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The Best Feral Druid PvE DPS build

The Best Feral Druid PvE DPS build

One of the best melee DPS specializations in World of Warcraft based on powerful Bleed Damage over Time

Feral Druid PvE DPS Build
Odealo's Pocket Guide
Updated for Patch 8.2.0

You can find all our Pocket Guides for other World of Warcraft classes right here: Best WoW Builds

Spec Overview

Druids that follow the path of Feral Combat, ate the wildest of their kind. These shapeshifters rely on their Cat form when it comes to fighting. They are able to tear enemies apart with their wicked claws and injure them severely, causing terrible bleeds. They excel in dealing Single-Target Damage and are capable of applying powerful Damage over Time bleeds to multiple enemies.

 Pros  Cons
 Great Single-Target Damage  DoT heavy rotation is not suited for clearing low Health Targets
 Good Cleave, thanks to powerful DoTs  Rotation revolves around proper resource management
 Great mobility  Loses DPS on Target switches
 Flexible Talent choices  
Good AoE Damage  


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Statistics Priority

  1. Critical Strike - Gives your attacks and abilities a chance to inflict double Damage. This synergizes well with your Combo Point generators, as they generate an additional CP when they Critically hit.
  1. Mastery - Feral Druid's Mastery: Razor ClawsMastery: Razor Claws increases the effectiveness of your Finishing Moves and Bleeds. This stat is great especially for AoE, as it increases your multi-DoT potential considerably.
  1. Haste - Increases your attack speed and Energy regeneration rate, reduces Global Cooldowns and causes your Bleed effects to tick more often, which makes them more powerful.
  1. Agility - Increases your Attack Power which makes you deal more Damage with your Abilities and Attacks.
  1. Versatility -  Increases your damage done, while also protecting you by decreasing your damage received. 

 

The Best Talent Choices

Sabretooth
Level 15: 
Recommended choice - Sabretooth
SabretoothSabretooth - Increases Damage of your Ferocious BiteFerocious Bite by 20%, and makes your RipRip last 4 seconds longer per Combo Point. This is the stronger choice for Single Target and low Target count Cleave situations. It also has added value of simplifying your rotation.

PredatorPredator resets the Cooldown of your Tiger's FuryTiger's Fury when a Target dies with one of your Bleed effects active and makes it last 5 seconds longer. This talent generates value in add-heavy encounters and should be considered for fights where mobs die frequently.

Lunar InspirationLunar Inspiration allows you to use the MoonfireMoonfire while in Cat FormCat Form; it also causes MoonfireMoonfire to generate 1 Combo Point, cost 30 Energy, and deal damage based on your Attack Power. This is a decent choice for both Single Target and AoE Damage but is generally worse than the other two choices in this row.

Wild Charge
Level 30: 
Recommended choice - Wild Charge
Wild ChargeWild ChargeOff global cooldown ability with a 15-second Cooldown, with its effect based on your Shapeshift form. The effects are as follows: a Forward Leap in Travel FormTravel Form, Backward Leap in Moonkin FormMoonkin Form, Charge with a 4 second immobilize in a Bear FormBear Form, Leap to the back of an enemy with a 3s Daze effect in a Cat FormCat Form, and 150% Swim Speed boost for 5s in the Aquatic FormAquatic Form. This is the recommended choice because of its low Cooldown and good flexibility.

Tiger DashTiger Dash is a replacement ability for DashDash. It increases your movement speed for 5s; this effect starts at 200% and decays over time. This ability may be helpful if rapid bursts of movement are required during an encounter, but is less useful than Wild ChargeWild Charge otherwise.

RenewalRenewal is an instant heal which restores 30% of your maximum Health; it has 1,5-minute Cooldown. Additional Healing is less valuable than extra mobility, and This option should not be considered because of that.

Balance Affinity
Level 45: 
Recommended choice - Balance Affinity
Balance AffinityBalance Affinity - gives you the Astral InfluenceAstral Influence passive, which increases the range of your active abilities by 3yd. It also grants you access to Balance-specific abilities SunfireSunfire, Solar WrathSolar Wrath, Lunar StrikeLunar Strike, StarsurgeStarsurge and Moonkin FormMoonkin Form. The utility of additional Range on all Abilities cannot be underestimated. This Talent makes applying DoTs to multiple Targets much easier, and even a Moonkin FormMoonkin Form has its uses when fighting in melee range is impossible for some reason.

Guardian AffinityGuardian Affinity grants you a sizable damage reduction in a form of Thick HideThick Hide, gives you access to Frenzied RegenerationFrenzied Regeneration and IronfurIronfur Guardian-specific abilities and should be considered if you desperately need more survivability, 

Restoration AffinityRestoration Affinity gives you access to Restoration-Specific spells: RejuvenationRejuvenation, SwiftmendSwiftmend, and Wild GrowthWild Growth while also granting you with the Ysera's GiftYsera's Gift passive which heals you, or a nearby wounded friendly character (if your HP is full) for 3% of maximum HP every 5s. This is the least appealing option, as active abilities provided by this Talent will knock you out of Cat FormCat Form when used.

Typhoon
Level 60: 
Recommended choice - Typhoon

TyphoonTyphoon -  Knocks back and Dazes (for 6s) all Targets up to 15yd in front of You; it has 30-second Cooldown and is usable in all Shapeshift forms.

Talents in this row have close to no impact on DPS, so the choice is largely up to one's preference. However, we recommend the TyphoonTyphoon as it is the most versatile.

Mighty Bash gives you a 5s Stun on a 50s cooldown, which is usable in all shapeshift forms. It might be useful if you need extra hard Crowd Control or an additional interrupt on a Target not immune to Stuns.

Mass Entanglement Mass Entanglement provides you with a nice 30s AoE Root effect on a 30s Cooldown, which could be useful for kiting groups of adds around; just remember that any Damage done to rooted targets might break the effect. It is usable in Shapeshift forms.

Soul of the Forest
Level 75: 
Recommended choice - Soul of the Forest
Soul of the ForestSoul of the Forest -  Your Finishing abilities deal 5% more Damage, and grant you 5 Energy for each Combo Point spent. This talent is very easy to use and will increase the pace of your rotation significantly.

Savage RoarSavage Roar is a Finisher that increases your Damage done and Energy regeneration rate by 10%; it lasts longer per Combo Point spent. A strong option for both Single Target and AoE situations, but it complicates your Rotation slightly. It could be chosen instead of Soul of the ForestSoul of the Forest, depending on preference.

Incarnation: King of the JungleIncarnation: King of the Jungle is a replacement ability for BerserkBerserk. It provides all BerserkBerserk's bonuses, lasts 10 seconds longer, and in addition allows a single use of ProwlProwl in combat, and causes RakeRake and ShredShred to deal Damage as if stealth was active. This Talent will increase your Burst Damage potential, but at a cost of lower sustained Damage output.

Brutal Slash
Level 90: 
Recommended choice - Brutal Slash
Brutal SlashBrutal Slash - a replacement ability for SwipeSwipe. it deals Damage to all nearby Enemies, costs 25 Energy, has 3 Charges, and 8-second recharge time. This is the only Talent in this row which affects your Single Target DPS. It also provides you with some Burst AoE Damage potential, thanks to its 3 Charges.

Scent of BloodScent of Blood reduces the cost of your SwipeSwipe by 3 Energy for every enemy hit by ThrashThrash; this effect lasts for 6 seconds. This is a quite good option for AoE Damage.

Primal WrathPrimal Wrath is a Finisher ability that deals AoE Damage and applies RipRip to all Targets within 8yd; RipRip's effect lasts longer per Combo Point used. This is the best choice when fighting more than one Target.

Bloodtalons
Level 100: 
Recommended choice - Bloodtalons
BloodtalonsBloodtalons - Using RegrowthRegrowth or Entangling RootsEntangling Roots causes your next two melee abilities to deal 25% more Damage for their full duration. Its synergy with your Bleed effects causes this Talent to be the go-to choice in this row.

Moment of ClarityMoment of Clarity increases your maximum Energy by 30 and causes your Omen of ClarityOmen of Clarity to trigger 50% more often, stack up to 2 times, and increase Damage of your next Brutal SlashBrutal Slash, SwipeSwipe, ThrashThrash, or ShredShred ability cast by 15%. Choosing this Talent will increase the pace of your rotation without complicating it, but will not increase your DPS by as much as BloodtalonsBloodtalons will.

Feral FrenzyFeral Frenzy Deals high amounts of Physical Damage and applies a 6-second Bleed to your Target; it has 45-second Cooldown and grants you 5 Combo Points when used. This provides you with some Burst  Damage potential, and will streamline your rotation a bit, but is worse than BloodtalonsBloodtalons overall.

 

The Basic Rotation

Feral Druids use two different resources in their rotation, Energy and Combo Points. Their rotation revolves around Combo Point generation and expenditure and maintaining various buffs and debuffs on their Targets.

Use the following priority list to maximize your Single Target Damage output:
  1. Regrowth into Bloodtalons if on 4+ CP
Regrowth ⇒ Bloodtalons
  1. Tiger's Fury on Cooldown
Tiger's Fury
  1. Berserk on Cooldown
Berserk
  1. Maintain Rip with Ferocious Bite
Ferocious Bite ⇔ Rip
  1. Maintain Rake
Rake
  1. Brutal Slash for CP generation and to avoid overcapping Charges.
Brutal Slash
  1. Shred for CP generation
Shred

When in Cleave situation, you should make sure to apply RipRip and RakeRake to as many Targets as possible, and then continue with your Single Target priority.

During massive AoE phases use the following Priority instead:

  1. Brutal Slash to avoid overcapping Charges
Brutal Slash
  1. Maintain Thrash
Thrash
  1. Apply Rake to as many Targets as possible
Rake
  1. Rip on 5 Combo Points
Rip


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Tips and Tricks for Improving your Gameplay

  1. Learn how to Manage your Combopoints, as overcapping them will lead to a large decrease in Damage output.
  1. Manage your Bleeds! Take advantage of the Pandemic mechanic, and reapply your Bleeds only if they have less than 30% of their uptime left.
  1. Pool your Energy, but avoid overcapping it. You should always have enough Energy pooled to reapply your Bleeds instantly when they are about to fade, and for taking advantage of your procs.
  1. Learn on your mistakes, and always try to improve.

 

END NOTE

This is an early version of our guide, we plan to upgrade upon it, and add further sections. So please leave your suggestions in the comments section below. We would also like to state that this is meant as a pocket guide and therefore we will not go into too much detail (please visit more specialized sites for a much more in-depth build/stat/gear/rotation analyses).

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Blizzard Entertainment Inc.