WotLK Classic Feral Druid DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities

If you have not already, please read the Spell Summary page. Knowing how each spell and ability works in detail will make it much easier to understand the topics discussed on this page.

We will be presenting the skill rotation of a Feral DPS Druid as a priority list, which means you should try to use the one at the top of the list first for maximum DPS.

As one of the most complex specializations to perform an ideal rotation with in Wrath, there are two critical concepts to understand before getting into the ability priority list.

Energy Pooling is the act of not using your abilities as soon as you have enough Energy to do so, but instead use them when they will give you most benefit, while always avoiding capping Energy to prevent loss of potential regen. Examples of this are pooling around 90 Energy for Berserk in order to be able to use as many 50% reduced cost Cat Form abilities as possible within its 15-second duration and pooling to ensure you always have enough Energy to instantly reapply damage-over-time effects as soon as they expire.

Damage-over-time management is about keeping as much uptime on your damage-over-time effects, Rip and Rake (as well as the Mangle (Cat) debuff if there is no alternative source) as possible, but also never refreshing them when they are active as that will make you lose the last tick and its damage.

1. Use Tiger's Fury when available while you are under 40 Energy;
2. If Berserk is available and 15 or more seconds remain on Tiger's Fury's cooldown, auto-attack until ~90 Energy and use Berserk;
3. Use and refresh (after it expires) Savage Roar;
4. Use Faerie Fire (Feral) to proc Omen of Clarity unless you are already under its effect;
5. Use any Omen of Clarity procs on Shred;
6. Use and refresh (after it expires) Rip at 5 Combo Points;
7. Use and refresh (after it expires) Rake;
8. Keep Mangle (Cat)'s debuff on your target unless you have another Feral DPS Druid or an Arms Warrior with Trauma in the raid;
9. Use Shred to build Combo Points if doing so will not prevent you in the near future from having enough Energy to instantly refresh your damage-over-time effects or Mangle (Cat)'s debuff.

You should also use Ferocious Bite to spend Combo Points instead of Rip if the target will be dying shortly, as Rip needs time to deal its damage.

1. Use Tiger's Fury when available while you are under 40 Energy;
2. If Berserk is available and 15 or more seconds remain on Tiger's Fury's cooldown, auto-attack until ~90 Energy and use Berserk;
3. Use and refresh (after it expires) Savage Roar, using Rake to build a combo point for it if needed;
4. Use Faerie Fire (Feral) to proc Omen of Clarity unless you are already under its effect;
5. Use Swipe (Cat).

Bearweaving was an advanced Cat DPS technique where you went into Dire Bear Form during low Energy periods in order to use Bear abilities for extra damage while your Energy regenerated in the background.

With April 4th 2023 hotfixes, Omen of Clarity now procs whenever you use Faerie Fire (Feral), thus allowing you to have much more reliable energy regeneration and reducing / eliminating the usefulness of Bearweaving.