Home/World of Warcraft/Classes/Feral Druid/Easy Mode

Feral Druid DPS Easy Mode in Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.0.1

Last updated on Aug 26, 2018 at 00:57 by Wordup 60 comments

Table of Contents

About Our Author

This guide has been written by Wordup, a frequent theorycrafter involved in a number of class communities. He is also an experienced player who has been in the world top 100 since the days of Sunwell, currently raiding in Echoes. You can also follow him on Twitter.

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.

4. Stat Choices for Feral Druids

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

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

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 Icon Berserk to grant a period of free Energy expenditure.
  • Use Tiger's Fury Icon Tiger's Fury when under 40 Energy to increase damage and gain Energy, or if Berserk Icon Berserk is active.
  • Cast Rip Icon Rip if at 5 Combo Points and it is not present on the target.
  • Maintain Rake Icon Rake if it is not present, this can be refreshed if under 4 seconds remaining.
  • Maintain the Thrash Icon Thrash debuff.
  • Cast Ferocious Bite Icon Ferocious Bite if at 5 Combo Points with Rip Icon Rip active to refresh it.
  • Cast Swipe Icon Swipe at 4 targets or above to build Combo Points.
  • Cast Shred Icon Shred to build Combo Points.

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 Brutal Slash Icon Brutal Slash if you want a better AoE package, but Sabertooth Icon Sabertooth provides an easy solution to Rip Icon Rip management if learning the specialization. It is still imperative, however, to make sure that Rake Icon Rake is active as much as is allowed and Rip is activated as soon as possible to allow for it to be refreshed.

⋘Introduction
Spell Summary⋙

6. Changelog

  • 26 Aug. 2018: Updated to show Thrash should be maintained in single target.
  • 11 Aug. 2018: Updated for the Battle for Azeroth launch.
+ show all entries - show only 10 entries
For help, theorycrafting, and more please visit our Druid Forum 60 comments
Force desktop version
Force mobile version