinda "lose" some Mastery (2nd best stat), while if you would be enchanting or gemming for it, there's a pretty big chance you'll "lose" some Agility instead.

Min/maxing while enchanting.
The best stat you can get with Enchanting is Agility. You can enchant most items with Agility nowadays, but you'll have to adapt in some cases (see 3.3 Gemming, Enchanting & Reforging). You shouldn't worry about the hit cap anymore when you're enchanting your gear since you should be hit-capped after Reforging. Always make sure you enchant your cloak for Spell Penetration, as there is simply not a really good alternative. (65 Crit or 22 Agility are your best choices, but Crit is your third stat and 22 Agility is pretty low).

Min/maxing while gemming.
The best stat you can get with Gemming is Agility. You can basically gem every slot with an Agility or Agility/X gem, but you'll have to make sure you get the rest of your Spell Penetration cap first. Since you'll already be sitting at 70 Spell Penetration from enchanting, it's ideal to take 2 more Spell Penetration gems. You'll have 1 "spare" blue socket after this, and since you're both capped on Spell Penetration and Hit Rating now you should probably just gem it with a single 20 agi/30 stam gem.

Min/maxing while gemming also means you should (in 99% of the cases) get the socket bonus. The 3rd blue socket is a perfect example of this, since you could go 2 ways: Do you want 40 Agility, or do you want 20 Agility, 30 Stamina and a socket bonus of 20 Resilience? Even me as an Agility-whore is "forced" to go for the second option here. It's just a lot better in the end.

Here you can see a profiler with optimal min/maxing for Ilvl 371 Vicious Gear + the Ilvl 359 Weapon. (Honor Gear)

---> Chardev Profiler Ilvl 371 <---

Here you can see a profiler with optimal min/maxing for Ilvl 384 Vicious Gear + the Ilvl 378 Weapon. (Conquest T1 Gear)

NOTE: I got the T2 weapon, but it will probably not be obtainable for the bigger bunch of people reading this, so it's not in the chardev. When you get the T2 weapon however, nothing changes on how you should reforge, enchant etc. You might also note that not every socket bonus will be taken with this chardev. With full Ruthless you can safely ignore Resilience-bonuses and gem for pure Agility. (Still 4176 resi with this gearsetup)

---> Chardev Profiler Ilvl 384 <---


Note: some stats may not show correctly on chardev.




4. Critty Kitty unleashed: Entering Combat.


4.1 Strategies: 1v1.


I’m not explaining arena tacts as these will always be different per game. They depend on the setup you’re facing, the setup you’re playing and the Arena you play in. For 1v1, it’s mostly always the same. With some adjustments you will be able to use these tacts everywhere though. Also note that these are the tactics I use myself and these are only the basics. There comes a lot more to it then what I will explain. It's probably not 100% of the time the best way to do it either, but it works for me. Anyway, let’s get started.

Deathknight.
Any spec: Deathknights can be a real pain. Bleed them up asap, use every PS proc on HT’s. Don’t waste any on trying to Root or Cyclone him. After bleeding them up, go Bear Form for a bash and give yourself a quick Rejuvenation/Lifebloom stack. Don’t use your CP on anything else than Rip since once you drop your DPS, they will selfheal back up in a matter of seconds. (A quick 1-2 CP SR can be used if you got enough time to keep your bleeds up meanwhile.). Basically keep him bleeding as much and as long as you can and keep on throwing instant HT’s and hots once every while on yourself until he dies. One spec might take longer than the other, but the tacts kinda remain the same. Blood is a bit different though, they'll heal a LOT if they're hitting you all the time. Therefor you need to try and kite them. Blood can be really hard and almost impossible to kill when played right. Best thing is though, they can't kill you either if you know how to kite. Try to keep your bleeds up and a Lifebloom rolling.

Druid.
Boomkins: Boomkins are pretty easy ever since 4.0. Bleed them up, throw in a Maim on 30-40% or when they’re trying to heal and you should pretty much always come out as the winner. This is just an easy way to do it, but honestly, just keeping up Rip and Rake and throwing yourself some heals will do the job in 99/100 cases.

Feral: Whoever has the opener should win this. Use SI and Barkskin only while bleeding (or when you’re really getting low on HP) and make sure you use every single PS proc for a HT. Keep your bleeds up and throw in a Maim or FB in the end to finish him off. Another good method is to sit in Bear Form and Berserk + Maul/Mangle-spam him to death, bit lame though! He'll probably go and sit in Bear Form as well. If he does NOT use Berserk during that, just go Cat. He won't be able to put up any pressure in Bear Form as long as he doesn't use Berserk.

Resto: Keep your bleeds up again as much as you can. Use a 5 CP Maim on 40-50% while he’s bleeding and a SB whenever he does a cast. In fact, try to keep the SB debuff up at all times to “permanently” increase his mana cost by 10%. Not really anything else you can do. They're kinda hard to kill nowadays due to the shapeshift nerf at 4.0.6. A Root or Nature's Grasp can really screw you up.

Hunter.
Any spec: Decently hard. They're doable in most situations, however. Bleed them up asap, use Bear Form, Bear Charge, Bash and Skullbash as often as you can. After your bleeds run out, the Hunter should be on or around 50% already. Berserk in Bear Form is really good vs. Hunters as well. Charge/Skullbash + Mangle (Bear) spam can easily eat the last 50% while not taking too much damage. Especially remember to use Charge/Skullbash/Stuns as often as you can, and instant roots may help.



Mage.
Arcane: Basically the same as Hunters, keep gaps closed as much as you can. There's not much an Arcane Mage can do against you if you SkullBash his Arcane Blasts.

Fire: A little bit more annoying, but nothing really changes compared to the Arcane Mage. The biggest difference is that Fire Mages will always be moving, while Arcane Mages prefer to stand still at times. Fire Mages will have you dazed, stunned and stunned a lot more as well. But tbh, it should be no real threat to you in 1v1. Same tacts as Arcane.

Frost: Probably your hardest opponent in 1v1. It's all about knowing what freezes to eat and which ones to StR/Dash out off. Use most of your PS procs for HT’s and try to use it as soon as you get it since PS can be dispelled/spell stolen. Feral Charge after blink and use Feral Charge (Bear) as well for a shorter CD gap closer. SB can be used as a gap closer as well but it's prefered to be used on a Frostbolt here and there. Also, since you can no longer shapeshift out of freezes, don't just stand there and get frustrated. Try to throw in some HoT's instead and go Bear Form if you got the NR talent. All you can do while frozen in 1v1 is reducing the damage you take as much as you can. Try and either Restealth/Lifebloom up when he uses Iceblock.

Paladin.
Holy: Pretty much the same story as Resto Druids. Bleed up, Maim at half HP, SB at any cast he does and try to keep up the 10% increased mana cost debuff. Try and force him into bubble in the 30 seconds of the fight without using Berserk. If you can't, you'll have to use it. If you DO manage to bubble him, you should be able to finish him off as well after Bubble with Berserk. Depending on the bubble you can Cyclone him in it to prevent healing, but most of the time he'll use the one that makes him immume to spells anyway.

Prot: Easy. Prots are highly vulnerable to your bleeds since they usually wear low resillience. Keep those up, use PS procs for HT’s and that’s basically all. Might take a bit to kill him, but you can’t really lose this.

Ret: Same as Prot, but they can sometimes deal insane burst for a few seconds. Pop SI and/or Barkskin at wings or try and Cyclone him. PS procs for HT’s as usual and they should go down pretty fast.

Priest.
Disc/Holy: While both used to be a free kill before 4.0.6, nowadays Disc no longer is. Holy still is, kinda, but the tacts remain the same for both. Bleeds up, Maim at 40-50%. SB after Maim prefered.

Shadow: Spriests have become a pain after 4.0.6 (Berserk nerf). Just try to bleed/berserk him into Dispersion asap. When he uses Dispersion, Mangle him a bit to get 5 CP so you can use Rip again once it’s over. You should save your trinket for the Fear rather than for Psychic Horror, always.

Rogue.
Any spec: Since they got pretty decent selfhealing now, this fight can be tough. Start in stealth, tabspam your way to him and make sure you catch him first. Rogue/Druid stealth should be on the same level nowadays (it's said Druid stealth is even better) so you got equal chances now. Use FF asap and bleep him up. If he uses Evasion, there are 2 ways to act. Either try to Root / Cyclone him until it ends (heal up in the meantime) or go Bear Form and outlast it. Whenever you got time, pop Thorns. Make sure you go back into Cat/Bear Form again right after that. But really...THORNS. It's insane against Rogues.

Shaman.
Elemental: This is the exact same as Boomkins. Bleed up / Interrupt --> Dead Shaman before Berserk ends. (Or before you even think of using it)

Enhancement: Can actually be pretty tough! If you're able to outlast his wolves, you've won the battle though. I suggest going Bear Form for a Bash on the Shaman when he does it, and don't forget to keep up Demo Roar on all 3 targets when you're in Bear anyway. Berserk + Mangle Bear spam can work when he pops his wolves as well, or you can try and dash/stealth away when he pops them.

Resto: Basically the same as any other healer mentioned above. Maim on half HP, use SB right and try to keep up the debuff.

Warlock.
Affliction: Same story as Shadow Priests. Pre 4.0.6, it was a viable option to trinket Deathcoil because you'd resist every Fear due to Berserk anyway, and he would be dead by the end of it. That's no longer a viable way to duel a Warlock. Bleed up and Shred as much as you can. I prefer using PS procs for Cyclones on his pet. (The 20% damage reduction doesn't work when his pet is Cycloned).

Demo: These guys can be tanks, and their CC is nasty. It's basically the same as Affliction, although actually a little harder in 1v1. Cyclone his pet, since it does quite a bit of damage and it gives you a 20% boost against the Warlock.

Destro: Easier than Affliction and Demo. You can basically use SB for whatever cast. Save your trinket for the first Fear. Should be dead before Berserk ends.

Warrior.
Arms/Fury: 2 totally different specs, but they require the same tact. Thorns up, bleeds up, use trinket on their first stun. PS procs should be used for HT’s again. Don’t hesitate on using any of your CD’s. Warriors can kill you in a stunlock with a bit of luck and with some Overpower procs nowadays. Also don't give them room to Charge. Charge stuns you as well as it's probably the best way for the Warrior to do some burst.

Prot: Although they can’t heal as much as Prot Pala’s, it’s exactly the same. PS procs for HT’s and just bleed them up.



4.2 Arena Setups.


2v2:


Feral/Any Healer. (except Druid) All 3 of them are pretty viable, with Feral/Priest being seriously OP atm. Resto Shaman/Holy Paladin are viable as well, but far worse than a Disc Priest.

If you really want to try a 2 dps team on your Feral, you should try and go with a BM Hunter. There are actually a few of them really high rated!

Other then that, Feral/Rogue or Feral/Mage are doable, but only up to a certain rating. Feral/Healer is a lot more viable than any of the mentioned 2-dps teams.



3v3:

Feral/Mage/Healer. (Disc Priest is really your top choice on this one). FMP is THE top favorite for Ferals atm.

Feral/Hunter/Healer. (JungleCleave) Great comp, especially with a Dpriest/Resto Shaman. Probably the second best Feral setup atm.

Feral/DK/Healer. It's nearly TSG2. A Kitty instead of a Warrior, so you'll be a bit more vulnerable to most teams but you'll have a lot more CC.

Feral/Warrior/Holy Paladin. (Kittycleave or Bleedcleave) You're very vulnerable to CC, but you can put up some insane burst.

Those are probably the best setups for Feral atm. All of these can work out as well but they aren't as popular as the above-mentioned setups.

Feral/Rogue/Healer
Feral/Spriest/Healer
Feral/Warlock/Healer
Double Healer/Feral


5v5:

Anything seems viable in 5v5. Gather 4 mates who know what they’re doing and you’ll be fine.



4.3 Macro’s.


There are a lot more Feral Macro’s but most of them are optional.

A few Focus Macro’s to begin with:

Cyclone Focus Macro:[/B]

#showtooltip Cyclone
/cast [target=focus] Cyclone

Same can/should be done with:
- Entangling Roots
- Hibernate
- Feral Charge (Bear)
- Faerie Fire
- Skull Bash
- Bash
- Feral Charge (Cat)

You can use all of these with a shift:modifier as well so you’ll have “Ability X” and “Ability X Focus” in 1 macro. I like to have 2 several buttons for it, but go with what you prefer.

Again, most are optional. I'm personally not using the focus macro's for Faerie Fire, Bash and Feral Charge (Cat).


Powershift / Slow break Macro.

#showtooltip
#show
/cast [stance:1] !Bear Form; [stance:4] !Travel form; [stance:3] !Cat Form; [stance:5]

This macro will shapeshift you out and in of Cat Form if you were in Cat, out and in of Bear Form if you were in Bear and out and in of Travel Form if you were in Travel Form. If you got these abilities keybinded already, it’s probably a matter of milliseconds and this macro won’t actually help THAT much.


Assist partymember macro's.

#showtooltip
/cast [target=name] Innervate

Simply remove "Innervate" from the macro and add Remove Corruption / Thorns / Healing Touch for those macro's.


Skull Bash Macro.

#showtooltip Skull Bash(Cat Form)
/cast [nostance]Cat Form;
/cast [stance:3,nomodifier]Skull Bash(Cat Form);[stance:1,nomodifier]Skull Bash(Bear Form);[stance:1,@focus]Skull Bash(Bear Form);[@focus]Skull Bash(Cat Form)

This macro uses the right version of Skull Bash depending on the Form you’re in. It also uses Skull Bash on your focus target if you use Shift and it automatically shapeshifts you into Cat Form when you're in Caster Form. (Need to use it TWICE and you can also disable this simply by removing the "/cast [nostance] Cat Form. Saves 1 keybind and a spot on your actionbars so it’s recommended to use it.


Stampeding Roar Macro.

#showtooltip
/cast [stance:1] Stampeding Roar(Bear Form)
/cast [stance:3] Stampeding Roar(Cat Form)

This macro uses the right version of Stampeding Roar depending on the Form you’re in. Saves 1 keybind and a spot on your actionbars so it’s recommended to use it.


Bash Macro.

#showtooltip Bash
/cast [nostance:1] !Bear Form; [stance:1] Enrage
/cast [stance:1] Bash

Switches you into Bear Form --> Enrage --> Bash


Enrage/TF macro.

#showtooltip
/cast [stance:1] Enrage; Tiger's Fury

Uses Enrage while in Bear Form and TF while in Cat Form.


Feral Charge (Cat/Bear) macro.

#showtooltip
/cast [stance:1] Feral Charge(Bear Form); Feral Charge(Cat Form)

Uses Feral Charge (Bear Form) while in Bear Form and Feral Charge (Cat Form) while in Cat Form. I personally got Feral Charge on "1" in both forms, so in that case it's not needed.


All-stance Faerie Fire macro.

#showtooltip
/cast [nostance][stance:2/4/5] Faerie Fire; [stance:1/3] Faerie Fire (Feral)()

Uses Faerie Fire depending on what form you're in. (Cat Form, Bear Form, Human Form).


Prowl Macro.

#showtooltip prowl
/dismount [mounted,noflying]
/stopmacro [mounted][flying]
/cast [nostance:3] !Cat Form; /cast [nostealth, nocombat] !Prowl; [stealth] !Pounce

Dismount --> Cat Form --> Stealth --> Pounce. It can be spammed without de-stealthing you.



4.4 Addons.


I will just list the ones I personally use for Arena (doesn’t mean you should absolutely get it. Bartender for example is absolutely not a must have, just a replacement for the WoW-actionsbars). The full explanation and download of the addon can be found in the link!

- Gladius (Arena Unit Frames)
- Bartender 4 (Actionbar Addon)
- ButtonFacade: Onyx (Bartender looks crappy without this.)
- Omni CC (Ability CD and duration timers)
- LoseControl (Shows timers on CC's, snares, slows, silences, disarms etc.)
- GladiatorlosSA (A Human-voice that alerts certain spells according to your own adjustments. May sound dull, but check it out. It's overpowered.)
- OnScreenHealth (Shows health/mana numbers of you and your target, spot/size can be adjusted.)

Addons that I don't use (anymore) but are worth trying out:
- EnergyWatch Reborn (Shows how much energy/rage/mana and CP you have. Placing it just below your character is ideal.)
- SpellAlerter (Gives you a warning when a specific spell/CC is used by your enemy/on your arena partner(s).)
- Power Auras Classic (Sound/Visual effects when using a certain spell, getting a proc etc.)



5. Links

Informative links:
- Keybinding Guide
- Arena Junkies
- Arena Junkies - Player Rankings

Youtube (Channels):
- Miirkat's Youtube Channel (By Miirkat)
- Zybak TV Channel (By Zybak)

Feral PvP videos:
- 2700+ Feral Druids run 2300+ double Feral (By Qtpoppinlol & Wushinomx)
- How to set up burst as a Feral (By Miirkat)
- 2700+ FMP Arena Tournament Fun (By Lawlblooms)
- Pericth 3 - Feral Tutorial (By Pericth)
- Pericth 5 - In depth Feral Tutorial (By Pericth)

NOTE: Although there are 2 different videos from Pericth, both are up to date and focus on different aspects!



6. Updates.

I will try to keep this Guide up to date for every change, hotfix, patch (or even expansion!)
Here you can keep track of what (big/important) updates have been made after I launched this Guide on 2011-01-08:

Patch updates.

2011-02-12:
Updated for 4.0.6:
--> 2.2 Feral pros and cons: Berserk nerf, Shapeshift nerf.
--> 3.2 Stats & Caps: Mastery nerf.

2011-02-13:
Updated for 4.0.6:
--> 3.3 Gemming, Enchanting & Reforging: Agile Shadowspirit Diamond (Meta Gem), Agility (Wrist Enchant) added.
--> 3.5 Trinkets: Vicious Gladiator's Medallion of Tenacity added.
--> 4.1 Strategies: 1v1.
--> 4.2 Arena Setups.

2011-04-30:
Updated for 4.1:
--> 3.1 Talents & Glyphs: Glyph of Pounce added.

2011-05-31:
Updated for 4.1:
--> 4.1 Strategies: 1v1.

2011-06-29:
Updated for 4.2:
--> 3.1 Talents & Glyphs: Glyph of Ferocious Bite changed.
--> 3.1 Talents & Glyphs: Natural Reaction buff.
--> 3.2 Stats & Caps: Haste buff / Strength nerf.
--> 3.6 Gear List: Ruthless Gladiator's Dragonhide-set added.

2011-07-02:
Updated for 4.2:
--> 3.5 Trinkets


Section updates.

2011-06-10:
--> Added a new section: 5. Links.

2011-07-01:
--> Added a new section: 3.7 Min/maxing + Chardev Profiler.

[Chilifan]

Guess I will start with spell pen, feral druids cast Nature spells. Paladin aura does not include Nature resist. 97 Spell Penetration is sufficient to mitigate the Mark and Kings buffs. Mages have 44 resists they can add onto buff via Mage armor for a 141 resist cap. Shamans can drop Elemental Resist totem for 195 resist, or a glyphed healing stream, but they usually don't (mana spring for ele/resto).

I recommend using the spell pen cloak enchant because they is nothing better, and 1 spell pen gem, for a 120 spell pen total.

Fized these also:

Skull Bash Macro. Needed.
#showtooltip
/cast [stance:1] Skull Bash(Bear Form); [stance:3] Skull Bash(Cat Form)

Stampeding Roar Macro. Needed
#showtooltip
/cast [stance:1] Stampeding Roar(Bear Form); [stance:3] Stampeding Roar (Cat Form)

Innervate Macro. Needed
#showtooltip
/cast [@playername] Innervate

What is the point of this:

?????????
Remove Curse Macro. (must have)
#showtooltip
/target <Teammember name>
/cast Remove Curse
/targetlasttarget
?????????
Do you have a separate macro for all your heals too? Use keybinds and/or a mod like everyone else

target = no longer works, see above /cast [@] above for proper use.
xxxxxxxxx
#showtooltip Cyclone
/cast [target=focus] Cyclone
xxxxxxxxx

More to follow tomorrow, going to bed, my head hurts.

[sethers656]

Pretty nice guide...

I just recently got into serious Feral PvP... I am running Feral/Feral for 2s and we just hit 1550.... Feral PvP is very fun right now...

One thing u might want to include is the best general opener... and maybe ur teams/ratings so we know we have good sources

Great guide once again..

[Deleted]

I've put together a set of gear with 100 spellpen and exactly 600 hit (5%).
This should be optimal for most players. However, the meta gem is a place holder due to chardev not knowing about the new gems. Replace it by the new Agi+3% crit gem as soon as it's available. The same goes for the missing enchants.

In addition, this is a much better kick makro ;D

#showtooltip
/cast [nostance]Cat Form;
/cast [stance:3,nomodifier]Skull Bash(Cat Form);[stance:1,nomodifier]Skull Bash(Bear Form);[stance:1,@focus]Skull Bash(Bear Form);[@focus]Skull Bash(Cat Form)

Works pretty well when combined with a focus charge makro for situations where you cannot get into 13 yards range.

#showtooltip
/cast [stance:3,@focus] Feral Charge(Cat Form); [@focus] Feral Charge(Bear Form)

[Frog]

AFAIR ferals get 2.5 AP from STR and AGI and 2.65AP with MotW

also, Pala aura doesnt add nature resistance. the only classes that can apply 195 nature resi are hunters and shaman (glyphed even with their healing stream totem).

and i think (personal preference!) that the head enchant with 60Str/35Mastery is better than the Agi one simply because Haste is nearly useless (right now) for ferals

@Zelt: why dont use the 1600Agi on use trinket with resi? pop it with berserk and youll see some great numbers. the static Agi on yours is nice but since ferals are still kinda squishy you really want as much resi as you can get (w/o giving up too much dmg).
for the back enchant i prefer the one that increases my stealth lvl. getting an opener against rogues is imo too good to pass on ^^

[Balduvian]

Guess I will start with spell pen, feral druids cast Nature spells. Paladin aura does not include Nature resist. 97 Spell Penetration is sufficient to mitigate the Mark and Kings buffs. Mages have 44 resists they can add onto buff via Mage armor for a 141 resist cap. Shamans can drop Elemental Resist totem for 195 resist, or a glyphed healing stream, but they usually don't (mana spring for ele/resto).

You're right. Edited.

?????????
Remove Curse Macro. (must have)
#showtooltip
/target <Teammember name>
/cast Remove Curse
/targetlasttarget
?????????
Do you have a separate macro for all your heals too? Use keybinds and/or a mod like everyone else

target = no longer works, see above /cast [@] above for proper use.
xxxxxxxxx
#showtooltip Cyclone
/cast [target=focus] Cyclone
xxxxxxxxx

More to follow tomorrow, going to bed, my head hurts.

The Curse Macro is to remove curses in 1 click, instead of targetting your partner followed by removing the curse. I don't see how a keybind can make the difference of not having to target your teammates first. You'll still need a macro to target and remove in 1 click.

My Skull Bash, Stampeding Roar and Innervate macro's are fine. Nothing wrong with them and they work perfectly.

Target = Macro's DO still work. I'm using them, and it's working perfectly.

---------- Post added 2011-01-08 at 11:32 AM ----------

maybe ur teams/ratings so we know we have good sources

.

You can see my name and server in my sig. Don't think you need any more.

Also, as I said in the prologue. I'm far from a Gladiator Feral Druid, but I do know a thing or two.

---------- Post added 2011-01-08 at 11:34 AM ----------

In addition, this is a much better kick makro ;D

#showtooltip
/cast [nostance]Cat Form;
/cast [stance:3,nomodifier]Skull Bash(Cat Form);[stance:1,nomodifier]Skull Bash(Bear Form);[stance:1,@focus]Skull Bash(Bear Form);[@focus]Skull Bash(Cat Form)

But, why is it better?

---------- Post added 2011-01-08 at 11:39 AM ----------

AFAIR ferals get 2.5 AP from STR and AGI and 2.65AP with MotW

and i think (personal preference!) that the head enchant with 60Str/35Mastery is better than the Agi one simply because Haste is nearly useless (right now) for ferals

Though it's not just about the AP. 65 Agi gives you ~0.18% Crit and a bit of Dodge in addition aswell. I can see your reasoning behind it and it might be worth some testing, but for now me and most other Feral Druids will probably take the Agi version.

[Deleted]

@Zelt: why dont use the 1600Agi on use trinket with resi? pop it with berserk and youll see some great numbers. the static Agi on yours is nice but since ferals are still kinda squishy you really want as much resi as you can get (w/o giving up too much dmg).
for the back enchant i prefer the one that increases my stealth lvl. getting an opener against rogues is imo too good to pass on ^^

I myself am currently using the tol barad trinket. go with whatever suits you.

There are no stealth enchants in the game anymore...

[coldbear]

Freaking awesome work. Nicely done.

Just kinda wish this stuff would find its way onto wowpedia and get updated my more people instead of one person writing one piece and then disappearing from updating it a few patches later.

Another guide: http://www.arenajunkies.com/showthread.php?t=225503

[Deleted]

I'm just curious. Which spell is the "main" combo point stacking spell? Do you even use Shred in PvP?

[Deleted]

But, why is it better?

All your makro does is casting skull bash ragardless of the form you're in.

/cast [stance:1] Skull Bash(Bear Form); [stance:3] Skull Bash(Cat Form)

My makro uses your focus as the target of skull bash if you press shift, for example.
In addition, it can be spammed and will switch you into cat form if you are in caster form (e.g. after casting cyclone)

#showtooltip
/cast [nostance]Cat Form;
/cast [stance:3,nomodifier]Skull Bash(Cat Form);[stance:1,nomodifier]Skull Bash(Bear Form);[stance:1,@focus]Skull Bash(Bear Form);[@focus]Skull Bash(Cat Form)

I'm just curious. Which spell is the "main" combo point stacking spell? Do you even use Shred in PvP?

Shred of course, you will only mangle if you are about to be energy capped and just can't get behind your target (or if you need a slow ASAP)

[Deleted]

Shred of course, you will only mangle if you are about to be energy capped and just can't get behind your target (or if you need a slow ASAP)

Alright thanks, how about Rake?

[Balduvian]

Freaking awesome work. Nicely done.

Just kinda wish this stuff would find its way onto wowpedia and get updated my more people instead of one person writing one piece and then disappearing from updating it a few patches later.

I will try my best keeping it updated whenever I can, after whatever patch or even expansion.

I'm just curious. Which spell is the "main" combo point stacking spell? Do you even use Shred in PvP?

Either Shred or Mangle. You got to find out what suits you best. That's also why you got to pick either Mangle or Shred glyph, never both.
Shred does more Damage per Energy and is therefor better IF you're able to get/stay behind a target. In a lot of cases you can't and then Mangle is usually the way to go.

All your makro does is casting skull bash ragardless of the form you're in.

/cast [stance:1] Skull Bash(Bear Form); [stance:3] Skull Bash(Cat Form)

My makro uses your focus as the target of skull bash if you press shift, for example.
In addition, it can be spammed and will switch you into cat form if you are in caster form (e.g. after casting cyclone)

Ah I overlooked that part. Yes, that'll be a nice addition to my macro. Added it.

Alright thanks, how about Rake?

Rake should only be applied when it's no longer on the target, regardless of how many CP's you have (except when you got 5).

[Deleted]

Don't try to tab when a rogue is nearby, use a macro. In fact, you're barely using any macros at all, I have no idea how you can PVP like this.

[Balduvian]

Don't try to tab when a rogue is nearby, use a macro. In fact, you're barely using any macros at all, I have no idea how you can PVP like this.

List them if there are so many more useful macro's..? I know there are a lot more macro's for Ferals, like FF depending on stance, Feral Charge + Ravage in 1 macro etc, but none of them seemed really awesome in my opinion. Can't say you absolutely NEED any of those.

If you think otherwise that's ok, but atleast be constructive in this thread instead of simply saying I'm wrong.

[axxey]

Why would you ever ever choose to spec for pvp without thick hide?

---------- Post added 2011-01-13 at 08:59 PM ----------

Nearly every class you say HT for PS procs, a lot of these classes you dont want extra global cooldown in caster form, 1v1 most classes you can PS cyclone then heal/LoS/range. I dont think you mention bear form anywhere.
Cyclone is offensive and defensive, remember that cycloned targets can't be healed or hurt you, commonly also used to milk their trinket cooldown before your partner CCs, it's not just a CC for healers.

Cyclone also used to share cooldown with blind, don't recall if that's changed at all, haven't run with a rogue for a bit.

[Balduvian]

Why would you ever ever choose to spec for pvp without thick hide?

Because it's only increases your defense against Melee, while Natural Reaction helps you against everyone. Since Ferals have most problems with casters and barely any with Melee, NR is a better way to go imo. I tried it both ways, and I prefer going with NR and leaving Thick Hide out. Also, it's the spec most Feral Druids use, including Gladiator ones.

Nearly every class you say HT for PS procs, a lot of these classes you dont want extra global cooldown in caster form, 1v1 most classes you can PS cyclone then heal/LoS/range. I dont think you mention bear form anywhere.
Cyclone is offensive and defensive, remember that cycloned targets can't be healed or hurt you, commonly also used to milk their trinket cooldown before your partner CCs, it's not just a CC for healers.

Cyclone also used to share cooldown with blind, don't recall if that's changed at all, haven't run with a rogue for a bit.

I say HT for PS procs because you don't need the extra seconds of Cyclone --> Casting HT (+ HoTs) to survive most of the time. In almost every 1v1 situation, I found instant HT's to be more viable then Cyclone --> HT. Ofcourse that depends on the situation though. And nope, I never mentioned Bear. You barely ever need it in 1v1 anyway, except against Rogues sometimes. It's usually your last option in order to survive. Most situations can/should be taken care of in Cat Form in 1v1.

And why do you bring in partner(s)? Remember this was all about 1v1. There's no point in explaining 2v2+ tacts, as there are a gazillion of things per setup you should take into account. Every 2v2+ situation is different.

Also, Cyclone doesn't seem to share DR with anything at all. (Not 100% certain, but 99 ) Blind is in the "Fear DR" school together with Fear, Howl of Terror, Intimidating Shout, Psychic Scream, Scare Beast, Seduction (Pet) and Turn Evil.

[bosla]

A good guide , tho I did not agree with all of the "explanations" on how to beat certain classes/specs

Overal 9/10 , and great effort !

[Balduvian]

A good guide , tho I did not agree with all of the "explanations" on how to beat certain classes/specs

Overal 9/10 , and great effort !

Thanks! Explain with what you don't agree with so I can test and/or edit it..!

[axxey]

Because it's only increases your defense against Melee, while Natural Reaction helps you against everyone. Since Ferals have most problems with casters and barely any with Melee, NR is a better way to go imo. I tried it both ways, and I prefer going with NR and leaving Thick Hide out. Also, it's the spec most Feral Druids use, including Gladiator ones.

NR is only in your "barely ever needed" bear form, thick hide effects all forms.
Single PS procs on HT aren't the only healing you can do.
You don't mention nature's grasp anywhere at all either.

Overall guide isn't thorough enough for what it implies by title, no idea how it got stickied. 4/10

[Balduvian]

NR is only in your "barely ever needed" bear form

I said it's barely ever needed in 1v1, yes.

Overall guide isn't thorough enough for what it implies by title, no idea how it got stickied. 4/10

If you're not in here to be constructive, then you might as well leave. I'm sure this guide can be improved a lot and if you think YOU can, then I won't stop you from doing so. Only saying what's wrong without giving any constructive feedback is just silly.