Feral Druid DPS Easy Mode — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1

1. Foreword

This section is intended for players who are new to the game or class, have no intentions of raiding Mythic difficulty, or simply want a more straightforward way to play their specialization without being overwhelmed by the numerous priorities and active abilities that need to be taken into consideration for optimal play.

2. The Basics for Feral Druids

Feral can be quite overwhelming to the new player due to the focus on dual resource management and maintaining numerous buffs/debuffs at once. Despite the quite complex base toolkit however, talents offer a number of options that can simplify some of the management mechanics that are required of a Feral player. This page will focus on a build that negates some of the more extreme management requirements that the advanced sections encourage, to make the playstyle more forgiving.

An important thing to take note of here, however, is that bleeds are still omnipresent in a Feral build. Due to that, you will need to be able to track them and your Energy/Combo Points effectively so you do not fall behind. This build will grant a lot more room for failure but will not compensate for more egregious mistakes, as Feral has a naturally unforgiving nature toward mismanagement.

3. Talent Choices for Feral Druids

The talents selected below have been chosen due to their ease of use and low impact on the rotation. In many cases they also increase the room for failure on core mechanics, whilst not strictly being the best for bottom line performance. You will always find a better benefit from playing around the more advanced rotation, but this provides the best way to ease into the spec and get a feel for its mechanics.

• Level 15: Sabertooth
• Level 30: Wild Charge
• Level 45: Balance Affinity
• Level 60: Mighty Bash
• Level 75: Soul of the Forest
• Level 90: Brutal Slash
• Level 100: Moment of Clarity

4. Stat Choices for Feral Druids

The current Feral stat priority is as follows when using this build:

1. Critical Strike;
2. Mastery;
3. Haste;
4. Agility;
5. Versatility;

Haste currently beats out alternatives due to how many different effects it enhances for Feral, and is the one secondary that is desirable. Critical Strike has the advantage of smoothing your Combo Point generation out, and finally both Mastery and Versatility provide consistent damage increases to your main sources of damage, and all are useful.

5. Basic Rotation for Feral Druids

• Use Berserk to grant a period of free Energy expenditure.
• Use Tiger's Fury when under 40 Energy to increase damage and gain Energy, or if Berserk is active.
• Cast Rip if at 5 Combo Points and it is not present on the target.
• Maintain Rake if it is not present, this can be refreshed if under 4 seconds remaining.
• Maintain the Thrash debuff with 2 or more targets nearby.
• Cast Ferocious Bite if at 5 Combo Points with Rip active to refresh it.
• Cast Brutal Slash to build Combo Points.
• Cast Shred to build Combo Points if no Brutal Slash charges are available.

Take note here that due to the fluid nature of the Feral DPS style being based around dual resources and Bleed uptime, you will have a less strict rule to using your skills. Talents selected minimize the number of effects that you need to actively maintain, and allow for a reduced Energy requirement to sustain your rotation. You can opt into taking Primal Wrath if you want a better AoE package, but Sabertooth provides an easy solution to Rip management when learning the specialization. It is still imperative, however, to make sure that Rake is active as much as is allowed and Rip is activated as soon as possible to allow for it to be refreshed.

6. Changelog