Feral Druid DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — Dragonflight 10.1
On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Feral Druid in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.1. We also have default talent lists for various types of content, such as raiding or Mythic+. If you play with Warmode on, we have your PvP talents covered as well.
If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Feral DPS Druid talents.
Talent Cheat Sheet for Feral Druids
Within the Feral tree, several core talents are used at all times, and then a mix of flex talents that allow you to specialize or hybridize for single-target, AoE, or priority damage should you need it. Due to that, below, we provide two specialized builds to cover these situations and a third, more Hybridized version that is flexible for both Raid and Mythic+ situations that are recommended in our Mythic+ guide.
Import codes for all 3 of the builds are as follows:
- Single-target: BcGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAg0goIJJJl0ikSSSkkAAAAAAQBgEBAIJJJRSkSCtEHAAAAAAASAAA
- AoE: BcGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEJt0kQSSkU0CKJJJSCAAAAAAFAkEAgkkkQSOgSCtEHAAAAAAASANAA
Both of these builds are highly specialized, and there is a middle ground you can obtain with the highest value picks of both. Something Feral does have to contend with, however, and you should consider when building your character, is that a lot of your final points are one or the other. There is a lack of talents that do both things to some degree, and instead an abundance of options that go all in on either single-target or AoE. The decision-making comes down to which tools are the most valuable to maintain.
Pure Single-target Focus
In pure single-target situations, Feral has to forego a lot of its cleave and AoE options to take more specialized talents focused on dealing as much damage to one target as possible. There are some limited options allowing it to do limited cleave, but due to Feral's average base single-target tools, it needs everything it can get to bring up its base. There are, however, a few options that are up to your preference that are within margin, dictated by difficulty or use cases that you can choose from:
Lunar Inspiration - this is now close enough in Season 1 that it is worth considering adding another maintenance DoT to your rotation and honing in even further on that aspect of the spec. This is much more focused on single-target (though it can theoretically multi-DoT), but it raises difficulty.
Circle of Life and Death - this is an easy swap from the second point of
Carnivorous Instinct should you choose. It slightly increases the pace of the spec, but points are now very tight below the 20 gate, and it is not quite as powerful as the ideal setup.
Brutal Slash - provides an extra
Bloodtalons activator should you need it and does relevant damage. This and Lunar Inspiration are generally exclusive due to GCD and point constraints, serving similar purposes.
Relentless Predator - does smooth out your
Berserk windows substantially, and injects a lot of Energy into the rotation via
Ferocious Bite refunds. Simplifies some resource management by softening the punishment of overspending.
Ashamane's Guidance - polarizing due to its RNG, this is still a powerful option granting free
Incarnation: Avatar of Ashamane windows that will always be at least somewhat valuable thanks to the Berserk rework.
Convoke the Spirits - more niche, but improvements in Patch 10.1 bring this back as a solid option to deal very highly condensed burst should it be necessary. This is always paired with the above to bring it down to a 1 minute cooldown.
AoE Focus - Mythic+
Due to some of Feral's most valuable AoE tools coming exclusively from the talent tree, this is where you build most of your damage for multi-target situations. These picks range from versatile cleave options to exclusively AoE picks that have a granular impact on how far you want to invest into AoE, but generally because of how high the potential is, you will regularly be selecting them in a package. Some talents of note are:
Primal Wrath +
Tear Open Wounds - this is the crux of the AoE package and is always taken. Without these, the AoE toolkit struggles to function properly.
Relentless Predator - while exclusively AoE, it has huge value in keeping
Ferocious Bite is relevant at higher target counts and is a relatively low cost swap to take it whenever extra targets are present.
Apex Predator's Craving - gives a way to leverage both your active
Rips, and the AoE component of
Ferocious Bite from the above to keep both finishers relevant. It can also lead to additional funnel damage.
Double-Clawed Rake - probably the lowest value AoE talents due to its limited impact, but at low target counts, is extremely high value. This is usually one to drop if you want to hybridize more.
Infected Wounds - similar to above, these are usually paired together in AoE and if you drop one, there is sometimes room to drop the other as well.
Merciless Claws - this is an option for a more hybridized AoE boost, but fitting it in is difficult.
Tireless Energy - if you are really struggling to make use of
Predator resets and need additional Energy to smooth things out, this is a very niche option to solve that. It will almost always come at the cost of throughput though.
For a stronger leaning to AoE situations, the focus is on empowering Primal Wrath
(and
Ferocious Bite through
Rampant Ferocity and
Apex Predator's Craving),
dealing extremely high sustained AoE damage but at the cost of some single-target
focused options. This is recommended in extended sustained AoE encounters or trash-heavy dungeons in Mythic+ where you can consistently maintain multiple targets,
and also ideally when you can rely on some
Predator resets for additional
Energy. For pure output, this remains ideal at large target counts and suits
Mythic+. However, certain affixes and dungeons may require you to sacrifice some
AoE to hybridize more.
For pure single-target situations, Feral can forego a lot of its cleave and AoE
options and take a build specialized in dealing as much damage to one target as
possible. This has a heavy focus on Ferocious Bite and your
Incarnation: Avatar of Ashamane
windows, and as such, it takes a lot of Energy-positive talents and effects that
enhance these windows. It opts for
Lion's Strength as it clashes less with
the Combo Point flood during this, alongside the build not having
Brutal Slash
to activate
Bloodtalons easily. It also takes
Ashamane's Guidance for
additional chances to trigger the effect, though it has an RNG component.
Raiding
While the builds above cover different broad profiles, they do not cover the specific nuances of each boss. It can be a tricky decision to decide between other conflicting interests. Generally, we recommend the Hybrid build for most raid encounters, but for bespoke builds made for each boss, you can check our tips page below:
Mythic+
Mythic+ tends to require a more versatile damage profile that can necessitate you mixing and matching different talents to cover a full run depending on affixes or composition each week. You can check our page below if you want advice tailored to Mythic+.
Feral Druid Spec Talents Explained
Some of the Feral talents also require additional maintenance during moment-to-moment gameplay. On our rotation page, you can find more details on how to incorporate these into your priority.
Tier 1 talents (Rows 1-4):
Ability | Explanation |
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Causes your auto-attacks to have a chance to make your next
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An active finisher that deals direct damage and applies
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Causes ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Increases ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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This is moreso an ease-of-use option, causing ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Provides a flat bonus to Tiger's Fury duration and causes its cooldown to reset whenever an enemy affected by your Bleeds dies. This provides a lot of additional Energy and uptime whenever there are frequently dying targets and is a consistently useful talent. |
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Causes ![]() |
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Increases ![]() ![]() |
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Increases base Energy regeneration by 10/20% and max Energy by 30/60. It gives more room for pooling and is a solid choice in most situations, but when points become tight, is often dropped for stronger effects so long as you have enough resources to maintain the key cycle. |
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Grants a 60% damage bonus to ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The first block of talents are mostly universal increases to
the core rotation, dictating your access to Energy related effects
to build the primary cycle. The only big decision here is whether you
take Primal Wrath and the supporting AoE talents around it,
but you will always path through
Sabertooth and
Pouncing Strikes
to unlock the second tier of talents. Ideally, you will spend the minimum
possible points here to gain access to later options.
Tier 2 talents (Rows 5-7):
Ability | Explanation |
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Powerful, but long cooldown defensive option. While this is not throughput, pathing must reach our major offensive cooldown, so is always taken. |
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Our major cooldown, causing ![]() ![]() |
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Each Combo Point spent reduces the cooldown of ![]() |
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Causes Combo Point generating abilities to apply a Bleed effect
for 100% of the damage dealt over 8 seconds. Adds further Strength
to your Berserk windows, especially in single-target, due to the damage
increase it provides to ![]() |
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Gives finishing moves a 6% chance per Combo Point to cause your
next, ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Causes your Finishing moves to extend the duration of your active
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Increases the damage of ![]() ![]() |
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Increases ![]() |
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Increases the chance for ![]() |
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Replaces ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Increases the damage dealt by your ![]() |
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Reduces the Energy cost of ![]() |
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Causes ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Allows you to cast ![]() ![]() |
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Mandatory pathing node that allows ![]() ![]() ![]() |
This tier of talents mostly dictates what final talents you have access
to and round out your focus depending on if it is more Bleed or Bite-focused.
Many choices here are quite versatile, but some are specialized, allowing
you to pick and choose based on how you want to navigate the tree and
where you want to end up. Generally, though, the central block of
Berserk,
Dreadful Bleeding and
Raging Fury
are always taken.
Tier 3 talents (Rows 8-10):
Ability | Explanation |
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Provides a flat increase to the damage bonus provided by
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Both options are strong, effective buffs to your Finishing Moves.
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Deals a small amount of damage and applies a heavy, short duration Bleed on your target with a 45-second cooldown and generates 5 Combo Points when activated. This is a powerful instant generator and is taken in most single-target situations. |
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is a short DoT/HoT that increases the potency of your over-time-effects
when active on a target. It will also jump between allies and enemies in a
cycle, healing, and dealing damage in the process. Due to the Strength of
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Adds a multi-target component that improves ![]() |
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Grants Finishing moves a 6% chance per Combo Point spent to grants 10% Haste for 6 seconds. A solid increase in any target count is required pathing to reach strong end talents. |
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Both of these are powerful options, either improving your ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Improves your previous talent selection, either granting a small chance
for auto-attacks to trigger ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Causes abilities that consume ![]() |
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Increases the damage of your Finishing moves and causes them to generate 3 Energy per Combo Point spent. This is a powerful talent in all situations and has a big impact on how smooth the rotation plays with regards to your Energy available, so it is always taken. |
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Causes your Bleed effects to deal their damage 20% faster. This effectively gives you more ticks of all of them in a shorter time, and due to how much damage they deal, this is a powerful talent taken in almost every situation regardless of target count. |
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A choice node that is mostly used for pathing, and both are valid options
but provide modest increases. ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Gives all of your ![]() ![]() ![]() |
All of the talents below this line are quite powerful, so you ideally want 10 points spare when you reach here to spend. That means pathing earlier should be done with that in mind. What you take depends on preference, target count, and desired damage profile, as what is selected here will warp your focus.
PvP Talents (War Mode)
"War Mode" is an optional feature that enables open-world PvP encounters that confer some benefits when active:
- Grants access to PvP talents in the open-world.
- 10% increase in World Quest rewards at max level.
- 10% more experience gained while leveling.
- Earn Conquest Points which can reward gear every week.
With the benefits of War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended to enable the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at maximum level. However, you will open yourself up to open-world PvP, so be aware of hostile enemy players who could interfere with you; this is a risk you will have to decide on your own if you want to take.
If you are interested in doing PvP as a Feral Druid or want to know how to navigate Feral Druid PvP encounters, check out our dedicated PvP guide.
Feral Druid War Mode Talents
In this section, we will rank the PvP talents for leveling and playing in open-world PvE scenarios.
Feral Druid PvP Talents
Generally, the selections are made to optimize your ability to kill enemies faster, increasing your pace when moving through content.
Fresh Wound can provide additional burst to targets when applying your
Rake effect and is a solid increase across the board when cycling between targets.
Ferocious Wound provides additional damage to your
Ferocious Bite that can be useful on high health targets due to the maximum health reduction it applies. Value is mostly tied to the difficulty of the enemies you are encountering.
Leader of the Pack increases the movement speed of you and nearby allies by 10% and causes players to heal for 3% of their maximum health when they critically strike with an 8-second cooldown. This provides some additional speed and sustain passively, but no longer impacts damage in Patch 10.1.
Savage Momentum causes successful interrupts with
Skull Bash to reduce the cooldown of
Tiger's Fury,
Stampeding Roar and
Survival Instincts by 10 seconds. This can be useful for moving around the world and extra burst windows on targets. Still, you will generally be using
Predator in the open-world, so that overlap makes it less damage oriented.
Thorns can provide some use if in situations with extra enemies present, to allow you to deal additional damage back when being hit.
King of the Jungle can provide minimal uses for extra movement
speed. Still, you will only have a large number of
Rips active if
you are AoEing large groups with
Primal Wrath, at which point you will
likely not be moving far away.
Freedom of the Herd,
High Winds,
Reactive Resin,
Malorne's Swiftness,
Wicked Claws, and
Strength of the Wild
on the other hand, they have very limited PvE uses, being more focused on in-combat
control and group assistance. These are much more focused on PvP encounters,
so they are not recommended for open-world play.
Changelog
- 01 May 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1 to include new Patch 10.1 changes and build options.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Druid Guides
Guides from Other Classes
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.
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