Feral DPS Guide
Feral cats are leather-wearing melee DPS, modeled roughly off rogues.
Strengths
- Cats are the most mobile spec in the game. Seconds off your target is lost DPS. Ferals are among the best at moving through raid mechanics and back into the thick of the fight.
- Ferals can heal themselves and can pull off some surprising healing if played well.
- Cats make decent emergency tanks. With a few adjustments to talents, it's quite possible to be a solid backup tank and still pull respectable DPS.
Weaknesses
- Cataclysm hasn't been kind to the feral cat. The "John Madden" style of play has been replaced as of 4.0.6, with an odd, non-intuitive, in-and-out style.
- Ferals in particular were targeted for a nerf to root-breaking, and have lost all protection against fear.
- Our combat design is best for single-target fights, with slow ramp-up of DoT damage, and we suffer when forced to change targets.
Stats
The current priority for stats is as follows, although it's best to consult a tool like Rawr or Mew for the best combination for your available gear:
- Primary stats: Weapon DPS, Agility
Strength is no longer a desireable stat for cats. Unless the upgrade is simply amazing on secondary stats, avoid strength.
- Secondary stats: All secondary stats were balanced fairly well in 4.2 and remain so into 4.3. Pick a scheme and stick with it.
Generally recommended is to focus on hit/exp first, as not missing or being dodged will make your rotation smoother and more predictable.
Consumables
Agility is the big stat for the Cataclysm cat.
Flask of the Winds,
Skewered Eel, and
Potion of the Tol'vir are the preferred raid consumables.
Best results are obtained through double-potting; that is, take one potion immediately before combat starts, then another one during Heroism or some other point in the fight where you can line up procs and/or Berserk for some good burst damage.
Gems
- Socket bonus: Use straight red gems unless the socket bonus gives 20 or more Agility per non-red gem.
Enchants
Reforging
As mentioned above, kitty secondary stats came into a nice alignment with 4.2. There is really no right or wrong answer for reforging schemes, although making sure you're set on hit and expertise may smooth your rotation.
Glyphs
Talents
- Tier 1
- Feral Swiftness: Mandatory. Time spent on your target is a straight DPS gain.
- Furor: Only helpful if you're not being a cat, which you should generally avoid doing. One point required to open the next tier.
- Predatory Strikes: Recommended. Along with Stampede (tier 3), makes the Feral Charge/Ravage opener worthwhile. It can proc Predator's Swiftness, which works well with Nurturing Instinct for a pinch-heal or a down-time Tranquility.
- Tier 2
- Infected Wounds: Primarily a tanking talent. Not worth talent points unless no one else is providing the debuff.
- Fury Swipes: Recommended. Free DPS, even if it's a fairly small boost.
- Primal Fury: Mandatory. Extra CPs for crits. Bathe in CPs!
- Feral Aggression: Mandatory IF you're the only one applying the armor debuff. Ferocious Bite is currently only useful once Blood in the Water (tier 6) kicks in for refreshing Rip, so the boost to it is a minimal gain.
- Tier 3
- King of the Jungle: Mandatory. This makes Tiger's Fury a serious part of your rotation.
- Feral Charge: Mandatory. Seriously, who does not love flying kitties? Gets you up close and personal faster, so you can better chew holes in your toy.
- Stampede: Recommended. Coupled with Predatory Strikes, makes an optimal opening sequence.
- Thick Hide: Optional. It's a bear talent, but if your tank dies, you can play Herobear and try to save the day.
- Tier 4
- Leader of the Pack: Mandatory. Nice buff for the group, plus gives you some minor passive healing. It won't save your furry butt, but it can ease a little of the healers' load.
- Brutal Impact: Situational. Mandatory if you're on interrupt duty.
- Nurturing Instinct: Highly recommended, mainly for the boost to incoming heals. Targets cannot be chewed upon by dead kitties. However, it also allows for emergency heals, or a backup Tranquility, which can help situationally.
- Tier 5
- Primal Madness: This talent has been subpar from the beginning. It requires special handling to make it yield even a small DPS gain.
- Survival Instincts: Highly recommended, because being dead sucks.
- Endless Carnage: Mandatory.
- Natural Reaction: Bear talent.
- Tier 6
- Blood in the Water: Mandatory. Allows you to refresh your Rip with FB at any amount of CPs for targets under 25%.
- Rend and Tear: Mandatory. Straight DPS increase.
- Pulverize: Bear talent.
- Tier 7
- Berserk: Mandatory DPS burst cooldown.
- Resto
- Natural Shapeshifter: Mandatory, but only to get to Master Shapeshifter.
- Heart of the Wild: Mandatory, straight DPS increase.
- Perseverance: Situational. A nice passive survival buff for fights when you're taking magic damage.
- Master Shapeshifter: Mandatory, straight DPS increase, even at the high talent point cost.
Here is a recommended build, with 7 points left over (4 open, 1 can be spared from Furor, and 2 from Brutal Impact) to be allocated as needed.
DPS
Terms
CP Combo Point
FB Ferocious Bite
FC Feral Charge
FF Faerie Fire
SR Savage Roar
TF Tiger's Fury
Single Target
The typical kitty fight should start a short distance away from the target. FC in if it's possible to be behind the target, and Ravage. Mangle, Rake, Shred to 5 CPs, Rip. Shred for another CP, then SR.
After that, keep up Mangle, Rake, Rip, and SR.
Tiger's Fury: In the initial sequence you will probably run out of energy. Use TF. Afterwards, use it whenever it's off cooldown and you have 25 energy or less.
Faerie Fire: The first time you're out of energy and TF is on cooldown, toss in FF if it's needed. Keep it up afterwards. You can also use FF when you're closing with a target and FC is either on cooldown or you're not quite in range yet.
Berserk: Don't mix it with Heroism; it'll be wasted. It will block the use of Tiger's Fury, although it won't clip it if TF is already up. Otherwise, use it when you think you can pull off some time with it. Berserk is another good time to use an agility potion, if Heroism wasn't well timed for you.
FC/Ravage: This is the trick for 4.0.6. If you can swing a downtime of 3s or less, you can gain a little DPS by running out, FC'ing in, and using Ravage.
When the target is under 25%, replace 5-CP Rips with FB. It doesn't matter how many CPs you have for FB; you're using it strictly to refresh Rip via the
Blood in the Water talent. A 2T13 set bonus raises this threshold to 60%, and makes this set bonus a major upgrade.
Other than that, Shred. Shred your little kitty heart out, or Mangle if you're stuck in front. You'll be overflowing in CPs. Unfortunately, since patch 4.0.6 there are no worthwhile finishers to dump excess CPs into.
Multiple Targets/Non-AoE
Cats lack a way to transfer CPs from target to target (such as a Rogue's Redirect). CPs invested into one target disappear a few seconds after it dies, or when CPs start on another target. The only way not to lose those CPs is by using them to refresh SR.
However, target changes are a great time to use FC and Ravage.
Multiple Targets/AoE
Swipe. Swipe. Swipe. Generally, your death follows immediately thereafter unless you've got some survival cooldowns or the healers are watching you.
Sources to Use