My druid currently plays with separate cat and bear specs. We now have a talent tree that is so bloated, even spread into Resto, that it’s not possible to be fully effective at both in one spec. There are too many specialized talents that are either only for bears or only for cats. Yay for being the only class with 4 talent trees! We can steal all your loots >:-}

But really, I wanted to discuss feral rotation a while. My own experience and why there is a blue post with the opinion that feral druids are the most complicated DPSers. Yet we’re popular! Right now my guild has 4 feral cats that are mains. Now, on the one hand, I’d have to say it’s easy to know what to do. It is pretty intuitive that a 30% damage boost is the most important ability to use. Always keeping your Savage Roar buff up, with it’s short duration, is the most important thing. In AoE situations I try to get this buff before I spam swipe. I can get very good AoE dps. On ulduar trash fights like Razorscale, where I know I have time to use an SR, I will rake for the bleed damage and the combo point for SR. I should probably have 1 swipe in me after this, apply it and then use Tiger’s Fury instantly for energy, giving me another 2 or 3 swipes in a row. How many depends on how often omen of clarity will proc.

Location is key on these fights. Positioning for the most adds possible can be iresome when you need to be in melee range of your target, keep the adds in a frontal arc directly in front of you, and avoid the all too frequent fires. Given a good location, I’ve found my AoE outdoing casters, which makes sense when those casters have a much easier time of it, and will often be able to target more than cats. In situations that aren’t ideal, casters are often able to target more mobs than I, for longer, which will skew DPS results back in their favor.

If you’re wondering, resorting to Swipe is ideal only if you have 3+ mobs. That is, 3 that are certain to be close enough to be affected. This is based off of in game experience, not theorycrafting.

Single target fights are where things get really complicated though, instead of constantly worrying about finding the biggest pack of mobs and the right spot to lay waste into them, you must focus on constantly refreshing several abilities: Savage Roar, Mangle, Rake, Rip, and Faerie Fire Feral..

First off, the odd one out: Faerie Fire. I generally use this before I’ve reached melee range, during the run/pounce to the boss. If somehow I am in melee range and this debuff is missing, I’ll typically wait for a second that I’ve run out of energy, Tiger’s Fury, and Omen of Clarity procs. If you have a moonkin in the group, ask if they are using FF so you don’t need to.

Your rotation will vary a lot depending on how often you crit, how fast you attack based on haste, and your glyphs and tier gear. To begin, you have to refresh 4 abilities. Savage Roar, then Mangle, then Rip, then Rake. You should keep a reminder up telling you when Omen of Clarity procs. I use EventAlert. When you get a proc, Shred. NEVER use a finishing move except for Savage Roar, which does not consume the proc. In other cases, if all 4 abilities are up, Shred for combo points. Rip when you reach 5 combo points, if you have time (~6 seconds) on Rip and Savage Roar, use Ferocious Bite. On Savage Roar, you won’t have much control over how many combo points you have when this wears off. 2 points is best, more is OK if you are about to lose the buff. Avoid a 1 point SR. Notice that if another druid is applying Mangle, or if an arms warrior has Trauma, you will not need to use your mangle at all. Shred > Mangle as long as the debuff is up.

There are several add-ons that can help you with this rotation, which is not really a rotation at all but a priority list. Event Horizon will display, graphically, how much time you have left on your abilities, and on your cooldowns. FeralbyNight uses theorycrafting calculations to recommend your next ability. I recommend both. Try testing out your DPS with the first and then the second. Sometimes FbN will recommend a Ferocious Bite, or simply remind to use Berserk/Tiger’s Fury, with greater results. The best thing I’ve found is helping to guage when to Ferocious Bite as it’s not always intuitive.

If you’re near to a point where you will lose contact with the boss, do your best to apply fresh DoTs, even if you lose SR. Something > Nothing. Many fihts have down periods like this. I’ll apply my DoTs before they wear out if I know I’m going to be going out of combat. I’ll miss some chances for Shred in the process.

~ by lily on June 24, 2009.

Posted in General Gameplay, Strategies