Dreamgrove

Feral Druid Season 4 Compendium

updated by Crazymeow, Cheesey

Changelog

Season 4 News

Nothing is changing for Feral Druids in terms of gameplay or talents, but the Dinar system is returning in season 4 with the new currency Antique Bronze Bullion. For more information on how to spend these, go here


What is a priority list?

When reading the priority lists below, you should not think about these as steps to follow in a specific order. At any given point in combat, you should cast the first thing in the list that you are able to cast.

The way this section is written is very formulaic and has the same structure as the Action Priority List (APL) used in sims. If you need a more digestable format, try WoWHead’s guide written by Guilty

Pre-Combat:

Select which talents you have talented to filter the priority list:




Single Target priority list:

  • Use Tiger's Fury if any of the following conditions are met
    • Tiger's Fury is not up.
    • You are more than 65 energy from the cap.
    • If you have 3 Adaptive Swarms with at least 2 stacks out then you will target allies with priority 1 stack > 0 stack > 2 stacks.
    • If you have 2 or fewer Adaptive Swarms of at least 2 stacks, cast on your enemy target when swarm is not on them, and is not traveling towards them.

If you are in Berserk check this as your priorities from here on out change a bit.

    • Use Rip when all of these conditions are met:
      • You have at least 4 combo points
        • Rip has less than 10 seconds remaining
        • Your next gcd will be Feral Frenzy
      • Tiger's Fury is up, or won’t be up before Rip expires.
    • Use Ferocious Bite when all of these conditions are met:
      • You have at least 4 combo points
      • Rake is in pandemic OR you would be upgrading Rake's snapshot value.
    • Use Rake if any of these conditions are met:
      • Rake is in pandemic and Tiger's Fury is either up, or won’t be before Rake falls off.
      • You are in stealth
    • Use Shred.
    • Use Rip when all of these conditions are met:
      • You have 5 combo points
        • Rip has less than 10 seconds remaining
        • Your next gcd will be Feral Frenzy
      • Tiger's Fury is up, or won’t be up before Rip expires.
    • Use Ferocious Bite with 5 combo points
      • Rake is not applied or is in pandemic range
      • Rake is not applied or is in pandemic range
      • Rake is not applied or is in pandemic range
      • Rake is not applied or is in pandemic range
      • Shred
      • Thrash This is true even if it means clipping thrash early.
    • Use Shred

AoE priority list(2+ targets): Special Note: Try to use single-target spells on higher priority/higher healthed mobs, or mobs that have Dire Fixation on them.


T31 4pc Talent Builds (Amirdrassil tier-set, still applies in season 4)

T31 Standard Convoke Single-Target
One-minute Burst
Raid ST-AoE hybrid
Raid Cleave
Alternative L/R LI Single Target
Alternative L/R BrS Single Target (slightly worse).

  • Note: generally best to play ‘Standard Convoke’ for single-target, assuming you have an on-use trinket like Ashes or Witherbark’s. They sim equally, however Convoke offers more burst, and pulls ahead with Augmentation buffing you. Kill timers can also play a factor; if you are unsure, stick to Convoke. If you do play L/R, Infected Wounds can optionally be swapped for Lunar Inspiration with T31 as well.

Vault of the Incarnates Raid Boss Talents

Eranog

  • You can alternatively play a more single-target oriented build, or if your guild one-phases the boss can drop Berserk: Heart of the Lion for another talent point, and most likely 1 minute convoke with that.

The Primal Council

  • Full sustain AoE. Can consider going Unbridled Swarm as well.

Terros

  • Very straightforward, full single target. Can sim your expected fight timer to see if any of the other single target builds are better for your guild.

Sennarth

  • Adds die too fast to get any meaningful cleave so just go full single target.

Kurog Grimtotem

  • Mostly 2t cleave

Dathea - Boss Duty

  • This assumes you stay on boss the entire time. If you are on adds instead, then play the Add Duty build below.

Dathea - Add Duty

Broodkeeper Diurna

  • If adds end up dying too fast on Fated then you can drop double-clawed rake and/or rampant ferocity for more p3 boss burn.

Raszageth

Aberrus Raid Boss Talents

Kazzara

  • Can sim your expected kill timer to see if 1 minute convoke would do more damage for you, but this is just a single target fight.

Amalgamation Chamber

Forgotten Experiments

  • Can make a case for alternate builds, feel free to ‘experiment’ around with things.

Assault of the Zaqali

  • This assumes zerg strat, if you dont do zerk strat then you probably should be doing zerg strat but play full aoe.

Rashok

Zskarn

  • Primal wrath is bait. Golems should be handled by other specs. If you absolutely need some aoe, dont do anything more than talenting primal wrath.

Magmorax

Echo of Neltharion

  • Can consider dropping primal wrath altogether, and can go 2 points into saber jaws, removing points from circle and rip and tear.

Sarkareth

  • Can also go 2 points into saber jaws, removing points from circle and rip and tear.

Amirdrassil Raid Boss Talents

Gnarlroot

Igira

  • Play full single-target, the spears will die too fast for Primal Wrath to be worth it in most cases. Frenzied Regen can be useful for clearing the healing absorb.

Volcoross

  • If your kill time is above 4.20~ or so, swap to the 2 minute ‘standard convoke single-target’ build listed above.

Council of Dreams

  • You can play Lunar Inspiration, which is technically better, albeit more difficult to play. With Dire Fixation you use Shred as a last priority filler.
  • You can also play Incarn instead which is more simple to play.
  • Dispel allows you to quickly and safely dispel yourself on Mythic.

Nymue

  • 1 minute Convoke lines up with all of the intermissions.

Larodar

  • L/R single target also works here, but given you probably have gear optimised for Convoke, just play 1 min Convoke, as it has great timings for this fight too.

Smolderon

  • Extra Tireless Energy + Apex to try and get Berserk up for each intermission. 1 min Convoke for intermission damage amps.

Tindral

  • With roots being nerfed, Feral should play full single-target on Tindral now with 2 minute Convoke. Let other specs carry the roots. Convoke will line up with the shields.

Fyrakk

  • Damage to adds are irrelevant, this is another 2 minute single-target Convoke fight as Feral where you can carry the boss damage. Take Typhoon to knock the adds however.

In the first two gates, you can freely swap between Merciless Claws, Tireless Energy, Infected Wounds, and Primal Wrath, based on what you need.

  • Merciless Claws is the strongest burst option of these nodes, and only slightly behind in sustained single-target and cleave.
  • Infected Wounds for stronger sustained single-target, or if multi-dotting with Rake.
  • Tireless Energy for strong single-target and solid in cleave and AoE, but weaker for burst. You should also adjust points if you are overcapping energy via Apex procs or downtime due to mechanics.
  • Primal Wrath if there are regular adds that need to die, or adds that can provide funnel opportunities with Apex.
  • Note: Tear Open Wounds and Double-Clawed Rake are additional options particularly for sustained AoE/cleave (Council), or if your raid is struggling with certain adds.

Final gate options: swap between Carnivorous Instincts, Circle of Life and Death, Saber Jaws, Rip & Tear, 1 minute Convoke the Spirits, and Swarm, as needed.

  • Circle: generally worth grabbing if taking Primal Wrath with Apex, or if there’s a lot of multi-dot potential.
  • Carnivorous Instincts: strong burst, with good single-target and AoE. Predator resets and high Tiger's Fury uptime add value here.
  • Saber Jaws: strong single-target pathing option to Apex.
  • Rip & Tear: cleave and AoE pathing option to Apex, not too far behind on single-target vs Saber Jaws with Convoke as it lets you spend another point elsewhere.
  • 1m Convoke the Spirits: if you need more frequent burst, or are just a gambling addict. Your Kill times will also play a significant factor. For instance, if your raids kill time aligns better with the cooldown of 1 minute Convoke (odd e.g. 5:31) compared to 2 minute Convoke (even e.g. 4:31).
  • Swarm: incredibly strong single-target synergy with tier-set, can drop at times for heavy AoE.
  • *Coming soon with specific boss builds.
  • For now: remember to take Innervate!! You can cast in Cat Form now, and your healers will need it as the Rashok healer trinket has been nerfed.

The builds listed here are only a sample, and can be customised significantly. Various options and the logic on when you might swap certain talents are outlined in the section below.

Standard M+
More Single-Target
More Priority Damage
Max Dungeon Single-Target
MDI Pad
Incarn
Beekeeping
Funnel Option

Note: for Feral, the talents in the first two gates have similar power-levels, and you can freely distribute extra points how you please here, up until you have spent 20 points. The final gate has stronger nodes and you should always spend the maximum points possible here (10).

Options for the first two gates:

  • Double-Clawed Rake -> Rampant Ferocity: this comes down to pull size; DCR particularly excels in low and medium (pug) size pulls and is generally the better choice, however RF can pull ahead with large pulls e.g. in a dungeon with dense trash or with an organised group doing consistent triple~ pulls.
  • Double-Clawed Rake -> Taste for Blood: if you want more single target, TFB is a great option e.g. for Tyrannical weeks, while also providing some funnel value on trash.
  • Tear Open Wounds -> Rampant Ferocity: if your goal is purely to funnel, you can change to RF and spend your finishers on Bite while only using Primal Wrath to maintain Rip in AoE. This is somewhat more advanced with more consideration for energy and combo points, and requires you to break ‘primal wrath spam’ muscle memory.
  • Infected Wounds -> Taste for Blood: if you are not running Double-clawed Rake, Taste for Blood is a great option that offers a prominent single target gain over Infected Wounds this patch as a result of the Apex changes. Even moreso if running Convoke the Spirits.
  • Taste for Blood -> Dire Fixation: both are great single-target options, you can run Taste for Blood for more funnel (via Apex) and burst with Convoke.
  • Dire Fixation -> Rampant Ferocity: you can run both Tear Open Wounds and Rampant Ferocity together if it is an AOE heavy dungeon, but single-target will be lower without Dire Fixation or Taste for Blood.

Options for the final gate:

  • Bloodtalons vs Lion's Strength: in 10.2, BT gains a lot of quality of life when changing to the new tier-set, in addition to the Apex change with procs slowing down slightly in AoE. This combined with the 10.1 change of 3 charges makes BT feel smooth to play in season 3 M+. However, Lion’s Strength is still a competitive option and only a small DPS loss while allowing you to focus on other things. If you are fairly new to Feral, you should start with Lion’s Strength and swap to Bloodtalons when you have learnt everything else.
  • Convoke the Spirits vs Incarnation: both talents are equally viable and will depend on your talents, gear, dungeon, and own preference. Convoke is very strong with Witherbark’s Branch or similar on-use trinkets, and similarly should be played if dropping Rake talents such as Infected Wounds (as Incarn wants Rake talents), while Incarn can pull ahead with larger pulls. These two options are interchangeable though and there is no all-round ‘best.’
  • 1 min Convoke: generally worse than 2m, however is a competitive option if running Rampant Ferocity. Drop Carnivorous Instincts/Swarm for it.
  • Carnivorous Instincts vs Swarm: CI is your ‘safe’ all-round good pick, however Swarm is a very strong single-target option and should be considered for Tyrannical.
  • Unbridled Swarm: for a talent that undersims, this is simming competitively with the more standard builds. In other words: this is looking to be very, very good this patch. Take in medium pull size dungeons.
  • Honourable mention: Veinripper can be a good funnel option if playing a Rampant Ferocity-focused build and focusing on ethical prio-damage.

The druid tree offers a fair degree of customisation as Feral in M+, with a range of utility and defensive options. What is selected (yellow) is mandatory, with blue nodes being your options based on affixes or personal preference.

  • Remove Corruption for Afflicted weeks. Additionally, the following dungeons have poison and curse dispels: Atal’Dazar, Darkheart Thicket, Throne of the Tides, and Waycrest Manor.
  • Hibernate for Incorporeal weeks.
  • Nature's Vigil is still very strong in AoE, and will often keep you alive or minimise the need to Regrowth on big pulls, increasing your DPS. Over the dungeon it usually does more personal healing to you than any other talent, while also healing your group mates. Macro to Berserk/Incarn.
  • Protector of the Pack is a strong self-healing node for Feral, and gains even more value if you can occasionally utilise it to heal your group as well.
  • Nurturing Instinct should only be considered if Beekeeping for small DPS and HPS gains.
  • Feline Swiftness is commonly dropped in high-end for more defensives and utility, as Catform gives 30% speed baseline which is more than enough for dungeon mechanics. If uncomfortable, try only dropping 1 point at first to retain 8%.
  • Ursine Vigor is more of a high-key talent to survive one-shots.


Elemental Potion of Ultimate Power for every situation


Grand Banquet of the Kalu’ak, or Deviously Deviled Eggs giving the same buff with a cheaper individual price.
You can also use secondary food such as Feisty Fish Sticks or Sizzling Seafood Medley or Thousandbone Tongueslicer for a small dps gain. Sim your character to see what is best for you.


Phials:


I apologize for being annoying but, sim your character for the most accurate answer. Generally Convoke builds do not want to play Howling Rune in single target if that is any consolation-but even that’s not a guarantee. Make sure you select Rune (stat) (Main Hand) else it may not sim properly. ie: Buzzing (Crit) (Main Hand). Crit is the default setting.


Sim yourself using Raidbots Top Gear. Do not follow any stat priorities.


Weapon - Wafting Devotion
Chest - Waking Stats
Cloak - Graceful Avoidance or Homebound Speed
Belt - Shadowed Belt Clasp
Legs - Fierce Armor Kit or Lambent Armor Kit
Wrist - Devotion of Avoidance or Devotion of Speed
Boots - Watchers Loam or Plainsrunner’s Breeze
Ring - You should always sim your own character to determine what enchant to use in this slot. Depending on your gear, any of the four secondaries can be best for you.

In Season 4 you can exchange Antique Bronze Bullion for any piece of raid loot. Below includes a rough priority list for both Raid and M+, however make sure to customise to your own needs, for example if you loot any of these items, or if you want to go for a more hybrid-mix between Raid and M+. Video on Dinar and trinkets here

Raid Priority

  • Manic Grieftorch This should be the highest value trinket in raid, especially early on when clearing due to deaths in your raid resetting the trinket. Send on CD but don’t use while Smoldering Frenzy is up. Use Ashes first on pull when running both.
  • Djaarun BIS Weapon. Macro to Berserk, and use on CD (it’s off the GCD so just press Berserk again).
  • Ashes of the Embersoul BIS trinket for Convoke.
  • Seal of Filial Duty Higher item level than other rings and provides a very powerful absorb for you that procs from Fire damage like our tier set.
  • Seal of Diurna’s Chosen Another free proc from our tierset.
  • Neltharion’s Call to Sufffering The most reliable stat stick, big RNG swings though but can always be favourable.
  • Voice of the Silent Star Sark Cloak should be low priority for when you have the raids on farm, as it reduces your health (do not use in M+ either!).

M+

  • Djaarun BIS Weapon. Macro to Berserk, and use on CD (it’s off the GCD so just press Berserk again).
  • Neltharion’s Call to Sufffering The most reliable stat stick, big RNG swings though but can always be favourable. Great for AOE or if you don’t want to run Grieftorch.
  • Seal of Filial Duty Higher item level than other rings and provides a very powerful absorb for you that procs from Fire damage like our tier set.
  • Seal of Diurna’s Chosen Another free proc from our tierset.
  • Ashes of the Embersoul (assuming you are running Convoke).
  • Whispering Incarnate Icon Equal to Neltharion’s, but requires a tank and healer in your raid to also equip.
  • Manic Grieftorch Great priority/single-target damage, S-tier if group has lots of deaths. Don’t use while Smoldering Frenzy is up. Use Ashes first with CDs when running both.
  • Fyrakk’s Tainted Rageheart Defensive option for high-keys, small sim lose but less in reality as it lets your healer do more DPS and minimises your time sitting in Bear etc.


Updated for Season 4

For M+: you should always use 2x Blue Silken Lining (BSL) on either Wrist, Neck, or Back.

For Raid: you should also craft 2x Blue Silken Lining, but prioritise Wrist or Neck so you still have the option for Sark Cloak later on.

If your uptime is poor on certain fights (e.g. Council of Dreams or Fyrakk), Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch is the alternative raid embellishment that you can craft on Wrist or Back.

Never use any embellishment besides these two in Season 4 and do NOT craft on rings, as we have access to Seal of Filial Duty and Seal of Diurna’s Chosen

See: BSL analysis for Feral: https://youtu.be/JLnEaOndrsw?t=135

Simming BSL

This can be tricky, as sims simply offer a flat uptime, where in reality it’s uptime during CDs that matters more than overall uptime. There is no perfect solution to this conundrum.

For M+ you might want to do anywhere from 65-75% (a lot of trash pulls it can hover around 60-80%, while for some bosses it can sit as high as 90%~). Even 65-75% may still be underselling BSL if you can ensure higher uptime during CDs etc, but ultimately you should check details or your logs to find an uptime that is most useful to you and the keys you are doing.

For raid, 40-60%, depending on boss. You might have 40% overall uptime on a fight, but that doesn’t show the full picture if you had 80% uptime during CDs - therefore I would recommend adding to whatever overall uptime you are getting for simming purposes. A 45% uptime fight I might choose to sim at 55% for example.

Crafting order

The most optimal ‘long-term’ slots to craft Blue Silken Lining on are: Neck, Bracers, or Back. This is because crafted gear is 3 item levels below that of a fully upgraded Mythic track piece, and these slots have fewer stats compared to other options.

  1. Craft Neck or Bracers with Blue Silken Lining.
  2. Craft whatever slot you didn’t craft on next, or alternatively can craft on Back if your focus is M+.

There are a LOT of trinkets in season 4, below includes only the very best. Please use Top Gear or Droptimizer on Raidbots in order to decide what trinkets to use/farm, but the following list should give you a good idea of some of the trinkets you will want to look out for. The list is in roughly power-level order assuming the highest item level versions of the trinkets.

To use in Raid

  • Manic Grieftorch This should be the highest value trinket in raid, especially early on when clearing due to deaths in your raid resetting the trinket.
  • Ashes of the Embersoul BIS (assuming you are running Convoke) but Grieftorch is a better first-pick.
  • Cataclysmic Signet Brand Very good on longer fights (5m+), but weak on short fights and punishing if you die.
  • Neltharion’s Call to Sufffering Stat-stick that just works, though a bit RNG. Great for AOE or if you don’t want to run Grieftorch.
  • Whispering Incarnate Icon Equal to Neltharion’s, but requires a tank and healer in your raid to also equip.

To use in Dungeons

  • Neltharion’s Call to Sufffering Stat-stick that just works, though a bit RNG.
  • Whispering Incarnate Icon Equal to Neltharion’s, but requires a tank and healer in your group to also equip. Can run double stat stick for M+.
  • Ashes of the Embersoul Extremely good with Convoke builds and highest value in terms of burst.
  • Fyrakk’s Tainted Rageheart Defensive option for high-keys, lose thereotical damage but lets your healer do more DPS and minimises your time sitting in Bear etc.
  • Storm-Eater’s Boon This is very niche and may only be playable in a few keys, if at all, but does big damage if you can pull it off (keeps you stationary for its duration, meaning you can’t avoid any swirlies or mobs being moved away). You can always Bearform and/or Survival Instincts with this if needed too.
  • Manic Grieftorch Good for priority burst damage which will be valuable for many bosses and trash packs. If your group has lots of deaths, has the potential be giga-bis.

Snapshotting is when a buff that is present when a bleed is applied is maintained over the duration of the bleed, as opposed to buffing dots while the buff is up. For instance, if you Rake a target, and then press Tiger's Fury, the Rake will not be buffed by Tiger's Fury. However, if you Tiger's Fury and then Rake, that Rake will be amplified by Tiger's Fury even after Tiger's Fury falls off.

Rake snapshots Tiger's Fury and Stealth (including Sudden Ambush, see: Pouncing Strikes)
Rip snapshots Tiger's Fury and Bloodtalons
Thrash snapshots Tiger's Fury and Moment of Clarity
Moonfire (Lunar Inspiration) snapshots Tiger's Fury

If you have a Weakaura that tracks snapshot strength, it works as follows:
Green/higher than 100: Reapplying the bleed now would make it stronger
Grey/100: Reapplying the bleed now would keep it the same strength
Red/lower than 100: Reapplying the bleed now would make it weaker

Generally you try to maintain the strongest bleeds you can as much as possible, and the rotation above reflects this.


Pandemic is a mechanic that most damage-over-time spells have. When you cast a damage-over-time spell such as Rake while it’s already applied to the target, the dots duration gets extended by the amount of time remaining on the dot. This extension is capped to 30% of the dots duration. For example, lets say you have a dot that has a 10 second duration. If you recast this dot while it has 2 seconds left, its new duration is 12 seconds. If you recast it again while it has 8 seconds left, its new duration is 13 seconds, because 30% of 10 seconds is 3 seconds. Pandemic got its name from an old warlock passive with the same effect, before it became a baseline feature of damage-over-time spells.


None of these macros are required by any means, just a few that can be useful for some people.

Macro combining Lunar Inspiration Moonfire and Convoke to one bind:

#showtooltip
/cast [known: Lunar Inspiration] Moonfire; [known: Convoke the Spirits] Convoke the Spirits

The idea behind this macro is that there are no talent builds that play both of these things.

Ursol’s Vortex @cursor macro:

#showtooltip
/cast [@cursor] Ursol's Vortex

Trinket macro:

If you are using an on-use trinket/weapon that should go along with your cooldowns, use the following macro: (/13 for top trinket slot, /14 for bottom trinket slot and /16 for weapon.)

#showtooltip
/use 13
/use 14
/use 16
/cast Berserk

Entangling Roots macro:

Casts Entangling Roots on a target you mouseover, otherwise casts on current target if no mouseover.

#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover, harm, nodead] [] Entangling Roots

Focus Skull Bash:

Casts Skull Bash at your focus target, or current target if there is no eligible enemy focus target. Remember to bind focus target in WoW keybind settings.

#showtooltip
/cast [@focus, harm, nodead] [] skull bash

Adaptive Swarm macro:

Casts Swarm on your current target, or a friendly if you mouseover them. This can be applied to numerous abilities you cast on allies (Dispel, Rejuv/Regrowth, Innervate etc to save on keybinds), as seen in the Rebirth macro further below.

#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover, help, nodead] [] Adaptive Swarm

Rebirth/Other Macro:

Casts Rebirth when you mouseover a friendly, or otherwise Mark of the Wild. Customise these macros how you please.

#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover, help, dead] Rebirth; Mark of the Wild


Feral Weakaura Packs

The following links lead to various feral druid weakaura packs. These contain everything that’s recommended to track to play at a high level. None of these are particular better or more useful than others, and which one you should use is up to your personal preference.

Commonly used WeakAuras and Addons

Feral Bleed Power by Oi See the description of the WA for more details. This is not a required WA but will make it easier to track the power of your next bleed compared to the currently active one.

Feral Snapshots by Enth An addon alternative. See the description for more details. This can also show snapshot details on your enemy nameplates (default and plater) or personal resource display.

Rake Plater mods by Sretnuh Search through these to see what you like, these Plater mods help identify which targets have your rake on them at a glance.

Apex Predator’s Craving by Marvel Alerts you when you have an Apex Predator's Craving (free bite) proc with a glowing icon and a sound.

Adaptive Swarm Helper by KnewOne See the description of the WA for more details. This will assist you with using Adaptive Swarm, including Unbridled Swarm support for ally targeting.

Bloodtalons Tracker from Fore’s pack This tracks your progress towards procing Bloodtalons, showing the 4 second timer for each spell you cast towards it.

Bloodtalons Tracker from Cheesey’s pack Additional BT tracker.

Focus Skull Bash Helps emphasise focus kicks when your Skull Bash is off CD.

Quicklinks

1. News

2. Rotation
Pre-Combat
Single Target priority
AoE priority

3. Talents
Raid Talents
Raid Talent Customisation
Raid Class Tree
Dungeon Talents
M+ Talent Customisation
M+ Class Tree

4.Consumables
Potions
Food
Phials
Runes

5. Gearing
Stats
Enchants
Dinar/Bullion
Embellishments
Tier Set
Trinkets

6. Miscellaneous
Do our dots snapshot?
What does pandemic refer to?
Macros
Useful WeakAura(s)