Feral DPS for WPvP - thoughts?

[Drabus 3]

I'm looking for an interesting/different character to play in a casual, WPvP way.  What are your thoughts for a cat druid in solo WPvP?

 

Any recommended specs for that play-style?

[Overtime 6]

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL63EBFE3BA34F91E7

[ravens 0]

Feral druids scale really well with gear they get 1% crit for 20 agility like warriors/shammies/paladins but also get 1 ap for each agility like rogues and 2.2 ap for 1 strength which is even more than warriors/shammies/paladins. So the good thing about this is with blue gear u will be stat'd really well. Also make sure u always have 5% hit with gear very important! 

 

However, the most important stat is crit for PvP. You want at least 27%+ crit because when you crit with shred or ravage u get 2 combo points which will let u ferocious bite (without good crit u will not be able to do much damage.) This is really easy tho with all blue gear. The other thing about crit is when you go into bear form against a rogue or warrior or even caster u still keep that crit so ur mauls will and other attacks will do insane damage. 

 

For spec I go 11/31/9 so I can heal in raids with .4 off healing touch and get all the useful talents for feral. Healing and tanking in vanilla is more about gear than anything else where fury warriors can tank and anyone can heal. You can put 3 points into natural shapeshifter but you don't need them if you are smart about shapeshifting. For example, if you have a slow on you or a 2-3 second root you most likely won't need to remove it since you have 30% movement speed anyway. A lot of druids just shapeshift every little slow or snare and run oom and do no damage as a result. It's like saving your pvp trinket and not using it instantly. Additionally with this spec you can tank really well with 15% threat and other talents for bear. 

 

http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#0zLV0oZxxMsfbktVL

 

For rotation as cat you always want to use ravage even against plate because pounce does no damage with the dot and we can't stunlock like a rogue can. Also pounce only gives 1 combo point where as ravage can give 2 if it crits then a shred can give 2 when it crits giving us an easy ferocious bite. With just 27-29% crit and 900-1k attack power you can literally 3 shot clothies and leather wearers if you get clear casting proc or crit. In blue gear I've 3-4 shotted t3 warlocks with lots of hp just because of crit and clearcasting. They also can't fear because 1 second attack speed. Lastly a very important note, ferocious bite consumes ALL energy never use it with clearcasting even if u have 5 combo points just do another shred or claw because u will waste the clearcasting proc. 

 

So anyway for PvP feral can be extremely strong but you absolutely must have the crit. The reason most ferals suck and people complain is they have very low crit and they take gear itemized with +spell dmg + int like the PvP set or t2.5 which is garbage. You won't need any raid gear or PvP gear to do really well but obviously it will help if it's itemized well. 

Edited December 13, 2016 by ravens

[Drabus 3]

Thanks Ravens - good stuff to consider!

[El_Risitas 0]

Are 5 points in "Feral Instinct" mandatory for PvP, or will i also be fine with 5 points in "Thick Hide" instead?

[ravens 0]

Yeah because getting caught out of stealth is a huge deal. If you try to open on someone and they can see you through stealth really easily you will have a rough time. If you try without it you will notice people will see you and u will almost never get an opener. As a feral druid or rogue you can pick your fights meaning you don't have to fight 3 people all stacked up and be really smart about it. A good example is if you want to return the flag, with improved prowl you can easily get to their FC but without it you might be caught up in random fights. I thought I didn't need it initially but when you play without you realize how awful it is especially out in the world. If a group of people just pass by you they won't see you with 5/5 but without it they will and you'll just get ganked. Plus this will give you higher stealth than most rogues that aren't hemo which is a huge plus. The talent is also very important for tanking. 

[Finalflash 2]

no

[taladril 43]

I'm not very good at pvp and I can tell you that a feral playstyle is a great way to feel like you can't kill anything one v one. Now maybe it's cause I suck but I think if I did an approach that involved more damage spells and running away that would have worked. Going at them full out as a cat and bear sucks.

[ravens 0]

Ferals can't do anything without crit, if you have like 15-20% crit you will struggle to 1v1 but once u get 27-30% u will kill people in seconds. Imagine playing a seal of fate rogue with 20% crit and no improved backstab; it would be awful. Ferals have to crit to generate combo points to ferocious bite and go into bear form when needed.

 

Just go on an instant 60 server and make a feral druid and get 6/8 shadow craft and the rest crit gear (2% crit mace, crit/agi ring etc). You will have something like 27% crit 950 ish AP with mark of the wild. You will see how good it is with crit. We have to crit for Blood Frenzy to give us combo points so we can used ferocious bite with 3-4+ combo points. Now there might be times when you may get no crits on an opener but with almost 1/3 a chance to crit you will eventually get it and your auto-attacks will crit a lot as well at 1.00 speed. Additionally when you go into bear form you will keep that crit and your mauls will do 600-1k+ depending on plate or cloth when they crit and that's a lot while taking less damage. 

 

The good thing about this is that you can obtain very good stats in just blues and AV 2h mace/ring. With enchants like 25 agility you can get close to 30% crit and 1k+ attack power. But yeah without the right itemization it's very very hard. 

 

Here's an example of a druid with good crit; yeah it's not the best player but you can see how powerful it can be. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PPJpmq2zsY

Edited December 15, 2016 by ravens

[Drabus 3]

Another noob question here, but does the speed or damage of the equipped weapon affect feral attack speed/dps in Vanilla?   Or is it just items for stats?

 

IE - is there a specific type of weapon I should be targeting or just looking at the stat bonus?

[Lorilay 12]

Just stats.

[Asherdoom 5]

Another noob question here, but does the speed or damage of the equipped weapon affect feral attack speed/dps in Vanilla?   Or is it just items for stats?

 

IE - is there a specific type of weapon I should be targeting or just looking at the stat bonus?

druids got flat 1.0 speed as their claw. weapons give stats only, same goes for bears

[El_Risitas 0]

Are procs like the one of Hand of Ragnaros or Darkmoon Card: Maelstrom working in shapeshift form? And if so, will they scale with +spell damage on items and flask of supreme power?

[ravens 0]

Hand of rag no i don't think so but darkmoon maelstrom and heart of wrym from lbrs yes. Those two do scale from spell damage as well. Darkmoon has a low proc but the heart of wrym has a decent proc.

Edited December 15, 2016 by ravens

[Drabus 3]

Great info!   Thanks again.

[Undertanker 88]

They do not scale with spell damage.

[Undertanker 88]

HoW should work, but isn't very strong for cat since an extra attack is weak compared to an extra attack from.another class swinging a slow weapon.

The ZG hero badge is really strong trinket, a tiny bit stronger than Earthstrike. Also if raiding as cat, stock up on some mages from Gnomergan, click to use increase attack speed, 3 charges. So bring like 4 or more to each raid

[ravens 0]

It does scale 

 

http://www.wow-one.com/forum/topic/63462-is-there-a-resource-that-shows-what-scales-with-spell-damage/

theloras

"heart scales quite well with spell dmg and procs ALOT more than Elementals deck"

"yes compared side by side, heart of wyrmthalak blows darkmoon card out of the water - especially on my Feral druid - with 1.0 attack speed, heart procs like a mofo"

[Undertanker 88]

You are linking post from a project that had spell power rogues.

[ravens 0]

Hmm yeah I guess it's not supposed to on wowhead the posts say its not supposed to. Well that's good I remember those fire rogues on 2014 :X. So one trinket should always be blackhand's breath for the crit the other one I guess just use whatever u can get or pvp trinket. 

Edited December 15, 2016 by ravens

[ravens 0]

Where does hand of justice drop btw? Is it angerforge on nost currently in patch 1.8 or moved to emp? 

[Kamulos 0]

Where does hand of justice drop btw? Is it angerforge on nost currently in patch 1.8 or moved to emp? 

 

Emp, but it's still easy to rush (druid + rogue for example )

[Undertanker 88]

Where does hand of justice drop btw? Is it angerforge on nost currently in patch 1.8 or moved to emp? 

 

On emp join what people call "Lava Runs".    You run the hallway, jump out the door.  Go down the middle of the hallway towards Incindious.  Don't skip him cause he can drop Ace of Elementals.

 

Jump down, jump jump jump though the lava.   Kill 3 Fire elementals, boom you are at the grand hall where you light the two beacons.   Kill the golem boss in next room.  Clear emp room and kill emp.    A geared 5 man group can do this in 17-22 minutes.