Feral Druid DPS Spell Summary (Legion 7.2.5)

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Last updated on Jun 12, 2017 at 07:04 by Wordup 235 comments

General Information

On this page, we list the spells that you will often use as a Feral Druid.

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

About Our Author and Reviewer

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.

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Xanzara, a top-ranking Feral Druid, who sometimes streams on YouTube.

1. Spell Summary

Whilst Feral has remained largely the same since Warlords of Draenor, this page is here to explain the different spells and give a brief rundown of the tools Feral has access to. If you are already experienced with the spec and are very comfortable, it is recommended to skip past this, otherwise this is a great point to get a base understanding before moving onto later sections of the guide that covers nuances of gameplay.

You will spend the majority of your time in Cat Form Icon Cat Form, which grants access to your Feral abilities, increases your base movement speed by 30%, grants immunity to Polymorph effects and reduces fall damage.

2. Main Resources

Feral comes with a dual resource system of Energy, and Combo Points. Energy fuels the majority of your abilities, most of which either generate a Combo Point (builder) such as Shred Icon Shred, or spend your Combo Points (finisher), such as Rip Icon Rip. You come with a baseline cap of 100 Energy, though some talents and spells can alter this, and regenerate 10 per second. Combo Points are spent all at once on your finishers, and their intensity is decided based on how many Combo Points were consumed (up to the maximum of 5).

3. Artifact Ability

The Feral Artifact opens with the active ability, Icon Ashamane's Frenzy, which deals high Physical damage over 3 seconds, and then high Bleed damage over 6 seconds. It has no cost, generates 3 Combo Points, and a 75-second cooldown. This is an great burst tool in single target, and works very well with some of the short duration buffs such as Tiger's Fury Icon Tiger's Fury and Bloodtalons Icon Bloodtalons.

4. Basic Abilities

These are your primary abilities that come with the spec before any talents or Artifact effects get involved. All of these form the core of your gameplay and most things are built around them.

4.1. Bleeds

Feral has a focus on Damage over Time effects called Bleeds, dealing high damage to targets affected over a moderate period of time, and having bleeds active can also buff the strength of other specific spells cast. Managing your Bleeds is the core gameplay hook of Feral.

Rake Icon Rake is your first rotational Bleed, instantly dealing low Bleed damage then high Bleed damage over 15 seconds, and generating one Combo Point, at the cost of 35 Energy. Managing this is relatively easy as it has no pre-requisites other than the Energy to cast it, and should be kept up at all times on your main target.

Rip Icon Rip is your second Bleed, and, unlike Rake, costs up to 5 Combo Points to deal very high Bleed damage over 24 seconds, consuming them all, and costing 30 Energy. Making sure you balance your rotation to have 5 Combo Points when this needs to be refreshed is crucial, as Rip is one of the most powerful sources of damage for Feral.

Finally, Thrash Icon Thrash is your AoE Bleed tool, dealing low Bleed damage and then moderate Bleed damage over the next 15 seconds to all targets within 8 yards around you at the cost of 50 Energy. This only enters into the rotation during multi target situations, but otherwise is not used as its damage is not exceptional, its cost is high and it generates no Combo Points.

4.2. Other Abilities

Shred Icon Shred is your basic filler spell, dealing high Physical damage at the cost of 40 Energy, and dealing 20% additional damage if there is a Bleed effect present on the target. If used while Stealthed, it deals an additional 50% damage and has double the chance to Critically Strike. This is your main builder to convert Energy into Combo Points in single target, and is used frequently.

Swipe Icon Swipe is the AoE alternative to Shred, dealing moderate Physical damage for 45 Energy, and also dealing 20% additional damage to Bleeding targets. This is only used generally above 3 targets to replace Shred, but is the main AoE tool coupled with Thrash to activate the Bleed requirement.

Ferocious Bite Icon Ferocious Bite is the other Feral finisher alongside Rip, dealing high Physical damage for 25 Energy, and consuming up to 5 Combo Points. It can also consume up to another 25 Energy to deal 100% extra damage, and if used on targets below 25%, will refresh your Rip Icon Rip effect to its full duration. This is used rarely due to be it being expensive, and impacting your rotation if mis-used. Under 25% however, this completely replaces Rip as it refreshes it, and forms a pseudo-Execute window for Feral.

4.3. Offensive Cooldowns

Tiger's Fury Icon Tiger's Fury is a low cooldown, low duration spell off the Global Cooldown that instantly generates 60 Energy, and increases all damage you deal by 15% for 8 seconds, on a 30-second cooldown. This is used rotationally to boost your Energy back up after spending a large amount, and for the damage bonus for the short window to boost the damage of Bleeds applied during it.

Berserk Icon Berserk is Feral's big cooldown, reducing the cost of all Cat Form Icon Cat Form abilities by 50%, and increasing your maximum Energy by 50 for 15 seconds, on a 3-minute cooldown. This is an extremely powerful short burst of damage either on cooldown in fights, or when used against an important target to burst it down, and syncs up very well with Tiger's Fury for the short window of boosted damage.

4.4. Additional Utility

Feral's defensive tool is Survival Instincts Icon Survival Instincts, reducing all damage you take by 50% for 6 seconds on a 3-minute cooldown, with 2 charges. This is a powerful tool due to its high reduction effect, and its flexibility from having charges; however with its low duration and long recharge time, do not be too liberal using it unless you have to, and try to time the windows with high damage periods.

Feral also comes with a baseline movement tool in Dash Icon Dash, granting an additional 70% Movement Speed while in Cat Form for 15 seconds on a 3-minute cooldown. Whilst it is a massive boost to speed while active and has a significant duration, again be sparing when using it as its long cooldown is very prohibitive.

For raid utility, Feral brings Stampeding Roar Icon Stampeding Roar, increasing the movement speed of you and all allies within 10 yards by 60% for 8 seconds on a 2-minute cooldown. This is very powerful in Raid environments in specific fights with mechanics that lend themselves to it, but be aware of the short radius and position accordingly when using.

Maim Icon Maim is a Combo Point spending move that deals low Physical damage for 35 Energy, and spending up to 5 Combo Points to stun your target for up to 5 seconds, on a 10-second cooldown. Due to its high resource cost this is not an amazing tool, but can be used if a stun is really needed on targets.

The Feral interrupt is Skull Bash Icon Skull Bash, interrupting enemy spellcasts for 4 seconds on a 15-second cooldown, but comes with the added advantage of a mini-charge to your target from up to 13 yards away, which can also come in handy.

Feral being a Druid also comes equipped with access to Rebirth Icon Rebirth as an in-combat resurrection tool on a 10-minute cooldown and is instant cast. This shares the raid-wide combat resurrection cooldown during Raid Encounters.