Feral Druid: Midnight Expansion Preview

Feral in Midnight sees some drastic changes to some key mechanics, while also trimming some abilities that played more of a secondary role. The result is something that still maintains the core gameplay of Feral, but some of the optimization possibilities were lost in the process. New additions to add new rotational goals in are, however, both new and interesting.

Snapshotting has been the beating heart of Feral gameplay for as long as the modern iteration of the spec has existed, and while some complex mechanics have been cut in Midnight, it still remains in the spec. It's definitely had the decision tree and precise optimization trimmed, but the core principle will still guide Bleed management gameplay: maintain stronger versions of your DoT effects when applied under specific conditions, while avoiding refreshes when possible.

• Bloodtalons removed
  This is somewhat contentious due to the depth it added, but having dual layered Snapshotting rules in a world without add-ons would likely result in a very difficult to manage gameplay loop.
• Tiger's Fury and Prowl remain
  Tiger's Fury retains its previous live snapshotting benefits, working with any Bleed applied while active. Prowl on the other hand keeps the bonus effect for Rake via Pouncing Strikes, but it's been removed from Sudden Ambush.
• UI Updates
  To make it easier to track when snapshotting eligible buffs are active in your current state, icons will change on your action bar to an empowered state. Bleeds then applied while under a snapshot effect will also inherit the same icon, shown below:

This places significantly more emphasis on Tiger's Fury as your primary means of empowering your DoTs. While the new direction is distinctly simplified relative to live gameplay, there will still be a degree of optimization and planning around when to apply and refresh Bleeds within the playstyle.

To replace some of the less popular effects and inject some new tools into Feral's toolkit, there's a handful of new talent options that broaden its options. While some power has been lost specifically via the removal of Berserk: Frenzy, impacting the strength of Feral's 2-minute burst, some standouts help to soften that blow:

• Hunger for Battle
  Evokes a similar effect to the old Predator resets for Tiger's Fury, providing a damage increase and Energy refund when a target dies with Rip active. This is a very dynamic node for encounters with adds or Mythic+, and adds some good tension at the bottom of the tree.
• Blood Spattered
  Adds a clear funnel benefit to Ferocious Bite to your primary target, increasing for each active Rip you have. This again adds some extra texture to Feral's damage profile options (and a very useful one at that), linking up well with the above talent.
• Ashamane's Guidance
  Reworked specifically for Incarnation: Avatar of Ashamane, instead providing a 30 second cooldown reduction. This gives Feral the option to switch over to a 1m30s cooldown profile (which has become increasingly popular in The War Within), and adds needed flexibility to its burst tools.

These add some much needed flexibility to Feral's arsenal, allowing it to still key into specific encounter types if needed while having the option to hybridize when required. The tree's structure has also been updated to accommodate this better, with less locked off branches and enforced pathing.

The largest changes to Feral in Midnight come in the form of ability restructuring. Some older tools have been cut - namely Adaptive Swarm and Brutal Slash - which previously had awkward placement within the rotation with some bad signposting as to their real purpose during gameplay. In exchange, they've been replaced by some new tools:

• Chomp
  A new powerful direct damage ability, this costs no Energy in the Alpha, nor does it generate Combo Points, but it can only be used when below 30 Energy. This retains the spirit of Bloodtalons by encouraging you to dump your resources at least once every 20 seconds, and slots in very well.
• Feral Frenzy follow-ups
  This now comes with a choice node to empower it, depending on the situation. Focused Frenzy now aligns it perfectly with Tiger's Fury, while Frantic Frenzy instead converts it to an AoE burst tool, allowing you to choose depending on the encounter profile.

This results in Feral mostly retaining a similar button count to live, and having a clear split between both Wildstalker and Druid of the Claw at the bottom of the tree to lean into an additional active tool. There's thought that's been put into this choice node based on each tree's Energy economy, and it fits well - depending on how they're tuned against each other.

The new extra feature for Midnight are Apex Talents, with Feral's focusing on Ferocious Bite. Up to 4 points can be spent here, and map onto the resource management gameplay built into Feral at its core without much friction. Currently, these are arranged in a 1 ➜ 2 ➜ 1 point investment:

1. Unseen Predator (1 pt)
   Adds an up to 70% chance to trigger Unseen Strike on each Ferocious Bite, incentivizing spending at 5 Combo Points. When triggered, it will either apply a Bleed to your target, or swipe nearby enemies if 3+ targets are in your melee range.
2. Unseen Predator (2 pts)
   This 2-point node grants a damage bonus each time you trigger the effect for 5 seconds, which is extended each time Unseen Strike is triggered. This is additional rather than a pandemic effect, and has no cap currently.
3. Unseen Predator (1 pt)
   Adds Tiger's Fury as a way to force procs, triggering the first point's effect once on your next two Combo Point builder casts. This also comes with a hefty 30% increase to Rip damage, likely to even out the imbalance between it and Ferocious Bite when fully invested in the line.

This is, effectively, a reward for cycling Energy and Combo Points efficiently. With it being a rolling buff that also extends, it compounds power into your Ferocious Bite casts, while needing you to balance out that uptime by fitting in Rip applications. A universally useful effect that fits the bill as an "Apex" Talent, it accentuates both Hero Tree playstyles without overriding any core principles.

In Midnight, Feral sees far less drastic changes when it comes to Hero Talents compared to the main Spec Tree. Neither Druid of the Claw nor Wildstalker have their new nodes implemented yet, and have received no major mechanical updates as of now. Check back as the Alpha progresses for a detailed look at how the trees are influenced by the updates.