Welcome to the Druid Simple Questions thread. This thread is for all your simple questions which you expect to have simple answers and thus do not require their own thread.

Note that all forum rules still apply: we said simple questions, not stupid questions (which have no place on these forums). You're still expected to make a reasonable effort to find the answer yourself by searching and reading the threads and making use of spreadsheets and any other tools that may be available. If, however, you're fairly confident that your question is not easily answered with available information, but don't think it will generate sufficient discussion to require it's own thread, this is the place to ask.

Feral Cat

Q: What spec should I use?
A: This is a starting cat spec.

Q: What about other talents?
A: Improved Leader of the Pack can provide marginal raid healing if no other feral does not already have it. Nurturing instinct can also help out on healing intensive fights. Feral Aggression does provide a minor single target dps boost but only if you have mastered the cat rotation enough to include ferocious bite. One point can be removed from Furor and points can be removed from either Improved Leader of the Pack or Feral Instinct as necessary.

Q: What is the cat rotation?
A: Cats use a priority list. Simplistically: Savage Roar>Mangle>Rip>Rake>Shred. Optimally you should be looking towards 95%+ uptime on savage roar and 85%+ uptime on both rake and rip on non-movement fights. Don't be afraid to pool energy. Use shred more to prevent energy overflow instead of using it as soon as possible.

Q: How many combo points should I use on Rip and Savage Roar?
A: Rip should always use 5 combo points. Savage Roar should be used as soon as possible if it is no already on even if you are not at 5 combo points yet.

Q: What about Ferocious Bite?
A: While proper use of Ferocious Bite will increase your dps, improper use will ruin it. If you're reading this FAQ you would probably be best off not using it at all.

Q: How does clearcasting change things?
A: It doesn't really. Follow the same rotation you normally do. If all your buffs and debuffs are already up you can shred, but don't use clearcasting as an excuse to let buffs and debuffs fall off. Also note that Savage Roar does not consume clearcasting.

Q: When should I use swipe?
A: If you are fighting at least three mobs and it doesn't matter which dies first. Or when you have two mobs the target won't survive for the duration of a rip. Use Mangle to maintain Savage Roar unless mangle is already on the target, in which case you should use Rake.

Q: When should I use Tiger's Fury and Berserk?
A: Tiger's fury should only be used when you are below 40 energy and Berserk should be used when you have closer to 80 energy. Do not use Berserk over 90 energy as you will overflow on energy before the global cooldown is finished. Other than that they should be used as soon as possible unless a fight has a burn phase.

Q: Should I start fights with Ravage or Pounce?
A: No. Mangle first, or rake if mangle is already applied.

Q: I think I am doing everything right but I still get low dps and uptimes on the target dummy. Whats wrong?
A: Cats revolve around having a high crit chance to maintain their rotation. If you are unbuffed it will be harder to generate the necessary combo points. Practicing on the target dummy is still worthwhile though.

Q: What stats should I use?
A: At low gear levels and without a trinket that procs armor pen (ArP), agility (Agi) is highest. With an ArP trinket it is usually best to get soft ArP capped (when the trinket procs you should be as close to 1400 ArP as possible). With enough ArP and no ArP trinket, it becomes best to aim for the hard ArP cap (1400 ArP passively). Hit and expertise are usually not needed to be capped, although they do help make the rotation easier. At high levels of gear (ilevel 264+) it is important to be hit and expertise capped due to the crit cap.

Q: What glyphs should I use?
A: Shred, rip and Savage Roar. No, Glyph of Berserk is not better even with 2t10.

Q: What professions should I use?
A: Blacksmithing and Jewelcrafting are the best professions for cats. Alchemy provides the next best benefit. Engineering is arguably better than Alchemy as it provides not only Hyperspeed Accelerators and Frag Belts but it also gives you the extra movement from Nitro Boots. Tailoring is the next best. Leatherworking, Inscription, Enchanting tie for last place.

Q: What meta gem should I use?
A: [Relentless Earthsiege Diamond]. Use [Nightmare Tear] for your blue gem.

Q: When should I use cower?
A: Never. Cower reduces threat by a static amount (it doesn't scale with gear).

Q: What Idol should I use?
A: [Idol of the Crying Moon] is slightly better than [Idol of Mutilation] but it has a ramp up time and may be inferior for fights that involve a lot of target switching. [Idol of the Corruptor] is worse than both and will not proc if you are not mangling. [Idol of Worship] is better than [Idol of the Ravenous Beast] at low ArP but [Idol of the Ravenous Beast] passes it slightly at higher ArP.

Q: How good are the tier set bonuses?
A: Calculations done according to this profile with Rawr v2.3.5. Actual dps values will vary according to your gear but the relative ordering should remain the same.

2t7: 94.31 dps
4t7: 60.01 dps
2t8: 175.09 dps
4t8: 74.59 dps
2t9: 161.50 dps
4t9: 82.54 dps
2t10: 113.69 dps
4t10: 670.84 dps

Q: Where can I go for more information?
A: Cat DPS Guide for Dummies
Gear and rotation
Feral druid video Guide
Rotation
Toskk's DPS Gear Methodology
Rawr
Team Robot Simulator
Feral DPS Guide



Feral Bear

Q: What spec should I use?
A: This is the standard spec. If no one else is applying a full attack power debuff, you may want to go with this

Q: What is the best single target threat rotation?
A: Mangle when off cooldown, Faerie Fire when off cooldown, maintain a 5 stack of Lacerate, Swipe otherwise. Maul should be use always because it does not trigger the global cooldown.

Q: Wait, did you say Faerie Fire?
A: Yes, it is more threat than swipe or lacerate on single target.

Q: What about with 2t10?
A: Still the same rotation.

Q: What about AoE threat?
A: If you have more than two targets, just use swipe and maul.

Q: How important is Demoralizing Roar?
A: Very. If you do not have another tank applying this debuff it is important that you keep it up as much as possible. Periodically replace a swipe in your rotation with Demo Roar.

Q: How should I use cooldowns?
A: Both Barkskin and Survival Instincts are off the global cooldown and Barkskin may be used while stunned. Frenzied Regen is on the global cooldown. Frenzied Regen will heal based on the current maximum health and is increased by Survival Instincts.

Q: What glyphs should I use?
A: [Glyph of Maul] [Glyph of Frenzied Regeneration] and [Glyph of Survival Instincts] are the typical three to use, although [Glyph of Growl] is very important for some fights and can be swapped with the maul or frenzied regen glyph.

Q: How does taunt work?
A: Growl sets you at the threat level of the highest player on the threat list as long as you are not holding aggro already. Even if someone passes you in threat if you are still holding aggro taunt will do nothing. Challenging Roar is an AoE fixate. You will have aggro for the duration of the spell, but does not modify your threat at all. It is possible to growl a target while Challenging Roar is active to change your threat. Growl is treated as a spell for purposes of missing, so even when hit capped you may need [Glyph of Growl] to ensure no misses.

Q: What weapon enchant should I use?
A: Mongoose.

Q: What stats should I use?
A: Stamina is generally considered the most important stat although the value of agility/stam gems is arguable at higher gear levels for socket bonuses. Armor is usually highly undervalued. Expertise is king for threat, followed by hit, then haste. Attack power and crit are very bad for increasing the effectiveness of Savage Defense.

Q: What meta gem should I use?
A: [Austere Earthsiege Diamond].

Q: What professions should I use?
A: Leatherworking will provide you with the most stamina and the option of resist enchants. Jewelcrafting ties with Leatherworking for stamina gained and also provides flexibility for cat. Blacksmithing and enchanting tie for the next most stamina. While Alchemy does not provide as much health as Blacksmithing or Enchanting, the ability to gain extra resistances is very useful on some encounters. Inscription provides dodge rating instead of stamina and you lose the opportunity to use [Greater Inscription of the Gladiator]. Engineering provides minor stat benefits, but gives you an extra sprint which is quite useful in specific scenarios.

Q: Why [Formula: Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality]?
A: Movement speed is better than the marginal gain in stats.

Q: What idol should I use?
A: [Idol of the Crying Moon] > [Idol of the Corruptor] > [Idol of Mutilation]. Corruptor makes up what it lacks in avoidance with armor and uptime. Note that on fights that involve target switches, Crying Moon has a ramp up time and could be inferior.

Q: Are pvp pieces viable to tank with?
A: Oftentimes yes, although you will have lower threat and they will likely be replaced by pve pieces.

Q: Where can I go for more information?
A: Tanking Discussion
Feral druid video Guide
Rawr: Gear Comparison Tool

Comments and suggestions are always of course welcome.

1/20/10: I added a few questions at the suggestion of others.
Modified the tier bonus question.
Updated professions.

1/21/10: Added the clearcasting question.

I'll take a stab at the feral FAQ, feedback is welcome.

Feral DPS

Q: What spec should I use?
A: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft or some close variation.

Q: What situational talents should I keep in mind, and what talents can I drop to pick them up?
A: Based on the fight and your raid comp you may find it beneficial to pick up Feral Aggression, Nurturing Instinct, or Infected Wounds. You can drop Survival Instinct, Improved Leader of the Pack, Improved Mangle, Feral Swiftness, or Natural/Master Shapeshifter, again depending on the fight and what classes are in your raid.

Q: How about glyphs?
A: Rip, Shred, Savage Roar. Glyph of Mangle is uncompetitive, and while there is discussion on Berserk it has not been shown to be superior to the first 3.

Q: How do I dps?
A: In order, you want to keep up Savage Roar, Mangle, Rake, and a 5 combo point Rip. Use Shred whenever Savage Roar, Mangle, and Rake are up in order to build combo points. You can either perform your rotation as normal when you get an Omen of Clarity proc or always use it to Shred - the difference in dps is minimal.

Q: What about Ferocious Bite?
A: While proper use of Ferocious Bite will increase your dps, improper use will ruin it. If you're reading this FAQ you would probably be best off not using it at all.

Q: What cooldowns do I need to keep track of?
A: You want to use Tiger's Fury as soon as possible after it's cooldown is up as long as it doesn't take you over 100 energy. You want to use Berserk as many times in the fight as possible, but you also want to line it up with any burn phases in a fight. Note that there is no particular reason to line it up with Heroism/Bloodlust as they do not benefit each other.

Q: Holy crap, that's a lot of information to keep track of. I have to look at my buffs for Savage Roar, my target's debuffs for Mangle, Rake, and Rip, my action bars for cooldowns...
A: The stock UI sucks. Find some addons to help organize your screen. In particular, look for a buff/debuff tracker like ClassTimers, DoTimer, Elkano's Buff Bars, or my favorite, RoguePowerBars.

Q: What's my best stat?
A: You can never go wrong with Agility.

Q: I've heard great things about Armor Penetration, what about that?
A: Armor Penetration is very good under the right circumstances. If you have a trinket that procs Armor Pen (meaning [Grim Toll], [Mjolnir Runestone], or [Needle-Encrusted Scorpion]) you want enough Armor Pen to reach 1400 rating when your trinket proc is up. If you don't have one of these trinkets it won't really be worth gearing for until you can reach about 1100 rating. Again, your goal will be 1400 rating.

Q: How about stats after those?
A: The ordering of Hit, Expertise, Haste, and Crit will vary depending on what the rest of your gear is. Use Rawr (http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t21713-r...leased_1_18_a/) to help you make your decisions. Straight Attack Power is never competitive with these. Note that the hit cap is 263 rating and the expertise cap is 131 rating (assuming you have Primal Precision).

Q: Anything else I should look for?
A: 2T8, 2T9, and 4T10 are all good set bonuses, 4T10 in particular. Use [Idol of Mutilation] or [Idol of the Crying Moon]

Q: I don't like your FAQ, where can I get more information?
A: http://elitistjerks.com/f73/t63774-c...guide_dummies/



Feral Tanking

Q: What spec should I use?
A: Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft or some close variation.

Q: What talents can I afford to drop?
A: If someone else can put up an AP debuff you can drop Feral Aggression, and if someone else can cover 20% melee attack speed slow you can drop Infected Wounds. Improved Mangle, Improved Leader of the Pack, and Omen of Clarity are also not needed.

Q: What talents should I think about picking up?
A: Feral Instinct can help with threat, especially for AoE. Natural/Master Shapeshifter and King of the Jungle (with 4T10) also help with threat. Brutal Impact can also be useful for certain fights.

Q: Is there any flexibility with glyphs?
A: Pick 3 out of Frenzied Regeneration, Survival Instincts, Maul, and Growl based on your needs. Berserk can also be useful is maximum threat is absolutely necessary.

Q: What's my threat rotation?
A: Maul is by far your largest source of threat, so keep it queued up as much as possible. After that keep Mangle and Feral Faerie Fire on cooldown, keep a 5 stack of Lacerate running, and spend any leftover GCD's on Swipe, even against a single target. Use Berserk for burst threat.

Q: What are my best survival stats?
A: Armor and Stamina. For leather gear this generally means going for the highest item level possible. In other slots, tanking pieces with bonus armor are good. Once you get a minimum level of health to survive you can go for either Agility or more Stamina. Due to our amazing scaling with Stamina and harsh diminishing returns at high levels of dodge my personal recommendation is to go for pure Stamina.

Q: How about for threat?
A: Below 131 rating, Expertise will blow everything away. After that your best stats will still be Hit and Expertise up to their respective caps (263 for Hit, and Expertise is basically unobtainable). Below those sit Haste and Armor Penetration.

Q: Your FAQ sucks, where can I get more in-depth information?
A: Feral Tanking Discussion


Edit: Whoops, look like one's already been started. Should be easy enough to just merge the non-overlapping parts.

When trying to analyze my own WWS reports, as a cat druid, to see what I need to improve on and whatnot, what are some of the things I want to look out for? How do I figure out the exact uptimes on my buffs/debuffs, and what (rough estimate) uptimes should I be aiming for on a straight fight such as Festergut or Saurfang, compared to one with lots of adds/movement such as Lich King/Lady Deathwhisper?

What? I think you're a bit mixed up there. Irregardless of 4T10, Rake is still an integral part of your DPS and has been since 3.0.

False! He may have over simplified but in most cases in mostly iLevel 264 gear, without 2T9 and without 4T10, shred offers better dpe than rake. That being said, if you do not have 4T10, 2T9 is worth keeping the two lower iLevel pieces of gear over 264 offset pieces until you can get 4T10. As always your mileage may vary depending on your full kit and its best to use a simulator, rawr or toskk's to see what is best for you.

According to Rawr, with the gear I'm logged out in(minus the t10 4pc bonus, swapped in Cultist's Sholders), DPE of rake is 255. DPE of shred is 230. Even swapping in full 264 gear(since i'm mostly 251) the DPE of rake is 275 vs 264 of shred.

Shred DPE only starts to take over rake once you start nearing the ArP hard, about 1050.

So yes, he over simplified it, but its not false. Depending on your gear, you could leave out rake. However, 4pc T10 is a much bigger upgrade than not having it with similar gear.

I said nearing the hard cap, meaning as you get closer to 1400, the DPE's cross over. That cross over point is about 1050.

So I seem to be getting more and more ArP on my gear as I get more gear from ICC.

It generally seems that it is taking the place of Expertise, as far as itemization is concerned. I am a big fan of Expertise (curently at 40, [10%]) and am sad to see it go. Is ArP a decent threat stat for bears? I sort-of understand how it works for Cat, but don't know if there is a threshold for Bear ArP that is useful to know. "This number is where ArP is a good threat stat."

Help?

I wrote a piece on that recently:
ThinkTank: [Druid] The threat value of arpen

But the summary is that armor pen turns out to be a fairly good threat stat, right below hit and expertise (after the dodge cap). There's never a point that it's not better than another threat stat other than hit and expertise, and at high levels it comes close to beating them.

When gearing fresh to 80. Is it better to aim for 245 badge gear or 232t9 gear? Resto mainly, but the other 3 roles also, information is nice.