Feral Druid

Overview

Talents and builds

Level 60 build

Loading

Load this buildSim this build

Raid build

The raid build moves 11 points from Brutal Impact (2), Feral Charge (1), Blood Frenzy (1), Heart of the Wild (5) and 1 more to Genesis (5), Nature's Majesty (2), Feral Instinct (2) and Rend and Tear (2).

Loading

Load this buildSim this build

Key talents

• Ferocity5/5Up to 5 less Rage or Energy on Maul, Primal Bite, Swipe, Claw and Rake at rank 5
• Shredding Attacks3/3Up to 18 less energy on Shred at rank 3, the filler you press most
• Savage Fury2/2Up to 10% more damage at rank 2 on Claw, Rake, Shred, Maul and Swipe
• Sharpened Claws2/2Natural Instinct2/26% more critical strike chance in Cat Form and 20% more critical damage on your melee abilities
• Predatory Strikes3/3Up to 150% of your level added to melee attack power in Cat or Bear Form at rank 3
• Blood Frenzy2/2Up to a 100% chance at rank 2 for bonus Rage on a Bear crit, and a 100% chance for a bonus combo point on a Cat crit
• Predatory Discipline1/1New in 1.60.1.70707: Ferocious Bite still deals its extra damage for the energy you have left after its cost, but no longer spends that energy. It is also the prerequisite for Shifting Power
• Leader of the Pack1/13% more critical strike chance for the party and raid, on attacks and spells alike since 1.60.1.70707
• Rend and Tear3/5Up to 10% more damage from your melee abilities on a bleeding target. Your own Rip, Rake, Pounce or Lacerate counts, so once Rip is up the boss stays bleeding; the hits before your first Rip get no bonus. The raid build takes all five; the leveling build takes three, two of them from Feral Instinct, which only helps Swipe (about +1% in our level-60 search on the 1.60.1.70707 trees)
• Shifting Power1/1A 31-point talent behind Predatory Discipline since 1.60.1.70707; see below

Client 1.60.1.70707 reworked this tree: Berserk and Improved Shifting Power are gone, Shifting Power and Primal Bite are the two 31-point talents, Lacerate and Predatory Discipline are new, and Furor and Heart of the Wild swapped trees (Furor is now on Feral’s top row, Heart of the Wild on Restoration’s).

The Restoration points reach Naturalist, 2% more damage a rank (10% at 5/5). The leveling build also takes Heart of the Wild (10% more Strength in Cat Form) and two ranks of Natural Shapeshifter, which make Shifting Power cheaper. The raid build spends its Balance points on Genesis (10% more periodic damage, so a bigger Rip) and Nature’s Majesty (4% critical strike chance) instead of Heart of the Wild. Primal Bite and Lacerate are bear abilities and are left out.

Rotation and priority

Cat DPS: Tiger’s Fury is gone: Forever druids cannot learn it. Omen of Clarity is a trainer spell now, so every druid has it from level 20, and a Clearcasting proc makes whichever ability you press next cost nothing. Most of the time that is Shred, the filler, so it needs no button of its own; a free Rip or Ferocious Bite saves less. Leave Rake out: it costs 40 energy for a small bleed and one combo point, and in this site’s simulator that energy is worth more spent on Shred and Rip. Rip alone keeps the boss bleeding for Rend and Tear, and keeping Rake up as well still measured about 4% worse in the raid-ready run. At 5 combo points, cast Rip if it isn’t already running; once Rip is up, spend 5 combo points on Ferocious Bite instead of letting them cap out uselessly. Shred fills every other global, building combo points the rest of the time.

Shifting Power: the tree’s energy tool. It is instant, turns a slice of your base mana into 40 energy, and has an 8 second cooldown since client 1.60.1.70707 (Improved Shifting Power, which took 8 seconds off its old 16, is gone and its reduction is now the spell’s own). Press it every time it comes off cooldown, but only when your energy is 60 or lower, so the whole 40 fits under the 100 cap; if you are above that, spend a few energy on Shred first and press it on the next global. It sits ahead of every finisher and builder in the order. The mana is otherwise unused in cat form, and Natural Shapeshifter makes it cheaper. Blizzard has not published whether it shares the global cooldown; our simulator treats it as an ordinary global, so if the real spell turns out to be off the global, you will do slightly better than this advice.

Ferocious Bite with Predatory Discipline: the bite no longer drains your energy, so there is no reason to hold it back; bite at 5 combo points whenever Rip has time left, as above. Waiting for a full bar before biting measured worse in our raid-ready run.

Bear tank: Bear Form tanking has its own guide, Feral Bear Druid, with its own simulated rotation, build and stat table.

Stat priority

1. 1Agility
2. 2Hit
3. 3Critical strike
4. 4Strength
5. 5Attack power
6. 6Feral attack power
7. 7Melee haste

Weapon damage per second matters in Forever. In Cat Form your auto attack has your weapon’s DPS at one swing a second, and Shred deals 155% of that hit, so a high-DPS two-hander beats a caster staff that carries more Strength and Agility.

Best in slot

For Bear tanking, look for armor, stamina, and defense skill first.

Enchants and consumables

Races

• Night Elf (Recommended)
• Tauren (Recommended)
• High Order Skyborne
• Windshaper Skyborne

Night Elf is the Alliance pick: Elune's Light. Tauren is the Horde pick: Endurance.

Professions

Skinning and Leatherworking is the standard Feral pairing in Classic-era play: Skinning is free crafting material from every kill, and Leatherworking turns it into armor a melee Druid can actually wear.

Leveling

Outlined: points added in this level range.

Feral is generally considered the strongest leveling spec for Druid: Cat Form gives questing speed and burst damage, and Bear Form gives the durability to solo tougher pulls or tank early dungeons.