Feral Druid DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents (BfA 8.0.1)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 8.0.1 Changes for Feral Druid
  • 3. Feral Druid's Strengths
  • 4. Feral Druid's Weaknesses
  • 5. The Viability of Feral Druids in the Current Patch
  • 6. Contents
  • 7. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. Foreword
  • 2. The Basics for Feral Druids
  • 3. Talent Choices for Feral Druids
  • 4. Stat Choices for Feral Druids
  • 5. Basic Rotation for Feral Druids
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Spell Summary of a Feral Druid
  • 2. Feral Druid's Main Resources
  • 3. Feral Druid Basic Abilities
    • 3.1. Bleeds
    • 3.2. Other Feral Abilities
    • 3.3. Feral Offensive Cooldowns
    • 3.4. Feral Procs and Passives
    • 3.5. Feral Utility Tools
• ×Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheet for Feral Druids
    • 2.1. Open World, Levelling and Dungeons — AoE Oriented
    • 2.2. Raids — Single Target Oriented
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents for Feral Druid
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents for Feral Druid
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents for Feral Druid
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents for Feral Druid
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents for Feral Druid
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents for Feral Druid
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents for Feral Druid
  • 10. PvP Talents (War Mode)
    • 10.1. Feral Druid War Mode Talents
      • 10.1.1. General PvP Talents
      • 10.1.2. Feral Druid PvP Talents
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression for Feral Druids
    • 1.1. Early Progression
    • 1.2. Patch 7.2 Progression
  • 2. Feral Druid Artifact Ability
  • 3. Relic Choices for Feral Druids
    • 3.1. Ideal Relics
    • 3.2. Secondary Choices
    • 3.3. Sharpened Claws/Thrashing Claws
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Feral Druid Single Target Rotation
  • 2. Feral Druid Opening Sequence
  • 3. Multiple Target Rotation for Feral Druids
    • 3.1. Brutal Slash
    • 3.2. Long Duration Adds
      • 3.2.1. 2-3 Targets
      • 3.2.2. 4-8 Targets
      • 3.2.3. 9+ Targets
    • 3.3. Short Duration Adds
    • 3.4. Priority Targets
  • 4. Feral Druid Cooldowns
  • 5. Mastering Your Feral Druid
    • 5.1. Mastery: Razor Claws
    • 5.2. Combo Points and Energy
    • 5.3. Single Target Rotation in Detail
      • 5.3.1. Bleeds & DoTs
      • 5.3.2. What to Do the Rest of the Time
      • 5.3.3. Energy Management
      • 5.3.4. When to Refresh Bleeds
      • 5.3.5. When to Refresh Savage Roar
      • 5.3.6. Ferocious Bite
    • 5.4. Detailed Cooldown Usage
      • 5.4.1. Tiger's Fury
      • 5.4.2. Berserk
      • 5.4.3. Feral Frenzy
    • 5.5. Talent Specifics
      • 5.5.1. Tier 1 Talents
      • 5.5.2. Tier 5 Talents
      • 5.5.3. Tier 6 Talents
      • 5.5.4. Tier 7 Talents
• +Common and Worst Mistakes
  • 1. Not Optimizing Your Global Cooldowns
  • 2. Energy & Combo Point Management
  • 3. Tiger's Fury Usage
  • 4. Bleed & Buff Uptime
    • 4.1. Damage over Time Effects
    • 4.2. Savage Roar
    • 4.3. Predatory Swiftness Use with Bloodtalons
  • 5. Not Knowing How to Sim Yourself
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. The Basics of Stats for Feral Druids
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding of Feral Druid Stats
  • 3. Advanced Feral Druid Stats
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems for Feral Druids
  • 2. Enchants for Feral Druids
  • 3. Consumables for Feral Druids
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Feral Druid Macros
    • 1.1. Generic Macros for Druids
      • 1.1.1. Rebirth
      • 1.1.2. Remove Corruption
    • 1.2. Specific Macros for Feral Druids
      • 1.2.1. Regrowth Macro
      • 1.2.2. Skull Bash Focus Interrupt
  • 2. Recommended Addons for Feral Druids
    • 2.1. Generic Addons for Druids
      • 2.1.1. ElvUI
      • 2.1.2. Weak Auras
      • 2.1.3. Boss Mods: Deadly Boss Mods or Bigwigs
      • 2.1.4. Details!
      • 2.1.5. GTFO
      • 2.1.6. Pawn
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Raid Best in Slot List for Feral Druid
    • 1.1. Trinkets
    • 1.2. Evaluating Upgrades with dynamic Item Levels
  • 2. Legendary Items for Feral Druids
    • 2.1. Recommended Choices
  • 3. Loot Competition for Feral Druids
• +Simulations
  • 1. Disclaimer Page
  • 2. Feral Druid Racial Bonus Simulation
    • 2.1. Pre-Patch Disclaimer

General Information

On this page, we present the viable talent choices for Feral Druids in World of Warcraft BfA 8.0.1. We detail what each of the talents do and in which situations they should be taken.

The other pages of our Feral Druid guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

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. Talent Choices

Level	Choices
15	✔ Blood Scent	✔ Predator	✔ Lunar Inspiration
30	? Tiger Dash	? Renewal	? Wild Charge
45	✔ Balance Affinity	? Guardian Affinity	? Restoration Affinity
60	? Mighty Bash	? Mass Entanglement	? Typhoon
75	✘ Soul of the Forest	? Jagged Wounds	✔ Incarnation: King of the Jungle
90	✘ Sabertooth	✔ Brutal Slash	✔ Savage Roar
100	? Moment of Clarity	✔ Bloodtalons	✘ Feral Frenzy

Talents can be freely changed when out of combat and in a rested XP area (such as an inn or a capital city). Moreover, Tome of the Tranquil Mind and Codex of the Tranquil Mind can be used to temporarily allow players to change talents anywhere, as long as they are out of combat.

2. Talent Cheat Sheet for Feral Druids

Feral has a number of flex choices within the talent tree that lean toward different damage delivery methods, both with single target and AoE focuses. As such, below are 3 builds for different circumstances that hone in on the power talents.

2.1. Open World, Levelling and Dungeons — AoE Oriented

This build is very much focused upon your open world gameplay allowing for additional boosts and flexibility with movement between encounters.

• Level 15: Predator
• Level 30: Wild Charge
• Level 45: Restoration Affinity / Balance Affinity
• Level 60: Mighty Bash
• Level 75: Jagged Wounds
• Level 90: Brutal Slash
• Level 100: Bloodtalons

2.2. Raids — Single Target Oriented

Note that if a Raid encounter specifically demands AoE, then the above build used in Dungeon situations will likely serve you better, in particular if you can capitalize upon Predator resets for single target boosts. Otherwise, use the following build.

• Level 15: Lunar Inspiration
• Level 30: Wild Charge
• Level 45: Any Choice
• Level 60: Any Choice
• Level 75: Jagged Wounds
• Level 90: Savage Roar
• Level 100: Bloodtalons

3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents for Feral Druid

✔ Blood Scent

✔ Predator

✔ Lunar Inspiration

Tier 1 talents offer a variety of different damage boosting effects for different situations.

• Blood Scent increases the critical strike chance of your melee abilities by 10% against targets that you have a Bleed effect applied to.
• Predator causes the cooldown of Tiger's Fury to be reset when a target with one of your Bleed effects applied dies, and lasts an additional 5 seconds.
• Lunar Inspiration allows the use of Moonfire in Cat Form, causing it to grant 1 Combo Point, deal damage based on Attack Power, and cost 30 Energy.

Your choice here depends on encounter type and content being tackled. If you expect targets to be dying frequently (either be it adds or during AoE) then Predator will serve best granting additional uses of Tiger's Fury. In pure single target however, Lunar Inspiration will win out granting an additional DoT effect to maintain in your rotation.

Blood Scent serves as a catch-all versatile choice that can increase damage without any rotational alterations, however the gain is not as high as the alternatives due to the lack of ways to manipulate your output.

4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents for Feral Druid

? Tiger Dash

? Renewal

? Wild Charge

Tier 2 provides movement and survival options.

• Tiger Dash replaces your Dash ability, replacing it with a short burst of 200% movement speed decaying over 5 seconds on a 45-second cooldown.
• Renewal instantly heals you for 30% of your maximum health on a 1.5-minute cooldown. This can be used in any Shapeshift form.
• Wild Charge is an active ability that has a 0.5-second Global Cooldown, and 15-second cooldown. This provides a different movement option based on the shapeshift form you are in, as follows:
  • No shapeshift form: Fly to the targeted allies location.
  • Travel Form: You leap forward 20 yards.
  • Cat Form: You leap behind your target within 25 yards, dazing them for 3 seconds.
  • Bear Form: You charge your target within 25 yards, immobilizing them for 4 seconds.
  • Moonkin Form: You leap 15 yards backwards.
  • Aquatic Form: Your swim speed is increased by 150% for 5 seconds.

This talent tier provides some situational choices, but usually you will be taking Wild Charge due to its low cooldown and flexibility. This gives you ways to stick to your target more consistently without impacting your other movement tools. Tiger Dash on the other hand can provide a very powerful non-committal burst of speed, but the loss of your baseline Dash in exchange is not ideal, so is more situational based on the encounter.

As for Renewal, the talent is generally not worth taking since you have other healing options (such as Regrowth), and you can always take Restoration Affinity as well if you feel you really need more healing.

5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents for Feral Druid

✔ Balance Affinity

? Guardian Affinity

? Restoration Affinity

Tier 3 grants access to affinities, which allow you to focus on a secondary Druid specialization, granting access to a small amount of the tools available to them.

• Balance Affinity grants you the Astral Influence passive ability, which increases the range of all your abilities by 3 yards. Additionally, you gain access to the Balance-spec abilities Moonkin Form, Starsurge, Lunar Strike, Solar Wrath, and Sunfire.
• Guardian Affinity grants you the Thick Hide passive ability, which reduces all your damage taken by 6%. Additionally, you gain access to the Guardian-spec abilities Ironfur, and Frenzied Regeneration.
• Restoration Affinity grants you the Ysera's Gift passive ability, which heals you (or a nearby ally, if you are at full health yourself) for 3% of your maximum health every 5 seconds. Additionally, you gain access to the Restoration-spec abilities Rejuvenation, Wild Growth, and Swiftmend.

For increasing your DPS, the only option in this tier is Balance Affinity, where the increased ability range will make it easier to multi-DoT targets. Even doing damage in Moonkin Form is acceptable for short periods of time when you cannot otherwise attack the target in melee range (though its DPS output obviously does not compare with your Cat Form abilities).

Guardian Affinity offers a very useful passive damage reduction that will almost always be of great worth during progression raiding. Moreover, going into Bear Form (combined with using Survival Instincts), you can soak up very dangerous abilities and in some cases tank an enemy in an emergency if needed.

Finally, Restoration Affinity is the least appealing talent in this tier. The active abilities it provides will not be of much use during raids due to pulling you out of Cat Form, but they can be good during solo content. The passive ability is decent for raids but most often out-classed by the Guardian Affinity damage reduction passive.

6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents for Feral Druid

? Mighty Bash

? Mass Entanglement

? Typhoon

Tier 4 Offers different crowd control options.

• Mighty Bash is an active ability with a 50-second cooldown, which stuns the target for 5 seconds. It is usable in all shapeshift forms.
• Mass Entanglement is an active ability with a 30-second cooldown, which roots the target and all enemies within 15 yards of them in place for 30 seconds. Damage done to rooted targets may break the effect. Mass Entanglement is usable in all shapeshift forms.
• Typhoon is an active ability with a 30-second cooldown. It knocks back all targets within 15-yards in a cone in front of you, dazing them for 6 seconds. It is usable in all shapeshift forms.

Your choice here depends entirely on encounter mechanics or content you are applying it to. Typhoon and Mighty Bash both provide powerful control methods if you can capitalise upon them, but it is entirely personal preference.

7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents for Feral Druid

✘ Soul of the Forest

? Jagged Wounds

✔ Incarnation: King of the Jungle

Tier 5 provides a variety of damage delivery boosts depending on the type of fight you are engaging with.

• Soul of the Forest causes your finishing moves to grant 5 Energy per Combo Point spent and deal 5% increased damage.
• Jagged Wounds causes Rip, Rake, and Thrash to deal their damage 20% faster (the duration is reduced but the overall damage stays the same).
• Incarnation: King of the Jungle replaces Berserk. It lasts 30 seconds (up from Berserk's 15), and in addition to Berserk's other bonuses, it also allows Prowl to be used once while in combat and causes Shred and Rake to deal damage as though you were in stealth, granting them additional bonuses.

Currently in all situations Jagged Wounds is recommended, boosting your Bleed tick rate significantly and allowing you to cycle through your rotation quicker. Also has good applications in multi target fights where you can apply multiple instances of the same Bleed.

Incarnation: King of the Jungle can be useful if a fight demands an increased amount of burst, but is otherwise weaker than Jagged Wounds.

Soul of the Forest is the least invasive of the options and allows you to be much more aggressive with Combo Point expenditure, filling up downtime created by Energy starvation. This is the easiest talent to play with, but its gains are modest compared to Jagged Wounds.

8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents for Feral Druid

✘ Sabertooth

✔ Brutal Slash

✔ Savage Roar

Tier 6 grants a variety of different tools depending on the combat situation you want to specialize in.

• Sabertooth causes Ferocious Bite to deal 20% increased damage and always refresh the duration of Rip.
• Brutal Slash replaces Swipe, has 3 charges and an 8-second recharge time (reduced by Haste), and like Swipe, also awards one Combo Point when used.
• Savage Roar is an active finisher ability that grants you 15% increased damage for its duration. Its duration depends on how many Combo Points you spend on it, as follows.
  • 1 Point: 12 seconds.
  • 2 Points: 18 seconds.
  • 3 Points: 24 seconds.
  • 4 Points: 30 seconds.
  • 5 Points: 36 seconds.

Savage Roar is currently performing the best in pure single target situations, and should be used if you only need to focus on dealing damage to one target.

Brutal Slash quickly pulls with extra targets, and should be taken during AoE situations.

Sabertooth is worse in almost all situations now, and despite it making the rotation slightly easier, is only really recommended in extended 2 target situations.

9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents for Feral Druid

? Moment of Clarity

✔ Bloodtalons

✘ Feral Frenzy

Tier 7 provides alterations to your rotational tools, requiring additional Global Cooldowns to capitalize upon.

• Moment of Clarity causes Omen of Clarity to trigger 50% more often, and increase the damage of your next Shred, Thrash, Swipe, or Brutal Slash casts by 15%, and can stack up to 2 times. It also permanently increases your maximum Energy by 30.
• Bloodtalons causes Regrowth casts to make the next two melee abilities (used within 30 seconds) deal 25% increased damage for their full duration (which is of notable relevance if they are Bleeds).
• Feral Frenzy is an active ability with a 45-second cooldown that deals a burst of Physical damage and additional Bleed damage over 6 seconds. This also instantly grants 5 Combo Points when cast.

Bloodtalons returns in Battle for Azeroth as the dominant talent due to the additional focus on Bleeds both in single and multi target situations. Note that when this buff is consumed on a Bleed effect, the bonus will be snapshotted and apply to every tick thereafter until it is refreshed or overwritten by a new cast.

Moment of Clarity provides an easy alternative for the rotation, increasing your Energy generation via free Shred casts, and by extension increasing the cycle of your Combo Point expenditure. This is the easier of the choices, and is harder to make mistakes with but is not ideal compared to Bloodtalons.

Feral Frenzy provides a burst tool that can smooth out dips in the rotation when you are unlucky with your Primal Fury triggers and become resource starved. It can also grant a medium cooldown burst tool that can be combined with Tiger's Fury every other cast, but is currently looking weaker than Bloodtalons in nearly all situations.

10. PvP Talents (War Mode)

In Battle for Azeroth, there will be the option to go into "War Mode". Enabling War Mode provides the following benefits:

• PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world.
• 10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level.
• 10% more experience gained while leveling.
• Earn Conquest Points which can reward gear every week.

With the benefits of enabling 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 make yourself available for open world PvP, and the possibility to be killed while leveling or doing World Quests exists.

10.1. Feral Druid War Mode Talents

In this section we will rank the PvP talents best for leveling and doing open world PvE gameplay.

10.1.1. General PvP Talents

• Adaptation is likely your most passive choice, since it will automatically remove loss of control effects over 5 seconds. It is recommended for leveling to take this PvP talent.
• Relentless is also a passive ability, but it does not automatically remove crowd control abilities, but instead reduces the duration.
• Gladiator's Medallion is an on-use ability that removes all movement impairing effects and all loss of control effects.

10.1.2. Feral Druid PvP Talents

Generally the selections are made to optimize your ability to kill enemies faster, increasing your pace when moving through content.

1. Rip and Tear provides an instant way of applying both Rip and Rake to your target without a Combo Point cost, and is great for starting a fight with more powerful enemies without requiring any ramp up, so is highly recommended as an extra tool.
2. Savage Momentum causes successful interrupts with Skull Bash to reset the cooldown of Tiger's Fury. This can be useful for additional Energy and damage windows, but you will generally be using Predator in the open world so they may overlap and hurt its strength.
3. 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.
4. Ferocious Wound provides additional damage to your Ferocious Bite that can be useful on high health targets due to it being tied to the maximum health of your target, but is not as strong on weaker enemies.
5. 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 very limited uses for extra movement speed, but you will rarely have a large number of Rips active. Tooth and Claw can also provide a modest amount of additional survival and tankiness when in Bear Form, and slightly boost damage via giving access to Enraged Maul if you are finding yourself struggling with enemies.

Earthen Grasp, Freedom of the Herd, Malorne's Swiftness, Enraged Maim, and Protector of the Grove, on the other hand, have very limited PvE uses, being more focused on in-combat control and group assistance, so are more suited to a PvP engagement, and as such are not really recommended.