Feral Druid DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — The War Within (11.2)

In Season 3, before having access to the new Tier Set, Druid of the Claw is slightly behind in pure single-target, and the Season 2 Set requirement to pick up non-standard talents does hurt it. While it brings better built-in cleave, it's weaker until you pick up the new pieces.

Once you gain access to the Season 3 Tier Set bonus, Druid of the Claw becomes much stronger. Its high on-demand burst and flexible cleave, alongside talent swap options make it well suited to most raid encounters. Also, dropping the old set allows it to move to a more tailored loadout, moving it up to the recommended choice.

In Season 3, before gaining access to the new Tier Set and using the old one, Wildstalker is firmly in the lead in single-target. While it's less flexible when it comes to some encounter styles, the advantage it has in raw throughput makes it the recommended choice.

After gaining access to the Season 3 Tier Set, Wildstalker's advantage is much smaller in single-target. While it's still extremely competitive, the lower cleave and burst it can provide in some encounters means it's ever so slightly outclassed in Raid content.

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In single-target, Druid of the Claw makes sure to pick up as many talents that enhance Ferocious Bite as possible - in particular Saber Jaws - as the benefits confer to Ravage. It makes sure to pick up the entire suite of Berserk talents to pair with Convoke the Spirits for its 2-minute burst profile. Before you have access to the Season 3 Tier Set, the previous Season 2 bonus also requires picking up Apex Predator's Craving to activate it. Some additional notes are:

In single-target, Druid of the Claw makes sure to pick up as many talents that enhance Ferocious Bite as possible - in particular Saber Jaws. One exception is Apex Predator's Craving, which the Season 3 set allows us to once again drop after acquiring it due to its interference with Ravage procs. It makes sure to pick up the entire suite of Berserk talents to pair with Convoke the Spirits for its 2-minute burst profile. Some additional notes are:

In single-target, Wildstalker makes sure to pick up as many DoT related amplifiers as possible, including Lunar Inspiration to add Moonfire to its toolkit. It still maintains a good amount of the stronger Ferocious Bite amplifiers, alongside picking up Berserk and Convoke the Spirits for its 2-minute burst. Without access to the Season 3 Tier Set, the previous Season 2 offering also requires Apex Predator's Craving to activate. Some additional notes are:

After acquiring the Season 3 Tier Set, Wildstalker has a handful of necessary build changes. It still makes sure to pick up most DoT amplifiers - in particular Lunar Inspiration - but avoids pathing down the right side in favour of investing in Tiger's Fury bonuses. It also picks up the entire Berserk suite alongside Convoke the Spirits to build a 2-minute burst profile. Some additional notes are:

• Druid of the Claw always paths through Tiger's Tenacity to Bloodtalons for the snapshotting benefits. It also uses Brutal Slash as the third activator for each cycle.
• Due to the extra Energy requirements of using Ferocious Bite so aggressively with Saber Jaws, it makes sure to pick up extra Energy talents. Two points in Tireless Energy alongside Moment of Clarity One point in Tireless Energy alongside Moment of Clarity should cover its needs.
• While the package is relatively tight, in any scenario where you need additional cleave in an encounter you can easily switch to Primal Wrath for a single point. Usually this is either one point in Tireless Energy or Merciless Claws from the first gate.
• With the old Season 2 Tier Set, Apex Predator's Craving is still required on the bottom right to activate it. The build already paths right next to it with Saber Jaws, so can easily be fit in.
• After acquiring the Season 3 Tier Set, it drops the old point in Apex Predator's Craving and moves it over to Carnivorous Instinct. It also moves one point off Tireless Energy to grab Coiled to Spring, to further invest in Ravage damage.
• Wildstalker always paths through Tiger's Tenacity to Bloodtalons to provide additional DoT snapshotting. Adaptive Swarm is also picked up to amplify active DoTs even further. With the Season 3 Tier, it also picks up 2 points in Carnivorous Instinct to lean into the guaranteed Thriving Growth triggers.
• The tree also has two separate activators for your third Bloodtalons trigger, with both Moonfire and Brutal Slash being valid. This makes it very comfortable to trigger in each cycle.
• Moment of Clarity is dropped prior to acquiring the new Tier set to make room for other key talents. It instead relies on two points in Tireless Energy to cover its high Energy requirements.
• After acquiring the Season 3 Tier Set, the build heavily invests in Energy generation. Two points in Tireless Energy, Moment of Clarity and Savage Fury are all taken.
• On the Hero tree, before acquiring the new Tier Set it always picks up Resilient Flourishing and Implant both for reliable triggers and increased uptime. after acquiring the new Tier Set it switches to Twin Sprouts alongside Resilient Flourishing, as the set has a compounding benefit for each additional Vine present on targets.

For a detailed overview on how this build plays, check out our Rotation page.

In Season 3, even before gaining access to the new Tier Set Druid of the Claw is the premier Mythic+ tree. Not only is it more durable, but it provides strong burst AoE while also providing good priority damage at the same time, and as such is the recommended choice.

In Season 3, after acquiring the new Tier set the tree only gets stronger relative to the competition. Druid of the Claw brings strong burst AoE and priority damage, improved even further with the benefits conferred to Ravage. On top of that, it's much more durable and easier to execute, making it the recommended choice.

Prior to acquiring your Season 3 Tier Set, while Wildstalker throughput can be quite high when well managed, it simply has a few too many pitfalls to compet. It requires additional DoT management, provides less burst AoE priority damage, and is less durable. This makes it the weaker alternative.

After acquiring your Season 3 Tier Set Wildstalker AoE potential does increase quite a lot. It has more up-front damage with each Tiger's Fury cast and the increase to Bursting Growth damage and frequency is noticeable. The additional management and execution requirements, alongside being less durable, unfortunately keep it from competing with the alternative.

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Regardless of whether you have the Season 3 Tier Set or not, Druid of the Claw follows the same build goals. It always makes sure to pick up both Primal Wrath and Rampant Ferocity to convert your finishers to AoE - Rip and Ferocious Bite respectively. It also pairs that with the entire Berserk package, and Convoke the Spirits to build an explosive 2-minute burst window. Some additional notes are:

Regardless of whether you have the Season 3 Tier Set or not, the Wildstalker AoE build follows the same rules. It always makes sure to pick up both Primal Wrath and Rampant Ferocity to convert your finishers to AoE - Rip and Ferocious Bite respectively. It also pairs that with the entire Berserk package, and Convoke the Spirits to build an explosive 2-minute burst window. Some additional notes are:

• In lower target situations, Double-Clawed Rake can optionally be switched out for Tireless Energy if you're struggling with Energy needs. This reduces your ability to spread your Rake with Sudden Ambush procs however, so only do this if you really find yourself struggling to manage resources.
• Both Adaptive Swarm and Unbridled Swarm are taken to spread the additional DoT multiplier throughout packs. This goes alongside picking up Apex Predator's Craving to leverage your AoE Rips, giving you free Rampant Ferocity triggers.
• Druid of the Claw always paths through Tiger's Tenacity to Bloodtalons for the snapshotting benefits and finisher multiplier. It also picks up Brutal Slash to improve its AoE generator damage, which can be used as your third activator.
• On the Hero Tree, Killing Strikes is always taken due to the high value of guaranteeing a Ravage proc in the opener.
• Wildstalker always paths through Tiger's Tenacity to Bloodtalons for the snapshotting benefits. It also picks up Brutal Slash to use as its third generator alongside Rake and Thrash.
• On the Hero tree, before acquiring the new Tier Set it always picks up Resilient Flourishing and Implant both for reliable triggers in the opener, alongside increased uptime. after acquiring the new Tier Set, it switches to Twin Sprouts alongside Resilient Flourishing, to apply additional Vines from the opening Tiger's Fury cast via the 2-piece bonus.

For a detailed overview on how this build plays, check out our Rotation page.

While slightly weaker in Delves due to the erratic combat time and large amount of unimportant enemies, Wildstalker can still do very well just due to the simplicity. Its lack of up-front burst, reliance on more damage over time and lower defense does make it less suited though.

Druid of the Claw really shines in delves due to the massive amount of extra survival and on-demand burst AoE the tree provides. Pair that with extra benefits from dropping combat and a reliable burst profile, and you have a spec that can handle anything even the most dangerous Delves can throw at you.

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