Feral Druid DPS Guide — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1

1. Feral Druid Overview

Feral, the Melee DPS specialisation for Druids, forms its core gameplay around balancing two separate resources whilst also leveraging those to apply powerful Bleed Damage over Time effects on targets. In terms of single target DPS, Feral is powerful and can often shine in these situations. When it comes to multiple target situations, Feral can perform well due to increased targets to apply Bleed effects too, and has large-scale AoE tools to contribute well with.

2. Patch 8.1 Changes for Feral Druid

Feral has received some adjustments to the specialization, alongside some talent tree changes, along with some small Azerite changes.

2.1. Base Changes

• Mastery: Razor Claws now applies to all finishing moves as well.
• Rip duration now scales with Combo Points, and now costs 20 Energy.
• Ferocious Bite now no longer refreshes Rip duration baseline.
• Shred damage increased by 20%, but now only deals 30% increased damage when stealthed.
• Maim Energy cost has been reduced to 30, and damage increased by 50%.
• The bonus modifier to Haste rating has been removed.

2.2. Talents

• Jagged Wounds and Blood Scent have been removed.
• Wild Charge is now no longer on the Global Cooldown.
• Sabertooth has been moved to the level 15 tier, now increasing Rip duration rather than refreshing the debuff.
• Savage Roar moved to the 75 tier, and now increases Energy regeneration when active by 10%, and the damage bonus has been reduced to 10%.
• Two new AoE talents have been added to the level 90 tier, Scent of Blood and Primal Wrath.

2.3. Azerite

• Gushing Lacerations damage increased by 400%.
• Raking Ferocity has been replaced with Untamed Ferocity.
• Shredding Fury replaced with Jungle Fury.

3. Patch 8.0.1 Changes for Feral Druid

Feral remains largely intact, with very few changes being implemented aside from some systems alterations with how some stats and mechanics operate.

• Berserk now only reduces Energy costs by 40%, and is now on the Global Cooldown.
• Tiger's Fury now lasts 10 seconds and only grants 50 Energy.
• Your Bleed effects ( Rake, Rip, and Thrash) now deal damage faster based on your Haste.
• Dash has been reduced to a 2-minute cooldown, and is down to a 60% movement speed bonus for 10 seconds.
• Bear Form has been reduced to a 25% Stamina gain, but the Armour increase has raised to 220%.
• Hibernate and Soothe return as baseline spells.

4. Feral Druid's Strengths

• Solid single target damage
• Very high mobility and flexibility in a raid environment
• Solid AoE options available on the 90 talent tier
• Strong low target cleave achieved through maintaining DoTs on multiple targets
• Flexible talent choices allowing for advantages in different fight archetypes

5. Feral Druid's Weaknesses

• Can require ramp-up to reach full damage on priority targets
• Gameplay relies on pooling and smart resource management, and can be punishing
• Can be hampered by enemies dying too early before your Bleeds deal their full damage

6. The Viability of Feral Druids in the Current Patch

The 8.1 Feral changes appear significant enough to allow for a more versatile gameplay loop that could help with some of the issues that have hindered it since launch. The same multi-DoT capabilities remain, and utility is favourable for a lot of situations. How significant the 8.1 changes are however remains to be seen in Battle of Dazar'alor.

7. Changelog