Credits go to KelioI have noticed there is no feral cats on the guild, people just say feral is broken, feral sucks, etc. Well, I've always liked the feral spec and I use it on mwow, and it actually works pretty well.
Feral dps is extremely gear dependent and is the hardest spec to play effectively with as in 3.3.5, however it is one of the most fun specs to play on pve ( and even on pvp, but I'm not discussing that on this guide) because of that level of challenge it represents to the player.
On this guide I'll be discusing the basics of feral cat dps, including spec, gear, stats, etc.
1) The stats:
According to Elitist Jerks (
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Strength
1 Str = 2.37864 AP (2.616504 AP)
Agility
1 Agi = 1.18932 AP (1.308252 AP)
1 Agi = 0.0129744% Crit (0.01427184%)
77.05 (70.07) Agi = 1% Crit
Stamina
1 Sta = 10.812 (11.8932) Health
Critical Strike Rating
1 CritRating = 0.022% Crit
45.91 CritRating = 1% Crit
Crit Caps
4.8% of our white Crits will always be converted into white hits against bosses. We can't reduce our chance to normally hit with white attacks below 4.8%.
Our Critchance with Yellow Attacks is reduced by 4.8% against bosses. But we actually CAN convert all our hits into crits.
76% - White crit cap (+ 24% Glancing Blows = 100%)
79.8% - Ferocious Bite Crit Cap (+ 25% Crit from Talent - 4.8% Crit Suppression = 100%)
104.8% - Yellow Crit Cap (- 4.8% Crit Suppression = 100%)
You have to subtract any avoided attacks from these caps. For example: If 4% of your attacks are avoided due to not reaching the Hit- and/or Expertisecap, then your white crit cap would be 72%.
Haste Rating
1 HasteRating = 0.030% Haste
32.79 HasteRating = 1% Haste
Hit Rating
1 HitRating = 0.030% Hit
32.79 HitRating = 1% Hit
Hit Cap vs lvl 80 targets: 5% Hit = 163.95 HitRating
Hit Cap vs lvl 83 targets: 8% Hit = 262.32 HitRating
Armor penetration Rating
1 ArPenRating = 0.07145% ArmorPenetration
13.9957272 ArPenRating = 1% Armor Penetration
Hard Cap 1399.57272 ArP = 100% of the target's armor are ignored
I will not discuss expertise as it is worthless on mwow.
According to this, the priority is something like this: Hit (until cap)>Arpen(until hard cap)=Agility>Strenght>Attack Power>Crit>Haste
1.1) Armor penetration.
As feral, ALL your damage is physical, thus it's affected by armor. Armor Penetration is a stat that scales linear, unlike armor, which is a stat with what we call " Diminishing Returns " meaning the more armor you have, the worst it gets per point (same works with crit, for example). Armor Penetration gets better at every point, but the first points are less valuable than the last points, because of that, armor penetration will be your best stat depending on how much armor penetration you alredy have. At around 500 passive arpen, you should go full arpen until cap. If not, you should go full agility ( yes, I'm refering to gems).
There are a few trinkets that help for the softcap, those trinkets have a arpen proc, which should get you to 100% arpen. But with current gear avaliable it is possible to reach hardcap.
1.2) Gemming:
As mentioned above, you will be gemming for agilty or arpen, depending on your current gear. ( meta sockets requeriments don't work on mwow, so yay! ).
With around 500 arpen, until 1400, you should gem arpen, below 500 and above 1400 you should gem agility.
1.3) Enchanting:
Pretty standar ones.
Head - [Arcanum of Torment]
Shoulder - Master's Inscription of the Axe > [Greater Inscription of the Axe]
Back - Swordguard Embroidery > +23 Agi (Engineering) > +22 Agi
Chest - +10 Stats
Wrist - Fur Lining - Attack Power > Greater Assault
Hands - Hyperspeed Accelerators > +20 Agi
Legs - [Icescale Leg Armor] or Nerubian Leg Reinforcements
Feet - Icewalker (when below Hit Cap) > 16 Agi
Finger - +40 AP
Weapon - Berserking > Mongoose > Massacre > Executioner
2) The Spec:
After some testing on the server, I've found that
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Gives the major ammount of dps on current mwow. You have one point left for use on whatever you want.
Unlike you would do on retail, you will not take 5/5 Feral aggression, as you will not be doing Ferocious Bite as often as you should, I will discuss that on the "rotation" section.
2.1) Glyphs:
You should use glyph of rip, glyph of savage roar and glyph of berserker on major slots, minor are more a personal choice.
3) The priority algorithm or "rotation"
Unlike mages, warlocks, etc. Feral dps doesn't have a rotation, and that is one of the things that makes feral spec so difficult. Feral dps players have to keep track of Combo Points, Energy, Mangle, Savage Roar, FF, Low mana healers, dead people, don't standing in the fire, vent. It is hard to dps as feral.
There is a few rules that you should know. Mangle is on the top of the algorithm, you want 100% uptime, then goes SR, then rip, then rake, then shred.
Shred will be your Combo Points builder, NEVER Shred if rake or mangle is not on the target.
You should use tigers fury on cooldown and Berserker on cooldown too, unless you save it for a boss mechanic in which the boss takes extra dmg.
Use savage roar on 3/4 CP, depending on your crits, that means no more than 3 shreds should be used for SR.
Always rip with 5 CP, otherwise it would be a waste.
Clip SR and rip if they are running out at the same time, use a low combo point SR to do so.
Ferocious Bite will dry all your energy, so use it only when you are sure you can afford the energy and combo point replenishment, or when rip can't reach it's full duration on the target. Always do 5CP FB, otherwise it is a waste.
The way to FB more is the shred glyph, which gives you 3 extra shreds ( 5 CP on regular bases ) without losing time on rip, which gives you the posibility to FB on regular bases, sadly, that doesn't happen on mwow.
Ask for hysteria from a blood dk and shattering thrown along with heroism and, of course, berserk. Feral druids are the most viable target for hysteria, as all our dmg is physical and it stacks with our cooldowns, which doesn't happen with warriors, as it doesn't stack with death wish.
Use consumables, it is more a regular raider rule than a feral specific rule.
Hope the simple guide made you wanted to start playing feral and makes your gameplay more enjoyable. If you still have any doubt, send me a PM ingame.