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Druids are a remarkable class, known for their majestic shapeshifting powers. For many years, they have remained a favorite choice for thousands of players. In this The War Within Feral Druid Guide, we will explore the latest changes to Feral Druids, delve into their abilities and rotation, and identify the essential consumables you’ll need to optimize your performance.
Table of Contents
Feral, the Melee DPS specialization for Druids, forms its core gameplay around a dual resource system of Energy and Combo Points and uses them to apply powerful Bleed DoT effects on targets. Alongside that, both are used in tandem to create a build-and-spend system that incorporates pooling for high-damage moments. As a Druid, it also provides the Mark of the Wild buff to increase your group's Versatility.
Strengths
Weaknesses
Feral is one of the more complex specs to get started with due to relying on a dual resource system that requires you to manage and pool them correctly at different times. It has a slow passive resource in Energy that can be converted into Combo Points via generator spells, such as Shred, and then spent on finishing moves, such as Ferocious Bite.
Alongside this, Feral also has Bleed mechanics that apply debuffs to your target that require different resources - Rake needing Energy and Rip needing Combo Points. This creates a spec that, seems very busy at first glance, but it tends to play slower giving you room to make those decisions. This puts more weight on your gameplay choices and foresight rather than your snap gameplay. Once you grasp the concepts, it tends to click into place and becomes a lot more fluid to manage; it just takes a little practice!
It also has a very robust AoE toolkit that links together well, making use of Primal Wrath to apply the Rip effect to targets around you and Rampant Ferocity converts Ferocious Bite into an AoE tool keeping everything relevant. Finally, Apex Predator's Craving allows us to use all those active Rips to proc free additional Bite casts, creating a satisfying synergy between the entire toolkit.
While Patch 11.1 includes a sizable list of changes for Druids, most of them have little impact on Feral specifically or its overall playstyle. However, the class tree is receiving some significant structural improvements, providing new pathing options to pick up additional utility. This makes the patch feel fresh while keeping the core gameplay familiar. Here are some key highlights:
If you enjoyed Feral in Season 1, you'll be glad to know that its mechanics remain largely unchanged in Season 2. However, with some damage buffs and a new set bonus, there are still exciting updates to look forward to in The Undermine!
Feral Druid is extremely mobile, allowing for fast questing and efficient movement between objectives. It has a strong AoE toolkit, but much of its damage occurs over time, requiring careful management to avoid being overwhelmed. Feral is also well-suited for dungeon leveling, though queue times may be faster if you opt to tank as Guardian.
While leveling, always equip the gear with the highest item level. Since you will frequently replace gear, there is no need to focus on secondary stats—simply use the best upgrades available.
Talents can be changed anywhere in the world as long as you are out of combat. Experimenting with different talent combinations while leveling allows you to adapt to various encounters and gain a better understanding of the spec. Below is a recommended leveling path through the Class and Feral skill trees. This setup balances ease of learning with effectiveness, introducing core mechanics while avoiding overly complex resource management.
At level 10, you gain access to Rake and Rip from the Class tree. These abilities are central to Feral’s Bleed-based gameplay, and you should maintain them as much as possible during combat. Feral utilizes a dual-resource system: Energy fuels abilities like Shred for single-target and Swipe for AoE, generating Combo Points used for powerful finishers like Ferocious Bite.
Copy the Feral Druid talents, paste them into the game.
War Mode is an optional feature that enables open-world PvP, providing various benefits when active:
With these advantages, enabling War Mode can significantly enhance your leveling efficiency and rewards at max level. However, it also exposes you to open-world PvP, meaning enemy players may attempt to interfere with your progress. Consider whether the risk is worth the reward before enabling it.
If you're interested in PvP as a Feral Druid or want tips on handling PvP encounters, check out our dedicated PvP guide.
Currently, Wildstalker is the top choice for single-target encounters, though Druid of the Claw is not far behind.
For Mythic+, Druid of the Claw is the recommended choice due to its strong damage profile and significant defensive advantages. However, Wildstalker remains competitive in raw numbers.
Both Druid of the Claw and Wildstalker share the same stat priority for single-target:
Critical Strike is the top priority early in the expansion to generate enough resources for a smooth rotation via Primal Fury. However, Mastery is very close in value and will surpass Critical Strike once you have enough Crit to support it. These two stats should be your main focus early on.
Haste follows closely behind, helping with Energy regeneration and improving DoT tick rates, particularly for Wildstalker, as Bloodseeker Vines has a fixed duration.
Versatility is the lowest priority but still has value, especially if you need additional damage reduction.
As always, you should simulate your character using Raidbots and compare gear directly rather than relying solely on stat weights.
Both Wildstalker and Druid of the Claw have different stat priorities in AoE situations due to their distinct builds:
Mastery is extremely valuable for Wildstalker as it enhances all of the DoT effects and finishers, making it the best stat in multi-target scenarios. Critical Strike remains important for resource generation and additional damage.
Versatility is a useful multiplier, making it a solid third choice, while Haste is slightly less valuable once you have enough to sustain your cycle.
Mastery is the top priority for Druid of the Claw as it amplifies Ravage and Primal Wrath in AoE. Critical Strike follows closely behind, boosting Combo Point generation via Primal Fury.
Versatility is slightly behind but still beneficial as another multiplier for strong abilities, while Haste is the lowest priority once resource generation is stable.
As always, you should simulate your character using Raidbots and compare gear directly rather than relying solely on stat weights.
Every stat has a threshold where it begins to offer less increase per point gained, known as diminishing returns. Once you reach these values, stats become progressively less valuable and may fall behind other options. The current breakpoints are:
With the higher item level in the current season, there is a risk of hitting these diminishing return points on at least two stats. Be mindful of these breakpoints if your simulation results seem unusual.
Feral Druids in single-target focus on building Combo Points via Energy spenders, and consuming them with powerful Finishing moves in a cycle. It is a mixture of resource management and DoT maintenance, with a heavy emphasis on planning with some reactive elements.
The most important thread throughout all of Feral is making sure that you maintain Rip and Rake as efficiently as possible, ideally snapshotting them with Tiger's Fury and Bloodtalons. After that, your excess Energy and Combo Points are used to fuel Ferocious Bite while always keeping in mind your Bleed maintenance.
Always try to have all of your major effects applied before entering into Berserk, as you will be spending a lot of time casting, building, and spending aggressively due to the resource flood.
Feral in AoE almost entirely hinges on powerful talent picks in the tree that attach AoE components to single-target finishers. Primal Wrath allows for much easier application of Rip, and Rampant Ferocity converts Ferocious Bite into AoE damage when paired together.
Many of the rules that Feral plays by in single-target remain in multi-target situations, alongside the need to apply Rake to multiple enemies. Primal Wrath replaces Rip entirely, and excess Combo Points are spent on Ferocious Bite to trigger Rampant Ferocity. Apex Predator's Craving procs are spent as quickly as possible.
Berserk is Feral's major damage cooldown, lasting 15 seconds with a baseline cooldown of 3 minutes, reduced to 2 minutes with Berserk: Heart of the Lion. While active, it provides several benefits:
While there are a lot of effects tied into it, the main impact is quite simple: you deal a lot more damage and have access to significantly more resources. Feral deals a very large amount of damage during its cooldown windows, so making sure to use this on cooldown and burn off the extra resources is key.
Tiger's Fury has a 30-second cooldown off-global-cooldown button that instantly generates 50 Energy and increases the damage of all of your Feral abilities by 15% for 10 seconds. This damage increase also "snapshots" Bleeds applied, amplifying them for their full duration. There are several specific talents that enhance this:
As you can see, Tiger's Fury makes up a major part of Feral's talent tree and is a core component of gameplay. It is generally pressed as close to every 30 seconds as possible, ideally with low Energy to take advantage of the refund. While it is active, you want to make sure to reapply any Bleeds to take advantage of the snapshot, and layer it over any other cooldowns such as Berserk.
Convoke the Spirits has a 2-minute cooldown, and when used, it casts a quick succession of 16 Druid spells free of cost over 4 seconds. This prefers Feral spells, but some abilities from other specs will also be mixed in. As of The War Within, it prioritizes single-target abilities on your current target. Some quick notes about the abilities it will aim to cast:
Convoke the Spirits is always paired with Berserk and Tiger's Fury to maximize the burst of damage it provides. It can also be reduced to a 1-minute cooldown with Ashamane's Guidance (reducing the spells cast to 12), but is still always synced with these other buffs.
As a Feral Druid, the core of your abilities requires Energy to be used. Your Energy bar has a capacity of 100 Energy (increased by some Talents) and refills at a rate of 11 Energy per second baseline. Your Energy regeneration is increased by your Haste.
Feral has a pool of abilities that generate Combo Points (known as generators), those being Shred, Rake, Swipe / Brutal Slash, Thrash, Moonfire (with Lunar Inspiration) and lastly Feral Frenzy. Alongside this, you have abilities that consume these Combo Points (known as finishers) that consume all current Combo Points to deal damage based on the amount used. The more Combo Points consumed, the higher the damage (or stronger the effect) of each of these. Combo Point generation is also greatly impacted by Primal Fury, which causes Critical Strikes with your generators to grant an additional Combo Point.
Due to the slow generation of Energy for Feral, the concept of "pooling" Energy for key moments is an important one. This means holding your ability casts until certain conditions are met to then spend, as there will always be some amount of natural downtime present in the Feral rotation. Making sure to empty your resource leading up to each Tiger's Fury is also a good idea to avoid wasting the Energy it grants when cast.
Omen of Clarity procs should be used as soon as your cycle allows so that they do not get overwritten by subsequent procs. With Moment of Clarity, this allows for more flexibility to sit on one charge, allowing it to accumulate up to 2.
Feral should always aim to have 100% uptime on both Rake and Rip, with additional DoTs included based on your talent build. This is the core of your damage output and defines the maintenance playstyle of Feral. Keep in mind that 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, making it the easiest tool to manage.
Rip costs 20 Energy, but its duration is also dependent on how many Combo Points it is applied with. You should aim to apply Rip at 5 Combo Points for the best Energy efficiency. When applied at 5, it lasts for 24 seconds.
Thrash costs 40 Energy to cast and deals its damage over 15 seconds. This should also be maintained at all times in AoE and Single-Target.
With Lunar Inspiration, Moonfire now costs 40 Energy and is similarly important to maintain, just like Rake.
Bleed snapshotting is a core component for Feral Druids, but it only works with specific damage-increasing buffs. Snapshotting means that the damage to the Bleed effect is determined at the time of application and will carry over the amplification effects of the following buffs (where applicable) for the entire duration.
The effects that interact with Bleeds, and the DoTs they affect are:
Tiger's Fury applies to any Bleed effect, while Bloodtalons only applies to your Finishers in Rip and Primal Wrath. Sudden Ambush also only applies to Rake via the Pouncing Strikes effect.
Generally, the rule of thumb is to avoid refreshing Bleeds if you will overwrite a stronger snapshot, and instead wait until they are about to expire or until a more opportune moment to do so.
Ferocious Bite is your big direct-damage finisher, but it should only be used to bleed off excess Combo Points after you have Rip (or Primal Wrath) active on targets. If you plan to cast it, ensure these DoTs have enough remaining duration to still generate Combo Points before they expire. You should always aim to cast it at 50 Energy to consume extra, amplifying its damage (which is significantly more important if playing with Saber Jaws).
As covered in the rotation section, this ability should be treated as something you cast only when you have room to do so. While the big damage it deals can be tempting, losing uptime on DoTs is not worth it. Apex Predator's Craving procs make this completely free and should be consumed immediately, as they do gain the damage bonus from extra Energy consumption but are not increased further by Saber Jaws. These rules also apply to AoE with Rampant Ferocity — it is even more important to ensure Rip is applied via Primal Wrath to trigger the damage.
Ravage granted by Druid of the Claw follows the same rules for casting. However, in AoE situations, it becomes a much higher priority to spend these procs to avoid wasting any.
It is highly recommended that you simulate your character for gems, as individual gear pieces significantly impact gem choices. Since our stats are very similar across both Hero Talent trees and content types, we follow a one-size-fits-all approach:
Since Feral benefits greatly from both Critical Strike and Mastery, simulating your character is crucial for determining the best gem setup.
If preferred, you can substitute Culminating Blasphemite for Elusive Blasphemite for a minor DPS loss in exchange for additional passive movement speed.
There are two flask options depending on the situation:
You can also obtain a flask of your choice from Algari Flask Cauldrons provided by Alchemists.
Tempered Potion is the recommended potion and should be used alongside major cooldowns and Bloodlust / Heroism. You can also obtain Fleeting Tempered Potion from Algari Potion Cauldron provided by Alchemists.
Algari Healing Potion is the best healing potion, with a 5-minute cooldown. Multiple can be used in an extended boss fight. Additionally, Healthstones from Warlocks do not share a cooldown with other healing consumables, so remember to use them when available!
Due to the high value of secondary stats in Season 2, you should use secondary stat food as long as one of them is your highest stat. The best feast option is The Sushi Special. For personal food, you can use Outsider's Provisions, Beledar's Bounty, Jester's Board, or Empress' Farewell.
Your best weapon enhancement consumable is Algari Mana Oil, which provides additional Critical Strike and Haste. Secondary stats have surpassed the value of Agility, making this the preferred option.
If you can afford it, use Crystallized Augment Runes to increase your primary stat. Keep in mind that Augment Runes are expensive and disappear on death, so use them wisely!
Slot | Enchantment |
Necklace | Magnificent Jeweler's Setting (adds up to 2 sockets to a Ring or Neck) |
Weapon | |
Chest | Enchant Chest - Crystalline Radiance |
Bracers | Enchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Avoidance |
Legs | Stormbound Armor Kit |
Boots | |
Rings | Enchant Ring - Radiant Critical Strike Enchant Ring - Radiant Mastery |
Cloak | Enchant Cloak - Chant of Winged Grace |
Enchant Weapon - Stonebound Artistry is the general recommendation for all types of content. However, depending on your current gear, other secondary enchants like Enchant Weapon - Council's Guile or Enchant Weapon - Stormrider's Fury may come out on top. If your simulation suggests a different enchant, follow the results.
This section will cover everything you need to know about equipping your character correctly.
Slot | Item | Source |
Helm | Branches of Reclaiming Blight (678) | One-Armed Bandit / Matrix Catalyst / Great Vault |
Neck | Gobfather's Gifted Bling (678) | Mug'Zee — Liberation of Undermine |
Shoulder | Jaws of Reclaiming Blight (678) | Rik Reverb/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Cloak | Consecrated Cloak (678) | Great Vault / Cinderbrew Meadery |
Chest | Robes of Reclaiming Blight (678) | Sprocketmonger Lockenstock/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Bracers | Killer Queen's Wristflickers (678) | Rik Reverb in Liberation of Undermine |
Gloves | Rune-Branded Grasps (678) | Crafted — Leatherworking |
Belt | Mekgineer's Championship Belt (678) | Mug'Zee in Liberation of Undermine |
Legs | Moccasins of Reclaiming Blight (678) | Great Vault / Operation: Mechagon - Workshop |
Boots | Rushed Beta Launchers (678) | Sprocketmonger Lockenstock — Liberation of Undermine |
Ring #1 | Cyrce's Circlet (658) | Siren Isle |
Ring #2 | The Jastor Diamond (678) | Chrome King Gallywix in Liberation of Undermine |
Trinket #1 | Eye of Kezan (678) | Chrome King Gallywix — Liberation of Undermine |
Trinket #2 | Improvised Seaforium Pacemaker (678) | Great Vault / Operation: Floodgate |
Main Hand | Best-in-Slots (678) | One-Armed Bandit (678) in Liberation of Undermine |
Crafted gear in The War Within offers multiple choices depending on your current gear and Embellishment options. Ideally, you should simulate the optimal stats for your character, but Critical Strike and Mastery are generally the best choices, using an Algari Missive of the Peerless.
For your first craft, you have two options depending on whether you want to use your Spark of Fortunes immediately:
After your first craft:
After completing priority crafts and Embellishments, use simulations to determine the best item to upgrade for item level. Rings and necks are generally good options since they are highly contested among other classes.
The best weapon is Best-in-Slots, but you should consider how likely you are to obtain one soon. Having a high item-level weapon is a significant advantage, so weigh your options carefully. All equippable two-handed Agility weapons have equal value, including Charged Halberd, Charged Crusher, and Vagabond's Careful Crutch.
The second Tier Set of The War Within, Roots of Reclaiming Blight, consists of 5 items that grant unique bonuses when equipping 2 or 4 pieces:
The Feral set bonus is of average strength compared to Season 1, with a slight leaning toward Wildstalker. The majority of the power comes from the 2-piece bonus, making it worthwhile to switch to a 2-pc/2-pc combination once you acquire new pieces.
You should aim to complete the full set as early as possible. The Matrix Catalyst allows you to convert regular items from Mythic+ or Raid into Tier items.
Since you only need 4 pieces to maximize the set bonus, we recommend dropping the Gloves or Helm in favor of alternatives with more Critical Strike or Mastery where possible. Refer to the BiS List for more details.
This macro casts Rebirth on your mouseover target if they are a friendly player. Otherwise, it casts Rebirth on your current target.
Using this macro will cast Remove Corruption on your mouseover target, if they are a friendly player and they are not dead. Otherwise, it will cast Remove Corruption.
This macro allows you to cast Regrowth, prioritizing your mouseover, and if you have no ally, then it will default to casting on yourself. The Autounshift command is placed to avoid casting Regrowth unless Predatory Swiftness is active to avoid leaving Cat Form.
Unfortunately, this macro has been made non-functional due to some recent changes. If this changes and a new macro becomes available, this section will be updated.
This will target your interrupt on your focus, so you do not need to switch targets for a key cast. Note you need to set up your focus beforehand with a /focus macro for this to work.
For situations where you need to reapply Adaptive Swarm to maintain stacks with Unbridled Swarm, this can be useful. This can also be used to apply Moonfire with Lunar Inspiration more conveniently. Note that this will only apply to enemies; if you want to refresh on allies, remove the harm added to each bracket.
Casting Innervate quickly when a healer needs it so you can get back into Cat Form has two options. You can either opt to focus your assigned healer and cast on them with this macro:
Or use a mouseover macro and highlight them from your raid frames:
Otherwise both of these macros will default to casting on your current target when used.
This macro will allow you to use the same keybind for the crowd-control choice node on the class tree. This can be done for other choice nodes as well, such as Mighty Bash / Incapacitating Roar if you replace the spell names:
This macro can be used as a cast sequence on the same keybind to cast Ursol's Vortex into Typhoon to pseudo-grip enemies in 2 key presses. The @cursor is to instantly place the Vortex at your cursor, and can be removed if you want to manually press it, or replace with @player if you want to place it underneath yourself:
This macro will stop your current cast and cast Skull Bash on your focus if available; otherwise, it will be cast on your target.
WeakAuras is an essential tool for Feral Druid and DPS players, offering unparalleled customization to enhance your gameplay. Rather than focusing on specific examples, we recommend exploring Wago.io, where you’ll find an extensive library of WeakAuras to suit your needs.
If you are unfamiliar with WeakAuras, it is an incredibly powerful and widely-used AddOn that allows you to create custom displays for nearly everything in the game. This includes tracking buffs, debuffs, cooldowns, Focus, resources, and much more.
To import a WeakAura, visit Wago.io and select one that fits your preferences. Click the "Copy WeakAura Import String" button to copy it to your clipboard. Next, log into the game and type /wa
in the chat box to open the WeakAuras interface. Navigate to the "Import" section, press Ctrl+V to paste the copied string, and click "Import". You’re ready to go!
Mastering WeakAuras and customizing it to your playstyle is highly recommended for any serious raider. With countless options available on Wago.io, you can tailor your interface to optimize your performance and focus on what truly matters in combat.
Your goal should be to maintain close to 100% uptime on Rip, Rake, and Thrash in all situations. If you're using Lunar Inspiration, this also applies to Moonfire, even though it's not a traditional Bleed ability.
In The War Within, Primal Wrath is your go-to finisher for maintaining Rip on multiple targets. Any additional resources should then be spent on Ferocious Bite. For cleaving situations, consider using Rampant Ferocity to convert your single-target damage into AoE. Ensure you're refreshing Primal Wrath based on the Rip timer rather than prematurely.
Both the Druid of the Claw and Wildstalker trees offer excellent damage boosts without requiring significant changes to execution. For raids, Wildstalker is generally recommended, while Druid of the Claw performs better in Mythic+.
Take advantage of the Pandemic mechanic to refresh your abilities with up to 30% of their duration remaining, allowing the remaining time to be added to the new cast. Here are the refresh times:
Yes, pooling Energy is vital for optimal performance. Typically, you'll want to pool Energy at high Combo Points, spend when necessary to refresh effects, and then repeat the process. With talents like Bloodtalons, you'll adopt a "pool-dump-pool" cycle to maximize your output. Be cautious, as overly aggressive spending can cause missed opportunities for key overlaps, especially in The War Within.
Snapshotting involves applying Rake and Rip with active buffs like Tiger's Fury and Bloodtalons to enhance their damage for their entire duration. However, this mechanic does not work with trinkets or active effects like Sabertooth. Prioritize using Tiger's Fury for Rake and both Tiger's Fury and Bloodtalons for Rip whenever possible. Avoid overwriting these buffs without reapplying the abilities.
The Saber Jaws talent amplifies Ferocious Bite damage based on additional Energy consumption. To optimize this, avoid using Ferocious Bite recklessly and ensure you're pooling enough Energy before consuming Combo Points. This talent emphasizes the importance of effective resource management.
Convoke the Spirits is the preferred choice for most situations due to its high burst damage during a short channel, which can synergize well with Berserk. It also benefits from a reduced cooldown, making it a more consistent tool. While Incarnation: Avatar of Ashamane boosts sustained damage during Berserk, it requires uninterrupted uptime and offers less burst potential, making it less flexible.
There are no fixed breakpoints for secondary stats in Feral gameplay. The importance lies in the total volume of stats rather than specific amounts of Haste, Mastery, or Critical Strike. Always simulate your gear to determine the ideal stat distribution for your character.
Yes, always spend at 5 Combo Points. Although Primal Fury allows some overflow, sticking to 5 ensures the best resource efficiency. With Coiled to Spring, you gain added protection against overflow, making it easier to manage.
Gear upgrades depend on your current setup and the synergy between items. Simulations provide the most accurate answer for what gear is best for your character. Factors like set bonuses, trinkets, and fight-specific needs may also influence your choice.
Race options for Druids are limited, but optimal choices vary by faction. Simulations can provide a more detailed analysis of which race suits your playstyle and build.