Initially, it is important to note that Feral DPS is based on a list of priority instead of a fixed rotation. With practice, it will get easier.
To start off..
OR
The addition of SURVIVAL INSTINCTS at the cost of 1
IMPROVED LEADER OF THE PACK can prove to be useful especially in messy runs.
Glyph of Savage Roar
Glyph of Shred
Glyph Of Rip
In retail classic, Glyph of Rip has been replaced with Glyph of Omen of Clarity. Perhaps it can be added to TrueWoW in the future.
***Edit: I personally prefer Glyph of Berserk because I'd rather have a higher burst. Nevertheless, that might be favorable specifically in Icecrown Citadel 25 heroic. In comparison, you may also choose to use Glyph Of Rip, which could be better for other raids.
Glyph of Berserk. *** Truth is, this isn't as good as I thought it would be. This glyph might be worth testing for maximum parsing with a full BIS group, and only on certain bosses that would die within a minute or so. Due to logistics of things, it makes no sense to switch back and forth so I no longer think this is a viable glyph.
Minor Glyphs: Some suggestions
Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth - BIS for all specs.
You deserve to be banned for 3 days if you couldn't revive someone in a fight because you did not have reagents
Glyph of Dash - It comes in handy
Glyph of the Wild - Works nice to pre-pop Clearcasting
***Edit: Should never be the case in WOTLK feral.
I overthought this often. No matter how much I wanted it to be true, Agility is king.
Agility
Increases a druid dodge chance, attack power, crit, and armor. It is preferential to stack Agility with low gear.
The trick is, if Phase 4 of Wotlk is open and Emblem of Frost is attainable, just farm NEEDLE-ENCRUSTED SCORPION and stack armor penetration.
On private servers, it really does not matter all that much. Unless your going after this achievement A TRIBUTE TO DEDICATED INSANITY, then and only then stack Agility. For end game content, you will stack armor penetration.
When to stack Agility?
When you have armor penetration, hit rating, and expertise capped.
Attack Power
Increases the druid bleeds damage, and melee damage.
Critical Strike
76% - White Crit Cap (+ 24% Glancing Blows = 100%)
79.8% - Ferocious Bite Crit Cap (+ 25% Crit from Talent - 4.8% Crit Suppression = 100%)
You will have around 60-70% Crit unbuffed with decent gears in cat form.
You will never need to stack any crit gems, but check enchanting.
Hit Rating
Cap is 8% Hit for 83 level targets. Utilize being an Alliance and throw a goat in your group for the addition 1% hit. If you follow the gem summary, you will have 6.89% hit and draenei will allow you to reach 7.89%.
Expertise
You get around 10 expertise from Primal Precision Also you get expertise from legs in tier 10.
Expertise cap - 26. You will reach your expertise cap by stacking Accurate Ametrine on yellow sockets while gearing up. Once you have BIS legs, you will only need 1 PRECISE CARDINAL RUBY which if you decide to skip you will only lose ~8 dps, and instead stack DELICATE CARDINAL RUBY. Naturally, you will find your expertise at 25 due to the natural flow of gems.
Haste
Although, as important it is to kitty's since most of our damage is based on melee damage. You still should never be stacking haste rating. With most recent logs, and using WoWSims stacking haste caused a loss of ~20 dps, in grand scheme of things it doesn't really make that much of a difference, but it remains true you will never need to stack haste.
Armor penetration
When should you start stacking armor penetration? And is it better than agility?
Armor penetration reduces enemy armor increasing your physical damage, So Agility increases your AP which increases bleed damage. Since most of Feral damage is from melee attacks, Armor Penetration is better than Agility.
Generally speaking, you should start stacking armor penetration when you start gearing from Icecrown Citadel.
***After going through Wotlk retail, it is most rewarding to stack armor penetration once Icecrown dungeons opened and Emblem of Frost and NEEDLE-ENCRUSTED SCORPION is attainable
Over all, your stats priority should follow this Hit Rating >Armor Penetration > Expertise >Critical Strike
Gems and enchant
Meta: Relentless Earthsiege Diamond
Red: Fractured Cardinal Ruby/Delicate Cardinal Ruby/Precise Cardinal Ruby/Fractured Dragon's Eye
Blue: Nightmare Tear This will go on OATHBINDER, CHARGE OF THE RANGER-GENERAL
Yellow: Rigid King's Amber/Accurate Ametrine/Glinting Ametrine
Head: Arcanum of Torment
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of the Axe
Back: FLEXWEAVE UNDERLAY / SCROLL OF ENCHANT CLOAK - MAJOR AGILITY
Chest: ENCHANT CHEST - POWERFUL STATS
Wrist: Greater Assault
Weapon: Berserking
Hands: Hyperspeed Acceleration / SCROLL OF ENCHANT GLOVES - PRECISION (w/ Low gear)
Legs: Icescale Leg Armor
Feet: Nitro Boost / Icewalker (w/ Low gear)
With WOTLK sim this was the best possible gem stats with the only exception above mentioned above in Expertise stats. Lastly, I should mention that all of my sims were done for Icecrown Citadel 25hc.
Professions
Engineering and Jewelcrafting according to the most recent logs. Mainly due to the haste boost provided by Hyperspeed Accelerators and Jewelcrafting ends up yielding the most stats
Not to forget the entertainment of the parachute (Although, not much to stats, but a good utility especially for PvP).
Blacksmithing for an additional socket on both Hand and Wrist
Note: Engineering+JC is the best , and Engineering + Blacksmithing second best. Engineering+Tailoring caused ~40 dps loss , and Engineering + Blacksmithing causing ~20 dps loss in comparison to JC. Even though, all these numbers are minimal I just have them here for reference.
There is no fixed rotation for a Feral druid. But there's a list of priority
After applying Faerie Fire (Feral)
Savage Roar > Mangle > Rip > Rake > Shred > Ferocious Bite
Kitty DPS is NOT about spamming spells. You have to treat your energy like you treat your girlfriend, the less you pressure her, the more she gives you. Point is, calm and steady wins the race. That is exactly the point with Feral druids.
You need to keep your Savage Roar, Mangle, FF up at ALL times and reapply your dots when they're off (Completely) ASAP. So as you can conclude, your rotation is based on a set of PRIORITY, and there is no such a thing as 1234.
Savage Roar: Top priority
Mangle: Apply once every 1 minute. Never spam unless you can't get behind the boss. Don't bother applying this if there is a bear tank, and if you're trying to maximize dps toss this responsibility to the another feral in raid group
Berserk: This is what gives the feral druids the highest burst in game. Never use it when you're below 60 energy. Squish in x2 FBs. Always use this with Tiger's Fury, the trick is to have savage roar active prior so you can focus on using as many shreds as possible before it runs out.
Tiger's Fury: Increases bleeds damage when applied during use. Also, it adds 60 energy when used because you are Ferocious Bite: As you get better with utilizing energy, you might be able to squeeze some without worrying about losing bleeds. HINT: Use it at ~35 energy because it can drains up to 75 energy.
Use Faerie Fire during down time as it can give you a chance to get Clearcasting. If you find yourself stuck with no energy, use Barkskin and Nature's Grasp and even FLEXWEAVE UNDERLAY
Prepop Clearcasting by using GOTY
Use Hyperspeed Acceleration on cooldown.
Clearcasting: When ever you get a clearcasting, use a shred. Note: FB Will still take energy.
Cower: Most useless cat spell. Causes no damage but lowers your threat. Again, useless.
I use Badkitty, because you know, it's a cool name . Years later, I still use this. It's just a simple addon to keep track of your dots
Please feel free to ask questions, and shoot what you think! -