Feral Druid DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents - Dragonflight 10.2.6 (2024)

ST ConvokeSingle-TargetAoE

Due to some of the gearing options in Season 3 alongside the condensedburst window provided by the Season 3 set bonus, a build that invests into Convoke the Spirits for single-target is currently recommended.

Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the bestbuild directly into your game!

For all Feral single-target builds, you do give up a great deal of AoE and cleavepotential, but in exchange, you get a very powerful and flexible single-targetpackage. With the Season 3 set, you are required to take Feral Frenzyto activate it and gain access to a strong 30-second burst damage cooldown follow-upeffect. This pairs especially well with Convoke the Spirits, which deals providesan extremely potent 4-second window of burst. This also pairs very well withspecific Season 3 trinkets such as Ashes of the Embersoul or Witherbark's Branch.

Key talents throughout the tree are as follows:

• Dire Fixation - probably the highest value single point forsingle-target on the tree, but works exclusively on one target.While the top of the tree is quite contested, it is never worthdropping this if you are looking for single-target.
• Bloodtalons - the stronger of the two finisher amplifiers,but requires additional gameplay to make full use of. Made a lot easierto cycle with either Brutal Slash or Lunar Inspiration toinject another activator into the rotation.
• Lunar Inspiration - is an alternative as a Bloodtalonsactivator and much of the effects that already support it are ontaken; points are just a little too tight to grab everything at once. Takeeither this or Infected Wounds.
• Saber Jaws - this significantly increases the bonusdamage from consuming excess Energy with Ferocious Bite. This makesit more important to make sure you consume the extra amount witheach Bite, and emphasizes pooling and management. Note however that itdoes not interact with Apex Predator's Craving procs.
• Apex Predator's Craving - the proc rate dynamically changes withthe number of active Rip effects you have present, making it a goodpick regardless of target count.
• Sudden Ambush - provides us with a way to get the Pouncing Strikesbonus for Rake much more consistently throughout an encounter.
• Adaptive Swarm - amplifies the other DoT effects and alignswell with each Feral Frenzy to push its damage further. Does notimpact the 4-piece Fire DoT, though.
• Ashamane's Guidance - this can reduce the cooldown of Convoke the Spiritsdown to 1-minute, at the cost of some extra casts during the channel. This isa much more niche pick due to the high value point it costs, but can find goodvalue in specific encounters such as Smolderon.

An alternative build that can do equivalent sustained damage withoutrelying on the 2-minute cooldown timer is also an option for situationswhere cooldown timers do not align comfortably:

Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the bestbuild directly into your game!

Much like in the Convoke builds, this sacrifices a large amount of cleaveand AoE tools to focus entirely on as much single-target as possible. The maindifference is it avoids spending points on Savage Momentum to path throughto the cooldown amplifiers, instead investing in other high-value points belowthe 20 gate. Carnivorous Instinct, Circle of Life and Death and the Ferocious Bite tools here all provide extremely high value per point,but the damage profile is much more sustained in comparison. Its main use ison encounters that do not align comfortably with a 2-minute cycle, or if youdo not currently have access to some of the gear pieces that encourage playingwith Convoke the Spirits.

There are a number of AoE options on the tree, but the recommended build hereaims to sacrifice the least single-target to gain the highest value AoE toolson the tree. More talent details underneath.

Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the bestbuild directly into your game!

Due to some of Feral's most valuable AoE tools coming exclusively from the talenttree, this is where you build most of your damage for multi-target situations. Thesepicks range from versatile cleave options to exclusively AoE picks that havea granular impact on how far you want to invest into AoE. Some of these are preference,while others are simply too valuable to ever drop, even if they only fixate on onedamage profile. It does sacrifice some of the comfortable Energy picks so can be slightlymore starved, instead relying on Predator resets to fuel its damage.

• Feral Frenzy - while mostly single-target on its own, this is requiredto activate the Tier 31 set bonus, so cannot be dropped.
• Primal Wrath + Tear Open Wounds - this is the crux of the AoEpackage and is always taken. Without these, the AoE toolkit struggles tofunction properly.
• Convoke the Spirits vs. Incarnation: Avatar of Ashamane - bothof these are worthwhile options, and it mostly comes down to what other talentsyou selected and the type of burst you want. Especially with the Season 3 set,the value of Convoke is much closer and even opens up the opportunity to grab Ashamane's Guidance for 1-minute burst cycles. It also has extra synergywith Rampant Ferocity for larger pull dungeons if you select that aswell.
• Apex Predator's Craving - gives a way to leverage both your active Rips, and the AoE component of Ferocious Bite from theabove to keep both finishers relevant. It can also lead to additional funneldamage.
• Double-Clawed Rake - very high-value talent for AoE to make multi-targetapplication of Rake much smoother. It has no single-target impact, however,but most of the value is improving the other Rake-related talents.
• Infected Wounds - similar to above, these are usually paired togetherin AoE, and if you drop one, there is sometimes room to drop the other aswell.
• Sudden Ambush - this is also related to the above two talents,as these allow you to double up on the value of each proc to empower Rakecasts. This also provides strong single-target and low-target cleave options,rounding out the Rake talents.
• Rampant Ferocity - while exclusively AoE, it has good value in keeping Ferocious Bite relevant at higher target counts. This is very costly topick up, however, because of how busy the center of the tree is and the good hybridtalents that need to be dropped to fit it in.
• Tireless Energy - if you are really struggling to make use of Predator resets and need additional Energy to smooth things out; this isa very niche option to solve that. It will almost always come at thecost of throughput, though.

For Mythic+, picking up the highest value options that have more broad applicationsis generally preferred, with some of the explicitly AoE picks taking a back seat. This iscurrently limited to Rampant Ferocity, as much of the other core AoE toolkit canbe grabbed at little cost.

Spec Rows 1-4Spec Rows 5-7Spec Rows 8-10Class Talents

Ability	Explanation
Omen of Clarity	Causes your auto-attacks to have a chance to make your next Shred, Swipe or Thrash cost noEnergy. This generates a significant amount of Energy and isrequired to sustain the rotation in most cases, so is alwaystaken.
Dire Fixation	Dealing damage to an enemy with Shred appliesDire Fixation to them for 10 seconds, increasing all damageyou deal to that target by 8%. This can only be active onone target at a time. This is one of the most powerful one-pointsingle-target talents on the tree, and is generally alwaystaken.
Primal Wrath	An active finisher that deals direct damage and applies Rip to all targets hit. This is our AoE spender and istaken in any situation where more than one target is present.
Tear Open Wounds	Causes Primal Wrath re-casts on targets with Rippresent to consume some of the remaining duration. This is what allowsus to recast Primal Wrath so frequently without the worry of losingDoT damage and is taken in multi-target situations.
Merciless Claws	Increases Shred damage by 20% and Swipe / Brutal Slashdamage by 15% against Bleeding targets. This is effectively a passive boost dueto our Bleeds and is a solid passive increase, especially in single-target.
Thrashing Claws	This is moreso an ease-of-use option, causing Shred and Swipeto apply the Thrash effect. This removes Thrash entirely fromyour rotation, making it easier to maintain the Bleed, but at a performance loss.
Predator	Provides a flat bonus to Tiger's Fury duration and causes its cooldownto reset whenever an enemy affected by your Bleeds dies. This providesa lot of additional Energy and uptime whenever there are frequently dyingtargets and is a consistently useful talent.
Double-Clawed Rake	Causes Rake casts to apply to a second target. Makes multi-DoTmaintenance easier and is taken in multi-target situations.
Sabertooth	Increases Ferocious Bite damage and causes each ComboPoint spent by it to increase all your active Rip damage.Provides additional incentive to Bite targets and has good synergywith follow-ups for most situations, and is generally a required pathingnode, so it is always taken.
Tireless Energy	Increases base Energy regeneration by 10/20% and max Energy by30/60. It gives more room for pooling and is a solid choice in mostsituations, but when points become tight, they are often dropped for strongereffects so long as you have enough resources to maintain the keycycle.
Pouncing Strikes	Grants a 60% damage bonus to Shred and Rakefrom stealth, gives Shreds buffed this way double the Critical Strikechance and Rake a stun effect. On its own, it is not very important, butwith supporting talents such as Sudden Ambush,this can provide some extra damage. Regardless, though, this ismandatory for pathing deeper into the tree.

The first block of talents are mostly universal increases tothe core rotation, dictating your access to Energy-related effectsto build the primary cycle. The only big decision here is whether youtake Primal Wrath and the supporting AoE talents around it,but you will always path through Sabertooth and Pouncing Strikesto unlock the second tier of talents. Ideally, you will spend the minimumpossible points here to gain access to later options.

Ability	Explanation
Survival Instincts	Powerful, but long cooldown defensive option. While this is not throughput,pathing must reach our major offensive cooldown, so it isalways taken.
Berserk	Our major cooldown, causing Shred and Rake todeal 50% increased damage, and cause Finishing moves to also refundup to 3 Combo Points generated above the cap of 5. Also causesall Combo Point generating abilities to generate an additionalCombo Point, and passively generates 1 Combo Point per second.It provides a huge flood of resources alongside overflow protection,and has some enhancing talents to focus more on this window.
Berserk: Heart of the Lion	Each Combo Point spent reduces the cooldown of Berserkby 0.5 seconds. Generally will reduce the cooldown by roughly1 to 1.5 minutes, making it align more conveniently for most encounters,so is often taken due to the other Berserk empowering talents.
Berserk: Frenzy	Causes Combo Point generating abilities to apply a Bleed effectfor 100% of the damage dealt over 8 seconds. Adds further Strengthto your Berserk windows, especially in single-target, due to the damageincrease it provides to Shred and is always taken.
Sudden Ambush	Gives finishing moves a 6% chance per Combo Point to cause yournext, Shred or Rake to deal damage as if you werestealthed. Thanks to Pouncing Strikes, this is an extremelystrong single-target option, and keeps up in some cleave situationsas well.
Raging Fury	Causes your Finishing moves to extend the duration of your active Tiger's Fury effect by 0.4 seconds per Combo Point. This competeson a choice node with Tiger's Tenacity, but is asignificantly better option for a much higher, consistent Tiger's Furyuptime.
Infected Wounds	Increases the damage of Rake by 30% and adds a small slowwhile active. An all-round good talent that works well in multi-targetthanks to Double-Clawed Rake.
Dreadful Bleeding	Increases Rip damage by 18%. This affects all of your activeRips and is always taken.
Moment of Clarity	Increases the chance for Omen of Clarity procs to triggerby 50%, allowing it to accumulate a second charge and increase the damageof abilities that consume it by 15%. A good all-round talent that smoothsout the rotation, but can be dropped in AoE should you be stable on Energy.
Brutal Slash	Replaces Swipe with a stronger, cooldown/charge-based ability.This is generally worth the trade-off as you rarely need to Swipemore than once when building Combo Points back up to 5, and has benefitsin single-target, especially with Bloodtalons. Competes with Wild Slashes on the choice node, but this is more of a simplepassive, which is generally weaker.
Taste for Blood	Increases the damage dealt by your Ferocious Bite by 5%per Bleed, you have active on the target. A solid option for a varietyof builds that lean into a Bite playstyle, especially in single-target.
Relentless Predator	Reduces the Energy cost of Ferocious Bite by 20%. Helps withsome of the Energy issues caused by frequently using Bite in single-target,but is an optional choice for Bite oriented builds.
Rampant Ferocity	Causes your Ferocious Bite casts to also deal damage-basedon Combo Points spent to nearby enemies affected by your Rip.This is affected by Mastery and is Feral's way of converting FerociousBite casts into AoE damage.
Lunar Inspiration	Allows you to cast Moonfire in Cat Form, but causesit to cost 30 Energy and generate 1 Combo Point. This is now a worthwhilesingle-target option that can be used to activate Bloodtalons, butis in an awkward place and has a higher gameplay requirement than alternatives.It can be worthwhile but is optional, depending on comfort and how manypoints you have spare.
Predatory Swiftness	Mandatory pathing node that allows Regrowth or Entangling Rootsto be instantly cast in Cat Form following successful Finishingmoves, providing a good survival boost or crowd control.

This tier of talents mostly dictates what final talents you have accessto and round out your focus depending on if it is more Bleed or Bite-focused.Many choices here are quite versatile, but some are specialized, allowingyou to pick and choose based on how you want to navigate the tree andwhere you want to end up. Generally, though, the central block of Berserk, Dreadful Bleeding and Raging Furyare always taken.

Ability	Explanation
Carnivorous Instinct	Provides a flat increase to the damage bonus provided by Tiger's Fury. This is a strong selection due to the highuptime of the buff, and usually has at least one point taken, butthe bottom rows are contentious enough that there is often not enoughroom to take two.
Bloodtalons / Lion's Strength	Both options are strong, effective buffs to your Finishing Moves. Bloodtalons is the more complex of the two, requiring you topool slightly and cycle your abilities correctly, but rewards you witha higher damage buff to your Finishers. Lion's Strength on theother hand is less conditional if you do not have other talents, suchas Brutal Slash to conveniently trigger it, and it is easierto execute. One of these two options is almost always taken and, generallyBloodtalons is superior so long as you can handle the extra gameplayrequirements.
Feral Frenzy	Deals a small amount of damage and applies a heavy, short-durationBleed on your target with a 45-second cooldown and generates 5 ComboPoints when activated. This is a powerful instant generator and is takenin most single-target situations.
Adaptive Swarm	is a short DoT/HoT that increases the potency of your over-time-effectswhen active on a target. It will also jump between allies and enemies in acycle, healing, and dealing damage in the process. Due to the Strength of Rip and our other bleeds and its relatively high uptime, this isa strong single-target option but falls off in multi-target.
Unbridled Swarm	Adds a multi-target component that improves Adaptive Swarm furtherin situations where you can have multiple active, but it has minimal effectin single-target.
Frantic Momentum	Grants Finishing moves a 6% chance per Combo Point spent to grants10% Haste for 6 seconds. A solid increase in any target count is requiredpathing to reach strong end talents.
Incarnation: Avatar of Ashamane / Convoke the Spirits	Both of these are powerful options, either improving your Berserkby increasing the duration and reducing Energy costs while active or grantsa powerful burst cooldown in Convoke the Spirits that will cast aflurry of Druid spells (preferring Ferocious Bite) over a 4-secondchannel. Both of these are strong in different scenarios depending on if youwant condensed or extended burst, but we generally take Incarnation for additionalduration to take advantage of all the supporting Berserk talents.
Ashamane's Guidance	Improves your previous talent selection Reduces the cooldown of Convoke the Spirits by 1 minute and reducesthe number of spells cast by 4 while increasing the chance for it to trigger Feral Frenzy. Causes your Rake and Rip to each individually increasetargets' damage taken from you by 3% while Incarnation is active and for30 seconds after it fades. This is a strong option regardless of which you take, however, points are quitetight in this row, making it hard to fit in. With Incarnation, this can be extremelypowerful for single-target but struggles to get the same value in AoE asconsistently.
Saber Jaws	This increases the bonus damage conferred to Ferocious Bitewhen it spends additional Energy. This does put additional resource strainon the spec, but in exchange, it turns Bite into an extremely potent finisherthat can be pooled for extra burst, working well with the Tier 31 setwindows.
Soul of the Forest	Increases the damage of your Finishing moves and causes them to generate3 Energy per Combo Point spent. This is a powerful talent in allsituations and has a big impact on how smooth the rotation plays with regardsto your Energy available, so it is always taken.
Circle of Life and Death	Causes your Bleed effects to deal their damage 20% faster. This effectivelygives you more ticks of all of them in a shorter time, and due to how muchdamage they deal, this is a powerful talent taken in almost everysituation regardless of target count.
Veinripper / Rip and Tear	A choice node that is mostly used for pathing, and both are valid optionsbut provide modest increases. Rip and Tear is generally preferred inAoE situations where you are casting a lot of Primal Wrath while Veinripper removes some of the maintenance components of your Bleeds,increasing their duration.
Apex Predator's Craving	Gives all of your Rip damage ticks a small chance of causing yournext, Ferocious Bite to cost no Energy or Combo Points and guarantee itdeals the maximum possible damage. This has a 7.2% proc chance that scales downwith each additional Rip active, so while it procs more often in AoE, it isless linear than previous patches. With the addition of other Bite talents andthe more consistent proc rate, this is an extremely solid pickup in allsituations.

All of the talents below this line are quite powerful, so youideally want 10 points spare when you reach here to spend. That means pathingearlier should be done with that in mind. What you take depends onpreference, target count, and desired damage profile, as what is selectedhere will warp your focus.

Feral Druids are given Rake and Rip by default, andthere are a variety of performance-related talents that should be takenin any talent build:

• Thrash
• Improved Swipe
• Killer Instinct
• Primal Fury
• Rising Light, Falling Night
• Lycara's Teachings

Due to pathing as well you will always take Astral Influence,which provides a great deal of comfort by improving our melee range. Itis also always recommended to pick up Skull Bash both as aninterrupt and a short charge.

In addition to the above talents, it is generally recommended for all buildsto include a variety of defensive talents. The recommended options are:

• Well-Honed Instincts*
• Renewal
• Thick Hide
• Matted Fur*
• Ursine Vigor*

Only one point is necessary to get good value out of Well-Honed Instincts,and the second is often spent better elsewhere. Matted Fur adds a smallextra benefit to your Barkskin casts if you can fit it in, but Ursine Vigor greatly improves Bear Form, which, while it does stopyou from dealing damage, has no cooldown, so it can always be used to survivedangerous moments.

Finally, it is also strongly recommended that all builds include a fewmobility talents:

• Feline Swiftness
• Wild Charge / Tiger Dash
• Stampeding Roar / Improved Stampeding Roar*

Both mobility options in the middle are valuable, and it comes down topreference between more burst speed or a displacement charge. Improved Stampeding Roardoes bring the cooldown to 1 minute, which is very valuable, but points are tightat the bottom of the tree, so they cannot always be fit in.

Not all defensive or mobility talents need to be included, but you should tryto incorporate an appropriate number of each into your builds, as having none isoften a bad idea. The remainder of your points can be spent as you desire forspecific Utility, crowd control, or pathing requirements; however, we stronglyrecommended that you at least consider including some of the followinggenerally applicable utility options:

• Skull Bash
• Incapacitating Roar
• Typhoon
• Ursol's Vortex
• Innervate
• Nature's Vigil

Of note here is Innervate and Nature's Vigil. This provides both anexternal boost to healers in your team via additional mana and a healing cooldown thatconverts some of your damage into additional healing. Control options are especially usefulin Mythic+, with the stand-out being Incapacitating Roar as a low cooldown AoEinterrupt tool.

For a more detailed description of each of our class talents, please refer tothe Feral Druid DPS Spell Summary page.