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Speccing for my fourth raid spec.
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Post by
Maelwys
Feral DPS.
I've done Resto, I've done Moonkin, I've done Feral Tanking.
Now it is time to fear the kitty. As far as gear is concerned, I've picked up a lot on the way. Any melee leather pieces that weren't tanking gear (we had no rogue) went to me, so I've got some decent things. I was, however, looking at spec and "rotation".
From the little bit of kitty dps I know, "rotation" is more "watch-your-timers".
-Always keep Savage Roar up.
-Always keep Rip up.
-Always keep Rake up.
-Mangle only when you have to.
-Ferocious Bite when both Savage Roar and Rip are up, but have plenty of time for both.
-Use Tiger's Fury on cooldown assuming you can use the energy.
-Shred otherwise.
Spec:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=0ZEM0sfrzbeR0huAo0Eczb
The spec gets rid of everything that has nothing to do with Kitty DPS. Glyphs to be used are Rip and Mangle, with the third up for grabs. Last choice is between Shred (useless for pve) and Rebirth (utility). Nurturing Instincts is more about making myself easier to heal than having +healing. Feral Aggression and Master Shapeshifter might seem like poor choices initially, but in a pure DPS build, there are few other solid choices in my mind. I could take some tanking specs, but I've got my heart set on pure pve damage output here.
Enchanting and gemming, I generally try and reach the hit cap first, aim for 5-6% expertise, and focus on agility, strength, attack power, and crit rating. Metagem will be the +21 agi/+3% crit damage (I think it exists), Idol will likely be the badge that increases Shred damage until I can get my hands on the Idol that increases Rip damage.
So, what did I get wrong or where can I do better?
Post by
109094
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Tarkeel
Only thing I'd like to mention, is Feral Swiftness.
Movementspeed means less time with 0 dps from moving around on fights where it's needed, which seems to be a few.
Not sure where I'd take the points from though.
Post by
170154
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Maelwys
Nurturing Instincts is there for simply being easier to heal. As far as Feral Swiftness, Feral Charge is cheaper in terms of talent points. I'm surprised no one argued with Feral Aggression, but the point about Swipe... One of the difficulties I've had in speccing for DPS is the preference between AoE and single target capabilities when you have to make one. While nobody seems to be having trouble with trash, ever, getting it down faster is always nice.
Now you guys are saying strength/ap > agility. Do we get 2x strength to ap in cat form? I know AP is really good for us with Heart of the Wild increases all over and Savage Roar, but Strength over Agility is a new one for me.
Post by
109094
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Maelwys
How can you? With the amount of agility/crit on gear and 15% crit through talents, I'm expecting something like a 40% crit rate >_> Combo point generation is going to be insane.
Question though, what should I do for a third glyph?
Mangle, check.
Rip, check.
I was thinking Rebirth for utility.
Post by
109094
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Aadramelekh
Third glyph really does not matter in terms of feral DPS. Mangle and Rip are the only raid useful Cat glyphs at the moment.
I would like to emphasize as well the importance of strength. It gives 2AP per 1 strength and under raid conditions, gets a 16.6% benefit if buffed with Blessing of Kings, since you are already specced for Survival of the Fittest.
Also I would like to suggest spending three points into Feral Instinct, as it boosts your Swipe from 260% normal damage to 338% normal damage. Which has a HUGE potential on trash mobs. At each trash pack I proceed with Mangle -> Savage Roar -> Swipe -> Tiger's Fury -> Swipe -> Swipe. If OOC procs, it is even more exciting. Berserk used at trash packs really has a limited efficiency, useful only at those packs that consist of stronger mobs (over 200K HP each), otherwise the time it takes to complete the previous rotation is more than sufficient for an entire raid to kill them after a certain gear level. Especially on those 65K HP little grey spiders in Spider Wing, it is a constant orgasm seeing Swipe hitting dozens of targets for ~3200 and critting for ~7300. Just make sure you have a capable tank or you take the necessary precautions not to end up in Bear Form tanking half of them or even worse, dead :P
Here is a fun screenshot from tonight's Naxxramas that I just completed, to help you realize the potential of Swipe:
28687
Swipe burst on a trash pack. And this happens quite often. Also notice
THIS
one, taken halfway through Naxxramas. The recount is set to show the overall damage since the beginning of the raid. That second position, 0.1% from the leading Enhancement Shaman (with a constant chunk of 6.8% of the total raid damage), was mine also after killing Kel'Thuzad, sitting pretty at ~20M total damage, and ~5000 average DPS.
Also I would say don't bother using Ferocious Bite. It is still much less efficient than Rip in terms of damage per energy and also has the potential of screwing up rotations. So I would not take Feral Aggression and rather place 3 in Feral Instinct and 2 in Feral Swiftness. Being able to move at 130% speed is of great help during many encounters.
Regarding the caps, anything over 7% should do (even if the perfect value would be 8%), but since there is plenty of leather ger out there with expertise on it, I suggest getting that 6.5% magical number for Cat DPS. After that, I recomment you ONLY socket strength and enchant for pure attack power. The only agility gem should be the Relentless Earthsiege Diamond meta from the helmet.
These are my ideas, hope you'll find them useful or at least informative.
Good luck!
Post by
144872
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
flurkk
newbie kitty dps here. hi guys!
i just switched my mainspec from healing to purring, and i'm not very sure about what gear to wear.
my rotation is identical to OP's, except that i never ever FB; i shred even when i have 5 combo points and berserking is up.
1- i read toskk's gearing guide, and what he recommended was 4 pieces of t6 along with 2 pieces of t7. any thought on this?
2- toskk's guide also recommends that i sacrifice hit rating for more STR (by applying his graphs into my stats). any comments on that? also, what about expertise? should i keep that maxed?
3- i macro my shred and rip so that i equip the shred and rip idols right before casting them. i understand that there is a 2 second delay on equipping items, and i think it got in the way sometimes. any comments on this? is the stupid delay worth some extra shred damage?
lastly, i find that kitties like Darkmoon Card: Greatness. from what i've seen thus far, i really don't think that my str will ever go high enough to beat my stam in order for it to proc +str. i'm probably wrong (obviously). mind explaining this to me?
EDIT:
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Dreadmaul&n=Tjur
this is my gear at the moment. i pull about 1.9 ~ 2.3k dps in most heroics and naxx10. i honestly think taht it's way too low for my gear. comments would be VERY much appreciated. thanks
Post by
Maelwys
The Greatness Card doesn't proc for stamina, only the four available (str/agi/int/spt).
my rotation is identical to OP's, except that i never ever FB; i shred even when i have 5 combo points and berserking is up.
You mean when Savage Roar is up? We generate combo points fast enough that while trying this with a spec similar to the one I posted, I had no trouble keeping Savage Roar and Rip up while getting a FB in once in a while. Then again, with mostly tank gear, I'm fairly heavily agility-stacked and have around 40% crit in heroics, lol.
Post by
129046
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
flurkk
oh another question, i noticed that Idol of the Wastes doesn't work with cat swipe (i tried it on for ages)
well then, my guess would be that the Feral Instinct talent doesn't add to cat swipe damage too, am i right?
Post by
Maelwys
Feral Insinct works with Cat Swipe, as do other talents affecting it. I don't know about the Idol of Perspacious Attacks though.
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