leveling with a druid guide

[boarwoman]

For starters this is a Feral druid talent and playstyle guide, This is not the end all be all of feral leveling or speccing, there are many variations with points diverged from what I do and playstyles different from mine. But this is what worked for me and hopefully I can help someone.



First-

The Spec:

Feral: The problem with the feral tree is, there are SO many good talents that it’s hard to pick 40 to lead to mangle asap. You’ll end up taking almost all of them and the ones you don’t take I’ll explain why.



Lvl 10 - Ferocity 1/5 (A given, 5 less energy/rage for 5 abilities, all of which are used often, great
Lvl 11 - Ferocity 2/5 investment)
Lvl 12 - Ferocity 3/5
Lvl 13 - Ferocity 4/5
Lvl 14 - Ferocity 5/5
Lvl 15 – Feral Instinct 1/3 (the threat is very nice in higher levels, but it’s the significant increase to

Lvl 16 – Feral Instinct 2/3 prowling that makes this talent worthwhile.)
Lvl 17 – Feral Instinct 3/3
Lvl 18 - Brutal Impact 1/2 (The extra second on bash/pounce may not seem like much, but it opens up a
Lvl 19 - Brutal Impact 2/2 starting combo for higher levels (explained below))
Lvl 20 –Feral Swiftness 1/2 (30% faster in cat form, and now that you have it… why would you ever shift
Lvl 21 – Feral Swiftness 2/2 out?)
Lvl 22 – Sharpened Claws 1/3 ( 6% crit isn’t the only reason to take 3/3 here, but it opens up a great

Lvl 23 – Sharpened Claws 2/3 talent below)
Lvl 24 –Sharpened Claws 3/3
Lvl 25 - Primal Fury 1/2 (Might be my favorite talent in the tree (pre-mangle))
Lvl 26 - Primal Fury 2/2
Lvl 27 – Shredding Attacks 1/2 (Many people skip over this fantastic talent, 18 less energy for Shred is

Lvl 28 – Shredding Attacks 2/2 needed for the starting combo)
Lvl 29 – Predatory Strikes 1/3 (Only reason for this talent… its Unlock.)
Lvl 30 - Faerie Fire (Feral) 1/1 (Armor penetration is a very nice dps increase, and FF is also free threat)
LVl 31 - Savage Fury 1/2 (20% increase to abilities that are used constantly is too good to pass up)
Lvl 32 - Savage Fury 2/2
Lvl 33 - Predatory Strikes 2/3
Lvl 34 - Predatory Strikes 3/3
Lvl 35 - Heart of the Wild 1/5 (A Fantastic 5 point talent)
Lvl 36 - Heart of the Wild 2/5
Lvl 37 - Heart of the Wild 3/5
Lvl 38 - Heart of the wild 4/5
Lvl 39 - Heart of the Wild 5/5
Lvl 40 - Leader of the Pack 1/1 (Why ferals are wanted in raids, and also a nice dps increase)
Lvl 41 - Improved Leader of the Pack 1/2 (Heals every 6 seconds make leveling a whole lot easier)
Lvl 42 - Improved Leader of the Pack 2/2
Lvl 43 – Feral Charge 1/1 (Talent filler, and a nice stun for casters)
Lvl 44 – Survival of the Fittest (Talent filler, great talent that gets more use in end game then at 44)
Lvl 45 - Predatory Instincts 1/5 (10% more crit damage, and your almost there)
Lvl 46 - Predatory Instincts 2/5
Lvl 47 - Predatory Instincts 3/5
Lvl 48 - Predatory Instincts 4/5
Lvl 49 - Predatory Instincts 5/5
Lvl 50 - Mangle (Tada! Now your life just got a Whole Lot Easier, completely replaces Claw on your bar.)



Now that we’ve gotten Mangle in the feral tree, there are some useful talents in Resto



Restoration-

Lvl 51 – Furor 1/5 (saves 4 seconds every time you shift into cat form, gives starting rage for bear

Lvl 52 – Furor 2/5 tanking)

Lvl 53 – Furor 3/5

Lvl 54 – Furor 4/5

Lvl 55 – Furor 5/5

Lvl 56 – Naturalist 1/5 ( 10% damage in all forms is the main focus of this talent)

Lvl 57 – Naturalist 2/5

Lvl 58 – Naturalist 3/5

Lvl 59 – Naturalist 4/5

Lvl 60 – Naturalist 5/5

Lvl 61 – Omen of Clarity 1/1 (Another buff to always have on, Whenever this procs you receive a free anything, very helpful for DPS and if you want to shift out and pop barkskin and Healing Touch for no mana)



Alright, now that all the major Talents are taken, now begins the fleshing out period. First I’ll list all the remaining talents and give my 2 cents on their viability, since the next 9 levels talents are spent with end game raiding/instancing in mind.



Feral Aggression – Not worth it, FB isn’t even worth the energy with this talent AND 4pct6, rip will always be better. And the increase to Demo Roar is not worth the points since a warrior will have Demo Shout up or Curse of Weakness from a warlock on a raid boss. In other words, don’t get this talent.



Thick Hide - Fantastic talent, should be had by any feral druid, since ferals are Tanks first, Dps second in End Game.



Survival of the Fittest – Finish this talent, Defense is hard to get on leather Items, since all of our Tier pieces have none. 415 Def or 103 Resil (or a mix) is much easier to obtain than 490 Def or 221 Resil. Just make sure to have 2.6% reduced chance to be crit after taking 3/3 SotF.



Nurturing Instinct - With the change in 2.4, this might be a realistic raiding/pvp talent for Feral. The added effect of a “Fel Armor” in Cat form will help our survivability in boss encounters with bad melee survivability. Something to look into.



Primal Tenacity – Nice for PvP/Tanking, but too unreliable for my tastes. I used to put 3/3 here but I think this talent will be replaced by the new and improved Nurturing Instinct.



Intensity – Too much of a resto talent for my tastes, yes the extra rage is nice, but 30 rage is plently to start any boss encounter, I Don’t even see what you would be done with the extra 10 from this talent. Starting with Maul/Mangle is 25 Rage and after 2.5 seconds for a second Maul you will be hit to generate enough rage for that Maul. Receiving damage and Dealing damage is how you generate rage, don’t waste 3 points.



Natural Shapeshifter (Resto) - Any extra talent points? Throw them here, 10%-20% reduced mana for shifting is a great benefit in pvp and pve.





So my end game Feral Spec that will give you the best DPS in cat and has everything to be the Best Feral tank out there is –



Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft





Starting Combo-



“What about that opener I read about earlier in the post?” Well I’ll explain that:



At level 36 you receive a new ability: Pounce



Pounce stuns the target for 3 seconds (Speced to 4) and applies a Bleed effect.



At level 36 you do not have all the abilities you will have at 50 so I’ll explain what I did pre-36, 36-50 and then 50-70



Pre-36:

All that is on your cat’s bar is probably Claw, Rake, Prowl, Shred and Rip (FB should never be used) and Faerie Fire (at 30)



Start off the fight in Prowl: Shred, FF, Claw, Claw, Claw, Rip (Depends on how many Crits happened since on a crit you receive two combo points, once you get to 4-5 Combo points Rip)



That’s it, until…



Combo @ 36-50:

Now we throw Pounce into the mix, here’s the reason for the 2 points in shredding attacks. Another Plus about Pounce is not needing to be behind the target, so positioning in the beginning isn’t needed, Many times I Pounced and ran through the target, turned around and started shredding.



Start off in Prowl: Pounce, FF, Shred, Shred (the extra second gives you another Energy Tick for the second shred) Claw/Rip until dead.



Now I used this all the way until 50, and then life gets even easier,

Combo @ 50-70:

Start off in Prowl: Pounce, FF, Mangle, Shred, (Omen of Clarity proc) Shred, Rip

Then continue to Mangle, Mangle, Maim, Shred, Mangle, Mangle, Rip.

[jesusisgod]

Is this pre-wotlk? Because druids can get crit immune with talent points alone, so defense is not a necessity. As well, the cap is 540. So unless you got lag, this is a copy and paste.

[thieadin]

You can tell its copy and paste because he didnt use correct grammar in the title but the guide is almost flawless...

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