So I'm currently leveling a Druid, and I currently have NO information on the state of PvP as a feral druid. Aside from the fact that they're actually doing much better than before (but that's just what I've been hearing)
My main being a rogue, I would assume that Kitty-form would play something like my rogue with the initial stunlock, throwing out a few bleeds, and unloading on heavy hitting attacks like shred and whatnot.
So something along the lines of Pounce > Mangle > Maim > Rake > Shred/Mangle... > FB. At least this is what I'm assuming, I'm sure it'd change depending on the situation, class, or whatever may require you to change things up. I'm still not sure if I should just go mangle spec and abandon shred or what.
But I was curious to know how, as a whole, how feral druids are faring in PvP, simply put I've been hearing a lot of QQ about PvP in general as well as dishing some out myself from the rogue perspective but I'd like to know how Feral druids feel about the current state of PvP and their place in it all.
What classes give you trouble? Which ones simply annoy you? Maybe even which classes/players you enjoy picking on, hehe.
I've got a couple ideas for PvP builds, but I would appreciate your input on which talents are truly important. Like whether or not having both Primal Tanacity and Natural Shapeshifter would be a good investment of points, is master shape-shifter worthwhile, mangle or shred? I'd hate to go right out and ask you guys to spoon-feed me a feral PvP build, I'm just a little lost at the moment, hehe.
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The Feral State of PvPFollow
My preferred opener for feral pvp is this:
Pounce > Mangle > Tiger's Fury > Shred > Shred > Bear Form > Bash > Cat Form
Basically, opening out of stealth puts your victim on the defensive. Mangle puts the bleed/Shred modifier on them and Tiger's Fury puts you at full energy to immediately Shred them twice. If you've got a high crit% you're bound to chop off 1/2 to 3/4 of their life (depending on resilience and total health of course). The immediate switch to Bear Form allows me to further stun them again with bash and going back to cat to resume DPSing them until their down.
I've taken down many hapless individuals this way. Many never even had a chance to attack me back.
Keep in mind this is at lv 80.
Pounce > Mangle > Tiger's Fury > Shred > Shred > Bear Form > Bash > Cat Form
Basically, opening out of stealth puts your victim on the defensive. Mangle puts the bleed/Shred modifier on them and Tiger's Fury puts you at full energy to immediately Shred them twice. If you've got a high crit% you're bound to chop off 1/2 to 3/4 of their life (depending on resilience and total health of course). The immediate switch to Bear Form allows me to further stun them again with bash and going back to cat to resume DPSing them until their down.
I've taken down many hapless individuals this way. Many never even had a chance to attack me back.
Keep in mind this is at lv 80.
Tavarde wrote:
The immediate switch to Bear Form allows me to further stun them again with bash and going back to cat to resume DPSing them until their down.
Hmm, hadn't thought of switching to bear form to extend my stunlock, that's nice to know, but at the same time...
Will the changes to maim in 3.1 affect this method? Considering that maim will be moved to a stun effect, I'd imagine Bash's effect being seriously hamstringed (hamstrung? ESL fails me) by Diminishing Returns.
We can't stun the crap out of people like rogues can and we don't have all of your escapes and what-not - basically, when a druid engages, he's committed to kill or be killed.
While we do lack the disengagement abilities of a rogue, we've more options for sustaining ourselves during the fight - if things start going sour and you find a determined opponent you can always shift into bear form to regen a little and just soak up damage in general, plus, you get another stun and some more bleeds to drop on the target.
Additionally, if you've got a stun up you can go caster for a second or three and cast a heal or HoT or two or root a melee.
You also will have your barkskin for some short damage negation, a free fear negation on par with Cloak and a self buff that procs a root spell.
Basically, you'll have to pick your moment to attack a little more carefully then a rogue might and once you do attack, you need to be hyper agressive and go straight for the throat.
While we do lack the disengagement abilities of a rogue, we've more options for sustaining ourselves during the fight - if things start going sour and you find a determined opponent you can always shift into bear form to regen a little and just soak up damage in general, plus, you get another stun and some more bleeds to drop on the target.
Additionally, if you've got a stun up you can go caster for a second or three and cast a heal or HoT or two or root a melee.
You also will have your barkskin for some short damage negation, a free fear negation on par with Cloak and a self buff that procs a root spell.
Basically, you'll have to pick your moment to attack a little more carefully then a rogue might and once you do attack, you need to be hyper agressive and go straight for the throat.
Maim is currently being changed to a stun effect in 3.1, and will have diminishing returns with all other stun effects we have.
Also, I'm confused here. Bash stuns for 4s at max rank (lv46). You use 1.5s of that time (approximate, global cooldown) after the cast, then another global cooldown to shift to cat form. That leaves you with 1s left to get into position and use another ability.
Useful now? I suppose. If you've used any other stun first in the fight once 3.1 hits though, you're losing time.
Also, I'm confused here. Bash stuns for 4s at max rank (lv46). You use 1.5s of that time (approximate, global cooldown) after the cast, then another global cooldown to shift to cat form. That leaves you with 1s left to get into position and use another ability.
Useful now? I suppose. If you've used any other stun first in the fight once 3.1 hits though, you're losing time.
rusttle wrote:
we've more options for sustaining ourselves during the fight - if things start going sour and you find a determined opponent you can always shift into bear form
With that said, I feel I need to ask yet another question. When it comes to PvP, where does one focus most of their stats? I know from a tanking perspective I should aim for agility (for dodge) and stamina, and from a DPS perspective I should aim for Agility/AP (I'm still a little vague on which is superior for DPS, but I think that's a question for another time.) But when it comes to PvP, should my gems and/or enchants be chosen with more survivability/lasting in mind (stamina) or more brute force (AP and agility)?
As a LW I have fairly easy access to the fun enchants (ridiculous stamina or AP on my bracers, and cheap versions of AP/crit and Stam/Agi, as well as being able to make stam/res if so needed)
Just hit 78 last night and already packing 300 resilience from the Eviscerator's set, which I hear is getting buffed in 3.1. Putting me at about 15k health in kitty and about 21k in bear. Still not sure if I should put a Stamina Fur Lining or AP one, hmm.
I gem my feral pvp gear with either pure resil, or agi + resil (I believe, been a tree too long :P). If you find yourself lacking sufficient HP you can always get a resil + sta gem or two. Resil is key, in my opinion, and I try to stack it as much as possible. Also, with the agility comes crit and attack power.
As for strategies with certain classes, I tend to pick on clothies. Berserk giving me a very nice defense against the fearers (is that a word?) and quick shifting macros against those who snare. In these cases I am very aggresive. Melee heavy classes I am more defensive. I look to out-last these opponents. Something like, open in cat, lay as many bleeds as I can during our short-but-oh-so-sweet stun-lock, then go into bear and lay on the lacerations. Tends to work out very nicely.
My hardest classes to beat are well-played disc\holy priests, deathknights(most likely linked to my inexperience with the class), and very good mages (too much health gone much too quickly QQ). This is all provided that I get the opener. Without that, I'd add many more classes to this list.
Hope some of this has helped in any way and enjoy the fury of the fur!
As for strategies with certain classes, I tend to pick on clothies. Berserk giving me a very nice defense against the fearers (is that a word?) and quick shifting macros against those who snare. In these cases I am very aggresive. Melee heavy classes I am more defensive. I look to out-last these opponents. Something like, open in cat, lay as many bleeds as I can during our short-but-oh-so-sweet stun-lock, then go into bear and lay on the lacerations. Tends to work out very nicely.
My hardest classes to beat are well-played disc\holy priests, deathknights(most likely linked to my inexperience with the class), and very good mages (too much health gone much too quickly QQ). This is all provided that I get the opener. Without that, I'd add many more classes to this list.
Hope some of this has helped in any way and enjoy the fury of the fur!
To reply to CBD:
Yes, it doesn't offer me a lot of time to do much more, that is true. If anything though I like to tell myself it just pisses them off by being stunned just a little bit longer. If I switch back to cat I immediately line up for another Shred which is about all I am able to do. If I stay in bear I will typically pop Berserk and start using epic Mangle spam followed by some quick Lacerates.
As for Maim though, the diminishing returns factor is a sad and unfortunate change I will have to deal with. It's never been a primary go-to move for me in PvP but it's always had its place, I'm sure I won't notice too much of a change come patch time. I'll just have to learn to be quicker on using Cyclone which, admittedly, has never been a spell I've used very often in spite of how awesome it really is. I've only recently started integrating it into my PvP strategies and well, I feel like a complete noob for having not started a year ago.
Yes, it doesn't offer me a lot of time to do much more, that is true. If anything though I like to tell myself it just pisses them off by being stunned just a little bit longer. If I switch back to cat I immediately line up for another Shred which is about all I am able to do. If I stay in bear I will typically pop Berserk and start using epic Mangle spam followed by some quick Lacerates.
As for Maim though, the diminishing returns factor is a sad and unfortunate change I will have to deal with. It's never been a primary go-to move for me in PvP but it's always had its place, I'm sure I won't notice too much of a change come patch time. I'll just have to learn to be quicker on using Cyclone which, admittedly, has never been a spell I've used very often in spite of how awesome it really is. I've only recently started integrating it into my PvP strategies and well, I feel like a complete noob for having not started a year ago.
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