Druid

Overview

The druid is a versatile class capable of performing as a tank, healer, and caster or melee dps. The druid may seem like a jack of all trades but can perform its roles very effectively and you will not find it lacking when compared to "purer" classes, such as warrior tanks or mage dps. Many druids top the charts in raid damage and healing output. The druid tank is often regarded as the highest damage-dealing tank out there. So, roll a druid today!

The Art of Bear: Feral Combat (Tank)

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To Be a Tree: Restoration (Healing)

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Cat is for Fite: Feral Combat (DPS)

Introduction

A feline damage dealer that relies on teeth and claws to fight its opponents, the cat comes with a reputation for being notoriously difficult to play. Maybe you've read complaints from other players about how hard it is to keep up those cat DoTs. Maybe you're nervous about leveling a cat that may end up doing lousy dps in end-game raiding. All these concerns are valid and like they say, there is often a kernel of truth in every stereotype.

But the stereotypes don't represent the reality. I won't tell you that learning the kitty rotation is a walk in the park. It definitely is not. It is moderately challenging to learn, but like anything else in WoW, once you understand the fight gets much easier.

With other classes you can put out more damage for less effort, but the cat is a melee dps that offers a lot to raids and arena teams, such as the ability to resurrect team members to full health during a fight, a big raid-wide heal, two helpful raid buffs, and the ability to switch to tanking in the middle of a fight. In short, the cat is designed to save a raid from wiping, making it one of the most valuable members to have on a team. What other dps can claim do all this? And if you weren't aware, the amount of damage you can do on the cat is limited only to how quickly you react. A player with quick thinking and fast reaction times can top the damage meters in any raid.

Now that I've tried to sell you on the cat :-) here is my quick and dirty guide to feral dps.

Talents (current as of 4.3)

Standard Cat DPS Build (0/35/6)
Hybrid Cat-Bear Tanking Build (0/32/9) * Note: the hybrid build can result in a significant (~10%) dps loss.

Glyphs

Prime Glyphs
Glyph of Rip
Glyph of Shred
Glyph of Berserk

Major Glyphs
Glyph of Feral Charge
Glyph of Faerie Fire
Glyph of Rebirth

Minor Glyphs (these are all optional)
Glyph of Dash
Glyph of Aquatic Form

Gems

Meta Gem Slot: Agile Shadowspirit Diamond
Prismatic Gem Slot: Delicate Inferno Ruby
Red Gem Slot: Delicate Inferno Ruby
Yellow Gem Slot: Adept Amber Topaz
Blue Gem Slot: unless you get an agility bonus higher than 14, use Delicate Inferno Ruby. Otherwise use Glinting Demonseye.

Reforging

As of 4.3 there is no particular stat that stands out. Cap hit (961) and expertise (781) to maximize Swipe AoE damage. Otherwise, if you want to create a hybrid bear/cat reforge gear to dodge.

Rotation

The cat has no set rotation. This is the first mental adjustment you must make. Instead think of the cat as a melee warlock. You get a bunch of damage over time (DoT) abilities and the goal is to apply these DoTs on your target and keep them up at all times. Letting any of the DoTs drop will hurt your dps. Always use an addon and position yourself behind the target so they can't parry your attacks.

Basic Cat "Rotation"

1. Apply Faerie Fire (FF), this lowers your target's armor. Make sure it doesn't fall off.
2. Use Tiger's Fury (TF) followed by Berserk. Keep both on cooldown. Always use TF first.
3. Apply Mangle and make sure it doesn't fall off.
4. Apply Rake and make sure it doesn't fall off.
5. Build up 5 combo points and use Rip. Make sure it doesn't fall off (always build up 5 combo points before using Rip or your dps will decrease).
6. Build up 1 or more combo points and use Savage Roar. Make sure this doesn't fall off.
7. Use Shred to build up more combo points.

More Tips for the Cat "Rotation

(do all of the above and...)

• When you first attack the target use Feral Charge (FC) from a distance and follow that with Ravage. Doing this gives a solid boost to your dps. Whenever the boss knocks me far back during a fight I just use FC, TF, Berserk, and Ravage again for another dps boost.
• When the target's health is at 25% or less use Ferocious Bite instead of Rip. FB will extend Rip because of the talent Blood in the Water.
• Refresh buffs and debuffs only when there is a few seconds left before it drops off. For example, refreshing Rake when there is more than 3 seconds left will result in a dps loss.
• You should ideally be playing in the 50-80 energy range. Because each ability has a set energy cost (eg, Shred costs 40 energy) it doesn't matter if you wait until 40 energy or 90 energy to use it, the ability will still do the same damage. Also, waiting for more energy to build up gives you a chance to monitor which debuffs/buffs/timers are ending soon and gives you time to react.
• Swipe is great for hitting multiple mobs and I've clocked in on the damage meters at nearly 200k dps when fighting groups of trash in Bastion of Twilight. Use TF and Berserk first before Swipe to do max damage.
• This covers the beginner's guide for playing the feral cat. There are more advanced tips and tricks at the WoW Forums feral druid sticky.

AddOns

Unless you can keep track of five or more DoTs and cooldowns in your head at the same time, an addon is necessary to ensure maximum dps. Two popular addons are DroodFocus and BadKitty. I prefer Droodfocus, the visual indicators are easier to see.

Famous Feral DPS

Well, the WoW community is small compared to the global population, so we're probably all separated by about 3 degrees of separation at most. We all almost know each other and nobody can really claim to be all that "famous" (except for maybe Scott and Randy). But here are some well-known players in the feral dps community who have honed their craft to perfection:

Reesi of Doomhammer
Tangedyn of Thaurissian (talented for off-tanking)

(Both are authors of The Inconspicuous Bear, a site dedicated to feral druid tanking and dps.)

Resources

WoW Forums Guide to Feral Druid DPS (best guide as of patch 4.3)
The Inconspicuous Bear
The Fluid Druid
Elitist Jerks Feral DPS Guide

Here comes the Boom!: Balance (DPS)

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Links

Wowpedia All you need to know, really