Feral Druid DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — Dragonflight 10.2
On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Feral Druid in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.2. 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.
Best Dragonflight Talent Builds for Feral Druid
Note that these builds are popular build recommendations for various different damage profiles. For more specific recommendations for the Raid and Mythic+, check out the dedicated pages below.
Talent Cheat Sheet for Feral Druids
Within the Feral tree, there are several core talents that are used at all times, alongside a mix of specialty talents that lean your build to either single-target or AoE. Patch 10.2 has done some streamlining to your choices that reduce a lot of the sacrifice in specializing, providing a well-rounded boss damage loadout option and a strong Mythic+ pick:
Import codes for all 3 of the builds are as follows:
- Single: BcGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACSLSCSSSSJtIIJRSCAAAAAgCAJCCAJJJhkQJhWiDAAAAAAgEAAA
- AoE: BcGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASk0STCSSSSJtDgSSkIJAAAAAAKAkkAIJkkkESiUCahDAAAAAAgEAAA
The two specialized builds emphasize working in those specific scenarios at a significant cost to the other, while the Hybrid version takes the highest value aspects of each and meshes them together, making Hybrid the recommended build for general use. Below, there are details about how each build is set up, any potential swaps that can be made, and when it is appropriate to do so. You can use each of the buttons to switch to information about each respective build.
Dragonflight Talent Builds for Feral Druid
Single-Target
There are a number of build options for pure single-target, but with some of the Patch 10.2 changes, this comes out as the best option:
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!
For the single-target builds, you do give up a great deal of AoE and cleave
potential, but in exchange, you get a very powerful and flexible single-target
package. With the Tier 31 set, you are required to take Feral Frenzy
to activate it, but this was mostly being taken previously regardless, and now
just adds in a 30-second burst damage cooldown. There is also an alternative
build that reaches
Convoke the Spirits /
Incarnation: Avatar of Ashamane
for those interested, but key talents are as follows:
Dire Fixation - probably the highest value single point for single-target on the tree, but works exclusively on one target. While the top of the tree is quite contested now, it is never worth dropping this if you are looking for single-target.
Bloodtalons - the stronger of the two finisher amplifiers, but requires additional gameplay to make full use of. Made a lot easier to cycle with either
Brutal Slash or
Lunar Inspiration to inject another activator into the rotation.
Lunar Inspiration - is an alternative as a
Bloodtalons activator and much of the effects that already support it are on taken, points are just a little too tight to grab everything at once. Take either this or
Infected Wounds.
Saber Jaws - new in Patch 10.2, this significantly increases the bonus damage from consuming excess Energy with
Ferocious Bite. This makes it more important to make sure you consume the extra amount with each Bite, and emphasizes pooling and management.
Apex Predator's Craving - with the change to proc rate at low targets in Patch 10.2, this is now a worthwhile pickup to follow on from the above.
Sudden Ambush - provides us with a way to get the
Pouncing Strikes bonus for
Rake much more consistently throughout an encounter.
Adaptive Swarm - amplifies the other DoT effects and aligns well with each
Feral Frenzy to push its damage further. Does not impact the 4-piece Fire DoT, though.
Single-Target Convoke
As an alternative to the above, this deals slightly less damage overall
but does add in an additional burst cooldown with Convoke the Spirits.
Depending on encounter, this is a worthwhile trade-off.
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!
The sacrifices to reach here are the points in Carnivorous Instinct
and
Circle of Life and Death, so the sustained damage loss is definitely
noticeable.
Convoke the Spirits is still a very powerful condensed burst
window that can overlap your
Feral Frenzy Set Bonus windows, especially
in situations where bosses take additional damage. It can also consider switching
out
Adaptive Swarm to reach
Ashamane's Guidance, granting access
to 1-minute Convokes and additional 4-piece activators from the auto-cast Feral
Frenzy.
AoE
Patch 10.2 has made the AoE build lose less when switching away from a pure single-target loadout, and as such, this is best suited for any situation with extra targets. More talent details underneath.
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!
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. Some of these are preference, while others are simply too valuable to ever drop, even if they only fixate on one damage profile.
Feral Frenzy - while mostly single-target on its own, this is required to activate the Tier 31 set bonus, so cannot be dropped.
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.
Incarnation: Avatar of Ashamane vs.
Convoke the Spirits - both of these are worthwhile options, and it mostly comes down to what other talents you selected and the type of burst you want. Especially with the Tier 31 set , the value of Convoke is much closer and even opens up the opportunity to grab
Ashamane's Guidance for 1-minute burst cycles. It also has extra synergy with
Rampant Ferocity for larger pull dungeons if you select that as well.
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 - very high-value talent for AoE to make multi-target application of
Rake much smoother. It has no single-target impact, however, but most of the value is improving the other Rake-related talents.
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.
Sudden Ambush - this is also related to the above two talents, as these allow you to double up on the value of each proc to empower
Rake casts. This also provides strong single-target and low-target cleave options, rounding out the Rake talents.
Rampant Ferocity - while exclusively AoE, it has good value in keeping
Ferocious Bite relevant at higher target counts. This is very costly to pick up, however, because of how busy the center of the tree is and the good hybrid talents that need to be dropped to fit it in.
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 Mythic+, picking up the highest value options that have more broad applications
is generally preferred, with some of the explicitly AoE picks taking a back seat. Patch
10.2 has mostly limited this to Rampant Ferocity however, as much of the other
core AoE toolkit can be grabbed at little cost.
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.
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 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.
Feral Druid Talent Details
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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Dealing damage to an enemy with ![]() |
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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, they are 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 it 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 your ![]() ![]() |
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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
|
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This increases the bonus damage conferred to ![]() |
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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.
Druid Class Talents
Feral Druids are given Rake and
Rip by default, and
there are a variety of performance-related talents that should be taken
in any talent build:
Thrash
Improved Swipe
Killer Instinct
Primal Fury
Rising Light, Falling Night
Lycara's Teachings
Due to pathing as well you will always take Astral Influence,
which provides a great deal of comfort by improving our melee range. It
is also always recommended to pick up
Skull Bash both as an
interrupt and a short charge.
In addition to the above talents, it is generally recommended for all builds to include a variety of defensive talents. The recommended options are:
Well-Honed Instincts*
Renewal
Thick Hide
Matted Fur*
Ursine Vigor*
Only one point is necessary to get good value out of Well-Honed Instincts,
and the second is often spent better elsewhere.
Matted Fur adds a small
extra benefit to your
Barkskin casts if you can fit it in, but
Ursine Vigor greatly improves
Bear Form, which, while it does stop
you from dealing damage, has no cooldown, so it can always be used to survive
dangerous moments.
Finally, it is also strongly recommended that all builds include a few mobility talents:
Feline Swiftness
Wild Charge /
Tiger Dash
Stampeding Roar /
Improved Stampeding Roar*
Both mobility options in the middle are valuable, and it comes down to
preference between more burst speed or a displacement charge. Improved Stampeding Roar
does bring the cooldown to 1 minute, which is very valuable, but points are tight
at the bottom of the tree, so they cannot always be fit in.
Not all defensive or mobility talents need to be included, but you should try to incorporate an appropriate number of each into your builds, as having none is often a bad idea. The remainder of your points can be spent as you desire for specific Utility, crowd control, or pathing requirements; however, we strongly recommended that you at least consider including some of the following generally applicable utility options:
Skull Bash
Incapacitating Roar
Typhoon
Ursol's Vortex
Innervate
Nature's Vigil
Of note here is Innervate and
Nature's Vigil. This provides both an
external boost to healers in your team via additional mana and a healing cooldown that
converts some of your damage into additional healing. Control options are especially useful
in Mythic+, with the stand-out being
Incapacitating Roar as a low cooldown AoE
interrupt tool.
For a more detailed description of each of our class talents, please refer to the Feral Druid DPS Spell Summary page.
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.
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
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2 with new builds.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7, small restructuring to some sections but same recommendations.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Re-added Hybrid build, reworded some segments and also highlighted importance of Dire Fixation.
- 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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