The proper use of shredFollow

Hi fellow druids I'm new to WoW I've been playing now for about two weeks and had a couple of questions.

1. Whats the proper use of shred. You can only use it use behind a target so basically its only to be use as a opening attack in prowling mode or to be used on a traget that focused on a tank? I solo alot and cant really figure out a way to use it other than that.

2. I love this class but it seems I'm always a bit behind even basic player at what point do you start to become the beast I see most of you guys are Lvl 40 or 50?

I'm at lvl 31 right now and and I'm building a feral druid. I plan on building The following talent tree based of what I looked up and read on this forun does this look about right? My goals are to hit hard as a cat and take a beating as a bear. I also am working on two sets of armor because you guys said I would need two set to dual play.

What weapons/ armor enchantments should I be focusing on? As a cat what should I focus on strength and agl right and as a bear I should focus on strength and defense right, after that pile on as mush stamina a possible? This is a link to my eqipment

http://wow.allakhazam.com/profile.html?2592624

Feral Combat (56 points)

5/5 Ferocity
2/2 Savage Fury
3/3 Thick Hide
2/2 Feral Swiftness
1/1 Survival Instincts
3/3 Sharpened Claws
2/2 Shredding Attacks
3/3 Predatory Strikes
2/2 Primal Fury
2/2 Primal Precision
1/1 Feral Charge
3/3 Natural Reaction
5/5 Heart of the Wild
3/3 Survival of the Fittest
1/1 Leader of the Pack
3/3 Protector of the Pack
3/3 Predatory Instincts
3/3 Infected Wounds
3/3 King of the Jungle
1/1 Mangle
3/3 Improved Mangle
2/5 Rend and Tear

Restoration (15 points)

2/2 Improved Mark of the Wild
3/5 Furor
5/5 Naturalist
3/3 Natural Shapeshifter
2/2 Master Shapeshifter

Thanks for your time. I just need a lil direction and any help would be greatly appreciated thanks again.

Edited, Jan 27th 2009 10:54am by highlandr

For tanking and DD:
5/5 Rend&Tear = Always cause more damage and more aggro!
1 Omen of Clarity = must have. energy-/rage-free attacks ...no more explanation needed!

Predatory Instincts only for a pure Cat-DD-Built.
King of the jungle also for cat-dd-built.
Improved leater of the Pack = always!
Berserk = Always. It's an "Oh ****" button if u have to catch multiple mobs which run towards raid :-D
And it's a big DPS-Boost for cat.


If u wanna go for a hybrid built then leave out Thick Hide or/and Natural Reaction.

My built is hybrid but mainly for damage (i tanked all currently available bosses with it):
Built

Sorry guys as I said I'm still learning the lanuage of this game. I quess to answer DK's question. I am looking for a leveling spec. As far a tank of DPS spec I'm looking to DPS pretty much all the time and to be able to off-tank or main-tank if all hell breaks loose.

So from what I'm getting from you guys is

1. Get rid of Feral Aggression
2. Get rid of predatory instincts
3. I seen you guy say get rid of thick hide but as a Cat DPS is that a good idea even more so since I'm still leveling. Also I'm just assuming it would be better to DPS as a cat So if I'm wrong let me know?

Also I have a rebirth glyph and a Maul glyhp Which I love, I dont know it that helps?
I' learned a lot thanks for your help.

Edited, Jan 27th 2009 10:55am by highlandr

Well, might as well give my input.

What would be, in my eyes, the most 50/50 Cat/Bear base build is this. You still got 5 points to invest as you like. Maybe get Master Shapeshifter, or two of Thick Hide, Predatory Instincts and Infected Wounds. Might wanna spare one point for Survival Instincts, too.

As for Galenmoon's 31 build, I only disagree with the fact that I think Feral Instinct > Thick Hide. In my opinion, Thick Hide is only useful at max level if you want to maximize your mitigation when still lacking awesome gear. Rest of the build is good.

Now, as for what you just said

1- Pretty much. The only serious cases where you might use that is a pure DPS Cat build, but even then you might wanna pick up some utility instead as it is not so good, and for a Bear Tank who wants to cap his AP reduction (other classes can do it more easily from what I've heard so I think this is often skipped).

2- While leveling it won't be a huge help, granted. However, I wouldn't suggest to simply skip it. It can be really good at higher levels with a good crit rate, but it's just not a priority at lower levels. So just skip it while working your way to Mangle/Berzerk, but consider picking it up later depending on your role.

3- Thick Hide helps only so much like I said previously. When leveling you should be killing stuff fast enough that you won't get stuck in dangerous situations often so you can just shift out and heal every few fights as needed. Imp LotP will take care of regenerating your mana between each shift. And for strictly DPS, it does nothing, so it's even less useful if there's someone tanking for you.

Rebirth glyph is nice, though nothing class-changing. The Maul glyph, however, is really sweet. I think it's a must if you even plan on OT'ing. But glyphs are kind of another thing you shouldn't worry too much about for now, much like enchants and all that.

But yeah, about that "what you plan on doing with the build" question, it's mostly: Solo questing to 80 and then just messing around (looking at a mostly-Cat DPS build, just to kill stuff), reaching 80 while doing instances and keep doing some at 80 (Cat/Bear build, no real specialization) or heroics/raiding once you reach 80 (then you may need to specialize your build a little more). It may seem like a tough question, but since you're 31 right now you have ample time to think about it.

Hope it helps a bit.

I use macros for things like that, so I do not have to memorize button combinations. Also, I dont use cat form for fighting, which also helps lol.
Half of the cat attacks are best suited for being behind your target. Set up some macros like /castsequence specifically for prowling. I like to get really creative with my macros.
I use something like this:


/cast [stealth]Shred
/cast [combat]Ferocious Bite (or whatever else suits you)

/castsequence Rake,Rake.Rake,Rip

/startattack
/cast Faerie Fire (Feral)

Just to emphasise :-

OMEN OF CLARITY!!!! That one point is probably worth more than all 5 points you have in the shapeshifting talents! I personally thing Master/Natural Shapeshifter is not worth it while leveling. Just put enough points in resto for OOC then the rest goes into feral as you level. I personally follow this leveling :-

Ferocity 5/5
Savage Fury 2/2
Feral Instinct 3/3
Feral Swiftness 2/2

Furor 5/5
Naturalist 5/5
Omen of Clarity 1/1

Then work down the feral tree. At level 50 respec to mangle then work up to OOC again, then fill out the rest of feral.

Not really better. Just contributes more to total stats than strength alone.

the proper use of shred is generally from behind, altho i hear some particularly crazy druids have managed to shred from the front. this usually results in a server crash however, followed by plagues and famine (typically disguised as "SARS" or "avian flu" and other such nonsense).

sorry....i had too.

Only while leveling. Up until 60-70, Agi is better as you need less Agi per %crit than you do at 80. After that point, the amount of Agi per 1% crit starts to blow out and you get Savage Roar, which drastically increases the value of AP (and thus increases the value of Str vs. Agi).

Until you hit Northrend, it's probably not worth gemming or enchanting gear (cheap gems maybe, but enchants are too expensive to be worthwhile) and I would probably just go with a Str=Agi balance. The difference isn't much at those levels and for questing the difference isn't enough to worry about. Once you hit Northrend, Str>Agi but only by about 1 Str = 1.3-1.5 Agi or so as a rough figure. Once you get to 80, you should be using Tossks calculator or Rawr to work out the best gear for you.

LOL yea really, the primary feral dps build for all is probably heavy on crit. For me though the absolute #1 stat I've stacked as I have been gearing up is crit. I favor it over STR, AGI, haste, hit. This is probably an erroneous presumption on my part but it's never really failed me. I won't "always" sacrifice one of my key stats for more crit, if that stat loss is large enough to not justify the change.

Currently I sit at around 48.80% unbuffed crit and raid buffs bring me up to about 52% at the maximum. I don't really want to stack anymore though as I am fairly certain 50% crit and up is subject to diminishing returns.

Edited, Jan 28th 2009 3:42pm by Tavarde

Yeah, Balance lol. I was making a joke.
I still love my macros. Just dont use the cat ones as often as the other stuff.

Edited, Jan 28th 2009 5:48pm by sederix

I have found that the extra 2 points in Furor don't make as big of a difference as the 2 in IMotW make.

The rage proc can be forced by repeat shifting and the energy can be helped by just waiting a few seconds. The 5/5 Furor wastes energy regen time any way as you don't gain energy while waiting for your GCD to clear at 100. 4/5 is better for kitties but for a primary bear I like 2/2 especially since with all the 10 man options a resto druid isn't as guaranteed to be in the raid.

I like. :)

Well, I'm no Feral numbers expert, but you don't seem to sacrifice that much AP for crit after all. It must feel pretty nice to crit every two hits, too.