I'd hit a plateau in gearing up my tree, and I'd pretty much shelved her except when a guild group needed a healer. But I've had a pretty decent feral set gathering dust in the bank, and felt it would be a shame to get to Wrath without ever having tried it out. So on a whim at 3:30 this morning, I respecced.
Since I leveled Balance and have been Resto since hitting 70, I have zero idea what I'm doing. I copied the spec from my favorite tanking buddy, and I've been reading the stickies to try to figure out which skills to use for what. My cat bar thus far has consisted of two buttons: prowl and dash. But I found a couple suggested skill cycles, and I wrote out a few macros. I bought some new bracers (I still hadn't upgraded from Leesa'oh's Wristbands) and a handful of cheap gems to get myself decent.
I figured a nice place to try this new style out would be Legion Hold. The mobs are a couple levels below me, there aren't any linked groups, you can see the elite pats coming a mile away, and I still need Aldor rep. I set up a sequence where I'd sneak up behind the demon, pounce -> mangle -> rake -> claw (if needed) -> ferocious bite.
They melted.
I've never seen stuff die so fast. I didn't even get my finishing move in sometimes, even if I skipped claw. I'm a complete newbie in cast-off gear and cheap gems. What is it like when you're actually good at this? You just look at the mob and it keels over?
Edit: rake, not rend
Edited, Sep 12th 2008 9:30am by Laecy
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- O.O you guys weren't kidding about Mangle
O.O you guys weren't kidding about MangleFollow
Claw blows ***, use mangle. You should pounce, mangle, shred, mangle, ferocious bite (If mob is near death)
Oh, and in regards to rake, only use on plate wearers in PvP and rogues to keep them from vanishing...Its not very good damage per energy...
Edited, Sep 12th 2008 10:34am by yodale
Oh, and in regards to rake, only use on plate wearers in PvP and rogues to keep them from vanishing...Its not very good damage per energy...
Edited, Sep 12th 2008 10:34am by yodale
Pounce > Mangle > Shred > Shred if OoC proc'd, Mangle if mob turns > Ferocious Bite
Mangle totally replaces Claw, they have the same energy cost, but Mangle (Cat) does far more damage with no cooldown. Rake is useless except to make it harder for a rogue to vanish in PvP. With Bash and an OoC proc, you can sometimes get 2 Shreds in before the Pounce stun wears off. If not, a second Mangle and Ferocious Bite will kill just about anything.
Mangle totally replaces Claw, they have the same energy cost, but Mangle (Cat) does far more damage with no cooldown. Rake is useless except to make it harder for a rogue to vanish in PvP. With Bash and an OoC proc, you can sometimes get 2 Shreds in before the Pounce stun wears off. If not, a second Mangle and Ferocious Bite will kill just about anything.
Good Lord, it gets better. . .
My only trouble is when I pull two mobs - then it becomes a dps race. I tried popping out of cat to throw up a stack of hots, but then I went oom (fast!) and was stuck in caster form.
I suppose that is my cue to set up my bear bar? :)
Oh, and what's OoC?
Edited, Sep 12th 2008 10:40am by Laecy
My only trouble is when I pull two mobs - then it becomes a dps race. I tried popping out of cat to throw up a stack of hots, but then I went oom (fast!) and was stuck in caster form.
I suppose that is my cue to set up my bear bar? :)
Oh, and what's OoC?
Edited, Sep 12th 2008 10:40am by Laecy
Laecy wrote:
Good Lord, it gets better. . .
My only trouble is when I pull two mobs - then it becomes a dps race. I tried popping out of cat to throw up a stack of hots, but then I went oom (fast!) and was stuck in caster form.
I suppose that is my cue to set up my bear bar? :)
Oh, and what's OoC?
Edited, Sep 12th 2008 10:40am by Laecy
My only trouble is when I pull two mobs - then it becomes a dps race. I tried popping out of cat to throw up a stack of hots, but then I went oom (fast!) and was stuck in caster form.
I suppose that is my cue to set up my bear bar? :)
Oh, and what's OoC?
Edited, Sep 12th 2008 10:40am by Laecy
Omen of clarity. Talent in the tier3 resto.
Once your gear improves, you will not have to shift out. I noticed lately when doing the dailies on the isle, I never shift out to heal. Even if I aggroed two in cat form. And my gear isnt that great, I have epic pieces not really gemmed or enchanted. I was ashamed last time I had to DPS in a kara group :D
Once you get about...hmm...what's a good number here...35% crit and 2500 AP (ish), you will never have to switch out of cat while soloing (except for elites or if you pulled more than 3 for some reason). Also, at around that gear level, bear form becomes nearly unstoppable. From that link you provided, it looks like you have about 30% crit and about 2120 AP (in cat), so you are getting close. Really, with the gear you have, you shouldn't be having any trouble with two enemies at all.
Like others have said, never use claw, just take it off your action bar. For that matter, you might want to take rake off your action bar too, unless you plan on doing some pvp (I don't even use it in pvp, rogues and warriors aren't a problem for feral druids, tbh). Don't be afraid of using finishers before you get 5 combo points (ferocious bite when they are at 30% health seems to work best). Don't underestimate the usefulness of maim, it kicks some serious ***. I usually use maim as soon as pounce's stun wears off, then get behind them for another shred. By that time they are usually dead.
Wait, hold up...I just checked your spec, and you only have 1/2 imp LotP? You need to change that, fast. Feral aggression isn't really all that good, you can easily spare a point from it to max out leader of the pack. In fact, I'm not a huge fan of nurturing instinct, either, and I would rather have that than feral aggression. Nurturing instinct is actually pretty decent for soloing.
You said something in your second post about tossing up a stack of hots, but to be honest, it isn't worth it in feral gear. Your best bet is to do something like lifebloom, rejuvenation, barkskin, healing touch, lifebloom (after the first one blooms) and then go bear, instead of having a stack of lifeblooms. Alternatively, you can maim one (or go bear and bash), cyclone another, and cast regrowth, healing touch.
Just some friendly advice, don't listen to a thing I've said if you are having fun figuring it out for yourself, I know I did.
Like others have said, never use claw, just take it off your action bar. For that matter, you might want to take rake off your action bar too, unless you plan on doing some pvp (I don't even use it in pvp, rogues and warriors aren't a problem for feral druids, tbh). Don't be afraid of using finishers before you get 5 combo points (ferocious bite when they are at 30% health seems to work best). Don't underestimate the usefulness of maim, it kicks some serious ***. I usually use maim as soon as pounce's stun wears off, then get behind them for another shred. By that time they are usually dead.
Wait, hold up...I just checked your spec, and you only have 1/2 imp LotP? You need to change that, fast. Feral aggression isn't really all that good, you can easily spare a point from it to max out leader of the pack. In fact, I'm not a huge fan of nurturing instinct, either, and I would rather have that than feral aggression. Nurturing instinct is actually pretty decent for soloing.
You said something in your second post about tossing up a stack of hots, but to be honest, it isn't worth it in feral gear. Your best bet is to do something like lifebloom, rejuvenation, barkskin, healing touch, lifebloom (after the first one blooms) and then go bear, instead of having a stack of lifeblooms. Alternatively, you can maim one (or go bear and bash), cyclone another, and cast regrowth, healing touch.
Just some friendly advice, don't listen to a thing I've said if you are having fun figuring it out for yourself, I know I did.
All good feral kitties like at least 2 mobs on them. No really I don't mind 2, but three can get sticky. Generally if I see 2 I just make sure to get the jump on them. I pounce > shred > fff > Mangle > bite and usually the first is dead, the second is starting to beat on me and it is just me and them, so I spam mangle and FB. If they are heavy armor wearers I am generally only at 1/2 to 2/3 health when they are done, if casters I may not have any health gone. I suppose with Omen I could drop mangle before shred, I just like to get off the shred before they turn around and it is too late. I'll have to play with that.
I just hit 70 so I am still in all of my 60s OL gear and I was noticing this, this morning on the Ogres north of Shatt. Most of the mobs are 70-72 and 2 at a time was no issue.
If I ever notice a string of mobs attacking or I pull 3 at once, I will generally kill my first target, depending on health might fff and put a rake on and then barkskin > regrowth > healing touch back to kitty and finish if they are not doing too much damage, if they are I bear form and kill one, then kitty for the other. If I start the fight with full mana I am never OoM with that sequence.
Mangle is very nice... in kitty and bear form! I also have some nice +AP trinkets that help with DPS and running through multi-mob pulls.
I just hit 70 so I am still in all of my 60s OL gear and I was noticing this, this morning on the Ogres north of Shatt. Most of the mobs are 70-72 and 2 at a time was no issue.
If I ever notice a string of mobs attacking or I pull 3 at once, I will generally kill my first target, depending on health might fff and put a rake on and then barkskin > regrowth > healing touch back to kitty and finish if they are not doing too much damage, if they are I bear form and kill one, then kitty for the other. If I start the fight with full mana I am never OoM with that sequence.
Mangle is very nice... in kitty and bear form! I also have some nice +AP trinkets that help with DPS and running through multi-mob pulls.
SumDuud wrote:
All good feral kitties like at least 2 mobs on them. No really I don't mind 2, but three can get sticky. Generally if I see 2 I just make sure to get the jump on them. I pounce > shred > fff > Mangle > bite and usually the first is dead, the second is starting to beat on me and it is just me and them, so I spam mangle and FB. If they are heavy armor wearers I am generally only at 1/2 to 2/3 health when they are done, if casters I may not have any health gone. I suppose with Omen I could drop mangle before shred, I just like to get off the shred before they turn around and it is too late. I'll have to play with that.
I just hit 70 so I am still in all of my 60s OL gear and I was noticing this, this morning on the Ogres north of Shatt. Most of the mobs are 70-72 and 2 at a time was no issue.
If I ever notice a string of mobs attacking or I pull 3 at once, I will generally kill my first target, depending on health might fff and put a rake on and then barkskin > regrowth > healing touch back to kitty and finish if they are not doing too much damage, if they are I bear form and kill one, then kitty for the other. If I start the fight with full mana I am never OoM with that sequence.
Mangle is very nice... in kitty and bear form! I also have some nice +AP trinkets that help with DPS and running through multi-mob pulls.
I just hit 70 so I am still in all of my 60s OL gear and I was noticing this, this morning on the Ogres north of Shatt. Most of the mobs are 70-72 and 2 at a time was no issue.
If I ever notice a string of mobs attacking or I pull 3 at once, I will generally kill my first target, depending on health might fff and put a rake on and then barkskin > regrowth > healing touch back to kitty and finish if they are not doing too much damage, if they are I bear form and kill one, then kitty for the other. If I start the fight with full mana I am never OoM with that sequence.
Mangle is very nice... in kitty and bear form! I also have some nice +AP trinkets that help with DPS and running through multi-mob pulls.
Always, always, always ALWAYS mangle before you shred. Mangle increases shred's damage by 30%.
Picked up the +mangle damage idol last night and respec'd to pick up Naturalist and OoC. Things die... quite a bit faster now. The only class/spec I've played that touches this raw, brutal efficiency is a BM hunter, and he wasn't that much better. 13 or so levels later and I'm still in lust with Mangle.
think of mangle as a claw replacement. if youre mangle-specced, you can forget you even have claw.
as for rotation, the one im most fond of is pounce > mangle > shred > rip (add another shred if OoC procs and theyre still stunned, else add another mangle for a 4 or 5-point rip).
and yes, mangle does rock all sorts of face.
as for rotation, the one im most fond of is pounce > mangle > shred > rip (add another shred if OoC procs and theyre still stunned, else add another mangle for a 4 or 5-point rip).
and yes, mangle does rock all sorts of face.
Check out how I spec'd here --->My Armory
This is basically how you want to spec if you want to dps or tank as a druid. You can take 2 points out of Shapeshifter and put in Improved bash/pounce for that extra second stun if you want. This will maximize you dps as kitty and give you optimum survivability when fighting more than 1 mob
In kitty gear I'm sitting at about 2.7k attack power, 33% crit and 96 hit. I generally go Pounce > FFF > Mangle > Shred > (OoC proc Shred > Mangle until death. I'll FB sometimes if nothing else is close, but half the time things are dead 1 mangle after that opening flurry and I can just move onto the next. Hell, on the island, half the time I pull with FFF and just mangle to death and move on. I never stop to heal or do anything but put my buffs back up.
Mangle is an Everlasting ****** :P
This is basically how you want to spec if you want to dps or tank as a druid. You can take 2 points out of Shapeshifter and put in Improved bash/pounce for that extra second stun if you want. This will maximize you dps as kitty and give you optimum survivability when fighting more than 1 mob
In kitty gear I'm sitting at about 2.7k attack power, 33% crit and 96 hit. I generally go Pounce > FFF > Mangle > Shred > (OoC proc Shred > Mangle until death. I'll FB sometimes if nothing else is close, but half the time things are dead 1 mangle after that opening flurry and I can just move onto the next. Hell, on the island, half the time I pull with FFF and just mangle to death and move on. I never stop to heal or do anything but put my buffs back up.
Mangle is an Everlasting ****** :P
My hatred of fear caused me to take 3/3 Primal Tenacity instead of 3/3 Natural Shapeshifter.
They both work.
Mangle rocks.
They both work.
Mangle rocks.
Hellbanned
idiggory wrote:
Drinking at home. But I could probably stand to get laid.
Why the hell would we be kidding about such a godlike ability ^^
Well, I signed up for a regular Slabs run last night to dps. It went. . .less well. It might have been just a scrubby group, or it might have been my fault because I was so sleepy. However, dps as melee is apparently a whole new ball game.
If I wanted to do some of the opening moves out of prowl, I had to have a good idea of where the tank was going to put the fight, or I'd waste time catching up. If someone pulled aggro, I had to chase down the mob and hope I hadn't just blown all my combo points so I could use maim. The macro I'd set up for soloing that flowed like melted butter through Legion Hold was utterly useless. And I have no idea how to manage aggro. I'm unaccustomed to either being right under the mob's toes (other than my rapidly diminishing health bar, it's hard to tell who it's hitting if I don't see it running toward me) or the huge burst damage I'm putting out. I've dpsed as a hunter, boomkin, and lock, and none of those frontload damage like this.
Plus, I can go out on my own and practice cat form. But how do you practice tanking on your own? It seems a definitively group ability. So, how do you learn without repeatedly killing your group through incompetence? I think I'll track down my tanking friend and get him to give me some lessons.
If I wanted to do some of the opening moves out of prowl, I had to have a good idea of where the tank was going to put the fight, or I'd waste time catching up. If someone pulled aggro, I had to chase down the mob and hope I hadn't just blown all my combo points so I could use maim. The macro I'd set up for soloing that flowed like melted butter through Legion Hold was utterly useless. And I have no idea how to manage aggro. I'm unaccustomed to either being right under the mob's toes (other than my rapidly diminishing health bar, it's hard to tell who it's hitting if I don't see it running toward me) or the huge burst damage I'm putting out. I've dpsed as a hunter, boomkin, and lock, and none of those frontload damage like this.
Plus, I can go out on my own and practice cat form. But how do you practice tanking on your own? It seems a definitively group ability. So, how do you learn without repeatedly killing your group through incompetence? I think I'll track down my tanking friend and get him to give me some lessons.
Omen will take care of the threat thing.
Hint: If you pull aggro, use Cower.
I'm baffled that you actually set up a rotation macro, though. The only Cat form macro (outside of FFF) I have is one that alternates between Shred and Ravage, depending on whether I'm stealthed or not. You really shouldn't need a macro for a regular SLabs run. Hell, you could probably go with spamming Mangle and no one would notice.
Mind linking to your build?
Edited, Sep 14th 2008 2:00am by Mazra
Hint: If you pull aggro, use Cower.
I'm baffled that you actually set up a rotation macro, though. The only Cat form macro (outside of FFF) I have is one that alternates between Shred and Ravage, depending on whether I'm stealthed or not. You really shouldn't need a macro for a regular SLabs run. Hell, you could probably go with spamming Mangle and no one would notice.
Mind linking to your build?
Edited, Sep 14th 2008 2:00am by Mazra
Please "talk up" if your comprehension white-shifts. I will use simple-happy language-words to help you understand.
Well, I do have omen, but I'm out of practice using it. Generally, between my threat reducers as a tree and the good tanks I like to run with, my threat is about 8.5% of theirs. With this group, it's likely that I severely outgeared the tank.
I wrote a macro because, well, I actually like writing macros. :P I'm a programmer, and it's always a fun little puzzle to try to get as many skills bound to as few buttons as possible, especially within the character limits. With the ones I wrote for my hunter, absolutely everything I ever need to do is bound to six key presses. (Aside from out of combat stuff like fishing and mounting.) Anyway, my cat one will probably improve as I come to understand the flow a little better, but this is what I have so far.
#showtooltip
/castsequence [nomod] reset=combat Prowl, Pounce, Mangle (Cat)(Rank 3), Mangle (Cat)(Rank 3), Ferocious Bite
/cast [mod:alt] Shred
Hmm, it seems armory-light is having issues of some kind, so here is my build.
I don't know that I'm going to stay feral though. I'll definately come back to it whenever I need to go farm stuff I can't get on another toon, but I miss healing. I swear I haven't seen as many "LF1M Healer" messages in a month as I have since I respecced.
I wrote a macro because, well, I actually like writing macros. :P I'm a programmer, and it's always a fun little puzzle to try to get as many skills bound to as few buttons as possible, especially within the character limits. With the ones I wrote for my hunter, absolutely everything I ever need to do is bound to six key presses. (Aside from out of combat stuff like fishing and mounting.) Anyway, my cat one will probably improve as I come to understand the flow a little better, but this is what I have so far.
#showtooltip
/castsequence [nomod] reset=combat Prowl, Pounce, Mangle (Cat)(Rank 3), Mangle (Cat)(Rank 3), Ferocious Bite
/cast [mod:alt] Shred
Hmm, it seems armory-light is having issues of some kind, so here is my build.
I don't know that I'm going to stay feral though. I'll definately come back to it whenever I need to go farm stuff I can't get on another toon, but I miss healing. I swear I haven't seen as many "LF1M Healer" messages in a month as I have since I respecced.
Laecy wrote:
#showtooltip
/castsequence [nomod] reset=combat Prowl, Pounce, Mangle (Cat)(Rank 3), Mangle (Cat)(Rank 3), Ferocious Bite
/cast [mod:alt] Shred
/castsequence [nomod] reset=combat Prowl, Pounce, Mangle (Cat)(Rank 3), Mangle (Cat)(Rank 3), Ferocious Bite
/cast [mod:alt] Shred
The PvP soul in me just died a little. What happens if you need to cast another Mangle instead of a Ferocious Bite? I guess a macro like that would make your role in PvE pretty ezmode, but I prefer not to be locked in. I'm on a PvP server, though.
Only macros I use are "one function if I'm in Bear, another if I'm in Cat"-macros. Like the Cower/Growl, Demoralizing Roar/Dash and Faerie Fire/Feral Faerie Fire macros. I also have a macro which puts me in Prowl if I'm in Cat form or Shadowmeld if I'm in caster form. With those macros and the shifting actionbars when you change forms, I have an excess of actionbar space. My level 70 Druid uses about as much actionbar space as my level 24 Warrior who also have different actionbars for different stances.
As for your build, it needs (in my opinion) a bit of cleaning. Ditch Feral Aggression and put the points in Natural Shapeshifter (3/3), Improved Leader of the Pack (2/2) and Nurturing Instinct (1/2). Feral Aggression will increase the attack power reduction of Demoralizing Roar by 96. Hardly a noticable difference, at least if you're not the dedicated attack power debuffer of the group/raid/whatever. The increase to Ferocious Bite is really not worth it, because in most cases when you're DPS in a group, you won't be using Ferocious Bite. It might've been why you pulled aggro so much. Use Rip instead.
Natural Shapeshifter allows you to pop out and give the healer a helping hand. Nurturing Instinct increases your healing done (works with Improved Leader of the Pack, if I remember correctly) as well as healing done to you while in Cat form - your main form when you're DPS.
That's just my opinion, though. I personally ditched Brutal Impact to get Nature's Grasp and 2/2 Nurturing Instinct. I really recommend Nurturing Instinct. I don't remember how much +healing I got out of it, but it was in the 400's. Not a lot, but not bad either. My ILotP proc'd for 500+ at 10k health.
I'm Restokin now which is why I can't give you the exact numbers.
Please "talk up" if your comprehension white-shifts. I will use simple-happy language-words to help you understand.
Well, the macro is pretty much based solely on my experience in Legion Hold, since that and Slabs are the only places I've used cat form so far. With the mob setup there and this macro, the most challenging part of farming was making sure I was behind the mob. EZmode doesn't quite cover it :)
Out of curiosity, why would you need macros that change depending on whether you're in Cat or Bear? If there's just one skill per macro for each, why not just bind the skill itself to the spot on the action bar that pops up for each form? This isn't a criticism, I'm just worried there's something here I don't understand.
Out of curiosity, why would you need macros that change depending on whether you're in Cat or Bear? If there's just one skill per macro for each, why not just bind the skill itself to the spot on the action bar that pops up for each form? This isn't a criticism, I'm just worried there's something here I don't understand.
i think thats because the new skill logic will shift you into the appropriate form to use a skill if you use said skill. i.e. if you have a maul/shred macro, and the maul comes before the shred, the game checks to see if youre in bear form, and if you are, then you maul. if youre not, then youll shift into bear form (which would be problematic if you were in cat and wanted to shred).
Even if that were the case, this would only be significant if you were in caster form. Then maul would switch you to bear, and you'd have the bear action bar up. There would be no cat skills on that bar, so accidentally switching wouldn't be an issue. If the macro always switched you to bear because maul came first, then what's the point of there being a shred option?
/shrug
I imagine there's still something I'm missing here.
/shrug
I imagine there's still something I'm missing here.
Qur, that only happens for spells you can use in caster form. Hitting Dash while I'm in caster doesn't auto-shift me to cat and activate Dash, that probably falls under casting two spells with one key-press, which is a no-no. Canceling form is different, though.
As for the macro, if you use something other than the default ability bar UI, or if you have abilities on more than just Bar 1 (the one that changes based on what form you're in), you might need a form-specific macro.
As for the macro, if you use something other than the default ability bar UI, or if you have abilities on more than just Bar 1 (the one that changes based on what form you're in), you might need a form-specific macro.
thats odd then astarin, because hitting feral charge drops me into bear form. hitting again (after the GCD) activates the charge.
I just tried Feral Charge, and all I got was "Must be in Bear, Dire bear form." Maybe there's a setting I have that's keeping me from changing, or maybe you have a macro that shifts you if you're not already in Dire Bear?
Quote:
I've never seen stuff die so fast. I didn't even get my finishing move in sometimes, even if I skipped claw. I'm a complete newbie in cast-off gear and cheap gems. What is it like when you're actually good at this? You just look at the mob and it keels over?
Yaeh, pretty much - you hit the mob and it explodes.
While I've ended up being mostly a feral tank for my guild I've still managed to get hold of some nice DPS gear so I've got 40% crit and 323 dps (unbuffed).
Unless I'm going after a caster or something that can hit harder then I can though, I dont use Pounce - Ravage is my prefered opening attack, followed by 2 mangles (as I've inevitably scored crits for bonus combo points) and the bite to finish the sucker off (assuming its still alive).
Best crit I'm aware of getting is 12k+ with a bite - http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v254/cigarskunk/?action=view¤t=ubercrit.jpg
that could be it astarin. i know im also able to do the same thing with prowl; if im not in cat form, i can hit my prowl button twice and shift into cat and stealth.
ill check if any of that stuff is macroed. its been so long since ive checked that i cant remember atm.
ill check if any of that stuff is macroed. its been so long since ive checked that i cant remember atm.
Quote:
Best crit I'm aware of getting is 12k+ with a bite - http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v25...bercrit.jpg
that looks like a evoc stage where damage is doubled so really only about 6k but still nice. i cant relly tell since comp color at work is alittle off. if it is then it's pretty much like the op going and useing it on a clothie in SM. if not then my bad.
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