Feral Combat Druid Guide — Class Guides · WoW Wrath of the Lich King

Cat Form damage and Bear Form tanking from one tree. The usual leveling tree.

A leather-wearing shapeshifter who heals in caster form, tanks in Bear Form, deals melee damage in Cat Form, and casts Balance spells. Druids can fill any role in a group. More about the druid

Class: Druid
Roles: Damage, Tank
Used for: Raids and dungeons, Player versus player, Leveling
Top talent: Berserk
Popular builds: 4
Version: WoW Wrath of the Lich King

How to play

Feral in Wrath does both jobs with one set of talents: cats keep Savage Roar, Rip and Rake up and Shred for combo points, while bears tank with Mangle, Lacerate and Swipe. Berserk makes cat abilities cheaper or bear Mangle free of cooldown, Survival Instincts saves you, and Leader of the Pack adds crit and healing.

Cat priority: Savage Roar, Rip at five points, Rake, Mangle if no one else keeps its bleed bonus up, Shred to fill and Tiger's Fury when low on Energy; Ferocious Bite only when Rip and Savage Roar have time left. Cats scale very well with armour penetration.

Bears in Wrath have huge health and armour, Frenzied Regeneration, Survival Instincts and Barkskin, and Swipe holds packs easily.

At a glance

Single-target damage
Damage to groups
Survivability
Utility for the group
Solo play and leveling
Ease of play

Rated 1 to 5 against the other specs in WoW Wrath of the Lich King.

Rotation and priorities

1Cat: Savage Roar kept up.
2Rip at five combo points; Rake kept up.
3Mangle if no one keeps its bleed bonus up; Shred from behind to fill.
4Tiger's Fury when Energy is low; Berserk with trinkets and Heroism.
5Bear: Mangle when ready, Lacerate to five stacks, Swipe on packs, Maul with spare Rage.
6Survival Instincts, Barkskin and Frenzied Regeneration for emergencies.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Tank or damage with the same talents and similar gear.
Leader of the Pack helps the raid.
Bears have huge health and armour.

Weaknesses

The cat priority is demanding.
Shred has to come from behind.
Bears can't block or parry.

Stats and gear

Stat priority

Most valuable first. Bars compare each stat with the best one; a cap in the note means the stat drops off once you reach it.

1
Agility
2
Armour penetrationcats, late in the expansion
3
Strength
4
Hitto 263 rating
5
Expertise
6
Staminabear

What to look for

Weapon damage doesn't matter in forms; the weapon's stats and feral attack power do.
Agility and armour penetration for cats; Stamina, Agility and armour for bears.
Defense matters less for bears: Survival of the Fittest already makes you hard to crit.

Items worth chasing

Deathbringer's WillA trinket that procs Strength, Agility or haste.
Darkmoon Card: GreatnessA trinket that procs your best stat.
Mjolnir RunestoneA trinket that procs armour penetration.

Builds

Each bar splits the build's talent points by tree.

Balance
Feral Combat
Restoration

Feral Cat Raider
DamagePvE
5516
0/55/16
Raid damage with 55 points in Feral Combat, down to Berserk, and 16 in Restoration.
- King of the Jungle 3/3
- Mangle 1/1
- Rend and Tear 5/5
- Primal Gore 1/1
- Berserk 1/1
Glyphs: Glyph of Omen of Clarity (major), Glyph of Savage Roar (major), Glyph of Shred (major), Glyph of Dash (minor), Glyph of the Wild (minor), Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth (minor)
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting
Feral Bear Tank
TankPvE
6011
0/60/11
Raid tanking with 60 points in Feral Combat, down to Berserk, and 11 in Restoration.
- King of the Jungle 3/3
- Mangle 1/1
- Rend and Tear 5/5
- Primal Gore 1/1
- Berserk 1/1
Glyphs: Glyph of Maul (major), Glyph of Survival Instincts (major), Glyph of Frenzied Regeneration (major), Glyph of Challenging Roar (minor), Glyph of Thorns (minor), Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth (minor)
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting
Feral Gladiator
DamagePvP
5813
0/58/13
Arena and battleground damage with 58 points in Feral Combat, down to Berserk, and 13 in Restoration.
- King of the Jungle 3/3
- Mangle 1/1
- Rend and Tear 5/5
- Primal Gore 1/1
- Berserk 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting
Feral Leveling
DamageLeveling
5417
0/54/17
Leveling with 54 points in Feral Combat, down to Berserk, and 17 in Restoration.
- King of the Jungle 3/3
- Mangle 1/1
- Rend and Tear 5/5
- Primal Gore 1/1
- Berserk 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level

Key talents

Berserk · top talent, up to 1
When activated, this ability causes your Mangle (Bear) ability to hit up to 3 targets and have no cooldown, and reduces the energy cost of all your Cat Form abilities by 50%. Lasts 15 sec. You cannot use Tiger's Fury while Berserk is active. Clears the effect of Fear and makes you immune to Fear for the duration.
Heart of the Wild · tier 6, up to 5
Increases your Intellect by 20%. In addition, while in Bear or Dire Bear Form your Stamina is increased by 10% and while in Cat Form your attack power is increased by 10%.
Leader of the Pack · tier 7, up to 1
While in Cat, Bear or Dire Bear Form, the Leader of the Pack increases ranged and melee critical chance of all party and raid members within 100 yards by 5%.
Improved Leader of the Pack · tier 7, up to 2
Your Leader of the Pack ability also causes affected targets to heal themselves for 4% of their total health when they critically hit with a melee or ranged attack. The healing effect cannot occur more than once every 6 sec. In addition, you gain 8% of your maximum mana when you benefit from this heal.
Protector of the Pack · tier 8, up to 3
Increases your attack power by 6% and reduces the damage you take by 12%, while in Bear or Dire Bear Form.
Predatory Instincts · tier 8, up to 3
While in Cat Form increases your damage from melee critical strikes by 10% and reduces the damage taken from area of effect attacks by 30%.
King of the Jungle · tier 9, up to 3
While using your Enrage ability in Bear Form or Dire Bear Form, your damage is increased by 15%, and your Tiger's Fury ability also instantly restores 60 energy. In addition, the mana cost of Bear Form, Cat Form, and Dire Bear Form is reduced by 60%.
Mangle · tier 9, up to 1
Mangle the target, inflicting damage and causing the target to take additional damage from bleed effects for 1 min. This ability can be used in Cat Form or Dire Bear Form.
Rend and Tear · tier 10, up to 5
Increases damage done by your Maul and Shred attacks on bleeding targets by 20%, and increases the critical strike chance of your Ferocious Bite ability on bleeding targets by 25%.
Primal Gore · tier 10, up to 1
Grants the periodic damage from your Lacerate and Rip abilities the ability to critically hit.

Feral Combat abilities by level

When each ability arrives: trained abilities at the level a trainer first teaches them, talent abilities (gold frame) at the first level the talent can be taken.