https://i.imgur.com/z2UdEs6.png
1) Introduction
Spoiler:Show Hello! I am Naiara, and welcome to my feral cat PvE guide. There seemed to be a distinct lack of good, comprehensive feral dps guides on Warmane, and after years of experience I finally feel qualified to create one. This guide is particularly made for geared, end-game ferals but should be useful for beginners as well.
I understand that feral is a very contentious spec with numerous ways to play successfully, with different gears setups and rotations, but I will simply discuss what works for me and possibilities you may explore to find what works specifically for you.
I would also like to mention Septimun, who was right there next to me in the early days of Lordaeron end-game raiding and always gave me a run for my money. Similarly, Nyuucat often filled in for me on my feral when I couldn't make raids due to IRL responsibilities, and I owe getting BiS to him. He is also an exceptional feral.
Since I primarily play on Lordaeron, all clips and references will be from my Lordaeron gameplay and exact numbers may differ for my Icecrown friends.
You can see my character here : http://armory.warmane.com/character/...daeron/summary
2) Why listen to me?
Spoiler:Show I started feral a little over 3 years ago now, and during that time I have been a core g1 raider in a multitude of top Lordaeron guilds including, but not limited to; After Life, Serenity, Blasters, and KappaXD.
This earned me becoming one of the, if not very first BiS feral cat on Lordaeron.
I have minmaxed and studied this spec and how to maximize it on all ICC fights; testing the limits of how feral can and does compete against all other classes. I believe I have accomplished some of the very best feral pulls on Lordaeron and am generally considered one of the top of my class on the server.
I have played feral in two recent r1 LoD speedkills including the current fastest timer (may be broken by the time you read this guide, however), and current r1 Sindragosa 10hc speedkill.
Current LoD speedkill leaderboard as of writing:
Sindragosa:
3) Talents, Glyphs, & Professions
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The best Profession options:
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Jewelcrafting: This profession provides the most stat benefit of any profession with 3 +34 gems, for a total +42 stat increase. Considering you can choose from any stat you need, makes it much more useful than for example, static +80 ap from enchanting.
Engineering: Basically a must-have for late ICC. The dps increase is not that impressive - 340 haste for 12 seconds on gloves, with a 1 minute cd - but the utility from nitro boots is second to none. As a melee you’re generally going to be close to the mechanics that will kill you and/or everyone else (like defile), so having quick nitro boots can save the day on many occasions. You also get +24 crit with nitro boots, and +23 agility on cloak along with the parachute. Similarly, the sapper charge bomb, saronite bombs, and chicken buff (all are explained under Consumables) all make engineering even better.
Blacksmithing: This is a viable option particularly if you also go tank offspec, because of the extra socket on bracers and gloves. Net total of +40 stat gain, so it slightly lags behind Jewelcrafting. This profession + JC are BiS for pvp arenas though, if you play them.
Tailoring: This is solely considerable because of the Swordguard Embroidery on cloak - 400 ap proc for 15 seconds about every minute. It’s a good proc, but JC static damage will still be higher and more useful.
Personally, JC + Engineer is the best combination.
Glyphs:
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Glyph of Rip: Increases the duration of Rip by 4 seconds.
Glyph of Savage Roar: Savage Roar grants an additional 3% bonus damage done.
Glyph of Shred: Each time you Shred, your duration of Rip is extended by 2 seconds on the target, up to a maximum of 6 seconds.
Minors: Glyph of Dash, Glyph of the Wild, Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth.
Talents
Essentially, all changes in the specs will relate to 4 main talents:
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Feral InstinctThis talent increases damage done by Swipe by 10% increments, up to 30%. Since a wide variety of bosses benefit from Swipe; such as Marrowgar, Lady HC, Sindragosa, Lich King, and Halion, this talent should normally be used. However, if you take dual-spec to min max certain other bosses, you may be able to drop this temporarily. I will explain more about this below.
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Improved Leader of the PackDisregard what your GM says about “helping the guild” with the raid healing from this talent, because it does virtually nothing. What this talent does do, however, is replenish your mana mid-fight. On fights like Sindragoa and Lich King, there will be multiple chances to use GotW mid-fight for a free clearcasting proc without sacrificing any damage. This is a must-have talent if you plan to do this. HOWEVER, it is completely unnecessary for virtually all other bosses.
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Improved MangleReduces the energy cost of Mangle by 2 per talent point. This is not a large dps increase, however, for lack of other better talents this can be useful in specific specs.
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Nurturing InstinctThis is an often completely overlooked talent, but shouldn’t be! It is a good talent for maxing damage of bosses like Sindragosa, because of the 20% increase of healing to you, you can essentially completely ignore stacks and never stop dpsing. If you’re on Icecrown you probably ignore them anyway, but I got a lot of use out of this talent when we were progressing Sindragosa HC on Lordaeron. Also, if you’re greedy on Lich King or your adds tank sucks on Halion hc, this talent could help save you when tanking adds you got aggro of.
Best Overall Spec
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If you're not dual-speccing cat, then this spec will serve you the best. With full points in both Feral Instinct and Improved Leader of the Pack, you can maximize all of your abilities on every boss - whether that boss calls for Swipe or using GotW or both. If you're not using GotW very often and have issues with surviving for any reason, go 1/2 points in Improved Leader of the Pack and 1/1 Survival Instincts instead.
The “Screw the Raid” Spec
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With Swipe and Mangle, but nothing defensive, this spec is my most commonly used spec. It offers the most maximum cleave advantage with the mangle energy advantage and is good on almost every boss, with the exception of minmaxing Sindy and LK.
Sindragosa Spec
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YES - Swipe IS good on Sindy. However, with only 2 tombs at a time, it's not that good. If you're at that point where you have to stop dpsing the boss due to stacks, or you want to go greedy on the last phase like me and ignore the magic debuff, then this spec will help you survive being a brainless dpser (but top of the charts). Use Survival Instincts when you really think that you're about to kill yourself, and GotW on blistering.
Single-target All the Way Spec
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For pure single-target bosses like DBS, and Festergut. Essentially, the difference between this spec and the Sindy spec is instead of using defensive talents, you go full mangle for a little extra energy advantage.
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As you can see, there are many different possibilities on how to min-max your spec to best suit certain boss fights and your own personal playstyle and circumstances. If you tend to have aggro problems in your guild, going defensive so that adds won’t kill you could benefit you more than someone else who has no issue with aggro. Or for say, in my experience I’ve had endless aggro problems in pug runs as compared to guild runs. I’ve used the first two specs more often than the latter two, but have gotten good use out of all.
4) Stats
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What to considerStats to consider on feral is not as straight-forward as one may think. Essentially, there are 3 primary ways to play feral - agility cat, strength cat, and haste cat. Or a combination of these. It is important to look at these stats and what they mean before we discuss gear in the next section.
Stat BreakdownMust have stats:
Expertise - 26 : This is the cap for not getting dodged or parried standing behind the boss, NOT in front of it - you will still get messed up there.
Hit Rating - 8% / 263 : I actually run 7.9% (259) hit rating and never register misses, so it works fine for me. However, I wouldn’t go any lower than 7.9%. If you’re alliance and often have a Draenei in the group, have another gear piece set aside with less hit gems to bring you down to 7% (230) so you can maximize your stats.
Important stats:
Crit chance - Crit rng is an integral part of feral dps since we get 2 combo points from them, and without crits the spec becomes very sluggish and clunky to play. Generally a ballpark around 73%+ crit in raid, and 76%+ in combat. You’ll have about 67-69% completely unbuffed with BiS gear (depends on your gem setup).
One major thing to consider with crit is that you can reach white hit cap - It's 80.8% crit in raids. This means that your white hits, which make up 30% of your damage, will ALWAYS crit once you reach this amount. This means, you have to decide whether it's worth it for you to continue gemming agility vs. other stats like haste and strength. That being said, you can generally only reach 80.8% in combat with procs like agility dbw proc.
Armor penetration - 1400 arp is the official cap, though on Warmane 1397-1399 is also just as good, so you do not need to be exact. Every point over 1400 however, is a waste. Having 1397-1400 is required for every feral.
The Contentious stats:
Agility - 1 agility = 1 attack power, 2 armor, and some small percentage of crit. This is undeniably the go-to stat until BiS. Once BiS, you can choose to stack this stat, strength, or even haste. Agility is the stat that I chose to stack once BiS since I prefer crit over attack power, and I find little use in having more haste.
Strength - 1 strength = ~2.6 attack power. This is buffed in raids by Blessing of Kings 10% stat buff. Some BiS ferals prefer to stack strength instead of crit preferring the raw power over extra rng, it really is personal preference. However, I personally consider this the weakest of the 3 options here.
Haste - Generally about 10% haste is the minimum for a BiS feral. With Umbrage wrists, Shadowvault Cloak, and Sindragosa neck you’ll be at 10.9% haste, which seems plenty to me. The usefulness of this stat is debated - everyone knows that haste is good, but nobody seems to know how good. With some testing I figured out that 2.93% haste (from gloves, since they will always be bis) compared to 10.9% results in about 5 hits more/minute. This is particularly good from an rng perspective since more hits equals more chances for Omen of Clarity proc. Some ferals gem haste at BiS gear, although personally it does not seem worth it to me as the amount of haste you get is very minimal, unless you fully gem it everywhere, and it translates into a questionable amount of extra damage.
5) Gear, Gems, & Enchants
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BiS ListHelm - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=51296
Neck - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50633
What about http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=54581? I thoroughly studied these two necks as I was an avid Penumbra user at first too, but at the end I have concluded that Sindy neck is simply better. On paper, Penumbra appears to have an additional ~.2% crit & 62 attack power over Sindy, however - the agility on Sindy neck is buffed by Blessing of Kings while the crit on Penumbra is not, so that Sindy neck is actually higher in crit when buffed. So the sole thing Penumbra has more than Sindy is the ~60 attack power, which sorely compares to Sindy’s additional crit, +60 haste, and +4 arp. I recommend Penumbra as a strong pre-BiS neck.Shoulders - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=51299
Back - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50653
What about http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=47545? Simply put, the lack of all other stats including a large amount of haste, means that the armor penetration alone will sorely make up for these lack of stats in it’s additional agility/strength/haste gemming that it offers. You want haste at BiS, and this cloak is an integral part of having enough. If you have Vereesa's it’s generally a good flex cloak though.Chest - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=51298
Wrist - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50670 OR http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=54580
Personally, I find Umbrage to be BiS because I find haste to be useful enough with the slightly superior stats. However, they’re close enough that Toskks is also acceptable if you prefer the additional gemming that it offers over haste.Hands - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50675
Belt - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50707
Legs - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=51297
Feet - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50607
Ring 1 - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50618 OR http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=54576
These rings are a fairly hot debate, but personally I find Frostbrood to be the stronger ring and I will explain why: Signet of Twilight DOES have slightly higher overall stats, however the hit instead of armor penetration is a double-edged sword for BiS ferals. Simply put, we have 8 yellow gem slots to try to get bonuses out of. Gemming hit instead of using it from Signet of Twilight makes it much easier to get all socket bonuses without having to use weird gems such as agil/haste. Similarly, Frostbrood has more arp than Signet has hit, tipping the balance of which is better for the additional gemming opportunities. I have found that I have higher agility/attack power than comparable BiS ferals that use Signet for these reasons. THAT BEING SAID - there are many ways to skin a cat, or in this case gem one. You can likely work out a gemming strategy with Signet that works for you, and enjoy the additional minor stats upgrade.Ring 2 - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50402
Trinket 1 - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=54590
Trinket 2 - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50363
Weapon - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50735
Idol - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50456
GemsMeta - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=41398
Red - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40117, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40112, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40111, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40118
Yellow - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40125
Orange - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40148, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40162
Blue - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=49110
EnchantsHelm - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50367
Shoulders - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=50335
Back - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=55002 (engineering), http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=55777 (tailoring), http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=60663
Chest - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=60692
Wrist - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=44575
Gloves - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=54999 (engineering), http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=60668
Belt - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=41611
Legs - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=38374
Feet - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=55016 (engineering), http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=60623, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=60763
Weapon - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=59621
6) Consumables
Spoiler:Show
All of your must-haves:Food - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=42999, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=44953, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=43000
Obviously, this depends on your personal needs and preferences - never use fish feast though.Flask - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=46377
Pots - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=40211 AND http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=22828
The Insane Strength Potion is a little known potion, in fact I have never seen another feral use it, however it generates about ~310 attack power in raid which is a good alternative when you’re potting on top of Heroism/Bloodlust. If you don’t have a heroism buff then haste pot would be generally better.Explosives - http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=42641, http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/item=41119
Sapper charge is a powerful instant ability that is especially good for adding extra cleave and should be a must in every feral rotation. Sapper causes a 1min CD on the Saronite bombs so be aware when using them.http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=72588
I’m listing this as a consumable because you will be using it constantly - GotW should be used on every pre-pull (8-11 seconds) before every boss, during blistering on Sindragosa, and room during LoD - for the free Omen of Clarity/Clearcasting proc. If you run out of reagents, casting hurricane for a few seconds often usually procs it.
7) Macros & Addons
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Useful Macros
Tiger’s Fury + Berserk
Hyperspeed Accelerators + any ability you wantQuote:
#showtooltip berserk
/use Tiger's Fury
/use Berserk
Mouseover de-curseQuote:
#showtooltip Rake
/cast Rake
/use 10
Focus / mouseover / target InnervateQuote:
#showtooltip
/use [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Remove Curse
Engineering macrosQuote:
#showtooltip Innervate
/cast [@yourfavoritehealer] Innervate
#showtooltip Innervate
/cast [@focus] Innervate
#showtooltip Innervate
/use [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Innervate
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Nitro boosts:
#showtooltip
/use 8
Cloak Slowfall:
#showtooltip
/use 15
Gloves Accelerators:
#showtooltip
/use 10
Useful Addons
Obviously there are hundreds of addons out there and I have many more for various different purposes than I put on this list, but these are my primary recommendations / must-haves for doing efficient feral damage.
Need to Know
This addon primarily displays cooldowns of anything you customize it to display - I find it particularly useful for tracking internal cooldowns (and procs) of my trinkets.
PowerAuras / WeakAuras
These are both customizable addons that display basically anything you want them to. I use powerauras to track my combo points, savage roar countdown, Deathbringer’s Will procs, hysteria, and Omen of Clarity procs.
Cooldowns
Displays your ability cooldowns and makes life easier.
Mik Scrolling Battle Text
My personal favorite addon for displaying damage - it lumps damage together into one big number, so if you’re cleaving or multi-dotting you can see how much it is total.
Recount &/or Skada
The best damage/healing/etc meters. They can sometimes differ slightly in results but generally are pretty accurate.
Omen
This is a useful threat meter.
8) Rotation/Priority List
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THERE IS NO ROTATION FOR FERAL. You have a set amount of abilities that you need to use in different circumstances and with different priorities.
This is the key for your absolute best damage - Savage Roar, Rake, and Rip NEVER drop, Tiger’s Fury is used on cooldown while simultaneously having low energy, and you get in as many Ferocious Bites as possible. Our goals as ferals is to try to accomplish this as best we can.
Do not waste timers, do not waste energy (anything over 100 is a waste), and do not waste combo points (never use another combo-point giving ability when you are already at 5.
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So what abilities should you use when?
Savage Roar -
Your most important ability because it has the largest damage increase of any other ability - 33% increased damage on every ability. This should never drop. HOWEVER - try not to clip it either. If there are 3 seconds left and you have low energy and other bleed timers are okay, then just wait out the savage roar before resetting it with your current combo points. Be efficient.
Rip -
Your most powerful bleed ability and needs to stay up 24/7 to get efficient damage. It is always preferable to reset Rip than to waste the combo points on a Ferocious Bite - however, DO NOT CLIP IT.
Rake -
Your 2nd bleed ability that is also your most low-energy ability. It should not be used unnecessarily but can sometimes be clipped in order to have enough combo points to reset another, more important ability.
Shred -
Your 2nd highest damage ability after melee hits. Your main combo point builder.
Ferocious Bite -
This ability is the key between good feral dps and great feral dps; the more bites the better. Only use on 5 combo points and do NOT pool energy to use this ability. You get the most damage per energy using it at the minimum needed energy.
Faerie Fire & Nature’s Grasp
These are padding abilities that you should get used to using when you have no energy for anything else, as they have a chance to proc Omen of Clarity.
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Opening Burst:
This is a contentious topic as many different ferals have many different ways of bursting the boss. In my experience my opener is one of the rarer types, however, I’ve also accomplished most, if not all, of the highest feral numbers on Lordaeron so I believe the outcome speaks for itself. My opener is as follows:
Mangle (via omen of clarity from pre-pull) -> Rake -> IF 4 cp use Savage Roar, IF not -> Shred (until 4-5 combo points, whichever comes first) -> Savage Roar -> (Now, make sure that you are at 0 energy before doing this) Tiger’s Fury + Berserk -> Shred to 5 combo points -> Rip -> Rake -> Shred to 5 -> Ferocious Bite -> Shred to 5 -> Ferocious Bite (IF combo points were easy, if not, you may have to refresh savage roar insead) -> berserk over, resume normal priority rotation.
The first thing you’ll notice is that I do NOT open with berserk - I find that to be a complete waste of time. Why open with berserk when your first hit will cost 0 energy due to you properly precasting Omen of Clarity? Why use your BEST damage-dealing ability when you don’t even have Savage Roar 33% damage up yet? The ONLY thing opening with berserk gives you is 3-4 extra seconds of STS proc...which doesn’t matter if you don’t have Savage Roar.
Similarly, it is important to start with at least 4 combo points in Savage Roar - because if you have anything less than 4, you'll have Roar + Rip run out at the same time along with struggling to get any more bites out. It can seriously mess up the rotation and cause you problems, so always go for a minimum of 4.
Burst Option 2:
This burst is more commonly used than the one above, however is a "safer" burst as it allows you to maintain your timers easier without the help of rng like Clearcasting procs. You can do generally equal damage with both openers, and one is not particularly better than the other. You can choose which one feels better for you.
Berserk -> Mangle -> Savage Roar (if 2cp, otherwise use rake first) -> Rake - > Shred to 5cp -> 5cp Rip -> Shred to 5cp, or until end of Berserk due to the amount of energy that Ferocious Bite takes, Shred can sometimes be more valuable -> Ferocious Bite -> Tiger's Fury -> Shred -> 2cp Roar -> Shred to 5cp -> reset 5cp Rip -> resume normal priority rotation.
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How to Use Clearcasting
This is also a highly debated topic...as is everything. I will tell you how I use Clearcasting in the most effective way for me. Primarily, I do not let it mess up my normal priority list depending on two main factors : 1st, if I am starting at zero energy, desperately need a Rake or Rip, and using Clearcasting on Shred means I won't get a hit from either of these bleeds for at least 2-3 seconds, then I simply use it on the bleed that I need. If you are at higher energy levels you can afford to use Clearcasting on an extra Shred, regardless of whether you have 5 combo points or not, because you can instantly use the ability that you need to refresh afterwards (assuming that it isn't Savage Roar). Personally, I generally don't use Shred at 5 combo points regardless of whether I can afford to or not, it's simply not how I like to play. But yes, in theory you can get more damage out of that in certain situations.
Finally, I do use it on Ferocious Bites if it's applicable.
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How and When to use Ferocious Bite
The thing about playing cats is that unless they are EXACTLY the same, every single one plays differently. The amount of haste, agility, and crit every cat has makes it feel different - the amount of procs, the amount of crits, etc. So you will have to learn your character and what exactly works for yours. However, this is how I generally judge using FB:
Ferocious Bite is a very powerful filler ability. For me, I need Savage Roar to be above 12 seconds left, & Rip and Rake to be no more than about half over each, as they both have different timers. Once I judge that I can safely use a full combo point Ferocious Bite without any of my other timers dropping for a significant amount of time, then I use it. I normally get in over 10 on an average fight like Festergut.
The worst thing you can do is use FB and then immediately drop an important timer like Roar or Rip, leaving you without energy, combo points, or damage.
9) Importance of Hysteria
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http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=55213 is a significant factor in really competing and enjoying feral dps. With hysteria you are easily competing with the r1 classes - fire mage, fury warr, and assas/combat rogue single target. Yes, you can still do very well without it, but here I will give you some reasons as to why it should ALWAYS go to feral, on every boss, every time:
Feral deals 100% physical damage - Hysteria buffs literally every single ability we use, including bleeds, AND stacks with all of our abilities, such as Berserk.
Vs. Rogue - Combat Rogue deals roughly ~80% physical damage, Assasination even less.
Vs. Warr - They deal 100% physical damage BUT Hysteria cannot stack with Death Wish and therefore there is no way for warriors to effectively use hysteria with their cds.
Vs. Hunt - Hunt deals less than 80% physical damage as many of their main abilities - Chimera Shot, Serpent Shot (& dot), Traps, Silencing Shot, and Wild Quiver - are all non-physical damage.
No other classes should even be considered.
10) Boss Fight TacticsSpoiler:Show
I’ll describe some tips and tricks for Icecrown Citadel and Ruby Sanctum 25m Heroic. I’m not outlining all boss tactics, but just some things that I believe the average feral may not know and could benefit from.
HalionQuote:
Feral dps is by far the most efficient dps class on RS25hc, no questions asked. NOBODY can match our cleave or in most cases boss damage as well. We have the best burst cleave in the entire game. You should always be with the outside group. If you are not top dps throughout the entire fight and the end, you’re doing it wrong.
Save Berserk + Hysteria for the first adds pack in p1, you should see a minimum of 110k damage per swipe, up to ~130k. Use it again on the first adds pack in p3, or second if it is not off CD yet. NEVER START CLEAVING WITHOUT SAVAGE ROAR.
You will need to pool energy before the add packs spawn, as well as save Tiger’s Fury. You will likely not be using Rip for most of the fight due to this, as you need Rake + Shred to keep Savage Roar indefinitely up. Self-proccing clearcasting via GotW is also viable here before adds spawn.
Your adds tank should keep the adds in range of Halion, so you should be able to always keep Halion targeted and white hitting as you cleave the adds. If your tank is in Africa, tell him to move. Worst case, start tabbing to be able to cleave the adds.
Lord MarrowgarQuote:
Stand slightly to the side before bone spikes spawn, in order to have all 3 and boss within cleave range assuming that all 3 spikes spawn under boss. There is some rng to this, as if you get spiked it will take longer for your spike to be killed at the side, and damage is significantly reduced if less than 3 spikes spawn under the boss.
Don’t use feral charge to reach the boss during Bonestorm, it’s not worth the energy and having to run out, simply save Dash and Nitro Boosts for Bonestorm.
Lady DeathwhisperQuote:
I recommend using Berserk at the start (following my normal burst rotation) because it will still be up for the first adds pack. Proper cleaving on adds is key to topping this boss. Move quickly and efficiently to have all adds in range.
On p2 it is viable to go cleave adds with the warriors, however you’ll likely do better staying on boss.
Deathbringer SaurfangQuote:
Nothing particularly special about this boss, but it is usually used as the benchmark of single target dps. Never use any sort of aoe, only focus boss.
Use the normal burst rotation and get your Blood DK to use hysteria immediately on burst unless you know for sure that your guild will kill it in under 3 minutes, then coordinate with him for your berserk and trinket procs.
Professor PutricideQuote:
NEVER WASTE COMBO POINTS, even when switching targets. Always refresh Savage Roar or apply another Rip.
Multi-dotting PP and the ooze is useful for getting an extra edge.
Use feral charge often to get around quickly - especially when you have to stack on green while you have orange debuff. You can use feral charge to immediately jump over to orange the second green knocks back.
Use Berserk at the start, I don’t care what your raid leader says. This makes the cd line up perfectly for the rest of the fight, as it should come up again around the same time as p2 orange spawn and then again early in p3.
SindragosaQuote:
For some reason people seem to believe that feral is not a top dps on Sindragosa, which is complete nonsense. Unless you get terrible rng, you should always be top 5 - with hysteria you can be 1st on this boss.
Pretty average Sindy burst - https://i.imgur.com/ZLPbUUX.png
For the entirety of p1 you can pretty much completely ignore http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=70107 debuff. However, I would start being careful if you manage to reach over 10 stacks. If you have bad healers or are simply stuck on progressing, I recommend using my Sindragosa spec that I outlined above. With that spec this debuff becomes a complete non-event.
On p2 you do not need to reset http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=72530 on every tomb, I would recommend resetting on every other or until your stacks start getting high around 6-7. To dodge resetting just ignore targeting the tomb and go on the boss around it, just be careful of los’ing your healers. You may get tailswiped here doing this, feral charge back.
You can feral charge boss once as she flies up for air phase, getting 1-2 abilities in.
During air phase, you should still have Savage Roar up once tombs spawn but if you don’t, quickly get a 1-2 combo point Roar up. Stack 5 combo points on 1 high-health tomb and then use Swipe to cleave them down to low health. On the last frost bomb, use your 5 combo points to reset Savage Roar and kill the tombs via swipe before going back on the boss.
Use bear form if you get targeted for tomb, especially on p2.
Use GotW to proc a free Clearcasting during http://wotlk.cavernoftime.com/spell=70123, air phase, and any other break time you may get during the fight.
Lich KingQuote:
Feral is incredibly strong on LoD as one of the best Valkyr cleavers and single-target dpsers. By the end of the fight, you should be top 5 or close on top Valkyr damage, competing with rets, boomies, and udks in particular. Generally you should not be able to win warrior on Valkyr cleave. As for single target, you can easily be the top damage dealer on Lich King, depending on whether you have mages + hunts damaging the boss during transitions. Your main competition for this will be rogues and warriors. By the end of the fight, you may be top 5 in overall damage, but it highly depends on your overall group skill and composition.
Burst immediately using normal rotation. Example of a pure single-target burst - https://i.imgur.com/lH0HHBP.png
DO NOT CLEAVE ON P1. Every swipe used on p1 is greediness and nothing else, as it takes away from your single target damage significantly on the boss. You may start cleaving ghouls as soon as LK reaches 70% health. (I will admit I did this a lot in the early days, and it was fun - https://i.imgur.com/SomCvwG.png)
Berserk will come up again sometime during transition, you need to save it for the first Valkyr wave during p2. If you have Tiger’s Fury up by Valkyr spawn then you don’t need to pool energy, but if not, then pool energy before popping Berserk once the Valkyr land. You should get Berserk + Hysteria + using pot, and stand at the side and spam cleave all Valkyr. Your tank should be moving Lich King with the Valkyr, ideally you can keep him targeted. This is when your cleave damage really shines.
Here is a good clip on the power of efficient Valkyr cleaving:
https://clips.twitch.tv/AnnoyingCoweringAubergineSSSsss
You should focus pooling energy (but not going to 100) for Valkyr during p2, so you may not keep Rip up or certainly not using any bites. Always make sure you have Savage Roar above all else.
Yes….you can feral charge flying Valkyr while targeted for defile. It makes for some hilarious results, but does wipe the raid! Use this information with caution.
Swipe may be worth it if you have at least 3 Raging Spirits up during transition, but I almost always go solely single-target on them. Multi-dotting is useful as well.
Use the third Berserk during the 2nd transition if it is up, otherwise wait until after the 1st room.
During the p3 Rooms, go bear form so that you won’t die if there is a random spirit explosion. Use GotW within the last 10 seconds so that you have a free Clearcasting once leaving the room. This is the best time to get Innervates out as well.
After you kill the remaining Raging Spirits, P3 quickly turns into a single-target race. Try to coordinate the last hysteria with your last Berserk, preferably on Heroism/Bloodlust.
Refresh dots on 11%.
