Feral Druid DPS Mythic+ Tips — The War Within (11.0.5)

Druid of the Claw is the generally recommended tree both due to the damage it deals, its simplicity, and the added defense it provides. The only significant change from base Feral gameplay here is the addition of Ravage procs which, to some degree, can be forced in certain situations when you need them, so it plays very smoothly. It provides extremely strong priority damage while executing its rotation due to the nature of both Ravage and Rampant Ferocity, and it provides excellent burst damage during Berserk via Claw Rampage for dangerous pulls.

Defensively, the improvements to Bear Form are significant alongside the ability to cast Frenzied Regeneration from Cat Form, giving you more tools to respond to dangerous situations.

While the build below is the general recommendation for the most flexible build to cover most situations, there is a good degree of flexibility in how you build Druid of the Claw for Mythic+.

• If you are looking for even more priority damage, you can switch to Saber Jaws by substituting Rip and Tear and either Feral Frenzy or Adaptive Swarm.
• Feral Frenzy can also be substituted out for a point in Carnivorous Instinct for more overall damage to amplify Tiger's Fury.
• Energy talents such as Tireless Energy and Moment of Clarity are options to pick up in exchange for either Merciless Claws or Double-Clawed Rake if you are having trouble managing your resources.
• Killing Strikes is recommended to guarantee Ravage at the start of each pull, but your overall throughput has slightly more potential with Ruthless Aggression. Your choice is up to preference.
• Typhoon is an option for extra control, especially if you pair it with Ursol's Vortex.
• Innervate and Nature's Vigil are recommended, but these can also be swapped out to pick up Improved Stampeding Roar for more group speed, or Fluid Form to more comfortably use Disorienting Roar.

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Wildstalker has equally high throughput compared to the alternative and, in some cases, can surpass it with ideal play. It places a much higher burden on DoT management due to Unbridled Swarm, but is mostly similar in terms of core goals. Looking out for Thriving Growth targets to anchor your Ferocious Bite casts to trigger Bursting Growth also places a little more emphasis on correct targeting.

While the build below is the general recommendation for the most flexible build to cover most situations, Wildstalker still has a handful of different talent swap choices.

• Energy talents such as Tireless Energy and Moment of Clarity are options to pick up in exchange for either Merciless Claws or Double-Clawed Rake if you are having trouble managing your resources.
• Root Network and Twin Sprouts are recommended to spread out more Bloodseeker Vines, however if you are looking for more single-target for boss situations, you can consider swapping to Implant and Resilient Flourishing.
• Typhoon is an option for extra control, especially if you pair it with Ursol's Vortex.
• Innervate and Nature's Vigil are recommended, but these can also be swapped out to pick up Improved Stampeding Roar for more group speed, or Fluid Form to more comfortably use Disorienting Roar.

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Often, the most crucial part of any Mythic+ run (after how you will deal as much damage to kill enemies quickly) is how you intend to lock them down and avoid dangerous casts. Feral comes with some good options for both single-target and AoE disruption:

• Skull Bash is the Feral interrupt tool on a 15-second cooldown, a 13-yard range and has a small charge. This should be used frequently to disrupt enemy casts and can also be used to re-engage targets at range using the charge aspect. Just be careful if using it from a distance, as the charge can put you in dangerous situations.
• Entangling Roots is a soft crowd control option to lock down enemies in certain situations you want to keep out of range. However, they are still able to cast or attack from range if they have the ability to. This can also be made instant with Predatory Swiftness procs.
• Infected Wounds is passively applied by your Rake effect, slowing targets by 20% for 12 seconds. Not a strong slow, but it can be useful if kiting is needed.
• Maim and Mighty Bash talents are both stun options available to Feral that can be used to lock down single targets and prevent non-interruptible casts.
• Ursol's Vortex locks enemies within the area to the position, pulling them back if they are forced or try to leave. This has good synergy with Typhoon, acting as a pseudo-mass grip by gathering all enemies pushed to its center.
• Typhoon can push enemies back or interrupt casts from immune enemies. It can also force targets out of ground effects if needed.
• Incapacitating Roar is an AoE interrupt effect on otherwise immune targets. The low cooldown of this makes it incredibly useful for large groups of enemies, but it does put you into Bear Form, so it comes with a damage loss. You can also make use of Fluid Form to quickly re-enter Cat Form with Shred.
• Hibernate is a crowd control option that can be cast on Beasts and Dragonkin with a 1.5-second cast and a 30-yard range. This puts your target to sleep for up to 40 seconds, but any damage taken will break the effect.
• Cyclone is an emergency crowd control tool that will banish your target for 6 seconds, making it unable to act and immune to all damage and healing effects. This can be used to lock down a dangerous target briefly but has a 1.5-second cast time, and only one enemy can be affected by this at once.

After control, you also need to consider how you are going to survive in dungeons where damage intake can be extremely high or very frontloaded. That means sometimes more niche talents for raids become exceptionally valuable to make it through otherwise lethal mechanics in a situation where you are responsible yourself for surviving:

• Bear Form allows you to assume a Tank-oriented form when used and also grants access to Growl as a taunt effect. This can help in emergencies, increasing your survival and allowing you to redirect pressure from your tank. With Ursine Vigor taken as well, it can act as a short window of additional Health to survive potentially lethal mechanics.
• Survival Instincts is a huge cooldown that is very useful for making it through the more lethal mechanics. You also have access to the Barkskin baseline, which can be improved with Oakskin to provide a significant damage reduction on a short cooldown, alongside the flat damage reduction from Thick Hide on the Class tree.
• Well-Honed Instincts can provide a perfect emergency heal should you be caught off guard or begin to bleed out over extended periods in some encounters, and it is a great option even at one point.
• Renewal is an option for burst healing should you find yourself ticking out in bad situations due to high intake or your healer falls behind. A good emergency button.
• Heart of the Wild is a long cooldown, long duration option that gives a large amount of bonus survival while in Bear Form or additional healing when active. This is a very niche option to hybridize between roles if necessary, but the long cooldown makes it very restrictive in Mythic+ environments.
• Druid of the Claw has access to Frenzied Regeneration while in Cat Form, providing a large heal for a small Energy cost. This is extremely strong if you know your Health is looking unstable.

Feral also has a modest toolkit for helping out the group with healing, should your healer be struggling to handle the situation:

• Predatory Swiftness allows you to cast Regrowth instantly or Entangling Roots after casting a finishing move at 5 Combo Points. This can assist with off-healing or provide emergency crowd control.
• Nature's Vigil provides a conversion for your single-target damage events into healing, allowing you to contribute to the groups survival in high-damage moments without costing damage, so it should be taken in virtually all scenarios.

Many dungeons have requirements for dispels to deal with certain mechanics that you cannot simply rely on the healer to cover. Feral Druid has two specialty abilities that can be taken if needed:

• Remove Corruption removes both Curse and Poison debuffs from a targeted ally with an 8-second cooldown. Assisting your healer if they cannot remove them or multiple debuffs are present is strongly recommended.
• Soothe is an offensive Enrage effect dispel. This has a 40-yard range and a 10-second cooldown, and can be used in Cat Form. This is incredibly valuable to any group in any dungeon that has Enrage effects.

Lastly, Druids have some unique tools that are important to keep in mind while navigating Mythic+ or forming groups:

• Mark of the Wild provides 3% Versatility to your group and is brought by any Druid. Remember to buff this at the start of every dungeon or if an ally dies!
• The act of shapeshifting in or out of Cat Form (or any other form) will also break roots, which can be helpful for some mechanics.
• Alongside this, Fluid Form is a useful point here due to the number of utility options that force you out of Cat Form. This means you can quickly get back to dealing damage with a cast of Shred instead of manually shifting, so it is highly recommended.
• Innervate can and should be taken to help your healer out should an extended pull happen, and they need the 10 seconds of Mana-free casting.
• Stampeding Roar grants movement speed to you and all allies within 15 yards. This can be used for getting back into range for damage, helping allies to avoid dangerous effects, or getting to the next pull faster.
• Rebirth is a combat resurrection effect, allowing you to revive a player outside of the combat restrictions in the event of an unexpected death to keep the pull alive, but it does require you to leave Cat Form.

Xalatath's Bargain: Ascendant will periodically spawn a number or orbs in waves that need to be crowd-controlled in some way before they complete a cast. Each orb successfully stopped grants the group bonus Haste, so it is a high priority to deal with.

Feral should make use of Incapacitating Roar and Typhoon aimed correctly to remove as many as possible when they start spawning.

Xalatath's Bargain: Voidbound will periodically summon a large Void Emissary that will begin to cast Dark Prayer. This must be interrupted, as otherwise it will provide damage reduction to nearby enemies.

This needs to be killed off quickly, so ideally, having short, bursty cooldowns like Tiger's Fury or Feral Frenzy ready to go when it spawns makes things a lot easier on the group.

Xalatath's Bargain: Oblivion spawns a number of orbs that will begin traveling toward enemies that you and your group need to intercept to receive a stacking Mastery buff.

Feral has high base movement speed alongside some movement tools to help catch as many as possible, with Tiger Dash being a consideration during these weeks. Ideally, try to have Stampeding Roar available for these spawns, and consider taking Improved Stampeding Roar to have it ready for every time this happens.

Xalatath's Bargain: Devour will apply a debuff that must be either dispelled or healed off (though it will not absorb any incoming heals) to the entire group periodically throughout the dungeon.

On these weeks, I'd particularly recommend picking up Remove Corruption to help your healer by removing it from yourself or others quickly. You can also use Renewal and Frenzied Regeneration to quickly cover a large amount of the healing requirement to clear the debuff as well.