Feral Druid Compendium
Written by Crazymeow, Cheesey
News:
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
Rotation:
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
Pre-Combat:
- Use
Heart of the Wild
- Use
Prowl
- Use
Tiger's Fury
- Use
Rakefrom stealth.
Single Target Priority
Select which talents you have talented to filter the priority list:
Single Target priority list:
- Use
Tiger's Furyif any of the following conditions are met
Tiger's Furyis not up.
- You are more than 65 energy from the cap.
-
Feral Frenzyis ready to be used.
- You've talented
Convoke the Spirits(This keeps
Tiger's Furyand
Convokealigned.)
- Use
Adaptive Swarmwhen all of these conditions are met:
- There isn't an
Adaptive Swarmheading to an enemy target.
Adaptive Swarmis either not up or it is about to expire with 1 or 2 stacks.
- There isn't an
-
Adaptive Swarmconditions change based on the amount of
Adaptive Swarmsyou have out:
- If you have 3
Adaptive Swarmswith 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 Swarmsof at least 2 stacks, cast on your enemy target when swarm is not on them, and is not traveling towards them.
- If you have 3
- Use
Incarnationif it's ready.
- Use
Convokeif all of the following conditions are met:
Ripwill not fall off during Convoke's channel.
Tiger's Furyis up.
-
Smoldering Frenzyis up
- You have 0 or 1 combo points OR
Smoldering Frenzywould fall off before Convoke ends.
- Use
Feral Frenzyif all of the following conditions are met:
-
Dire Fixationis applied to the target.
- You have less than 2 combo points and are not in
Incarn/
Berserk, or under 3 combo points during
Incarn/
Berserk.
-
- Use
Ferocious Biteif you have a
Apex Predator's Cravingproc.
If you are in Berserkcheck this as your priorities from here on out change a bit:
- Standard Priority
- Use
Ripwhen all of these conditions are met:
- You have at least 4 combo points
-
Ripis in pandemic OR all of these conditions are met:
Riphas less than 10 seconds remaining
- Your next gcd will be
Feral Frenzy
-
Ripis in pandemic
-
Riphas less than 2 seconds remaining, or you don't have
Smoldering Frenzyup. Yes this means
Ripwill sometimes fall off with proper play.
Tiger's Furyis up, or won't be up before
Ripexpires.
-
Bloodtalonsis up, or won't be up before
Ripexpires.
- Use
Ferocious Bitewhen all of these conditions are met:
- You have at least 4 combo points
- You have at least 50 energy. If you have the combo points, you should wait until you reach these energy thresholds.
- You have at least 45 energy. If you have the combo points, you should wait until you reach these energy thresholds.
- Below this point, skip any spells you've already casted towards
Bloodtalons, if you have 0 or 1 stacks of
Bloodtalonsremaining.
- Use
Clearcastingprocs on
Thrashif all of these conditions are met:
Thrashis in Pandemic.
-
Dire Fixationis already applied to your target.
- Use
Shredif
Dire Fixationis not on your target or you have a
Clearcastingproc.
- Use
Shredif you have a
Clearcastingproc.
- Use
Brutal Slashif it will cap on charges within the next 4 seconds.
- Use
Shadowmeldfollowed by
Rakeif all of these conditions are met:
- You do not have a
Sudden Ambushproc
Rakeis in pandemic OR you would be upgrading
Rake's snapshot value.
- You do not have a
- Use
Rakeif any of these conditions are met:
Rakeis in pandemic and
Tiger's Furyis either up, or won't be before
Rakefalls off.
- You are in stealth
- You have a
Sudden Ambushproc and you would be upgrading
Rake's snapshot value.
- Use Lunar Inspiration
Moonfireif it is in pandemic.
- Use
Thrashif it is in pandemic
- Use
Brutal Slash.
- Use
Swipe
- Use
Shred.
- If you still need
Bloodtalonsproc it with this priority:
- Use
- Berserk Priority
- Use
Ripwhen all of these conditions are met:
- You have 5 combo points
-
Ripis in pandemic OR all of these conditions are met:
Riphas less than 10 seconds remaining
- Your next gcd will be
Feral Frenzy
-
Ripis in pandemic
-
Riphas less than 2 seconds remaining, or you don't have
Smoldering Frenzyup. Yes this means
Ripwill sometimes fall off with proper play.
Tiger's Furyis up, or won't be up before
Ripexpires.
-
Bloodtalonsis up, or won't be up before
Ripexpires.
- Use
Ferocious Bitewith 5 combo points
- Use
Prowlfollowed by
Rakeif it won't disrupt
Bloodtalonsand any of these conditions are true:
Rakeis not applied or is in pandemic range
- You don't have
Sudden AmbushAND a stealth
Rakewould be upgrading its snapshot
- Use
Shadowmeldfollowed by
Rakeif it won't disrupt
Bloodtalonsand any of these conditions are true:
Rakeis not applied or is in pandemic range
- You don't have
Sudden AmbushAND a stealth
Rakewould be upgrading its snapshot
- Use
Rakeif it won't disrupt
Bloodtalonsand any of these conditions are true:
Rakeis not applied or is in pandemic range
- You have a
Sudden Ambushproc AND a stealth
Rakewould be upgrading its snapshot
- Use
Rakeif any of these conditions are true:
Rakeis not applied or is in pandemic range
- You have a
Sudden Ambushproc AND a stealth
Rakewould be upgrading its snapshot
- If you are one spell away from proccing
Bloodtalonsthen proc it with this priority:
Shred
-
Brutal Slash.
- Lunar Inspiration
MoonfireThis is true even if it means clipping moonfire early.
ThrashThis is true even if it means clipping thrash early.
- Use Lunar Inspiration
Moonfireif it is not applied or is in pandemic range.
- Use
Brutal Slashif you have 2 or 3 charges
- Use
Shred
- Use
AoE priority
Select which talents you have talented to filter the priority list:
AoE priority list(2+ targets): Special Note: Try to use single-target spells on higher priority/higher healthed mobs, or mobs that have Dire Fixationon them.
- Use
Tiger's Furyif any of the following conditions are met
Tiger's Furyis not up.
- You are more than 65 energy from the cap.
-
Feral Frenzyis ready to be used.
- You've talented
Convoke the Spirits(This keeps
Tiger's Furyand
Convokealigned.)
- Use
Adaptive Swarmwhen all of these conditions are met:
- There isn't an
Adaptive Swarmheading to an enemy target.
Adaptive Swarmis not up on a target.
- There isn't an
- With
Unbridled Swarmtalented, use
Adaptive Swarmas often as you can with this priority:
- An enemy target has 2 stacks of
Adaptive Swarm.
- An enemy target has 1 stack of
Adaptive Swarm.
- An enemy target does not have
Adaptive Swarm.
- An enemy target has 2 stacks of
- Use
Incarnation
- Use
Berserk
- Use
Convokeif all of the following conditions are met:
- Your
Rips will not fall off during
Convoke'schannel.
Tiger's Furyis up.
-
Smoldering Frenzyis up.
- You have 0 or 1 combo points OR
Smoldering Frenzywould fall off before
Convokeends.
- You have 0 or 1 combo points
- Your
- Use
Feral Frenzyif you have less than 2 combo points and are not in
Incarn/
Berserk, or under 3 combo points during
Incarn/
Berserk.
- Use
Ferocious Biteif you have a
Apex Predator's Cravingproc and:
- Don't have
Primal Wrathtalented or
- Don't have
Sabertoothup.
- Don't have
- Use
Primal Wrathif you have 5 combo points, or at least 4 combo points outside of
Berserk/
Incarnation and any of these conditions are met:
-
Rips from
Primal Wrathare in pandemic
- You have Tear Open Wounds talented
- There are at least 5 targets in range
-
- Use
Ripon targets without
Ripthat will live for a decent amount of time.
- Please, I beg you, if you are using
Ripon multiple targets you should seriously be talenting
Primal Wrath. It's as close to mandatory as it gets.
- Please, I beg you, if you are using
- Use
Ferocious Biteif you have 5 combo points, or at least 4 combo points outside of
Berserk/
Incarnation.
- Below this point, skip any spells you've already casted towards
Bloodtalonsif inside
Berserk/
Incarnation or if you have 0 or 1 stacks of
Bloodtalons.
- Use
Brutal Slashif it will cap on charges within the next 4 seconds.
- Use
Thrashif in pandemic range and any of these conditions:
- You have a
Clearcastingproc
- You either do not have
Double-Clawed Raketalented or
Sudden Ambushisn't up
- You do not have
Double-Clawed Raketalented
- You have a
- Use
Prowlfollowed by
Rakeon a target where
Rakeis either not applied or in pandemic range
- Use
Shadowmeldfollowed by
Rakeon a target where
Rakeis either not applied or in pandemic range
- Use
Prowlfollowed by
Rakeon a target where
Rakedoes not have a
Pouncing Strikessnapshot
- Use
Shadowmeldfollowed by
Rakeon a target where
Rakedoes not have a
Pouncing Strikessnapshot
- Use
Rakeon a target with either of these conditions met:
Rakeis not applied or is in pandemic range
- You have
Sudden Ambushup and can upgrade the snapshot value of a
Rake
- Use
Thrashif in pandemic range
- Use
Brutal Slash
- Use
Swipeif there are 5 or more targets
- Use Lunar Inspiration
Moonfireon a target without
Moonfireor if
Moonfireis in pandemic range and there are less than 5 targets.
- Use
Swipe.
- Use
Shredif
Sudden Ambushis not up and:
-
Dire Fixationis talented
- There are 3 or fewer targets.
-
- Use
Shredif:
-
Dire Fixationis talented
- There are 3 or fewer targets.
-
- Use
Thrash.
- If you still need
Bloodtalonsproc it with this priority:
Talents:
Raid Talents
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
- You can alternatively play a more single-target oriented build, or if your guild one-phases the boss can drop
Berserk: Heart of the Lionfor another talent point, and most likely 1 minute convoke with that.
- Full sustain AoE. Can consider going Unbridled Swarm as well.
- 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.
- Adds die too fast to get any meaningful cleave so just go full single target.
- Mostly 2t cleave
- This assumes you stay on boss the entire time. If you are on adds instead, then play the Add Duty build below.
- 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.
Aberrus Raid Boss Talents
- 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.
- Can make a case for alternate builds, feel free to 'experiment' around with things.
- This assumes zerg strat, if you dont do zerk strat then you probably should be doing zerg strat but play full aoe.
- 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.
- Can consider dropping primal wrath altogether, and can go 2 points into saber jaws, removing points from circle and rip and tear.
- Can also go 2 points into saber jaws, removing points from circle and rip and tear.
Amirdrassil Raid Boss Talents
- If you need more AOE, swap
Carnivorous Instinctto
Circle. You can also play full single-target if adds don't feel like an issue.
- 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.
- If your kill time is above 4.20~ or so, swap to the 2 minute 'standard convoke single-target' build listed above.
- 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.
- 1 minute Convoke lines up with all of the intermissions.
- 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.
- Extra Tireless Energy + Apex to try and get Berserk up for each intermission. 1 min Convoke for intermission damage amps.
- 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.
- 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.
T31 Raid Talent Customisation
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 Clawsis the strongest burst option of these nodes, and only slightly behind in sustained single-target and cleave.
Infected Woundsfor stronger sustained single-target, or if multi-dotting with Rake.
Tireless Energyfor strong single-target and solid in cleave and AoE, but weaker for burst. You should also adjust points if you are overcapping energy via
Apexprocs or downtime due to mechanics.
Primal Wrathif there are regular adds that need to die, or adds that can provide funnel opportunities with
Apex.
- Note:
Tear Open Woundsand
Double-Clawed Rakeare additional options particularly for sustained AoE/cleave (Council), or if your raid is struggling with certain adds.
Final gate options: swap between Carnivorous Instinct,
Circle of Life and Death,
Saber Jaws,
Rip and Tear, 1 minute
Convoke the Spirits, and
Adaptive Swarm, as needed.
Circle: generally worth grabbing if taking
Primal Wrathwith
Apex, or if there's a lot of multi-dot potential.
Carnivorous Instinct: strong burst, with good single-target and AoE. Predator resets and high
Tiger's Furyuptime add value here.
Saber Jaws: strong single-target pathing option to
Apex.
Rip and 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).
Adaptive Swarm: incredibly strong single-target synergy with tier-set, can drop at times for heavy AoE.
Class Tree Talents for Raid
*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.
Dungeon Talents
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
M+ Talent Customisation
![Mythic](/_next/image?url=%2Fstatic%2Fimages%2Fferal-tree-mythic%2B.png&w=1920&q=75)
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 Wrathto maintain
Ripin 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
Apexchanges. 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:
Bloodtalonsvs
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
Apexchange 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 Spiritsvs
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 Instinctvs
Adaptive 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:
Veinrippercan be a good funnel option if playing a
Rampant Ferocity-focused build and focusing on ethical prio-damage.
M+ Class Tree
![MythicClass](/_next/image?url=%2Fstatic%2Fimages%2Fferal-class-tree-mythic%2B.png&w=2048&q=75)
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 Corruptionfor Afflicted weeks. Additionally, the following dungeons have poison and curse dispels: Atal'Dazar, Darkheart Thicket, Throne of the Tides, and Waycrest Manor.
Hibernatefor Incorporeal weeks.
Nature's Vigilis 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 Packis 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 Instinctshould only be considered if Beekeeping for small DPS and HPS gains.
Feline Swiftnessis 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 Vigoris more of a high-key talent to survive one-shots.
Consumables:
Potions
Elemental Potion of Ultimate Power for every situation
Food
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
Iced Phial of Corrupting Rage: Default phial unless the fight has too high damage intake or you are at risk of dying.
Phial of Tepid Versatility: Recommended phial if the fight has high damage intake or you are at risk of dying.
Runes
I apoogize 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.
Gearing:
Stat Priority:
Sim yourself using Raidbots Top Gear. Do not follow any stat priorities.
Enchants
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.
S4 Dinar/Bullion:
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.
Embellishments
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.
- Craft Neck or Bracers with
Blue Silken Lining.
- Craft whatever slot you didn't craft on next, or alternatively can craft on Back if your focus is M+.
Trinkets
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.
Miscellaneous:
What is snapshotting?
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 Rakea target, and then press
Tiger's Fury, the
Rakewill not be buffed by
Tiger's Fury. However, if you
Tiger's Furyand then
Rake, that
Rakewill be amplified by
Tiger's Furyeven after
Tiger's Furyfalls off.
Rake snapshots Tiger's Furyand Stealth (including
Sudden Ambush, see:
Pouncing Strikes) Rip snapshots
Tiger's Furyand
BloodtalonsThrash snapshots
Tiger's Furyand
Moment of ClarityMoonfire (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.
What does pandemic refer to?
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.
Macros
None of these macros are required by any means, just a few that can be useful for some people.
Macro combining Lunar Inspiration Moonfireand
Convoketo 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
Useful WeakAura(s)
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.
- by Drufearr
- by Chips
- by Fore
- by Cheesey
- variant by Cheesey
- by Guiltyas
- by Oi/Dsune
- by enthh requires his addon
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.