FERAL DRUID FUNDAMENTALS COURSE

FERAL DRUID PLAYSTYLE

Welcome to our Feral Druid Damage Course for The War Within, which is custom designed to equip you with all of the essential knowledge that's needed to excel in PvP.

Now, in the introduction to this course, we're going to be exploring what's new for the Feral playstyle, and we're also going to be discussing your most important goals in every arena game.

Now, Feral has actually changed quite substantially, as the Wild Attunement PvP talent has been completely removed, which, for better or worse, previously defined the spec in Dragonflight.

Now, as a result, there has been a shift in how Feral Druids deal damage, as now, instead of playing around Cyclone to burst, the spec has a bit more fluidity and flexibility, and is even a little bit more tankier, which we're going to cover here in just a bit.

But in case you're completely new to Feral Druid, the spec is quite unique in the sense that, it plays multiple roles at once, having a mixture of dot damage, some microburst, and, depending on the spec, even some one-shot potential.

Now, this is all neatly packaged into the toolkit of a hybrid DPS, who's able to support their team with unrivaled control and some modest utility. Now, on the damage side, Feral Druid has two fairly distinct routines, embodied by the new hero talent system.

On one hand, we have Wildstalker, which is the quintessential bleed-focused loadout, centered around attrition, by periodically spawning Bloodseeker vines on targets affected by Rip and Rake, adding yet another damage over time effect to pile on the pressure.

Now, on the other hand, we have Druid of the Claw, which instead levels up the burst part of our damage profile, by occasionally turning Ferocious Bite into an even stronger ability called, Ravage, which obviously synergizes really well with some of the additional Bite talents on the Feral Tree.

Right now, Wildstalker is the clear winner of these hero talents being better in pretty much every single way. Now, with Cyclone no longer being a vital source of damage, you might be asking if this changes how that ability is used.

Well, we would answer that by saying yes, and in many ways, it allows Cyclone to be used in a more intelligent, and calculated way. So, in the past, Wild Attunement meant that the best way to use Cyclone was honestly just random.

Sure, you could try and use it in an intelligent way on an appropriate target, but other times, it meant just going for a triple DR'd clone just to squeeze in some extra damage. Now, with Wild Attunement gone, Cycloning is once again a little bit more of a calculated decision.

We now have the flexibility to clone as needed, and at the right time, we can use it as a heal for our teammates, or as a potential game-winning CC on the enemy healer. Ironically, the removal of Wild Attunement is even a defensive buff as well, as now Feral Druids are a less desirable target altogether.

Enemy players aren't as fixated on the threat of spam clones, which sometimes means Feral has more freedom in matchups.

Now, adding onto this too, Druids even got some defensive buffs with a redesign to their talent tree in The War Within, including, Now, adding onto this too, Druids even got some defensive buffs with a redesign to their talent tree in The War Within, Now, adding onto this too, Druids even got some defensive buffs with a redesign to their talent tree in The War Within, and Oak Skin to buff Bark Skin and Survival Instincts.

So, taken together, even if you're an experienced Feral main, the spec is gonna feel refreshed in The War Within. And if this is your first time ever touching Feral Druid, your first time ever hearing about him, you've come to the right place.

But do be sure to stay tuned, because in the next video, we're gonna be breaking down your most important goals in every arena.

FERAL DRUID GOALS

In this next section we're going to give you some basic goals you can safely follow in every arena game in order to maximize your output. By far our most important damage goal is to have high uptime on our dots.

Regardless of what hero build we play, the overwhelming majority of our tempo is going to come from our dots, especially rip and rake. Now at the bare minimum these should always be applied and maintained on the kill target at all times with very very limited exceptions.

In order for our burst damage to matter, we really need to let our damage over time effects do some work, whittling down someone's HP to be low enough so that our burst can take over and finish the job.

To make sure our bleeds are doing maximum damage, we really need to stick to our second goal here which is to snapshot as often as possible. Snapshotting is an old mechanic that's been for the most part complete and utter failure.

It's a very common mistake to make, but it's not the only one. Snapshotting is an old mechanic that's been for the most part complete and utter failure.

It's an old mechanic that's been for the most part complete and utter failure. It's a very common mistake to make, but it's not the only one. • Completely phased out from the game for most specs with Feral Druid being the exception.

Normally the damage of any dot is going to automatically update based on any new damage buffs, like from CDs, Trinket procs, and other external buffs.

Tiger's Fury and Blood Talons act a bit differently however and instead, are going to modify the damage of our bleeds for their entire duration, even after Tiger's Fury and Blood Talons has fallen. Our goal is going to be to make sure that every single rip is applied with Blood Talons active.

Procing Blood Talons can be a bit tricky at first, since it's going to require you to use three different generators in a four-second window, but this can be easily done at the start of every game in the opener through Rake, Moonfire, and Feral Frenzy, and then later on in the game with Shred, Brutal Slash, and then either Rake or Moonfire again when your dots need to be refreshed.

Really, any combination of generators works, as long as they don't repeat. We're going to also aim to apply or refresh any dots during our Tiger's Fury window.

Even if you Rake or Moonfire with one second left on Tiger's Fury, it's going to have its damage increased for the entire duration, which is honestly, I mean, it's pretty dang OP. Snapshotting is a huge part of min-maxing damage as a Feral Druid, which is why it's our number two goal alongside having high dot uptime.

Our next goal is also related to our damage, and it's to make sure we pool energy for Ferocious Bite.

Despite only costing 25 energy, Ferocious Bite is going to consume up to an additional 25 energy in order to provide even more damage, which, if playing with the Saberjaw's talent, means you're losing out on a ton of burst if you aren't biting at 50 or more energy.

Our next two goals are indirectly related to damage, and the first is to have good, defensive play. The mistake many Feral Druids make is being way too overaggressive.

This is a problem caused by the fact that our damage potential is so high. It seems like we can always apply pressure to someone in the arena, which presents an opportunity cost when doing so.

The problem, however, is that your damage immediately drops to nil when you die. Jokes aside, though, what we're trying to get at is that smart defensive play goes hand in hand with generating pressure.

This starts by recognizing that we don't always have to overextend to multi-bleed everyone, especially on larger maps into two casters, just trying to bounce between targets all game. Man, that's a futile task.

We should also recognize appropriate times to go bear form, though, as well. This starts by monitoring the cooldowns of enemy stuns, and noticing when our healer is CC'd or they might be vulnerable to CC soon.

And using this combined, information we can potentially pre-bear form an enemy team's damage at exactly the right time. Now, if this sounds like a lot to you, don't worry, because we're going to cover some defensive play in a separate course a little bit later on.

Finally, our last goal is to play around our stuns. The age-old wisdom of combining burst with CC definitely applies to Feral.

Having Mame and Mighty Bash sort of gives us two kidney shots, and we need to be willing to use our skills to do so. We can use our stuns almost like a sub-rogue, locking down the kill target or shutting down the healer, or even doing both at the same time.

Having multiple stun options also gives us enormous power when playing with casters, since we can enable our teammate to cast. Now, once again, by either stunning the healer to allow follow-up CC, or simply stunning the kill target so they can burst.

So, on top of all of our damage commitments here, we should aim to use both Mame and Bash on CD. In order to enable our team to have more freedom.

Anyway guys, for now that wraps up our five biggest goals when playing Feral Druid in Arena. But be sure to stick around, because in the next video, we're going to be teaching you step by step on how to maximize damage.

FERAL DRUID SUSTAINED PRIORITY: SINGLE TARGET

Welcome back! Now that you have a broader understanding of both the playstyle and the goals of Feral Druid in Arena, the next step is learning how to deal damage effectively.

Now, for this, we're going to start with a clear-cut damage priority, which is going to include everything except major cooldowns. Now, do keep in mind that this isn't a rotation, but instead a guide on how you should prioritize abilities at any stage of the game, and it's not going to include any major cooldowns.

We're going to start out with our damage priority when playing a single-target focused build. Now, first, we're going to want to make sure RIP is always applied to the target, ideally with maximum combo points.

More combo points does not increase RIP's DPS, but it simply just adds duration, but we'll still aim to RIP high to give us more flexibility with our globals. For extra credit, we'll also want to be applying or not applying RIP to our globals.

So, we're going to start out with a clear-cut or refreshing any RIP with Blood Talons and Tiger's Fury, since by doing so, we'll snapshot its damage.

Next up in our damage priority is to apply or refresh Rake with a Sudden Ambush proc, or even through a simple Re-Stealth, as this is going to cause it to deal 60% increased damage for its duration.

And it follows that even if you don't have a Sudden Ambush proc, next in our priority, we'll simply be applying Rake regardless, if the target is missing the debuff. Next up, assuming we're playing with Lunar Inspiration, our next damage priority is to keep Moonfire applied.

Assuming we'll have all of our dots rolling, it's time to use our other major finisher, Ferocious Bite, which we'll want to use ideally with 5 combo points and with at least 50 energy, since that's the maximum energy it will consume for the highest damage.

Now, just like before, we'll also want to be using our Ferocious Bite with Blood Talons and Tiger's Fury, as this is going to cause it to deal 60% increased damage to our globals.

And it follows that even if we don't have a Sudden Ambush proc, this will also be applying Rake regardless, as this is going to cause it to deal 60% increased damage for our globals.

Assuming we're playing with Lunar Inspiration, our next target is going to be using our Ferocious Bite with Blood Talons, assuming an Empowered Rip is already applied to the target.

While Ferocious Bite might seem low on priority, there are some cases where it will rank much higher, as is the case when playing with Apex Predator. You want to use the free Ferocious Bites from this talent almost instantly, as we don't want the damage to go to waste.

And even when not playing with Apex Predator, we'll still prioritize Ferocious Bite over Rip if the target is critically low, and we're confident that we'll be able to get a good kill.

So going back to our generators, next up we'll want to prioritize using Shred when we have a clear casting proc, since this makes it 100% efficient. Otherwise, Brutal Slash is our second most efficient generator, since it costs less energy and is a vital component for proccing Blood Talons.

Now, as a quick note here, despite the fact that we have three charges of Brutal Slash, it doesn't mean that we want to be spending all of our energy on the Brutal Slash.

We want to be spending all three back to back to back, since its true value lies in the ability to proc Blood Talons, which means alternating between each one of our combo point generators.

We should also note that whenever you can cleave and need to quickly build combo points, Brutal Slash will be your highest priority combo point builder.

Last up on our priority list is Shred, ideally with a Sudden Ambush proc, assuming it's not needed for Rake, which makes a plain, good old-fashioned Vanilla Shred last on our priority. So that concludes our guide on single target priority, but do be sure to stick around for our section on dealing maximum AoE damage.

FERAL DRUID SUSTAINED PRIORITY: AOE

Now that we know how to deal maximum single target damage, let's go through how to prioritize our globals for AoE. First up, since we're playing with Primal Wrath, it's going to be our highest priority if, and only if, it can hit more than one target.

Otherwise, we'll aim to rip with 5 combo points on a single player if there's no one nearby to cleave.

In either case, we're going to be wanting to use Primal Wrath or rip with a Blood Talons proc, and do keep in mind that Primal Wrath will have a shorter overall duration compared to rip, but the DPS will still be the same no matter how many combo points are spent, only the total duration changes.

Following this, our priority will be to apply or refresh Rake, either from stealth or with a Sudden Ambush proc.

And even if we don't have a proc and are stuck in combat anyway, we'll still be wanting to use Primal Wrath or rip with a Blood Talons proc, and do keep in mind that Primal Wrath will have a shorter overall duration compared to rip, but the DPS will still be the same no matter how many combo points are spent.

We still want to make sure Rake is applied no matter what. Now that we have all of our maintenance done here, we'll still aim to Ferocious Bite at 5 combo points, ideally with a Blood Talons proc.

And if we have an Apex Predator proc, Ferocious Bite will once again skyrocket in priority. Now, since we're playing more for AoE, we're going to prio Brutal Slash over Shreds, since Brutal Slash can cleave and is a very efficient generator.

Finally, our last priority. is Shred even with a clear casting proc or Sudden Ambush, assuming we already have a Sudden Ambush Rake active.

FERAL HERO TALENTS: WILDSTALKER

Hey everyone, welcome to the next video in our Feral Druid damage course. In this guide, we're going to be breaking down everything you need to know about Wildstalker.

If we had to sum up Wildstalker in just two words, it would be more damage. Getting a bit more serious here though, the truth is that Wildstalker provides a ton of passive benefits with very little change to our actual gameplay.

Now the hallmark passive from Wildstalker is Thriving Growth, which periodically causes a dot called Bloodseeker Vines to proc on targets affected by Rake and Rip, and once procced, the target will then take 5% additional damage from us, thanks to the end cap talent, Vigorous Creepers.

Making the most out of Bloodseeker Vines is simple because all you have to do is stick to your sustained priority, maximizing uptime on your two main bleeds.

Wildstalker doesn't change the way you burst either, since due to picking up the implant choice node talent, using Tiger's Fury is going to cause you to instantly grow a Bloodseeker Vine on the target, adding even more damage passively to our burst sequences.

Now with that said, there are some potential adjustments you might have to make as Wildstalker, but it is very difficult to actually play around. That's because whenever a Bloodseeker Vine expires, it will explode in an AoE radius, and it will break some forms of CC.

Because of this, and the rare chance a Vine is about to explode right on top of a healer who's in CC, you can consider using Typhoon to knock the players apart, but this is very niche and very advanced.

Alternatively, you could Vortex the target, which thanks to a choice node on Wildstalker will now root enemy players who get sucked back. While this can be exceptionally strong into Double Melee or even into Evokers, it does mean that any affected targets will now be on both knock and root DR.

But if you're at all worried about this, you could simply just swap the choice node over to Flower Walk for a very minor boost to your personal survivability.

The other gameplay adjustment you should make as Wildstalker is being more active with your Curse Dispels, as doing so will grant you a combo point and provide a minor heal. So be sure to track Amplify Curse to remove Tongues, and then use it to get to the next target.

If you're not sure what to do, you can use the Cursor to get to the next target. And if you're not sure what to do, you can use the Cursor to get to the next target.

And if you're not sure what to do, you can use the Cursor to get to the next target. And if you're not sure what to do, you can use the Cursor to get to the next target.

Now, as far as additional defensive perks from Wildstalker, there is one decision you're going to have to make with yet another choice node between Bond with Nature and Harmonious Constitution.

While some huge extra regrowth healing on yourself might look appealing, Bond with Nature is going to be way better anytime you have a healer on your team, since they're guaranteed to do a lot more healing than you, period.

Now, with that said, Harmonious Constitution is the preferred talent in duels, open world PvP, or even in double DPS 2v2. Here we should note that our regrowth will also spawn vines that provide a minor hot to the target, which really doesn't change how you use regrowth with Predatory Swiftness.

And despite the fact that Wildstalker gives a 10% increase to rejuvenation healing, it doesn't mean you should be using this ability more often, really, if at all. So, overall, Wildstalker doesn't really change how you play.

Instead, it simply provides passive benefits that reinforce doing your sustain rotation properly and having the correct burst sequences. And speaking of which, be sure to stay tuned, because in our next few videos, we're going to be breaking down how to burst as a Feral Druid.

FERAL DRUID BURST BASICS

Before going over our Omega Burst Sequences, let's briefly cover some Bursting Basics. Our Burst is going to come from three Micro Cooldowns, Tiger's Fury, Feral Frenzy, and Adaptive Swarm.

Before using these abilities, we want to make sure our other dots are already on the target, and optionally, we want to already have a Blood Talons proc. Then we'll Adaptive Swarm into Mame for some Lockdown, then Feral Frenzy, and now at 5 combo points, we'll Ferocious Bite.

Then to regain Blood Talons, we'll Brutal Slash and Shred up to 5 combo points, and then Bite again. This will be the Bread and Butter Micro Burst Sequence that we'll try to replicate for every Feral Frenzy, but now it's time to look at some Full Burst Sequences.

BURST DAMAGE AND OPENER FOR ATTRITION: WILDSTALKER

These next few videos are the ones that you've really been waiting for, as now we're going to be breaking down some burst sequences one by one, starting with Attrition Heavy Burst when playing Wildstalker. So let's be a bit clear by what we mean here.

This Attrition sequence is designed for when we want maximum dot pressure, while also sprinkling in some burst along the way. Conveniently, this is the sequence that we're going to be pressing in almost every opener in Solo Shuffle, so we're going to start in Prowl.

We're then going to Tiger's Fury, Incarn, and Rake from Stealth. Then we're going to Feral Frenzy.

And now you might be worried about overcapping on combo points, but while we're in Berserk or Incarn, we can actually store up combo points for later. Anyway, following Feral Frenzy, we'll Adaptive Swarm to buff its damage along with the rest of our bleeds.

Then we'll Moonfire in order to get Blood Talons, which we'll then spin to the next one. And then we'll go to the next one, and we'll go to the next one.

And then we'll go to the next one, and we'll go to the next one. And then we'll go to the next one.

And then we'll go to the next one. And then we'll go to the next one.

And then we'll go to the next one. And then we'll go to the next one.

And then we'll go to the next one. And then we'll go to the next one.

Now, depending on our current combo point situation, we might need to build before we can bite, so here we Shred, since its damage is buffed during Incarn. We'll Ferocious Bite, using one of our Blood Talons.

Then we'll build back to five again with Shred. Then, finally, we'll Ferocious Bite again, and then transition to our sustained rotation, making sure to refresh Rake with the rest of our Tiger's Fury window.

And that's it for this video.

BURST DAMAGE AND OPENER TO ONE SHOT: WILDSTALKER

Next up, we have a variation to our burst sequence, optimized for lockdown and getting that true, swifty one-shot. Our goal in this sequence is radically different.

Instead of focusing on attrition, we're committing to killing a target 100-0 in a series of stuns. So just like before, we're gonna Incarnation, Tiger's Fury, and Rake from Stealth, then we're gonna Feral Frenzy.

And once again, we won't worry about overcapping, since Berserk or Incarn is gonna store any excess combo points. Now, in order to get Blood Talons, we'll Brutal Slash.

Then, we'll do our first big bite. But since our stun is ending here, we're gonna prowl with Incarn and Rake stun again.

With our stored combo points, we'll be back at 5, so now we'll Ferocious Bite. With our stun ending again, we'll now Shadow Meld and Rake.

And we'll finish with yet another Ferocious Bite, spending the last of our Blood Talons. Thanks for watching!

BURST DAMAGE AND OPENER FOR AOE PRESSURE: WILDSTALKER

Our final burst sequence will demonstrate how to have the strongest AoE pressure as Wildstalker. The first few Globals will be familiar, opening with Incarn, Tiger's Fury, and Rake, while also pressing Feral Frenzy to help give us Blood Talons.

Now for our third generator, we're going to Brutal Slash, which will apply the Thrash Bleed thanks to Thrashing Claws. Now that we have Blood Talons, we'll Primal Wrath, aiming to hit multiple targets.

Then we'll look for a nearby target to Rake in order to spread some DOT pressure. And now, we'll simply carry out our sustained AoE priority.

FERAL DRUID OPENER

Now, let's dive into some arena gameplay, starting with what is often the most crucial part of every single match, and that, of course, is the opener. First things first, you want to start in stealth, as we see here.

This lets you land a Rake Stun right away without wasting a Shadow Melt. Now, if you do get knocked out of stealth, don't panic, it's not the end of the world, but aiming for a clean opener will always put you in the best position possible.

Now, watch what the Feral does here. The Feral leaps to the Demon Hunter to Rake Stun them, and then immediately pops Incarnation.

Pressing Incarnation early helps the Feral to build pressure right from the start. The sooner you activate it, the more pressure you can apply before the enemy team has a chance to respond.

The Feral does get scattered during their Incarnation, but since it's their opener, they trinket immediately. While you won't always trinket the first CC that hits you, it can be good against teams that rely heavily on stealth.

The Feral can also use Stun to secure kills, like the Demon Hunter. Now, in these matchups, you can afford to use your trinket more freely, knowing that you can still Bark Skin even while stunned.

With full bleeds rolling on the Demon Hunter, the Feral swaps to the Hunter, landing a stun and applying bleeds. During your Incarnation window, the priority is to apply as many empowered bleeds as possible to maximize pressure on the enemy team.

Tunneling a single target isn't really what you want to do as a Feral. Especially in the open.

Instead, you want to bleed up to as many players as possible. With full bleeds on both DPS, the Feral follows up by stunning the healer into a full Cyclone.

The perfect time to land CC is when both DPS are bled up. This forces the healer to play catch up after the clone, and possibly even force a panic trinket.

We do see that the Feral trades out Bark Skin when I-Beam is used. Bark Skin has a relatively short cooldown, so we can trade it out with enemy cooldowns even when we aren't stunned.

With Incarnation now over, the Druid shifts into a more sustained playstyle, focusing on weaving Cyclone to shut down defensive cooldowns and deny healing, keeping the enemy team on the back foot.

FERAL DRUID WIN CONDITION

Alright, so far in this course we've outlined our goals in Arena, we've provided you with a straightforward damage priority, and even covered how you should be approaching Openers. Now, it's finally the time to bring it all together and demonstrate precisely how you should use all of this knowledge to win you games.

So, to do this, we're going to look at the early, mid, and late game from a pretty typical solo shuffle. In the early game, we have the same goals that we covered in our opener.

We want to press Incarnation early, establish control with our stuns and other CCs, and survive enemy cooldowns in the most efficient way possible, ideally with Barkskin.

The reason we want to use Incarn early is because Dampening is going to be super high at around the 2 minute mark, and our second Incarnation at this point will often be enough to win the game, but a little bit more on that later.

Getting back to the opener, if you watched the video, you'll know that we're going to be using Incarnation early, then what you're about to see should be pretty familiar, as Waz pops his Incarn, Tiger's Fury, and Feral Frenzy immediately when opening with Rake, which immediately forces Icebound Fortitude from the Death Knight, and at this point we're going to be doing less damage to the DK, which is why you'll see Waz swap over to the Warrior with the rest of his Incarn, using his Rake stun to give his partner some breathing room.

And because he's under pressure with the enemy team popping CDs, Waz just has to keep his Rake stuns up and running, and he'll be able to do that in a few minutes. So, let's get started.

So, let's get started. So, let's get started.

So, let's get started. So, let's get started.

So, let's get started. So, let's get started.

So, let's get started. So, let's get started.

So, let's get started. So, let's get started.