Feral Druid DPS Easy Mode — The War Within (11.2)

In Raids, Feral sacrifices a large portion of its AoE toolkit to focus on dealing as much damage to one target as possible. With the Tier Set, this means a Druid of the Claw build centered around Ferocious Bite and Bleed management.

The Hero Tree adds in Ravage, which functions as a random proc replacement to Ferocious Bite that's significantly stronger. This means the tree always makes sure to pick up as many related talents as possible, in particular Saber Jaws, which increases the importance of good Energy management.

If you are interested in a deep dive on this or a Wildstalker build, check our talent page:

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

With Mythic+ being more focused on AoE, Feral adds AoE Rip applications using Primal Wrath into its arsenal, while spending excess Combo Points on Ferocious Bite to trigger Rampant Ferocity. Time in between this is spent generating Combo Points and Bloodtalons charges using Brutal Slash (which replaces Swipe), and applying Rake to multiple targets.

Druid of the Claw also adds in Ravage procs to convert Ferocious Bite into a high damage AoE finisher, alongside having Apex Predator's Craving procs to react to for instant, free Bite casts.

If you are interested in a deep dive on this or a Wildstalker build, check our talent page:

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

Before entering combat, always make sure to do the following:

• Be in Cat Form - Cat Form is required to cast most Feral abilities, so always be shapeshifted.
• Cast Group Buffs - Use Mark of the Wild to buff your party with Versatility.
• Start from Stealth - Prowl provides bonuses to your first Rake or Shred when you break stealth, so always aim to start combat from that state.

In single-target, Feral is all about balancing its resources to maintain full Rip uptime with as little investment as possible, so it can free up extra Combo Points to cast Ferocious Bite. Here's a brief breakdown of things to keep in mind to get you started:

• Spend Energy Wisely - Spend Energy on builders to reach 5 Combo Points.
  Combo Point Builders are - Shred, Brutal Slash and Rake.
  Bloodtalons needs to be triggered every 3 finishers by pressing 3 different builders in quick succession. Save some Energy so you can execute this with 0-1 charges remaining.
• Spend Combo Points - Always make sure to spend with a finisher at 5 Combo Points.
  Priority - Rip if it's missing, otherwise Ferocious Bite.
  Ravage procs simplym replace Ferocious Bite casts.
• Maintain DoTs - Make sure Rake, Rip, and Thrash are always applied.
  Refresh these during Tiger's Fury if possible.
• Use Cooldowns - Cast Tiger's Fury every 30 seconds with as little Energy as possible.
  Cast Adaptive Swarm on cooldown and Feral Frenzy when at less than 3 Combo Points.
• Sync 2-minute Burst - Berserk should be used every 2 minutes alongside Tiger's Fury.
  Always cast Convoke the Spirits during this window with both buffs active.

In AoE, Feral uses Primal Wrath to apply Rip to all nearby targets. This is used to trigger free Ferocious Bite casts via Apex Predator's Craving, which in turn activates Rampant Ferocity:

• Build Combo Points - Your main builder is Brutal Slash. When recharging, apply Rake to different targets or Thrash to apply the DoT.
  Bloodtalons needs to be triggered every 3 finishers by pressing 3 different builders in quick succession. Save up Energy and have one charge of Brutal Slash to trigger this.
• Use Finishers - Combo Points are spent as a priority on Primal Wrath to apply Rip. Any excess is used on Ferocious Bite to trigger Rampant Ferocity.
• React to Procs - Apex Predator's Craving procs should be used immediately.
  Ravage should be cast at 5 Combo Points.
• Use Cooldowns - Cast Tiger's Fury every 30 seconds with as little Energy as possible.
  Cast Adaptive Swarm on cooldown
• Sync 2-minute Burst - Berserk should be used every 2 minutes alongside Tiger's Fury.
  Always cast Convoke the Spirits during this window with Rip applied to all enemies.

Feral has access to a variety of different active and passive survival tools, giving it a lot of flexibility when dealing with incoming damage.

• Barkskin - provides a 30% damage reduction for 12 seconds (with Oakskin), on a 1-minute cooldown. This is Feral's consistent defense tool, and, due to the low cooldown, can be used liberally to reduce the incoming damage from dangerous attacks.
• Survival Instincts - grants 60% damage reduction (with Oakskin) for 6 seconds. This is a backup defensive tool for the most dangerous damage events, or when Barkskin is not available.
• Bear Form - provides a significant increase to health and armor when active. While your damage tools are very limited while in this form, you can switch to this quickly without any cooldown, allowing you to survive a lethal hit then heal back up after.
• Renewal - restores 30% of maximum health on a 1.5-minute cooldown. This is off the GCD, so can be used whenever you feel in danger to top yourself back up. Aessina's Renewal is an alternative passive proc that will trigger when you take large amounts of damage, but isn't as potent.
• Well-Honed Instincts - this triggers Frenzied Regeneration when you drop below 40% health, healing you for a large amount. This has a 120-second cooldown (90 with Perfectly-Honed Instincts), and can save you in a pinch. Druid of the Claw can also freely cast Frenzied Regeneration in Cat Form for the same effect, at the cost of 40 Energy and a 36-second cooldown.
• Predatory Swiftness - triggers from Combo Point spenders, and makes your next Regrowth cast instant. These can be used in empty globals to help keep yourself healthy.

The most versatile Feral stat priority for different situations is:

1. Mastery = Critical Strike
2. Haste
3. Versatility
4. Agility

Stat priorities will change based on other talents taken in different builds, but, in general, this should serve you well. For finer details regarding each stat and the reason behind why they are picked can be found on our full stat page linked below.

Added in Patch 11.1.7, the Rotation Assist tool curated by Blizzard has two modes: the first highlights action bar buttons with a recommended priority, while the second provides a single keybind that automatically presses the top priority ability on that same list, but with a 25% GCD penalty between casts.

This provides a great starting point if you're just jumping into Feral and want to get a general feel for the gameplay flow it has. It does, however, come at a performance loss compared due to some limitations. Most importantly, the tool will currently not use Berserk, any racial bonuses or on-use trinkets - these all need to be cast manually by you if you use it. This also extends to movement, defensive and crowd control abilities.

The estimated loss when using the tool based on build and content can be found in the table below:

Hero Talent	Single-Target	AoE
Wildstalker Assist	-22%	-28%
Wildstalker One-Button	-26%	-28%
Druid of the Claw Assist	-16%	-25%
Druid of the Claw One-Button	-19%	-25%

Due to the weaker DoT management executed by the tool and its impact on Wildstalker, if playing it we'd recommend using Druid of the Claw in all situations, using the builds highlighted elsewhere on this page.