Feral Druid DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities - The War Within Pre-Patch (2024)

The buttons below can be used to select between curated talent loadouts fromour talent page. You can also use the switches below to add or removeindividual talents you may also be using:

Single TargetCleaveAoE

Talent Selections
Apex Predator's Craving	Adaptive Swarm	Bloodtalons
Brutal Slash	Coiled to Spring	Convoke the Spirits
Double-Clawed Rake	Feral Frenzy	Lunar Inspiration
Primal Wrath	Rampant Ferocity	Saber Jaws
Sudden Ambush	Thrashing Claws	Season 4 Set

Single TargetAoEOpener

Feral Druids in single-target focus on building Combo Points via Energyspenders, and consuming them with powerful Finishing moves in a cycle.It is a mixture of resource management and DoT maintenance, with aheavy emphasis on planning with some reactive elements.

1. Cast Tiger's Fury on cooldown, ideally at 70 or more Energy below the cap.
2. Cast Berserk on cooldown with Tiger's Fury active, try to sync with Convoke the Spirits.
3. Maintain Rip on your target with 5 Combo Points. Only refresh this with Tiger's Fury and Bloodtalons active.
4. Cast Ferocious Bite if at 5 Combo Points and Rip is active on your target.
5. Maintain Thrash, ideally with Omen of Clarity procs.
6. Cast Shred or Brutal Slash to build Combo Points.

The most important thread throughout all of Feral is making sure that youmaintain Rip and Rake as efficiently as possible, ideallysnapshotting them with Tiger's Fury and Bloodtalons. After that,your excess Energy and Combo Points are used to fuel Ferocious Bitewhile always keeping in mind your Bleed maintenance. Some key notes are:

Feral in AoE almost entirely hinges off powerful talent picksin the tree that allow for much easier application of Bleed effects inAoE. It relies heavily on a mix of the high power spender Primal Wrath(which can be selected above) and tab-target gameplay with Rake.

1. Cast Tiger's Fury on cooldown, ideally at 30 Energy or less.
2. Cast Berserk if available, ideally alongside Tiger's Fury.
3. Maintain Rip on as many targets as possible.
4. Cast Ferocious Bite if at 5 Combo Points, Rip is active on nearby targets and your Energy is about to cap, or with an Apex Predator's Craving proc.
5. Maintain Thrash, ideally with Omen of Clarity procs.
6. Cycle Rake on as many targets as possible.
7. Cast Swipe to build Combo Points.

Many of the rules that Feral plays by in single-target remain in Cleaveand AoE situations, and it introduces the multi-DoT requirement of cycling Rake depending on choices. Your Rip maintenance is replacedby Primal Wrath, which should be used to apply it to all nearbytargets, but avoid casting it repeatedly unless it needs refreshing. Excess ComboPoints are spent on Ferocious Bite for priority damagetotrigger Rampant Ferocity. Apex Predator's Craving procs arespent as quickly as possible. Key notes are:

• Swipe Brutal Slashreplaces Shred as soon as an additional target is present, and youalso need to make sure to maintain Thrash on all nearby targetsas much as possible.
• Rake should be maintained on as many targets as possible, using any Sudden Ambush procsto amplify them.Aim not to overwrite stronger snapshot Bleeds when possible while switchingtargets quickly. Moonfirewith Lunar Inspiration should also be maintained when at lowertarget counts.

Feral has a relatively fixed opening sequence to generate enoughCombo Points to get its Bleeds set up, then enters into its cooldowns. Howyou spend your first few sets of Combo Points, however, varies dependingon target count, so select the encounter type below:

1. Cast Prowl before combat starts.
2. Cast Rake
3. Cast Shred until you are at 5 Combo Points.
4. Cast Swipe Brutal Slash until you are at 5 Combo Points.
5. Cast Berserk.
6. Cast Tiger's Fury and spend your opening Combo Points on Primal Wrath.
7. Cast Tiger's Fury and apply Rip to your primary target.
8. Cast Tiger's Fury and immediately apply Rip.
9. Continue with the normal priority list.

Always try to have all of your major effects applied before enteringinto Berserk, as you will be spending a lot of time castingbuilding and spending aggressively due to the resource flood. Some notesare:

• Both Berserk and Tiger's Fury are off the GCD so that they canbe used alongside another ability immediately.

BloodtalonsAdaptive SwarmSudden AmbushBrutal SlashLunar InspirationApex Predator's Craving

When playing with Bloodtalons, you will often be playing ina cycle. That means you will trigger the effect by spendingEnergy in quick succession via Shred into Rakeinto Thrash/ Brutal Slash (if taken), and then siton the three charges before you consume them for a Finisher. If you do nothave any charges remaining from a previous cycle, that means you needto think about your Energy pool before casting a Finisher to makesure you can quickly cast three different Combo Pointgenerators following that to re-activate the buff.

Due to there now being 3 charges, you should be able to buffall of your finishers with Bloodtalons with as littlewaste as possible. Plan out expected refreshes of Rakewith Tiger's Fury to efficiently generate these stacks,and aim to overlap your Rip Bleed inside this buffwindow as well paired with a Bloodtalons stack.

Playing around Adaptive Swarm has some small quirks thatcan be optimized if you choose to do so, and there are additional rulesto consider depending on if you play with Unbridled Swarm:

• Adaptive Swarm - when played, this should be applied to your maintarget with Bleeds active. This can be refreshed, and the charges will be added ifit bounces back from an ally. The ideal tactic (once you have an active swarm)is usually to refresh a swarm on the boss that has 1 or 2 stacks as close-to-optimalto the end of the duration as possible, refreshing the dot and extendingthe duration on your desired target.
• Unbridled Swarm - grants Adaptive Swarm bounces a chanceto clone into two swarms, making the ability more complex to optimize withslightly different rules for single-target and AoE:
  • In single-target, ideally, you should build up swarms and then leavethem alone. When you do not have any (or few) active swarms, cast it onthe enemy (refreshing 1-2 stacks at the end of the duration as witha normal swarm). When you have a lot of active swarms, cast it on anally with 1 stack or no swarms on them. This is to maximize the possible numberof bounces (and, therefore, chances for cloning).
  • On multi-target, you generally apply the same rule to enemy targets;Prioritizing enemies with 2 stacks, then 1 stack, and finally targetswithout any swarm active. In Mythic+, you can refresh activeswarms on allies between pulls when out of combat to keep them rollingbetween different packs. Your priority should be 2 stacks > 1 stack >no swarm > 3 stacks in that order.

Sudden Ambush procs are generated from Finishers, so youwill generally be at zero Combo Points when this is generated. Ideally,you should spend these on Rake if possible for the Stealthdamage bonus and, when possible, pair it with Tiger's Furyto snapshot it at its highest potential. In multi-target situations,you should use this on separate targets to have multiple stronger Rakes ticking. In contrast, try to avoid overwritinga buffed Rake in single-target if you can. In all other situations,use it for Shred if you have excess procs. Note as wellthat during Berserk, this adds another multiplierto both of these abilities, keeping it valuable during cooldowns.

When using Brutal Slash, try to ensure that you always have atleast one charge on cooldown, but bank charges for when a waveof enemies is about to spawn. Try to have short-duration buffs such as Tiger's Fury active for as many high-target casts as possible. Insingle-target, this is worth casting as a more energy-efficient equivalentto Shred. With Bloodtalons taken as well, this is usuallythe third activator in single-target when you have your Bleeds alreadymaintained.

Lunar Inspiration revolves around keeping up the Moonfire DoT. This should be maintained on a single target at alltimes. You should also multi-DoT targets with it when you are dealing witha cleave situation and have selected this. Moonfire should be refreshed whenthere are 4.8 seconds or less left on its duration to make maximum use of thepandemic effect. With this talent, it also becomes a Bloodtalonsactivator.

Apex Predator's Craving is quite simple to play around with — whenevera proc happens, you should aim to consume it as quickly as possible to avoidwasting a follow-up proc. Due to the Ferocious Bite being free ofany resource cost and dealing the maximum possible damage, there is noreason to sit on these procs when they occur.

These procs also have their trigger chance reduced as additional Ripsare applied in AoE, meaning that your trigger rate should be roughly similarat most target counts.

Combo Points and EnergyBleeds and DoTsSnapshottingRefreshing BleedsFerocious BiteOther Talents

As a Feral Druid, the core of your abilities needs Energy to be used. YourEnergy bar has a capacity of 100 Energy and refills at a rate of 11 Energy persecond. Your Energy regeneration is increased by your Haste.

Feral has a pool of abilities that build Combo Points (defined as builders)being Shred, Rake, Swipe / Brutal Slash,and Thrash. To go with this, you have abilities that spend these(defined as Finishers), consuming all current Combo Points. The more ComboPoints a Finishing Move consumes, the more powerful (or longer-lasting) itseffect is. Your Combo Point generation is increased by Primal Fury,which causes your Combo Point generating abilities to grant an additionalCombo Point any time they critically strike with direct damage.

Energy pooling is beneficial and should be done in most circ*mstances.It is not mandatory but can be helpful to improve your output when dealingwith specific fight mechanics. Making sure you have a healthy pool of Energybefore dumping allows you to frontload damage more effectively. You shouldalways make sure to spend any excess before pressing Tiger's Furyif possible, to not waste the generation it grants.

Omen of Clarity procs should be used as soon as yourcycle allows so that they do not get overwritten by subsequent procs. With Moment of Clarity, this allows for more flexibility to sit on onecharge, allowing it to accumulate up to 2.

You should always strive to have 100% uptime on the target with Rake and Rip. This forms the core of your damageoutput and DoT maintenance gameplay. Bear in mind, if you are playing Circle of Life and Death all of the below effects expire 25% faster.

• Rake costs 35 Energy to apply and lasts for 15 seconds, makingit the easiest tool to manage.
• Rip costs 20 Energy, but its duration is also dependent on howmany Combo Points it is applied with, so you should aim to apply Rip at 5Combo Points for the best Energy efficiency. When done at 5, it lastsfor 24 seconds.
• Thrash costs 40 Energy to cast and deals its damage over 15seconds. This, much like Rake, is easy to maintain and applies to all targets hitand should be maintained at all times in AoE and Single-Target.If playing Thrashing Claws, however, this is completely removedfrom the rotation and instead maintained by Shred and Swipe.

If you have taken the Lunar Inspiration talent, then you alsoneed to have 100% uptime with Moonfire. It can be cast from 40yards, making it easier to maintain as a filler during downtime or on differenttargets not in melee range.

Bleed snapshotting does still exist for Feral Druids, but it only works withsome specific damage-increasing buffs. Snapshotting means that the damage to theBleed effect will be decided at the time of application and carryover the amplification effect of the following buffs (where applicable)for the entire duration.

The effects that have the snapshot interaction with Bleeds are:

• Tiger's Fury;
• Sudden Ambush;
• Bloodtalons.

Tiger's Fury applies to any Bleed effect, while Bloodtalonswill only apply to your Finishers in Rip and Primal Wrath. Sudden Ambush also only applies to Rake via the Pouncing Strikeseffect.

Feral benefits from the Pandemic effect on many tools, allowing you torefresh specific DoT effects, buff up to 30% early, and carry the remainingduration into the next cast. This does not carry over any snapshottingeffects; they need to be present when the new effect is applied.The pandemic timers are as follows:

• Rake — 4.5 seconds
• Rip — 7.2 seconds (assuming 5 Combo Points)
• Thrash — 4.5 seconds
• Moonfire — 4.8 seconds

Note that these amounts are reduced by 25% when using Circle of Life and Deathdue to the increased tick speed.

Tracking these is made considerably easier when using external addonsto keep tabs on each buff and debuff. It is recommended to use some additionaltools to make sure you are always aware of your current buff/debuff state dueto how core it is for Feral, so check our addons page for recommendations.

You should always be pooling Energy to 50 before using Ferocious Biteif you intend to cast it (provided it does not impact your Rip uptime).The additional 100% damage is significant due to how hard Bites can hit inDragonflight, especially if playing Saber Jaws.

As covered in the rotation section, ensure you have roomto cast Ferocious Bite before committing the resources to it. That means youhave your Bleed effects in Rake and Rip maintained andhave enough excess resources that it will not cause either to fall off.

These are details on talents that are generally core picks in most builds,but are not rotationally warping enough to require extra rotational explanation.These are just mechanical details worth noting.

This provides some level of overflow protection to Combo Points, granting a10% increase to finishers if you generate above your cap. Doing so is not strictlya benefit, so this talent is more of an option to make life easier when balancingyour resources rather than something to actively play around, as it can be hardto fit into a build.

Thrashing Claws is a performance loss, but it does simplify therotation by completely removing the need to press Thrashactively. While it is not usually recommended, it can make the spec easierto learn early on by replacing this maintenance with your regular Shred and Swipe casts.

Moment of Clarity means that you will have an increased frequencyof Omen of Clarity procs, allowing you periods of smoother Energymanagement by having some builders come free. Try to make sure you do not capyour Energy when these trigger (which is helped by the additional Energy limitgranted), and be aware that you should pool less aggressively when using this toallow room to make use of the effect.

Feral Frenzy should be used when you have 0-2 Combo Points, andyou should follow this up with a Finishing Move. This means you need toensure that you have the Energy available to usethe surge of Combo Points instantly. Ideally, you should pair everyother cast of this with Tiger's Fury, too, to boost the damage.With the Season 4 Set bonus, this naturally aligns with Tiger's Fury, andyou should plan around using this as soon as it is ready.

Incarnation: Avatar of Ashamane empowers your Berserk byincreasing its duration to 20 seconds and reducing the Energy cost of allabilities by 20%. This should still be used on cooldown, and it is essentialto pair it with other damage boosts like Tiger's Furyto make the most of it due to it being a cooldown. Aim to have spentall resources as it is about to expire.

Convoke the Spirits should be cast on cooldown, but try tosave it for burst periods if needed. Casting this after dumping Energyand Combo Points is good due to the spells casting for free and the floodof resources it provides.

Ashamane's Guidance, when paired specifically with Incarnation,each of your Rake and Rip effects on a target individuallyincrease their damage taken from you by 3%. This is active during Incarnationand for 30 seconds after it fades. While this is active, aim to keep themboth active throughout.

Soul of the Forest is a simple talent that boosts your Finishersand smooths out your Energy generation. The benefit this talent confers isenormous to the rotation after each Finisher and is always taken due to howmuch additional resource generation it represents.