Like most classes in WoW, Druids received a number of important changes with the launch of Season of Discovery. The Feral spec, in particular, is now considerably better than in older versions of World of Warcraft Classic primarily thanks to theRune Engravingsystem. Runes are an absolute game-changer for Feral Druids, especially if we’re talking about Wild Strikes. This Rune single-handedly makes Feral Druids one of the most important members of any raid group.
Feral Druids sure have a lot going on for them right now, but it does take a bit of skill and practice to take full advantage of their capabilities. Keep reading to find out how to make the most out of Feral Druids in Phase 1 of World of Warcraft Classic: Season of Discovery.
RacesRunesRotationStat PriorityProfessionsTalentsBIS GearConsumables
Best Races For Feral Druid DPS In Season Of Discovery
If you’re looking to play as an Alliance Feral Druid in WoW Classic: Season of Discovery your only option is to roll a Night Elf. Night Elves have a couple of good Racials that Feral Druids can take advantage of, such as Quickness and Shadowmeld. That last one is particularly helpful while leveling and engaging in PvP, but has few uses for endgame PvE. The other Racials are neither here nor there. The +10 Nature Resistance is nice to have during certain boss encounters while Wisp Spirit provides a bit of utility whenever you die and need to return to your corpse asap.
Horde players who want to play a Feral Druid DPS will have to settle for Tauren, which isn’t necessarily a great option. Endurance and War Stomp are fantastic Racials to have while playing as a tank, but won’t really come into play if you’re focusing on DPS. Meanwhile, Cultivation comes in handy if you have Herbalism as one of your primary professions, but is useless otherwise. Just like the Night Elves, Tauren players also benefit from +10 Nature Resistance.
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Best Runes For Feral Druid DPS In Season Of Discovery
Runes completely changed the way players look at their classes in WoW Classic: Season of Discovery. The new abilities introduced by the Rune Engraving system make Feral Druids a lot more interesting to play both while leveling and while engaging in endgame PvE. Having said that, you’ll need to equip a set of very specific Runes if you want to get the most out of your Feral Druid. These are our recommendations for Phase 1:
Unlike certain other specs, DPS Feral Druids don’t have to think too much about which Runes to pick. The chest slot, for instance, is an absolute no-brainer. Wild Strikes provides benefits not just for the player, but also for their allies, making it absolutely invaluable during group content. This Rune is especially important if you’re playing Alliance as it essentially gives your party Windfury Totem, which is normally only available to Horde players in World of Warcraft Classic.
Your choice for the legs slot is pretty obvious as well. Savage Roar increases all damage you do while in Cat Form by a whopping 30%. Activating this ability does cost a fair amount of Energy and the buff is only temporary, however, you can keep it up for quite a while if you know what you’re doing. Make sure to activate it once you have four or five Combo Points and you can expect Savage Roar to last for a good 30 seconds or more.
Mangle is the only hands slot Rune that provides significant benefits while in Cat Form, making it another essential ability to have in your arsenal as a Feral Druid DPS. This ability is fantastic both for immediately inflicting a massive burst of damage and for gradually chipping away at an enemy’s health via Bleed effects. Mangle costs even more Energy than Savage Roar, but generates one Combo Point whenever you activate it, so it’s a pretty fair tradeoff. It’s worth noting that Mangle replaces Claw.
All Druid Runes and Locations | WoW Classic: SOD
Discover where to get the new Druid Runes in World of Warcraft: Season of Discovery
Feral Druid DPS Rotation In Season Of Discovery
Playing as a Feral Druid DPS may seem a bit complicated at first due to the fact that you have two resources to manage – Energy and Combo Points. However, the Cat Form playstyle is actually pretty straightforward and revolves almost entirely around a small handful of abilities. The goal is simply to spend Energy on abilities that deal damage and allow you to build up Combo Points, and then use those Combo Points on stronger abilities that deal even more damage. Rinse and repeat. In most scenarios, your rotation will look something like this:
Tiger’s Fury is not a very Energy-efficient ability in Phase 1 of SoD, but it can still be used once before every fight for an extra burst of initial damage. Cast Tiger’s Fury right before a pull and then move in with Mangle to start building up those Combo Points. Mangle also applies a 1-minute debuff on the target that causes it to take extra damage from Bleed effects and Shred. Use that to your advantage and make sure to refresh the debuff whenever it’s about to fall off.
As soon as you’ve built up a few Combo Points, go ahead and cast Savage Roar. The ability increases your damage by a flat 30% regardless of your Combo Points, however, Savage Roar lasts longer the more Combo Points you have. If you’re struggling to generate Combo Points at a fast rate, don’t hesitate to use Mangle again even if the debuff is still up. Provided you have enough Energy to spare, of course.
Shred is another Energy-inefficient ability in Phase 1 and should almost always be replaced by Mangle. However, there is one exception, and that’s whenever Omen of Clarity triggers Clearcasting. During this state, you can – and should – use Shred as you’ll be able to do so for free. Rip is another ability that should be used only during very specific situations. In this case, it’s when you have the maximum amount of Combo Points.
Stat Priority For Feral Druid DPS In Season Of Discovery
Players are capped at level 25 during Phase 1 of Season of Discovery, making every piece of gear you acquire more important than usual. In order to maximize your power, you’ll need to focus on acquiring pieces of gear with very specific stats. In the case of a Feral Druid DPS, these stats include things like Hit Chance, Haste, Strength, and Agility, among other things. However, some of these stats are more important than others. These are the stats you’ll want to focus on, in the order of their importance:
Hit Chance
Importance:Hit Chance is a crucial stat for a lot of specs in Phase 1 of Season of Discovery, and Feral Druids are no exception. Missing an attack means wasting valuable Energy and Combo Points, and that’s something you simply can’t afford to do while playing as a DPS. Try to increase this stat as much as possible in order to increase your chances of successfully landing attacks.
Notes:Hit Chance is capped at 6% in Phase 1 of Season of Discovery, meaning you will miss attacks on occasion whatever you do. The good news is that this will only happen against BFD bosses. Your attacks will always connect when fighting enemies that have the same level as you if you manage to get your Hit Chance to 6%.
Importance:Strength is a primary stat that has a major impact on your Attack Power and, therefore, the amount of damage you inflict. The stat also dictates the amount of damage you can block with a shield, but that’s not something you’ll have to worry about as a DPS.
Notes:Druids gain two points of Melee Attack Power for each point of Strength they have. There’s a separate stat that directly increases your Attack Power, but it’s generally simpler and more efficient to increase your Strength instead.
Attack Power
Importance:Attack Power influences your DPS and is a highly sought-after stat in Phase 1 of WoW Classic: Season of Discovery. There are no talents that increase Attack Power, so you’ll have to rely on gear and other stats to increase it.
Notes:On average, a Feral Druids DPS can expect to gain one extra point of DPS per every 14 points of Attack Power they have. This isn’t an exact formula as being a good DPS depends on a few other factors, but it should give you a rough idea of what to expect.
Importance:Haste is exactly what it sounds like. This stat affects the speed with which you can attack and applies specifically to auto-attacks. As a Feral Druid DPS, you’ll find yourself having to rely on auto-attacks quite often, so make sure not to ignore this stat.
Notes:There are few items that directly increase haste rating, but you can gain extra attack speed via certain abilities and pieces of gear. The Void-Touched Leather Gloves, an item exclusive to Leatherworkers, is one such example.
Importance:Agility is yet another stat that increases Melee Attack Power. In addition, this primary stat also raises Armor Rating, Dodge Chance, and Critical Strike Chance when attacking with a weapon. Since Feral Druids use their claws and teeth instead of weapons, they can’t benefit from that last stat.
Notes:Druids in Cat Form gain one point of Melee Attack Power for every point of Agility they have. In addition, they also gain two points of Armor per point of Agility and 1% Dodge Chance for every 20 points of Agility.
Critical Strike Chance
Importance:Just as its name indicates, this stat increases your chances of successfully landing a Critical Strike with your attacks and abilities. Critical Strikes deal twice as much damage as normal.
Notes:While Feral Druids can’t use Agility to increase their Critical Strike Chance, they can still get extra crit by acquiring certain pieces of gear that have it as a stat.
Best Professions For Feral Druid DPS In Season Of Discovery
If you want to keep things simple, we recommend going with Skinning and Leatherworking as your two primary professions. Leatherworking is a must anyway, so you might as well pair it with a profession that gets you all the raw materials you need. Alternatively, Engineering is also a solid choice in Season of Discovery, although you won’t get a lot of benefits from it aside from a cloth headpiece and some explosives until later phases of the game. Here’s what you can expect from the other two professions:
Leatherworking
Skinning is always a fantastic profession to have if you’re looking to make a quick buck. There are countless beasts roaming across Azeroth so you should have absolutely no issue maxing out this profession in no time. The great thing about Skinning is that it can be used on beasts killed by other players, of which there are many, especially in leveling zones.
The Void-Touched Leather Gloves, a BiS item for Feral Druids, are the main reason for picking Leatherworking as one of your professions in Phase 1. But even excluding that pair of gloves, this profession lets you craft a bunch of other important items, such as the Deviate Scale Belt or the Dark Leather Shoulders, to name just a couple of examples.
Waylaid Supplies By Profession Guide | WoW Classic: Season Of DIscovery
Why buy items and consumables to fill Waylaid Supplies shipments when you can simply craft them yourself?
Best Talent Spec For Feral Druid DPS In Season Of Discovery
The best-performing Feral Druid DPS build right now is a bit unusual, to say the least. Instead of speccing heavily into the Feral Combat tree as one might expect, we’re going to dump most of our talent points into the Balance tree. The reason for this is to gain access to Omen of Clarity, a very important ability that allows us to cast Shred for free. Without Omen of Clarity, Shred would simply be too Energy-inefficient to include in a Feral Druid’s core rotation.
BIS Gear For Feral Druid DPS In Season Of Discovery
We are currently working on BiS lists for all classes and specializations in Phase 1 of Season of Discovery. Stay tuned as we will provide a link here when we have it complete.
Best Raid Consumables For Feral Druid DPS In Season Of Discovery
The reworked version of Blackfathom Deeps is the only raid available to players in Phase 1 of Season of Discovery. The raid isn’t particularly challenging, but it does hold a few surprises that can catch some players off guard. Make sure to stock up on some of the consumables listed below before going in since it always pays to be well-prepared even when tackling low-level raids.
Offensive Consumables
Defensive Consumables
Blackfathom Deeps Raid Loot | WoW Classic: SOD
Every piece of loot in the 25-man BFD for WoW Season of Discovery
