[Archived] Feral Druid 5.4

[Guest Talalalalalala]

Mangle vs Shred

20% extra damage kind of seems like a no-brainer to use Shred, however it costs 5 more energy.  So, it makes the decision quite a bit harder. In the past, it was a large damage loss to use Mangle>Shred, but that was also when our combo point builders were doing a substantial amount of our overall damage.  Anymore our bleeds are what dominates our damage.  So, how do we maximize our bleed damage? 

 

The best way is to fully take advantage of any kind of trinket proc that will increase the amount of damage dealt by Rip-Rake-Thrash.  In order to track bleed damage percentages, a custom script in weakauras was developed by a couple different ferals which can be found here.  Simply import this string into weakauras, then tweak where you want each percentage and size/color, then voila, you can now more effectively track how strong your current bleeds are.

 

How does this have anything to do with whether or not I use Mangle/Shred?

Well, it goes back to the cost of the energy for each ability.  The extra 5 energy you save from using Mangle>Shred really adds up over the course of a fight (usually around an extra 350 energy per fight).  That extra energy is spent generating more combo points through Mangle, which allows you to refresh your bleeds early if you have a trinket proc.  

 

The most optimal rotation is what is known as "Shrangle".  Shrangle refers to using a mixture of Shred and Mangle, and you should try to take advantage of this.  The rules to using Shrangle are as follows; only use Shred if one or more of the following:

Bloodlust is up

Berserk is up

Omen of Clarity is up

 

*Mind blown* I've been doing it wrong this whole xpac...

[Guest Teeyon-Area52]

Thank you very much for this guide it was quite helpful!

[Nettle 0]

During berserk... Just Shred (and holding RIP, Rake) or using FB too?