by Byron Mudry on Dec 17, 2007
This Feral talent guide goes over each of the talents in the Druid feral talent tree. The Feral talent tree is for Druids that wish to either do melee damage or tank. The feral talent tree is the second most commonly used talent tree for high level Druids, as there is always a huge requirement for tanking in the end game. The feral tree is usually also the leveling tree as it allows you to move quickly from one fight to the other without waiting for mana.
Return to the Druid Talent Guide. The Druid Talent guide contains the links to all three talent trees: Balance, Restoration and Feral. These Talent guides provide you with the resources to better understand Talents and the best ways to go about spending your Talent Points.
Tier 1 is available at level ten, when your first talents open up.
Ferocity - Max 5 points, reduces the cost time of your Maul, Swipe, Claw, Rake and Mangle by up to 5 rage or energy. Cuts the rage cost by up to 1/3rd on some of your key feral abilities. If you are going to be a feral spec druid these points are an essential starting point. Must Have Talent Feral Aggression - Max 5 points, increases the attack power reduction of your demoralizing road by up to 40% and the damage caused by your ferocious bite by up to 15%. Not a great talent since ferocious bite rarely gets used, instead you will use Rip. Demoralizing roar usually gets over ridden by demoralizing shout from the group warrior, so unless you normally group without a warrior the increase is useless.. Skip itTier 2 talents are available as soon as you have 5 points in that talent tree.
Feral Instinct - Max 3 points, increases threat caused in Bear and Dire Bear form by 15% and reduces the chance enemies have to detect you while Prowling. If you are tanking, any increase in threat is a good one. The 15% that this provides puts you on par with warrior threat levels, therefore you need it if your going to tank. The stealth improvement is nice in numerous situations so that you are not seen, however it's not a big deal. Must have if your going to tank Brutal Impact - Max 2 points, Increases the stun duration of your Bash and Pounce abilities by up to 1 second. The extra second is very useful since it allows more time to cast a heal, get some distance or any number of other useful things. Very useful in PvP since it can give time to get away or stop an opponents heal. Recommended Thick Hide - Max 3 points, increases the armor you gain from items by up to 10%. A 10% increase is a huge waste of points if you are not tanking as your armor will not add up to much. However it stacks with the 400% bonus when in bear form. Therefore a base 1000 armor value becomes 4000 and then 4400, which is very useful in raids. Only really useful once you hit the end game raids where damage really adds up. Must have if your a raid tankTier 3 talents are available as soon as you have 10 points in that talent tree.
Feral Swiftness - Max 2 points, Increases your movement speed by 30% while outdoors in cat form and increases your chance to dodge while in cat form, bear form and dire bear form by 4%. The movement bonus alone is worth the two points while leveling before gaining your mount. The 4% dodge adds a lot of survivability early in the game and is great in any sort of combat. The speed bonus also affects you when stealthed making it quicker to get around. Strongly RecommendedTier 4 talents are available as soon as you have 15 points in that talent tree.
Shredding Attacks - Max 2 points, reduces the energy cost of shred by up to 18 and the rage cost of lacerate by up to 2. This ups your DPS by a considerable amount by allowing you to use these abilities more often. Only really strong when used by a cat form druid. Skip itTier 5 talents are available as soon as you have 20 points in that talent tree.
Savage Fury - Max 2 points, Increases the damage you cause by claw, rake and mangle by 20%. Great for feral dps builds as these are core abilities. No real benefit for bear form tanks Recommended for DPS, Skip if you tank Faerie Fire (Feral) - 1 point skill, decrease the armor of the target by 610 for 40 sec. While affected, the target cannot stealth or turn invisible.Tier 6 talents are available as soon as you have 25 points in that talent tree.
Heart of the Wild - Max 5 points, increase your Intellect by up to 20%, also while in Bear or Dire Bear Form your Stamina is increased by up to 20%, and while in Cat Form your Attack Power is increased by up to 10%. Everything gets better. 20% more health for tanking, 20% more mana for casting and 10% more AP for DPSing. This is a key feral talent and one you can not skip Must have talent Survival of the Fittest - Max 3 points, increases all attributes by up to 3% and reduces the chance you can be critically hit by melee attacks by up to 3%. The 3% chance to be missed is huge when in tanking form for end game raids. It allows you to be uncrittable at 415 def at level 70 instead of 490. The 3% bonus to attributes is almost nothing and can be ignored. Must have talent for tanksTier 7 talents are available as soon as you have 30 points in that talent tree.
Primal Tenacity - Max 3 points, increases your chance to resist stun and fear effects by up to 15%. The resistance is nice, but at only 15% its not very reliable Good for tanking on the MOBs or bosses that fear or stun, however again the chance is so low that its only nice, not needed. Where it really comes into play is in PvP where avoiding stuns and fear is critical and even 1 time avoiding it can dave you a death. Pick it up if you PvP otherwise Skip it Leader of the Pack - 1 point passive skill, While in Cat, Bear or Dire Bear Form, the Leader of the Pack increases the ranged and melee critical chance of all party members within 45 yards by 5%. This is an amazing ability for melee groups since it can up your DPS significantly. Even better in PvP where burst damage rules. Must have Talent Improved Leader of the Pack- Max 2 points, causes Leader of the Pack to also have up to a 100% chance to heal themselves for 4% of their total health when they critically hit with a melee or ranged attack. The healing effect cannot occur more than once every 6 sec. This makes an already good talent even better. While soloing it allows you to have to stop and eat or heal less, while in groups it lessens the healing required by the group healer. Must Have TalentTier 8 talents are available as soon as you have 35 points in that talent tree.
Predatory Instincts - Max 5 points, Increases your critical strike damage with melee attacks by up to 10% and your chance to avoid area of effect attacks by up to 15%. A 10% increase to your critical hit damage brings it up to 220% of base damage which is a nice improvement. While in raids, there are a lot of AoE effects and this can really help. Great for PvP as it allows you to avoid some AoE and increase your burst DPS. RecommendedTier 9 is the top tier talent and is available as soon as you have 40 points in that talent tree.
Mangle - 1 point skill, This allows you to mangle the target, inflicting damage and causing the target to take additional damage from bleed effects for 10 sec. This ability can be used in Cat Form or Dire Bear Form. In bear form it costs 20 rage, while in cat form it costs 45 energy. Bear form does 115% damage +155 and adds 30% extra damage from bleed effects for 12 seconds. In cat form it does 160% of damage +264 and causes the same increase in bleed effects and awards a combo point. This is a great talent as it greatly improves your damage in both forms, but also improves the threat you can cause while tanking. A good PvP talent since it allows your bleeds to do more damage. RecommendedComments or questions? Email us (Messiah@TenTonHammer.com) or post on our forums!