In general, Druids are quite the peaceful people of Azeroth, but in this form of a giant carnivore cat, they are capable of letting out all the covert fury of the wildlife.
Introduction
Let’s take a closer look at the weakest and the strongest aspects of this specialization:
Advantages:
Nice stable single target damage.
High mobility.
Can adapt to various combat types through talents.
Disadvantages:
Neads some warm-up time to start dealing damage.
Quite the mediocre prolonged AoE.
Demands a lot of attention paid to the resources and their correct utilization.
Basic information on the spec:
A Feral Druid, like any other Druid, has the capacity of taking on various forms, although their key Form is theCat Form. Many abilities are tied to the image the Druid is in. In theirCat Form, a Druid has 2 key resources – Energy and Combo Points (hereinafter referred to as CP). With no Form on, or in theirTravel Form, the Druid has Mana for their main resource; as a Bear, it’s Rage.
(Area of Effect) is basically the area where this of that effect is actuated regardless of whether its damage or healing. This command is usually used to act in a team/raid on several targets. It is also used to describe any ability of a Boss with the aforementioned effect.
Buff stands for any positive effect. Always reflected to the left of the mini-map, by its upper edge.
Burst is an ability to do – in multiple ways – massive damage within a short period of time.
Gear is what it is.
GCD (Global Cooldown) is the overall ability recovery time.
Debuff stands for negative effect. By default, it’ reflected to the left of the mini-map by its lower edge.
DoT stands for Damage over Time.
DPS (Damage per Second) is a measure that reflects the damage done within one second.
Cleave is an ability to damage secondary targets through damaging the main one with no (or minor) loss in the damage done to the main target.
Cooldown (often CD) primarily refers to the ability recovery time. Can be often applied to bursts and various protective abilities.
Melee and Range. Melee is the close-range combat zone, also used in the titles of all the classes and specs that do effective damage in this zone. Range usually refers to a zone that is not a close-range one and is used, respectfully, in the titles of all classes and specs that do effective damage remotely.
Trait is a name for the ‘talents’ your azerite armor has.
Thrash is applied from Bear andCat Form. Deals physical damage to all the enemies within the range of 8 m instantly, and the more damage over the following 15 secs. Generates 1 CP, demands 40 Energy.
Rake costs 35 Energy, deals physical damage and elaves a 15-sec long DoT. I also slows your target down by 50% for 12 secs withInfected Wounds. When cast from Stealth, the spell deals 100% more damage and stuns the target for 4 secs. Generates 1 CP.
Moonfire deals minor Arcane damage instantly, and then some more over the following 16 secs.
Shred is only available in theCat Form, demands 40 Energy; deals physical damage to a target. If the latter tagged with your bleedings, the spell deals 20% more damage. When cast from Stealth, deals 30% more damage, and doubles Crit. Generates 1 CP.
Swipe, for 40 Energy, deals physical damage to all the enemies within the range of 8 m. The targets tagged with your bleeding effects receive 20%more damage. Generates 1 CP.
Rip – only fromCat Form – for 20 Energy, spends 1 to 5 CP and applies a bleeding effect on the target for 24 secs. The more CP spent, the longer the duration
Ferocious Bite – only inCat Form – initially costs 25 Energy and spends 1 to 5 CP; deals physical damage (the more CP spent, the heavier the damage). Spending additional 25 Energy, increases the damage by no more than 100%.
Bursts, important CDs and passive effects
Berserk cuts 40% off any spendings while inCat Form during the following 20 secs and increases your max Energy stock by 50. DemandsCat Form. CD 3 min.
Tiger’s Fury restores you 50 Energy and increases all your attacks’ damage dealing by 15% during their complete action time. Active for 10 secs.
Feral Instinct passively reduces the chance of you being discovered while in Stealth.
Primal Fury makes your CP-generating abilities give you one more CP upon delivering a critical strike. The critical hits by your periodic damaging do not count.
Mastery: Razor Claws increases damage delivered by the abilities causing bleeding cast while inCat Form by 16% + Mastery rate.
Predatory Swiftness grants your CP-spending abilities a chance of 20% per each CP spent to cast your nextRegrowth orEntangling Roots instantly with no Mana spent, and no form changing in demand.
Deffensive abilities
Survival Instincts reduces the received damage by 50% for 6 secs. 2 charges, CD 2 min.
Regrowth is cast once every 1.5 secs, instantly restores a small amount of HP, and a bit more over the following 12 secs.
Utility abilities
Rebirth is a combat resurrection spell, with a mechanics quite similar to all the spells of the kind from other classes. Outside a raid combat, CD 10 min. In a raid, the restoring speed depends on the number of players in the raid (90/x=CD per res; x – number of people in the raid).
Entangling Roots immobilizes the victim for 30 secs. Any damage dealt to this target cancels the effect.
Maim demands 30 Energy and spends 1 to 5 CP, deals physical damage and stuns your target for 1 secs per each CP spent. The damage dealt also grows with CP spending. CD 10 secs.
Prowl allows you to turn into a Cat and enter the state of Stealth. Can only be cast out of combat. CD 6 secs.
Skull Bash interrupts your enemy’s cast and prevents them from casting a spell of the same school for the following 4 secs. CD 15 secs.
Cat Form is a form in which you move 30% faster, and you are resistant to any ransformation effects and receive less damage upon falling. Form change cancels any movement-impairing effects.
Bear Form increases your Armor by 200% and your Stamina – by 55%. You are immune to any transformation effects and generate an elevated danger rate. Form change cancels any movement-impairing effects.
Dash activates yourCat Form and increases your Haste by 70% for 15 secs.
Travel Form makes you take up one of your forms depending on the surrounding circumstances: for airborne, on-land or aquatic relocations. All Forms make you immune to transformation effects; form change cancels any movement-impairing effects. Out of combat, your forms have increased moving speed. These effects, however, do not work on the arena or on battlefields.
Growl only works while you’re in yourBear Form. Provokes your target to attack you for 3 secs.
Teleport: Moonglade allows you to teleport to Moonglade. When cast in Moonglade, returns you to your initial location – to the nearest cemetery, to be precise.
Stampeding Roar increases the moving speed by 60% for 8 secs to all your allies within the 10-m range. When cast outside ofBear Form orCat Form, automatically triggersBear Form.
General information. On achieving several new levels you’ll get access to new talent ‘Tiers’. Talents may have different effect on abilities: add new features, replace old ones, modify passively different effects and spells. Talents can be changed in Sanctuaries or any recreational zones. However, if you don’t have any of those places nearby you can use theCodex of the Tranquil Mind which allows you to switch channels within a minute. You can’t change talents in combat. You can’t change a talent if the talent you’ve picked in the last Tier is on Cooldown. You’ll have to wait until it’s restored first.
Tier 1. Lvl 15
Predator.Tiger’s Fury lasts 5 secs longer, and if your target dies during any of your bleedings, the currentTiger’s Fury restores immediately. A good talent for m+ if the packs are dying fast.
Sabertooth. Ferocious Bite deals 20% increased damage and increases Rip’s duration on the target for 4 sec per combo point spent. The best talent for raiding but a situational talent for m+.
Lunar Inspiration.Moonfire can now be used inCat Form. Using it now generates 1 CP, spends 30 Energy, and its damage is calculated based on your power of attack. A weak talent at this moment that is not used anywhere
Tier 2. Lvl 30
Tiger Dash. Replaces Dash. Activates cat form and increases your movement speed by 200% for 5 sec, reducing gradually over 5 sec.
Renewal. Instantly restores 30% of your max HP stock. Can be cast from any form. CD 1.5 min.
Wild Charge. Depending on the form, triggers one of the abilities with a 15-sec CD: In your regular form, it flies you to an ally’s position. Bear Form – a surge towards your enemy that immobilizes them for 4 secs. Cat Form – a leap behind your enemy’s back dazing them for 3 secs Travel Form – a leap 20 m forward. In your Aquatic Form, your swimming speed grows by 150% for 5 secs.
* The whole Tier is pretty much comprised of situation-oriented talents
Tier 3. Lvl 45
Balance Affinity. Passivele increases your abilities’ active range by 3 m, and gives you the following several abilities: Moonkin Form. CD 1.5 min; in this Form, your Armor rating is elevated by 125%, and you also get 4 abilities typical of this Form. You can utilize those abilities only while inMoonkin Form. Starsurge has a 10-sec CD, deals Astral damage and increases your next Lunar Strike andSolar Wrath inflicted damage by 20%. Lunar Strike deals Arcane damage to the main target, plus more damage to all the enemies within the range of 5 m. Solar Wrath deals your enemy Nature damage. Sunfire deals Nature damage to the main target, and some damage to all the enemies within the 5-m range of it. It also eaves a DoT that deals damage for 12 more secs.
Guardian Affinity. Passively reduces the incoming damage by 6%. It also grants you several abilities: Mangle deals physical damage to the target, generates 5 Rage. CD 6 secs. Ironfur costs 45 Rage, increases your Armor for 7 secs. Frenzied Regeneration costs 10 Rage, CD 36 secs. Restores 24% of maximum health for 3 sec.
Restoration Affinity. Passively grants you Ysera’s Gift which restores 3% of your max HP count once every 5 secs. If your Health is at 100%, the spell restores the same portion of HP to the nearest injured ally. Rejuvenation instantly applies an HoT on the selected ally healing them for 15 secs. Regrowth – Heals a friendly target and puts a HoT for 12 sec. Swiftmend instantly restores a major portion of HP to an ally. CD 25 secs.
*Balance Affinity is the most convenient option in terms of damage dealing, as it allows you to interact with separated targets. It can also offer youMoonkin Form in case you lack enemies in your Melee for a long time.
Guardian Affinity ups your survival and even allows you to hit the Boss for a short while if necessary.
Restoration Affinity is more suitable for solo gaming in case you need to restore a lot of Health.
Tier 4. Lvl 60
Mighty Bash. Can be cast from any form; stuns your enemy for 5 secs. CD 50 secs.
Mass Entanglement. Allows you to immobilize the selected target and all the enemies within the 15-m range of it for 30 secs. Any damage dealt to the entangled enemies cancels the effect.
Typhoon. In any form, throws back all the enemies within the 15-m range in front of you and dazes them for 6 secs.
* The Tier offers you control options which means the decision is completely up to you.
Soul of the Forest. Your CP spenders deal 5% more damage and allow you to restore 5 Energy per each CP spent on those abilities. At this moment it is the best talent for single target and in m+.
Savage Roar. Costs 25 Energy, spends 1 to 5 CP and increases your damage dealing while inCat Form by 10%. Basic duration is 12 secs per 1 CP. After that, each use adds 6 secs making it 36 secs for 5 CP. A good talent in the past that was nerfed and not is not used anywhere.
Incarnation: King of the Jungle. ReplacesBerserk. UpgradesCat Form for 30 secs; grants you 1Prowl, and yourShred andRake work as if they were cast from Stealth. The Energy cost is 40% off for all abilities, and your max Energy stock grows by 50. When changing your form, you get 30 secs to keep the upgraded Form if you castCat Form again. Also a good talent but after nerf became worse thanSoul of the Forest.
Tier 6. Lvl 90
Blood Scent. Each enemy hit by Thrash reduces the cost of Swipe by 3 Energy for the next 6 sec. It is a weak talent that is not used anywhere. But has a potential to be useful for AOE in the future.
Brutal Slash. ReplacesSwipe. Deals significantly more damage, but has a 12-sec CD and 3 charges. It also generates 1 CP for you. AOE ability that is used against single target for great damage and cheap cost.
Primal Wrath. Deals instant damage and applies Rip to ann enemies within 8 yards. Lasts longer per combo point. The best talent for m+, allows to spend combo points on AOE and be useful on packs
Tier 7. Lvl 100
Moment of Clarity.Omen of Clarity now works twice as often and can stack up up to 2 times. It also increases the damage by your previousShred,Thrash orSwipe by 15%. Increases yourma Energy by 30. Currently this talent is not used anywhere. Only sometimes could be taken for m+ if it is difficult for you to play with Bloodtalons. There is not a big different when it comes to dps, but it is weaker on a single target and makes gameplay easier. I recommend to use it instead of Bloodtalons only in M+.
Bloodtalons.Regrowth orEntangling Roots increase the damage dealt by your next 2 Melee abilities by 25% during their whole active period. .It is thebest and the only choice for raiding but a situational one for M+. Improves only some instant attacks and dots.
Feral Frenzy. Requires Cat Form Unleash a furious frenzy, clawing your target 5 times for physical damage and an additional bleed damage over 6 sec. Bad choice
In BFA typical sets were removed and Azerite armor took their place. Now every chest/helmet/shoulders have a few rings for traits.
Jungle Fury.Tiger’s Fury increases your critical strike for 12 sec. The best trait and it is good to collect 3 of it because grants a lot of crit Feral needs during Tiger’s Fury and extends its duration for 2 sec.
Wild Fleshrending. Shred deals additional damage and Swipe deals additional damage, to enemies suffering from Thrash. In overall this trait is used to increase damage from Shred, but could also be useful on AOE. It is better to have 1-2 of it.
Gushing Lacerations. Rip deals periodic damage, and has 6% chance to award a combo point each time it deals damage. It’s a good trait in overall that is good to have 1. Grants a chance to generate free CP..
Blood Mist.Rake deals additional damage over its duration, and has a chance to grant Berserk for 5 sec. Cannot occur while Berserk is active. Also a good trait to have as 1. If it procs it increases your damage, even if it doesn’t it still improves your Rake.
* The rest traits are weaker than previously described talents so we recommend to visit raidbots.com when getting new azerite armor to choose the best trait for it.
We recommend to use Herodamage and AzeritePowerWeight addon. Import the addon command from the site and you can easily compare your azerite in the game.
These ratings are based on simulations, statistics of WarcraftLogs and players experience.
MAJOR
Condensed Life-force (Source: Eternal Palace drop) – great option to increase you burst potential on single target
The Crucible of Flame (Source: Heart of Azeroth level) becomes a great tool for aditional dps increse, especially at level 3
Vision of Perfection (Source: “Operation: Mechagon” drop) aincreases th uptime of your bursts during the fight. Pretty random, but this is strong option
If talented withBloodtalons, try to castRegrowth instantly (due toPredatory Swiftness), right before spending CP. Don’t forget to renew yourRip on the target if it has less than 4.5 more secs to go.
Aim at renewingRip andRake during activeTiger’s Fury, because your bleedings get empowered by bursts during its whole active time.
If you’re talented withBrutal Slash, always keep 1 charge restoring. You need, however, to have accumulated the max charge count by the time your enemy group appears. Also, havingTiger’s Fury andBloodtalons‘ buff at moments like this would play out great since it altogether it would give you max AoE damaging.
For 3+ enemies with a short life span,
2-3 long-living targets: maintainRake andThrash on all of them. On 2 targets, continue generating CP withShred; starting with 3 targets, switch toSwipe. Also, try to maintainRip on all the targets.
4-8 long-living targets: first of all, maintainThrash; maintainingRake on as many targets as possible is your second priority here. Spend CP on maintainingRip on as many targets as possible.
In case there are prioritized targets in the pack, you can only concentrate on maintainingRip on them, and damage the rest of the targets withFerocious Bite.
Useful notes
Rake andRip‘s uptime should be aiming at 100%; the same applies toThrash on AoE. Pandemic makes it possible to renewRake andThrash 4.5 secs before their end with no duration loss.Rip can be renewed 7.2 secs before the end. Both these DoTs need to be renewed during activeTiger’s Fury orBloodtalons‘ buff (if talented), because the DoTs remember the damage boost by these abilities (your character’s characteristics do not cause a snapshot – the scaling is dynamical).
Savage Roar is also affected by Pandemic – it can be renewed at 10.8 secs of the buff’s remaining time with 5 CP.
UseTiger’s Fury as often as possible, but make sure the 50 Energy it generates do not come in vain. If you have multiple targets dying out successively, it makes sense to useTiger’s Fury to restore Energy.
The basic priority rating for the characteristics is as follows:
Crit >= Versatility >Mastery > Agility> Haste
The current specialization’s Mastery increases the damage delivered by your bleedings inCat Form.
Keep in mind that the charactreristics’ values might go up and down depending on the amount of a stat you have stocked. That’s why is recommended, once you receive new equipment, you use Simcraft or Raidbots.com. There is no way to get a more precise answer to which stat to focus on first, but through a simulation.
Based on the aforementioned characteristics and results of your character’s own simulation results, you can draw conclusions on Gems, Chants and Raid Chemicals.
Leveling. If your character has been inactive since the previous expansions, the best option to level up it is by Timewalking dungeons. You will gain a lot of experience, but there is one big disadvantage of leveling this way. Timewalks are available only for one week during a month, but Overgear is always here.
Raids. Raids are the top-tier PvE content in the game. That’s why the equipment’s base ilvl is higher than anywhere else. These dungeons require knowing all the tactics and have a good gear to kill the bosses. The possibilities of Overgear might let you skip those criteria.
Azerite. It is also not the best idea to forget about the Heart of Azeroth and not to feed it with more Azerite. Ignoring this won’t make your character stronger. The easiest way to do it – just complete all the world quests with Azerite rewards everyday. You can get extra azerite from Island Expeditions. Companions can be found at Overgear.
Votes: 5, average: 4.20 of 5
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