Feral Druid DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — The War Within (11.1.0)

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.

Feral has two fairly distinct Hero Talent trees that lean into different aspects, but their gameplay impact and build variance is quite small. Currently, they are tuned very close together, with Wildstalker having the edge in single-target and Druid of the Claw in AoE. They are both close enough in terms of throughput that either can be played in all content.

Recommended Build Import Codes:

Single-target builds give up the majority of Feral's AoE tools to specialize, but it does not sacrifice much to pick these back up for dungeon situations. Both Wildstalker and Druid of the Claw build in similar ways with some slight variations to lean into their gameplay goals.

As both are competitive, we have set up a tool below to toggle recommendations between your desired Hero Talent tree. Note that whichever you pick will affect the entire page, and information will be tailored to that selection.

In the below section, we have split builds up between Hero Talents and and content types, with a loadout for each. You can use the navigation buttons to open up a loadout and explanation of the playstyle.

Anywhere you see the icon on this page, this means it is the recommended choice

4.

War Within Feral Druid Talent Builds

Due to Hero Talents playing a major role, use the tool below to display builds for each tree

Hero Talents
Druid of the Claw	Wildstalker

Use the boxes below to navigate builds

Wildstalker Druid of the Claw
Raid / Single-Target Wildstalker Druid of the Claw
Mythic+ / AoE Wildstalker Druid of the Claw
Delves Build

4.

Druid of the Claw Wildstalker Single-Target / Raid Build

Currently, Wildstalker is slightly behind in pure single-target due to its weaker damage profile, but is still a competitive option for raid encounters.

Druid of the Claw is currently the stronger choice, in particular due to its strong burst profile. Its additional built-in cleave also makes it well suited to many of the current raid encounters.

Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!

Raid / Single Target - Druid of the Claw Show Copy

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Raid / Single Target - Wildstalker Show Copy

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In single-target, both hero talents tend to build fairly similarly, making sure to pick up a strong core of Energy talents and enhancements to Ferocious Bite to empower finishers. They also need both Berserk and Convoke the Spirits to provide the punchy 2-minute burst that Feral has access to. Additionally, the 11.1 set bonus requires Apex Predator's Craving to activate, so all builds need to incorporate it into their loadout. Some notes about specific talents are:

• Wildstalker picks up Lunar Inspiration as it focuses more heavily on DoT gameplay. It also makes sure to pick up Tiger's Tenacity to further amplify the strength of Tiger's Fury snapshotting. This is also an extra way to trigger Bloodtalons.
• It also drops Moment of Clarity to fit this in, but makes sure to take two points in Tireless Energy at the top of the tree to cover its Energy requirements.
• Lastly, it paths through Rip and Tear to save points below the 20 gate, so it can grab all 3 of Circle of Life and Death, Feral Frenzy and Apex Predator's Craving.
• Druid of the Claw uses Brutal Slash as an additional spare activator for Bloodtalons, to avoid unnecessary Thrash refreshes.
• It picks up the entire suite of Energy positive talents, taking two points in Tireless Energy and Moment of Clarity to cover the extra requirements to sustain Saber Jaws.
• Lastly, it grabs Feral Frenzy for an additional burst of Combo Points to get to finishers more efficiently and overlap with burst windows. It paths through Saber Jaws to reach Apex Predator's Craving to lean further into high damage Ferocious Bite and Ravage casts.
• Due to the Season 2 set bonus requiring Apex Predator's Craving, it has to pick it up no matter what, despite working against Ravage.

4.

Druid of the Claw Wildstalker Mythic+ Build

Wildstalker throughput in Mythic+ is high, with a versatile damage toolkit focusing on DoTs. It does, however, have a higher execution requirement due to Unbridled Swarm and a heavier focus on multi-DoTs

Druid of the Claw provides strong AoE conversion with Rampant Ferocity and Ravage while also bringing strong priority damage at the same time. Due to that and the big defensive benefits, it is the recommended Mythic+ option currently.

Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!

Mythic+ / AoE - Druid of the Claw Show Copy

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Mythic+ / AoE - Wildstalker Show Copy

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Both builds operate on the same framework, aiming to maintain Rip via Primal Wrath and use excess Combo Points on Ferocious Bite to trigger Rampant Ferocity. Some individual notes are as follows:

• Both pick up the core AoE talents Primal Wrath and Rampant Ferocity to provide AoE Rip application and a way to convert Ferocious Bite into AoE damage.
• Wildstalker always picks up Double-Clawed Rake and Sudden Ambush for easier DoT application. It also uses Tiger's Tenacity to further amplify DoT effects following each Tiger's Fury cast, and plays Unbridled Swarm for the same reason. This requires you to manage multiple active Adaptive Swarm effects to make sure it spreads across targets effectively.
• Druid of the Claw can opt into a variety of talents depending on its focus of either more single-target hybridization or AoE. Merciless Claws vs. Double-Clawed Rake in the opening gate, and Savage Fury vs. Sudden Ambush in the second gate can be picked depending on which you care more about. I would always recommend at least one point in Tireless Energy to sustain your Energy needs.
• Druid of the Claw picks up Tiger's Tenacity for more more potent Tiger's Fury casts, though if you opt into Carnivorous Instinct this can be switched for Raging Fury to increase its uptime.
• For the Hero tree itself, it always picks up Killing Strikes to more reliably activate Ravage at the start of each pull.
• For the Hero tree itself, it can either stick to the reliable Implant / Resilient Flourishing pair for more flexible damage, or switch both out for Root Network and Twin Sprouts. This provides more active Bloodseeker Vines and amplifies damage even further, but comes at a big cost when you have no extra targets nearby to activate the extra vines.

4.

Druid of the Claw Wildstalker Delves Build

While slightly weaker Delves due to the erratic combat time and large amount of unimportant enemies, Wildstalker can still do very well just due to the simplicity. It does not bring the same defensive advantage of Druid of the Claw, but makes up for it with reliable throughput.

Druid of the Claw really shines in delves due to the massive amount of extra survival and on-demand healing provided on the tree. Pair that with more reliable burst that can be lined up with dangerous portions of each delve provides a toolkit we recommend taking advantage of.

Use the Copy button below to generate an Import Code to use in-game!

Delves - Druid of the Claw Show Copy

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Delves - Wildstalker Show Copy

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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 Single-Target Convoke build for most raid encounters, but for bespoke builds made for each boss, you can check our tips page below:

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 has two fairly similiar Hero Talent choices available that, as covered in the above sections, map on smoothly to the baseline Feral toolkit. Each of them add a small additional detail to be aware of:

• Druid of the Claw - grants access to Ravage procs, replacing your next Ferocious Bite with a massive AoE damage cast. These happen throughout combat, and also much more frequently during Berserk, adding an element of reactive proc management into the gameplay loop.
• Wildstalker - is a much more passive tree, adding in Thriving Growth that triggers Bloodseeker Vines on your Bleed targets. These happen randomly throughout combat on enemies with your DoTs active, and amplify all damage you deal to targets affected by them.

If you want to find more details regarding how each hero talent works, you can check our detailed hero talents page:

"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.

In this section, we will rank the PvP talents for leveling and playing in open-world PvE scenarios.

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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
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 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.