From: http://blue.mmo-champion.com/2/8136623941-guide-to-optimize-you-cat-dps.html
I've seen a lot of posts on the forum where druids complain about having very low dps in cat form. While it may need to be buffed a bit, you're still able to put out a stable dps as it is now.
The RotationFirst of all: Theres no rotation for kitty, instead it's a matter of keeping buffs/debuffs up at all times
You have one buff you need to have up: Savage Roar. Then you have 3 debuffs you need to keep up: Rake, Rip and Mangle (you dont have to think about mangle if there's a bear tank in the group, or a dps warrior using "Trauma")
The priority are as follows:
1st Savage Roar
2nd Mangle
3rd Rip
4th Rake
Get Faerie Fire up whenever you don't have any energy to spend, or in other words: a free GCD
To build up combo points when all debuffs are up you should use shred, and therefore it's a good idea to always place yourself behind your target (which also avoids parries and blocks)
I normally start out on bosses with a Mangle and then using Savage Roar on 2 combo points to have it up from the beginning, then I'll apply my bleeds while filling out with shred.
Don't use Ferocious Bite, while having Berserk up. Use it when the mob is below 10%
Q u o t e:
At high enough gear levels, you'll want to use Bite or you're wasting combo points and/or Energy. The trick is doing it without jeopardising your SR at the very least. Optimal would be to have both Rip and SR on enough duration to be able to build enough CPs again.
The Spechttp://www.wowhead.com/?talent=0ZeGMcfrz0eR0huAo0Eczb
This is the spec spec I'm using in raids. You're gonna miss the 1 sec extra stun when soloing tho, gonna miss Survival Instincts just in general for critical situations, and this spec also isn't very viable for tanking..
A more all-around spec could be
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=0ZxGMsfbd0eRcbuAo0Eczb
But of course, you can always make changes so it matches your gameplay :)
The GlyphsUnfortunately, there's a very poor selection of glyphs for kittys. There's two glyphs which are important for your dps. Namely "Glyph of Mangle" and "Glyph of Rip".
1st Glyph - Glyph of Mangle. Increases the duration of the Mangle debuff by 6 sec., which gives you an easier time keeping it up, and room for more shreds, and therefore more dmg.
2nd Glyph - Glyph of Rip. Increases the duration of your Rip by 4 sec., which is 2 more tics, and therefore more dmg.
3rd Glyph - It's actually up to you which glyph you prefer to use here.
There's no other glyphs available for improving your cat dps in raids at the moment. You could either choose Glyph of Shred, which increases Shred dmg by 20% while target is stunned or incapacitated (Maim or Pounce f.x.), this glyph is quite pewpew in PvP as it allows you to crit 8k+ with shred on nublocks etc. Another option, if you're not the least PvP oriented could be Glyph of Maul, which will allow your Maul to hit 2 targets instead of one, and it's quite useful if you're tanking 5-man heroics or offtanking in raids.
If none of these glyphs apply to you, you can always take a look at http://www.wowwiki.com/Druid_glyphs for a complete list of glyphs available for druids :).
The GearStats:
You should have a decent hit rating (around 200 would be good - get it from items, not from gemming) and
gem for strength.
Hitcap and expertise cap for anyone who would like to know:
Q u o t e:
Hit cap 263 rating which is 8% <according to elitistjerks.com, 1% was just removed>
Expertise cap 132 rating with primal precision for dodges
Values should be correct
Get Rawr for finding the best dps gear, it can be downloaded from here:
Q u o t e:
http://www.codeplex.com/Rawr/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx
I did some research and found this to be the best gear available for kitty atm:
Head: ............Valorous Dreamwalker Headguard
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40473
Neck: ............Favor of the Dragon Queen
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44664
Shoulder:.....Valorous Dreamwalker Shoulderpads
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40494
Back: ............Drape of the Deadly Foe
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40403
Chest: ..........Valorous Dreamwalker Raiments
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40471
Wrist: ............Thrusting Bands
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40186
Weapon: .....Journey's End
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40388
Idol: ...............Idol of the Ravenous Beast
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40713
Hands: .........Valorous Dreamwalker Handgrips
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40472
Waist: ...........Stalk-Skin Belt
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40205
Legs: ............Leggings of the Honored
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44011
Feet: .............Footwraps of Vile Deceit
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40243
Ring 1: .........Ring of Invincibility
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40717
Ring 2: .........Surge Needle Ring
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40474
Trinket 1: .....Grim Toll
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40256
Trinket 2: .....Darkmoon Card: Greatness (Strenght)
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=42987
Result!If you follow this guide you should be able to have around 5,3k dps in a raid on bosses like Patch
a WWS for my dps on patch yesterday
http://wowwebstats.com/ckhqmc4rshnrs?s=310286-341455
As you can see I was able to hit 5220 DPS, without even having the best gear available :)
Good luck everyone!
Legend:
SR = Savage Roar
FB = Ferocious Bite
CP = Combo Points
SI = Survival Instincts
FF = Faerie Fire
GCD = Global Cooldown
(If you need more abbrevations clarified, just post it)
Nice little guide. Gonna throw out an addon that has helped me a LOT.
Face Mauler (http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/facemauler.aspx)
Meow. :3c
I'll be sure to read this next time I raid...as Meowsers.
OK so hopefully I won't be kitty again (about to jump to tanky bear times hopefully) but last night's 25 man showed I need improvements. Since this kitty guide is outdated (Rip glyph is different and stuff) I have a question.
I didn't use the addon but that's not my concern at the moment (I'll probably get it later on). Ribeye was also kitty in the raid so I compared his DPS to mine. It seems like he focuses more on Mangle than Shred, is that a viable option for the not-so-smart people like me? Having to worry about keeping up everything AND staying behind the target when usually the tank is pulling them backwards because of a void zone or whatever keeps getting me out of a loop and then I get panicked and then die or lose a lot of DPS.
So I'm thinking (although my spec is wrong because I didn't see something) if I focus more on Mangle then positioning is a smaller concern which might help me panic less. Plus, it's easier to choose between what ability I need since the max energy needed would be 35 for Rake. I mean I know I won't be pushing out what kitty is capable of, but I rather be breaking 3K easier on every boss fight to help the guild out more.
I think shred is used mainly as a combo point builder in cat is it not? I only have a level 18 druid, but I'm leveling feral and have been reading alot of guides lately on kitty dps and rotations.
There are a few good stickies on the druid forums, but here is what I see from most all posts talking about kitty dps:
(taken from http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=15864788935&sid=1 (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=15864788935&sid=1))
What's the DPS rotation?
There isn't one. It's all about refreshing timers, somewhat like a melee affliction warlock. See Part 2 for more detail, but in a nutshell:
- Keep Savage Roar up
- Keep Mangle up, unless you have a bear or arms warrior in the group
- Keep Rake up
- Keep a 5-point Rip up
- Use Shred for combo points
- Use Tiger's Fury on the cooldown
How much hit rating do I need?
- According to extensive testing by Elitist Jerks and other theorycrafters, the melee hit cap on raid bosses in WotLK has changed to 8%. Heroic bosses should remain unchanged at 6%.
- 32.79 hit rating is required for 1% hit
- The hit cap against raid bosses for feral druids is 263 rating, or 230 if you have a Draenei
- You to not need to hit cap as a feral druid. See Part 3 or Toskk's calculator page for details.
How much expertise do I need?
- Raid bosses have approximately a 6.5% chance to dodge.
- Since we attack from behind, bosses cannot parry us, unless they turn.
- It requires 32.79 expertise rating for 1% dodge reduction.
- 2 points in Primal Precision grants 10 expertise, or 2.5% dodge reduction.
- The dodge cap against raid bosses is 26 expertise. With 2/2 Primal Precision, it takes 131 rating to reach the cap. Each point you take out of Primal Precision increases the cap by ~41 rating.
- Like hit, you do not need to cap. Assuming you are not capped on either, 1 hit rating and 1 expertise rating will increase your DPS by the same amount.
What gems should I use?
Agility at first. Strength and agility are very close, but in raid gear with 25-man buffs, agility is slightly ahead. If you gem a piece of gear for agility, you can use it for tanking as well as DPS, so that's the route many druids will go. Armor Penetration pulls ahead at certain gear levels, but requires a lot - in the order of 450 or 500 - before it becomes worth stacking at the expensive of other stats.
Armor Penetration caps at ~1232 rating, when you reach that point with a trinket procced (612 with a Grim Toll, 566 rating with a Mjolnir Runestone), it's usually best to switch back to agility.
What glyphs should I use?
In order of DPS increase: Glyph of Shred, Glyph of Rip, and Glyph of Savage Roar.
Spec
In 3.1, the highest dps spec is probably:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=0ZvGMcfrz0eo0huAkbAczb (http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=0ZvGMcfrz0eo0huAkbAczb)
You won't be able to tank anything other then normal mode instances in bear, but this is one of the top dps specs for cat. If you are dual spec between tank and dps, then take this as your dps.
Glyphs
In general, most ferals will be using Glyph of Savage Roar, Glyph of Shred, and Glyph of Rip. Glyph of Mangle is a slight DPS loss, depending on gear, but may result in easier cycles for some. If you really want Glyph of Mangle, Glyph of Savage Roar is the one to sacrifice. Obviously, Mangle is useless if you have a feral tank or an arms warrior.
Glyph of Rip - A very solid DPS glyph. It adds 4 seconds to Rip, our primary finisher, which has the dual effect of granting extra damage for free, and extending our cycle, making it easier to keep all of our timers up.
Glyph of Shred - A staple for boss fights. Increases Rip's duration by 2 seconds for every Shred we use, up to 6 seconds. Slightly superior to Glyph of Rip unless you cannot get behind your target.
Glyph of Savage Roar - Absolutely required glyph for feral DPS. It increases all our damage by a flat 3% while Savage Roar is up.
Glyph of Mangle - This one is optional depending on your raid makeup. If you will always have another feral druid or an arms warrior keeping Mangle/Trauma up on the boss, Glyph of Mangle won't do much for you. But if you're the only feral in the raid, this glyph is ok, as it significantly reduces the number of times you have to apply Mangle, simplifying your rotation and freeing up more energy for Shred.
Glyph of Berserk - This glyph extends the duration of Berserk by 5 seconds. It's great for extra threat in bear, but is lackluster for cat DPS, because by the last 5 seconds, you're mostly tapped out on energy anyway, and it's likely to only give you one additional shred in that time.
Glyph of Dash (minor) - Yes, this is a DPS-increasing glyph. Reducing the cooldown of Dash on a long fight with a lot of movement will give you more time on target, increasing your DPS marginally.
Mangle vs. Shred. On Ribeye last night, I was rusty (had not DPSed on him for months) and chose to Mangle mostly due to positioning as Turducken mentioned. Normally, I would use Shred as much as possible, though. Ribeyes gear is fairly laughable atm. For a cat with Improved Mangle, it actually comes out quite a bit less in energy than Shred. However, Shred does much more damage. Last time I used RAWR!, it suggested Mangle to me (that was 3.0, though) over Shred as a combo builder. I'll probably check that again to see what it suggests now.
Most fights are mobile in Ulduar, especially for melee. A high expertise and using Mangle just seemed like a better idea to me, especially for Freya and Hodir.
BTW, depending on gearing (e.g. the Rip Idol), the priorities might be more SR, Rip, Mangle, Rake.
Another BTW, I've tried a couple mods. I kind of like RoguePowerBars with TellMeWhen a close second for tracking buffs/debuffs. TMW actually, has a problem when switching specs. So, I've turned it off temporarily and used RPB last night. It's all in what you get used to, though.
Yeah but I have comparable gear between us, so that's what concerned me. You pumped out about 600 DPS more than me. Although I am decked in more tanking gear right now (since that is what I'm aiming for), a 600 DPS difference is quite a bit between us. I guess that does have an effect, but I doubt it would be that much.
I don't know, I guess I'll try to focus on using Mangle more than Shred next time and see how that works.