Feral Druid DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Dragonflight 10.2

Feral Druids in single-target focus on building Combo Points via Energy spenders, and consuming them with powerful Finishing moves in a cycle. It is a mixture of resource management and DoT maintenance, with a heavy emphasis on planning with some reactive elements.

1. If at one or less Bloodtalons charges, pool Energy to allow for a quick burst of 3 different Combo Point generators following your next Finisher.
2. Cast Tiger's Fury on cooldown, ideally at 30 Energy or less.
3. Cast Berserk on cooldown with Tiger's Fury active.
4. Cast Adaptive Swarm.
5. Cast Feral Frenzy on cooldown at 0-1 Combo Points. Align with Tiger's Fury.
6. Cast Convoke the Spirits, with Tiger's Fury active and as few Combo Points as possible.
7. Cast Feral Frenzy on cooldown at 0-1 Combo Points. Align with Tiger's Fury.
8. Cast Ferocious Bite with Apex Predator's Craving procs.
9. Maintain Rip on your target with 5 Combo Points. Only refresh this with Tiger's Fury and Bloodtalons active.
10. Cast Ferocious Bite if at 5 Combo Points and Rip is active on your target.
11. Cast Brutal Slash if at 3 charges Combo Points.
12. Maintain Rake with Tiger's Fury active, spending Sudden Ambush procs when possible.
13. Maintain Moonfire.
14. Maintain Thrash, ideally with Omen of Clarity procs.
15. Cast Shred or Brutal Slash to build Combo Points.

The most important thread throughout all of Feral is making sure that you maintain Rip and Rake as efficiently as possible, ideally snapshotting them with Tiger's Fury and Bloodtalons. After that, your excess Energy and Combo Points are used to fuel Ferocious Bite while always keeping in mind your Bleed maintenance. Some key notes are:

• The Tier 31 set bonus just increases the frequency of your Feral Frenzy casts, which should be done on cooldown to activate the damage window. If using Convoke the Spirits, you should try to cast it before activating to amplify the window.
• Similarly, Adaptive Swarm is cast on cooldown to get full value both out of its damage and the amplification to your DoT effects. This should align well with both Feral Frenzy and Tiger's Fury.
• While in Berserk, you want to make sure that all of your finishers are cast with 5 Combo Points. However, outside of this, you can spend at 4 instead to avoid any potential overflow that would cost valuable resources.
• When playing with Bloodtalons, you need to be especially aware of your energy state and current number of charges. Plan around these carefully to make sure that after a finisher, if you are about to run out of charges, you can activate it quickly with 3 builders. This is done by pooling followed by a combination of Shred, Thrash, Rake and either Moonfire or Brutal Slash.
• Your Sudden Ambush procs should be used on Rake to make full use of the effect from Pouncing Strikes snapshot. Try not to refresh this early if you will apply a weaker Bleed, and if playing Incarnation: Avatar of Ashamane or have access to Shadowmeld you can use these to enter stealth and apply it this way instead.

Feral in AoE almost entirely hinges off powerful talent picks in the tree that allow for much easier application of Bleed effects in AoE. It relies heavily on a mix of the high power spender Primal Wrath (which can be selected above) and tab-target gameplay with Rake.

1. Try to cycle 3 builders between finishers to activate Bloodtalons, but avoid wasting Combo Points.
2. Cast Tiger's Fury on cooldown, ideally at 30 Energy or less.
3. Cast Berserk if available, ideally alongside Tiger's Fury.
4. Cast Convoke the Spirits with Tiger's Fury active, as few Combo Points as possible, and Rip active on all targets.
5. Cast Adaptive Swarm.
6. Cast Feral Frenzy if at less than 2 Combo Points. Align with Tiger's Fury.
7. Cast Primal Wrath if at 5 Combo Points.
8. Cast Ferocious Bite with Apex Predator's Craving procs.
9. Maintain Rip on as many targets as possible.
10. Cast Ferocious Bite if at 5 Combo Points, Rip is active on all targets and your Energy is about to cap.
11. Cast Brutal Slash if you have 2 or more charges.
12. Maintain Thrash, ideally with Omen of Clarity procs.
13. Cycle Rake between targets, spending Sudden Ambush procs when possible.
14. Maintain Rake on as many targets as possible.
15. Cycle Rake on as many targets as possible.
16. Maintain Moonfire on all targets when 3 or less are active.
17. Cast Brutal Slash or Shred if it has no charges left.
18. Cast Swipe to build Combo Points.

Many of the rules that Feral plays by in single-target remain in Cleave and AoE situations, and it introduces the multi-DoT requirement of cycling Rake depending on choices. Your finishers are largely replaced by Primal Wrath whenever taken, with Apex Predator's Craving procs being consumed as quickly as possible. Key notes are:

• Swipe Brutal Slash replaces Shred as soon as an additional target is present, and you also need to make sure to maintain Thrash on all nearby targets as much as possible.
• With Bloodtalons, you should aim to refresh it every single finisher cycle. This is usually with a Swipe Brutal Slash, Rake and Thrash each time you spend your Combo Points. Try to not overcap Combo Points in pursuit of this refresh, though, as that leaves more damage on the table.
• You should always aim to have Brutal Slash below its max charges so as not to waste its cooldown period. Be aware when you are closing in on 3 and adjust for it.
• Dire Fixation in AoE is more of a priority damage tool you can use to single out an important target to anchor your damage from. This does not need to be maintained but is something that can be helpful.
• Rake should be maintained on as many targets as possible, using your Sudden Ambush procs wherever possible. With Double-Clawed Rake taken, be aware when refreshing whether you are overwriting a stronger snapshot if you are switching targets quickly. Moonfire with Lunar Inspiration should also be maintained when at lower target counts.
• Apex Predator's Craving procs are more plentiful, but due to the extra resources and strain on GCDs, it sometimes makes it hard to slot in between Bloodtalons cycles. Try to consume this wherever possible.

Feral has a relatively fixed opening sequence to generate enough Combo Points to get its Bleeds set up, then enters into its cooldowns.

1. Cast Prowl before combat starts.
2. Cast Rake
3. Cast Moonfire.
4. Cast Brutal Slash.
5. Cast Thrash if you have not yet triggered Bloodtalons.
6. Cast Shred until you are at 5 Combo Points.
7. Cast Adaptive Swarm.
8. Cast Berserk.
9. Cast Tiger's Fury and immediately apply Rip.
10. Cast Feral Frenzy.
11. Cast Berserk and immediately Ferocious Bite.
12. Cast Convoke the Spirits immediatelywhenever you are low on Energy and Combo Points with Tiger's Fury active.
13. Continue with the normal priority list.

Always try to have all of your major effects applied before entering into Berserk in single-target, as you will be spending a lot of time casting Shred and Ferocious Bite due to the resource flood. Some notes are:

• Feral Frenzy with the Tier 31 Set should be cast once you have everything set up, as you want to maximize your time spent spending on direct damage effects.
• Convoke the Spirits is also relatively flexible when you use it - ideally when you are low on resources, but with the Tier 31 set, you want to cast it immediately during the window to maximize its damage.
• Both Berserk and Tiger's Fury are off the GCD so that they can be used alongside another ability immediately.
• In AoE situations, the opening Rip is replaced with Primal Wrath, and Shred is replaced with Swipe Brutal Slash and applying multiple Rakes to build to your first finisher.

Season 3 introduces the Benevolent Embersage's Guidance Tier Set, available from the Amirdrassil. The bonuses granted are:

• Druid Feral 10.2 Class Set 2pc - casting Feral Frenzy also grants Smoldering Frenzy, increasing all damage you deal by 20% for 8 seconds.
• Druid Feral 10.2 Class Set 4pc - reduces the cooldown of Feral Frenzy by 15 seconds, and during Smoldering Frenzy, enemies burn for 10% of the damage you deal to them over 10 seconds.

This bonus requires you to take Feral Frenzy at all times to activate the effect. While extremely powerful, adding in a big 30-second cooldown burst window to overlap with other effects; it plays intuitively. You simply cast it on cooldown, making sure to line other cooldowns up with these casts. Make sure as well to have all of your DoTs set up before entering into it - you want to fill the 8 seconds with as much direct damage as possible.

This bonus is weighted toward the 4-piece, and as such, you should only switch over as soon as you have the full set completed.

Season 2 introduced the Strands of the Autumn Blaze Tier Set, available from the Aberrus. The bonuses granted are:

• Druid Feral 10.1 Class Set 2pc - your auto-attacks have a 25% chance to grant Shadows of the Predator, increasing Agility by 1%. Each application above 5 has an increasing chance to reset back to 2 stacks.
• Druid Feral 10.1 Class Set 4pc - when Shadows of the Predator resets, you gain 8% increased Agility and generate 1 Combo Point every 2 seconds for 8 seconds.

While the bonus is mostly passive and happens in the background, there is a small rotational quirk when the 4-piece activates. While Predator Revealed is active, waiting at 4 Combo Points for it to tick over and reach 5 Combo Points is advised to avoid any waste. Otherwise, procs will just happen naturally to boost your Agility.

You should aim to unlock this bonus as quickly as possible, but ideally only after acquiring the full 4 pieces.

Season 1 introduced the Lost Landcaller's Vesture Tier Set, available from the Vault of the Incarnates. The bonuses granted are:

• Feral Druid 2pc increases the damage of Rip and Ferocious Bite by 6%.
• Feral Druid 4pc causes Finishing moves to increase your Rip, Rake and Thrash damage, and increase the chance for Shred, Swipe / Brutal Slash, Rake and Thrash to critically strike by 2% per Combo Point spent for 4 seconds.

While both of these are solid bonuses and provide a substantial increase most of Feral's damage, they do not require any actual gameplay chances to use. The 4-piece on the surface looks quite complex, but just playing the rotation as you usually would provides the full benefit.

When playing with Bloodtalons, you will often be playing in a cycle. That means you will trigger the effect by spending Energy in quick succession via Shred into Rake into Thrash/ Brutal Slash (if taken), and then sit on the three charges before you consume them for a Finisher. If you do not have any charges remaining from a previous cycle, that means you need to think about your Energy pool before casting a Finisher to make sure you can quickly cast three different Combo Point generators following that to re-activate the buff.

Due to there now being 3 charges, you should be able to buff all of your finishers with Bloodtalons with as little waste as possible. Plan out expected refreshes of Rake with Tiger's Fury to efficiently generate these stacks, and aim to overlap your Rip Bleed inside this buff window as well paired with a Bloodtalons stack.

Playing around Adaptive Swarm has some small quirks that can be optimized if you choose to do so, and there are additional rules to consider depending on if you play with Unbridled Swarm:

• Base Adaptive Swarm should be applied to your main target with Bleeds active. This can be refreshed, and the charges will be added if it bounces back from an ally. The ideal tactic (once you have an active swarm) is usually to refresh a swarm on the boss that has 1 or 2 stacks as close-to-optimal to the end of the duration as possible, refreshing the dot and extending the duration on your desired target.
• With Unbridled Swarm, Adaptive Swarm bounces each have a chance to clone into two swarms, making the ability more complex to optimize with slightly different rules for single-target and AoE:
  • In single-target, ideally, you should build up swarms and then leave them alone. When you do not have any (or few) active swarms, cast it on the enemy (refreshing 1-2 stacks at the end of the duration as with a normal swarm). When you have a lot of active swarms, cast it on an ally with 1 stack or no swarms on them. This is to maximize the possible number of bounces (and, therefore, chances for cloning).
  • On multi-target, you generally apply the same rule to enemy targets; Prioritizing enemies with 2 stacks, then 1 stack, and finally targets without any swarm active. In Mythic+, you can refresh active swarms on allies between pulls when out of combat to keep them rolling between different packs. Your priority should be 2 stacks > 1 stack > no swarm > 3 stacks in that order.

Sudden Ambush procs are generated from Finishers, so you will generally be at zero Combo Points when this is generated. Ideally, you should spend these on Rake if possible for the Stealth damage bonus and, when possible, pair it with Tiger's Fury to snapshot it at its highest potential. In multi-target situations, you should use this on separate targets to have multiple high-damage Rakes ticking. In contrast, try to avoid overwriting a buffed Rake in single-target if you can. In all other situations, use it for Shred if you have excess procs. Note as well that during Berserk, this adds another multiplier to both of these abilities, keeping it valuable during cooldowns.

When using Brutal Slash, try to ensure that you always have at least one charge on cooldown, but bank charges for when a wave of enemies is about to spawn. Try to have short-duration buffs such as Tiger's Fury active for as many high-target casts as possible. In single-target, this is worth casting as a more energy-efficient equivalent to Shred. With Bloodtalons taken as well, this is usually the third activator in single-target when you have your Bleeds already maintained.

Lunar Inspiration revolves around keeping up the Moonfire DoT. This should be maintained on a single target at all times. You should also multi-DoT targets with it when you are dealing with a cleave situation and have selected this. Moonfire should be refreshed when there are 4.8 seconds or less left on its duration to make maximum use of the pandemic effect. With this talent, it also becomes a Bloodtalons activator.

Apex Predator's Craving is quite simple to play around with - whenever a proc happens, you should aim to consume it as quickly as possible to avoid wasting a follow-up proc. Due to the Ferocious Bite being free of any resource cost and dealing the maximum possible damage, there is no reason to sit on these procs when they occur.