Feral Druid DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents - The War Within Pre-Patch (2024)

Single-TargetCleaveAoE

Due to some of the gearing options in Season 4 alongside the condensedburst window provided by the Season 4 set bonus, a build that invests into Convoke the Spirits for single-target is currently recommended.

Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the bestbuild directly into your game!

For all Feral single-target builds, you often give up a great deal of AoE and cleavepotential, but in exchange, you round out your resource generation and focusfurther into your single-target potential. Due to the Season 4 set, you arerequired to take Feral Frenzy to activate it and gain access to a strong30-second burst damage cooldown to pair with each Tiger's Fury. This iselevated even further with Convoke the Spirits, granting an extremelypotent 4-second window of burst.

Key talents along with potential swaps are as follows:

• Bloodtalons - the stronger of the two finisher amplifiers,but requires additional gameplay to make full use of. Made a lot easierto cycle with either Brutal Slash or Lunar Inspiration toinject another activator into the rotation. If you find this too much tomanage, Lion's Strength is not far behind.
• Coiled to Spring - if you are struggling with Combo Pointmanagement and want a safeguard against overcapping, this is an option over Merciless Claws.
• Saber Jaws - this significantly increases the bonusdamage from consuming excess Energy with Ferocious Bite. This providesa very high amount of damage, and as such is strongly recommended but if youare struggling to manage Energy around this, you can opt into Circle of Life and Death instead. Note that it does notinteract with Apex Predator's Craving procs.
• Apex Predator's Craving - the proc rate dynamically changes withthe number of active Rip effects you have present, making it a goodpick regardless of target count.
• Sudden Ambush - provides us with a way to get the Pouncing Strikesbonus for Rake much more consistently throughout an encounter.
• Adaptive Swarm - amplifies the other DoT effects and alignswell with each Feral Frenzy to push its damage further.
• Ashamane's Guidance - this can reduce the cooldown of Convoke the Spiritsdown to 1-minute, at the cost of some extra casts during the channel. This isa much more niche pick due to the high-value point it costs, but can find goodvalue in specific encounters.

A more hybridized approach can sometimes be necessary on some encounters, anddue to Feral having some quite costly packages specialized packages a moreversatile build can sometimes be ideal. This build provides the strongest optionsto improve your damage per point in multi-target situations, without sacrificingthe strong core of single-target needed for bosses.

Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the bestbuild directly into your game!

In order to deal AoE sacrificing some points to pick up Primal Wrathand Rampant Ferocity is necessary. Main points given up to achieve thisare Merciless Claws and Adaptive Swarm. There are also twooptions that can be changed as well depending on the encounter:

• Double-Clawed Rake is slightly more niche, but it is an option tomaintain multiple Rakes amplified by Sudden Ambush, and youcan swap out a point from Tireless Energy for this depending on thefight archetype.
• If a fight only needs the bare minimum amount of cleave that can be covered by Primal Wrath, you can drop Rampant Ferocity for Adaptive Swarm.

There are a number of AoE options on the tree, but the recommended build hereaims to pick up as much of the high-value options as possible while trying tomaintain a solid core for single-target. Some things are unavoidable, however, sothis is very much tailored toward maximizing output at large target counts.

Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the bestbuild directly into your game!

Due to some of Feral's most valuable AoE tools coming exclusively from the talenttree, this is where you build most of your damage for multi-target situations. Thesepicks range from versatile cleave options to exclusively AoE picks that havea granular impact on how far you want to invest into it. Some of these are preference,while others are simply too valuable to ever drop, even if they only fixate on onedamage profile. Bear in mind that in The War Within, Energy is less plentiful inAoE, so maintaining some solid generation is necessary.

• Feral Frenzy - while mostly single-target on its own, this is requiredto activate the Season 4 set bonus, so cannot be dropped.
• Primal Wrath - this is our primary way of applying Rip inAoE, required to activate a number of other effects.
• Rampant Ferocity - while exclusively AoE, it has excellent value dueto keeping Ferocious Bite relevant at higher target counts. This iscostly to pick up, but whenever extra targets are present it is just too strongto ever ignore.
• Apex Predator's Craving - gives a way to leverage both your active Rips, and the AoE component of Ferocious Bite from theabove to keep both finishers relevant. It can also lead to additional funneldamage.
• Double-Clawed Rake - very high-value talent for AoE to make multi-targetapplication of Rake much smoother. It has no single-target impact, however,but most of the value is improving the other Rake-related talents.
• Infected Wounds - similar to above, these are usually paired togetherin AoE. This is important pathing to reach Taste for Blood too, so ishard to justify dropping.
• Sudden Ambush - this is also related to the above two talents,as these allow you to double up on the value of each proc to empower Rakecasts. This also provides strong single-target and low-target cleave options,rounding out the Rake talents.
• Convoke the Spirits vs. Incarnation: Avatar of Ashamane - bothof these are worthwhile options, and it mostly comes down to what other talentsyou selected and the type of burst you want. Especially with the Season 4 set,the value of Convoke is higher and also opens up the opportunity to grab Ashamane's Guidance for 1-minute burst cycles.
• Tireless Energy - having at least one point in this is good forcomfort due to some issues with Energy starvation. A second point is oftenoverkill, but if you are struggling to keep things rolling then it is aworthy, but costly pickup.

Spec Rows 1-4Spec Rows 5-7Spec Rows 8-10Class Talents

Ability	Explanation
Omen of Clarity	Causes your auto-attacks to have a chance to make your next Shred, Swipe or Thrash cost noEnergy. This generates a significant amount of Energy and isrequired to sustain the rotation in most cases, so is alwaystaken.
Coiled to Spring	This grants a buff whenever you generate a Combo Point over yourcurrent cap, increasing the direct damage of your next finisher by 10%.With perfect play, this has fairly limited value, but if you are strugglingto manage your Combo Points comfortably and often find yourself wasting some,this can make things a little easier.
Primal Wrath	An active finisher that deals direct damage and applies Rip to all targets hit. This is our AoE Bleed application and istaken in any situation where multiple targets are present.
Merciless Claws	Increases Shred damage by 20% and Swipe / Brutal Slashdamage by 15% against Bleeding targets. This is effectively a passive boost dueto our Bleeds and is a solid increase in single-target, but weaker in AoE.
Thrashing Claws	This is moreso an ease-of-use option, causing Shred and Swipeto apply the Thrash effect. This removes Thrash entirely fromyour rotation, making it easier to maintain the Bleed, but at a performance loss.
Predator	Provides a flat bonus to Tiger's Fury duration and increases the directdamage of Combo Point generating abilities by 40% of your Haste. This providesextra uptime on Tiger's Fury most importantly, but also gives some extra scalingfrom Haste, which is welcome.
Double-Clawed Rake	Causes Rake casts to apply to a second target. Makes multi-DoTmaintenance easier and is taken in multi-target situations.
Sabertooth	Increases Ferocious Bite damage and causes each ComboPoint spent by it to increase your DoT damage dealt to your primary targetby up to 15% for 4 seconds. This is required pathing so is always taken, butis mostly for priority target damage.
Tireless Energy	Increases base Energy regeneration by 8/15% and max Energy by20/40. It gives more room for pooling and is a solid choice in mostsituations, and due to the reduced availability of Energy in both single-targetand AoE situations at least one point is always taken.
Pouncing Strikes	Grants a 60% damage bonus to Shred and Rakefrom stealth, gives Shreds buffed this way double the Critical Strikechance and Rake a stun effect. On its own, it is not very important, butwith supporting talents such as Sudden Ambush,this can provide some extra damage. Regardless, though, this ismandatory for pathing deeper into the tree.

The first block of talents are mostly universal increases tothe core rotation, dictating your access to Energy-related effectsto build the primary cycle. The only big decision here is whether youtake Primal Wrath and Double-Clawed Rake,but you will always path through Sabertooth and Pouncing Strikesto unlock the second tier of talents. Ideally, you will spend the minimumpossible points here to gain access to later options.

Ability	Explanation
Survival Instincts	Powerful, but long cooldown defensive option. While this is notthroughput, pathing through it is required to reach our major offensivecooldown, so it is always taken.
Berserk	Our major cooldown, increasing all ability damage by 10% for 15seconds, and causes Finishing moves to also refund up to 3 Combo Pointsgenerated above the cap of 5. Also causes all Combo Point-generatingabilities to generate an additional Combo Point, and passively generates1 Combo Point per second. It provides a huge flood of resources alongsideoverflow protection, and has some enhancing talents to focus more onthis window.
Berserk: Heart of the Lion	Reduces the cooldown of Berserk down to 2 minutes, makingit much easier to align with most encounter mechanics.
Berserk: Frenzy	Causes Combo Point generating abilities to apply a Bleed effectfor 135% of the damage dealt over 8 seconds. Adds further Strengthto your Berserk windows, especially in single-target, and is always taken.
Sudden Ambush	Gives finishing moves a 6% chance per Combo Point to cause yournext, Shred or Rake to deal damage as if you werestealthed. Thanks to Pouncing Strikes, this is an extremelystrong single-target option, and keeps up in some cleave situationsas well.
Raging Fury	Increases the duration of Tiger's Fury by 5 seconds. This pairs with Predator to bring the duration to 20 seconds, and makes pathing to Bloodtalons much easier.
Tiger's Tenacity	Tiger's Fury causes your next 3 Finishing moves to refund 1 ComboPoint, and snapshotted DoTs deal an additional 10% damage. This is a strongcompetitor, and is an option if you can play around the extra Bleedmanagement.
Infected Wounds	Increases the damage of Rake by 30% and adds a small slowwhile active. An all-round good talent that works well in multi-targetthanks to Double-Clawed Rake.
Dreadful Bleeding	Increases Rip damage by 20%. This affects all of your activeRips and is always taken.
Moment of Clarity	Increases the chance for Omen of Clarity procs to triggerby 30%, allowing it to accumulate a second charge and increase the damageof abilities that consume it by 15%. A good all-round talent that smoothsout the rotation, and is always taken.
Brutal Slash	Replaces Swipe with a stronger, cooldown/charge-based ability.This is generally worth the trade-off as you rarely need to Swipemore than once when building Combo Points back up to 5, and has benefitsin single-target, especially with Bloodtalons. Competes with Wild Slashes on the choice node, but this is more of a simplepassive, which is generally weaker.
Taste for Blood	Increases the damage dealt by your Ferocious Bite by 15%, and anadditional 15% during Tiger's Fury. A solid option for a varietyof builds and is taken in both single-target and AoE thanks to Rampant Ferocity.
Rampant Ferocity	Causes your Ferocious Bite casts to also deal damage-basedon Combo Points spent to nearby enemies affected by your Rip.This is affected by Mastery and is Feral's way of converting FerociousBite casts into AoE damage.
Lunar Inspiration	Allows you to cast Moonfire in Cat Form, but causesit to cost 30 Energy and generate 1 Combo Point. This is now a worthwhilesingle-target option that can be used to activate Bloodtalons, butis in an awkward place and has a higher gameplay requirement thanalternatives.
Predatory Swiftness	Mandatory pathing node that allows Regrowth or Entangling Rootsto be instantly cast in Cat Form following successful Finishingmoves, providing a good survival boost or crowd control.

This tier of talents mostly dictates what final talents you have accessto and round out your focus depending on if it is more Bleed or Bite-focused.Many choices here are quite versatile, but some are specialized, allowingyou to pick and choose based on how you want to navigate the tree andwhere you want to end up. Generally, though, the central block of Berserk, Dreadful Bleeding and Raging Furyare always taken.

Ability	Explanation
Carnivorous Instinct	Provides a flat increase to the damage bonus provided by Tiger's Fury. This is a strong selection due to the highuptime of the buff, but below the 20-point line points are very tight, andfitting this in is difficult.
Bloodtalons / Lion's Strength	Both options are strong, effective buffs to your Finishing Moves. Bloodtalons is the more complex of the two, requiring you topool slightly and cycle your abilities correctly, but rewards you witha higher damage buff to your Finishers. Lion's Strength on theother hand is less conditional if you do not have other talents, suchas Brutal Slash to conveniently trigger it, and it is easierto execute. One of these two options is almost always taken and, generallyBloodtalons is superior so long as you can handle the extra gameplayrequirements.
Feral Frenzy	Deals a small amount of damage and applies a heavy, short-durationBleed on your target with a 45-second cooldown and generates 5 ComboPoints when activated. This is a powerful instant generator and is takenin most single-target situations.
Adaptive Swarm	is a short DoT/HoT that increases the potency of your over-time-effectswhen active on a target. It will also jump between allies and enemies in acycle, healing, and dealing damage in the process. Due to the Strength of Rip and our other bleeds and its relatively high uptime, this isa strong single-target option but falls off in multi-target.
Unbridled Swarm	Adds a multi-target component that improves Adaptive Swarm furtherin situations where you can have multiple active, but it has minimal effectin single-target.
Frantic Momentum	Grants Finishing moves a 6% chance per Combo Point spent to grants10% Haste for 6 seconds. A solid increase in any target count is requiredpathing to reach strong end talents.
Incarnation: Avatar of Ashamane / Convoke the Spirits	Both of these are powerful options, either improving your Berserkby increasing the duration and reducing Energy costs while active or grantsa powerful burst cooldown in Convoke the Spirits that will cast aflurry of Druid spells (preferring Ferocious Bite) over a 4-secondchannel. Both of these are strong in different scenarios depending on if youwant condensed or extended burst, but we generally take Convoke the Spiritsfor the additional burst.
Ashamane's Guidance	Improves your previous talent selection Reduces the cooldown of Convoke the Spirits by 1 minute, reducesthe number of spells cast by 4 and increases the chance for it to trigger Feral Frenzy. Causes your Rake and Rip to each individually increasetargets' damage taken from you by 3% while Incarnation is active and for30 seconds after it fades. This is a strong option regardless of which you take, however, points are quitetight in this row, making it hard to fit in. With Incarnation, this can bestrong for single-target, but getting the value is hard in AoE, and it can be veryawkward to play around. For Convoke, this is very encounter-dependent but1-minute cooldowns can be very potent in the right situation.
Saber Jaws	This increases the bonus damage conferred to Ferocious Bitewhen it spends additional Energy. This does put additional resource strainon the spec, but in exchange, it turns Bite into an extremely potent finisherthat can be pooled for extra burst.
Soul of the Forest	Increases the damage of your Finishing moves and causes them to generate2 Energy per Combo Point spent. This is a powerful talent in allsituations and has an impact on how smooth the rotation plays with regardsto your Energy available, so it is always taken.
Circle of Life and Death	Causes your Bleed effects to deal their damage 20% faster. This effectivelygives you more ticks of all of them in a shorter time, and due to how muchdamage they deal, this is a powerful talent but is more AoE-oriented due tothe strong competition for single-target options deep in the tree.
Veinripper / Rip and Tear	A choice node that is mostly used for pathing, and both are valid optionsbut provide modest increases. Rip and Tear is generally preferred inAoE situations where you are casting Primal Wrath while Veinripper removes some of the maintenance components of your Bleeds,increasing their duration.
Apex Predator's Craving	Gives all of your Rip damage ticks a small chance of causing yournext, Ferocious Bite to cost no Energy or Combo Points and guarantee itdeals the maximum possible damage. This has a 6% proc chance that scales downwith each additional Rip active, so while it procs more often in AoE, it isnot linear. With the addition of other Bite talents and the more consistentproc rate, this is an extremely solid pickup in all situations.

All of the talents below this line are quite powerful, so youideally want 10 points spare when you reach here to spend. That means pathingearlier should be done with that in mind. What you take depends onpreference, target count, and desired damage profile.

Feral Druids are given Rake and Rip by default, andthere are a variety of performance-related talents that should be takenin any talent build:

• Thrash
• Killer Instinct
• Primal Fury
• Rising Light, Falling Night
• Instincts of the Claw
• Lycara's Teachings

It is also always recommended to pick up Skull Bash both as aninterrupt and a short charge.

In addition to the above talents, it is generally recommended for all buildsto include a variety of defensive talents. The recommended options are:

• Well-Honed Instincts
• Improved Barkskin
• Renewal
• Thick Hide
• Oakskin
• Ursine Vigor

Finally, it is also strongly recommended that all builds include a fewmobility talents:

• Feline Swiftness
• Wild Charge / Tiger Dash
• Stampeding Roar / Improved Stampeding Roar*

Both mobility on the left choice node are valuable, and it comes down topreference between more burst speed or a displacement charge. Improved Stampeding Roardoes bring the cooldown to 1 minute, which is very valuable, but points are tightat the bottom of the tree, so it cannot always be fit in.

Not all defensive or mobility talents need to be included, but you should tryto incorporate an appropriate number of each into your builds, as having none isoften a bad idea. The remainder of your points can be spent as you desire forspecific Utility, crowd control, or pathing requirements; however, we stronglyrecommended that you at least consider including some of the followinggenerally applicable utility options:

• Skull Bash
• Incapacitating Roar
• Fluid Form
• Typhoon
• Ursol's Vortex
• Innervate
• Nature's Vigil

Of note here is Innervate and Nature's Vigil. This provides both anexternal boost to healers in your team via additional mana and a healing cooldown thatconverts some of your damage into additional healing. Control options are especially usefulin Mythic+, with the stand-out being Incapacitating Roar as a low cooldown AoEinterrupt tool.

For a more detailed description of each of our class talents, please refer tothe Feral Druid DPS Spell Summary page.